Britain might not have a major motor show anymore, but it has something better: the Goodwood Festival of Speed. What began as a celebration of motorsport in Lord March’s extensive back garden has swelled into something that plenty of major manufacturers use to get their latest models in front of a new audience.
The 2024 edition is just around the corner, and it’s looking like one of the biggest yet in terms of full reveals and dynamic debuts. Here’s everything you need to know about this year’s Festival, including what every big manufacturer and F1 team is bringing along.
What is the Festival of Speed?
You mean you don’t know? In case you haven’t come across it before, it’s one of the absolute highlights of the global automotive calendar, a celebration of pretty much everything that moves. It all takes place at Goodwood House on the south coast of England, a manor owned by a chap who’s simultaneously Lord March and the Duke of Richmond. No, we don’t understand the British aristocracy either.
At the centrepiece is the hillclimb, a 1.16-mile run up what’s essentially a very nice driveway, up which all manner of metal is sent at terrifying speeds. It culminates in a timed shootout on the final day, but aside from that, there’s a whole lot more happening across the event.
When’s it happening?
It takes place across four days every summer. This year, that’s Thursday 11 to Sunday 14 July.
The Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2023
How can I go?
You just need to grab a ticket, although Friday and Saturday are both now sold out this year. Most Sunday tickets have gone too, although a few are left for those in Goodwood’s membership programme. Your best bet’s Thursday, so better beg for a day off work.
What’s going to be there this year?
Lucky for you, we’ve compiled a list below of the highlights confirmed so far from all the big car manufacturers and F1 teams. This is by no means exhaustive – every year, the Festival is packed with every conceivable machine from the dawn of the car to today, and if we tried to list everything, we’d be here all week. Or possibly month.
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale
Alfa’s approaching the 2024 Festival of Speed at two opposite ends of the spectrum: the 33 Stradale supercar will be making its first appearance outside Italy, while its new baby EV, the Junior will be there too. They’ll only be on static display, though.
Alpine
Alpine Alpenglow
The A290 electric hot hatch will be running for the first time in public, and the hydrogen combustion Alpenglow concept will make an appearance too. Also, while it’s technically Zagato rather than Alpine bringing it along, the shape-shifting A110-based AGTZ Twin Tail will also be running up the hill.
Aston Martin
Aston Martin Valiant
Aston will have a huge presence at this year’s FoS, but front and centre will be the new Valiant, Fernando Alonso’s ‘dream car’, with the two-time champion himself pedalling it up the hill. Elsewhere, it’s bringing the similar Valour and one-off Victor, the screaming V12 Valkyrie, and the new Vantage in both roadgoing and GT3 forms.
Bentley
Bentley Continental GT Speed
While currently unconfirmed, we suspect it’s no coincidence that Bentley chose to unveil its fourth-generation Continental GT in the run-up to FoS. We very much expect to see the new 771bhp plug-in hybrid grand tourer tackling the hill.
BMW
BMW M5
BMW’s bringing a huge amount of stuff to this year’s FoS, in conjunction with its massive year of new launches. Front and centre will be the new 717bhp, plug-in hybrid G90 M5. The new X3 and M4 CS will also be making their first UK appearances, and the M Hybrid V8 Le Mans racer and a host of historic cars will be run in anger.
Ferrari
Ferrari 499P Modificata
Always one of the biggest draws to FoS, Ferrari’s pulling out all the stops this year. Six cars will be making dynamic UK debuts: the Roma Spider, 812 Competizione Aperta, SF90 XX Spider, one-off SP-8, 499P Modificata and 296 Challenge racer. There’ll also be a huge amount of historic machinery, from the company’s genesis, the 1948 166, to the savage F40 LM. Finally, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. will be taking the company’s 2001 and 2017 F1 cars up the hill.
Ford
Ford Mustang GTD
Running in public for the first time will be the Ford Mustang GTD, an 800bhp+ supercharged GT3 RS fighter. That’s all that’s confirmed so far, but with Ford keen to highlight its motorsport efforts, we wouldn’t be surprised to see some of its current race machinery on the hill too – could its Pikes-Peak winning F-150 SuperTruck take a crack at this year’s hillclimb record?
Given that it’s getting revealed the day before FoS kicks off, we’re also expecting the car widely thought to be the new Capri to appear.
Genesis
Genesis GV60 Magma
Hyundai’s luxury sub-brand continues its European push and will use FoS for the dynamic launch of its new, very orange Magma performance badge. This will be in the form of two concept cars – the GV60 and GV80 EV, both of which look as good as production-ready. Its new G70 Nürburgring taxi will also be making an appearance, as will slightly unlikely brand ambassador, six-time Le Mans winner Jacky Ickx.
Hispano Suiza
Hispano Suiza Carmen Sagrera
The boutique Spanish hypercar manufacturer is bringing along its wild, 1100bhp Carmen Sagrera.
Jaguar
Jaguar I-Type 6 Formula E
There are no new reveals for Jag as it prepares for its big electric reinvention, but it’s running both its current Formula E racer and the 1988 Le Mans-winning XJR-9 Group C car. One, we suspect, will make a better noise than the other.
Land Rover
Land Rover Defender OCTA
Most of the current Land Rover range will be on show, but front and centre will be the new Defender OCTA, a BMW V8-powered 626bhp monster designed to be flung across basically any terrain at any speed.
Maserati
Maserati MC12 Versione Corsa
Maserati’s big debut is the electric GranCabrio Folgore, although it’s also bringing along a selection of MC12s to mark that car’s 20th anniversary.
McLaren
McLaren Senna in ‘Senna Sempre’ livery
The centrepiece of McLaren’s lineup will be the Senna hypercar and this year’s MCL38 F1 car, both decked out in the Ayrton Senna tribute livery that debuted at the Monaco Grand Prix. The new Artura Spider will be there too.
The company’s not messing around with its driver roster, either: Emerson Fittipaldi will run his 1974 F1 championship-winning M23 up the hill; Mika Häkkinen will pilot last year’s hillclimb shootout winner, the mad Solus GT; and Ayrton Senna’s nephew Bruno will take an emotional drive in his uncle’s 1991 championship-winning MP4/6.
Finally, while technically not entered by McLaren itself, Kiwi drifter Mike Whiddett is bringing along his ‘MADMAC’ drift car, a hybrid of a P1 and 650S GT3… with a quad-rotor engine.
MG
In a bit of a change of pace from the usual high-performance fare, MG will be using FoS to launch the second generation of its HS family crossover. It’s also the subject of this year’s Central Feature, a giant sculpture that appears on the lawn outside Goodwood House every year.
Mini
Mini JCW E prototype
Mini will be running its new electric range-topping hot hatch, the John Cooper Works Electric, in fully camouflaged prototype form. It’s the first time the JCW badge will appear on an electric car, and if it’s anything like the hot-ish Cooper SEto drive, it should be a lot of fun.
Pagani
Pagani Huayra Epitome
The one-off, manual Pagani Huayra Epitome will make its public debut, while the Cartier concours area will feature a class celebrating 25 years of the Zonda.
Red Bull
Red Bull RB17 – teaser sketch
Making its world premiere at FoS will be Red Bull’s much anticipated RB17 hypercar, the project that’ll be keeping Adrian Newey busy for the rest of his time at the team. Max Verstappen, Sergio Pérez and Daniel Ricciardo will also be taking a selection of Red Bull F1 machinery up the hill, as will former drivers David Coulthard and Mark Webber.
Subaru
Subaru ‘Project Midnight’ teaser
The majority of Subaru’s presence will come from its US motorsport wing, which is bringing along ‘Project Midnight’, a mysterious WRX-based one-off that looks set to be one of the fastest things up the hill all weekend. Joining it will be one of last year’s highlights, Travis Pastrana’s 862bhp gymkhana beast, the Family Huckster.
Toyota
Toyota GR Yaris H2
The headline grabber from Toyota will be its hydrogen combustion-powered GR Yaris, designed to showcase its commitment to low-carbon fuels. It’ll also be running machinery from its WRC, Dakar and BTCC motorsport programmes.
Williams
Williams FW08
The Williams F1 team will be bringing its current drivers, Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant, who’ll be taking it in turns to whizz up the hill in the 1982 championship-winning FW08.
Yangwang
A luxury sub-brand of Chinese manufacturer and Euro market newcomer BYD, Yangwang is running two of its models: the enormous, tank-turning U8 SUV, and the all-electric 1282bhp U9 hypercar.
Zenvo
Zenvo Aurora Tur and Agil
The low-volume Danish hypercar maker is using FoS for the European debut of its next model, the Aurora. The quad-turbo V12 beast will be on static display in both track-focused Agil and grand tourer-style Tur forms, while the last of its TS-badged models, the TSR-GT, will be making a dynamic debut as it runs up the hill.
