The Car Podcast with Chris Harris & Friends May 22, 2026

Max Verstappen at the Nurburgring 24 Hours! | The Car Podcast #88

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Car

Delorean DMC-12

The DeLorean DMC-12 is a sports car that became famous through movies. In Back to the Future, it’s connected to a speed of 88 mph. That’s why people talk about why the number 88 matters.

Term

driverless car

A driverless car is a car that can drive itself. Instead of a person steering and controlling it, the car’s computer does the driving.

Car

Jaguar Ipace

The Jaguar I-Pace is an all-electric Jaguar SUV. Here it’s mentioned as an example of a car that could be changed to work without a human driver.

Term

driver aids

Driver aids are features that help the driver. They can make driving easier or reduce how much the person has to do.

Term

power steering

Power steering makes the steering wheel easier to turn. In this discussion, it’s used to show that even older helper systems don’t remove the driver’s role.

Car

BMW M4

The BMW M4 is a high-performance BMW coupe. It’s built to be faster and handle more aggressively than a regular BMW 4 Series. The podcast is pointing out that it’s a coupe, not a wagon/touring type.

Term

broken drive shaft

The drive shaft is like a power-transmission rod that sends engine power to the wheels. If it breaks, the car usually can’t drive properly anymore.

Term

balance of performance

Balance of performance is how race organizers try to level the playing field between different cars. They may add weight or limit power so one car doesn’t dominate just because of its design.

Part

drive shaft failure

The drive shaft is the part that sends power from the gearbox to the wheels. If it fails, the car can’t put power down reliably, and in a race it can cost you the win.

Car

The Lamborghini Aventador is a very loud, very fast supercar with a big V12 engine. Here it’s brought up because the racing action was so intense that cars were getting very close—so close that it sounds like they were rubbing.

Term

gradient change

A gradient change just means the track goes noticeably up or down. That can change how the car grips the road and how hard it feels to brake or accelerate, especially at a track like the Nürburgring.

Concept

Nürburgring

The Nürburgring is a very challenging race track with lots of turns and big ups-and-downs. The hosts are basically saying it’s so busy and twisty that the racing feels almost unreal.

Term

Marshall boards

Marshall boards are signs around the track that mark where safety marshals are stationed. Bringing them up is a way of saying the Nürburgring is broken into a huge number of sections.

Term

GT3

GT3 is a category of race cars used in many endurance events. They’re race-prepped versions of normal cars, and because they’re fast, they often have to deal with slower traffic on track.

Car

Dacia Logan

The Dacia Logan is a low-cost, practical car meant to get you from place to place without spending a lot. In a driving event, it can be surprising because it may still finish even if it goes off track. The podcast points out that the Logan kept going and ended up finishing.

Brand

Timo Glock

Timo Glock is a real professional race car driver. In this segment, they mention him because he’s been vocal about how less-experienced drivers can make mistakes on track.

Term

XF1

XF1 sounds like a specific racing class or label tied to the event/series being discussed. The hosts don’t explain it here, so it’s likely just the name of the category he was driving in.

Car

Bentley Bentayga

The Bentley Bentayga is a luxury SUV made by Bentley. It’s designed to be comfortable and upscale, not just rugged. The podcast mentions it because it was parked outside and stood out.

Concept

Tour de Four charity event

Tour de Four is a charity bike event. It’s organized to raise money for several cancer charities.

Car

Ferrari LaFerrari

The Ferrari LaFerrari is a very expensive, extremely fast sports car made by Ferrari. It uses both an electric system and a gas engine. It’s a special, limited car that people talk about because it’s at the top end of Ferrari’s lineup.

Car

911 GT4

The Porsche 911 GT4 is a version of the 911 made for track driving. Here, they’re talking about a rumor that the GT4 racing class might move toward using a 911 body shape.

Concept

GT4 racing category

GT4 is a racing class for sports cars that’s meant to be cheaper and easier to run than the top GT categories. They’re saying GT4 has usually used certain kinds of cars, but it might be changing as the class gets bigger.

Concept

homologate the car

Homologation is basically race-approval. It means the car has to be built (and meet the rules) so it can legally compete in that racing class.

Concept

GT2

GT2 is a different racing class in the GT family. In this conversation, they’re just using it as part of the usual hierarchy of GT categories.

Car

Porsche Cayman

The Porsche Cayman is a Porsche sports car with its engine mounted in the middle. Here, they’re talking about Porsche using the Cayman as the starting point for a race car meant for the GT4 class.

Term

VLN

VLN is a race series held at the Nürburgring that runs endurance-style events. It’s a place where lots of sports and GT cars compete, including cars that might not be used much in their original GT4 plans.

Term

NLS

NLS is another endurance racing series at the Nürburgring. The hosts are saying that many cars intended for GT4 ended up racing in these Nürburgring endurance events instead.

Concept

one make series

A one-make series is racing where everyone uses the same brand/model of car. It helps make the racing about driving and tuning, not about which car is inherently faster.

Car

Porsche

Porsche is being mentioned as a brand that could benefit from sharing parts between different race-car versions. The hosts are basically saying it could make their racing program cheaper and easier to expand.

Car

F-150 Raptor

The Ford F-150 is a large pickup truck. In the podcast, they’re talking about a very modified version that makes around 1,000 horsepower. That’s far more power than a normal F-150 would have.

Term

1,000 horsepower

Horsepower is a way to describe how strong the engine is. “1,000 horsepower” means the truck has been modified to make an enormous amount of power compared to stock.

Car

Ford Bronco

The Ford Bronco is an SUV designed to handle rough roads and off-road trails. It’s meant for people who want a capable vehicle beyond normal city driving. The podcast brings it up because someone owns one and the host got to drive it.

Brand

Hennessey

Hennessey is a company that modifies cars after they’re built. If a Bronco is a “Hennessey” one, it usually means it’s been tuned for extra power.

Car

Bronco Raptor

The Bronco Raptor is a tougher, more off-road capable version of the Ford Bronco. It’s built for rough terrain, not just normal driving.

Car

Ferrari 456

The Ferrari 456 M GT is a Ferrari meant for longer trips, not just short drives. It’s built to be more comfortable and practical than many other Ferraris. The podcast mentions it in the context of how owning one changes your day-to-day routine.

Car

Ferrari Dinos

The Ferrari Dino 208 GT4 is a sports car made by Ferrari’s Dino division. It has the engine in the middle, which helps it handle well. The podcast brings it up because of something interesting about the materials used inside the car.

Car

BMW M6

The BMW M6 is a faster, sportier BMW made by BMW’s performance team. It’s designed to feel exciting when you drive it, especially on open roads. The podcast mentions it while talking about a drive route.

Concept

Ugly duckling cars that have become swans

They’re using a story metaphor: something that looks awkward at first can end up being really impressive later. In cars, it usually means a model that people didn’t like right away, but later started to love.

Car

BMW M3 Touring

The BMW M3 Touring is the M3 turned into a wagon. It’s meant to be a fast, sporty car, but with extra space like a family estate.

Car

Aston Martin DB7

The Aston Martin DB7 is a luxury “grand touring” car from Aston Martin. In this segment, they’re talking about how its styling looks different from older Aston Martins, and why some people call it an “ugly duckling.”

Car

Aston Martin XK8

The Aston Martin XK8 is another Aston Martin grand tourer. Here it’s mentioned as a comparison—like “you can think of it alongside the XK8” when talking about the DB7’s look.

Car

Ferrari 612 Scaglietti

The Ferrari 612 Scaglietti is a Ferrari grand tourer with a V12 engine. In this segment, it’s used as the punchline comparison for what the “ugly duckling” really is.

Car

Lamborghini Diablo

The Lamborghini Diablo is a famous 1990s supercar. It’s known for sounding incredible and feeling very raw and exciting to drive—like a proper “old-school” supercar.

Brand

MV Augusta Series 3

MV Agusta makes high-end Italian motorcycles. “Series 3” is a particular version/generation, and the point here is that it’s expected to sound extremely wild.

Term

banshee

“Banshee” is a colorful way of saying it’ll sound super high-pitched and wild. It’s basically “that’s going to sound crazy.”

Car

A110 Alpine 110

The Alpine A110 is a small sports car designed to handle well. It’s usually built to feel light and fun rather than heavy and bulky. The podcast mentions it as a car the host expects to enjoy driving.

Concept

on-car and classic

They mean the car is a real, complete classic that you can actually drive and enjoy, not just something for parts or a restoration project.

Term

POA

POA means “Price On Application.” Instead of listing a number, the seller requires you to contact them to get the price, which is common for rare cars where pricing depends on condition, provenance, and demand.

Car

Lola T70

The Lola T70 is an old race car from the 1960s. It’s famous for having a big Chevrolet V8 engine, which is why it can feel so strong even today.

Term

auction

An auction is where people bid against each other for the car. The highest bid wins, so the price can swing depending on who shows up and how badly they want it.

Car

BMW F10

This is an Alpina-tuned BMW 5 Series (the F10 generation) called the B5. “Biturbo” means it uses two turbochargers to make a lot of power.

Term

biturbo

“Biturbo” means the engine has two turbochargers. Turbos force more air into the engine, which helps it make more power.

Brand

Alpina

Alpina is a German company that makes special, factory-style versions of BMWs. The key point here is that it’s not just a random modification—it's built to Alpina’s own design.

Part

Drexler LSD

An LSD helps the car put power down when one wheel starts to slip. A Drexler LSD is a performance version meant for better grip, especially when driving hard.

Part

Brembo brake upgrade

Brembo makes performance brakes. A “brake upgrade” usually means better brakes that can stop harder and handle heat better when you drive aggressively.

Concept

Group C

Group C was a famous era of race cars used in endurance racing. They were built to be very stable at high speed, and they’re known for a loud, dramatic sound.

Term

650 horsepower

Horsepower is a way to describe how much power an engine can make. More horsepower usually means the car can accelerate harder, especially when paired with the right gearing and traction.

Term

TDI

TDI is a diesel engine type that uses a turbo and injects fuel directly into the engine. That usually helps the car feel strong and efficient, especially in everyday driving.

Car

Alpine A106

The Alpine A106 is an older, small sports car made by Alpine. The podcast mentions a “106 TDI,” which indicates a modified version meant to be more practical for driving. They’re talking about using it for a trip, not just looking at it.

Car

Volkswagen Gti

The Volkswagen Golf is a compact car that’s made in many versions. The podcast mentions a performance version called a GTI and connects it to a memory of enjoying it. It’s being used as a reference point for what the host liked about driving.

Car

106 GTI

The Peugeot 106 GTI is a small, sporty hatchback. It’s the kind of car people like because it feels lively and quick, especially for its size.

Car

599 GTO

The Ferrari 599 GTO is a special, faster version of the 599. It’s famous for having a big V12 engine and a more aggressive, track-style setup than the regular model.

Term

V12 diesel

A “V12 diesel” is a car engine with 12 cylinders arranged like a V, and it uses diesel fuel. It’s designed to run smoothly and pull strongly at low speeds, but it’s not a common engine type.

Car

Audi Q7 V12 diesel

An Audi Q7 is a big luxury SUV. This one is described as a “V12 diesel,” meaning it has 12 cylinders and runs on diesel fuel—something you don’t see very often in SUVs.

Concept

million-kilometer challenge

A “million-kilometer” goal means the owner is trying to drive the car for an enormous distance. It’s basically a test of whether the car can survive long-term use.

LIVE

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Hello and welcome to the car podcast with Chris Harris and his little friends, all of whom have been squabbling extensively before this recording started

So we're all a little bit sweaty under the armpits and ready to go. This is episode 88. Why is 88 significant?

Because it's the speed at which the DeLorean becomes a time machine, isn't it?

Why was 88 chosen? I've done some research on this just to let you know about my factoid today.

I thought it had some significant meaning in mathematics or the space-time continuum. Turns out that is a load of horse testicles.

The reality is this. There's two reasons. First of all, the speedometer of the US spec DeLorean went to 85 miles an hour.

So they needed a speed a bit beyond the maximum. So going beyond the last number on the speedometer is what you always used to aim for when you were a kid.

And 88, the alliterative, what's the equivalent of number of alliteration? Whatever.

Two-eighths looks better than 87. So they chose 88 because it sounded faster and it looked faster. And it went off the dial. There you go.

Did you know that? You probably did.

Well, the 85...

Also, when Jaguar won Le Mans, come back and won Le Mans, they won 88.

88 was their first modern win.

And 85 on the Speedo was because it wasn't some federal law that you couldn't have a Speedo.

It went higher than that because that would be too encouraging for smog and other oil crisis reasons.

55 was generally the speed limit.

And 88 was the year in which the greatest driver who's ever driven a Formula One car won his first world championship.

What, Prost?

Alan Prost?

That was the year he didn't win, I think.

Is that the year that Santa cheated?

No. That was the year that Santa saw God.

As he passed, as he literally crossed the start-finish line in Suzuka and he said, I had a vision.

I saw a vision.

I visualised God. He said that. He saw God as he literally passed the...

He's still talking.

Some of you might have realised who are watching this.

For those of you that aren't watching this, Manish is about three bottles into...

That's not true.

It's a warm day in London. It's half past six o'clock. Come on.

Right, so here we go.

We're starting with this podcast. This is a lengthy agenda.

We're not going to get through all of these, but we'll start off with...

This is a good one.

Is a driverless car still a car?

I'm going to start with Chris.

I might be a touch angry Cooper. Let's go.

No, it isn't.

There we go. Neil.

Yes, it is.

Manish, what do you think?

Yes, it is.

For fuck's sake.

I'm on the wrong podcast.

OK, we're going to stop there. We're going to allow Chris Cooper to explain why he's wrong.

Why you're wrong?

OK, carry on.

Because the whole point of a car is his interaction with the person driving it.

OK.

And you take away the car, it's just a contraption that conveys two or three or four people,

and that could be anything.

It's lost its soul. meaning and connection with us.

A driverless car without a driver is just like something in Madame Two Swords.

Looks like the real thing isn't the real thing.

OK, I like the way you've explained it.

I'm not sure how quiet it works within the English language, but there we go.

Neil Clifford.

I think it is. Obviously, it's not as good a car.

I suppose that's really what we're, you know, we obviously like to sit in cars and drive them,

but I think cars can be all sorts of things.

Cars can be shit cars, long cars, bad cars, good cars, expensive cars,

cheap cars, cars in museums, cars that have never been driven forever.

I think this is like the debate of, I don't know,

when my brothers were in the 50s all arguing about why trains aren't trains

because they're not fucking steam trains.

Oh, that's a really good one, because I've just been entered into that world

and all the people in steam trains, if they see a diesel even now, they'll love rocks, isn't it?

They say, that's not a train. I've got a brother.

It's not a locomotive.

He stands on bridges for hours waiting for trains to go past.

I'm sure you've met all these people, but when an electric one goes past, that's not a train.

It's because it's a fucking train.

Anyway, back to the question.

Okay, so Chris Cooper, are you saying that a car isn't a car unless a human being is driving it?

A driverless car is specifically designed not to have a driver.

It could be a modified version like the Jaguar I-Pace thing, which is a bit weird.

But increasingly, they're going to be bespoke.

They're not really designed to have a steering wheel or a driver at all.

They won't even have a seat.

And to my mind, that completely misses the point about what makes a car a car.

Even if you're in a car driven by somebody else, there is the interaction and relationship between you and the driver.

You watch and appreciate how well they do or don't drive the car.

You can feel the car being driven by a person.

A driver's car, ergo is not a car.

Manage what do you think?

I think this is quite a profound question and there's a little continuum that we should think about, which is driver aids.

So if you like, you can have the most analog car ever at one end, the very first car ever made, whether it's got a gearbox or not.

But it requires a driver to do basically everything.

And then what you can do...

Poor Mr Cooper.

Sorry.

Keep going.

And then just think about driver aids, but even think about sort of little subtle driver aids like power steering.

If you have a power steering into a car, is it still a car?

Yes.

You can get rid of a cable.

So I think what you're getting at is the big conversation people have, which is should a car be fully under the control of the driver in terms of every single aspect of the car?

And I think that it stopped being that many, many, many years ago.

So taking the driver out, is that taking out the last 99% or is that today taking out the last...

If you've got a car, which has got lane assist, which has got a capped top speed, which literally starts beeping if you go past the published speed limit on your road,

you're already removing the driver in so many ways, aren't you?

Would you turn around and say a car that was driven by a chauffeur? Is that a car?

Yes, it is.

Well, but...

I think I explained that a moment ago.

No, no, no.

It's a type of car.

From the point of view of the person sitting in the back seat.

I think it's quite a...

I think it's still a car.

No.

It may not be a car.

Driver...

You're wrong.

OK, first of all, can you please...

I'll give someone a cake on Saturday if you get this right.

What was the name of the fast show character who had the cough like Chris Cooper's?

I don't know.

Jesse.

Bob Fleming.

Bob Fleming, yeah.

That is it.

Charlie, well be your name.

I'll give you my character.

That's it.

Did he slow?

Go on.

Oh, right.

So, I think I get where Mr Cooper's coming from with his deliberately belligerent approach

to this question.

It is.

But I think a car can be a car without a driver.

But I think...

How about this?

If it doesn't deserve to be a car, should we be...

Should we charge ourselves with defining what that vehicle should be called from now on?

What would you call it?

That's a very good question.

And then, clearly, I'm being deliberately arched.

Oh, Chris, I've never...

I know that's a shock to all of you.

Maybe write this down on the list, Neil.

If it's not a car, we need to work out what it's called going forwards.

Yeah.

I will.

The reality is, it won't have another name.

It will just be a car.

I don't think it will.

Here we go.

Right.

The next point for discussion is very good.

It just says, Max at the end 24.

I feel slightly guilty having it written down like that.

Because I think, even though Max was obviously the star attraction,

that race has been the greatest race for some of us for a long, long time.

And it was before Max existed.

And it will be long time after Max has gone.

And it probably deserves the respect of acknowledging that.

But my God, that he brings some star factor to it last weekend.

And his performance was fairly remarkable, I have to say.

Mr. C, what are your thoughts on Max at the end?

I think you summed it up very, very well.

We're talking about it because of the extraordinary additional coverage

and awareness that came with it.

But for us, we first went there 25 years ago.

Did you?

I know we've never mentioned that before.

And I'm embarrassed that I've had to break that fourth wall of conspicuous silence

and confidentiality about the fact that we did go.

But yeah, we'll talk about it a little time later.

I know you're interested.

I just wondered.

Say again?

I would like to go.

Any big accidents there at all?

Little spills, that kind of thing?

Oh, okay.

Any corners in particular?

Most of them.

So what it helped people understand is it is an extraordinary race.

25 years ago when we first went there, it was quite clubby,

quite almost domestic with one or two sort of...

I think we all felt very welcome.

Now it's one of the great 24-hour races in the world after Daytona, Le Mans,

Spa, blah, blah, blah.

It's a mega thing.

It was really interesting watching how the established hot shoes,

at the top of which of very, very, very sliver above god-like group of people,

Kevin Estra, in the Grello, who very sadly had that little whoopsy on the oil

at the exit of Brunchen.

And he was absolutely gutted and crestfallen that he broke his car.

And we never really got to see the conclusion of Kevin versus Max,

which is kind of that Titanic, you know,

it can a boxer be an MMA fighter or whatever the analogy would be.

Yeah, mixed discipline of motor sport.

Basically the race of champions done properly.

It's a very good analogy.

That is a very good analogy, exactly how it felt.

And I think you're right, I think Max played the game.

He went to Germany and he played their game by their rules.

It's a team sport.

You watch him in the pit stops, he was helping the driver,

the belts getting his seat in and out, blah, blah,

all those things that it's quite a low-key team thing in that respect.

There were a couple of things I thought were hilarious.

I don't know if you saw the clip.

I think it was the BMW touring thing, which apparently isn't a touring.

It's an M4 coupe with bodywork stuff.

It's not a touring chassis.

It looks like a touring, it's fantastic.

Klingman, Klingman, who was the driver,

there's a clip going on through Galgenkopf onto Dottingerhoe.

And the driver, the BMW, Max just goes past.

And the driver on the radio did that sort of,

pressed his radio button and went,

Max first happened, which I thought was the favourite moment of the race.

It was wonderful.

That thing came fifth overall.

No, like in a state car shape, came fifth.

That's why that race is great.

It's something in the shape of an estate car comes fifth.

It did look cool.

Yeah, just fabulous.

Did you watch any of it, Neil?

Did you see any of it on social media?

No, I was in New Orleans, I think, or Miami or somewhere.

So, no, I kept seeing the little links you guys were sending.

I saw a bit on YouTube.

I couldn't really follow it.

I wasn't that interested.

Not because I'm not interested, but I don't know the characters apart from Max.

And I almost think, I mean, you guys are saying it's cool that he's showing up

and no one sort of pissed off with him.

Because there could be an element where people would be like,

hold on a minute, mate.

Can you just stick to your thing?

This is our thing.

And I don't know whether that is the case.

Maybe it isn't because Max is seen as a man of the people in many respects, isn't he?

He's not flashy or showy offy.

Did he win?

No, sadly.

Well, he can't be that good.

Technical problem.

Broken drive shaft.

I think it's a really good point.

Actually, you might have seen last year when he did a race there,

a well-known driver, one of the very best GTG drivers,

tried to call him out on the internet.

And was it Mario Engle?

I can't remember who it was.

I think it was Engle, yeah.

And basically called him out and said, you know,

either he's not as great as he thinks he is

or his balance of performance was out compared to what else is.

And of course, Max replied and then the Max for Staff and Fanbase piled in on this bloke

and he realised that he poked a bit of a tiger

and he shouldn't have done it.

But I do think that in the reality, Max turned up

and the only test he had to pass was he respected the event

and he respected everyone around him.

He didn't turn up and I think have expectations of being treated differently.

I suspect moving him round was a bit difficult because he's so famous,

but he played by the rules and they very nearly won.

If it hadn't been for a drive shaft failure, they would have won.

They were ahead.

But the most telling thing for me was I was just looking for that nugget

of sort of brilliant racing brain that we see from him week in, week out,

where you just think he's operating on a different level.

And he gave, I'm not sure it was a quotation or it was reported from the team,

but I think they wanted him to start the race.

They wanted him to start the race because he's the big name

and he turned around and said, no, I won't start the race

because I'll get involved in dust-ups straight away because I can't help it

so I shouldn't start the race.

And that's possibly the most sensible thing he did all week there

was because if you do start the race to get involved in dust-ups,

it goes wrong quite quickly.

I'm not saying anything, Mr Cooper, but it does.

It does.

So I think it just shows you that he's operating on that level

and I think the ultimate test is would the Nurburgring have him back?

Answer, I think they'd love him back.

But the show, it wasn't just his show, you know,

as ever the commentary was great on the live stream

and they do such a good job

and they make sure they make heroes out of all the drivers.

I felt really sorry for Kevin

because I still think he is the man around the Nurburgring

and if I had a fiver on him or Max over a lap,

I'd be very hesitant, but the romantic side of me

would want to put it on Kevin

because I still think he's the man around there

and the fact that he came to grief in such a sort of low-speed,

shitty way on tomorrow was so unfortunate.

We did want to see that battle,

but maybe we'll have to wait until next year, but yeah, mega.

I think anyone called Kevin, you want to back him.

Fuck you.

Honestly, I really enjoyed it.

Did you watch anything of it, Manish?

I watched a lot of it and I wrote my notes here.

It's a word that I have not used to describe racing

in a very long time.

I wrote the word joy.

It was a joy and I'd say, you know,

suddenly you see how a really full grid really makes racing.

You realize how scant and bare Formula One has been for so long.

20 cars, 22 cars now.

How many cars start the N24?

Do you know?

This year was 161 when we did it,

which was obviously when the world was black and white.

The first year we did it, it was 204.

That density of pleasure.

So when the driver's point of view,

you're not seeing one or two cars

and oh, he's coming to overtake a back mile.

It's always overtaking a back mile.

That was the first thing.

The second thing was the proximity.

I mean, this is bumping and rubbing.

Max, basically, as far as I could see,

he basically almost re-rented an Aventador, didn't he?

He rubbed against the back of a Lamborghini.

He did the same thing.

You saw those two Porsches dancing together,

coming off right in front of it.

It was, if I didn't know better,

I think it almost was an AI generated video game.

It was that exciting.

The other thing that I wasn't aware of is the gradient change.

It's massive.

You can see it from the outside,

but you can see it from the inside too.

I'd say your knowledge of the corners,

how many corners are there at this Nürburgring?

I count them, 150, 170.

They're 186 Marshall boards or something.

Unbelievable.

The density of cars, the number of corners, the gradient,

the proximity of the racing, and Max is one brave man.

Isn't he some of the stuff that he was doing?

I literally, if you condense,

it takes me to a slightly different point.

Back in the days of Uncle Bernie,

he would never, ever, ever have allowed Max

to compete in any other kind of formula during the season

or actually outside it, because his view was,

it's formula one or nothing.

He was very predatory about it, and I have to say,

what was it, 350,000 people or something turned up to this?

You've seen this on TV now,

and there are other forms of motor racing available this weekend,

and they will be compared back-to-back

because the driver is a consistent element in the two.

You made a good point in their management.

It's kind of something I wanted to say as well,

but a bit with my motorsport UK hat on,

is increasingly the last few years in the media,

if you look in the UK, if you look at the national broadcasters'

website and their sporting section,

for a while now, it hasn't said alongside football or cricket

or rugby or netball or boxing or golf.

It hasn't said motorsport, it said formula one.

And this weekend, just gone,

reminded everybody that motorsport is a very, very broad,

and it's just circuit sport.

I suppose we get into rallying and rallycross

and hill climbs and auto tests and sprints and trials

and cross-country and all those kind of things.

So I think for Max to take it right to the extreme

in a GT event, particularly a place like that,

I think for the sport and the world's understanding

of our sport, I think that was fantastic.

And I think, yeah, right.

I think he respected it, people respected him.

The other thing I noticed,

we talked about it as some years past on this race.

Occasionally, we've seen incidents of GT3 drivers,

the front competitive class,

ending up quite unpleasant and avoidable accidents

for slow cars.

This year I sensed there was a bit more maturity

and a bit more of understanding of,

we've all got to get through this, the slow cars,

the Dacia Logan finished, had a bit off track,

a bit at the end to fix some stuff,

but it did finish sort of intact.

So well done to them as well.

Did you see that Timo Glock got a ban?

No.

So Timo Glock XF1 driver,

which is a very talented driver,

was quite outspoken about inexperienced drivers

at the Nurburgring and how they can get things wrong.

And he got caught speeding at like 150 and a 60.

And he's had his permit removed.

That's fantastic.

Salute to your lesson.

Be careful what you say about being the arbiter

of what's right or wrong if you're not as weak

to clean yourself.

Right, here we go.

It would be good to go, wouldn't it?

Or next year?

Let's go.

Where is it?

German, the Belgium.

Where is it?

It's at the Nurburgring.

I know that.

But what country is it?

Germany.

I sometimes wonder if you're taking the piss out of me.

No, well, there's one in Belgium.

What's that's the spa?

It's not Nurburgring in spa, though.

That's called a spa.

But we need to find a German sponsor

so we could go and do a live podcast.

We will.

We'll find a German sponsor.

Next year.

We need Das Auto on the classic.

Yeah.

Tom, can you buy a classifier?

Can you buy a classifier in Germany, please?

Right, here we go.

The podcast is still going.

In a year's time,

we'll be doing it from the Nurburgring.

OK.

That'll be good.

What did we do in cars this week or good news?

New Clifford always has good news

because he feels that fundamentally

this should be an upbeat and positive podcast.

Yes.

And I'm starting to understand

that's a good way to live.

So in a minute,

I'm going to have a massive rant

and a whinge about something.

No, I'm not.

I'm not at all.

So what did we do in cars this week?

Managed what have you done in cars this week?

I want to talk about one event I went to last week.

The rather wonderful Bentley people invited

some people to the Belvedere in Holland Park

for the launch of the Le Chalet Bentley.

And I have to say,

I have not enjoyed an evening quite as much as that

in a hell of a long time.

I said the world's small.

What is it?

This is the benefit they did for the Gestard guy.

For the Gestard guy.

Yeah, he's a good man.

I was going to get it.

I used to have the world's smallest flat

just south of Holland Park.

And I used to love wandering around there.

And the Belvedere at the time was owned by Marco Pier White.

And I remember having probably one of the worst

lunches of my life there.

That sounds dreadful, darling.

No, no, no.

I went with my vegetarian mum

and I went with my vegetarian sister.

And the main course when it came, it came an hour later,

it was basically three bits of lettuce

that were just tented with some kind of stuff.

How did you survive?

Well, we didn't.

Anyway, the point is that many, many years later,

you arrive.

It was a wet evening.

There were umbrellas available.

And parked outside was this absolutely glorious

Bentayga.

Actually, we could almost expect this.

There were so many little details on this.

And I'd never heard of Shtard Guy.

So when I got this invitation, I decided to look him up.

He's basically, he's about six feet, seven inches tall.

He's very tall, Max, yeah.

Yeah, in his 20s.

And he created this character called Shtard Guy,

who only believes in the finer things.

And he has this great phrase,

a la poubelle.

If there's something that isn't,

if there isn't something that isn't,

that's just not good enough.

That means throw it in the bin.

Okay, in a slightly camp way.

I mean, it's absolutely brilliant character.

He kind of knows, if you know, you know,

and I think he knows,

and it slightly reminded me of Peter York's descriptions

of Sloan Rangers back in the kind of 70s and 80s.

You know, Peter York wrote this great book,

the Sloan Ranger handbook with his tongue

very firmly in his cheek.

And I think the great thing about Max is

I think he sort of knows this character that he's created.

He's a little bit satirical.

Let's just say that.

Anyway, the Bentley was fantastic.

There was basically my favorite champagne on tap.

I don't think I've been,

I don't think I've been that drunk in a while, actually.

At one point, a guy with a magnum of this Billy Salmon

was resting it on his thumb as he poured it.

And I said, that's very clever.

And he went, it's not my first rodeo mate.

I literally said that to him as he poured the champagne.

But I have to say, the car is, it's gorgeous.

And it's like stepping into the old motel.

I mean, it's basically...

Has it got wing mirrors,

or have they taken the wing mirrors off?

Oh my God, I can't remember that detail.

I've had too much to drink.

I just remember the...

He was very drunk.

God, very drunk.

Very, very, very drunk.

But this...

Very, very, very lovely paint screen.

I mean, the wood in the interior,

it was just...

And who designed it?

It was our mate Hugo.

Hugo talked me through this car.

Yeah, the manual...

What could go wrong?

A collab with Bentley, Bentayaga,

or whatever the bloody stupid thing's called.

And champagne.

Literally, I've not had as much fun around cars.

And there were loads of people that I knew there,

which was even better.

So we all had drinks and talked about the Bentley

and Stard Guy together.

I like the fact that we've dragged you into this world,

Manish, and I'm sure that you excelled in that situation

and that no one's got stories.

Everyone's on other podcasts going,

there was this Indian chap stumbling about

talking about Alan Prost in a waistcoat.

And read Tricers.

Tricers.

Chris Cooper, what have you done this week?

Can I talk about the Tour de Four charity event

that you and I did at Donington last week?

I don't think we've spoken about it.

He's a legend.

There's no other word for the legend that is Sir Chris Hoy.

He's been in this podcast.

We're humbled to call him a chum of the podcast

and a fantastic fan of the car,

particularly Porsche 911s,

a bloody good racing driver.

He's on the challenge of his life.

He's raising money for four or five cancer charities

under the Tour de Four banner.

A lot of bicycling activity in there.

Go to the Tour de Four website.

You'll see all things going on.

You can take part.

You can donate.

But there's a little automotive circuit bit of that,

which Chris and I helped him with a little bit

in Croft Circuit last autumn.

And then this year, there was a bigger event

with lots of very, very famous racing drivers

of note and talent.

And Chris Cooper.

And very much pulling up the rear.

Mr Cooper.

I did it as well.

So me and Cooper got there.

And it was all basically it was a who's who of racing drivers

from the 1990s.

We're at the back going, oh, canal.

Marino was there in a LaFerrari.

Siri, tell me what imposter syndrome is.

Yeah.

It was a bit like that.

Despite all that, because the people there

had to donate to the charity to get a fast lap.

I thought I'd be sitting in the cafe having a cup of tea

all evening.

But some very generous and kind souls took pity on me

and said, would you drive this beautiful 992.2 GTS,

which was mega.

I mean, what a really, really awesome.

I mean, very, very good fun.

And there was a fantastic charity that a lot of wonderful people,

Nick Mason, Marino, Jodie Kidd donated lunch at her pub.

John McGinnis donated some things.

Jonathan Palmer donated a night in the room

at the new wonderful hotel.

He's redeveloped Dollington Hall, which allowed me to crack the worst

joke in history, which was if you win this in the auction,

you can say you slept in Chris Hoy for a night.

Because the main suite has been called the Chris Hoy suite.

I thought it was funny.

Anyway, Chris, bless you.

It was fantastic to share the evening with you.

It was a lot of fun, smiles.

Can't wait to next one.

Before I do anything, does anyone else do this?

I doodle a lot when we're doing this.

I always doodle.

So I've got this penny.

I don't know what it's called.

It's from the Eurostars Hotel Company, whatever that is.

But it's not quite working.

So I think if a pen's not working,

if I keep doodling with it, it might start working again.

Look how broken this is.

But it won't fix itself.

The pen is fine.

You're the problem looking at that.

I mean, that does look like a Rorschach test

that has been failed miserably, doesn't it?

You just stick to Whispering Angel, darling.

What have you done this week, Neil Cibbert?

I was in California.

I rented a car, which is really nice,

and drove around all my work-y type things that I do.

And then I flew to New Orleans, didn't have a car,

flew from then New Orleans to Orlando, rented another car.

Even though my travels can be a lot more straightforward

if I don't rent cars, because I can just, you know,

I don't know, get in a cab or whatever.

But I like to rent cars.

I hate being driven.

So maybe, maybe, you know, yeah, we can talk about that,

can't we?

Hate being driven at any point.

And then the best thing I did,

I've got a man called Dan Pilling,

a man called Dan Pilling, who is, was, actually,

he's moving back to Seattle,

was the head of marketing social media

for the Peterson Museum.

So I was in LA and Dan said,

hey, do you want to secret tour the Peterson?

As in, do you want to come before it opens?

And I'm like, absolutely, mate, I will be there instantly.

So we met at eight o'clock for a little coffee

in that lovely little coffee shop in the, in the Peterson

and spent two hours wandering around the Peterson Museum,

which is really, I know Chris, you've been there a lot,

it's really bloody great.

And I went down in the, in the vault,

went down in the vault, went in the engineering bit

where you're not allowed to take any pictures

where there's just amazing cars being moved around.

There was three days to go for the preparation

of, I'll probably get this year wrong,

about 100 years or 125 years of Mercedes-Benz.

So all these just unbelievable cars coming from Germany,

from the museum in Germany, coming over from the guys

that I know in the Mercedes-Benz Classic in Long Beach,

beautiful gold wings, racing, just like, you know,

Sophie Lorenz, Duda, Roadster, whatever,

just, just cars, you can't even name,

you've never heard of, fantastic.

Idi, and not Idi Amin.

Saddam Hussein, I think there was an Idi Amin car there.

There's a Saddam Hussein car there.

It's the Saddam Hussein 600,

which the American army, you know, confiscated,

basically with blood splattered all over the back of the seats.

They drove it out, they fucking used it to get out.

They drove it to Jordan, the 600.

It's got blood inside it.

Yeah, and they flew it back on a C17 from Jordan

and gave it to the Peterson.

So that was, that was probably the best thing that I did,

which is really, really good.

The one little bit of news I thought,

which is a bit controversial I thought,

which maybe I'll open up this debate.

There's a rumour, but I'm sure Mr. Harris knows it's not a rumour

because he's probably already driven it,

he's probably done a film, it's coming out next week,

he can't say anything about it.

There's going to be a 911 GT4.

Have you heard that?

Is that a rumour or is that a truth?

Well, a GT4 racing category has been a caiman until now.

It hasn't really, I think GT4 racing is getting bigger

and they'd rather it was in a 911 shell.

So it means they probably do need to homologate the car

and make one.

I've not got my ears to the ground on it.

I'm not much of a news hand.

Yeah, no, there's sort of gossip going on,

which I think because we get used to, don't we?

We just get used to the status quo of a GT4

having to be a little car, caiman or a box or whatever.

And then the GT3 is the big one

and the GT2 is the turbo and we get programmed into,

that is how it's got to be forever.

It's interesting though.

And suddenly, and suddenly, presumably,

because the little one's going electric

even though that's a bit of a fuck up

and I'm sure the sun bloke trying to put an engine

back in the electric one as we speak,

that the GT4, they're like, shit, we can't.

GT4 has value.

It's a brand.

It's a thing.

It's a revenue stream.

What can we do?

The Porsche names its cars after racing categories

and therefore it doesn't,

it doesn't really own the category.

And if the category decides one day

it's going to be about fish and horses.

They're more high and dry.

They've got to sort of,

they've either got to say we named it ourselves,

but really all GT4 cars are GT4 cars.

They're nothing else.

They are.

Are you saying that the GT4 category is formally changing,

therefore it will be a 911 in the future?

Porsche decided it made sense

whenever 10 years ago when they started doing this

that its GT4 contender would be based on the Cayman.

But it never really competed.

What they did is they had a car that they went and did

other events with.

Very few people used the Cayman in GT4 racing.

Most of them ended up doing VLN or NLS,

which is where they go and race them at the Nurburgring

or they did their own one make series, sprint series.

And the other manufacturers in GT3

or many of the others,

Mercedes, BMW are obvious ones.

They both use the same base car in GT3 and GT4.

Yes.

Which makes it a bit cheaper.

So you can basically make the shells on the same line.

You can do some commonality of parts.

Aston Martin as well.

I think it could really help Porsche

because it means they can push the GT3 northwards a bit,

which they will do.

The GT4 can slide in at the same price point as the old GT3,

but with a new set of specs.

It could be sort of...

What was it? The T?

So it could be like the T, but a little bit more racy, you mean?

I think you're about right there, yeah.

Yeah.

So that was, I thought, an interesting little bit of...

Very interesting.

...year to the ground gossip.

Good rumour that.

I'd say...

I've been all over the place, really.

I can't really remember.

I haven't touched the ground.

What will I talk about?

Oh, Texas.

I went to Texas for a couple of days,

and I was there with Mr. Turner,

who was on the podcast last week,

and we spent a bit of time with the wonderful John Hennessey,

who is just great company,

and obviously a man with all sorts of ambitions,

and I do always enjoy hanging out with him.

And he lent us a Velociraptor 1000,

which could only be built in Texas.

This is a Raptor R taken out to 1,000 horsepower,

and I hate to say it, people think I'm a purist,

but if you put me in Texas,

I want to drive something American.

Yeah, 100%.

I just, every time I got in it,

sorry, climbed up a ladder to get in it,

I just loved every second.

We went to a little town called La Grange,

which is where this easy top song was,

well, that was the inspiration for the song.

We went to try and find the chicken shed,

which was the basis of it.

We think the building that was still the brothel,

which was the centre of the lyrics, was there,

but we couldn't quite work it out.

Anyway, I got out, took lots of photographs of me,

stood next to the Velociraptor,

and that's the sign saying La Grange.

I also drove his little Bronco.

He's got a Bronco, he does.

A Hennessey Bronco with 500 horsepower.

Lovely.

A Bronco Raptor.

That's the car, Ford.

You should be selling that in the UK.

There's a load of people buying defenders

that would buy those instead,

because it looks wild.

100%.

Is that the Bronco Octa, basically?

Yeah.

If they sold that here,

they'd have it away.

Obviously, I saw them like trucks in the UK.

It's an amazing looking thing.

Honestly, Jim, if you're listening to this,

you should flog those in the UK.

Yeah.

Let's move on to, hold on.

Next one is

car errands day,

a day of joy.

We've sort of touched on this,

but it is,

if someone says to me,

what's the difference between someone

that just sort of has an interest in cars

and someone who is a car obsessive?

I'd say it's the way they respond

in these situations.

In other words, any,

the phrase is any excuse.

Would you agree, Chris Cooper?

Yes.

That's a very good distinction, actually,

between somebody who's mildly interested

and has sort of buys car magazines

or the truly stricken,

such as ourselves,

any excuse and any gadget.

In fact,

we talked about

the dynamics and aerodynamics

of bird shit and bird pooing and so forth.

One of our very lovely generous listeners

has sent to me

a bottle of this.

It is.

For those listening in black and white,

it is actually unapologetically

and uncomfusingly described as

bird shit remover.

It's a very, very bright,

aggressive green color,

which I think is a good feature

for a bird shit remover.

The brand is Poor Boy's World.

I'm not really sure this is for Neil.

I think we should do a collab with them.

The really embarrassing thing is,

a very nice chap has sent this to me.

I've lost his letter.

Oh, that's really embarrassing.

I've been looking for it all afternoon,

trying to find it.

Is that the one that you said to my friend

where I couldn't give a shit about him?

I had it last week.

Actually, we're going to do this last week

and this item got pushed.

I think there are two chaps in the UK

who import this brand.

They've got their business server name.

Please, just in the comments,

remind us who you are and I'll say something next week.

I'm going to be out and about

with my green bird shit remover this weekend,

having a whale of a time.

Manish, running errands in cars,

which is something that you never used to do

when you didn't have a car.

You run a few errands, haven't you, in the last year?

I mean, try owning a Ferrari 456

and see how many errands you run a day.

I'd say to spin it positively,

I'm actually going to Rookies next,

week after next.

Do you remember she had a little battery drainage problem

back in the day and they used an infrared gun

to confine it and it turned out it was a vanity mirror

and putting the bulb in drain.

We're getting that changed.

There's a little problem with the speaker,

but I realized I was really looking forward

to my errand day at Rookies

because actually it's full of anticipation.

I think about the drive-down there's

whatever the drive-down there is,

and then you arrive and you know there are going to be

six or seven cars there that they are working on

in the workshop that you won't see anywhere else,

that are being looked after in ways that you can't imagine.

I love getting the anticipation of it

and then actually seeing what they've got.

You get your Earl Grady, you walk between these cars

and AJ is explaining what they're doing

and what this client are and look at this.

Lovely.

It's amazing and then Rookie will take you to the back

if you want and he's got all these bins

full of fabrics and materials and things.

When I learned there that Ferrari Dinos,

these so-called leather interiors were actually vinyl.

You know copies of the old vinyl, the mats,

things like that.

I just love it, it's like going into a living museum

and then after that, you know, we either,

if you go in the morning, you have a pub lunch in the afternoon

and if you go in the evening and have an on-site brewery

which does food, so you get a load of, you get a load of it.

It's just, it's a day of, I use the word again,

it's a day of utter joy and you know,

long may errands be quite so enjoyable.

Or Clifford.

Well, I've got one of these tomorrow

and yeah, I've been on the road for like 12 days

so I'm a bit knackered and just bloody landed from Mexico

about an hour ago and so I'm sure I'm going to be up

at three o'clock in the morning,

but the wonderful thing of having that cheeky little day off

and actually it's funny, I was thinking about it

because when I say to Emma, my wife, lovely wife,

oh, I might actually take Friday off.

Wow.

She says, what car shit is happening then?

Because basically why would you be taking a day off?

And I have to then, you then have to confess, don't you?

You have to sort, well, nothing really,

well, apart from, you know, this car's broken down

so it's got to be picked up and someone's bringing this over

and I've got Graham coming round to try and start

the bloody shitty old Jaguar for the Jaguar Day on Saturday

and then suddenly there's about nine things

that you've lined all up

and you've got to try and land all these planes on the runway

as well as sort of not annoying your wife

that the day is completely useless from a sort of relationship perspective

but it's just a really exciting little, little, little,

just pissing around with a cup of tea in your hand

trying to start things or fix things

or clearly I can't fix things.

Just, just car shit basically, it's just wonderful.

Tiding up leads, I mean, how many leads have we got?

That, you know, the transfer of the old lead, he says,

here, look, how many, all this shit that we've got,

that we've got like a million charges

that have got that little plug on,

where it was to come that.

What do you do with those?

You know, now you've got to, you wind them all up, don't you?

And you put them in a little bag and you put them in a drawer

and then they're there for 100 years.

Because no one uses that anymore, do they?

They use the C one.

So you're just, just tidying shit up.

It's just lovely, isn't it?

Basically not at work and car stuff.

And particularly when it's a Friday.

And of course, you know, we're all a bit lazy on a Friday, aren't we?

We have to admit Friday is a bit of a funny old day now, isn't it?

It's sort of the new Saturday, isn't it?

Speak to yourself.

You know, there's a bit, well, I know you work harder than anyone

in the United Kingdom, Mr Cooper.

But you know, this Friday thing is all a bit sort of semi not worky anyway.

And I try and make sure I do a bit of work on a Friday, of course.

It's just lovely.

And I've got one of those tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to it.

And then of course, it's a long weekend, isn't it?

So you've got this, no guilt, four day long weekend.

We've got a lot of pressure on our shoulders because I've mainly done the work actually.

But we've got this Jaguar event on Saturday, which now Chris Cooper and his gang have done an amazing amount of work.

And of course, are we talking this podcast?

This podcast will go out before the Jaguar day.

It will.

So if hopefully everyone wishes us luck, we've got we've got the Duke of Richmond's luck of weather.

It's going to be very, very hot.

We do.

And if you're listening to this podcast tomorrow morning, you've still got a day to buy a ticket.

Is that right, Mr Cooper?

Yeah, until 11 o'clock on Friday night just before the event.

That's right.

And there's nothing you really need to buy a ticket.

We've got two ice cream vans and it's going to be a great day out.

And we've had a bit of a surge in tickets in the last few days.

That's right.

So there's a load of late finishes out there because most of you are utterly disorganized like us.

Most men are.

And you've got nothing to do on Saturday.

Get there.

Buy a ticket now.

And bring some cake.

As long as you bring a cake, you can have some of your own cake.

Bring a cake.

And Manish is doing the cake tasting.

With Ashley.

Lovely Ashley.

We've got tea everywhere.

We've got talks about Jaguars.

We've got special guest Harry on the podcast.

I mean, there's nowhere cooler to be this Saturday than at Bista.

So please be there.

I think errands.

I mean, the great thing is that really none of you has really talked about these in terms of errands,

which I think is quite telling.

Because it's not errands.

It's just about any excuse.

It's that phrase, any excuse.

And I'll tell you how far this can go.

So I've just, I've just dashed back from taking some still photography in Wales,

which is what I used to do for a living.

I haven't been afraid as it was rather nice actually.

So I had a gasper from the road rat who was filming it.

It's for a forthcoming issue of the road rat.

And I needed to borrow a 911 ST because Porsche doesn't have one in the UK.

The factory are probably on holiday or something, but they couldn't get one there.

So I phoned the man you phone in this situation, Miles Newhouse.

Miles, some of you will know, he's a great lad.

He's just hugely generous.

He's well known in Porsche circles.

He buys and sells cars.

So I missed him last week.

Mate, can I borrow your ST?

Yeah, of course.

Where'd you want it?

So I said, well, could we have it in Wales?

I can get something to come and get it.

I'll bring it down.

So Miles drove from, he lives well up north, like Arctic Circle North.

He's bloody, you know, where the M6 gets very open.

He's up that way.

Nice.

And he drove the car down last night

and he spent the day with me cocking about on the moors

and then just drove it back again.

And he did it because he's like us a lot.

Because when I said, can you come down to Wales?

He didn't think, oh, fuck it.

He thought, well, that's a chance to go and drive my ST.

Yes.

And get involved.

And I got in his car.

He's basically does a bit of trading, Miles.

And he's a motor trader.

He's done 7,800 miles.

And we sat and we had lunch and we're having a sandwich.

He goes, my big problem is I can't stop driving the bloody thing.

The point of my trade is to not drive them,

but he can't stop driving the cars.

Miles and Miles.

There you go.

But that's exactly what I would do.

I can remember once someone saying,

could we borrow your 993 GT2 and I drove to Yorkshire

for it to be there for 10 minutes.

And I did it because I just fancied.

I wanted to be out and about in the car.

I think it's the happy place, isn't it?

It's an excuse to get in the car.

Yeah.

Right.

We are going to have to move this on a bit.

So let me have a quick look.

Hold on.

We're going to do...

This was a quick one.

We're doing well.

Come on.

Next one's quick.

You can just...

When I want to know about Keesh, I'll ask you, Manish.

Right, here we go.

Here we go.

Ugly duckling cars that have become swans.

Very, very good.

Let's go to our Chief Keesh correspondent first.

Well, I had three.

The BMW is set up.

And this is to do not with the fact that I was born

when that car came out.

But as a child, I thought they were incredibly ugly things.

Horribly ugly things.

And I think they look fantastic now.

They're literally on the Rubik Cube, aren't they?

The ergonomic Rubik Cube of three-wheel class.

I've won this.

The other two.

You two...

There's not even any point in you saying anything.

Okay.

You wait.

You haven't got a chance.

Honestly, put that finger away.

Right, Chris Cooper.

You allowed one.

I sort of find it hard to un-ugly-fy an ugly duckling.

Ooh.

If they start ugly, they're sort of ugly.

Very...

I'd leave it there.

I like that.

It's a very good answer.

That's all I have to say.

He's got a part.

You've got a part, too.

I'm obsessed about it.

I've sent you some texts over the last weekend about it.

The current model BMW M3 Touring.

Yeah.

With that gopping front.

When you look at it, you think, oh, God, it's still there.

But somehow...

Somehow...

Ooh.

It looks different.

It's warning, particularly in a dark green CS.

Dark green CS with tan interior,

which I thought I was going to look at last Saturday,

but it wasn't there in the end, which we weren't going to.

Yeah.

It's very, very rare.

Neil Clifford.

Whatever you say, mine's better.

I know what you guys are going to say.

You're going to say, well, that's not an ugly duckling anyway.

But to me, it was.

So we have to be very personal about what our ugly ducklings were.

And this is very pertinent because we've got Ian Cullum coming to the...

I don't know if we've mentioned it.

The Great British Jaguar Day.

Tomorrow, buy a ticket. You can still buy a ticket to 11 o'clock tonight.

And Chris Harris is doing a wonderful interview with Ian Cullum.

Now, it's not a Jaguar.

To me, when Aston Martin came out with the DB7,

I didn't like it because I was used to the Aston Martin

looking like the 80s Aston Martins,

the chunky V8, Viraghi type things.

So I was like, oh, no, I don't like that.

What are they doing with Aston Martin?

They're ruining it.

Now when I see one, of course, you can use the XK8 as well as the same reference.

I think the DB7, particularly from the front,

I'm not 100% on the back, Ian,

but the front, I think, is a magnificent piece of work.

So for me, the DB7 is an ugly duckling car.

Good answer.

Mr H, you're right. You've won this.

Yeah, I think I have.

Because it's the Ferrari 612 Scalietti.

That's a good one.

Yeah.

That's so one.

That is so one.

Because when I first saw it, I remember thinking,

oh, my God, someone drove past me yesterday

and I nearly offered the bloke on the spot.

Really?

It's just aged so well.

That's a good one.

Yeah.

Bugger.

It's also been aided by the ugliness of modern Ferraris.

That could well be the thing.

I'm sorry, that is not a good-looking car, Chris.

Which one?

The 612 Scalietti.

Can you please mute the quiche correspondent for a few minutes

just so he can put him in the naughty corner on the step,

whatever you have to do.

Right, here we go.

Let's go for our two-car garage for Thruxton.

Now, on the 6th of June,

we have an event called the Howl at Thruxton, right?

And it's an unlimited noise day, which is quite rare in the UK,

so we're looking at people to bring raucous cars along.

If you've got an F1 car on open pipes, whatever it is,

you can run it.

We've got a few spaces left, not many,

so yeah, we don't want to disappoint people,

but inquire, there's a couple left.

Also, we've got a live podcast that day.

So you can come and watch the podcast

without doing the track day.

That's an important distinction.

And so if you live southwest or anywhere south of the M4,

this is the place to come and meet Neil Clifford

and manage Pandy and Chris Cooper.

It's worth doing.

So this is just, you've got to choose two cars

for your Thruxton track day.

I'm not going to put any limit on it,

but they've got to be pertinent to Thruxton, OK?

You've got to think of some connection to the circuit.

Otherwise, you've been lazy.

Manage over to you.

Well, I actually chose my vehicles

on the basis of the howl.

And I did go to car and classic

and find two things that I would get from car and classic

and take to the howl with me.

The first one, because I've heard these things

and I think they sound absolutely incredible,

is this rather beautiful 93 Diablo.

Yeah, I would love to drive that around the howl.

I think those 90s Lamborghinis, post-contact,

what a noise, B12.

The second thing, I said vehicles on purpose

because it's not a car.

It is this MV Augusta Series 3.

And I think that is going to sound like an absolute banshee

for Thruxton.

It's not a car, though.

No, I know.

I know.

But it is on purpose.

It had to be a car.

It's just bring two things to Thruxton.

I mean, there's a clue in two-car garage.

Hold on, hold on, hold on.

We've done this occasionally.

I did a coach last week, didn't I?

Yeah, OK, Manage has your work, yeah.

And also, you've got issues with the word car,

so that's going to go back to the bike.

I forgot that already.

Yeah, unbelievable.

Right, so Manage, you're allowed that.

Good choices.

Neil Clifford.

On the subject of Lamborghinis, just nudge me,

one of the other amazing things that I did this week.

I know I'm doing a Chris Cooper changing subject.

I had a lovely morning with my friend Tim.

And Tim now works for curated, or we are created.

I'm not sure if it's we are created or created.

In Miami.

You're right.

Yeah, and I saw some, I mean, how cool,

suddenly, for me, probably, is my ugly duckling car.

The one I should have said is that 90s Lamborghini thing.

You know, John, is it John?

Chris, you know the guy that?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So he was on Lamborghini before anyone else,

and has clearly created this amazing business,

called created.

And I saw so many Lamborghinis from the 90s

of so many amazing colors, and you just think,

shit, how cool are they?

They suddenly look cooler than Ferrari.

Yeah.

In my view, Lamborghini.

So thank you, Tim, for that talk.

I didn't get time to do this.

So I'm doing a reversal, because originally I was,

because I bollocks the car in classic.

I haven't got time to do this.

I've literally just got in and made myself a cup of tea.

But we're not going to do that, because we are professionals here.

And we wouldn't want to let Tom down in any way.

So the cars that we, I will select,

and then we'll put the pictures up.

Output, and two cars that attract days are a bit weird, isn't it?

Because if you're going to take two cars,

if it's actually going to be, if this is the thing

that you're actually going to do,

they've got to be very different.

Otherwise, it's pointless taking two cars to attract days.

Just take the one, because otherwise it's very annoying

and expensive.

And I want to take two cars to this thing in the howl,

thrux and ding, whenever it is.

So I'm going to take an Alpine 110.

Because it's probably a car that I can enjoy

at seven or eight tenths around Thruxton.

I did my driving motorsport racing license thing at Thruxton.

The only reason I passed is because Tiff Nadelle

came in, in the middle of our interviews,

eating his sandwiches, and told us all the answers.

Which was really also, which was also really good

with his cheese and pickle and a Tupperware box.

And so then I've got to choose another car.

I'm going to take my Galaxy 500,

the car that Steve built in Orange County.

And I am going to try and take it there.

I've got to find a man that's got a truck

that wants to work on a Saturday.

There are only men with trucks that want to take

my Galaxy 500 down to Thruxton.

That would be wonderful on the 6th of June.

Because it is very, very, very, very loud.

That's perfect for the howl then. Chris Cooper.

So I think it's got to be a story to these two cars.

So the first one, the whole point about howl

is that this car has got a howl

and just be the most glorious, amazing,

beautiful noise.

Nothing, nothing beats that.

Once you've got in your selection.

What is it darling?

The T70.

This is an original car. It's on-car and classic.

It's POA. It's a 1969 original car.

But that's a winner.

And this goes to the public poll,

which we do now with car and classic on the Instagram.

We've done it. This would be our fourth week.

Mr. House and I will be like neck and neck.

What's the engine in that car, Chris?

What is the engine in the Lola T70?

It's a big Chevy.

So it's actually not that expensive compared to DFE's,

which are expensive to run.

The other car is an interesting one.

What would you pick?

So I think you've got to pick a car that you could drive down there.

From the west or the north or the east or whatever.

But actually will be mega on track.

Very, very surprisingly good on track.

So in the auctions, it starts on an auction.

I had to print this out, my apologies.

Some hack with my technology.

On the 25th of May,

this car comes up.

It is a one of 50 F10 B5 Biturbo.

600 horsepower.

These were factory Alpina cars with

a Krapowicz exhaust Drexler LSD.

Is there a better sounding additive

and expert clever component on a car

than something made by the German wizards?

I think the German, hope they are, Drexler.

And it's got Brembo brake upgrade.

So you turn up in your 10 year old B5 Alpina

and rinse everybody with that one as well.

Not quite noisy with the Krapowicz.

I think those two T70, one of 50 F10 B5s.

Very nice.

I'll give you that.

I mean, that's certainly a better effort

than your ugly duckling.

That's true.

Right.

To wish your answer was, nah.

So here we go.

I think Thruxton is about very high speeds.

I want some downforce with my noise.

And that means Group C.

So there is a spice for sale.

Right.

That's on-car classic.

With a massive VA on-car classic.

How did I miss that?

I know, exactly.

So you've got that wrong.

You need a Group C car with a 650 horsepower VA in it.

We've got more than that.

It's a six and a half liter.

Anyhow, you need to look at that.

You'll see the link to it now.

Amazing.

The other car is unexpected,

but I'll tell you why I've chosen it.

A car, this has got to have a story.

I don't need another track car to drive.

I've got that spice.

Whatever you drive after that's going to be shit.

Yeah.

And I want to drive there in this.

I want to drive there in a 106 TDI.

I'll tell you why.

There's a method in the madness.

First of all, I've made enough noise.

I didn't need to make any more noise than the spice.

The two things that I most enjoy about track driving

are either getting as much performance as you can

out of a really fast car and papping yourself

because you can't use it all,

or going all the other way and having something

that isn't very fast and just driving it

as fast as it would go.

The 106 would be flat for probably 80% of the lap.

Yeah.

And I've driven one around there

and they are hilarious around that circuit.

The first time I drove one was when I was doing work experience

AutoCard magazine.

For reasons I won't bore you with,

I didn't have a driving license at the time.

Because that's the way I operate.

But the lovely people at AutoCard said,

we can still come and do your driving at your work experience.

You just can't drive on the road.

So we got to the Thruxton.

We used Thruxton for a hot hatch test.

And I was there.

And I remember being on the sort of Chicany bit,

well, you know, the left-right.

The end of the lap.

Yeah.

And at the beginning of the lap.

Oh, the cramble cop, yeah.

Yeah.

So we're there.

And we're just using it to session.

We've got five cars or six cars going through

for stills photography.

And my great friend Colin Goodwin

decides he's going to attack the last right hander

a bit faster than everyone else.

And he fails to complete the corner

and goes off onto the grass, right?

But it just happened that the angle of him

going across the grass was so perfect.

Because all you could see was the rear of the car

at that point for where we were sitting.

Bumping over the grass.

And as you know, the best thing about cars going

across grass is that you only really have an idea

how severe the bumps are by the body

and the head movement of the person driving it.

It's so clear that his head hit the ceiling of the car.

And we were crying with laughter.

And I so fondly remember the 106 GTI there.

So I want to remember Cole in the 106.

And I think it would be hilarious to drive really fast.

But you can go home without your ears buzzing.

So those are my two cars.

Now, we're going to add one thing at the end here.

I asked the chaps to just recommend one Instagram account

that you would say they should follow for people.

So just, I've got one.

Manage, if you've got any one that you'd recommend,

just just very quickly.

I would.

Oh, Jay, he is so funny.

Cars, music, bit of fashion, bit of design.

Sometimes he's just leery.

It's a great Instagram to follow.

Fantastic.

Chris Cooper.

This is a fun one.

And it makes me smile and makes me laugh.

It's, I think it's, we'll put a link up.

It's called It's Bexy, Bex or Bex, Bexy.

And she's, how do I describe her?

She's an English rose with a radio three continuity

announcer type voice from the late nineties.

And her thing is she narrates in this beautiful style,

rap music, stuff from gangster movies, so forth.

And she does it all by literally until she would do like,

I've got one here.

I'm going to kill it, but you'll get the question soon.

Lada, Lada, Lada.

It's the motherfucking DOG dog.

And then she just does,

as she tips her little teaspoon on the cup and she carries on.

It's brilliant.

If you just want to smile and have a laugh, it's Bexy, Bex.

Clifford.

I know there's such confers for subject.

I say this often and one of the best car photographers that I know,

of course, because I don't know many, is a guy called Alex Penfold.

And I've known Alex basically from a teenager stood on the corner

of the street trying to chase me down the street in a 599 GTO.

I was in the 599 GTO.

He had a camera.

And now he's got 600,000 followers.

He's one of the best and brilliantly talented photographers,

automotive photographers.

And if you want to just be cheered up with a skill of a camera,

follow Alex Penfold.

Love it.

For me, Instagram especially is just about finding random stuff.

And you think, well, I wish I'd been able to do that when I was a bit younger

or that there'd been an outlet for that.

And this one is called Benny and the V12.

It's just a bloke who's got one of those Audi Q7 V12 diesels.

You know the ones?

Yeah, the one.

The dog.

And he's trying to do a million kilometers.

I think it's up to...

What's he up to?

He's up to something like 800,000...

He's up to 900,000 kilometers in this car.

And he's got a dog.

And that's it.

That's the Instagram account.

It's just a nearly million kilometer Q7 V12 and a dog.

And it's called Benny and the V12.

I just think that's what it's all about.

It's a bunch of random stuff.

Okay.

Here we go.

A piece of music before we end this evening.

So let's go first to Chris Cooper.

To be Howl by Florence and the Machine.

Yes.

Very good.

Neil Clifford.

When I go to America, I always put my...

I've got like 35 hours of American driving music

and I've just chosen a random one out of that little Spotify thing.

California, Joni Mitchell.

Nice.

Manish.

Life in the fast lane has to be before Sunday.

Egos.

Love it.

I'm going to go with...

I just listened to this the other day.

The Clash, Rock the Casper.

I was really good.

I didn't really understand that because the Clash went commercial.

I've got a couple of mates who are so obsessed with the Clash

and they don't like that song.

For me, that's how I discovered the Clash.

And for me, it will be the best ever song of the Clash.

Fantastic.

Right.

Thank you very much for listening, everyone.

So just to remind you, this goes live at about 6 a.m.

Greenwich Meantime on Friday, the 22nd.

You can still buy a ticket to come to Bista or Tomorrow

until 11 o'clock tonight.

I think we've pushed that hard enough.

Personally, I'm looking forward to the event.

I'm looking forward to never having to promote it again

because I think we've pushed you all quite hard.

To Team Cooper for organising, thank you very much.

Those that are coming, we can't wait to see you.

Those that are missing out, you're missing out.

Bye-bye.

0:00

67:02

Max Verstappen at the Nurburgring 24 Hours! | The Car Podcast #88

Marshall boards

XF1

Porsche

Aston Martin XK8

on-car and classic

Lola T70

About this episode

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