41.97 Seconds: Dumas and the Electric Conquest of the Goodwood Hill
Romain Dumas won his third straight Festival of Speed Timed Shoot-Out in Ford's 1,400 hp electric Super Mustang Mach-E. The two fastest cars up the hill were both electric. The hill has delivered its verdict.
The Goodwood Festival of Speed's Timed Shoot-Out is the purest contest in British motorsport: one car, one driver, 1.16 miles of narrow hillclimb with nine corners, 93 metres of elevation change and no room for error. In 2026, the contest produced a result that will be quoted for years. Romain Dumas won in Ford's all-electric Super Mustang Mach-E in 41.97 seconds. Second, 0.49 seconds behind, was Dan Ticktum in the new Formula E GEN4 car at 42.46. The two fastest machines on the hill were both electric.
The clock is indifferent to engine notes.
The winning machine
The Super Mustang Mach-E shares a silhouette with Ford's electric SUV and almost nothing else. It is a purpose-built competition car developed with STARD, with three electric motors producing more than 1,400 hp, built for hillclimbs and short timed courses. Dumas had already won Pikes Peak in the car weeks earlier. At Goodwood it gave him a third consecutive Shoot-Out victory, following the SuperVan 4.2 in 2024 and the F-150 Lightning SuperTruck in 2025. The outright hill record, Max Chilton's 39.08 in the McMurtry Speirling in 2022, still stands.
The chasing pack
Ticktum's second place in the GEN4 Formula E car, on the car's public debut, was the weekend's other statement: a single-seater built for street circuits, within half a second of a bespoke hillclimb weapon. Third went to Alex Summers in the Shadow DN4 at 46.30, which also measured the gap: the fastest combustion car finished more than four seconds behind Dumas. Historic Formula 1 cars, GT racers, rally machinery and drift demonstrations filled the weekend, and Singer was honoured as the celebrated marque beneath Gerry Judah's central sculpture.
The analysis: the clock does not care about romance
Goodwood trades in romance, and the 2026 Festival had it in abundance. But the Shoot-Out is decided by a clock, and the clock is indifferent to engine notes. On a short, bumpy, narrow hill where traction and instant torque matter more than top speed, electricity's advantages are decisive. The combustion cars are not finished, but at Goodwood in 2026, they were not competing for the win. They were competing for third.
