Cartier Lawn - Goodwood Festival of Speed - Pt 2 13/07/23
Words and Images by Mitcham Media
Always a personal highlight every year at the Goodwood Festival of speed is the Cartier Style Et Luxe lawn, and 2023 was no exception.
Keeping with the format of years gone by, the lawn was split into themed sections all featuring imaculate examples of some seldom seen unicorn cars. The weird and wonderful were pride of place outside the Goodwood House with Cyclecars to workhorses to GT racers.
The curated collection really does give attendees the opportunity to see some ultra rare (and in some cases ultra valuable) cars, hopefully this whistle-stop run through blog post can do it justice…
The Road To Le Mans - A collection of GT1 Homologation Specials
A section childhood dreams are made of, this was a who’s who of poster cars from the 90’s and 00’s. This flock of unicorns included a Bugatti EB110SS, Porsche 996 911 GT1, Maserati MC12, Nissan R390, Mercedes CLK GTR, Lamborghini Diablo GT and of course a McLaren F1.
The Lamborghini stood out in the bright burnt orange being a total juxtaposition to the greys and blues of the rest of the pack.
It was difficult to work out which was more mental as being road legal, while the CLK GTR and R390 both feature enormous unwieldy aero packages, you can just imagine how hectic trying to manhandle the Diablo or EB110 in the wet could be.
Enzo’s Ferraris - Prancing Horse Royalty
It wouldn’t be a curated collection without featuring what could be regarded as some of the most prestigious cars in the world. Ferraris of the 50’s and 60’s have been at the upper epsilons of the concours world for years now, and seeing the array on the Cartier lawn shows why.
The bizarre thing about Ferrari of this era is Enzo regarded the road car side of the business as a means to an end to go racing. The styling and aerodynamics was also always secondary to the engines which is baffling when you see how stunning these works of art are.
Style and Substance - American Low Rider Legends
A bit different to the norm for us with the 50’s Americana cruiser style ready for a trip to a diner. The attention to detail was amazing, the bodywork was long sleek lines with no constant radius or straight lines anywhere, just flowing along the enormous length of the car. The bright work was a finishing touch to the body, phenomenally clean with some large expanses on bumpers and grilles, but also fiddly detailed sections within the grilles, light and window surrounds.
It’s unlocked a new interest and inspired some ideas for future content, especially with the old school gangster vibe these low riders give off.
Anything but 911 celebrating 75 year of Porsche
Last up on this run through is the Porsche collection, not a 911 insight but instead a 959, 918, 356, 906 and Carrera GT Zagato .
The 906 is a treat to see, its an often forgotten about car which is a tiny, sleek, flat engine powered racer.
As always the Cartier Style et Luxe was a highlight of Festival of Speed, hopefully you can see why (and enjoyed it too if you made it down at some point over the weekend).
Check out some of the extra shots below, and keep an eye out for more Goodwood throwbacks soon.
