Electric Mustang conquers Goodwood for the third consecutive time
The Goodwood Festival of Speed has concluded, and, as always, the list of participants was impressively diverse: from classic cars to limited-edition supercars, hypercars, and racing machines. When the dust settled on the hillclimb track, the fastest car turned out to be a special Ford Mustang Mach-E.
Of course, this is not an ordinary Ford. It is called the Super Mustang Mach-E, and it was first introduced last year, originally built for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Just three weeks ago, Romain Dumas won the “Race to the Clouds” with a time of 8:18.202.
Record run and competitors
During the final run on Sunday, Dumas piloted the Super Mustang Mach-E again, and the Frenchman, who has built a career on victories, once again found himself at the top. He set the best time of 41.98 seconds, marking his third consecutive victory at Goodwood and his fifth overall.
To understand the scale of the achievement, Dumas even beat a fourth-generation Formula E car driven by Daniel Ticktum, which posted a time of 42.46 seconds, on the short hillclimb.
There were many other impressive cars in the final run, but none could get close to the electric vehicles. Third place went to Alex Summers behind the wheel of a 1974 Shadow-Chevrolet DN4 Can-Am sports prototype with a time of 46.31 seconds, just 0.01 seconds faster than Johan Kristoffersson in a VW Polo RallyCross.
Crowd favorite and BMW newcomers
Perhaps the crowd favorite was Travis Pastrana with his special Subaru Brataroo 9500 Turbo, which recorded a time of 46.77 seconds.
BMW also brought its brand-new M Concept Neue Klasse concept, which foreshadows the future electric M3, along with a pair of legendary predecessors celebrating the model’s 40th anniversary: a 1986 E30 M3 homologation version and a limited 2011 E92 M3 GTS.
This year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed once again demonstrated that electric powertrains are capable not only of competing with traditional internal combustion engines but also of surpassing them in certain disciplines. The victory of the Ford Mustang Mach-E Super over a Formula E car and classic prototypes highlights the rapid development of electric vehicle technology. At the same time, the presence of cars like the Subaru Brataroo and Shadow-Chevrolet serves as a reminder of the rich history of motorsport and the diversity of approaches to creating high-speed automobiles. This event was a vivid demonstration of how the past, present, and future of automotive engineering can coexist on the same track, captivating audiences from around the world.