History and heritage of Goodwood will be celebrated throughout 2023

Goodwood looks set to celebrate a number of historic milestones throughout 2023.
‘Goodwood 75’ will incorporate a range of celebrations, including 75 years since the historic motor circuit opened and 30 years since the first Festival of Speed event was held.

Officially opened on September 18, 1948 by the Duke and Duchess of Richmond in their Bristol 400, the Goodwood Motor Circuit has seen such famous drivers as Jack Brabham, Jim Clark and Sir Stirling Moss. In fact, Moss achieved his first-ever race win on the circuit’s opening, which saw more than 15,000 spectators attend.

The first Festival of Speed – opened in 1993 – saw 25,000 spectators attend and nearly 100 cars and motorcycles attempt the hill climb.

The year’s motorsport events will kick off with the 80th Members’ Meeting on April 15-16, which will honour Sir Stirling Moss with the ‘Moss Trophy’.

The Duke of Richmond, founder of the Festival of Speed and Goodwood Revival, said: “It’s fantastic to be able to celebrate 75 years since my grandfather opened our wonderful Motor Circuit back in 1948. Today Goodwood motorsport is celebrated and cherished by millions around the world, which the whole Goodwood team are immensely proud of.”

Alongside the Festival of Speed, the Goodwood Revival will also be celebrating a significant milestone, with 2023 marking 25 years since its first event. This year’s event, which takes place between September 8-10, will honour Carroll Shelby who would’ve celebrated his 100th birthday in 2023.

For motoring fans, the Goodwood Festival of Speed is undoubtedly one of the best events on the automotive calendar.

So whether you’re into the oldest classics or the newest hypercars, there’s plenty for everyone to see. It also attracts thousands and thousands of people, and unsurprisingly when that many people are arriving, there are plenty of cool cars to be seen in the car park.

Let’s take a look at the stars of the 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed car park…

Ferrari 296 GTB

Ferrari is ramping up its line-up of electrified models, and its most recent car is the 296 GTB – a plug-in hybrid supercar. With customer deliveries only just starting, this German-registered example in the car park was a particular highlight, especially with its classic Ferrari racing livery.

McLaren 600LT MSO

McLaren’s Special Operations (MSO) division essentially lets the brand’s customers enable their dreams of creating a truly unique supercar. This 600LT seen here is the fruits of that labour, with its incredible paint scheme paying tribute to the iconic F1 GTR Longtail. Incidentally, that very F1 was also at the Festival of Speed as part of 30th anniversary celebrations for the coveted hypercar.

Mansory Rolls-Royce Cullinan

Though this Rolls-Royce Cullinan won’t be to everybody’s tastes, there’s no denying that it certainly stood out in the car park, even when parked next to a bright purple Lamborghini Urus. Rolls-Royce’s SUV already stands out on its own, but this one even more so because it’s been customised by Mansory. With huge 24-inch wheelsand the ultra-expensive ‘H8’ number plate, this is an SUV like no other.

Bugatti

It’s a pretty special occasion just to see one Bugatti, so you might be able to manage our absolute shock at seeing these three versions of the brand’s latest hypercars on display, and just in the car park! The one on the left is a Chiron 110th anniversary edition, with the centre car being a Chiron Pur Sport, a more track-focused version. On the right is the Divo, an ultra-rare coachbuilt car that is one of just 40 ever made.

Pagani

Pagani chose to launch its new Huayra Codalunga at the Festival of Speed, and as part of the celebrations plenty of the elite supercar brand’s other models also turned up. These included two of the brand’s legendary Zonda models, as well as a Huayra Roadster seen on the right.

Lamborghini Aventador SVJ

Supercar owners are often criticised for not using their cars and keeping them stored away for the majority of the year with minimal outings. That’s not the case with this ridiculously filthy Aventador SVJ seen in the car park, with its matte black paint absolutely caked in dust, and truly covered from head to toe in grime. It belongs to a YouTube star that’s known for making cars as grubby as possible.

Porsche 911 GT3

Similar to McLaren, the Porsche’s Paint to Sample (PTS) enables its owners to get their hands on a very bespoke car indeed. That was the case with this GT3 seen here, which is one of the latest ‘992’ generation models. Painted in PTS Auratium Green, it certainly stood out in the early morning Goodwood sunshine.

Alfa Romeo GTAm

Alfa Romeo might be better known these days for its SUVs, but this firm still has a wild side, as shown recently with the introduction of the Giulia GTAm. Based on the superb Quadrifoglio model, the GTAm has its back seats ripped out, and receives a vast range of mechanical changes to enhance the way it drives. This example seen here is painted in the stunning shade of Montreal Green, and is one of just 500 made globally. Costing £155,000 when new, it was more than twice as expensive as the regular Quadrifoglio.

Audi RS3

In this sort of company, a hot hatch might seem quite bland, but a special mention needs to go out to this Jersey-registered Audi RS3, seen in the regular car park. That’s because it’s painted in the wonderfully bold shade of Ultra Violet – the same purple paint used on the last generation 911 GT3 RS supercar.

Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series

The nomenclature ‘Black Series’ is reserved for Mercedes’ fastest, lightest and most monstrous models and its latest outing was on the AMG GT. That is already a rare car, but the car you see here is even more so as it’s a ‘P One Edition’, and took inspiration from Mercedes’ 2019 F1 car, with the teal colour a nod to Petronnas, the team’s main sponsor. This special edition was also only offered to those with a Mercedes-AMG ‘One’ hypercar on order.

Four vehicles have been given top marks in the latest round of crash testing by Euro NCAP.

The Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Volkswagen Multivan, as well as two electric vehicles in the Kia EV6 and Volvo C40 Recharge each took home five stars.

All models performed exceptionally well in crash tests, scoring 90 per cent or more for adult occupant safety. The Kia EV6 was rated 86 per cent for child occupant safety, with the other three getting 89 per cent.

Of the five-star cars tested, the C-Class got the lowest score for driver assistance technology, losing marks for its seatbelt reminder in particular. However, at 82 per cent it still performed well, with the C40 Recharge performing the best of the bunch at 89 per cent.

The biggest differences between these models came in the ‘vulnerable road users’ section, with the C-Class’s active bonnet meaning it significantly outperformed the EV6.

As well as these models, Euro NCAP also tested the Peugeot 308 and Vauxhall Astra, which both sit on the same vehicle platform. Unsurprisingly, this meant they both performed similarly in testing, receiving four stars each.

Michiel van Ratingen, secretary general of Euro NCAP, said: “On the whole, we see good scores for crash protection which is, of course, reassuring.

“But crash avoidance is as important as crash protection and the benefits of simply not being in a collision are, of course, immeasurably greater.

“So we will keep the emphasis on all areas of safety in the coming years and some manufacturers will have to continue to up their game in this area if they are not going to be left behind by the competition.”

Euro NCAP also gave an ‘Advanced’ reward to Mercedes-Benz’s ‘Car-to-X Communication’ system, which uses data from other vehicles to provide early warning of potential hazards ahead.

The British Motor Show 2022 will be ‘the greenest ever event of its type’ thanks to the use of sustainable fuels.

Organisers have teamed up with Coryton Advanced Fuels to ensure that all vehicles within the show will run on advanced biofuels made from agricultural waste.

While most of the car industry is pressing ahead with phasing out combustion engines and switching to electrified transport, the use of sustainable fuels has been increasing in popularity in recent years.

These fuels, which are also known as synthetic or eFuels, are essentially no different in their basic makeup to the diesel or petrol that comes from crude oil. However, they are produced from renewable sources so their emissions are carbon neutral.

The other benefit is that they can be used in existing combustion-engined cars without any adaptation needed.

Coryton’s ‘Sustain’ brand will be the official fuels partner of this year’s British Motor Show, and will supply all of the petrol and diesel used at the event, including everything from passenger shuttle buses to vehicles used in the live test drives.

The British Motor Show CEO Andy Entwistle said: “While electricity is an option for more motorists than ever, many of us want to make a difference now.

“The beauty of Coryton’s solution is that while the fuel emits carbon, it only emits what it takes out of the atmosphere in the process of it being refined, thus neutralising the overall carbon output.

“By using it in our own vehicles, we want to create a show with minimal carbon output and show that combustion-engined cars can be environmentally friendly right now, especially for those who cherish their classic cars or cannot yet afford a new EV.”

Andrew Willson, Coryton’s CEO, added: “As a company we’re committed to creating world-leading sustainable fuels, raising the profile of these options and helping people to understand the impact they could have on reducing carbon emissions in the immediate future.”

On top of the partnership with Coryton, the British Motor Show says it will be offsetting visitors’ carbon footprint as well as promoting advanced fuels and electric vehicles to showgoers.

The event takes place on August 18-21 at Farnborough International.

The Central Feature at the upcoming Goodwood Festival of Speed will pay tribute to 50 years of BMW’s M division.

First established in 1997, the Central Feature has been used to celebrate a variety of different car manufacturers and milestones, with each marked by a sculpture positioned in the centre of the Festival, which is located at the Goodwood estate near Chichester in West Sussex.

This year, it is being used to honour 50 years of BMW M. First launched in May of 1972, BMW M has gone on to create some of the best-known sports and racing cars ever produced and plans to make several new announcements at Goodwood.

It’s expected that the much-anticipated M3 Touring – an estate version of the performance-orientated M3 – will make its formal debut at Goodwood, with a strong chance that it’ll be used to take on the famous hill.

Frank van Meel, CEO of BMW M said: “As BMW M, we feel honoured to play a very special role at this year’s Festival of Speed. For our 50th anniversary, we couldn’t imagine a better place to celebrate our products with fans of the brand. I am particularly looking forward to unveiling a certain vehicle to the world’s public for the first time – a vehicle we have been waiting a long time for.”

Visitors to the show – which takes place from June 23 to 26 – will be able to see some of BMW M’s latest models at its Trackside and Stable Yard locations. Full details of the firm’s presence at the Festival will be announced over the next few weeks.

The Duke of Richmond said: “We are delighted to be celebrating 50 years of BMW’s hugely successful Motorsport division at this year’s Festival of Speed, and it is especially fitting as we prepare to honour ‘The Innovators – Masterminds of Motorsport’. BMW M’s success can of course be attributed to half a century of innovation and we look forward to honouring the marque’s past, present and future achievements at Goodwood in June.”

Goodwood Festival of Speed has revealed that the 2022 edition’s theme will be ‘The Innovators – Masterminds of Motorsport’.

Each year the world-renowned automotive festival has a main theme, often celebrating legendary car manufacturers or icons of the industry.

This year’s theme highlights the event’s increasing focus on technology. This will be achieved by showing the ‘human stories of engineering ingenuity’ as well as shining a light on the next-generation visionaries.

The theme will see relevant cars and drivers heading up the famous hill climb as well as special guests and interactive displays.

A key part of this year’s theme will centre around Goodwood’s Future Lab. Introduced in 2017, it will return in 2022 with exhibitors from mobility, robotics, aviation, healthcare and more.

Debuting last year, the ‘Electric Avenue – The Road to 2030’ will return as the home of electric vehicles at the show, and will be host to a variety of experts who will be on hand to answer visitors’ questions.

The Duke of Richmond said: “This year’s Festival theme allows us to celebrate some of the greatest achievements in history, while also highlighting the event’s evolving focus on future technology.

“Just as race-inspired innovations such as four-valve engines, monocoque chassis and turbocharging have shaped the past and present of the cars we drive in the real world, so electrification, autonomy and other new technologies – the development of which is accelerated by the white heat of competition – will have a profound effect on the future of personal mobility.”

Luxembourg had the highest density by far

Luxembourg has the highest density of luxury vehicles in the world, with the United Kingdom also making it into the top 10.

The UK came seventh in the list, which calculated luxury car sales over the past four years and measured that against a nation’s population to find out how many people there were for every luxury car.

Luxembourg came out on top because although it had the lowest new luxury car sales in the top 20 at 48,584, it also had the smallest population by a long way at 625,978. This means there are 13 people for every luxury car.

The data has come from research by price comparison site Confused.com., which found that Belgium came second with 31 people per luxury car, followed by Germany with 32.

Again there was a big difference in the physical numbers, with Belgium selling about 370,000 luxury cars compared with Germany’s 2.6 million. However, the latter’s population is much bigger, with 83.8m compared with 11.6m.

The United Kingdom’s seventh place came with 40 people per luxury car, with over 1.7m sales and a population of almost 67.9m.

This put it behind Switzerland in fourth (34 people per luxury car), Norway in fifth (36) and Australia in sixth (37). The rest of the top 10 was Austria (47), Sweden (48) and Canada (53).

The list was dominated by European countries, which made up 13 of the top 20. The US was surprisingly low in 12th place, with a score of 64 largely driven by its huge population of over 331m.

Lotus has confirmed that production of its iconic Elise, Exige and Evora sports cars has come to an end.

The Norfolk-based firm says it will dismantle the production lines that these models were built on ahead of the introduction of the new Emira.

Over the course of the past 26 years, Lotus says it has built 51,738 vehicles on these lines, as well as nearly 10,000 vehicles for third-party clients such as GM and Tesla.

The current assembly lines were installed in 2000 and will be replaced with state-of-the-art facilities for the new Emira sports car, which will be the first of Lotus’s next-generation vehicles.

This will be followed by the Evija hypercar, which will be the firm’s first EV.

This new high-tech, semi-automated production line will increase capacity to around 5,000 cars per year with a single shift pattern.

Matt Windle, managing director at Lotus Cars, said: “First of all, I would like to thank the Lotus team who have worked on the Elise, Exige and Evora over the years and who are now transferring to Emira and Evija manufacturing.

“I would also like to convey enormous gratitude to all the customers of the Elise, Exige and Evora over the last 26 years for their passion, enthusiasm and support. These customers have given our ‘three Es’ true cult status – usually reserved for long-out-of-production classics.

“As we say farewell to the last few cars, we look forward to the Emira and Evija in the all-new factories at Hethel and sub-assembly facilities in Norwich, which introduce greater efficiencies and automation, higher quality and flexibility and the hugely exciting next chapter in our Vision80 strategy.”

The Elise and Exige were first built in a small assembly hall at the Hethel plant between 1996 and 2000, before being moved to this main facility. They are built on the same ‘small car’ platform, which was also used for the Vauxhall VX220 and Tesla Roadster as well as various other lower volume Lotus models.

The final version of each of the Elise, Exige and Evora will be retained by Lotus and placed in its heritage collection.