TOP 10 CARS

The ‘DFV-era’ was the absolute zenith of F1. Williams was a DFV-powered upstart, winning its first Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1979. Two of its breakthrough FW07s are among a huge 30+ car entry in our historic F1 races on Saturday and Sunday afternoons

We’ve got a spectacular showdown in the Pure Michigan Mustang Celebration Trophy for pre ’66 touring cars with some star drivers behind the wheel. Mighty Mustangs will be piloted by three-time FIA World Touring Car Champion, Andy Priaulx MBE and the duo of GT Academy winner, Jann Mardenborough, and social media personality, commentator, and racing driver Jimmy Broadbent.

It is exactly 100 years since Bentley first won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and  marking the occasion, a number of 1924 Bentleys will be racing against the massed ranks of early Aston Martins, Fraser Nashes and Rileys in Sunday morning’s 40-minute race for pre-war sports cars. These are the oldest cars on the Festival bill. 

As part of our tribute to the late, great Ayrton Senna, our special showcase will include the iconic black and gold liveried JPS 900+bhp Lotus-Renault 97T in which he famously won his first Grand Prix in the pouring rain at Estoril in Portugal. 

Peugeot briefly halted Audi’s domination of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2009 and two of the stunning diesel-fuelled 90Xs sports prototypes are among the LMP1 front-runners in the pair of Masters Endurance Legends races. These are some of the most modern – and fastest – cars on the Festival racecard.

Built by the Williams Grand Prix team for rallying’s infamous Group B era, the V6 mid-engined MG Metro 6R4 is 40 this year. In celebration, Slowly Sideways will be demonstrating several versions in the Shift & Drift Zone and two more examples – including a rare factory example – will be on sale with Iconic Auctioneers. Prices could top £300,000!

Just 30 RML SWBs are being built for the worldwide audience and two of these incredible supercars will be in action on official track duty at the Festival. This year’s Safety Cars are the result of a new partnership with RML Group, the UK’s leading high-performance automotive engineering specialist. They’re iconic.

Since the 2014 introduction of the latest generation of 1.6-litre, turbocharged V6 power units complete with hybrid energy recovery systems, the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team have enjoyed eight Constructors’ and seven Drivers’ Championships – six of those taken by Sir Lewis Hamilton. Two of Hamilton’s title-winners will be among the five-car display from the Team.

Created by Ferrari to compete against the fearsome Porsche 917, the 512 is one of sportscar racing’s most revered competitors. Powered by a glorious five litre Ferrari V12 engine and featured in Steve McQueen’s eminent Le Mans movie, Ferrari’s heydays will be relived by father and son pairing David and Olivier Hart in the 50-minute Masters Sports Car legends showdown on Saturday evening. 

The flame-spitting Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth is considered by some to be the most successful racer of all time, with a better start-to-win ratio than any other car. Seven of these crowd-pleasers will be rolling back the years in Saturday morning’s fiercely-fought Adrian Flux Trophy for Historic Touring Cars. Tin-top legend Steve Soper will be among the opposition behind the wheel of a BMW M3.