Goodwood Festival of Speed 2011

joannasmum

Hi

I was wondering if anybody could give me the answers to a couple of questions about the Goodwood FOS.

I'm thinking of buying my husband tickets for the weekend. It would be him, me and our 6yr old DD .

1. Is there enough to keep a us and more importantly a 6 yr old interested for a weekend.

2. I'm thinking of booking camping but theres no prices on the website, has anybody done this? Is it expensive and what are the facilities like?

3. Do we need Grandstand tickets? This would make it to expensive tbh and I'd rather not go if we are only getting half the experience.

Thanks in advance

rthirlby

The site is huge, you will spend a lot of time walking between the different areas, we went for two days running last year and still didnt see everything.

They are supposed to be doing more things for kids this year from an email they sent me including some sort of kids zone and a live action arena. Last year I wouldnt say there was anything specifically for kids. They had life sized wacky races cars and people dressed up as the characters but that was it.

We camped at a reasonably local camp site belonging to the camping and caravan club at Graffam. It was the first time we had been camping and the site is excellent. Clean, quiet and the pitch we had was totally secluded in the trees. In contrast the goodwood campsite looked like something from a scene from a festival. Cramped and by a road.

The grandstands have the best views of the track like the start line and the corners but there are plenty of free grandstands available so no its not necesary to get tickets for them at all.


Your husband will love it if he's into cars. Last year we bumped into Murray Walker and Sterling Moss as they rode round on a golf buggy and we got an autograph from the designer of last years championship winning F1 car Adrian Newey!

The McLaren Team even let my other half into their enclosure to sit next to Lewis Hamiltons old F1 car and she got to hold the hugely expensive steering wheel from the car while posing for a photo !!

markandkate

Hi we have been a couple of time just for the day and stayed in Portsmouth overnight. From memory the camping is ridiculously expensive. If you don't buy grandstand seats then you are either sitting on the grass or in a refreshment place or standing up. Food and drink is also expensive, we took our own picnic and sat on the grass. There is plenty going on and if your son is into cars etc there should be no problem but you may need to buy seats if he is likely to get tired. Each evening the activity and the stands close at about 6.00pm so you will need to think about what you are doing in the evening if you do stay over.

if you chose to stay outside the site the traffic is a nightmare and you would do well to get up at the crack of dawn to get there and also to leave early/ late or you will just sit in a queue for hours

rthirlby

Traffic was not too bad for us staying at graffam. We got in and out without much waiting. I would say it took us longer to walk from the car park to the entrance gate than it did to drive in and park

There are definately free grandstands where you can sit down, you dont have to sit on the grass as mentioned above. From memory I can think of at least three, one by the first corner, one up the hill climb by the famous wall and another at the rally stage at the top of the hill.

I have to agree that the food was extortionate. Something like £6 for a simple burger or stale sandwhich. There is a large tesco nearby where you can pick up food before you go.

Hope this helps.

loulou123

I live near to Goodwood and have been several times.

The traffic is usually very heavy, (as a local its a case of 'festival of speed is on - dont go near chichester/goodwood unless its an emergency!) especially on the A27 leading from portsmouth to chichester and around the goodwood area itself, especially on the Sunday.

I'd say if the 3 of you have some interest in cars then there will be plenty to do for a weekend, but i have never been for more than the one day myself. I would say though that in the years ive been, there doesnt seem to be anything specificialy tailored to children (although from one of the posts above sounds like this could be different this year) and it does get VERY crowded, and is usually very very hot, or pouring with rain and like a mud bath.

Grandstand tickets, do enable you to get better views of certain high profile areas, such as start line, but are by no means 'needed' and even the grandstands can get very busy.

As everyone else has said, the food/drinks costs are very high, and the food isnt even very nice, so a picnic or similar is a fantastic idea.

Camping wise, i dont have a clue, but i should imagine there will be cheaper and better places to camp, then in the Goodwood estate itself, as there are several camping grounds in the local area. I didnt even know they offered camping until i read this, as i only live 10 minutes away!

pompeyrich

Looking at the Goodwood revival link from the Goodwood home page, camping is listed at £200 for 4 people for 4 nights, or £155 without electricity. Revival admission prices are slightly less than FOS ones. The fact that no camping option shows on the FOS part of the site might indicate it has sold out, maybe you should call them if interested.

FiFi_Mad_Mum

We went to F.O.S. in 2006 and 2008, both times there was a marquee with arts and crafts, face painting and childrens entertainers, there was also a cometition to design another wacky races car.
The first time we stayed in a C & C club site near Chichester which was great, the second time we wanted to be closer and enquired at Goodwood and I think it was something like £60 a night so we stayed at Chichester Lakeside which was overpriced with filthy toilets and I would not recommend it, it is also right next to the very busy A27.
Take a blanket to sit on to have a picnic or just a break as most of the seating is linked to the eating and drinking, which is alright if your splashing out on a bottle of Veuve Clicquot! The last time we went to the Revival, I dressed in a short 60's shift dress and the only seating I could find was old fashioned deckchairs, that was a crash course in 'lady' etiquette .

HTH FiFi

joannasmum

Thanks for all the info. Sadly DH can't get the Friday off work so we won't be able to go . Maybe next year