The 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed is underway. And crankandpiston is all over it! In fact, we’ve already sent our own Phil McGovern for a scout around.

Well, I say ‘sent ‘ him. It has in fact been all he’s been talking about for the past few weeks. Then again, when we consider what’s he’s already stumbled across, it’s not hard to see why.

Take the Quaker State/Group-44 Jaguar XJ-S, for example. Something of a shock success story when it made it’s foray onto the American Trans-Am scene in the late-1970s, the race-spec XJ-S housed a weighty 5.3l V12 under the bonnet, propelled its way to 290kph if given the proper right-foot abuse courtesy of its 475hp (and later 570hp). It wasn’t long before the Jag made a name for itself on The Canonball Run, most notably in 1979 when it demolished the opposition.

Then there’s the almighty Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth, a turbocharged legend on the British Touring Car Championship Group A scene throughout the late-1980s: so dominant was the Ford in 1988, that the car failed to win only three of the season’s twelve Group A races. Remarkably though, owing to the nature of the points system across the groups, the RS500 would win only one outright championship in 1990 with Rob Gravett.