Peter Fonda to celebrate 40 years of easy riding at Goodwood

The legendary chopper-riding Hollywood icon of Western counterculture Peter Fonda is due to attend this year’s Festival of Speed (3-5 July) to help celebrate the 40th anniversary of his influential film Easy Rider at Goodwood.

Peter Fonda will be reunited with a chopper motorcycle as used in the classic Hollywood road movie Easy Rider –for which he is best known – and will ride up the famous Goodwood 1.16-mile hillclimb at the Festival.

Released in 1969 to huge international acclaim, Fonda co-wrote, produced and starred in Easy Rider as the laconic, long-haired ‘Captain America’ wearing a distinctive motorcycle jacket emblazoned with a huge American flag. Riding alongside Fonda through southern USA was Dennis Hopper as ‘Billy’ and Oscar-nominated Jack Nicholson as an alcoholic civil rights lawyer. Easy Rider proved to be one of the most influential films of the 1960s, exploring many of the issues and tensions of American life the late 1960s.

Peter Fonda’s bike will be one of a number of custom choppers due to appear at the 2009 Festival of Speed. A dedicated class of custom choppers, including Zeroesque and Speed Demon,, will form part of the Cartier ‘Style et Luxe,’ an annual vehicle design concours at Goodwood for the most beautiful and rarely-seen cars and motorcycles from around the world.

For tickets to the 2009 Festival of Speed, visit goodwood.co.uk