Goodwood Festival of Speed

Been waiting for DY to get back from Goodwood so that he could file this guest post (unfortunately, no stories of run-ins with or even close-up shots of the prodigious Lewis Hamilton):


The highlight of the whole weekend was the demonstration run of this grand prix season's rookie sensation, the British driver Lewis Hamilton. The moment he returned to the pits, he was mobbed by adoring fans. Goodwood offers spectators a rare chance to be close to their favourite wheels and personalities.


The ultimate road car today is the 1 million euro, 1,000bhp, 241mph Bugatti Veyron. It was given a spectacular demonstration on the Goodwood hill climb course.

This one off Ferrari P3/4 was recently built for a New Yorker, it is
based on an Enzo, itself an ultra rare limited edition beast. It stunned
onlookers with its grace and pace at Goodwood.

Many exhibits were from Mercedes' own museum in Stuttgart, such as this
priceless 1954 Mercedes W196 grand prix car. Another amazing Mercedes
from the collection that was given hard exercise was the 1955 300SLR, it
was reunited with its original driver Sir Stirling Moss.

Goodwood was not just about cars, there were also a celebration of two wheelers too. This particular one, driven by an ace stunt man, became at times a one-wheeler!

We stayed at bed and breakfast 14 miles away. There is a Goodwood Park Hotel within the estate, its a health spa cum resort, but that is always booked out for this event. I think Lord March reserves it for his VIP guests. There is also Amberley Castle, a Relais & Châteaux hotel 8 miles away. It is essential to book accommodation at least a year in advance, and buy tickets 3 months in advance. The nearby town of Chichesterhas some good restaurants: Crouchers or the The Dining Room at Purchases.

London Update

Spent the weekend in London and the last few days in NYC.

In London, I ate mainly British food in Chelsea's Gastropubs (since I was staying at EH's just around the corner from Sloane Square) at The Ebury, Galvin for Sunday Brunch, Tom's Kitchen and breakfast at the very cool and recently-opened Napket (loved their slogan, "Snob Food", their selection of bread loaves of which I had a slice of the fig, rocket and cheddar loaf, as well as the iPod minis at the table with personal headsets so you can choose your own music). Saw the Gilbert & George Major Exhibition at Tate Modern, which was excellent, especially the audio guide with video clips of Gilbert & George discussing their art. It made a lot of sense to see this show in London, which places their artworks in the context in which they were created. I had a coffee at Sloane Square Hotel's Brasserie. If I hadn't been staying with EH, I might have checked out Sloane Square Hotel, which just opened last October and is in a fabulous location without London's fabulously high rates (online rates until the end of Feb 2007 started from GBP125). All this aside, one of the things I love most about travelling is catching up with old friends and the opportunity to meet all sorts of interesting people. In London, through AL, I met the Chairman of Farlows, an old English fishing and field sports shop, and the COO of San Francisco-based brand consultancy The 2M Group. One never know where chance meetings might lead...