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Hello, and welcome to the AutoCard podcast.
My Week in Cars with Pry here.
Steve Cropby over there.
Hello, Steven.
How are you going, mate?
Very well.
Thank you, mate, because I need to tell the listener about the fact that we've teamed
up with a sponsor called Anderson EV.
Do you know that, Steve?
Yeah, I reckon it's just about sort of got through the bonds by now.
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You can find at Anderson-EV.com.
Steve, we've had a letter, so we've had a few letters.
Thank you, listener, various listeners.
John Stubberfield says, I've been listening to your pod and I think it more
important than weird number plates is the current trend for running cars on the
road without wings or mudguards, mostly pre-war cars, but some recent specials.
I'm sure this is illegal and dangerous.
Some people worry about racing numbers left on cars being driven on the public
highway, so sort of vintage racing cars and things like that.
Yeah, you're supposed to put it.
But turn a blind eye to this problem, nothing to do with some of the high
ranking members of various clubs doing this, I'm sure.
It would do immense harm to the vintage scene if there would be a serious
injury to an innocent person that could be blamed on open wheels.
They got that off my chest, says John Stubberfield.
Yeah, I think his concern is pedestrians, hitting pedestrians.
I think he's got two problems.
One is hitting pedestrians, which you could easily do.
And I think a nice cycle guard does tend to fend them off of it.
But also what these unfettered guards tend to do is launch a lot of junk
into the atmosphere, particularly on muddy roads or and so on.
I must say, do you remember there was a there was a make of TVR varied
towards the end of TVR's rain and it had holes in the mudguards.
And when you went, if it rained, all this tremendous amount of crap used
to come up through the through the bodywork and lob on the windscreen.
It was amazing. I did not know that.
So it turns out hold in there to reduce high pressure in the.
Yeah, as some cars do, they have a little some some vents to reduce
it was the pressure in the wheel in the wheel arch area.
Yeah. But it just let stuff out.
Yeah. And when that John's letter arrived, I must say, I I thought of that
immediately because it is if you have an experience that you kind of
don't realize how much rubbish is chucked into the atmosphere, both on
your car and other people's by cars without guards.
But I think his problem is also, you know, people being hit by,
you know, and perhaps not, you know, mudguard would fend
the actual wheel damage off.
Yeah, you could get tangled in an unguarded wheel in a way you wouldn't
with one with a gun.
Presumably, if it was legal at the time, it still is now.
But the argument, yeah, I believe so.
But but a lot of people take license.
So I think it's only the cars around about World War One.
Right. That were legitimately allowed to do it.
And I think mudguards came along pretty quickly.
Remember, I had a Model T speedster and that
even that couch, I think was nineteen seventeen or something.
That was was required by law to have mudguards.
In fact, there were I think there were three things.
A horn could be a sort of mechanical type of a single rear vision mirror
and mudguards really with the three specifications.
That was the kind of design rules of the time of the time.
Didn't need to have a speedometer at the time.
No.
That's very cool. Take a year.
Do you miss the Model T?
I do. It's I sort of do.
Although I didn't use it as much as I should have done.
It's just like, you know, what it's like owning cars in our job.
You you you know, there's always something you should be driving
for the purposes of a story.
But it was I had some high times in it.
And it was a really surprisingly good car.
And I learned to love the Model T.
I bought it because Goodwin and I once drove from the centre of London,
auto cars officers in nineteen thirteen
to the Geneva show.
So we drove across Europe in a 1913 brass radiator Model T.
And I was so impressed by the car
and its capability for the time that had to have one.
And it was good. It was good.
Yeah.
Brilliant.
You have also never owned an Aston Martin.
No. Is that all right?
Or tell me how you feel about them at the moment.
Well, I I suppose because I came up through
the era when Aston Martins were pretty poor.
You know, quite crummy
running gear and not very well developed.
I didn't have the usual worship for them that some people did.
Only really after the DB nine did they.
Well, DB seven to some extent.
But the DB nine did they become pretty good.
And so I've my my respect for them is I'm a late developer.
But I went to this event, Gaiden, on the weekend,
which was the AMOC Aston Martin, known as clubs,
90 year birthday, I think.
And there were just some really nice cars for sale.
They're the ones that I liked with the van.
Inevitably the cheap ones.
But the I think one of the best looking
Aston's ever is a V8 Vantage, a little car.
This sort of 2005.
Yeah, four points, really to V8 so related to the Jag V8.
They every, you know, how people always claim
that they're different when they're quite similar.
But anyway, do you know how similar they are?
No, but I think I presume there's
I mean, all the block stuff, bore centres and so on will be the same.
And I think the four point the thing they call the four point three.
Which was the original Vantage V8 engine, I think,
was what Jaguar called a four point two.
I see. So block wise they would be.
Yeah, pretty similar.
I think there were, you know, there were some valve gear changes.
And I bet you the electronics were configured differently.
That's always the the fig leaf these days, isn't it?
Because you can make an engine feel fairly different.
Just changing the electronics.
But I think they're, you know, good engines, no doubt.
I had one. I had a long term or a four point three.
And I foolishly took it back to work service.
Do you remember, they were in Newport Pagano to get just because it needed a service.
And some customer was wandering around there, saw my car
and went to the sales guys and said, I want a car like that.
I want a car like that.
I want that car.
And they said, oh, OK, we can find you one.
And he said, no, I want that car.
So I got the car back from service and in came the phone
called two or three days later saying, we need your car back now, mate.
Very sorry. We need it back as soon as we as soon as is possible.
Yeah. Yeah.
But and the other car I like is is the
repeat the four door, which is an extended DB nine.
I've got some sentimental attachment to it
because I went on an engineering proving trip to Dubai one time.
And they were they were developing the air con.
And we were desperate to to go out for up in on a day when it was 50 degrees outside.
We finally managed to attain 50 degrees outside air temperature.
That would have this is always engineers cheering in the car because it's so hot.
It was perfectly all right.
Yeah. A bit tight in there.
But I managed to get in the back.
Yeah. So there were four seats, weren't they?
They were because the transmission
run tunnel ran through the middle in quite a big fashion.
As they got a transaxle. Yeah, yeah.
Books at the back or not.
I can't remember.
But it was it was well separated left and right sides of the of the cabin.
Yeah. Very big divider down the middle.
Yeah. With a bit with a sort of individual seats for passengers, weren't they?
But but comfortable, not not over, you know, tight.
But but all right, yeah.
Another. Is the phrase good value?
The phrase I'm thinking cheap. Yeah.
Oh, they cheap enough.
Are they quite cheap? They are.
Well, I think so.
I mean, I was talking to some bloke who said you can get a fit car for
upwards of 30, but I think reality is probably closer to 40.
But for all that car, V 12,
the one that I saw for 40 ish was quite a low milo, you know,
35 miles to 35,000.
I should think it'd be a good thing.
There'd be some adventures, wouldn't there?
You know, the servicing and probably I don't know how the insurance would go.
But interesting.
Yeah, yeah, it would be an interesting hard one.
I did know a photographer who had one for a while.
I think really enjoyed it.
But then had it for a couple of years and went, OK, I've enjoyed it.
I've had it. It's done some good road trips.
I'm happy to move it on.
Yeah, now. But yeah, I could I had a real soft spot for them,
because I just thought they drove incredibly nicely
because the wheelbase was so long and so natural
handling balance to the car anyway, isn't it?
But when you extend the wheelbase even longer,
when they sort of start to move around a bit,
we did a video down at Chobham Test Track and we used to use that.
The snake. Oh, the snake, yes.
That runs through the middle of the sort of series of corners
you could go sideways through.
And it was just so benign because it was so long.
You sort of not the sort of driving you were doing the real world.
But in terms of, you know, having fun with its handling balance,
it was such a sweetly well sorted car.
And you just had all day to you'd sort of sense
that the the rear would start moving around.
You think, well, I don't have to.
OK, I suppose I'll put some lock on.
But, you know, I've got a lot longer than usual to worry about this
because the car's so long and lazy and what a great handling.
Car, because it still had the mechanical stuff of the DB9, didn't it?
So limited slip differential and a great big.
Do you remember Maric Reichman, the Aston Martin chief designer,
telling us that that was his that was his job application?
You know, he went to. Oh, really?
He, Ulrich Betz took over at the as the boss.
And he decided that Reichman was a leading contender.
I think there were, you know, three or four people that he liked.
But so he rings up Reichman and says, design me a four door DB9.
So Reichman, you know, stays up all.
I think there was some story about Maric said,
I could get you something in a couple of weeks.
And he said, no, tomorrow.
Oh, yes, I do remember this.
I don't remember who's talking about this.
So Maric sits up all night to design a four door DB9
and the car that came out is substantially the car that he drew overnight.
Oh, interesting.
So I like that story, too.
Yeah, me, too. Yeah.
Would you have one over it?
Would you have a repeat over a DB9 or a vantage?
I don't know. I think I probably, of all more,
I'd probably go for a for a really nice V8 vantage
because I just think the size is so nice.
And also that car, you know, I've got this BMW on it about people, not modern cars.
The designers know how to place people in cars so they look good from outside.
And I think the V8 vantage, in particular,
when viewed in profile with the driver in it, looks fabulous.
Oh, really?
Whereas if you get an older car like an E-Type,
which is everybody's dream in a way,
but you look at one going down the road,
especially with a big-ish person in it,
they look, I hesitate to say car,
I hesitate to say comical,
but they look ill at ease, shall we say?
Because it's too cramped.
Well, they just don't fit the side window somehow.
It is cramped and the doors are funny-shaped and all that.
But this V8 vantage is the soul of relaxation.
You can just see this person sitting in a nice seat,
bum on the floor, just happy.
That's my pet theory.
What do you think of E-Types visually?
It depends how you feel, doesn't it?
And it depends on the version.
The early ones with the pure two-doors, I think, are terrific.
I'm much more interested in the coupe than the convertible, which...
I just think the side glass and the roof and all that,
they just give the car its character.
And the beautiful rear door, too, that opens sideways.
So I much prefer the coupes. I much prefer the two doors.
I like them before they grew too much chrome
and their headlights went wrong and so on.
So I suppose the thing is everybody goes for the series one and a half,
which is nearly an early one, but with more footroom.
That's probably it, I think. What about you?
I like them, but I don't quite think...
When people say they're the best-looking car in the world, I don't quite...
I don't get that, but I like them.
I like the racing versions of the lightweight versions and things like that.
I could get quite excited about those, but I don't get terribly excited about the others.
I don't know if that's blasphemous to say it in a car podcast,
but they don't quite enthuse me as much as a lot of other cars from that era, and I don't know...
But I think that's legit. You can see the compromises.
You know how people are always saying that the E-types track, rear track, front track,
is actually less than a Morris Minor or the same as a Morris Minor.
Oh, really?
And when you look at the car from behind, you can see that it's got a funny, narrow track.
And later, in cars made afterwards, when components apply, got easier and so on,
it was just easier to correct things like that, so there are some funny bits.
And then they built the E-type 2 Plus 2 and changed the windscreen rake
and lifted the roofline and messed around with it.
That wasn't too good, and then the V12 wasn't too good either.
So it got bastardised.
And I suppose at the time, if you'd never seen anything like that before,
and then all of a sudden that appears, that is not something that I have experienced.
So I've only ever seen it as an old car.
That to me is a crucial point.
If you park that beside a standard 10 or a Rover 14 or some, just kind of different.
Yeah.
Is this of an era which you would find in your latest book that you are reading?
Yeah.
I was on about Peter Grimsdale's book called Super Veloce,
which is all about the rise of the Italian industry.
It's a bit like the first motoring book that he wrote, which was called High Performance,
which was all about the British rise of the British industry,
except it goes a bit further back than that.
It goes back into the beginnings of Fiat and so on.
But Grimsdale's most fantastic researcher and writer,
because he seems to be able to put complex things together in a tale
that just reads like a lovely narrative.
And you suddenly understand where Giovanni and Yelly and Pininfarina got together
and why and how it happened and who they were beforehand and why they were wealthy.
It's just how Italian politics wove its way through all this stuff.
It's a miracle, the book.
He did it with the British one and he's done it again with this.
In between is a book about racing Bentley's.
So the road of Bentley boys.
But this isn't his main racket.
He makes TV documentaries.
He's got some spare time.
He writes the odd thriller.
Oh, does he? Yeah.
Oh, interesting.
Really good.
And so this is just something he took up.
I think the first one he did just before or through lockdown.
And he just discovered he liked them.
And of course the reception, particularly for high performance,
the British one has been very, very good.
And I contend that if you read the first and third,
you will know more about the European motor industry than most people ever do.
That's really interesting.
And you'll enjoy it at the same time because he spins it very good.
Yeah, you keep turning the page like PG, well, not like PG Woodhouse,
but the thing is you just turn the page.
It's a very easy read through.
So I remember Peter being the man from Channel 4 when I worked for the Channel 4 website.
Oh, you know him. Of course you work with him.
He was the bloke who championed driven and deals on wheels
and Channel 4's motoring coverage at the time, I think.
And I worked for 4car, which was the website derivative.
One of those early website magazines that seems to be doing, you know,
it seems to be the thing these days.
Yeah, amazing.
It was good.
It was great.
Richard Bremner was the editor and it ran for a while.
Channel 4 turned it off in the end when they stopped doing TV stuff.
But it was sort of five years of my career from 2005 that I remember incredibly fondly.
Was Peter the producer or something?
I think he was, I don't exactly know what his job title was,
but he was the bloke at Channel 4 who championed motoring programs
and also what we did online, which started out as sort of program support.
You know, some TV shows will go to the website and will tell you stuff about the program.
But 4car was much more than that.
It was a proper motoring magazine online with road tests of everything
and features and column items.
As you would find in any online motoring mag these days,
it was doing that 25...
Well, I started 25 years ago and it was a year or two old at that point.
Wow.
It was a good thing.
As usual, he was there at the beginning.
He's keen to come on the pod and talk about his books.
Yeah, we must.
Well, you can have it right, Lavine, can't you?
Yeah, we'd like that very much.
What was the... that we never went to see but were meant to?
There was an online or virtual or real museum type thing that Peter was in front of.
Oh, that was... I think it still exists.
Yes, a digital portrayal of Jaguar history.
You did it through the computer but you walked into various rooms
and you could go through it as quickly or as slowly as you wanted
and it was absolutely chock full of minutiae
but if you wanted to, you could go through it at your own level, whatever it was.
I believe it's still going and it was pretty successful.
I'm not sure if it was entirely understood by the backers
but certainly had lots of potential.
We could ask him.
Peter will be in touch.
Come and say hello.
We'll come to wherever you are as we...
Well, he's...
That tends to be the way that we work with guests, don't we?
We just go to... we make life easy.
Yeah.
Go to wherever they may be.
He is going to have a launch for Super Volace.
Oh, okay.
Next month, I think.
I know this because I think I'm supposed to sit down
and ask him a few questions.
Oh, there you go.
Oh, well, maybe we'll try and make that work.
That would be a very good idea.
Front cover artwork again by Tim Laselle, I see.
Very good, yeah.
My brother bought me a Tim Laselle print
for my 50th birthday.
I'm still...
I don't quite know where to put it because it's big
and I could put it in my workshoppy clean room area
but seems a shame because I'm just not there
often enough to...
I'll only see it once a week.
Yeah.
So it's got to go in the house
but I don't quite know where to...
I've tried a couple of places and it's like,
oh, it's too big for that.
It doesn't quite work with that over there.
There's not a lot of spaces in my outfit.
Well, space gets hard, doesn't it?
That's really difficult.
Yeah.
Oh, well, I was shooting...
It's amazing.
It's a terrific thing.
Lovely, yeah.
All I ever did for my brother was
be a pain in the backside, younger brother,
and crash his mini and, you know,
what was he giving me?
He's given me a Tim Laselle print.
I mean, unbelievable.
Lovely.
We're going to come back in a moment
with talk of MGCs and steam fares
and more of your correspondence
but in the meantime,
let me tell you about the fact
that this podcast is brought to you in association
with Anderson EV,
makers of top quality EV home chargers,
every one of which carries a seven-year warranty.
What else should we tell people,
the listener in the commercial break?
Have you been in the archive this week, Steve?
Not at all.
I am...
Mudge, it's quite early in the week.
Yeah, that's the trouble.
Listener, I'll let you into a small secret.
We usually record this podcast
at the very end of the week
once we've both written our columns
but because of various holiday-related shenanigans,
we're recording this quite...
You've actually written your column, which is amazing,
which is brilliant,
but we're recording this quite early in the week.
So we haven't yet...
Yeah, it remains to be seen...
...the research stories.
Yeah, what will we need to look in the archive for?
Yeah.
Well, I haven't sort of run out of facts.
The thing is I happened to do
a couple of things over the weekend
that fell into a column
but normally we have to have things occur to us
during the week, don't we?
Yeah, I was looking in last week...
We talked about it last week, though.
The last time I went into the archive
was to look up Audi 100 pictures.
Oh, indeed.
Which we talked about last week.
So I was in the early 80s.
But still, it's just...
You can find...
You will find it.
If you just...
It's themagazinechop.com.com
Just go to the AutoCar website
or search the AutoCar archive.
You will find it.
130 years worth of history.
And if you want to know about a car,
if you've just bought an old car
and you think,
what am I knowing a bit about that?
You will find it.
Yeah.
You will find every...
I had a quick look last week
also at the dashboard of the Audi A2
to see whether
what level of climate control
mine has or not.
Because the air doesn't blow very cold.
And I haven't been underneath it
to see if it's got a air conditioning compressor
or anything yet.
So I just thought,
I'll just have a look at the dash
and see if it's...
If this is full climate control
or air-con or whatever level it is
on mine.
So I think mine has got climate control
but it is...
I just need recharge.
I think it probably needs a recharge.
Yeah.
Because it's done it a few miles, hasn't it?
153,000, I think.
You may find that you just need a dose of gas.
Yeah, a bit of dose of gas
and that'll be all right.
But it still needs its tracking done.
Wouldn't hurt if it had an updated radio.
The radio reception is very bad.
And the CD player,
which it has.
You got any CDs?
Well, no, not really.
Well, there's a few kicking around.
But it's one of these...
I wonder how many people have got rid of their CDs
and are now thinking,
I wish I still had those.
I just...
I don't know.
I wonder if people will
slightly regret getting rid of the physical media.
The Mrs. was just saying the other day
that she's a great one
for clocking trends in the newspapers
and she says that
there's a move among
the younger generation than me anyway
than possibly even the new
who want to own things.
Downloads are all very well but
they like the idea of holding something in their hand.
The CD player is not quite dead.
No.
There is something
about listening to a CD,
an album in the form that the artist
intended in the first place.
Listening to these songs in that order.
I agree.
Which is what we used to do a lot before streaming.
Yeah.
This goes to the same...
You know when we talk about
people are forever asking
whether or not the magazine's done for.
And the thing I always say is
the great thing about the magazine is
that it's got this hierarchy of stories
both in size and position.
And that tells you
what's really important.
You know the thing we put on the cover
is the important story that
the stuff that we write about in the lead
is the important issue.
And the way things are arrayed through the magazine
is something you can't get on a website.
All you get is a succession of web pages.
You don't get the hierarchy
that a magazine can deliver.
And that is the same for
music albums, I think.
Yeah, that is interesting, isn't it?
Yeah, I think it's
one reason why
high-value magazines
in particular will
prevail. Mind you, lots of people would say
AutoCow's high-value these days.
Well, yeah, but
you know what, so is a cup of coffee.
Yeah.
Do you know what I mean?
It's not unheard of to pay
the same amount for a magazine
as you may do, you know,
for a cup of coffee. Yeah, that's very true.
These days I didn't
try to think where I last paid
over, I think I paid like
£4.50 for a coffee recently, I can't remember where,
but I remember thinking
that's quite a lot for
the standard of delivery
that came in.
We're in part two already, I haven't actually
I haven't really mentioned that. Welcome back to
my weekly cast.
Shall we do another letter? It's quite a long one.
Go on.
Paul Andrews writes, hello Paul,
to say,
as a motorist who has always enjoyed
swift, measured and safe driving,
a combination of factors is dictating
that I find my motoring pleasure
today in a different way, average speed cameras
and a newly reduced speed limit
on my local flowing rural A-road
plus the knock-on effect of a few drivers
who go considerably slower than that
just in case.
That, I could talk about this later
because that seems to happen a lot.
It does. A lot more than it used to
but people just driving
incredibly slowly on fast roads.
Because they're scared.
But like 35
in a national speed limit
and it's happened to me
I don't know, every day it seems
I'll come across somebody doing that
and I can't.
Anyway, sorry Paul, I've
your point.
Average speed cameras and a new
then there's the increased traffic
building sites and their random traffic
lights, potholes and a myriad of factors.
Blimey, do you live near me, Paul?
Myriad of factors that have combined to
engender efficiency as my new driving
entertainment. To qualify this
I'm not talking about hypermiling,
just keeping up with traffic, not hindering
anybody else's progress while reaching
my destination as quickly as possible
without spoiling my average MPG
which includes a business Mazda 6
Skyactive Sport 2.0L petrol
estate and a very hard used first
generation Honda Insight 1.0L
hybrid with CVT that I've owned for
17 years. Wow.
The Mazdaers are remarkable for a large family
estate, regularly averaging
45 miles to the gallon
in local and longer
distance mix driving and has seen a best
of over 50 miles to the gallon
on a trip to northern Scotland.
Has strong low end torque enabling short
and good coasting ability considering its
19 inch wide profile wheels. The
Insight has legendary
efficiency and the technique for best
MPG is to keep it when possible in lean
combustion mode on the instantaneous
MPG readout and
manage the assist and regen
so that it uses electric power assist
on inclines.
Whilst hypermiling the Insight
can deliver towards 100 miles to the
gallon but my knocking about
consumption is about 70
with good average journey times.
So to achieve these there are easy techniques
that improve driving smoothness and awareness.
These include keeping momentum
where possible with widen and out cornering
a kin to the racing line
but with smoother efficiency. A benefit
is found from keeping sufficient distance from the vehicle
in front, reading the road
head and watching behind helps anticipation
and keeps concentration as would
be the case if speed was your focus.
This technique allows the gentist throttle
applications and minimal braking. In the
car I coast in neutral or on long
shallow downhill stretches if I
can do so at the pace of surrounding traffic.
Call me sad but I get a perverse
buzz from seeing the average MPV go up
another decimal place or two.
Very occasionally my better half request that I get to
move on rather than the regular slow
down over the old days.
To qualify this she is a self-aspirated
and talented driver but is prone
to losing a few MPG
when she uses the car as she has too
many other important priorities.
Thank you Paul for your note.
Paul is a bit of a clever engineer
isn't he? We know him,
I am sure
he has been involved in
combustion research and all kinds of stuff
so I think
his interpretation of the old
suck squeeze bang blow is better
than most of us.
That is very interesting.
I think that is an interesting challenge.
I find myself doing it
not perhaps to the level
he is talking about but in the electric car
I just try and
I try and use coasting
I try and have the thing
regenerating as often as possible
and it is an interesting
challenge as long as you don't
drive yourself crackers
by going too slowly.
On the way over here I have come over
from sort of near Bista
to sort of near CyroCesta
and the satnav took me
a sort of backish route rather than going
through Oxford and back out into Oxford and back out again
which is it decided was awful
but there was a Suzuki splash
through the first three or four villages
going incredibly
slowly outside the villages
and then for the past for the last sort of
bit in between Berford and here there was
a Nissan cash guy going also
incredibly slowly in
25 in a 20
but then
30 in a 30
but then 35 on a 50 or
60 and it's just
drives you nuts and I just think actually had I
reset
two things I could have done
one of which I should have done
ride my motorbike and I could have
overtaken much more easily
second thing
reset the trip computer and see what I
could do because otherwise it's just
I just find it
just get a move on
I just
there's no
probably fail a driving test if you drive
as slowly as a lot of people drive
on
and I know it's a limit not a target
50 or 60 mile an hour
limits but to drive so much
below them is
well to cause crowding and
massive cues behind and it's just
like it's just not on
does my nut
I think
remember when I was trying to teach a hooligan to drive
that the
speed control was
was I used to bang on
about it because you know
you just need to know how fast you are
going and are allowed to go and
it's got actually if you learn to fly
one of the things that
you become aware of is
speed control because if you come over
the hedge at the wrong speed it won't land
which is
can be a bit of
a problem you know if you bung it through
the hedge at the other end of the runway
so I think being
being aware of what
you're allowed to do and just
being at the right speed
at the right time is a big deal
people just
aren't prepared to read the signs they just take
the do what they think
is the safest or the least
risky thing and it's a pain in the back
so yeah
yeah it
yes it annoys me on the
hypermiling front
I
haven't I still haven't
reset the trip computer on my audio too
and seen what it'll do
but I do I don't think I've ever
mentioned this mate though there was I did
like the Renault Clio 2 launch
diesel
first Clio with a diesel maybe
at a 1.5
1.5 turbo diesel
when Renault launched it they said
yeah Renault UK they said right we'll do
we'll do a drive
from London to
Paris what we'll do is we'll
reset the trip computers in Calais
drive to Paris and we'll have a
competition between all the journalists and see
who can get the highest MPG
on the way into
Paris from Calais
and it's mostly auto route all the way so
I remembered my
aerodynamics
lectures that said actually probably like
30% of all of the
friction acting on a car can be
aerodynamic drag I thought I'll just sit behind
a truck like
unfashionably close
in a way that you couldn't this was
25 years ago probably in a way
you can't these days because most trucks have rear
facing cameras don't they and they get really
if you do slipstream a truck or
a coach they tend to get quite cross about it
but back in the day
it was it was not so bad because
they couldn't they couldn't see you most of
the time I think I got
83 to the gallon out of it or something
ridiculous do you win a prize one by
one by miles
there were two
actually used to work for a auto car
Stuart Bladen who used to knock about with
another bloke
whose name I can't remember
but they used to take that sort of thing
very seriously yeah
they swapped drivers without
stopping
so they put the seat right back
the other one slid into the back seat
the other one slid across so they didn't have to
they did this on the move on the auto
they didn't have to stop the car
people were saying to me God how did you do that Brian
were you coasting were you switching the engine off
just get rid of so much drag
as you possibly can by
slipstreaming another vehicle
a large vehicle
but it is antisocial
I think but you know
rare occasion rare exception when there's
Robbo and I once
on one of that
we did three trips non-stop
across Australia
as fast as we
two of them as fast as we could go
one in a Ford Falcon GT
so quite a fast car
one in a sort of race-repair
Alfa Romeo and Al Feta believe it or not
and
we swapped drivers
while going along
because we discovered that
I mean we were trying to cruise it
it doesn't sound
sort of madly
responsible anymore
but we were trying to cruise it
something over 100 miles an hour at a time
and
was that
legal at the site
sort of yeah I think there were
it was
there were places where it wasn't
it must be said
and there but you know the big problem was
wild animals
you know we
there are camels and things out in the middle
of the Nulliball plane and you don't really
want to hit a camel for
preference anyway we changed
I think we swapped over it
we calculated that you lost a huge amount
of time by just
stopping from 120 to nothing
swapping the drivers and getting
Oh yeah for your average speed
the stops are the
70 which is what we did
Oh well that's alright
because
it was a bit mad
still
I can confess that given that it's 40 years ago
yeah you're probably okay mate
you're probably beyond the
long arm of the
of the what states would you go
through all of them
New South Wales South Australia
Western Australia yeah
there was the we talked about this
a year or two ago the Australian
probably
was he from Victoria
where they have the summer nats
the sort of hot rod
and
summer festival
summer hot fast car festival
there was an Australian
policeman and it still does the rounds
actually talking about more on tourism
and he was incredibly animated about it
and he's like these guys
I swear the evolution
stopped some time ago and this is where
these fellas are and it was just
he was he was
he was superb somebody sent me a link
to it the other day just more on tourism
and he was furious but it was great
we don't in a way that people don't talk
about yeah
the story from there that I love
the most is I hope
I'm told this one before but it was
there was an event where
you know
roadside caravan or whatever it was
clocking people
on a radar and
and some locals
sneaked up to the
to the
this caravan
removed the plates from it
screwed them onto a car
and proceeded to do 100 miles an hour
repeatedly to the radar
so that
these guys booked themselves
that's fantastic that is very good
that's very good
you can tell me about the local
steam fair you went to
oh that's great
one of the joys
of living being brought up
in another country is that you see
the joys of the place that you come
to and one of the things I've always
enjoyed in the UK is
steam fairs they're all over the place
aren't they they're either
dedicated steam fairs or there's a
steam aspect to the local
event
but anyway there's one near here
in a place called Fairford
and the other night
they had a thing that they call
steam in the square which is the
precursor to a
two-day event of the weekend it was on a Friday night
and you go over there
and the town square is
absolutely stuffed with these
you know 30-ton engines
you know probably 40 of them
plus every classic car
that will fit plus you know
blokes in World War II jeeps
motorcycles and you know
there's a steam organ in the middle
of the town square
playing all these tunes
loudly and so on
but the thing that I was taken with
was just the input
of the kids, the kids loved it
and
I just don't believe
that this thing can ever
fade away
because the children
love it so much and they grow up
loving it and they'll be the new
organisers of it and you know
I choose to think that in 100 years
I'll still be doing it because of these
you know the generations of kids
that have enjoyed it
and it made me think about
getting
you know if we have hobbies
old car hobbies
any car hobbies
the key to it is to get
the younger generation involved in it
find a way to make them like it
encourage them to like it and not make it
they are honestly
they hope for the future, all these happy kids
I couldn't get over it
that's really cool, anytime you go to a car show
I know
because motoring does occasionally have
a reputation for being
crusty old blokes
but if you go to a car show
or you go to as we did last week
for a story, we went to drop tin at Caffeine
a machine and spent the day there
there are a lot of young people
and are into cars, I'm really encouraged by that
actually
when people talk about
the fact that
soon enough
whether it comes to pass
or not
that cars will be
near enough autonomous and you won't have to drive
I don't know how realistic that is
but you go to some parts of the world
you can take a driverless taxi if you want to
what would be the
why would people drive if you can
take a driverless taxi and blah blah blah
one, it may not be any cheaper because
the hardware in these machines is quite expensive
so
it may not be any cheaper than running or anything
but if you look at
the arrivals at
sometimes people will put up videos
we videoed the arrivals at the
training ground of
certain sports people
we went to this football club
and videoed the players coming in and out
very very few of them
will arrive in the back of a V-class
Mercedes van
most of them drive themselves
none of them have to
in fact it would be better for them physically if they didn't
but they like to
people like driving
that's the truth of it
and I'm quite encouraged by that
well you can have a V-class outside your door
and it will just take you to training
and you don't need to
all you have to do is leave the house
get in the back, fall asleep
they
vast majority of them drive themselves
and that's because
despite everything
it's quite good, it's quite good fun
and cars are cool
I was at dinner the other night there was an 11 year old girl
very
you know just really sort of
one of these rather clever
intense little kids and she was
having cottoned on to the fact that I was
supposed to know something about cars
she was getting me to explain
that it would be alright for her to learn
to drive a car with a manual gearbox
because you know lots of people said
that she was going to be
required or forced or something
to have an automatic
so we discussed which cars were still manual
and what was good about it
and she was kind of
desperate to fill in the years
between 11 and 17 in order to
get herself into a car
so it's good
what is going to happen
if nobody's making small cars with manual gearboxes
two driving tests
do we get to a point where
the
the default is an automatic
the default is an automatic
and you just have one license
and they assume that if you want to drive a manual
you'll be good enough to drive a manual
then you'll do the effort
maybe you'll have to
get some sort of a rating like you do
to tow these days
they've been to that often
now as well
the trailer towing thing
it's been canned
I didn't know that
it's not very widely reported I don't think
because my lad was
talking about it and he was like
I don't know if I need a thing to
tow a small trailer
up to 450
kilos and you didn't need a different license
and it all got quite confusing
and because they were so behind with tests
and everything from the pandemic
at some point just went
forget it
if you want to tow
we'll assume that you know
what you're doing
I'm pretty sure that's right
well also
the towed vehicles
and the towing vehicles
are much better than they used to be
there's a lot more science applied
to that stuff
most of the time you stick
some trailer behind your
large bullied and it goes fine
you hardly know it's there
I do own a trailer
I'd quite
like to own a car trailer
I know that's silly because I need one once every
two years
it's much better that I just go and rent one for a weekend
but I would have some kind of weird
satisfaction about the fact that I have one
and I
rented one to
bring the A2 home
it was MOT-less at the time
and I really enjoyed towing stuff
I really enjoy driving around with a trailer on the back
I don't know why
but there's a certain
I don't know in the way that kids grew up wanting to be steam engine drivers
I suppose
there's a purpose to it
which I really like
I've got a bike trailer
and the danger with that is that it's so light
that
you can forget it's there
you need
a bike on there so you see it in a rear vision mirror
all the time
but
I get what you mean
that business of
backing up to it
and finishing up with a tow ball
one inch from the socket
it's just satisfying
did we talk about
the Bruder X
caravan
that I did a feature on a few months
that was
that was something
I think the story is now on the website
so if you go and I towed it around with a Bentley Bentayga
that was some really good pics on them
yeah really lovely pics
quarter of a million quid trailer
a caravan
what do they call it an adventure trailer
or something explorer trailer
I forget what they call it
but it's an off-road caravan
but it's large
and painted in that kind of
matte black
that non-slip
it's like it's wrapped
in a skateboard deck
tape or something
and it's just every time you look
every time you sort of look in the mirror
it absorbs light
this kind of thing
so every time you catch sight of it in the mirror
which is often because it's big
it's like you're being chased down
by the apocalypse
but it's a very luxurious inside
and really cool
just I don't know
I think because you can't be any more than
five and a half miles or something
from a road in the UK
anywhere it's a bit
over spect for over here
but if you lived somewhere else
I could totally see the appeal
yeah I think if you were wandering around
another wall plane probably would be pretty good
yeah it would be pretty good
add solar panels on the roof and quite a big battery
to run its stuff
so aircon
roof
which was a kind of pop up
tenty type roof which got a bit colder or hotter
depending on where you are
or you could have like a solid
roof extension but then
you'd have to watch out for
for height restrictions
pretty heavy
yeah I think so
you certainly noticed it was there
it's always given a
it's sort of even in the Bentayga
which is a pretty good tow car
as you go over undulating
roads you can feel
the caravan giving the
tow bar a bit of a handshake
but really
we towed it around some fields and stuff like that
it was cool
and it's sort of self-leveling air suspension
there's a lot of money but I think if you
it was Bentayga Dosh wasn't it
it was something pretty much yeah
I think it's about the same
I want to say they start at about
£85,000
they're made in Australia
and I think
they go up from there this was a big one
so two axles
six metres long something like that
I think I spotted it
goodwood shortly before you did your stuff
yeah you would have done
it was an amazing sight I mean
imposing it's like a town on wheels
yeah yeah yeah
but good fun I enjoyed writing the feature
and I think it's
it is online I've seen it since
yeah
what shall we talk we've done letters
there's another
there's another thing which I want to keep until next week's
podcast which is the
third year anniversary of this pod
oh yeah so we could start
bringing this
as Richard Porter would say
on his podcast we could
start bringing this into land also thanks
to Johnny and Richard
for
so in their podcast mate
Johnny you're not a massive podcast
motoring podcast listener
of things
they don't always talk about cars
they'll talk about Julio Iglesias
and other things but last week
as the one I listened to on the way over
Johnny had a copy of AutoCart
and was thumbing through it and mentioned it liberally
and you're very kind fellas thanks very much
yeah well that great pair of blokes aren't they
but don't talk about cars in your podcast
please that's because
we'll do the cars
you do the bands
I must say they're
what's great about them is that they just seem to
spark off one another so
I like them both
yes same
what do I have to talk about
I have to talk about
Anderson oh no let's talk about drivers of change
if you search
drivers of change on the AutoCart website
that is a
there's going to be an event in November
what do we call that
what do we call it's a
it's not a program it's a
scheme a scheme a scheme
what do we call it it's a it's a thing
anyway it is to help support young
people in the industry
in the motor industry any area of it
if you are in your first two years
in the business and you think you are making
a difference or if you work with somebody
who is doing that
because we do have some industry listeners
if you know somebody who is like that
go to Drivers of Change
nominate them and there is
an award and an event
in November and there is also
a prize for the company that is doing
most to support young people
in the business
the idea I guess the idea is just to
try and make this point that
that of all industries
this one needs talent it needs young talent
I mean just like
our own media racket
needs young talent we just know it does
don't we
we are pretty good at that
HMS Auto Car is quite good at promoting young talent
I think is that fair
is that fair to say
I do I do too
it sort of preserves
the odd old fart as well
but
you know keeps me out of bed
but
I think we've got a great team
best team I've ever worked with
I think there are
at least half a dozen really talented
young blokes around people
yeah
not leaving out Soph and Sarah
there are
more staff writers
I think on our magazine I remember there ever being
which is
I think it's a lovely job title staff writer
me too I had that for a very
short time once but I really rate it
as a job title I think it's a really
cool what do you do
staff writer on a magazine which means you can write about anything you like
whatever you whatever they want you to
write about you'll get right about it
I rate that very highly
and then it gets to a point where they call you editor
of something
and you just keep editor in your job title then for another
forever whatever it is
35 years whatever beyond that
and is
I don't know how many editors we've got on the mag
it's got to be a few
probably seven or eight
a letter from the editors
Steve that about wraps it up for
this week
next week is our third
anniversary of this podcast
amazing this ten
episode podcast series
will reach episode 156
yeah next week
well I'll tell you something mate
I've enjoyed every single one of them
yeah me too yeah me too one of the
nicest most fun things I've done in my
career so far I've got to say is
yak into you every week
especially so great well we can talk about this next
year next week but
unexpected yeah
did not expect to be sitting here
three years later did you no no absolutely
not no because we have
done we did do some pods previously
didn't we I'd done a I'd done a couple
I think you did not me yeah well
but where you may have done
back in like 2010 2011
because auto
I'm getting listener I'm getting a face going
I don't think so but auto car
used to have
and I probably don't find it if you search
auto car podcast these days but if you
searched auto car podcast four years ago
you would have found I think
it was just basically audio files of
some of the videos that we did were
released as podcasts
back when nobody was listening to podcasts
oh interesting and that is one of the
I see it's a sometimes does
happen at auto car as we are very very
early into something and it
and nobody else is doing it and
there's no you know so it sort of
fades away a bit and then we come
back a bit later bobs up yeah
as I'm very pleased that it has now
let's
finally thank our
sponsor Anderson EV
you can discover all you need to know about
setting up your own home charging point
at Anderson dash EV
.com premium charges
seven year warranties British made
and designed nice
people doing it nice people doing it yeah
cheers mate see you next week
you
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About this episode
Exploring the world of classic cars and modern driving challenges, this episode dives into the nuances of owning an Aston Martin, the significance of mudguards, and the joys of steam fairs. The hosts share personal anecdotes, including a memorable trip in a Model T and thoughts on the evolving automotive landscape. They also discuss the importance of engaging younger generations in car culture and the impact of average speed cameras on driving habits. A highlight includes a review of Peter Grimsdale's book 'Super Veloce', which chronicles the rise of the Italian automotive industry.
The latest episode of My Week In Cars finds Steve Cropley and Matt Prior talking about owning Aston Martins (Cropley hasn't, but wonders if he should), Peter Grimsdale's new book Superveloce, how safe it is to run old cars without mudguards, steam fairs, and much more besides, including your correspondence.
You can make sure you never miss an Autocar podcast by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. And if you'd be wiling to rate and review the Pod, we'd appreciate it more than you know, too.