Rebellion Lola B12/60

We at Goodwood Road and Racing will freely admit to being fans of Rebellion Racing – the independent outfit that has consistently taken on the big teams at the Le Mans 24 Hours and in the World Endurance Championship. Perhaps most famous of the cars they have raced over the years must be the Lola B10 that was the stallwart of the team from the time they first entered the ILMC to the moment they finally entered a car manufactured under their own name in 2014. This B10/60 is not only in the livery that it entered its final race (the first race of the 2014 World Endurance Championship at Silverstone) but is the last Lola you would find racing at the top level anywhere. If that wasn't enough, it's still powered by the eargasmic naturally-aspirated 3.4-litre Toyota V8 that fans will remember from its racing life.

1968 Porsche 911

There's quite a few Porsche 911s at the Sebring Classic 12 Hour – Florida is after all pretty much the US home of the iconic rear-engined sportscar. So picking out a favourite was always going to be feindishly difficult. But then we sumbled across on with a name we couldn't miss on its flank: Justin Wilson. Shortly before the Yorkshireman sadly passed away in a shocking IndyCar crash he agreed to race this car in an event. While Justin never made it to the cockpit of the 911 the owners had already applied his name and elected to keep it there in his memory. A worthy entry to this list.

Porsche 935 K3

Yes, it's another Porsche straight away. But there's several reasons to include this one in the list. Firstly it's a 935, what's not to love about the monster Porsche built for the special production Group 5 regulations in the late-1970s? In the day its 3.2-litre flat-six produced upwards of 800bhp and the turbo woosh as it exits a corner is addictively cool to hear. Secondly we're putting on an awesome high-speed demo of these stupidly brilliant Group 5 cars at the 76^th Members' Meeting in just a few months time and we're getting into the mood already.

'Gulf' Ford GT40

It's a Ford GT40 in Gulf livery just under 50 years after the very same combination won the 12 hours on this very track. So we're instantly sold. Those iconic colours look absolutely outstanding pounding over the concrete slabs of Sebring under the baking Florida sunshine, and at one point this weekend this car was piloted by none-other than American racing legend Jim Pace. Oh, and it's battling (and nearly beating) much newer Lola T70 MkIIIbs!

Lotus 23b

What on earth is this doing here? We're far more used to seeing these small-but-mighty little Lotuses battling hard for the Madgwick Cup at our very own Revival meeting. But the Group 4 racer can now be found all over the world, racing hard and often winning, as it is doing at Sebring this weekend. There's something incredibly cool about seeing the little Lotus riding the bumps as it battles against some much much bigger opposition from across the pond.

Oldsmobile Aurora

The road-going Oldsmobile Aurora is, we're afraid, not a cool car. The soft-edged design sums up everything people think of in a generic '90s American car and it's just not good. But stick a 650bhp V8 in it, strip everything out and race it and it becomes an enchantingly weird, flame-belchng racer. It's cool in a strange way. But you will NEVER find anything throwing out as much fire as this thing. Every time it's off the gas there it goes attempting to make smores out of the opposition. Good enough for cool in our eyes.

Photography by Ben Miles