At the core of this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, more than 100 F1 cars and seven World Champions honoured the 75th anniversary of the Formula 1 World Championship under the theme ‘The Winning Formula – Champions & Challengers’. As always, the FoS saw multiple ne car debuts – including those by Ferrari, Aston Martin and Hyundai – as well as a sculpture celebrating Gordon Murray’s 60-year design career. Records were broken in both the Hillclimb and Bonhams auction, while the Cartier Lawn marked its 30th edition. Here are some of the highlights.
Formula 1 75th anniversary
The 2025 Festival of Speed celebrated ‘The Winning Formula – Champions & Challengers’ with its most ambitious tribute yet: marking 75 years of the Formula 1 World Championship. More than 100 Grand Prix cars were on display and in action, spanning every era of the sport. A historic Saturday moment saw seven World Champions – including Alain Prost, Jackie Stewart, Emerson Fittipaldi, Jacques Villeneuve, Mario Andretti, Mika Häkkinen and Nigel Mansell – appear on the Goodwood House balcony, joined by Bernie Ecclestone and The Duke of Richmond. Displays ranged from early pioneers to modern F1 cars, with participation from nine current F1 teams and appearances by many drivers past and present.
Gordon Murray celebration
This year’s central feature paid tribute to Professor Gordon Murray CBE and his extraordinary 60-year career in automotive design. Towering above Goodwood House, the striking sculpture juxtaposed the Brabham BT52 with the GMA T.50 – key examples of Murray’s F1 and road car engineering. The tribute continued across the site, with Dario Franchitti opening Thursday’s hillclimb in a T.50 and GMA models prominent throughout the weekend. Keep an eye out for our Gordon Murray celebration in the upcoming issue.
Driver and rider celebrations
The FoS also paid tribute to motorsport legends across disciplines, led by a special balcony moment for five-time Le Mans winner – and Octane columnist – Derek Bell. The event also marked 30 years since Carl Fogarty’s second WorldSBK title and Colin McRae’s 1995 WRC triumph, with both icons celebrated through key machines from their careers.
Various new car debuts
The 2025 Goodwood Festival of Speed delivered its usual abundance of headline road car debuts. Hypercars were well represented across the site, from the Ferrari F80 and Rimac Nevera R to the Koenigsegg Sadair’s Spear and Zenvo Aurora TUR. Maserati’s wild MCXtrema and the track-focused Praga Bohema also added to the spectacle. McLaren’s new W1 was on static display alongside the Renault 4 E-Tech electric
with Lanzante drawing early crowds for the unveiling of its 850bhp 95-59 – a limited-production tribute to the McLaren F1 GTR that triumphed at Le Mans in 1995. Designed by Paul Howse and revealed by Dean Lanzante himself, the model brings competition pedigree to the road in suitably dramatic form.
Among the supercars, Ferrari showcased its new 296 Speciale, Maserati presented the just-unveiled MC20-based MCPura, and the long-anticipated Aston Martin Valhalla finally made its public dynamic debut. Corvette was also out in force, showing and announcing that the hybrid E-Ray model will be coming to the UK this year.
Other roadgoing debuts included the Ferrari Amalfi, Alpine A110 R Ultime, Hyundai Ioniq 6 N and Honda Civic Type R Ultimate. Honda also displayed its revived Prelude coupé, while Lexus teased its forthcoming LFR supercar in camouflage. Land Rover’s Defender 110 Trophy Edition joined the line-up, too.
Hillclimb Timed Shoot-Out
The 2025 Timed Shoot-Out saw Romain Dumas reclaim the top spot in the Pikes Peak-prepared Ford Supertruck. He actually shaved 0.7 seconds off his own winning time from last year, topping the weeken’s timed runs with a 43.22-second time. Scott Speed pushed hard in the Subaru Project Midnight, setting a personal best of 45.03, but had to settle for second.
For more info, see goodwood.com
