New Jaguar sculpture kicks off Goodwood Festival of Speed

A new sculpture to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the iconic Jaguar E-type has been unveiled at Goodwood on the first day of the Festival of Speed.

The monument, built out of piping, soars 28 meters into the sky in front of Goodwood House and will be one of the first things to greet visitors arriving to the motoring festival, which kicked off June 30.

The piece was created in the model of an up-ended E-type by the sculptor Gerry Judah, using steel supplied by another offshoot of Jaguar's parent company, Indian industry conglomerate Tata.

It weighs 150 tonnes, says Jaguar - approximately the same as 122 series 1 E-Type models.

Following a grand calvacade of classic E-types through London to mark the start of MotorExpo (June 6-12), it is perhaps unsurprising that Jaguar opted for yet another grand gesture to mark the start of Goodwood, one of the major events of the year in the British motoring calendar.

Around 175,000 people are expected to attend the festival, which runs through July 3 in the grounds of Goodwood House in West Sussex.

Alongside Jaguar will be automobiles of every size and shape, with the most ambitious among them attempting the hill climb upon which Goodwood built its name, although there will be plenty of other attractions too.

Among them will be a special edition bespoke drophead coupé model from Rolls-Royce, a new concept car from Honda, the all-electric EX1 racing concept from Peugeot and bright pink 'Elvis Presley style' Pagani Zonda, expected to be auctioned for somewhere between £200,000-£250,000 (€221,000-€277,000)

Find out more about the festival: http://www.goodwood.co.uk/festival-of-speed/welcome.aspx

A free app for the event's 'Moving Motor Show' has also been released this week, download it here: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/goodwood-mms/id444988901?mt=8