Watch a McLaren Solus GT Top This Year’s Goodwood Leaderboard

McLaren has released quite a few limited-production variants of its supercars and hypercars over the past decade, but none are anything like the Solus GT. The single-seater revealed at Monterey last year pairs a 5.2-liter V-10 with a high-downforce car that weighs just 2205 lb. At this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed, that makes it the fastest car to make a timed run up the hill climb.

The Judd V-10 in the Solus produces an enormous roar as the car charges up the hill, while the car's massive downforce is on display in every corner. The final time is 45.34, a second clear of any other car entered in the timed shootout this year and six off the record set last year.

On Friday, McLaren released a driver's-eye-view of an earlier demonstration run recorded on a helmet camera. From this angle, we can see just how strange a single-seat, closed-cockpit car actually is to drive. Putting down nearly 830 hp from a 10,000 RPM V-10 is a challenge on such a narrow course, but a peak downforce level that exceeds the car's weight certainly helps.

While the McLaren's time was the fastest timed run at the Festival of Speed this season, the McMurtry fan car that set a record-breaking time last year seemingly finished the climb more quickly during an untimed run this afternoon. When the run ended, the timer was removed from the event's stream and McMurtry's run was announced as a demo. That means the McLaren still wins the day, but the Speirling demonstrated why it remains the king of the Festival of Speed for the near future.

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