Each year the Goodwood Festival of Speed attracts some of the world's most significant and successful competition machines. Fortunately, there is also room for the lesser known but perhaps even more interesting footnotes of our sport's history. This year two Formula 1 cars attended that were very much a product of the 1970s 'kit car' era and were not seen in action again since they were new, although for varying reasons.
Best known of the pair was undoubtedly the Lec CRP1 Cosworth, raced in period by David Purley. Designed by Mike Pilbeam, it was constructed in the off hours at the Lec refrigerator factory owned by Charles Purley. The car briefly led the 1977 Belgian Grand Prix but is best known for a massive head-on incident, which for many years was the crash with the highest g-forces survived by the driver. At Goodwood, the second Lec CRP1 built was demonstrated for the first time after a complete rebuild.
Shrouded in more mystery and altogether more exotic is the Maki F101A Cosworth. Launched at a high profile event in 1974 at a prestigious London hotel, the project promised a lot but ultimately, no Maki ever qualified for a Grand Prix. In its original guise the Maki was at its most interesting and fortunately, the prototype has survived in this specification. It was this Maki F101A that was on hand at Goodwood. This was the first ever venture abroad for this particular car.
Perfectly timed for the summer, Aston Martin have launched the V12 Vantage S Roadster. It shares the same 565 bhp version of the familiar V12 engine with its fixed head counterpart. This enables the wind-in-your-face Aston Martin to accelerate to 60 mph in four seconds and then continue on to reach a top speed of just over 200 mph.

Enjoy the links:

1977 Lec CRP1 Cosworth - Images, Specifications and Information

1974 Maki F101A Cosworth - Images, Specifications and Information

2014 Aston Martin V12 Vantage S Roadster - Images, Specifications and Information