The Forest Rally Stage at the 2025 Festival of Speed

The story of stage rallying is told by the long list of cars featured in the Festival of Speed’s rally paddock, from the earliest days of the World Rally Championship that saw Alpine claim six victories in 1973, to a vast line-up of current Rally1 and Rally2 cars.

In many ways, Goodwood’s Forest Rally Stage is a unique challenge. It’s tight, twisty and incredibly slippery, with no room for mistakes thanks to its high banks and close tree cover as it wends its way through dense woodland. None of that stops the drivers tackling the course from leaving absolutely nothing on the table as they do what they do best and throw caution to the wind.

The WRC has produced many of history’s most remarkable cars, few eras have provided such a high volume of motorsport legends as rally’s Group B, and many of them were present at the 2025 Festival of Speed. The evocative shape of the Lancia 037 was joined by Audi Quattros, Ford RS2000 Evos, Lancia Delta S4s and Peugeot 205s.

The Festival of Speed in 2025 paid particular attention to the 1990s and early 2000s, as Goodwood put on a special celebration of the 1995 World Rally Champion Colin McRae. A number of Subaru Imprezas, including several that McRae himself drove and won in, were joined on the stage by Ford Focuses, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Vis and Toyota Celicas.

In all, there was little left to be desired from the Forest Rally Stage showcase in 2025, we’re already looking forward to getting up there again in 2026.

Photography by Eimear Hyland.