Goodwood Festival of Speed 2021: news round-up

The Goodwood Festival of Speed was back for 2021, after last year’s event was moved online due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This year’s theme was “The Maestros – Motorsport’s Great All-Rounders,” and Lotus featured as the event’s key manufacturer following the announcement of its new sports car, the Emira.

Goodwood’s famous Central Feature sculpture was Lotus-themed and the brand displayed its most iconic road and race cars at the festival, with everything from the 1965 Lotus Type 25 racer to the Evija hypercar making an appearance.

The Duke of Richmond, owner of the Goodwood estate, said: “Lotus cars raced with great success at Goodwood throughout the fifties and sixties, including setting the ultimate lap record in 1965, and this year’s Central Feature served as a fitting landmark to its past, present and future achievements.”

The hillclimb event and Sunday Shootout ran as normal, as well as the supercar paddock allowing festival-goers to see exotic cars up close. There was also a concours d’elegance event on the lawn outside Goodwood House, which displayed some of the rarest cars in the world.

The Festival of Speed Future Lab also returned for 2021, following its first appearance at the event in 2019. This attraction was designed to give the public a glimpse into the future of transport, revealing new autonomous driving technology, flying cars, virtual reality and even deep-sea submersibles.

Formula 1 fans were even able to meet their heroes up close at the F1 Pit Lane. The area featureed a line-up of some of the greatest F1 racers from the sport’s history, while current drivers such as Lewis Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo and former three-time world champion Jackie Stewart made appearances too.

Goodwood’s organisers also launched a new attraction for 2021, called the Electric Avenue. It was dedicated to the rapidly expanding pure-electric vehicle market, and displayed everything from dinky city cars to 1,000bhp-plus battery-powered hypercars.

Goodwood Festival of Speed 2021: gallery

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Goodwood Festival of Speed 2021: manufacturers A to Z

The world's biggest car brands strutted their stuff at Goodwood with the usual varied selection of historic racing cars, classic models from the past and brand new products - some of which had not been seen in public before. Here's a rundown of what they all got up to...

Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo celebrated its 110th anniversary last year – and the occasion was marked by the launch of the Giulia GTA and GTAm. Both cars are powered by a 533bhp 2.9-litre V6 and they made their official UK debuts at Goodwood with a charge up the hill climb course.

Aston Martin

The 1,160bhp Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar appeared at this year’s Festival of Speed with – you guessed it – a run up the Goodwood hill climb. It’ll was followed by the new Vantage F1 Edition and the DBX SUV, while the DB11 and DBS Volante are both parked up in the Supercar Paddock.

BMW

BMW’s 2 Series Coupe made its world debut at the festival with a no-holds barred run up the hill climb course. The 626bhp BMW M5 CS followed, while the pure-electric i4 and iX were on display too. 

Ferrari

Ferrari chose Goodwood to show off its latest SF90 Spider hypercar and where better to debut the 986bhp hybrid V8 drop-top than a run up the famous hill? If that was not enough to draw you to the famous Italian car-maker's stand, the new Roma, F8 Tributo, 812 GTS and recently-launched Portfino M were all in attendance.

Ford

Ford showed off its all-electric future at Goodwood with a line-up of road, competition and concept cars. The Mustang Mach-E GT, the top version of the new EV, appeared at the event this year, and was joined by the Team Fordzilla P1, a car designed by video game fans, and the Mustang Mach-E 1400 seen at last year’s online event.

Genesis

Newcomer Genesis made its debut this year at Goodwood and, to ensure it made a decent first impression, it brought along its G70 Shooting Brake to make the case that estates are cool again.

Hyundai

The all-new Hyundai Ioniq 5 made its dynamic debut at Goodwood this year. The second-gen EV had already made quite the impression - it’s one of the best electric cars on sale right now - but it won over show-goers over with its distinctive looks, great tech and relaxing drive.

Kia

With deliveries still months away, this year's Festival of Speed gave UK buyers their first glimpse of the striking Kia EV6. Set to shatter any preconceptions of the Korean brand, the EV6 blends sporty styling with incredible performance if you opt for the 577bhp dual motor version that launches it from 0-62mph in just 3.5 seconds.

Lotus

The new Lotus Emira made its dynamic debut at Goodwood this year. When it goes on sale, it’ll replace the Elise, Exige and Evora as the brand’s only combustion-engined sports car. It’ll also be the last of its kind, as all of the company’s future planned vehicles will feature pure-electric powertrains.

Maserati

Maserati’s 202mph MC20 sports car debuted at Goodwood this year too. The 622bhp machine was driven by Maserati’s very own test driver, Andrea Bertolini, who made his name in GT racing. The new Ghibli Trofeo was also on display in the festival’s First Glance Paddock.

McMurtry

McMurtry Automotive had a new pure electric track car concept called the McMurtry Spéirling at Goodwood this year. Five-time Le Mans winner Derek Bell drove the car up the hill.

MINI

MINI's Goodwood debut was its Electric Pacesetter that was created as a safety car for Formula E. Featuring a wild look inherited from the latest John Cooper Works GP, the extreme battery-powered hatch concept is tipped to preview a real JCW based on MINI Electric that will be lighter and get more power.

Polestar

Polestar revealed a new one-off prototype version of the Polestar 2 electric car with 469bhp, a chassis makeover, bigger brakes, tuned suspension, carbon fibre strut bars and a racing stripe. It went up the Goodwood hillclimb in the hands of Joakim Rydholm, Polestar’s chief chassis engineer.

The Polestar Precept also made a star appearance at the show. Its styling will directly inspire the third standalone Polestar 3 that will be unveiled later this year, which will blend SUV proportions with the sweeping lines of a luxury saloon.

Porsche

Fresh from setting a new Nurburgring lap record, the 631bhp Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT spent its Festival of Speed humbling supercars up the world-famous hillclimb. Featuring an entirely new aero and extreme chassis tune, the Cayenne Turbo GT also sports a new full titanium sports exhaust that deletes the centre silencer for the full race car soundtrack.

Rolls Royce

Rolls-Royce was in the mood to celebrate at this year's Goodwood with some new Landspeed special editions based on its drop-top Dawn and Wraith coupe. Both commemorate a 1937 speed record set by Captain George Eyston, who clocked 312mph in a vehicle powered by not one, but two Rolls-Royce V12 aircraft engines.

SCG

US race team-cum-supercar-maker, Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus, showed off its 004S – a wild track-bred supercar that features a central driving position, up to 850bhp and a six-speed manual gearbox. Created for purists, SCG will also offer a CS version that's claimed to be nothing short of a road-legal racer.

Pininfarina

This year was Pininfarina’s first attendance at Goodwood - the brand showed off its pure-electric 1,873bhp Battista hypercar as part of the Electric Avenue attraction, celebrating the successful completion of its test programme.

Toyota

The new Toyota GR 86 made its UK debut at the Festival of Speed with a run up the hillclimb course. The rear-drive sports car is the successor to the GT86 and features a 232bhp 2.4-litre flat-four petrol engine, which gives it a 0-62mph time of 6.3 seconds.

Did you go to the 2021 Goodwood Festival of Speed? Let us know in the comments below…