A beginner’s guide to the Goodwood Festival of Speed

• The Goodwood Festival of Speed is a hillclimb, but much more
• Goodwood Festival of Speed gets a theme each year
• The weather at the Goodwood Festival of Speed can change on a dime

Auto enthusiasm spreads far beyond our borders. It’s a worldwide phenomenon, with car shows, races for old cars and new, gatherings, and clubs anywhere you go.

The U.K., however, has two of the best car events on the automotive calendar. Both are held in southeast England on the Goodwood Estate of the Duke of Richmond. I’ve experienced the Goodwood Revival on several occasions, but this year marked my first taste of the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Below, I break down what this event is, how it works, and how you can enjoy it.

What is the Goodwood Festival of Speed?

It’s a hillclimb racing event, but it’s more than just that. Unlike Revival, which is only for race cars from the 1930s to the 1960s, Festival is for street and race cars from the present day to the beginnings of the auto industry. It has also become a gathering of auto enthusiasts and a de facto U.K. car show with plenty of car reveals. This year’s Festival included several world debuts, including the Polestar Concept BST, Genesis GV60 Magma, Red Bull RB17 track-only hypercar, and limited-edition Ineos Grenadier Detour.

The event also has a rally stage, an off-road area, a supercar corral, a concours, an auction, and an exhibition for vendors. Like the Goodwood Revival, the enthusiasts who attend the event in their wide variety of classic cars, sports cars, and supercars make the parking lot one of the best car shows you’ll ever see. Each Festival also has an art installation called the centerpiece. This year’s was an homage to 100 years of MG, and featured an MG B on one side seemingly balanced by a new MG Cyberster on the other.

How does the racing work?

The theme of this year’s event was Horseless to Hybrid: Innovation Unleashed. It provided a convenient means to categorize cars by era, starting in the early 1900s with wonders like the Beast of Turin, a monstrous 1911 Fiat S76 that employed a 28.4-liter 4-cylinder to chug up the hill, and the 16-cylinder Auto Union Type 52 that Audi recently completed from a design from 1934.

Other classes featured race cars from the early post WWII era to the 1970s, turbocharged race cars from the 1980s, race cars of all stripes from the 1990s, hybrids and electric cars of the current era, 10 Niki Lauda F1 cars, Mercedes-Benz race cars from throughout the brand’s history, Shadow and Joest racers, drift cars, F1 cars from the 1970s to 2017, 20 years of Red Bull race cars, grand prix motorcycles, and dirt bikes, and more.

The various categories gave spectators the chance to get up close and personal with iconic race cars from Le Mans, F1, rallycross, NASCAR, and more.

The main attraction is the hillclimb, which is by our estimation, the only no-rules racing in the world. Well, there appears to be one rule: Don’t go too fast with too crazy of a setup. Just ask the team that fields the McMurtry Spéirling, which put up the fastest time ever at the event in 2022 with a time of 39.08. That car, however, is a 1,000-hp electric with 4,400 pounds of vacuum-generated downforce and a weight below 2,200 pounds. It was not allowed to compete this year.

Some of the hillclimb is real racing and some of it isn’t. The annual Shootout is the competition. About half the cars that run the 1.16-mile hill compete for the fastest time and they come from many of the classes. The event runs four days, and the competitors put up times each afternoon. Class winners are crowned during the Saturday session, and the Sunday session determines the overall winner.  The cars run in Sunday in reverse order of their Saturday finish, so the fastest car from Saturday runs last on Sunday.

Who won the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed Shootout?

Going into Sunday’s action, three vehicles appeared to be poised to take the crown: the Subaru Family Huckster driven by Travis Pastrana, the 2024 Subaru WRX Project Midnight driven by Scott Speed, and the Ford Supervan 4.2 with Romain Duman as the wheel. The Family Huckster is a built-to-the-hilt homage to the 1983 Subaru GL wagon with the craziest active aero you’ve ever seen. Project Midnight puts a downforce-focused carbon-fiber body on a rallycross race car with a suspension tuned for the tarmac. The electric Supervan put close to 2,000 hp to the pavement through all wheels with 6,000 pounds of downforce to keep it glued to the pavement.

In the competition on Sunday, the Supervan took the crown with a time of 43.987, about 1.1 seconds quicker than on Saturday, while Project Midnight finished second with a time of 46.075, about a second slower than on Saturday. Pastrana erred on the side of aggressive and put the Huckster into a haybale wall, failing to finish.

How to best enjoy the Goodwood Festival of Speed

Held in England in July, the weather can be great. It can also turn sour quickly. Expect temperatures in the 70s or 80s, but it can also rain and temps can drop quickly. Bring layers, a hat, and rain poncho or other type of water-resistant jacket (ask me how I know).

Be sure to walk the paddock, check out the parking lot, find a good vantage point for the racing, and look at the program for other displays that interest you. You will get to see your favorite historic cars up close, maybe get a quick chance to chat with one of your racing heroes, and see the coolest cars of yesterday and today in action. What more could an enthusiast ask for?

Subaru provided travel and lodging for Motor Authority to bring you this firsthand report.

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