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Beetle to Pakistan, Kop Hill in a Ferrari & Cars for High Streets! | BCG Therapy w/ Sy & Fiona
Beetle to Pakistan, Kop Hill in a Ferrari & Cars for High Streets! | BCG Therapy w/ Sy & Fiona
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About this episode
A fascinating discussion unfolds as Sy shares his experience with a 1965 electric Beetle, detailing its history and the challenges he faced, including a significant range reduction and charging issues. The conversation shifts to the importance of parking accessibility for revitalizing high streets, with Sy's passionate rant highlighting the need for better parking solutions. Fiona joins in, sharing her adventures and insights from various car events, including the Kop Hill Climb and her recent driving experiences in a Mercedes AMG GT. The episode also touches on the kindness of strangers during travels and the evolving landscape of electric vehicle technology.
Topics:
electric beetle
high street parking
Kop Hill Climb
Mercedes AMG GT
travel experiences
kindness of strangers
electric vehicle technology
car events
charging issues
classic cars
Cars:
Aston Martin DB9
BMW M3
Buick Century
Dodge Challenger
Dodge Charger
Ford Mustang
McLaren 600LT
Morgan 3 wheeler
Nissan Micra
Porsche 356
Porsche 917
BrownCarGuy Therapy: Fiona Easterby & Syeed Ali of Drivers Union!
In this wild and heartfelt episode of BrownCarGuy Therapy Session, we welcome adventurer and TV camera operator Fiona Easterby, alongside our regular guest Sy.
Fiona shares her incredible stories of overlanding across continents — from buying a £99 Beetle and driving it across the Sahara Desert to Gambia, to an epic journey from the UK to Singapore, passing through Iran and Pakistan in her beloved Baja Bug, Pedro.
You’ll hear about:
🚙 Real-world adventures in classic cars — from Europe to Asia
🏜️ The Plymouth-Banjul Challenge, Mongol Rally, and travelling through war zones
🔋 Fiona's experience owning a converted electric Beetle – and why it was a disaster
🇵🇰 How she found Pakistan safer and more hospitable than expected
🧾 Sy's rage about garage-blocking drivers, ridiculous parking fines, and the war on motoring access
🏁 Fiona & Sy’s thoughts on recent events like Brooklands German Day, Kop Hill Climb, and AMG GT drives at Brands Hatch and Silverstone
⚡ EV reliability issues, e-fuels, and the future of classic car ownership
This is one of the most human, funny, and raw episodes yet — a true tribute to car culture, global travel, and what it's like to live life behind the wheel.
📌 Subscribe, like, comment and JOIN the conversation. Let us know your thoughts!
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Dodge Charger
"...duced my range to 70 miles. It didn't have a fast charger, so I was sat for six hours in a Morrison's in Ro..."
Car
Buick Century
"... working a little bit better. Welcome to the 21st century. Welcome to the... Welcome to 2025."
Car
BMW M3
"... our first breakdown was at Fleet Services on the M3 but somehow we got all the way to Gambia."
Car
Nissan Micra
"...omeone in another car and finished up in a Nissan Micra. It was someone in a similar situation"
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"having it across the globe in a Dodge Challenger in a muscle car and I caught up"
Car
Ford Mustang
"...ause the first couple years there was a beautiful Mustang this year it was something else I can't remember ..."
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"they are fun cars we drove a three wheeler and Russell came around the go-kart track"
Select text to request an explanation
I bought this 1965 Beetle that had been converted to electric.
I picked it up at auction on collecting cars.
Thought I was getting it at bargain price at £25,000,
but the original build cost, it had been built by a music producer
at the cost of £70,000, plus the cost of buying the car.
Chris Evans, DJ Chris Evans, had then bought it from him for £40,000,
and it was given away, he gave it away to Comic Relief.
Then I had an issue where rain leaked down the wiper spindle
and dripped on the charge controller,
so they bypassed those two cells,
which then reduced my range to 70 miles.
It didn't have a fast charger, so I was sat for six hours
in a Morrison's in Ross on Wig,
so I got rerouted up the steep hill,
it just drained the battery.
I'd found a charger, but it was the wrong type of connector.
So another reason not to buy an electric car.
Yeah, so I've kind of gone off the whole idea of getting an EV,
but yeah, I've tried it.
Now, I'm going to get a little bit of a rant,
because also I think this ties into the...
It's a little bit topical as well.
I heard something the other day on the radio
about how to rescue high streets
and how to get people to go back to local high streets
and stuff like that, and to my mind, I was like,
look, it's really simple, let people park.
And I think that what we found,
especially when you think back to our era,
sort of the 80s or whatever, you could drive around,
you could drive anywhere,
and invariably you could park in front of the shop
that you needed to go to or nearby, you know,
and it was possible,
and you wouldn't immediately be charged
and there weren't always double yellow lines
and you wouldn't always have to pay exorbitant parking prices
that are based on the CC of your car,
which is a little bit complicated.
It sounds for them to be really popular
on TikTok and Instagram.
There seem to be a lot of Western vloggers now over there.
And I guess in one sense,
you're the sort of pioneer of that.
I loved Pakistan.
Again, as with Iran, people are very welcoming,
but the police also very welcoming in Pakistan,
unlike in Iran,
where anyone in a uniform was best avoided.
We are too disgraced to our culture
because we're too proud of people
that don't know anything about cricket.
Well, there's these three police sat outside
the Customs Building, Customs Immigration Building,
drinking tea, of course,
and they looked at me in the beetle
and looked me up and down and said,
where are you from?
Couldn't lie, I was at the borders.
I said, England,
not knowing quite how I was going to be received.
And they said, oh, you're English.
Come and have a cup of tea.
He said to me, are you Muslim?
And I said, no.
And he said, why are you wearing a headscarf then?
I said, well, because all the other ladies are.
And he said, yeah, because they're Muslim.
He said, you don't have to.
He said, this isn't Iran.
You just be comfortable.
Wear what you want.
Ha, ha, ha.
A brown guard guy.
Oh, you are now, it's perfect.
I've got my plates on, Mark, ready.
So welcome, everybody.
Welcome to another therapy session from Brown Car Guy.
And I hope that we have, Fiona is in slow motion.
She's kind of like freezing and freezing.
So hopefully we'll have Fiona as well joining us.
Yes, there you are.
So say hello, guys.
Say hello to everybody who listened.
And just briefly take a few seconds
to tell everybody who you are.
I think most people know who Sai is now.
That's it.
Yeah, but just say hello to everyone.
Hello.
Short and simple.
So I found her a driver's union.
And today we are honored to be joined by Fiona.
Do I pronounce your surname correctly?
I said, Eastaby.
Eastaby, yeah.
Yeah, Eastaby.
Yeah.
So just take a moment to tell everybody who you are.
I am, well, you know, me.
I'm best known for.
Or more than a moment.
More than a moment, yeah.
Pedro the bar-hole bug.
You're cutting in and out.
You're cutting in and out.
It's amazing she was really clear.
It was a great voice out of recording.
Yeah.
I can try switching my internet connection.
My dropping out.
This is going to be fun.
Looks fine on mine.
Shall I go back to the computer?
To be fair, she's on a boat.
And the boat's not out to sea though.
Yeah, but it's on a boat.
Then she should.
I've never been to the boat, but she's on a boat on a river, I assume.
Yeah, OK.
In some way, in Surrey, I think.
So we now have...
Oh, is that better?
That does seem to be better.
We can at least see you and hear you, so...
Switch to a different internet connection.
Am I stable?
Yes, you are indeed.
OK, so let's try that again.
I may, of course, run out of data on this one,
because this one's limited data.
Fun and games.
Open a phone.
Fun and games.
The brilliant...
The brilliance of doing live podcasts from a boat.
And where is the boat?
So I said you're in Surrey.
Where are you?
On a very messy boat with Pedro outside the window.
Pedro is the car.
He's named it Pedro.
Pedro is the Vaja bug,
which you're going to be telling us about.
So first of all, just tell me what you do.
Who are you and what you do?
Well, believe it or not,
I'm a television camera operator there
with the state of my camera.
To that connection, I'm probably not...
Yeah.
I'm a TV camera operator.
Don't put this on your CV.
Don't put this on your CV, whatever you do.
I've got rubbish Wi-Fi.
I've got a great camera, but, you know,
I mean, my camera's 4K and, you know,
you'd never cope with a bandwidth of that
on my mobile phone connection.
Yeah, and yes, my laptop is about 20 years old,
so the webcam's about 20 years old.
But as I say, it's like Trigger's broom.
Most of the internals have been replaced,
but the webcam's never gone wrong,
so it's still a 20-year-old webcam on the laptop.
So you guys made me switch to the phone.
Well, the thing is when we were trying it earlier,
so obviously when we do these things,
we've kind of joined a few minutes before
to see if everything is working.
And we were having some trouble before,
but somehow, once we've gone live,
it seems to have switched back the other way,
where this is now working a little bit better.
Welcome to the 21st century.
Welcome to the... Welcome to 2025.
But you know what?
It's okay because this is a therapy session.
It's a safe space.
You know, you can be who you are
and you can say what you like, so it's all right.
But tell us a little bit about your adventures.
I did do a little interview with you about,
I think about three years ago, was it?
I think about three years ago.
Yeah, yeah, we did it.
I think it was longer than that.
Oh, wow.
It was at the Scion House car show, wasn't it?
Yeah, I think it was a year after the lockdown, wasn't it?
Because it was the first show that had come back after the lockdown.
So I'm guessing that must have been 21 or 22 then?
Must have been around then.
Yeah.
So yes, you did an interview with me with my Beatle
about my drive in the Beatle from the UK to Singapore.
UK to Singapore.
I started off a bit smaller than that,
so I drove a Beatle from the UK to Gambia.
That was a Beatle that I bought for £99 that hadn't run for 15 years
and I drove it down over the Sahara Desert to the Gambia
where it was auctioned off the channel.
£99?
Yeah.
Oh, so was that part of the sort of like the bend thing that happened?
Was that part of that?
No, this was, it's called the Plymouth Banjal Challenge.
It's supposed to be like a budget version of the Paridaka
with the original Paridaka route
down through the Sahara Desert through Mauritania
and finishing up in Gambia rather than Senegal.
So yeah, the rules of the rally where you had to buy a car for under £100,
drive it down to Gambia
and then all the cars were auctioned off for charity in Gambia.
So that was the first car rally that I did
and I very much got the bug as it were.
The only reason I chose a Beatle...
So to speak.
Yeah, the only reason I chose a Beatle,
it wasn't actually my choice.
I decided I wanted to do this.
I'm a rubbish mechanic so I signed up a friend of mine
who was the best mechanic that I knew
without telling him, of course.
And when I told him, he said, yes, okay, I'm up for that
as long as I can choose the car.
And he was restoring Beatles as his business
so that's what he chose.
So he found the car.
And then he had to drop out.
His mum was taken ill and he had to drop out of the rally
so it ended up me and my friend Claire,
no mechanical skills whatsoever between us
with this car that he got on the road for us
but it hadn't run for 15 years prior to that.
We'd paid £99 for
and our first breakdown was at Fleet Services on the M3
but somehow we got all the way to Gambia.
Yeah.
Yeah, that was...
That's Pedro, right?
No, that was auctioned.
So that was Poldy.
That was an orange car called Poldy,
orange Beetle,
because those cars were all auctioned for charity in Gambia
so that one didn't come back again.
It actually got sold to...
Do you name all your cars?
Well, Poldy actually came with that name.
Opposing Princess?
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, one of the Shah's daughters who...
She was at university over here
when the regime
overthrew the Shah
and so, of course, she couldn't go home again.
So, yeah.
Anyway, she was dating a friend of mine
and they had a property in Gambia
and they decided that they were going to buy
my Beetle at the end of the rally.
They thought it would be a nice
end to our story, as it were,
which was lovely.
So they can't go on down in Gambia.
Well, no, they ended up...
They sold out the place in Gambia.
There was a fire and they sold the place
but they ended up giving it to
a local eco-lodge who were using it
as a tourist taxi down there.
So it lives on.
It lives on after 15 years.
But the funny thing was...
It had the name Poldy
written on the deck lid on the back
when we bought it, just the letters
P-O-L-D-I.
So we called the car Poldy
because of that sticker on the back.
When we got to
Senegal,
a German guy came over
and he said, I think I know this car
and he walked around to the back
and he said, yes, yes, Poldy, I know this car.
And he had sold it in Germany
15 years before.
Yeah.
Wow.
That is unique.
A car that literally took on
a life of its own
and it was not meant to go anywhere
ended up doing this incredible trip
and lives on even today in service.
That's what it feels for you.
Exactly.
It's one of the boobies about it.
Yeah.
Well, we've all seen the Top Gear Botswana special.
What was the most reliable car on that trip?
The Beetle.
Although I can't really speak for reliability
because I say our first breakdown
was at Fleet Services on the M3.
We lost power
and couldn't get over 40 miles an hour.
It's the sort of car that you think,
well, imagine if cars could write autobiographies.
The car would tell, right?
Wow, it's funny you should mention that.
The Beetle Drive is, of course, about my other view.
Yeah, but that's yours.
That's yours.
That's about your trip that you did.
Yes, it is.
There's a film on Amazon about the orange Beetle
about Poldy and the drive to Gambia in Poldy.
That's called Bug to Banjul
where we finished in Banjul in Gambia.
So, yeah, that's out on Amazon.
And then, yes, so I came back
from that trip and started looking
for something else I could do
and went for the Mongol Rally,
which I think most people have probably heard
of the Mongol Rally. That's probably the best known
of the Bangor Rallys.
And in that one,
you have to buy cars for under a thousand...
Sorry, it's...
You have to buy cars under a thousand CC.
So, it's under a thousand CC
and those cars are donated
at the end of the event as well.
So, nobody spends a lot of money
on the cars.
So, I started out in a Suzuki SJ.
I was actually a last-minute replacement
co-driver for someone else,
so I didn't choose the vehicle.
I was just invited
to the launch party
and someone didn't have a co-driver,
so I got invited to go along.
Unfortunately, we didn't really get on.
But we ended up
swapping.
I ended up swapping with someone in another car
and finished up in a Nissan Micra.
It was someone in a similar situation
who was not getting on with their co-driver.
I suppose you have to be pretty close to
or get them really well to go.
I mean, it's worse than a honeymoon,
really, isn't it?
Well, it means a long way to go, you know.
I do know somebody who
they spent their honeymoon
doing the Peking Paris Rally
in an American La France
in 1917.
American La France.
No, she did say it nearly ended up in divorce.
The only picture I've seen
in the American La France
has no wet weather gear.
So the only picture I've seen
of her on this rally, she's wearing a full leather coat,
but she's plastered from head to toe
in mud.
But this lady that ran a rally company,
you know, she loves cars.
It's not like she had her arm twisted,
but it's quite a grueling event
and extreme weather.
It's when you have no wet weather gear on a car
that's going to test things.
Yeah, I don't even like to drive to France
in my car, let alone go around
around the world. That's my idea of hell,
you know.
Is it because you're on a no-fly list?
Is that the reason why you drive everywhere?
I'm not on a no-fly list.
I'm flying in November.
I'm flying away.
In fact, you know the last road trip.
The last road trip I did
was around New Zealand, wasn't it?
And that was in November. I had to fly to get there.
I didn't drive there.
I know I drove to Singapore, but I flew high.
So you're still doing these
overlanding trips then?
Obviously, this one you didn't do in Pedro then?
No, I wanted to.
But bizarrely,
the shipping cost to ship Pedro to New Zealand,
it was
about $1,400
I was quoted to ship Pedro to New Zealand.
So I thought, okay, that's not too bad.
So I was figuring
three, three and a half with port fees
to ship the car there and back again.
But no,
it was $1,400 to ship the car there.
$7,000
to ship back again.
Wow.
Because there's direct
shipping routes to New Zealand,
but no direct routes coming back again.
So it would have taken five weeks to ship there
and six months to come back
on three different boats via
the States and the Panama Canal.
So, yeah.
I think that's cool.
Convict rules, wasn't it?
You send a convict very quickly, but we don't want to back it quick.
No, that was Australia
we sent convicts to, not New Zealand.
That's true.
Same place.
Actually, my co-driver
on that trip, she was
flying in from Australia.
Old school friend, but
she moved to Australia
in her 20s.
We reunited for
a 50-year road trip, if you like.
She does
50-year road trip
around Europe in Ferrari.
What year did you do
the Pedro
to
when you got to Iran and to Pakistan?
2009.
Right after the Iranian elections
when it was all kicking off there
and media were banned.
So, how was Iran?
A friend of mine actually
has driven through Iran twice.
Last year he drove from
Pakistan to the UK
and he drove through Iran
and this year again
he went to Russia
but he also went through Iran as well.
He was actually trying to go to Russia
through Afghanistan
and he managed to get into Afghanistan
on the other side and he literally waited
he spent five days there arguing with them
and literally they started to threaten
his life. They started to threaten him
and he eventually decided, okay, I'll go back.
So, he had to go back to Pakistan and go through Iran
and go the long way around.
But the thing is, from his videos
and his vlogs, he loves going through Iran.
He says Iran is like the most
hospitable place for the friendliest people
you know, they help you out
and it's just the best place
as far as he's concerned.
Anybody not in uniform
anybody not in uniform
is incredibly friendly
incredibly welcoming
very, very hospitable
they do anything for you
just need to avoid the people in uniform
they weren't so welcoming
I had some interesting encounters
but
the first time I think
I was on about my third day
in Iran, third or fourth day
and I got pulled over by the police
before I could even
find out what they wanted, three different cars
had stopped and told them to leave me alone
so they went away
really
and then I didn't encounter them again
What's that?
What's the one country you would never go back to?
We would never drive through again
I don't know that there are any
I don't know that there are any
really, I would
choose not to go to
I mean, I've got favourites
I don't know
China was very difficult
that was because of the bureaucracy
not because of the country
yeah, that was very difficult
they make it very difficult for you to travel there
you have to have a guide
in the car with you
they can close the borders at the moment to notice
but yeah, I mean that's all down to bureaucracy
driving across Tibet
and up to
Base Camp was amazing and that's
something you can't do anymore
because they've
turned Everest Base Camp
into a bit of a theme park
you now have to get a coach trip from the bottom
there's a car park at the bottom
and they've tarmacked the road
when I went it was 99km of dirt
washboard track road
anyone who's driven on dirt roads that have
rucked up know what I mean by washboard
it's like driving over corrugated
surface
99km
but now they've tarmacked it
put a car park at the bottom and you have to
pay a fortune to get a coach up there
wow
we had to have permits to go up there
but yeah
and you did that in Pedro?
I did that in Pedro, yeah
was there mileage on Pedro now?
I don't know
been around the clock broken a couple of speedos
you know
they go around the clock, get up to about
10,000 miles and then jam and I have to buy a new one
or a second hand
as it were
I remember when you brought it down to Sion Park
and we had it on a club display
we had Ferraris, Lamborghinis
all these other cars and in the middle
the owners
was Pedro
this was the most popular
everybody would like it
and you had the tent on the roof
and people were climbing up to have a look
yeah and I was
next to David Eaton's Porsche 917K
if you remember
so between the two of us
none of the Ferraris and Lamborghinis
were getting a look in
no one noticed them
and I had a ride in it once
someone was like wow this is really cool
you know you've got petrol tanks
it's like Mad Max
it's like a Disney version of Mad Max
is what I would put it is
I remember that, that was when I gave you a lift
to pick your car up from HRO
and when we got there everybody came out
to look at the Beetle
so when you went to Pakistan
you went in 2009
and you drove through Pakistan
now at the moment
Pakistan seems to be really popular
on TikTok and Instagram
there seem to be a lot of western vloggers
now over there
and I guess in one sense you're the pioneer
of doing that but how did you find that experience
I loved Pakistan
again as with Iran people are very welcoming
but the police also very welcoming
in Pakistan unlike in Iran
where anyone in a uniform was best avoided
so when I went from Iran
across the border into Pakistan
of course when I arrived
I was wearing my headscarf
and I drove across the border
in the Beetle not entirely sure how well
I was going to be received
but I'd done my homework
and I knew that you know
talk about cricket and
you know you can't go far wrong
so there's these
things
there's these three
we are too disgraced to our culture
because we're two grand people
that don't know anything about cricket
these are racket
well there's these three
police sat outside
the customs building
customs immigration building
of course and they looked at me
in the beetle and looked me up and down
and said where are you from
couldn't lie I was at the border
England not knowing quite how I was going to be
received and they said
you're English come and have a cup of tea
do you like cricket
and yes I like
yes
I timed
my visit very well
because I knew that
Pakistan had just beaten Australia
so I said yes I said in Pakistan
just beat Australia didn't you
so you know I was very very
welcome after that and they took me to the
front of all the immigration queues
and all the people in the queues were quite happy
and just saying welcome to our country
and then when I got to the customs
officer
who brought me tea and biscuits as well
he said to me
are you Muslim and I said no
and he said why are you wearing a headscarf then
I said well because all the other ladies are
because they're Muslim he said you don't have to
he said this isn't Iran you just be comfortable
wear what you want
and
very friendly very sweet
they gave me police escorts
across most of the country
there were areas where they
they said it was fine and I didn't really need
anyone with me that was mostly because
of what was going on in Afghanistan
at the time
so they said that
there had been
a few tourists kidnapped by tribal
groups very tribal regions
and they said that
tourists did occasionally get kidnapped
and they said you know there was no
threat to the tourists they would kidnap them
and
use them to negotiate the release
of their own people from
prison
and they said whenever
they've always been returned unharmed
and saying how hospitable
their hosts were
and how well treated they were
they said well we try and avoid that situation
it's not great for international relations
you know
for promoting tourism in the country
and I didn't have any issues at all
they were quite worried about
so how far did you go into the northern
areas
no I would have liked to
but I was pushed for time
I had specific
points where I had
date dependent visas
and I actually
got sick in Quetta
and ended up in hospital in Quetta
for three days so that delayed me
so then after that I had to
get a move on to get to the Tibetan
border in time and make sure I didn't miss that
time critical border
because I say we
had to have a guide
across China
and
paid a fortune for the guide
so we had to get there on time
so yeah
was that food poisoning
when you got ill?
yeah how did you guess
I'm told even Pakistani people
get sick when they go to Quetta
apparently it's infamous for it
oh you get sick anyway
I'm careful not to drink any water
or to eat any salads or anything like that
it might have been washed in tap water
well I ended up in
Quetta Christian Hospital for
three days
very well treated in there
I was on obviously an all female ward
which is something that you rarely get here anymore
I've been in mixed wards in the UK which I hate
I was on an all female ward
in the Quetta Christian Hospital
which is very like an old fashioned English hospital
probably because
the English built it
but you have a nurses station
still at the top of the ward
so there is a sister nurse
at the ward
at the desk at the front of the room
the second she left the room
all the women on the ward
gathered round my bed
and they were all trying to talk to me
but none of them spoke English
my few phrases of Farsi weren't really cutting it
all I can say is
yes no
where's the toilet
and do you speak English
which didn't really help
but you can get a long way
gestures
tone of voice and things
they were being very friendly
stroking my hair and patting my hands
and I'm saying to them
oh it's very hot
and they understood what that meant
because they took my bed
and wheeled it into the middle of the room
underneath the ceiling fan
the nurse came back
and she spoke English
and she translated for me
and she said they were all saying
hopefully a hair and skin you have
and they want to know
what creams you use
and she said they all want to know
are you married and she rolled her eyes
and she said they're all looking for a wife
for their sons
oh that's where you went wrong
yeah
I had the same problem as you when I got abroad
it was asking about my skincare regime
the interesting thing about this
is that you did that in 2009
recently I was following a guy
having it across the globe
in a Dodge Challenger in a muscle car
and I caught up
with him on Instagram when he was
going through Afghanistan
and he was having a great time
and after Afghanistan he went into Pakistan
and he also had a fantastic time there
he got involved in a lot of stuff
I think he was criticised as well internationally
and he was responding to people like
Pierce Morgan who had said something about him
but he loved it and then he moved on
and I was thinking about all these vloggers
being there and they're finding it's a great time
you in 2009, that guy now today
in his Dodge Challenger
and then conversely
and I know you know the story as well
there's this poor Indian chap
who's ridden across the world in his motorbike
comes all the way to the UK
and he's fine all along the way
he's fine and he rides in the UK
he gets his bike, his gear, his camera
his clothes, everything stolen
yeah
kindness of strangers again
you know he's had people donate him
kit to carry on
and he's able to carry on again now
and that's one thing that
attracts me to travelling like that
is it
restores your faith in humanity
because shit things like that
can happen but then more often than not
people are falling over themselves to help you
and that's the amazing thing about travelling like that
that's a very excellent point that you've made
do you think that this kind of
you see the best of humanity when you are
and about doing this sort of thing
I think you do yeah
it certainly restores your faith in humanity
because you often find that the poorest
people will give you the most
they'll give you their last penny
I've been invited into
grass huts
and given fresh water
fresh bottled water
and food
and you just think
they've got but whatever they have got
they want to give to you
and they won't accept anything in return
I mean it came back to your point about
that poor Indian biker who was
robbed over here
when I was in Pakistan
I was in the Balochistan
desert which
at the time there was no road through there
now I'm told there's a fantastic
one of the best driving roads in the world
goes through there but when I was there
it was very much still under construction
it was dirt track it was pot hold
the bridges were still being built
I was told
at that point I'd had police escorts from
the border but when I got to that road
they said oh no this is fine you don't need an escort
you can go through on your own here
and I'm fairly certain that
they just didn't want to go with me because they knew how
bad the road was
so I get to this river I'm on my
own and I get to this river
and normally
what you ought to do is test the depth of the river
and make sure it's not too deep to
drive through but I could see tyre tracks
going in I could see
tyre tracks coming up the bank on the other side
so of course I just went for it it looked like
it was a regular crossing point
it wasn't too deep but what
happened was something under water
caught on
the sump guard of my car
and bent it backwards under the car
so it was dragging
along the ground when I went up the other side
it was bent under
so I had to stop and there's this
gang of guys come walking towards me
all these big bearded guys
with pickaxes and shovels come walking
towards me and they'd been working
building the bridge but you know I'm
a stone's throw from Helmand
you know Afghanistan Helmand
province where it all been kicking off at that time
so it was a little bit nerve
wracking but they're absolute sweet
arts who they help take
the sump guard off and use their tools
to hammer it back into shape and put it
back on for me and they invited
me for tea and said would I like to join
them for lunch
and when I said thank you to them
they said no no thanks necessary
they said it's our duty to help
travellers and that's
the attitude that I came across
all the way across Pakistan and
actually in a lot of the countries I've
travelled in but that
was actually said to me in Pakistan and I've
written in my book I said you know
I've written about it and I said I find
it very sad that
those same people if they were
touring the UK doing something
like I was doing there but in the UK
they'd probably be treated with suspicion
especially with everything that's going on
right now
yeah exactly
and I think you make a very good point about
the way that we have perceptions and
we're so eager to jump to conclusions
and to make judgements
based on you know the way that we're
thinking or the way that we've been brainwashed
to think and what have you and it's a
real shame because you know
humans are humans, travellers are travellers
and wherever they are in the world
like you say sometimes shit happens
and then you need the help of strangers
the kindness of strangers to get you by
well 99% of the people in the world are
lovely people you know
it's the one percent that's sort of
spoil if everybody else
and the rest of them are parked outside
yeah
go on, let off some steam
because I know you've been dying to let off some steam
there was one thing that
Sai wanted to rant about today and we're going to
give him these five minutes so he can do that because this is a therapy session
and he's got to get it off his chest
so
why do people park in front of
a garage it's my garage
or any other garage, they block me
and I can't get my car
this is like three times now
I've got two cars now parked outside
and
I mean it's deceiving
in Mondeo
I can't actually drive it out
I've only got two of those carriages by the way
the one on the right is not mine
and one of the garage ones from the back garden
so I can't get them out
so sometimes if I'm in a really bad mood
I will call the council and the council will slap
a £185 ticket
on there which if you pay
in 14 days
it's
a surprise
so when he started thinking
well you know what there could be a napkin
they know where I live, I don't know where they live
and I could get a break through my window
in another time
but I don't understand
I've got signs that it says don't park it there
he just parked it
other people just parked the car literally just there
and do it
I used to have this guy, he used to park his car
every Saturday afternoon for about three hours
but I couldn't catch him
for five weeks
and then I got him a ticket
and I've got a GoPro camera stuck in a window
so I was looking out
so I'm coming, getting a car
when he notices a ticket on the windscreen
gets out, has a look at it
and he's looking around
what's happening, does that understand
he's parking in front of it
I never saw him again
another woman kept parking there
she was at a local school
couldn't get my car, was parking in there nearly every day
I stuck
with a tape
about 20 no-parking stickers around the car
so you can't damage your car
in front of my
in front of my
I set a photo in front of her and she goes
that's a bit much isn't it, what are you doing there
so I took most of them off and just left them on her thing
she still parked it there
she still parked it
and he's like
one guy once parked it there blocking both of them
and I had to go somewhere
I picked it up, I called the police
in those days, it was about 12 years ago
you called the police, they were coming along
they picked it up and they parked it
down a road
so they charged him for the parking and for the pickup
and apparently
he was coming
knocking on my door in my house, someone was in
and one of my neighbours bumped into him
and he's like really angry, I don't know why he got sick
he goes well you parked it there
he was an English teacher
doing a session
there's a special place
in hell for these people
really
it's just
the police won't do anything
sorry can't do anything
if you call the council, they do come
they're on my speed though
they do come
most of the time they don't come
what do you do, so now I just put that
I've got like
I saw your psychology there, sometimes
I put a piece of paper down on it
I'll just thank you very much
you've actually ruined the day of my work
and I've lost a day's wages because
I haven't, but I'll just write that down
try and make it feel better
but I've got real sociopaths, I don't give a shit
why do they park there, are there shops nearby
or whatever, where do they go when they park
the problem is where I live
they've made it
no parking everywhere over there
so
from the next road down
to all the roads over there
all the centres over there
you're allowed to park
so everybody who works in the town
the police
police cars, policemen, they all come down there
everybody, office workers
they're all parking there
I can't even park one of my own cars
outside
I can't find a space sometimes
that's the council
there's no parking there
I would like to have permits there
but then my name is
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that you have them, now back to the video
now I'm going to have a little bit of a rant because also
I think this ties into, it's a little bit
topical as well because you know
they're talking about how to rescue
high streets and how to get people to go back to
local high streets and stuff like that
and to my mind I was like look, it's really simple
let people park
and I think that what we found
especially when you think back to our era
sort of the 80s or whatever
you could drive around, you could drive anywhere
and invariably you could park in front of the shop that you needed to go to
or nearby
and it was possible and you wouldn't immediately be charged
and there weren't always double yellow lines
and you wouldn't always have to pay exorbitant parking prices
that are based on the CC of your car
which is absolutely ridiculous
but the point is that they're trying to stop cars
from entering these areas, they're trying to not
facilitate them parking anywhere
and if there is parking it's miles away
and if it is then it's cost of fortune
and you think well how do you hope to regenerate
these areas and these shops and these high roads
when you're not facilitating people getting there
and the whole argument about oh
but you know you can use public transport and stuff
I think it's bunk because yes a certain number
of people will use public transport
but we have shitty weather here
and it's always the most comfortable, pleasant
or safe environment
on a public transport
we were talking was it on this podcast
or another where somebody was talking about being threatened on a bus
this stuff happens
and so some people will feel comfortable using a car
if they're going shopping they want to fill up the back of the car
etc etc
so to me I'm like I think the problem
that you're having with this parking issue
is not so much because like you said
people are idiots and it's one
I think it's because people are not being left
being shoved into these areas
so I've got an 85 pound parking
fine for parking in Sainsbury's
in Sainsbury's
yeah Sainsbury's car park
I've got 85 pound fine
I can pay discounted to 50 pound
if I pay them 14 days
now I'm quite sure
that you can only park there for 2 hours
yeah
they got me down as 1 hour
51 minutes
I've got back there and have a look to make sure it's
alright to be fair I went to the gym
I had some lunch
and then did a bit of Sainsbury's shopping
but if it's less than 2 hours
so
but again that goes back to exactly what I'm saying
about the fact that you're not facilitating
people being able to get to
you want to regenerate shops
you want to regenerate businesses
you want to regenerate the economy
you need to allow people to get there
you just happened to have a picture on the shop
I've had a problem with as well
with taking petrol
without paying in a Sainsbury's petrol station
which I absolutely hadn't done
I'd just gone in and used the car wash
and it
they put the owners on me to try and prove that
I hadn't I said well you've got the CCT
they took months to get them to review it
and actually say oh no you didn't
but I was accused in front of a store full of
people of taking fuel
so I boycott the store now
but going on to the parking
I went to Southampton boat show
this week you know how much the car park
next to the show is
£60 a day
£60 a day for parking
wow
yeah
well XL
exhibition centre which is in Docklands
£30 per day
to parking
so is Olympia
I was working at a conference at Olympia last year
and
it's really not
far from Olympia
it is Olympia so it's not that far from where I live
and I thought you know what if I just drive in every day
because going by London Transport
was a circuitous route for me
but again I looked at the local parking and I'd have to pay £30 a day
to park there and I'd like to forget about it
you know
I just go for just park
and use somebody's driveway or parking space
right
that's right again Peter
if you're parking in my special day
it's cheaper to park here legally get a ticket
pay that
well that's famously
who is it that parks in front of the London concourse
every year outside on the double yellows
deliberately because yeah it's just cheaper to get a ticket there
you know
I think it's isn't it Duke of London
isn't it those guys
well if he's advertising then yeah
cheaper than paying for a stand isn't it
and everyone's going to see it
he doesn't advertise but everybody kind of knows
because the first couple years there was a beautiful Mustang
this year it was something else I can't remember what it was
it was something really nice
and it was just parked out the front
because they were like heck you know it's okay
if we get a ticket it won't matter
it's still cheaper
they probably wouldn't even get a ticket
because they would
they gave a ticket
they gave a ticket
each year they gave a ticket
there were pictures of people seeing
oh look he's giving it a ticket
I'll take a photo of it
I was here
they definitely got tickets
but again they're like it doesn't matter
but again it's the whole point
when you talk about the fact that events are so expensive
you go to an event you pay the tickets
the ticket prices are outlandish in some cases
and then on top of that then you have to pay
for the parking to go to an event
I mean no wonder events are suffering
no wonder events are dying
high streets and shops and you know
businesses are closing and stuff like that
I mean the whole thing about discouraging cars is one aspect
but at the same time you go balance that against
do you want economic social activity or not?
we're moving seamlessly on to something else
I think so I wanted to talk about the
cop hill climb I went to that
and I got there quite late because I was working
in the morning but I still had to pay
and I parked just
in the public car park because I was just going
for the afternoon it was
£20 entrance fee
had I wanted to display my car
and be part of the show inside
it was £30
if I'm part of the show and displaying my car
would it cost me more?
but it was for charity
for charity but it just seemed bizarre to me
that you would pay more
when you're contributing to the show
than you would as a visitor
yeah but it's for charity
I mean they raised £1.3 million
for local causes
we have this conversation with a lot of members
if you want to be part of the show
you've got to pay
if you're taking part in the hill climb
sure but if you're just parking on display
and you've an interesting car that the public
would be interested in
why charge more than you're charging on the gate?
I mean the same sure
like you say it's for charity
but it just seemed odd to me
that you would pay more
I can't remember what I paid but the event was actually
the hill climb was quite good
I only got to do one up
in the morning
the 360
and it was really interesting because I had
so I often must see it to charity
so to them
so they
they sell off a seat
so you drove somebody up there
so you scared the bejesus out of somebody
driving them on this hill
only one run
so you'd never done it before
to be honest it didn't really seem much of a hill
really
but it was a really nice shop called Mohammed
and I started talking to him
and it was the first time he's actually been
in the Ferrari that's been driven
and he had one of those glasses
he'll probably listen to his podcast now
because he's on my LinkedIn
so I'll send him his link
but it's really funny because he had his wife
getting prepared
so I said we're going to go on the hill now
he said put your rainbeds on
he said alright yeah
so there's about two cars in front
one car in front
we're going to go
and he goes the batteries have died
I said get your camera
I said get your camera
because they were running out of time
they were putting cars in really fast
but just as we were about to go
they stopped here because there was a bolt on the road
there was a what?
a bolt
so we had a few times
I don't know
but it was
it was a vehicle
hopefully it wasn't on a break
the second guy
the second guy took in the afternoon
and he
it was for his son but his son did turn up
so he was a really nice guy
Darren his name is
and he's
and that was the one I met then
you confused me for a minute then
because I met the one in the afternoon
and you said his name was Mohammed
I'm thinking he didn't look like Mohammed
maybe converted
and his girlfriend's son was John
and he was in a
McLaren 600LT
it's a great car
so he went out and I took Darren up in there
and he really enjoyed it
and then I gave his daughter's
boyfriend
John who was in a 600LT
a lift to the house
and he was literally all the way going
and he loved it because
I'm revving it I've got that exhaust
because 600LT is a great car
but it's sound is good
and a lot of it is about sound
which is what makes a supercar
and it makes it feel faster than everything
and he did center and say
600LT was really nice
it was a good car
but this 360 is so much nicer
yeah you know
it's the emotions that you get
it sounds better than yours
it doesn't
is that a challenge?
game on
you've got to google it
the screen
but talking of sound
nicely into the fact that we've just had
the speed record broken
by a BYD
Yang Wang
Yu Nian something or other
and it's done
Yang Wang
Yang Wang
Yang Wang is not an extreme
Yang Wang
Wang Chung Wang
I think you're just enjoying saying that word
over and over again
you wanged it round the track
I'm going to say
I'm just going to mention about
the cop hill climb
you saw the photo and what's up
a chap I know turned up
in the fourth oldest
Aston Martin ever made
and that was really cool
the razor blade
one seater
fantastic it was like ass history
I've been in 60 years
what about that Alfa Romeo
what about that Alfa Romeo
was it the
I can't remember the model number
I literally just posted it
on my youtube shorts this morning
it was chassis number one
of the Targa Florio
car
I'm looking for the picture
I found the picture of your car
that's where
I was parked
cop hill climb
hang on
I'm just showing a picture of your car
parked at cop hill this is the Nissan
it looks like you're parked
in a crop field
you paid £30 to
it was £20 to park in the crop field
£30 if I wanted to park
on a bit of flat ground in the show
do you pay £20 to motor grass
basically
yeah basically
I was only there for 2 hours
yeah I was coming straight
for work that was a bit rushed
so anyway
so you know
what I wanted to ask you about as well
you've been driving something else recently haven't you
something with a 3-pointed star on it
yeah a Mercedes
let me remind myself a Mercedes AMG GT
so
Evo magazine
actually yeah both first time
Evo magazine got together
with
Mercedes Benz UK
and they organised these
there was a day at Brooklands
two days at Brooklands
at Silverstone
and at the Mercedes Benz World
and at BrandsHatch
just the one I did
at Silverstone
and what they did was
they invited people
where you could go on the website
or whatever and just apply
but they invited our club
our club should have said the drivers union
for some members to come along
20 members in total went over
the three different events
and we all get to drive the car
right
what did you think of the car
Fiona
I was just wondering actually before we get on to that
I was just wondering why do you think
you and I were invited to that
and Shazad wasn't
well we
completed the form
because I know the editor of Evo
and he said you should come
and I'm like alright fuck
I mean to be honest
I mean obviously I'm on the press
circuit so I do get to do stuff
and I do get invited to these events
but I normally only do them if it's a press
event
and honestly I'm getting to the point now
where I've done it all
and I'm
it's getting to the point where unless it's something really interesting
I'm like yeah
but yeah but you go ahead tell me about the AMG GT
you know
what did you think Fiona
you first ladies first
so was this the experience
I'm just holding up
that was it
it's the replacement
the new version
it has two seats at the back now
if you can call them seats
little kids can get in the back
more power
I can't remember if I drove the
I think it was 55
it was 63
I've driven with lots of power
and one with a little bit
even more power
because I went to Silverstone track
so I'm driving around and fortunately
one of the challenges was
because they pay you with a driver
a professional driver
and it turned out that one of the drivers there
was Keith
I want to come sit with you
so I sat with him
but he kept telling me on every
turn here turn there
and everything's electronic
it's a bit confusing
sounded great
it looks really good in Silver
not a super car
you know
you have a very narrow definition of
super cars though that's the problem
it doesn't look like a super car but you know
the interesting thing was
they do a talk about 45 minutes
about a car 50 minutes
and people can ask questions
so it's about 45 minutes to an hour
and people can ask about the price
you know something
you know what I'm telling you
I've lost interest
I've lost interest in the car honestly
but what I want to ask you about
forget about the car you know what
forget about it
but I've never driven Silverstone
what was Silverstone like tell me about that
I've driven Silverstone quite a few times
actually it's a great track
for Mercedes thing
they shortened it
if you're supposed to turn left
you carry going straight on
in the shorter circuit and that kept confusing me
it's a great track
I think if you're going to do a track
if you're doing Brands Hatch
no I'm not doing any UK tracks
that was the first time I driven Brands Hatch
very tight turns there
and you go down Paddock Hill
I personally prefer Brands Hatch
it's a much more
it's better
it's a little more technical
you know you've got to
Silverstone is faster though isn't it
Silverstone is faster because
you're not slowing down for the tight turns
yeah
I've never driven Silverstone in anger
I've only done parade laps there
but well you know
so what you guys are telling me actually
reminds me a lot of
a comparison between Yass Marina circuit
and the Autodrome Club circuit
because I would say that's very similar
where Yass Marina is more exciting
but it's also more scary because it is
a very high speed circuit
but also you know it's got that very tricky
infill section as well
whereas the Autodrome Club circuit is nice open
sweeping quite short so easy to remember
but really really enjoyable
so I think what you've described is a similar sort of
scenario
I mean for me in Brands Hatch
when you go down Paddock Hill
your stomach just goes all down
because you're just literally going down of an up
and then you hit the hairpin
but it's unforgiving
I do know people who are special cars
because I did make myself
feel sick driving around Brands Hatch
yeah
that can happen
I think as we get older
I just feel sick
I think especially as a passenger
normally that happens as a passenger though
after a couple of laps
you're like wow interesting
but that was with me driving
I've never done that before
I've never made myself feel ill while I was the one
driving normally if I'm in control of the car
I'm fine
but yeah
I don't know
did you think it felt the four wheel steering
on it did you think that made the motion
feel different maybe
to be honest I couldn't really experience
much it's just you know
I think just driving around in a track
you can't really notice it
I mean you've got someone next to you
you can't do things that you want to do
I mean she's had some more experience in doing
test drives but I like peace and quiet
I like to do my own way
and build up to it
and then see, start feeling
you can see in a few hours, in a day to really
find out what kind of
if you watch it going around
the skid pan at Mercedes Benz World
which I did the other day
you can actually see the rear wheels
steering as it's going around
which is interesting to watch
it's bizarre
I think the thing is that many experiences I've
done you know on press trips and what have you
I find that there's two kinds of instructors
and it depends on what kind you get
now there's one instructor that you get
and they just go into normal
instructor mode so they
they go into that mode where they think they're there to teach
you how to be a better racing driver
and in my mind as a journalist
I'm not there to master a lap time
I'm not there to master the circuit
I don't really care about all that stuff
I'm there for the experience and to experience the car
so the second kind of instructor
which I much much prefer
are the ones that get in the car and they're just there
to make sure you don't do anything stupid
otherwise they're like
go for it dude and all they'll do is like
this is a good braking point
and just watch out over the crest it's blind
that's it they won't try and tell you
in a brake here turn in here
they won't do all of that they'll let you do what you're doing
but they're just there to make you safe
but the best experiences I've actually had
are the follow lead follow scenarios
where you don't have anybody with you
so what you have is an instructor in a car in front
which is actually great because if you're the first
in the queue and what they'll do sometimes
they'll rotate so if they take a pack of three cars out
then in each lap they get you to rotate
so everybody gets one or two laps behind the lead car
which is the instructor car
and that way you can see the braking points
and you can see the turning in points and stuff like that
and I do remember a time
we had a lot of fun it was actually on the Mercedes event
it was the Esmerina
and we kind of broke from the pack a little bit
and it was a senior Mercedes test driver
and we came into the Marina section
just underneath the hotel promenade bit
and he did actually go off
because we were pushing quite hard
and I was quite close behind him
and he did actually go off that bit
and he immediately recovered and he came back
and because it was the infield section
the other people hadn't seen that
obviously the cameras had but the other drivers hadn't
and we pulled into the pit lane and he jumped out
and he came over and he said that didn't happen
I'm like no it didn't
of course I tell everybody
well you know
we did last year
we did some airfield days
which the club paid for
some members who invited to come down at Northworld
and there you can take your car to the limit
without hitting anything
and we've never, I've been doing it for like
15 years there on and off
I took the DB9
and DB9 is supposed to be a bit of a dog
when it comes to handling
but I tell you what
once and I tried and tried
it was just well I mean
I should try a bit harder perhaps
and that's when you really find out what a car is
so if a company gave me
somebody gave me a car
I'll take it down to Brand's
Northworld
talk to Andy who's the instructor
and say look can I take it around
let me see what I can do with this car
and it's great and you can take it to the limit
and it's a great way to learn
but you don't need a fast car
some of the most fun I've had on a track
was in a three wheeled Morgan
because they're hilarious, the back end
just slides out so easily
they're hilarious, I've never laughed so much in my life
they are fun cars
we drove a three wheeler
and Russell came around the go-kart track
and it was hilarious fun
well so did that cricketer
the go-kart track would be great in one of those
the top gear chat
we crushed it didn't we
well three wheeler
what's his name, it's cricketer
top gear
what, Flintoff
Freddie Flintoff
I'm surprised he could fit in one
no he was doing a free wheeler
and no helmet
crashed it
it really damaged his face
was that in that one?
I thought it was something else he was driving
I'm sure it was a free wheeler
I think it was a Morgan free wheeler
I have to say that
I felt that
the thing is that
we had the previous, we had Clarkson, Hammond and May
Clarkson, Hammond and May
whatever you thought of the guys
but they were car guys and they didn't understand cars
and they did understand how to drive
and I did feel that these guys
they were a little, was it Paddy and Flintoff
Chris Harris obviously
he's in the league of his own
he's pretty much a racing driver
but these other guys
in the very very few episodes I saw
confident even watching them
drive, never mind them being actually out there
so it wasn't surprise about the number of crashes
I think they crashed a classic Lamborghini
in one episode didn't they?
I think they wrecked one of those as well
I've heard
from people who've actually
lent them a car and they've said
they do ruin their cars
it is like
who lent them a car
that's not good
apparently, so they do
use them, but yeah it was a free wheeler
it was a Morgan Super Free
Wow, okay
I didn't realise that was the car there it was
oh gosh
I went out in one of the
prototype of that around Bister
actually
when the CEO flew over from Italy
to test drive it and I stood next
to it while he was climbing into it
and said are you going to take me for a run
he said come on then
he didn't know where he was going so I gave him directions
yeah, no no
we were just going round the road to Bister
so they're nearly running out of time here
but you mentioned Bister
and that reminded me of something
because I drove round Bister
I converted an electric Porsche
356 around Bister
so that reminded me
because before you go I did want to ask you
about your experience of actually owning
a converted classic car
because last time when we spoke
it didn't turn out to be everything that you'd hoped
no, well
I bought this
1965 Beetle that had been converted
to electric
I picked it up at auction on
collecting cars
I thought I was getting it at bargain price
at £25,000
but the original build cost
it had been built by
a music producer at the cost
of £70,000
plus the cost of buying the car
converted
Chris Evans, DJ Chris Evans
had then bought it from him for £40,000
and it was
given away
he gave it away to Comic Relief
where it was raffled off
and it raised over £1 million
for Comic Relief so this car had an interesting history as well
so at £25,000
I thought I'd done quite well there
it had a 100 mile range
which I
couldn't trust to see whether I could
make it work as my main car
because
having a limited number of parking spaces
it needed to be my main car
if I was going to keep it
for the work commute it was great
because I could charge it for free at work
now I don't have anywhere to charge it at home
or I didn't at the time I could now
but I could charge it at work
so that was fine
yeah, I have shore power hookup
so I could
have more here that does charge an electric car
but the problem was
the 100 mile range
then I had an issue where
rain leaked down the wiper spindle
and dripped on the charge controller
and I had to send it back to electric
classic cars who'd converted it because
it just drained
it just drained the battery and it turned out
that it shorted the charge controller
whether it dripped on the charge controller
it shorted two cells in the battery
they couldn't
get the same cells anymore
so they bypassed those two
cells which then reduced
my range to 70 miles
well they're based in the middle
of Wales and I'm west London
so I had quite a long
drive back
they recommended I do it on a
transporter I said no
if I'm going to keep this car I need to know that
I can do longer trips when I need to
I planned an overnight stop
at a friend's house in Sirencester
didn't quite even
make it there I stopped and charged up in Ross
on Y
didn't even make it to Sirencester
it didn't have a fast
charger so I was sat
for six hours in a Morrison's
in Ross on Y because everywhere was
closed I went for a little walk around the town
and then everywhere was shut so I just sat
in Morrison's waiting for this car to charge
and then it got to that time of night
when there's roadworks come out and there's
road closures so I got
rerouted up this steep hill that
just drained the battery
ended up
about three miles from
Sirencester
long story a bit short three miles
from Sirencester
without enough charge to get there
I'd found a charger
but it was the wrong type of connector
it was a fast
charger and they didn't have a type 2
which I thought was the most common type
so I had no way of charging it
I had to get the car recovered
so another reason
not to buy an electric car
yeah so I've
kind of gone off the idea
of getting an EV but I've tried it
I've tried it and the one thing
I would say about it
it was a beautiful car
it was beautifully restored
1965 Beetle unlike
Pedro my Bahar bug
it's very very modified
this was complete classic
white wall tyres the works
lovely baby blue colour
it looked like
an unmodified old Beetle
you could have a lot of fun at the traffic lights
because it did take off
very well at the traffic lights
it cornered
like shit because it still had
the old Beetle swing axle suspension
but off the traffic lights
in a straight line it was amazing and it still had a gearbox
you could still change through the gears
you didn't have to
you could just put it in third
and drive it like an automatic
but if you wanted a bit more torque
you could change down to the lower gears
which yeah a lot of fun at the traffic lights
how much did you sell it for?
I nearly made my money back
well I made
I made back what I paid for it
I got pretty much what I paid for it
but that doesn't take into account
the money that I spent fixing it
so yeah I lost money on it
but yeah I gave it a go
I gave it a go
so I feel
qualified to criticize them now
I did say that
I said this to one of the cars I reviewed recently
and I said to the builder
I said do you think it's too early to be converting classics
too electric because the battery technology
is still in its infancy
and I do think that it's going to get better
it's going to get more compact, it's going to get safer
and the ranges are going to get longer
but that's not going to happen for a few years yet
if you've written electric classic today
you're going to have to do it again
in five to ten years because the technology
will have moved on so much
I think e-fuels are going to take over
they're going to be part of the solution for sure
because you have to you know and I think e-fuels
because there's so many cars around
there's going to be e-fuels, aeroplanes
aeroplanes can't use batteries
it's going to be e-fuels
and I reckon
they're already being used
synthetic fuels
they're already being used in classic racing
you see all the old Bentley's at Goodwood
they're all running electric fuels
sorry, it's synthetic fuels
so on that bombshell
as they used to say
of having solved the world's transportation problems
with e-fuels I'd like to bring it to a close
because we've run over the clock
easily once again
but it's been absolutely fantastic
so thank you so much Kiernan
before you go you know I've got to ask you
if you're coming to Germany at Brooklands tomorrow
not because I don't have a German car
I sold my German car
Siders kind of
I'm going to Greenwich
Greenwich breakfast meet
so we have a breakfast meet
well it's also
Autumn Motorsport Day
you're coming to that on your Autumn Motorsport Day
on the 12th of October
we've got to mention
Kiernan is actually really involved
with Brooklands
she was on a committee as well
probably for a next time
really needs to talk about it
right now let's go for it
give the event tomorrow a massive plug
tell people how they can find out about it
and how they can sign up to it
go on to the Brooklands website
and tomorrow
is German Day
you've lost me haven't you
it says reconnecting on my screen
tomorrow is German Day
we can hear you
we've got me now great
so German Day
any German car
so I will have Pedro there my Beetle
and if you want to go up Test Hill
you can get there early
go and sign on at the clubhouse
and you can take your car up the historic
Test Hill
there's live music the usual
the Napier Routons back from
Goodwood where it's been on display
for the revival meet that's back now
Concorde
all the aircraft factory
and then on the 12th of October
is Motorsport Day where there's going to be
some very special competition cars
including that 917K
Porsche that we talked about
going around the Mercedes-Benz track
as well as the hill climb
and everything else going on there
so come along I'll see you two at that one
yeah
supercars
there you go
and I have to recommend
the aircraft display as well
with a friend to go and visit that recently
a few months back and we had a lot of fun
it was absolutely brilliant
so thank you once again for joining us
we didn't do the Concorde tour
but we got to sit in a Harrier Jump Jet
so that made my day
great
that was awesome
thanks a lot guys, thanks so much for joining us
I hope everybody enjoyed this episode
and we'll be back again once again with
Brown Car Guy Therapy Session
so thanks again so much to Fiona and Sai
thanks a lot, bye
shout out time guys, thank you so much
hey if you enjoy my content
why not get involved, buy me a coffee
you can do that either of these links
or if you're watching on YouTube buy me a thanks
or take out a membership it all helps
it really does
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