Just one week after Lewis Hamilton’s epic victory at the British Grand Prix, the audience cheered the Formula One driver as he appeared on the balcony of Goodwood House. Lewis then went on to sign autographs and chat with attendees, before entertaining the crowds behind the wheel of a McLaren-Mercedes F1 car. He also drove one fortunate Festival of Speed spectator – Mathew Solly – up the Goodwood hill in a Mercedes SLR McLaren Roadster. Mr Solly’s ticket was drawn at random from the 50,000 Festival visitors attending Goodwood last Sunday and Lewis gave him a memorable experience that he will savour for the rest of his life.

Another British F1 driver – Jenson Button, also entertained the Festival goers with a remarkably 'jump' off the start line, before the mechanicals of his F1 Honda expired. Experienced 'wheelsmith' Justin Law had no such difficulties, setting the fastest time of the weekend of 44.19 seconds up the hill in his rapid 1990 Jaguar XJR12.

Choosing other highlights from such an action-pack weekend of Festival activities is not easy. However, the exploits of 12-time international trials rider champion Dougie Lampkin proved popular and had to be seen to be believed as he jumped over everything from priceless racing cars to the Festival’s founder Lord March throughout the event! He also rode up to the roof of Goodwood House a few times each day to get a closer view of the huge Land Rover central feature display, which was regularly scaled by a group of expert free-style climbers.

The spectacle of a slow-moving Airbus A380 flying and manoeuvring at just 1,000 feet over the event on Saturday was a sight to behold, as was the rumble of the iconic American top-fuel dragsters being started up twice a day for a loud ‘cacklefest’ on the purpose-built tarmac drag strip.

Rally fans were treated to a wealth of iconic rally cars, plus many current WRC machines, being driven as their makers intended on the Goodwood Forest Rally Stage. Drivers, including Petter Solberg, Chris Atkinson, Matthew Wilson, Mikko Hirvonen and, Scandinavian, Stig Blomqvist, Bjorn Waldegard and Juha Kankkunen. A special tribute to Scottish rally driver Colin McRae, with many of his vehicles on display was especially appreciated by the Festival goers.

The Cartier ‘Style et Luxe’ automotive design competition was won by the sublime 1930 Mercedes-Benz 710 SSK ‘Trossi Roadster’ owned by Ralph Lauren. Just across the way from this mouth-watering 1930s Supercar was a selection of over 40 of the very latest exotica in the Sunday Times Super Car Run, including no less than three versions of the Bugatti Veyron 16.4, as well as a host of other new models.

Looking to the future, the FoS-TECH technology pavilion proved to be a huge hit with the Goodwood crowds, showcasing the latest and greatest in vehicle technology with a particular emphasis on all things ecological. The carbon-neutral flying Skycar made its world debut and a series of advanced concept cars from Nissan, Honda, Peugeot, Toyota, Citroen, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Morgan and others were seen for the very first time in the UK.