We went to the place every motoring enthusiast would want to visit at least once in a lifetime — welcome to the “Festival of Speed”.
Every year on the Goodwood circuit, 100 km south of London, the famous motoring event takes place, bringing together the entire history of world motorsport and the automotive world. In this small corner of southern England we’ll discover the earliest cars of the 1920s, all the way up to today’s most modern racing cars. Celebrating it all with speed races on the Goodwood circuit, where every type of car — from Formula 1 to rally cars, from GTs to WEC prototypes — “battles it out” for the best time.
Let’s spend a day together at this fantastic event dedicated to motoring.
Departure from London to Goodwood
Our journey begins in London, where we leave our hotel heading for the station. Train is the most convenient and quickest way to reach the event if, like us, you’re staying in the centre of the English capital. After about an hour and a half by train we arrive in Chichester, where the organisers have laid on coaches to reach the circuit, a 15-minute ride from the station. Everything was organised extremely well, with no delays and very straightforward.
Once there, we find ourselves in front of the entrance and our day at FOS 2026 begins.
Welcome to the “motoring playground”
Once through the ticket checks, our journey of discovery through this extraordinary event officially begins. The first feeling you get is one of being overwhelmed. The event actually spreads across the entire Goodwood estate, which, to give you an idea, covers about 4,450 hectares. Naturally, as soon as we enter we find a very detailed map of all the areas we’ll encounter, and so the feeling of being overwhelmed fades, giving way entirely to curiosity.
The first stop can only be a visit to the Italian manufacturers’ stands, so we head towards the brands of the “bel paese”.
Lamborghini, Ferrari, Pagani and many others
Pagani is the first stand we visit. To celebrate the seventieth birthday of its founder, Horacio Pagani, the new Huayra 70 Derecho was unveiled in preview — a model worth around 5-7 million euros. Alongside the new Huayra we also find a Zonda F Roadster and a Utopia Roadster. Definitely one of the most beautiful stands.
After our visit to Pagani we move on to Lamborghini, where we can admire the new Urus SE Performante, officially revealed just a few days before the English event. Unfortunately, though, the stand is reserved exclusively for Lamborghini customers and partners, so we can’t see much. We’ll get to admire the various models from the Sant’Agata Bolognese carmaker later, in another area of the event.
Right next to the two stands we’ve just visited, we come across the extremely elegant Maserati stand, in full Italian style. For the occasion, the Trident brand brought along the new Project GT4, which completes Maserati’s range of GT cars.
A visit to Ferrari couldn’t be missed, located in the most exclusive part of the whole estate, namely the garden of Goodwood House, home of the Duke of Richmond. Ferrari presents its most recent models: the new 849 Testarossa, a Purosangue, the brand-new Ferrari Amalfi (successor to the Ferrari Roma), together with the 12Cilindri Spider. Ferrari, too, obviously wanted to pay tribute to our country, with a stand in full Italian style.
Formula 1 today and in the past
With our tour of the Italian brands finished, it’s now lunchtime, but above all, it’s time to move to the area dedicated to Formula 1.
Taking up about a third of the entire event grounds, this is definitely the section that attracts the most visitors overall. In this area we can find everything relating to the world of Formula 1, from its birth to the present day.
Starting with the modern era, all the current “big” teams were there — Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull — joined also by Alpine, Williams, Racing Bulls and Aston Martin. Mercedes is the team that has invested the most in this event, with no fewer than two stands. At one of them, fans could even try their hand at pit stops, assisted by the team’s professional mechanics. Had it not been for the extremely long queue, we would have tried it too.
There was no shortage of appearances by the teams’ official drivers, some of whom were even out driving these cars during the event. Kimi Antonelli drove the 2022 W13 but with 2026 livery, while Lando Norris and Leonardo Fornaroli drove the 2023 MCL60 and the historic cars from Senna’s era. Red Bull brought back to life the historic moments of Vettel’s championship years, putting Isack Hadjar and Yuki Tsunoda behind the wheel of the 2013 RB9.
Ferrari, to celebrate 75 years of success in F1, decided to go all out. The Maranello marque, both for on-track action and for display purposes alone, brought the single-seaters that made the Prancing Horse’s history. We start with Niki Lauda’s Ferrari 312T, moving on to the F300, all the way to the F2007, with which Kimi Räikkönen won the Scuderia’s most recent drivers’ championship. All these cars took to the track along the Goodwood course, bringing back memories of Ferrari’s glorious past for all the fans.
Another area of great interest for fans, especially the younger ones, was the “Autograph Signing Area”, where the official drivers stopped to dedicate some time to fans, signing their memorabilia. Here too, of course, a long queue put us off stopping to wait for a driver.
On to the action on the legendary “Goodwood Hill”
To round off our wonderful day, we absolutely couldn’t miss watching some action along the famous “Goodwood hillclimb”.
Starting from the south-west area, the cars cross the whole estate, finishing their run right on the raised hill. It’s all timed, as we mentioned — this is a genuine race. Some drivers decide to take the competition seriously, pushing their cars to the limit, while others take a more relaxed approach, waving to fans trackside and letting loose with the occasional impromptu burnout.
Having found our spot, we sit down and wait for the first cars to hit the track. It isn’t long before the first to get going are the historic Ferrari cars, with the WEC prototypes also joining the parade. Next it’s the turn of all the sporty supercars from the most famous brands. Zooming past us are the Lamborghini Revuelto, the Ferrari F80, the Aston Martin Valkyrie and the new Valhalla, and the Pagani Huayra with its unmistakable naturally aspirated V12. The brand-new Red Bull RB17 also takes part in the race — the Anglo-Austrian marque’s first hypercar, designed by Adrian Newey, and absolutely gorgeous. Before our eyes pass every type of four-wheeled machine: rally cars, prototypes of every kind, supercars and hypercars, even Lightning McQueen from Cars. This year, in fact, marks the 20th anniversary of the film’s release.
Admiring all these types of cars, listening to the different sounds, seeing drivers from all over the world get behind the wheel to entertain us — it’s undoubtedly a unique feeling, hard to put into words, for us enthusiasts of this sport.
Goodbye Goodwood
Arriving in the late afternoon, full up on this motoring feast, it’s time to head back to the station, where the train will take us back to London. First, though, a stop at the festival stores is a must, to treat ourselves to some merchandise. Along with the wonderful merchandise, we take home with us the memory of a fantastic day.
One we’ll struggle to believe we actually experienced, for days to come.
For anyone who loves and lives the world of motoring every day, the Goodwood Festival is the mecca that, at least once in a lifetime, if you get the chance, you have to visit.
