Brown Car Guy Sep 29, 2025

Beetle to Pakistan, Kop Hill in a Ferrari & Cars for High Streets! | BCG Therapy w/ Sy & Fiona

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Porsche 356

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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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

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.

Aston Martin DB9 BMW M3 Buick Century Dodge Challenger Dodge Charger Ford Mustang McLaren 600LT Morgan 3 wheeler Nissan Micra Porsche 356 Porsche 917

Original notes

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.

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