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The Goodwood Festival of Speed will return to Goodwood House this month. Here’s everything you need to know.

West Sussex in summer is usually a study in tranquillity, defined by the gentle rustle of leaves in the South Downs and the quiet allure of hidden public gardens. It is a landscape designed for long, languid picnics and hushed reflection. 

Yet, for a handful of days each July, this calm is shattered. The countryside undergoes a spectacular transformation, swapping peace for the roar of high-performance engines and the frantic energy of an event that is both profoundly sophisticated and utterly chaotic in the best possible way.

Goodwood Festival of Speed returns to West Sussex

On the perfectly manicured lawns of Goodwood House, guests steadily doff their linen jackets as the midday heat rises, watching a pre-war Auto Union speed-record machine thunder up the driveway. 

At the ancestral home of the Duke of Richmond, the ferocious exhaust note alone would be enough to rattle the dentures of any of his predecessors, let alone the sash windows of the stately structure itself.

From 9-12 July, the Goodwood Festival of Speed is an unmissable fixture on the season’s social calendar, described by the event itself as the “ultimate summer garden party” and “an intoxicating celebration of the world’s most glamorous sport”.

The centrepiece of this quintessentially British occasion is the towering Central Feature sculpture on the turning circle lawn outside Goodwood House. It is a monument built specifically for each year’s event and erected for the duration of the festival, honouring a chosen theme.

This year, the honours go to Singer Vehicle Design, a Californian firm founded by Rob Dickinson, the former frontman and guitarist of the rock band Catherine Wheel. This choice may raise a few traditional eyebrows, as the company, which specialises in restoring and modifying Porsche 911s, is only 17 years old. Still, many of its designs are a clear nod to the rich history of the 911s, with tasteful retro detailing in abundance.

Singer’s latest DLS Turbo restoration will be one of around 600 machines howling up the famed 1.16-mile hillclimb, utilising its twin-turbocharged, 3.8-litre flat-six engine, producing around 700PS.

Many of these superb restorations are multi-million-pound commissions. The DLS Turbo is no exception, at an estimated cost of between £2m and £2.5m. But if such sums feel like small change to you, a car auctioned last November for £16.3m, the GMA S1 LM, will also be on display.

Ford, Ferrari and Le Mans legends reunited

This year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed also features “The Rivals – Epic Racing Duels”, curating a collection of showdowns ranging from the venomous to the respectful.

The paddock area will mark the 60th anniversary of Ford shattering years of Ferrari dominance with its famous clean sweep at Le Mans in 1966, a year many English folk will also be hoping to re-live, given the World Cup final takes place a week after the festival’s last day.

Three original Ford GT MkIIs will be reunited, and their Scuderia nemesis of old will have a significant presence, too, as the festival celebrates 75 years of Ferrari’s success in Formula One.

The hay bales will be tickled by plenty, including James Hunt’s 1976 championship-winning M23 F1 car, as Goodwood celebrates the 50th anniversary of his legendary title battle with Niki Lauda.

Supercars, hypercars and electric performance cars on show

Naturally, the Goodwood Festival of Speed is not just a retrospective occasion, as the Supercar Paddock will serve its usual purpose as a fascinating living encyclopaedia into the upper echelons of the automotive industry. Things may be getting steadily quieter as electrification takes hold, and plenty that resisted the inevitable change for so long are now offering at least plug-in hybrids. However, the screaming thunder of a cornucopia of V8s, V10s and V12s will still be at its heart.

Lexus will show off its concept for a next-generation all-electric LFA, Alpine will debut its latest A110 sports car, Audi will bring its Nuvolari supercar, and Bentley’s Continental Supersports will attempt the hillclimb. There will also be a BMW ‘M’ concept car making its presence known, a host of Mercedes AMGs, and Lamborghini will showcase the latest iterations of its supercars.

And, if you like to combine heritage with the future, a production-ready Renault 5 Turbo 3E will be running the hillclimb, the French manufacturer finally unleashing its hot-hatchback variant of the everyday Renault 5, which was relaunched as an electric car relatively recently.

Visitors will also be introduced to more Chinese manufacturers entering the British marketplace, including Lepas and two BYD-owned names: premium brand Denza and Yangwang, which will showcase its U9 Xtreme hypercar.

The Goodwood Festival of Speed is, at its heart, a gloriously absurd spectacle, effortlessly positioning itself as the world’s most decadent automotive garden party for those of us who view cars as high art and mechanical sculpture, rather than a mundane mode of moving from A to B.

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