All the thrills and spills at Goodwood Festival of Speed, the annual celebration of motorsports on the UK automotive calendar held at the legendary Goodwood Estate in the English countryside of West Sussex, and we were there to witness all the full-throttle action trackside this year. From illustrious racing legends to electrifying debutantes, it was a weekend of motoring magic to remember. Here are some of the most exhilarating machines that caught our eye barrelling up the famed hill climb.
DEFENDER OCTA It is billed as the most powerful Defender to date – well, to be made, as the Octa is still in the prototype stage. Nonetheless, a fully functional prototype was launched, propelled by 635PS (626 hp) and 750 Nm of torque. We also had the exclusive opportunity to go off-roading in it somewhere in the nearby woods piloted by a pro driving instructor for a stomach-churning, mud-caked adventure of extreme proportions.
Activate OCTA Mode and the hulking V8 transforms into a veritable beast traversing unthinkable terrain, proving itself utterly indestructible. RED BULL RB17 More insane perhaps was the commercial drop by Red Bull’s F1 team, the RB17, in a highly-anticipated world premiere. Developed and manufactured entirely in-house by Red Bull Advanced Technologies, the hypercar designed by legendary F1 designer Adrian Newey looks straight out of a hyper-futuristic video game with its sculptured physique led by a jet fighter-style canopy and F1-style nose.
It’s conceived as the “ultimate track weapon” capable of delivering F1-equivalent lap times, powered by a 4.5-litre naturally aspirated V10 engine plus electric motor producing a staggering 1,200 PS (1,184 hp) of power in total, with a top speed of 350 km/h red lining at 15,000 rpm. “With 20 years of legacy in the world of F1 to draw from, and as a performance-centred organisation, it only made sense for us to design our own hypercar from the ground up.
The RB17 is a landmark car that combines technical innovation, achievement and emotional appeal,” said Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing’s Team Principal and CEO. Only 50 units of the ultra-limited edition, wholly bespoke £5.8 million (US$7.
5 million; S$10.08 million) two-seater powerhouse will be produced. PAGANI HUAYRA EPITOME Whoever’s naming Pagani’s new models deserves a raise.
Hot on the heels of the Pagani Utopia unveiled in 2022 comes another masterful work of art: The Pagani Huayra Epitome, a one-off creation that made its debut alongside Pagani’s other premiere, the Imola Roadster (limited to only eight units). The Epitome synthesises the pinnacle of Pagani technology, as the latest to emerge from its Grandi Complicazioni division, the exclusive project wing within one of the most exclusive manufacturers in the industry renowned for its automotive art. And, for the first time ever since the Huayra’s birth 13 years ago, the Epitome features a manual gearbox – a seven-speed unit that comes courtesy of the Utopia for a purely mechanical driving experience.
Gull-wing doors always convey a sense of theatrics and in the Epitome, these meet with a beautiful all-blue carbon bodywork accented with gold trim, matched to a contemporary tan-trimmed interior. Underneath all that is a twin-turbo 6-litre AMG V12 engine that makes 864 hp and 1,100 Nm torque. Altogether, the Italian hypercar maker showcased its richest display at a Goodwood Festival of Speed in history, with a total of 11 Pagani models gracing the event, including a ‘25 years of Zonda’ collection, walking visitors down memory lane.
Now that’s two per cent of the total number of Paganis in the world, which marks fewer than 500 cars ever built since 1999. BENTLEY CONTINENTAL GT A bolder Continental GT and the most powerful road-going Bentley ever created. As the first mainstream Bentley to feature single headlamps since the 1950s, t he fourth generation of both the coupe and convertible versions heralds a design revolution for Bentley, with the biggest revision to the face of the Continental GT in two decades.
The new grand tourer is also powered by an all-new ultra performance hybrid powertrain discharging 782 PS (771 hp) and 1,000 Nm – more horsepower and torque than the outgoing W12 with a significant reduction in CO2 emissions to boot. Then, there’s all that ultra luxe interior trappings to look forward to in typical Bentley fashion: Wellness seat technology, new air ionisation, three-dimensional leather quilting and a new dark chrome finish. ASTON MARTIN VALIANT.
