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The Festival of Speed on the Duke of Richmond’s estate is held in Goodwood, West Sussex, until Sunday. An event organized since 1993 by a British nobleman (then more simply Lord March), it always takes place between the end of June and the beginning of July, but the dates never overlap with the most important motorsport events, allowing many of yesterday’s famous two- and four-wheelers to be present. And the flowerbeds are rich every year; this year’s star is three-time Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen, who will compete at the wheel of the Red Bull RB16B, with which he won his first world title in 2021. In addition, legendary Formula 1 teams from the World Endurance Championship, also known as Wec, MotoGP, the World Rally Championship, Extreme E and the Formula E Championship are present.
Goodwood, between past, present and future
The event has become a real spectacle, attracting more than 150,000 spectators on several occasions, and this year the ticket sales for the entire weekend were closed even before the opening to the public, starting on Friday and peaking on Saturday and Sunday. During this long weekend, the drivers will compete with historic cars and motorcycles on the uphill Hillclimb track, which is about 2 kilometers long and also has 9 bends that can, or rather must, be driven at full speed to excite the public. Goodwood also offers spectators many events dedicated to motorsport, such as this year’s Mercedes event in memory of Niki Lauda.
In many editions, the hill climb is the fulcrum of the event, which is then joined by the dirt track rally exhibition and the exhibition part, which, in fact, has recently been transformed into the first public catwalk for many cars. In addition, each edition follows a specific theme. This edition is “From Horseless to Hybrid – The Power Revolution”, which in practice reviews the continuous progress of the engine from its debut to today and, taking into account the transformations that affect mobility, aims to outline what will be the next consequences of electrification, hydrogen, biofuels and e-fuels on power and performance. The Electric Avenue is dedicated to the theme of sustainable fuels, which will be used by many new battery-driven cars as well as the historic cars that will participate in the competition.
Goodwood, powerful innovation in all its forms
But let’s see which absolute, recent firsts or not so easy to see supercars appeared at the 2024 Festival of Speed. There were many Italian novelties. These included the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale and Junior, the Maserati Mc20 Icona and Legend, the Mc20 Cielo Fuoriserie and the GranCabrio Folgore, the Pagani Utopia and the Ferrari 499P Modificata, which has stood its ground at Le Mans for the past two years, the Roma Spider, the 812 Competizione, the Sf90 XX Spider, the Sp-8 and the 296 Challenge. There were also many firsts for the BMW Group, which was almost at Goodwood, as it is just a few miles from the headquarters of Rolls-Royce, presenting the i5 Flow Nostokana art car, the new X3 and M5 as well as the redesigned models of the 1 Series, the M2 and M3 Touring and the update of the M4C. But that’s not all, because BMW also showed the Skytop concept car that debuted at the Concorso di Eleganza in Villa d’Este and its Neue Klasse vision for the next generation of its models, in particular the 3 Series from the German group’s British brand Mini. It also raced the E PROtotype, a concept for the first electric model designed by John Cooper Works. Of course, Rolls-Royce also attended the festival with its range of bespoke personalised products.
Other firsts made in Britain on display at the event include the RB17, the first supercar developed by the Red Bull Formula 1 team, which will go on sale next year, the Aston Martin Valiant, derived from Valor and developed by Formula 1 driver Fernando Alonso, the Bentley Continental GT and Convertible Speed plug-in hybrids, the McLaren hybrid Artura Spider and GTS, and the livery of Ayrton Senna’s single-seater, the Lotus Emeya and Evija X.
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