Every year, the Goodwood Festival of Speed attracts a fascinating mix of new and classic road cars, and race cars, and this year’s event, particularly the final shootout up the hillclimb, was no different.
In 2016, we witnessed a race-prepped Subaru Impreza dubbed the ‘Gobstopper II’ blitz the hillclimb in just 46.29 seconds, stealing the victory away from the McLaren P1 LM.
This year, it wasn’t a brand new race car or some ultra-modern hypercar that took top honors, but rather a 30-year-old Jaguar XJR-12D with Justin Law behind the wheel.
The ex-endurance car hasn’t been designed as a one-trick pony like last year’s Gobstopper II, yet despite that, this Group C beast set an even faster time than 2016’s best run, recording a 46.13, placing it just ahead of the 1993 Penske PC-22 CART racer piloted by Jeremy Smith, who made the run in 46.22s.