News

Spectacular Mercedes racing cars ‘push the limits of design’

The four-day Festival of Speed at Goodwood House in West Sussex marked its 120th anniversary by installing this 90m-high sculpture of Mercedes-Benz racing cars passing each other in mid-air. 

The sculpture, which was designed by the artist Gerry Judah, spans a distance of 45m and weighs 160 tonnes. Judah describes the design as "pushing the limits of what is possible with size and complexity in engineering". 

The two Mercedes are a replica of the 1934 Silver Arrow that was raced to victory by Manfred von Brauschtisch at the Nordschleife Nürburgring Grand Prix, and one of Lewis Hamilton’s 2013 Formula 1 cars. Together they represent the marque’s first and last eight-cylinder Grand Prix racers (Formula 1 adopted V6 engines for the 2014 season).

Contribution to the 119th Festival of Speed for Porche (images courtesy of Gerry Judah)

Each year the festival commissions a sculpture from Judah. Commenting on the structure at the unveiling ceremony, Goodwood founder Lord March said: "This year’s central feature is the most architecturally and artistically challenging that we’ve ever had at Goodwood and it’s a testament to the out-of-the-box thinking of Gerry Judah, which is very much aligned with our philosophy of constant innovation around the Festival of Speed." 

The structure was engineered by Capita and fabricated by Littlehampton Welding.

Story for GCR? Get in touch via email: [email protected]

Latest articles in News