With the 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed taking place this month, the 11th Duke of Richmond, explains to EV Powered why electrification is more important than ever for the world’s greatest motorsport festival.
If you think about it, the Goodwood Festival of Speed is arguably the most open-minded car meet on the planet.
The event was founded in 1993 by Charles Gordon-Lennox, the 11th Duke of Richmond, and was created to bring motorsport back to the Goodwood Estate; a site steeped in Britain’s rich motorsport folklore.
The premise for the Festival of Speed was – and still is – simple. Cars and drivers attending the event in the sprawling 4,900-hectare grounds surrounding Goodwood House are required to blast up the 1.16-mile hillclimb course in as short a time as possible. That’s it.
Drivetrain agnosticism
As for what drivetrain is used? That’s an irrelevance, according to The Duke.
“At the Festival of Speed, we are pleased to promote an agnostic approach, with a combination of EVs, hybrids, sustainable fuels, and even hydrogen-powered cars and bikes,” he explains to EV Powered. “Since FoS started, I have always been determined that we should not just stay abreast of a fast-changing world, but lead the way in making our motorsport events as sustainable as possible.”
Even prior to the UK’s love-in with electric vehicles, which exploded in 2021 when the number of EVs on the nation’s roads crossed half a million, the Festival of Speed had already established itself as a safe haven for manufacturers wishing to demonstrate the power of electrification in motorsport.
Passing the gauntlet
Wind back the clock to 2019, and Romain Dumas didn’t just set a new hillclimb record in the Volkswagen ID.R, he smashed it with a time of 39.9 seconds.
Prior to the Frenchman’s record-breaking run the best part of a decade ago, the previous-fastest blast up this hill was a 41.6s set by Nick Heidfeld in the V10-powered McLaren-Mercedes MP4-13 Formula 1 car two decades prior.
The symbolism of Dumas’ achievement wasn’t lost. It was almost a changing of the guard, and a sign that electric vehicles were now a proper part of the motorsport and performance car fabric, and not just niche products.
In 2023, it was another turning point for Team EV. Max Chilton set a time almost a second faster than Dumas with the remarkable all-electric McMurtry Spierling fan car, with the ex-F1 and IndyCar driver recording a 39.08s run.
“Electric cars have certain natural advantages in performance terms: instant power, all-wheel drive, and the ability to place the batteries low down in the chassis to improve weight distribution,” The Duke continues.
“Up to now, those advantages have been largely offset by the weight of the batteries. But technology is improving all the time, and as batteries become lighter and more efficient, more of the performance potential of electric vehicles can be unlocked.
Blurring the lines between ICE and EV
“With a steady stream of performance-focused EVs being launched, and Ferrari recently entering the market with the Luce, the line between ‘car’ and ‘electric car’ is becoming increasingly blurred – ICE, EV or hybrid is less important than the dynamic ability of the car.”
And since 2021, the Festival of Speed has been on a mission to eliminate that barrier between electrification and internal combustion.
The inaugural Electric Avenue exhibit served as what The Duke describes as a “one-stop-shop”, where festival-goers could ask questions about everything from finance and running costs, to the realities of range and reliability, take a closer look at some of the latest EVs, and find out more about the benefits of going electric.
“It was a great success, providing manufacturers with a platform to showcase their latest models, and helping to break down some of the barriers to ownership for potential new customers,” he recalls. “Five years later, electric cars are everywhere at the event – in the paddocks, on the Hill, on manufacturer stands and, crucially, in the car parks.”
Over the following years, the likes of Polestar, Renault, Alpine and Lotus have all used FoS as a springboard to show off their line-up of current and upcoming electric vehicles, as has BYD.
This year, the Chinese automotive giant plans to go large at the Festival of Speed with a 2,016 square-metre stand, where it will display a gamut of new models, and officially introduce its premium-focused Denza brand to the UK market.
The stats are there – electric motorsport is on the up
As the number of EVs registered in the UK has soared to over two million in the UK, the influence that electrification has had on the world of motorsport has rocketed in parallel with the popularity of all-electric drivetrains amongst motorists.
Come the end of Season 11 last year, Formula E’s global fanbase expanded to 422 million, a 13% increase from the previous season. Cumulative TV viewership rose to 561m, and social media followers increased by 10%.
The likes of four-time Formula 1 World Champion, Max Verstappen, and 13-time Grand Prix winner, David Coulthard, respectively described the upcoming 800bhp Gen4 cars as “cool” and “like hyperdrive from Star Wars”.
With such public praise out there, expect that upward trajectory to continue when the Gen4 era kicks off at the end of this year.
Meanwhile electric rallycross has undergone a rebirth courtesy of Rallycross Americas, which has garnered the attention of two-time World Rally Champion, Marcus Grönholm.
The series, founded by Olsbergs-MSE chief, Andreas Eriksson, has already signed the likes of 2019 FIA World Rallycross champion, Timmy Hansen, and Lia Block.
The importance of history
While all of this may, for now at least, sound like the ramblings of an EV evangelist – and you’re right, they are – the growth of electric motorsport ties into this year’s FoS theme of iconic motorsport rivalries.
Undoubtedly, electric motorsport still has some way to rival internal-combustion racing in terms of pedigree. After all, the latter has had a 132-year head start: The world’s first organised motor race was the Paris-Rouen in 1894.
In its current form, the EV world simply does not have the historic chops to match the likes of Ford vs. Ferrari, Senna vs. Prost, Schumacher vs. Häkkinen, or Grönholm vs. Loeb. To suggest otherwise would be outright silly.
Setting the groundwork for the future
Yet great EV rivalries are already in the making, and they’re largely China’s doing.
As recently as last year, the 2,959bhp Yangwang U9 Xtreme obliterated the Nürburgring Nordschleife’s EV lap record with a time of six-minutes, 59.157 seconds. That particular achievement served as a wakeup call to legacy European manufacturers that China couldn’t only match them in their back yard, it could better them.
Fellow Chinese newcomer, Xiaomi, laid down a similar gauntlet after setting an even quicker Nürburgring lap time of 6:22.091 with a heavily-modified SU7 Ultra; a tri-motor, 1,548bhp version of its Tesla Model 3 rival. Once again, China had claimed honours – this time for the outright EV prototype lap record.
The man behind Europe’s foremost celebration of motorsport believes that the increasing number of EVs coming to market will play their part in creating major EV rivalries during the coming years. It’s a tantalising thought for any EV enthusiast and motorsport fan.
“Naturally, more manufacturers and more models mean greater competition, with consumers ultimately benefiting from more choice,” the Duke contemplates. “We’re now seeing OEMs faced with Net Zero targets, which will only add to the competitive nature of the market.”
Ignore the naysayers. Electric performance cars are here, and electric motorsport is in the ascendance. Enjoy the future.
