I could feel the Audi Tradition engineers' growing sense of alarm as I began to waft the idea of improvements that could be made to the D Type Auto Union

This year, we had a reduced presence at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, which was a shame as it can be classified as a vintage one. First there was the extra day, on the Thursday: billed as the Moving Motor Show, this continued the trend to make Goodwood a radical alternative to the old-style exhibition hall motor show.

The cars look so much better out on their wheels rather than resting on the inevitable rotating dais, accompanied by a girl in a bikini… And the event did manage to provide a runaway car drama that made a bull in a china shop seem a relatively modest problem.

Having overrun Earls Court, Lord March now seems to have set his sights on further conquests. The arrival of a number of American hot rods, along with several guitar strummers – including Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, and Jeff Beck – moved well beyond a car event when the low-loader arrived on the track with a full festival PA system and proceeded to provide a short concert for the crowd. Assuming that Glastonbury will soon fall under the inexorable might of Obergruppenführer March, one can only assume the next football World Cup will be held in front of Goodwood House.

The Cartier Style et Luxe provided a fantastic display of cars and an even more exotic group of judges. Perhaps the most eminent of these was Jonathan Ives, the designer behind the very best of Apple’s products – I’d love to see and hear what he would like to bring to 21st century automotive design.

From my point of view, the D Type Auto Union I drove provided by far my most successful run of the past three years. The car was superb, starting cleanly and running faultlessly. Yet, inevitably, that now means all sorts of other elements are revealed, and I could feel a sense of alarm pass through the ranks of the Audi Tradition engineers as I began to waft the idea of improvements that could be made. I like to think these were relatively modest suggestions to improve the way the car is demonstrated (gear ratios in particular – it could do most of the hill in first without getting near the rev limit), but I wish I hadn’t made a joke about needing tyre warmers and developing a rear wing. I think the engineers are now deeply suspicious I’m going to suggest a full race programme next year.

After Goodwood, the Auto Union was taken to Donington for a photo session. The circuit is apparently due to reopen for racing soon, and I’m pleased to hear that. Although as a BRDC member I am a committed Silverstone supporter regarding the GP, Donington is a respected rival, and no race fan would want to lose another track. In fact, with fewer hoardings, it looks rather romantic at present, and the sight of the Auto Union parked up in front of the Craner Curves was a wonderful whiff of bygone days. I wish the Donington team the best of luck in getting operational again soon.

Well, this month’s award for all-round entertainment has to go to Red Bull, and Mark Webber in particular. His win at Silverstone was a corker. The in-car radio transmissions between him and Fernando Alonso, although brief, contained enough underscored drama for a three-part soap opera. Prior to this, Mark’s attempt to emulate his co-workers in the Red Bull air-racing department was enthusiastic, if not entirely successful.

I managed to obtain a critique of the in-car footage from Paul Bonhomme, current Red Bull air race series leader and a commercial airline pilot (you probably would realise you were being flown by someone special if any of those inflatable pylons suddenly appeared outside your porthole). It was felt that if Mark had pulled back on the stick more firmly at the top of the loop he might have completed the manoeuvre more gracefully, though Adrian Newey’s omission of movable ailerons was inevitably a contribution to the less-than-graceful finish to the routine…

My own view of Mark’s rather edgy relationship with his team is that it’s not completely due to Christian Horner’s decision to let Sebastian Vettel have all the nice bits, and make Webber’s car out of the residue swept up off the workshop floor. My spies tell me Mark might have been a little upset with the fact he’d negotiated a deal to end up owning the car in which he’d won the Monaco Grand Prix. Unfortunately, this was the same one that he took aviating.

Apparently, it was not entirely diplomatic of Christian to point out that Mark was now in the unique position of having a famous racing car he could take onto a Ryanair flight as carry-on luggage.

NICK MASON

Pink Floyd’s drummer and a great car enthusiast, Nick has raced classic and modern cars for the last 30 years and has written two books: one on cars, Into the Red, and one on his version of the history of Pink Floyd, Inside Out.