Motoring Celebrities at the Festival of Speed

By Peter Orosz, 11:00 AM on Wed Jul 8 2009, 8,049 views (Edit, to draft, Slurp)

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Goodwood has a reputation of lowered walls between the masses and the motoring glitterati. Let’s see who among the many famous wandered into view.

When you look at vintage photography of motor racing, you may be led to believe that back when racing wasn’t a global media spectacle, the stars constantly hobnobbed with their fans. This is probably not true. But what certainly is true is that modern motorsports events guard their principal actors behind security systems the Secret Service would approve of. At a Formula One race, or at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, you can barely see the pits, let alone the drivers, who speed by behind Armco and barbed wire at 200+ MPH in full-faced helmets.

The Festival of Speed is supposed to be different. For one thing, there are an incredible number of famous people present from all walks of motoring. Racing drivers past and present, rich petrolheads, carmakers: they are all there. Add to that the remarkable access you have to the cars themselves: Porsche 917’s and Silver Arrows race full throttle behind a 1950s-style hay barrier and you can walk up to multimillion-dollar racing cars, pat them on their Gurney flaps and no one will chide you.

Let’s see the few notables who have walked or driven in front of my camera.