2026 F1 Predictions! | The Car Podcast #68

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Hello, and welcome to the car podcast of Chris Harris.

He's very, very helpful friends,

because we carried on programming

throughout the Christmas period.

Everyone took a laptop with them,

and wherever they were staying,

whichever renting house or family house they were staying,

they found a way of communicating.

Even Gordon Murray, would you believe it?

It's episode 68,

so not quite ready for a large FNAF session.

That will come as we now work out

at the beginning of the new year.

I don't know why people find that number so funny.

I personally rose above it many years ago.

The highlights of 2025,

the best things you did in a car.

The, that time between Christmas and New Year,

often known as the Gooch,

that is the time for reflection

of what we did the year before.

And sometimes I'm looking forward

to what we're going to enjoy doing next year.

So let's start by reflecting on 2025.

I'm going to go first to Manish,

because normally I don't,

because it's not motorsport related.

So over to Manish first.

Well, let's say I made a little list of things,

and I think it's been a magical 2025,

and I think it's going to be very difficult for me

to top a year like this.

I, you know, had the most extraordinary experiences

at both the Bahrain and Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

I've never gone to a Grand Prix before

where I've wanted a result so badly,

and actually we got the result.

And that, you know, it's been magical,

especially Abu Dhabi,

especially seeing McLaren win,

especially seeing that look on Andrea's face,

and seeing Lando just not able to stop smiling.

Even Oscar, she was fantastically magnanimous,

but amazing.

I think making the Luca film, you know,

it takes so long to make a film, and...

Did you make a film about Luca, Manish?

Yeah, we did.

We did.

So two years.

Two years, two and a half years,

three if you include the development.

It's the most extraordinary feeling

to sit down with a piece of plain paper,

because fundamentally I'm a writer.

I think that's what I really have in common with Mr. Harris.

Our other skills kind of bolt onto the writing,

but writing's where it begins.

It really begins with the written word.

And, you know, when you have a piece of plain paper

and you have to write fade in on it

and really conceptualize something,

and then to see it, you know,

even if you're seeing it in a little theater in Soho,

especially if you're seeing it in an opera house in Milan,

it's the most incredible feeling.

It is the most incredible feeling,

but I have to say all of these,

all of these have been shaded by buying

and picking up Lola, which is what I did this year,

and, you know, to own my dream car

and then to spec her, you know, in a completely mad,

completely, I completely admit it, you know,

a mad but dreamy way to go and pick her up at her walks.

Yes, I know she didn't perform terribly well

on our first day out together.

I'll never forget her being driven

onto that low loader by Mr. Harris, but she's a joy.

I'm driving her in an hour.

Gonna take a lovely sort of, you know, post-boxing day,

cruise up the A40, and I think that experiential thing,

I'm quite a sort of theoretical person, as you know.

You know, the nice thing about liking Formula One

is you're never gonna be good enough

to drive one of those cars.

You'll never get an opportunity to.

So once it sits in that realm of fantasy,

it's my perfect home.

I've got 50 years of experience of that perfect home

that I never actually have to live in.

When you buy a car, you know, and the fuel cable goes,

or, you know, it craps its air conditioning over itself,

or you just drive it along Parkway

and a motorcycle overtakes you and blows a kiss.

That's real.

None of that is theoretical.

And I think that's the, for me,

the happiest thing about being a part of this podcast.

You've taken Mr. Theory and inch by inch,

you've dragged him, kicking and screaming,

but also grinning into reality.

And I love it.

And, you know, long may this live.

And 2026, let's find her a sister or a brother.

Well, let's do it.

Yes, yes.

100%.

What a year.

The B3177 turned off.

Ah, someone took a photo.

Honestly, I now, if I'm driving by myself,

I have to kind of stop and do it.

It's really weird how that little innocent road sign,

next time I go past it,

I hope to see a little collection of memorabilia

and others who listen to this,

sort of signifying their little personal moment

of epiphany and enjoyment as they go past the moment

where Lola slightly embarrassed herself

on her first trip.

But I agree with you, it was wonderful.

Thank you.

Neil Clifford, what about,

I mean, I'm just trying to look at my notes here

and I've written far too many.

I'm trying to, because you realise

how much you do in a year, don't you?

Whoa, where are you going to start with?

Well, I do, I have a love-hate relationship

with Instagram.

I don't really do love Instagram.

I think it's funny, but we're all a bit too stuck on it,

aren't we?

The one thing I use on Instagram,

if I can just share with you one second,

the little stories that you can save,

all the things that you've done within your profile.

And whenever I do something lovely,

I do save it in this little story

and I go back and look at it

and look at all the things I've done.

And I drove to Como with my wife.

I went to Goodwood Members Meeting.

I had an amazing stag do, car-related in Sicily.

I went to the TT with Mr. Harris.

I did Classic Le Mans.

I did Car Week in August.

I went to the Toto Bene thing.

I did Revival, the Willow Springs opening in California

and the London to Brighton.

I mean, what, a bloody year?

That is a year.

It's probably my best car year of all time.

And I wouldn't have remembered all those things

unless I had this little sort of,

whatever it's called, little thing that I share.

They're all brilliant.

I can't really choose.

The stag do was really good.

I've got a friend called Luke, Luke Gilberton.

Everyone knows him as Tall Luke.

And he was incredibly nervous.

He doesn't drink.

He was super scared that we were taking him

to, I don't know, Vilnius

or some other sort of slightly shady stag do type place.

And we didn't even tell him where we were going.

We ended up in Stansted at five in the morning.

He looked very sheepish and nervous

and we'd bought all the silly sort of equipment

to make him think he's going to Vilnius.

And then we fly to Sicily and we rent amazingly

three blue Fiat Pandas.

And we just drive the Targa Floreo for three days

with a load of mates, Alex Penfold,

who probably is the best automotive photographer

in the world, amazing, amazing, talented individual,

made a book out of it.

And maybe another little podcast I'll share in 20 seconds.

There's a book called, whatever it's called,

10 Days in Sicily, which is an amazing book

that Chris and I know and bloody expensive thing.

I gave it back to you, I gave it back.

You did, you gave it back to me.

And then we've replicated that book.

Penfold replicated that book, made that book

because we took all the same photographs.

We've reenacted the photographs from that book this year.

And if I was going to add up everything,

TT was amazing, Willow Springs was amazing,

Revival's always brilliant.

I didn't even talk about the scramble.

Great thing about the scramble,

it's not about the cars, about the people,

it's just the most joyful event of the year always.

But my highlight probably would have been

Tall Luke's stag do in Sicily,

reenacting the Targa Florio of 66.

Brilliant year for me.

There you go, there's a prompt to everyone who's listening.

If you fancy doing something in 2026,

reenact a great event that you used to find

captivating as a child.

Yes.

Don't try and recreate the Birmingham Super Prix

in your local town centre, if that's what it was,

but outside of that, it's sort of carte blanche.

Chris Cooper.

Though I think bringing back the Birmingham Super Prix

on an official basis,

rather than just an unofficial basis

at two o'clock in the morning, would be mega.

If you've got five minutes to spare

over this Christmas and New Year period,

this goes out on the 2nd of January, I think, doesn't it?

So the last weekend before proper work restarts,

then just go onto YouTube and find pictures of the Birmingham,

both the F3000 race, which is just mentally fast,

but the two-in-car races, and usually John Clelland,

having business with Frank Sitner or James Weaver

or whatever it is, it's really brilliant.

The two of you, you've both kind of hit the nail on the head

about, I think, what this is about.

It's about people and trips for me.

I haven't done as many wonderful things as,

I have to redouble my efforts to not work so much next year

and find time to do these things,

because they all sound unbelievably wonderful.

I work hard too.

I know you work hard, but I have to work even harder

to find the time to do that.

I'm joking, I'm joking.

To do that.

So the St. Morse road trip we did,

the Cornish road trip we did, beginning of the year.

Sorry, this is my, some of you might have noticed,

I think, thank you very much, Cameron.

My Lem soup has arrived.

Good lad.

Members meeting, little mug.

Members meeting.

This is why I'm dressed up all warm this morning,

because I'm feeling really, really sorry for myself,

because I've got the man flu.

So apologies if I'm slightly nasal, shit.

The road trip to Cornwall was brilliant,

because we were all in our, each of us were in our own cars.

And there is something, there is something.

It's not just, there's a bit of a childish wonderment about it.

And I don't mean sort of just being reprobate

and sort of anti-social, I don't mean that.

It was just this childlike Geely of being on the road

with your mates, and where are we gonna stop for petrol

and when's Lola gonna break down, really?

But the sort of, well, Lola did break down,

the sort of the Geely we all had about,

but we can fix this.

That's lovely.

Which has mainly involved Mr. Harris and Mr. Clifford,

bringing their considerable resources to bear to sort of,

and actually, luckily, I had a four seat car.

Yes. A large boot.

Otherwise, Manage would have been still on the off road

of the B3177 between Holiston and Exeter.

So that, the road trip, so we've got to,

we'll get to it later on when we do the next trip.

We've got to do a road trip.

The road trip was really, really fun.

There's another road trip in there, which was the one,

we sort of was a road trip.

That Mr. Harris and I did with our sort of eldest,

my boys and his eldest, going to the Nurburgring in May

for the Darren Langeveld destination Nurburgring track day,

which is the best track day thing.

It's just wonderful.

They're so well organized, great people, great cars,

blessed with fantastic weather again,

and just the sort of the driving there,

because my boys had never been.

So a bit like we used to do when you get off the motorway,

going towards Kälberg, looking for the signs

where the tank weight limits are on the side

of the road or the speed limits,

which have gone, which is really frustrating.

But just remembering all the happy things that we'd done

when we were racing there,

you know, busily and stupidly and expensively,

just sharing that with my boys.

And then the whole stake on a stone, the piston clouser,

asked Mr. Bovingdon, Chris Hoy, all there together

was just such a lovely, lovely.

It was the people, it was the place,

but it was also the trip on the way back.

Some of you will find this extraordinary to believe.

Mr. Harris wasn't quite ready to leave on time.

When we left.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,

there's a story to that.

So I said, I might have said something along the lines of,

tell you what, we'll leave now,

because I hate waiting.

I really hate waiting.

I hate not being on time.

I know-

You gave us 30 seconds.

It might have been less than that.

So the boys and I, we made haste towards Kale.

We probably made progress on a number of occasions

to considerable effect.

So we got there and we got into the Flexi Plus

and it was a train we wanted to get.

So I said, because, you know,

one travels with hope as well as generosity.

We'll go into the Flexi Plus

and get all the sandwiches you can get.

So Mr. Harris doesn't have to stop at Flexi Plus.

Let me touch.

And we'll meet up on the train.

Actually, we got onto the same train.

We went on different floors.

He's only a couple of cars behind us.

So we had a lovely little trip on the train right at the end

where we shared all the sandwiches that we'd blagged

and sort of got in the Flexi Plus little terminal.

And we got onto the M20,

which is always a bit disappointing

after being on French and Belgium and German auto routes.

We had a lovely little roll up the M20

towards Meathow and Ashwood,

watching that ridiculous rear wing

on that 992 RS from Reading as it opens and closes.

When you're behind it,

when you watch that thing open and close,

it is just the most extraordinary device to have ever seen.

But it was wonderful because it was the trip.

It was the journey as much as being there.

The people, the company,

it's just the elixir of life.

Do more things.

So yeah, so there's loads more,

maybe not quite as many as Mr. Clifford's,

but they're all characterised by the company,

the cars are important,

as much as what we're doing with them

and the trip and the journey.

There's a lesson in there for all of us.

I wrote a list, but there's too many of them.

It makes you realise how lucky I am to do the things I do.

I want to clarify one thing about the Nurburgring trip,

because I'm very private about my life.

You won't find any pictures of my children anywhere,

you won't even find their names.

But this particular specimen I was dealing with in Germany,

who obviously is my oldest one, I love him to bits,

he's upstairs at the moment, he'll wake up in about,

this is being recorded at 11am,

he'll sort of saunter down at one or something.

He's that student age.

I said to him, last thing I said was before I went to bed,

because after a day at the ring, you're quite tired,

you know, you have your steak on a stone,

you have all these thoughts of having a couple of beers,

you have one beer and you feel hammered

and you go to sleep, it's lovely.

I said to him, because he stayed up with the Cooper boys,

there you go.

They did do that, yeah.

I said, we're leaving really early,

we're leaving at about 5am.

So just, you know, all I care about is you're awake,

ready to go, yeah, yeah, don't worry about it,

it's all covered, don't worry, it's all good.

So anyhow, we get to 4.45, whatever it is,

he's cleaning that awake.

But I know his room's next to mine,

and it's in the Lindtner Hotel,

right overlooking the roundabout,

that central roundabout where the Nurburgring,

sadly everyone now misbehaves.

Anyhow, the sun was coming up,

it was the peak of the summer,

probably not far away from the solstice, was it?

And there were already a couple of people,

Brits, that either not gone to bed,

that were on the roundabout.

So I had to try and extricate my son from this room.

So I went on the outside over the balcony,

round the outside, had a bit dodgy,

scaled the balcony, and I was wrapping on his window

of his balcony, and words I can't use now,

like, Mr. Cooper's gonna drill me seven U.S. holes

unless you come downstairs immediately,

because he's got the patience of a serial killer.

And sure enough, I was wrapping on the window,

and I heard this, oh, what do you want?

And I woke him up, he realized his mistake,

and I turned around, and I've never had this before,

there was, I don't know who you are, if you're still there,

I think you're a British.

Someone shouted, can I get a photograph from the roundabout,

as I went, as I tried to scale back over the fucking balcony

to go back to my balcony.

I didn't know you'd done that.

5.03 a.m.

That's actually quite dangerous,

you could have fallen off, and everything.

It was extremely dangerous,

but I'd rather, I'd risk that,

rather than have to deal with your face,

when I'm late.

Slightly humble.

There we go.

So, what do we do?

First of all, trips, yes, I love trips.

Also, buying something, and using it as it should be used,

is the thing I love the most.

So, if you buy a lawn mower, go and mow seven acres.

If you buy a streamer, go and take on something

that's worth streaming, don't buy a car,

and not use it as intended.

So, beginning of the year, brilliantly,

we owned a 4.58 Spider, and we drove it all the way to Rome,

to see Manish and Luca, and then we had an adventure

on the way back, and we went and saw Rafa in Maranello.

And do you know what, we sold the car very soon afterwards,

partly because we needed the money as ever,

but partly because I ticked the box.

You know, I just think, if I ever owned a 4.58 Spider,

am I ever gonna do anything more Ferrari with it,

than drive to Rome, to have a photo outside Luca's apartment?

I'm not, I've just, you know, I've completed,

I've completed that game.

I'd have another one in a flash, by the way,

one of the highlights of my last few years,

the 4.58 Spider, but then the Luca Sergio Iroca's,

between us four, we will quadruple the value of them,

over the next few years.

100%.

Ferrari doing that all by themselves, to be honest.

No, no, Manish.

We'll get to that later.

We'll get to another.

So, Bahrain Grand Prix is always a good laugh.

My abiding memory was standing on that fucking grid,

thinking I'd rather have pins put in my cuticles,

than be here, and seeing,

I bet that's Neil Clifford with the pings.

It's someone sending me a car for sale,

I'm turning my phone off.

Oh, because it's our good friend, Mr. JK,

and once those start coming,

they're gonna get you on going.

Also, that's the thing you may need to turn that off.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's cool.

Or you can show us what he's sending you.

It was a Citroen AX.

GT?

Yep.

Cool.

I've now turned my phone off.

I'll have a look.

I don't know whether it's on car and classics.

Yeah, I'll let him.

I might have views on that front.

Anyhow, so we, I was stood there,

I was aware of the fact that the bloody live feed camera

was there, and I was stood like an absolute lemon.

Luca and the boss of the FIA,

and I thought that some people would love to be here.

Right now, I'd give you a grand

to just be anywhere else, 10 grand.

I don't want to be there.

And Martin, very kindly, I don't know where went,

and grab and make you safe and sort of metaphorical cuddle.

So that was good.

I then, the springtime was interesting

because I purchased a Daimler Super V8,

which is one of those cars that, when I bought it,

I, you know, a minute after buying it,

I thought, what have I bought this for?

Tell you how much it was, and what have I bought this for?

Beforehand, there was a pre-purchased deal.

I can't remember who it was with.

His initials at NC.

Yes, that's right.

And so he's the one that can't control

his text messages at the moment.

So I said to Neil, you said you're going to own

half of a Daimler Super V8, it's going to be an honour.

And when it became available, he went, no, I'm not.

That just tells you why I should be...

I don't do halves.

I hate this halves strategy.

Well, some of us have got half measures resources.

So I...

It was a slightly more complicated half strategy,

if you remember, Mr. Harris.

So I...

This thing landed and I thought, what have I done here?

This is just one of those ones where

this seemed like a really good idea at 1 a.m.

And it's turned out to be the car

I've probably done the most miles in this year.

It's absolutely glorious.

It lowers my pulse and it's going absolutely nowhere

apart from staying in my shed.

It's a reminder of all the values

that Jaguar should be presenting.

And I think we all go over those ad nauseam in 2026,

but Jaguar was a big part of my 2025.

I had no idea.

The SGS project is moving forward, so I promise you.

Just had a few hiccups on the way,

but it is coming along nicely.

We've got the spec of the engine defined

and the cars in pieces with Graham and his merry help.

So Jaguar, big part of the year.

Green M5, V10.

You've not seen much of that recently,

because... Oh, by the way, Cooper.

Yes.

Green M5 is...

Watch this space. Let's just say, watch this space.

The engine is an ongoing project.

Dara at everything M is working hard on it.

Let's say it's been less than straightforward

over the last three months

since he went to the Mr Scramble,

which, of course, is another highlight for me.

I don't really... Not for good people.

Not for good, with large groups of people.

But, actually, the Scramble is fabulous.

Joyful.

I think... And, you know, it's Mars' birthday.

It's better than Goobood.

Keep Goobood. You can have... I love Scramble.

I had quite a lot of Goobood as well,

but I think the Scramble's better.

I'm allowed to say that.

So, the Intergrali.

So, lovely Peter at GP.

Classics and Customs, or Customs and Classics,

has built this amazing interior,

but did so much more.

He basically rebuilt my Intergrali by hand.

I didn't suddenly a huge bill.

He might... Him and Dara,

are they the best human beings I've met this year?

They're up there. They're fabulous.

Intergrali driving out for the first time.

I think two things stand out for me.

I've done lots of events, done lots of racing and rallying.

I've spoken enough about this safari.

Of course, that's the best thing I did last year,

because it's probably the best thing I've ever done in a car,

without holding a steering wheel, which is bizarre.

But I think the Race of Remembrance,

I'm going to have a big push on this next year.

So, all of you that listen,

there's going to be some Mission Motorsport-based events.

There's one in January.

If you look on my Instagram, you'll see,

as a track day, I think it's 24th.

Yeah, exactly.

Nighttime track day.

So, we're having a track day in the dark at Anglesey.

What could possibly go wrong?

So, that's one event.

And we're going to have more,

because being around those people is humbling,

and I haven't done enough with them,

partly because BBC wouldn't let you do much outside of

children in need or whatever it was they did.

So, Race of Remembrance, fabulous.

That's an event to cherish.

And then, it always comes back to this for me.

I'm not saying this is more important,

because the Race of Remembrance is the most important thing

I could do all year.

But the Isle of Man TT is the best thing you can do.

There's nothing comes close.

Nothing even comes close in terms of what you see,

the people you meet, the laughs you have.

So, this year again, I'll be renting a house for a week,

and I'll wobble over on some motorcycles with some friends,

and I will sit there and I will drink in what is the best

spectator of any type,

whether it's four wheels, two wheels, any wheels,

or in fact, doesn't have to be sport.

I think it's the most extraordinary thing

short of watching Saturn 5 launch from a couple of yards away.

So, I know I'm a scratch record about the TT,

but I think it's fabulous.

And of course, the podcast.

So, I don't really assess what we do here.

Just because my brain doesn't work like that,

I just wake up, I get led by these three married gentlemen

who are much clever and more talented than me,

and we just talk bollocks.

And there's something, well, maybe I've taught them one thing,

that is if you just relax into your standard,

just your standard bullshit trade and just talk chat,

and if people listen to it, that's content.

That's content. That's all you need to do.

And I love it. And sometimes there's this,

oh, we need to do this, we need to switch it up,

we need this, we need this.

No, you don't. You don't.

You just need the four people talking bobbins.

And it's lovely. And we're very, very grateful

that you listened to us.

We will have the occasional guests,

but only do it to keep people off my back.

Right, here we go.

Let's move on.

Let's move on to the second part of the agenda.

Did you tell them all that?

This is good.

Is the badge always really worth it?

I.e. 560 SEC versus 500 SEC.

This is so specific in the C, not WC126.

I'm going straight to Mr Clifford because I know he wrote this.

Well, I will be an awful name dropper just for 10 seconds.

I had this debate playing tennis with our good friend Jay,

who it will be coming back on in 2026 this morning,

because he has bought the Mercedes S560 cabriolet.

Okay.

It's a lovely, lovely car.

I'm still looking for one of those.

You must have found one I did.

What's an S560?

The S560, the current model, the current issue.

Yeah, the non AMG one.

Yeah, so he had the AMG one.

He had the S63 cab, which was a beautiful thing,

blue with tan, lovely spec.

But we always felt that it was a bit too loud

and a bit too firm all of the time.

He did particularly.

I always thought it was just a cool thing,

but he, you know, he was like, I love it.

I love it, but it's just a bit too much.

I'm going for the thinking man's S cabriolet.

And he wanted the very latest car with the LED lights

and the, you know, that 2021 car has got,

it's got the air scarf.

It's got, actually it's got a heated armrest

in the middle of the car.

It's got four-wheel drive where the S500 before it didn't.

That's right, four-wheel drive.

So you feel, you've got that feeling

of I could drive to the North Pole,

even though you're just driving

to the Holton Tennis Club this morning.

You've got the heated seats, the heated steering wheel,

the air scarf, you've got everything's bloody heated.

But it's softer.

And we had the debate, we had the debate

for a good half an hour this morning

about this sort of badge snobbery.

And sometimes it's correct,

but sometimes I don't think it is correct.

You know, we're all in search of that sort of,

and actually they don't exist anymore,

because even when you find the unicorn, it's shit.

The 325 E30 cabriolet from, you know,

wherever four-star classics or old kernel or, you know,

there's all these 20 grand, they're all a bit shit.

I've bought about seven of the bloody things.

You never find a good one anymore.

They've just been too used.

But the debate we had this morning

was it moved on from S63 and S560,

is that SEC 560?

Now, we always go, don't we,

in our head for the, you've got to have the 560.

You really can't have the 500.

But you know what, and I love Neil Dickens at Hairpin,

he has got the mintiest S560, okay?

Yeah, he has.

It will be a lot of money,

because you can't bloody see it because of this stupid thing.

It's silver with blue, 30,000 miles.

It's, you know, apart from that one,

the Nigel Mansell one that he had recently,

it's a beautiful S560.

You want an S560, that's the one.

But you know, it's going to be 50 grand, right?

Because it's fine me another, sir.

It's one of those dealership conversations.

I know it's expensive, but fine me another.

But then you go round the corner

to our good friends at Edward Hall, right?

They've got a blue one.

Can't see it again.

For 20.

Now, this is 20 grand.

Yeah.

Fundamentally, that model of car,

what is it, W126,

they're all going to be a bit shit, unfortunately.

Not a lot of these cars travel well

from the 80s and the 90s.

Some of them didn't start well.

Yeah, why don't you just do the 420?

Okay, if you've got never-ending supplier money,

get the 560, the 30,000 mile car,

it will be perfect.

But actually, if you just want that shape,

I think for half the money,

you can do the 420.

And if you debadge it, who cares?

You can pretend it's a 560 anyway.

Mr. Harris, would you like to come in at this point?

I've got a little theory on this.

I don't want to interrupt you when you're in full flow,

because it's such a wonderful sight.

It's like seeing an America's Cup racer just soaring through the waves.

I think this is about talk, right?

I'll tell you why.

When you buy one of these older vehicles,

you're normally reliving something you read in a magazine

when you were 15, you thought I'd never have one of those,

but I could find one.

It's normally what you're doing.

And so that's why you buy the 850 CSI.

That's why you buy the 560 SEC,

because they were the ones that you saw,

your favourite journalist driving when you were little.

But the reality is, when you buy that car,

you will probably not bang it off the rev limiter at all.

You know where I'm going with this, right?

So you won't.

And so it doesn't really matter whether you have the super-duper one or not,

because if I buy an 850 CSI and I'm pretty brave with this stuff,

I buy a car, thrash it.

If I drive that like I want to drive it or drive it like a new car,

it'll go bang probably within a couple of months,

or I'm going to have an issue.

So I won't drive it like that.

So really, you have to choose the model that's got similar torque to the top model,

because you're going to drive it on torque, not pounds.

And that's why the ultimate example of that is the R129 SL.

It's a heavy car.

And if you've met cars listening to this, H, we all agree on this.

Sometimes I thought, well, I might just buy a 320 SL R129.

And however hard you go, you can't.

It hasn't got the torque.

You won't thrash it.

But if you want to drive the car without it kicking down every two minutes,

you need the torque of a 500.

320 and the 280 won't do it.

And I do believe classic car or older car ownership is about torque, not power.

So when you...

Well, if the 420 SEC will drive on par throttle a bit like the 560 or the 500,

buy it.

If it won't, you have to get the big one.

It's all about that tickle.

When you tickle away and you think, oh, just pop past someone,

does it want to kick down three gears and feel like it's got no power?

How would you see E30 320 versus E30 325?

Well, I'll tell you what, that's the best example of the other way around.

The 320 is gutless.

And it was so gutless that BMW had to fit a shorter rear axle to it.

So it's got a shorter final drive.

So not only have you got...

You have to rev the knackers off it to make it go.

You then got a car that isn't very nice when you're cruising.

I know this.

This is the best question I've ever been asked.

I wish someone asked this to me one day.

In 1985, my late father went to Western County's BMW in Bristol

to order his new 323...

No, sorry, 84.

His new 323i.

Remember the E30 originally was a 323.

The launch car was a 323.

Yeah.

So he went to order his new 323

and because he liked saving a few pennies,

he looked at the thing and said,

well, we don't need the 323 because the 320

is as fast as the old 323i, isn't it?

Look, you can see the numbers here.

He kept it a year because it wouldn't go fast enough up Dundry Hill.

I remember that.

But it just didn't have the guts.

So you do need a 3...

Long answer, you do need a 325.

You do need a 325.

It's more consistent.

And there are some cars that are really good like that.

The underling, the undercard is actually so close

to being as good as the special one flexing its muscles.

I mean, quite often what you want is the car

that the underling is just a detuned version of that engine.

So a normally detuning means you've got very similar torque,

but you don't have the headline power figure.

They go for power for the marketing materials, don't they?

So you quite often find that, you know, a Golf GT or something,

he's got a staggering amount of torque.

If you drive them on the road where you would a GTI,

they're just as quick, really.

But badge snobbery is really mainly about Mercedes

because they tend to have been brilliant at that one model

17 different versions of the same car.

You know, if you go...

Let me see, there's another example I was thinking about here.

So the 2-1-4 or the 1-2-4, sorry, the 1-2-4 Coupe,

which I've always been...

I've always been...

I've always been keen to...

I've had the Cabriolet.

I've never had the Coupe at the time, mid-90s.

You were such a player with an E320 Coupe.

It's just a really cool car.

But if you saw...

You see the 300s.

Yeah.

And there was that one with the funny badge, wasn't there?

The 324, the 4WD.

The 24WD, that big long badge.

You're always, when you're on car and classic,

you're thinking, oh, bollocks, I can't get a 300.

I've got to find the 320.

I'm sure the 300's similar, isn't it?

The 324 would have been...

You'd need to rev that, because it's, you know, 4-valve.

I said, I've got that engine in a car that I never drive.

That's the phrase that a lot of people will say.

Yeah.

I thought the way Mercedes drew people in

and just understood, particularly male psychology

and our inadequacies with their badging sequences

was so clever.

Do you remember when the W-1-2-4 was launched,

the most popular car was the 230E?

Now, the entry-level car was the 200.

And for the first year, it was carburetor-fed,

so they didn't even give you an E.

Yeah.

So you just had 200 on the back of your car.

Can you imagine how inadequate people felt?

Horrible.

It's interesting what you say about torque.

Because this is, torque is work done.

This is the easiest, simplest way of distinguishing.

What's different between torque and horsepower?

Torque is work done, like lifting a weight a certain distance.

Horsepower is the rate of work done.

How quickly you can do that.

I know.

And you gave us this beautiful explanation last week or the week before.

I did.

But I thought I'd share it with the ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.

That was over lunch.

It wasn't on a podcast.

It was on lunch.

Exactly.

So what I'm showing you now, I think it's really...

Go ahead.

So torque is work done.

Can you lift a weight from here to here?

And that's work done.

Horsepower is how fast can you do that, the rate of doing it.

Which is why horsepower is...

Torque is more important to acceleration.

Horsepower is more important to top speed.

Almost irrespective of weight and blah, blah, blah.

The car of the same weight...

Oh, I got this right.

Car of the same weight, horsepower will affect the top speed of that car.

Overcoming.

Because it's the rate of work done.

Kind of overcome wind resistance, rolling resistance, blah, blah, blah.

So work done is torque.

That's the best way to think about it.

Horsepower is how fast, the rate of it, blah, blah, blah.

I think this...

The 561 is interesting, isn't it?

Because I would have said, almost automatically, the 560 is the one you want to have.

Because it's going to waft more.

Exactly what you said.

It's going to waft more.

But do you know that?

That's what your head tells you.

No, that's what your heart tells you.

It doesn't tell me that I just won the best badge.

See, I think where it doesn't...

Because your question was, is the badge always really worth it?

And the answer is no.

It's not always really worth it.

And I think you're right about Merck.

Because when you look at SL65s through the year, through the years, you think they haven't got much more power.

And that engine is going to weigh an awful lot more.

I'm sort of getting sucked into something, which is twice the price, but actually will frustrate me.

So I won't...

And then you see an S65, the model that you and JK were talking about.

That shape and series of...

Yeah, they do a V12 coupe.

That's super rare.

That V12...

It is super rare.

And there's the convertibles around.

You see, occasionally, you think, God, a twin turbocharged V12...

They're not going to make that anymore.

No.

I think the S560...

The S560, what colour has JK got?

Black black.

So that S560, I think, is the sweet spot of that.

When he was on our podcast last Christmas, he made a passing comment about the S560.

I thought, he's so right.

He's so right.

I spent the rest of the year looking for one and couldn't actually find one.

No, it's a rare car to find.

It's a rare car to find.

Black black.

In fact, I don't know when...

You know, the triple black.

I don't know where the third black comes.

Is that the roof?

Yeah, the black is the roof.

It's a reference to muscle cars.

It was always triple, wasn't it?

Triple black.

Yeah, triple black, which is a really great saying, isn't it?

So I think...

Can I bring Manish in here?

Manish has said nothing for about 20 minutes.

No, it's fine.

I was just...

You know, I'm pondering my R107.

And I think this falls beautifully into exactly this conversation.

We could start this conversation back in the 70s with a 280.

And we could end this conversation in the late 80s with a 560 SL.

And what you have is God knows how many badges in between.

How many engine sizes.

There are some manuals, which I've been told to avoid.

And my view on it was an absolute flip view, which is I really don't care about the badge on this car.

This particular car, I really, really don't care about the badge.

This is not a car that's going to be bought for whole climbing.

This is a car that's going to be bought for taking lovely Sunday drives on you.

I mean, I think I really appreciate your point about the talk.

What you don't want is a car that's gasping and wheezing and breathing like crazy in lane two on the motorway

as you're trying to overtake a truck at 60 miles an hour.

But at the same time, I don't feel wedded to the fact that it has to be an absolutely mint 560 SL,

the very last one, one board.

I was just looking for the pitfalls and perils with this particular car.

I always thought the 420 was quite a thinking man's 107.

And someone said that.

It's the sweet spot.

It was a 500, didn't it?

It was a laser engine, I think it did.

It did.

And as you guys have told me in 560, you can't buy one in Britain anyway.

They're imported from America.

So I really love the idea of, I mean, I'm sitting and thinking 420 over the 500 on the basis of that was the last series of car built.

You'd hope every refinement, everything they'd learned in the previous 20 years, almost 20 years would go into that.

You just can't get a 560.

But that's okay.

That's really okay.

In fact, Jay sent me.

He also sent me half a dozen.

I had the temerity and stupidity to mention this to him on a Sunday morning by literally tea time that afternoon.

He found me sick.

You found your power, right?

No, I mean, I think it's very, very second nature to him.

And I was telling him that I don't mind doing a bit of, you know, doing a bit of almost a complete restoration we find exactly the right one.

No, just buy a decent one.

I mean, the 190, the 190 did it in spades, didn't it?

Because then the 190 became that 190E 2.6.

6, yeah.

I never really understood, but I suppose it's a six cylinder car.

Six cylinder.

It's a lovely, I nearly bought one of those years ago and they were like.

And how was it most commonly specified?

In that, is that, what's that red color it's in?

The sport line with the, was it 13 whole alloys?

And the little blue.

I love that sport line badge.

Yeah.

They've got that badge on this lovely 300 CE at Edward Hall.

Yeah.

Monaco car, navy blue, sport line, air conditioning.

What a gorgeous car.

I quite like to see, I'm sure the people at home would like to see.

I'm going to buy it.

Some sort of Edward Hall and Neil Dickens sort of head to head.

Yes.

Standing on a stepladder together somewhere.

I've seen someone else do that on social media,

but I have a slightly different version of that in mind where the two of them

stand on a stepladder somewhere in equidistant in the Cotswolds

or Buckinghamshire where they're too important.

And they have their two cars nose to nose at the bottom of the stepladder

and they make their case on this stepladder for their respective cars.

I think we'd all go and watch that.

Look at that sport line badge.

It's really annoying just trying to show you.

Just bring the present.

There we go.

There you go.

Look at that.

Lovely.

Great.

Fabulous.

Little blue.

It's a lovely blue.

The little indentations on that sport line.

I think what Manisha said there is true though.

It demonstrates a lot of confidence in the reasons why you're buying a car

if you're immune from the badge issue.

Yeah.

It means you're confident in what you're buying and why you're buying it.

And all I can add to this subject is I am shamefully,

I've always been addicted to the badge.

So I would, I can remember there being periods of time when you could absolutely

prove in my working life that the left of car was the better car.

Yeah.

Really fancy one road like shit.

But I'd always want to get the one that road like shit in for Christmas

so that I would, so that I'd be in the RS4 and I, you know,

I get to drive it around Bristol in the Christmas holidays or like just,

I was always thrilled by that.

And I think, I think it's a bit childish and maybe one to grow out of it.

But maybe it's quite nice.

It's, it's the same bug that means that when you open the car magazine,

you go straight to the acceleration bit.

It's all part of the same virus.

We are trapped in it.

I think you're, if you're managed, you're much freer.

You're letting up buying a better car because you're not constrained.

But I've got to get, if I'm going to get a one, two, three coupe,

it's got to be the 280.

So actually what we're saying is managed hasn't got the virus, which is really good.

Yes.

Speaking of viruses, I know we'll come to our, our car and classic section soon.

But I was, I couldn't sleep too well last night, the old head cold and everything else.

And I, the cricket was quite stressful.

So I went on to car and classic and I looked around.

Has anyone else any found anything as silly as this?

Is that an original showroom?

It's 77,000 miles.

It's an RS 1800 and the asking price is 210,000.

I think we saw the number, yeah.

That's a lot more than a Ferrari F12.

Yes.

I think that's, I think that's what engineers might and scientists might call optimistic.

I think it's about rarity.

Find me another, sir.

I think there aren't many people asking, find me another.

You only need one.

Amazing.

My dad's had the 1.6.

But he had the 1.6 mark two as a GP with cloth seats and had a black vinyl riff.

It was, I love that car.

He got it.

They are.

They're talking about.

Yes.

We went to the, the lovely Sarat green, which is sort of not million miles from where Neil

is or where I live in sort of Hartfordshire, Buckinghamshire border.

And they have a boxing day car, classic car.

People bring old tractors, Land Rover.

We went in our green Defender, lots of Land Rovers, almost everything else.

And there were quite a few mark two Ford Escorts.

Great car.

And they just look so good.

Don't they?

And the size again.

When you see them, they're small, but there's plenty of room.

Small side.

Buy one of those MSTs, whatever they're called.

You could buy one of them for half the money and it'll have 300 horsepower and drive well.

I don't get it.

No, but that's not a real car though, is it?

I mean, it's not an original.

No.

No, but it's not a model.

If you're talking about that, is someone speculating that one day that will be worth 350,000 in

ten years time, aren't they?

Well, I know.

I'm deliberately being opposite because I just don't see it.

Not all objects can assume vast values because they're rare.

Otherwise, you know, let's say the odd dictator might be quite valuable.

No, but that's where things like watches come in.

Oh, don't start on that one.

You know how triggering that is.

We're going to launch our sub-podcast.

I'll do a podcast on G-Shops.

I'll do a show.

I love a G-Shop.

And that Banford G-Shop, Georgie Reginius.

Love that watch.

Yes, it's a good watch.

So here we go.

Rear of the Year Award.

What's the best looking arts you've seen on a – no, sorry.

Rear of the Year, your favourite back of a car.

I mean, how do you answer that?

It's tricky, isn't it?

There's just too many and it will change every five years.

Is it a car that's been built this year or just something like that?

Any car.

Any car you've seen this year that had a great arse.

I saw – I'm going to start here very quickly.

So I've seen two of these that are quite rare,

but they were what they call that low-roof coontash, right?

And they both had the really wide Pirelli P7 fitted to them at the rear

with the extended arch, which actually worked without the wing.

There was one I saw in a showroom in Holland

and I saw another one at the Peterson Museum.

That, from low down, because you can see so much of the tyre

and just how big that boot is in the wheel arch.

Is that the original P7?

No, no, no.

It's the later car.

No, was it the original P7 tyre?

Yes.

I can't answer that.

I thought the original P7 tyre was actually quite narrow.

The later one was the really wide one.

Three, two, five.

It was mega.

Just, I think, that's that from the rear.

Not sure you can beat that.

Over you go.

Let's go to Chris Cooper.

I've got 997 RS Gen 1.

And if you ask me next week, it will change again.

But the reason why that's got in my head,

I actually saw one yesterday.

It was black with the green decals and stripes, silver wheels.

I think green end caps on the rear wing.

And it just sort of burble past.

And as it went past, it saw from the rear three quarters.

It was so different that that car felt

just such a big step on from the 996 RS.

And it won all those tests back in 2007.

It was that car that just, apart from, I think, the Audi R8 one.

But just the stance.

And it all looked, I put it on the list of things we can talk about.

When does function become form?

In other words, when does the way, it looks the way that it does

because of what it's got to do.

When does it actually sort of accidentally end up creating

the most extraordinary form which it just left after?

Because the way it looks, not because of what you know what it does.

And there's a bit about that.

You know what it does, and it looks amazing.

And it just looks in 2007 and now.

It was overlooked for quite a long time.

Wasn't it the Gen 1 RS 3.0?

And the Gen 2.

I remember being offered a Gen 2

by a Porsche dealer that was unsold.

They couldn't sell them.

The 3.8?

Yeah, 3.8.

In 2010.

That's for clever.

If you're listening to this and you want one of those little cheeky tips,

the 3.8 Gen 2 is the one.

Because it's 9.99999999999% of a 4L

and it's about one fifth of the money.

You do the Pepsi challenge, you won't be able to tell the difference really.

They're that good, the 3.8.

They're lovely cars.

So I think that the Gen 1 though,

because it was the first of that when the 997 took everything

and that RS came out, we thought, wow, this is just extraordinary

and it's got all that sort of stuff.

So ask me next week and we'll have a different answer.

It'll be 205 GTI 1.9.

Yes.

Oh, yeah.

This week it's a 997 RS Gen 1.

No, Clifford.

Such a great one, this.

We could just do this for two hours.

If I had to choose one,

and I think Porsche,

Porsche are really good at arses.

Aren't they?

I think they do the best.

928 GTS.

Yeah.

I just love the extravagantness of that.

There's a debate whether it's really the non-GTS,

the pura model,

but the complete ridiculousness of the rear of that car

had a bloody guard's red manual.

What a twat selling it, honestly.

But the problem is, if you own that car in a 911,

you always get in the 911

because basically it's not as nice to drive,

but it's much better to look at.

There's a subject that can be for hours

about cars that are only good to look at

and are actually disappointing to drive.

Let's come back to that.

We'll add it to the list,

but look at 928 GTS rear.

I think it's just...

I mean, it's 30 years old or whatever it is,

and it could be designed yesterday,

and I think that is just a great example

of fantastic design, isn't it?

It was so modern, wasn't it?

76 car of the year.

I remember that car thinking,

oh, my God, that's come from Mars.

I mean, the fact that it won a competition

usually won by a Simca Horizon

or a Simca 1100,

I'm going to show my age there,

was just so cool.

Yeah, so that to me is just

an incredible back-end of a car.

So I'm going to ask Manish here,

but I'm going to preface it with the fact

that if I hadn't chosen the Coonshash,

I'd have chosen Lola.

So, because I think that is...

It's just... Look at that.

I think the Ferrari 456 M,

or not even the M, the GT,

they've got basically identical rims.

I don't think there's anything more beautiful than that.

The three-quarter view, that's it.

That's what sold it for me.

I'll tell you one thing,

I did have a little bit of a troll on this subject,

and I was looking at cars from 2026,

performance cars, you know,

supercars from 2026.

And I made a little list.

I looked at the 33 Stradale,

the Maserati Fogliore,

the Range Rover,

the newest 911,

the Lambo Temerario.

I really looked at the rears of these cars

and the three-quarter views,

and I have to say,

there's something model kit

about the way these cars are put together.

It's almost as if...

You know when you used to build models,

you'd get the chassis and you'd put the engine on it

and you'd put the cockpit in

and you'd snap the body around it.

They really have this almost...

I want to use words schizophrenic.

I don't think I mean that,

but it almost feels like two cars

when you look at the back of these.

What Neil was alluding to,

and Chris was alluding to with the Porsche,

what you're alluding to with the other Porsches,

there's something very integrated

about the chassis and the body.

And when you look at the rear,

you know, they're trying to make this

a very beautiful statement.

What I found is these cars look like two cars to me.

It looks like a car that's been stuck

on top of another car.

That was actually my only criticism

of the Ferrari 288 GTO.

There's something about the size of the box

and the way that the body sits at the back,

almost too high,

almost as if the body is a little bit of an afterthought

and plonked on top of a chassis.

I mean, look at this Temerario at the back.

See, that just doesn't look very integrated to me.

It just looks like this.

Yeah, now you pointed out, I agree.

There's something odd about the way

that they build this black thing

and then they plonk on your coloured body.

And I think cars from 30 years ago,

40 years ago, 25 years ago,

the Porsches that you point out,

they're so gorgeously integrated.

Someone sat down and just designed the whole car,

not done a kind of Ferrari in the 50s

where they're quite happy to build a chassis,

stick a cockpit into it, the engine,

and say to pin in Farina,

go on then, give us the best body you've got.

There was something very integrated,

almost as if Enzo knew what Sergio was going to do

or almost as if Colin Chapman kind of knew

what Giugiaro would do.

There was a very integrated way of thinking about it.

Ironically, it's probably much more integrated now,

but I find the bodies and the pans

don't match quite so well.

I think four, five, six rear lights

and how they're integrated with the shape of that body

is genius.

Those rear lights are really good.

I also totally get Managee's points about this.

There's this self-conscious overcomplication

to the rear of a lot of cars.

Yes, yes.

I think actually, and it would be interesting

if one of our clever designers that listens to this

might confirm, with the front of the car,

you're so restricted by what you can do

just in case you're here to pedestrian.

I suspect you've got some more freedom

with the rear of the car to express yourself.

I have to say, modern Lamborghinis

really do leave me quite cold

and I don't get the whole thing,

but the Temerario rear,

I love the way that so much of the tyre is visible.

It's a bit like that,

hearts back to the Countach.

I've seen one on the road

and it just looks like someone's carved out

and the race cars lost its rear valance

or something in a car.

I think that's really cool.

I'll give them that.

The one I could never unsee was,

of course, the BMW,

was it the i8?

If someone said to me, the i8 looks like

a 991 Carrera has just been driven

straight up its arse.

If you look at it,

you can never unsee it.

You can never unsee it.

I suppose birthing is the wrong verb.

Let's move on.

Has everyone had a go at that?

Let's move on

to some F1 predictions,

which, of course, are based on nothing but hearsay.

Here we go.

Let's start with Chris Cooper,

who has got man flu

and is sitting this one out for you.

Go on.

Yeah.

I think it's clearly going to be

something about engines, isn't it?

And there's a rumour going

around in some of the specialist press

and some of the chitter-chatter elsewhere

that the Red Bull

Ford project

and the Mercedes project

have somehow found a way

of

increasing the compression ratio

and therefore the likelihood of making more power

when the engine is hot.

I have a theory

as to how this has happened.

I haven't read this anywhere.

So I'm going to share it with you now

to see what you think.

I think it's to do

with

the fact that Toto

Toto Wolf

is actually the terminator.

Way back

when he started at Mercedes,

so sort of in summer 2013

I had

a curry one evening

just outside Bista

with a bunch of blokes

who were then, some of them still now,

senior engineering figures

in Formula 1 tips. I won't embarrass any of them

by recording the conversation we had.

But it was the point when Toto

had first come to public prominence

and he did have that

I'll be back

sort of

thing about him.

And being motor racing

and being British motor racing teams,

when he appeared in Mercedes

all anybody wanted to do

was to get him to say

I'll be back.

They would say Toto

we're going for lunch now.

Are you going to go for lunch

and will you return after that?

You probably had to be at the curry

in 2013

but you get the gist of it.

So I have a theory that actually

Toto is the terminator

and he's been to

100 years hence

and he's brought back some of that

shape shifting metal stuff

that they had in the

second terminator film

judgment day

with the sort of the guy

who changed shape

and was liquid metal and so forth.

Liquid metal man

Yes, I think

what's happened is

they've discovered that Toto is the terminator

and he's been to the future

and he's brought back

some of the base elements of the T2000

terminator unit

and they've made their engine out of all that

clever ship. Yes Clifford.

May I ask a question

as I do not read any of these car magazines

because the fonts are too small

and the stories are too long

What are the changes

for 2026

summarised into

a little period of time?

There are lots of changes but I don't know what they are.

Doctor Pandy can summarise for us.

So in a nutshell Neil

the engines

are being simplified

but they have to produce

half the

power from electricity

so that's the really big change

and the other really big change

is that there's going to be much more

controllable aerodynamics

on this. So DRS

has gone because they're going to have

funny wings

especially at the front that we're able to control them.

They are the two fundamental big changes

so it's effectively

it's a brand new engine formula

and it's a brand new chassis formula

all at the same time.

I've never seen one get within a second of someone

and you can open your flap.

It's not going to be DRS based anymore.

That's all gone.

You will be controlling

your car where you want to

there won't be DRS detector zones.

I think it's going to be

Isn't it going to be a push-to-pass type thing

when you get within a second?

You can press the button

but there's not going to be a DRS zone though

that's what I'm saying.

But the performance opportunity

when you get within a second

the aerodynamic one

reducing drag

has been replaced by

a horsepower version

to do with releasing more energy from the battery

blah blah blah blah blah.

Right.

So there is a one

set of a one-secondy gap

thing.

I think so, yeah.

But it's not a DRS detector.

You're right.

But remember in the 80s

they used to have a turbo boost button

and if you happen to be driving a Williams

and your name was Nigel Mansell

you could just press that button

and you would always press that button

you'd go whizzing past anything else

that was on a straight.

My big

I would just not

I think it's very difficult to predict

I was over-complicate these things

probably the simplest thing to say is

look at who were the top three teams this year

do they have really good personnel

going into next year?

I think Red Bull have lost

quite a few good people

I think Ferrari have lost

quite a few good people

you know you would put some big money

on McLaren doing

very well next year

and you'd probably put some big money on Mercedes

doing pretty well next year

that would be my

really my only prediction. I think I would

predict that Max Verstappen

no matter what he's driving will be the best driver

next year.

They will be my three predictions.

I've got a friend

who

Chris knows well Italian

sort of super connected

cool Italian dude

and he says that Ferrari

is in all sorts of muddle

it's not in a good place at all

it looks like that doesn't it

because really the anything I would want

predictable is Ferrari to be much

better and therefore Lewis has

one more year shot at the 8th

but

not as if I know anything but it doesn't sound

that positive that what I hear

in that regard but correct

Chris Cooper

yes

he's had a go

I'll just explain to you

Terminator

I suppose what we

really saying is going to be bloody red

bull and max again are we that's what

we're saying is the most like

if we had to predict

we had to make a bet

stick a tenner on

no we're going to put a tenner on

well

we've sort of been here before

in 2012

when

was it 12 or was it 14

14 so it's 13

14 sorry

you know whoever's got the biggest

checkbook and the best resources

tends to win the powertrain race

aerodynamics chassis

they can be brilliant ideas

can't they they can be a new

or something like that but

if you've got money and you've got Bricksworth

who've been probably developing this powertrain

from Mercedes for two or three years

now you'd have to wait

their dog's shouting at me come here

I think it's

it's lightly that's the case but I've heard

quite good things you know about the

Red Bull Ford thing and you know

I think there's a lot of shard and Florida

people kind of want that to go wrong

but it sounds like they're doing

a good job

I've got this overarching issue

I think the sport is in danger

of

looking a bit silly

because

quite often

motorsport for one reflects

the madness of the road car business

the two are so interconnected

what happened when the road car

decided it was going to electrify itself

more and more and more

it created

products no one wanted

and it created complexities that

just couldn't be fixed

and I just think you can easily see

in round four

seven retirements in Q2 of qualifying

and I'm not sure that's what anyone needs

I think this rule

about producing half

your power from electricity

is the craziest one

I mean in theory

because where does the energy come from

to produce electricity

it's not like the cars have been mandated to have solar panels

so what they do is they have another

form of electricity coming in

they've got to get a petrol engine

to charge up a battery

now of course they can use their braking

they can use this stuff but what if some clever clogs

finds out that

we've got a very efficient engine so this is what we're going to do

when max breaks going into the corner

we're going to of course decouple the engine

but the car's going to rev higher

so it can charge the battery

so you get this absolutely

paradox of as you go into a corner

this is exactly what's going to happen

this is should it

come back to the age-old argument is it a technology

formula or is it a racing formula

but really

I want whoever wins next year's championship

to be a worthy world champion that race the best

I don't want them to be the best harvester

because harvester is the people

who gather fruit there where I live

and I just get a funny feeling

we're about to is this a bit like a Vettel

with the first blown diffuser someone's going to get

a little Mac that gives them the advantages

and by the time we get to the 18th

race no one else can catch up with them

not the engine of Aston got

because you have to

you have to assume

that Adrian's going to come up with something

very clever

from an aerodynamic perspective

let's say

but Honda are coming in

for the first time

no they've basically been behind

the Red Bull engine project for the last

Honda have been in and out in and out

but they've basically powered

Max's world championships

that's what I wouldn't count them out at all

I think that's the thing they've been

continuous parts of Formula 1 now

since they actually supplied

McLaren back in the

I think it's 2015 was the first

Honda engine McLaren so they've been

in and even though they were

out of Red Bull this partnership

with Aston Martin

I think could be very potent

the other thing I mean I would wager is

no matter where Aston start next year

I think it's almost certainly going to be the most

improved team by the end of the year

because they've got this very very very clever

designer who understands

I think it's a fallacy that Adrian's just

Mr Aero

I don't think he's at all I think he's Mr

Complete Package

he's been playing this game

he's been playing this game since 1988

he's been building the best cars

that's a hell of a

chip to have in your brand just as a bit of a joke

he goes off and builds America's Cup Boats

and back he comes and I think

I think you're looking at the cars can be the most

improved the other thing is in terms of

high IQ drivers

he's got Alonso Alonso's been driving

can we run I think

is it 1999 his first season

or 2000? 2000

yeah 2000 this man is

going to go into his 27th season of Formula

1 with a couple of years off

he has got a chip in his brain which is

extraordinary I think the other brilliant

test driver is Carlos Sainz

I think you're going to see the Williams is going

to do some very clever I think this could be the kind

of unless someone's

you know absolutely got the key

and got the car that's 2.5 seconds

faster I think this could be a brilliant

development yeah because you will

are they allowed to test the cars

on circuit yet when does the

when does end of January

they have a behind closed doors

because it's you know there could be

some real shitters in when they put them on

track that's very cynical

there's a first test

behind closed doors in Barcelona

end of January then

they have two

open tests in Bahrain

before the first

race so I suspect even

though the end of January one is meant to be

closed in the modern world

there's no such thing I think we should

all go shouldn't we we should just all go

and get those

you'll be some sort of no fly on

GPS blocking and anyway

so um Cadillac

enter yes

and be interesting to see

if they don't finish last

I think they'll have done

unbelievably well yeah

but I'd better have better ride

comfort than the others

do you think

the longest running engine in Formula 1

do you think they

and they have got two

more mature drivers

yes so maybe

there's a happy coming together of

the comfort that the more mature driver might

seek from their automobile

of the racing kind

and the brand values that we might

see in a 1978

Cadillac

Fleetwood Brawn or whatever

it is called I would love it if they actually

if they if they

their first car was

the Cadillac

FB01

and the FB was for Fleetwood Brawn

or have we pronounced it

and obviously

Mr Wheatley

now have four rings on his shirt

rather than that rather

I hope you will rather than that

awful kit they've had to wear the last

green and looks like chewing gum

or whatever it is they've been walking around

wearing

um

we tend to see

massive steaks

haven't Audi been the naughty ones

in terms of really enforcing the engine

rule because I think there was a lot of

being sensible that was breaking out and they said

no we spent all this money you're not changing a thing

and it sort of slightly reminds me

of you remember when diesel Le Mans

engines were the ones to have and what Audi did

to kind of make sure that

they were advantaged

so none of the none of the car

has any electric power when it starts

it's not like a battery that they

put 50 miles in like an i3

the

only electricity is generated

from the engine as it's going along

that's the irony is that the

you can't create

universally you can't create

energy it just you change it from one

form to the other they're not plugging

hybrid these cars I think I'm right in saying

man you should not plug in hybrids

they will have charge in the battery

when the car starts

they will have charge that will last about

two yards the way that these guys

operate they're going to have to keep charging

the batteries they're going to have to discharge

they're going to keep charging about and the charging

can only come from hitting your brakes

and that petrol thing

the other thing we should have mentioned synthetic fuel

at 200 pounds a litre

that other green

kind of credential that's what they're saying

that synthetic fuel is going to be

imagine a hundred litre engines

20,000 pounds

that is what it cost to fill up your car

for a Grand Prix

that other

better off just giving us normally

aspirated V10

recycling the food scraps

that happen in the paddock club wouldn't they

that's really what they should be doing

of course

New Year's resolutions

good god

let's try and keep it down to one or two

my friends

all coupers disappeared off

let's start with

let's start with Neil

I want to

really replicate what I've just

achieved in 25

I'm like Christ

if I can stay healthy

stay positive and do that

same shit that I did in 25

if that would be really

bloody good definitely want to go to TT

Classic Le Mans

now every year for everybody

so definitely try and make that

it's really good my first little goal

is Retromobile

so I try to

break down my little

into quarters Retromobile in Paris

little Thursday into there

lovely little car show

loads of weird French shit going on

and then if you really

can get your shit together drive down to the ice

in Samarits for the last week

in January so that's what I'm trying to do

replicate 25

be really good

I'll answer that now so

yes replicate the year before

I start off

with the first quarter of the year

I think I'm going to do Retromobile because I've never been

I'm going to try and be more

open minded about events this year I struggle with them so

I'm going to do that

we're going to the fat ice race

in Zalamse as well I'm doing that

that's on the Sunday it's all in the same weekend

Retromobile

Samarits

and the fat in Austria is all

that's three or four days

you can try it all

jump in something comfortable

we're going to finish some of the cars

that I started last year

that's quite important

I'm not saying it's entirely

my fault

there will be people that will help me

so I'm going to finish some of those cars

I'm going to

aim towards one big

motorsport event that I'm going to take part in

it's not going to be a track event

I want to do the Silver Fern

rally in New Zealand

in November next year

as the Oracle himself

said Francis Tuttle said

that is the best event

of them all

so I want to do that Silver Fern in November

I don't know what a car will be in

but I'm going to work towards that

I'd like to do it in a BMW E30 M3

really that would be lovely

so

and then other than that

I want to try and do as many scrambles as I can

and I want to

I want to write a bit more

as in tap tap tap

that's really my first love

actually I like making films and other stuff

but I think

it's difficult to disassociate yourself where you came from

and I came from a world of still photography

and written word

and my heroes were the photographers

and I love it when Neil says that Alex Penfold

is the greatest living car photographer

but obviously he's a very talented boy

but I'm not sure that respects the generations

of

still photographers that worked on magazines

and took film

I used to stand out in the rain with them

and they didn't have any digital stuff

they just had a Polaroid back

on a medium format camera

they had no idea of what they took was any good or not

and you'd go to the light box two days later

and go you're a genius how on earth

did you manage this

we definitely need to get a few photographers

on here to tell us all about it

because I love

that's such a great idea

that's a great idea

the Stan Papuels

and the Gus Gregory's

and the Charlie McGee's

and the Amy Lipmans

they're stunning so

my part of that world was writing the stories

and I wrote September for Roadwrap a couple of weeks ago

and I really enjoyed it

I mean you can't make a living out of it

but that's not the problem

it should be a bit beyond that now

so I think

yeah, writing, a bit more writing in 2026

Chris Cooper

I'd like to replicate

Mr Clifford and Mr Harris's

years from 25 and 20 is even half of it

I'd like to go to the

I know we all say this

we must all go to TT, that will be mega

because I've never been

I'd like to do

a motor racing event

with my two boys where the three of us

share the same car at some point in some way

don't know how we're going to do that or afford that

put that on the list somewhere

otherwise a ridiculously busy year

my wife bought me

for Christmas

this book

oh, I wrote that

I've seen this on social media

and the internet and lots of other

I must get that book and Lynn, bless her

she bought it for me

so in the spring

we're definitely going to do this

in the spring

she and I will go up to the west coast

when

the Sky Glen Elg ferry

reopens in the spring, I think it's March, April

I'm sure they'll tell us whatever it is

when the weather gets a bit

sort of less horrible

and

drive around the sky

and not the whole of the north coast 500

because you do that probably takes probably longer than we have time to do

in ridiculously busy lives

so

the most important thing is that Lynn and I go on a road trip together

in the west coast of Scotland

and all the things I've said we'll do in the last 20 years we haven't done

and

go out and check the tyre pressures on cars

and check the oil level

and vacuum them out

and clean the inside of the windscreens because

clean cars that are looked after

are nicer and better to drive

that is a fact

come on man, it's what you do in

2026

I want to extend my car

collection to three

that's the first thing

so we've got to really make up

is it the R107

or is it

something else

with the X-Share

well this is the mega schizophrenia now

isn't it but I think we've got to do that

and then the thing I'd love to do

of course it'd be wonderful to do another

2025

and make a movie and do a bit of writing in this

I think we should go

on a really cool

at least two night

road adventure

and I think we should film a bit of it

I think that's the

it would be lovely to have a little five minute film

at the end of one of these pods

basically showing my newest car breaking down

you guys on the phone

me standing there

with all this angst but knowing deep down

it is a first world problem

but

I'd be very very happy

to replicate 2025

with a new car

I think your three decisions are

Alpine 110, R107

or XJS V12 camera

I'm telling you my sphere about the Alpine 110

this is my fear I've really managed to work it out

because Ashley

Devonche Ashley sent me a text

yesterday with a beautiful picture of his

which is very sort of saying go on

you know you want one of these

I just heard the pod with Gordon Murray

and you've just got to get one

and I pinged him back and I said

I'll tell you what my fear would be

it's so bloody good I wouldn't want to drive Lola again

you need to 900

300 horsepower 900 whatever

one ton car

with an automatic that's just super comfortable

that rides

cheapest can you imagine

you get addicted to that

everything else seems like a

you know

I don't think you can

you can't

even if you have an amazing

spaghetti bolognese

you're not going to have it every night are you

and also you get used to

Michelin staff rosette food daily

if you drive across to McDonald's

you'll still have one

how does that work with women guys

more complicated

very very difficult

can prove expensive

so let's move on to

now

brevity is something I want to embrace in

2026

what does that mean

explain that

so here we go

this is the best

and briefest two car cars we've ever had

I chose it for precisely that reason

very good

there's so much irony in that

I don't know where to begin

let's start with Craig

Purvis

20k budget

performance of state

for work

and a cabriolet

that's your lot

we love you you're going first

so cabrio I think

you get an R129

this is a 320 but it's quite low mileage

and I think when your budget is 20k

I think that would just about squeak in

to that 20k budget

I think that goes

on sale

starts on 5th of January

so just after this comes out

on car and plastic

and the performance of state

I think I've been quite smart

here

and I know some of us quite like this

it is

a

to BMW X5

1.6S

the X5

that has been your engine

yes

currently

it's currently on sale

it actually ends at the end of December

4.8

yes

no the first one was a 4.6

the second one was a 4.8

which one was the Alpina engine

4.8 isn't it

I don't know

I always fancy the 4.8

the wheels on that car are just tremendous

aren't the wheels

this is a lesson BMW

this car

as to how

that was the absolute

performance version of that car

brilliant car

clear glass, not over the top

not trying too hard

wow what a machine

why have I got those cars for 20k

I think you can get those two cars

maybe you have to squeeze it a bit

okay

someone go in the comments

I always seem to remember there being two

there was a 4.6

and then there was a 4.8

there was a 4.8

IS

if we're talking about Brad Schnobbery

you always wanted that last

4.8 IS thing

okay Neil Kevin you go next

right I'm going

simple

simple as the question

I'm going a little

996

Carrera 4

Cabriolet

it's not in the auctions

but it's an asking price of only

14 grand

I mean

a Porsche

Cabriolet you're going to bid him

because it's Christmas and he's probably potless

you probably get it for 13

look at that

Compolt Blue

4WD

put some winter tyres on

you don't need another car unless you've got

like a dog or wife or whatever

and then

330 from our friends at

Hill & Toe

it's obviously on-car and classics

look at that a BMW

330

M

Sport Petrol

Touring

I E91

Estate

it's even not

Cat D

and it's

5 grand

and it's supplied with

two original keys

good mileage of only 106,000 recorded

just 5 previous owners from New

and approved used booklet

present and the interior

is actually relatively tidy

for an 18 year old family car

with no major rips, tears or

stains that we are aware of

it's a winner

but these stains that we're not

aware of are the headlining

the X5S

it started out as a 4.6

and in 2004 it was replaced by the 4.8

the one

on-car and classic is a 4.8

so yeah I think we were all right

there was 4.6 and 4.8

great car that is

for my estate

I found this

and it is the 98

Impretza

Turbo

Estate

it's a great car

I read about them

they just sound like great cars

full stop

and this is what I found

rather predictably

an E36

328 cabriolet

4 seats

98

what engine?

2.8

1.5

328

but it actually wasn't a 328

it was still a 325

there were some sort of shenanigans going on

there was a 323

that had a 2.5

that's fine

they kept the 2.5 engine

and after that

it all went

that's telling

when you allow your bad strategy

discipline to drop once

you can never recover

because some of the marketing goes

well it doesn't matter if it's 2.4

we said it was a 240

and then the lunatics run

the asylum then

in fact civilization ends

I thought BMW

and we all love BMW much more than all the other ones

but the thing they got really wrong

is when they moved it

when they introduced the 4 series

in what meeting

were they at

where they said the 4 series

we're going to choose the 2 door

and then we're going to have the 3 series

or whatever it was

the 4 door series

should have been the 4 door

because they wanted to be large more

because the 4 series

sounds more expensive

because it's going up

and we can more easily apply a premium

to the 2 door sporty model

the 328

the 328 of the E90

was actually a 2 litre

4 cylinder turbocharged engine

I remember seeing one

at the Frankfurt show

I went with some mates in 2000

I was thinking it was a 328

I remember the 328

we opened the bonnet up

and it's a force that was

BMW died that day for me

yes

that must have been a strong day out

I have to say

I might have to eat her

at the end of that

yeah

I can remember

my favourite motor show stories

I can't share them with you but

Neil Kerry and I got so bored

at one Frankfurt motor show

we identified one bloke that we never liked

and we followed him all day long

filming him and made our own film of him

being a cock in nature

we did it for about 3 hours

I was

oh dear

right here we go

so obviously I won this because

I didn't think about it and I've been scurrying around

when I was looking at my computer

so first of all I'm back for that old chestnut

the 944 cab

there's one there for 10 grand

you're a big fan of that

you're rightly so

they're great cars

it's got a lower roof line

when Porsche does that on a 911

it charges you 300 grand

on a 944 it doesn't

so now this one

Manage is going to kick himself here

it says here

where are we

Mercedes

C55 AMG

estate the rare one

a C

a CV8

first owner

B Eccleston

no

all that

last week

I love it

so it has to be bought doesn't it

we'll put it up on here now

you'll see the description base

first register keeper was Mr Bernard Eccleston

so I presume he put his dog in the back

or whoever he had kidnapped that week

as I asked him right at the end of the series

Bernie why is everyone so frightened of you

he said I don't know

I've never actually had anyone killed

I thought that was a great way to

that's a great way to end the series

not completely killed

yeah

actually

that is amazing

2004 at Bernie Eccleston

1000 miles there's anything about Bernie in here

let's see

absolutely nothing

it's got a bit of Bollesteries blood on the headlining

other than that

let's move on to some music

and we'll go to Chris Cooper first

well it's episode 68

and there is no way I could walk past

68 guns by the alarm

oh

the alarm

it was slightly associated if not

exceptionally associated with

Glasgow gangland fighting

it was Scottish weren't they the alarm

so we'll put all the fighty

stabby stuff aside

68 guns is a brilliant track for the car

yeah

manage

I was walking through a market I hope I haven't

said this already I don't know if I have

but I heard a piece of music and I actually

had to shazam it

because I'd never heard it before and I thought it was absolutely fantastic

and it's a song called

Some People by a band called Spectre

and it's just a great

car song

nice

like it

so my other half is trying to call me

it's just dodge her quickly or just tell her I'll be

minute

let's go to Neil Clifford

even though

I don't like Christmas and I you know

because it's work and blah blah blah blah

it is a nice time when you don't know

what day it is it's that weird

you know I don't know is it Friday

today Saturday should I be at work

should I not be at work it's all a bit weird

you do disappear

because you can go and sit in

a part of the house and be left alone

and it's very nice and you disappear

into these YouTube

wormholes of craziness

and I ended up last night

because I don't really like television either

Ask Aspel

do you remember that? Oh yes

fucking why am I watching Ask Aspel

on YouTube

anyway an interview

Google it if you're as weird as me

Ask Aspel with Kate Bush

this was in 1979

and she was

20 years old I know I bang

on about Kate Bush but I think she is

genius musician and

anyway I think she sung

wow or is that a second album

but anyway Ask Aspel, Kate Bush

bit of Kate Bush wow

fantastic good

so

I'm knocking around

as I will do for a bit now in an M3

CS touring

which predictably is about as good

and modern cars if you like fast cars it's just

sensational would you choose the CS

over the non CS badge

that's a debate the car I would but why they've

removed the cup holder I do not know

there's nowhere to put your cup I mean that's

it's madness

it's lighter though

yeah but it's dark green

it's cool out anyhow we had some

towels over and we all went down in Dorset

we went for a walk down on the cobbly bits

near where they filmed Broadchurch

you know that's what slightly sinister bit

if you've not been there before you go oh that's where

that was filmed for a bit creepy but it's

a beautiful part of the world on the way back

I was just put in some music on

and I put on

Graceland and

Islands on the Souls of Earth Shoes

is

the intro to that is so beautifully

produced and I think everyone gets a slightly warm feeling

in their tummy when they hear that because

it's comfort music's bread and butter

putting music it's lovely

you know what Paul Simon said about that was quite funny

when he invited the South African music

musicians to come to New York

after they made the album

he said that they got off the plane

they had to obviously apply

to the then apartheid government

for permission to fly them out and they all got off the plane

in New York they went

okay where are we going

he said you can go where you want

he said well have you got our permits

so that we can go where we want

he said you don't need permits

you're in New York you can just go where you want

and they were completely freaked out by the fact

that they could go where they want

a seminal album

well I'm very glad that we've

managed to get through this

Chris Cooper has endured a head cold

and some extreme banter from me

so I do apologise for that Chris

because I'm wearing my gilet

my charsen car gilet I feel much better

if you're feeling poorly in the new year

you may also purchase one

may I say one thing

tell me you got someone

that sells dog food

no I'm not doing a manage

I'm

I'm recommend

a small company

you've got a CEO

we need help

because we're a little bit useless

I have been given the job

as part of my 2026

responsibilities on this podcast

to enlarge

our strategy on merchandise

and one of the things we are going to be doing

is producing limited edition

hopefully funny

good quality, valuable

or value, good value, t-shirts

but what we can't remember

is all of our quotations

of what our t-shirts

should say

because none of us can go back

and listen to all the podcasts

so it would be wonderful

if anyone listening to this podcast

can remember what wonderful funny

slogans we came up with

in the comments

that would really help me

build a little strategy of t-shirts

I'm going to have the first comment

I think we should go back

to the one I mentioned

in a previous incarnation show

I think the first one should be Dermendios Fantas

that should be our first t-shirt

Dermendios Fantas

if anyone can remember

our weirdness around t-shirts

would be really bloody helpful

for me, thank you very much

and we may even do

mugs

and other merchandise

and other things

we do vitamin supplements

why don't we do that, man flu

chris harris's man few

there's no regulatory

worries in there at all

we could say it makes you faster

couldn't we

exactly

manish's magic motion tablets

manish, he make the flu vanish

on that note

love to all of my three co-hosts

we'll see you next week, bye bye

trust, not trends

2026 F1 Predictions! | The Car Podcast #68

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