A weekend where it feels as if the motorsport world descends upon the airy grounds of Goodwood House. In motorsport circles, the English summer is predominantly punctuated by two dynamic, yet distinctly different events. First on the calendar is the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, where Sir Lewis Hamilton against the odds, romped home to claim victory at his home race. With the mood of the nation on an upward trajectory, the summer fixture for the Goodwood Festival of Speed arrived hot on the heels, promising another enthralling weekend of high octane excitement, rare and exclusive exotica and a roster of drivers to rival any line up the mind could conjure.
The event curation at Goodwood is one of their many talents, seen in evidence at the impossibly evocative Goodwood Revival for example, where one is transported back to the world of motor sport from times of old. The Festival of Speed is no exception, and effortlessly caters to the widest demographic of petrolheads, where modern F1 cars, Edwardian sports cars and fire-breathing Group B rally cars all stand shoulder to shoulder, Electrically powered machines, seemingly from the future, like the McMurtry Speirling set inconceivably fast runs on the hillclimb stage, the most rare and coveted motorcars in history sit proudly on the Cartier Lawn, while the Supercar paddock allows mere mortals to breathe in the same air that circles around some of the most expensive, exotic supercars and hypercars that normally would only be seen adorning the walls of many a young petrolhead.
The centrepiece of the Festival of Speed is the hillclimb, a 1.16 mile long ribbon of tarmac, winding its way through packed grandstands and crowds of spectators, before ascending to the quieter parkland through a series of fast paced corners. Ex F1 and Indycar star Juan-Pablo Montoya called it “the narrowest, bumpiest and least grippy course I have ever driven”. The weekend sees continuous runs on the hill, as the numerous plateaux each get multiple chances to showcase the variety of vehicles over the course of the event. The weekend culminates in a timed shootout, where a hand-picked selection of snarling, blisteringly quick cars, in the hands of some of the most talented drivers on the planet, trade blows as they fight to lay down the fastest time of all, to claim the prestigious title. After the record setting win by the McMurtry Speirling in 2022, the McLaren Solus topped the timesheets in 2023. 2024 saw previous two-time winner Romain Dumas claim victory in the impossibly quick Ford E-Transit Supervan 4.2 – laying down a 42.9s run, to reclaim the title for electrically powered vehicles after the brief hiatus imposed by the McLaren Solus.
The carefully selected themes which form the baseline for the entry list at the Festival of Speed showcase the attention to detail synonymous with Goodwood events. The main theme “From Horseless to Hybrid – Revolutions in Power” set out to celebrate 130 years since the first motor race – where in 1894, an array of vehicles powered by steam, petrol, electricity and even hydraulics and gravity, raced from Paris to Rouen, embracing the constant evolutions in technology and design, which have punctuated this progression and journey, delivering iconic motor vehicles beloved by the masses along the way. From Le Mans winning Group C cars, the fan-favourite Beast of Turin, the Fiat S76, and the Salvesen Steam Wagonette, through to the BMW M Hybrid V8, which contested the 24h du Mans this year, Jaguar I-Type 6, which runs in the Formula E championship, and the IAC AV-24 – an autonomously driven Indycar, which really feels like a trip into the future.
Romain Dumas
Alongside the main theme, the Festival of Speed celebrates notable anniversaries, which facilitates a sublime selection of cars assembled around a theme. Four of the notable celebrations in 2024, saw 75 years since the birth of Niki Lauda, alongside 50 years since his first win in Formula One, and 40 years since the last of his three World Championship titles. With the batch of cars brought together under the title “The resilient racer”, a superb assortment of his race cars was assembled, including the 1972 March 721X, one of the March cars which Lauda piloted in his early years in Formula One, backed up by a selection of Ferrari F1 cars, in which Lauda saw success in the mid-1970s, through to the Marlboro McLaren cars, which saw Lauda claim his final World Championship title in 1984.
The enigmatic Shadow Racing team were also celebrated, honoring 50 years since they claimed the final Can-Am championship. A dominant force in the Can-Am championship for a number of years, competing under a loose rule-set, allowed huge scope for innovative design and unrestricted power, made the championship hugely popular, and celebrated as one of the golden eras of motorsport. Shadow Cars also competed in Formula One, seeing their greatest success in the mid-1970s, where Tom Pryce and Jean-Pierre Jarier returned good results with the Cosworth DFV powered cars, before Alan Jones claimed the only F1 victory for Shadow in the 1977 season at the Austrian Grand Prix.
The German Joest racing team were celebrated, on the 40th anniversary of their first win at the 24h of Le Mans, in the Porsche 956B in the stunning yellow and black New Man livery. A household name in endurance racing, they were represented by a great collection of their previous cars, from the Porsche 935 from 1980, through to the Le Mans winning Porsche WSC-95 and more contemporary iterations of endurance racing, in the Bentley Speed 8, Audi R10 TDI and Audi R18 TDI Ultra.
Pedigree coursed through the veins of the Mercedes Benz celebration, as 130 years of Mercedes Benz involvement in motor racing was celebrated, with iconic machines from the German marque shown on the hill, from the Mercedes 120hp from 1907 which reminded younger fans of the storied history which formulated the now commonplace familiarity with the Mercedes name.
Maxwell Lynn
The iconic Silver Arrows, a term coined at the time of German dominance in motor sport in the interwar years, but commonly applied to more contemporary example of Mercedes race cars, were well represented, with a 1937 W125, 1954 W196 and Mercedes AMG F1 W12 E Performance showcasing the longevity of Mercedes at the top table of motorsport royalty, with eye-catching examples of the Sauber Mercedes C9 and C11 and the 1998 Mercedes Benz CLK LM offering a rare chance to see such a superbly assembled collection of cars from this legendary German manufacturer..
Bernd Maylander
While times change at a rapid rate, with technological advancements rolling out at breakneck speed, the importance of the Goodwood Festival of Speed, to not only embrace the future of automotive design and power, but remind us of the rich tapestry of motorsport history, ensures that the nostalgia of an older generation is ably catered for, yet a newer generation of fans are educated in the history of the motor car and its application in motorsport iin the most evocative and progressive way possible.
