0:00
/
0:00
Budget Bike Battles & Baron Von Grumble’s Psychedelic Trip - The future of 44Teeth? | Ep 84 | Drive Torque Podcast
Budget Bike Battles & Baron Von Grumble’s Psychedelic Trip - The future of 44Teeth? | Ep 84 | Drive Torque Podcast
0:00
0:00
0:00
0:00
About this episode
Chris from 44 Teeth joins the Drive Torque Podcast to share his motorbike adventures, including the upcoming KTM 990 RCR Cup race series across Europe. He opens up about a life-changing psychedelic therapy that improved his mental health and outlook, leading to weight loss and a new relationship. The conversation covers bike insurance, MotoGP predictions, and the evolution of budget bike battles, with plans for a fresh approach in 2026. Chris also reflects on the importance of surrounding yourself with positive people and embracing a simpler, more fulfilling lifestyle.
Topics:
motorbike racing
ktm 990 rcr cup
psychedelic therapy
mental health
budget bike battles
motoGP predictions
bike insurance
motorhome travel
personal growth
motorbike gear
Don't forget to send us your questions or subject for future episodes.
Subscribe/Follow, give us a rating and give us a follow on Instagram for all the latest Podcast news - https://www.instagram.com/drivetorque...
Cheers and see you at the next one 👊
Filter:
|
Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
Car
BMW X5M
"That's like excuses to me. It is like his X5M that you brought off. Mr. Tony Newell was six ye..."
Car
Porsche Cayman
"...'s a bit like rather than a 911 GT3, you're in a Cayman S, right? That's the, it's not a, it's a chassis..."
Select text to request an explanation
Welcome to the Drivetalk podcast.
Don't forget to like and subscribe.
Got to clip that up for it at the beginning of every episode.
We're talking about the line on Joe's head
because he rode his motorbike.
Which is great, because the weather's nice.
Yeah, it's just out there.
It's just there, look.
Are we started?
We've done what you hate, mate.
Yeah, we've done what we hate.
I love it when podcasts go straight into it.
Yeah, yeah.
I love it, because I'm often so curious
about what they were talking about before it started.
Especially that everyone's laughing loads.
Like, oh, you got it.
And they're like, all right, yeah.
It was obviously something juicy that was coming out.
But I honestly didn't realise he was in the Epstein files.
No, I didn't.
No.
No.
And I really hope that enlargement goes well.
Yeah.
Yeah, I've got fingers crossed for that.
Yeah.
Any gain.
Anyway, guys, welcome back to another episode
of the Drivetalk podcast.
And we are here with one of our most popular guests.
Over the years.
Wow.
Oh, no, we couldn't get him, but we got Chris instead.
Which is interesting, because it's motorcycles.
And this is in you guys' cars.
I mean, you're a bit bikes now, aren't you?
Well, can we just point something out here?
So we're here with Mr. Motorbike Chris Heads from 44 Teeth.
I rode my motorbike here.
Chris didn't.
And even Peds got a motorbike themed t-shirt on.
So, Chris, you're like the least motorbike-y person here.
I have got some checkered flag socks on.
Oh, can we show the cameras?
They are.
Wow.
Look at those.
Vans with Nike trainers, that's like...
I like to mix up my brands.
But you didn't ride your bike
because you worried about messing up your hair.
It is a concern.
If I'm on TV, but then I didn't realize
we have to wear stupid headphones.
Yeah, but it's not a problem that Joe has.
So that's why he didn't worry about riding his bike.
I'm just going to play the voice note here.
If I can't ride my bike, my hair gets messed up.
You've got to think about these things.
You know?
Oh, you're such a tart.
But it's because I didn't have my bike with me
because I'm running in a KTM at the moment,
which I had to then pick up from the office.
That's ride my GS to go and get it.
That's like excuses to me.
It is like his X5M that you brought off.
Mr. Tony Newell was six years ago.
Yeah, still going strong.
Strong.
It's just at that point where it's sort of like,
that's a weird noise.
Yeah.
I mean, it's still under BMW warranty, amazingly.
Wow.
I do pay quite a lot for it.
Yeah.
But it's worth it.
Because if something goes wrong with that,
I mean, the other year, I mean, Tim King, legend.
Yeah, Tim.
He saw it be right out,
but there was quite a few bits that needed doing.
And the dealer was like,
you're never going to get that through warranty.
I was like,
Hello.
And yeah, so it's,
it's cost as much as it's saved me throughout the year.
Yeah.
Throughout the ownership.
It's an interesting,
because we've had lots of talks about your X,
what year is it?
2016.
2016.
And you, I mean, we've talked lots over the past,
let's say three or four years,
and you've been like, Joe, I think I should get this,
or I'm looking at an F90M5 or,
and then it's like,
then when you look at the actual outlay of what it would cost
you to swap in something that's as good or an upgrade,
it's just like, why would I bother?
It's not worth it.
But I think that is like the pattern
of the car industry at the moment.
That's why it's in so much trouble.
Yeah.
And that age, like 2016, 17, 18,
it's kind of like a good window.
Yeah.
Pre-OPF.
Yeah.
And it sounds.
Post-car play.
It sounds good.
And it's kind of,
it's got all the technology that you actually want,
but all the stuff that you don't want,
lane assist, all that shit.
Yeah.
Beeping, boning, isn't in it.
Yep.
But the most irritating thing about that car,
and this is a government thing.
So it's a 20, it's a six, five plate.
And in that year.
Tax.
Yeah.
So if you bought a 17 plate, identical car.
Yeah.
Identical.
Yeah.
The tax on the 17 plate a year is 380 quid or something.
That is 800.
Oh.
Yeah.
800 pounds a year.
800 pounds a year road tax.
I mean, that's ridiculous.
That's like an hour, an hour and a half of your time,
work wise.
At least 25 minutes.
So I'm there putting in the minutes.
But yeah, I mean, at least for that 800 quid,
and I know it's not road tax as we all know it.
Vehicle excise duty.
Vehicle excise duty.
But at least you're getting good,
you know, like we get fantastic roads over here.
It is fantastic.
Yeah.
But the joke of it all is, you know, it's like,
oh, well, it's a, you know, it's a big engine,
you know, V8, whatever it is.
It's used as lots of petrol.
Yeah, it does.
And I pay that tax on the petrol at the pump.
And with your earnings and everything else and.
And VAT and tax and, you know.
Yeah.
Before we go any further, actually,
we should mention and do a big shout out for podium place
because we're back here at the Roastery.
We haven't, it feels like so long.
It is so long.
It is so long.
It really was, I said to the guys this morning,
because we just, we've been doing lots of online ones.
Yeah.
And just logistically getting together,
but it is so good to be back.
It is, and it's buzzing today.
I mean, the weather's, it's lovely, but we're, you know,
in midweek, we've all had a lovely coffee.
And it's just great every time we come down here,
it's always full of car and bike people,
or non bike people, like this guy over here.
And in fact, there are jokes aside,
there's a lot of bikes out there, isn't there?
There's probably 10, 12 bikes.
They've got a top gear, top gear, top gun special in there.
That is Maverick's bike.
It is.
It's not his actual bike.
I think it's a copy.
Yeah.
If it was his bike, but I mean,
it's every time I come in, I think,
I don't do bikes, but that would be a cool addition
to the garage.
It's a good bike, but have you ridden bag of shit?
That's it.
Never meet your heroes.
Well, I mean, it's not, but.
Back in the day.
Big, old, heavy, you know,
that was a super bike back in the day.
It's a ninja, isn't it?
And it's not, you know, it doesn't lightness
and that sort of concept hadn't really hit then.
Okay.
So it's big old pig iron thing.
I mean, they were fast for, you know, the time.
But no, my mate had one, a green one,
and I rode it for about eight minutes.
Okay.
And it's a large part of that.
Yeah.
GPZ, is it GPZ 900?
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, it's cool.
It's got all the right stickers on it.
It looks good.
It's cool.
If you are a Top Gun fanboy, like I am, that's.
Yeah.
I mean, I wonder how much Kawasaki paid
to have that bike in.
Was product placement a thing back then?
I don't know.
Because what's Top Gun was paid,
a lot of the budget came from the US military,
didn't it?
Do you hear that?
I'm guessing probably would it, though?
I mean, it was responsible for like more people joining up
to the military than anything they've ever done ever.
Yeah.
I remember I had read a story once,
Michael Ironside, who was Jester in the,
he was in a-
Ironside, the wheelchair guy.
No, that side.
The guy who played Jester in Top Gun,
not Ironside, the detective.
Okay.
I forgot what he was like having him on.
But he was in a bar one day, having a beer,
and these two guys come up to me and they went,
hey, hey, you're Jester from Top Gun, aren't you?
And he went, well, yeah, yeah.
Oh, I said, we joined up because of Top Gun.
Yeah.
And we just like to say that the US Navy is,
like the film was awful.
You don't get Kelly McGinnis.
Yeah.
That's the thing, isn't it?
I mean, I'm, yeah, I never wanted to be in the Navy
or the Army or anything like that growing up,
but I still love Top Gun.
And the new one I watch all the time.
I just can't stop.
It's, it makes me, Lou, Lou McGeagle at this,
if she's listening.
But if I watch it at altitude in a plane,
it makes me tear up.
Like it makes me tear up at a round level.
For what reason?
I don't know.
I just get really emotional watching.
Both of them do.
The newer one.
And I don't, yeah, I can't really pick a point.
And I don't know why, but I think,
I mean, it's such a romantic film.
It's, it's.
But on a, going back to cars and bikes,
because obviously Tom Cruise loves his cars and bikes,
the bit he loves most about the films he makes, apparently,
is choosing which cars and bikes are in it
for the car chasers and stuff.
That's entirely down to him.
And he rides his own bikes.
Yeah, yeah.
Where he, we're allowed.
Yeah.
Didn't he ride that bike?
Was it, was it Catty Scrambler or something?
Off the cliff with the parachute on.
Even the run up to that looked insane, didn't it?
It was like a long wooden bridge or whatever.
It just launched you off.
Cause he's mental.
Yeah, that's nice.
I don't know.
I mean, how they ensure him.
I've, I've no idea.
Well, yeah.
Or do they?
I'm not sure.
Talking of insurance quickly.
Doom and gloom, it has been with bikes.
You know, when I was looking for to ensure that,
what, just over a year ago,
I was looking at a 1300 GS, the bigger one.
And it was going to be about four and a half grand.
And then that was like 1600 quid,
which is still a lot of money for nine.
Considering you're over 50.
Yeah, yeah, I don't look too bad for over 50, do I?
Well, I'm very close though.
Actually.
I am over 50, so shut up.
But anyway, I got my renewal through
and it's dropped to 600 quid.
So, so that's, I mean, that's nice, isn't it?
Is that because you've not been riding it very much?
No, no.
I think, because I haven't touched, touched, touched wood.
I haven't made any claims or, you know.
So I think, I think the thing with motorcycle insurance,
particularly, is if they don't know you
and you've got very little experience,
they like to see a year under your belt.
Of course.
And if you come off bikes for a few years,
that sort of disappears.
So they're like, who's this?
We don't know.
So they just put that premium in there.
Maybe it's an excuse.
Maybe the statistics are there to say,
oh, well, these riders have had an issue,
which to be fair, looking at the state
of some of the riding you see around wouldn't be a surprise.
Yes.
But so I think now, now you're like a legit person.
Yeah.
It's, it's about right.
Am I certified now?
You're certified.
But this is coming from a non-biker, right?
But you could go and pass your test
as a middle-aged man going through a crisis
and go out and buy a ridiculous super bike.
Yeah.
And go and ride it down the road.
And yeah, the risk of killing yourself
is quite high.
I would have thought on a bike like that
if you don't know what you're doing.
But, but then that's your own risk to take, isn't it?
But that's the insurer's risk.
That's what I'm, where I'm coming at.
Is that they don't know which of the,
are you going to be the sensible bike
or are you going to be the complete lunatic?
No, but you could say the same about a Ferrari
or a, you know.
Yeah, true.
Whatever.
And the value of that vehicle is a lot more than,
you know, a 10 grand super bike you can do
over 200 mile an hour on.
That makes me, that's always amazes me, isn't it?
You can do over 200 mile an hour.
In fact, that's a great-
I believe cost of bike speed versus car speed.
That would be a great, that's a great-
John, it would be great to find the cheapest bike
that will do 200 mile an hour.
I reckon you could get one, two grand.
Wow.
That's a, there's a 44 teeth video just there.
Yeah.
I reckon you could find-
Would that be like a high booster or something?
It'll be like a 2005 sort of Fireblade R1.
I reckon you could get one of those with the right mods
on a, on the right day in the right condition to hit 200.
Wow.
With aero, real small rider on it.
Tape up all the gaps.
Have you done 200 miles an hour on a bike?
Or what's the fastest you've been on a bike?
Cause that-
Dunno.
I've done-
You can't look, you don't have time to look.
You've done 200 mile an hour on a car, haven't you?
Yeah.
I've done 193 in a car.
And it was terrifying.
It had the windows up and everything.
On a bike, it must be unbelievable.
I don't, it doesn't, it's not,
I think the funny, the dynamics of a motorcycle,
if it's well set up and it's a stable bike,
because you're effectively a fin,
so actually the faster you go, you've actually got,
as long as the turbulence is correct and the aero's sorted,
it's actually quite stable at super high speed.
And I guess you get the gyroscopic effect
from the wheels gets more and more.
Yeah, so it wants you to stay upright.
The least, the hardest thing to do
is make it turn at that speed.
So, and stop.
Yeah.
That's the bit you want to worry about.
Too, too, quite important.
And you're watching it trying to hit that number
that you've ever decided, whatever, 200,
and you're like, oh, the end of the runway is there,
oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.
And it's trying to break.
So actually, motorcycles at the right bike,
adventure bike, forget it,
because you'll get a lot of it, like they row.
That's why some of the panniers on modern bikes are loose.
Oh yeah, I know, it's that,
on their multi-strada, duketties.
I thought they were broken, initially.
I was like, why is it broken?
It's moving.
It's to avoid like a turbulent airflow thing.
Is that like one of those kind of things
that stops caravans from doing,
it's like just a counter-balance or something.
Same principle, I guess, but through the air.
That's more up his street.
I wonder how many people take them back,
go, excuse me, my panniers are loose.
Can you talk a lot?
Probably quite a lot.
Probably quite a lot, yeah, yeah.
Wow.
So yeah, but I think that's a good idea.
I reckon you would have done,
you've done a lot of, I mean, your track day stuff.
Yeah, but there's very few tracks
unless you want a GP bike or something,
you'd hit 200.
Okay. 200's fast.
Yeah.
Fast.
Yeah.
Talking of GP, what's your,
did you watch, would you watch Thailand?
I did, yeah.
Yeah, I did.
What are your predictions for this year?
It's good to see it's a bit open.
I mean, it's, I'm not bad mouthing to get here
and they've done such a great job over the last few years,
but it was nice to see Aprilia and even KTM up there
and other people in the mix apart from Yamaha.
I still think Marquez is going to win the season again.
But of a lesser margin.
Aprilia is obviously the thing is,
you can't, every track's different, right?
It's the new season.
The bikes aren't developed properly, new bikes.
The last year's Ducati wasn't incredible
because the 2024 Alex Marquez bike
was doing really well as well.
So it's, and they had a heat,
was it there?
They had the heat treated tire, I think it was.
And the Aprilia is really good at edge grip.
And the heat treated tire effectively removes a bit of grip.
So all the other bikes, their strengths
weren't shown in that track, in that track condition.
It's quite unique then.
Yeah, so, but I just think Marquez,
the talent he's got and just his race craft is incredible.
He's basically like you, isn't he?
Yeah, yeah, like a Spanish me.
How often, how long do you spend with him each year
in his training camp, getting him ready for the season?
I normally go out there sort of early April
and Dora, they all live in, I think,
although he lives in Barcelona, I think now,
with his girlfriend, lovely.
So I stay with them in their spare room,
sometimes cook them breakfast.
Nice.
He likes a chocolate croissant
and full fat cappuccino, just not the day.
Yeah, and sometimes I import wieterbicks
because he likes that.
Nice.
And last thing, because I don't wanna,
I know we're not predominantly a motorbike podcast,
but you are a motorbiker, just with GP.
And I know that you have met him a few times
and you're a big fan of him, as I am.
Top Rack, I mean, he's got a lot of challenges
this year, hasn't he?
Because he's on definitely the slowest bike
and new tires, Michelin tires,
which obviously are very different
to the Pirelli's he's been used to.
And I think he's just got a lot of things cut out for him.
So do you think he's gonna treat this year
as like his development year?
He's not only one of the nicest blokes you'll ever meet.
He's also, I think, he's got such a level head.
He rarely loses his cool.
He's always super nice.
And he can see, he doesn't often override the bike
when there's a problem with it.
So I think he understands.
No one's really gonna expect much of him this year.
So he's just gone from World Superbikes into MotoGP.
And also the other big factor next year,
there's massive real rule changes.
I think there are 800s next year.
850. 850, made by Expert here.
So that's all changing.
They're gonna Pirelli next year.
So it is just, look, get in there, see what you can do.
My prediction is he will be top Yamaha
at the end of the year.
Quattroirro is incredible,
but I think he's signed somewhere else.
He's checked out, he's pissed off.
And I think, you know, give him a bit more time.
He'll let him see the top Yamaha.
Well, he was, I mean, they all finished basically
on top of each other.
Well, in sprint race, he was up to 15th, wasn't he?
And then something happened.
I think he fell off to the last lap or something.
But yeah, so I reckon Marquez is gonna win.
And I think Jorge Martín, that's the most positive.
I think it's gonna be Marquez and Martín again.
It was about, interesting.
If Martín doesn't fall off and break,
because he's like a progeroso, and he's made of glass.
Well, when you get beaten up,
when you break yourself that much.
Yeah, yeah.
Anyway, let's bring it back to something
that Pep can get involved in.
We've just had a Hayabusa turn up, by the way,
talking about the bikes of the way we're doing.
Oh, there you go.
D200 bar now and that.
Do you know the story about the name of the Hayabusa?
I don't know.
So, hang on, let me get this right way around.
So Honda had the blackbird.
Yeah.
And this is where my knowledge just goes blank.
Do you know the story about this?
No.
Yeah, so, and that's that.
I mean, the only bit, I've not ridden the Hayabusa,
obviously, but I've driven two cars
with the Hayabusa bike engine.
Right, okay.
Classic Fiat 500, which was frankly terrifying.
Yeah.
And a hyper racer, which is like a single seat,
full ground effect.
Oh, yeah, that thing.
It's Silverstone, wasn't it?
In horrific-ish weather.
I don't know why more track cars
don't have motorbike engines in,
because they're really cheap, super powerful.
They've already got like sequential boxes and stuff.
It lends itself perfectly.
They sound good.
They sound, they lend themselves perfectly to a,
particularly like a H2R,
which is a supercharged Kawasaki motor.
Put one of those in a car.
They're like 300 brake horsepower.
Yeah, and the good thing,
one of the reasons hyper racer has them
is if they go bang,
there's a ready supply of spare ones.
Yeah.
So it's not actually that horrible
to put a new engine in it.
Yeah, yeah, makes sense.
Chris, it's been almost three years since we had you on.
In fact, we basically started the podcast three years ago,
almost to the day, I think,
and you were like on episode nine or 10 or something.
You have been,
you're in the top three most popular people
we've had in the podcast, don't-
Don't give him-
Well, okay, I'll break it back up.
Who was above me?
But you were third.
It was first and second.
Tim.
Yeah.
And then Misha Just.
Oh.
Like literally there was,
which for someone who's in the motorbike world,
but also the comments and engagement
that we had after your podcast were really interesting
because I think you are an interesting guy.
You've got a voice for radio,
so you come across really well on the podcast
and a face for radio.
Face for cinema.
Oh, thank you very much.
You're having a bonus.
But what you've been up to for the last two and a half,
three years,
because there's lots of things going on,
especially, you know, you've opened Pitbox.
You know, how's the channel going?
What's the bike world like?
What's new with Chris?
You, I mean, look how slim and beautiful.
In fact, I have to say,
since the last podcast,
all of us have lost a lot of weight.
We have, yeah.
We're three.
Apart from Patrick.
He's still in that young fast metabolism phase.
He's hardly overweight, but yeah, he's just lucky.
But no, I mean, you...
The other thing as well is when we started his podcast,
we just assumed everybody knew who you were.
You haven't actually kind of introduced you properly.
Exactly, no.
No, but then, yeah.
I mean, everyone will know you, surely,
because if they've been,
what rock have they been living under?
Well, I don't know.
But then I quite like podcasts when people just chat
and you don't sort of, it comes out,
it's teased out as the thing goes.
I find, I actually do find it quite
bit of an ick for myself to hear myself going,
well, my name's Chris and I do this.
It's a very British thing.
Like an American be like, well, I've done this
and I'm brilliant.
And this is, you know, success or failures, whatever.
They're like very happy to sort of go, yeah.
Whereas British is a bit like, yeah, well, I don't know.
Yeah.
Maybe that's like an imposter syndrome thing,
which is quite interesting.
I've got a great introduction for you.
Go on.
My name's Chris.
Yeah.
And Joe got married on my birthday.
Yes.
Yes.
Well, I sacrificed my birthday.
It's the last time we were all together.
To spend it with Joe, watching him get married.
Get married.
Basically say goodbye to you.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's my boyfriend.
But it's true.
We all like met what half an hour ago
and it was the first, the last time we were all together,
including obviously Pat was my wedding in the September,
which was great.
And it was, it was his birthday.
And-
Which I forgot.
Because-
Oh, come on.
Was that all the last time I saw you was your wedding?
You were like, well, it was your birthday.
I was like, oh yeah.
And we gave him a birthday sash,
which he very proudly wore all day.
He did.
And he made a point of telling everyone it was his birthday.
Yes.
Well, no, actually what happened was don't make a fuss.
I don't like, I'm not, I'm not interested.
And then the entire wedding sang happy birthday
three times throughout the night.
And I, and I just find, again, I find that,
I find that quite like, oh God.
You loved it.
Don't like Chris.
You didn't have to.
That's only because you banged your glass before,
and I said, again, please.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Your table was a bit troublesome though.
We were.
Because it had all of you guys on it.
And Tony, who else was on it?
Tony Lewis, Rolini.
Rolini was on there.
The tire man.
Jonathan Benson.
Yes.
Of course.
The tire man.
The tire man.
Yeah.
Talking about tires, actually,
we should shout out Michelin.
We should.
Massive thanks to Michelin for supporting this podcast.
Anyway, back to what you've been up to, mate.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
It's been a, it's been the most
awakening year of my life.
The last, since last January, whatever.
And I think, yeah, work-wise,
obviously, I run 44 teeth.
I also have Baron von Grunbel YouTube channel,
which is, I started to come back now.
I'm going to do some more stuff this year.
I've got loads of things planned.
And yeah, I've, the last year has been a real journey
and of development.
I think a few of you guys would have followed the,
I've got a video on it, actually,
where I did a, well, I was just jumping through it.
I did a psilocybin, what's it called?
Psychedelic Assisted Therapy.
Yep.
And honestly, it was the most incredible thing
I've ever experienced.
That was last January.
And it's changed my outlook on life.
It's changed my, just everything about it.
And I'm so much more of an open, happy person now.
You are.
Because you used to be-
Sorry, psychedelic, so you have some kind of-
It's basically a high dose of magic mushrooms,
but in a like therapist's office, basically,
like a hospital type situation with a person there
to help you and do all this stuff in the Netherlands.
And which is all legal before YouTube starts going crazy.
You're a schmuck in a pancake, afterwards.
Yeah, but you don't need it, I tell you.
And I've never been more, yeah, out of this world in my life.
But the fallout from that is just,
I mean, there's a whole video I'll post a comment
or something you can link to the video.
And it describes the whole experience
for those of you who are interested in it.
But it changed my life on such a cellular level,
literally cellular level.
And I think that's why I've lost a lot of weight.
Because I think a lot of people,
the happier or more at peace you are
with your body and your mind,
you're a physically better person.
Like the energy within your body is better.
And I know hippies and that go on
about vibrational frequencies,
but I totally get it now.
And I think I've lost weight
and become way more healthy without even trying.
It's just because my body just feels better.
So yeah, I went from being in a pretty bad place
to going through this therapy,
opening my eyes, seeing the world in a totally different light.
Now I've fell in love with the most beautiful girl.
Game emotional.
Quick, keep going, it's good for views.
And yeah, she's great.
We met each other, she's moved into my house
within like three months of knowing each other.
We've committed to buy this motor home,
which we've bought, like an SC Sport home,
which is basically a great big slinging,
awesome caravan type job.
With a two bike, super bike garage on the back,
shower, toilet, all that sort of stuff.
And we're now just planning to travel around Europe
this year, live the dream, film the content,
I'm racing in the RCR KTM 990 Cup.
So we're just going to go from round to round,
living our best life.
And I just couldn't be in a different space now,
I don't know what it was 12 months ago.
It's amazing.
And also, with you being a bit slimmer,
you'll go faster on the bike.
Way faster.
Because it can look better in your romper suit.
Yeah, way faster.
Because the bikes, they're like a super sport equivalent.
So it's like an R6 type category,
the new super sport with the EU regulations.
It's basically everyone's making parallel twins
or in line three, like the Yamaha's the CP3 motor.
So that's to get around regs.
No one will produce a super sport.
Kawasaki and Honda still do,
but only because it exists
and they've managed to throttle it enough
to satisfy the emission rules.
But basically everyone's gone up in capacity.
And I don't know why
that technically makes it easier to pass regulation,
but it does.
So that 990 CC parallel twin
is basically pretty much the equivalent of a 600 in line four.
So it's less stressed in a way.
Yeah, but it's way more talk.
Okay.
Like everyone, the bike is out there on though,
like the old people are like,
oh, you know, the R6 is amazing.
This is, you know, shit all over this new bike.
I tell you, it won't.
Like this new KTM I've been riding on the road.
I've been running it in is amazing as a road bike.
It's amazing.
But you're still only dealing with 115 horsepower.
So if you're a hundred kilos
and then you go down to 80,
that's a big advantage.
It's a big advantage.
So anyway, so yeah, so that's,
I've touched on loads of stories there,
but yeah, the last year has been incredible.
And I think leading up to that,
I've learned a lot of lessons,
gone through a lot of stuff,
but wouldn't change it for the world.
And I'm just now focused on moving forward.
And it's just been amazing.
You're a totally different person.
I mean, I've known you for a long time now.
And we've had our ups and downs.
I think you and I are quite similar in that sense.
Like, I know you've never suffered from depression as such,
but you and I, especially during COVID times and stuff,
you know, one week would be up,
next week would be down and all this.
And I remember when you came,
it was when the MoGP was on,
you came and stayed with us, I think.
And you were in-
That was bad.
Yeah, you were in a bad place then.
And even around me,
because I know when I've been depressed,
you'll be around friends and stuff,
and you'll usually put on a brave face.
And that's part of the problem with depression,
unfortunately is, especially with guys,
is when they're around their friends and stuff,
they're like, everything's fine, but actually it's not.
But when you came over, it was just like,
mate, there was, you could tell,
and Lou and I were just like, shit,
like you were up and down and just,
you could just tell that you were just not happy
with anything in life, really.
But you're still putting on your brave face
and you're still Chris and the Joker,
and which, again, is sort of masking so much.
But the contrast between that, Chris,
and the Chris that, well,
I've seen in the last six, eight months,
it's just unreal.
And even in your eyes, you're just constantly happy.
And it's great to see, it really is.
Yeah, it's not like every day is incredible.
No, like today was a pain in the ass.
Today was a pain in the ass coming to see you.
Fucking, what a waste of everyone's time.
So I said, fuck, then, is that all right?
It's a bit late now, mate.
Thank fuck for that.
We're in half an hour in, we'll be fine.
But yeah, so it's not like everything's,
it's just, I just approach things differently.
And the biggest thing I've taken away
from all of those learning things
is the people around you,
like you're never gonna get in a better headspace
if the people around you who don't serve you
are still there.
Yeah, like, and it takes,
you gotta go through,
everyone can live a slightly unsatisfactory life forever.
And not have the courage to go,
actually, this is really shit and I need to change it.
It's when the pressure cooker of everything
keeps collapsing and the world keeps throwing stuff at you.
Like, what is going on?
That's the universe, whatever you wanna call it,
going, you need to sort something out here
and you need to make a hard choice.
There's a lesson there.
And you need to get rid of those people or things
or how's it, whatever it is in your life
that's bringing you down, you need to tackle it.
And the longer you just leave it eating away at you,
the worse your life becomes.
And yeah, it's about trying to, for me anyway,
it felt like having the confidence after that experience,
I don't, it's not like I don't care about things anymore,
but I just, I take life way less seriously.
So I'm prepared to take a risk
because I'm following that feeling in here
that goes, when something's happening
or you meet somebody, I don't know about that,
but oh, it'd be worth it
because I need the money and whatever.
But in your heart, your gut's going,
scream it, you're going, this isn't right,
but you do it anyway,
because your brain, your logical brain's going,
no, no, this is gonna be right.
I've been here before, I know how this works,
it's gonna be okay.
And you just live in that world
when actually you need to live in
that emotional response world.
And that's how I'm now, I try to live my life.
And as soon as I made that choice,
all the most of the elements around me
that were causing me suffering went.
And actually, when you clear that out,
you leave space for the things that are right
to come into your life.
It's like being in a, if you imagine you're in a car
and there's three people, drivers, passengers,
and just sat in that car that aren't good for you,
no one good can come in,
or nothing good can come into your vehicle
until those people have gone out.
So you have to make,
and it's fucking difficult to make those things.
Everyone's got their own issues,
but it's really difficult to make those choices.
But you get to a point,
and mine happened to be through that
psychedelic-assisted therapy, the psilocybin treatment,
where it's so crushing,
it's like, I've just got to do something, I'm done.
That's how I awakened into that new way of thinking.
Sometimes it can be a car accident from someone
that's called traumatic thing that's like,
what is going on?
I don't like living like this anymore.
I don't care, sod it.
You surrender.
It's like swimming uphill.
I'm sure lots of you listeners will appreciate this analogy.
You're swimming upstream, like constantly,
oh, I'm gonna get there, I'm gonna get there.
People tell me to grind it out.
That's what the Instagram people say.
Oh, and you become so tired and exhausted
that you surrender and go,
and you let that stream take you where you need to go.
And it's actually the easiest thing you can do.
But it requires a lot of courage, a lot of courage.
And it's hard in this day and age,
because the world in general, it's a grind, isn't it?
We all love what we do, but it is a grind.
Everyone works so hard.
You've got to be chasing the next thing all the time.
Well, that's what social media,
or that's what the powers that be,
would make you desire to feel,
but you don't actually have to do that.
Yeah, I'd love a nice GT3,
just driving past the window there.
Gorgeous.
I thought you were gonna point in my F 900 GS.
Yeah, I'd love an F 900 GS.
Yeah.
And I want that car, I'd love that, amazing.
It's lovely, gold wheels, black, beautiful.
I couldn't have happened a better moment.
Oh, there's another one behind it.
Is that Miami blue?
Yeah, it is, yeah, yeah.
Oh my goodness.
But I don't crave that as an achievement anymore.
And I don't want things in my life
that I'm gonna worry about and go,
oh, I don't wanna ding the Porsche,
or whatever, I'm gonna PPF rap it.
I want things in my life
that I really appreciate the use of.
And I'm not climbing the ladder to be able to buy a Porsche.
I want to have things in my life that bring me peace.
Like that's the ultimate thing.
And as soon as I, you go,
actually having the Porsche isn't gonna bring me peace.
I've been fortunate enough to have a couple of Porsches
and it's been amazing and I don't regret it.
And this isn't like a, you know, rant, but it didn't,
you know, I take that box
and maybe that's why I don't particularly feel
like I need one anymore.
But I kind of life simplified life to me now
is where I have the most relaxing, peaceful night's sleep.
And that's what matters to me.
We often talk about, you talk about friends
and or people who surround yourself by,
we classify people into one of three things.
Okay.
Adders, subtractors and multipliers.
Yeah.
All right.
So your adders, most people are kind of adders,
they're all right to be around
and they kind of give you a little bit,
but they're kind of the neutral ones,
but it's the subtractors, they're the kind of people
when they come around, it's always about them.
There's always kind of, they lay the world heavy with,
and they just make you feel shit as well
because you just can't do anything but think negatively.
And then you've got the multipliers
who are the people that you, when you spend time with them,
they just make everything better
and they make you laugh and they make you feel positive.
And all we've done is just trying to analyze
and just spend more time with the multipliers
and try and avoid the subtractors as much as you can.
And it makes a big difference.
And it's hard sometimes, especially if you find out,
if you find out a friend that you've had a long time,
suddenly a subtractor and you think, oh no, but it's...
That's the hardest bit and it's learning how to spot it.
But I think if you really look back into your past
with that person, I think you've always known
there's something there which is a bit odd.
And I think that's the gut.
That's that emotive response
that people start need to listen to more,
but you're caught in the logic of it
because your human brain goes,
oh no, this person is gonna be good for me
because I can do this and I can do that.
And you talk yourself out of your own feelings.
And that's why people get so conflicted within themselves
and then they lose it.
Because they don't have...
They don't feel like the right answer is there
because there's like, oh, 50-50.
I mean, I need to add something to that a little bit.
As I said, I'm very, very lucky.
I've never really had any mental health depression issues.
I'm the kind of guy who wakes up in the morning
and I'm happy and off I go and I'm very lucky.
So the subtractor side of things,
that doesn't mean to say when you have a friend
who needs your time,
that you don't spend time with them
and you don't try and sort of give them an ear
and help them through it.
You don't just drop them and go,
oh, I'll move on and find someone who's happy.
That's not what I'm saying.
It's the long-term where it starts
to have a negative effect on you, I think that's the...
Yeah, so I call those subtractors the vampires, right?
They're the ones that take from you.
It's not saying you can't give it,
but once you've given all your energy to someone,
they fill them up and off they go
until they've expunged it somewhere else.
And then they come back and suck you off further.
And not in a good way.
No, no.
But they're the ones that keep feeding off that goodness.
And it's quite difficult to spot them sometimes.
It sounds obvious, doesn't it?
When you've gone through something,
oh, shit, yeah.
I think the older I get as well,
the more we talk about losing weight and stuff,
the more exercise and activity
and just doing stuff becomes more important.
You know, I've got into my running and weights
and playing paddle and stuff,
and all of those things just make me feel...
Bit of paddle.
I love my paddle.
Bit of middle-class, sports, middle-class Olympics.
I am currently playing paddle
anything from five to seven times a week.
I'm absolutely addicted.
And it's all Michelin's fault.
It's like you did that paddle last year.
And that's it. I'm hooked.
It's like tennis with stabilisers.
Yeah, basically. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's a much more difficult game than tennis.
Right. Like children's tennis.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's pickleball.
Oh, OK. Oh, pickle.
What's the difference between pickle and paddle?
But a pickleball is the tiny tennis court
with a little bat and an airflow ball.
Paddle is like a hybrid between tennis and squash.
So it's a...
Right.
It's a little bit bigger than a squash court.
It's got glass walls and netting, fencing around it.
OK. And you play the same scoring as tennis,
but you can hit the ball off the wall and stuff like that.
OK. It's cool.
But yeah, I was actually...
I'm glad you brought that up,
because I was going to say about the walking.
That's something you have been doing for a couple of years now, right?
Your walks every morning.
And I know you love your exercise.
You know, you've got beautiful walks around you
and you've got dogs or a dog now.
But yeah, and I think I...
With all the physical challenges
that I've had over the past couple of years of my health,
we are so grateful to have Peggy,
because Peggy has forced me to go and lose at work,
and it's like a Peggy day, and I'm looking at...
She's forced me to go out in the morning and walk with her.
And as soon as I'm out, even when I was feeling really bad,
and I couldn't get out of bed,
but I'd be out walking and anyone that is listening to this
and going through any kind of mental health challenges
and not feeling great, just go out and walk.
This is the easiest thing to do.
Easiest thing.
And for health, again, I'm not a health expert.
And I'm sure there's a massive industry around health, right?
I do this, take that, do that, run over there,
do these weights, whatever it is,
and that's absolutely fine and go for it.
But what I've found is I don't really like gyms and stuff,
and I find it a bit like...
Unless you've got your own gym.
Yes.
Like a room like this, just with all my stuff.
Oh, it's probably bigger than this.
Yeah, but anyway, yes, yeah.
But going for a walk,
honestly, the weight just fell off,
and really, I do an hour a day.
And that's physical and metaphorical weight, right?
Yes.
That's a big word, that, I know.
Metaphorical, physical and the weight.
Yes.
Okay, I see what you're saying.
Yeah, so, honestly, and I see these people,
I do, I am a member of a gym, I don't really go that much,
but I see these people who are obviously...
Now that's middle class.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it is.
Gym membership, but I don't really...
That's probably 80% of people
who are members of a gym, never go.
Yeah, well, I've got a girlfriend now, so.
Can't keep your core nice and strong.
Metabolism, yeah.
As in...
Couple of minutes.
The point I'm trying to make is you see some people
who are obviously not in the best of shape,
and they are absolutely really struggling.
You can tell they're hating it in this environment.
Not only do they hate it, because it's really hard work.
It's like, oh, come on, you need to do all this stuff.
It's probably quite, they probably feel really self-conscious
in there, it's just not a very nice space.
Just before you go down that route,
which is expensive and trainers,
just go for a walk, just go for a walk every day for a year.
I guarantee you, you'll be in a far superior place
than doing that.
I'm not down, I know there's a lot of gym people
that love the gym and the community,
and that's amazing, that's great.
I'm not saying that's bad at all,
but if you're struggling to get over a big hurdle,
going for a walk is actually quite easy.
Or do high rocks and then tell everybody about it
on Instagram.
Yeah, and what's the other one?
Crossfit.
Crossfit is.
Tell us about your KTM race series,
because you touched upon it, and it's interesting.
It's sponsored by Michelin.
Yes, yes, yes.
It's a control tyre.
Yeah, so, I mean, that's kind of Michelin.
Yeah, for the reason I want a control tyre
for the RCR series.
Oh, yes.
Can you give us a welcome to the DriveTalk podcast?
Welcome to the DriveTalk podcast.
Fantastic.
Can you tell everyone to subscribe as well?
Don't forget to like and subscribe.
Gotta clip that up for it at the beginning of every episode.
Yes, so the KTM, big motorcycle manufacturer in the world.
Does it stand front in a KTM?
He's going to wreck it up now.
No, I'm sure it does.
I think it was a woman called Katie.
Katie started it, and her second name began with M.
I don't know what it stands for, but...
Honestly, that entered my mind about five years ago,
and now every time I say KTM,
I just think of this sort of middle-aged woman.
Like JM on cars, but KTM.
Yeah, KTM.
Like a sort of bit of a crap pop star.
Oh, I was KTM back in the 90s.
Made some great hits.
Massive manufacturer, there's a great one out there.
It's gone now.
Austrian.
They make cars as well.
They do make cars, yeah, Crossbow.
And they went into administration last year,
and were saved by an Indian company.
I can't remember their name,
but they were part of the manufacturing process anyway.
But just before that, they'd bought MVA,
Augusta, they'd bought, you know, a load.
They typically expand too quick,
and they go, oh, God, the market changed, whatever.
So they had also compounded that issue with a...
Some of their older 790 motors
had some reoccurring mechanical issues with the cams.
I think it was the camshaft or something.
I don't know, whoever.
But they didn't handle it the best,
and they got a lot of negativity,
and they've had a really shit time.
They've just released a...
They got saved by the Indian company,
and it was frustrating,
because this bike, the 990 RCR,
was in development when it all went wrong.
It was like, this project might not even come to light.
But they were trying to rectify all those problems
at the background.
Anyway, it's out, they've been saved,
and they brought this bike out,
and it's the coolest looking thing.
I'll send you some footage of it now.
Put it on the screen if you want.
It looks like a mini MotoGP bike.
It looks so cool, and it's a super sport.
It's expensive, but it's not super expensive.
How much?
Can you quantify that?
It's 13 and a half grand retail.
Well, that's less than I paid for my F900 GS.
Yeah.
And yet, people in the comments go,
you can go and buy a 10, 15 year old R1 for three grand.
Yeah, you can, but anyway,
apples for apples.
So, yeah, and to mark that,
and it's gone down really well.
Everyone loves it.
And to this year,
they might do it next year as well,
but certainly this year,
they're running the RCR Cup.
So they've got a grid of 40 of them,
and it's starting in Almeria,
and then it goes Almeria, Brno,
Hockenheim,
Mizzano, Red Bull Ring, and Most.
So six races throughout Europe.
Cool.
And yeah, I've entered it.
So you're going to do the entire season.
I'm going to do the whole season.
Going around in your van.
Yeah, it's not like a,
it's not a super serious part of like any sort of
world super bike paddock or anything like that.
It's its own independent thing.
It's for track,
it's an extra add-on for track days, basically.
So it's kind of, you know,
the demographic of Ruby,
quite wealthy people who've just bought the bike
and want to sort their track day season out,
but with a bit more than just,
like going around and around in circles,
which a lot of times,
if you're decent like you guys are in cars,
it's like, you know,
how many times can you go around a circuit
without having a bit extra, you know, life?
Yeah.
A lot.
We're doing it on Monday.
So, yeah.
So that series,
it costs 8,000 euros to enter,
which again is like,
oh God, that's quite a lot of money,
but you get cartridge kit,
suspension in the front forks,
you get rear shock,
you know, just alone,
those are about three and a half grand.
You get a lot of peripherals like tyre warms,
everything you need basically to take part
and obviously entry into six weekends racing around Europe
and some of the best tracks around Europe.
These aren't, you know, you're not...
You pay a grand for track day there.
And I'm not saying both of those are bad,
but it's not the Red Bull ring in Austria.
No, no, no.
It's not a GP track.
Borrhockenheim.
Borrhockenheim,
which I've never actually gone around the new layout anyway.
And you get six sets of Michelin slicks as well.
So you're allowed to run maximum of two sets per weekend.
So it's halfway between a regulated series
and then like a manufacturer just have fun.
That's what KTM want is just the customers
to come enjoy their product, have fun,
get some cool press shots of 40 of these bikes
on the grid roaring off.
And there'll be a massive mix of skill level,
which is that's probably the scariest bit about it.
But it should be good fun.
And do they provide like mechanical support or is that on you?
Yeah, you can.
You can pay another 4,000 euros, I think,
for them to prep the bike for every round
and take it with them, which is a real good thing.
So you can just fly into the where of it Austria,
fly to Innsbruck, get there, do your thing,
enjoy it, go home.
I'll be taking my bike with us on our trip with the misses.
So just some rounds.
I think we might leave it with them some rounds.
And the tyres, so are they like a fixed sort of set?
Is it a set Michelin slick for the series?
Yes.
Same compound or?
I think you can't run soft.
So I think they're hard, medium hards.
And a wet tyre as well, I assume.
And a wet tyre, which will be the Michelin wet.
And if you run a different tyre, you'll be disqualified.
And you said two sets, are you only allowed to use?
No, you could only allow to use two sets per weekend that will be marked.
That's clever.
So you've got to be quite, you've got to think about that, haven't you?
To an extent, but this is the great thing about this new sort of super sport.
It's a bit like for the car guys, it's a bit like rather than a 911 GT3,
you're in a Cayman S, right?
That's the, it's not a, it's a chassis based motorbike rather than a power motorbike, right?
So on my R1, I would do a set of tyres a day, easy.
And they're 500 quid, 400 quid.
The super sport, you'll probably get away with doing at least double the laps,
maybe more on, because there's less forces and energy going through that rear tyre and ripping it up.
So it's going to save you there.
So two tyres will easily last you the weekend.
And I think practice and qualifying, again, it's not like,
there's not going to be many people there that have got their own pit crew and they're going to be like,
quick change of tyre, oh, you know, they've got spotters out.
I bet you there will be.
Maybe there will be, I don't know.
So if there's six rounds, right?
Yeah.
So if you're really like wanting to go budget, you could just use one set of tyres each round.
And then it's because they're your free ones.
Yeah.
And not have to buy anymore.
Yeah.
Or you could buy another six sets and have two sets each round.
Yeah.
I would probably, once you've got the first round out of the way,
you'll do the race, you put the fresh tyres in for the race.
I think there might be two races on the last day.
So you'd do those race on the fresh tyre.
That's the maximum grip.
And then you go to the next round, leaving the tyres on and then you do practice sessions,
all that and qualifying probably on the old tyre, depending, you know, how it's going on.
And then put again, another set on for the race.
So it would be, you'd gap it.
Well, I want to try and make it out to watch and support you.
Come down.
It'd be amazing.
But then I was like thinking, oh, the Michelin, maybe we need to all go out and do it.
Yeah.
Come out and do a podcast.
Well, in fact, maybe instead of getting tyres for the X5, I could get six more sets of slicks from Michelin.
I'm sure if James is, well, James will be listening.
Yeah.
And the rest of Michelin probably.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
And wouldn't it look great with a massive Michelin sticker on the side of my bike?
Oh, yes.
You could have your leathers like, bebend them.
Yeah.
Well, I already look a little bit like the Michelin man.
So I could just get some white.
Wouldn't that be funny?
Yeah.
A leather.
You should get that on your next leathers.
Get RST to make you a Michelin.
A Michelin half body with that tyres.
They do some awesome.
Did you see the suit that RST made for Silvan Ghintoli and Naluka?
So cool.
Yeah.
That was just, that was awesome.
But I think, so I'm guessing you've, you're going to, you have already designed a very elaborate set of leathers.
I'm sure.
This series.
They are, not for this series because we put, we put the designs in prior to actually having confirmation that we were going to do the series.
Yeah.
So, however, it's going to work really well.
But it's like a, it's like an elaborate Koi carp and lotus flower design.
Wow.
So it's kind of got orange and black and stuff on it anyway.
So I think it would look pretty good.
Nice.
Yeah.
Although I do have, there is a special set.
Shall I announce it now?
No.
But there is a, there is a special like promo set of leathers which are wild.
Okay.
Wild.
Yeah.
Like you, I would feel really insecure walking in here wearing them.
Yeah.
You.
Okay.
Yeah.
And that's me.
Well, should we repack the hair comment again?
Well, yeah.
Well, I'll keep the helmet on for that one too.
I mean, the problem with bike leathers is because they're designed to be sat on a bike.
When you walk around, you do look like a knuckle dragon.
Don't you really?
It depends how they fit.
Yeah.
It depends how they fit.
Like a proper set of race leathers.
Yeah.
Again, super bike riders are athletes, proper athletes.
I don't think anyone, if you've never ridden a bike hard round circuit, you do not understand
the forces that go through your body.
Like car driving, F1, yeah, massive amount of forces, motorcycle race, GP bike, forget it.
Like they, the stamina required to operate those things at that level is insane.
And can you explain to me how that dude gets his elbow and shoulder down when he's going
around the corner?
Martin.
That shot of him going around that corner?
Yeah.
I mean, that's the modern style, isn't it?
You look back 30 years, Kevin Schwanson and all that, and they were all hanging off
the opposite side of the bike.
Yeah.
A lot of it.
But the science says that the Martin way of doing it is better.
Yeah.
Like you will carry more corner speed, but there's not that much in it.
Honestly, there's not that much in it.
But then you've got a factor in someone like Martin's what, 55 kilos wet?
60 kilos.
Yeah, probably a bit more than that.
And he's one of the smallest people, isn't he?
And so he's got to almost overcompensate and get everything he can use compared to like
a Scott Redding or someone.
Sponsors must love it because every time I open up my Instagram, there's like a slo-mo
of him going around.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Have you ever got your elbow down before?
Yeah.
Easy.
But I mean, look at the size of my arms though.
I mean, it's just like a spider sat over a bloody, you know, grape.
Yeah, but I've got long arms.
I can't get, I still haven't, I still haven't got my knee down, but then that's because
of the way I ride.
I don't, I don't, like I look, you're not going to want that.
No.
No.
Now, although I did have that.
You can do it on that.
I got, there's an amazing picture of me years ago.
I don't know.
We went to.
Can you make that right at the start of the podcast?
There's an amazing picture of me.
It's just amazing.
Is that the one?
But it's not a, it's not a self-glorification one.
It's funny.
All right.
So we did a trip to the Nürburgring years ago at the, uh, on 44 teeth with, uh, Alan
my mate Gary and we took three adventure bikes and the premise was we wanted to put as much
shit as possible.
Like how much stuff can you take with you?
The kitchen sink.
And we were going camping.
So we're like, right, all the tents, all that stuff, all of our cooking things, tables,
everything.
But the, the key part was we were like, let's take a three piece band with us.
So we had guitar, full keyboards, like all on the back of three motorbikes.
And an entire drum set.
So I've got, I was on this tribe tiger with a full drum kit, everything all exposed on
the roads outside of the Nürburgring going around this corner knee down on an adventure
bike with a full drum kit behind me.
It's brilliant.
It's brilliant.
Some of your videos, the video is called lords of the ring.
If anyone is, uh, and let me guess you made that name up.
Of course.
Talk to your videos.
I really, one of my, well, one of my favorite video series, not just in the motorbike world
or the car world, just in general is the budget bike battle.
Yeah.
And you've been, you've been showing that at cinemas now for what, three or four years?
Three years.
Yeah.
And we went, Lou and I and some friends of ours came down to Milton Keynes last year
and it was just brilliant because it's like the uncut version.
You get, you get the full Monty sometimes a little bit too much.
But anyway, um, but that, that series is just so entertaining.
And for so many reasons, are we going to see a budget bike battle in 2026?
There's plans afoot.
Yes.
I can't tell you what.
No, no.
Yeah.
But we're going to do it a bit differently.
You know, every year we learn a load of that, a load of stuff about that.
And we started it.
I mean, the last one was budget bike battle, um, super adventure where we got two or three
old cheap super bikes, put some off-road tires on and some modifications and went to Africa
and the Sahara and ended up going sand racing on them at the end of the day.
Um, but we, we've always done it where we buy the bikes, go, hey everyone, we bought these
bikes because look, it's, it's again, it's a pleasing the audience thing.
It's quite difficult.
So a lot of people love to see the build up to it and I'm going to put this on it like
long stretched out.
Oh, I'm going to put these different handlebars on and do this and do that.
Let me do that.
Um, but then you, you end up the modern way YouTube is people get a bit like turned off
after three or four episodes of it.
It's like, oh, actually I'm not that interested in it.
You sort of, it's quite difficult to keep the, the algorithm keen on it.
Yep.
So by the time the actual thing comes up, and that was a difficult one because we had
to get visas and all this sort of medical insurance stuff to go to Africa with these
bikes and ride off road and it was just, it just dragged getting it out there.
By the time we did it, the YouTube stuff was, it didn't hit as well as I thought it should
have done.
And also because we made it, when you're making something for the cinema, you shoot it in
a totally different way.
So we edited it as if it was like a film that you are, you, you're aware of what happened
the day before like the next episode.
Whereas when you break it into episodes, it sort of gets a bit disjointed anyway.
So the editing of the film process, you end up with a totally, by so much better product
because you know that that person is sat in that cinema for an hour and a half.
And you know that they'll remember something from 20 minutes before, right?
Yep.
Like, yeah.
So, so you, you make it in a slightly different way, but this year we're going to not announce
what we're doing.
We're going to go to where we're going to fly away job.
Okay.
And we're going to buy the bikes, film it all in that period.
Buy the bikes there.
Yeah.
Oh, film it all in that period.
Then we know what we've got.
Right.
So then we can actually market something by the time we are ready to launch it.
We actually know what we've, we've got in the can.
It's not like Top Gear or whatever that, that you've got a massive crew.
Oh, we need to achieve this shot, this shot, that shot, tick, tick, tick.
Yep.
That's the story narrative.
Got a load of money.
If something goes wrong, we can fix it.
It genuinely is three people and a cameraman.
Yep.
And if, if one of the bikes breaks down on the day one catastrophically, that's it.
You know, it's done.
So, so this year we want to go away, film it all, and then we'll have all of the content
ready to announce to actually go, this is coming.
And it's going to be amazing.
So it would be you, Al, Boothies.
Yeah.
And just a, if you're not familiar with my bikes or the 44 teeth channel, Boothie had
a horrible accident at the TT.
Yeah.
Three years ago now, is it?
Over three years ago.
And I mean, almost lost both of his legs.
Yep.
But had one of them.
I mean, he was pretty much dead.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But had one amputated in the end, saved the other one.
And, and fair play to him.
Cause we went to the cinema with friends last year who weren't familiar with 44 teeth.
We watched 90% of the video.
And obviously you're doing these crazy things in the dunes and just getting up to mischief.
And it wasn't until right at the end, I think where, or it might have even been when it
finished.
And we went out and talked to you guys.
And our friends were like, Oh my God, he's got one leg.
Like it didn't realize at all.
Like literally that's how, I mean, you know, he's, he's an amazing man.
Yeah.
Amazing.
Incredible.
And to keep the spirit going and all.
I mean, that must have been talking of mental health.
That must have just been horrible.
But, but fair play to him.
And I think that that's what made it better.
It was just brilliant.
Our friends are like at the end, they didn't have a clue until the end.
They're like, Oh wait, he's just done all that with one leg.
Yeah.
It's like, yeah.
Yeah.
And it's not just, you know, riding to Morocco.
No.
It was properly sand dunes on a bike, which is completely inappropriate where you need
two legs to paddle.
If something goes wrong and all that.
Yeah.
That was brilliant.
Cool.
Well, we kind of, we've hit the hour already.
But I don't know if there's anything else that you want to cover.
Chris.
No, I mean, you just save it for the next time.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, it's been three years since the last one.
So I would do it a bit earlier than that.
Well, I think guys, well, I think we should all go and grab another coffee.
And food.
And some food.
It's been, as always, but I almost caught him.
You're paired.
This is Chris.
What's his name?
Yeah.
You got two names.
You know, you're like me.
Thanks a lot for coming down.
And it's great to see you as always and genuinely love you to see how happy you are.
And I know it's not just for the camera.
Whenever I speak to you, you're just buzzing.
And I hope that this year goes really well.
And you have a great time.
Not too much fun and don't rub it in too much.
But living the dream.
I mean, it's, it's a middle-aged man's dream, isn't it?
Basically is to go, do you know what?
Leave that rainy place behind.
Yeah.
Get a motorbike and an amazing motorhome.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate vans, by the way, just quickly.
Like a cool van is like now I get that over the GT3 now.
The cool van.
We hired a motorhome a couple of years ago.
And the original plan, we were both going to take two months off and go around Europe in this motorhome.
We ended up, it didn't quite work out that way.
We took two weeks and went down the south of France.
But motorhomes and it's just wicked.
It's rocking up to the campsite.
Now rocking up to the campsite and kind of, you know, having your dinner and then you,
you start spotting all the places where you can empty the toilet and put your water in and all that.
It's great.
Love it.
Love it.
So, yeah.
But thank you.
I love doing podcasts.
I love chatting.
And yeah, there's so many things on the way here.
I was like, oh, I'm going to talk about that.
I want to talk about that.
And we haven't even touched on it.
I could do this for hours.
Well, come back again.
And you are the first guest we've ever had to tear up, which is good.
I don't know who you're talking about.
I've got contact lenses on.
And they're a bit, a bit dry.
A bit watery.
Yeah.
Come back soon, mate.
Don't be a stranger.
And make sure you check him out.
We'll put all the links below, but 44 teeth.
Yeah.
YouTube channel is the one that he does with Al.
And then you've got Baron von Grunbel, which is just Chris.
And then we'll put his Instagram and stuff down there.
You can follow his adventures this year.
And hopefully, well, who knows?
I'm going to try and make it out to a KTM round.
Do it.
And you're all welcome.
Yeah.
Pour oil under everyone else's tires.
Do a podcast on it.
What's that?
Yeah.
Good podcast.
Yeah.
Definitely.
That'd be good.
Thank you, mate.
Thank you.
Cheers, guys.
Remember to like if you liked it.
Leave any comments below if it's on YouTube.
Subscribe, follow, review, all the rest of it.
All right.
We are literally, we're 20, it's painful.
We're so close to 10,000 subs.
And I know as soon as we go over 10,000, it'll grow quickly.
But it's just,
It does slow down before it gets to a big master.
It seems to slow down.
We're like 21 away as we talk now.
So, yeah, come on, give us a subscribe.
And that's enough of shameless plugging.
Yeah.
Easy now.
Easy now.
Oh, sorry.
Easy now.
Request an explanation for:
3 cars
3 cars featured
Request an Explanation
Heard something you'd like explained? We'll add it to this episode.
Sign in to request explanations for terms you heard.
Want to learn more?
Browse our glossary for plain-English explanations of automotive terms, jargon, and concepts.
Help improve this episode
See something that's not quite right? Our annotations are AI-generated and can sometimes miss the mark. Click the flag icon on any annotation to suggest a correction.
Report incorrect info
Suggest better explanations
Flag missing cars
More from Drive Torque Podcast
We Found Max Verstappen’s Tyres at Nürburgring 24 Hours & so much more | Ep 90 | Drive Torque Podcast
Jun 5, 2026
WHAT A LAP! @JoeAchilles1 BMW M3 Touring at 24 Hours of Nürburgring! | Ep 89 | Drive Torque Podcast
May 22, 2026
Do We Get Paid to Review Cars?! Press Trip Secrets Revealed | Ep 88 | Drive Torque Podcast
May 8, 2026
Joe Achilles BMW M3 Factory Tour & Volvo’s made in China?! | Ep 87 | Drive Torque Podcast
Apr 24, 2026