Dear Mr White,

Unfortunately our dates are still provisional but we’re not expecting them to change. In the past 15 years the dates have only changed once. Should this happen we would announce a change in dates, as well as contacting customers who have already bought tickets. We are hoping to have confirmation within the next two weeks, but we are still waiting on the FIA to confirm their dates.

All the grandstands are now sold as a roving ticket. The roving ticket is one ticket which allows you to sit in any grandstand in any seat. It allows you to see the hill climb from all different stages which has proven really popular over the years. We used to just have this option on the Friday, but we have now decided to do the roving ticket all weekend following on from a lot of feedback we received last year. You can still sit in your preferred stand but you won’t have a specific seat number.

If you have any further questions please feel free to call us on 01243 755055.

Kind regards,

Alison Thorpe

Many thanks Alison.

So Goodwood are just waiting for confirmation from the FIA regarding the Formula One calendar (as they don’t like the weekend to clash with a race), but the grandstands are now roving, which is actually a good idea as it does work nicely on the Fridays.

Oh, as an aside [...]

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once you’ve confirmed the dates are accurate can you let me know

Ah, I knew there was something I was meant to do today! I’ll try tomorrow and post any confirmation I get.

Thanks for that – once you’ve confirmed the dates are accurate can you let me know and I’ll look into getting some leave from work and finding a hotel…

Tom

Much as I love my racing there is nothing to beat the Festival of Speed. Most of the genuinely quick cars take a fairly leisurely approach to the hill but there are drivers in very quick cars who still go for a time. The onboard footage of Justin Law and Anthony Reid this year was stunning. Then from the sublime to the utterly, utterly ridiculous you had Dougie Lampkin going through Goodwood House on his trials bike ending up with a butler serving him with champagne from a silver tray on the roof. There really is nothing like the Festival of Speed.

In 2007 when I booked my tickets online, I had the choice of gucci-posh grandstands (with champagne and caviare*), or regular tickets with optional standard grandstands as extras. However, this year’s form doesn’t mention standard grandstands at all. So I will call them tomorrow and enquire.

As for your question though…

…grandstands are great for when the weather turns. In 2007, our covered seating area was a blessing – it rained a lot that year! Also, the sides of the hillclimb obviously get very crowded and pushing your way through to the front can be a nightmare.

Having said that, the stands are further from the road, but you get to see more because you are looking over the crowds and the hay-bails. However, if you know where to go and and when to go, it’s actually easy to position yourself correctly, as I found out almost to the cost of my foot last time around. I forgot to mention in the post about coming to within a gnat’s knacker of Marc Gene when his Ferrari bolted forward unexpectedly in the paddock! I almost had to change my underwear!

I can’t remember what the grandstands cost last year, but I remember thinking that I probably wouldn’t bother again. Rain doesn’t annoy me that much and you can always sit it out in one of the manufacturer stands if it gets really bad. Oh, and to any non-UK readers thinking of coming over, it doesn’t always rain; I actually caught the sun last year and had a sore nose for a couple of days. But as it’s England, you should be prepared for the worse.

It’s also worth mentioning that there are some smaller (non-covered) free stands dotted around the climb as well, and if you time it right, you can nab a decent place on one of those, then roam around a bit until the next of-interest-to-you thing happens.

Aaand, grandstands are a free-for-all on Friday, I seem to remember.

Hope that helps, and I hope I get to buy you a pint next July.

*That may not be strictly true, but there are reserved grandstands away from the crowds for Club members and rich people who don’t want to mix with the riff-raff.