Extra features

Goodwood is go:

ONE of the UK’s most prestigious motoring events opens its gates this weekend with the Goodwood Festival of Speed celebrating 20 years of hot cars and hillclimb racing.

All 185,000 tickets to the petrolhead paradise have sold out, with spectators clamouring to see an impressive line-up of cars and drivers tackle the famed Goodwood hill.

The event has become a favorite for many of the world’s top car-makers to premier new machinery.

This year the Mexican built Vuhl 05, Jaguar’s Project 7, the McLaren P1 and nutty Caterham Seven 620 R (see stories linked below) will all hit the Goodwood hill amongst many other offerings from around the world.

Porsche will have a strong presence at the festival in 2013 as it celebrates 50 years of the 911 with a range of events including a daily parade, Cartier ‘Style et Luxe’ concourse and even a specially commissioned sculpture.

With an entry fee of just 4, the first festival in 1993 expected just 2,500 visitors but ended up welcoming 27,000.

Toyota near top of patent list:

TOYOTA has belied its at-times conservative reputation by filing more patents in the US last year than almost any other corporation.

Ranking 13th overall, the Japanese car-maker successfully applied for nearly 1500 patents in 2012 – even more than Google or Apple Inc.

General Motors followed closely behind in 19th place with a total of 1374 patents while Honda also featured in the top 50 with 1074 granted.

Happy birthday Fiat:

FIAT is also joining in with the birthday celebrations as it turned 114 years old yesterday.

The Italian car-maker produced just 24 examples of its first car, the 3 ½ CV, in 1899 and, over the course of its history, has built everything from railway carriages and tractors to trucks and aircraft.

Happy Birthday or, should we say, Tanti Auguri.