Secret stars: the best of Goodwood’s car park

It has been said that the best bit of car shows is the car park, and while that’s often true, there’s so much to do and see at the Festival of Speed that we wouldn’t blame you for not trundling through the many car parks in search of a hidden gem. After all, 200,000 people and their cars make the annual pilgrimage each year. Luckily, we’ve done it for you.

First up is this awesome 992 Dakar, one of 2500, finished in a 959-aping Rothmans imitation livery.

While we’re normally sceptical about racing liveries on road cars, it works well here because the Dakar does such a convincing job of looking like a Paris-Dakar machine – it’s got proper ground clearance, four-wheel drive, tow hooks and offroad-ready tyres.

Gorgeous doesn’t do justice here; the Speedster takes the sumptuous lines of the Jaguar E-Type Lightweight and distils them into a delicate work of art for the road.

The way the panels wrap around the body so gently, and yet with so much confidence, is something to behold in pictures, but truly mesmerising in person.

These were £650,000 when new, which is seemingly a bargain today, as they now trade in the seven-figure range.

The CCX is now quite an old hypercar, but if anything, it looks better than it did when it launched in 2006 because while current hypercars are dominated by outrageous wings, copious amounts of carbonfibre and other flashy details, the CCX is beautifully clean and simple. You could almost call it subtle in this classy blue-over-tan spec.

29 were built over a four-year production run, and this is just one of eight right-hand drive examples

Confidently parked amongst some of the most expensive exotica in the world sits this fake Lamborghini Countach.

Except it's not any old MR2-based replica. It's sitting on a bespoke spaceframe with detailed glassfibre bodywork that makes it look like a convincing statement of wealth and haute couture.

We didn’t even realise this was a replica until we got up close. Supposedly Lee Noble did a proper job of the engineering, and as such these fakeries can still command more than £50,000 on the used market.

It’s not just big buck supercars (real or fake) that caught our eyes in the expansive car parks of FoS, there were plenty of tasteful modern classics to be seen too, such as one of the best-handling cars of the ‘90s in timeless green over tan.

It's parked next to some period metal in the form of a 993 generation 911 Turbo, but although both are packing six cylinders, the similarities stop just about there.

A dream two-car garage for many may very well look like this. The F90 M5 is a consummate super saloon able to pull off the perfect Jekyll and Hyde from bruiser to cruiser, especially in 626bhp CS trim, while the Z8 is a charmingly analogue V8 manual roadster.

Is it just us that think these two look no more than a few years apart? Especially from the rear thanks to the Z8’s neon lights.

Need we say more than stating that this is a Busso-engined, Walter de Silva-designed, Italian manual performance wagon?

Yes, it won’t be the first word in reliability, and perhaps it will struggle on occasion to put its 247bhp to the road, but it’ll always look and sound fabulous.

Italianisms include it having a smaller boot than the saloon and a fuel gauge that tends to think it's full when driving up hill.

How do you increase the wow factor of a, when new, half a million-dollar car? Put two of them next to each other and ensure that they’ve been breathed on by McLaren Special Operations.

The MSO upgrades could be had in various packages (unlike a Callum Vanquish 25) with a choice of suspension, aero, exhaust and other upgrades to make the SLR drive as contemporarily as it looks.

Those SLRs are the result of an OEM believing they can improve on their original package, but what about when a third party has a go?

Not constrained by the need to not offend the original effort, they can go a bit crazy. Take this E91 3 Series which has been transformed into an M3 GTS wagon – BMW never made any sort of M3 estate of this generation. With orange paint, gold alloys, lots of camber and a bored and stroked 4.6-litre naturally aspirated S65 V8, we can’t imagine anything like this ever coming out of Munich.

Do cars come much more imposing than this? The blistered arches, deep-dish alloys and picnic table rear spoiler all make for a very gangster appearance, albeit one with a touch of white-gloved class thanks to the royal blue paintwork and cream leather.

If you wanted your Italian exotic to be a bit more serviceable than the usual ‘70s and ‘80s affairs, the Pantera was the way to go with its trusty Ford V8.

Having been given the accolade of best performance car in the 2024 rendition of the Autocar awards, it's surely only a matter of time until we regularly start seeing 5 Ns in the hands of enthusiasts.

They make a usable daily driver thanks to a 278-mile range, spacious boot and huge rear seat space, but also a competent and, most importantly, engaging track car. Synthetic gearshifts and a drift optimiser might sound like gimmicks, but they really do work, are fun, and can be turned off if you don’t feel like a hooligan.

Hailing from the bonkers era of Peter Wheeler’s ownership of TVR, the Tuscan was the epitome of being mad, bad and dangerous to know.

Its in-house designed inline-six produced between 350 and 440bhp and only had to hustle along 1100kg. It doesn’t take much digging to unearth videos online of Tuscans out-dragging Mustangs, AMG C63s and even a V8 Audi R8. Bear in mind that it was all left to the driver – neither traction control nor antilock brakes were available.

Despite this one’s colour, the Purosangue is no shrinking violet. Although it doesn’t look as big and brash as rivals like the Bentley Bentayga and Lamborghini Urus, it’s brutally imposing in person.

It’s a shame we didn’t get to hear its naturally aspirated V12 start up though.

What started as a concept to pay homage to the Jaguar D-Type turned into a limited-run production car of 250. It kept the speedster looks and asymmetrical headrests and sold for about £130,000 apiece.

They were snapped up pretty quickly, and today you’re still looking at similar money to get one in your collection.

The very definition of less is more here, the Rallye special edition only has an eight-valve, single overhead cam, 1.3-litre four banger to call upon, but it is great fun extracting all 100bhp from it as it revs to 7200rpm.

This one is a Series 1 car, which means weight comes in at just 825kg and 0-62mph takes a spritely 9.6secs.

Almost 35 years on and the NSX still draws the eye when surrounded by much more exotic sounding supercars.

As well as looking the part it also drives the part too, chassis tuning was perfected by none other than Ayrton Senna and the VTEC 3.0-litre V6 produced 270bhp, enough for a 170mph top speed.

How does Adrian Newey arrive at the Festival of Speed? In his very own Valkyrie of course. And I don’t just mean that he owns it, rather Newey had personal input in the design. 

Other big names were on the project too - Cosworth tailored a 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12 to rev to 11,100rpm and produce 1000bhp, Michelin developed special tyres, Ricardo built the gearbox and Rimac supplied the gubbins for the hybrid system.

An engineering tour de force, it’s just a shame it was heavily delayed and Red Bull pulled out before the project was seen out.

More Festival of the Unexceptional than Festival of Speed, but surprisingly clean unloved cars are a draw for yours truly, and this 3dr Frontera Sport certainly fits the bill.

It’s a manual petrol with an excellently ‘90s interior too, but apparently I’m not allowed to spend more time covering this than anything else to show you.

Split between 99 coupes, 99 convertibles, 99 shooting brakes and 28 Speedsters, the Vanquish Zagato is rare. But there were two at Goodwood, the most desirable (to me) being the Shooting Brake, like this one here.

Surely there’s no better way to cross a continent than being cosseted in leather-lined luxury while a near-600bhp naturally aspirated V12 catapults you towards the horizon (or the petrol station).

Other excellent ways to cross continents in style, comfort and with speed, include this. It’s Buchloe’s last hurrah of the 5 Series before BMW takes over and it’s limited to just 250 units. 625bhp means 204mph is the official top speed, although Alpina engineers say 220mph may be possible…

Would you pick it over the V10-powered E60 it sits beside though?

What looks like the love child of a Caterham and Clio is actually a serious bit of kit. It weighs just 960kg and the 150bhp 2.0-litre four motivates it to 62mph in under 7secs.

However, let alone a Caterham, that weight figure is 25% more than a Lotus Elise, and it cost 25% more too. It wasn’t a hot seller and Renault only bought 100 over here.

Believe it or not, you’re looking at a near-25-year-old design. It still looks captivating in the morning sunshine with its confident curves that are less in-yer-face than a current Lambo, but it’s just as cool, if not more so.

That extraordinarily long bonnet has a very important purpose – to house one of the largest production engines ever fitted to a road car.

Its 8.0-litre atmospheric V10 (which later grew to as large as 8.4-litres) produces a thumping 450bhp and 490lb ft as seen here in SR II guise.

This one is a GTS coupe, which was the first Viper to get airbags.

Another car in the car park, another Lamborghini. Normally we wouldn’t take a second glance at Lambo’s best-selling baby supercar, but this one is a rapid Performante and, more importantly, it’s got a paint-matched roof box.

Another cool way of crossing a continent then.

Coming all the way from Italy isn’t unexpected from the eager crowd at FoS, but doing so in a 928 is.

At the end of the day though, that’s exactly what it was designed for, and it is pleasing to know it can still do it 40 years on.

More or less barmy than the Renault Sport Spider? It’s difficult to say, but judging by used values the Clio V6 is certainly the more desirable car.

This is an earlier Phase 1 with its 2.9-litre V6 packing 227bhp and sending that power to the rear wheels (the engine was placed where the rear seats usually are in a Clio). Handling was known to be a bit sketchy on the limit thanks to the short wheelbase, but this was improved with the 247bhp Phase 2.

An oddity if there ever was one, the 412 was a Zagato-styled Targa with a 5.9-litre Chrysler V8 built by British boutique manufacturer Bristol.

Known for their idiosyncrasies, Bristol’s had a very small, but fiercely loyal customer base who wanted a GT that was bespoke to them. The Beaufighter version packed a turbocharger for a 150mph top end.

Heralding from a similar era to the Bristol is this wedge-shaped, Pininfarina-designed four-seat Ferrari. It was a more conventional option than the Bristol, and most would agree that it was better looking too, although RM Sotheby’s recently sold one for £11,500 that needed some recommissioning but was by no means a dog. The biggest Ferrari bargain out there?

We’re told that pedestrian safety regulations and aerodynamic constraints mean that BMWs can no longer look like this, but surely they can do better than the new M5?

It has none of the pretty but confident delicacy of this E28 generation car, and that’s probably down to the 1000kg weight advantage the first M5 boasts. That’s one tonne lighter.

Green cars are having a bit of a resurgence at the moment and we can see why from looking at this Esprit.

Paired with gold alloys and a light interior (that matches the blocky-ness of the exterior) it looks a million dollars, but is actually worth a much more reasonable £30-40k.

Yep, there’s something about dark green on British cars. Even though the XF Sportbrake is as opposite as you can get from an Esprit, it still looks special, partly thanks to the colour and partly thanks to the excellent Ian Callum design.

The XF has just gone out of production, so bag a beautiful bargain while you can.

There were some great number plates at Goodwood this year, and this 918 had one of the best. We managed to spot the whole hyper-hybrid holy trinity (the McLaren P1 and LaFerrari were also represented) but the 918 sticks out precisely because it doesn’t stick out.

Unless you know what you’re looking for, it's hard to tell that this is an 875bhp monster that is worth well over a million quid.

Clearly, the only way you can follow a 918 is with a bright yellow Skoda, and the Felicia Fun fits the bill perfectly because it was only available in yellow.

Most rusted away, but this one has miraculously lived, and we managed to spot its rear seats that fold out into the bed too.