Goodwood Festival of Speed 2023: highlights and new car releases

Despite being impacted by severe weather warnings, the 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed was one of the biggest yet, with a frenzy of motorsport action and production car debuts taking place throughout the event. A diverse range of machines – from electric cars to fire-spitting classic racers – took to the iconic Goodwood hillclimb, along with a wave of new releases from major manufacturers including Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini and Lotus. 

For the first time in its 30 year history, the Festival of Speed didn't run on Saturday due to a Met Office yellow weather warning, but the new car launch schedule remained largely intact. We've listed some of the highlights. 

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Goodwood Festival of Speed 2023: the cars

Alpine

Numerous Alpines were on show this year, including the radical A290_β electric hot hatch and limited-run A110 R Le Mans special edition. The A110 S Enstone Edition – another design led special – was also in attendance. 

Audi S1 Hoonitron 

Originally built for the late Ken Block, Audi's all-electric S1 Hoonitron took part in Goodwood's Driftkhana showcase this year. Inspired by the iconic S1 Quattro rally car of the '80s, the purpose-built drift machine develops 670bhp thanks to a dual electric motor setup.

Aston Martin 

Celebrating its 110th anniversary in 2023, Aston Martin showcased its new Valour hypercar alongside existing models like the Valkyrie, Valkyrie AMR Pro and V12 Vantage at Goodwood this year. 

Bentley 

As Bentley's W12 engine nears its end, the British firm rolled out numerous special editions – including the Batur and Continental GT Le Mans Collection – to commemorate the legendary powerplant at the Festival of Speed.

BMW

The recently unveiled G60 5-series was on display at the BMW stand, alongside its all-electric counterpart: the i5. The firm's reimagined 3.0 CSL road car will also make an appearance. 

Caterham

For the first time ever, Caterham presented battery powered sports cars at Goodwood in 2023, with the Project V electric coupe making its first public appearance alongside the new EV Seven concept. 

Ferrari 

A one-off Ferrari from the brand's Special Projects series is always certain to draw crowds, and the new KC23 did exactly that at the Festival of Speed. Taking the 488 GT3 race car as a base, the KC23’s smooth form and intricate design details will guide Ferrari’s future road car projects.

Hyundai 

We’ve been eagerly awaiting the first electric performance car from Hyundai’s N division for some time, and the Ioniq 5 N is the first to arrive having been unveiled at Goodwood. With simulated gearchanges and augmented powertrain sounds, the new model could rekindle some of the engagement that’s sorely missing from most EVs today.

Lamborghini 

An all-new Le Mans hypercar from Lamborghini debuted at the Festival of Speed, which will mount a challenge in next year’s World Endurance Championship. With Lamborghini set to battle the likes of Ferrari and Porsche in its 2024 campaign, next season could serve up a tantalising battle between these industry giants. 

Lanzante 

Continuing its series of road-going conversions for hypercars destined for the track, Lanzante ran a street legal Zonda Revolucion and McLaren P1 GT up the hill. These were joined by the firm’s P1 HDK, which uses a Cosworth-fettled 4-litre twin-turbo V8 with almost 1000bhp.

Lotus

Lotus’s new era is in full swing, with the Emira, Evija and Eletre running up the Goodwood hill this year. The event marked the public debut of the four-cylinder version of the Emira, as well as the 905bhp Eletre R SUV. 

McLaren

With a series of incremental updates over the outgoing 720S, the new McLaren 750S somewhat flew under the radar among the other exotic metal at Festival of Speed, but the firm’s V10-engined Solus GT certainly made an impact. Limited to just 25 units, the track-only machine develops 828bhp and revs to an astonishing 10,000rpm. 

McMurtry Speirling Pure

It’s almost impossible to imagine a faster, more capable machine than the McMurtry Speirling that broke the outright Goodwood hillclimb record last year, but the new Pure version is exactly that. Now available to customers, the 1000bhp fan car occupies a smaller footprint than a Fiat Panda while achieving extreme cornering forces of over 3G. 

MG

With the MG4 XPower and Cyberster sports car, MG’s growing portfolio of driver-focused EVs were in attendance at the 2023 Festival of Speed, as well as the more specialised EX4 concept that draws inspiration from the Metro 6R4.

Pagani

Pagani’s next chapter begins with the Utopia, and the V12-engined hypercar was rolled out at Goodwood for a rare chance to see one in the metal. With carbonfibre construction, a twin-turbo AMG-derived V12 and fastidious detailing, it treads a similar path to the Huayra before it; albeit this time with the option of a manual gearbox. 

Porsche

As Goodwood’s celebrated manufacturer this year, Porsche pulled out all the stops with a host of iconic machines on display. The 718 Spyder RS, Mission X show car and GT3 RS were on display alongside a new 356-inspired electric concept built specifically for Porsche’s 75th anniversary: the Vision 357 Speedster. 

Singer

The new DLS-T restomod was central to Singer’s Goodwood appearance this year. Taking cues from historic Porsche race cars, the DLS-T is the wildest Singer project yet with a 700bhp twin-turbo flat-six, cartoonishly wide bodywork and a $2m price tag. 

Tesla

Tesla took to the Goodwood hillclimb with two of its quickest cars to date: the Model S and Model X Plaid. The firm’s warp-speed supersaloon recently broke the Nürburgring lap record for EV production cars, and it's one of the fastest accelerating cars on sale. 

Goodwood Festival of Speed 2023: event highlights

The Festival of Speed is always littered with motorsport stars, and this year Sebastian Vettel tackled the hillclimb in two classic F1 cars from his personal collection – an ex-Nigel Mansell Williams FW14B (commonly known as ‘Red Five’), and Ayrton Senna’s 1993 McLaren MP4/8 – running on sustainable synthetic fuels.

As Goodwood’s tyre partner for 2023 and beyond, Pirelli built two exhibitions to showcase the company’s 150-year lineage in motorsport and technology. Centred around its P Zero line-up, Pirelli’s high-performance tyre range is due an imminent update, and this was previewed by three new products at this year’s Festival of Speed.

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To coincide with the 75th anniversary of the 356, Porsche took centre stage as Goodwood’s ‘celebrated marque’ this year. An enormous sculpture was built in tribute to the Stuttgart firm, which has headlined the Festival of Speed three times previously - most recently in 2018.  

The 2023 Festival of Speed also celebrated 100 years of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with a collection of cars and drivers from the legendary race in attendance. These anniversaries coincided with the Festival's 30th year running. 

Tickets and pricing

For those hoping to attend in 2024, next year's tickets will go on sale for the general public on November 6. Unusually, Goodwood has already announced dates for next year's event, with the 2023 Festival of Speed confirmed for Thursday 11 - Sunday 14 July. With FoS cancelled for Saturday this year, a large proportion of ticket holders have chosen to roll tickets over to next year, meaning there will be significantly fewer Saturday tickets on sale for 2024.

For those wanting a taste of vintage motorsport action before then, the Goodwood Revival will host a fantastic selection of historic racing events at Goodwood's race track. The Revival takes place from 8-10 September, with grandstand tickets starting from £48 per person. General admission tickets cost from £75, with an admission and grandstand package starting at £132.