Everything from the very first Porsche—The 356 “No. 1” Roadster—to the most advanced Porsche race car of all time—The 919 Hybrid Evo—was at Goodwood for the Festival of Speed this year. Porsche, in their 70th year, went all out in their display, bringing dozens of historically significant street and race cars to Lord March’s driveway to play. And play they did.
Significant Porsches from the past were featured in Goodwood’s central sculpture, as they were the featured marque. On each point of the sky-high mounted star you’ll find a 911R, a 918 Spyder, a 919 Hybrid Le Mans Prototype, a very early production 356 coupe, a Gulf-liveried John Wyer 917, and one of the Dakar-entered 959s. It’s a breathtaking piece of the show, and helps to show how monolithic the Porsche brand has become.
As with everything Porsche does, there is a keen eye aimed toward the future, while not forgetting their past. Porsche brought a very serious array of their hybrid and electric vehicle display.
In keeping with that theme, Porsche hauled their recent Nurburgring lap record winner to the hill for a few exhibition runs. Call me a cynic, but Porsche didn’t have the car make an attack at the hill because Volkswagen’s full electric I.D.-R Pikes Peak winner to set the fastest time of the weekend. Perhaps Volkswagen didn’t want to get showed up by their little brother Porsche?
Throwing things back a bit, Porsche brought their Dan Gurney-driven Porsche 804 Grand Prix car. It was a very advanced racing car in its day, and provided Porsche’s only Grand Prix victory. Of course this car is a significant piece of Porsche’s history, and no celebration of the brand’s history would be complete without it.
Speaking of racing, it’s difficult to deny Porsche’s historic Le Mans-winning Pink Pig throwback livery 911 RSR. Le Mans was just a month ago, and it’s still wearing its Le Mans bug splatters. The scars of war.
Here’s to another 70 years of the greatest sports car on the planet.
Special thanks to @southerngermanation and@michelinusa for some of the pics and videos