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Seven Cars from the 2017 Goodwood Festival of Speed Spectator Parking Lot

If you’re planning a trip to next year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, be prepared for a lot of walking. Lord March’s historic estate is located amidst massive swathes of green pastures and muddy fields, so huffing it to the event grounds can be a bit, “rustic.” Don’t fret — this only means you get to experience the eclectic spread of visitor’s supercars, classics, and oddities that dot the bucolic farmland. At this point, it’s almost tradition to show up to the Festival driving the wildest, most expensive supercar in your stable.To save you some walking, here are some of the coolest cars we found in the Goodwood spectator parking lots.

2011 Mercedes-McLaren SLR “McLaren Edition”

Don’t let the ridiculous name fool you — this is a seriously rare piece of supercar history. After the SLR finally went out of production in 2010, McLaren offered a very limited run of “McLaren Edition” packages for existing SLRs.

There aren’t too many details available on what the limited-edition package included, but McLaren says the modifications includes revised aerodynamics, new front fascia and bodywork, new wheels, and changes to the suspension and steering. The supercharged 5.4-liter V-8 is untouched, aside from a new, more aggressive exhaust.

Just 25 of these were made, so don’t expect to see one at your local Cars and Coffee. This one is even cooler — glancing through the window, we noticed the numbered plaque on the center console read “000,” meaning this is likely still owned by McLaren.

Jaguar XKR-S

Thanks to the wonderful F-Type, we have to admit it’s been quite a while since we’ve thought of the Jaguar XK in any capacity. It’s easy to forget that toward the end of the XK’s production, Jaguar produced some seriously powerful and capable variants, including this bright blue XKR-S.

If you’re familiar with the F-Type hierarchy, you can think of the XKR-S as the “SVR” of the XK lineup. Compared to the regular XKR, the S’ 5.0-liter supercharged V-8 packs an additional 40 hp for a total of 542 hp and 502 lb-ft of torque. Performance was contemporarily impressive, with 0-60 mph arriving in 4.0 seconds, and a top speed reaching up to 186 mph.

To keep up with the beefier engine, Jag fitted the XKR-S with a more aggressive suspension, bigger brakes, stickier tires, remapped transmission, and redesigned aero. Inside, drivers were treated to Alcantara and carbon-fiber surfaces, standard affair for high-performance cars of this era.

Jaguar E-Type Lightweight

Speaking of Jaguar, we couldn’t help but include this sumptuous E-Type Lightweight that was parked just a few spots down from the blue XKR-S. Forgive us, but we’re not keen enough Jag experts to determine if this was a genuine Lightweight, but if this was a recreation, the presentation was spot-on.

Since this is Goodwood, we’ll give this the benefit of the doubt and approach this as the real deal. Just 12 Lightweights were built in the mid-‘60s, with an additional six created last year from Jaguar’s archives. These were Jag’s weapon of choice when faced with Ferrari’s indomitable 250 GTO, and squared-off against the cavallino rampante on circuits around the world.

Ferrari 599 GTO

It’s not on the same realm as the aforementioned 250 GTO, but we couldn’t help getting all hot and bothered when we found this 599 GTO. Following a long line of track-ready, stripped-out mid-engined V-8 specials, the 2010-2011 Ferrari 599 GTO was the first track-focused front-engined V-12 model to come from Ferrari since the 1960s.

Like the Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale and F430 Scuderia, the GTO did away with cosseting niceties and focused on the driving experience. In place of creamy leather and aluminum, the GTO employed Alcantara and carbon fiber. Up front, the 6.0-liter V-12 was massaged to produce 661 hp and 470 lb-ft of torque, routed to the rear wheels through a six-speed semi-automatic transmission.

Along with an incredible soundtrack, this power provided some serious performance. Zero to 60 mph was handled in 3.35 seconds, while the GTO didn’t run out of breath until 208 mph.

Just 599 of these were made, and each has appreciated in value — some brushing up just under the seven-figure mark.

TVR Tuscan S

These might be a common sight on U.K. roads, but in the U.S., modern TVRs might as well be moon rovers. This is the quintessential TVR — big power, low weight, rear-wheel-drive. In this case, power came from TVR’s legendary Speed Six 4.0-liter inline-six engine, screaming out around 400 hp and 315 lb-ft of torque.

Thanks to fiberglass construction, the Tuscan only weighed in at around 2,400 pounds, allowing for stellar performance. Zero to 60 took a meager 3.6 seconds, and a top speed somewhere north of 180 mph.

Lotus Carlton

Here’s another sweet bruiser we missed out on. In the early 1990s, Opel delivered a cluster of Omega sedans to Lotus, who in turn created one of Europe’s most formidable performance sedan, packing acceleration and a top speed not too far off contemporary super cars.

Lotus fettled with the Omega’s engine, enlarging the six-cylinder from 3.0-liters to 3.6-liters. A pair of turbochargers was added, along with a new crankshaft, milled head, upgraded Mahle pistons, and connection rods.

The result of all this under-hood goodness was a mighty 377 hp and 419 lb-ft of torque. A strengthened six-speed ZF manual transmission from the C4 Corvette ZR-1 linked to a V-8 Holden Commodore limited-slip differential was employed to manage the power.

The result of these changes was stunning — 0-60 took 5.2 seconds, and the Carlton was capable of 177 mph, a figure that put the Lotus is a league beyond some of the world’s best sports cars.

The Carlton was so fast, the boxy four-door attracted its share of notoriety when it was new. It quickly became the darling of thieves and criminals, thanks to its propensity for winning high-speed chases against U.K. police who were usually equipped with nothing more than sluggish wagons.

NSU Prinz 1000

We’re not entirely sure what specific model of NSU this is, but we were instantly smitten. From the looks of things, this is a Prinz 1000, a rear-engined, air-cooled compact sport sedan from the German automaker.

The Prinz was a popular contender for professional and amateur hillclimbs, thanks to excellent traction gleaned from the rear-engined setup. This NSU is heavily modified, looking especially aggressive with fat tires, low suspension, and swollen fender flares.

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