There's nowhere better in the world than Goodwood if you want to see priceless exotic cars getting the pants thrashed off them. One million-dollar dream machine after another comes fanging up the hillclimb course, roaring the music of their people to a very appreciative crowd.
2019's Festival of Speed over the weekend was no exception, the Duke of Richmond's extraordinary driveway playing host to a procession of Paganis, Ferraris, McLarens, Lamborghinis, Koenigseggs, Porsches and other machines even more outrageous and special, like the wild Apollo Intensa Emozione in the hero shot above.
Some come to race, strutting their stuff on the short, tight hill climb course. Others come purely to put on a show – and there are a few key spots to park yourself as a spectator if burning rubber is your favorite perfume. Check out this video, in which everything from rally cars to exotics to F1 cars take the chance to bang out some mad donuts for the crowd.
It's also often a red letter day on the European calendar for new car launches, and this year's Festival sprouted a fine crop. Belle of the ball has to go to the amazing De Tomaso P72, which exploded out of stealth mode and caused a huge sensation. It's based on the same chassis as the Apollo above – indeed, De Tomaso is now owned by the same company as Apollo, and while they take completely opposite approaches to exotic car design, they're both absolute jaw-droppers.
Ford took the opportunity to make a launch of its own – the GT MkII pulls all the road homologation gear off Ford's supercar for a track-only, 700-horsepower monster machine.
There were two new road-legal track beasts in the form of the Radical Rapture and the single-seat BAC Mono R, both tuned for extreme driving thrills rather than top-end horsepower. Honda sent its tiny, electric e city car out for its first public drive, Morgan pulled the covers off its BMW-engined Plus Six - the first new morgan in nearly 20 years, and French company Prato Autmobiles also managed to sneak in its 900-horsepower, naturally-aspirated, 8.1-liter V8 Orage supercar for a sensational launch and reveal.
The fastest car on the course, of course, was Volkswagen's I.D. R race car, which utterly obliterated the Pikes Peak hill climb record last year and would easily have done the same at Goodwood if it wasn't for the famous British weather, which kicked in and offered the racers a soggy track. Still, the lightning-quick electric VW made mincemeat of the rest of the field – as it should.
One car that did set a memorable new record was the electric Devbot 2.0 from Roborace, which ditched its driver for a fully autonomous time of just under 67 seconds. Using sensors all around the car, it drove itself at a pace that'd test the nerve of a lot of human drivers. Check out the video:
Naturally, there were also classic cars of all kinds – one in particular of which caught our eye. The aptly-named "Beast of Turin" is a massive, flame-throwing monster more than 100 years old. Built way back in 1910 to go after the land speed record, it boasts a staggering 28.353-liter engine displacement and makes a tad over 280 horsepower. And by golly the thing still runs. Not slowly, either!
The above represent just a small sample of the high-octane entertainment that unfolded across the weekend. Jump into the gallery to see more of the priceless machinery that made a splash at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Source: Goodwood Festival of Speed
