Goodwood Festival of Speed 2019: the best race cars and track heroes

There is no shortage of variety at this year's Festival of Speed.

Formula One might command the biggest television audience any other weekend of the year, but at Goodwood every other discipline gets its time in the spotlight. From GT and endurance racing to historic single seaters, everything on two and four wheels that has ever set a lap time seemed to go up the famous hillclimb course. 

It's a major part of the appeal of the Festival of Speed, and we spotted plenty of interesting metal for anyone interested in lesser known racing series. Here are some of the standouts.

Ford GT40 Works prototype, 1965

This so-called ‘lost GT40’ prototype was recovered from a London lock-up following a chance chat at a previous Goodwood meeting. It is the fourth of five prototype roadsters build and was believed lost for 40 years

Land speed record car 'Babs", 1926

Powered by a 27-litre Liberty aero-engine, ‘Babs’ was one of a series of several aero-engined cars owned by Count Louis Zborowski that gave rise to the Chitty Bang Bang name. It was restored after being buried in the Pendine Sands.

Ferrari FXX K Evo, 2017

Ferrari only built 40 FXX Ks, and made even fewer of these EVO versions. A track-only take on the La Ferrari, the EVO produced 850bhp from its V12 engine, plus another 187bhp from an electric motor. An aggressive aero upgrade created 30% more downforce than the FXX K.

BMW M1, 1978

The mid-engined BMW M1 supercar competed in a variety of race and asphalt rally events between 1979 and 1981, as well as a standalone championship for the cars. This Motul-sponsored example was run by French team Oreca

Fiat S74, 1903

This 75hp racer built to demonstrate its maker’s capacity for building fast, reliable cars at the turn of the century. Most significantly it has a 14-litre, four cylinder engine .

Bentley EXP2, 1920

This is the oldest surviving Bentley, which is leading the marque’s celebrations at Goodwood. Rebodied as a race car in 1921, it recorded Bentley’s first competition win that same year

Ferrari 250 GT SWB, 1953-1964

The iconic Ferrari 250 GT enjoyed considerable success in this race-bred SWB form, fettered by the then aspiring engineering team of Giotto Bizzarrini, Carlo Chiti, and young Mauro Forghieri.

Hotchkiss AM 80, 1929

The Hotchkiss AM 80 record car set 46 speed records while being driven more than 40,000km in 16 days in 1929, and was then evolved with ever more slippery bodywork over the years as it chased more record.

Lancia Delta Integrale HF, 1987

The Delta HF Integrale was introduced for the 1987 world rally championship and dominated the season, going on to record 46 WRC victories and scooping the constructors’ championship for Lancia six times in a row.

Mahindra Formula E racer, 2018

The Mahindra  team has competed in the all-electric race Formula E championship since it began in 2014, and is now a highly-regarded front-runner with wins to its name, most recently with racer Jerome d’Ambrosio at the wheel.

This weekend the car was driven by the current (at the time of writing, anyway) Goodwood hillclimb record holder Nick Heidfeld.

Mazda 737C Le Mans racer, 1985

The legendary Mazda 737C was built by Mazdaspeed for the 1985 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Two cars competed in the C2 category, finishing third and sixth. The car also competed in the world and Japanese sports car championships.

Subaru Impreza STI, 2018

Rising rally star Oliver Solberg - son of 2001 world rally champion Petter - is set to compete in six rounds of the American Rally Association National Championships using this Subaru Impreza STI this season

Porsche 917, 1971

Porsche 917-042 was driven by Gerard Larrousse and Vic Elford in the 1971 Le Mans 24 Hours race. It recorded a top speed of 241.25mph on the Mulsanne straight and qualified second, but retired from the race with an overheating issue with the 4.9-litre 600bhp engine

Porsche 917 Spyder, 1969

The Porsche 917 Spyder was developed to compete in the Can-Am Challenge in 1969. It was designated the PA, for Porsche Audi, as they were the firm’s two sales organisations in the US at the time

Porsche 935, 2019

A 70th birthday present from Porsche to itself, the reborn 935 is a modern take on the 935/78 'Moby Dick', complete with long tail and large rear wing. It is based on the GT2 RS road car, then upgraded with bespoke racing suspension and only sold in very limited numbers. Autocar's Andrew Frankel drove this example up the Goodwood hill.

Roborace Alpha, 2019

You’re right, there’s nobody at the wheel. The Roborace autonomous concept’s development was highlighted at Goodwood, with the self-driving technology being demonstrated on a more traditional race car rather than the company’s bespoke race vehicle.

The Beast of Turin, 1910

Nicknamed as such thanks to its flame-spitting engine, the Fiat S76 "Beast of Turin" took the record for the flying mile on Saltburn Sands in 1911, reaching 116mph

Volkswagen ID R, 2019

Volkswagen's electric race car has already smashed the Nurburgring lap record this year, lowering it to 6m 05.336s. This weekend it completed the Goodwood hillclimb in 41.1 seconds, smashing the previous record of 41.6secs, set 20 years ago by Nick Heidfeld in a McLaren F1 car.