The Festival of Speed is a major event in the world motorsport calendar, featuring the latest racers, championship drivers and incredible displays of classic cars. This year celebrates 70 years since the Porsche 356 was first introduced in 1948.
The sculpture, designed by British artist and designer Gerry Judah, stands in front of Goodwood House at 52 metres high, towering high above the entire event. One single narrow spine, starting at only 98 millimetres wide on the ground, shoots vertically to explode into seven pointed spindles, on which six iconic Porsches sit dramatically at each end, with the seventh spindle pointing sharply into the sky.
The cars displayed are as follows:
Despite the sheer size—as high as Nelson’s Column—the sculpture as a whole is incredibly lightweight—just 21 tonnes of steel to support 6 tonnes of cars. The geometry is based on a regular truncated octahedron, this shape giving positions to display all six cars, with a stem at the bottom and a spire on top. All parts are hexagonal tapered tubes, giving strength and rigidity, and fabricated entirely from laser-cut steel plate.
Gerry Judah’s installations can be seen in the Imperial War Museum, St Paul’s Cathedral and the India High Commission as well as international locations such as Mexico, New Zealand, South Korea and an entrance sculpture outside the Porscheplatz Museum in Zuffenhausen, Stuttgart.
Project Details:
Client: Porsche
Design & Production: Gerry Judah
Engineering: Diales
Fabrication & Installation: Littlehampton Welding
Photography: David Barbour
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