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VINTAGE: Alfa Romeo Celebrated At Goodwood
Centennial of Italian marque brings out historic racers; Formula 1 marks 60th aniversary.
Wouter Melissen  | http://www.ultimatecarpage.com  |  Posted July 07, 2010   Goodwood (GB)
An early Alfa Romeo Type B P3 rounds the track at the Good Festival of Speed, which honored the Italian automaker on its 100th year. (Photo: Wouter Melissen)
Honoring 100 years of Alfa Romeo, the theme for the 2010 edition of the Goodwood Festival of Speed was “Viva Veloce - The passion for speed.”

The centenary of one of the world's most iconic manufacturers was celebrated in great style by bringing together a remarkably large number of Alfa's legendary competition cars, including some rarely seen examples. On the lawn of Lord March’s estate in Sussex, where he hosted the 18th Festival of Speed, the traditional sculpture was also dedicated to Alfa Romeo, representing a clover leaf. The sculpture featured the very successful P2 Grand Prix car of the 1920s and a contemporary 8C Competizione.

The McLaren MP4/23 Mercedes driven by Lewis Hamilton to secure his maiden championship in 2008 sets up a smoke screen. (Photo: Wouter Melissen)
Another major anniversary marked at this year's Festival of Speed was 60 years of the Formula 1 World Championship, of which the first two seasons were coincidentally dominated by Alfa Romeo. Grand Prix cars from all six decades were present, ranging from a Maserati that competed in the very first race at Silverstone to a 2010 Williams.

Further themes included 60 years of the daunting Carrera Panamericana and 50 years of the Bathurst's Great Race. Familiar events such as the Bonhams auction on Friday and the Cartier “Style et Luxe” concours d'elegance were also on the roster. New for this year was the Moving Motor Show on Thursday before the FoS, which allowed customers to view and sample many of the latest production models.

We were at the beautiful Goodwood estate in the Sussex region of England for the better part of four days, resulting in a mouth-watering and exclusive 290-shot gallery with dedicated pages for every event and class.

Bonhams Auction
This rare Aston Martin DB5 Vantage convertible sold for a record $838,500 at Bonhams Auction. (Photo: Wouter Melissen)
Even though Bonhams held its traditional Aston Martin-only auction less than two months earlier, examples from the famed British marque also grabbed the headlines in the annual Bonhams sale on Friday at the Festival of Speed. The top seller was a very rare DB5 Vantage Convertible, which went 10 percent over the pre-sale top estimate at 551,500 Pounds ($838,500 USD), a world record for a DB5 Convertible. The car had been previously shown at Villa d'Este and came with the original and very appropriate “VDB 5” license plate.

An even more impressive result was recorded by the even rarer Aston Martin Mark II Sports Saloon, which sold for 177,500 Pounds ($270,000 USD) despite a top estimate of 130,000 Pounds. The Bentley 4 ¼-litere drophead coupe that starred in the James Bond movie “Never Say Never Again” found a new owner for a respectable 221,500 Pounds ($337,000 USD). The automobilia part of the auction also featured strongly, with the World Waterspeed commemorative silver trophy that had originally been presented to Sir Malcolm Campbell selling for 24,250 Pounds ($36,864 USD).

At the end of the evening 75 percent of the lots in the catalog changed hands for a total of 3,707,687 Pounds ($5,636,564 USD).

Cartier Style et Luxe
Considering this year's theme, it was hardly surprising to find the concours d'elegance filled with cars styled and/or built in Italy. Alfa Romeos formed the bulk of the fabulous collection lined up alongside the Goodwood house.

The rocket-powered Ghia Gilda show car attracts some attention on the lawn at the Goodwood estate. (Photo: Wouter Melissen)
There were dedicated classes for the fabulous 8C sports cars of the 1930s and for the Tipo 33-based prototypes created by the various carrozzerias in the late 1960s and 1970s. Fans of more recent supercars were catered for by the “Far-Fetched Fantasies” class, which featured the likes of the Italdesign-Giugiaro styled BMW Nazca C2 and the remarkable Ferrari F.Z.93 penned by Zagato's legendary designer Ercole Spada.

Further highlights included the one-off Willment Cobra fitted with a Ghia Supersonic body, the Ghia Gilda jet-engine show car and a rare Maserati Quattroporte II.

Unique to the Cartier Style et Luxe concours is that the class winners and the overall best of show are picked by a panel of celebrity judges. Among them this year were Hollywood icon director George Lucas, British actor Chris Barrie and Queen drummer Roger Taylor. After fierce debate, they eventually picked Franco Lombardi's spectacular Maserati A6GCS/53 Pininfarina Coupe as the best of show.

Alfa Romeo's Centenary
Racing is very much part of the Alfa Romeo DNA, and the company's rich competition heritage was showcased at the 2010 Festival of Speed. Many of the Museo Storico's fabulous machines were brought from Milan, ranging from a 1913 Alfa 40/60 HP Corsa to the high-tech 155 DTM and ITC cars of the 1990s.

One of our personal favorites was the slippery 8C 2900B Le Mans Coupe, which held the biggest ever lead (100 miles) in the 1938 edition of the 24 Hours race but was eventually forced to retire with mechanical problems an hour from the finish.

The Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Le Mans Coupe held a 100-mile lead in the 1938 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans before mechanical trouble forced it to retire. (Photo: Wouter Melissen)
Alfa Romeo also brought two rarely seen examples from their collection: the V10-powered 164 ProCar and the stillborn SE 48SP Group C car. The latter is so obscure that museum staff had trouble answering detailed questions about its history.

Many private owners also demonstrated their Alfa Romeos on the hill. Among them was Goodwood regular Julian Majzub, who had a very uncharacteristic off in his prized 308C Grand Prix car. He was fortunate to walk away from what was a very violent impact with the straw bails at the tricky Molecomb corner.

Klaus Fiedler brought his Alfa Romeo 182, which is one of the last Grand Prix cars built by Alfa Romeo. Complementing the Tipo 33 show car class of the Cartier Style et Luxe was a class dedicated to Tipo 33 competition cars, ranging from the early 2-liter V8s to the final Tipo 33 SC 12 of 1977, which used a turbocharged flat-12 engine.
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Wouter Melissen

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