A guide to the Goodwood Festival of Speed

Seems it's the year for Mercedes-Benz's motorsport division to stand up and be counted. Only last weekend it was the Mercedes-powered racers that set the pace in the Austrian Grand Prix; this weekend, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Mercedes will celebrate 120 years in motorsport.

And 80 years of the Silver Arrows.

And 60 years since the return of the Silver Arrows.

And 60 years of the Gullwing.

And 20 years in modern F1. Expect the 800-strong classic fleet of Daimler HQ to be royally represented at the event. Fittingly, the theme is ‘Addicted to Winning'.

How will Mercedes celebrate? They will do this by bringing down some of the company's most astonishing - and astonishingly rare - racers to Lord March's annual four-day party. We're talking cars like the painfully exquisite GP machines that took victory 100 years ago at the French GP, the Sauber-Mercedes C9, the Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR, DTM racers, a 300 from 1957, and of course, the Vision Gran Turismo from GT6.

Lewis will be on hand, too, driving his AMG F1 car up the hill on Sunday.

He's not the only star attraction, though, as there's plenty on offer this year...

Reminding us that the NSX is nearly here, Honda will preview the prototype supercar as it goes up the hill, reminding us that it is nearly here.

Keeping it fresh will be BMW, presenting the i8 supercar and of course, the new BMW M3 saloon and M4 Coupe. The new Mini John Cooper Works Concept will be on display for the first time in the UK too, while Mini will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Paddy Hopkirk winning the '64 Monte Carlo rally in a Cooper. Paddy will be on the stand, too.

Bentley will showcase the Continental GT3 racer, alongside the new Conti GT V8 S, and the classic Speed Six Bentley that won at Le Mans in 1929 and 1930; the car known as ‘Old Number 1'. This will be joined by two more Speed Sixes too, ‘Old Number 2' and ‘Old Number 3'. No laughing at the back, please.

Elsewhere at Goodwood, you'll see Toyota and four of its works Le Mans racers all brought together at a single event for the first time, including the original TS010 from the early ‘90s through to this year's TS040. Then there's the Dakar Hilux and the Group B Celica TA64, too.

Peugeot will unleash its 208 T16 racer - the one that obliterated last year's Pikes Peak race - with Sebastien Loeb behind the wheel for an attempt to break Nick Heidfeld's hillclimb record of 41.6 seconds (which he set in a McLaren MP4-13 way back in 1999). Expect fireworks. And noise.

There's also the superb 2008 DKR concept as well.

Yes folks, the bonkers 1340bhp Koenigsegg hypercar will be on proud display, giving you a rare chance to see one in the wild. Of course, as we told you earlier this year, you can't buy one, because they're all sold out. Boo.

You won't care that Maserati is celebrating its 100-year history at Goodwood. Well, you might. But you might care more that the Alfieri concept will be on display, making its UK debut. Worth the price of admission alone? Quite possibly.

It's the first UK appearance for Lexus' upcoming BMW M4 fighter, the RC F. 450 horses? Check. Naturally aspirated V8? Check. Excitable motoring community? Double check.

The shadowy teaser gives a clue as to what McLaren will be bringing down - along with Mr Jenson Button. It's a new racing car set for the GT ranks. Much fastness is promised. Also on display is the new MS0 650S, too.

Remember the GT-R-engined Infiniti concept we saw at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year? That car - the ‘Eau Rouge', named after the famous corner at Spa - will make it's proper, global dynamic debut at Goodwood.

Now, who wants to see the Infiniti ‘Follow Through', named after the world famous corner at Dunsfold? Anyone? Just us?

Ah yes, the VW Golf GTI Roadster concept; a roofless, 500bhp twin-turbocharged concept car that wants to tear a hole through time. That's coming to Goodwood, along with some more sedate siblings including the new Golf R, Polo WRC car, XL1 and Touareg.

Having recovered from its epic race at Le Mans a couple of weekends ago, Porsche will take to Goodwood armed with drivers Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Marc Lieb, along with the 962C, the epic, Le Mans-winning GT1, and the 918 Spyder. There's also stuff like the 911 Turbo S Cab and Cayman GTS, which we rather like here at TG.

Is this a new GT-R? No. But some of it might, just might, trickle down into the next one. No, this car is Nissan's Vision GT, or as Nissan calls is, the Concept 2020. Keep your distance.

AM will deliver a Gran Turismo concept too, called the DP100.

Remember Project 7? We do, and we've got good news - it's being put into production! It'll make its debut at Goodwood. Get down there now.

The 695 biposto - the most ‘Abarth of all Abarths' - will take on the Hillclimb, with all its heroic 190bhp (heroic when you consider how little it is) and 997kg of weight.

RR will be debuting the fastest Range Rover Sport to date; an SUV pushing out an incredible 542bhp. It's the latest to come out of Land Rover's new Special Vehicle Operations unit, and we're a little bit afraid...