goodwood festival of speed 2019

The latest and greatest motorsport celebration in the world, The Goodwood Festival of Speed 2019, is now finished for another year. Last weekend’s extravaganza was the 26th edition of the event and it just keeps getting better each year.

Last year, the event coincided with Porsche’s 70th anniversary and saw the EV movement gain more traction. See our highlights from 2018’s event here: https://wda-automotive.com/goodwood-festival-of-speed-2018/

This year, the Goodwood Festival of Speed had lots more surprises, record-breaking runs, exquisite cars and the latest in automotive technology on display. As tradition, the WDA team have been debating their favourite moments from the weekend. However, picking just one of them was impossible, so instead we’ve picked 6. Be sure to turn your volume up before you go any further!

A New King of the Hill

There’s now a new king of the hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed – The Volkswagen ID R. VW’s amazing electric race car continues to break records. This time it has smashed the previous Hillclimb record of 41.6 seconds (set by Nick Heidfeld back in 1999), not once, but twice. The ID R first broke the record with a 41.18-second run and then managed to top that with a 39.9-second run. This mouthwatering machine accelerates from 0-62mph in just 2.25 seconds!

Ford’s Latest Supercar

The next level of Ford GT performance has arrived in the form of the track-only GT MKII supercar, unveiled at Goodwood. It’s powered by a 3.5-litre EcoBoost V6 which produces an impressive 700bhp. Watch it make its debut alongside a Le Mans racer.

History Celebrated

Aston Martin was this year’s celebrated manufacturer as it marked 70 years since they first raced at the Goodwood Motor Circuit. Aston Martin showcased some of its iconic vehicles, spanning seven decades and also unveiled the prototype for their first SUV – the DBX.

The S-Drone

The world’s first remotely-controlled 5G car was unveiled at Goodwood by Samsung (partnering with Designated Drive and Vodafone) – the aptly named S-Drone (a Lincoln MKZ). Vaughn Gittin Jr. piloted the car using a Samsung VR headset from a remote driving station a few hundred metres away. The station was built by remote control vehicle experts, Designated Driver. 5G technology with its low latency, ultra-high reliability and availability will be a game changer in the automotive industry for smart, connected vehicles.

De Tomaso Returns

The Goodwood Festival of Speed 2019 saw the return of legendary supercar manufacturer – De Tomaso. They stunned Goodwood with their gorgeous P72, built to celebrate their 60th anniversary and paying homage to their 60’s P70 prototype racer. Just 72 of these are to be built using a carbon fibre chassis. Its technical specs are currently unknown.

Autonomous Technology

RoboRace returned to Goodwood this year with their DevBot2.0 – an all-electric race car that runs on the Nvidia DRIVE platform in autonomous mode but can also be driven by a human or AI driver. Watch below as Seb Delanney drives DevBot2.0 part way up the Goodwood hill before letting the car do the rest on its own…

Looking to the Future

The Goodwood Festival of Speed 2019 certainly didn’t disappoint. It was another fantastic event that showcased the best of motorsport past, present and the future. WDA is constantly looking to the future and keeping updated with the latest automotive technological advances and trends. The future is certainly electric, autonomous and connected.

Finally, don’t forget to sign up to Goodwood ticket alerts at: https://www.goodwood.com/motorsport/events/ticket-alert/

The 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed came to a close on Sunday and the 25th-anniversary edition of the event was certainly an extraordinary one.

This year also coincided with Porsche’s 70th anniversary, and saw the EV movement gain even more traction including a stunning run from the wild VW I.D. R which set a Goodwood record for the fastest electric car. The show also saw WDA client Diamondbrite make their Goodwood debut, where our ‘Great Diamondbrite Heist’ campaign was driving traffic and business for the brand throughout the event.

Back in the office we’ve all been hotly debating our best Goodwood Festival of Speed moment, but with so much happening it’s been impossible to pick one. So we picked 7! Here they are:

1) The BTCC touring car showdown

To celebrate 60 years of the BTCC, a classic FOS shootout took place. It was great to see some of the BTCC all-stars including Andrew Jordan, Matt Neal, and Josh Cook completing head-to-head for this year’s crown. Find out who was crowned the winner in the video below…

2) The first driverless car tackles the famous hill

A decade ago driverless cars would have been something only spoken about in Science Fiction but now they are a reality and the technology is progressing at a terrifying pace! This year, history was made as we got to see the first ever autonomous vehicle tackle the Goodwood hill – Roborace’s Robocar! Here’s the video…

Maybe, just maybe, in a few years time, we could see something very similar at an electrifying pace and breaking records. Who knows?

3) Porsche’s 70th anniversary

Porsche, the largest and most traditional sports car manufacturer in the world celebrated its 70th anniversary at Goodwood this year. What a celebration it was! From their incredible sculpture in front of the Goodwood house to the vast range of iconic Porsche vehicles that had their moments up the hill, it really was an anniversary to remember!

porsche 70 years, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Image credit: David Barbour

4) The McLaren 600LT

McLaren gave the world the first look at its new track-focussed supercar, the 600LT. It is said to be their quickest, most powerful and lightest yet road-legal Sports Series car yet. The 600LT is capable of reaching 200kmph in an astonishing 8.2 seconds! McLaren said that the remit of the 600LT is “to engage and excite drivers to the highest levels imaginable”.

McLaren 600LT, goodwood festival of speed

Image Credit: Auto Express

5) Volkswagen I.D. R breaks more records!

The incredible Volkswagen I.D. R is a prototype all-electric race car and is part of a collaboration between Volkswagen’s R tuning brand and their Motorsport division. With a Pikes-Peak win in Colorado recently achieved, the VW I.D. R smashed the electric car hillclimb record at Goodwood this year and also clocked in the 3rd fastest ever shootout time at 43.86 seconds! See the lap below… What records will it break next?

6) Donuts for Valtteri Bottas

It was great to see the Finnish F1 driver who is currently racing with Mercedes having some fun at Goodwood. Watch him punish the tyres on Nico Rosberg’s 2016 Mercedes F1 AMG as he does a few donuts before setting off up the hill!

7) World record smashed by Terry Grant

More records were broken at this year’s Goodwood Festival of speed with Terry Grant. The world famous stunt driver managed to maintain concentration, stay on two wheels and smash the current world record for the fastest two-wheeled mile. The new record was set in an orange Ranger Rover and it marked the 24th world record held by the Brit. Watch his world record two-wheeled mile below…

The Goodwood Festival of Speed was a record-breaking, incredible event and the 2019 edition is something you’ll not want to miss. Sign up for ticket alerts here: https://www.goodwood.com/sports/motorsport/events/ticket-alert/

Staying ahead of the curve

WDA are always up to date with the latest in the automotive industry and we attend as many trade shows and exhibitions as possible year round. This enables us to stay ahead of the curve in a competitive industry and deliver the best results for our clients. Our next event is Automechanika Frankfurt in September so if you’re there, come and say hi!

If you’d like to improve your current automotive branding or marketing strategy then get in touch with us today to find out how we can help.

Goodwood Festival of Speed 11-14th July 2013

For the past couple of months WDA have been busy working alongside MER Auto Shine Technologie, gearing up for their first official public outing since the re-brand at Goodwood’s prestigious Festival of Speed.

50% More visitors

Weʼre pleased to say the event was a massive success, with 50% more visitors to the MER stand than in 2012, which resulted in more exposure to the new brand, its range of new products and of course, more sales too.

When we first began the project, WDAʼs task was to create an exhibition stand, which not only displayed the MER products but also created a buzz about the brand. We needed something, which got people excited and talking about MER. We already had the fantastic GT3 Porsche to be polished and cleaned, but since this year was the 50th Anniversary of the Porsche we knew Goodwood would be swamped with them, we needed something more, something fun and interactive.

A Race to the Perfect Finish!

So we came up with The MER Scalextric Challenge. The idea was to have a custom built Scalextric track on the stand so that our visitors could compete with one another and win some great prizes courtesy of both Scalextric and MER. Based on our ‘perfect finishʼ advertising campaign slogan we invited show goers to ‘Race to the Perfect Finish’. We created a Top Gear style ʻLeader Boardʼ and even a winners podium, so participants could pose in front of the MER backdrop and share their success by publishing their photographs on Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels – getting a great viral effect and further promoting the brand.

As predicted, Scalextric proved ever popular with all ages (in fact the competitive dads were even more enthusiastic than the kids!) On the first day the stand was busy  8 oʼclock in the morning. On the remaining three days as word got around the crowds were even more eager as a hive of activity was starting to form from 7am going right through until 6.30pm. We’re pleased to report that despite this severe hammering in 30 degree+ heat, the track and (most) of the cars survived despite only a very brief break when we powered down on day 3 as the Red Arrows flew over!

The Scalextric challenge proved a great way for the MER staff to get chatting to festival goers about their products and give away some free samples but thatʼs not to underestimate the other components of the stand. The black and orange Porsche GT3 attracted a huge amount of interest and was a great way to demonstrate the cleaning power of the new MER range; whilst the exhibition stand provided a great backdrop for the brand, to remind the public that the product, which used to be in the blue-bottle is now in a slick black bottle, with a shiny gold top!

£1200.00 raised for DMUK

The stand also had a charitable element to it as well, we asked anyone wishing to participate in the Scalextric Challenge to make a small donation to the Disabled Motorists UK. MERʼs promise was to match that pound for pound; and in total we raised nearly £1200.00, which was a great gesture for a well-deserving charity who campaign for better rights for disabled motorists and their families and carers. Overall it was a fantastic event, which provided great PR for the MER brand and most importantly achieved exactly what we set out to do – to attract record visitors to our stand, engage them with the new brand – and drive sales!

WDA would like to say a huge thank you to all MER staff who worked hard to keep the stand running smoothly throughout the festival, Tony at Corporate Layouts who built up the Scalextric track and Marta from Disabled Motorist UK, who also joined us to promote the charity.

To see more shots from the day, click here

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