Wacky Racers line up for Goodwood Festival of Speed!

Sopan Sharma              18 June 2009

Cartoon characters from Hanna-Barbera's iconic series take their running cars on a parade before the acclaimed British racing fest

Penelope Pitstop in her uber-chic Compact Pussycat, the Slag Brothers in their stone-age Boulder Mobile or the sly Dick Dastardly in his Mean Machine - if you thought some cartoon channel was the place where you'd spot these characters and their machines, you'd be wrong. All eleven cars from the Wacky Racers cartoon series made an appearance in West Sussex a few days back, taking to the streets in their running caricatures of cars and bemusing residents.

The full-size working cars have been built especially for the forthcoming Goodwood Festival of Speed in July and have been brightening up the racetrack for some years now, but this was their first outing on public streets. The carnival-like cavalcade made its way through the streets of the unsuspecting British town under a motorcycle police escort. The cars and their occupants have been one of the crowd pullers at the festival, especially so at the Junior Festival of Speed which is a popular attraction for kids and young fans of motor racing.

While the cars ran well throughout the procession, the characters were up to their typical comic antics. While Penelope lost her way in her standard 'damsel in distress' fashion, the endlessly-hungry Slag Brothers split from the motorcade to grab a quick bite at a local fast-food drive-through. Dick was seen drat-ting after a couple of his devious manoeuvres at passing some of the cars failed!

The cars will be on display at a special pavilion at the festival in July. We'll bring you more from the party here on ZigWheels.com!