All sorts of amazing cars have featured at this year’s Festival of Speed, but those reaching into the future created the biggest buzz.

ITS an event that always delivers spectacular action; yet the most remarkable and fastest vehicles over four drama-packed days all have had one common element: Electric drivetrains.

The ohm drive cars at Goodwood Festival of Speed now under way were packing out a brand new feature called the Electric Avenue.

Here are some of the highlights:

McMurtry Speirling

 This stunning single seater fan car built purely for speed made its debut at last year’s festival; the plan this year was to conquer the famous hill climb while setting a record in the process.

At time of writing (but perhaps no longer at time of reading) the benchmark time belonged to another electric, Volkswagen’s I.D. R, which set a run of 39.9 seconds in 2019. Smashing the previous benchmark of a McLaren F1 car that had stood for 20 years.

What chance of this baby buzzer doing better? 

Pretty good, really. It has been previously claimed that the vehicle is faster than the Bugatti Chiron. For reference, the Speirling can go from zero to 100kmh in 1.5 seconds and has a top speed of 240kmh. On top of that, it’s light. While the exact figures have not been disclosed, it is believed that the car weighs just under one tonne. Finally, at Goodwood it was  in the hands of Max Chilton, a former F1 driver.

 You gotta love the chutzpah of Thomas Yates, managing director of McMurtry Automotive, when reminding that  “the last time a fan car competed in motorsport was when Niki Lauda dominated the 1978 Swedish Formula One Grand Prix."

Kia EV6 GT

Sure, a lot has already been revealed about this brand’s most powerful model (electric or otherwise) yet, including that it’s got a dual-motor powertrain with combined outputs of 430kW and 740Nm, which is sufficient for a 0-100kmh time of 3.5 seconds and a top speed of close to 260kmh. But to see it in action …. well, that was special. This is the gauntlet thrown down to Hyundai’s N performance division when it goes to assault with battery. 

Ford Pro Electric SuperVan

 THE Blue Oval has a rich history of taking its beloved Transit van, sticking in a powerful engine and calling it a ‘SuperVan’. The latest one is the first to have gone electric and, unsurprisingly, it’s quicker than any previous by some margin.

Ostensibly, it’s based on that of the new Ford E-Transit electric van. Typically, there’s very little crossover the one bound for NZ roads the example that’s been tearing up Lord March’s driveway.

This thing has four electric motors, a 50kWh battery and a bespoke control system resulting in an estimated 1470kW - that makes it more than twice as powerful as a McLaren P1 hypercar. All that power is sent through a four-wheel drive system resulting in a 0-100kmh time of under two seconds. 

The carbon composite body’s aggressive look is achieved with a front splitter, side skirts and rear diffuser as well as huge cutaways in the rear three quarter to help flow air to the rear wing. All the interests of creating enough enough downforce to make the most of its power. 

 There’s plenty of tech on board. On the dash is a large SYNC touchscreen from the Mustang Mach-E, which allows for different drive modes. ‘Road’ mode allows for ‘normal’ driving, ‘Track’ is obviously for track driving, ‘Drag’ means maximum acceleration designed for use with drag racing radial tyres, ‘Drift’ can make the SuperVan go sideways as well as perform on snow and ‘Rally’ is for tarmac and gravel rally stages. 

 Polestar 5

A first public outing for the 'four-door GT' is early indeed - it’s still two years from sale. Hence the camouflage.

For all that, the Sino-Swedish maker is being reasonably chatty about its upcoming flagship. For instance, they’ve confirmed this evolution of the Precept concept unveiled in 2020 will feature an all-new Polestar-exclusive electric powertrain which could develop as much as 656kW and 900Nm of torque. That’ll make it a little more powerful than competitors such as the standard Tesla Model S and even some supercars such as the  plug-in hybrid Ferrari 296 GTB; it has 619kW.

It will also feature a new lightweight bonded aluminium chassis which will lower weight, thus helping performance, driving dynamics and efficiency. The car has an 800-volt electrical architecture, which, among other things, will allow for rapid DC charging.

“The new powertrain we are working on will set a new brand benchmark in our high-performing cars. Combining strong electric motor engineering ability with advances in light-weight platform technology is leading to truly stunning driver’s cars," said Jorg Brandscheid, Polestar’s chief technology officer and Head of research and development.

Lexus Electrified Sport Concept

The full name of Electric Avenue is “… the road to 2030.”

Which is the year we can expect to see the LFA’s spiritual successor in production.

 Still, Goodwood is the first place outside of Japan where this design study has been seen and Lexus deciding they’d better give it a name for this occasion (it had no designation prior) suggests there’s a certain degree of seriousness to all of this, right?

Lotus Eletre

A big moment for Lotus as it presented its first series-production electric car – and its first SUV, to boot – to its biggest fans. With 441kW and aero-optimised body work, the Eletre seems well-sorted to appeal to enthusiasts.