a good day out at goodwood

I am harbouring secret hopes 

that my beautiful boy will be a motorsport fan.

His daddy is into football in a big way,

well most sports really.

But I was raised on motorsports

and I really hope he'll enjoy the thrill of fast cars and loud engines and a good race when he's bigger.

So in order to begin his education into the world of all things racing car

we took him to the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

We all had a fantastic day

and if the amount of times he has said "car" and "bike" since is anything to go by

then we'll have a fan on our hands.

Right from his first glimpse of the cars from the grandstands

he was hooked

and watched each car as it flew past

with a look of total concentration.

  

Being little and cute

and having the ability to say "car" in a very loud and adorable way

has it's definite advantages.

As we wandered around the pits,

the beautiful boy kept saying "ooooooh"

and then pointing before saying "car" repeatedly.

Every single pit crew fell for his charms

so our little man found himself being whisked over the fences which held back the crowds

as he got to go and get up close and personal with the cars.

As did Mummy of course,

with her camera.

But I was more than a little jealous when he got to stand in not one but two F1 cars.

Finding his way around the Mercedes steering wheel.

Checking out the Ferrari's tyres.

Getting a different view of a Red Bull.

Pretending to be Jenson Button in his very own Maclaren.

The Festival of Speed isn't just about fast cars though,

there is a whole section on aviation

and the beautiful boy really loved watching the Red Arrows with Daddy.

He kept saying "birds"

as the they roared through the sky in formation.

We saw lots of lovely fast, noisy F1 cars

which never fail to impress.

Although the beautiful boy wasn't terribly impressed with the Red Bull

which did some very loud engine revving as it went past.

It was pretty loud for grown up ears

so it was probably pretty terrifying for baby ones.

But it was nothing a cuddle wouldn't fix.

I've never watched motocross biking in the flesh before

and I have to say that it is one hundred times more brilliant and more scary to watch live.

Watching some of the best bikers in the world

show off the best tricks made me a nervous wreck.

With every single jump I was convinced that someone would fall

and they just appeared to be totally defying gravity.

The little man was watching intently

and then turned to me to say "Cars?".

"No sweetie," I said "They are bikes."

He watched a few more bikes fly by

and said "Birds?"

I could kind of see where he was coming from.

"No, not birds. They're bikes."

"Bikes" was a new word for the day.

But I hope he's not getting any ideas about having one.