AUDI QUATTRO ON FESTIVAL

Audi, which formally began life as a car manufacturer on July 16 1909, wheeled out its “stars and cars” as part of its Centenary celebrations.

The German manufacturer has supported the annual motorsport extravaganza for the past 13 years and fittingly was the “featured marque” at this year’s “True Grit – Epic Feats of Endurance” themed event attended by 150,000 spectators over all three days.

Ultra-rare Auto Union Grand Prix cars, all-wheel-drive Audi quattro rally and touring cars, plus its latest diesel-engined Le Mans sportscars – documenting over 70 years of motorsport involvement by the Four Rings brand – were in action up the 1.8-mile hillclimb.

Mercedes 300 SLR on Goodwood Festival of Speed

There are precious few cars whose anniversaries call for celebration on Goodwood Festival of Speed four decades down the road – but this year is the Porsche 917's 40th birthday. On Saturday and Sunday, the Goodwood Festival of Speed marks the occasion with the largest gathering of 917s ever seen in Britain, including short- and long-tailed cars and CanAm derivatives.

And yet, while most enthusiasts will know about the 917 and its fearsome reputation, it's harder to explain to the layman why its cult status has endured. The car had a competitive life of just two years and there have been faster and more successful cars before and since – many of them from the same company – so why has the 917's fame survived for so long?

New Cadillac CTS-V

New Cadillac CTS-V The fastest, most powerful Cadillac ever built. The fastest, most powerful American sedan in history, for that matter. Locked, loaded, and gunning for Europe's heavy-hitting sport sedans-BMW M5, Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG, Audi RS6. Read all that again. Now pinch yourself. No, you're not dreaming. Motown -- well, GM at least -- has its mojo back. Meet Cadillac's monster new CTS-V. Cadzilla, if you will.

Specification: 550 horsepower at 6200 rpm. 550 pound-feet of torque at 4000 rpm. They're only official "estimates," but as the engine under the new CTS-V's power-domed hood is fundamentally the same as the supercharged V-8 that's credited with 620-plus horsepower and at least 600 pound-feet in the hot new Corvette ZR1, you can safely assume the real SAE-certified figures will be close. "I'm confident we'll disappoint nobody with the numbers," says Ed Piatek, the CTS-V's program engineering manager.