Though running the 1.16-mile Goodwood hill might look simple from the sidelines, it’s a complex course full of nuances. Cambers, pockmarks, crowns, and debris make the task all the more challenging—especially when trying to deploy some 700 horsepower.
At Goodwood, Porsche showcased a whole series of highlights from 70 years of sports car development.
However, there are few drivers better suited to managing these real-world conditions in hardcore supercars than Mark Higgins, owner of the four-wheeled lap record at the Isle of Man. To sneak between haybales and stone walls at 160 miles an hour takes courage and conviction, but also requires circumspection, mechanical sympathy, and an appreciation of every surface detail of the course.
Those traits are what helped the Manxman attack the Goodwood hill with such confidence; strategically dropping a tire in the first right-hander, and braking into Molcombe, a pockmarked corner which has claimed more cars than any other bend at this hillclimb, at a mortifying 120 miles an hour. With the honesty and humility to back off in the daunting final corners, known as “Birdless Grove,” Higgins strings together a lap that few mortals could set—even without the colorful commentating.