Every year at Goodwood, there are two sections that tend to get the most attention out of all the areas. These are the Cartier Style et Luxe and Supercar Paddocks. These tend to get a lot of attention as they feature the latest and greatest sports cars, the debuts of some superb vehicles and some of the most expensive cars around. I shall begin with the review of the Cartier Style et Luxe.
CARTIER STYLE ET LUXE
The Cartier Style et Luxe is a concours event of machines that represent the finest of their type and class in the world. The Cartier is always judged by a group of specially selected judges, that this year was made up of jockey Frankie Dettori, Lapo Elkann, the former marketing director of Fiat, and the Earl of Snowdon. The categories this year were 'Cent Ans d'Avant Garde' which celebrated the centenary of the creation of French luxury manufacturer Avoins Voisin, 'A Sting in the Tail' which celebrated the 70th anniversary of Abarth, 'Like Father Like Son' which is a celebration of the creative mind of Jean Bugatti, son of Ettore. The next category was 'Continental Drift' which was paired with the Bentley centenary celebration, to celebrate their R-Type model, 'Tea for Two' to present the Volkswagen vans over time, 'Milanese Maestros' to celebrate the centenary of Italian coachbuilders Zagato and finally 'Aston-ishing' to celebrate the Aston Martin V8 and its glamourous history. A few highlights of the Cartier show for me begin with the 1962 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, one of very few designed by Zagato, with luscious curves and a value of up to £14.3m. In fact, most of the Aston Martins at Cartier caught my eye such as the 1988 V8 Zagato, the 1971 DBS which was the first Aston to wear the, now legendary, DBS badge and the 1985 Aston Martin Lagonda which was seen to be one of the most luxury Aston Martins of all time. Another highlight was the Bugatti Type 57C Atlante which was entered by the Bugatti museum and is valued at up to £6m. The curves of this car was something else, as if sculpted by Leonardo Da Vinci himself. Finished in an original paint colour and having only undergone a restoration of a single body panel, it was one of the most original Type 57s around. Finally it is worth mentioning the best in show at the Cartier Style et Luxe which came as a surprise to me, in that it was not the DB4 GTZ or the Type 57C. But in fact the winner of best in show came from the 'Sting in the Tail' category and in the hands of the 1950 Abarth 205 Monza. There is very little known about this model anywhere, other than it is powered by a 1.1 litre inline-4 engine and is one of 3 ever made. It is thought that the one featured at Goodwood this year was the first Abarth car ever made by the manufacturer in 1950 and in the same year was entered into the vicious Mille Miglia race in Italy that covers nearly 1000 miles of Italian coastal road. This plus the gorgeous Italian styling makes it fairly plain as to why it won best in show. Overall the Cartier Style et Luxe gets better and better each year and always becomes more and more unique, a word perfect to describe the Concours event entirely.
SUPERCAR PADDOCK
The supercar paddock went over a few changes this year from last year, mainly the location closer to the start line to accommodate for the new Drift Arena but also due to the size of the paddock. It is estimated that the paddock in its entirety would produce 8000bhp, an insane statistic so lets get to the cars. First up is the Apollo IE which made its debut last year and made another appearance this year but in a different colour scheme. Last year it appeared in its, now iconic, livery of purple carbon with gold wheels, however this year it donned a metallic blue with the gold wheels. The Apollo doesn't just look amazing but the 6.3l V12 mounted in the rear screams even when at low rpm. Next along is Aston Martin who really made a big show at their section of the paddock, debuting 2 new models as well as some fan favourites. One of these launches was of their Vantage AMR which is a standard V8 Vantage but with some enhancements by Aston Martin Racing (AMR) to amp up the power and improve the already beautiful design. Not the standout for me unfortunately as they also debuted the convertible version of their grand tourer, the DBS Superleggera. This Volante version allows for 715bhp to be heard even more by the driver and also is the fastest convertible Aston Martin ever made with a top speed of 211mph. Aston also brought their DB11 AMR and the Vulcan AMR Pro that they brought last year which would've been the centre of attention if a certain 4 Astons were not in attendance. The Lava Collection was present at Goodwood which is the full collection of Aston Martin Vanquish Zagatos, the Coupe, Volante, Speedster and Shooting Brake. Every detail of each car was sublime and most definitely the best looking area of the paddock. Adding that to the rarity of each car, 99 of each except the Speedster which has 28 examples, Aston absolutely smashed it. Bentley did not have such a presence in the Supercar Paddock as they were celebrating their centenary in the centre of the trade areas so only featured a Continental GT and GTC which unfortunately were simply looked past. BMW had their new M8 on display to give its debut to the Goodwood crowds. This was not any M8 though as it had the Performance package on it which added carbon fibre details and a little extra horsepower. Similarly to the M8 was the AC Schnitzer ACS8 which is the German bodykit manufacturers attempt at making a BMW M8 look more mean than it already did which was a success for them. Although it did not run, the AC Schnitzer and its £3,000 exhaust system would be a blast to watch. Brabham have become a fan favourite at Goodwood over recent years with their BT62 and this year was no different with two BT62s gracing the grounds of Goodwood and stunning audiences with the V8 roar and retro design to hark back to Brabhams former glories in Formula One. Dallara made its Goodwood debut this year with their critically acclaimed Stradale track car for the road. Probably didn't get as much attention as it deserved, even with the bright yellow colour it was finished in. The next car we have is possibly the most beautiful car I have ever seen, the De Tomaso P72. Built to celebrate 60 years of the marque and designed to look like 1960s Le Mans legends such as the Ferrari 330 P4. It is just breath-taking and definitely worth the €750,000 price tag. It is now the turn of the Tifosi, Ferrari had a mixed bag of cars at this years FOS which needs some discussion. To start off positive, some of the cars they brought were spectacular. The one off P80/C track car was simply sublime, the Monza SP2 built to look like the 250TR was created by a genius and the one of 2 SP3JC based on an F12tdf chassis was almost too good to be true. However this is where the problems begin. First and foremost there was only one of the XX series cars being the FXXK EVO. That's not a complaint because the FXXK is a ridiculous looking car but I'd have preferred to see the FXX or the 599XX if not as well as. It was not only that I felt Ferrari lacked in. The rest of their line up was their current range and at the time of the festival they had announced three new models months in advance being the F8 Tributo, 488 Pista Spider and the SF90 Stradale. However, they took it upon themselves to not bring any of those, not even the prototypes or test mules shown at Geneva. Instead they brought a 488 Pista Coupe, GTC4 Lusso, Portofino and an 812 Superfast. I'm not complaining as the Pista is an excellent sports car and the 812 sounds godly, all I'm saying is they had so much potential to do better and they didn't take that opportunity. Hopefully next year they will learn from this. Ford debuted their new version of the Ford GT known as the MKII Track Edition which costs an extra £400,000 to current Ford GT customers to get a new one that cannot be taken on the road due to the enhancements from the GTLM used in GT3 racing. To the Ford, its a nice idea but I don't think it will work as I doubt many will invest in it. Honda decided to create an entrance with a chrome orange NSX which looked hideous for such a good car which was a massive shame. Jaguar had an F Type SVR on their stand which is enough said as it is a good quality sports car but no wow factor. If wow factor is what's needs then the obvious choice is Lamborghini. Not only did they have a Lamborghini Aventador SVJ in matte green which stunned crowds but they also had both versions of the new Lamborghini Huracan EVO, being the Coupe and the Spyder. The Huracan EVO is more or less the performance of the Huracan Performante without the aero modifications besides the double exit shotgun exhausts to make it the ultimate iteration of the Huracan platform. But this still wasn't the biggest wow factor in the Lamborghini section as that accolade goes to the SC18 Alston, a car that the world did not know existed. The SC18 Alston is a creation by the Lamborghini Squadro Corse racing division and it shows with ultimate aerodynamics and the most aggressive styling you will ever see on a supercar. This one off car takes lots of styling influence such as the Lamborghini GT3 cars but also some previous limited series cars such as the Veneno, Sesto Elemento and Reventon. And as if it could not get any better, I overheard a Lamborghini representative state the commission cost of this car, which was €5million. Before I move on to Lexus, there was another manufacturer in the paddock that is not written into the programme which is Koenigsegg. They brought two cars with them this year, the first being the Agera RSN, a one off version of the Agera RS finished in a blue and white two-tone effect. The RSN is one of the Agera RS family that is made up of 25 official cars and a lot more custom versions made for customers. The Agera RS is also the current holder of the worlds fastest road car after last year it clocked a speed of 278mph over two runs on average, it peaked a 285mph speed. The second car they featured is the Regera. There happened to be one at FOS last year in carbon green, but the one this year was a lot more special as it was finished in purple carbon fibre and a gold stripe down the centre. It is rumoured that the gold stripe had actual gold leaf in it which is just ridiculous. Moving on to Lexus who debuted the convertible version of their already beautiful LC500 known as the LC C. Although the name may be a little drab, I can say the styling is perfect for Lexus for them to return to the top for luxury sports cars. If I could I would most definitely buy this car because it is near perfect. Lotus featured two of their newest versions of the Exige, the Sport 410, and the Evora, the GT 410 Sport. These two were trademark Lotus, very loud, very aggressive and, for me, very overpriced. I love Lotus and the things they stand for since Colin Chapman chose lightness over any other element. However these new models are close to £80,000 in price, which is second hand Lamborghini Gallardo money but if it is a track car you are wanting then the Lotus is most likely your best bet. If you're just looking for a supercar, the Lotus is not the car for you. McLaren had a ridiculous Festival of Speed with the cars they provided. Starting off small with the 720S which is their top Super Series car at the moment but not too special in comparison to what else was there. Next along was the 600LT Spider, the convertible version of the ultimate McLaren supercar seen to be the best supercar on the market at this time next to the brand new McLaren GT which fills a gap in the McLaren brand of the grand tourer. The gold paint colour sold it for me as well as the sleek lines and the comparisons that can be drawn to the new Speedtail (also in attendance elsewhere). Here's where the line gets really special with a certain hypercar trio beginning with the McLaren Senna, although the same as the one featured last year, it is always a sight to see one of these beasts. But it's nowhere as beastly as the blue and chrome McLaren Senna GTR next to it. This is the first time the Senna GTR has been seen in the UK and heard in the UK too as it took to the hill across the weekend. Honestly it's such a spectacle to even see this car in the flesh, let alone to see it burn rubber and speed up the hill at full throttle. McLaren finished off with a volcano yellow McLaren P1 which is one of the early press cars still owned by McLaren. Moving on from McLaren to Mercedes who brought two iterations of the AMG GTR, the Roadster and the Pro which I saw once and was excited once but then never went back as although they have presence and look insane, they didn't stand out significantly enough to go back to them. The next car I did go back to, a lot. This is the Pagani Zonda R, the fastest Zonda ever made, the most track focused Zonda ever made and the most prolific Zonda ever made. Holding the Top Gear lap record for many years and the Nordschliefe lap record for many years, banned at many circuits with sound restrictions and only ever really driven at events or Italian circuits such as Monza or Imola. This was really a sight to see and to hear at FOS. Porsche put in a decent showing with the new 718 Cayman GT4, the production 911 Speedster after last years concept and the Porsche 935 built to celebrate the historic racing car. It was not Porsche who won the Porsche cars funnily enough, it was the modifiers of Porsches who won me over. First Lanzante who took a Porsche 911 930 from 1986 and fitted it with a McLaren Formula One engine, then there was TechArt who took a normal 991.2 GT3 RS and added lots of marble carbon to create the £350,000 GTStreet RS. Finally was Singer who had a 1989 and 1990 Porsche 911 with their restomod design to round off the Porsches. Finally of the paddock were two interesting supercars starting with the French Prato Orage based on a Corvette chassis with 800hp from a supercharged 8.1 litre V8. The final car is the W Motors Fenyr Supersport which has diamonds infused in the headlamps and just looks like the most 'Dubai billionaire' car I have ever seen.
Overall these two sections of FOS were absolutely superb and I have no idea how it can get any better in all honesty.
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