Mercedes-Benz will take pride of place as "featured marque" at June’s Goodwood Festival of Speed as the three-pointed star celebrates 120 years in motor sport.
As featured marque, Mercedes will display historic race cars atop the hallmark Gerry Judah sculpture that forms the centrepiece of the festival layout in front of Goodwood House.
At least eleven significant Mercedes racers, including the 1914 car that notched-up the marque’s first-ever race win in France on the eve of the First World War, will be at Goodwood, most running at speed up the 1.1 mile hill.
"There will be a significant display of historically important Mercedes racing cars through history," said the organisers.
Other famous three-pointed star racers provisionally confirmed for the Festival include W125 and W165 single-seaters from the 1930s, a CLK GTR, and a McLaren MP4-19, the latter from Red Bull technical chief Adrian Newey’s personal collection.
Alongside Mercedes, Maserati and Jaguar will also play a key part in this year’s Festival, which will also see a serious attempt on the hill record, which has stood since 1999.
Sébastien Loeb is expected to launch this effort at the wheel of the rapid Peugeot 208 T16 which last year smashed the Pikes Peak record by a minute and a half. Loeb will attempt to better Nick Heidfeld’s 41.6 secs set in a McLaren MP4-13 in 1999.
Maserati’s slot will be a special display in the Stables area at Goodwood House where a unique 20 car collection of Maserati racers will mark the Modena nameplate’s centenary.
On view alongside a pair of iconic 250F single-seaters, famous as Fangio’s steer, will be a rare 1926 Tipo 26B, a 4CM, 4CLT and a modern-era MC12.
Not to be outdone, British marque Jaguar will be represented by a collection of rare D-Type endurance racers.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the D-Type’s first Le Mans victory in 1954 and Jaguar’s heritage collection is expected to bring along D-type chassis Number One, a rare outing for this priceless example.
At least eight contemporary F1 teams are expected to star at the Festival, including the Mercedes-Benz team.
The Festival’s late June weekend date puts it just two weeks after the running of the Le Mans 24 Hours, which means that at least one of Audi, Toyota and Porsche should have their race winner at Goodwood.
Toyota will also be bringing four of its Le Mans cars to Goodwood. The line-up will comprise the original 1992 TS010, the 2012 TS030 Hybrid and the new TS040 Hybrid, which will have competed in the 2014 Le Mans. Several other famous Toyota competition vehicles, including rally cars, will be on display.
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