Goodwood Festival of Speed – day one highlights

THE world’s favourite moving car show has kicked off with a bang at the 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed, with a bevy of high-profile cars making their way up Lord March’s famous driveway on the first day.

Every year there’s a signature theme, and for this year’s Festival of Speed the spotlight is shining brightly on Porsche’s 70th anniversary. To commemorate seven decades of Stuttgart, an enormous star-shaped sculpture featuring some of the company’s most iconic models has been erected in front of Goodwood House, overlooking the festival.

14

Porsche certainly doesn’t have a monopoly on the proceedings though. Elsewhere, the first public debuts of much-hyped cars like the Brabham BT62 and Toyota Supra took place, with both making their way up the Goodwood hillclimb in their first public displays.

To ensure you don’t miss any of the action, we’ve collated the highlights from day one of this year’s Festival of Speed.

Singer DLS 911

14

Furthering the relationship from their previous collaboration on the absinthe-green 964 that debuted late last year, Singer has again teamed up with Williams Advanced Engineering to unveil a customer-commissioned Dynamics and Lightweighting Study (DLS) 911.

The result is a stunning example in white, featuring an F1-inspired 370kW aircooled engine which revs to over 9000rpm, encased in an aerodynamic body that weighs less than 1000kg.

14

You certainly don’t have to be a 911 fan to enjoy this masterpiece. Want one? Singer will build it, but at an eye-watering cost of US$1.8million.

Brabham BT62

14

We’ve been following the return of Brabham closer than anyone, and the BT62’s debut at the Festival of Speed was as exciting as expected with the Australian-made hypercar howling up the hillclimb for its dynamic debut. Piloted by none other than David Brabham, the track-only BT62 was right at home on the closed stage – though clearly being driven with restraint.

14

Furthermore, Wheels even had a man in the passenger seat of the Adelaide-built hypercar (who you’ll hear from soon).

Maserati Levante GTS

14

We heard whispers that Maserati was planning on fitting a Ferrari-derived V8 into its Levante SUV, but its debut at Goodwood was somewhat of a surprise as the Italian manufacturer unleashed its latest super-SUV in front of the Goodwood crowd.

Developing 410kW of power and 730Nm of torque from its 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8, the Levante GTS will haul itself from 0-100km/h in a brisk 4.2 seconds thanks to the grip of its Q4 all-wheel drive system.

McLaren 600LT

14

McLaren’s longtail version of the 570S took to the hillclimb in a spectacular display. The 600LT was caught on camera shredding its tyres off the start line before being whipping into donut-frenzy in front of Goodwood House on the main straight.

14

Said to be as fast as the 675LT from which it draws inspiration, this track-ready supercar will almost certainly have its competitors covered. We can’t wait to get behind the wheel ourselves.

Toyota Supra

14

The new generation Toyota Supra was shown to the world for the first time as it ran up the driveway in the Moving Motor Show, however camouflage continues to obscure its form. Toyota can only string enthusiasts along for a limited time, but a full reveal is expected sometime before the fourth quarter of this year.

Aston Martin V8 Cygnet

14

Thanks to a legendary customer who commissioned ‘Q by Aston Martin’ – the bespoke operations group of the British marque – to add some more pep to their Cygnet, there now exists a Toyota-based luxury hatchback equipped with the 4.7-litre naturally aspirated V8 from the previous-generation Vantage. Goodwood seems like the natural environment to stretch the legs of such a hybrid.