Goodwood - 19th March 2011.

I drove Goodwood last Saturday.

First thing I'll say is: It's not so much "glorious" Goodwood but "ssshh, the local residents are sleeping" Goodwood. The noise restrictions are very very strict. My little 106 was the loudest car there. It made 98dB on the static test. The limit was 98dB. After my first outing I was given a chat to and told that if I don't do something about it I'd be going for an "early bath".

Jenny got speaking to a few people and apparently Goodwood stopped racing at some stage (1989?). When they reapplied for their license, the noise restrictions had totally changed and someone had moved in to a house that's on site and kicked up a massive fuss about the noise

Which is a real shame because it's a lovely right handed track. Very very fast and flowing. In two places I was doing over 100mph. It was ruined by the fact that I had to short shift and get in to a high gear and/or back off for the noise sensors. The last two corners are deceiving and the chicane could quite easily catch you out before the pit straight.

Again, due to the noise it wasn't open pit. They called it "semi-open pit" which basically equated to sessions. After lunch they allowed 10 cars on track for 10 minutes. So you did get slightly more track time than a sessioned day.

Fortunately I got the day relatively cheap. Was meant to be driving Goodwood back in December but was moved due to the snow. Some people who booked directly with Goodwood paid over £300 for the day. 3 times as much as I paid!

If I was able to get it again for the same price I'd probably do it again but I'm not itching to go back.

Jenny has some pictures which I'll try to upload later.

Woz said to me Saturday about the sound limit, but it seems odd as i was watching the festival last years and there was a Cosworth engined Transit running that was wayyyyy over 98Db... maybe it's just certain days?

Shame you didn't overly enjoy it, though i have to admit it's not a track that's ever appealed to me. But is i suppose it's just one to tick off the list!

Norledge wrote:

Woz said to me Saturday about the sound limit, but it seems odd as i was watching the festival last years and there was a Cosworth engined Transit running that was wayyyyy over 98Db... maybe it's just certain days?

They do have different limits for different days. Each day is given a noise category. It looks like the local council approves the motorsport events for the year. After each event they have to produce a report that details the noise throughout the day. Here's the report for Saturday

It just seems like stupid people that have ruined it. Like those who live next to Heathrow and complain there's planes taking off and landing all the time. I'd love a house on top of the south downs that overlooked Goodwood!

Norledge wrote:

Shame you didn't overly enjoy it, though i have to admit it's not a track that's ever appealed to me. But is i suppose it's just one to tick off the list!

Yeah. It's a "been there, done it" track.

Bar the noise issues sounds like you had a good day. Did the 106 cope with it alright?

Yep, the 106 was spot on as usual. Drove it there and back. Tyres seem fine. Nothing broke. And I didn't get half a litre of oil in the catch tank either!

Jenny even managed a few sessions out with me without needing to puke. And she drove a session too. I've never been a nervous passenger before but seeing her driving towards a right hander at 120mph @ 7000rpm did make me slightly sweaty! "Brake or gears! Brake or gears!".

Just uploading a few pictures that she took and an extremely short video of me going past the pits.

TBF you are running in the day, its not like you are waking anybody up or disturbing anyone! Noise limits are just poopoo...

You get more noise from the blapblap saxo's with big boar exhausts driving through cheltenham town center...

But there should be a limit... you're car shouldn't sound like a jet like over 150db

Glad you liked the day bar the noise problem

There definitely does need to be some limit imposed. Just annoyed I couldn't give it the full beans throughout the day Will get the centre pipe changed for something with a mid silencer on it so I don't have to worry in the future.

Only 5 pictures. Nothing amazing:











And a quick drive by video:

Never being to goodwood but looks nice from the pictures. Shame about the noise issues though.

glad you had a great day dave, just a shame about your brap brap exhaust goodwood is the same for me, it's never appealed to me don't know why just doesn't but as you say, you can say you've done it now.