McLaren Solus GT Sounds Wicked During Goodwood Hill Climb

It uses modern Formula One technology but sounds like a throwback to the V10 era of the sport.

Mark Webb

By: Mark Webb

Updated: Jul 14, 2023 at 1:12pm ET

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Update: We've added in-car footage of the McLaren Solus GT making its Goodwod Festival Of Speed debut.

McLaren celebrated its 60th anniversary at the Goodwood Festival of Speed with the debut of the Solus GT and the 750S - two very different models in its product lineup. The 750S is a refreshed and more powerful version of the 720S, while the Solus GT is a different animal entirely, as we saw in its run up the hill today.

A limited-production track-only mid-engined sports car, the McLaren Solus GT is the sixth member of the McLaren Ultimate Series, joining the McLaren F1, McLaren P1, McLaren Senna, McLaren Speedtail, and McLaren Elva.

The Solus weighs about 2,205 pounds and is powered by a naturally-aspirated 5.2-liter V10 making in excess of 829 horsepower. Inspired by the 2017 Vision Gran Turismo concept, it looks otherworldly and ready to dominate the Goodwood Hill Climb. McLaren even shared some in-car footage of the Solus GT taking its climb up the hill:

It also sounds otherworldly as it charges up the hill. The Solus GT catapults off the line with its V10 shrieking. Using modern Formula One technology, the single-seater sounds like a throwback to the V10 era of the sport. McLaren deserves a lot of credit for rolling out a V10 engine in an era crowded with hybrid and electric vehicles while naturally aspirated engines with high cylinder counts die off one by one.

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The Goodwood Hill Climb is like racing up a twisty 1.2-mile-long driveway, but the Solus GT makes short work of it, seemingly shrugging off the stillness of its inertia and clawing its way up the hill like a cheetah after a gazelle. If the McLaren 750S reaches 60 mph in under 2.8 seconds, the Solus GT should handily beat that impressive number, hitting that mark in 2.5 seconds or less.

We've seen a lot of excitement at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Today especially was filled with incredible vehicles and drama. Earlier, we saw a Hyundai RN22e plunge into the haybales and watched as a vintage Mk1 Jaguar lost a wheel. Fortunately, the McLaren Solus GT didn't suffer a similar fate and completed its run without any issues.