A Porsche 911 GT2 RS in front of Goodwood House
The Goodwood Festival of Speed is just around the corner, with a growing list of star attractions for the UK's biggest motor show.
This year's central feature will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Porsche 356, as the Stuttgart carmaker enters its eighth decade. The theme of the show, however, will be the Festival of Speed's 25th Anniversary, with the festival having started back in 1993.
Elsewhere, the Bonhams auction will be finding new homes for ultra-expensive cars and automotive memorabilia, the paddocks will be full of static display cars, the hillclimb will be bristling with supercar talent, and the forest, will as usual host the rallying portion of the festival.
Porsche Central Feature
The central feature at the 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed will celebrate Porsche, marking 70 years since the launch of its first sports car, the 356.
The sculpture, which will be again be designed by Gerry Judah, will be erected in front of Goodwood House for the event, which runs from July 12-15. After last year's sculpture celebrated F1 tsar Bernie Ecclestone, this year's example will again be dedicated to a car firm.
The 356 will be the focal point of the display. The model first entered production in 1948 and was the original rear-engined, rear-wheel drive sports car of Porsche, starting a lineage that survives to this day with the 911.
It will be the third time Porsche has been the subject of the sculpture at the annual motoring festival, a record for one car firm. Porsche was first celebrated with a sculpture to mark its 50th anniversary in 1998, while in 2013 the 50th year of the 911 was highlighted.
2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed: the cars
Last year's Festival of Speed was a treasure trove of cars making their first dynamic, public appearances. This year looks to be no different, with a growing list of cars due to make their driving debuts.
Three new versions of the Alpine A110 will take to the hillclimb at Goodwood this year - the entry-level, stripped-out Pure version, more luxurious, GT-friendly Légende and the race-going GT4. Last year's hillclimb hosted the debut of any Alpine variant, with Première edition being the first car to break cover.
Not the Goldfinger DB5, but a Bond DB5 nonetheless - one of the James Bond Aston Martin DB5s will be sold at the Bonhams auction at the Festival of Speed on Friday 13 July. It's expected to fetch up to £1.6 million. Don't expect it to go up the hill, mind.
It set the Nürburgring record for production cars, but can it beat the rest up the hill at Goodwood? Nio's EP9 hypercar stands a good chance. It's been confirmed to take to the hill at its visit to Goodwood this year.
If you've been dying to see the Polestar 1 in action since before it was the Polestar 1 (it started life as the Volvo Concept Coupe five years ago, remember?) you're in luck - the performance hybrid is making its driving debut at Goodwood this year.
Fresh from setting a new on the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, Romain Dumas will tackle the slightly shorter Goodwood hill climb course in his electric 671bhp Volkswagen ID R. Volkswagen Motorsport boss Sven Smeets said both driver and car will attend the Festival on Saturday and Sunday. Asked whether Dumas would target the outright Goodwood hill record in the machine, technical director Francois-Xavier Demaison joked: "I'll need to study the data. Maybe the electric one..."
About the Festival of Speed
The first Judah-designed sculpture, dedicated to Ferrari, featured at the Festival in 1997. Aside from Porsche, the other car firms to have been the subject of the sculpture more than once are Audi (1999 and 2009), Jaguar (2000 and 2011), Mercedes-Benz (2001 and 2014) and Renault (2002 and 2006).
This year will also be the 25th running of the Goodwood Festival of Speed. To mark the occasion, Lord March, who last year became the 11th Duke of Richmond, will celebrate his best 25 moments from the event’s history, including his favourite cars and drivers.
Last year’s shootout was won by the Audi R8 V10 Plus, which completed the 1.16-mile course in 51secs. It beat the Nissan GT-R Nismo, which recorded a 52.68sec run.
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