What Paris and Milan are to the fashionistas of this world, the Goodwood Festival of Speed is to car manufacturers. Such an event can probably only take place in Great Britain, more precisely in the grounds of Goodwood House, which, as is well known, belongs to the Duke of Richmond Charles Gordon Lennox. And he has a lot of gasoline in his blood, but also understands the blessings of modern marketing.
And when he calls, viewers come in droves, streaming professionally knitted YouTube videos and breathlessly following the social media channels. And they are not disappointed, because the Goodwood Festival of Speed has a lot to offer, including plenty of excitement.
Less than two kilometers
The center of the event is the mountain "race track", basically the road that runs past Goodwood House. It is 1890 meters long and has nine bends. The difference in altitude from the start to the finish is 92.7 meters, resulting in an average gradient of 4.9%.
The record for completing this circuit, which is by no means easy to drive, is just under 40 seconds and it should be noted that this record was not broken from July 9 to 13, 2025. But more on that later.
F1 legends from 75 years of F1
The main attraction of the 32nd Festival of Speed in 2025 was the celebration of 75 years of Formula 1.
Not only did many racing drivers from the past, including Nigel Mansell, Alan Prost, Derek Bell, Mario Andretti, Jackie Stewart, Felipe Massa, Jacques Villeneuve, Mika Häkkinen, etc., take part in the celebrations, but current racing drivers from various classes were also on hand to demonstrate the historic single-seaters of the past, as well as modern monoposti of the present, totaling around 100 cars! This was probably quite unique in history.
The famous six-wheeled Tyrrell was on display, as were the Williams FW14B, the McLaren MP4/8 and the Brawn GP.
The cars of Gordon Murray
The eagerly awaited sculpture in front of Goodwood House each year honored Gordn Murray and his car company GMA in 2025. On display were a current GMA T.50 and the Brabham BT52.
Gordon Murray was also celebrated on the track, be it with cars from his life or the modern T.50 driven by Dario Franchitti at the opening ceremony on Thursday morning.
Dynamic manufacturer presence
Car manufacturers obviously see the Goodwood Festival of Speed as an interesting alternative to static motor shows and virtual internet premieres. As a result, there were once again many official brand presentations on and off the track in 2025.
Mercedes-Benz brought part of its museum to Goodwood and showed, among other things, the 300 SLR from the 1955 Mille Miglia, the Sauber-Mercedes Le Mans winner and other racing cars on the track.
The Huayra R Evo Roadster, Utopia and Utopia Roadster models from Pagani were on display.
Alpine showed the whole range of modern electric cars, but also the classic A110, which even took part in the shoot-out.
The prototype of the future Prelude from Honda was on display and only a few car manufacturers from Aston Martin to Zenvo missed the opportunity to show at least one of their draught horses on the "Hill".
Pirelli presented a whole group of super sports cars under the title "10,000 hp for the P Zero", including a Ferrari F40, a Lancia Delta S4 Stradale, a McLaren Artura and a Lotus Evija.
On asphalt and forest floor ...
In 2005, the "mountain stage" was supplemented by a special rally stage called the "Forest Rally Stage". In 2025, current and historic rally cars from Audi quattro to VW Polo were also on show on the rally route. The Subaru Imprezas and the cars driven by British rally starter Colin McRea during his career attracted a lot of attention. Even a Rover SD1 was seen winding its way up the narrow forest track.
... and on the grass
Those who found the two race tracks too hectic could also take a look around the "Cartier Style et Luxe" concours and view elegant and exotic vehicles.
More than 40 cars were on display. The Facel Bentley Cresta II from 1951 was voted "Best of Show".
Anyway, there were plenty of opportunities to be distracted from the "racing action" on the track, be it at the Bonhams auction or in the "Future Tech" pavilion.
There were also special performances in many places, from motorcycle stunts to drift artists.
Time trial for the selected
One of the highlights every year is the time trial on the hill climb course. This involves racing against each other within classes (e.g. pre-war cars), but also according to absolute best time. On Sunday afternoon, the overall winner is determined in the "Shoot-Out".
In 2025, vehicles as diverse as the Mercedes 120 HP, Fiat S76 ("The Monster of Turin") and the ERA A-Type R3A took part, as well as a standard Ferrari Roma, a Holden Commodore and the electric Ford Superruck, which Romain Dumas chauffeured to victory in just over 44 seconds with a brilliant drive.
The Subaru "Project Midnight" followed in second place and the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup in third.
The Shadow DN4 CanAm racing car, the first classic, followed in 8th place with a time of just under 54 seconds.
The Alpine A110R Ultime took 9th place, followed by historic racing cars in 13th place and behind, including a beautiful Alfa Romeo P3 and Maserati 26M.
Once again, over 2000 electric horsepower outpaced the combustion engines on the short mountain circuit, although the differences in times were less than the difference in horsepower would have suggested.
