2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed report

As spectators drifted happily away from the 24th annual running of the Goodwood Festival of Speed held from June 23-26, it must have struck many that the theme for this year’s event – The endless pursuit of power – had been unusually well chosen.

Every Goodwood Festival has a theme but this one was closer to reality than usual: the 2016 event featured a better and more potent crop of race cars – plus a larger collection of spectacular road-going supercars – than any seen previously at the famous Sussex hill-climb, which for all but four days a year, is a quiet single-lane access road connecting Goodwood House to the wooded estate above.

For a while this year, it looked as if founder Lord March’s famous luck with weather was going to run out. It rained heavily and unpredictably on the first and third days of this four-day event, and at times spectators had to cope with mud that, while not in the Glastonbury league, was pretty unpleasant.

But Goodwood’s famous organisation surfaced as it usually does: woodchip shavings were promptly scattered on most walkways — and on Friday and Sunday, at least, the paths and the track were nearly always dry. When they weren’t, well, the lack of grip just made the show more exciting.

On the first day, the gigantic Moving Motor Show marquee looked a bit sparsely populated this year (the organisers used a gigantic café and a stunt-bike display to occupy space usually filled with new cars) but just the same there was no shortage of new road iron. It’s just that most of the models couldn’t yet to be sampled by potential owners. King of the lot was probably the 420kph Bugatti Chiron, whose styling created plenty of controversy, though there was no doubting its speed and power when demonstrated on the hill by Le Mans driver Andy Wallace and company boss Wolfgang Durheimer.

Also in the billionaire bracket was a road-going McLaren P1 GTR, one of five being converted by Lanzante from the race-only trim in which it left the factory. Another McLaren, this time a P1 GTR from the factory, was decked out in the colours of late F1 star and broadcaster James Hunt, because among other functions, the event was celebrating the 40th anniversary of Hunt’s world championship. Throw in the Aston Martin Vulcan, and a spectacular Konigsegg One:1, with 1,360hp on tap and you had plenty for acquisitive squillionaires.

But cars didn’t have to be quite in that bracket to be desirable and quick. The new Aston DB11 made its Goodwood debut, there was also the new Jaguar F-type SVX and several potent V8 coupes from Lexus on show, plus BMW’s stripped-out 500hp M4 GTS. The Honda NSX was there, along the McLaren 570 Sprint, and even those didn’t end it.

Want to go cheaper still? The Festival of Speed had the quickest Golf GTi in the breed’s 40-year history, the Clubsport S, Maserati’s Levante, the SUV in which they’re investing huge hope, then the new “affordable” Tesla Model X, and even a 110hp Renault Twingo GT, though including such a car in a 'Festival of Speed' seemed to be stretching the friendship.

Of course, the F1 stars and their cars were on hand in force, headed by Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who at one stage told hacks that he’d like to be involved in the development of a car like the Mercedes-AMG GT R (also new to Goodwood). Most of the performing GP cars were a few years old, but one of special interest was the Ross Brawn’s own championship-winning Brawn BGP 001, specially restored to its race guise for this appearance and very well driven by Martin Brundle.

There were incidents. The rally track at the top of the course saw some spectacular driving. Ford Le Mans ace Marino Franchitti, required to drive in streaming rain, briefly took to the grass in his Le Mans Ford GT and stunt driver Terry Grant blotted his copybook by two-wheeling a Jaguar F-pace right onto its side.

As always, Goodwood mixed the new with the familiar. This, Lord March would tell you, is the secret. In 2016 he mixed the elements in just the right proportions for an audience, many shocked by the EU referendum result, who at times talked more politics than cars. But Goodwood provided the reassurance it always does.