Who will be fastest in the 2023 Festival of Speed Timed Shootout?

Especially considering that there’s been precious little dry running throughout the weekend at all. Remember, Friday was basically a washout. So our drivers – from Travis Pastrana in his Subaru Family Huckster to Michael Lyons in the McLaren M26 – are going to be somewhat green behind the gills when they take to the Hill this afternoon. We’re in no doubt, that won’t stop them from giving it absolutely everything.

We can say that the McMurtry Spéirling will not be running in the Timed Shootout. The team at McMurtry managed a 39.08-second hillclimb run last year with Max Chilton at the wheel, the fastest time in Festival of Speed history, but has decided not to run the car competitively in 2023. That leaves the door open for others to stand on the top step of the podium.

As in 2022, we’d hazard a guess Travis Pastrana in his Gymkhana GL Wagon, the Subaru ‘Family Huckster’, will be right up there. Last year the active-aero wagon was preposterously fast, finishing in fourth place overall with a time of 46.2 seconds and behind two cars that aren’t running in 2023, so can Travis eke out a little more performance this year?

Also vying for top honours will be Adam Smalley in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Adam’s hillclimb runs are intense, managing to both get airbourne and post a time of 47.4 seconds in another GT3 Cup in 2022, so we’d be pretty shocked if he wasn’t somewhere near the very top of the leaderboard. 

Another man in the running is Florent Moulin in his 2001 Chrysler Viper GTS-R. Florent is quick in whatever he drives, whether it’s his Saleen S7 R at Spa or his 2005 Dodge Viper GTS-R he hustled here in 2022, so keep an eye on his all-guns-blazing run.

Who else will be quick? We’d have to say the modern WRC machines from Ford and Hyundai, with Elfyn Evans in his Ford Puma WRC and Thierry Neuville in his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid. Michael Lyons in his 1976 McLaren-Cosworth M26 F1 car will almost certainly be somewhere near the top, as will Justin Law in his father Don Law’s 1993 Jaguar XJR-12D, a pairing that won the Timed Shootout back in 2017.

As much as we’d like to see Nick Swift at the top of the timing screens, we doubt he’ll be able to take the win in his Morris Mini Cooper S. That being said, as and when he takes to the Hill, make sure you’re watching – there are very few places where Nick actually needs to take his foot off the throttle, often going through corners on three wheels, but when he does lift there are normally some delightful moments of gentle lift-off oversteer.

The Rimac Nevera and McLaren Solus GT are quick but we're unsure as to their chances of nearing the top of the scoreboards, but there’s no denying they’ll be fast and, in the McLaren’s case, very, very loud. Elsewhere we’d have to say watch out for Mike Whitaker in his beautiful Ford Capri III 3.0 S, who’ll be pushing the car to its limits and almost certainly going sideways. Additionally, the legend that is Duncan Pittaway will be hustling his fire-spitting 1911 Fiat S76 ‘Beast of Turin’ as he always does, its 28-litre, four-cylinder engine singeing eyebrows at 20 paces as it goes. It won’t be fast by modern standards but, by 1911 standards, it’s like seeing a steam train do 300mph.