The best crashes from the Goodwood Festival of Speed

THE Goodwood Festival of Speed should be on every self-respecting motoring enthusiast’s bucket list. It is one of the greatest celebrations of all things motoring in the world, with some of the rarest and most exotic vehicles converging on Lord March’s driveway for one hell of a party.

However, sometimes things don’t always go to plan, with the hay bale-lined track claiming its fair share of carbonfibre and sheet metal over the years.

Take this brief collection of shunts from 1994 for example, with both a Jaguar XJ220 and Jacques Villeneuve Formula 1 car coming off worse for wear.

Modern events know no mercy either, with a 2015 montage stretching into four minutes of carnage that you just can’t look away from. If you don’t wince or cringe just a little bit while watching, there might be something wrong with your innards.

While the headline acts at Goodwood are often the fully-fledged race cars, a few lucky plebs occasionally get taken for passenger rides up the driveway. Not even these are immune to carnage, illustrated here when a Mercedes-Benz E63 S AMG loaded with passengers ends up scattering hay bales.

Speaking of racing cars, some of the most famous championship and race winners in history tackle the hillclimb. They don’t hold back either, and occasionally a high-value scalp is claimed by Goodwood’s unforgiving driveway. Take this Lotus 98t F1 car for example.

Or Rod Millen’s Pikes Peak Tacoma, which was left bent and bruised on two successive years.

Moral of the story? Don’t underestimate Goodwood. It may just be a humble driveway, but it can bite hard when it wants!