Pageant of Power – as good as Goodwood?
The Goodwood Festival of Speed has been one of the highlights of the motor racing calendar for years, allowing thousands of fans to get up close to a dazzling selection of racing machines and supercars (see our pictures from this year’s Festival here).
But its Sussex location is hardly ideal for car fans in the north of the country. With that in mind the owners of Cholmondely Castle in Cheshire put on a similar event of their own for the first time this weekend, dubbed the Pageant of Power.
I went to the Festival and the Pageant of Power this year – so how did the two compare?
The Pageant organisers attracted a very diverse crowd of racing machines for their first event: from classic cars to sports cars, rally cars and even a couple of F1 Grand Prix racers, to motorbikes, racing boats and more.
Although much of the event was quite similar to the Goodwood Festival the boats were an unusual point of difference. I chatted to a few of the racers who were delighted to put their water-borne racers on display in front of a crowd that might not ordinarily get to see them.
The Pageant organisers did not get lucky with the weather, however – it poured almost without cease of Saturday morning, which can’t have helped crowd numbers.
The 1.2-mile course laid out in the grounds of the castle in many ways offered better viewing opportunities than the Goodwood course. The sight of cars bring thrown into the air by the bump at the Bailey Bridge after the start line was spectacular, and crowds had an excellent view of the Lozenger bend from a hill.
There is definitely an appetite among car fans to see great racing cars and super cars in action on a track, instead of on static displays in museums. Events like the Festival and the Pageant allow us to enjoy the sights, sounds and even smells of the kind of cars we rarely get to experience. I look forward to going to both again next year.
