The Heath guide to Goodwood:

This is a guide to how I get round Goodwood or to be more accurate try or not get round. It focusses on the two big problem corners: Madgewick at the start and No Name/St Mary's complex just before the Levant Hairpin.

Madgewick

The corner actually looks pretty innocuous: it is a hairpin of fairly large radius which can lull you into taking it faster than you really should. It has some gravel traps and tyre walls but while these may stop the car, the most frightening thing is that the corner is visible from the stands and pits and so there is no hiding place should you actually come off on the first corner of the lap. This means that at least 400 of the commonly used racing excuses cannot be used without some risk of damage to your reputation.

My own first experience of Madgewick was at a sprint when the meeting was held up to recover a car that had spun off on the convoy lap. Everyone started muttering about how stupid the driver was coming off on the first corner but all this friendly banter was hushed when it was announced that the car was the course car and being driven by one of the officials who knew Goodwood extremely well. The banter started to rapidly change into fear driven by the thoughts of if the course car could come off... what hope did the rest of us have!

The problem with it is that a fast exit speed is essential to a fast lap as it exits onto the longest straight on the circuit. I say straight to mean that although there are some bends like Fordwater, it is flat to the floor time and you just drive like it was a straight. So you have to attack it hard. Unfortunately when sprinting you approach it at somewhere around 110 mph on cold tyres and then ask the car to turn right, ignore some funny cambers and also stay on the track so that you can apply the power mid corner or earlier to get a really fast exit speed... Usually this approach results in a spectacular entertainment for the rest of us while the driver starts to wish he really had brought that spare set of underwear. The trick is knowing how much speed to take in, when to apply the power and the exact line through. No real problem there, then.

So while other guides will tell you how to get round Madgewick, here areseveral ways of how not to do it.

1. Approach Madgewick in third, turn into the corner looking for the apex and then realise it is a double apex and that you have turned in for the first and wrong one. Realise that you are not going to get round and the corner is getting tighter and tighter. The anticipated nice controlled drift around the hairpin is becoming more like an uncontrollable 180 degree spin. Finish the rest of the corner going backwards. Remember to doctor the regulations so that you can claim that you were going the right way and everyone else got it wrong.

2. Approach Madgewick in fourth. Feel so pleased that you forget about the double apex and manage to achieve an even faster exit speed. Never before has the car felt so fast and stable going out of the corner... backwards.

3. Remember the double apex and get a really excellent line that starts a four wheel drift towards the left hand edge of the track. Realise that the darker surface does not mean that the track has been resurfaced but that the corner has not dried out yet unlike the nice straight. Re-appraise current speed and direction of drift and start to fill out planning application for track widening before remembering that the planning committee won't meet for another two weeks. Practice saying "the grass and gravel trap really is a faster racing line, believe me."

4. Get everything right and then get spooked by the two bumps on the exit. Lift off and get everything wrong. Make mental note to clean the wing mirrors so you can see when to reverse into Fordwater. When questioned mutter something about this being a funny autotest.

Alternatively, you can approach in fourth, brake or lift depending on whether this is a flying or standing start lap to an appropriate speed (90-100mph on a sprint, considerably slower on a track day) to allow the car to turn in and drift the car out to the left hand edge of the track before it starts to come back in for the second part of the hairpin. Adjust speed to compensate for the anticipated amount of grip, remembering that it is extremely difficult to do this once you have turned in and are committed into the corner. Make sure to hit the two real apexes. Get the first right and the car will drift out towards the edge of the track and then miraculously drift back in to hit the second apex. If you don't then you are in real trouble as the car will go extremely wide and probably run out of track. Apply power as and when. Ignore the bumps and don't lift off - normality will be resumed at some point. The funny churning feeling in your stomach will go away eventually as well. With a bit of luck, the exit speed should be around 20 mph higher than the entrance speed and there is enough track left to change to 5th and go flat through Fordwater and onto No Name.

No Name and St Mary's

One of the reasons why we have breaks between sprint runs is so that we drivers can either talk with the crowd (providing he isn't queing at the burger van) and explain about all the training and commitment etc you need to develop the superhuman reflexes and skills needed to get the car just to the start line, let alone any further... or so that we can explain the different techniques that we use to go faster. Very often, a small crowd of advisers will gather round a driver who has taken, shall we say an alternative route. Usually I get dragged into this as I appear to have a wealth of knowledge and for some reason whenever someone mentions the word off... my name gets attached to the conversation!

1. The correct way to go around St Marys.
2. Whoops the back end has tried to overtake the front.
3. Time for some corrective action.
4. Didn't need the spoiler anyway.
5. Now to spin the other way to unwind the car.

No Name and St Mary's will often induce uncontrollable shakes and fits when mentioned to most sprinters. It is the place where Stirling Moss had his terible crash which ended his career which doesn't do much for the confidence.

On their own the corners are tricky but combine them and it is really a big test to attack them. Think adverse camber, insufficient braking areas, nasty apexes and you get some idea of what I am talking about. So here are the Heath tried and tested methods of NOT going round No Name and St Marys.

1. Go through No Name OK but get the braking wrong for St Mary's so I am still breaking as I turn in. Car looses back end and goes backwards into a cornfield and creates corn circles. Blame aliens for mistake as they obviously used a tractor beam to pull me into the field to make the circles for them. Thank marshall for collecting the front spoiler for me.

2. Go through No Name OK but turn too early for St Marys and struggle until the back end slides pointing car towards marshall post and tyre wall. Apply huge amounts of opposite lock and miss tyre wall by 6 inches get onto tarmac and do 180 degree spin for effect. Blame photographer for wearing magnetic bracelet and this upsetting the car and then remember the car is GRP... Thank marshall for bringing both parts of the spoiler back to the paddock.

3. Go through No Name too too quickly and end up in the lefthand side of the track as you go into St Marys. Go into cornfield forwards to check the circles from before. Receive ransom note from marshall for the safe return of a spoiler, otherwise it comes back in a carrier bag! Make contribution to Marshalls fund before realising the spoiler is already in pieces...

4. Go through No Name indecently quickly, loose the back trying to get to the right from the left. As car spins, start thinking about the nice cornfield and then realise the car is still spinning round and as the car points to St Marys, gun the throttle and pretend that nothing had happened. Accept applause from Marshalls and act as if you were meaning to do it to cheer them up... Show surprise at seeing that despite this, it is your second best time this season!

5. Think that No Name is Fordwater and is absolutely flat... quickly realise mistake, break and then realise there is no way you can get round St Marys so lock up and take the longer but some say prettier route through the corn field. Remember to renew ramblers membership in case you get stopped by the Earl of March and asked what are you doing driving in my cornfield. Don't forget to ask if he has seen a spoiler anywhere.

Out of No name and onto St Mary's

Current method:

Approach corner flat out doing around 130 mph. Slight lift into No Name but keep it in top gear and go though the corner. Get the car over to the RHS without spinning it and liberally apply brake, drop into fourth and throw car into corner while clenching everything tight. Ignore funny feelings as the car goes light etc etc. Close eyes like you do in the dentist knowing that the pain will go away at some point. Keep saying "It will get better... it will get better... It will...". Open eyes when over the crest, wave to the aliens in the field for applying the tractor beam that kept you on the circuit... and proceed to Lavant.

Levant

Slow in and fast out and remember that good exit speed is necessary to get a fast top speed down the Levant straight. It is possible to hit 150 mph down this straight if the exit is fast enough. The problem is then stopping and getting round Woodcote.

Woodcote

Haveto say this is not my favouritr as the photos show I often don't get this right. It is a double apex corner and is difficult to see where the car needs to go and where to brake in a straight line... Because of the speeds involved, take care.

Going into woodcote - note the double apex and be careful of the gravel and getting it wrong!

This is not the ideal way into Woodcote... Or out of it....

The Chicane

And finally the chicane. Looks simple but it is easy to overcook it on the exit and end up in a tyre wall of going across the finishing line backwards...