Get ready for the Festival of Speed

There's only a week to go until the 2007 Goodwood Festival of Speed opens its gates to the public, and we're already getting excited.

This year's show looks likely to be a bit special. As ever, the list of drivers and cars is a who's who of the motoring world.

The driver who will almost certainly be the centre of attention is new Formula One star Lewis Hamilton.

The 22-year old Briton will be piloting his McLaren-Mercedes up Goodwood's 1.16-mile hillclimb. It's Hamilton's first UK appearance so far this F1 season, and comes hot on the heels of his maiden victory.

Hamilton will be joined by, among others, Jenson Button (remember him?), Stig Blomqvist, Anthony Davidson, Vic Elford, Gwyndaf Evans, Emerson Fittipalidi, Andy Green, Damon Hill, Paddy Hopkirk, Jochen Mass, Allan McNish, Colin McRae, Hannu Mikkola, Stirling Moss, Michele Mouton, Jackie Oliver, Riccardo Patrese, Andy Priaulx, Anthony Reid, Carlos Sainz, Ralf Schumacher, Petter Solberg, Jackie Stewart, John Surtees, Mark Webber and Malcolm Wilson.

Got your breath back yet?

Hold on to it, because the list of cars is no less impressive. The main focus around Goodwood House will be a display from Toyota, which is celebrating 50 years in motorsport.

The display includes a replica of the 1957 Toyopet Crown rally car, a Celica Group B rally car plus Toyota F1 cars, Indycars and Le Mans cars.Toyota will also be sending its GT1 Le Mans car, TF106 F1 car and the iconic ST165 and ST185 Celica GT4s up the hill.

Other Japanese firms will also have a strong presence at Goodwood. Mazda's celebrating 40 years of rotary engines with the Cosmo 110 and hydrogen RX-8, plus the new CX-7 crossover and 2 supermini.

Nissan will have the storming 350Z GT500, and the bonkers Pivo electric concept car. Honda, meanwhile, has a selection of F1 cars, and the 260bhp JAS Civic Type-R.

There will be more competition cars on display on the Audi stand, including the record-breaking R10 diesel Le Mans car, which will be driven by Allan McNish, fresh from this year's 24-hour race.

Ferrari's celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, so expect a big display from it, including road and race cars and a 250 GTO. Sister-brand Maserati will also be there – and Autocar will be hitching a lift up the hill in the new GT coupe.

If you want something more extreme, Goodwood's your first chance to see the production version of the Caparo T1 and the KTM X-Bow.

Nothing, however, will be quite as extreme as the Swiss-made Acabian GTBO; the crazy motorbike-plane-thing that its makers claim can hit 342mph.