Stars shine at Goodwood Festival of Speed

England's Goodwood of Speed Festival was held over June 28 to July 1, and it showcased plenty of two-wheeled -- and two-legged -- motorcycle greats

While predominantly a car event, England's Goodwood Festival of Speed -- an annual celebration of automotive exotica from both the production and racing worlds -- also shines a light on motorcycling, and this year's event, held over June 28 to July 1, was no different.

Australia's own Troy Corser made the pilgrimmage to the Goodwood Estate in Chichester, West Sussex, to take part in the festival, where he took to the 1.16-mile hillclimb course on the very same BMW R90S superbike that carried American racer Steve McLaughlin to victory in the very first AMA Superbike race, held at Daytona in 1976.

McLaughlin defeated teammate Reg Pridmore in a photo finish to claim the win, and the historic model was recently put on display in the BMW Museum in Munich, Germany.

For Corser, the two-time World Superbike champion who campaigned BMW's S 1000 RR before his recent retirement, the R90S gave him a rare insight into a very different superbike era.

"The BMW R90S is a great bike to ride," he said. "I thought it would be a lot heavier but it's actually pretty light and it's got a lot of torque. It's fun to ride and I even did some wheelies on it. Overall it was a great weekend -- the atmosphere was really nice and the weather was good, and not too hot.

Corser was a famous face among many at the event, where over a dozen renowned riders got to strut their stuff on an exotic variety of machines. Former World 500cc Motorcycle Champion Wayne Gardner was there, as was fellow GP greats Henk Van Kessel, Kenny Roberts Sr and John Surtees, the latter still the only man to ever win both a Formula 1 Championship and a World Motorcycle Championship.

Paul Smart, the winner of the 1972 Imola 200, took to the track on a classic racing Ducati, while Kiwi Aaron Slight punted his Castrol Honda superbike and Isle of Man TT star Guy Martin also made an appearance. Renowned motorcycle journalist Alan Cathcart was there on the historic Moto Guzzi V8, while sidecar ace Steve Webster teamed with swinger Paul Woodhead to put his 1985 LCR Yamaha through its paces -- the sidecar he famously crashed into a dyke at Assen, in Netherlands.

Oh, and some obscure car guys were there too -- blokes like Stirling Moss, Jenson Button, Emerson Fittipaldi, Lewis Hamilton, Alain Prost, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, to name just a few!

For more information plus photos and videos of the action at Goodwood, head to http://www.goodwood.co.uk/festival-of-speed/.

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