The 11th Goodwood Festival of Speed had all the elements we've come to expect: vast paddocks full of modern and historic race and rally cars, bikes and drivers, a collection (an Abramovich?) of the world's most exotic supercars, the Cartier 'Style et Luxe' display, the Dunhill Soapbox Derby, air displays and of course the hillclimb itself. This year was the first time the Festival was all-ticket and there were 'sold out' signs for miles around Goodwood.

I arrived on the Friday morning as the gates opened. Armed with my new digital SLR camera I was snapping away at the wonderful automotive sculpture in front of Goodwood House long before the crowds arrived. I find the expectation of what the sculpture will feature to be one of the best parts of the day. This year didn't disappoint with three huge paper dart-like structures (designed by Gerry Judah) supporting the three most famous Rolls-Royce powered world record-breakers: Sir Malcolm Campbell's 1935 Bluebird car, Flt Lt L.R. 'Batchy' Atcherley's Supermarine S6/6A 'N248' Schneider Trophy sea-plane and a replica of Sir Malcolm Campbell's and his son Donald Campbell's Bluebird K4 boat.

The display celebrated 100 years since Rolls began collaborating with Royce. The theme continued around the base of the sculpture with a collection of historic Rolls-Royce cars, each associated with a famous owner or heroic tale - from the original London to Edinburgh Silver Ghost, and an armoured car used by the Black-and-Tans in Ireland to John Lennon's yellow flower power version, right up to the latest Experimental Car, the 100EX.

Close by was something probably overlooked by 99.9% of the 150,000 visitors over the three days (around 8,000 down on 2003 by the way; presumably because of the controlled ticket sales). Tucked in at the side of the entrance to Goodwood House was clever piece of automotive sculpture by Jay Burridge, once of BBC Children's TV programme 'Smart'. Taking parts of a McLaren F1 car, he attached them to a spindly frame, the overall effect was that of a life sized Airfix kit, straight out of the box, awaiting assembly. A brilliant idea that perhaps deserved a better position.

Most of my day was spent viewing cars in the paddocks, without most of the star drivers though, who are normally booked for the weekend only. But you can always rely on Renault's star rally driver Jean Ragnotti being around for all three days. He autographed a piece of sticky backed plastic, replacing the autograph which was wiped out when my friend took three corners off his Ragnotti replica Group B Maxi 5 Turbo on the Manx Rally last year. I couldn't find Markku Allen (driving the Alitalia Fiat 131 Abarth this year) to autograph my broken brake light cover, which came from a Group B Lancia Delta S4 that he crashed at the Autosport Show a few years ago. I'll get him next year! Amazingly, Ragnotti was the only driver I recognised throughout the day. Maybe I should have spent more time in the F1 paddock.

For me, the highlight of the supercar paddock was the jaw dropping 630bhp 205mph V12 Maserati MC12. The blue and white livery was sublime - even my wife's 12-year old Metro would have been a Goodwood star with that paint job. This was the car's European public debut (well, a static display was shown at the 2004 British Motor Show), but sadly it didn't run on Friday. When it did run at the weekend, it was fitted with dark grey alloys, in place of the works of art fitted to the show car. Look out for the racing version being developed for the FIA GT championship, as there are doubts as to whether the FIA will accept it for homologation.

Ferrari had their latest 12-cylinder car, the 540bhp four-seater 612 Scaglietti on show and it did run, making a gorgeous noise, though not reaching anywhere near it's 199mph top speed... Special mention too for the superb pair of Peugeots: the 407 V6 Silhouette and the strangely named 2-litre, four-cylinder 'Spades' concept car. Something that came to mind when looking at the historic Bugattis from the Schlumpf collection: why no modern Bugattis in the supercar display? I don't think I've ever seen one at Goodwood. Perhaps that will change if the Veyron ever actually makes production.

On the topic of cars nowhere near their top speed, the speed content of the hillclimb has diminished over the years as the concern for public safety has grown. With only straw bales (albeit the largest I've ever seen) giving protection to the spectators, drivers are more circumspect about their speed, and in 2004 only 31 out of 181 cars which drove on the hill were timed. I don't think anybody noticed or cared though as it's just a joy to see and hear these cars. Nobody is ever likely to touch Nick Heidfeld's hill record of 41.6 seconds, set in 1999 but what does that matter when you can hear an F1 engine screaming away at 18,000rpm using its 900bhp to destroy a pair of rear tyres without traction control interfering. Fantastic!

Another argument against running old cars at top speed was demonstrated when John Craft spun his 1962, 7.0-litre, Daytona 500-winning Ford Galaxie at Molecomb and went backwards into the bales: 'Guess 35 year-old race tyres don't grip like they should!' the owner-driver said afterwards.

Despite the fabulous turn out of modern and historic single seaters and sports cars, it's always the oddities and rarities I prefer to see. This year we had a feature on the 25th anniversary of the Paris - Dakar Rally Raid so I had to see the Porsche 959s, the Peugeot 405 T16, Barry Lee's unique Metro 6R4 based car, Colin McRae's 2004 Nissan Pick-Up and the ultimate Rally Raid vehicles, the De Rooy brothers' massive DAF trucks. They used to look big on a TV screen but standing there beside them, they looked like four-wheeled blocks of flats.

Then there was the 1920s Indy car with a tyre tread which spelled out 'NON SKID'. Yeah, right! And a Porsche 917... not just any 917, but a long tailed Le Mans version with the blue and green swirly psychedelic paint job. What a car.

And what a day! I was at Goodwood for almost 11 hours and still didn't see half the cars and drivers, either in the paddock or on the hill. Next year it's going to have to be a two-day visit...

Words and photographs by Syd Wall. - 17 Jul 2004