Goodwood Festival of Speed

The Festival of Speed is far from your average show, regarded as one of the world's biggest and most coveted events, it attracts a mindboggling array of legendary vehicles. Think of it as the Glastonbury of the car show world, only without the mud, crusty jugglers and questionable bathrooms - here we're talking nothing but the crème de la crème of motoring, from way back to the very inception of the "horseless carriage'.

You see, Goodwood FOS may be an event that's steeped in tradition, it's also billed as one of the world's biggest celebrations of motorsport and car culture, and there's no arguing with any of that, either. But, if there's one thing that unites everything you'll see here, it's probably having a few quid to spend on rare and exotic motors.

In fact, it's no exaggeration to say that many of the cars you'll find here are priceless. Sure, there's the stupidly expensive stuff, the hyper car royalty and such - the cars you can buy today if your wallet is big enough. But, when it comes to the real stars of the show, it has to be the wealth of retro metal on display, including plenty of absolutely irreplaceable works of art from the racing world. Legendary status and rarity value is simply off the scale here.

Even the car manufacturers have been known to flash the cash. Most of the OEM giants spend millions on their stands, some building whole, fully-equipped showrooms, just for the weekend.

And that's because the whole world is watching. FOS is a time to go and pull out the cars that only see daylight for this sort of occasion, the big guns and the heavy hitters… and of course, there's no way we wasn't going to be there to soak up the atmosphere…

Racing up the hill

One of the most famous aspects of Goodwood is the hill climb, and this is for good reason. You'll see quite the heady selection of performance motors hitting the hallowed tarmac over the course of the weekend, everything from pre-production supercars, to priceless classics and a whole load of racers from every different era. The art of, rather bravely, going flat out on the course is a badge of honour here… and there's always a few that don't even make it up the hill in one piece!

The future

The FOS is always home to a whole load of weird and wonderful new tech - and sometimes they even have a few new cars, too! It's basically the place to show off not just the past, but what will be big in the future. We saw everything from flying car concepts and autonomous robots to plenty of prototype hypercars, and even a few pre-production models in the First Glance Paddock. One of the most interesting though, had to be the soon-to-be fastest production car on the planet, the almost ridiculous 2000hp Lotus Evija. It looks like the future of electric motoring may be straight out of Norfolk, who would have thought it?

Cartier style et luxe

Looking for those jaw-dropping historic works of art? Well, the manicured lawns of the Style et Luxe is THE place for the really, really posh stuff. The only part of the show 100% guaranteed to make you feel poor and underdressed, only in a good way.

The Cartier display has been around since the mid '90s - just two or three years after the event started, and it offers the "look-but-don't-touch' examples in what is basically one of the world's finest concours comps. Only the rarest, big-bucks vehicles with the most legendary status get to park up here.

In the forest

Of course, we love all the cars on display here, who wouldn't love an old skool F1 racer or brand-new supercar? But, perhaps our favourite part of the whole event is the tucked away in the corner - the rally stage. What can we say? We don't just love detailing cars - we love seeing them get dirty, too!

It's always well worth the trek into the forest, just to catch a glimpse of some true WRC and Group B icons ripping up the dirt. The paddock is also a particular highlight that can keep us drooling for hours over some seriously famous heroes of rallying, bedroom poster cars driven by the biggest names in history - the likes of Sainz, Blomqvist, Makinen, Loeb and McRae. Basically, you'll see every one of your childhood legends here, and, if you don't, that's probably because they smashed it to oblivion back in the day.

There's no denying it; Goodwood FOS is one of the best celebrations of car culture, not just in Europe, but in the whole world! Suffice to say we'll see you again next year.