► 2023 Festival of Speed celebrates multiple anniversaries
► Everything you need to know about the event
► 13 key things
The Goodwood Festival of Speed is over for 2023 and this year’s show was the biggest yet, pulling in a total of 200,000 over four days. That’s just public sales too, and excludes the numerous VIPs, partners and sponsors – as well as media – that were also along for the ride. On Thursday at least, the Festival seemed to have attendance more comparable to the traditionally more popular weekend days.
The Festival was actually shut on Saturday due to adverse weather conditions, but there were still a range of unveils, stories and demonstrations on the remaining days that made the Festival worth attending.
On this page you’ll find 13 things we learned from this year’s Festival of Speed.
1. Caterham Project V unveiled
The Caterham Project V wasn’t the only electric convertible at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, but it was certainly one of the most divisive. Designed by Anthony Jannarelly (designer of the Lykan that jumps across skyscrapers in the Fast & Furious X) it’s a modern, electrified take on the classic British sports car.
It’s a bold move from the makers of the Seven, but it looks to be paying off, with the Caterham stand busier than those many larger OEMs. What’s next? CEO Bob Laishley told us he wants the Project V in production by 2026. Read more about the Caterham Project V here.
2. Lamborghini reveals SC63
Unlike Ferrari, Lamborghini wasn’t created to race – but things change. That was the message from CEO Stefan Winkelmann, who revealed the new SC63 LMDh racecar on Thursday. Designed to race in both IMSA and WEC it’ll be coming to racetrack near you in 2024.
For Winkelmann, the benefits in racing are numerous – but they weren’t just about technology and marketing. For more on why Sant’Agata is racing, read our report here.
3. Porsche celebrates 75 years
It barely seems like five years since Porsche celebrated its 70th anniversary at Goodwood FoS, but indeed this year marked three-quarters of a century for the famous brand. To celebrate, cars from all eras of Porsche were paraded on the hill, while the 718 Spyder RS was showcased to mark its dynamic debut.
Stuttgart also unveiled the alluring Vision 357 Speedster, a concept based on the Cayman GT4 RS. Designed as an amalgamation of Porsche’s present and past, its smooth, sweeping lines care complemented by the all-electric 718 GT4 e-Performance based powertrain underneath. Porsche says it takes inspiration from the original 356 No.1 Roadster and it’s not hard to draw the parallels.
4. Polestar 3 BST rumours begin
Polestar focused on its new electric 3 SUV at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, but it also hinted at some future plans for car. Senior Polestar suits refused to rule out a hot version of the family EV, which is due to hit UK roads in early 2024. Here’s everything you need to know about the Polestar 3 BST.
5. Aston Martin Valour
Brutal looks of the Aston Valour pay homage to the original V8 Vantage among other classic models
Aston Martin may be making strides in the digitally-focused world of Formula One, but at this year’s Festival of Speed it developed an analogue beast. Called the Valour, it’s an analogue brute of a car, and represents Aston Martin’s 110th birthday present to itself. Only 110 examples will be made, and while Gaydon churns them out, it’ll be the only front-engined manual V12 in production.
Here’s everything you need to know about Gaydon’s high-end muscle car.
6. MG Cyberster
The MG Cyberster was the other convertible EV on show at this year’s Festival of Speed, but it’s almost certainly going to be the cheapest. Out next year, and starting from around £50,000 it’ll beat the Caterham Project V and Polestar 6 in both release date and price. To find out how it’s shaping up, we went for a passenger ride in a pre-production example. Here’s what we thought.
What’s more, the electric roadster was also shown alongside the new MG 4 XPower, the first truly affordable electric hot-hatch. You can read our review of MG 4 XPower here.
7. Ferrari KC23
Ferrari used Goodwood to reveal an all-new one-off called the KC23. Commissioned by a key Ferrari customer and designed for track-use only, it’s essentially a 488 Evo 2020 with a Porsche 935-style bodykit. Still, it’s a stunning looking thing.
Hit the link for everything you need to know about Ferrari’s latest one-off creation.
8. eBay comes to the Festival of Speed
eBay isn’t the first brand you’d associate with the Goodwood Festival of Speed, but this year it held a charity auction to raise money for Ben charity. The auction itself closes at the end of the week, and you can check it out here – but there were also several other activities on the eBay stand, including a climbing wall at the eBay garage. And no, we didn’t take part.
9. Formula One
Formula One cars are always a key part of the Festival of Speed and this year was no different: Lotus, McLaren and Williams all showed iconic cars, while Sebastien Vettel also drove a Nigel Mansell-era Williams running on sustainable fuel. What’s more, Mercedes also brought a handful of F1 cars, including an ex-Michael Schumacher W02 which was driven up the hill by his son Mick.
10. Hyundai
This year was huge for Hyundai, who cemented itself as a cutting-edge performance brand to the UK public. Alongside the stunning N Vision 74 and RN22e concept, Hyundai also unveiled its new Ioniq 5 N electric SUV.
The Ioniq 5 N features the sort of BMW M3-smashing performance we’ve come to expect of a cooking electric car (twin electric motors giving 641bhp and 568lb ft in the awkwardly titled N Grin Boost mode; 0-62mph in just 3.4 seconds) but this time wrapped up in a package that should also deliver on handling appeal.
11. McLaren 750S
Revealed a few months ago to an arguably sceptical media, the 750S got a good explaining at the Festival at the massive McLaren stand. On the face of it, the 750S really does almost look identical to its predecessor and, yes, it did take a proper walk around with a McLaren executive to notice that 30 per cent of the car’s components are new.
‘We’ve never really done facelifts before,’ says product planning manager Shane Harman, but the intention was to refine the already-great package that was the 720S and inject some more driver engagement. ‘That’s something where we think our competitors can sometimes do a better job than we can,’ admits Harman. But, if the 720S was anything to go by – McLaren was pretty close to its competitors – let’s see if the 750S is any better…
12. Genesis G90
It shows real confidence that Genesis took to Goodwood to launch a new flagship for Europe. And even more confidence that it happens to be a massive limo that, let’s be honest, doesn’t sell in massive numbers. Oh and, despite revealing it at a UK event, the G90 won’t even be sold in the UK anyway.
Still – the G90 is an impressive bit of kit. We’ve already had some time with the G90 in Korea and it feels as well built and as luxurious as any of the car’s German competitors, with some novel technology and an imposing presence. Will it make an impact in Europe? Hmm.
13. Singer DLS-T
Words can only go so far when you’re describing Singer Vehicle Design’s latest product: the DLS-T. It smashes together DNA from the Dynamics and Lightweighting Study and the Turbo Study, with wild power figures, a wilder interior and arguably the wildest wing ever seen on a road car (if you go for the track version).
The best bit, though? Hearing it start up, and then hearing it scream up the famous hill on its runs. With an estimated price tag north of $3m a pop, the noise alone almost makes it seem like a bargain.