The Subaru World Rally Team was one of the star attractions at last weekend’s Goodwood Festival of Speed - the world’s biggest and most diverse classic motorsport event.

Based within the West Sussex estate of Goodwood House, the home of event organiser Lord March, the three day festival attracts the biggest names from motorsport, show business and high society. This year, despite some classic British summer weather (it was pretty wet), the festival was another roaring success and attracted a sell-out crowd of 150,000 spectators.

The Subaru World Rally team has been a strong supporter of the festival since it was first run in 1993 and over the years drivers including Colin McRae, Richard Burns, Juha Kankkunen and Petter Solberg have wowed the crowds with demonstrations of the latest Impreza world rally cars. This year the team pulled out all the stops and brought along its complete WRC service area, a sparkling Impreza WRC2007 and a thrilling line-up of drivers that comprised current WRC stars Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson and ex Subaru World Champion Colin McRae.

Solberg was behind the wheel on Friday and drove the famous 1.1mile tarmac hill climb course in a typically flamboyant style. From there, Solberg and the other WRC crews headed to Goodwood’s own 3km Forest Rally Stage for some loose-surface driving and a chance to demonstrate their machines in proper rally conditions. As well as providing great entertainment, the Forest Rally Stage also acted as a fundraiser for the Richard Burns Foundation and in the morning Solberg gave three rides in aid of the foundation’s chosen charity, the Teenage Cancer Trust. In the afternoon three lucky journalists were given the chance to sit alongside Petter and experience the excitement of the Rally Stage from the co-drivers seat.

Colin McRae was in the driving seat on Saturday and quickly got to grips in to the latest evolution of the car with which he won the 1995 World Rally Championship. Colin tackled the Hannu Mikkola designed stage six times and was accompanied by a selection of competition winners and journalists.

Sunday was Chris Atkinson’s turn at the controls and despite wet and blustery conditions he put on a terrific display of driving skill as he threaded the WRC2007 between the trees. Highlight of the day for Chris was the formation of an Australian dream team, when World Superbike double world champion Troy Corser jumped on board for a passenger ride. If you’re in Australia, keep an eye out for a full television report of the Atkinson / Corser partnership on Network 10 – alternatively have a look at the separate story here at swrt.com.