Race Reaction goes to: 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed

We were lucky enough to get tickets to the world’s biggest motoring garden party - the Goodwood Festival of Speed. In our opinion, nothing comes close to this event in terms of the wide variety of things you can see and do.

Where else can you grab a milkshake with smarties that feature the MINI logo on them and have V10 F1 cars roar past you? We thoroughly enjoyed our visit this year, here are a few things we enjoyed most.

Hello Hongqi

Miles: The lesser-known but ambitious Chinese car brand made quite the effort with their two-storey motorhome.

We went up to hear a talk given by the Chairman of FAW Group (Hongqi’s parent company), Yang Dayong, in which he stated the brand’s intent to translate its commercial success in China into European markets, starting with Norway for its high EV adoption rate and targeting a UK launch for 2026.

As for the cars themselves (with the Hongqi L1 as an example below), I personally found them middling in attractiveness, clearly taking a bit more than inspiration from Rolls Royce and Bentley’s stately sedans.

The interior had the usual shiny, metallic-accented and leathery feel that you come to expect from Chinese cars, with a rather striking red sunflower on the steering wheel, a mark of the brand’s new luxury line of models.

Manav: It was great to see how far Hongqi have come from featuring on The Grand Tour a few years ago to now having one of the most talked about stands at Goodwood this year.

Hongqi is a brand we’re not familiar with in the UK but they have really ambitious plans for the European market, with a completely unique approach to the ever-growing EV sector.

The interior of the L1 and H9 cars on show were remarkably comfortable and didn’t really seem that much different from a Mercedes S-Class in terms of elegance.

Whether the drivability and reliability of the Hongqi models match up with its European counterparts will have to be closely analysed.

F1 Galore

Miles: As I mentioned in our Goodwood podcast episode, we got the chance to meet one half of Williams’ current F1 driver lineup, in Alex Albon. Well, I say ‘we’ - Manav got to take a selfie with him but I was blanked! No offence taken Alex, but let’s just say you won’t get the most positive of reviews in our next race report! Just joking.

Williams put on a great display for fans, firing up their 1982 FW08, letting the 3.0L NA V8 growl and roar, which we absolutely couldn’t get enough of. Also on display in the Grove team tent was a model of their current 2024 car and the stunning 2004 FW26, one of our favourite F1 cars of all time.

We were lucky enough to catch it screaming past on the track a few times, leaving our ears ringing - but we’re not complaining!

Manav: There were plenty of other F1 cars to ogle at including Kimi Raikkonen’s championship-winning Ferrari F2007 and Emerson Fittipaldi’s McLaren M23-5, which also won both championships in 1974. My favourite part of the F1 paddock was seeing (and hearing!) the iconic flat-12 Ferrari 312T, once piloted by the legendary Niki Lauda.

We were also fortunate to meet Bruno Senna, who was driving his uncle’s McLaren MP4/4 and the McLaren Senna. We also bumped into the one and only Karun Chandhok!

A WEC fan’s Paradise

Manav: The 2024 running of the Festival of Speed celebrated all things endurance from 130 years of Mercedes in motorsport to the special events commemorating Joest Racing.

We were blown awayby the mesmerising Ferrari F40 LM, which is a racing version of a road car that was originally a racing car - what a story!

Miles: It’s always a delight to see endurance racers, new or old, in the flesh (or carbon fibre) - Goodwood’s FOS is no stranger to some Le Mans legends such as the Jaguar XJR-9, Mercedes CLK LM, Sauber C11, Ford GT and the more recent Porsche 963.

This year, there was no shortage of that whatsoever as we were treated to these icons as well as countless others that went up the hill.

Plenty of Porsches

Miles: Now, admittedly, 99% of the Porsches we got to see this year weren’t as modified or track-focused as the Singer-reimagined 911 we saw, however we do love a good Stuttgart work of art on Race Reaction.

The German manufacturer had its own motorhomes, somewhat tucked away behind a dark and foliage-ridden path, with its very own car park at the back full of beautiful 911s and the rest.

Their shop was lovely and air conditioned (which we greatly appreciated!), adorned with questionably high-priced merchandise that reminded me of that one Top Gear episode where the trio make fun of the brand’s odd choice of item to slap a Porsche crest onto.

Manav: If there’s one thing the Race Reaction team loves, it’s Porsches. From the brand-spanking new 992.2 GT3 RS to the breathtaking Porsche 964, we were spoiled for choice with all sorts of 911s to take pictures of, including this amazing 964 with a really cool pink paint job.

The best car park… in the world

Manav: We had to walk through the performance car park on our way in and out of the event. I can’t imagine a much better parting gift than rows of 911s, F430s, and even a pair of MSO McLaren Mercedes SLRs.

It was the usual eclectic mix of new hypercars parked next to sleeper estates. We even made an Instagram post on the sheer variety the car park has to offer.

My particular favourite was this Ferrari F430 which had ‘LA54GNE’ as its numberplate. Very clever.

Miles: As the start and end point of our visit, the performance car park didn’t disappoint - owners the nation over brought their pride and joy down to let nerds like us gawk at them and subsequently turn a greener shade of green than the grass the cars were parked on.

Our particular favourites were the Aston Martins, a Lamborghini Murcielago and the one DeTomaso Pantera that we mistook for a Countach. Amateurs…

Hungry for more?

If you want to listen to our thoughts on the event as a whole and listen to some really funny stories, listen to our latest podcast episode here: