Goodwood 2024: hypercars, fireworks and crashes

While not quite a vintage year at Goodwood Festival of Speed 2024, there were still some interesting launches none-the-less as detailed below. The festival continues to evolve into a de facto motor show and with the failed comeback of Geneva, this trend is likely to accelerate. Visitors will have noticed the increased EV presence from aspiring chinese brands like BYD. In truth, they sit rather uncomfortably alongside the petrol-powered hypercars. Good for the coffers, certainly, but it will take some skilful management going forward for the festival to hang onto its unique identity.

Polestar

The all-electric Swedes rolled-up with a pretty rad concept car that dialled up the performance trimmings. Called the Concept BST (beast), the car featured an extra wide track, flared arches, aggressive front splitter and vented bonnet. However, the main difference is the huge spoiler, which is about as outlandish as the brand has ever been in its short history. That said, it feels very on brand. Take the graphic livery, which is legible or abstracted depending on your point of view. “Even if it’s a concept car, we always try to make something feasible,” says Maxime Célérier, expert exterior designer at Polestar.

MG Cyber GTS and MG HS

Though CDN saw the Cyberster GTS ahead of time, Goodwood was the venue for the official reveal. With the Duke of Richmond in attendance, Carl Gotham and new design boss Jozef Kabaň pulled back the covers on the hardtop grand tourer to positive reception to those in attendance. The svelte coupe featured sharpened exterior proportions with shorter overhangs, a rising shoulder line and a slim glasshouse. It looks good and the hope from the design team is that SAIC head office will put it into production. Also on stand, though less exciting was the new MG HS SUV, which has a tweaked taillight design, lightbar and refreshed grille.

Ford Capri

The most controversial launch was the return of the Ford Capri. Ford confounded expectations by revealing a 4-door sedan in place of the original fastback that ceased production in the late 1980s. Car Design News met European design director Amko Leenarts, who was sporting a pair of yellow wellies, on stand to talk through the design. A full report will follow, but on first impressions, it is a clean, well-executed slice of design with a clever surface treatment that hides all the sensors. The nomenclature has stoked up a hornet’s nest without doubt, but perhaps that was the point. “It is not a two-door sports car,’ says Leenarts. “That’s not what I want to do. I want to make sure that the Capri culture is accessible for a much wider public, and I want to connect generations in a very clever way.”

Redbull RB17

Goodwood is all about speed, and few are faster than Red Bull Racing. The team has been phenomenally successful under the stewardship of chief technical officer Adrian Newey whose last project with the team was unveiled on Friday (12 July 2024). The RB17 is a two-seater track car designed, in the words of Newey, “to be capable of F1 lap times.” The car captured the imagination of the Goodwood faithful, who turned up en masse to see it. “I certainly won’t be involved with another Red Bull two-seater so this is my legacy car, really.”

Bentley Continental GT

Bentley showed off its new GT Continental in a giant fish tank. Though the car was revealed at the end of June, Goodwood marked the public launch of the refreshed version, which trades its legendary W12 engine for a hybrid V8. In design terms, the car is subject to a redesigned face, making it the first mainstream Bentley to feature single headlamps since the 1950s.

Evoluto

Analogue purists Evoluto unveiled a revamped Ferrari 355 at a satellite event away from the Goodwood circuit. The project falls under the DRVN brand and is intended as a riposte to the increasingly digital driving experience. The 355 has an advanced carbon-fused chassis and a more powerful engine. Design differences between this and the original are mercifully small save for a superbly appropriate interior design treatment courtesy of Callum.

Other notable things

Czinger

It was a good week for Czinger, which claimed the fastest ever lap for a road-legal production car with the latest iteration of its 21C hypercar. Car Design News snapped the 3D-printed beast just before blast off.

Chinese presence

The Chinese OEMs turned up in force with a presence from, BYD, Hongqi (who channelled a late 80s vibe with models in sparkly evening wear) Yangwang, Omodo, Denza, to name a few. It certainly marked a shift in what Goodwood has historically been about – the aforementioned brands were clearly treating the festival like an old-fashioned car show. Whether it was anything more than curiosity that drew the throngs of punters to the stands, it is hard to say. But there is no doubt the world has changed.

Lotus and the haybales

Redfaces all round for Lotus as its vaunted Evija X electric hypercar went from 0-to haybale in about 1 second. The 2000hp beast was built to break records, and to be fair this might be the quickest crash in Goodwood history. Bugger.

Beware treacherous surfaces

While the weather, for the most part, stayed dry, an overnight shower on Thursday night rendered the going a little soft. Too soft, it would seem, for CDN’s Abel Sampson who performed the most spectacular exit from the Polestar stand, faceplanting headfirst into the not-so-terra firma. If anyone managed to capture this moment of Chaplin-esque genius, please send photographic evidence to james.mclachlan@cardesignnews.com