From Porsche’s 75th Anniversary commemoration to Lamborghini’s new LMDh prototype, the following are what we’ll remember most
Car enthusiasts around the world anticipate the annual Goodwood Festival of Speed in the south of England, held every summer on the estate of the Duke of Richmond (on whose grounds also sits the Rolls-Royce headquarters and assembly plant). This year saw torrential rains and howling winds, gusty enough to cause the cancelation of the event. Nonetheless, the show pressed on as the exhibition celebrated its 30th year running, as well as a few other automotive milestones. Here are the highlights.
The Porsche 75th anniversary experience
An expansive Porsche display was full of eye candy, including the recently announced all-electric Mission X supercar concept (shown here) and the premiere of the Vision 357 Speedster—the open-top version of the Vision 357 coupe we saw at the beginning of this year.
Racing up the hill was the 992-generation 911 Dakar, the 718 Spyder RS, and a host of others from the German automaker’s pantheon. Porsche was also the featured marque of Goodwood’s central sculpture, with iconic models like the 356 from 1951, a 1960 718 Formula 2 race car, and 997- and 992-generations of the 911—all suspended in twisted steel high above the crowds.
Lamborghini’s SC63 LMDh prototype
Joining the ranks of BMW, Porsche, and Cadillac, Lamborghini throws its hat into the Le Mans Daytona hybrid (LMDh) prototype ring with the new SC63. The Raging Bull’s first hybrid endurance race car is powered by a new 3.8-litre twin-turbo V-8 engine, which Lambo engineers developed in a “cold V” configuration for better cooling and a lower centre of gravity. As with all LMDh cars, the SC63 uses a gearbox, battery, and some power management components that are all standardised, with cars limited to a maximum output of about 670 hp).
Instead of being designed by race engineers and outside suppliers, the LMDh class allows manufacturers to have more freedom to bring in their own in-house design teams. As such, the SC63’s bodywork was designed by Lamborghini’s Centro Stile studio, headed by Mitja Borkert, who points out signature styling cues, including Y-shaped headlamps. “From the beginning, we wanted to create a car that was instantly recognized as a Lamborghini,” Borkert says. The SC63 will debut next year in the FIA World Endurance Championship and the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar series.
Ferrari’s stable of stunners
The Prancing Horse brought a veritable stable of supercars to Goodwood, including the 499P hypercar that won this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. Maranello’s endurance star is powered by a 3.0-litre, twin-turbo V-6 at the rear, along with a 200 kW, front-mounted electric motor.
Unlike the LMDh option selected by the likes of Lambo and Porsche, Ferrari’s 499P does not use spec parts, and as such competes in the Le Mans Hybrid (LMH) class. Other Ferraris in the Supercar Paddock this year included the new SF90 XX Stradale and one-off KC23, along with historic race cars such as the 166 MM (the first Ferrari to win at Le Mans in 1949), two Ferrari 250 Testa Rossas, the 1970 Ferrari 512 S prototype, and the 1979 512 BB LM.
AIM EV Sport 01
Shiro Nakamura, the former Nissan designer who penned the GT-R, has designed this sleek, electric sports-car prototype developed by Japanese engineering firm AIM. With a lightweight aluminium frame and a carbon-fibre monocoque chassis, the AIM EV Sport 01 is slightly shorter than a Mazda MX-3 Miata and weighs only about 1,406 kg. It’s fitted with two electric motors on the rear axle that make a combined 483 hp and 740 Nm of torque.
Of the design, Nakamura told us that the car has a minimalistic form language inspired by European and Japanese sports cars of the 1960s. Although AIM built the EV Sport 01 as an engineering test bed, Nakamura says they haven’t ruled out the possibility of a production car.
Caterham Project V
Caterham, the British manufacturer known for producing lightweight, high-performance sports cars, has unveiled its first production electric vehicle. Brought to life by Italdesign, Project V forgoes the open-cockpit configuration of Caterham’s Seven model, and instead has been given a sleek coupé style. The body, formed of aluminium composite and carbon fibre, features a minimalist aesthetic that stays true to Caterham’s uncomplicated ethos, as does the car’s curb weight of just 1,190 kg.
A single 200 kW motor mounted on the rear axle can propel the vehicle from zero to 100 km/hr in less than 4.5 seconds, with an anticipated top speed of 230 km/hr. Caterham says the 55 kWh USOC lithium-ion battery pack can recharge from 20 percent to 80 percent capacity in only 15 minutes through a 150 kW DC rapid charger, and allows for an expected range of about 400 km.
