2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed Highlights

The Goodwood Festival of Speed is the world’s largest automotive garden party, an annual hill climb featuring historic motor racing vehicles, new releases from top manufacturers and jam-packed events across a four-day calendar. It is Christmas for car fans.

It all began in 1993 on the grounds of Goodwood House in West Sussex and is now the ultimate bucket-list item for car guys and gals across the globe.

The Goodwood Festival of Speed was founded by Lord March in order to bring motor racing back to the Goodwood estate. With a small selection of entrants made up of invited historic vehicles, the first event that took place on Sunday 13 June 1993 and attracted 25,000 people. It has grown since then, with attendance is now capped at 150,000.

The Festival of Speed is one of the most successful events to have been invented in the last 50 years… a wonderful place to go. – Richard Branson

We tried to keep up with everything, but I am sure we missed something (please point it out so we can add it). See all 2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed Updates here and enjoy a summary of the moments we loved most.

2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed – Daily Highlights

Day 1 Goodwood Festival of Speed Highlights

Thursday is ‘Press & Preview’ day at the Festival of Speed, with the Moving Motor Show taking over the Hillclimb.

The main difference between Thursday at the Festival of Speed and the rest of the weekend is that the most highly prized cars stay in the paddocks rather than going up the Hillclimb. Instead, it is the road cars from the Moving Motor Show presented by the AA which take centre-stage.

Day 2 Goodwood Festival of Speed Highlights

Day two is all about checking out hundreds of the finest cars from the past, present and near-future make their first Hillclimb runs on Friday. This year there were race cars as well as some new road cars like the Bugatti Chiron, McLaren 570S Sprint and Aston Martin DB1.

Day 3 Goodwood Festival of Speed Highlights

Highlights from the Saturday of the 2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed. The Festival of Speed gathers pace on Saturday with the world’s very latest supercars and hypercars competing to see which is the fastest of them all.

Day 4 Goodwood Festival of Speed Highlights

It’s Shoot-out day at the Festival of Speed, in amongst a full day of thrilling Hillclimb action. The Shoot-out – a timed assault on the Hillclimb – makes Sunday a very popular day to attend, particularly as historically many of the star appearances tend to happen on Saturday or Sunday.

It is also the last chance for everyone to enjoy the features beyond the Hillclimb, such as GAS, the Rally Stage and the paddocks. Day 4 is fun and the photos below show all the fun.

Goodwood Motorsports Highlights

2016 Goodwood – Rally Stage

While the hillclimb may be the main attraction at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, rally fans like us get most excited about the Forest Rally Stage. The rally stage offers spectators the rare chance to see both historic and contemporary rally cars carving their way through the challenging tree-lined stage.

2016 Goodwood – Formula 1 & Formula E

Seven 2016 Formula 1 teams were at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, joined by a host of star drivers from the past and present. The Renault Formula E team also brought their 2016 Z.E.15.

Goodwood Car Manufacturer Highlights

2016 Goodwood Mercedes Highlights

Mercedes-Benz bought along the 280 E (W123) rally car from 1977, a Mercedes-Benz 540 K Streamliner of 1938 and a Mercedes-Benz 1957 300 SLS. For those looking for some extra comfort there was the relaxing Mercedes-AMG S 63 Cabriolet with its gentle 585 hp.

Mercedes Launches the Mercedes-AMG GT R

Mercedes used the 2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed to launch the Mercedes-AMG GT-R. It has a monster. 4.0-litre V8 engine producing 585 hp that is capable of reaching 62 mph in just 3.6 seconds and onto a top speed of 198 mph. Honed at Nurburgring, it is a car that makes us green with envy.

2016 Goodwood Has Ferrari Firing on All Cylinders

The Ferrari team didn’t let us down at the 2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed, bringing along a stable of classic and modern Ferraris that were all drool-worthy in every way. The famed hillclimb included the new Ferrari F12tdf, 488 GTB, 488 Spider and California T and special one-off 458 MM Speciale that may just be my favorite Ferrari right now.

Aston Martin Sizzles at Goodwood in 2016

ur favorite British car maker came to the 2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed with all guns blazing. The very best that the luxury British sports car brand has to offer. Most exciting for the Supercars.net team was the global launch of the Aston Martin DB11. Man, that car looks so nice in person. We can’t wait to drive it and really see how far the game has moved on from the DB9.

Thrashing a Rolls-Royce Up the Goodwood Hillclimb Looks Like Fun

The action started with the Supercar Shootout, where the Wraith Black Badge sped up the hill in a very respectable 65.05 seconds. The big Rolls-Royce hit a top speed of 94.8mph across the 1.16-mile course. The car was seen at speed between each Hillclimb Run throughout the weekend.

Onboard Video in the Bugatti Chiron

Andy Wallace, who has been an official Bugatti driver since 2011, piloted the Chiron at the Goodwood hill climb. The onboard video is awesome and we want more. The Chiron has 1,500 PS and a top speed of 420 km/h. It looks the business too.

2017 VUHL 05RR

The VUHL team used the 2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed to announce their new VUHL 05RR, a lighter, more powerful and a whole lot faster car than the VUHL 05. With a 600bhp-per-tonne power to weight ratio, it gives the McLaren P1 and Bugatti Veyron a real run for their money.

Aston Martin GT12 Roadster

Aston Martin has revealed a one-off Vantage GT12 Roadster at the 2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed. The custom Vantage GT12 Roadster is Aston Martin’s most extreme convertible thanks to an epic V12 that produces almost 600hp and a chassis built for racing. Nice work Aston. Nice work.

Watch The $3m McLaren P1 LM Get Taken For A Record-Breaking Run Up The Goodwood Hill

The outrageous McLaren P1 LM hypercar, driven by Kenny Brack, broke the Hillclimb record for the fastest time by a road legal car during the Festival of Speed’s Supercar Shootout!