What were the best Porsche cars at the 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed?
New concept reveals, new cars and legendary racecars and sportscars
As its 75th anniversary celebrations continue, Porsche took over the legendary festival with displays, futuristic new launches and the chance to see star cars past and present take on the famous hillclimb
There’s always magic in the air at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the annual event dedicated to the world’s greatest racecars and sportscars, held on the estate of Goodwood House in southern England. The 2023 edition, however, was an especially exciting one. It was a chance to celebrate 75 years of Porsche sportscars with car fans from all over the world. Porsche took over the famous central feature outside the main house with a huge statue featuring several of the greatest Porsche cars ever. In fact, Porsche was everywhere you looked across the four days (although Saturday’s events were unfortunately cancelled due to severe weather), from the legendary hillclimb to the unique 75 years maze. Here’s the pick of vehicles at the 2023 Festival of Speed, representing the past, present and future for Porsche.Vision 357 Speedster conceptMaking its world debut at the Festival of Speed on the Porsche stand, the Vision 357 Speedster concept is an all-electric sportscar featuring technology based on the 718 GT4 e-Performance . You can’t help noticing that the Vision 357 Spyder also has, in the 75th birthday year for Porsche sportscars, distinct echoes of the car that started it all – the 356 Nr. 1 roadster. The concept has the typical stubby windscreen of the Speedster and, if you look closely enough, you’ll even see two comic-style unicorns that have been added in front of the rear wheels.Mission X conceptAfter its premiere at the Festival of Dreams celebrations in June 2023 to mark 75 years of Porsche, the Mission X made its wider public appearance at the Festival of Speed. This spectacular reimagining of a hypercar has striking Le Mans-style doors that open up and forward, and a high-performance, all-electric powertrain. One of its dreams is to be the fastest road-legal vehicle around the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Hopefully we’ll see it take on the Goodwood hillclimb one day…718 Spyder RSAnother making its wider debut at the Festival of Speed 2023, the 718 Spyder RS is the fastest mid-engined two-seater in the Porsche range. Bouts of poor weather at Goodwood over the weekend meant that its manually operated soft-top had to be fitted on the run up the hillclimb pictured here. A shame, because this is a car made to be opened up to the elements so you can take in the sound of its glorious 500PS, four-litre, high-revving, naturally-aspirated engine – the same found in the GT3 Cup cars that joined it on the hill across the weekend.911 DakarThe 911 Dakar made daily appearances blasting up the hill at the Festival of Speed, but the all-wheel sports car looked just as comfortable when it showed off its off-road credentials in the fields of the Goodwood estate during the bad weather break. With its spiritual inspiration – a 1971 911 Carrera 3.2 4x4 Paris-Dakar (type 953) – for company, it was one of the big head turners across the festival. 911 GT3 RSSometimes all a sportscar needs in order to describe it is a set of numbers. The 911 GT3 RS took on the hillclimb knowing that it had all the boxes ticked. It has a 4.0-litre, naturally aspirated 525PS engine. It reaches 100km/h from a standstill in just 3.2 seconds. There’s 465Nm of torque. Top speed is a dizzying 296km/h. And its lightweight stainless steel sports exhaust system meant that visitors were treated to the sound that only an engine revving up to 9,000rpm can make as it roared past.718 Cayman GT4 RS MRThe track-focused 718 Cayman GT4 RS is already a car with incredible performance, but Manthey-Racing – a long-time partner of Porsche in the motorsport world – have developed an upgrade package that makes for an even more formidable sportscar. Painted in vibrant Lava Orange, the 718 Cayman GT4 RS MR certainly cut a striking figure at the festival.911 Carrera TAs of July 2023, the Carrera T is the newest lightweight 911 sportscar. The letter ‘T’ here stands for touring and describes Porsche models that offer a purist driving experience with exceptionally sporty equipment. Quick and agile, it’s the perfect car to take on the Goodwood hillclimb.One millionth Porsche 911While we all know that it’s 75 years of Porsche in 2023, the company is also celebrating the 60th birthday of its most famous model. The one millionth 911 – a Carrera S wearing a special Irish Green colour – tours the world these days, although its permanent home is the Porsche Museum. It was on display at the main Porsche stand at the Festival of Speed and made daily runs up the hillclimb.356 Nr. 1When you’re celebrating 75 years of Porsche sportscars, you have to bring along the one that kicked it all off. The 356 Nr. 1 is the Porsche sportscar where it all began, all those years ago, in the Austrian town of Gmünd. These days visitors can see it at the Porsche Museum, but it made a special trip to Goodwood to join in the birthday party. Still going strong after three-quarters of a century, its 35PS engine didn’t miss a beat as it appeared in front of the packed grandstands.Porsche Cayenne Transsyberia EditionPorsche shocked the world when it launched its first-ever SUV, the Cayenne in 2002. And it was put to the ultimate test between 2006 and 2008 on the Transsyberia Rally, a gruelling long-distance competition. After the success of a specially adapted Cayenne S on the rally – which included extreme off-roading and water driving in the Gobi Desert, as well as time trials on dirt tracks in Mongolia – Porsche made an exclusive limited run of 26 Cayenne S Transsyberia models which included a roof-level snorkel for its air intake, reinforced suspension and a shortened axle ratio for better acceleration. The Cayenne Transsyberia looked equally at home on the hillclimb as it was driving across the fields on the Goodwood estate.Porsche 917KIt wasn’t just about Porsche roadcars and roaring up the hillclimb at the Festival of Speed. The event is always a great chance to see some of the most famous vehicles in motorsport too – and this year didn’t disappoint. One of the standout vehicles was the 917K #23 car. Wearing the famous red and white Salzburger livery, this is the racecar which German Hans Herrman and Englishman Richard Attwood drove to victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1970. Quite simply one of the most iconic racecars of all time.Porsche-Diesel JuniorDid you know that Porsche designed tractors? It was Porsche founder Ferdinand Porsche who penned the first-ever examples. During the 1950s they were manufactured by a German company called Mannesmann under the name Porsche-Diesel Motorenbau GmbH, who made four different types, including the tractor you can see here pottering around the Goodwood estate – the Porsche-Diesel Junior. Powered by an air-cooled engine (of course!) it produced 14PS. It may not be fast, but it still grabbed a lot of attention at the Festival of Speed.
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