Goodwood Festival of Speed
Every summer, Goodwood is transformed into a stage for one of the most fascinating motorsport events in the world: the Goodwood Festival of Speed. This location in Southern England is sacred to motorsport enthusiasts – a holy site of speed, where the past, present, and future of motorsport come together. Here, where legends are born and traditions are honoured, the love of speed is at the centre of it all.
The Goodwood Festival of Speed pays homage to everything that makes motorsport what it is.
”A festival with heart
A festival with heart
The Goodwood Festival of Speed was brought to life in 1993 by Charles Gordon-Lennox, the Duke of Richmond. With the aim of celebrating the glorious history of motorsport and making the artistry of racing accessible to a wider audience, he created an event that has become more magical with every year that has passed. On the legendary, 1.16-mile-long mountain race course, “The Hillclimb”, which meanders through the heart of the Goodwood Estate, the best racers face off against one another – from historical race cars and motorcycles, right up to the latest supercars and superbikes.
However, it’s not just the vehicles that make this festival so special. It is the combination of past and future, of tradition and innovation that makes Goodwood into a place where every motorsport fan’s dreams come true. Here, you can see iconic vehicles and legendary drivers, as well as the best of modern technical innovations. With the smell of petrol and the roar of the engines in the air, time seems to stop for a few days each year – and the love of motorsport takes the wheel.
Motorcycles: The soul of the festival
Motorsport without motorcycles? No way. The Festival of Speed celebrates this special relationship, which has been allowed to flourish over the years. From the early racing bikes, which take to the track without suspension and with rattling single-cylinder engines, right up to the state-of-the-art superbikes, which can reach speeds of over 300 km/h – they all come together at Goodwood.
It’s about more than just the bikes, it’s about the stories, too. Stories of heroism and madness, of triumph and tragedy. You can feel the passion of the riders who are looking for a thrill and see their bikes as an extension of themselves.
As such, the long-standing racing tradition of BMW Motorrad has found the perfect stage in Goodwood, where this tradition can be celebrated and honoured.
Every year, BMW Motorrad brings an impressive spectrum of motorcycles to the festival to take on the famous mountain racetrack – from classic racing bikes that were conquering the tracks in the 1930s, right up to the latest technical innovations.
An eye-catching BMW Motorrad
An eye-catching BMW Motorrad
At the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2024, BMW Motorrad presented the BMW R20 concept, which was first presented at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2024. The striking design that has the air-cooled big boxer engine as its focal point was able to turn heads on the famous Hillclimb course at Goodwood. At the wheel: Markus Flasch, Head of BMW Motorrad. With this vision of a roadster, BMW Motorrad took the opportunity at Goodwood to prove that the brand will continue to bring courageous design and high-level engineering to the streets in future. Or, as in this case, to the racetrack.
There were also two historical classics on display there. In addition to the BMW RS 54 from the 1950s, there was also a carefully restored replica of the BMW R 255/1 with a compressor engine. It was with this type of motorcycle that Georg “Schorsch” Meier was the first foreigner to win the Senior Tourist Trophy on the Isle of Man with a non-English motorcycle in 1939.
If you’ve been to the Goodwood Festival of Speed, you’ll know: It’s not just a festival, it’s a tribute to everything that makes motorsport what it is – speed, technology, style, and the indefatigable drive to keep pushing the limits of possibility.
