The Intercooler Jan 26, 2026

All the cars we're still desperate to drive #298

Annotations will appear as you listen

0:00

43:11

Car

Ferrari F40

The Ferrari F40 is a famous sports car made by Ferrari in the late 1980s. It's known for being very fast and having a unique design, making it a favorite among car enthusiasts.

Car

Series 3 Land Rover

The Series 3 Land Rover is an older model of a tough, off-road vehicle that people love for its ability to handle rough terrain. It's known for its simple design and durability.

Car

The McLaren F1 is a really famous sports car from the 1990s that many people dream of owning. It's special because it was super fast and had a unique design where the driver sits in the middle of the car. People talk about it because it's considered one of the best cars ever made.

Term

V12 engine

A V12 engine has twelve cylinders, which helps it produce a lot of power and run very smoothly. It's often used in fancy cars.

Car

BMW 6 Series

The BMW 6 Series is a high-end car that combines luxury and performance, making it great for long drives and comfortable rides.

Term

horsepower

Horsepower tells you how powerful an engine is. The more horsepower, the faster and stronger the car can be.

Car

McLaren Senna

The McLaren Senna is a supercar designed for racing and high performance, named after a famous race car driver. It's built to be very fast and has a lot of special features to help it go faster on the track.

Car

McLaren P1

The McLaren P1 is a very fast and expensive car that uses both a traditional engine and an electric motor to go really fast. It's one of the best cars made in recent years.

Car

Mclaren 720S

The McLaren 720S is a super-fast sports car that is very light and has a powerful engine. It's designed for high performance on the road and track.

Term

F1

F1 stands for Formula 1, which is a type of car racing that features very fast cars racing on special tracks. It's one of the most popular and prestigious racing series in the world.

Car

Ferrari F1

Ferrari F1 cars are the race cars Ferrari builds for Formula 1 racing. They are designed to be extremely fast and are used in one of the most famous racing series in the world.

Car

Ferrari 250 GTO

The Ferrari 250 GTO is a very rare and valuable classic car made by Ferrari in the early 1960s. It's famous for its beauty and success in racing, making it a dream car for many collectors.

Concept

Goodwood

Goodwood is a well-known place in the UK where people go to watch and participate in car races. It's famous for its exciting events that celebrate classic and modern cars.

Brand

British Racing Partnership

The British Racing Partnership was a racing team from the UK that competed in many car races, especially in the mid-20th century. They were known for their strong performances and contributions to motorsport.

Part

Colombo V12

The Colombo V12 is a powerful 12-cylinder engine that was used in some classic Ferrari cars. It's known for being smooth and fast, helping these cars perform really well.

Term

rear suspension

Rear suspension is the part of a car that holds the back wheels in place and helps the car drive smoothly. It can change how the car handles turns and bumps in the road.

Term

space frame

A space frame is a way to build a car's body using a framework of beams. It helps keep the car strong while being lighter than some other designs.

Term

5-speed box

A 5-speed box is a type of car transmission that lets you change gears five times. It helps the car go faster or save fuel depending on how you drive.

Car

GTO

The Pontiac GTO is a famous muscle car from the 1960s and 1970s. It's known for being fast and powerful, making it a favorite among car enthusiasts.

Car

Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren

The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren is a fast and expensive sports car made by Mercedes-Benz. It has a powerful engine and a distinctive look, which makes it very popular among car collectors.

Concept

Le Mans

Le Mans is a really big car race in France that lasts for 24 hours. Cars race non-stop, and the team that drives the farthest in that time wins. It's a very famous event in the racing world.

Car

Porsche Cayne

The Porsche Cayenne is a big, fancy SUV made by Porsche. It's known for being fast and fun to drive, just like their sports cars, but it also has room for more people and cargo.

Car

Ferrari 250 GT

The Ferrari 250 GT is a famous sports car made in the 1960s. It's known for its beautiful looks and strong engine, making it a favorite among car lovers.

Car

GT8

The Aston Martin GT8 is a special version of a sports car that is lighter and faster than the regular model. It's made for people who love to drive on the track.

Car

Jaguar Etypes

The Jaguar E-Type is a classic sports car from the 1960s known for its beautiful looks and speed. It was very popular and is still admired today.

Car

750 Monza

The Ferrari 750 Monza is an old sports car from the 1950s that was designed for racing. It had a powerful engine that made it fast for its time.

Car

Jaguar XJ220

The Jaguar XJ220 is a very fast car made by Jaguar in the 1990s. It was famous for being one of the quickest cars in the world back then.

Term

V6 twin turbo engine

A V6 twin turbo engine has six cylinders shaped like a V and uses two turbochargers to boost its power. This setup helps the engine run better and faster.

Term

manual gearbox

A manual gearbox is a type of car transmission where you have to change gears yourself using a stick and a pedal. It's different from automatic transmissions that do this for you.

Term

launch control

Launch control is a system in some cars that helps you start really fast from a stop. It makes sure the car doesn't spin its wheels too much when you press the gas pedal hard.

Car

Bugatti Veyron

The Bugatti Veyron is a super-fast car that was famous for being one of the quickest cars you could buy. It has a very powerful engine that helps it go really fast.

Car

Tesla Model

Car

Tesla Model S

The Tesla Model S is a fancy electric car that can go really far on a single charge and is known for being very fast. The Model S Plaid version is especially powerful, making it one of the quickest cars you can buy. People talk about it because it's changing how we think about cars and the environment.

Car

Buick Regal

The Buick Regal is a comfortable car that has been around for a long time and is good for families. It's known for being spacious and easy to drive, making it a popular choice for people who want a reliable vehicle. When people talk about it, they often mention how nice it feels to ride in.

Car

Gordon T50

The Gordon Murray Automotive T.50 is a super fancy car made by a famous car designer, focusing on being lightweight and fun to drive. It has a powerful engine and special features that make it exciting. People are eager to talk about it because it's all about enjoying the driving experience.

Car

Alpine A110

The Alpine A110 is a small sports car that was popular in the past and is known for being very nimble and fun to drive. There's a new version that keeps the old style but has modern features, making it exciting for car lovers. People talk about it because it's different from many other sports cars.

Car

Peugeot 106

The Peugeot 106 is a small car that was loved in the 1990s for being easy to drive and park. It's affordable and great for city driving, which is why many people liked it. When people talk about it, they often mention how fun and practical it is.

Car

Porsche 911

The Porsche 911 is a classic sports car that has been around for a long time and is known for its unique shape and great driving experience. It's a car that many people love because it's fast and fun to drive. When people talk about it, they often mention how special and well-made it is.

Car

Tata Motors Aria

The Tata Motors Aria is a type of SUV that is made for families and has a lot of space inside. It's designed to be comfortable and useful for different driving situations. People talk about it because it's a good choice if you need a practical car for everyday use.

Car

Porsche Carrera GT

The Porsche Carrera GT is a super fast sports car that was made in the early 2000s and is known for its powerful engine and great handling. It's a very special car that many people admire because it's rare and offers an amazing driving experience. When people mention it, they often highlight how impressive it is.

LIVE

When you want your spring break to feel like

and your kids pool day to feel like

and your hotel bed to feel like

and room service to feel like

because at Hilton, hospitality feels like

Your cabana's ready, would you like fresh towels?

It matters where you stay

Book now at Hilton.com

Hilton, for this day

Welcome back to the intercooler podcast everybody

The podcast powered by car finance specialist JBR Capital

This is episode 298

This week we're talking

It's a bit of a different topic this end

I mean so often we talk about the cars that we have driven

And the things that we have done

The fortunate, very lucky things that we get to do

This is the opposite of that

This is the great cars that we haven't driven

But also

I mean partly so that you can participate in this episode

Because you've driven so many great cars

Almost all of them

We thought we'd expand it a little bit to the driving experiences

That we haven't had

All the car related experiences we haven't had

We're going to have to expand it to that

Because otherwise this is going to be a very quiet podcast

Or you're just going to be

I did say to you just before we came on air

That I'm just going to come across as being a massively over entitled ass

Because

You've done it all

I've been so lucky and done so much

Apologies for that in advance

But let's start and see how we go

Obviously this is really just us or rather me

Pleading with owners of these cars to invite me to go and have a go

Of course

That's the purpose of the intercooled podcast really

And it's very very easy

I was writing my list and it's very easy to default to

The big flashy exotic

The hyper cars, the super cars

The classics, the icons

And I've got a fair few of those

And I am

So these are the cars

All the driving experiences that we're desperate to have

Right?

So these are very personal to us

So there'll be a lot of cars that I do not mention

That you'll be screaming at me

But these are the ones that I personally feel desperate to drive

As long as there's an F40 on it

I really don't care

It's second on my list

Oh, what's first?

Can you guess?

Oh no, TCV?

Series 3 Land Rover perhaps?

No, sadly you don't own a McLaren F1

So I'm not sure you can help me much with this one

But top of my list, McLaren F1

If I was able to drive any car in the world

Any road car in the world

It would be a McLaren F1

Yeah, I understand that

How many have you driven?

Including race versions

Five I think

Wow, that's a pretty good percentage, isn't it?

Of all of them

Yeah

I mean, were there 106?

Yeah, I think so

Yeah

So what am I missing?

Is it one of the great driving experiences?

Obviously less so now than it was when it was new

Hmm

Because there are cars that go much faster than that now

The performance isn't what it was

Relatively speaking, yeah

You don't have that perspective

And there was nothing like getting in that car in 1994

With none of the stuff that came after it

It was, well I've said it so many times before

Nothing I've driven ever expanded

The abilities of road cars

More than that car did

Then

And you haven't got that

Because you've driven cars which are faster in all dimensions

Than that

I still think that you would be amazed by the quality of the experience

The engine

I think is probably what would dominate your sensations of that car

That poor Rosha BMW 6.1 litre of 627 horsepower V12 is

Is it the finest road car engine there has ever been?

I can't offhand think of another

Wow, yeah

Yeah

In some regards, you'd be surprised by how old it feels

If it's a standard car with standard brakes

They'll definitely get your attention

They're very soft

It's why they ride beautifully

But

That's why you need to be a bit careful about really hooping them around

Because they can get a bit rolly at the back

And as we know people have had some not small accidents in those cars

Yeah

But they are

In 2019

On the 25th anniversary of the road test

I got back in XP5

Which was the car that we used for that test

And it was still mesmerising

And we had a Senna and we had a P1

And I think I had my long term 720S at the time as well

And all those cars

I wouldn't say they faded

The P1 I think is

Despite the fact that I think a lot of people recognise that car for what it is now

I still think that car has yet to climb up from underneath the shadow of the F1

I think a P1 isn't a astonishing piece of kit

I know you do too

But

We need to get you in one somehow

The funny thing is, and I'll say this about the F40 as well

And probably lots of other cars on this

The amount of the carious pleasure I would get from seeing your face after you just got out from F1

It would be almost as good as driving an F1 myself

It would

Because I know what you're about to experience

And I would just be so

I'd just be so stoked for you

And that there was somebody else that I could

You know, chat with about what it's like

So I mean, you've mentioned it, obviously

Right near the top of my list

Ferrari F40

Yeah

If I could choose one

Well, for your automotive education, it has to be the F1

Yeah

But

Okay

Which would I rather

Give me an F1 and an F40 and a decent road

I wouldn't think twice about it, I'd get in the Ferrari

Yeah, that's interesting

But that's kind of the plan because

You know, Gordon Murray was first to say

That's not the kind of car he was trying to build

You know, Gordon Murray is a massive admirer of the F40

But he was trying to buy, drive, sorry, he was trying to design

A civilized, usable, three-seat road car

With luggage space and air conditioning

And a car that could really be used

All these things that you could never apply to an F40

But yeah, decent road

Blakey Ridge, F40 and F1

And I've done it both in both cars

I've done Blakey Ridge in both cars

Ah, Epic Road up on the North York Moors

Maybe not this time of year, but

Yeah

F40, every day of the week

Wow

Okay, let me give you another Ferrari

I just want to hear you talk about this a little bit

250 GTO

Yeah

If you're of my generation

You kind of spend your whole life

Wondering what a 250 GTO is going to be like

And you sort of build up this sort of wave of expectation

And then if it happens, which it did once for me

Your biggest worry when you get in the car

Is just how disappointed you kind of know it's going to be

Because nothing could ever live up to that

But it did

Yeah

I drove it really fast round Goodwood

Wow, what a place to do it

Yeah

Which was, and it was the car that won the Goodwood TT

So it was

It was the pale green

Yeah

XBRP British Racing Partnership car

That in his island won the racing

I don't really know what to say about it

It's

For its era

I mean objectively, goodness me, you could fault it

But for its era

It's pretty much perfect

And it's perfect

Not just because it's got that extraordinary

You know, 3-litre Colombo V12 in it

Is because it hasn't got too much or not enough of anything

Everything about it works

Everything fits

It just comes

And remember there was nothing

Nothing revolutionary about that car

In many ways

It was quite outdated

It certainly had very outdated rear suspension

It was just a space frame

It wasn't a monocoque or anything clever like that

It was, you know, it was 5-speed box

You know, the Colombo V12 had been designed in the 1940s

It was a kind of like a meeting of edge cars

But it just shows that if you develop and you develop and you develop

And you optimise everywhere

I'm sure it was a car that was better even than Ferrari

Expected or hoped that it would be

I think it was just one of those lucky, lucky cars

Forgive the terrible cliches that was greater than the sum of its parts

And I think that's it

And to feel

And of course what we have now

The knowledge

Of how revered that car has been

And just to be driving a GTO

Is to be

Thinking you're the luckiest person on the planet

But to actually feel a GTO

Start to move around underneath you

And to feel that sort of

It's a weird sense of security

When a car like that starts to slide

Because you suddenly realise that's what it's meant to do

And there's nothing scary about it at all

And you understand why those cars

Were driven the way that they should be driven

Because that's what they were designed to do

There's not much grip

And they are so...

I mean it's just a front

It's a very...

Imagine if you wanted to create a car

Which slid nicely

You'd create something with a front engine

Rear wheel drive

With quite a lot of power

And very little grip

Perfect

And with quite a long wheelbase too

And it's perfect

And that's what it does

And there shouldn't really be any great surprise about that

But you're doing that in a 250 GTO

And it's all just a bit surreal

So it sounds like a car that's actually just in balance

In harmony with itself

Completely

That is a GTO

There's no part of it that dominates the other

If I were to drive one

Would I be thinking 50 million quid

50 million quid

I hope not

Because you shouldn't be in it if you are

Yeah, that's the thing

You shouldn't be thinking of anything

Because actually

If you're thinking that

You're more likely to damage it

Because you're distracted

And you're scared and you're worried

The only way to drive these cars

Is to trust yourself not to be an idiot

And you have no record of being that

So there's no reason why you shouldn't do that

And then forget the value

Just forget the value

Drive the car the way you feel

That is appropriate to drive that car

And I had this quite recently

Last year when I drove that

Almost literally priceless

SLR

Worth much, much more than a 250 GTO

Apparently so

And I didn't think about it at all

Because if you did

You'd never get in the car

If you thought about what could go wrong

And the cost

And it's actually

So often with it

Well, yeah

With some GTOs

More so than with others

But certainly with something out of the SLR

And some other stuff that I've driven

It's not actually so much the value

It's the

If you have a car like that SLR is

Which is totally original

Every panel on that car

Is the panel that came out of the factory with

Every major component

From the gearbox to the engine

To the back axle

Is that cars

It's the history

Yeah, anything can be repaired

Except a regionality

Yeah, you can't put the history back

Yeah

And that's

If I was going to worry about anything

That's what I worry about

On the 250

I can remember

I think I can end up to this

Now spinning the XJR9 that won Le Mans

At Le Mans

Coming out the Porsche Cayne

Oh, wow

And as I was

As I was heading towards the grass

Going backwards in this car

It wasn't a

It was just

I was just being stupid

That I hadn't warmed the tyres up properly

And I just travelled a bit too hard

And it just did a completely harmless sort of

Between 90 and 180

But as I was heading backwards

Towards the barrier

I can remember thinking

That's probably the original

Rear wing on this car

And I'm about to take it off

Did you? Or did it stop?

Oh, God, no, no

Didn't put a mark on the car

I carried on

Did the rest of the job

And everything was fine

I just warmed up the tyres properly

But that's what I was thinking

I wasn't thinking

Oh, gosh, that's going to cost

150 grand for a place

I was thinking

Oh, my God

The originality

On a 250 GT8

So I did sit in one

Last year

At the Gerardo & Co

They had one in

Yeah

And that was a 1964 car

Is that what they call it?

64, yes

That's a very different car

And it's got a different body

It looks very different

So how is that different

To any other 250 GT8?

It's just developed more

So, as you say, a completely different body

Less drag

More efficient

But unbelievably rare

I can't remember how many 64 GT8s were built

But it's definitely in the single digits

What you did find

Were there were quite a lot of

Quite a lot

Probably still in single digits

62 and 63 GTOs

Which are the sort of classic shape

Ended up getting 64 bodies

So, I mean, it's still a GTO

It's a GTO underneath it

But it looks completely different

And they weren't as successful

Because by that stage

Things like the Daytona Cobra

Had started coming

And was making life much more difficult

For the GTOs

But in that period, in 62

Certainly in 62 and in 63

The GTOs were basically

In their categories unstoppable

I mean, E-types couldn't get

I mean, it's funny that you can look at

Goodwood now

And you kind of, you know, E-types

Are always right at the sharp end

You couldn't get anywhere near a GTO

In that period

But that's because a GTO was

Already tuned as far as it would go

When it was new

Whereas the things they've been able to do

With that Jaguar engine

In the intervening 60 odd years

They're getting, you know

Not far short of 400 horsepower

Of those things

Whereas a GTO, a 3-litre

If it's a 3-litre GTO

Because there was, you know

There are some GTOs out there

Now with 4-litre engines in it

Which is a period correct thing to do

Because Ferrari did make at least

One 4-litre GTO

But if it was a 3-litre GTO

It would have had between

296 and 302 horsepower

When it came out of the factory

You're not going to get much more

Than that out of it today

Because it's already gone as far as it could go

When I used to race that 750 Monza

Which is a 3-litre carb

There's only four cylinders

So that had 260 horsepower when it was new

And that's what it had when I raced it

The Jaguar was probably getting on

For 70% more power than they would have had

Anyway

Let's not get done

Go too far down the way

What's next?

So there's a load of more modern stuff

Actually, before I do that

Jaguar XJ220

I had a scale XJ220 as a boy

So that was always the car

That I loved growing up

The shape of it

Just extraordinary looking car

There are some angles

You see a photo of that car

It's going around a corner

But it's a head on shot

And it doesn't even look like a car

It's so strange

It's just a remarkable looking thing

I think it's utterly beautiful

Yeah

It is an amazing thing to behold

I've been driven in one

Haven't driven one

What would I find?

What would you find?

I think an XJ220

Because they came with all that baggage

About not being a V12

And then Jaguar trying to sue its customers

And all that stuff that happened

The reputational damage that was done at the time

I think that even now

Where are we 34 years later on

I don't think it's recovered from that

And values have not exactly gone

Well, if you look at the values of

I can't remember

350 cars

Right

I think

Very, very low numbers

And their value is compared to

F40s

You can't buy an F40 for less than

1.2, 1.3 a million now

Yeah

And there are millions of F40s

Probably a thousand

Genuinely

Almost a thousand more F40s

Built than XJ220s

So I think that they are still suffering from that

There was a long period of time when you couldn't get

Tires for them

Which kept them off the road

And out the headlines

And that probably didn't do them much good

They are

I drove one of Don Law's cars

Not that long ago

And

You need to be careful in it

Because they're certainly in wet weather

They can be quite spiky

But they are

They are beautiful, thoroughbred supercars

The chassis on them are fantastic

Really?

Yeah

I mean, in the dry

The levels of grip that you were getting out of a 220

In 1992 were

Quite beyond anything that we'd

That we'd seen before

But of course

This was pre McLaren F1

And these days it might not seem

So amazing

But there is a sense of occasion

The drive line is

I was going to say agricultural

That's not fair

But the gearbox is

Very sort of mechanical

And you've got to work at it

And the engine that three and a half liter

V6 twin turbo engine

It's not an engine that makes the noise

You want to have played at your funeral

But goodness me it delivers

I'll tell you something else about the car

If you drove it now

And you really got your clogged down

You'd be amazed by how fast it feels

Because you look at the numbers

And you think well 542 horsepower

That's not that much

But it wasn't a heavy car

Yeah

I mean it wasn't heavy

Okay

And McLaren F1 was a substantially lighter car

But it was probably

I don't know

But probably a 1450, 1500 kilo car

With a stack of torque

And

It would really get your attention

I mean if you think

That with a manual gearbox

Yeah

Requiring gear change

I mean

Tires which are jokes

Compared to what we have today

No launch control

No traction control

It still did 3, 6 to 60

That's so fast

And 7, 9 to 100

Yeah

Yeah in 1992

7, 9 to 100

You know what would that be

If you'd actually been able to

Get it off the line properly

And change gear properly

You know

Essentially

You know

Gear changes which take

No material time at all

That's going to come down to the 6's

And that's how fast the car feels

So yeah

There's a bunch of sort of more modern stuff

That I've not been anywhere near

A Bugatti

Any Bugatti

But I'm really thinking

Veron, Chiron

Well very different cars

I thought

I didn't particularly

Rate the Veron

To me that was a car

Which did what it did

Because it could

Because the idea of a thousand horsepower car

Was

Different

And a car that would do 250 miles an hour

Was different

And the fact that it weighed 2 tons

Was the price that you paid

For that

I mean immense quality

I mean

And the engineering of it

I wouldn't have a word said against it

But when I drove it

I didn't want to it

Chiron

Yeah

Wow

Yeah

There is something epic about a Chiron

I went out with

I'll make Andy Wallace in one

I can't remember when it was

One of the very last ones

One of the 300 mile an hour things

All super so I can remember what they called it

And we just went looking for

I mean it's so fast

That we went

We had to go looking for somewhere

That I could just

Even briefly put my foot down

And go through a few gears

And when it did

And Andy Wallace

Drives these cars more often

Than anybody else in the world

And he's the bloke who demonstrates

Into all the punters

Who want to buy one

We still just both started laughing

Because there is an inexorable quality

About the way that car gathers speed

That I've not felt in anything else

And it's

And you think to yourself

Well okay

You could just go and buy yourself

You know

A Tesla Model S Plaid

With a thousand horsepower

And have pretty much the same thing

I cannot tell you how much

Not like that it is

There is a majesty

A regal quality to it

It's what makes you laugh

It's what doesn't scare you

And you're just aware

Of the quality of the engineering

And this enormous sense of occasion

I haven't driven one

Fast round the track

I don't particularly want to

I don't think it's going to be

That kind of car

But if I could go and do

What I'd love to do

I'd just love to do a distance in one

Wouldn't you just love to sort of

It'd be great

Take

Do London to Rome

Over three or four days

Going the scenic route

Yeah it would be fantastic

I think we share a couple of

More recent hypercars

That we haven't driven

Asked the Martin Valkyrie

Mercedes MG1

Are you sort of itching to drive those cars

Or is it

If it happens it happens

I was absolutely itching to drive the Valkyrie

I really wanted to drive the Valkyrie

And I asked many times

I still don't know why

That wasn't possible

So I'm over it now

I'd say if the opportunity came

Okay what I would do now

Okay when it was new

I would have done

I don't think drive a Valkyrie

Now if it became possible

I want to know what the story was

Sure

Yeah what's the angle here

What's the angle

What can I do with a Valkyrie

That hasn't been done before

How can I tell an interesting story

And so I'd be thinking more about

The

The output and the input

I'd be thinking more about the story

Than the drive

AMG1

Okay

Yes fascinating car

Absolutely fascinating car

But okay let me ask you this

If you could drive an AMG1

Or a T50

Which would you drive

Yeah a T50

T50

GMA T50

Yeah

That's another car that I would

Anybody from Gordon Murray

You know that I want to drive this car

I would do anything to drive one of those

And I'm still at the point where

I'd drive it first and think about

The story I was going to tell you

Because I would back myself to

To be able to throw a few words together

That were worth reading to someone

So it's not just ludicrously expensive

Exotica hypercars and supercars on my list

There's some other bits and pieces

Like an original Alpine A110

Never driven one

Lovely

I'd really like to have it

Lovely

I think you've got to get the right one

Okay

But I think there's a 1600S

Which has the sort of hot 140 horsepower engine

Gorgeous

The astonishing thing about it for me

Was I fitted in it

Because it's tiny

Yeah they are tiny

It's tiny but because there isn't any engine up there

Your feet actually go further down into it

Than you might think

I can imagine that a bad one

A car that's not being set up properly

Would be one of the most awful frightening cars

You could ever imagine getting in

Because there's not much to it

But the one I drove

I didn't drive around the track

But I did drive it on some reasonably decent roads

It was just joyous

Just fingertip

Just feeling it

I'd love to have a go

And also here's another one

A regular

And I say regular, advisedly, Jaguar E type

Okay

So I've driven

Well you can do that

I know

Well I can and I will

So I've driven a

That new build semi lightweight thing

That race car

Which was gorgeous

And you've driven the Eagles

The Eagles

But not just an E type

And so I want to understand

What the E type thing is all about

And so I think we should

The E type thing was

It was a lot about how it drove

But it was the whole thing wasn't it

It was the way that it

It was three things

It was the way that it drove

It was the way that it looked

And the fact that Jaguar could bring

That car to market at the price that it did

Was basically half the price of the opposition

Half the price of an Aston or a Ferrari

That's what establishes the E type reputation

It's not like in 1961 people were saying

We've never driven a car this car fast before

Or we've never driven a car that

Handles like this before

They were saying none of those things

They were saying we've never seen a car this beautiful before

We've never seen a car that combines

This level of performance with that level of price

That was the thing about the E type

I think if you drove one now

I think if you drove an absolutely standard E type

Knowing you as I do

I think you'd think it's a nice car for somebody else

Well that's it

Sometimes you drive a classic car

And to someone more used to modern cars

They sometimes they just feel old

Yeah

But an E type with just a little bit of

Revisionism

A little bit of suspension work

Particularly

Maybe a five speed gearbox

A few things here and there

I think you'd think it was lovely

Yeah, well I must try

Let me give you some others

Just rattle through a few

Some sort of more

More accessible than others

A DeLorean

Well we have our contributor

Jess Menninger who has a DeLorean

We do

I've only driven one

I just

To me it was

It was sad because

Not because it was so awful

But because actually

You could see there was quite a good car

Desperate to get out

If they developed it a bit more

If they got the right engine in it

And don't forget that there was a twin turbo DeLorean

That was coming

And if they

You could see that if you could have just

Smoothed out the bumps a bit more

I don't think it would ever have been a world beater

But it looked amazing

I think there is a chance

That a properly developed car

That specification could have been a success

And when you drive one

To me the sadness, sorry Jess

Is that

It just never

Ever

Realised

Its potential

I'm sure Jess would agree with you

Lotus Alan in brackets

A proper one

Yes, there's a bloke called Rob Durant

Who will be a

Hello Rob

Hello Rob, sorry about that

He said that not really

He has an M100 Alan

This is a charm of ours

Who used to work at Porsche

And he has an M100 Alan

The front-wheel drive

The front-wheel drive car

Which I can't remember what I said about it

Once a hundred years ago

And I might have said something slightly disbarred

But every time I see Rob

It's the first thing he ever said to me

He literally quotes my own words back at me

An original Alan

Well actually, knowing you as I do

You would absolutely love it

Because it feels like a

Much more chuckable

Characterful MX-5

Wonderful

That sounds great

It feels like a cross between an MX-5 and a catering

Oh wow

But soft

So really

Really sort of agile

And lithe and flexible

And just, yeah

Very good argument for saying that's the best Lotus

That has ever been

Wow

Blimey

Well here's one for you

Again, another one that I could make happen

Peugeot 106 Rally

Great car

Never driven one

Not as good as a 2-5 though

Oh really?

What rally or GTI?

Well either

Rally

Sorry David

We're just upsetting people that we know aren't we?

David Tuig, yeah he

Has a 106 rally

He lives down in the Alps

Okay, let's put it this way

If you had a 106 rally and a 2...

Okay

We need to ask David this

If you had a...

Well he's got one

So he's probably not the right person to ask

But if I gave you a 2-5 rally

On Carbs

Or a 106 rally

Next to each other

And the root Napoleon

What are you going in?

I mean it has to be the 2-5 I guess doesn't it

But I'm sure the 106

Is still a blast down there

Cracking little thing

Yeah I'd love to have a go

Yeah David Tuig lives down in the Alps

And he spends I don't know

His free time screeching around

The Alps in a 106 rally

And I say nothing against the 106 rally

I think it's an absolutely terrific car

I loved them when they were new

But to me the 205 rally

I mean I came to that car when I was a

Very very green

Motoring journalist

I think it was probably my first year in 1988

And it was one of those cars

That for me just made me realise

That more wasn't necessarily better

Because I'd been screaming around the place

In TurboTechnics 1.9205 GTIs

With 200 horsepower

I'm thinking whooped it up this is amazing

And I got in this little thing with

Whatever had 120 horsepower

I can't remember

But it weighed

I think it weighed like 750 kilos

It just weighed nothing at all

And I just suddenly realised

Actually there's more to life

Than just more of everything

Forgive the cliché again

But there's sometimes really is more

And there's no better car in the world

For proving it than that

Alright let me just give you two more

Quite different

Any Bristol

Because I am from Bristol

I'm a Bristol boy

So I'm curious about

Our homegrown car maker

My uncle also had two

So there's some family history there

This is a podcast about cars we never driven

Yeah

No have you not

Have you been in one

Are you remotely intrigued by them

Oh no I'm definitely intrigued by them

I'm intrigued by them

Because Leonard Setwright

Thought they were the best things

That had ever been built

And Leonard was a bloke

That I knew a bit

And who's writing

I revere to this day

And you know

Sometimes I certainly didn't agree with

A lot of what he said

But I would always take his opinion seriously

And I'd want to

More than anything else

I want to know why

Leonard thought that about Bristol's

Yeah

But I can't tell you

Because I never have

Well I've got a distant memory

That I might have been in one

As a kid

But I couldn't even tell you

Which one it was so

It's not of any material value to anybody

Okay the last one

Reliant Robin

No not done that either

Not done that either

I'm really curious to drive a Reliant Robin

Are you really

Yeah

I think it would just be terrible

That's what I want to know

How terrible

Well

Unsafe

Again you know

The thing is

I do know people

You know guys like Steve Cropley

Yeah

You know another bloke

Whose opinions I respect

Would have driven them in the 70s

And you know

I don't remember them ever coming out

Favorably out of

I think that they were

They got a reputation for being terrible

For a fairly good reason

They were terrible

So you know I do have

No desire to drive a

Reliant Robin at all

If you're going to drive anything like that

A car that everybody was rude about

You ought to drive a proper Skoda

Oh yeah that would be interesting

A Skoda Skoda

Yeah

They did a thing called a 136 Rapid

I think

Yeah

In about 1988

It was again

I was very new to the game

But it was just unbelievable

And I thought it was

I drove this thing

I thought this is actually really good fun

I had a great time chucking this about

And then all the people who actually knew about cars

My fellow road testers got in it

And

They couldn't believe it

And we ran this mad cover story

We just had a photograph of a bit of this car

And I think the headline was

What cost 4,200 pounds

But it's more fun than a 911

And it was just a photograph of

I think it was like the sort of

Front of the car

But it was only like 25% of it

And all you could see was a light

And a wheel

And the wheel was off the ground

Yeah okay

Yeah so if you're going to go and drive

A really shit car from that era

Go and drive a Skoda

Because it might not be quite as shit as you'd expect

I'd like to

I have got some other

Non-road cars that I want to discuss

But let's broaden this a little bit now

Right

I'm beginning to think actually

Because we're quite a long way into this podcast

That we actually ought to do too

I think we ought to make this our first

Sort of double header podcast

And come back either next week

Or the week after

And do the experiences

Because I can talk a little bit more about cars

That I haven't driven

Which I quite like to drive

And I think there is an entire podcast

I don't think we can

We should really try and do

Every experience we haven't had

In 15 minutes

Or however much time we've got left

Okay fine

Well I'll talk about

A couple of other cars that I

Would love to drive

Yeah

Types of car

This is Aiming High

A Formula One car

Yeah

I mean clearly not a modern one

Because you need a

I don't know

They're very very difficult machines

For anyone just to operate

Yes

But there must be a sort of sweet spot

An era where I could

Maybe begin to get my head around

Operating it

Maybe not be totally

Terrified by the performance

I don't know what this era might be

But you've driven a few

Yeah okay so this is

So the Formula One car you should drive

Because I think it's

To me it is

What a Formula

Well I'd say what a Formula One car

Should have been a Formula One car

Should always be the ultimate

Iteration of whatever the

Technology of the day can

Provide

But to me the sort of

Seminole Formula One cars

Are the 1970s things

I think they're also far away

The most likely kind of Formula One cars

That we could ever try and get you into

So DFV powered

Yeah

Slicks, wings, DFV

They are slightly frustrating things

Because

What happens is

You get into this thing

And it takes you a good few laps

Just to get your head around the performance

Oh really?

Yeah

Well if you think about it

You know you're talking about a

500 kilo car with 500 horsepower

Yeah

Double the power to weight ratio

That they're on

Yeah

So that

That takes a bit of understanding

It's not something you can just

Get in and do

Yeah

It really isn't

And then

It's quite alien

Because you're sitting there in the middle of the car

And you've got this stubby little gear lever

And there's no gate that you can see

So you've just got to kind of aim it

And hope that it goes

And obviously it's a dog box

There's no synchronization on anything

But it doesn't matter

Because as long as you are

As long as you drive it like a racing car

What these cars hate

They can smell fear

Yeah

They can really smell fear

And these cars are always at their worst

And in fact the more modern you go

The worse this becomes

When you first get in them

Because not only are you nervous

And inexperienced and unsure

But also everything's cold

And what you have to remember

Is that these are racing cars

And they only respond to being driven

Like racing cars

And if you try and tutel around them

They're much more difficult to drive

Than if you try and go faster

Yeah

And that's what you have to try and get your head around

But and the problem

To return to my original point

Which is why they are quite frustrating

Is that you never get enough time in them

To really feel that you've

Had a proper go in

I've had one or two exceptions to that

My mate Ben

Who used to very successfully race

In historic Formula 1 cars

He had a 1960s Eagle Werselake

And I spent a day at Hethel

In that with a load of 49

Which I couldn't get into

Because I was too fat

But I drove that Eagle properly

I drove that Eagle as fast as I could make it go

Wow

And then he also had a Fittipaldi

So completely different

So DFV, six and wings

And we did a day at Donington

I think it was Donington

And at the end of that

It's kind of

I don't think I would have been competitive in it

But I wasn't making an idiot of myself

Anymore in it

And I think I was driving it

Pretty bloody rapidly

But because I'd had so much exposure to it

They're not just

You and I

Are jobs

What we do

And I think what surprises other people

About what we do

Is our ability to just get in and drive it

But that's what we do all the time

We just get in the stuff

And we usually have stuff for quite a long time

Certainly hours at a time

And we can just get in

And by the time you get out

There's kind of like

There's not much you need to know about those cars

There might be a few things you want to know

But there's not much that you need to know

About those cars that you don't know

It's not like that with a Formula 1 car

You don't get the time in it

The experience is so alien

I mean, I can remember driving a

A March 701

Which was a 1970 Formula 1 car

But it had a very hot engine in it

And I can remember going down

I drove it at Donington

I can remember going down that back straight

And thinking that my helmet was going to come off

Because I was sticking up into the airstream

And it was just ripping at my helmet

And finding the acceleration initially

Absolutely overwhelming

And after a bit, you do get used to it

You know, I've heard racing drivers say

That they get into their cars at the beginning of the season

And they can't imagine ever being able to cope

With that level of performance

And by the end of the test session

They're screaming at their engineers

Because they haven't got enough power

So you do get your head around it

But there's an acclimatization process

But when you did

You would realize

That a car that is designed to do nothing

Other than go around a track as fast as it possibly can

Is a completely different experience to anything else

Do you think there comes a point with

More modern Formula 1 cars

Where the performance

The inputs required

Particularly for the brake pedal

The need to get them moving at a certain speed

Before the aria does anything

The need to warm the tyres before they start gripping

All that stuff is beyond

A sort of competent but not racing driver

Like me

So the only thing that I've driven

Which is anything near it

Is that roading thing

Which I think was sort of GP2

And you did very well in that level of performance

Yeah, but I had a lot of time

And I built up to it

And I'd been through a lot of other cars

I drove a GT Formula Claren

And I drove a Formula 3 car

And something else I think

I did very well in it

I did okay

I was fine

But did I

Did I post a competitive time in it?

Not remotely

Really?

Not remotely, no

I drove it

I think

Could I have posted a competitive time in it?

I think with a lot of learning

If I'd had

Instead of

What do I have?

Probably an afternoon in it

If I'd had

A weekend in it

Then maybe

Okay, so

I just remember watching Richard Hammond on Top Gear

A long time ago

Driving a Renault Formula 1 car

On the little Stowe circuit at Silverstone

I mean, but

And he basically couldn't get his head around

How you get the aria to work

Getting the tyres warm

Getting the brakes warm

But it was a fool's errand

By I'm not calling Richard a fool

At all

But

Talk about

He had no chance

I think it was pretty cold as well, wasn't it?

I suspect so, yeah

On that circuit in that car

I mean, forget it

I mean, he did it because it was a great story

It's a great story

But he would have known going into that

That the story was going to be

How impossible this car is to drive

Because on that circuit

Forget it

Yeah

Just forget it

You can't drive on that track at all

It's all low speed

It's literally like trying to race

A thoroughbred racehorse around a dog track

Yeah

You're never going to do it

Yeah

I can well imagine

So I wouldn't get too hung up

You could

In a single session

If we stuck you in a

DFV, Powers, 1970s Formula 1 car

And you had a morning

So two good sessions

Like 45 minutes each

By the end of it

You'd be going fast

That's really interesting

God loves that again

Which I don't think you'd be doing

If it was a more modern car with downforce

Or I certainly wouldn't because

The more I drive cars with downforce

The more I realise I don't like cars with downforce

I'm not very good at cars with downforce

Because I don't trust it

It takes some massive commitments

And faith in the car

Yeah

I mean, you just have to

I mean, I can remember

Oh, what was I driving?

The name will come back to me

Again, at Donington

And I know

Because

Other people had done it

And the bloke who set up the car had done it

It was flat down the crane of cars

Yeah

It doesn't matter how often you hear that, does it?

But I knew it was

And I'd seen it on the data

So there wasn't anybody winding me up

Going ho, ho, ho

I knew that it was

And I knew literally all I had to do

Was turn the steering wheel at the right time

And it would do it

I didn't have to do anything

I had to keep my right foot planted

And I had to steer the car

And yet

That's all I had to do

I couldn't do it

I could not do it

That foot just comes up

It does

You don't tell it to

No, but also you're having a shit time

When you're doing it

Because you feel pathetic

Yeah

And I don't like that

You know, there's certain times

When I've been driving racing cars

Usually all the stuff

When I feel half decent

And that's what I want to feel

In a racing car

I don't want to feel inadequate

So look, we will save

Driving and car themed experiences

For another episode

Yes

That's a good idea

But were there any individual cars

That you wanted to rattle off before you finish?

An Enzo

Yes

Slip the net

Huh

I'm pretty surprised at that

Yeah, a Carrera GT

Slip the net for years and years and years

Until a certain friend of ours

Very kindly let us have a go in his

Yeah

But now with all the cars

All the sort of the mainstream cars

That you would expect somebody

Who frankly is old as me

Who's been around for as long as me

To have driven

The one that stands out like the

Like the Sorist of sore thumbs

Which I haven't is the Enzo

I don't even know

Whether I'd think it was a particularly amazing car

Because I've driven an MC12

Which is pretty similar

Yeah

And I know you drove the race car, didn't you?

Yeah, the sort of track day car, yeah

Yeah, and I know you thought that was amazing

And I drove the MC12, the road car

Which was a very different animal

And I didn't think it was amazing at all

So I might think that an Enzo

Wasn't amazing at all

But I don't know

And I'd like to

But you'd think the engine was amazing

Oh, the engine would be amazing

And yeah, I'd just

So anybody out there with a spare Enzo

But no, I have been

I've been blessed

I've been such a lucky chap

Then you've been around a little while

None taken

But the good news is

I do have in front of me

A long list of things

That I still want to do in cars

Which I haven't done

Well, save that list

So we'll do that

So we won't do it next week

Because we'll probably do

Another magazine type show next week

But maybe the week after next

Unless that's 300

Ooh, I think that is

So maybe the week after that

But sometime in the next month

We'll do it

Yeah, okay

Alright, well let's wrap that one up there then

To all of you listening

All of you watching

Just follow the show

If you're watching on YouTube

Subscribe to our channel

It means you don't miss an episode

It really helps us

If you're just listening

Via a podcast app

The same applies

Just follow the show

It really, really helps us

And in return

We'll be back again

With another podcast

Next week

See you then

0:00

43:11

All the cars we're still desperate to drive #298

GT8

750 Monza

Gordon T50

About this episode

Original notes