Multidisciplinary consultancy Capita has completed a giant twisting Jenga-esque sculpture for the Goodwood Festival of Speed which takes place this weekend.
The temporary 40m-high structure is the latest in an annual series of sculptures that have been built in front of Goodwood House during the festival for the past 18 years.
A collaboration between Capita and sculptor Gerry Judah, the steel structure was fabricated by metalwork specialists Littlehampton Welding and supports two Mazda cars at its appex.
Built from 720 stacked steel beams placed on a 3m deep foundation, the sculpture weighs 120 tonnes and was erected on site in just under a month.
The two cars positioned at the top of the sculpture are a Mazda 787B, winner of the Le Mans in 1991 and a Mazda LM55, a real-life version of a digital car designed for computer game GranTurism.
A Mazda 787B and Mazda LM55 are postioned at the top of the sculpture
Bruno Postle, Capita’s lead engineer on the sculpture, added: “This is the 11th year that we’ve worked with Gerry on the sculpture for Goodwood and the technical challenges of this year’s creation made it the most complex yet. Working out how to safely balance the massive corkscrewing steel structure 40 meters in the air was a huge challenge – but we’re so proud of the result.”
Judah said: “Usually, the one thing you never do with steel is to twist it, so this year we had an impossible challenge to find a way of corkscrewing the entire structure.
“We succeeded with an elegant and graceful system that shows off the elegance and grace of the cars themselves. Capita’s response to my ideas is amazing; they never balk at a change in direction, a new idea. The team absolutely get the spirit of what I’m trying to do.”
Steve Fallick, a director at Littlehampton Welding, said: “Working with Gerry and Capita is always a fantastic opportunity to showcase our expertise and capabilities. Each year they come up with another challenging build, and each year we work with them to deliver something iconic for Goodwood. This year is no different – suspending that weight and height of steel in a corkscrew just hadn’t been done before. We’re looking forward to next year already”.
