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.
Saturday, 3 August 2019
Wednesday, 31 July 2019
Goodwood FOS 2019 Review - Paddocks
The Goodwood Festival of Speed occurred two and a half weeks ago and only now have I gotten over how amazing it was. Overall I would say it was better than last years event due to the variety and diversity of the cars scattered around the grounds. This review will be split down into different sections of the festival in order to make this review easier to break down.
RACING PADDOCKS
One key element to the Festival is the race car paddocks as Goodwood is one of the only places to see some of the world's greatest racing cars in one place. The race cars range across all pedigrees of motorsport from Formula One and Le Mans to Rally and Touring Cars, it is an extensive collection of motorsport gems. Some highlights that stood out to me in particular include the mass amount of Porsche 917s dotted about. This year celebrated 50 years of the Porsche 917 and therefore there were 11 in total including the legendary Gulf liveried 917s and a metallic silver road legal 917 which is allegedly daily driven in Sussex. With a value of £14,000,000 for each 917, to see 11 in a row is truly spectacular. In the same paddock as this was a line of all of Michael Schumacher's ex-cars which was a sight to behold also: Bennettons, Jordans, Ferraris and a Mercedes to make up the illustrious career of one of the greatest drivers of all time. These two were incredible sights to see but to me, the best scenes in the paddock was of vintage Le Mans cars. My favourite era of cars are Le Mans from 1966-2008 and therefore there were some utter gems hidden. Bentley's 2003 Speed 8 which took them to a victory at Le Sarthe, the 2002 Dallara SP1 in it's iconic livery, the 1999 BMW V12 LMR which placed 1st in 1999 and the extensive line of modern and vintage Aston Martin racing cars were my highlights by far. Not forgetting to mention that in the Aston Martin section was a DBR1, worth up to £20m, a DB3S worth up to £8m, a DB4 GTZ worth up to £14m and the special project Aston Martins which are near to priceless. Paddocks overall was a little worse than last year as last year featured an MC12 GT1, Jag XJR12 and many other 90s Le Mans legends that unfortunately were not present this year.
RACING PADDOCKS
One key element to the Festival is the race car paddocks as Goodwood is one of the only places to see some of the world's greatest racing cars in one place. The race cars range across all pedigrees of motorsport from Formula One and Le Mans to Rally and Touring Cars, it is an extensive collection of motorsport gems. Some highlights that stood out to me in particular include the mass amount of Porsche 917s dotted about. This year celebrated 50 years of the Porsche 917 and therefore there were 11 in total including the legendary Gulf liveried 917s and a metallic silver road legal 917 which is allegedly daily driven in Sussex. With a value of £14,000,000 for each 917, to see 11 in a row is truly spectacular. In the same paddock as this was a line of all of Michael Schumacher's ex-cars which was a sight to behold also: Bennettons, Jordans, Ferraris and a Mercedes to make up the illustrious career of one of the greatest drivers of all time. These two were incredible sights to see but to me, the best scenes in the paddock was of vintage Le Mans cars. My favourite era of cars are Le Mans from 1966-2008 and therefore there were some utter gems hidden. Bentley's 2003 Speed 8 which took them to a victory at Le Sarthe, the 2002 Dallara SP1 in it's iconic livery, the 1999 BMW V12 LMR which placed 1st in 1999 and the extensive line of modern and vintage Aston Martin racing cars were my highlights by far. Not forgetting to mention that in the Aston Martin section was a DBR1, worth up to £20m, a DB3S worth up to £8m, a DB4 GTZ worth up to £14m and the special project Aston Martins which are near to priceless. Paddocks overall was a little worse than last year as last year featured an MC12 GT1, Jag XJR12 and many other 90s Le Mans legends that unfortunately were not present this year.
Monday, 1 July 2019
Goodwood FOS 2019 Preview
The Goodwood Festival of Speed begins in 3 days and for me it begins in 5 days. It is always a haven for the motoring industry and car fans alike, meaning there are always some dynamic debuts which become greater and greater each year. Here are a few of the highlights featured this year.
Pagani will have a huge presence at this years show as they celebrate their 20th anniversary. As many would know, Pagani is a favourite of mine and having seen 3 of their cars last year, I thought that three would be the most I'd see in one place. This year, they are hosting the biggest collection of Pagani cars in one place with rumours of over 20 cars to be on display as well as the Pagani Museo collection. The Pagani's will have a 'takeover' of the supercar paddock on Saturday and on Sunday they will part but to see them in the metal will be truly special.
Following on from Pagani, another smaller hypercar manufacturer is making a dynamic debut at this years festival being Koenigsegg. 20 years ago, no-one would've heard of Koenigsegg but after years of stunning the supercar game, they are debuting their newest car at Goodwood. The Jesko (named after the founder's father) will be on the Michelin Stand and will not take to the hillclimb. However the 1600hp Jesko will be on display for its UK debut most likely among other Koenigsegg's on display to go up the hill.
Ford are celebrating 60 years since the 1969 Le Mans victory over Ferrari in the Ford GT40s and not only are they taking all 4 GT40s that raced in that amazing victory in 1969, but they teased on their social media a special racing version or a racing-inspired version of the current GT. There are currently no details besides the still, shadowed image but this Thursday all shall be revealed.
Ferrari are taking 3 very special cars to debut at Goodwood this weekend that are making their world debuts. The first of which is the SP2 from their Icona range to celebrate their heritage. The SP2 based on the 1957 250 Testarossa is a two seater speedster limited to 200 units, the sister car to the single seater SP1 which is as of yet unconfirmed. The second car is the SP3JC which is a one off produced for a customer which uses the running gear from an F12tdf and the body to celebrate the old 1960s Ferrari Roadsters. It is rumoured to be a one off but two of these have been spotted, one with a blue, yellow and white colour scheme and one finished in gunmetal grey and red. The final is a first for Ferrari which is a one-off special project based on a racing chassis. The P80/C is based on a 488 GT3 and therefore is not road legal but still a spectacular project.
Ultimately the debuts will be special but the hypercar line-up so far is insane not even including what was mentioned prior. Apollo will be there again with the IE 'Purple Dragon', Brabham will feature a BT62 to go up the hill and a second one on their stand, W Motors will again be there with their Fenyr and De Tomaso get a reboot with the highly-anticipated Project 'P'. Don't worry there's more : a brakes manufacturer are bringing a TVR Cerbera Speed 12 prototype, Ginetta are bringing their new Akula supercar, Ultima have their Evolution RS, TechArt are bringing their interpretation of a 991.2 GT3 RS, Ford are bringing their new Shelby GT500 and finally Morgan have found new light with their Plus 6 powered by the 3.0 V6 in the new BMW Z4 and Toyota Supra.
With Goodwood approaching there will be a lot of new announcements that will be followed up with a lot of articles and posts on here. 785 photos last year, let's see if I can get anymore that that this year.
Pagani will have a huge presence at this years show as they celebrate their 20th anniversary. As many would know, Pagani is a favourite of mine and having seen 3 of their cars last year, I thought that three would be the most I'd see in one place. This year, they are hosting the biggest collection of Pagani cars in one place with rumours of over 20 cars to be on display as well as the Pagani Museo collection. The Pagani's will have a 'takeover' of the supercar paddock on Saturday and on Sunday they will part but to see them in the metal will be truly special.
Following on from Pagani, another smaller hypercar manufacturer is making a dynamic debut at this years festival being Koenigsegg. 20 years ago, no-one would've heard of Koenigsegg but after years of stunning the supercar game, they are debuting their newest car at Goodwood. The Jesko (named after the founder's father) will be on the Michelin Stand and will not take to the hillclimb. However the 1600hp Jesko will be on display for its UK debut most likely among other Koenigsegg's on display to go up the hill.
Ford are celebrating 60 years since the 1969 Le Mans victory over Ferrari in the Ford GT40s and not only are they taking all 4 GT40s that raced in that amazing victory in 1969, but they teased on their social media a special racing version or a racing-inspired version of the current GT. There are currently no details besides the still, shadowed image but this Thursday all shall be revealed.
Ferrari are taking 3 very special cars to debut at Goodwood this weekend that are making their world debuts. The first of which is the SP2 from their Icona range to celebrate their heritage. The SP2 based on the 1957 250 Testarossa is a two seater speedster limited to 200 units, the sister car to the single seater SP1 which is as of yet unconfirmed. The second car is the SP3JC which is a one off produced for a customer which uses the running gear from an F12tdf and the body to celebrate the old 1960s Ferrari Roadsters. It is rumoured to be a one off but two of these have been spotted, one with a blue, yellow and white colour scheme and one finished in gunmetal grey and red. The final is a first for Ferrari which is a one-off special project based on a racing chassis. The P80/C is based on a 488 GT3 and therefore is not road legal but still a spectacular project.
Ultimately the debuts will be special but the hypercar line-up so far is insane not even including what was mentioned prior. Apollo will be there again with the IE 'Purple Dragon', Brabham will feature a BT62 to go up the hill and a second one on their stand, W Motors will again be there with their Fenyr and De Tomaso get a reboot with the highly-anticipated Project 'P'. Don't worry there's more : a brakes manufacturer are bringing a TVR Cerbera Speed 12 prototype, Ginetta are bringing their new Akula supercar, Ultima have their Evolution RS, TechArt are bringing their interpretation of a 991.2 GT3 RS, Ford are bringing their new Shelby GT500 and finally Morgan have found new light with their Plus 6 powered by the 3.0 V6 in the new BMW Z4 and Toyota Supra.
With Goodwood approaching there will be a lot of new announcements that will be followed up with a lot of articles and posts on here. 785 photos last year, let's see if I can get anymore that that this year.
Tuesday, 25 June 2019
Top 10 'Firsts' at Goodwood Festival of Speed 2018
The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an annual car show held at the famous Goodwood House in Chichester in early July. Last year was my first year in attendance and as soon as I walked through the gates, I knew it was automotive heaven. It was a place I saw my first of a multitude of cars and with Goodwood coming up next week I thought it would be a good time to check out my top 10 firsts at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. For this list, I will be excluding finds in the public and supercar car park because there will be another two lists for those. This list also excludes any racing cars so the Mercedes CLR will not be on this list.
10) Ferrari Enzo - The Ferrari Enzo was launched in 2002 yet even today it still looks like a modern supercar. This was the follow up to the F50 in the line of Ferrari hyper-performance machines (288, F40, F50, Enzo, LaF). The power was courtesy of a 650bhp V12 which could push the car up to 220mph making it still one of Ferrari's fastest ever models. Not only can it reach up to £1.9million at auction and is one of only 399, but the Enzo was developed and tested by the legendary Michael Schumacher. 
9) Mercedes AMG One - The next entry is a bit of an odd one as nobody knew it would be there. On the Mercedes stand was this, the Mercedes AMG Project One (now only known as the AMG One). This is Mercedes-Benz's attempt to enter the hybrid hypercar market currently spearheaded by the Porsche 918, McLaren P1 and Ferrari LaFerrari. This is also a response to the Aston Martin Valkyrie. It features the same 1000hp V6 lifted from the Mercedes AMG F1 car and with that can allegedly accelerate from 0-200kph in 'under six seconds'. The car was meant to be put into production at the start of this year and as of yet none of the 275 examples have been sold. This could be to do with the late production or the £2.5 million price tag.
8) Apollo Intensa Emozione - Of all the cars in this list, the Apollo has to win the award for the most hypercar-like hypercar. Finished in a full purple carbon body and gold wheels, the knife like body pointing every which way, this Apollo IE is one of only 10 examples to be build by the now-defunct Gumpert brand. The monumental rear wing, jagged front splitter and jet fighter like interior all come together to make the IE one of the most menacing and fierce supercars out there. The limited numbers plus the £3 million price tag makes the IE one of the most desirable cars out there.
7) W Motors Lykan Hypersport - This 'first' is not just the first of this certain manufacturer but of the manufacturer itself. W Motors is a supercar made in the UAE and much like the previous cars, their models are made in very limited numbers. Both of their models were on display at Goodwood last year but of the two I prefer the Lykan Hypersport. Their Fenyr Supersport was in the supercar paddock and is their newest model but the Lykan had so many subtle features. Examples of this include the cut diamonds in the headlights, the reverse dihedral doors and a holographic gesture control. It's usage in the Fast and Furious movies gained it some attention but the twin turbo engine produced by RUF and the one of 7, £2.5 million price that gained my attention. 
6) Maserati MC12 - The Maserati MC12 was a car produced by Maserati as a sister car to the Ferrari Enzo. It features the same engine and same horsepower output but a body designed by Maserati making it 5 metres long. It is much larger than the Enzo in proportions and much, much rarer with only 50 examples created. However I have never seen a road going Maserati MC12, but Goodwood provided one of the GT1 racing cars and 3 of these editions being the Corsa. The Corsa was a race prepped MC12 which was possible for road legal conversion. This blue Corsa was a star in the centre of the retail section but people were only interested in the Bugatti Veyron and Ferrari LaFerrari that flanked it, a sad thought.
5) Ferrari LaFerrari - Speaking of the Ferrari LaFerrari, Goodwood was actually the first time I saw a LaFerrari in person. Branded as a rebirth of the Ferrari Enzo, the 950hp hybrid powertrain accelerates the car to 60 in 2.9 seconds and up to 219mph. This example was not the only one there as the supercar paddock hosted a LaFerrari Aperta, the convertible version of the standard car. LaFerraris are the most expensive of the holy trinity of the 918 and P1 with prices at auction reaching £3 million, three times the initial price of the car. The Aperta is even more expensive with an example selling at £8.3 million.
4) Ferrari 250 Series - The Ferrari 250 series is known for being one of the most valuable series of car ever created. From lower models such as the 250 GT which can sell for up to £600k, to the top of the pile being the model in this list, the 250 GTO. The 250 GTO gained a reputation after it became the most expensive car to ever sell at auction at £22.8 million. However it gained a greater status when just last year, another 250 GTO sold for £37.68 million. The reason it is so expensive is there were only 39 examples made and it is a Le Mans legend. New, it cost £6000 and when Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason bought one for just over £12000, people thought he was losing money. To the right is his actual car, now worth upwards of £20 million. 
3) McLaren F1 - Known as one of the greatest cars ever made, how could the McLaren F1 not make the list. This example is a very famous one as it was owned by Mr Rowan Atkinson and crashed by him as well. He sent it back to McLaren for it to be rebuilt and here it is. The F1 was designed by Gordon Murray and had a lot of unique features such as the gold engine bay and the usage of Kevlar and the BMW V12. This held the record for the fastest car in the world for 11 years until the Bugatti Veyron came along. But this was not the only example at Goodwood, as with this was a red example in the Concours, an F1 GTR that won Le Mans in 1995 and a Longtail version of the GTR to show the racing prowess of the F1.
2) Koenigsegg - Koenigsegg are another motoring giant that I only saw for the first time at Goodwood. Koenigsegg are a Swedish manufacturer that hold the record for the fastest production car at 277.9mph. The car that did it is the Agera RS, a limited production variant of their model, the Agera. This example is the RS FE, which is the final edition because the Agera model line was replaced by the Jesko early this year. The Final Editions were commissioned by two American millionaires, and they were named Thor and Vader. The one pictured is Vader and Thor was at Goodwood on the Friday before shipment to the US. Goodwood also featured the RSN one off, an original CCR made originally in 2004 and the brand new Regera.
1) Pagani - Obviously my choice as best 'first' would be Pagani, an Italian manufacturer of supercars that is my favourite manufacturer. They are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year and at Goodwood in one week will be the largest collection of them in a single place. This example is the one of 3 HP Barchetta, which is named HP for Horatio Pagani (the boss) and Barchetta meaning it has no roof. Finished in blue and black carbon with a fully custom interior. Pagani love to make their cars for their customers requests with plenty of one offs and specials with their prestige 760 series of which there was one at Goodwood, the Oliver Evolution. Their other model, the Huayra, was released in 2012 and featured at Goodwood with their Roadster model. They are also going to be there next week.
Honorable Mentions - For Honorable Mentions I have to mention the Lamborghini Reventon, Lamborghini Centenario, Lexus LFA and the Porsche 959 which all came close to the Top 10 but unfortunately fell at the last hurdle. Goodwood Festival of Speed will always be the best show I've ever attended and in a week it grows to a whole new level.
By Cieran Boyne
Friday, 21 June 2019
Lamborghini Aventador SVJ Review
Lamborghini Aventador SVJ
And here it is. The SVJ. The name comes from the combination of the 'SV' label, used on previous Aventador models, meaning SuperVeloce (Superfast). The 'J' comes from the genesis of the Lamborghini supercar and from the Miura SVJ. The Miura SVJ was an iteration of the original 1966 Miura which was built in very limited numbers to comply with the old FIA Appendix J racing series. The racing chassis of the Miura SVJ was testing in Brescia when it crashed and burned to the ground. The Miura SVJ is the genesis of the Lamborghini limited series cars and the modern Aventador SVJ lives up to it's grandfather's legacy.
This particular example was on display by the Yorkshire Supercar Owners Club at Newby Hall during the Sports Cars in the Park this May. It was finished in Rosso Leto with the SVJ logo on the rear section of the car. It is also finished with the 20" bronze rims. The presence it had that day equalled being stood next to a Lamborghini Countach or a Ferrari Enzo. The 6.5l V12 engine mounted in the rear of the car produces 759 bhp and can take the car up to a top speed of 217mph making it one of the fastest cars that Lamborghini has ever made. 0-60mph takes only 2.6 seconds due to the massive weight reduction that the SVJ has gone through, cutting over 100lbs from the base car. This car also holds the current lap record for road legal cars at the fierce Nürburgring Nordschliefe circuit. The Green Hell, as it is also known, is a 12.9 mile car-killing circuit known for being the first place many supercars go for testing. The SVJ completed a lap driven by Marco Mapelli, Lamborghini factory driver, in a staggering 6m 44 secs. To put that into perspective, the previous record held by Porsche was 6m 47 secs and the original 2012 Aventador took 7m 25 secs.
One reason for this may be the insanely fast test driver, who for a living drives Lamborghini Trofeo GT3 cars. However one of the more logical reasons is the immense aerodynamic features to the SVJ. The key feature is the wing (below) which uses the Lamborghini ALA aero kit first used on the Huracan Performante. This, plus the 4 wheel steer and 4 active suspension, makes this car one of the best track Lamborghinis and a car that can rival a McLaren 600LT around a track.
In terms of pricing, the SVJ price starts at around £350,000 and with only 700 units, this is a very good deal. There is a Roadster variant coming this year along with the very limited SVJ 63 made to celebrate the birth of Lamborghini with 63 units. A stunning car that certainly lives up to the legacy set by the Miura and a good farewell to the Aventador name.
By Cieran Boyne
Original Photography
Source
http://www.supercarworld.com/cgi-bin/showgeneral.cgi?857
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| The ALA system to improve downforce (left), a front shot of the most mean Lamborghini for the last few years. |
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