Five performance cars that shone at Goodwood’s festival of speed
About 600 classic and cutting-edge vehicles were on display at the annual UK event. Some of the attention-grabbing beauties would also be a welcome sight in Hong Kong
The Goodwood Festival of Speed began in 1993 as a local, British hill climb for racers and their classics. It has since grown, like the Hong Kong Sevens, into an international social event featuring cars and bikes of all ages, with many new performance vehicles being revealed for the first time. About 600 vehicles were displayed at this year’s festival, which took place last weekend in West Sussex, southern England, and several could soon be making an impression in Hong Kong.
In the same week Jaguar Hong Kong unveiled its F-Pace at Ocean Terminal, the Big Cat marque pulled a two-wheeled stunt in the performance SUV at Goodwood, and then went on to launch something else. That was the Jaguar F-type SVR. The supercharged five-litre V8 on 20-inch wheels is the marque’s fastest F-type yet, with 567 horsepower and 700 Newton metres of torque enabling the car to reach 100km/h in 3.7 seconds and a top speed of 322km/h. The model’s intelligent driveline dynamics system improves traction and stability. Additionally, its super performance brakes look impressive, with 380mm discs at the front and 376mm versions on the back. Jaguar also offers a lightweight six-speed manual gearbox option as an alternative to its eight-speed Quickshift automatic gearbox, and the marque says the car has a “deeper, more dramatic” exhaust “soundtrack”.
While Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong showed off the new E-Class in West Kowloon, the marque reaffirmed its speed credentials at Goodwood, with a clutch of historic racers, including a 120hp Mercedes champion of 1906; a 1938 Mercedes-Benz 540 K Streamliner of 1938; and the F1 W05 Hybrid in which Lewis Hamilton gained his second World Drivers’ Championship in 2014, and the marque’s first Formula One World Constructors’ Championship. Such roots add kudos to the new Mercedes-AMG GT R, Mercedes-AMG C 63 S Edition 1 Coupé, and highlights the cross-border appeal of the 510hp V8 Mercedes-AMG S63 Cabriolet. This turbocharged convertible has a boot of 355 litres (260 litres with the roof open); AMG ride control suspension; and can reach 100km/h in 4.1 seconds via an AMG SpeedShift MCT seven-speed sports transmission. Its engines are assembled by hand in Affalterbach, southern Germany, according to AMG’s “one man - one engine” traditions, but their top speed can be extended by 30km/h to 280km/h with an AMG Driver’s Package.