The world’s loudest and grandest garden party is closed for another year, but what a year it was.
No matter which discipline of motorsport gets your heart racing the fastest, the Goodwood Festival of Speed never fails to deliver with all the right cars, all the right drivers and all the right stories creating a memorable weekend.
But, as a DirtFish reader, it’s the rally cars, stars and stage you’re interested in – and 2024 was another blockbuster.
From Rally1 cars to Group 4 heroes, this year’s Forest Rally Stage had it all, including plenty of glorious machines owned by DirtFish owner Steve Rimmer. The sight of Mark Higgins and Max McRae sharing the ex-Colin McRae Ford Focus WRC stirred the senses, while Gwyndaf Evans’ Seat Ibiza Kit Car was a huge personal favorite of this writer!
But as much as we’d love to write about them all, we know you don’t have all day. So instead, here are our five rallying highlights from the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Breen’s Circuit of Ireland-winning Peugeot
You don’t see many Peugeot 208 T16 R5s around anymore. As brilliant as they looked, as distinctive as they sounded and as evocative as the Group B-inspired name was, they weren’t the most reliable of machines.
But that’s what Goodwood is all about; unearthing these gems and reintroducing them to the public eye.
What made this particular 208 T16 so special was who drove it: the much-missed Craig Breen piloted it to an emotional victory on the 2015 Circuit of Ireland Rally – an event Breen wanted to win so badly to emulate his childhood hero Frank Meagher.
Rising Irish driver Aoife Raftery had the honor of driving it at Goodwood – a sure step up from her regular Rally4-spec 208 – and she more than did it justice.
For so many to see such an iconic car, and be reminded of an event that meant so much to Craig, was utterly heart-warming. Well done to all involved in making it happen.
Paddon’s emotional Hyundai return
You simply could not wipe the smile from his face.
Faced with the choice, Hayden Paddon would of course have rathered he was doing a proper rally over the Goodwood stage, but was he complaining? Was he heck. To be reunited with Hyundai’s i20 Coupe WRC – the last car he drove competitively at the top level of the WRC all the way back in 2018 – was an extremely emotional moment.
“It’s a very special day,” Paddon said.
“A week ago I didn’t think I’d be driving this and, to be honest, when I last drove this car in 2018 I didn’t know that would be my last time. So to come back… it’s a very, very happy day.
“I’ve definitely missed this feeling.”
Fair play to Hyundai for giving the reigning European champion this chance. It was a real joy to see how much it meant to Hayden.
Ford’s Dakar challenger breaks cover
Goodwood is often selected as the venue to unveil a new car, and the rally world was treated to the launch of Ford’s Raptor T1+ on Friday. And not only that, Carlos Sainz and Nani Roma both took it up the hill throughout the rest of the weekend.
We already knew Carlos was heading back to Ford and M-Sport for his third tenure with Malcolm Wilson’s outfit, but to see him wearing the blue oval on his chest again was special. As were the words he used to describe the moment.
“This is a great motivation [for me] to come back to Ford,” Sainz said.
“Ford gave me the chance to win my first Spanish championship, to compete for the first time in the World Rally Championship and I think that with Malcolm I have a really special relationship.
“I was his first driver a long time ago, and this is going to be my fourth episode with Ford so it’s great. I’m super, super excited.”
Next month’s Baja Hungary will be the first chance we get to see the Raptor T1+ in competition, but it certainly passed the visual check! And the sound check… I’m not sure if my ears have stopped ringing from the growl of that 5L V8!
WRC makes a splash
Whether at the Forest Rally Stage or the main paddock, the World Rally Championship was well represented at Goodwood.
All three manufacturer teams were present, six drivers (and two co-drivers) made appearances at various points across the four days and the championship had hospitality both at the rally stage and in the paddock. Rally.tv’s lead WRC commentator Becs Williams was even drafted in to provide rally stage commentary alongside Tony Jardine and a host of guests.
Events like Goodwood are important for the WRC in order to engage with existing and, more importantly, new, fans. The various passenger rides in Hyundai’s i20 Coupe WRC and Toyota’s GR Yaris Rally1 were the perfect way to show attendees first-hand just how bonkers and utterly brilliant the sport is.
Last weekend isn’t suddenly going to create a Drive to Survive-style boom in terms of the WRC’s popularity, but it was an important step and therefore great to see it all unfold.
Rovanperä drifting
OK, in a sense we’ve cheated here as the subject matter at hand technically isn’t rallying. But the protagonist, two-time World Rally champion Kalle Rovanperä, has plenty of relevance, so hopefully you can allow us this one!
Most of us haven’t had the chance to see Kalle throwing his Supra sideways in the flesh, nor the opportunity to inspect his ride, but those of us at Goodwood were granted that chance. To say it’s impressive would be an understatement.
True to form, Rovanperä stole the show with his performance going up the hill, lighting up the rears everywhere he went in a cacophony of six-cylinder screams, aggressive anti-lag and smoking tires.
“It’s definitely much more fun than doing it with the rally car,” he grinned. “It’s a good show for the fans also – every time the drift cars are on the strat-line everybody takes out the phone and wants to film them.”
For once, we’d almost agree.
Either way, it was fantastic to see Rovanperä enjoy his first visit to the Festival of Speed so much that he actually chose to stay an extra day just so he could do more driving.
