The annual Goodwood Festival of Speed took place this past weekend, honouring a wide-range of key motorcycling milestones and welcoming a huge array of racing legends including Valentino Rossi , Freddie Spencer, Colin Edwards, Casey Stoner , and many more.
Taking place from July 9-12 in the blistering Chichester sunshine, each day had something uniquely special in store for motorcycle racing fans, with various riders welcomed onto the balcony at Goodwood House to the sound of rapturous applause from the fans below.
“It’s the best motorsport event in the world,” motorcycle engineer and television presenter, Allen Millyard told MCN – having attended with his six-cylinder Honda RC374 tribute. “I’ve been to car events in the past where when you’re on a motorbike they look down their nose at you, but at the Festival of Speed you feel included.”
The first of the key motorcycling anniversaries to be honoured was Ducati’s 100th birthday, having been founded on July 4, 1926.
Taking place on Thursday, July 9, current Ducati stars of the World Superbike (WSBK) paddock were flown in from Donington Park ahead of the British round of the championship taking place over the same weekend.
They were joined by past Ducati legends including double MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner, three-time WSBK champion Troy Bayliss , and four-time WSBK champion Carl Fogarty – plus six-time British Superbike (BSB) champ Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne, alongside fellow BSB series winners Josh Brookes, and Scott Redding.
“I don’t think there’s anything like it in the world,” Byrne told MCN ahead of the celebration. “Even sat here, Foggy’s just over there, Kenny Roberts is wondering about, and there’s a whole load of Formula 1 people.”
This was added to by Stoner, who appeared on stage and told crowds: “If there was any event that I would ever go to being a fan, it would be this one.
“Being able to see the amount of cars and bikes from present to the past and all these great riders – everybody that we grew up watching – it’s something that no other event for me holds this kind of status.”
It wasn’t just Ducati being marked either, with a special moment on Friday in celebration of John McGuinness completing 30 years of racing at the Isle of Man TT.
The 23-time winner took to the 1.16-mile hill climb route aboard a special Honda Fireblade he used to compete at this year’s road racing fortnight, painted in tribute to the Paul Bird Motorsport RS250R he piloted as a 24-year-old on his debut in 1996.
“I’m in such a good place at the minute,” he told the onlookers during a moment on the Goodwood House balcony. “A couple of weeks ago at the TT, I put the helmet on and did the fastest-ever six laps I’ve ever done around there and still finished in the top five, and it’s like the journey that just keeps giving.”
McGuinness returned to the hill on Saturday alongside fellow road racers Davey Todd, and Michael Dunlop – plus nine-time Grand Prix world champion Valentino Rossi, who threw a leg over his old YZR-M1 MotoGP bike to share a huge burnout alongside the TT trio.
“I am very happy and proud to be back at Goodwood, it is a little more than 10 years since the last time I was here,” Rossi said. “It is quite impressive how big the event has become, so it’s great to be here for all the fans and riding my M1 is always fantastic.”
Other former GP champions in attendance included 2000 500cc winner, Kenny Roberts Jr. who spoke to MCN and said: “The attraction is the people and the atm…