Goodwood delays Festival of Speed to late summer

Goodwood's annual Festival of Speed which was initially scheduled to take place on July 9-12 has been postponed.

The traditional historic celebration founded by the Duke of Richmond, Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, is the latest motorsport event to fall victim to the global coronavirus crisis.

On Thursday, organisers called off the famous motoring garden party but are hopeful of re-instated the meeting later in the year.

However, perhaps the most notable aspect fo the postponement is the fact that the FOS was set to take place just one week before the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

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"Following advice received from the UK Government, we have decided to postpone the Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard to later this year," said the Duke of Richmond in a statement.

"We obviously want to be sure of choosing the best possible date; this will require some careful consideration and as soon as we have that we will let you know.

"Whatever we decide to do I can assure you it will be just as fantastic a celebration of everything we love and enjoy as you would expect.

"Most likely it will happen late summer, early autumn and, of course, tickets and hospitality bookings will remain valid for the new date.

"If you have not yet bought a ticket for the Festival of Speed and would like to know as soon as the new dates are announced, we recommend signing up for a ticket alert."

This year, the festival will - hopefully - be centered around a theme of "The Maestros – Motorsports Great All-Rounders", a salute to "those in the automotive world, not just drivers and riders, but teams and manufacturers, who never allowed themselves to be bound to any one discipline through their careers".

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