This weekend, the Goodwood Estate in Sussex will play host to a new, behind-closed-doors motoring festival called Speedweek, in place of its long-running Festival of Speed and Revival events which were cancelled in light of ongoing social distancing measures.
Unusually but understandably, Speedweek will be held mainly at the Goodwood Circuit and won't be open to the public, but it's shaping up to be a suitably spectacular stand-in for the two biggest events on the UK motoring calendar.
Several important new cars will make dynamic and static debuts, there will be lap record attempts at the hallowed Goodwood circuit, famous names will take the wheel of equally famous road and race machines, and we'll be there to bring you all the highlights.
Head to the Autocar home page for the latest news, and follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for live updates from the pit lane and paddock.
The ultimate shootout
The traditional climax of the Festival switches from the hillclimb to the circuit and will be faster as a result. Along with the ID R, Tom Kristensen will compete in his 1997 Le Mans-winning Porsche WSC-95 (which will also be part of a celebration to mark 50 years since Porsche’s first Le Mans win), while Emanuele Pirro will drive the ultra-successful Audi R8 LMP. F1, Nascar, BTCC, DTM and V8 Supercars machines are also promised.
The 671bhp Volkswagen ID R electric prototype already holds the Goodwood Hillclimb record, and now factory driver Romain Dumas had been due to attempt to break the 2.367-mile Goodwood Circuit lap record, too. Unfortunately, due to the rising infection rate of Covid-19 across Europe, the firm has decided not to attend this weekend - but has vowed to return in 2021.
That means it will be down to the competitors still attending to try and break the currently record of 1min 18.271sec, which was set by Nick Padmore in a Lola T70 Spyder in 2015.
Add your comment