The Ferrari 512 BB is a famous sports car made by Ferrari in the 1970s and 1980s. It has a powerful engine and a unique design that car enthusiasts admire.
The Ferrari 365 GT 2+2 is a luxury sports car made by Ferrari between 1968 and 1971. It has a comfortable interior and is designed for both performance and long drives.
The Mercedes-Benz GLE is a luxury SUV that provides a comfortable ride and many high-tech features. It's designed for people who want a stylish and spacious vehicle.
Garage 56 is a special spot at the Le Mans race where new and unusual cars can compete. It's a chance for companies to show off their latest technology, even if the cars are not traditional race cars.
The Le Mans 24 hour race is a famous car race that lasts for a full day. Teams compete to see who can drive the farthest in 24 hours, making it a test of both speed and how well the cars hold up over time.
NASCAR is a type of car racing that happens mostly in the United States. The cars used in NASCAR are specially built to go fast on circular tracks, and the races are very popular.
A hydrogen powered car runs on hydrogen gas instead of gasoline. It creates electricity to power the car and only produces water as waste, which is better for the environment.
Car
TVR Scamander
The TVR Scamander is a special car that can drive on roads and float on water. It was made by a company called TVR, but it didn't work very well as a car or a boat.
The Scamander is a made-up car that can also float and be used as a boat, seen in a James Bond movie. It's a cool idea for a vehicle that can drive on land and travel on water.
The Mercedes-Benz SL is a fancy convertible sports car that has been around since 1952. It's known for looking great and being very comfortable to drive, making it a symbol of luxury. People talk about it because it's a classic car that's also very high-tech.
The Porsche 911 is a famous sports car that has been around for a long time, starting in 1964. It's known for being fun to drive and has a unique shape that many people recognize. People talk about it because it's one of the best sports cars ever made.
The Chrysler New Yorker is a big, fancy car that was made from 1940 to 1996. It's known for being very comfortable and having a classic look, which makes it a symbol of luxury. People talk about it because it represents a different time in car design.
NLS stands for Nürburgring Long Distance Series, which is a type of racing that takes place at the Nürburgring track. It used to be called VLN and includes different types of cars racing for a long time.
The Porsche Cayman is a sports car made by Porsche that is known for being fun to drive and well-balanced. It's a bit less expensive than the more famous Porsche 911 but still offers great performance.
Radical is a brand that makes very fast and light race cars. They are popular among racers because they are designed to be quick and handle well on the track.
GT3 cars are special race cars that are built from regular cars but made faster and safer for racing. They compete in specific racing events and have a lot of upgrades to help them perform better on the track.
Formula 1 is a type of car racing where specially designed cars compete in races around the world. It's known for its fast speeds and exciting tracks, like the one in Singapore.
MotoGP is a motorcycle racing series where the fastest bikes compete on different tracks around the world. It's similar to Formula 1 but for motorcycles.
The Autobahn is a type of highway in Germany where there are no speed limits in some areas. This means cars can go really fast, which is why it's popular among car enthusiasts.
The Mercedes-Benz E500 is a high-end car that offers a smooth ride and a lot of features. It's part of the E-Class series, which is known for being luxurious and comfortable.
The BMW 750iL is a fancy car made by BMW in the late 80s and early 90s. It has a big engine and is known for being very luxurious and comfortable to drive.
The Mercedes-Benz 420 SEL is a big, fancy car that was made in the late 1980s. It's known for being very comfortable and having a nice interior, which makes it a luxury car. People talk about it because it represents high-end style and comfort.
The Audi RS6 Avant is a fast and powerful station wagon that can carry a lot of stuff while still being fun to drive. It has a strong engine and a nice interior, making it a great choice for people who want both speed and space. It's popular because it offers the best of both worlds.
The BMW 3 Series is a popular small luxury car that has been around since 1975. It's known for being fun to drive and having a nice interior, making it a favorite among people who want a stylish and comfortable car. Many people talk about it because it's a good mix of performance and luxury.
The Audi A6 is a stylish and comfortable luxury car that has been around since 1994. It's known for having a nice interior and being fun to drive, making it a good choice for people who want a fancy car. Many people talk about it because it combines luxury with everyday usability.
The Bentley Azure is a very fancy convertible car that was made from 1995 to 2003. It's known for looking beautiful and being very powerful, making it a symbol of wealth. People talk about it because it's one of the most luxurious cars you can buy.
The Lamborghini Espada is a stylish sports car that was made from 1968 to 1978 and can fit four people. It's known for having a powerful engine and a unique look, making it stand out from other cars. People talk about it because it's a rare and interesting part of Lamborghini's history.
The Audi Quattro is a special sports car that came out in 1980 and is famous for its all-wheel drive, which helps it grip the road better. It was very successful in racing and changed how cars are made. People talk about it because it's an important car in automotive history.
The Jensen Interceptor is a stylish sports car that was made from 1966 to 1976. It's known for having a powerful engine and a unique look, which makes it stand out. People talk about it because it's rare and has a cool design.
The Honda CRX is a small and sporty car that was made from 1983 to 1991. It's known for being fun to drive and not too expensive, which made it popular with younger people. Many car fans talk about it because it was a great little car for its time.
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Hello, and welcome to the car podcast with Chris Harris and his wee little friends. Episode number 56, which has some significance. We'll explain that later on. So, I know we take the piece on our WhatsApp group, but there was an event last week. It was quite significant for all of us actually, but one of us in particular. And we have.
It was managed to describe what it was like to have a film premiere in London with Luca Montezemelo. Luke, I go on and manage off you go. It described what it was like. It was just the most extraordinary thing. We, I think we really loved out. First of all, I don't think this film would have happened without the four of us. Well, I know it wouldn't have happened without four of us. So there's a bit of sort of family and pod in this and you know, the whole organic thing because. I don't know if people remember, but when we were filmed
filming, a certain Mr Cooper and a certain Mr Clifford turned up with families and Mr Clifford's family actually worked on the film. So it is very much a chalk movie, isn't it? It's very much of Chris Harris on cars and Chris Harris on friends. What's lovely is these things take a long time. We don't really understand from when this first conversation happened with Luca. That was autumn 2020.
It's five years later. So it's just been, it's been, it's been a hell of a journey and I think we're very lucky because the every man theater chain, one of its major shareholders and a man called Adam Kay. Adam's really built that business. And he works with somebody called Darcy Wise and Adam liked his cast, but he's also a businessman and he watched the movie.
And he really responded to it and they have built. Actually, I think it's Britain's only profitable cinema chain, the every man. Wow, getting films into cinemas is very, very difficult. We made Santa today. We'd be very lucky. We'd need the same luck to get it into a cinema. It's changed completely. And so together theatrical release was wonderful. But for them to put their entire mind behind creating, I think the best premiere ever gone to.
And I've been to one or two was extraordinary. It was the new every man at the White Leaf. They've spent tens of millions of pounds doing it up. And what did Luca call it? He said, I think he's a nightclub, but then it has some cinemas, which was fantastic. I mean, the food was amazing. The wine was amazing, but I think the people and the cars really made it. We had a red carpet with Neil's 512 BB. Beautiful yellow thing.
And I mean, just just arresting. There was a lunch here, the fanelloni, a twin of what Luca drove back in the 70s. Another friend bought a beautiful 3652 plus two. I think it was 69 1970. Black, rocky town leather inside. A bunch of people parked for our eyes on the street. They got. I did like those guys. They parked their cars on double rain lines and looked at the parking tickets as if they were just confetti.
Oh, I've just got a parking ticket. I don't care. This is my Ferrari. I'll come to this premiere. But I think the really gratifying thing is, you don't get a chance to make an older man and your hero. Very happy, very often. I mean, you think about the bar you have to climb to make somebody like Luca Montezemuelo to impress him.
He was so happy. Bernie came, which was wonderful with Fabi and Lauren Stroll was there. Stefano came. Andrea came. Oh, but he had been not over there. It was the new. Adrian was there. Yes. I mean, it was just what an evening.
I think people really responded to the film. The fact that we had a live Q&A, which was also broadcast to another 29 every man, cinemas, was kind of icing on the cake. And the truth is, you know, Luca didn't answer any question. He was asked, he just gave.
It was extremely funny. I got to have my son there. It's a wonderful thing when you can bring your children or your loved ones to something like that to celebrate your work. So I would say one of the happiest days of my life without a doubt. Really joyous joyous day evening.
To see you flowed on air manage was really, really lovely. Yeah, I'm not very good at those things have to sort of hide and I don't need to talk to and found myself lurking corners, looking for Mr Cooper and Finley, so I had someone to talk to.
I don't know who the hell most people were, but it was it was lovely. And for me, before I asked Neil and Chris, the highlight was the Q&A when we were supposed to be ushered around the side of a little stage, where this below the screen.
And rather than go behind the curtain and walk up, Luca, age 27, whatever, 78, 78, decided to demonstrate his, his, his athleticism and sort of straddle the stage and just sort of jumped up like it would like a 12 year old with, you know, Volta gate.
And it was lovely to see him sort of just do that, just to demonstrate the fact that he still had it, it was to use modern parlance effects, but of some sort and I thought it was really cool.
I was utterly humbled. I walked around thinking I've no idea why I'm part of this, but I know I'm proud of it. Chris Cooper, you were there.
It was really moving. It was really, really, I know lots of people who were there and went to the other showings have all been online and said amazing things and reached out to you, Manish and all of us.
Honestly, I didn't think you had it in you, Manish. I was, I'm kidding. Actually, none of us did. No, it was, it was amazing. It was really, the thing that I took from it was how happy he was.
He was really, you could see he was really made up and it was beautifully done. I mean, Chris, you and you and Luca clearly had a very, very
just extraordinary connection. He really likes you, Chris. He really likes talking to you. He respects you and he rates you. He knows you understand stuff.
And he clearly got that without you having to explain it. He understands who you are and where you were and so many of these events through time, particularly the last sort of 20, 30 years or so.
So I think the chemistry of the three of you, and when we were on set, I mean, it was just, I've never done that before. I've never been somewhere where somebody out loud in public says, quiet, please, action.
I mean, how tingly exciting is that? It's just amazing in both Belonio and Rome. So, it was, it's a mad thing, a premiere, because there's so many people.
And there are literally members of the public across the road, shouting and waving and Manish, as you turning up in Lola, it's surreal.
And I'm sure I said to you at the beginning evening, must we very briefly make sure you take a moment to enjoy it, because it will just go past the first bit like a wedding day.
But this is like a wedding day time is a hundred. It isn't this kind of thing when you get to our point in life where you appreciate much more about certain things.
So it was a real privilege to have been there for a couple of brief moments when you were making it.
And to be invited to your world premiere was a real, real treat and privilege. So, thank you very much for having us and family.
And just to see how happy he was and Manish, you and Chris, you did a really good job. I know you always downplayed this stuff.
You know, come on, come on. You know, where's the exit? Oh, I'm not enjoying this. You were brilliant. You were really brilliant.
Chris, we're talking about you, not with you. Sit there and just say nothing.
No, no, no, no.
Look, I'm not good with cinema. So I don't really do movies. I was full of sleep, because that sort of make believe film and book thing.
I don't really get. And actually the good thing about this is not make believes. Is it?
It's a real story. And look, to have my two heroes is weird being on a podcast within really. But I know it's going to get Chris very embarrassed here.
Barista. Crist was a Big Hero Mine as a journalist and then Lately on YouTube
and to be a mate of this is really cool. And then Luke was always a hero of mine
forever really. He for me is Ferrari, right? I actually own the last car that he ever
allocated, 4, 5, 8, especially Alia Perte, the exact vehicle. And you know,
that was done in Paris I think 2014 Paris Fashion Week. So to actually meet him
being his presence, see a movie beautifully produced by a friend but with two of my
you know car heroes in it and be sat next to Chris on the left, you know
we're in the naughty, naughty row really. You know, it felt a bit Saturday morning
cinema club for me in about 1977 and sat next to Chris on one side and you know
the legend that is Joe McCarrie who's busy throwing popcorn at Adrian Newy. You
know, my wife said to me afterwards that probably is one of the best things you've
ever done in your life isn't it? And being around those people and being you know
on the outskirts of it but part of the gang a little bit is brilliant. And the
movie's not bad. You know, I didn't I didn't fall asleep and there wasn't there
wasn't any pick and mix and I you know, I mean, I maintained concentration. So
well done, well done, well done, Manish and well done Chris and it was a great
night and I you know I exited it was quite cool exited just jumped in McCarrie and pissed
off outside and that was quite a cool thing to do. So thank you Manish for having
me part of it. And my son Vincent, you know, was a sort of semi film worker runner grip
whatever they're called, bounce, whatever he did. But to have your son, you know,
he's like me, he's dyslexic, he's struggled with school, you know, he's he's
confident but needs, you know, needs a little nudge along. For having your son in
the credits of a movie, a JT, it's a real privilege. So I appreciate that very
much, Manish. There's two things that I'll remember out the night. The first is at one
point I went outside to speak to my daughter on the telephone who was just started at
university and is going through those bumps, a bit of turbulence. And I want I want to
talk to her. So I went to the right where the full deal was and the other Friday was and
that's when I saw what could only be described sort of a man's story spec Mercedes G L
arrive with two, yes, with two sort of goons, the best ways to describe them, they
were what might be described as security in a Jackson Lamb novel. And and Bernie then
emerged from this G L, but it was sort of a fifth, it was a sort of it was about six, seven
years old. It was the most unlikely vehicle. But the way that he emerged from it and just
sort of did his, sort of his stoop shuffle, very, very mind the man's nearly a hundred years
old. He's nearly been on his planet in the century. Yeah. But if you want to talk about presence,
how such a small physical frame can have so much presence. I don't know. The moment he came out
of the car, I was on the phone, all I heard was these hashtags of his Bernie, his Bernie,
it's Bernie. And it was, it's Bernie. Yeah. He is, he is just Bernie to everyone, even if you
do not met him, he's Bernie. So his arrival is about presence. He has got presence whenever
even if he's about to arrive in a room, Bernie has a presence that I think only is matched by
heads of state who've been in power for a while. You know, one of those, it's not, it's not like
anything else I've ever seen. So I was absolutely, it almost hits you in the chest like Bernie's here.
This, this is real. This is now happening because Bernie's here. I wonder how much he's
traded on that in his life that without him being there, something wasn't happening. And in being
there, it was. So I felt just, and then I felt my imposter syndrome hit me in the chest like,
what am I doing here? Bernie, if it's not watching something, I mean, this is ridiculous. I think
the other, the other, the other memory I'll always take from it is that the reason I did this
beyond just wanting to work and manage because he's incredibly talented. And actually the subject
matter was so interesting was that I described Luca from the start as having a charisma that I
couldn't really pin down. And I suppose I wanted him that night to display that charisma and he
didn't disappoint. He was just, he was the, he was the conductor. There was lots of gesticulating.
He had an entourage of people with him. There was a wonderful band that managed to go to play
some, some Italian ditties before we went on stage. And we were waiting to go into an
introduction to the film. And Luca just announced, get them off. They're done. We've had enough of
them. And managed at this point, the whole, the whole sort of timeline just went out the window.
Everything that had been choreographed was done. And he won't get them off. And I said to Luca,
are you going to go on stage and tell them to stop? And he looked at me and he went, yes,
I was like, well, you can't do anything. They're in the middle of a journey when I don't care.
It is time. Everyone's been waiting. And I just got this. He just, he carries with him this
power, a Bernie-like power. And in his wake is this sort of fog of charisma that I think we all
get caught up in, just that sort of whiff of hair. Honestly, it's a total man crush for me.
And I use the Bristolian phrase, he's just the bollocks. He is absolutely the bollocks.
And I love seeing him be the man. And I'm not sure we'll see him conduct an audience in that
way again and many times. And it was just a privilege to see it. So thank you for letting me
do this with him, Manish. And we'll announce soon, hopefully, where you can see it.
We get a lot of questions at the moment about where can I see this film. And I think we've
been a bit lacking in the answering that. The answer is this was a sort of pre-release launch
at the every man. And every man will, I hope, be showing it a bit. But you'll need to look on their
website to see how and when. But the actual distribution of the film has not been finalised yet.
And we'll be, we hope soon. And then there will be release dates in different markets that
we can tell you about. So thank you for your patience. And it looks like we've been having a
right old party with our film, but no one can see it. Which isn't ideal. But it will be released.
And then we can tell you where it's going to be. But it was a very, very special evening.
I, um, I pirated it. I filmed it on my phone. So if anybody, you know, just put it on YouTube.
I'll, you know, send, I'll send you a link. I always remember buying the second
born movie on DVD and thinking, I'd absolutely stolen it early. I want to put it into my DVD
player. It was filmed at the back of a cinema. It was a tape. You know, by I put it in the
way we go. It's the second born. And it was literally someone at the back of the cinema with a
order. Um, okay, moving on. It just says here, garage 56. I need Chris Cooper to explain the
significance of garage 56. I think I've got this right. Um, do you know, I, I'm not very good
with numbers, but I like numbers. And 55 was the Carlos episode last week. And that seemed quite
appetite because he had a really nice weekend. It's a really horrible work. But he had a nice
weekend. He was happy and willing to happy. He got a podium and his horrible season and the
rejection. So I like numbers. So 56 garage 56 is the name of the garage at Le Mans or the sort
of the idea of a garage at the Le Mans 24 hour race where the ACO, the organizers of Le Mans,
not every year, but most years say we're going to allocate an entry in the race. And they go
right, I presume it's right at the end of pitline 56, where new innovations or new technologies
can be showcased and see what we think of them. So when the NASCAR race car entered Le Mans
couple years ago with Jenton, that was garage 56. I think there was a hydrogen powered car
with some garage 56. The point of 56 garage 56 is new technology innovation. So I thought
given this episode 56, why don't we think about the car loosely, maybe, that doesn't exist,
that we'd like to exist, that we'd like to put in our figurative garage 56. And I thought of
one should I go first? Yes. Okay. So I mean the cliche when we were growing up was
cars that fly. And they all did a bit shit didn't they? And I think they'd probably all fall out
of the sky. And most of them had propellers on the front and that's just going to go wrong when
you're going down the street, you're just going to mash people up. And the other sort of cliche was
a car that can go on the water. Now I think that's much more interesting because you know we all
love being by the sea and by the water and all that stuff. And phibias cars haven't really been
done very well. They've sort of been more boat than car and leaky. So I think there's a case
history here. Does anyone remember the car that Peter Wheeler, the guy who owned TVR for a while,
he developed called the Scamander. Yes. Yes. Harry's added about. Well, he has had and actually
we'll put this up properly. But there's a picture of a Scamander with a young looking Harry in there
looking work. I think he probably rises. Water's coming in fast and it's going out. But that was
quite a cool thing because it worked as a car. And it was clearly buoyant and hopefully non-leaky.
So David Richards, a pro drive, who many of you all know, a while ago he started to develop. He
bought an American thing. It looked like a big Jeep that you go in the water. Auto-car sort of
followed it at some point. So I think I would like my garage 56 to have in here. It's more
car than boat. It's a boat. It's the car that doesn't leak. So you've got to be able to drive it on
the road. But if you had it down in near where you've got to place down in Devon,
where I'm in in Cornwall, having a car you could use to go and do things car-like. But drive it
into the sea and use as a boat to go somewhere and better drive out of the water. James Bond,
Spy, who loved me a spree star. I think one that doesn't exist, I like to use would be
the modern day working version of a Scamander. That's what I think my garage 56 would have in it.
I'm a phibias motor vehicle. I love this. How would that work on the circuit if it was a dry race?
I mean, it rarely is a dry race. I was sort of thinking that about that question.
There's been a few times a bit of a model for actually what you need now as a speedboat,
because somehow when it rains there in June, when the race is on, it is ferocious, isn't it?
I mean, it does feel like you could use a speedboat, but I am fascinated by the speedboat aspect.
I don't care whether it wouldn't go very well at the mall. I just care that it would be a
cool thing to have down in Cornwall, which is a car that didn't leak or sink. I love it. No, Clifford,
you've been to the mall more times than all of us put together. What would your garage 56 entry be?
Right, so mine's more straightforward, less imaginative than Mr Cooper, but I suppose it does end in
a car that might actually be able to go to the mall and race, as opposed to just across the
channel. Okay, so I'm going Mercedes. I think Mercedes not being in the mall is a sad thing.
I think, when do they win 52? They were going to win 55, and then there was that terrible
accident, and then they didn't race for 30, 40, 50 years. I think they won 52, pretty much with the
300 SL, I think it might have been called something a bit different and looked a bit sportier, but
it was more like a goal wing, really. It was a goal wing. I think at a straight six, not a V8 at
that point, it then merged into the sort of millimilia car, which ended up with eight cylinders,
but that silver arrows thing, I think, is beautiful. I've got an amazing book, never read it, but
this amazing book called Silver arrows tells the whole story of these silver cars. And then
my first limón was 89, with the Mercedes-Salva C9. Yeah, mega. That was just a car. What's a car?
And the noise of that thing, we're very lucky with classic limón because you get to see these cars
still going around and around and around. And in 1 in 89, even though I don't think the world is
better in the past, but you know, sat at Arnage in 89, 90, watching listening to these cars
up against Jaguar, it was a real sort of like second world war battle almost, this sort of
gray silver machine with the little neon touches on the, you know, there's a pink one and a green one.
I think Yock and Mass, I think, one 89. Rest in peace. Rest in peace, Yock and so I would,
I would bring Mercedes back to Le Mans in garage 56. And I would come up with a strategy for a new
silver arrows. I think Ferrari have done it, Tavaneng, actually won the last couple of times.
Porsche obviously continued, you know, their successes with 919 and all of that. They're always there
with a million 911s. So I think Mercedes is a miss. We need to get Mercedes back to Le Mans. I think
it would help their brand strategy because of the car. Cars are a bit bloody dull. It needs it,
absolutely. So, so I think silver arrows, I don't know what, it's not bloody hybrid, it's not
electric, it's got a V8 and it's a proper car. And you know, a bit like the 963, whatever it is,
SP, maybe they do, maybe they do 52 for 1952 or 89 road cars that if you've got tons of money,
you can buy one. So, yeah, silver arrows back at Le Mans in garage 56. I really like it. And it
makes me think, we need to talk about Mercedes. Can we put that in the list, Finley? We need to talk
about Mercedes. Yeah, we need a special own Mercedes-only podcast. We do.
Yes, you do. What would your garage 56th entry be? Well, I was always a little bit in love with
Birkin and Barnato back in the day. I mean, I just love the bad people. He's all of them,
kids, and all of them. And I, I was always just a little bit schizophrenic about was the
blow of the best thing or was it WOs really perfect? 1930 V8 just normally aspirated. You know,
for WO, the idea of a supercharger was like putting a grenade into a Swiss watch. Yeah, he
didn't like it. He got this power of it, and it's very ugly, very, very sort of very unsheak
way. I'm going to remember that WO also created the rotary engine that was with Camel's hat.
I mean, it's a man really understood engines, understood engineering, and I, the Bentley that I've
most been in love with in modern times is the Conti T. It's just something about that car. It's
just perfect, the coupe. It's just, it's so perfect. And I would love in my garage 56 to have a
Bernato Green Conti T, everything stripped out of it except for the racing seat. I think to try
to approximate as much as possible to a 1930 Bentley, I'd like it to have a spare wheel because
the rules of Le Mans are fantastic. You've got to do all that, the originally you have to do your
own work on the car. They have scrutiny is there. If you have one mechanic touch your car,
you're disqualified, and Birkin, you know, very famously smashed a wheel. I mean, WOs said that
you could drive that car up to 70 miles an hour with a broken wheel. That's a tough
those cars. Well, that's how much of the piss got taken out of them for being these bricks that
never broke, but were incredibly quick. So I would love, I'd love to get a Conti T, strip the
thing out, have it in that beautiful sort of Bernato Green, whatever that is at the time,
put a tire on the back, make sure the thing is completely indestructible and race that
look more. That would be an absolute dream for me. Because the fuel you'd need for that brick,
a CD factory, a .48 or something, wasn't it? Yeah, I think he's got more than one, yeah. Look at
that Bernato Green. Neil Clifford is holding a picture of his Conti GT in Bernato Green. What did
you give for that, Neil? 15 and a half. I mean, that's like two headlights, isn't it? If you want to
buy them used? Well, the tires were like 17 years old. So it's gone a little bit on top of that,
obviously, but it's really great. 45,000 miles from new. Actually, that color is one of the
best colors ever. My local public house, but I don't go to that often, but I do go for
giving backgammon with my other half now and again. There's a chap that I've been into there who loves
cars and he's just bought a Conti GT and old one and it's got ceramic brakes on it and he just
came bounding up to me that day and just went, you won't believe what I bought it. I think the
Conti GT is the ultimate I found value car, isn't it? It is. And I love the look on his face,
he just felt he cheated the system. This car was so much money when it was new. I think it,
honestly, it take a like bounce to his look at it. Yeah, I scored just. Yeah, I appreciate
your input on this, but you've all missed the point. Garage 56 should be reserved for one car that
is given a perpetual entry into the race. You rule. It is. There's only one car that is the
fan favorite, but you need to have heard it there first. You know where I'm going with this.
So every year Mazda's 787B should be invited to be at the race, because if you've heard that thing,
go down after the chicane down the start finish line and you've heard that noise of the,
is it a quad rotor engine? Yes, or a four rotor? When it goes down and the sound echoes off those
two grandstands, I've heard one thing that sounds more impressive, and that was a Sawyer's rocket
takeoff from the bike on the hospital drone. And even that, I reckon it rivals. It's the most
extraordinary sound. And if you at this point, please go to YouTube and type in 787B, Johnny Herba,
I think it was 2011 when they rolled it out again for him. It's an extraordinary film. Most of
its GoPro, but it's all you need. And Johnny Herba famously, when the car won, couldn't make it
onto the podium because he was too shattered to do so. So they invited him back to do a lap and
then to stand on the podium for the race that year. It's an incredible film. And it just,
it hits on so many levels. It hits on the just how does this thing work? The noise it makes is absurd.
The Johnny Herba is a hero level, but also the sense that this Japanese manufacturer that you
normally associate with making very reliable hatchbacks, built the most extraordinary motor car
that looks uncannily like a Porsche Mi 6 2 weirdly. It's a bit. But just achieved remarkable
things. The sense of pride, there's not many of these things that run. There are lots of precursors
to the 787B that have different names, but they are so proud of this car. And I can say that I've
driven it. Weirdly, I drove it in New York. I don't know why, they look like a race track in
New Yorker. And I was invited out there 15 years ago to drive it. It is the most. Where did you drive it in New Yorker?
I have no idea why. There's sort of a little car track in New Yorker. I was like,
I don't know where you like to come and drive it. It was just pre the video era. So I did that
old fashioned thing where you sit there with a keyboard and tried to summon adjectives. And actually
what you want is just a go-pro shot. So people can hear it because you can't really describe
the noise it makes. It's a ripping noise. It just sounds like it takes the air and just tears it
in front of you. I was there in a tent sleeping in a tent in 91 at Arnage. When you could camp at
Arnage and you go, you know, the toilets were more part of the forest, let's say. And there were
these lovely little pink roses that grew as the toilet paper grew through the forest that was a
weekend. But you could, you know, you were nine blokes in a tent, right? So it was pretty nice
cultural. And actually that thing woke you up every time it came, you know, you didn't get any
sleep either. It was, it was nuts. And I don't think if you turned up with the Soyos, the Soyos,
whatever it was you saw, I think the ACO would get a bit panicky about turning out the one of this.
Doesn't you right? It's just 787B. That's what it means. 787B every year is invited back.
Doesn't matter if it comes last, the noise it makes. That's great. It's pure limón for me. Right. Next
subject. Here we go. Max, we're stopping. So I think over the last few weeks we've seen
a demonstration of maybe the person that might be the best for me to one driver currently on the
grid, manage, discuss. I mean, he's just a phenomenon isn't he, this boy?
I mean, Luca actually answered the question only when you finally posed it, but
he did. It's a wonderful question. So I'll go up and said if you were running a form of running
Ferrari today, kind of like who would be your driver and he answered whatever questions he did.
And then I remember you did ask him directly, would you have Max on the team? And he basically said
that guy is the best. He's head and shoulders the best. And then there's everyone else. And
I think the thing I love about Max is this is what he does. But at the same time, he has an ability
to be one step ahead. You know that the fatal flaw of so many sportsmen is that they're in what
they do. And then they kind of come to the end of what they do and have it really planned what
they're going to do. And it doesn't really matter how much money you have. It doesn't really matter
what your assets are. I mean, you suddenly go from being number one in what is supposed to be
the pinnacle of your sport. And then you become maybe number one in a different sport or number two
in a different sport, number nine in a different sport. And what we see with Max is a man, he's just,
he really is plowing his own furrows. And he's working out his future and keeping that future
racing. And I'm a really couple of quick stats down about this race. He just got his license.
He basically only been on a video game. He just won an race, which has only 11 corners.
I'm on the Formula One car, which demonstrated his utter precision as a driver. We were talking
about how difficult Monza is because it's got such few corners. And then you've got Nürburgring
with 73 corners. And he wins it in a completely different class of car. With with with a
teammate who I understand is also a bit of a sim race, sir. Yeah. So that's the one. It just had
a couple of quick things. Just clarify to the audience here that Max entered a series called NLS,
which used to be called VLN, at the Nürburgring. And a few weeks ago, he did a race in a
Cayman that had been derated, power wise, so that he could get his license. If he goes to
Nürburgring, even if you're Max Verstappen, it's so German, you're not allowed to race in the top
category straightaway. You have to graduate. So he went and did a race in a Cayman with a sock
in the intake effectively to reduce the power. And then and then he graduated to doing a race
last weekend in the top class. And probably one in his first attempt. And it's so ridiculous,
because there is some serendipity. You don't just turn up because you're the quickest to win.
But he did. And it was Chris Cooper and myself, I'm a little bit of wants to win a race there
for many years. Got nowhere near it. But he turns up first time and wins. Sorry, Manish, carry on.
So Nick, you think a couple of, thank you, very thing. I just, a couple of
things. He was four and a half seconds quicker, his fastest lap than the next quickest guys.
Actually, eight seconds faster than the guy who came second. After his eight laps, he had a
minute lead over the rest of this field when he handed the car over me. How can you do that?
I don't really understand that. And just two little tiny bits that resonated for me. I was just
wondering if Bernie had been around. He would never have let Max do that. He would have made sure
they were all kinds of cast iron contract bits and pieces in his red ball. Because Max has shown
a light on a completely different form of racing. He's made, I mean, I watched it. It was a fantastic
race. And this is, this is just what you forget. And his onboard charts, the way he takes the lead,
he just goes through the two guys in front of me. And he's gone, he didn't, he didn't build up to
that speed. He's okay on lap one, okay on lap two, then bang, lap three. He's one of what a
beautiful circuit. That was the other thing that really hit me. You know, you two talk about
Nürburgring all the time. We never get to watch it. You watch it. He's bought a new circuit
into my life for the middle-aged man in a completely enjoyable way that's known for me alone.
I mean, is he the best right now by my LCS? Could he be the best of all time?
Oh, he could. That's quite a big thing for me to say. But he really, really, it's certainly in my
lifetime. And he's just, what an extraordinary human being. Before I invite Chris Cooper to speak,
I never thought I'd do this, but I'm going to quote Helmut Marco. And you know, the others all go
to some kind of, I don't know, fashion show or something. And he goes to the Norge Lifer, one of
the toughest, toughest circuits we have. I think it's very good sign. It's a very good sign how
involved Max is in motorsport. And I, I, I wholeheartedly agree that he is a, he's the marketing
department for racing for me at the moment. I'm being a racer. And I, you know, I'm a bit biased
because I made a film with him, but I just love how racery he is, that it's about racing. Got a day
off. I'm going to the Nürburgring. I just think it's fantastic. Chris Cooper. I totally agree with
that. I think that one of our correspondents, Andrew from New York City wrote to me last week,
the really, really good question and challenge. And Andrew said, it's he's Jim Clark of today.
That's a really big question. We could probably come back to that as big a question,
because there's a lot to talk about Jim Clark, because 1965 was Jim Clark's. And it's Mirabilis,
we need to talk about that before 25 is out really, but he's right. And Helmut Marco is right.
There is, it doesn't feel like at that level, does anybody else thinking about what can I drive
today? And it means lovely hearing you talk. I know we, I go on about it. I get really irritating
and looking for lots of people about going on about the Nürburgring. Do you? No, I won't have it
Neil. No, no, I don't know. I can't remember you ever mentioning me. Being nice, Neil, you're
being nice, but I, you know, honestly, I have to say I won't have it, you know, that's it. Yeah,
I am, I am irritating. I know, I get that. Other circuits are available. No, they're not. They can
all fuck off. It's not. Oh, yeah. One called spa named after a supermarket. We need to put,
we need to talk to talk about when I was on pole by 1.8 seconds to spa and the catering
European championship. Can you probably edit function to this section? Yeah, anyway, I didn't start this.
So although he produces just appeared on the screen. That's my time out. That's my red flag.
Watching his face, watching Max's face with his teammate. He had a teammate. He had somebody
not like the bloke, not like the garage. The bloke he shared the car with. This chap who,
unless you're in racing, you won't know who this guy is. He's a really nice, quiet young chap,
very, very professional. He's been in Max's sim racing team. He was racing a radical,
little baby little sports car in the UK a few years ago. And now he's racing a GT3 car
and the VLN to us all far. Two young guys, completely different places in life. One is a four
times world champion. The most famous car in racing driver in the world. And other guys,
there's a lovely chap Chris. And they were just enjoys, they enjoyed like Chris, like we used to do,
you know, we didn't win. I think we won one class race once in the six hour or a few years ago.
But we didn't, we got a podium, didn't we? We didn't do a lot of winning. We didn't do a lot. I
don't know. We didn't do a lot. Anyway, but it was just, we enjoyed it. It was just nice. So I think
he, he is, you're right. He's the head of marketing for circuit racing.
I don't know how it happened, but I do believe we're part of a groundswell of appreciation for Max
in the UK that wasn't there maybe even six months ago because you just got to recognise when someone's
doing it the right way and they're just cool as hell. That's the great thing for me is that
the lots of F1 drivers out there trying to be cool, but one of them isn't trying to be cool
and because he's not trying, he's just cool as fuck. He's the coolest. Yeah, go on here. What do you
reckon? You are the arbiter of cool in this? No, I'm not. You know, I, you've said it all. I think what's
for me, I love everything about everything to do with cars apart from going around a fucking circuit,
which I don't like. So anyone, anyone that's really talented at it, it's so, I'm so in awe of
that. You know, whether it's going in a car with Chris or Chris, two Chris's, you know, Asha, don't
bloody enjoy it, but I so admire the skill and he's the king of the hill, isn't he? I've got, actually
just jumped to my, I've got a mate called Andy Bruce, whose daughter? Yes. Megan is racing in Singapore
in the end of one academy over this weekend. And the dedication that Megan and Andy and Sue
and the rest of the family have put into Megan to get to, I'm just, you know, it's a slightly off
subject point, but I'm just like, amazing, you know, the family have traveled out. I'd be scared to
death if my daughter was driving an F1 car around Singapore, probably in the ranks, it looks quite
wet this weekend, but to have the balls and determination and ambition and dedication, skill
and all of that shit, it's just brilliant. And Max is the king, but frankly, anyone, and good luck,
Megan, for anyone doing it, it's bloody fantastic. And I'll be sat there watching, smiling,
having a cup of tea and talking bollocks with someone in the pit lane.
Yeah, I, he's just a boss. And again, for someone who was speaking in his probably second or third
language, it was Luca that does it for me. And I won't spoil the film, but he's got a phrase
for what the Moto GP paddock calls aliens. Alien is the best phrase. In Moto GP a few years ago,
there was a journalist that tried to define what it was that a few riders had that no one else had
and they could be defined by just being generational talents. And they were called aliens because
even an alien is defined by being a rider or let's say a sports person who, who even someone that
comes second or third can't understand how they do it. So you're talking about someone who is
already brilliant, can't even comprehend where that extra thing comes from. And Luca calls it
the extra bit. And it's, it's a great phrase and he always does this sort of, he defines the
microns with the fourth finger in the thumb. He goes, you have this extra bit. I mean, Max is the
extra bit, isn't he? He's just extraordinary. And I, I, I just, it's a pleasure watching it. And I,
I suppose as someone who is quite flawed myself, I love the fact that I know that he's flawed. He's
not perfect. There's going to be some disaster around the corner. There's going, he's going to get it
wrong again. He's going to that fiery Max that we saw in Barcelona that isn't great. It'll come out
again. And I, I think, and this is the thing about being seduced by a talent. The more I save him,
the more I'll forgive him, those indiscretions because I just, I want to see it. I want to see this
mercurial talent doing what he does. So I'm coming across as being an absolute fanboy because I am.
I just, it's, we're, we're lucky to see this shit really. It's just lucky. Yes, I think that's
true. So, right, I'm, I've stopped my gushing. I'll move on. So the next subject is, is it
almost too tricky to be discussed here. I think it might be the thorniest issue we've ever even
tried to discuss on this podcast. It's dangerous. This is dangerous territory. Badge or debauch.
I mean, I'm, I'm almost, I'm almost going to walk out the room now, let you, let you scuffle
this out. I'm going to Neil Clifford straight away because I don't know how you can define this one.
This was my suggestion. But why did you go there now? Why go there, Neil? Because it's, it's a
never-ending discussion. It's like the yellow brick road. It's, it's just, leave it alone,
fucking depends. And of course, when you're young and excitable, and, and wanting to show off,
the idea of debauching was ridiculous. Why the fuck would you debauch? You know, you want the,
can you make the badge bigger? Am I going to fuck it? Can I just be very clear that to everyone
in Portsmouth that there's a turbo? Can the badge be this big? And then I suppose as you develop
a level of, I don't know whether it's sophistication or learning. And you start to read those car
magazines and they talk about the German Autobahn. And, you know, the Swiss dentist who would drive from
Gustav to fucking Stuttgart in his E500 or even in E60 or whatever. And it was debauched. And you
started to learn about this nuance of cool that you had no idea existed. It was all about the badge.
Make them bigger. So then it all got a bit complicated, isn't it? Because you then you're not sure
whether, and then you started to see these executives in the early 90s. For me, the one of the
biggest, you only debauched, this is my summary of my rant or my rattling on, when
that you can still give signals that it is a special car. But you only, it's only to the people
you really care about. This, my example is that 750 I L of late 80s, early 90s, the first 750, the V12 car.
With the wide kidneys. With the wide kidneys. So, and actually the different wheel, that
matter wheel. It wasn't an L. It started out as an I. Yeah, which actually is even cooler. Yeah.
And we're all going to be on current classics trying to find one of them after this podcast. Because
there is message of the message. The message of the debauched, but with the reference points that,
oh my god, he's double cool. You're cool if you've got a set. There was another reference as well.
Do you know what it was? The badge on the side. The exhaust to square. Where exhaust? Yeah.
Fucking, there you go. So, you, I think that's the point. When you start to juggle that,
I'm cool because I've got that car, but I'm actually going to send a message of even more cool,
but I'm only talking to the people that I care about. You know, my six, my Mercedes Ben 6.3
estate, the one of one Crawford car, Crawford, Crawford car, debauched. So, you've got a Mercedes
estate, which obviously all a bit weird anyway, because that car didn't exist in that series,
but then it was debauched. But if you knew about the twin exhaust pipes and you knew about probably
the sound, if anything, my turbo S 991 debauched. So, I think debauching is part of a journey,
but you've only do it if you can make the point to other people of what the car actually is.
So, it's a very, very complicated, wonderful little nuance of car ownership.
You can't debauch a four, five, six. Could people know what it is?
I think you've just hit the nail on the head, actually. Debaging isn't, it's not a singular event.
For me, it's a bit of a process. And if you like, at one end of the process, it's something like
the anniversary, couldn't touch. It's undybatiable, because it is just a statement as a car in itself.
And at the other end, you're absolutely right. You can have a complete sleeper Mercedes. No one has
a clue. It's just black. All they can see from the outside, you know, are either it's clearer,
or it's smoked windows. And they only know when you smoke them on the road. But it's funny,
even at university, I had a friend whose parents had a 420 SEL. So, this is mid 80s, late 80s.
On T-Sync? Yeah, on T-Sync. On T-Sync, I kind of bangle sweet spot. And they would always have
debauched cars. And it just, I think there's, and they're always maybe blue, I remember that. And
I always thought that was just fantastically cool, because what you were saying was, don't look at me.
I'm very content. I don't actually care whether you notice this, or you don't notice this.
This is for me. And that's what I love about debauching. I mean, another kind of, I guess,
analogy is, on a fry, do you put the shields on the side, or do you not put the shields on side?
I think there's so much more attractive. That's a totally different shot. That's a novel one.
It's kind of associated. I think I do wonder, okay, so you look at your, look at your
red and five, and you talk about it. I mean, do you want to have the words red and five turbos?
You're absolutely right, along the bottom of the doors. It's all connected with
badging and debauching. And my default setting is mega debauched. The only time I think a
badge looks kind of cool is if you read the word, couldn't touch on the back, or BBI in that fantastic
lettering in the back, or Murra with the whip tail on the back. So then you've got kind of a badge,
you've got a little tiny monica telling you what this car, what this car is, but that's the
only badging I like. Otherwise, I just think a little prancing horror syrup would have to
silver a ray for something at the front and something just as small at the back. Prenti, absolutely
plenty. Let's Cooper. I think there's another, because I agree with all that, and I think there's
another dimension in there, which is affected how we think about badging or debauching.
And that's in, in the current and modern world, it feels like
too many car makers are trying too hard to be heard and to make a point visually styling-wise
and so forth. And anything you can do to dial that back down again feels like a relief.
And I thought it the other day, I mean, you can't, I'm doing a lot of drive around the UK at the
moment, and I've had that awful legacy. So if I sound pretty shit, I am feeling very poorly.
I'm not making a fuss about it whatsoever, but I am really, really poorly, because I've got that
bloody legacy going around. I've done a lot of driving around the countryside the last week or so.
And earlier this week, I was driving down to Cornwall. I was alongside, is it the mid 2010s?
At the C6, C7, Audi RS6, from the last one that looked subtle. It was a 2015 play car.
It was like a quite a dark grey, clear glass, sensible spec wheels, and it was debauched.
And apart from its stance, which looks really cool, and actually made me think about,
actually, think, can you make a note of this as well? Brute in a suit is a car label that's often
used. I think we need to discuss Brute in a suit. We'll come back to another time. So that mid 2010s
Audi didn't need to shout. So I think the more we get to modern cars, you think, if I haven't bought
a new car for a while, but the ones that I have bought have all been debauched, because I just don't
want to shout as much, because they're shouting enough already. You're shouting differently,
that's the thing. You're shouting to the people you want to shout to. It's partly that.
It's partly that, but it's also, yeah, I think it's both of those. I agree with that. I agree with
everything you said. I think that was spot on. And when you have a chat with somebody that come up
to you can't say, oh, that's the, that's the turbo s, isn't it? You've got said yes,
said white, and you, and you've, most people would say that's actually really good. You've debauched
it. Or like me, you're welcome. It's a did the badge fall off. Yeah. Well, it wouldn't
be on yours. But there are cars. There are some cars that I think live because they are badge.
And maybe it's because we were younger and it was all things near said.
Fords of the 1970s and 80s. Yes. Have got to be bad, because you've just got to know,
was that a two-litre Elgonard or a two-litre GL? That's all you need to know. And if they're not
bad, I cannot tell you how frustrating and painful that is. It's just you know. And is it? Yes,
I know it's the gear, but isn't it the gear X? Yes. Because if you had the gear X, I know what's
inside the car that we come with that. And I want to show those lovely little gear badges on the
side of the front wing. I have no fucking idea what it was. Well, the internet didn't exist,
is it? And I couldn't read. So I had no idea what gear was, but they were, they were lovely.
I've been watching top gear, and I assumed it was GEAR when I was a kid. Gear. What's gear,
isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. It's a styling house. Was it gear was a styling house that
Fords bought, didn't it? We know what it is now. Yeah, I know. Well, some people might not know,
because they're not like 11,000,000 years old like us. But yeah, so I think the other one is E-30
BMWs. Oh, I've got to be badged. Because a 316 has got to place. A D-30 E-30 316 somehow
loses something. It's lost its dignity. But then the way that BMWs were, if it's D-Bagged,
you then get to play the guessing game based on number tailpipe stamps. You do that. I don't
do that. I don't do that. Because you can follow on from an hour going, I think it's a 320
car. That's good. It's a cylinder car. But I need to look inside and look at where the red line on
the rev counter is to work out. It's a 325 or a 320. Yeah. So you've covered this beautifully.
I'll add one thought on this, which I occurred to me two late in life. And it's a question,
really. What is the state of mind of the individual that chooses to D-Bagged the car when you?
That's the fascinating thing for me is, and I think it's a window into a state of mind,
to where you are in your life, to how you feel about yourself, that when you are lucky enough to
expect an RS6 or a W124 500i in 1993, whatever it is, what are you saying about yourself? When you
when you're offered that remove badge, that little thing that you either tick it on a shooter paper
on the internet, it's actually really important. It says far more about you at that moment in time
than perhaps you realize, are you trying to be subtle? Are you trying to fake being subtle? Are
you wanting to be subtle, but really you want the badge on there, but you want to be you're forcing
this cool, because actually you realize that it would be a cool thing to do, but really you'd love
to have the badge on there, but you don't want to be that person, because on piston heads you realize
you've got a load of kudos points. I mean, it's a fascinating piece of psychology, just that one
decision you make about the car, I think. I've only ever done it once. It was on a press car.
And looking back, I don't regret it, but it was completely absurd. I had a battleship gray,
the Nardo Gray RS6 long-term car that Audi let me spec in 2013, I think it was.
I remember it, yeah. And it was cool car, because they let me have clear glass,
but I de-badged it, because I thought, well, you have to de-badge it, I'm at that stage in
how cool is it, but looking back, it was a battleship gray wide-bodied Audi A6, it was so obvious,
it was an RS6, it might as well have had RS6 all down the windows in a race delivery, it was so
obvious that it was an RS6, the debatching it was absolutely pointless, it fed my need to be part
of the debatching stuff more than anything else, I think. So, but I vacillate hugely about this,
sometimes I follow cars and I think I wish you de-badge that, but for the most part it says far
more about the individual than it does the car, I think. I think Mercedes to me is the crucial,
because it's such an understated, bow-housey German, I think the main reason I de-badge the Turbo
S, because I don't think Porsche are very good at badges, they overdo the badge,
yes, it ends up being 19 inches long like a fucking curly-early on the front of the stand,
there has always been very understated, actually the debatching for 20 SCL, that's another
discussion, because maybe they're doing that because they want you to think that they've
debatched a 560, the fact that you're debatching a middle model, that's another strategy,
we're really only referring to debatching, I think, the pinnacle model in order to not make
the statement that I've bought the pinnacle model. I was a bit of that in us. To be continued,
we'll do this. It's a really good discussion. Let's move on, I'm running out of time here,
so a very quick one, best car, 1,000 mile trip, we've got to be quite quick on this people,
people have got to move on and do their work. I managed to wrote this, brackets, I have to imagine
this one, which I think is rather lovely, because it is effectively two times as an annual mileage,
not this year, not this year, not this year. It's not with you, Manage, what would you take with
your 1,000 mile trip, and if it doesn't, conclude the word at Lola, you'll have been letting it down.
No, no, no, I wouldn't be Lola, actually. I would, I wouldn't really rather
inspired by your day, Mila, I really have. The ride call, you gave me a ride to the railway station
and I just loved everything about it. I loved how it made me feel. It made me feel incredibly
important, but in a, not in a show, in a very debatched way, that's what it made me feel.
It made me feel important in a debatched way, and I think what I would love, quite to do a
thousand miles and something, or I would love a kind of late 80s Rolls Royce Cornish convertible.
So, in the 70s and 80s, I think the ride quality would be incredible, it would be just quick enough,
I could get that hood up and get that hood down. I think they just, I know they drive a little bit
like boats, but can you imagine a more comfortable, in a way, what a perfect debatched thousand miles,
that would be, that would be my car. If you Google at the moment, Charles Sarche's
Brewster Green Cornish with tan leather is for sale. Is it? He's quite rich, does. Harry met
Carlson. Google it, it's on his website. We want a percentage, boys, we want a percentage.
Yeah, we do. That's the car, really. So, Neil Clifford.
Well, it depends what the bloody journey is. This is an impossible question, of course, because
if it's your last thousand miles, and you're on your way to death, then it's going to be a different
car, isn't it? If you're with, who's the passenger? If you're with your wife, you're not taking
something, or my wife, I'm not talking, I'm not being blasé, but every wife, but you don't want
really, really loud hard suspension, horrible head achy car, do you? I think it's an impossible
question, I could name a million cars. The only car that I've actually done it in, maybe I should
just answer that, which is Buckinghamshire, two Venice, and it's a thousand and twenty-eight
miles, and I left at 4.30am with four of my mates, Paul, my friend, was living down there,
and we're like, we're coming to see you, you're a bit pissed off, we're going to come down
and spy your pizza, and we went down there and saw the millie millie, and it was, sounds very
knobby, but I'm being honest, 599 GTO, now that is a car, there is quite a rough old car to do a thousand
miles in one day, we arrived in Venice at 11 o'clock at night, you get to Milan, and you think,
oh, job done, once you've done seven, anyone could do 700, right? 800, that last 200 every mile is
like five miles, and you've got the windows down, you've got, you're singing to shiny happy people
to keep yourself awake, you feel sick because you've had too much haribo, you know, the coffees
wearing off, Red Bull actually works in that situation, it's the only thing, or monster, even worse,
but that last 200 miles from Milan to Venice in a, what colour was it, it's a great
pot, a Ponzi Metallica 4 thing red colour with chocolate leather, 599 GTO, but I can give you
a list of 20 cars depending on the situation and the passenger. Chris Cooper, I'm a bit like Neil,
it sort of really depends, but if you ask me right now, what's front of my mind, it's the stuff
that we saw Chris on Saturday morning when we went to that very lovely little thing that Bentley
did with Joe the juice and Duke of London on top of their lovely building on the Brentford River
era, and there was just some stunning Bentley's there and there was, we'll put this picture up
properly, current model continental GT in a lovely green over 10, that was, I mean yes, I do a
thousand miles in that, this thing here, the last ever, we'll put a picture up, the last ever
Bentley azure, it's got the little footplate on the side of the sill says, the last ever Bentley
azure, I do a thousand miles in that, and then there was, and I also do a thousand miles in,
where is it, that Ponzi T, I put a picture up, there's a lovely Ponzi T, they're all three of them,
I do with just front of my mind, I do a thousand miles and all of those, Bentley's probably the one
that, you Bentley might be the one, but actually that, that would, to shout out Duke of London,
they put on something quite special there, they're knocking out of the park, I only did that
so for this thing as well, clever boys, which I was cool and clever, I'm not, I would say
I did a thousand miles in that, in that Daimler Managing, I didn't mean to, I started a job in
Derby, and then got a note saying you've got to go to Edinburgh for the rest of the job, and I thought
well I'm in this old day, I'll just do that, so I did do a thousand miles, not in one hit,
but I did a round chip of a thousand miles in it, and what it reminded me is that on British roads,
if you do a thousand miles, you need a British car, because they were designed to be used on
our slightly broken surfaces, and there's a calmness to the suspension, particularly from that
era, a mountain 2000 car, that is unashamedly soft, and it's just a great place to be, the big
question for me, do you want an enormous fuel tank, so you don't have to stop, or do you not care,
and the older I get, the less I care, not because my bladder has become useless, but because
I quite like stopping, I found myself stopping a couple of times, I went up through North
umberland, which I don't normally go that way, and I just, I found myself stopping just to get out and
look, and so get up a bit, so I really am becoming an old bastard, but I really enjoyed driving
that Daimler all that way, and I drove slowly as well, I really didn't drive fast, it was joyous,
and I didn't think that's very interesting, that the driving slowly strategy, we should talk
about that, yeah, and I have to say, even though it has obvious upsides, you do lose concentration,
you've got to be careful, you can't just go into, I'm thinking about other things mode,
but that's another conversation, so yeah, that's what I would go for, that Daimler, which is
down at Swallow Racing at the moment, they're fantastic people near me having its EGR pipe replaced,
but it's done 6,000 miles now this year, and it contributes towards my calmness,
such as it is, let's move on now to our two car garage, I don't have to make quite quickly here,
hold on, here we go, right, I'll read it out to you now, here we go, you're an architect,
I know Managed Road is, because I think secretly he'd love to be an architect,
and your significant other are at a point where you can enjoy life,
children are at university or beyond, so it's the two of you and your dog who loves his back seat
bed, this sounds very familiar, you've loved something about the proportions of the coupé,
so you are going to own two, they have to be pretty and interesting,
that stocks and shares isre of 5,000 pounds that you put into Apple and Microsoft 15 years ago
has come good, no budget, we love these, it's limitless, Neil Clifford limitless, oh god,
this is really tough isn't it, because I've got such a long list, but I'm going to keep it sharp,
I was, so I've been down the Bentley routes, so I go and buy myself a lovely 90s Bentley,
so I take it to Bentley and say there's no budget, make it the coolest car that's ever existed,
I think that would be an amazing strategy, I think, look my summary is, I'm not doing a Bentley,
because someone else would choose that, I'm taking a Lamborghini Spada,
I'm taking it to some genius engineer who's going to put a modern drive train from Lamborghini in it,
because they're fast enough, but if you're going to drive this car a lot, you want it
bulletproof reliable, you want the air conditioning brilliantly, you want better brakes,
so you're going to, you're going to basically build an Spada over the top of a mercilago,
and you're going to have it, it's spokely built in the back seats, the back seats aren't too bad,
but depending on the size of the dog, it might be a bit uncomfortable for him, because he can't
lay down, so you're going to take that, I'll be sitting in the engine, yeah, you're going to take,
you're going to, no, we're putting the engine in the front, okay, yeah, you're going to reverse the
mercilago, yeah, it's going to be a wacky race, you know, wacky race it, so the dog, the dog,
the dog is, you rebuild the back, and you've got a nice place for the dog to lie down,
and then need a convertible, for me, the prettiest four seats, because you need the dog thing,
convertible ever, is that Mercedes Benz 280, 3.5 of the 1970 era, whatever it is,
W109, and maybe it's called W108, because that was the coupé, or whatever it is,
that is the prettiest convertible foresee ever made, no discussion, but you're taking it to Brabus,
because Brabus have done a few of these, and you're sticking the G-Wagon 63 engine in that W109
convertible, and you've then got, and you're debatching it, so you've got the,
the least of its problems, no, it'd be Brabus, they charge you three and a half million quid,
and it will take you four years, but it will be magnificent, maybe you can start a little side
exhaust from the G-Wagon, just to make, no badges, but side exhaust, and that for me is two mega coupes.
One of them's a convertible, though, which isn't a coupé, I love this podcast, absolutely fantastic,
absolutely amazing. Manage Pandy. I looked at the current classics website,
Proud Partners, and I forgot to do that. Don't worry about it. No one knows it. They love
you, Neil, don't worry about it. No one knows it. I have to say, in terms of, if I was an architect,
in terms of proportion, I think that's, that's it. Did coupes get better looking,
no, they probably didn't find out in a minute? So we've got a bit of group thing, it is
completely forgivable. This thing's a 1986 quattro, it's beautiful, clear glass silver, inside
it's cloth and leather, it's got that very, very subtle sort of German, I can even describe it
German tartan, it's so subtle, it's beautiful, it's the car I would want, and then I think there's
something about architects and France, and I think it's got something to do with
Le Corbusier, it's got to do with, I think, driving, driving around, drinking, they're so cultured,
I think that's what I like about architects. It's really, it's not a profession, it's a culture,
they're just cultured, and I think the second car could only be this baby, you know, love it,
it has a 1972, perjot 304S, oh, coupes, I know exactly what you mean, it's a pretty kind,
it's all about, or this car is all about how it looks, isn't it, and you know it won't break down,
is that pinnacle, is that pinnacle, is that pinnacle, sorry, who designed that?
I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I saw that as well, I thought it was very, very pretty,
okay, you're talking your wife, Chris Cooper,
coupes of the 1980s, coupes of just the 1980s I think, so I had the same Audi quattro
that you did, I just thought, I just couldn't get past that, and then I also had, because I think
coupes of the 1980s, 635 CSI, I almost went for that, that'll start on the auction site on Saturday,
the boys were somewhere, finning camera somewhere, and they came back to me, they came back to the
farm of the weekend, and they said, Dad, we saw the most, the call is 635 CSI, not an M635,
635 CSI, how call is that? Why haven't you ever had one? So, I might be for that one,
I actually had a third one as well, I actually had a third one as well, and I just, it's mad, but if
budget is no object, starting next week on car and classic, there's an auction for an intercept
FF project car, what could go wrong? I take that to Bravis and say, do you best?
Go to the cash point every day, take out your maximum amount of money, and just throw it in the
nearest bin. I think interceptor is this itch that needs to be scratched. I thought that name,
no, I mean, yeah. So, coupé is, it's an exotic word for me, it always was exotic,
and I love the fact that Audi actually used it in the name of a car, so if you bought a non-quattro
Audi with the narrow body, it was called an Audi coupé, and they kept that name for many, many years,
as an exotic word for an exotic car, because it meant it was a life choice, wasn't it? You were
saying to people, I can use the coupé, either you didn't have the children, or you didn't give
a shit about your children's comfort, it was one of the two. So, for me, I'm going to choose
something I've always wanted, I've been to see this car actually, and I didn't proceed with it,
but it is magnificent, it's a posi-blue, 365 GT2 plus 2 GT4 plus 2, it is absolutely sensational,
and it's not, you know, I've seen it up close, it's got a few bits that are a bit sort of rough
cosmetically, but actually, as a car, it is unbelievably gorgeous. You're in the market, or you're
thinking about buying a Ferrari, please go and look at this thing, it's fricking stunning, and it just,
it's everything a coupé should be, it's arresting, it's sharp, it, when you see it,
you imagine the journey you're going to take in it, so I think that's, the coupé is about
journey, isn't it, it's about what am I going to do, so I just, I fell in love with that, and I,
yeah, wish maybe I'd bought it, but another day, the other one that reminds me of how the
coupé was something that was exotic, and I never managed to do it when I was younger,
is the Honda CRX, because it was as affordable as a hot hatch, but there was something about it
that was cool, and there's a VTEC, look at that, that's all that, it's such a cool car, it's a great
looking coupé, and when you see them, they're so small, a coupé should be small for me,
they were such delights to drive, they're not options, I'm sorry, car and classic, they're both
classified listings for me this week, but that's been 101,000 miles, which for VTEC must mean it's
barely run in, what a gorgeous thing, I love the coupé, right, let's, let's go to some music,
we'll go for Chris Cooper first. So I drove, had to ride back the force call
this week, feeling really really horrible, this bloody logo you're going on, and I went all the way
through Spotify, and something came up that I thought, that is, that's this week's, it was originally
by Cass Elliott, Mama Cass, Mama's and the Puppas, make your own kind of music by Paloma faith,
that got me through, I played it about 10 times end to end, to get me to the lowest point of
running out of Red Bull, no more wine gums, I don't want to stock, because I feel really horrible with
this lurgy, it was brilliant, so yeah, Paloma Cass, every mile feels like five miles, that's
the description of it, no clippin', I've been listening to you too, Joshua Tree, what an album,
they're all good, oh, I'm looking, one tree hill, yeah, that's a tune, yeah, that is a tune,
Manish, I have a boy who's going to university on Saturday, so we did a little bit of
boys weekend, got Lola all the way down to Hampshire and back again, no problems, no drivers at all,
actually in a very naughty section of Motoe, I might just have hit three digits, just for a few
hundred yards, for the benefit of the audience in kilometers. In kilometers now, in kilometers now,
exactly, in kilometers now, and what's great about this is that he picks the music,
because the one thing I did do is get a Bluetooth system hidden in it, and he found,
and I'm going to win the music, I don't normally compete in the music category, but I'm going to
win this, he found a Brazilian track, which is the most upbeat track you've ever heard in your
life, and it was written about Emerson Pitipaldi, winning the Brazilian Grand Prix, and it's called
Lotus 72D, and it is by guy called Zera Beto, and you will listen to that, and Emerson,
he wins the race, he comes around the corner, and he just blows everyone away in Portuguese,
it's such a good track, I could never win like it, Lotus 72D, quite possibly the most beautiful
modern Formula One car, and most definitely the best song I've ever heard on motor racing,
and I can't believe we missed it, I can't believe we missed it. How am I supposed to follow that?
That is quite niche. I've been listening to all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff in the last
week, there are lots of miles, I'm going to go for something wacky that always makes me smile,
and that is the B-52s rock lobster, which just, I just think it's totally out there, but it's a
brilliant, a brilliant thing to make you smile, first thing in a car. Managed wins that,
deary me, who's going to go straight off and Spotify that tune? That's amazing. I'd like to say a
big thank you to my learning colleagues for joining me, this is recorded on the first day,
it's a late one, thinly sorry about the short edit time for you, to manage to kneel and to my
other Chris, thank you very much, we'll see you, or you'll hear us on episode 57 next week.
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About this episode
Max Verstappen's recent dominance at the Nürburgring is a hot topic, showcasing his exceptional talent in motorsport. The episode dives into a film premiere featuring Luca Montezemolo, highlighting the emotional connections and experiences shared among the hosts and notable guests. Discussions also touch on the significance of Garage 56 at Le Mans, where innovative vehicles are showcased. The hosts debate the merits of debadging cars and share personal anecdotes about their dream cars for long journeys, all while celebrating the joy of driving and the camaraderie within the automotive community.
Download Car & Classic’s app today to see our 2CG’s, and our weekly pick of our favourite listings: https://candc.li/App_Download_
This week, the team are fresh from the world premiere of Luca – Seeing Red at Everyman Bayswater – and what an evening it was! This, reaction to Max Verstappen’s (unsurprising) pace at the Nürburgring, and much more! We hope you enjoy.
