► 2025 Festival of Speed preview guide
► Everything you need to know about FOS
► Plus a short history of the event
Summer heat, Wimbledon and the British Grand Prix… Yes, we’re already in early July and that means that it’s time for the Goodwood Festival of Speed (FOS).
The 2025 festival opened on Thursday 10 July and runs all weekend until Sunday 13 July – and it’s a sunny, dry one, with temperatures set to top 27deg C. Looks like you can keep your umbrella at home this time (or take one as a parasol).
In this festival preview guide we explain the key highlights, people and cars to watch. Read on for our suggested highlights and best bits to see. We’ll be updating it over the next few days, as more news arrives from Lord March’s motorsport mecca.
This year’s Festival of Speed looks to be particularly special for F1 enthusiasts. Celebrating 75 years of the Formula One World Championships, there will be a chance to glimpse some of the iconic cars and drivers from across the decades. Some notable attendees are:
Three current Formula 1 teams are set to be in attendance: Atlassian Williams Racing, McLaren and MoneyGram Haas, as well as more than 100 F1 cars past and present.
The theme for this year is ‘Winning formula – Champions and Challengers’ to shed light on the inspirational pioneers and innovators that have shaped different strata of motorsport today.
The central feature (see top image), designed by 73-year-old sculptor and designer Gerry Judah, dazzles visitors every year in front of Goodwood House. This year it celebrates 60 years of automotive design from Gordon Murray, who has brought many motoring marvels to the world, such as the T.33 Spider and the IGM Ford T.1.
Rally fans will be happy to see a celebration of Colin McRae’s thirtieth anniversary of his 1995 World Rally Championship win. FOS will honour his racing legacy by bringing together his iconic ’93 Subaru Legacy, ’95 Impreza 55, ’97 Impreza and ’01 Ford Focus WRC.
Starting in 2017, Future Lab has been the place to see global innovation for a better tomorrow. 2025 is no different, offering interactive exhibitions for all ages. This year it centres around the key themes of: New Industrial Revolutions, Exploring Spatial Intelligence, Mobility for Humanity, and Our Big Blue Dot.
As is customary, this year the Red Arrows make an appearance not once, but four times over the weekend. Their 22-minute acrobatic displays are accompanied by the famous red, white and blue vapour trails and be hard to miss wherever you happen to be at the time.
As any long-time Goodwood aficionado will know, Shootout Sunday brings the very best drivers to Goodwood hill for the Hillclimb. Former F1 driver Max Chilton’s 2022 record of 39.08 seconds will be in everyone’s sights and is sure to be a spectacle.
As ever, there will be a rich spread of cars on offer for visitors to this year’s festival to ogle.
Last year, MG took centre stage, celebrating the brand’s centenary with its MG Cyberster roadster in pride of place on Judah’s yearly featured sculpture. Trying to keep the momentum going, the brand has unveiled two new Tesla-busting EVs, the IM5 and IM6, both of which are already available in the Chinese and Australian markets but without the MG livery. One of these will compete in the infamous hillclimb, and with a claimed 0-62mph of 3.2 seconds for the performance model, it may do quite well. MG has also brought the compact retro-styled SUV Cyber X concept and Cyberster Black to Europe for the first time.
The McLaren-based Lanzante project car, named Project 95-59, has already been unveiled at the 2025 festival. Automotive business Lanzante specialises in restorations and developing unique vehicles. The company has been focused on McLaren ever since winning the 24-hour Le Mans back in ’95 with a McLaren F1 GTR. Project 95-59 is a three-seat, limited-run sports car, following in McLaren F1’s footsteps of having a seat layout with the driver in the centre. The biggest draw, perhaps, is how the car performs; with a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 producing more than 850bhp and 649 lb ft of torque, the 1250kg carbonfibre machine boasts 700bhp per tonne. It’s certainly not going to be a slug out of the traps.
Hyundai has picked the 2025 Goodwood Festival of Speed to unveil the new Ioniq 6 N. Unlike its hot hatch sibling, this performance saloon has been designed for the track and the dynamic features have been honed to follow this new brief. We loved the 5’s N e-shift technology, which simulates a real manual gearbox feel, and you can now even choose how much smoke you’d like with your drift. This is definitely a car to keep an eye out for in West Sussex this weekend.
Aston Martin has brought along its much anticipated new hybrid superstar. The Valhalla is the roadgoing cousin to the track-focused Valkyrie, with a greater focus on creature comforts. The concept version was initially unveiled in 2019, dubbed the AM-RB 003 and has been much refined since then. The car boasts a 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbo petrol engine which works alongside two front-axle and one rear-axle electric motors, producing a purported 937 bhp. With a production cap of 999, there might not be another chance to catch a glimpse of this car for a while…
Lotus is rolling out its Theory 1 concept car for people to gawp at. This car is seriously interesting, boasting a weight of 1600kg (not too bad for an EV) and a 0-62 mph time of 2.5 seconds. However, it’s the use of just 10 surface materials (the bits you can see before you start taking off body panels) compared with the industry average of 100 that makes this car interesting. Check out also the ‘robotic haptic control buttons’ which appear only when needed; so if you have to answer a phone call, a physical button appears from the dashboard, disappearing when no longer required. It’s tech built by Berlin company MotorSkins. It’s great to see digital innovation played out in the physical world like this – suggesting there is life beyond the touchscreen. This could well be one of the most technologically innovative machines at Goodwood.
General Motors’ first hybrid sports car has been taken to the festival this year adding fanfare to the announcement that the car will be launched in the UK and EU. First released in north America in 2023, the Corvette e-Ray sold in fairly low numbers compared with its Stingray and Z06 contemporaries. With a total system output of 634bhp and 0-62mph in 2.9 seconds, Corvette is going to try its hand up the hill this weekend. Let’s just hope the more electric-friendly UK and EU markets can help to turn the sales figures around. It’ll need to be good to persuade Brits to part with £153,440 for the privilege…
With a self-imposed need to release a new sports car every year, Maserati has launched the MCPura at Goodwood 2025. Looking suspiciously similar to the MC20 both in the metal and on paper, there is a good chance this may be more of a colour-and-trim exercise than a brand new car. It is undeniably sexy though in its new light blue, bordering on turquoise, paintwork and detailing. It’s definitely worth stopping to take a look if you happen to be walking past the Maser stand, but just don’t expect anything game-changing.
Chery is a Chinese brand that you probably haven’t heard of yet, but the automotive group has been selling its Omoda and Jaecoo sub-brands in the UK since last year. The Tiggo 8 is hitting a pretty flooded SUV market. It pairs a 1.5-litre petrol engine with an electric motor to produce 201bhp and it’s expected to sell at around £30,000 when it launches here.
If you’ve forgotten to grab your tickets, the standard day passes are now sold out, sadly. The only way in is to purchase potentially expensive hospitality tickets or inquire about returns.
As the time of writing, the most cost-effective tickets we could find were for the Moss Pavilions at £1020 per person. It’s a group deal with access to the grandstand and is situated right by the track, is fully catered and has an unlimited bar.
The Goodwood Festival of Speed has become motorsports enthusiasts’ go-to event in the UK. Every year for the past 32 years, drivers, vehicles, enthusiasts and families have come together to share their passion for forward momentum in all its myriad forms.
There has been motor racing on the West Sussex estate since 1936. The ninth Duke of Richmond, Freddie March, hosted a hillclimb meet for Lancia enthusiasts and subsequently, and perhaps embarrassingly, won the race himself.
The famous Goodwood Motor Circuit was built in 1948 and was host to Britain’s first post-war race meet at a permanent venue. It closed in 1966 due to safety concerns, as cars were becoming faster than the track was able to cater for safely. But in 1998, five years after the FOS was started, initially just using the old hillclimb track, the circuit was re-opened and the rest, as they say, is history.
Interested in almost anything mechanical, Tommy has written about everything from bicycles to politics. Contributing to the likes of Private Eye, MCN and Parkers.
By Tommy Begley
Tinkerer, gaffer taper and writer
