Porsche and Audi celebrates at the Goodwood Festival of Speed

Both Porsche and Audi will celebrate mile stones at this years Goodwood Festival of Speed that takes place on July 3rd to the 5th. Porsche will celebrate endurance with the iconic 917 and Audi celebrates its centenary with the centre stage main display in front of Goodwood House.

For many car enthusiasts and automotive historians, the Porsche 917 is the ultimate long distance endurance racer. The 917 has a place in the record books not only as the first Porsche to win the Le Mans 24 Hours outright in 1970, but the 917 also scored the fastest ever victory at the French classic in 1971 covering 3,313 miles in 24 hours at an average speed of 138mph.

This iconic sports car, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year will be on display and many other Porsche cars from past and present in the grounds of Goodwood House, near Chichester, Sussex.

This year’s Festival will also provide the setting for another demonstration of Porsche endurance, grit and determination. An attempt on the world record for the longest distance covered in 48 hours by a team of 12 runners using treadmills will take place live at the Porsche exhibition area over the Festival weekend. Organised by the sports scientists from Human Performance facility at the Porsche Driving Experience Centre, Silverstone, this gruelling athletic exercise will seek to break the former distance record of 495.76 miles set by the Runners World Forum Squad in April 2008.

Along with Porsche, Audi is the “featured marque” as of the festival as the German manufacturer prepares to celebrates its Centenary. Audi has supported the event since 1998 – five years after the first Festival – and staged its own central display the following year. The exhibit depicted an Audi Avus quattro and a 1937 Auto Union Streamliner “racing on the banking of Avus”.

Hans Joachim Stuck Jnr, son of the Auto Union grand prix racing legend with the same name, drove a 1938/9 Type C/D Auto Union Hillclimb car on the first Festival of Speed appearance for Audi 11 years ago and, as has been the case most years since, Audi Tradition is intending to support the British event with a mouth-watering line-up of machinery, spanning the years and underlining the extensive motorsport history-making success the brand has enjoyed.

Auto Union’s pioneering C & D-Type single-seater racing cars from the 1930s, rally and race quattro all-wheel-drive machines and the company’s most recent record breaking Le Mans sportscars are the intended exhibits. Belgium’s sportscar legend Jacky Ickx, who achieved 25 podium finishes in Formula One and six wins in the 24 hours of Le Mans, plus Allan McNish – the only British driver to win the legendary French 24 Hour race in a diesel-engined car – will be amongst those on driving duty for Audi at Goodwood in July.

Audi plans to have a facility at Goodwood displaying its latest models – some on show in Britain for the very first time – with merchandise also available at its Pavilion located in the central area.

Tickets are on sale now and for more information visit www.goodwood.co.uk/fos