2024 Festival of Speed Timed Shootout results

Early on in the competition both Annette Mason in the Ferrari 512BB LM and Pierro Longhi in the SCG 004C each had run-ins with the scenery. Mason tapped the bales at the Flint Wall, while Longi suffered an irrecoverable slide going into the second corner.

The hypercars from Koenigsegg and Czinger put in a great effort this year, the Jesko Attack managing a 50.2-second run and the 21C managing a blistering 48.82-second run. Both bested a Sauber Mercedes Group C prototype. The Czinger even bested Nick Padmore in his Lotus 77, though not without its own small injury, with Chris Ward biffing the wing mirror off on the bales.

Raphael Astier in his Alpine A110 Pikes Peak and James Wallis in the Porsche 992 GT3 Cup put in spectacular runs to knock the Czinger off the top, going 48.61 and 48.04 respectively. Then Travis Pastrana set off for his run… which ended in a lock-up on the way into Molecomb, understeer and a face full of straw for the Rally and Supercross champion.

After a short delay, the monster that is Michael Lyons took to the Hill in his equally beastly Gurney Eagle-Chevrolet FA74 Formula 5000 car. Unfortunately, in spite of looking properly quick, he couldn’t break the 50 second barrier.

Speed vs Dumas, Subaru vs Transit

And then there were two. First up, Scott Speed in the menacing Subaru WRX: Project Midnight, here to claim revenge for the US Subaru outfit after an agonising second-placed finish in 2021. After a bit of a delay, Speed warmed his tyres and turbo before lunging into his run. Pushing to the absolute limit, the Subaru wiggles and waggles, with Speed attempting to use all of the Hill to extract pace. In the end, it was an over-drive, as Speed registered a 46.07-second run, a full second slower than qualifying.

That meant it was two-time Le Mans winner and Hillclimb legend Romain Dumas’s Shootout to lose. Keeping cool and repeating Saturday’s performance would gift him the win. In the end, he extracted yet more performance out of the 1,400PS (1,030kW), aero-clad monster that is Ford Supervan 4.2, threading together a largely consistent and clean run for a 43.98-second finish.

The Shootout: Sunday Top 10 finishers

The Shootout Saturday qualifying results

Qualifying for the Timed Shootout at the 2024 Festival of Speed delivered a few surprises, not least the weather, which decided to completely change right in the middle of the session. That means a lucky few managed to get their storming times down – Dumas and Speed still have a comfortable lead, with 45.0 and 45.1-second times respectively – but others weren’t so lucky.

Chris Ward in the Czinger 21C went up right towards the end, in what by that time had become sopping wet conditions, to lay down a time only good enough for 25^th place. Contrast that to ninth in Friday practice…

Andrew Morrow in the 296 Challenge and the legend Astier Raphael in the Alpine A220 Pikes Peak, however, managed to claw their way up, well into the top ten. Michael Lyons, meanwhile, got really lucky, catapulting up to third in the standings, albeit still trailing the leading two by a couple of seconds.

The Shootout: Saturday Qualifying Top Ten times

Saturday Shootout: Results by class

Today’s qualifying session wasn't just about qualifying for the Shootout final on Sunday, it also saw the winners of the eight individual classes crowned.

Of course, the anticipation began to build from the first run in Friday practice as we got our first indication of who has pace potential.

The Shootout Friday practice results

In terms of the overall timings, there are a few cars and drivers that could obviously be in contention, save for a wild card that turns up the wick from today. Scott Speed in the Subaru WRX: Project Midnight scored fastest with a 47.05-second run. Romain Dumas in Ford Supervan 4.2 was hot on his heels, with a 47.18-second run. Travis Pastrana, James Wallis, Michael Lyons and Adrien Formaux follow on respectively in the under-50-second club. 

Wild cards from just outside the 50-second range could be Nick Padmore in the Lotus 77, Jake Hill in the Ric Wood-prepared Nissan Skyline GT-R R32, Chris Ward in the Czinger 21C hypercar and Philipp Eng in the BMW M4 GT3. Gavan Kershaw put down a respectable run in the Lotus Evija, as did Andrew Morrow in the Ferrari 296 Challenge. The fan (and office) favourite, however, was Raphael Astier in the Alpine A110 Pikes Peak, getting all four wheels off the ground in a run that stunned all who bore witness.

The Shootout: Friday practice top 10 times

Time Shootout schedule at the 2024 Festival of Speed

It's not all about that final run on Sunday, though. The work begins on the Friday when the entire 45-car entry list heads out onto the Hill for their first practice runs of the weekend. Expect to see a very mixed field here, with every car scheduled to run timed heading up the Hill at 14:45.

Those 45 cars return on Saturday at 14:50 for what is essentially a qualifying run. All 45 cars will line up once again to complete the Hillclimb as quickly as possible, in the knowledge that the 30 fastest cars in this session will progress to the Time Shootout Final on Sunday. Expect this to be every bit as exciting as the final itself, because while the quickest cars will be safe in the knowledge that they’re likely to progress, this second run will also double up as the drivers’ final opportunities to practice the course and nail the perfect run ahead of the big finale. It’s worth noting that the Timed Shootout class winners will be crowned here, too.

Super Sunday at the Festival of Speed will of course bring the climax of the weekend, with the 30 fastest cars from the Shootout qualifying runs returning at 15:00 on Sunday afternoon for one final run up the Hill in a bid to claim the crown as Timed Shootout champion in 2024.

Entry list for the 2024 Timed Shootout

If you’ve seen the Timed Shootout at the Festival of Speed before, you’ll know it’s not all about the cars that are fighting for overall victory. Some of the cars on the entry list are simply trying to get up the Hill as fast as is physically possible.

As a true reflection of this year’s Festival of Speed theme, the likes of the Darracq 200hp and Mercedes 100hp, once considered the fastest cars in the world, continue to showcase just how far the automotive industry has come since the earliest days of the combustion engine. In total, the cars of the Timed Shootout span a period of 119 years, from 1905 to 2024.

Fan favourites will be returning to the Hill this year. Duncan Pittaway’s Beast of Turin will sound as violent as ever as it spits flames from its engine bay. It’ll be joined by a trio of Sunbeams from the early 1900s and a beautiful Bugatti Type 35B.

At the other end of the scale, there will be several of the world’s very latest hypercars gunning for glory at this year’s Festival of Speed. Two Bugattis, the Bolide and Mistral, with 3,200PS (2,354kW) between them will surely be in a shot, as will the 1,267PS (932kW) Czinger 21C and the 1,298PS (954kW) Koenigsegg Jesko Attack. Quite astonishing figures you have to agree, but whether these big lumbering leviathans will have what it takes to match more nimble competition remains to be seen.

We’ll certainly have our eye on Travis Pastrana in his Subaru GL Wagon ‘Huckster’, a car that he has taken to within milliseconds of the Timed Shootout crown in years gone by. The Alpine A110 Pikes Peak is also bound to put on quite the show alongside the Half11 built by Oilstainlab.

At this stage, we honestly have no idea who’s going to win this year, and we can’t wait to watch the competition unfold over the Festival of Speed weekend.

Who holds the record for the Festival of Speed Timed Shootout?

In 2023, the McMurtry Spéirling broke the Festival of Speed record that had stood for more than 20 years when, in the hands of Max Chilton, it defied logic to fly up the Hill in a time of 39.08 seconds.

We’d never seen the like, and we’re fairly sure we never will again, but to see this extraordinary car, with its downforce on demand fan system producing 2,000kg of downforce at a standstill, produce a moment of magic on the Hill was an absolute treat.

Previous Timed Shootout winners

Main image courtesy of Jordan Butters