F1’s Hybrid Mess & The £150k ‘High-Risk’ Cars
About this episode
A trip to the RAC spotlights the new Lola T70S continuation: a 60s Le Mans shape with a magnesium structure made sustainably using solar-powered electrolysis of seawater, plus sustainable-fuel running and FIA-homologated racing details. The hosts then debate F1’s 2026 hybrid “hybrid mess,” where battery limits force lift-and-harvest, create energy-starved straights, and lead to controversial “yo-yo” racing and dangerous closing speeds—yet also more overtakes. Finally, a forum-style segment covers strange manufacturer warning stickers, from non-edible parts to child-seat cautions.
With an unscheduled break in the F1 calendar, we’re taking refuge in the forums to ask the big questions: are the new 50/50 hybrid regs actually any good, or is the "yo-yo" racing just a bit of a mess? PHer tangerine_sedge has a poll running, and the results are... divided.
Also in this episode:
- The £150k Pension Pot: PHer roca1976 has some inheritance to spend. We’ve gone hunting for a manual GT that won’t tank in value. Sam’s picks include a McLaren 600LT Spider, Honda NSX and Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, while Cam's tossing up between a Lotus Evora GT430, Nissan Skyline GT-R (R34) and Aston Martin GT8. Which one gets your money?
- Hilarious warnings: we visit donkmeister’s thread on bizarre manufacturer warnings. Featuring Audi’s air raid alerts and the BMW dashboard icon that tells you when you’ve left the gun safe open.
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🎟️ Get your Annual Service 2026 tickets: https://www.pistonheads.com/events/annual-service 🔴
Chapters:0:00
Intro0:06 Lola T70S
7:54 F1 2026
33:55 £150k 'High-Risk' Cars
52:33 Funny Warning Stickers
JOIN THE DEBATE:💬 F1 Poll: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=228&t=2138163&i=120💰 Suggest a £150k car: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=255&t=2138928⚠️ Add your weird warnings: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=2139239y
CARS:
Sam's Ferrari 612 Scaglietti: https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/20160041
Cam's Aston Martin GT8: https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/18489643
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Renault Clio
"...ther brands. So I'm not pretending that the next Renault Clio or something is going to get this in its structur..."
Porsche 911
"...id turbos. I think so, yeah. I think what the new 911 Turbo S would have, what would be considered an ..."
Ferrari 499P
"...they could go and get Leclerc and Hamilton in the 499P for Le Mans and Alonso and a Valkyrie, it would ..."
Lamborghini Gallardo
"...ual, 992 GT3 4.0 litre manual, 430 Coupe manual, Gallardo Coupe manual, Gallardo Balboni E gear, BMW M4 DTM..."
Mclaren 570S
"...azing. It is absolutely sublime. And the regular 570S engine sounds pretty dull. Yeah. The 600LT engin..."
Mclaren 600LT
"...egular 570S engine sounds pretty dull. Yeah. The 600LT engine was much more characterful. Oh, so I mean,..."
Ferrari 612
"...ease in value potential, because I've gone for a Ferrari 612 Skaglietti. Oh, yeah. Of course, that means, oh m..."
Lotus Evora
"...ybe a slightly more obvious choice. It's a Lotus Evora, but because there's all sorts of different grade..."
Lotus Amira
"...olutely. There's not a lot of, you know, when the Amira came about, obviously, there was a V6 version of..."
Nissan Skyline
"... on the podcast yet. Yeah. But it's a 2001 Nissan Skyline GT-R Spec 2, VSpec 2. I always remember these fr..."
Aston Martin V8 Vantage
"... it's really kind of the ultimate version of the V8 Vantage manual, 440 horsepower, 4.7 liter V8 with hopeful..."
Alpine A110
"...ith them, to know why. But if we had one for our A110s and we borrowed those, we would have found out t..."
Dodge Viper
"...ne is the warning sticker that you get on a dodge viper. And it goes, warning, serious injury can occur...."
Porsche Boxster
"...er one that I found was on apparently on Porsche Boxsters in the US that has a warning on the flip down sun..."
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