Ferrari Owners GB at Goodwood

After a chance encounter via Pistonheads I met a F430 named Anthony. We started talking back in early 2023 regarding my Ferrari based book project. s a kind gesture he said if there are any Ferrari GB club days coming up I am welcome to tag along. Within no time at all Ferrari Owners GB at Goodwood became and open and without hesitation I was signed on and eagerly awaiting 27th of May!

A cold and early start, we arrived promptly at 7am to start the day at Goodwood. With only 30 spaces, the selection of cars was small, yet varied with cars from the early 2000's to now and a cross over of petrol, hybrid, coupe, convertible and track cars were there to take on the days challenge.

After sound tests we were off for bacon sandwich and briefing. I have personally never been to a track day on a professional track like Goodwood before, so sat there with no helmet and in shorts I was holding the wooden spoon and needed to adorn a race suit and helmet!

Because I was there to get photos I also needed to upgrade my status as an official photographer!

With all that now done it was time for lights out, full throttle! Anthony was first out so we jumped in his F430, strapped up and headed out on to the historic track. Off the bat he was a great drive. I felt comfortable through the whole drive and on his first session out we caught and overtook a few people.

First session now done, I headed out track side to get some photos of the other cars going around and photos of Anthony on track.

I used my time at the track side to work on my panning. Managing to capture quite a few shots at speed.

After the morning session had finished they carolled all the owners on to the track for a photo and parade lap. By this point we had been joined by quite a few more cars including an F40, 575 Superamerica and the show stealer and barn find 330 Quad Light.

For the parade lap I re-joined Anthony. Thank-fully since it was not classed as racing, helmets were not required and I could hold a camera in car!

After parade and lunch session Anthony headed back on track whilst I stayed track side to capture the image of him attack the westcotte bend.

Thanks to a black flag due to noise, the session was ended early for the F430. However, I stayed poised, ready and awaiting for the next outing where I caught the illustrious shot!

With the last session looming I jumped back in for the final ride of the day and could instantly tell Anthony's speed and confidence had improved. It maybe a 10+ year old car but the F430 is still a marvellous piece of engineering and holds up well, even against modern cars. As we discussed, even the car with heaps more power were not catching us. This just shows that a car with the right balance, pushed to it limits is substantially better than power with no skill.