“I’ve been attending this event since I was four years old,” he said, after being embraced by the Duke of Richmond upon breaking the record.
“If someone had said, ‘One day you’re going to beat every single person that’s ever gone up that hill,’ I wouldn’t have believed you. It’s a real honour.
“I didn’t sleep last night. I got one hour’s sleep because I was so stressed. Pressure makes diamonds, as they say!”
The Spéirling (seen here in 2021) was almost a second clear of the next-fastest time on the hill
Newspress
“Sorry, again,” Chilton was heard to also say to Heidfeld as the German congratulated him on taking the record – the latter was present at Goodwood demonstrating the new Gen3 Formula E car.
The Spéirling track car was unveiled at last year’s Festival of Speed after five years of development by McMurtry Automotive. The Cotswolds-based firm was established in 2016 by the Irish billionaire Sir David McMurtry, who made his fortune from the Renishaw engineering company that he co-founded.
After a further year of testing and upgrades, the car returned this year and was a clear winner in the Hillclimb shootout out as Richard Leitz’s Porsche 718 GT4 ePerformance came in second with 45.5sec time, while in third was the F2 March 782 driver by Ben Mitchell – he clocked a 45.6sec.
The ‘Bud Light’ Group C Jaguar XJR-12D of Justin Law came in fourth on a 45.8sec, as the top five was rounded out by Travis Pastrana, whose custom 860bhp Subaru GL Family Huckster set a time of 46.3sec on the hill.