Set at an estate in West Sussex, the iconic Goodwood Festival of Speed is a cocktail of motor sport, new car launches, motorcycles, concepts, classic models, and even virtual editions for coveted gaming titles.
This legendary festival is the world’s most popular motor sport and car culture event which was founded in 1993 by Lord March with the sole purpose to bringing back British motor racing to Goodwood. With a small selection of entrants made up of invited historic vehicles, the first event that took place on Sunday June 13, taking in a crowd of 25,000 despite a date clash with the 24 Hours of Le Mans that year. For the following year, the event expanded to two days, and in 1996 added one extra day on Friday. After its date clash for the first event, Lord March made sure that the event would never again clash with either Le Mans or Formula One races.
Since then the Festival has and continues to feature the biggest, best, fastest, loudest and most outrageous vehicles of all time. Autox gives a low down on some head turners at Goodwood.
Starting with the local flavour, McLaren unveiled the sinister looking 650S GT3. It is quite obvious that that the new racing car’s front design is inspired by P1 though it looks more aggressive with stretched air intakes on the side, a new rear diffuser and a new carbon-fibre fixed rear wing. It gets a new suspension set up, with a 52mm wider track and new wheels and tyres, which improves drivability and provides better grip. The 650S GT3 gets a re-worked ECU unit for the 3.8-litre, twin-turbocharged V8 engine, which has been limited to under 493bhp as per the FIA’s rules.
To keep things interesting, Jaguar Land Rover raised many eyebrows when the covers were off the Range Rover Sport SVR. You may ask what is so special about this already phenomenal SUV, well this latest version happens to be the fastest and the most powerful Ranger Rover ever. This new high-performance SVR gets 542bhp from a 5.0-litre supercharged V8 and sprints from 0-100km/h in mere 4.8 seconds.
But when it comes to pure royalty and performance then it has be the new Bentley Continental GT3-R which is the most dynamic road car ever created by Bentley. Inspired by its racing heritage, this limited edition two-door, two-seat sports coupe punches out 564bhp and a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 engine that pushes the car to 100km/h in just 3.6 seconds.
With so much glamour and pomp, how can Ferrari be left behind? The Italian outfit’s latest creation, the California T, breaks cover at Goodwood and even though it retains its predecessor’s folding hardtop and a 2+2 seating, thanks to the new turbo engine it is faster, more powerful and is a lot more environmental friendly. The 3.8litre turbocharged V8 engine pumps out 552bhp and makes it sprint from 0-100 km/h in 3.6 seconds. The new California T gets a boost of 69bhp compared to the California while its fuel economy is improved by 15%.
Maserati came to the fore by revealing the gorgeous Alfieri Concept which was also a part of the company’s centenary celebrations. Named after one of the founders, this concept clearly show that there is a change in design philosophy and the company now wants to show the world that they plan to make stunning sports cars in the near future. It gets a 2+2 seating layout and it will borrow the GranTurismo’s 4.7-litre, naturally aspirated V8 which sends 453bhp through a six-speed automated manual gearbox integrated with the rear axle.
One of the biggest surprises of the Festival was the return of British motorcycling as Ariel showcased the Ace. This is the company’s first motorcycle in 40 years. The Ace is an out-and-out race bike and uses Honda VFR’s 170bhp 1,200cc V4 engine. This adds an option of a dual-clutch gearbox with manual or automatic settings.
Goodwood was flooded with plenty of concepts but the one that made a jaw dropping statement was the Nissan Concept 2020 Vision GT Concept. Created for Playstation’s Gran Turismo 6, this reveals what could be expected from Nissan in the future. The car looks like an extremely aggressive GT-R which gets sender LED headlights. It has an in-your-face rear diffuser and a prominent rear wing.
Aston Martin DP-100 made its virtual debut at the Festival and is also exclusively designed for the Gran Turismo 6 racing game. Developed in-house by the design team at Aston Martin, the DP (that's Design Prototype)-100 Vision Gran Turismo is a new, virtual-only GT racer that will be available for GT6 owners to download this month. Unlike the usual Aston Martins, the GT gets a twin-turbo V12 is mid-engined and is expected to offer up to 800bhp.
Coming back to reality, Mercedes Benz displayed its stylish new CLS-Class which gets a refreshed look, new engines and a nine-speed gearbox. This was also the first right hand drive CLS which was paraded in front of estimated 50,000 people.
The toast of the Festival was the auction of a rebuilt 1954 Ferrari which was sold for £10.8m at the Bonhams auction. This sums up the Goodwood Festival as it has a little of everything for everyone.
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