Where else but the Goodwood Festival of Speed can you see everything from Formula 1 cars to all-electric hypercars driven flat out by some of the world’s greatest drivers? It’s unsurprising, therefore, that thousands of fans make the pilgrimage to West Sussex every July for the blue riband event, and the action on the Duke of Richmond’s driveway made this year’s edition a particularly memorable one. We’ve picked ten of the best hillclimb runs from this year’s Festival – perfect for reliving the action or convincing you to make the trip in 2026. You won’t regret it.
Ford F-150 Lightning SuperTruck
The fastest run up the Hill always grabs Goodwood headlines – and this year was no exception. The quickest man up the Duke of Richmond’s driveway was two-time Le Mans winner and former Hill record-holder Romain Dumas, who stormed to the finish in just 43.23 seconds. His weapon of choice? The Ford F-150 Lightning SuperTruck.
Despite the name – and its boxy silhouette – the SuperTruck is a world apart from the commercial vehicle it loosely resembles. Powered by an all-electric drivetrain producing 1419bhp and generating a staggering 3130kg of downforce, the way it moved in Dumas’s hands was almost surreal.
Fresh from victory at the 2024 Pikes Peak International Hillclimb, the SuperTruck’s Goodwood run wasn’t just the fastest of the weekend – it also marked Dumas’s fourth Hillclimb triumph. Fittingly, it came as Ford celebrates 60 years of the Transit, the very van that inspired the SuperTruck’s outrageous SuperVan sibling.
Subaru Project Midnight
With perfect weather and ex-Formula 1 driver Scott Speed behind the wheel, expectations for Subaru’s Project Midnight WRX in the Sunday Shootout couldn’t have been higher. Touted as perhaps the only car capable of vanquishing the all-powerful SuperTruck – and doing so with internal combustion – Speed drew on every ounce of his rallycross experience to wring out the 670bhp, carbonfibre-bodied machine, kicking up dust as he charged towards the finish. Scott Speed’s relaxed demeanour behind the wheel contrasts the manic spectacle of the car.
The result was a time of 45.03, just over 1.5 seconds behind Dumas’ SuperTruck. While it wasn’t enough for the fastest time overall, it’s deeply impressive for a machine that develops just over a third of the SuperTruck’s 1419bhp.
Volvo 740 Drift Car
Ironically, many of the most memorable runs at the Goodwood Festival of Speed happen to be some of the slowest and that’s certainly the case for Axel Hildebrand’s Volvo 740. Once a practical family estate, now a tyre-shredding drift missile, the wild triple-rotor-powered Volvo won plenty of fans as it flamboyantly smoked its way up the narrow Hillclimb course in Hildebrand’s hands.
Renault 5 Maxi Turbo
Five was the magic number for Renault at this year’s Festival of Speed, as crowds flocked to its stand to see the reborn, all-electric version of its iconic hatchback. The production-spec Renault 5 shared the spotlight with the dramatic 5 Turbo 3E concept – nicknamed ‘Drifter’ – which returned to the Hill for the first time since 2023. The real show-stopper, though, was a rally-spec Renault 5 Maxi Turbo from the 1980s, flamboyantly pirouetting its way up the Hill on Thursday.
Mazda ‘Humbul’ RX7 FD
A Mazda RX7 FD with a twin-turbo, quad-rotor powertrain that revs to a stratospheric 11,000rpm is peak Festival of Speed – especially when drift legend Mad Mike is behind the wheel. If you’ve ever seen any of Mad Mike’s YouTube exploits, you’ll be unsurprised to hear that he used all of the car’s 537bhp to completely vaporise his rear tyres, setting them ablaze in the process. Mike certainly lives up to his sobriquet.
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
The Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 is dominating this year’s World Rally Championship, winning six of the first seven rounds. So it’s little wonder Toyota drivers Kalle Rovanperä and Elfyn Evans – the reigning champion and current points leader respectively – were in exuberant form. Both delivered some of the event’s most spectacular demonstration runs, showcasing their prodigious talent and the Yaris’s incredible agility.
Haas VF23 Esteban Ocon
With Formula 1 celebrating its 75th anniversary, the Festival of Speed provided the perfect opportunity for Haas to mark its tenth year in the sport. The American team made its presence felt with a dedicated stand and cars in the expanded F1 paddock, while current drivers Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman took to the Hill in this season’s VF23. Ocon’s run stood out, punctuated by a dramatic burnout and a flurry of smokey donuts in front of Goodwood House – a moment that produced one of the most striking images of the event.
Williams FW14B
Nigel Mansell’s reunion with the Williams FW14B he drive to Championship glory in 1992 was one of the standout moments of this year’s Festival. Better known as Red Five, the FW14B is one of the most iconic Grand Prix cars ever built and pioneered innovations such as active suspension, traction control and a semi-automatic transmission. Mansell demonstrated the car’s abilities with a trademark performance behind the wheel, reminding everyone in attendance why he was dubbed ‘Il Leone’ during his brief stint at Ferrari.
Shadow-Chevrolet DN4
Few would expect that a 1970s race car to challenge modern machinery in the Sunday Shootout, but then again, not every car from the era is an 800bhp Can-Am monster. Hillclimb expert Alex Summers perfectly demonstrated that point behind the wheel of his menacing Shadow-Chevrolet DN4 on Sunday afternoon, putting in a blistering time of 47.88 seconds. That was enough for a fourth-place finish, just 1.15 seconds behind James Wallis’ Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.
Holden Commodore V8 Supercar
Saturday got off to a loud and exciting start thanks to BTCC Champion Jake Hill’s exploits behind the wheel of a Holden Commodore V8 Supercar. These cars are notoriously tricky to drive, but the Commodore was rapid in Hill’s hands, its thunderous soundtrack and tail-happy balance making for one of the standout runs of the day. Holden will certainly be missed.
