The Car Podcast with Chris Harris & Friends Nov 21, 2025

Francis Bourgeois on driving a ‘fast car slow’, or ‘slow car fast’? | The Car Podcast #62

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Car

Daimler

Daimler is a well-known car brand that makes luxury cars. They have been around for a long time and are known for their stylish and high-quality vehicles.

Term

engine warning light

The engine warning light is a light on your car's dashboard that tells you there might be a problem with the engine. If it lights up, it's a good idea to check it out.

Brand

AMG

AMG makes faster and sportier versions of Mercedes cars. They are known for their powerful engines and special features that make the cars more exciting to drive.

Car

Honda Jazz

The Honda Jazz is a small car that's very practical and good on gas. It's known for having a lot of space inside for passengers and cargo, making it a great choice for families.

Car

Land Rover Defender

The Land Rover Defender is a tough SUV that can handle rough roads and off-road adventures. It's built to be strong and reliable, making it a favorite for people who love outdoor activities.

Car

Nissan Micra

The Nissan Micra is a small car that's easy to drive and park. The 1.2S model has a 1.2-liter engine, which is good for city driving and saves on fuel costs.

Term

auto box

An auto box is a type of car transmission that changes gears for you, so you don't have to do it manually. It's convenient for everyday driving.

Car

Buick Regal

The Buick Regal is a comfortable car that’s good for families. It has nice features and is known for being dependable.

Car

Ford Fiesta

The Ford Fiesta is a small car that's easy to drive and park, making it a good choice for city driving.

Term

body roll

Body roll is when a car leans to one side while turning. It happens because the car's suspension moves differently on each side, and it can make the car feel less stable.

Term

CV

The CV is a small, simple car from France that was made for many years. It's famous for being easy to drive and very economical.

Car

Volkswagen Polo

The Volkswagen Polo is a small car that is great for city driving and is known for being economical on fuel. It's a popular choice for many drivers, especially in Europe.

Car

Bugatti Veyron

The Bugatti Veyron is a super fancy sports car that can go really, really fast—faster than almost any other car. It's very expensive and is made for people who love high-performance vehicles.

Car

Aston Martin Valkyrie

The Aston Martin Valkyrie is a super-fast car that uses both a traditional engine and an electric motor to go really fast and handle well. It's designed for racing and has a very unique look.

Car

Aston Martin DBS

The Aston Martin DBS is a high-end sports car that looks great and drives fast. It's famous for being in James Bond movies.

Car

Aston Martin Vantage

The Aston Martin Vantage is a sporty car that is smaller and more affordable than the DBS but still very powerful and stylish.

Car

Aston Martin Vanquish

The Aston Martin Vanquish is a top-of-the-line luxury sports car that offers a lot of power and a beautiful look, making it very desirable.

Car

Aston Martin Valhalla

The Aston Martin Valhalla is a new supercar that uses both a traditional engine and electric power to go really fast. It's part of Aston Martin's effort to make more modern and eco-friendly cars.

Car

Aston Martin Rapide

The Aston Martin Rapide is a fancy sports car with four doors. It's designed to be both fast and comfortable, making it great for long drives or just looking stylish.

Concept

Formula One

Formula One is a type of car racing that features very fast cars and takes place on special tracks around the world.

Company

Aramco

Aramco is a big oil company from Saudi Arabia that sponsors many events, including car racing.

Brand

TVR

TVR is a car brand from the UK that makes sporty cars. They are known for being fast and fun to drive, but they are not as common as brands like Ford or BMW.

Term

brake horsepower

Brake horsepower tells you how powerful an engine is before any energy is lost to things like heat and friction. It's a way to measure how strong the engine really is.

Term

V12

A V12 engine has twelve cylinders arranged in a V shape. This design helps the engine run smoothly and produce a lot of power, often used in fancy or fast cars.

Car

Aston Martin DB9 Volante

The Aston Martin DB9 Volante is a fancy sports car that you can drive with the top down. It's known for being very stylish and fast, making it a popular choice among luxury car lovers.

Car

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Hi, it's Paige DeSorbo from Giggly Squad.

You ever stand in front of your closet

and just say, I have nothing to wear

while you're literally surrounded by clothes?

Because same.

So I started listing pieces I'm over on Depop.

And honestly, it's been amazing.

You can sell what you're done with

and someone out there will love it.

And the best part about it is there's no seller fee.

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I'm gonna welcome to episode 62

of the card podcast of Chris Harrison and Friends

and he's an extra friend.

Now, we're filming up north.

We've had a bit of a day of it, haven't we?

With the old Daimler.

Yep.

So the Daimler, sadly, has had a V8 ledge,

has had a bit of a tricky day.

We think it has an air leak, so it won't idle

and it's got a bit lumpy

and the engine morning light came on.

So we've had a bit of a day in the Daimler.

Refined car usually turned into a cammed,

lumpy American muscle car.

Yeah, all that.

So we might be leaving it up here tomorrow

to get the train back.

But we'll see how it goes.

Thank you for joining us, Francis.

It's an absolute pleasure to have you here.

We're in the process of restoring a class 37 locomotive.

So our chat isn't really about cars,

but he loves his cars, big AMG man,

and other things as well.

Obviously the Honda Jazz, which you know about.

Yeah.

I had to drag you on here, because you're here.

So episode 62 begins with our agenda,

which I never see.

Now, this is why I've got Francis here, okay?

Drive a slow car fast or a fast car slow?

Clifford, I'm going to you first.

It's 100% obvious that I'm going to say,

drive a fast car slow.

No!

Because A, that's all I can do.

Well, I can drive a slow car slow, I suppose.

But I actually love driving a fast car slow.

I was thinking about this on the way home.

And you know what?

It's about men like things that have high levels

of technical engineering,

and lots of lovely, amazing facts

about why these things are amazing.

And you respect all the engineers

that have spent years and years designing the Rolex,

GMT, Deepsea, that will go to 64,000 meters,

even though you just take it in your swimming pool

when you go to Sicily on holiday.

Or a Leica Q3 that has got 47 billion pixels

for you to take 400 photos,

exactly the same of something super boring shit.

Or the brightening emergency.

I own two brightening emergencies.

The watch is that just in case you get trapped

up fucking Mount Everest.

How close have you ever got to pulling the three?

I've got close to my mate pulling it,

pissed in a pub in Portsmouth,

when I'm busy explaining how brilliant this watch is

that the RNLI helicopter will arrive

in Albert Road in Southsea within eight minutes

if you, you know, pull the spring out of this thing.

So I think it's, we love, even though we can,

we never use 10% of these amazing things,

the Land Rover Defender, you know, the new one.

It can go up at 72 degrees, up a slope,

and not fall over or whatever it is.

We just love that shit, don't we?

So for me, it's just a massive lover

of anything with four wheels.

Just because I've been lucky that I can

own a few expensive,

but more importantly, drive fast,

not the 60 in three seconds, 200 miles an hour,

blah, blah, blah.

It's just great to own it.

And then you, you know, A,

because your talent's a bit low,

and B, because you don't wanna die,

you drive them quite slowly, which is nice.

That is nice.

It is one of the best openings we've had to a podcast.

The fast car driven slow mantra,

according to Neil Clifford,

I'm gonna put you on the spot now Francis.

All right, so slow car fast, fast car slow.

Slow car fast, absolutely.

And I say that from experience,

driving my Nissan Micra 1.2S automatic

from Froome in Somerset to where I used to go

to sixth form in Radstock.

And I knew the maximum speed I could take every corner

on the way to sixth form.

And it was such pleasure driving my Nissan Micra.

I think automatic as well, that's cool.

There's something deeply pleasurable

about extracting 110% from something

that doesn't,

that shouldn't necessarily want to give up

that level of performance.

Having said that,

I still think there is a space

for driving the fast car slow.

You must be, you must feel that as well.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, when you see someone cruising on the motorway,

you know, in the slow lane,

maybe just slightly below the speed limit.

It's just exercising a perfect amount of restraint.

You know the power of that.

Yeah.

And that in itself is quite appealing.

I love the way it was trained.

Yeah, I agree with both points.

Chris Cooper, thoughts are nowhere you're at

because you're a psychopath.

I actually think both are fantastic.

I think both are fantastic.

And I love the way Francis,

you put that perfect amount of restraint.

That's a T-shirt.

In our long run in T-shirts,

we haven't actually made yet.

If I had to choose, it's definitely a slow car fast.

And there are two reasons why.

Two really be one,

it teaches you everything about driving properly,

everything.

And secondly, you can have a huge amount on the road.

You can have the hugest amount of fun

and almost no one notices.

You can have that teetering on the edge

and your Nissan Micra.

Because part of that, you knew the maximum speed.

It's not just because it hasn't got many gears

and the gear chain takes quite a long time

in that auto box.

It's because you know, the little tiny little tires,

you feel every little fiber of the rubber bending

as you're getting towards that V-max in that corner.

And you can just feel it.

You can think, if I was traveling next to my car

with me driving it right now

and I put my little finger out

and tried to push the car, it would slide.

It's that beautifully balanced.

And I think that's just wonderful.

And you can do that on the road,

sort of with nobody noticing.

They just think you're going about your business.

I think it's wonderful.

And having said all that,

I totally love the idea of driving a fast car

slowly and properly with decorum and restraint.

And all of it just flows in a regal, beautiful fashion.

We could talk about this question all night.

I think both, I think that is all wonderful.

And fast cars, fast and slow cars, slow.

But vanish.

What was the ad for, which aftershave was it

ended with for a man who doesn't have to try too hard?

Was it Denim?

A man.

Denim.

I think it was Denim.

And I think that's kind of like,

that is the epitome of the fast car slow, isn't it?

For the man who doesn't have to try too hard.

You just see him, he's in some Batmobile.

And he's crazy.

Anyway, central London.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's the 1970s calling, man.

They want you back.

You bastard.

You do this every week.

But it's true, isn't it?

Neil talks about sort of the male love of overcapacity.

Okay, we just love that.

We do like a bit of spare capacity,

especially if it's sort of 99% spare

because it's the way it makes you feel.

And I think driving a very, very fast car slowly

makes me feel like James Bond.

The Indian James Bond, obviously,

a foot shorter than the actual James Bond.

And I can't shoot.

I also can't double the clutch,

but you're an Indian knickknack.

How dare you?

I may vanish if this goes on.

I thought it really may.

We can edit that out.

Can I just say that?

Don't worry.

My sister had a 1.1-litre Metro

back in 1987, had a manual box

and I used to love driving that on country roads.

And I have to say, my right foot,

I know it's a front-wheel drive

and I'm not throwing it around,

but I used to just yee, yee, yee, yee, turn it

and just enjoying that car on the limit,

especially when it was very, very slightly wet.

It would make you very, very happy driving.

Probably not the fastest car, but as quickly as you could.

So both answers.

I think I'm going to be the arbiter here at the end.

First of all, let's get rid of some of the statements

that are not supportable.

So the idea that Chris Cooper thinks

that you don't get spotted coming round a corner

on the door handles in a hatchback is fanciful.

Actually, sometimes it looks even more hilarious.

I can remember being as performant as a kid.

And I saw a Ford Fiesta come into view at an angle

I've never seen since.

It just stuck with me.

I just thought, there's no way that's going round that corner

and somehow the bloke got it round the corner.

So you don't have an invisibility cloak around you

to behave like a complete prick in a slow car.

You have to set the fact

that sometimes it can look even more hilarious

because it has something called catching body roll.

And body roll, you know, is the best thing.

When you see someone, you know,

we don't have two CVs on the road anymore.

When you used to see our two CV on it,

it was, what is a boat?

Is it a car?

What is it?

So if you don't have, you can't hide behind

the fact that it's a shit little car

to think that you can behave badly.

I do think there's something,

I'm gonna offer you one of those phrases,

but it's the inner workings, the inner voice.

You're going down that road that you know really well.

Who has said to themselves,

there's no way that car could have gone down that road

any faster.

Oh, that's a, yeah, that's a magazine quote as well.

Everyone, and also with that comes this sense

of emotional ownership of that road.

That's your road, isn't it?

You're the master of that road.

And you're the master of that road in your Polo one liter.

Doesn't really matter.

But part of that, I think for me by extension,

Chris talks about pushing the vehicle

and it would go sideways or slide.

I'm thinking, you saved yourself.

I'm very proud.

There's no way Mansel could have got that down.

There's no way Senna could have got that

any quicker down that road.

That's the maximum available.

That's not true.

And I think that, well, Prost would have gone quicker

wouldn't he?

The Prost, yeah, yeah.

But I think, God, you're getting it today,

aren't you, Vanish?

So I think the graduation into life

of driving really bad old slow cars

in a way they just don't deserve to be driven

is part of life.

And maybe it's one of the aspects of life

that we've realized we can't really share

with our kids these days.

They don't really get to do that

because the roads don't allow it,

the cameras don't allow it.

And if you go it wrong and you end up through a hedge

and the farmers got to drag you out,

no one finds it funny anymore.

Back in late 1890s, it was hilarious.

There was a farmer near me.

Yeah, no cameras is there.

No cameras.

And there was a farmer near me that kept a tractor

specifically to pull people out of hedges

because he thought it was hilarious.

He'd offer you a cup of tea, ask you about the accident

so he could laugh at the story

and how fanciful it was.

And then you go on your way,

that was something I said for you.

So I get it, but there is something,

France made a good point,

there is something about the fast car

being driven with restraint.

And I think what I like,

and I rarely am capable of doing this,

is being at the traffic lights in the Veyron

when you've got the absolute tit in his golf bar next to you.

And they want you to go and you just give it the kind of

off you go and just saunter away.

I'd love to say I've repeatedly had that restraint,

but I rarely have it.

Normally I'm like launch control

and I'm gonna bury you motherfucker.

But actually I think...

It's important work.

There's a love in it.

Yeah, it's important.

What is encouraging for me,

because I was cruising London very slowly obviously,

in our FF yesterday,

I probably had three or four,

and we need to talk about this subject.

Young people love cars.

Yeah. Yes.

The media loves to actually say

that young people don't like cars.

Young people love bloody cars.

And the amount of brilliant sort of early teenager chaps

going to school on their bikes, going,

rev it up mate, come on, you get this.

Let me hear it, come on, let me hear it.

I think that's just a sign for me

that humanity is gonna be okay.

Isn't it? Yeah.

The young people are great.

You're a young person.

Tell us, is it true?

I think it's absolutely true.

Yeah, and social media has allowed car enthusiasts

to share their spot for the day,

to find their community and their hub.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I think it's true.

But I feel so lucky to have graduated

through that silliness stage,

which now would be found upon,

and probably maybe I would have found upon it myself,

but when you talk about the drive to college

and knowing every,

we all know that feeling, don't we?

That was, and actually,

if you look back,

that might be the best of driving that you ever had,

because it was uncomplicated.

You weren't worrying about finance.

You didn't have a child in the back.

You weren't going to work.

You didn't really care if you got told off.

And actually in a micro,

you was never gonna break down, was it?

So, no, that might have been the best of driving,

I think.

Yeah.

Moving on to the Aston Martin news,

he's gotta go and do some work.

You can still go and talk about Aston Martin

if you want, people are just working in here.

Later, I think, I'll shoot.

Okay, we've got him for eight more minutes.

Okay.

Aston Martin news.

So, Aston Martin,

there's been some emails circulating about a potential,

I don't know what the phrase is,

removing something being a public,

taking Aston Martin private.

And I don't know anything about this shit

because I don't understand numbers and stuff,

but it sounds like a pretty serious move to me.

Can we go to the spreadsheet himself,

Chris Cooper first, please,

just to give us an understanding

of what the potential might mean

and whether it's actually bullshit?

Well, the stories have been sort of denied,

or rather a very specific denial was issued by the PIF,

the Public Investment Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,

which said the PIF is not in talks with Aston Martin

to take the company private,

which if you know about

how things are communicated in corporate world,

the very specific nature of that statement

suggests that they could be in conversation

about lots of other things.

Why might they be in conversation?

The problem is they're not making enough money,

and they're burning through cash and money.

They haven't got enough cash.

And cash is king,

because you need that to invest in products,

to market the products,

and to sell more and better cars

and replace your current cars with better ones.

And when you're getting your new cars to market,

they arrive on time

because you've developed them properly

and the factories geared up and all those kinds of things.

If you haven't got enough cash,

it's a bit of a death spiral

because you can't do those things.

And there comes a point with a public company

where shareholders will lose confidence

in the ability of the business,

which is why the share price is in the toilet, blah, blah, blah.

So the argument, if there is one,

for taking a private is,

you sort of say,

we're not gonna be bound by the scrutiny

and the discomfort of having to have quarterly announcements

to the markets, stock markets,

as to what we're doing

and to be misaligned and blah, blah.

You kind of remove yourself from all of that.

And hopefully, if you have a different set of owners,

i.e., people with lots of money,

then you can apply the cash to the business

and go, blah, blah, blah,

assuming that the strategy in the business plan

makes sense.

We've talked about this before.

I don't know, Chris, you're always reluctant for us

to offer advice.

So we can talk about it now or some other time

because we love Aston Martin.

And on the subject of Aston Martin,

I have found myself feeling more and more

positive and protective in some way.

It sounds like a patronizing pompous thing to say,

but when we had our 72nd edition of the premiere

of the Luca film in Bristol the other week,

I went to the Aston Martin in Bristol.

I'm really young here today.

I went, you should have heard the stick I got

before we started recording

because I couldn't make my bloody speaker work.

And I've been on my first holiday of the year

and Neil thinks it's, I'm never at work.

Not that I'm sensitive at all.

I went to the Aston Martin in Bristol

and I met lovely chap Thomas

and some of his colleagues there.

And they had some older cars, some sort of heritage cars,

1980s, 90s and more,

some of the new cars as a Valkyrie in there as well.

And they were lovely.

They were really, really enthusiastic, knowledgeable,

nice people.

And I thought, you know,

it will be a shame to lose all this.

There's definitely a car in there.

And so if the answer is,

there's a private owner who can take a longer view,

can give them the cash,

whether it's the PIF or something like that.

Vision 2030, which is Saudi's transformation plan

for a post oil economy,

can motor sport in the automotive world

be a big lever in doing that.

So Muhammad Bin Salman is quite a big car fan,

the Crown Prince,

the Sports Minister, Prince Abdul Aziz,

big motorsport automotive fan,

and the Saudi motorsport equivalent thing that I sit on,

Prince Khalid, he's also big,

obviously big motorsport fan.

And you can sort of see,

they want to create industry,

Lucid has got a factory there,

they funded that, blah, blah, blah.

But at some point to transform Saudi Arabia,

they're going to need to more than just throw money

at golf and footballers,

to have to build stuff, create stuff.

I've got, I've got,

I'm allowed four more minutes of Francis's time

and I'm not gonna have them listening to Chris talking

anymore.

That's very interesting.

I love Mr. Cooper to bits,

but I'm not wasting his four minutes.

So Aston Martin, you are,

how old are you, 25?

Correct.

25 years old.

Could you buy one

and does the product lineup make sense to you?

I would say

that what I, what I'm sort of defaulting to

is my period of love for Aston Martin.

And that was when I was walking down the streets

of Notting Hill with my notepad and pen.

I'd get excited seeing a DBS,

a Vantage, a Vanquish

and the cars that I know then

have the way that they've grown,

the way that they're Vanquish, for example,

the way that that's developed.

I feel like that honors what I originally fell in love with

when I was a car spotter, when I was younger.

So I would say from that perspective,

I get on with what they're currently offering,

but I'm curious to see the Valhalla, for example,

and how that works together with what they already have.

Do you believe...

I was disappointed you didn't mention the Rapide.

The Rapide.

I love the Rapide.

Right, I love the Rapide.

Right, correct.

Well, I guess he's got a Rapide at the moment, him.

He's got like a 20 grand.

I think it, yeah, we talk about Aston a lot,

it shows how much we give a shit about it.

We do, we think it's wonderful.

We care, yeah.

I don't often get young persons perspective,

because I think we all view it as an old man's car, don't we?

We just, we think part of Aston's problem is,

you can make a Valhalla,

but you just still have the same old spit as buying it,

but they'll just find it more trivial to get out of it.

That's really where they end up, they end up.

I think it is, it's just, is it the unkillable brand?

What do you reckon, unkillable brand?

Yes, yeah, unkillable, yeah.

Yeah.

It's 100% gonna go private.

It wasn't the share price, it's 99% down, I think.

Yeah.

I think it's a brilliant brand.

It's just taken longer than they thought on the strategy.

It is unkillable, and someone's gonna come along

and put a lot of money in and help them fix it,

because actually they've done a lot of good things.

They just haven't got enough time

to get to where they need to with the current balance sheet.

Yeah.

Manage what do you think?

Well, it's really funny.

I remember when they went privately,

and I hope we don't get sued for this,

but I do remember the Financial Times,

the front, I'm pretty sure it was on the front page,

sort of saying, mm, and they don't do this very often.

Like, would you really buy shares in this?

When it went to the IPO, you mean?

Yeah.

Yeah, and I'm paraphrasing,

but I remember there was a lot of cynicism around it.

If you just look at the share price since then,

plummeted, to pick up on what Mr. Cooper was saying.

You know, PIF is huge.

The Saudi investment fund's huge.

If you look at the sponsorship on the side

of an Aston Martin Formula One car,

the biggest words are the words Aramco.

Yeah.

And Warren Stroll is a pretty formidable man.

He has amazing relationships in Saudi Arabia.

Their national petrol company sponsor,

the Formula One car, this is a drop in a drop

in a drop of a Noel well for Saudi Arabia to buy.

And I think exactly as Neil says,

with a value today to take it private,

of what, when did it play at 2019?

Wasn't it something like that?

Something like that.

Yeah, so it's 1% of the value.

I think it's something like that.

Yeah, that it was floated for six or seven years ago.

And so you can buy it.

The real, I think the real thing is why wouldn't you?

Because the bottom line is that it is a fantastic brand.

And I think if you're trying to,

I think there are two aspects,

perhaps to Saudi Arabia going forward.

Like all of the countries in the Middle East

that are well-reliant,

of course they want to develop new industries.

Of course they want to do that.

But owning brands might well be a pretty clever thing to do

as well, whether you move the engineering

to your country or not.

And I think, we were talking last week about TVR.

How much money would it take to develop the perfect TVR?

How many would you have to sell a year?

Could you make a profit?

Imagine being in a situation

where you could invest in something like that,

whether you choose to bring the business

to your home or not.

Imagine having the ability just to be able to do that,

to be able to create the perfect Aston Martins.

And imagine having the ability to ride that storm.

So if it doesn't work in the first year,

it doesn't work in the second year, it doesn't matter.

To really have some long-term money

and long-term thinking,

because it is a fantastic brand.

It's a genuinely fantastic brand.

I mean, as Francis was saying, he's walking along.

What are you, a third of our age, half our age, Francis?

For you to sort of feel something for that,

it's very optimistic.

It's very, very optimistic.

Right, he's gonna go in a minute.

We're gonna plug our TV show now.

So it goes out on Quest.

And we're restoring the train.

A class 37, we might do.

Now, what I love about this is,

I've spent my working life sort of trying to sell

stories through passion.

I'm trying to draw people into subject to cars

because I love them.

But I'm getting to do it through him.

And watching him around a train is infectious.

And I'm really loving doing it.

We've had a good day today.

We shot loads of little bits.

We went to an incredible public house,

which is a shrine to the train.

And what are we doing tomorrow?

Tomorrow, we're going to cast a new name plate.

So the locomotive that we're fixing,

we're sprucing up from the wheel sets to the bogies

to the paint job.

Oh, there we go.

Is it a diesel?

What type of train is it?

Is that what you call the Delta diesel?

Delta diesel.

Ooh, so Chris can talk on this point.

So Delta is class 55.

Correct.

So Delta is the class 55.

And that has got the most remarkable,

triangular two-stroke arrangement.

I got to see one primed and started

at the greatest gathering.

And you'll see that in the show as well.

39 is, sorry, 37 is the Labrador of the train spotting world.

They love it.

They view it as their comfort food.

And so it was the right one to choose.

And hearing him talk about this thing

and let him go again is wonderful.

So essentially, one of the key things

about a locomotive is its identity,

its number and its name.

So the locomotive we're working on,

we're going to give it a brand new name plate

that's lovely and polished.

And hopefully we're going to be able to drill it

back into the side of its skin.

So yeah, we're...

We'll keep the same name.

The same name, yes, because...

Yeah.

You can't do that.

It's not often that a locomotive

changes its identity, although it does happen sometimes.

Can I?

Okay, so we all believe that we view the world

in terms of top trumps, right?

So we think of the world in top trumps.

Managed to frozen anywhere.

So, okay, top trumps.

I'm now going to allow Francis,

before he leaves, to win top trumps.

What's the engine spec and size

of a class 37 locomotive?

17.4 litres per cylinder.

Twin turbocharged V12, turbo diesel.

And it's attached to a generator,

which is then linked through to traction motors

on six-axle.

And it produces 1,750 brake horsepower.

But what's the power?

How many revs?

The...

It can rev up to, I'd say around 800 to 900 RPM.

Yeah, it's so low.

The capacity of that engine, how much?

What's the total capacity of this small engine?

189 litres for the V12.

I just thought that I was thinking that must be a mistake,

but it isn't.

It's huge.

What was the...

When you see this, you're going to love it.

I just get to follow around this legend.

It makes me smile around his subject.

It's an absolute joy.

Everyone should do it.

It brightens your life.

Understand.

Just one quick, Francis.

So, what can it hold?

What's this kind of typical load that it holds?

Mass.

So, a Class 37 would have been put on kind of a merry-go-round train,

for example, that would take coal from the Collieries

through to the power stations.

They'd put two Class 37s on,

and they could probably manage about 2,000 tonnes.

So, I'd say a locomotive would be rated to pull 1,000 tonnes.

Amazing.

I didn't think...

People get into it, and then we've not even talked about the Delta.

I'll tell you what.

Will you come back on and talk with us through the Delta?

I'd love to. I'd absolutely love to.

That was my favourite growing up with Delta.

Yeah, brilliant. That's fantastic.

You were.

What do you have any memories of the Delta?

I'll tell you, I'm from Scotland, and my grandparents...

We would meet my grandparents,

so they would come down to King's Cross.

And I'm sure when I was very, very little,

their trains would be hauled by a Delta diesel into King's Cross.

And I just... The look of the front of that thing and the windows,

and just the power of it, you could feel it in just...

And it brought my grandparents from Edinburgh to London,

and that was just the happiest thing.

Oh.

There you go.

So, do you think if you were to hear a Delta nowadays,

it might bring you back to that time?

It would 100% take me back to when I was seven years old.

We must do this.

Seriously, this is really, really important.

We must do this. I'd love to come and see one.

Yeah.

And here...

Well, are you still going?

Did Delta still go?

Yes, well, the Delta Preservation Society

is based at Barrow Hill in Worksoap.

So they have three Delta's in operation,

and there's also one Delta operated by a separate company

that runs occasionally on the main line.

And I stood next to a Delta at Citiget King's Cross,

and I had a similar experience,

just feeling the vibrations in the chest.

It's just... It's a resonant frequency

that rattles everything.

Yes, of course.

And that engine found its way into boats.

It's the most remarkable engine when you see it.

Google, Delta... Who made it?

Napier.

Napier. I mean, Napier made the engine.

Yeah. Named from heaven. It's extraordinary.

I know I did. This is fantastic.

You've got to come and see us again.

We're coming back on for the Delta chat.

Indeed. See you tomorrow morning.

So lovely to meet you all, guys.

You too. Thank you.

Bye-bye.

Cheers.

He's putting the chair back, very polite young man.

Right, what are we moving on to? We've sort of done that.

So, before we finish this Martin thing,

can I just ask...

Don't forget your bag.

I... Have fun.

Night night. Bye-bye.

Can I just ask?

Who's sending these naughty emails out?

It's all being done deliberately by rivals.

Is it being done by people that have a vested interest

in this thing going private?

But what is it? Why is this out there?

Why is the impishness being circulated?

I would have thought it was the last thing that happened.

I would have thought it was the last...

Yes, Gossip.

One of you.

Journalists, Gossip.

I don't think it necessarily would be competitors, really.

I think... I mean, it could be PIF, couldn't it?

You know, it could be the inside job, bankers.

I mean, it could be so many, so many people.

I watched...

Was it the guy that writes about Aston a lot,

a supercar driver or there's, you know...

Like a supercar in there.

Yeah, that's right.

I mean, he writes bloody good...

I mean, I enjoy his writing on...

I mean, he's got a bit of a negative thing on Aston, obviously.

And it is an unbreakable thing.

I mean, it will be...

Do you think that?

I do.

I fear that they're treating it as if it is,

and it might not be, and that's my fear.

I think there's a lot of money in the world now

that is happy to put its long-term money into brands

that are very, very historic and valuable,

because you can't make Aston mine again.

Exactly.

I agree with all of that.

If I was going to buy something now...

But what's the market cap now? 800 million?

Yeah, exactly.

I think it's a very cheap purchase for a brand.

Very...

The only time I've ever thought that you could break Aston Martin

when I thought I saw a chink in the brams

when I saw Chris Cooper driving his DB9 Volante

and I thought...

That's good.

That could be better.

That was the low point of Aston Martin.

Is there lots of body roll

with it going round the corner and possibly quicker?

Although I have to say, that automatic gearbox,

the automatic gearbox on the repeat

is much better than the journalists said, in my view.

Did it?

Where will you want steering wheel and tyres?

Oh, it feels like a fucking F12.

They all feel the same.

It's like if you change the tyres,

if you just change the tyres, it feels completely different.

It just feels fucking great.

It just feels great.

You can't tell the difference.

I wish that were true.

Can the budget repeat...

Can the budget repeat stay within the broader family of the podcast?

You can't let it go.

I need to live with this thing for a week at least.

Yeah, you have it.

In the circles, it's called the boomerang.

I've owned it twice.

And then a bloke bought it

on the basis that it was cheaper

to go and do the NC, whatever it's called, 500,

then rent a car.

So we just owned it for a month and then gave it back to the guy

who then sold it on again.

Then it ended up on some unknown auction site.

And then my mate bought it.

And then I bought it off him,

even though I'd owned it before.

And when I owned it before, I never saw it.

So we need to do a little film on this

because it's a beautiful Q green.

It's nice colour.

Not Huey green.

Q green with chocolate leather.

The spec is very good.

I like the sound of it.

I like a Fortunum's mint.

Yeah, I like it.

But maybe another V12 four-door car

that's that pretty you can buy for 20 grand.

And you can't sit anyone in the back of it.

It's a shooting fucking break.

You just put the seats down.

You can't name me another V12 four-door car for 20 grand.

It's a gorgeous looking car.

It's not quite 20 grand either.

It will be in a few weeks.

I'm going straight to Cooper for this next one.

Brilliant motorsport events in the UK to go to in 2026.

Straight to Chris Cooper please.

I've got two suggestions.

One is a fantastic spectator spectacle.

And one is something everyone can do.

Get your little pencils and stuff ready in the morning.

The spectator event.

I kind of almost I'd always sort of felt really Santa pod.

Drag racing at Santa pod.

Oh my.

Brilliant.

Top fuel dragsters.

There's probably only three or four half a dozen in Europe.

There is a peculiarly Scandinavian interest in this a lot of

female drivers in fact three I think out of the four or five

drivers at Santa pod for the European finals in the UK in

September this year were women.

I think part of the reason for that if you go there you

see this is that drag racing is a family affair.

So kids grandkids brothers sisters daughters sons they all

get to have a go and it you know it's not it's not it's not just

for the boys in the family it's for the family and I think

there's a lesson for lots of sports particularly motorsport

in that the top fuel dragsters there's a I will try and post

a link to sort of one of the films of these.

They're 10,000 horsepower.

Yes they're extraordinarily fast but just like the Delta diesel

we're talking about with Francis a moment ago the thing that

gets you is the shock to the body when these things fire.

You can feel the air you've almost got to hold your breath

because if you don't the air in your chest cavity would be

beaten out of you just the spectacle the violence the

the impact of that thing launching and going is just

amazing.

So I mean the day at Santa pod Santa pod I think is the lots

of motor venues are really really busy but I think Santa

pod is right up there in terms of the busiest motorsport

event venue sort of almost anywhere in Europe is brilliant.

Definitely European finals is the blue ribbon event in

September FIA European championship finals is brilliant.

It's a real spectacle you can go and see everything go into

the paddock it's really friendly really welcoming the people

at Santa pod in Bedfordshire do a brilliant job.

The other thing is and I put my little motorsport UK hat on

street car street car is motorsport we can all do in your

road car there's kind of three different types of it

there's it's basically an auto test where you only use

two years so it's a car park or a big specimen land whatever

it's brilliant you can get a competition license like Chris

and I have got get that little sticker motorsport UK will

give you so you can put your sticker in the window of your

car that says motorsport UK competition license holder

feels brilliant when you put that on.

I've got a conversation license by the way just assuming

you too have got it.

Yeah you have you've got a clubman is a clubman you

got.

The basic one.

There's like an off-road version of this as well so

farmers fields whatever where you can sort of do it's a

bit like rallycross it's brilliant fun and if you've

got a Land Rover or an off-road vehicle hillside of a

farm somewhere go to the motorsport UK like website

we'll put the little link up on the screen and

guide you through all the steps to finding an

event finding a club applying for your license

seeing what events are coming up I urge everybody

it is the easiest way of getting into motorsport

you can use your own car you don't need a lid

any special equipment it's brilliant it's for

everyone that's what I would do next year.

I like these I think we're going to come up with

some more good ones here manage what are your

thoughts.

Well predictably I'm going to say the British

Grand Prix but I'm going to say go to qualifying

I think qualifying at Silverstone even with a

new layout is just one of the most exciting

motorsports spectacles on this planet it's

still just terrifyingly brilliant circuit I

think almost certainly it looks like Landau

is going to be world champion so I have a

feeling the atmosphere next year yes I think

the atmosphere next year is going to be

insane if we have a British world champion

and you go to qualifying at Silverstone

and if that McLaren's quick next year and

I think it will be I you know it could

it could just be one of the just one of

those days you just remember and tell your

grandchildren about I think it's going

to be absolutely wonderful the other

thing that I've I've done once but

only in a semi-detached way and I'd

love to do it properly dress up and

really enjoy it is to go to the

Goodwood revival I've never really

really done that and I think it's a

it just you know everything about it it

just I know I I totally the caveats

about it being probably very crowded

blah blah blah I think the idea of

dressing up and celebrating cars and

that sort of the heritage of it's in

some ways it's exactly what this podcast

about do you remember a TV show called

Banner check you're probably too young

so I remember that but there was a

George Peppard played a kind of private

detective and antique dealer and he gets

asked a question why do you like the past

so much and there's a great there's a

great he comes up with this great line

he says if you assume that there's

the same amount of good and bad in the

present as there is in the past there's

so much more past than there is present

and I guess for me that's the the whole

point of the revival if we can go there

and just celebrate the bit of the iceberg

you never get to see it's a it's a

happy place so I'm taking you next year

manage well well let's just go let's just

know it's anyone that gets bored with

Goodwood revival is bored with life

I agree I completely great I'm in I'm

in I'm in

I'm gonna go for I'm gonna go for

Neil Clifford you know what I don't know

what events are going on but I will say

one thing and we should have a monthly

update from mr. Cooper on this good idea

to tell us all because I think I think

we should all be a little bit more

managing imaginative than we are

I kind of actually remember Chris where we

were talking about this and we were

talking about rallying and I didn't

know they clearly might need a little

bit of help on marketing maybe that the

RAC rally still exists Roger Albert

thought it sort of ended in I thought

it ended in sort of Ford Escort Bda's

and Kaggle padded coats yes and I

used to go with my brother but I'd

love to go with a big flask of

tomato soup and stand in a forest and

watch the RAC rally

well you can

no one knows that does everyone know

everyone knows about it apart from me

you're quite right

we need more marketing for the rally

the rally people because that has got

to be surely an amazing spectacle I

did used to go my brother in the

like literally in like the end of the

70s 80s with Roger Clark and all of

that shit's brilliant Mark of America

yeah yes and I we should we should all

well we should know about it and we

should be going I like going anywhere

yeah so the Roger Albert so it's the

it's kind of it's it's sort of half

the root of the old RAC rally which

you're talking about it's now an

historic rally not part of the world

rally championship but fingers crossed

good news some of this isn't a public

domain motor sport UK has been working

with local authorities and government in

Scotland in trying to create a plan

with the support of the world rally

championship promoter to have a

British round of the WRC hopefully in a

couple of years time hopefully

wow somewhere in the northeast of

Scotland near Aberdeen so fingers crossed

a lot of work required to do that but

the Roger Albert Clark RAC for short

to play on the initials is this weekend

and it'll be all over social media and

I think right now it is the biggest

spectator rally event easily anywhere in

the UK is fantastic Lancia Stratos is

TR7 V8 Mark II Escorts wonderful

and where is it where?

South Wales, New Wales it's on the

borders Cumbria it's amazing and I

should be doing it and I'm very very

gutted that I'm not and I had to drop out

and I apologize to all involved I'm

spectators if you were to come to

the little brown man I apologize you

got some much better drivers to see

instead and I will do it next time

but this time wasn't going to happen

I think either they haven't got enough

money to market it or I don't know

what the other reason would be I mean

that should be

marketing should be coming at me on

that and telling me to go

it's an event for competitors not

spectators it's just you know it

just happens to be an incredible

spectator event but really you're

running last year they ran they ran

a stage that was nearly 30 miles

long one stage that's like a that's

like an entire event in one stage

it's yes so yeah no I agree so we've

got those two I'm going to add a

couple a few years ago I did a story

for Top Gear in trials the VFCC

trials I think we're always looking

for forms of motorsport that are

fun that you can do with friends

and family and I I just saw people

bumping up and down in other

people's orchards sliding around in

old cars and I just saw a lot of

really really happy faces I you

could buy a vehicle that would be

great fun and competitive I don't

know for less than 10,000 pounds

and you know you've got chance of

probably winning things in it if

you turn up with the right people

and you get your what your bum

down technique all right I a

friendly bunch of people and that

just it was a lot of fun

happening at no speed whatsoever

so that really stuck with me I'm

not going to say the Ironman TT

because it the Ironman TT is the

only thing I will always go and

watch every year from now on if I

were given one event it'd be the

Ironman TT but I would say two

wheels I'm so I'm going to live

this as if I'm going to channel

my own behavior for next year I

want to go and see a round of

the British Superbikes actually on

on one of these competitive circuits

because they they don't they don't

hold back and it's a great

spectacle BSB people but worried

about grids and stuff I want to

show you some solidarity there I

think the riders are mega you

know you got your David Todd

and your Higmans and your Ilias

and you know you've got everyone

you've got Dean Harris and there's

a lot of the TT riders are there

they're all freaking legends the

idea is to them on sort of short

tracks swapping knee sliders and

paint appeals greatly so those of

you move on there Chris just

something you mentioned last week I

think we should all four of us

definitely go to Festival of

Remembrance that's got to be in our

20s that's what you know diary

yeah when you when you when you

see that so when you see that

when you witness that service my

lord that is something to behold

okay kick cars can they be

Neil Clifford my answer is yes

because I'm always an optimist but I

just can't think of a cool one

I don't want to be in fucking

negative because if it's always

a kick or not about the money you

just love building stuff so you

very you know you love Meccano as

a kid you're over your Lego you're

like fuck it I'm gonna buy I'm

gonna build for four years a

kick car in my garage great but I

don't I don't do they do they

really still exist anymore I

remember when I was in my youth

training scheme at the Portsmouth

feared garage and Dean who was my

boss in the parts department built a

fucking Dutton yes do you remember

those dozens yeah literally like

there are shoes bigger than

Dutton's nowadays you know such a

tiny little thing and it took him

like three years and it was made

of fiberglass and frankly it was

sort of shit even it was you know

it was like hearing aid beige I have

no idea what engine was in it

but if that's your thing great

they're cool the only thing I'd add

is don't put a Q plate on it because

I think you play I know we probably

talked about it a million years ago

we haven't I think it's hard to be

it's hard to be cool on a Q plate

that's all I would say to that a

brutal assessment for mr. Clifford

manage he vanish I really don't

think it's possible by the way this

this other sort of semantic resonance

last week what's a continuation car

versus a rest of mods and as you

pointed out you know rest of mod is

something that someone can just buy

and do whatever with words a continuation

perhaps a dealer I mean sorry a

manufacturer I found this and I just

this is really for mr. Cooper more than

anything else but it's the cab GT

yeah right is the cab GT in golf

this is basically you know this is a

40 and kind of golf car I mean

that's not cool is it you know what

I'm looking I'm interrupting I do

apologize I know it's maybe calls

wrong with a cobra yes I know there's

so many different levels of cobra you

go on car and classic or ever there's

what the sum for 20 grand 40 grand

70 grand underground 200 grand 300

grand there's a million you don't

understand any of them do you really

but I even a shit kick car cobra

it's going to be good isn't it it's

going to be cool to drive isn't it so

it's really you know this is a bit

like driving a fast car slowly it's

about what you're really trying to

say about yourself and I'm not sure

that camouflaging I don't know

Volkswagen Beetle chassis with a

Lamborghini cuntash body is a very

good idea I'm not convinced I

don't know what it says about you

when I saw some I mean there is

some stunning crap out there and I

was thinking actually that there's

one possible subtle exception to

this in Miami Vice they use a cool

vet didn't they the Z3 for the day

had a guy build that Daytona body

yeah right in fact they had to I

remember they had to because one was

for kind of the close-ups and the

other one was the action sequences

but even that that that really

wasn't cool was it and then Ferrari

eventually gave them a Daytona thing

they said yeah you have one maybe

the kick car guy though and we should

also say there's probably the kick

car girl yes maybe they just

don't give a fuck about what we think

I completely agree that I'm saying it

could be exactly that's cool in

itself maybe but they must give a

little bit of a shit about how they

how we think because the kit looks

like something normally it's trying

to make a clean of statement you know

I'm you know at this for a statement

the last car magazine sold in the UK

will be a kick car magazine

ooh yeah that's good news bad news

isn't it I think that's I think

that's entirely possible it's a

supportable statement and that tells

you a lot about the strength of

that and the solidarity of that

community I think I think the

question that Matt that Neil pose

which is do they give a shit no they

don't they tend to wake up when

people I cast get a bit pious and go

oh that's the big shit that is but

I don't they really care because

one of the one of the great

things about I think real kick car

people is unless that they're

operating with a an economy

and a frugality that that maybe

would men often lock in lock enough

not to have to do therefore if they

didn't do what they're doing they

wouldn't have the opportunity to get

into sort of lightweight fast cars it's

just anywhere getting into it so to

actually but but then there is a there

is this as ever there's a specialist

seam of them that you know probably

then get into a few quid and

suddenly think actually I don't want

to own a sort of on a bloody caiman

I'm going to carry on down this

route make my own super special car

and that can lead you to amazing

place I met a bloke and he'll know who

he is who's gotten a lease that he's

made himself it is a kick car basically

he's made it himself and it's so

extreme and so good I you could pass

it off as being a part of a formal

one team it's ridiculous so I

get it I think the bit about

kick cars I didn't write this

where they become undeniably cool

and I've I've never

felt I don't really do

jealous but this is probably as close

as I get to jealous I can remember

seeing a catering

at some event

I can't remember where it was it was quite an ordinary

catering and there was

a guy stood next to it

and and he said yeah

it's a whatever 1400 thing and I

and I've built it myself and I always

immediately think wouldn't want to drive that

something's going to fall off it wasn't professionally made

I was like one of those self put

ones and about

few minutes later this other bloke turned up

and gave him a cup of tea and he said it's

my dad I built it with my dad

and I just think I'm not sure you could do

anything better could you build

a catering with your dad

is that that's the coolest

thing that makes that car

and the memories they've shared making it

cooler than any supercar

hypercar ever made a sound

I'm being a little bit clingy

and cloy but I really believe it but

they give you if you've got a car

in your shed that you built with your dad

or your mum whoever it is

your significant older or younger

other than what you call them it's just

cool I think that is cool

it is cool

so that's my view on it

I think you won't want to go

in a car that I've built though

because I'd have lots of bits left

I would

you'd have a large

box of bits left you would

now let's move on to

can I

sorry

sorry I thought you had Carol

very quick thing to say

yes kick cars can be cool

and

I agree with everything

actually Mr. Race you've said

that

it's very easy to be

disparaging

about what we might think of the SS6

or the idea

about certain kick cars

or kick cars can be cool

I think

for the reasons you've said

it's really cool if you

love the car

and you want to create a connection with it

great

you're one of us

you're 100% one of us

there are some

I'm the least cool person on the planet

certainly in this little bit

you're one of the uncool

I know

what do I know about this question

but there are

to me

the ultimate cool kick car

is that

ultimate

it is called the ultimate

it's the ultimate cool kick car

you can build it

I think they will build them for you

or they'll have somebody build it for you

or you can build it yourself

it is a cool bit of kit

it's basically the chassis that Gordon Murray

used when he was developing the McCarran F1

and the

GMA cars because it's a great chassis

you can do stuff with

play with the suspension engines

layout blah blah blah

it's just the most extraordinary thing

you get in it and you think this is a proper bit of kit

the baby one's got 500 horsepower

and a 900 kilogram

car it's an amazing thing

so it's not trying

to be something it's not

I think that's a really good test for lots of things

it's not trying to be something it's not

like Cajun 7 is really honest and authentic

the ultimate as well

so yeah, they're cool by me

I've got that

I agree

cherry advertising stunt

on stairway to heaven

discussed

Manish, because I know

what happens here with Manish

we write something down and he goes what's that

but he researches it

so I bet he has watched a lot of

Instagram he

things of a yellow thing going up those steps

and he's read some comment and he's going to be

he's going to be full of opinion

off you go Manish

well I'm going to spin this round

I yes this came up

on my Instagram I saw this

yellow cherry

going up

I didn't know there was a

stairway to heaven in China

but it was certainly

a reversing to hell

but

this yellow cherry

is going up

it reverses

someone tries to correct it doesn't correct

it smashes into

what looks like a rather beautiful

stone

balustrade and it stops

and I saw that on Instagram

I thought what's that and didn't think about it

and today Mr Cooper

sent us both

the short form and the long form

rather wonderful

Land Rover film

on how this

stunning hybrid defender

does the

what are they called

what's it called

it was a hybrid

sorry no what's the name of the road

called with all the switchbacks in China

it's called something the snake

the dragon

the dragon road

so it sets this extraordinary time

it gets to a 999

step

stone stairway going

to heaven

and a Chinese driver

basically takes the thing up there

and it's one of the most extraordinary things

I've ever seen and I thought to myself

well

if you want to take a Range Rover sport

into China

and do a stunt like that you probably need

quite a lot of government approval

and I thought the guy who was driving it

he was also Chinese and I wondered

whether this was

a marketing exercise by Range Rover

in China

that's what I wondered in my soul

do they want to sell more of these

in China so they put this fantastic

Chinese driver in

it succeeds

it's fantastically emotional film

it's very well put together

and then if I was the Chinese government

I would feel quite embarrassed

I mean

I would sit down and I think well

hold on

that's not a Chinese car

and they've cynically put a Chinese driver in

and they've gone to one of our most

iconic roads and up our most

iconic bit of staircase

and they've stolen a load of PR

for their car company

so I've got this great idea

what we will do

is we will get a Chinese car to repeat

exactly what that's done

and I bet you we can break

the time or the record

in going up the steps and it just

fails so

miserably

and so depressingly

that all you can do is

issue an apology

and it's kind of well it was really wet

that day and it was a bit

slippery

on those stairs which is why our car

didn't manage to get up there

ignoring the fact that the Range Rover Sport

did it in heavy mist

and it must have been just as slippery

and just as scary and the whole point

is I assume about buying a car

like this that you

are supposed to go

up those things in these conditions

talk about Chinese own goal

and there aren't that many

there aren't that many times

when it's kind of like 1-0

and I think this is 1-0

I think this is 1-0

it's a fantastic video

Neil Clifford

I know not very much about this

because I've sort of

basically

Land Rover did it brilliantly

just so I can just

they took the great

Land Rover and they did it and it was

part of their ad campaign

it looked really brilliant

and then

a Chinese car that basically

looks exactly the same as the Land Rover

which I've no idea what car it was

Cheri Fengyang

whatever it is

yeah and basically

fucked it up and smashed the wall

and like

made a mess of it

whether the car is not

good enough or whether the driver

was like me and just

cocked it up I don't know

the story normally

as Manish says I'm sure these things don't

get out and

it obviously is a bit embarrassing

and I think that the company

did has apologised because

they did a bit of a big

damage to the wall

to me it looked like the Great Wall

clearly it wasn't the Great Wall of China

but it looked like a Great Wall

in China

yeah

and

I mean is the car a bit crap and not as good

as the Land Rover probably

because one thing you have to say about Land Rovers

they are really, really, really good

at doing that off-road thing

apparently

maybe electric cars

I've no idea about this

are electric cars as good as being

four-wheeled, drivey

maybe not

in theory possibly better

technically

yeah they're very talky

in theory they weren't

in practice they weren't though

weren't they

I felt like for what I read

that there was probably a bit of a failure

on this car and this attempt

but yeah the just for story

is right

there's a reason why

there's another

that was done with this vehicle

on an indoor

sort of sand pit if you've seen that as well

I think

it might have been Rory on AutoTrader

videos this thing

and it attempts to do a really steep incline

there's a massive bang

and a clanking of differential bits

making a break for freedom through an axle casing

maybe all that talk isn't

helpful sorry Chris carry on

maybe designing a car

that looks exactly like a Land Rover

isn't quite enough

maybe you've got to do the

inside bits as well

maybe it's complicated

no it just goes back to your first point

men buy things

that are over specced

and I think that's the whole point

I think the Chinese car

is plenty specced enough

for most aspects of male life

in rural China

I think the problem is when you bite off

more than you can chew by getting a massive film crew

with 20 drones

and a load of people videoing you up a 999

step staircase

that's where it goes wrong

exactly it goes wrong

I chose this

there were two things that were in my head

when I chose this

the first thing was

it was a really good example

of how somebody

else's actions can end up being

the greatest celebration

of your own business or your own product

sort of by accident

because the original Land Rover

attempt was back in 2018

when the hybrid version of the Range Rover Sport

was launched

and

it was quite well publicised at the time

but then disappeared quite quickly

and then a Chinese manufacturer

Cherry came along and my understanding

is of what went wrong

was that

and I think this is true of the Land Rover

attempt as well there's obviously

999 steps sort of at a 45 degree

angle so if it goes wrong

you end up tumbling down quite a big hill

and that can be quite ouch

if you went wrong

so in both attempts

they had a steel cable

attached the whole way up

the centre of the stairway

and there was a fitment underneath the car

which basically clamped the vehicle

to this cable and the event of

a mishap some sort of locking

thing would just stop the thing from just

tumbling down like a child's toy being

thrown down the stairs at home

and in the Chinese one

I think

that thing went wrong and the car started slipping backwards

it looked like it almost went off the edge

which would have been really really sort of horrible

so the first thing it made me think was

suddenly

a failed attempt

probably a bit unfortunately

by a Chinese manufacturer

seven, eight years after you'd done it

suddenly became the greatest bit of advertising

for your product

for something you'd written off the money

eight years ago

how clever and smart is that

Land Rover followed it up

it's been all over the internet and social media

the last few days

and Land Rover followed it up with a really

really well judged in my view

piece of marketing today

by they spliced some of the original

footage of the 2018 attempt

with some pictures of the current car

basically saying

in I thought a really

well judged way

it's really hard to surpass the capabilities

of a Range Rover

of a Land Rover but hey

we love the idea of a challenge

so it was sporting

it was good natured

it was respectful

but still proud

and when you went back to watch that original

2018 film

I did this afternoon which is why I shared it with you guys

in a

in a time in our little

country in our little island

where everything feels quite hard

and stressful

and difficult

and people are unhappy

and crotchety and there's lots of

tension in the country

that film

about a British

product and brand

the Land Rover the Range Rover Sport

was made in a

a beautifully understated

there's some great

Birmingham accents

and sort of understatement

in humour in there

there was a bit about

trying to give a better expression of

there was a bit of hands across the ocean

with the people of China

and the respect for this extraordinary

stairway to heaven that was constructed

God knows when

with Chinese

commentators and stakeholders

and locales and the Chinese driver

and

it was bloody fantastic

it felt

it made me really

proud to be British

and proud of what

our country can do and it felt

just in that little moment of that film

that maybe it was

like this 2018

but it just felt that what Land Rover did

China with the Chinese

at the time

was just wonderful

and it made me really happy

and

I thought that was a really important

Don't buy a Land Rover

and honestly all afternoon

all I've done is looked at

2018 Range Rover Sports

Go figure

there's something that

stuck up to me so this is

this is a car

it comes from a country

that has proved itself

to be the master manipulator

of every single news channel

the dissemination of any story of any piece of news

why does it allow

imagery

of its vehicle looking utterly

feckless and I use that term

deliberately

on one of its most famous landmarks

I thought it was AI generated to start with

why would you allow that to go out

why were you allowed to be circulated

I don't get it

to punish the CEO

yeah

has he been caught with his trousers down

which is the whole thing is ridiculous

or is it a rival Chinese

just geely gone lads we've got the film

get it out there

but it is

I've not seen anyone release something as ridiculous as that

since Mercedes-Benz

put a picture out of an A-class on its side

an elk walking off to have a shit

do you know what it reminded me of

it reminded me of that

Iron Man film

when Tony Stark is invited

to the Defence Select Committee

to talk about are you Iron Man

and we have the Iron Man

and he shows these pictures of

Sam Rockwell's rival Iron Man

company producing these Iron Man things

which are going berserk and shooting

people and falling apart

it was exactly like that

you're right

I mean the best one ever was

the Volvo self-parking car

a few years ago

they did a live stream on the web

so we're so ahead

and they said

that was Mercedes

actually at the Frankfurt show

that was good as well

but we all watched this live stream

in the office of this Volvo

to do a reverse path

live stream fully autonomous

and it arrived

sized up the two vehicles

and just smashed into one of them

it's just

it's like it's sort of decided to

send them off in front of a car

like a pissed off Tomcat and left

right let's move on

to our

two-car garage for today

which is

here we go

50K for a Japanese 30s

£50,000 Japanese 30s

lives in London

this is the first time in the country

with family and friends

he wants a practical

small yet fun car

for both the roads of London

and country lanes

in the arse end of nowhere

he also wants an older practical off-roader

that's both called in London

and not useless in the countryside

this fits, it's quite useful

he's mechanically able as well

means he can have

more interesting stuff

I know, good

so the off-roader

the great

they're old now but the great

off-road vehicle

that was rugged, tough and not a Toyota

and cool as hell was always

the Hatsu 4-track

you can

park those pretty much anyway

you turn up to a shoot

in one of those you probably still be okay

he's got cool chic about it

and they're tough as nails

so fortune

I'm coming well underpriced here

because I'm going to need some money to maintain these

now

I'm choosing this car

because I've got a beer in my bonnet about these cars

these particular cars

at the moment

and there are so few for sale in the UK

so this one I believe is in France

but I love

the Clio 16 valve

not the Williams

but the 16 valve

look at those wheels

it was about

10 horsepower down on a wheelie

but really if you drive it like you stole it

you're going to get down the road just as quick

it's a white one, 22,000 euro

I'm just thinking white

with the obligatory yellow fog lights

yellow fog

look at the fog at the ride heights

just a great car

so I'm going 4-track

early model

that was the first generation

second generation was nothing like as good looking as that

I think that's

they're very crisp those cars

so Chris Cooper to give Neil Clifford

some more time to do his homework

you can go

so I'm making a rare foray

into the classifiers

rather than Yorkshire for the cool off roader

it will be one of those

Range Rover Classic

LSE 4.2

this is in the classifiers

long wheelbase

LSE

4.2 is done in 1994

4.2 LSE

I mean just a mega mega thing

probably was it

the grey, was that Westminster grey

the grey one

is that the colour

and then for the sporty

the car

the car that you could use

there were kind of three in the auctions

I'll tell you what I ended up going for

I ended up going for

the original Audi TT

oh okay

yeah

this one is done

it's in the auctions

it's going to go

it will come on the auctions

probably when this goes live

actually probably Friday Saturday

29,000 miles

this 2000 Audi TT is done

wow

that's brilliant

I view the Audi TT

as what they call a challenging

wank

on that note

I bought one a couple of years ago

I thought it was the one

and it wasn't

the turbo, the 225

it was the green

baseball leather

I thought I'd nailed it

and

the dashboard

everything

I should have bought the coupe

the cabriolet in TT

is really

not as cool as the coupe

that is true

and then I had a 8 years puncher

the first night

I came off

it was a proper disaster

the wife refused to look at the car again

I lost like two grand

two weeks

this is a small fun car

for the roads of London

and country lanes

I'm in the auctions

I'm even being obedient

some guy

has painted

Mark I

with the blue denim

interior

in the JK Jota SE 30

fucking Diablo

thing

it's got a day left and it's 10 grand

now of course it's going to go 18

or something because

it's going to be quite difficult to sell it on

because it's

if you're going to do your dream

if you're going to make your dream car

have enough money to keep it forever

because no one's going

no one's going to want it

as much as you

this man who's selling this

keep it

because you're not going to get what you put into it

but it is bloody fabulous

look at that one off colour

and then

I'm sort of going

I'm being more sensible

than Chris Cooper

which I know is very very difficult

but

everyone raves about

the

Range Rover 322

you know like five years ago

they were like three grand weren't they

they're now like $19,995

because the Queen saw it

once going down the

mall or whatever

we're all raving as though

this is the absolute

number one Range Rover

it fucking isn't

the four

four or five isn't it

the four or five is the one

the four or five actually is the one

because it's

okay it's as attractive

I think 322

okay you can listen to Harry

and you know

but I think that this

because it's just a little bit more modern

it's much nicer to drive

it hasn't got the clunky suspension

as long as you get it serviced

so it hasn't got all those bumps

and

horrible tough suspension

this is in red

very rare in red

I was going to say it is clear glass

Mr Cooper it is clear glass

it's only like 25 grand

the Lotus you're going to get to 15

you've got 10 grand left

for

I don't know fixing the Lotus probably

I would respray it

on youtube you can't

leave the Lotus alone

so I'm going to go

a little bit of old

money Kensington there's a

series three

Land Rover can you see that

it's just that

beautiful you can

you park that in Kensington or you park

that in wherever

can't drive it anywhere though

no no no you're a sparky

you can yes you can

it's a beautiful car

and my London daily

my stepmother had exactly

this car I think

this is

GTI

Mark II 16 valve

no nice look at the colour of that

you know that

the reds quite

they are the two London cars

that just screams aristocracy

I think that's a really

I was really jealous because

I was a grade 8 company car guy

so I could only get the Renault 5 Turbo

but the senior merchandisers

they could get the 16 valve

gold and it was

really really I was very

happy with my Renault but I was really jealous

16 valves in 1990

that little badge and the key

the key and a little 16

yes the little

you could get the 8 valve

the company car scheme I was on

get the 8 valve

205 GTI

16 valve

that was like managers

no it was a next level up

16 valve

I think you know that

I've got a mate who's just found one

50,000 miles from new

two owners the rare blue

there's like a metallic mid blue

that's a very sort of sapphire blue

no he's bought it

and it's a

it's with you

it's a fantastic car

right let's move on to

some music

Manish can go first do you like a bit of music Manish

well there's a

Jimmy Somerville song

which

I remember hearing when I

first came to London came to clinical school

and

it sort of summed up London in the kind of late 80s

early 90s

it was so

crazy London at the time

it was just reimagining itself

it was really being reborn

and it's called

heaven here on earth

Jimmy Somerville

heaven here on earth

it's a beautiful song

thank you

I'll pass over to Chris Coupe

this week

the song is My Friend by Groove Armada

just a wonderful

upbeat

just want to go and drive

Neil Clifford

I'm in the 80s as well

we're all a bit old farts aren't we

well no that was 90s wouldn't it

the

this is the day

oh great song

yeah it's a good tune

we don't have enough of this band

on the podcast because they're probably

viewed to be a bit simple

but they're not they're just fun

and my god actually they make really good

tunes to just wobble along to

you don't have to go too fast or too slow

but you

the lovely madness is our house

on and you'll just

you'll have a happier journey

you'll have a happier journey because it's lovely

madness we should

talk about madness what an amazing band

amazing happy band

this brilliant school disco

our house

amazing

so I just want to say a big thank you

to the lovely and wonderful

Francis Bourgeois

wait there manage for a second please

and I want to say a big

thank you to manage to Neil

and to Chris Cushman to manage who does like

to have the last word most weeks we'll hand it over to him again

over you go darling

no no no I don't like

just a tiny little announcement that

Lucas seeing red is now

on the internet

movie database

IMDB.com

and you are allowed

to log on create a little

account and just rate it

you can give it naught or you can give it

10 and you can even leave

a little user review

and the reason why I say this is because I think

if we can get to about a thousand

ratings or

user reviews you have a much much higher chance

of a general release

because movie companies do look at this

they look at the numbers they look at

the reviews so

if anyone has seen it

and would like to log on to IMDB.com

and

say we'll load a shit or

most amazing film I've ever seen

since 2001 the space Odyssey

please do and just give it a number

thank you

we'll do interesting

interesting game that one be kind people be kind

please just remember

we'll be back

episode 63

next week

bye bye

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85:48

Francis Bourgeois on driving a ‘fast car slow’, or ‘slow car fast’? | The Car Podcast #62

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