THE Earl of March, creator and host of the Goodwood Festival of Speed, was due to drive a World Rally Championship Ford Focus up the Goodwood hill climb today, the first day of one of the most prestigious events in the motor racing calendar.

No mean performer in high powered machinery, he has driven a variety of sports and racing cars at Goodwood, and has the advantage of knowing the famous hill outside his Goodwood House home better than anybody.

"This will be my first Goodwood run in a contemporary rally car, and I'm anticipating it will be quite unlike anything I've driven here before" he said.

"Rally cars always go well at Goodwood they have phenomenal acceleration and grip, and they fit the track a little better than some of the big single seaters and sports cars."

Lord March was scheduled to drive the Ford Focus that Ford Rallye Sport drivers Colin McRae and Nicky Grist took to victory on the Acropolis Rally in Greece last month.

The Britons claimed victory in Europe's toughest rally, seventh round of the FIA World Rally Championship, after three days of competition in gruelling heat over rocky mountain tracks.

It was the team's second consecutive triumph following their victory in Argentina and the third straight win in Greece for Ford and McRae, who now has five Acropolis crowns to his name.

The win also moved McRae alongside Ford team-mate Carlos Sainz and Tommi Makinen at the top of the all-time winners list with 24 successes.

Lord March's drive up the hill climb outside Good Wood house kicks off three days of racing events involving a glittering array of machinery that represents the very best in motoring technology.

And Ford remains very much in focus with the return to the world-famous venue of a rare GT70 rally car, one of only six built and developed at Goodwood in the 1970s.

It has been fully restored and will perform on the Goodwood hillclimb.

It will be the car's first competitive outing since 1973.

Restoration began early in 2002 at Sporting and Historic Car Engineers' premises in Poundon, Oxfordshire.

Fortunately, most of the competition components including the ventilated disc brakes with four-pot calipers, driving lights, instruments and Minilite wheels were kept with the car.

Standard Ford parts were used to replace other components on the vehicle.

The car has been repainted in BP livery and has again been fitted with a 200 bhp 2-litre BDA engine from Ford racing engine supplier, Terry Hoyle, plus a Hewland gearbox.

The car accurately represents its final stage of development in 1973.

Additional parts include a stronger roll-cage to meet current safety standards, an updated handbrake system to conform to MoT testing regulations and new seats.

The GT70 was conceived in 1970 by Stuart Turner, the then Ford competitions director, and the rest was history, the cars taking their place as one of the most successful cars of its type.

Another marque represented at the Festival is Audi, whose rich and successful motorsport story spanning eight decades will be in full view when the German manufacturer displays rally and race machinery which dominated its category and changed the face of the sport forever.

Auto Union, the first racing car to bear Audi's Four Ring emblem, was established in 1933.

In the ensuing four years, it had taken part in 54 races, winning 32 and setting 15 world and 23 class records with the A, B, C and D-type single-seater racing cars thanks to racing legends including Bernd Rosemeyer, Tazio Nuvolari and Hans Stuck who drove these mammoth V12 and V16 heavyweights to glory at speeds of over 240mph.

The Auto Union was the first successful mid-engined Grand Prix car (positioned behind the driver and ahead of the rear axle), the precursor of current Formula One design.

It would take 26 years from when Stuck Snr set new world speed records on the Auto Union A-type's 1934 debut for this layout to become the norm in Grand Prix racing.

At Goodwood this weekend, a recreated 1936 V16 C-type will be driven by 1996 British Touring Car Champion and triple Le Mans 24 Hour race winner Frank Biela.

Audi's quattro permanent four-wheel-drive system is another Four Rings legacy that remains today it's 20 years since a non four-wheel-drive car powered a World Rally Champion to the Drivers' title.

The awesome Quattro scored over 20 wins in the World Rally Championship, netting the Manufacturer's title twice (1982/84) and helping Hannu Mikkola and Stig Blomqvist to the Driver's crown in 1983 and 1984 respectively.