The Goodwood estate has become an iconic venue for celebrating motoring. Since its founding in 1993, the Goodwood Festival of Speed has become a highlight on the calendar for motoring enthusiasts in the UK and beyond. The four day weekend event brings together iconic cars, old and new, to take on the hillclimb. Thousands of spectators flock to Goodwood every summer to see everything from F1 cars to the latest hypercars, motorbikes and even pickup trucks. To find out more about how the Goodwood Festival of Speed has evolved over the years, I spoke with its founder, the Duke of Richmond. Trinity Francis: How would you describe the Festival of Speed? His Grace: It’s unique. It’s a celebration of the history and heritage of the automobile, right from the very beginning. It’s also about the cars of today and the future. The big difference about the Festival of Speed is that it really is dynamic. It’s all about seeing the cars moving and people getting excited about that. I think it’s an honest celebration of the motor car and why we all love it. Being mobile is a joy, driving is a joy, going fast is a joy and that’s what it celebrates. At the 2024 Festival of Speed, MG marked its centenary. Kirsty Jane Russell Francis: Walk us through the evolution of the Festival of Speed. His Grace: It started off a lot smaller but it grew very quickly. We were amazed even in year one, the enthusiasm completely took our breath away. We started off being told we’d get 2,500 to attend if we were lucky and 25,000 people broke in, it was like a rock festival or something. The real difference is a simple formula, but all events before then for classic cars were aimed at a very small audience who owned all the cars. They were participating in their own events and they were aimed at car clubs, there was no inclusion of people who just love cars. MORE FOR YOU Microsoft Confirms $1.50 Windows Security Update Hotpatch Fee Starts July 1 Microsoft Confirms Password Spraying Attack — What You Need To Know Google’s Gmail Upgrade—Why You Need To Change Your App Soon, we were inviting owners from America and all over the world to come to the Festival of Speed with cars no one had ever seen before. It evolved pretty quickly and we got up to 200,000 attendees pretty quickly. It continues to evolve and change all the time. I can't believe that in 32 years it's grown every year. The motoring weekend brings together some of the most incredible vehicles and racers. Tom Baigent Francis: How do you see the event changing in the coming years, especially with the expected rise of autonomous vehicles? His Grace: We’ll celebrate them and we’ll be showing them. We want to be right at the forefront of all the latest technology. One of the things developed in the last 10 years of Festival of Speed is Nucleus which is an event we hold for the automobile and tech worlds to exchange ideas and talk about the future. We’ve had some of the leading lights of the world talk to us on all sorts of topics and I hope that’s become an important part of the industry’s year. Then we have Future Labs which came out of Nucleus. While Nucleus is for people at the highest level in tech and the car business, Future Labs is a celebration of what that technology actually looks like and an opportunity for those companies to show off what they’re doing in terms of tech, not just mobility. It could be all sorts of things: robotics, food, living on Mars, rockets. It’s going from strength to strength and that’s us wanting to show the public what the world’s going to look like and try and get students and kids excited about STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths). Future Labs brings together new innovations to get kids and adults alike excited about technology. Francis: What role does the Festival of Speed play in preserving British car culture and historic motoring? His Grace: I’m not trying to suggest that we, necessarily, are important but I think the role we play as the world and technology changes is increasingly important. Cars are a huge part of the last 100 years, what has been done in 100 years is amazing. Understanding how that all fits together in terms of history and time is important. I think we can give people a really good perspective on all of that by showing them the best cars in the world. Goodwood Revival brings together all kinds of classic cars in a dynamic display. MARTIN HOARE PHOTOGRAPHY Francis: How does Goodwood Revival complement Festival of Speed? His Grace: The whole ethos of revive and thrive is an important message. But it’s not really about nostalgia, it’s about modern for me in a way. It’s about saying second hand is a good thing, look after things, hang onto them and enjoy them. Revival runs on all sustainable fuel and I think it’s a really powerful message for a younger audience. Running an old car is a really sustainable thing. It’s far more sustainable than buying a new one because the amount of energy required to build a new vehicle is horrific, so to keep an old vehicle is a very positive outcome. The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. Editorial StandardsForbes Accolades