McLaren Solus GT to scream up the Hill at Festival of Speed | GRR
Among a growing list of electric, hydrogen and hybrid cars set to send it up the Hill at the 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard, McLaren has now thrown its couple of pence into the hat, in the form of a pair of supercars, one powered by a V10, the other a twin-turbocharged V8.
Headlining McLaren’s hillclimb line-up this year at the Festival is an exciting dynamic debut for the Solus GT, a futuristic concept car developed for the track, of which all 25 due to be produced have already been sold. It’s powered by a naturally aspirated 5.2-litre V10 that will smash through the 10,000rpm line when it takes to the Hill over the event. Producing 840PS (618kW) and 650Nm (479lb ft) or torque, in a body that weighs less than a tonne, 0-62mph is quoted at 2.5 seconds for a car capable of developing more than 1,200kg of downforce. This is bound to be one heck of a showcase.
As if that wasn’t enough, McLaren is also bringing along its recently revealed 750S to make its dynamic debut at the Festival of Speed. Powered by a twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 delivering 750PS (552kW) and 800Nm (590lb ft), and weighing just 1,277kg, the 750S boasts a 587PS-per-tonne power-to-weight ratio and a 0-62mph time of 2.8 seconds. We’ll see just how that stacks up when it takes to the Start Line for the first time on Thursday.
Those are just the headlines. McLaren has plenty of other plans in the pipeline for its 60th anniversary celebrations which will take place throughout the Festival of Speed. Alongside the Solus GT and 750S, a list of McLarens including the Artura, the P1, which incredibly is celebrating its own ten-year anniversary in 2023, the Senna and Elva will also be on the Hill.
There will also be a McLaren moment on each of the four days, dedicated to celebrating the marque’s history in motorsport. Mika Hakkinen will be climbing back into the cockpit of his 1999 F1 world championship-winning MP4/14, Bruno Senna will head up the Hill in the MP4/6 that his uncle Ayrton drove on his way to winning the 1991 world championship, and JJ Lehto will be at the wheel of Lewis Hamilton’s 2008 championship-winning MP4-23.
This will also be a chance to see a series of McLaren Customer Racing cars in action, from the 12C GT3 to the 570S GT4, the 2021 Festival of Speed Time Shootout-winning 720S GT3 X, and the new Artura Trophy.