Stefan Johansson is a famous race car driver from the 1980s. The host is saying that if you watched Formula 1 back then—especially Ferrari—he’s a big name.
Formula One is the highest level of open-wheel racing in the world. It’s the series with teams and drivers competing for a championship across many countries.
Valentino Balboni was a Lamborghini test driver—someone who helps develop and evaluate the cars. In this episode, he’s telling stories about Lamborghini’s early days and its relationship with Ferrari.
Lamborghini is the Italian company behind many of the world’s most dramatic supercars. In this episode, they’re talking about how Lamborghini got started and what made it different from Ferrari.
A racing driver is a professional who competes in motorsport. The point of the line is that the car feels like it’s being driven by a pro—even if the driver isn’t one.
A clutch is what lets the engine and the gearbox connect and disconnect. It’s used when you start from a stop and when you shift gears, and if it’s worn out it can overheat and fail.
A “half spin” means the car rotated about 180 degrees when it lost grip. It’s basically a near-spin that you recover from before it fully spins around.
Term
loop
A “loop” here means a particular part of the track—like a turning section—where the car can get out of shape if it doesn’t have enough grip.
Term
technical issue with the motor car
They’re talking about a problem with the race car itself, not the driver. In racing, that can be anything from engine/electronics trouble to something affecting how the car grips the road.
Term
Celebrity Track Dehidology
That sounds like a joke phrase they’re using for “celebrity track behavior.” It’s not a real racing rule or technical term—more like a playful way to describe how the event feels.
Brands Hatch is a well-known race track in the UK. It hosts lots of different types of racing, including historic and touring-car events. The layout makes it exciting to watch cars as they leave the paddock and head out.
Paddock Hill Bend is a famous corner at Brands Hatch. It’s the kind of place where you can really see cars get moving and line up for the next part of the track. It’s a big “watch this” spot for fans.
Druids is a notable corner at Brands Hatch. Drivers have to set up carefully to get through it well, so it’s a good place to judge how well cars are handling. Spectators often see the cars dive toward it.
The Nissan Skyline GT-R is a famous turbocharged Japanese sports car. It’s known for being fast and for having a strong racing reputation. When people say “Skyline GT-R,” they usually mean the classic generations that became icons.
The BMW M3 is a high-performance BMW version of the 3 Series. It’s designed to feel sporty and responsive when you drive it. The podcast mentions older M3s because they’re well known and loved by car enthusiasts.
The Nissan GT-R is a sports car made by Nissan that’s built to be very fast. It’s known for strong performance and good traction. The podcast mentions it as one of the notable cars people like to talk about and drive.
Car
Lola T292
The Lola T292 is a purpose-built race car from the 1970s. It’s made to be very light and fast, with a simple, race-focused layout that makes it feel exciting to drive.
That phrase means the car’s main structure is made from aluminum panels held together with rivets. It’s an older race-car construction method that helps keep the car light and solid.
The “BDG” is the name of a particular Ford race-engine setup used in that car. The host is emphasizing that it revs extremely high, which is typical of older prototype engines.
A “dog leg” gearbox layout is a shift pattern where the gear ratios are arranged so that one of the gears (often 3rd) sits in a different position than you’d expect from a straight H-pattern. In racing, it’s used to keep the engine in the right rev band for frequent acceleration zones.
Brands Hatch has different track layouts. The “Long Circuit” is the longer version, and it changes how you drive—where you brake and how you accelerate out of corners.
Mugello is a well-known race track in Italy. It has lots of fast corners and big changes in elevation, so it’s a good test of how well a car stays stable at speed.
Place
Long Brands
Long Brands is a UK race track (Brands Hatch). It’s twisty and bumpy enough that the car’s handling details really show up.
Hawthorns is a specific corner at Brands Hatch. It’s called “blind,” meaning you can’t see where the corner goes, so you have to rely on your braking and experience.
AMG is the performance brand inside Mercedes-Benz. It makes the faster, sportier versions of Mercedes cars, and the host is implying it’s not matching the old-school magic anymore.
A fuel pump is the component that moves fuel from the tank to the engine at the right pressure and flow. On older cars, fuel pumps can be a common restoration target because parts may be harder to source and the system needs to be brought back to correct operating condition.
The MGF is a small two-seat convertible roadster. It’s made for fun driving with the top down. The podcast mentions it because it’s enjoyable when the weather is good.
Senna is Ayrton Senna, a legendary Formula 1 driver. The point of the story is that even early in his career, he was doing extremely impressive things on track.
Place
Hawthorne's
“Hawthorne’s” is a named spot on the Le Mans track. It’s mentioned as part of the same fast sequence as Dingle Dell.
Jonathan Palmer is a well-known person in UK racing. The speaker is saying he’s helped make sure there’s still a lot of motorsport happening in the UK.
Marshals are track officials stationed around a circuit to manage safety during races. They control flags, communicate with race control, and help coordinate responses when there’s an incident on track.
The Porsche 924 Turbo is an older Porsche sports car with a turbo engine. The hosts are debating whether it’s actually a bad car or unfairly criticized, with one person saying it’s “a lemon” and the other disagreeing.
A “lemon” is a car that turns out to be badly defective and keeps having problems that won’t get properly fixed. Here, the host says the Porsche 924 Turbo shouldn’t be labeled that way.
The Mitsubishi Starion is an older Mitsubishi sports car with a turbo engine. The host brings it up as an example of a car that doesn’t get much love, but is still genuinely good.
The Porsche 944 is an older Porsche that drives more like a balanced sports car than you might expect from its shape. The host is saying it has a distinctive, slightly unusual look that people don’t talk about enough.
The Audi Quattro is an Audi performance car concept known for using all-wheel drive. That means power can go to more than one set of wheels, which can help the car grip the road. The episode mentions it because it was a standout in the 1980s and is remembered for its look and traction.
The Honda Accord is a regular, everyday car meant for families and commuting. Some versions use Honda’s “VTEC” system, which helps the engine make power efficiently. The podcast brings it up as a car that reviewers often rated highly.
The Honda Prelude is a two-door car that’s meant to feel more sporty than a typical family coupe. Some versions are known for advanced steering features that help the car handle better. The episode mentions it because reviewers liked it for its driving feel.
Four-wheel steering means the back wheels can turn too, not just the front wheels. That can make the car easier to steer at low speeds and more stable at higher speeds.
VTEC is Honda’s system that helps the engine breathe better. It adjusts valve timing/lift so the car can feel stronger both when you rev it and when you’re driving normally.
The BMW Z3 M Roadster is a sporty BMW roadster made by BMW’s performance team. It’s the kind of car people compare to the Porsche Boxster because they were both popular “driver’s roadster” choices around the same time.
The Porsche Boxster is a sports car with the engine placed closer to the middle of the car. That layout helps it handle well. In the podcast, it’s mentioned because it did well in a comparison test.
Car
Honda
Honda is the car brand the host is comparing to Toyota. The idea is that even if some Hondas aren’t the most exciting to enthusiasts, they still work well for everyday driving—especially when people drive a lot.
The Toyota Corolla is a very common small car. The hybrid version uses both a gas engine and an electric motor to help it use less fuel. The point here is that it’s so popular for taxi work that it’s clearly built to handle lots of driving.
The Ford Fiesta is a small car designed for everyday driving. The podcast mentions it as a big success for Ford, along with another similar model. It’s brought up because it became well known and well liked.
The Volkswagen Polo is a small hatchback—meant for everyday driving, especially in cities. Here, they’re basically saying it’s like a smaller version of the Volkswagen Golf, but it feels a bit different.
The Volkswagen Golf is a very common, well-known small car. In this discussion, they’re using it as the reference point for what the Polo is like—just smaller and with a slightly different personality.
The Holden Caprice is a large sedan, meaning it’s a bigger family-style car. The podcast mentions it in a casual way, as a car people would talk about or be seen with. It’s basically being used as a recognizable model name.
A “lower price point” means aiming the car at a cheaper market segment. The idea is that selling more affordable cars could pull customers away from more expensive models.
Fiat is another car brand being used as an example of competition. The point is that Volkswagen wants to sell in the same cheaper market space as brands like Fiat.
“Core products” means the main cars a company is known for and depends on. The idea here is that you want to attract more customers, but you don’t want to mess up the cars that are the brand’s main strength.
In an automotive strategy context, “diversify” means expanding the range of models or variants to reach different customer segments. The hosts connect it to the balancing act of growing the audience while protecting the brand’s central, most important products.
The Volkswagen Beetle is a Volkswagen car with a very recognizable, rounded design. It’s known for being a classic model. The podcast mentions it as part of Volkswagen trying to bring back or recreate that idea.
A unitary body means the car’s body and frame are built as one piece. It’s usually lighter and easier to package, which helps certain car layouts work well.
Front-wheel drive means the front wheels do the work of moving the car. It’s common on smaller cars because it’s efficient and fits well in the engine bay.
The Volkswagen Passat is a larger Volkswagen sedan/wagon family. Here it’s mentioned alongside the Polo as an example of how Volkswagen’s lineup grew from the same general design approach.
The Polo GTI is a small “sporty” Volkswagen hatchback. It’s meant to feel like a bigger, more serious hot hatch (the Golf GTI), but the host says the ride quality isn’t as good.
The Golf GTI is Volkswagen’s famous sporty hatchback. In this discussion it’s the standard the Polo GTI is compared against, especially for how well it rides over bumps.
Damping is how a car’s suspension controls spring motion—mainly through shock absorbers—to reduce bouncing and keep the tires in contact with the road. If damping is “not very good,” the ride can feel floaty, bouncy, or less controlled, even if the car is fast and looks great.
Oil is what keeps the engine parts from grinding against each other. The speaker is describing a service that checks the oil before they drive the car again.
The Audi A4 Avant is the station-wagon version of the A4. The speaker is saying they keep theirs for years and have it inspected regularly so it stays in good shape.
The Land Rover Defender TD5 is a Defender model with a turbo-diesel engine. In the story, someone stole one from a driveway even though it had anti-theft devices.
Anti-theft devices are things fitted to a car to make it harder to steal—like alarms or immobilizers. The point in this story is that even with those, the car still got stolen.
A track day is when people bring their cars to a race track and drive them hard for fun. Because it’s more intense than normal driving, it can put extra stress on things like oil.
This is the BMW M5 with a V10 engine. It’s a very high-strung engine that likes to be kept in top condition, so the owner is talking about checking the oil often and keeping it topped up.
Santa Pod is a famous drag-racing track in the UK. It’s where cars race in a straight line, and the biggest classes can feel like watching a rocket launch.
The FIA World Championship is a label for major racing series run under the FIA, the main motorsport governing body. It’s used here to talk about which big races are coming to the UK.
Term
Indie circuit
They’re talking about a temporary track setup—like a pop-up race course—so people can watch racing in a different kind of venue. It’s not the usual permanent race track.
WRC Scotland is a rally race event in Scotland that’s part of the World Rally Championship. Instead of one track, it’s lots of timed sections on roads around the region.
Motorsport UK is the organization that oversees and regulates motorsport events in Great Britain. They help make sure events follow the rules and safety standards.
Le Mans is a legendary endurance race where cars run for about 24 hours. Because it goes through the night, it’s as much about strategy and staying reliable as it is about speed.
Cadillac is another brand that shows up in major endurance racing like Le Mans. Here it’s mentioned as part of the top finishers.
Place
Arnaud
“Arnaud” sounds like a specific spot you pass on the way around the Le Mans area. The speaker is basically saying it’s a recognizable landmark for fans.
The Nürburgring is a very famous race track in Germany. People treat it like a tough test for cars, and the speaker is putting it in the same “best racing venue” conversation as Le Mans.
Place
Chelsea Walsh
The speaker mentions Chelsea Walsh as a place they want to visit. Based on what they say right after, it seems connected to hill-climb events where you watch cars drive up a slope.
Hill climb is racing where cars go up a steep course as fast as they can. It’s usually timed, and drivers have to be careful because the road can be tight and tricky.
Term
ejecting yourself from it
They’re describing how the driver can get out of the race car very quickly in an emergency. The car is designed so you can escape fast if something goes wrong.
This is a Porsche 911 from the 993 generation, specifically the basic Carrera version. The host likes it because it’s simple and unmodified—more about the driving than extra gadgets.
An air-cooled engine uses air flowing over the engine to keep it from overheating. Instead of circulating coolant through a radiator, it relies on fins and airflow.
LIVE
Hello, and welcome to the car podcast with Chris Harris and his friends.
What you won't know is this is actually the second time we've attempted to record this
this week, because the first one was suffered by a power cut in Bristol, which meant that
I couldn't record.
So I have to publicly apologize to my learning friends for waiting their time.
I tried to make it work, but I couldn't.
I got into it.
I ended up in a Bentley on Pembroke Road, even though that is trying to record it on
my phone. It didn't work.
There we go.
We're here now.
Episode number 93.
Chris Cooper, why is that something?
Well, it's obviously even more of a mantle year, because he was simultaneously F1
world champion in Indy car, champ car champion, never happened before or since.
And obviously it was when the greatest racing driver over Alan Prost won his fourth
and last world championship.
Mega year.
He won more than seven.
He did.
Yeah.
And let's start this with a fistfight.
So let's start with what have you done in cars this week?
Forward slash good news.
One week I will throw a span of the works to say forward slash bad news, because not
everything can be positive.
Neil Glippard, but you can try.
Go ahead.
Well, things I've done this week.
Uh, Friday, I secretly pretending to work, but didn't do work in the morning.
And I went to Brands Hatch, because I went to this amazing event, which what's it
called Mr. Housh?
You were there, motorsport heroes, legends, things called the motor racing legends.
Was it the London car?
Look it up now.
I can't remember the name of it.
The graphics were beautiful.
It was all beautifully organized.
London historic trophy.
Yeah, there was no one there.
So that was good, because it was Friday, which, you know, is fine.
People were working.
I think they were.
Yeah, I did a little bit of work afterwards, pretending to work.
But it was really good.
It's like classic Le Mans, but it's round the M25 and loads of fantastic cars,
old D types, alpha GTAs, lots of those torpedoes, dangerous little things.
Old shit, new shit.
It's really, really good.
And it was, it was fabulous.
And I was looking for Mr.
Harris, but he didn't arrive till later.
And he was in a very pointy yellow Lola thing, which was very, very cool.
That was lovely.
And I think Brands Hatch is very pretty as a circuit.
And I've never, actually, I've done a bit of a track day thing there
and didn't really like it because it goes up and down a bit.
And it's all quite dangerous, but to watch, it was brilliant.
And so I did that, which is very good.
And no one really knew about it.
So that would be really good if lots of people knew about it.
I'm sure it's like a first event test thing.
I'm sure that's not what it was, but it felt like that.
But the graphics are lovely.
The organization was good and long may it be super successful.
And then on the Saturday, you know, what's amazing about being privileged
and invited by Mr.
Harris, our CEO, to be part of this fabulous little crazy fucking podcast
is sometimes I get invited to things now where people think I'm
like a press person and get invited to like special things.
And when this podcast ends and it goes down like Father Ted or Faulty Towers,
I will have to go back to be buying tickets and being a normal person
that I was about a year or three years ago.
But I'm going to, whilst it lasts, I'm going to enjoy it.
And it was a road rat celebration of 75 years of Porsche.
And basically, everyone else went off to Silverstone to this lovely big.
I can't imagine a funny name.
I can't remember.
It's like 75th in German or something.
And it's over around and got very, very wet.
So I had the best bit and it's really good coffee and really good pastries.
And the lovely man, Peter, road rat was very, very charming.
And it was really good.
And lots of amazingly cool Porsches, including the very first 35
six that was at the 1951 Mocho car, which is a feature of this special magazine,
special edition thing that you can't really buy, but you can buy,
but you have to go into a Porsche dealer because it's got a special Porsche
part number.
And probably that means that they're sell them out now, which would be really good.
And that was really good.
And then I went home and didn't go to Silverstone because it was very, very rainy.
Events were in event season.
So why not enjoy them?
Managing events as well, wouldn't you?
Oh, my gosh, I was at, I think my favourite car event ever, actually,
apart from maybe the Earl's Court Motor Fair in 1976.
It was the inaugural Concorde de Ligeon at Wilton House near Salisbury.
And it was three days.
I managed to enjoy two full days of it.
And it's at the Earl of Pembrokes home.
And it a backdrop like that with the cars that they had.
And the just just the right number of marquees, just the right amount of food,
just the right amount of wine.
I mean, it was absolutely perfect.
But what made it even more perfect were some of the people who were speaking.
There were various marquees and they had everybody from
Stefan Johansson, who, you know, 80s hero, anyone who drove a Ferrari
Formula One car in the 80s is a hero of mine.
That's Stefan Johansson.
They had I actually got Horrobeat on guide.
Was too embarrassed to go and say hello to him till somebody said Garland's
A-L-O-D-M, but Valentino Balboni was there, the legendary Lamborghini test driver.
Joe Twyman, Mike Hope-Fairham were there.
They were talking about the art of racing, the helmet boat.
But I want to tell you a really quick, want to tell you a quick Balboni story.
So he is probably the funniest raconteur, apart from Neil Clifford, I have ever heard.
I mean, he is so funny, his storytelling.
And he he say there's a lot of debate, isn't there, as to how Lamborghini started?
What exactly was that spite about between Enzo and and Fruccio Lamborghini?
And he tells the story brilliantly.
So Enzo Ferrari is making his beautiful sports cars, as Balboni says.
And Fruccio Lamborghini is a very rich tractor-industrialist.
We know this.
So Lamborghini used to buy Ferraris and then this is what made us start to make us laugh.
So he said, the thing about Lamborghini drives like a racing driver, but he's not a racing driver.
He burns out his clutches every week.
OK, so basically Lamborghini with the clutch burner.
And what he would do was kind of return these cars on a semi-weekly basis to the Ferrari factory,
with a little wine at their clutches aren't good enough.
They would be fixed at whatever thousand lira they were, return to him and you carry on doing it.
So one day he gets a bit bit annoyed about his Ferrari bills.
So he sends his Ferrari down to the tractor workshop and you get some guy who works on tractor clutches
and you fix my car.
And this is absolutely true.
It's a Balboni story.
So this guy takes his clutch assembly apart, looks at it and just has this massive moment.
Because basically the Ferrari clutch was the same as a Lamborghini tractor clutch.
It was like a one lira clutch, 13 thousandth of a pound.
I had no idea about this.
So at that time, there are no telephones Balboni explains.
The guy steps out of the workshop, shouts upstairs, he shouts up, says,
goes up to the fourth floor where Friccio Lamborghini is.
Friccio Lamborghini comes down and cannot believe he's been paying whatever
for these clutch replacements when he could get a clutch like that for his tractor.
So he doesn't apparently call Enzo Ferrari, he doesn't drive around there.
There are no fisticuffs.
So what happens is apparently there's a tractor show that happens.
And Enzo Ferrari is a kind of local industrialist gets invited to this tractor show.
And Lamborghini probably grabs him, big guys pulls him.
I go, you've been selling me these really, really shitty cars with these clutches.
And Enzo Ferrari goes, hey, what's the problem?
They're beautiful cars.
And that's it.
Lamborghini absolutely loses it and goes, that's it.
Fuck you.
I'm going to make a better car than a Ferrari.
So it all happened over a tractor clutch.
And I didn't know this story.
And it was absolutely.
It was like scratching a nine.
Well, I was nine when I fell in love with that car.
So, you know, 49 year old itch.
That is an itch worth scratching.
I think I think what's I've heard different versions of that story.
There are probably several out there.
But that's the one I stick to because it came out of Balboa's gob.
And therefore, yeah, one that I want to listen to.
All the others don't matter.
Thank you, Manish.
Yeah, Chris Cooper talking of events.
On Friday, the 17th of July, we have a live stage at Clapham Grand.
So last time we had a lot of fun where we all secretly brought
Alan Prostmas for a appropriate moment in it.
This year, one of the things we're going to do, we did a bit last year as well.
We're going to try to do a little bit more of this time.
We're going to ask everybody who's going to come along.
Just in a few days before the event, we're going to email you
and you're going to send us pictures of your cars.
And we're going to rate your cars on stage.
So it's all done the best possible taste.
So we'll put we've got a big screen, massive screen.
We'll put pictures of your cars.
And the four of us, plus probably a special guest
will announce the time and we'll talk about your car
in the most supportive and collegiate and nice way possible.
There will be no comedic value to be derived from any of this whatsoever.
And if you went last year, you'll know that's not true.
So, yeah, so come along Friday, 17th.
If you don't want to send the picture of your car,
you can send the picture of your garage, your shed,
your lawn mower and your genitalia.
Almost all that is true.
So I've got a lovely, but a good news I had.
I wasn't thinking about clapping ground
and all the lovely things that you guys have spoken about earlier on today.
And this is a little blessing from why we're doing this today,
rather than earlier in the week.
The lovely people from Glenelg Sky Ferry in Scotland
texted me a little bit earlier and said, Hi, Chris.
We do have a lovely person here.
He just had a guy on the ferry from Australia
who found the ferry because he listens to your podcast.
So thanks, fella. Much appreciated.
And I went by and said, Hey, what a lovely small world it is
and lots of suitable love, hearty emojis.
And he said, it sure is.
We were kind of hoping he was from Glenelg, Australia.
But hey, you can't have everything serendipitously,
which I thought was a great word to use.
So lovely people of Glenelg Ferry and our lovely fan from Australia.
Hope you enjoyed it.
There's one other thing I'd like to raise in the what happened in cars this week,
which didn't, strictly speaking, happen this week.
But the four of us discussed it this week.
There is on Instagram circulating
a little film of the charity
taken by one of the spectators from the Melbourne Loop Hairpin at Donington.
On the occasion of the charity track day, back in May,
was that back in May, Chris, when you and I were there and we were driving here with a
Sir Hoy's charity track day.
And I'm just trying to find it now.
I've seen this. Yeah.
So by the way, Chris, you look like you're attempting to do a podcast by dial up.
You are so grainy.
There's no way anyone will be able to see what you're about to hold up.
They will do when it is fully loaded in real life.
Yeah. So I'll just show you that.
That's the first page, which says Celebrity Track Day at Donington.
And there's a little bit of commentary in the background of various cars.
So the Tutt Hill 9-11 goes around with Mr.
Harris at it, doing lots of skiddy things.
And then a little bit later, Jethro Bovington goes around in McLaren 750.
There he goes there.
And then there's a LeFerrard in a bit more of, oh, yeah, there we go.
I need to show you this.
This is the point.
It basically is a picture showing the Tutt Hill car spinning.
And the caption is, oh, is that Chris Cooper?
I didn't see that.
That was me.
So I've got two things to say.
Who's put that on there?
I've got two things to say.
Number one, if I had spun the Tutt Hill car, it wouldn't have been a little
half spin at the loop.
The person holding the camera would have been seen running from the scene.
There's the car shot through the sky 50 feet off the tarmac, as I did a proper
job of stacking the car.
Yep. Second thing I've got to say is I was following.
If that little scene had gone on another half a second, you'd have seen appearing
from the left of the screen, Porsche cars, Great Britain, lovely 9-11, 992.2
GTS, because I was following Mr.
Harris and in his vain attempt to keep ahead of me, he dropped to the Melbourne
Loot, but I'm happy on part of the team to take the ball.
There's a spinning 9-11.
It must have been Chris Cooper.
No, I have not seen that.
And I certainly wasn't about to put your hands up when there's a spin that you've done.
I actually worked on what the spin was afterwards.
You might have seen later on in the day that there was a technical issue with the motor
car. You might have spotted the fact that it might have been that.
Yeah, so we won't go on about that.
I might have had some assistance in that.
So you're quite lucky you didn't spin as well.
Well, no, no, what happened?
So that was my week.
I've not seen that. That was very good.
The only bit that I don't understand is.
Do you call yourself a celebrity now?
Well, this is not my.
I think I was in there.
It says Celebrity Track Dehidology.
You seem very comfortable with the term.
That's all I'm just.
Well, it's got lots of other people, but there's a face of a dog looking guilty.
When your tighthole 9-11 bends itself.
So and possibly Chris Cooper probably means possibly not a celebrity.
I think trying to highlight I wasn't aware of this footage.
I was going to look at it.
I like it.
But I do.
I do think it's it's interesting.
You decided to highlight this on on our national international podcast.
I'll just bank this one because I've got a funny feeling it might come back back
to bite you on the arse at some point.
So this week.
I was at the race week, the race meeting at Brands Hatch,
the London Historic Festival, which nearly
is quite right. It's probably the best kept secret in British Historic Motorsports
because it's it's it's more modern than Goodwood.
So there's there's some more modern shapes.
There are there was a sort of 90s touring car grid.
But as I was leaving on Saturday, they were all when you leave the paddock,
they'll stream through Paddock Hill Bend and you see them all get going.
You see them cascade down and they almost go back up like they're taking off towards Druids.
It's one of the best sites in motorsports when you're in the paddock
and you're driving away and you see these cars and there were 10 or 15 E30M3s,
Skyline GTRs, all these like my favourite touring cars,
all flames flying out of them, diving up towards Druids.
And I just thought, Good God, we're lucky to have this going on.
But no, you're right. No one seems to know about it,
which I think we should help with next year, chaps.
I think we should be involved with this.
The the the organisation superb, the people all wonderful.
I ended up having a really good fun stint on Sunday in a Lola T292,
which is one of the I think it's one of the best racing cars I've ever driven.
Yeah, lovely privilege.
It's a little racing car, tiny little aluminium, riveted aluminium tub.
Very little weight.
You just sit in amongst the fuel like they do these things.
You've got a BDG Ford engine behind you that revs to about nine and a half,
but we'll probably go a bit further if you wanted to.
But they're very explosively powerful.
Now, they're about 330 horsepower, I think. Wow.
And the car weighs nothing.
It's got reasonable amount of aerodynamics for a 70s car.
It's a lot and it just a tiny little
fuel and gearbox that's just almost sort of forward and forward.
And it's snick, snick, snick with a dog leg and it's just joyous.
So thanks to Alex Brunel for letting me drive it.
It really it was a joy and we didn't finish the race.
It was the foot. The car was only completed the week before
and we had a couple of issues.
Really, it was a glorified test.
But I'd never driven the Long Circuit at Brands before.
I'd never even done a lap of it, which is odd.
I know. So in the last week, since we recorded this,
I've driven two circuits I'd never driven before in Europe.
I've driven Misano.
Sorry. No, I've driven Mugello Mugello and Long Brands.
I've never driven either.
And Long Brands is right up there now.
Hawthorns is one of the great corners in the UK because it's blind.
You know, it's got two blind corners where you don't know where you're going.
So fantastic.
I was average, but I really enjoyed it.
And I've got the name of the guy I had a dice with.
But Chris Ward naffed off into the lead and we had a good dice per second,
which I managed to hold on to for a bit.
So that was great fun.
Then a few days ago, I advise everyone to start a podcast.
Have a rant about a brand because it will make you re-engage with that brand.
So I sat here and it's got a bit shitty about AMG.
I didn't get a bit shitty about AMG.
And I thought, do you know what?
I haven't driven Mercedes for a while.
I own a couple of old Mercedes, but I don't use them.
What are we going to do about this?
So I've gone down the road of having a bit of a Mercedes project.
You'll you'll see on that on YouTube soon.
But Sam from the SL shop, who's a listener, very kind and said,
we'll help you out with that and put it on the ramp.
So I went up to the SL shop on a gloriously sunny day Monday.
And I just spent some time lurking around beautiful old Mercedes Benz.
And it reminded me that it is arguably the greatest car brand of them all.
AMG is in a pickle, totally up the creek.
But Mercedes Benz built the first motor car.
I believe that was the pace of Benz is the first motor car.
And the three pointed star remains an object of respect and envy around the world.
And even though AMG, I do believe is up all over the place.
If you're around those old saloon cars and convertibles from the 60s and 70s,
especially, they're built like nothing else at the time.
They really are a cut above.
And it's a shame to realize that that brand can't do that now.
You can't really establish that was being a cut above unless you're a Rolls Royce
and you charge stupid money.
But they are they're stunning machines.
And the SL shop have to say, Sam, you and your people were a joy.
We'll let them see what we're up to soon.
I just get yourself a Mercedes Benz and old one gone.
They're just amazing things.
There were some beautiful W126 is C126 is being restored.
And they can make everything on site there and even do the fuel pumps now.
So that was great.
Enjoyed that.
And I've spent the last three days driving around in my little M Roadster
because when the weather's hot, get the convertible out, get the sun cream on
and use it, otherwise you will never use it.
Don't get in the air conditioning car.
Go and get burned, please.
That's very good advice.
Very good advice.
So, Mr. H, you never had the I mean, I had no idea.
I just always assumed when you started, which is sort of just for when I started.
But at some point, you don't run brands, go on pre some point.
So you'd have never had the joy of the late nineties, early 2000s, Dingle Dell.
Which was that sort of launch pad.
If you did it in the Caterpillars, you literally launched and took Dingle Dell
in the air and landed just before.
Now it's sort of, they had to sort it out.
It was going to get a bit out of hand and not much runoff up there.
But isn't it just Hawthorne's Westfield, the Dingle Dell dip, and then the rocket
launch, the thing we used to have at the top, and then Sterling's just got
that lovely dish and it's much faster.
No, just to say that John Watson, John Watson in 1985, he was subbing for an
injured Nicky Louder, Nicky Louder had hurt his wrist and he said that what he
saw Senna doing through Dingle Dell and Dingle Dell corner through Hawthorne's
and right up at the top of the hill, he said he saw stuff Senna executing in
only his third year in Formula One that he hadn't even thought about.
Second year in Formula One, he hadn't even thought about.
This is John Watson.
So it was the great thing on reflection that was just about justifies the
interruption, but only just Chris Cooper carry on.
So the other thing I was going to say, I saw my very first motor race,
Brands Grand Prix, 1980 British Grand Prix standing on the outside at Clearways.
Alan Jones won in his championship year and the voice of Brands, Brian Jones,
very sadly passed away a few years ago, high, wide and handsome.
Anybody know that expression?
Yeah.
The sort of the higher entry to Paddock, which was a commentator sort of
favorite and Brian Jones is sort of, sort of patented view.
And I won a couple of races on the Grand Prix circuit.
I know you want me to talk more about it, but on this occasion I won't.
But I won my K-Trim National Championship Brands in 2001 and the most
extraordinary, and I said to it, well, I got on to the podium, was presented with
it and Brian Jones was there because he was contacted that day.
Is this really happening?
Is this really happening?
And Brian Jones was there and he said, he said, how do you feel?
So I was here, crikey 21 years ago, when I heard your voice
for the first time in here, I'm now, Brands actually is just amazing.
So I'm really, really pleased, Mr.
Rage, you got to drive possibly the most amazing little racing car you
could have chosen for your first go at Brands Grand Prix.
Fantastic.
I mean, talk about bringing it back, sorry, bringing it back around.
What have you done in cars this week or good news or what have you won in your
racing career in the last 25 years?
It was a broad question.
Let me, there's a bit of a lag on here.
I'm missing, I want to add one other thing about this.
And I come across as a brown nose, but I couldn't give a shit.
Jonathan Palmer should be thanked because without him, there wouldn't be
much motorsport in the UK.
It was a difficult day on Saturday.
There was an incident at Brands that was tricky and I was a bit too close to it,
frankly, but the way the marshals and medical staff dealt with it was just
staggeringly efficient and professional.
I don't think those of us that race realize how lucky we are to be looked
after by these people.
Helicopter arrived, it was all done brilliantly.
But actually, what I took away from it was that Brands looked, it was just
gleaming in the sunshine.
All the green areas are immaculate.
Jonathan's circuits are presented brilliantly.
But I had the sense he doesn't really need to be doing this.
You know, that is that there's probably half a billion pounds worth of
housing there if he wanted it, like they could be with all of his race circuits.
And I think at some point we have to realize that without one bloke, there
might not be motorsport in the UK.
He really is in charge of it all.
It's incredible.
And we're bloody lucky, really lucky to have him.
That is an official invite for him to join the podcast for his a guest.
He was very good.
He was very good at the charity auction.
Chris, that you and I were at.
I think he'd really, really, he'd really enjoy this.
So we'll have to light that blue touch paper and stand well back.
The thing is, I remember the time that first time I crashed one of his racing
cars and I came back from the medical center and I don't think I've been
cleared to drive, but the way he would do it, the invoice for the parts and the
damage would always be stuck to the steering wheel when he came back to the
car. He always managed to get in there in time.
Quite rightly so.
We shouldn't crash on those cars.
When you sit at that cafe, the little cafe that's sort of near the
near the Pentagon.
Yeah.
It's amazing.
It's like, what's the one in California?
You can watch 70% of the circuit.
Yeah, it's a natural amphitheater.
It's a natural amphitheater, but you go to Silverstone, which of course, I'm not
going to criticise still, and so this is about good news.
But if you go to that Silverstone classic thing, you can't see anything really.
You've got the view of the whole circuit and it's very green and very pretty.
Yeah, honestly, the Kent countryside was gleaming.
Here we go.
This one's interesting.
Unloved, but good cars.
I've got a theory on this, which I'll come to.
I'll go first to Manish, I think.
Oh, on a list of four, I just want to talk about two.
One I mentioned a few weeks ago and there was a bit of snarling, which I think proves
the point, Porsche 924 Turbo.
And it gets a lot of stick for the little holes in the front and all the rest.
It was a really quick car.
And someone I knew in California had one.
It was red and it was a fantastic car.
I think, I don't know, but I think in a straight line, they are actually quicker
than the first 944 turbos.
I mean, they're really, really, I always love the aesthetics.
Always love the aesthetics of the 924 Turbo.
But yes, they're regarded as lemon.
I don't agree that they are.
I did find one on car and classics a few weeks ago for the two car garage.
And the other one, which I had the pleasure of never quite being able to sell.
No one, just no one like the looks.
Talked about this many years ago, but it was a Mitsubishi Starion.
But I thought the three-litre Starion is a fantastic car.
Really quick, you know, slightly old aesthetics, I grant you.
How that kind of, what would you call it?
Kind of that mid 80s, not trying to do curves, but doing curves with angles.
Maybe that's the best way of putting it.
And it had that slightly funny hatchback, the Porsche 924, 944 hatchbacky bit as well.
But I thought it was a great car.
No one talks about them as classics or good cars.
But I think they were both very unloved, but really rather good.
So a little bit of housekeeping before we move on.
We've got a bit of a lag on our recording here.
We've had a note from our learned boss who's in the background, saying,
can we not try on each other's toes?
So what we have to do is wait for someone to finish talking before you talk.
There's one of us that will find that more difficult than the others.
And we will make sure we allow him, there he is.
We'll make sure we allow him the time to not trip up.
Let's go to him next.
He is, he is championship winner, brand's hatch legend and person
that didn't spin a 911 K Chris Cooper.
I don't think there are unloved cars.
I think they're all 14 out of 10 to somebody.
I think cars are lovely and fantastic.
If I could probably think of some and manage your examples, I think
I think are really interesting.
The Ryan Starrion I actually really loved because it had that 1980s.
It wasn't quite an Audi Quattro, but it actually somehow looked even
sexier than a Quattro with those boxes.
Mr. Arches, anything with a blistered arch?
It's just brilliant.
It was very popular in what was then saloon car racing, one below
what we now call touring cars, British touring cars.
Mark Hales, your colleague, Mr. H, he was very, very quick and successful.
And I think 1990, Mr. Ryan Starrion.
But honestly, I think all, all cars can be 14 out of 10 because there is
somebody somewhere will love them.
And that's what I think is wonderful about our passion.
And that's my final word on this question.
That's fair enough.
Also, do you believe the story about the origins of the name Starrion?
That it was a stallion, but someone mispronounced it.
And so the event spent 10 billion yen making the kind of mold for it.
It was too late.
I think there's a lot of people that say that there is a justification
because Starrion is a star or something and it fits.
But actually at the time, an awful lot of the names coming out of Mitsubishi
were to do with horses.
So it does support the fact that in Japan, they tried to say stallion,
but they couldn't say it and it became Starrion.
And that is that I'm not being xenophobic.
That is it's a well-known urban myth.
And that is the reason why it was called the Mitsubishi Starrion.
And you'll never look at one the same again.
Let's go for Tanukiput.
Talking of the wide arch thing.
Actually, it was another little car event by by by lovely Aaron near me
with his little coffee shop.
And there was a man just rocked up on his own that bought from Aldi Aylesbury
and Aldi Quattro knew 1987, I think, 86, 87, early car and still owns it.
Oh, wow. Wow.
It's an 8000 miles, drives on lovely, lovely little celebration days.
And what do you pay?
I think you pay 20 grand for it or 19 grand or something.
They couldn't sell them from news, telling us a story.
And now it's probably worth 42 million pounds.
But anyway, that that was, you know, that was my little thought.
Oh, by the way, I'm thinking about a new quiz.
Name the steering wheel to three or three or yes.
Yes, there you go.
That was successful.
Talking of little quizzes, um, has some has Mr.
Palmer or Ashley are our lovely friend and proprietor of the Devonshire.
He was conducting a little quiz yesterday, Neil, with you, Manish Lee.
Any idea who won that?
It's another good quiz.
We can do that.
Yeah. Any idea who won the first one that he posed to all three of us?
Some of us were working and then attending a very important conference in the evening.
Yeah, I'm wrong about that.
Also, why was I being ignored?
I spent more money at his restaurant than you do and I wasn't even inviting.
What had I done wrong?
Yeah, because he knew you'd get it.
OK, um, so you're clever.
You're not going to talk about average cars.
I will.
You know, I'm talking about a brand that the first thing that jumped
to my mind with this question is the only reason I'm sort of semi, not really,
but a little bit looking forward to that horrible dreadful word called retirement.
Is I can then with confidence by Hondas.
Because I absolutely love Hondas and it's not a particularly cool brand.
It's not a particularly talked about brand.
It just it's there with its amazing engineering authenticity.
It's the door handles haven't changed from 1982.
The switches are all a little bit sort of haphazard.
But you know what?
The quality of those things are just it would probably be the only good thing
about retirement is be able to drive around in a few Hondas.
I would go back to the 90s and 2000s and get myself one of those VTech accords.
That always were really highly rated by the journalists or that the prelude
the LKC car with the first car with four wheel steering that 2.2 VTech.
I would love to work my way through the the albums of Honda because I think it's wonderful.
I've got a bit of a objection to this as a subject.
I don't often say this, but I think at least three of us maybe
manages is becoming infected as well.
We like spotting stuff that I haven't spotted.
In other words, we want to buy the next thing because that's how you find value.
And this question is slightly about that.
And I think it's a bit like sharing your secret source recipe.
This I don't want to list all the ones that I think are unloved
because people are going to buy them and they'll go up in value.
And they're mine.
It's my secret, not yours.
So find your own your buggers.
You know what I'm saying?
I'll list a couple for you that I think are going to go because I sort of bought them.
The ultimate one is for me, the Z3M Roadster, which when it was new
every time it arrived in a car park to take part in a magazine group test,
it had already lost to the Boxster.
It was almost a question of don't even bother turning up.
And you knew what the result was.
It'd be like, so it's got a great engine, but it's got wobbly handling
and the steering wheel moves all over the place and the interior is shite and whatever.
But go and drive one now and you won't want to drive a Boxster much.
I can assure you, it's a gorgeous thing.
So quite often this question is about what was what didn't win group test
in the day, but actually is a really desirable car now.
Yes.
And again, I think I don't want to give that away
because because those are the cars I want to buy over the next few years.
I think unloved, Honda's a really good example.
I think for me, the ultimate one has to be the the hybrid Toyota
Corolla, that is the most common mini cab in the UK.
You know, they take such a beating.
There must be a reason why everyone buys them.
They're amazing.
It's it's it's just a white good, isn't it?
It's a device, but it must be a good car because they just do so many miles.
They just Toyota absolutely smashed this stuff.
Toyota, if Honda is your version of that, Neil, my version is that I just think
when Toyota does something on a global scale, you can almost guarantee
it won't pull at the heartstrings, but it'll probably be engineered in a way
that nothing else is standard stuff, isn't it?
I do you've got to answer this one.
I have. I do.
So you did it.
Let's keep it at all.
That's what you know, 10.
Right. Now, this is one of the great existential questions of our time.
Why a polo just sadly isn't a small golf?
It's absolutely brilliantly positioned this because it's so true.
I'll go to Chris Cooper first.
I this question came out of nowhere
because I had never been and never would have thought about it
until a completely chance moment when the Finna Cam
had very, very kindly taken me out for sort of a pre-father's day
little supper, a steaky, meaty restaurant in St.
Albans and we were driving back from there to where we live.
And we were behind a polo.
I mean, all three and all three of us looked at it and said,
which one is that?
And I suddenly realized we all know when you see a golf
instantly which market it is.
Is it a mark three or four or five or 77 point five?
We know the eight.
We don't really like so much than the revised date.
If it's eight point five, we kind of know that bit as well.
Polo, not a Scooby.
They've got Mark 123
I could probably recognize a Mark one and two, the one that had that bread van,
which I thought was quite cool.
Ford managed to confect
star status for the fiesta and the focus side by side.
They both were winners.
They were both they were different, obviously, but they were both great.
All of my encounters with polos have been perfectly fine.
It's a really well built car.
It's an awful lot of what we like about a golf in a slightly smaller package,
slightly different character.
But we don't think about it remotely the same way.
And I thought, is it because VW thought, well, the golf star thing,
we need to have a smaller car, a B segment car, a segment car, whatever it is.
We won't put as much love and fascination into that.
But we could have said, actually, there were various of the middle
aged middle ages golf that didn't put an awful lot of thinking in some of those.
Then they golf mark five came along, we thought, oh, they've woken up again.
The polo ones really interesting because you seem to think it's a great car.
Some friends of ours have gotten them home and, you know, lots of people
we know have got them got one.
But the tell for me was you could look at one now and say, I have no idea,
which is that a mark six is at mark five or mark seven polo.
Haven't the Scooby?
Is that just me or is it all of us?
I suspect you speak for half the country.
Manage what you think.
Do you ever look in magazines and occasionally what will happen is a
supermodel will arrive at a film premiere with her sister.
And you'll see them coming into the premiere together.
They'll be photographed at lunch together at Caprice.
And the sister is incredibly pretty.
By comparison, blow your doors off pretty.
The problem is she's arrived at the premiere or is at the Caprice
with her supermodel sister.
And I think sometimes things just suffer by comparison.
So the golf didn't exist.
You've got a car that's if I find the very, very if you compare the very
most modern golf, the eight and a half with I think the polo is on mark
five now, isn't it?
It's it's a couple of iterations.
You can't name it.
But look at all this up.
I've got no idea.
Look at them side.
Look at them side by side.
And, you know, then they're not a million miles away from each other.
But one is just great.
And the other one just isn't as great.
And I was having a look at what was the rationale almost?
What was the reasoning behind the polo?
I mean, you were just you were saying it, you know, they felt they
needed to produce something that was what 30 centimeters, 15 centimeters
or 18 centimeters shorter, five centimeters narrower, five centimeters
lower, very similar power plant.
I mean, there's a little overlap in their power plants.
It it does feel like one of these things was created for love and joy.
And it was just this inspirational thing that appeared on someone's board
and they built it.
And then absolutely a bunch of people sat down and went, well, we have
the technology to make the slightly less good version of this for a bit
less money, which is just going to vacuum cleaner vacuum up all all the other things.
And I think one's made out of love.
The other one feels like it's a bit contrived and practical.
And I think you've got supermodel and good looking sister.
I there are six.
There were six generations of polo in the current car, the ID polo,
which is the first time that Volkswagen has acknowledged the fact
that calling stuff ID and getting rid of some of the best names
in the car world isn't a good idea as launched this year.
So I suppose that is the seventh generation, but it's called the ID polo.
Neil Clifford, I think what Manish and Chris said is true.
I think how I look at it as a, you know, as a as a person who designs
and sells things and then look it through the lens of Volkswagen.
I think they're scared to death that they design something too good
that will take the business from golf at a lower price point.
And suddenly you're selling a million polos instead of a million golfs.
And suddenly your revenues down 15%.
So there's a segment that they've aimed at that said,
you know, how do we compete at a lower price point in these markets?
How do we offer the, you know, the first car?
How do we compete with fiat?
Whatever the strategy was around polo size, of course, for small, you know,
for Japan or whatever, little villages in Italy, whatever it may be.
I suppose it's probably more price point driven than anything else.
It looks as though there's wasn't the conviction or maybe there was such
nervousness of killing the golden goose that it ended up being
almost deliberately mediocre.
We have those debates, too, where you're trying to broaden your appeal
to as many consumers as possible, but you've also got a number of core
products that you don't want to dilute.
So it's a bit of a sort of strategic challenge to, you know, diversify,
broaden audience, broaden your appeal without hurting the things
that really are in the middle.
We need to make sure we do some laughing in the next 10 minutes
because this has become a very, very management consultant.
This hasn't been a long positioning of the anyhow, you lot are funny.
You've not mentioned the key word I thought you would have done by now.
Beetle. So this is Volkswagen basically trying to recreate the success
of the most successful car in history, the Beetle.
And that's not an easy gig.
Furthermore, the Beetle had become a symbol of that sort of basic
teutonic industrialism, a simple car that could be repeated anywhere
built to a cost, but to very high quality and also was robust.
And the Gulf had to come along and do that in the 70s.
You know, the the the Beetle was obsolete.
It was too slow and cramped and was just it was objectively
not winning group tests in the 60s.
So by the time it got to the 70s, it was too old.
And so the Volkswagen made a unitary body front
front engine, front wheel drive hatchback was the right solution for the moment.
But I'm sure they didn't look around and thought,
I mean, we can do a few of these.
The Gulf's the right that's the right size.
We'll do a smaller one.
We do a bigger one, which is exactly what they did,
which is why you end up with Polo and Passat in many ways.
Don't forget the Passat was also the Audi 80 at one point as well.
You know, what I find amazing, I totally agree with what you three have said,
by the way, what I find amazing is that on paper,
you can remove such tiny, tiny numbers from a car.
You can remove small amounts of wheelbase and width.
And the effect it has on the car, the way it handles, looks
and what it's like to sit inside.
There's no resemblance to the to how small that number was.
It feels catastrophic.
You know, if you take three inches out of the wheelbase of a car,
you get, well, that's just three inches.
The car looks, feels and is completely different.
And I think the Polo suffers from that.
It was it was always designed to be the smaller, cheaper alternative.
And I I do know that when you'd road test Polos back in the day,
they were very clever because they looked, everything looked like a sparse golf.
The switch gear had the same VW look.
But if you actually punch the dashboard or waggle stuff,
it was never as well built as a golf ever.
It's almost like they sat down and said, this is a throwaway product.
You know, these ones, you can have that for three years.
It's in the bin that golf's got to last 10.
So yeah, I agree.
And for me, the ultimate example, and this came up in conversation
with someone last week, who was I talking to?
I was talking to Henry Catchpole.
I was on a launch and Henry was talking about the Polo GTI.
And he said he driven one recently.
He said, it's really weird.
No one knows about them because it's basically got a golf GTI in it.
It goes really, really fast.
It looks really, really good.
But the damping is not very good and it's not a golf.
But it just it it must be like, I mean, to use Manish's analogy
or to take the metaphor further.
You know, if you're one of two siblings and you're quite good at sport,
but the other one happens to be a superstar to live in that shadow.
You know, you almost want to hug the Polo and go, look, sorry, mate.
You know, you're not the golf.
You never will be. Get on. Do your best work.
It'll be fine.
But they put more effort into the ARP.
The ARP GTI has its own character.
I think they're very cool little car.
Don't get me on to those.
I know you don't like them.
I know you don't like them.
The Polo GTI is a proper car.
Yeah.
What's sadder is not just being the kind of Sib who can't play sport,
but your parents actually produce you as the second Sib who can't play sport.
That's an actual plan.
It's not some genetic.
You're going to we're going to have one superhero.
We're going to have one runty, pretty depressing.
But here's a question for you.
If actually the way they'd made the Polo was, if they'd said we've done
four generations of this now, we're five generations of this car,
let's say four, and it's people like it.
It sells pretty well.
What we're going to do is we're going to literally make
a seven-eighth scale golf and call it the Polo.
It's the same car, but just smaller.
Would they have sold more or would they have cannibalised golf sales?
What would the outcome have been a seven-eighth scale golf?
Cannibalised golf.
It wouldn't have been smaller.
You think it would have been a fiesta.
Is that what you just held up?
Sorry, it was bit wobbly.
No, that was a mark to Polo, the coupé version of the red van
version will put both pictures up for those not listening in black and white.
The question I was going to ask Neil earlier was
if you'd been running forward,
would you if you'd have the choice of I'm going to make the fiesta
and the focus both superstars and mega or actually I'm going to hedge my bets?
No time to think.
Tell us what you think.
I think they did a much smarter job by having very diversified
different product, but with character talking to different people.
He speaks.
Good answer.
We listen.
Yeah.
CEO speak.
Right, here we go.
How often do you check your oil, your water and your tire pressures?
Manage.
Wow.
It's great.
So I store Lola cars up.
So we'll split this into the two cars, shall we?
And it's great.
I get a little have an app and there's a little ping every month
going we've just checked your tires, your water and your oil.
And it just goes they're all fine.
And then they said we've given her a clean and she sounds really good.
And we've moved her forward a foot and we've moved her back a foot.
And would you like us to MOT her as well?
So I really love that.
That's that's like little part one.
And then we have the Audi A4 Avant, which is now 19 years old.
It was on 42 and a half thousand miles.
And the answer is I take her into this fantastic guy who surfaces her every year.
She's done about two and a half thousand miles.
He goes, we've checked your oil.
We've checked your water.
We checked your tire pressures and we've given her a clean.
It's a wonderful life.
I love the answer.
There is I have a man to do it, which I think is it's it's it's pretty honest.
Chris Cooper, how many men do you have?
I now take my oil and water and tire pressure much more frequently.
Now I've read this question.
Is the actual honest answer.
It kind of proves the folly of I suspect the folly long since discovered.
If you were in the lubricants aftermarket business of thing,
wouldn't it be good ways if we did a survey and asked people how frequently
to check their oil and then we'll serve put the results out, which says
everyone says, well, I hardly ever check it.
But they get results back and says, oh, bugger, everyone checks it every week.
They will lie.
So of course.
And the honest answer is I probably checked tire pressures.
So I came on Friday.
I drove down to Cornwall in my defender.
Because as I've said before, and I had some conversation with a
colleague of mine who works in another place who very, very sadly recently
had his defender TD five stolen from his driver.
What had his TD five stolen from his driveway?
Had lots of anti theft devices, blah, blah, blah.
Amazingly, he's got it back.
He's got it back.
What?
He's got it back.
So my chum James, who I don't think listens to his podcast,
we did all kinds of things to try and help him.
And then he texted me to say, you won't believe this, it's back.
And they clearly tried to sort of steal it to sort of then sell it.
And he said, I'm kind of hoping they fix some of the jobs
I've never got around to in the last five or six years that
they would have had to have fixed if they were going to sell it on.
I don't know how lucky he was in that respect.
But so my defender, I said, it's a happy car.
I only do happy things in it.
And so I checked the tire pressures because tire pressures and defender
make an enormous difference to how you think it feels.
Bit squidgy and think, oh, God, it's sort of never going to turn.
Put them up to sort of the maximum if you're going to go high speed.
Of course, I never went faster than 70 miles an hour,
not Ossifer, all the way down the A3A3 dual-carrier sections in the A30.
Water, it's not even water nowadays, is it?
It's some sort of fluid that's got some H2O in it, blah, blah, blah.
Not enough is the honest answer.
Although much more now, I've read this question.
Good, it's a bit like my AMG thing, it's going to spur you into life.
Let's go to Neil Clippard.
This was my little point because I never bloody check them.
And then I have, because it's sort of a mixture of laziness, incompetence,
and ADHD and such excitement that I have to get in the car and drive off really quickly
before I've got time to do anything that I should have done.
Because I'm either late or just too excited.
And then the relevant point for me is if something doesn't feel right or something,
you have a huge panic attack of nerves.
Oh, fuck, you know, you're on the A41, which is like the moon from a road service perspective,
or you're on that, probably most of the M25, where it's just large slabs of concrete.
And you think, oh shit, that clearly either sounds like I've got a punch.
And I'm talking about old cars now, not new, you know, older cars.
I've got a punch, punch.
Oh my God, you have this huge anxiety attack.
Or if you're stuck in traffic and it's 30 million degrees like it is today,
because we're sort of now in Tenerife.
And then, oh my God, did I check the water?
I never checked the water because, well, I've explained because I'm useless.
But I also never know whether you checked the oil with the engine running, with it not running,
with it hot, with it cold.
There's all those different rules on bloody different cars.
So I never know what to do correctly.
So somehow, if I had a different brain and I was a different person,
I would check them much more often because I think we should.
We should look.
I've got friends that do it regularly, religiously.
If they're going out for a little drive in their 2.4S, they do a little home service.
They check the water.
Obviously, don't check the water in the 2.4S, but you check the oil and you check the tire pressures.
And you do feel good when you do it, but I just don't and I wish I did.
I've just been sent a penalty charge notice and I couldn't help but open it.
It's one of the ones you look at it and think, I have no idea who that is.
And when I, it can't even say I was there.
How weird.
There we go.
Let's move on.
Chris, can you check your air of course?
Yeah, you haven't answered this.
Well, oh, yes, okay.
I have an absolute split here between the old and the new.
So in new cars, I don't really.
If I'm going to do a track day or something, I will have a look.
But in old cars, like my, I've been doing lots more miles in older types of cars.
In my M5, V10 M5, I leave the oil, the electronic oil dipstick thing on the dashboard the whole time.
You just do anyone that's got an S85 V10.
You leave that on the dance the whole time and you don't go down to the bottom bar ever.
You keep, I keep six liters of oil in the back of the car.
And I'm always there to throw oil at it.
Same with the intergradi.
I probably check the oil twice a week if I'm using it.
You have, you just have to, because, you know, I think
if you, if you built the engine, not yourself, but if actually you were present when the engine
was being built and you've seen the inside of that engine, you feel that you were there at the
birth of it. And you know, I think you want to care for it more.
And you really realize that quality of oil, frequency of oil changes really matter
on high performance engines. It's everything.
So I, I, a bit like Chris said, I was a bit, I was quite lazy about this, but I'm, I'm the
opposite now. I really check it a lot. Time pressures.
I mean, I'm pretty bad actually. I mean, I can, I can have one that's like 0.3 of a bar down.
Yeah.
But for weeks, and I'll be like, I can't really feel that. I'm honest with you.
I'm not driving that fast, whatever. I can't be bothered.
So I think if it gets too far, yes. But I think, I think all of us are a bit lazy,
being negative when it comes to this stuff.
Oh, new cars. No, not at all. Not at all.
They're very much able. Here we go. So let's go to
how of a, here we go.
Le Mans 26 or other motorsport things. So let's, let's go to, we've got two motorsport
correspondents. We'll go to Chris Cooper first this time.
This year, it is the 60th anniversary of Santa pod,
it's, which is the home of speed events. So given their technical name drag racing
of all kinds and shapes and sizes, it's an amazing family sport.
So if you do nothing else this year, in going to what motorsport events, go to Santa pod.
It's been going since just after the war, I think, so 60, well, it must be a 60th anniversary.
And it, I think I'm right in saying it's only had three owners, three families owning it in that
time. They are unbelievably prolific in the number of events you put on.
If you like, before I first went, I thought, there's a limit to how exciting this can be.
It's a straight line. Hell no, it's extraordinary. When you get to the top fuel stuff, the way that
they literally rip the atmosphere and stop the earth turning on its axis, there's so much energy.
It's like, must be like watching a rocket take off. It's amazing. So
very, very many happy returns to Santa pod.
Next year, first time in a long time, if not ever, there are four FIA World Championship
events in the UK, the Formula One Grand Prix, obviously, Formula E, which has kind of come
in and out a bit next year. And for the next two years, it will be a brand's hatch.
The gen four cars are actually quite impressive, bloody fast. And to see them at,
I guess it's going to be on the Indie circuit, so you can see the whole thing.
To see Formula E next year at brands on the Indie Bowl is going to be mega. I mean,
how frantic are they going to be? WRC Scotland has been fantastically well supported by
authorities and legislators in the region of Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire and the Scottish Parliament.
First event is going to be autumn next year. It's World Rally is back in the UK.
And obviously the Grand Prix. The Grand Prix will be a week after this pod goes out.
I just want to say thank you and congratulations to Silverstone Circuits, the BRDC,
who are the promoter of the event. And Motorsport UK, which obviously I'm a member of the board,
help organize many aspects of it with colleagues Silverstone. Stuart Pringle, who is the CEO
of Silverstone Circus Limited, does with his colleagues and his team and an army of volunteers
to his organization Motorsport UK, the marshals, the medics, the officials, the organizers.
Over half a million people will take part in that event, which almost every year,
regarded as the best venue, wet or dry, to see Formula One cars racing. They look at home and mega.
So if you can't get to see it because the tickets are sold, watch on TV. British Motorsport.
What thought were we thanking them because they'd invited us?
Hold that thought. But British Motorsport is in rude health. Congratulations and thank you to
everybody involved. Lil Clifford. I wanted to talk a little bit briefly on Le Mans,
because we didn't talk about it last week and I think we should have because it obviously
happened a week before and it's obviously brilliant and it's so good on the telly.
As is most Motorsport, frankly, is better on the telly than actually being there
with my sort of slightly weird view of things. But Le Mans on the TV is amazing. It's obviously
goes on for a long time, almost 24 hours in fact. And you can watch it at night and then you can get
up and get still on. It's really, really good. And Toyota one, I think, and BMW. I don't know
whether it's BMW's first run, but they were second. And then I think Toyota and then Cadillac, our
what was amazing. And I think I won't get this completely right. But like 18 hours in, the top
six cars were all within 30 seconds of each other. And it was all changing hands and actually
Cadillac would have won if there's a small fuse or something, very tiny thing. But that's Le Mans,
as they say, that's racing. But it's really, I'm off to classic Le Mans next week, which is obviously
the old person's version of it. And it's just great. So I think watching, watching that on telly,
I really, really enjoy it. I couldn't support that more. And a trip to Le Mans. I mean,
as long as you drive there slowly, because Lee Flick will be out looking for you. But just wobbling
down in convoy with some like-minded people, stopping and having a croque monsieur, a frite,
and then going and driving past the sign at Arnaud going, that's Arnaud.
It's cool that it might be the coolest motor sport venue on the planet. There's something to
answer. It's either Monaco would claim that it is, but it's not. For me, it's between Indianapolis
and Le Mans, I think is the coolest. Maybe Nurburgring, but the Nurburgring is almost too
famous for being cool. It can't be cool. So we ought to ruminate on that at some point.
I would, I think we should go and do things we haven't done before or haven't done for a long
time. There's one thing I've never done in a place I've never been. I think my memory's failing me.
I like to go on a sunny day with a nice picnic hamper and go to Chelsea Walsh.
It's really nice. I've never been and it just looks rather lovely to me. I don't know why I've
not been, but I think it's something I should do and I will this summer go and see something there.
Because to see those things scamper up that hill, as Neil said about brands,
you can see an awful lot of the whole thing. You can't see the last really straight bit,
but you can see the other bit, can't you, when they come scampering up? I think I quite enjoy
that. I think the UK hill climb thing, whether it be Chelsea or Carp or, I mean,
they are underrated wonderful little events with the most amazing cars and people and
food and dirty fingernails. It's just great. Here we go. Could I say one thing very quickly?
Yeah, of course. There is a very, very, very, very obvious way in the United Kingdom to know
that you have arrived, whether you're a national figure or an international figure.
And it's been this way for over 100 years. You could be a royal, you could be a pop star,
you could be a military hero, you could be a serial killer. And this is how you arrive.
And this week, Lando Norris has made it to Madame Tussauds. And, you know, normally,
Madame Tussauds, they're always a little bit winky wonky. This one is Sue Irv. He's loaned them his
grey suit and a replica helmet from last year. And it is Lando Norris World Champion.
When I saw that, I just started howling with the last photo. That was fantastic.
And the real one is, he has, he's wearing the black. The real one's dressed as Lewis Hamilton.
How's that? And the, the one in the race suit is wax. But my God, I mean, Lando Norris.
That's cool. He's a world champion.
Mahatma Gandhi, Elizabeth Taylor, Crippin, Christie and Lando Norris.
Brilliant.
I mean, he's done it.
Name, name your 1-9-11 forever car.
Oh, I mean, we just, I'm not sure it's an insensible question, really.
Yeah, we just named one. It's, you know, it's just.
No, it's not possible.
It's possible.
Well, let's have a go.
Go on then, Chris Cooper.
It is. There's only one.
Here we go.
Here comes the photo.
It's a yellow racing car.
Here comes the photo there.
It's that one.
Yellow racing car.
It's the yellow racing car.
It's got, it's actually quite interesting picture because it's got you
ejecting yourself from it before I'm about to go in and probably have a bit of a tummy ache.
But I've never noticed this before.
You launch yourself, you exfiltrate yourself from the car, head first, front first.
You, you come out, you put your left leg because it's a left hand drive car.
Left leg comes out, right arm goes and you push yourself out, head first.
I do it exactly the other way around.
I come out, ass first.
I've never noticed your way is much more elegant and super starry.
Mine's a bit, maybe you're right.
You have to, you to put yourself in the middle.
You've got to fold yourself because you're long whereas I can just come straight out.
Yeah, possibly. I still think you've, I should have tried that and I'd look
like a proper racing driver.
The reason why that is my forever 9-11, it's been there, that car,
all the escapades and shenanigans we had there, good and bad.
It's the happiest times I've ever had in the car.
And I, we were so lucky to do it at the time we did it.
And I got to do it with my chum and our other chum, Guy Spur,
and the lovely fellows from Team Parker Racing,
when it must have seemed to them mad that we wanted to go to Germany every year.
It's racing career again.
Say again?
Nothing.
Okay, so I think we'll mute Manish there.
So yeah, that's why.
Can we buy it back?
Do you know, not now we've said that.
Can we, where is it?
Can someone on the podcast find where that yellow 9-11 is, that shell?
Yeah, let's do that.
Because obviously it's not the original shell.
Also, I can confirm it's not the original shell.
We don't need to go into that.
We don't need to go into that.
But it isn't, it isn't, is it?
Well, I think it's about time.
We need to own that car, don't we?
It was so special.
We need to just paint it like that again and leave it in a shed
and go look at it now and again.
100%.
Neil Clifford.
I got this, we've talked about this before actually.
I think we've done this specific, exactly, subject before.
But anyway, who cares?
Doesn't matter.
No one listened before.
I got this from, actually, I know we shouldn't really promote other things.
There's a really good Top Gear YouTube on 9-11 at the moment.
And I got it from that.
And I think, I disagree with what their conclusion was.
But, you know, their conclusion was a very cool thing.
Mine would be, if someone genuinely said, you can have any 9-11,
but you've got to drive it the rest of your life, it would be a 9-11R.
It would.
And it could be a different answer tomorrow, but today it would be 9-11R.
There you go.
9-11R, Manish?
I was just thinking, you guys extricating yourselves from a racing Porsche.
It is the Chesterster from Alien versus the Alien Queen, isn't it?
You just come out like that thing.
And anyway, my answer is, actually, the 993 base Carrera.
Just absolutely the base Carrera.
And that could be the third one.
You know, I've got my theoretical Pantheon of five perfect cars.
A black 993 base Carrera, tan interior, nothing at a six-speed manual,
nothing added, nothing taken away.
I think they were less than 300 horsepower, weren't they?
Yeah, too seducing.
I've had the pleasure of driving one once because a doctor friend of mine got one
when he became a consultant.
And I remember just thinking, it looked beautiful.
They were air-cooled, weren't they?
So yeah, so air-cooled.
It wasn't too big.
I remember sitting in it and thinking, gosh, and it was so understated, so perfect.
I think that's what it would be for the rest of my life.
100 grand now.
Yes, yes.
I mean, there's a good reason, I guess.
I don't know how you'll answer this.
I think the, yeah, mine, the yellow touring, GT3 touring, is the best.
That's the best 911 I've driven all around.
And you know, the great thing about having driven so many 911s and been obsessed with them
is you become very immune to other people's opinions.
I often get asked, I get asked, what's the greatest 911?
I'm like, first of all, you shouldn't care what I think.
It's personal to me.
I don't.
I certainly don't care what you think.
So I just, you know, drive the one you want, make your own argument.
But I couldn't get, you know, the 911 R is so much better to drive than the GT3 touring.
I'm like, if you live on that planet, that's fine.
There's nothing objectively that I think is better about the R than a touring.
I think there's nothing like that at all.
An ST.
I think I drove an ST for that road rat Porsche magazine.
The ST gets a bit, it gets a bit forgotten already.
It's, I think there's been too many latest, greatest things from Porsche.
And the ST doesn't seem to be as fetid as some of the other ones, you know, the R and
the four liter RS and all these other stuff.
But I think the ST shits on all of them.
I think I, the only thing is the clutch is a bit difficult as a daily in town.
Yeah.
You have to be on the top of your game.
But in my experience, Porsche doesn't make worse cars after the event.
You know, it tends to make better cars.
And I, there's an argument for these 997s with hydraulic steering and everything else,
but you go down a, go down a road in a more modern one.
I mean, ST on a Welsh moorland road.
It's just perfection.
So actually, do you know what?
Yellow one or ST, you've asked me to choose one.
I've done a Cooper.
Let's do, let's do the two car garage, which this week was given to me on an event.
But I think, I think it was Danny, your name is Dan.
Lovely chap who came up and he was, he was a part of the film crew.
And he said, he listens to the podcast and certainly, as some people do, he said,
can I submit a two car garage please?
And I said, of course you can.
So here we go.
You've just sold a large collection of tat to fund the purchase of your forever family home.
After you exchange it for your new house, you're left with a generous £40,000 for two cars.
You're lucky to have a Range Rover for all your work activities,
a family car and the tow duty.
So you need two cars, one big powerful GT that can do skids and road trips.
That's important.
The next, a classic four door luxury limo for the Friday night pub visit,
as well as the wife, two kids and the two spaniels for Sunday lunch.
Neil Clifford over you go.
Right, brilliant.
Brilliant two car garage, real life two car garage, even though he's now got three cars.
I am, I'm in the auction.
First of all, I'm going, sticking with the great British Jaguar year,
British Jaguar thing.
I'm going Jaguar.
I've never heard of this car.
Well, it's an X, it's an XKR, but it's called an XKR 150, which frankly is,
I think is that just a body shape?
It's a bit uglier than the first one.
It's a late model run up one, yeah.
Yeah, which probably got a nicer engine, nicer gear box, eight speed,
not six speed or all that shit, but it's a bit uglier.
But I like it, it's in red.
It's really nice.
Oh, yes.
That's amazing.
Because you don't really see it.
I'm just, I'm just looking at it now.
Look at that.
And look at that.
It's sort of, it's, you did that, you did the perfect car.
And it's not in the auction, but it sort of is.
Because it's got this funny buying, give me a, give me a bit.
Make me a bid.
So it was obviously in the auction and didn't get to reserve.
And now the guy's like, shit, I need to actually sell that bloody thing quick.
So you might get it cheaper than the actual, it was in the auction.
And then after that, this is a very rare car actually.
This could be, this could be the, you know,
someone actually is going to go and buy this after we do this podcast.
It's a V12, the last, last, last of the V12s.
The Jaguar Series 3 XHL was incredibly rare car.
And the end of the V12 production was 1997.
And this car is a late 1995, six liter car, only a handful available today.
And probably got a baggy headlining.
It probably needs the AC regassed.
But anyway, gorgeous looking for, look at that.
It's a V12 one.
It's sort of a V12 one of Chris's ish.
And I didn't even, I actually didn't even know that car existed.
Very cool wheels, very understated.
That's I think 10 grand, which probably means it's a right shitter.
But it's, it's great.
And the other one you could get for whatever, 17.
So you've got, you've got 13 grand left.
So to repair the V12.
You'll need every penny of that.
So let's go, let's go to Manish.
I think Chris Cooper will approve of this.
But I found this stunning 1999 TVR Camara 400.
61,000 miles.
Look at the interior.
This one Swiss owner, full TVR service history, 19 and a half thousand pounds.
And I think you'd have a lot of fun in that beautiful car,
because if it's full Swiss service history,
you may take something with his watches.
And the other one's a bit of a, I just, I just love these cars.
I don't know, it's a T123 turbodiesel Mercedes 300 turbodiesel.
You would get your family in that.
I think that for me is a limousine.
I just, when I see them, I just stop and stare.
And you'd get your dogs in the back too.
And you get the Spaniards here.
Exactly.
So it's just, that's, that's my brace this week.
Chris Cooper.
So for my first car, sort of the GT car, I chose,
and because it's a Jaguar year this year, and our great buddy's Jaguar day,
I chose, it's an XKR, but it's got, it's kind of,
it's got a funny name.
It's got X150.
And, and it's red.
And it's that one.
Oh yeah.
I didn't really care that.
I was going to go for that.
Um, the second one though, I think I've definitely won,
because nothing says luxury limo and a Friday night occasion better than a Bentley T1.
Oh.
£21,000.
Wow.
It's done nothing wrong with it whatsoever.
I, uh, I've obviously spent most of the night times on car and classic work I normally do.
And you've all chosen two good cars that sort of play to the crowd,
because you're a bit peacocky, all of you.
Whereas I'm actually going to show you two cars now that at least one of you will consider
buying after this podcast ends.
First up for the, uh, the four seater, a 2007 Mercedes S63 AMG, 39,000 miles UK car with the
6.2 M156 engine.
It's absolutely mint and the dealer's asking $199 for it.
Whoa.
What year?
And it's a short wheelbase one.
It's a 2007 short wheelbase car.
These drive so well.
So that for money, extraordinary value for money.
It's such a good car.
It's done well.
Here we go.
64,000 mile M6.
Ah, you see you've gone wrong there.
S8.
S, no, I haven't.
S85.
It's like four doors.
Didn't it say four doors, two kids, two, oh, it's four doors.
So this is my two door and this is my GT car.
I've now gone through the pain of an S85 engine.
And I know that if you get the, if you do the, the, um, the rod bearings and everything and get
it all checked out, these are good.
And I think that that Bangal M6 with a bit of space on the rear wheel looks superb on the road.
It's pretty.
M6, S65 for 40,000 pounds.
Chris Cooper wants to tell me why I've gone wrong.
Because I had an M5 when they first came out with the V10.
Uh, just, just amazing.
Everything else.
It was just wonderful, wonderful.
And then I thought even better must be the M6 because it's more expensive era.
And it's two door and it's a GT.
It will be all the M5 things that are lovely and more sporty and more amazing.
And it wasn't.
I was a bit disappointed by it.
But even with its carbon roof, even with its carbon roof, I had that bluey,
violety, purpley color.
The car that is, uh, with this carbon roof.
And, uh, it did look fantastic.
So maybe I'm being churlish.
I think that's a great duo of cars.
And Dan should be pleased with all of us.
There you go.
I've got an M6 story that I'll tell one day.
Before we sign off.
I've had two things happen to me since we've been on air.
One is I've been sent a penalty charge notice.
Um, and the second one is, uh, this is about as good as it gets.
So, uh, someone who, who does some bits and bobs for me is just currently getting a car
out of a storage unit and making it work again.
The car I haven't driven in six or five years, maybe, maybe more.
Maybe, maybe long, maybe seven years.
Fourty, 40404040
Uh, I've owned, I've owned it for 10 years.
And he's just sent me a photograph saying,
what are these, the spare keys for?
So he's just found the spare keys for a car.
I've been, I've been looking for these for about seven years.
And he's just found them in the glove box to that car.
How much do you love it when that happens?
Well, a toyous way to end this podcast.
Let's do some music.
Let's keep it upbeat.
Uh, Neil Clifford.
This is for my friend Jesse, who lives down in Devon, who looks after my Peterson Bentley,
who is, um, even though he's slightly scared of London,
he's a lovely, lovely man and his favourite act, and often mine is Tom Petty.
So I'm, um, what am I going to choose?
I'm going to choose learning to fly Tom Petty.
Hmm, beautiful.
Learning to fly, but I ain't got wings.
Uh, let's go to Manish.
Yeah.
It is 35.1 degrees centigrade in central London today.
So the song has to be He Wave Boogie Nights.
Yes.
Nice.
Uh, Chris Cooper.
This is the most upbeat.
I'm going to listen to it.
I'm just going to drive back up country as soon as we've done this.
And the first thing I'm going to listen to is Grace Kelly by Meeker.
Remember that?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Just, uh, it's like,
there's already Mercury vibe going on there, kind of obviously,
but it's just so upbeat and fuzzy.
I would say I like revisiting old, uh, albums.
And it's much, this is why we miss hard copy music,
because it's when you browse your old collections of,
of either LPs or CDs that you do that.
When you have a streaming service,
you can get a bit siloed and you sort of just, you're lazy.
You click on what you listened to recently and you become a bit,
you know, stuck in, in your ways.
So I, I was in a car there with some old CDs that I've not seen in ages.
And an LCD sound system.
What a band.
LCD sound system and the tune Time to Get Away.
That is, it's a brilliant piece of music and really good for tapping your feet in the car too.
Great stuff.
Nice.
Let's, uh, let's, let's say goodbye.
Can we remind ourselves again of this event, Chris Cooper, one more time?
Friday, the 17th of July at the Clapham Grand,
go Google their website and you'll find it and you can buy tickets on there.
Send us pictures of your cars or your garage.
No bodily parts, but anything you think you'd like to see us
and hear us talking about on stage, send it through.
Nice.
Bomb shell.
It's a good night for us.
Bye-bye.
About this episode
Le Mans gets framed as a uniquely compelling endurance test—long enough to watch through the night, with drama decided by tiny failures and constant position changes. Between that big-picture debate, the hosts and guests trade track-day and circuit stories from Brands Hatch (including Hawthorns and classic Le Mans-style lineups), plus motorsport lore like Valentino Balboni’s Lamborghini origin tale. The episode also detours into practical car ownership, from oil and tire-pressure habits to “unloved” classics and Porsche 911 preferences.
