The Goodwood festival of Speed was, once again, successfully hosted at the Good-wood house with a vast array of cars and stars. It was my first time at Goodwood, but it most definitely will not be my last.
Unsurprisingly, drivers such as Sir Stirling Moss, Derek Bell and Lewis Hamilton were popular, but one perhaps lesser-known crowd favourite was the WRC rookie Ken Block. For those unfamiliar with the young talent, look at Ken Blocks’ two Gymkhana videos on Youtube.
Although Block is a rookie in WRC and racing his new Ford Focus, he has been in rallying in America since 2005 and has raced with Subaru and, new for 2010, Ford. This move to Ford was so he could race to WRC, as Subaru is no longer in WRC. Block is considered to be one of the best rallying stars in America and came 3rd in the X-Games (a rallying competition in America) in his first year of rallying.
At Goodwood, Block first took part in the historic up-hill climb, unfortunately stalling midway through a bit of show-boating which consisted of a 360 degree spin. He then proceeded up to the forest rally stage at the top of the hill climb. Here he was greeted by many of his fans, despite the rally stage being hard to reach due to the steep hill it was situated on. Ken Block stayed at the top of the rally stage for a while and, much to the disappointment of his fans, only gave a handful of autographs.
Block eventually performed a spectacular run on the rally stage before returning to the bottom of the hill to repeat what had happened earlier on in the day.