F1 teams busy at Goodwood this weekend 01 Jul 2011
There may not be a Grand Prix this weekend, but dedicated fans needn’t worry about missing their Formula One fix - the majority of F1 teams will be in action at the UK’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, Renault, Lotus and Virgin are all scheduled to attend the annual three-day celebration of motorsport, which gets underway on Friday.
Goodwood regulars and former world champions, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, will be two of the many drivers present. As well as wowing their fans with demonstrations of the 2008 McLaren MP4-23 and the new MP4-12C road car, Button and Hamilton will also be making their way up the famous 1.16-mile hill climb in the MP4-1 - the first carbon-fibre chassis F1 car - on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
Among the other star names expected are Red Bull’s Mark Webber, Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg, Renault’s Vitaly Petrov and Bruno Senna, Ferrari’s Marc Gene, Lotus’s Heikki Kovalainen and Karun Chandhok and Virgin’s Timo Glock.
Red Bull’s chief technical officer Adrian Newey will get behind the wheel of one his previous creations, the McLaren MP4-19, and Bobby Rahal's 1986 Indy 500-winning March 86C, whilst colleague and team principal Christian Horner is to drive a yet-to-be-named historic car.
A host of famous figures from Formula One’s past feature in the line-up too: Jean Alesi, Martin Brundle, Derek Bell, Thierry Boutsen, and world champions Nigel Mansell and John Surtees. Two-time champion Emerson Fittipaldi will tackle the hill in a Penske PC23, whilst 1996 champion Damon Hill will be in action on in a Williams FW15C.
As usual, legendary Formula One engine suppliers Cosworth will have a strong presence, though not just in F1 machinery. The company will also be demonstrating how its Formula One technology is being used in the Bloodhound SSC programme, which aims to take the world land speed record through the 1000mph barrier next year.
A current Cosworth CA2010 Formula One engine will serve as the Bloodhound SSC’s auxiliary power unit, providing essential hydraulic and other services to the car’s main power sources, a custom-designed hybrid rocket and an EJ200 jet engine, which combined will deliver 47,000lbs of thrust, equivalent to 135,000bhp.
The theme for this year’s Goodwood Festival is ‘Racing Revolutions - Quantum leaps that shaped motor sport’, celebrating the ceaseless quest for ‘increased power; greater efficiency; more speed’. The Festival gets underway on Friday and lasts until Sunday.
