Contract Hire News – McLaren Mercedes-Benz Formula One World Champion to appear at Festival of speed
Many Contract Hire News regulars will be racing down to Goodwood in West Sussex this year for the annual Festival of Speed, held in the grounds of Goodwood House, The Earl of March’s country residence.
The Festival of Speed is the world’s biggest celebration of the history of motor sport, and features the cars and personalities of yesteryear right up to current day.
Goodwood and motor sport have a history that spans over eighty years to when the 9th Duke of Richmond – grandfather to the present Earl – held the first motor sport event in the grounds of Goodwood Park in 1936, a hill climb meeting for Lancia enthusiasts.
The Duke went on to open the Goodwood Motor Circuit on the estate in 1948. Motor sports fans who had not seen any live racing action for nearly a decade, following the closure of Brooklands in 1939 at the start of the Second World War, flocked to the circuit in their thousands.
Inspired by his grandfather and with a love of motor racing himself, the current Earl of March held the first Festival of Speed meeting in the grounds of Goodwood House sixteen years ago.
Mercedes contract hire customers who have been to the event in previous years will know what a treat is in store for visitors to this year’s festival. The 3-day event at the beginning of July offers a unique chance to get up close to the drivers and machines that have made motoring history over the decades, as well as those who are doing so today.
With a garden party atmosphere and unrestricted access to the paddock, Mercedes contract hire customers who attend this year’s event will have the chance to rub shoulders with current Formula One Grand Prix champion Lewis Hamilton and the current leader of this year’s Formula One championship, Jenson Button, both of whom are driving Mercedes-Benz powered cars this season – Hamilton for McLaren Mercedes and Button for Brawn GP.
Hamilton and Button have become regular faces at the Festival of Speed over the last few years. In fact Hamilton has developed such a close connection to the event that the Lewis Hamilton Foundation – the non-profit organisation set up by the McLaren Mercedes champion to help improve the lives of children and young people living in poverty or with ill health – will be this year’s main event sponsor.
Lewis Hamilton will be at the festival on the Sunday and Mercedes contract hire customers will be able to watch him drive Ayrton Senna’s 1988 McLaren MP4/4 F1 car - which in those days was powered by a Honda engine – up the 1.16-mile hill climb on the Goodwood estate.
Hamilton has been a life-long fan of Aryton Senna and it will be a dream come true for Lewis to have the chance to drive the Brazilian’s 1988 championship winning car.
A dream will also come true for the lucky holder of a Festival of Speed ticket for Sunday 5th July. One ticket holder will be chosen at random and given the chance of a lifetime to be a passenger in a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, driven by Lewis Hamilton on the hill climb.
Contract hire customers will also be able to spot other faces from the world of Formula One at this year’s festival, including the current McLaren Mercedes test driver Pedro de la Rosa, and past F1 drivers Damon Hill and David Coulthard.
This year’s Festival of Speed will be held on 3rd, 4th and 5th July. As in previous years entry to the event is by advance ticket purchase only. Tickets cannot be bought on the gate. To avoid disappointment Mercedes contract hire customers are advised to book early. Tickets can be obtained online at www.goodwood.co.uk/tickets/Default.aspx or by calling 01243 755055.
News stories are published on City Vehicle Leasing, that we believe may be of interest to visitors to our website and which are of a subject matter of related nature to the content of our website: Mercedes-Benz and smart car leasing and contract hire.
We report on stories that are making the news headlines around the world, which have been widely reported elsewhere. Inclusion of a news story on this website does not infer that City Vehicle Leasing has any knowledge of or involvement with the person or events contained within this news story.