30.06.2004 Led out by Ferrari Corse Cliente, who brought a brace of Ferrari F2002's, the Goodwood Festival of Speed was packed with a mouth watering line up of legendary Italian open wheel racers

The annual Goodwood Festival of Speed always attracts a crop of the finest open wheel racers to have ever come out of Italy, and this year was certainly no different.

The 'Grand Prix Paddock', bathed in sunshine during last weekend, played host to a stunning array of F1 cars, with offerings from past to present. It was led out inevitably by a large line-up of Ferraris, but also included machines from Williams, Lotus, BRM, Brabham, McLaren, Toyota, Tyrrell and BAR, who brought current F1 driver Jenson Button in to take on the hill.

Ferrari's Corse Cliente department had a brace of F2002 chassis on hand, a car that was driven to the F1 World Championship by Michael Schumacher, and which was blasted up the Goodwood hill by current team test driver Luca Badoer.

The GP Paddock Ferrari line-up was completed by a 1964 158, 1978 312T, 1978 312T3, 1980 312T5, 1987 F187/88C, 1999 F399 and a 2001 F2001. Italian interest was rounded out by the presence of a 1957 Maserati 250F in the "Forward Thinking" category.

Highlight of the three day event was provided by Jacques Villeneuve who drove his father's former Ferrari Grand Prix car. The 312T3, now owned by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, was driven by Gilles to his first F1 victory, the 1978 Canadian GP.

Clearly emotional, Jaques, who used one of his father's helmets for the run, commented afterwards, "It was really great and very special, even if it was short. I never thought I would do this, it's something that you do once in a lifetime, and that's what it will remain. This run was like 'thank you and goodbye' to my Dad."

Elsewhere, famous open wheel racers included Willie Green driving a Maserati 4CLT, Alexander Boswell in a Ferrari 500/625 and comedian Rowan Atkinson who drove a fabulous Lancia D50 A.

by Edd Ellison