Gallery: wild supercars take over Goodwood

Track days. You know the form: several Caterhams, a ratty but suspiciously fast Corsa, an over-boosted Lancer Evo, a scattering of Atoms, an M3 and maybe, just maybe, a Porsche 911 GT3.

This one wasn’t like that. There were two 911 shaped objects, but one was a Singer, the other a new GT2 RS. Then there was the McLaren P1, an AMG GT4 racer, a pair of Le Mans homologation specials (a CLK GTR and 911 GT1), plus a couple of motors from the outer reaches of the hypersphere: the wacky-winged Zenvo TSR-S and mad-as-a-badger Apollo Intensa Emozione.

Welcome to the Supercar Owners Circle. And this, at the Goodwood Motor Circuit, was its first ever track day. You don’t need us to tell you that the supercar-and-beyond market is white hot right now. People are buying the cars, but what to do with them once they have them? Well, that’s what SOC is for. Set-up four years ago by two Swiss brothers, Florian and Stefan Lemberger, admission to the club (limited to 250 members globally) is granted to those who have a collection of machinery deemed worthy.  

What they get are unique events: Grand Prix invites, Alpine road trips where the passes have been closed for them, talks from famous automotive engineers and designers and, now, track days.

Having the right audience attracts other firms: Zenvo and Apollo were along to demonstrate their cars to potential buyers, McLaren brought along a pair of 720Ss, Bulgari revealed an exclusive watch only available to members of the club, David Coulthard was there for track tips, and there was a presentation from a private jet company. Hanging around the edges, like suckerfish on sharks, supercar spotters. Dozens of them.

Out on track, noise limits quickly put paid to full-throttle laps in the more outlandish creations (against a 95db limit, the Intenza Emozione registered 116db at 2,600rpm), and the quality of driving was, well, identical to any other track day. Proving that money can buy you a lot of things, but not instant talent. Still, pretty cool cars, eh?

Have a flick through the pics...

Photography: Rowan Horncastle / Alex Penfold