Andrew Willis

Gallery: The Motor Circuit is alive to the sound of turbochargers

Without rubbing it in too much, being on-site for the one-off Goodwood Speedweek presented by Mastercard has us feeling pretty jammy this year. One of the main reasons is the SpeedWeek Super Special, which has united cars representing nearly half a century of the World Rally Championship. All competing in separate classes and for outright victory as they whistle and pop their way around the Goodwood Motor Circuit grounds.

Today we saw a flurry of Group 4 rarities like the Lancia Stratos, Ford Escort RS2000 and Ferrari 308GTB scream their way through the Motor Circuit tunnel. A place usually crammed full of spectators moving to-and-fro.

Now, for obvious reasons, this pedestrian thoroughfare is a place of battle as Group B monsters including the Audi Sport Quattro S1 and Peugeot 205 T16, squeeze their way through the narrow tunnel, emerging into blinding mid-day sunshine moments before flicking their way past our office in the Tony Gaze building. Evoking that golden, yet terrifying and ultimately flawed era of rallying as they blast off towards the avenue of trees to post their lap times.

Finishing off the Speedweek Super Special during this Friday’s daytime run was the modern era of Group A cars including Suburu Imprezas, a Mitsubishi Evo and a Ford Focus WRC. Finally, the very latest examples of innovative WRC engineering such as a Ford Fiesta R5, a Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 and a Toyota GR Yaris ‘0' car showed how rallying continues to push the boundaries of what is possible in cars that aren’t too far removed from something you’d see parked at the local supermarket.

Photography by Jordan Butters and Pete Summers.