MY FAVOURITE NEW CAR AT THE FESTIVAL

Aston Martin Valkyrie

Goodwood regulars are no strangers to all things exotic. So it can take something truly special to send them sprinting for a view of the hillclimb course. Say, the 10,500rpm redline of the Valkyrie’s Cosworth-developed V12. It’s simply astonishing that anything road-legal can make this kind of noise: it really wouldn’t sound out of place next to a mid-1990s F1 car.

Chevrolet Corvette

The definitive sports car. No, I’m not talking about the relative newbie from Stuttgart… The Corvette is a car I’ve been lusting after for aeons, but this one is the game-changer. For starters, it’s mid-engined – for the first time in the ’Vette’s history. Plus, it’s officially available in right-hand drive. So it’s no longer a fringe car in the UK. The FOS was made for this sort of reveal.

Lotus Emira

The old Lotus Evora was an absolute standout car for ride and handling but it was always too tough to use – with offset pedals, wide sills, hard-to-see dials and flimsy interior bits. Plus, it looked weird. If the new Emira puts those bad bits behind it but retains the Evora’s dynamic excellence, it’ll be quite something.

Toyota GR 86

Let’s face it: the GR 86’s bulked-up boxer engine won’t exactly sing and the interior won’t feel ‘premium’. But this is 2021 and Toyota is about to give us an all-new rear-drive sports car of modest cost and sensible size, with a manual gearbox, no turbos and a chassis that deliberately develops less grip than it could do, all in the name of fun. Can I get a hallelujah?