Goodwood Festival of Speed

Abarth Extra 300L on display with Pilot Magazine

The Goodwood Festival of Speed and The Moving Motor Show [presented by Auto Trader] are, without doubt, the motoring events of the year and this year had a larger Aviation Show which included the Extra 300L. I had flown down the preceding Monday to ferry the aircraft so it could be positioned ready for the first day of the event on the Thursday. Thousands of people flocked to the event from across the UK and Worldwide and, having an invitation from Abarth UK, I drove down on the Friday in the Abarth 500 (it really is a lot of fun driving one of these cars) to support the Abarth activity and to have a look around… if you haven’t been then it’s worth a trip – apart from the new Abarth 595 Competizione and Abarth 595 Turismo which attracted a lot of attention there were some superb historic racing cars – many of which I had only ever seen in books or on TV! The McLaren and Ferrari Formula 1 cars were spectacular and ear-splitting loud until the real noise appeared overhead with the ‘Red Arrows’ and a good ‘after burner’ display by the Typhoon. The aviation show is growing steadily and this year had a new location which saw the footfall increase significantly – it was good to meet the guys from Pilot Magazine who were running a ‘Win a Flight’ competition in association with Abarth UK.

Next is the Farnborough Air Show… I will keep you updated.

Here is the Abarth UK Press Release:

ABARTH PLANNING TO SUPPORT GOODWOOD AVIATION SHOW DURING GOODWOOD FESTIVAL OF SPEED 2012

Sports car brand Abarth could be taking to the skies as well as the tracks at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, after a proposed agreement with the famous event’s Aviation Show.

It demonstrated the potential tie-in last week (14 March) at the Festival’s annual press day, showcasing its Abarth-branded stunt plane, as well as two high performance models: an Abarth 500 esseesse and an Abarth Punto EVO.

This year, the Goodwood Aviation Show will be more prominent within the Festival of Speed, which runs from 29 June-1 July, and is situated in the stunning Goodwood Parkland site for the first time to make it more easily accessible to the event’s 180,000 visitors.

Daily air displays are a popular Festival attraction and this year will be no exception, with plans for the Abarth stunt plane to appear alongside other interesting fly-pasts, including the famous Red Arrows.

Abarth is set to take part in the Festival’s Moving Motor Show as it has done in previous years, but it’s hoped the link with the Aviation Show will bring a new audience to the performance brand.

“Goodwood have been looking at ways to strengthen the link between its hugely successful Festival of Speed and the Aviation Show, and we were happy to offer the Abarth stunt plane,” says Ivan Gibson, head of Abarth UK.

“The association is there for all to see – our high performance cars on the world famous Goodwood track and our high performance stunt plane in the skies. I hope everyone will enjoy the connection.

The aircraft, flown by professional stunt pilot Mark Jefferies, is an Extra 300L two-seater aerobatic monoplane powered by a 300hp fuel-injected Lycoming AEIO-540 engine. The lightweight 300L has a welded steel tube fuselage covered in aluminium and fabric, and is capable of more than 200mph.

The Abarth 500 range starts at £14,461 on the road while the Punto EVO starts at £16,852 on the road.

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