► MG takes centre stage to mark centenary
► Red Bull hypercar set to be revealed on Friday
► Limited Festival of Speed tickets available
The Goodwood Festival of Speed has become the go-to event on the UK’s motoring calendar.
From watching F1 drivers tackle Goodwood’s infamous hillclimb to seeing pre-war cars spitting flames and the greatest rally cars taking on a dedicated stage, the Festival of Speed (FOS) is quite a spectacle.
Goodwood is also increasingly used by manufacturers to show off and reveal their newest metal, and 2024 is no different, with a range of important world debuts or cars being seen in public for the first time. Here’s a full preview as well as key information about how to get there and how you can still get your hands on tickets.
Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale
Alfa Romeo is returning to supercar territory and it’s doing this with the 33 Stradale. Limited to just 33 units, the lucky few choosing it have the option of 3.0-litre twin-turbo petrol power or having it as an EV.
While revealed in August 2023, the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed is the first time the 33 Stradale will have been seen outside of Italy. Alfa Romeo’s new electric Milano crossover will also be on show at the the West Sussex festival.
Aston Martin Valiant
Aston Martin is really embracing the limited-run specials at the minute and the latest is the Valiant – a more track-focused variant of the Valour. What gives it further prominence is that it was originally commissioned by Fernando Alonso as a collaboration between the double-world champion and Aston Martin’s Q Division.
The Valiant is the real deal, with a 735bhp 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12, manual gearbox and rear-wheel-drive. It makes its global debut at the FOS and will even be driven by Alonso up the 1.16-mile hillclimb on the Friday.
BMW M5
BMW tends to chuck everything it’s got at Goodwood and this year is no different, with a host of new metal set to be at the FOS, including its new X3 SUV, M135 and facelifted M2. But the most important car there will be the new BMW M5 just a couple of weeks after its first reveal.
Now using a plug-in hybrid set-up, it’s proven controversial with its sheer heft – it now weighs 2.4 tonnes, 500kg more than its predecessor – and with slightly worse performance on paper. Regardless of your thoughts, it will be your first chance to catch it in person at the Festival of Speed.
Ford Mustang GTD
Ford’s latest skunkworks project is the Mustang GTD, devised after-hours by engineers that had the idea of conquering European sports car makers with its typical muscle car. Inspired by the Blue Oval’s GT3 cars, it’s designed for the track but can be homologated for the road.
Ford really is going for 911 GT3 RS territory with its new Mustang, and it will make its UK debut at the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed. Set to be priced from £315,000, the GTD will be very limited in numbers with Ford currently taking applications via a dedicated website.
Genesis Magma concepts
Genesis tends to go all in at Goodwood and this year’s event is no exception as it expand its range of sporty models as part of a new ‘Magma’ program. There’s expected to be a sporty version of every model it sells in the future, with the firm kicking things off with a hotter version of the electric GV60 SUV, as well as a G80 Magma and a G70 Nurburgring ‘ring taxi’.
All of these will be heading up the Goodwood hill over the weekend, all painted in an unmissable fluorescent orange colour.
Honda Prelude
One of the biggest surprises at this year’s Festival of Speed comes Honda’s confirmation that the Prelude is returning as a sporty coupe. The Japanese firm has increasingly been focusing on SUVs in recent years, so its announcement that it will produce a new sports car, albeit a hybrid one, is welcome.
Previewed by this concept version, it’s expected to arrive in production looking almost unchanged, and will likely use the same hybrid setup as found in the excellent Civic hatchback, albeit hopefully with an extra helping of power.
HWA EVO
One of the latest restomods to hit the scene is the HWA EVO – a modern take on the Mercedes 190 E 2.5-16 Evo II, a homologation car produced out of its period DTM racer. Based on a standard 190 E chassis, it is pretty much stripped back entirely and everything you see here is new. Just 100 will be produced, each priced from an eye-watering €714,000 (£602,000).
It’s made quite a commotion already and the HWA EVO will make its UK debut at the Festival of Speed followed by a range of other European events across the summer. Classis 000 is also being auctioned later this month by RM Sotheby’s.
Land Rover Defender Octa
The Defender has proven a huge success since it was revived in 2020 and Land Rover has continued to push the extremes of this SUV, including with a 5.0-litre V8 engine under the bonnet.
But it goes a step further with the Defender OCTA, which makes its dynamic debut at the FOS just a week after its reveal on 3 July. Using a BMW-sourced 626bhp 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 engine, it uses Range Rover Sport SV tech to take this SUV to a new dimension.
Mad Mike’s McLaren P1 drift car
In the world of drifting, Mad Mike is one of the top dogs. Renowned for his crazy builds, he’s taken things up a level by creating a drift car based on a £1.25m McLaren P1. Tuned by renowned McLaren experts Lanzante, based closeby to Goodwood, they were a set a 100-day build challenge to complete the P1 ready for the Festival of Speed where Mad Mike will be taking it up the famous hill, and likely in style.
Lanzante will also reveal the latest version of its ‘Tag Championship’, which is a 930-generation 911 Turbo with the engine out of an ’80s Formula 1 car. It’s every bit as wild as it sounds.
Maserati MC20 special editions
Maserati is marking 20 years since its return to motorsport with the MC12 at the FOS with the reveal of two special edition versions of its MC20 sports car. Called the Icona and Leggenda, just 20 of each will be produced.
The electric GranCabrio Folgore will also be on show in the UK for the first time ahead of a launch later in the year.
MG Cyber GTS
MG is going big at the FOS this year and will even have the famed central sculpture in front of Goodwood House for the first time as it marks its centenary year. As well as the EXE181 show car, its headline act is the Cyber GTS – a hardtop coupe version of its electric sports car, the Cyberster.
MG HS
Something a bit more conventional from MG makes its debut here, too: the new HS SUV. This generation gets a fresh design and updates to the hybrid and PHEV models, with the latter managing up to 75 miles of e-range.
It will also reveal a new generation of its HS SUV at this year’s Festival of Speed. The HS is MG’s largest SUV in Europe and has been a big seller in recent years owing to its exceptional value. Expect a more premium design inside and out, with the plug-in hybrid model said to offer an ‘unmatched electric range for the class’.
Mini John Cooper Works E
Mini has already signalled that a range of EVs over the coming years will wear the firm’s legendary John Cooper Works (JCW) badge and it will show off a new prototype at the Goodwood Festival of Speed based on its new Cooper E.
Performance and powertrain details for the prototype will remain under wraps until it makes a full debut later in the year, however.
Polestar Concept BST
The Polestar 6 concept goes full beast mode. Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath has this to say on that subject: ‘This car is a demonstration of how far we can push our performance brand – Polestar turned up to 11 if you will – and a demonstration of how we could apply the BST formula to our line-up in the future.’
At a dinner on the eve of Goodwood 2024 he further explained that Polestar was already recognised for its typically ‘cool and sophisticated’ Scandinavian design. With the Concept BST ‘we wanted to show that Swedes can actually be quite loud!’
RB17 hypercar
Perhaps the most anticipated reveal at Goodwood this year is Red Bull’s first hypercar. It’s been a long time coming and is the brainchild of Formula 1 designer Adrian Newey. Despite the firm confirming that Newey would take a step back from F1 design duties and leave the company entirely in 2025, final development of the RB17 is currently his primary focus.
It’s aimed specifically for track use with its F1-derived mild-hybrid V10 engine. Just 50 will be built at a rate of 15 per year, and at a rumoured cost of £5 million each. It will be an important moment seeing the RB17 for the first time.
Rimac Nevera 15th Anniversary Edition
The Rimac Nevera is the current holder of the production car record on the Goodwood Festival of Speed hillclimb, with the Time Attack version scorching from start to finish in to 49.32 seconds in 2023. In 2024, the world’s most impressive EV operation is back celebrating 15 years since Mate Rimac started messing around with electric motors, and has brought along its own birthday present.
Though it will apparently be taking to the hill, it seems unlikely the Rimac Nevera 15th Anniversary Edition will be aiming to beat that record time, as the example on show is the first of just nine customer cars the firm is planning to build, and they cost in the region of £2m apiece. Each comes fully loaded with ‘all options’ – including the matching luggage – and plenty of copper detailing. There are no changes to the drivetrain, but that’s probably okay when you’ve already got 1888bhp.
Yangwang U9
Chinese brand BYD’s upmarket arm Yangwang (yes, that really is its name) will also be showing its face at Goodwood with its wild 1282bhp U9 electric hypercar, which makes its debut in the UK.
BYD will also show off its new Seal U plug-in hybrid crossover while the Denza U9, a premium MPV from the BYD bubble, will also be on show for the first time in the UK. You’ll likely spot its grille before anything else…
Zenvo Aurora
Making its European debut at the 2024 Festival of Speed is the Zenvo Aurora – or what this wild Danish supercar maker did next, after rocking the world with the wing-tilting Zenvo TSR.
The new model comes in two variants, Agil and Tur, and uses a quad-turbo V12 with up to three electric motors to deliver as much as 1850bhp. You can see the new cars, and a TSR-GT (which will be climbing the hill) on Zenvo dedicated stand, the first it’s ever had at Goodwood.
Where and when is the Goodwood Festival of Speed?
The Festival of Speed takes place at the Goodwood estate close to Chichester in West Sussex. It takes place between Thursday 11 July and Sunday 14 July 2024.
Are tickets still available for the Goodwood Festival of Speed?
Tickets often sell quickly for the Festival of Speed, and this year is no different. At the time of writing, the only date with general admission available was Thursday (at £70 each), with the only way of getting into the remaining dates being as part of a hospitality package.
You can buy resale tickets through Twickets, which has partnered with Goodwood as its official ticket resale platform. Unlike other similar sites, there is a cap on what tickets can be resold for, meaning they won’t end up costing significantly more than their original price.