McLaren MP4-12C GT3 (& MP4-12C) at Goodwood FoS +video

McLaren MP4-12C GT3 made its debut at the Goodwood FoS

We’ve covered just about every car that went up the hillclimb at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.

We also managed to send Claire up the hillclimb in the BMW 1M Coupe and let her get up close and personal with the Koenigsegg Agera. So we’ve done the 2011 FoS decent justice.

But we couldn’t resist just one more little foray in to the thrills of Goodwood for this year. This time with McLaren.

McLaren love the Goodwood Festival of speed and seem always willing to turn out their cars and their stars. Of course, now McLaren are back in the road car game there’s more to see than just the F1 cars.

Last year – before the McLaren MP4-12C had really been seen – we passed one on the road back from Goodwood whilst it was on the way to take on the hillclimb. This year McLaren has gone one better and taken the MP4-12C’s evil twin up the hillclimb too – the McLaren MP4-12C GT3.

Saturday saw Jenson take the MP4-12C GT3 up the hillclimb (with McLaren Automotive MD Antony Sheriff close behind in a 12C road car), and on Sunday it was Lewis Hamilton’s turn to take the 12C GT3 for a jaunt, chased by McLaren’s Chief Test Driver Chris Goodwin in a 12C road car.

Goodwood was the first outing for the newly revised 12C GT3 before it trollies off for its competitive debut in Avon Tyres British GT Championship race at Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday.

Anthony Sheriff bigged-up McLaren at Goodwood, but couldn’t resist plugging the business too. He said:

I was incredibly proud to represent McLaren at Goodwood this year.  The new 12C GT3 was a constant focus of attention in the McLaren GT enclosure and obviously it was great to see Jenson and Lewis delighting the crowds as the car made its dynamic debut.

The festival comes at an exciting time for McLaren Automotive. We recently opened the first of 35 global retailers; we are near to completing the McLaren Production Centre adjacent to our headquarters in Woking; we have a stunning new race car in development and very soon our customers will begin taking delivery of their own MP4-12Cs.

Having debuted the 12C road car at last year’s festival, it was terrific to bring the GT3 along for company this year. It really feels now that our car company is taking shape.”

And who can blame him?

(24 photos – click any thumbnail for full gallery)

By Cars UK