More than 200,000 passionate enthusiasts flocked to Goodwood House in West Sussex for four sun-soaked days at the Festival of Speed from July 10-13, 2025.
With a jaw-dropping lineup of vehicles, cameos by famous drivers and myriad on-site attractions, this year’s edition was headlined by celebrations dedicated to 75 years of Formula 1 and the 60-year career of legendary car designer Gordon Murray.
Fittingly, Murray’s eponymous supercar manufacturer, Gordon Murray Automotive (GMA), was honoured as this year’s Celebrated Marque and was the subject of the dramatic Gerry Judah designed sculpture dominating the lawn in front of Goodwood House.
Setting apart the Festival from other major car shows are all manner of vehicles charging up the hillclimb course that snakes through the heart of the event. Usually the Duke of Richmond’s driveway, the Hill’s dramatic Sunday Shootout is always a highlight.
2025 was no exception, as Romain Dumas sealed back-to-back Shootout victories after achieving the fastest time in his 1400bhp all-electric Ford F150 Lightning SuperTruck. Dumas was followed by the Project Midnight Subaru WRX driven by former F1 driver Scott Speed, while James Wallis’ Porsche 911 GT3 Cup rounded out the podium.
Despite very different weather conditions to the chill of last year, the top three mirrored 2024, with Dumas driving a similarly potent Ford SuperVan on that occasion. The biggest surprise was a fourth-place finish for the 1974 Shadow-Chevrolet DN4 driven by Alex Summers, which thundered up the Hill just 1.1 seconds slower than Wallis’ modern Porsche. We’ve compiled our ten greatest hillclimb runs of the weekend here.
Away from the Hill, visitors enjoyed an expanded version of the popular F1 paddock, where many of the most iconic cars from the sport’s history were showcased as part of the 75th anniversary celebrations.
Here, current challengers were juxtaposed against fan favourite machines from seasons passed, including title-winning icons such as the Brawn BGP001, McLaren MP4/4 and Williams FW14B. Other highlights included the first Championship-winning car – Nino Farina’s Alfa Romeo 158 Alfetta – as well as oddities such as the six-wheeled Tyrrell P34, the Gordon Murray-designed Brabham BT46B ‘Fan Car’ and the gas turbine-powered Lotus 56B.
An equally impressive selection of F1 drivers were on-hand to demonstrate several of these cars up the Hill too. Nigel Mansell was reunited with his title-winning Williams FW14B, Alain Prost got back into the cockpit of his McLaren MP4/4 and Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman drove Haas machinery up the Hill as part of the team’s tenth anniversary celebrations, too. Other big names included Mika Häkkinen, Sir Jackie Stewart, Emerson Fittipaldi, Jaques Villeneuve, Mario Andretti and David Coulthard, among others.
Many major manufacturers chose to debut their latest metal at this year’s Festival. The most headline-grabbing launch was arguably Lanzante’s 95-59 hypercar. Penned by former McLaren designer Paul Howse, the limited-production three-seater was inspired by the McLaren F1 GTR that won the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1995. Paul revealed to Magneto that the design was also inspired by an image of an exploding apple and the fictional hypersonic aircraft flown by Tom Cruise in the opening scene of Top Gun: Maverick.
Supercar and hypercar fans were treated to a flurry of debuts, including the Koenigsegg Sadair’s Spear, Aston Martin Valhalla, McLaren W1, Ferrari 296 Speciale, Amalfi and F80, Maserati MC Pura and GMA T.33 S. Also turning heads was a camouflaged prototype of Lexus’ rumoured LFA successor, the LFR.
Those interested in less exotic vehicles had plenty to see, too, with launches of the Honda Prelude and Civic Type R Ultimate, Alpine A110 R Ultime, Land Rover Defender Trophy Edition, Hyundai Ioniq 6 N, Alpine A290 Rallye and CS versions of BMW’s M2 and M3 Touring.
The Cartier Style et Luxe lawn is always a highlight for us at Magneto, and this year’s 30th anniversary edition delivered a particularly strong showing. Special classes honoured 100 years of the Rolls-Royce Phantom, 60 years of the Ford Transit and Alpina, while Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera, Facel and the Bugatti Veyron also took centre stage.
Winning Best of Show in this year’s edition was the Bentley Mark VI Cresta II Facél Metallon fielded by Sascha Bäggli. Based on a Bentley Mark VI chassis, this one-of-a-kind coupé was designed by Italian design house Pininfarina for the wife of Facel founder and engineer Jean Daninos.
Providing a striking contrast to the pristine concours lawn were the rally machines kicking up dust on the Forest Rally Stage. A key theme this year was the 30th anniversary of Colin McRae’s WRC title, marked by a strong turnout of Imprezas – several driven by McRae himself in period – alongside rivals such as Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIs, Toyota Celicas and Ford Focuses. His Championship-winning 555-liveried Impreza WRC was also driven up the Hill, with daughter Hollie riding shotgun to her granddad Jimmy.
Bonhams’ Festival of Speed sale added to the excitement with a number of surprise results. Several cars surpassed their high estimates, including a Bugatti Veyron and, most notably, a Veilside-kitted Mazda RX7 that starred in The Fast and Furious franchise.
The Fast and Furious Mazda smashed its high £350,000 estimate to hammer for £911,000, while the Veyron sold for three times its pre-sale high estimate at £1.527m. The most lucrative lot was for a F1-engined Mercedes-AMG One hypercar that sold for £2.456m. The overall sell-through rate was 80 per cent, with £10.2m in total sales. You can find our full post-auction report here.
As ever, the 2025 Goodwood Festival of Speed proved why it remains one of the international motoring calendar’s blue riband events. From historic milestones to thrilling hillclimb runs and global debuts, this year’s edition was a roaring success.
The 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed is scheduled to get underway from July 9-12. For more information, click here.
