Alex Wurz has raced to huge success in various motor sport disciplines, including scoring podiums in Formula One and winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice in 1996 and 2009.

Like many drivers, however, his passion was ignited at a young age in the world of rallycross, and last weekend at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the Austrian driver brought a car with a lot of family history to share with the thousands of fans in southwest England.

“I’m here for the first time for myself and not for a manufacturer,” he said. “I’ve brought along my Lancia Stratos which was the championship-winning car in the hands of my father in the first year that European Rallycross was recognised by the FIA.

“That car went on to win the championship a second time with Andy Bentza, and it also won something like 12 Austrian championships – I’m the third owner after Andy and my father, and the only one who doesn’t have a European Rallycross championship to his name!”

Echoing similar words from Ken Block at Goodwood this weekend (read more here), Wurz also believes that the discipline has great potential to become one of the most popular forms of racing, and he continued, “I love World Rallycross – it’s an amazing sport. I’m very happy that it’s growing and I think it can grow a lot further. There are all the ingredients and if the promoters and the FIA keep pushing it then it can be hugely popular.”

Wurz shares the opinion that events like Goodwood are an ideal opportunity to inspire the next generation of fans and racers, and explained his views on this culmination of past and present motor sport:

“I remember in 1998 Lord March was asking all the Formula 1 teams to come, and the first time I was here the event was very small. Ever since it has grown and established itself as one of the coolest petrol head events in the world. It’s gone about it in totally the correct way too – it’s in a beautiful park, it has a traditional English flare, our shoes are muddy, but it’s also very glamorous.

“It makes for a really cool mixture, for example I have three children and I’m bringing them here because they can see motorsport from the very early days right up to now. Everything is really authentic and it’s right in front you.”

The juxtaposition of old and new naturally raises questions of technological advancement and safety, and Wurz believes that maintaining this connection will strengthen the sport as it moves forward. He added, “I think generally motor sport moves along with society. This is why we are going along with really cool new technology, we are definitely an industry which, despite us pushing the limits, we are sensational in our safety records which is all very cool.

“I think it’s important to say that I am a huge ambassador for safety both on the track and on the road, and I think there is zero contradiction between the popularity of the sport and the safety of the sport.

“That said, we should always remember where motor sport came from and we must stay connected to it. Perhaps right now we are little too far away from it, and we are in danger of forgetting that the sport it all about man and machine together. Thankfully events like this bring you back into the right mindset, and there is now a big classic car movement generally both on track and road.

“F1 as the pinnacle is starting to see how important it is not to forget the past, and in the digital age they are sharing some old footage and it’s really popular – it forms a bridge between past and present makes everything stronger.”