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The penultimate day of the 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed has been cancelled amid a yellow warning for high winds and heavy rain, the culmination of two days of unseasonably bad weather at the festival.
The popular annual festival that’s been running for 30 years celebrates modern and classic cars and bikes and attracts a wide variety of motorsport legends like two-time MotoGP champion Casey Stoner and four-time Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel.
Teams were initially told to return to the paddock late on Friday afternoon to securely pack away their exhibits and vehicles, while attendees were sent a message advising that further changes to the schedule could be made as organisers monitored the weather forecast.
That then came to a head at 10pm on Friday night when the organisers issued a statement announcing that the third day would be called off.
“After consulting meteorologists, health and safety experts and other key stakeholders,” they announced, “we have taken the decision to close the event site due to a severe wind warning in the Goodwood area.
“On-site safety is our highest priority and the forecasted high winds will pose a serious risk to various temporary structures across the site.
“We politely ask that you do not travel to Goodwood or attempt to access the site.”
And while the organisers are hoping that the fourth and final day of the event will be able to go ahead on Sunday, they have also confirmed that tickets for day three will not be valid and will instead be refunded.
“Sunday is a sold-out day,” the statement continued. “Anyone with a Saturday ticket will not be able to access the site. All ticket holders for Saturday will be communicated with in the coming days regarding a refund, and we ask that customers requesting refunds please do not try to contact the ticket office over the weekend.”
Saturday was set to feature a packed schedule of on and off track events including an interview with Vettel – driving his Williams FW14B and McLaren MP4/8A at the festival – and a host of F1, MotoGP and Le Mans machinery tackling the famous course.
