The 2003 Festival of Speed took place at Arena Essex on June 29, kicking off with a pre-meeting event where the two Cookman-Webb cars, specially built to promote the Essex Air Ambulance fund, took a couple of passengers from the local radio station, Essex FM, for a ten lap race around the circuit. This race, won eventually by Martin Cookman, was topped off when Gary Webb treated his co-pilot to a few doughnuts on the pit bend.

The Lightning Rod, Group A Hot Rod, Outlaw Hot Rod and 1300 Stock Car events were raced for the Chick Woodroffe Memorial trophies. Inaugurated at the 2002 Festival in memory of the founder of Promotasport, the trophy events are qualified by end of meeting races throughout the season leading up to the main Festival, and are usually raced in the order of the points scored during these races. This year, however, the front rows were asked to draw their positions. The Group A and Lightning Rod events also featured last chance races due to the number of drivers in each formula, and it was with these races that the meeting started. Each formula also featured a "helter-skelter" race in the second half of the meeting which also included racing from SuperBangers and Reliants.

Lee Hall dawdled out of the pit gate to complete the line up for the last chance race for the Group A Hot Rods which was well represented, including a number of cars that would normally not need to qualify for the main race and quite a few extras that had not been seen much during the season. Jason Villa headed up the grid as they hit the first green flag of the meeting, but Hall was slow away and dropped right to the back, scattering the cars around him, possibly an indication of why he had been so late to take the circuit. Simon Simmons was making headway early on in his Mini, jetting up the outside, but the lead was consolidated by Villa in the early stages until James Hitchen caught up, pressured and eventually passed him, Richard Haines doing a similar job on Steve Holmes. Nichola Bearman managed to get fourth behind Haines, holding off Holmes and Dave Brown. Brown seemed to be in with a chance as the three battled over the fourth spot, but a mistake cost him dearly though he managed to claw his way home in ninth place while Hitchen cruised comfortably home to win ahead of Villa.

Lightning Rods
The last chance race for the Lightning Rods, just as with the Group A race before it, featured a number of drivers that would normally be expected to be comfortably waiting for the finals at this point; certainly this could be said of race winner Pat Kenneally who managed to hold off allcomers to the very end in a flag to flag victory. The race started with a crash as Paul Lawes connected with Peter Salter, leaving Salter with a damaged front wing but otherwise causing no real damage as the cars settled into their task. The race seemed to become a battle between Kenneally at the front with Martin Cookman, Gary Madgwick and Lee Morrow following closely behind, any one of them poised to go for the front. This would not survive the race, however, as Madgwick was taken out of the running in a series of collisions also involving Terry Shelvey and eventual third place man Richard Norman which effectively sprung Kenneally and Morrow into a clear lead, Cookman spinning out.

Rick Pannell picked a fine way to celebrate his birthday as he won the Chick Woodroffe Memorial for the Lightning Rods in a race that also included new British Champion Dale Atkins and Mick Mulcahy who took second spot in the recent European championship. Paul Harris got pole on the start but would not be able to hold off his competition, Pannell getting a flying start to get to the front almost from the start. More than one car seemed to be fatally attracted to the wall including Will Connor who had to leave the race after hitting the pit bend wall. Harris tried hard to pull back to the front but was unable to go ahead, especially as some of the back markers started to make nuisances of themselves as the leaders pushed through. Indeed, as the race went on, Pannell consolidated his lead while Harris dropped a few more places including conceding to Ray Harris who would eventually take second place overall ahead of Atkins. Pannell coasted home but not before the race was topped out with the clash of Martin Cookman and Chris Chao coming out of the Tavern turn.

The 1300 Stock Cars had the honour of being the first formula of the day to decide its Chick Woodroffe Memorial champion, and they certainly did it in style with a win for Derek 'Delbert' Mortimer following a bit of payback on the defending champion, Andrew 'Paddy' Palmer. Paddy seemed a cert to win, starting as he did on pole position following a dominant season, but with a number of rivals around him including Colin Thorndyke, Delbert, Spike Ellis and Paul Griffiths, he would need a bit of luck too. The trouble was that his luck wasn't with him, so Paddy ended up the victim of an early shunt from Delbert which put him well down the order while the rest of the star graders fought over the front places. Delbert eventually overcame Thorndyke to take the lead while Paddy scrambled back through the back markers to try to grab the lead before a rollover brought out waved yellows, closing everyone up while they removed the rolled car of day driver Geoff Bridges who was caught on Steve Fish's bonnet around the bend which led to the roll, Fish staying in place to protect the prone driver. It seemed that Thorndyke had an indecently long memory. More than once this season, Thorndyke seemed close to winning only to be spun out by Paddy in the closing stages, and this time Palmer was trying to go ahead, so it was no surprise that Thorndyke treated Paddy to the same treatment, dropping him to seventh place by the end of the race. Mortimer had a comparatively easy time of it as he claimed the title for this year, with Ellis and Thorndyke behind as the race was called early after several cars were caught in a pile up in sight of the line.

The Outlaw Hot Rods had to wait for quite a long time for their first race of the day, almost half way into the Festival, but they produced some awesome racing action all the same, the distinctive Puma of Terry Bell making the most of a good start from pole in the Chick Woodroffe Memorial then holding inside all the way, making the trailing cars work hard to try to pass him. The race all boiled down to the first three cars, Bell heading things up, Mick Robertson and Dave Hitchen shadowing him all the way, each trying to force the error that would spring them into the lead. However the error never came, at least not where Bell was concerned, though second spot changed hands several times as each tried their best to go around Bell, to no avail as Bell crossed the line first, Hitchen happened to be in second spot as the race ended from Robertson in third.

Bell sat out of the helter-skelter while Fred Smith retired early with problems, a crash on the pit bend at half way also claiming a number of cars including Clinton Groom and Salvo Falcone, the latter's car collapsing on one side after impact which led to a bit of a delay as the marshals worked out how to clear the stricken car from the circuit. Dave Hitchen led the cars into the restart, Jimmy Bryan managing to grab second shortly after, leading to a very close second half which saw Bryan pushing extremely hard to try for the lead, though he would eventually have to protect second place, unsuccessfully as it turned out. A number of warnings were issued in the closing stages but nothing more, though eventually Hitchen led only nine cars home.

SuperBangers
Jamie Wilders inherited the pole in the SuperBanger Festival Final after a draw, defending champion Billy Merle having to settle for the third row in what was a well represented race. Things got ugly early as Barry Smith became the first victim in an early shunting battle, but it did him no harm as he hit the front too before turn one got blocked, the errant cars collecting a few and sending everyone else in search of clear lines to the back straight. With all the mayhem going on, it was veteran Banger driver Steve Davies that grabbed the lead ahead of current Essex champion Nigel Carroll and John Randall, a promising newcomer to the formula following a fair amount of success in the National formula, currently racing with the Midnight Runner team. Carroll pushed hard to pass Davies and eventually put the elder Captain Condom away to grab the lead before jetting into the distance, Randall unable to catch up with the back markers in the way. Another banger veteran, John Alder, made good progress to get third place while Merle finished a disappointing seventh.

Reliants
Reliant racing has been a popular addition to the Festival of Speed since it replaced a variety of feature contact formulas a few years ago. The unusual formula, made up of low powered three wheel vehicles from the Reliant company draws drivers from many disciplines, from hard core banger drivers such as Jason "Boxer Jack" Jackson or Frankie Skinner, to the non-contact specialists such as Group A Hot Rod driver Chris Smith, not to mention a whole bunch of Thompsons, and even a slot racer in the form of Jon Langford, hitting the real circuit in anger for the first time in many a moon.

Ben Smith provided the first roll of the day for the piggies, a sight to behold if you have ever watched Reliants racing on a short oval, though he was far from the last. It was quite obvious, however, that the fastest car on the track was that of former Lightning Rod World Champion Darren Ahern, these days driving on an Incarace licence but very familiar with the Purfleet oval from his days as the dominant PRI Sierra wrangler. His route to the front of the first race was hardly orthodox; diving underneath Ben Thompson is hardly a standard line to take on an oval, but it got Ahern to the finish line first, Ben Thompson ending in the back of a stuck Mike Thompson. Defending Reliant champion Andrew Davies got second ahead of Gary Brown, though that would be the best finish that Davies would get as the day wore on and the cars started to go to pieces. Ahern then repeated his victory in the Reliant Sprint race, something of an odd name for a race given the formula, but they did their best! It started with Ben Thompson in the lead, at least for a little, while Boxer Jack rolled his pig, though like more than one other racer he managed to rock the light car back onto its wheels. This wasn't true for Jono Holley as his roll on the back straight saw his car fall apart after some protracted poking from Jackson. Rolls followed for Chris Smith and Andrew Davies which left both disabled. Another easy victory for Ahern which was one reason why, come the main final, he started with a one lap handicap!