Riding shotgun: Goodwood hillclimb in the AMG GT Track Series

If you caught some of the 2022 Goodwood livestream, or if you’ve been lucky enough to attend the Festival of Speed in person, you might think the best part about scoring a passenger ride up the hill is the full-bore run itself.

But you’d be wrong.

Lord March’s driveway is only 1.86km and if you’re in something quick – and trust us, AMG’s 540kW Track Series is quick – the entire run only takes about a minute.

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You might be able to stretch that out a touch if your driver revels in destroying rear tyres and stops halfway up for a massive rolling burnout, as AMG factory driver Adam Christodoulou does, but still, the actual run is over in a flash.

The whole process, however, is much more involved. And happily the action that happens on either side of the run is just as exciting.

We get to the ‘Supercar Paddock’ early and spot the AMG GT Track Series easily. It’s parked next to the 1000+hp (745kW) AMG One, which is making its dynamic public debut, and its long bonnet is open as mechanics complete some last-minute checks.

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A carbon-bodied Bugatti Chiron SuperSport hunkers to our left, while across the walkway rests the Aston Martin Valkyrie, its Cosworth V12 idling smoothly.

It looks like the batmobile, with its top-hinged doors butterflied open and when its driver prods the throttle to warm up the engine, it’s so loud and it rips so quickly through its rev range that it actually makes people jump. The V12’s scream sets the whole paddock into overdrive.

There’s a last-minute kerfuffle as the Merc mechanics debate whether to swap the Track Series’ slick tyres for wets – it’s been raining, but the hill is starting to dry – before I’m handed a helmet and bundled, unceremoniously, into the passenger seat.

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If I had any doubts as to the seriousness of the AMG GT Track Series, they quickly vaporise as I drink in the cabin. I had thought the Track Series was simply a GT Black Series with more power, but this cabin looks identical to AMG’s GT3 racing car.

You recline in fixed-back bucket seats, the centre console is made of carbon and festooned with buttons and dials that read ‘FIRE’ and ‘traction control’ and we’re cocooned in a full roll-cage. The rectangle steering wheel and beautifully machined pedal-box are adjustable and my driver, Adam, pulls and pushes them to set his driving position.

It’s properly hardcore in here and when the big 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 fires into life, properly loud, too. Think of the Track Series as the lovechild between AMG’s GT3 racer and the road-going Black Series and you’re most of the way there.

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The V8 is basically the same flat-plane crank unit as you get in the Black Series but power has been massaged to 540kW. All that grunt is sent solely to the rear axle through a six-speed racing gearbox and the whole car is lighter thanks to the extensive use of carbon fibre.

The bonnet, bumpers, quarter panels and boot lid are all made from carbon, which helps the Track Series weigh in at just 1400 kilograms.

“It’s way faster in a straight line than my GT3 car,” says Adam. “And around a full lap at Mugello it’s only about 2.5sec slower. It has so much power.”

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Getting to the start line is a bit of a palaver. Goodwood is now so big and has so many categories that we trundle slowly towards the start line but there are two highlights.

First, this might be the world’s coolest traffic jam. Porsches, Astons, Bugattis, Lambos and Koenigseggs all jostle for position and we’re funnelled through a narrow passageway that’s lined with people.

“I know what they want!” shouts Adam before repeatedly redlining the Track Series. It sounds manic, like a motorbike as it bounces ferociously off the hard-cut limiter, and the entire atmosphere is jubilant. Not for the first time, I wonder if the Goodwood Festival of Speed might be the best motoring event in the world.

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The second highlight arrives when it’s our turn to make the necessary 180-degree turn to join the final stage of the queue.

Strictly speaking burnouts aren’t allowed (blame the safety boffins), but Adam waves over a marshal. “I don’t have enough lock to get around here…” he says. The marshal doesn’t need much convincing and with a conspiratorial wink he gives us the thumbs up.

The AMG leaps forward and suddenly we’re rotating, around and around, in a flurry of tyre smoke, transmission whine and V8 thunder.

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As for the actual run? It might be short, but it’s exhilarating. Adam seems to have a particular hatred of rear tyres and the rear axle is still smoking as we barrel into the first turn.

Despite the slick surface it feels like there’s decent grip but the overriding sensation from the Track Series is of unbridled power and savage acceleration. The regular Black Series is a fast car but this is on another level altogether.

It races through the rev range and there’s almost zero tapering of the torque curve as the flat-plane V8 lunges for the 7000rpm limiter. Adam keeps it pinned though the enclosed section near the top of the hill and with a stone wall on one side and hay bales on the other, it feels astonishingly fast.

The 15 minutes or so that follow are just as compelling. With runs complete, cars come to a halt at a top turn-around bay and wait for the chance to trundle back down the hill. Drivers mill around, exchange friendly jibes and take the opportunity to investigate each other’s cars.

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It’s such a mind-boggling collection of machinery that it verges on being overwhelming. And there’s zero arrogance or concern about you getting too close. Most drivers smile and nod before inviting you to look even closer.

There are a few events in the Southern Hemisphere that try to emulate the success of Goodwood but honestly, they don’t really come close. How can they? The sheer number of modern cars on display is incredible enough, but when you throw in the fleet of near-priceless historic racers and motorsport legends, Goodwood is really in a class of its own.

And unlike an event in Australia, which would rope off these special machines to stop people accidentally treading on a carbon splitter or leaning on a hand-beaten aluminium quarter panel, at Goodwood the cars are parked in the open. There’s a huge amount of trust and fans can get amazingly close.

If you haven’t been, stop hesitating. Goodwood is a must for any car lover.