The Forest Rally Stage at the Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard in 2017 will see an awesome display of more R5 cars than ever before – including the debut of the brand-new Proton Iriz R5 – alongside mighty Group B monsters and a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the birth of ‘WRC’ regulations.
MAY 24th 2017
Proton Iriz R5 debut and Group B legends to headline FOS 2017 Rally Stage!
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The Iriz R5 will be the first Proton to go rallying since production of the Satria Neo ended four years ago and heralds the Malaysian firm’s return to the world of rallying in 2018.
Alongside the R5 cars will be a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the launch of ‘World Rally Car’ regulations in 1997 – a ruleset which spawned a golden age for the WRC and featured stars including Marcus Grönholm, Richard Burns and Tommi Mäkinen.
Epitomising this year’s Festival theme – “Peaks of Performance – Motorsport’s Game-Changers” will be a stunning collection of Group B machinery including Audi Quattros, Lancia 037, MG Metro 6R4s and even the awesome MG Metro 8R4 – a 6R4 with a 4.6-litre V8 engine. These monster rallying machines that were so fast, powerful, expensive and outstandingly capable that the rallying rules had to be changed to bring them back under control.
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Also starring will be Bron Burrell, who will be reunited with the iconic Austin Maxi she drove in the 1970 London to Mexico World Cup. The iconic Austin, nicknamed ‘Puff the Magic Wagon’ will be reunited with its driver for the first time in 47 years following a renovation last year.
Some of the future stars of rallying will be taking on the Goodwood gravel in their R2-specification cars, including Tom Williams in a Ford Fiesta, Catie Munnings in a Peugeot 208 and Chris Ingram in an Opel Adam.
Other highlights on the stage will include the bizarre Citroën 2CV BiBip Dakar – which remains one of the most ambitious attempts to conquer one of the world’s toughest rallies. The BiBip saw a 1963 2CV fitted with not one, but two Citroën Visa engines to boost power nearly ten times from the standard 12.5bhp to 100. While the attempt was unsuccessful – the BiBip retired after a suspension failure on stage four – the car would go on to finish 75th in the Paris 24hr 4x4.
Alongside these machines, celebrity chef and Goodwood regular James Martin will be bringing his iconic ’63 Mini Cooper, while several stars of the Group A era will take to the stage including Ford Escort Cosworths, the rare but iconic Mitsubishi Starion and a brilliant Mercedes-Benz 190E.
Tickets are still available for the 2017 Goodwood Festival of Speed – for more information click here.
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