Goodwood Festival of Speed 2021 – Lotus to take pride of place on central feature
With this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed not far away, details on the central feature have been announced
Every year Goodwood is home to some of the world’s greatest automotive events, ones that due to the global pandemic had to be cancelled in 2020. Thankfully though, Goodwood has confirmed that all three of its biggest gatherings will still run in 2021, and a recent update uncovers further details about the highlight event of the season.
The design remains under wraps, but Goodwood has revealed that Lotus will feature on the central sculpture for the 2021 Festival of Speed, following its last appearance in 2012. The towering sculptures have become a much-loved aspect of the event since their 1997 introduction, with this year’s version set to ‘head in a new direction to provide an immersive customer experience on-event and from home’.
The Duke of Richmond said: ‘Lotus cars raced with great success at Goodwood throughout the 1950s and ‘60s, including setting the ultimate lap record in 1965, and this year’s Central Feature will serve as a fitting landmark to their past, present and future achievements. The sculpture looks set to be one of the most dramatic and futuristic yet, bringing in elements of interactivity for modern audiences that align with Lotus’ future-facing attitude and outlook.’
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The Festival of Speed will take place on July 8-11, and will be based around the same theme originally planned for 2020: ‘Motorsport’s Great All-Rounders’. The usual collection of everything from camouflaged development cars, modern racers and plenty of fresh new metal will be present, with manufacturers, teams and drivers set to celebrate their greatest motorsport achievements.
2019's event saw the all-electric Volkswagen ID R, piloted by Romain Dumas, set a record hill climb run, tackling the course in just 39.90sec, a record more than plenty of manufacturers would be eying up to add to the trophy cabinet.
Having already been postponed twice, the 78th Members’ Meeting will now take place on October 16-17 as opposed to in May as previously planned. Held exclusively for members of the Goodwood Road Racing Club it, as every year, aims to recreate the atmosphere of Goodwood race weekend of decades gone by.
Celebrating the Motor Circuit’s golden age between 1948 and 1966 is the Goodwood Revival, this year set for September 17-19. Always home to some of the world’s rarest and most valuable machinery, the retro-themed event is always a highlight to lovers of motorsport old and new.
All three events will be run in accordance with Government Covid-19 guidelines of the time and tickets are on sale now.
