What's the news?

Mercedes-Benz has confirmed its line-up for this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed, which will celebrate 100 years of winning in motorsport under the Festival's 'Addicted to Winning' theme. A mouth-watering selection of race cars will be piloted up the famous Goodwood Hill by some of the most successful racing drivers of all time.

One of the trio of Mercedes cars that finished first, second and third in the 1914 French Grand Prix will be running up the hill; along with the 'Silver Arrows' W125 and W165. More recent machinery is represented by the Sauber-Mercedes C9, Penske-Mercedes PC 23 Indy Car from 1994 and the 1998 CLK-LM. A DTM Mercedes AMG C-Class Coupé and Lewis Hamilton driving the Mercedes AMG Petronas bring things right up to date.

Drivers signed up to pilot these cars include Roland Asch, Anthony Davidson, Dario Franchitti, Johnny Herbert and Silver Arrows driver Hans Herrmann, Klaus Ludwig and Jochen Mass, Sir Stirling Moss, Paul and Sir Jackie Stewart, Bernd Schneider and Karl Wendlinger. Away from the hill the Mercedes stand will have the AMG Vision Gran Turismo on display. The concept will be available for virtual drives on the Goodwood course thanks to PlayStation 3 and Gran Turismo 6. Other experiences available to visitors include three Oculus Rift virtual reality 'drives': to enjoy the feeling of going up the hill; to take a lap of Silverstone in the current Formula 1 car; or drifting with Lewis Hamilton in an E 63 AMG S Estate.

Anything else?

Mercedes-Benz will be the subject of the Central Feature, the sculpture by Gerry Judah at the heart of the Festival; this will be unveiled on the evening of the Moving Motor Show on 26th June.

John Lambert - 25 Jun 2014