Filed under: Etc., Green Culture, Transportation Alternatives, On Two Wheels
The Goodwood Festival of Speed is all about sending racing and sports cars of assorted vintages up the hill in an entertaining show of ferocious power. There’s really nothing green about it, so why are we talking about it here on ABG? Well, because there’s going to be a new wrinkle added to the festivities this year.
Several of the big-name racers who’ll be on hand for the Festival have agreed to tackle the Goodwood hill under their own power as they participate in a charity bicycle race. The beneficiaries of the exhibition will be the Richard Burns Foundation and the Teenage Cancer Trust.
Spectators can expect to see the likes Jenson Button, Colin McRae, Allan McNish, Troy Bayliss, Damon Hill, and others take on renowned cyclists Jason Queally, Chris Hoy, Rob Hayles, and Victoria Pendleton in the contest. You can read more details after the jump.
[Source: Goodwood Festival of Speed]
PRESS RELEASE:
TOP FORMULA ONE AND RALLY STARS SWITCH FROM HORSEPOWER TO PEDAL POWER AT THE GOODWOOD FESTIVAL OF SPEED
Visitors to this year’s Festival of Speed – to be held in the grounds of Goodwood House from 22-24 June – can look forward to the unfamiliar sight of top motor racing stars in lycra, pedalling up the demanding 1.16 mile Goodwood hillclimb, paired up with some of the world’s best professional cyclists in a thrilling bicycle race.
This exciting inaugural pedal-powered competition will be named the Goodwood Organic Milk Race, to recall the famous Milk Race, Britain’s premier competitive cycling event in the 1970s, as well as coinciding with the introduction of Goodwood’s own organic milk. The milk is sold in corn starch-based bottles that are fully compostable in 10 weeks. It is produced on the Goodwood Estate at Home Farm, the largest self-sustainable organic farm in Europe, which has operated a strictly managed recycling system throughout its 12,000 acre Estate for many years.
Top motor sport drivers have always used cycling as an integral part of their fitness regime, often training alongside professional cyclists to measure their performance against the very best. At the Festival of Speed, a group of famous motor sport personalities will harness their competitive instincts into a challenging cycle time trial from Goodwood House to the top of the hill and back. Each driver will join forces with a top professional cyclist to set a time as a two-man team – the clock stops when the second rider crosses the line – and Festival spectators will be able to wager on the results via SMS text messaging in order to win a top-of-the-range carbon road racing bike, with all funds donated to charity.
F1 drivers Jenson Button, Anthony Davidson and Mark Webber have already pledged their involvement, along with former F1 World Champion Damon Hill, ex-World Rally Champion Colin McRae, Le Mans winner Allan McNish and motorcycle master Troy Bayliss. They will join Olympic gold medal-winning cyclists Jason Queally and Chris Hoy, plus Commonwealth gold and Olympic silver medallist Rob Hayles and the reigning triple World Champion Victoria Pendleton.
The Goodwood Organic Milk Race at the Festival of Speed takes place exactly two weeks before the Formula One circus comes to the UK for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Similarly, the cycling stars will ride at Goodwood just a fortnight before the 2007 Tour de France starts for the first time ever in London.
Festival visitors can join in the action and help raise money for charity by betting on which cycling dynamic duo will win the timed event. To enter, send a text message to 80806, stating RBF and the letter of your chosen team (e.g. A, B, C, etc.), plus the time in seconds that you think it will take them to complete the testing Goodwood course. Alternatively, you can enter by completing a competition form at one of the three competition pods located at the Festival.
All monies raised will go to the Richard Burns Foundation, which it supporting this year’s chosen Festival charity, the Teenage Cancer Trust. For further information, plus full terms and conditions, please go to www.richardburnsfoundation.com. All messages will be charged at standard rate, plus £1.50. The Richard Burns Foundation will receive each donation net of charges applied by mobile network operators.
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