Historic racing · 2026
Goodwood Festival of Speed
July 9–12, 2026Goodwood House · West Sussex
The fixture
The Festival of Speed turns the Duke of Richmond’s driveway into the world’s fastest garden party. Since 1993, everything from 1900s land-speed monsters to current Formula 1 machinery runs the hillclimb — the rare fixture where manufacturers, collectors and the public share one paddock.
FoS is where new hypercars debut and where historic competition cars are demonstrated rather than displayed. The hill run is short; the provenance it certifies is not.
Debut ground — the first public record of many cars the platform will file for decades.
- Dates
- July 9–12, 2026
- Venue
- Goodwood House
- Place
- West Sussex (GB)
- Type
- Historic racing
- Dated from
- goodwood.com
Results from this fixture feed the ledger — record sales, class wins and documented outings land in the affected cars’ files.
The origin
1993
Charles Gordon-Lennox, then Earl of March, founded the Festival of Speed at Goodwood House in West Sussex in 1993. He hoped to restore racing to the Circuit his grandfather created in 1948, but reopening it proved complex and failed to secure local-authority approval. A meeting with BARC’s Ian Bax suggested a hillclimb for historic cars and motorcycles on estate roads, recalling the ninth Duke’s 1936 Lancia Car Club hillclimb. BARC head Dennis Carter and FIA safety inspector Derek Ongaro supported the plan; Ongaro proposed the Lime Avenue start. Press officer Rob Widdows supplied the name.
How it runs
- Hill and Shoot-Out
- The 1.16-mile hillclimb starts on Lime Avenue, passes Goodwood House and the flint wall, and finishes at the summit. The formal Timed Shoot-Out dates from 2011; Formula 1 cars make demonstration runs rather than official timed attempts.
- Cartier Style et Luxe
- Added in 1995, Cartier Style et Luxe occupies the Cartier Lawn southwest of Goodwood House. It is a judged concours divided into classes; an annual panel that includes figures beyond the car world selects one Best in Show.
- Forest Rally Stage
- The Forest Rally Stage runs through woodland at the top of the Hill. Its current programme combines historic rally machinery with modern WRC cars; 2026 qualifying fed the Festival’s Timed Shoot-Out rather than a separate historic-runner trophy.
- Four-day estate meeting
- The Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard runs from Thursday to Sunday around Goodwood House. Its programme combines the hillclimb, Forest Rally Stage, Supercar Paddock, First Glance Paddock, Cartier Style et Luxe and Future Lab. Goodwood Revival is a separate September event at the Motor Circuit.
On the record
- 1993
On Sunday 20 June, Willie Green set the day’s fastest climb in a Surtees TS20. The first Festival drew about 25,000 people despite a clash with the Le Mans 24 Hours.
- 1999
Nick Heidfeld recorded 41.60 seconds in Mika Häkkinen’s championship-winning McLaren MP4/13. It remained the official hill record until Max Chilton’s 2022 run in the McMurtry Spéirling.
- 2018
Romain Dumas won the 2018 Timed Shoot-Out in Volkswagen’s ID.R with 44.32 seconds. He won again in 2019, recording 42.32 seconds in the same car.
- 2022
Max Chilton won the Timed Shoot-Out in a McMurtry Spéirling with 39.08 seconds. The Sunday run beat Heidfeld’s 41.60-second benchmark and Dumas’s 39.90-second Saturday qualifying time.
- 2026
Romain Dumas won the 2026 Timed Shoot-Out in Ford’s Super Mustang Mach-E with 41.97 seconds, his third consecutive Festival win after Supervan 4.2 and Supertruck victories.