Stobart Motorsport at Goodwood Festival of Speed

Matthew and Lewis Hamilton catch up at the top of Goodwood hill

Brit Matthew Wilson took time out of his busy schedule, during the FIA World Rally Championship’s summer break, to catch up with old mates Lewis Hamilton and Marc Hynes at the Goodwood Festival of Speed last weekend.

Wilson and his Stobart Motorsport team were in attendance on all three days of the largest and most glamorous motorsport festival in Britain as the 21-year-old took part in exhibition runs up the Goodwood hillclimb and over the 2.5 kilometre forest stage.

The youngster caught up with friend and former team-mate Lewis Hamilton for lunch between the two exhibition runs on Sunday where the pair chatted about how their years have been progressing so far.

Former British Formula 3 Champion and ex-BAR Formula 1 test driver Marc Hynes also reminisced with the Stobart driver. A former coach to Wilson during his Formula Renault days, Hynes was also treated to a blast around the Goodwood forest stage, exiting the car after his run in a very excited manner. The sealed surface expert was amazed by the speeds at which top WRC drivers are able to pedal their World Rally cars on gravel.

After a successful event the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team now have their sights firmly set on the Neste Oil Rally Finland in two weeks time.

Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team driver Matthew Wilson said: "Goodwood was again great fun this year and the weather helped a lot with the rain staying away. It was fantastic to see Lewis again this year and have a chat about how things have been going in 2008.

Marc had a ball in the car on the rally stage and it was good to be able to show him how we do it on gravel. These sort of events are great for the fans because they can get closer to the cars, and the drivers, more than any other event out there.

I believe the festival was a sell-out which is a great thing for motorsport and for us to entertain all the people who came out on the weekend to see all the different forms of motorsport together in the one location."

1999 British Formula 3 Champion Marc Hynes said: "That was an amazing experience sitting in the car with Matt at Goodwood – the speed these guys can drive on gravel is out of this world! The constant workload on the driver is incredible and I can’t believe these guys can keep it up for as long as 40 minutes at a time during a stage."

www.stobartmotorsport.com

- Gus Burrows -  also photos