[S8, E13] Our Favourite Moments of 2025

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Hello and all and welcome to Behind the Glass,

your weekly automotive podcast hosted by two rather uninformed enthusiasts.

No, no, no, no.

I'm Sam from the YouTube channel SeemToGlass.

I'm Tony from Gravelwood Car Sales, and you can watch us each week.

We hope you enjoy the episode.

Well, it's our last episode of the year.

Oh, mate.

We've only just come back.

I know, but what season is this?

I don't know.

Is it season seven or eight?

I think it's eight.

I should know how to upload the episode.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's season eight.

It's concerning that I have no idea.

It is eight.

Season eight.

Are we halfway through season eight or a little bit?

Because you just make it up.

There's no official start or end.

Some seasons are 100 episodes long, some are full.

I just like it.

You know, we've spoken about it so many times over the years.

I love a new year.

You know that whenever we come back in January,

here we go.

So a new season gives me the opportunity

to get that sort of new year newness at any point I decide.

OK, fun.

But yeah, so how long season eight goes on?

I don't know, but it's only sort of just begun,

but we are now on our usual end of year break,

because you're off on a lovely holiday.

Yeah.

To Austria in the Range Rover?

Probably.

Oh, God.

No, I am going to the Range Rover.

And I've got family responsibilities too.

So yes, we'll be taking some time off,

and then we'll be back with everyone the start of the new year.

We're going to kick start this episode, though,

before we get into our recap and our thoughts and everything,

blah, blah, blah, with some fairly huge news.

Because as I was just sitting at my desk,

minding my own business this week,

my phone lit up.

Did it?

With one WhatsApp message.

Not from me.

No, from my friend Ben P1fuels.

Nice.

Remember the synthetic fuel company that I'm working with?

Still going.

Going through a change, let's say.

OK.

With a link to a news article to say that the EU is possibly,

or theoretically, will be.

Well, this is what I understand about government and legislation.

So it still needs to be signed off by the EU.

Like, yes, it will be.

OK.

That they're relaxing the 2035 ban on combustion engine car sales

in Europe.

Yeah.

So, I mean, this is a big story.

You heard it here first four years ago.

It's a bit of a weird one because a lot of the headlines,

like, you know, it's a tiny change they've done.

Instead of saying that 100% of vehicles have to be,

well, non-combustion engines.

It's all to do with emissions.

They've really relaxed that to 90%,

allowing a small area where theoretically combustion engine

hybrid vehicles and with an incentive for biofuels,

synthetic fuels, and then weirdly, green steel.

I didn't know that green steel was a big problem.

No idea.

And I'm not educated in this area.

I'm not educated in any areas.

Much to my parents' dismay because of how much they paid

for my education.

Spend a lot of money.

You can't even spell your name.

Because we know how harmful the production of battery electric

vehicles can be to the world.

So I found it weird that they're talking about green steel

and then not like green lithium.

Does that make sense?

Yeah, yeah.

Because I've heard about all the elements of BEVs that are,

well, harmful or hard to get hold of,

all these kind of things like that.

Anyway, so green steel, I don't know anything about.

There was a lot at all that they were going to have

to do something else because there's not enough lithium

in the mines or something to keep making them.

But that's BEVs, right?

For the batteries.

Yes, yeah, yeah.

Yes, exactly.

So do you know anything about green steel?

No.

Do you?

No.

But I don't think we race green.

I should come back in the new year.

Do you want to start again?

It's not our start.

Well, somebody else can fact check us and just

let us know how wrong we are.

But anyway, long story short, this is a stepping back

or a climbing down.

That's what's on the news.

The government have climbed down from their position.

Someone's going to get sacked.

Well, no.

Supposedly this is after governments around the world,

but also manufacturers have really been legislating.

Is that right?

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

To change the rules because...

I wonder why that was.

Well, Ford came out, didn't they?

Saying that they've made insane losses because

of their attempts to go all EV.

Yeah.

Porsche.

Saying that they're going to change their strategy.

That was leaked weirdly on a point.

I don't know.

I can't remember who.

I can't remember.

Anyway, there have been various manufacturers

changing their plans.

I think Audi, didn't they come out saying

that they were changing somewhere?

Yeah.

Mercedes.

I've all basically said,

oh, we're going to kind of just tweak things a little bit.

And therefore, EU slash government,

this has to change.

This is not possible to stick to.

So we've sort of seen it coming.

It's kind of huge.

It's kind of major.

And will it be tweaked further?

Possibly, I guess.

I saw 2040 as well in some headline news as well,

that they've moved the goalpost to 2040 now.

So it's 100% zero emissions by 2040.

90%.

Yeah.

But compared to 2021, it's all a bit in the writing.

It's all a bit weird in the writing.

So anyway, I mean, I guess good news for the battleheads.

Yeah.

But we've seen it coming.

I think we've long said like it's unlikely

that they're going to like die, die.

And with the value and inherent economic contribution

that these manufacturers make.

And the fact that the customers have spoken.

This is the thing, right?

We've seen it like basically people just haven't bought

electric vehicles, pure electric vehicles,

in the way that the government and government want them to.

I mean, they have bought a lot of electric vehicles,

but they just haven't bought enough of them.

That's what I mean.

Yeah.

And let's assume, I would assume this,

but an electric vehicle must be more to make

than a combustion car,

because electrics in general are very expensive

to manufacture compared to...

And new platforms they're having to develop.

Yeah.

Because there's a lot of these, you know,

look at the BMW, the Neuer class, you know.

Yeah.

A whole platform.

Yeah.

And again, on the Volkswagen platforms,

all of these different...

Yeah.

They've had to put a lot of R&D

into creating these electric only platforms

and things like that.

I don't know if everything Volkswagen makes,

basically a Golf, anyway.

Well, you said this,

so what was your strategy?

It's unbelievable, mate.

So, 90, 91 models across the VW Audi group

are Volkswagen Golf platform.

Yes.

And the derivative of the Volkswagen Golf platforms.

And then there's an extended Volkswagen Golf platform,

which has a further 30-odd models on.

So, it's literally Lego Technic.

They've just got one platform that they just build

a thousand cars on.

Yeah, which is why they make so much money.

Unbelievable.

And Mercedes do the same with the A-class.

OK.

So, everything's based on an A-class.

Genius.

And then extended to the bigger model.

Yeah, absolutely genius.

Anyway, so let's wait and see...

Well, no, let's wait and see.

I think we've already seen the size.

We know what this means,

and we're seeing manufacturers respond to it.

And exciting cars already funneling through

and coming through and backtracking on some things.

I like some of the EV stuff now.

Well, I was going to say,

and I think we're getting good cars now.

Getting better, yeah.

We're getting good EVs, good exciting EVs.

We're getting sort of good-ish hybrids.

The hybrids are starting to make less sense,

I think, in the grand scheme of things.

I don't like the weight of all the hybrid stuff.

They're too heavy for me.

What, the mild hybrids, I think, are good.

No, the performance stuff.

You know, that's...

The 296s and the Revwell toes and...

M5s and...

OK.

Yeah, they're too...

You know, like when you compare the old-shape M5

and the new-shape M5,

there's a huge power gain.

But actually, when you look at it speed-wise,

there's not a huge speed gain,

because there's a bloody 700-kilo weight difference.

Yeah, I think the mild hybrids are seeming to make sense.

All like, you know, Porsche's T-hybrid and things like that.

I think those ones where it's very small...

All batteries.

So, again, yeah, Artura 296.

Very small battery.

Yeah.

Not...

I know those are plug-in hybrids, but not specific.

The 296 is a plug-in hybrid.

I haven't seen that up.

I don't know why I put myself on that thing.

But, yeah, the big plug-in hybrids,

the Range Rover Sports, the M5,

those, I think, are making weirdly less sense,

because they're neither one or the other at the moment.

Yeah, they're a bit weird, yeah.

Where the combustion engine cars are becoming so frugal

and economic and well-developed that,

yeah, we're getting lots of good and exciting cars.

I remember back in the day when a bloody 2.0-litre

perpetual engine was horrendous on fuel.

But a bloody 2.0-litre perpetual engine now

is unbelievable on fuel.

Oh, yeah.

And they get so much bloody power out of them,

like an A45.

It's unbelievable, isn't it?

I mean, it's 420 horsepower,

and you'll get bloody 30-odd 40-to-the-gallon out of one.

It's unbelievable.

We're ending the year on good news, right?

I think so.

With excitement.

For our audience and us.

Yes, but petrolheads in general.

Yeah.

Whether you want a daily or a sports car or weekend toy,

whatever it might be, there's potential

that we're going to see lots of exciting new models.

You can continue to buy them in your lifetime,

which is what we said four years ago.

Anyway, moving on.

Something very cool got sent to me this week,

which I should touch on in general.

Did I send you that?

No.

No, no, no.

You never sent me anything cool.

You sent me really inappropriate TikToks, anyway.

In Luxembourg Airport right now,

if you walk through Luxembourg on the digital billboards...

I saw it, mate.

It's me.

I know, mate.

And you had the audacity to share it.

Because I literally...

Are you proud?

Yes.

Well, I'm getting sent it like five times a day.

Right.

So to give some clarity,

Switzerland Bank Europe,

who are now a sort of regular partner

of seeing the guys on, I guess, the podcast as well.

You guys now have done lots with them.

Maybe because they're just amazing.

I just really like that team.

You know half of them as well now.

I do.

Yeah, they're very nice people.

They're just nice people and petrolheads and fundamentally

and come up with cool ideas and facilitate cool ideas.

We've done various events with them this year.

I've got some projects lined up for them next year.

And I want to talk in a second about my investments with them,

because it's been quite funny.

Anyway, Luxembourg short boring.

This time last year,

they invited me up to Scotland in a turbo S

in the snow to do this like cinematic ad for them.

I was like, oh, great.

They're like, come on.

It's two days.

We've got a whole like proper Hollywood level production team.

And we're going to run some ads.

I was like, real great.

That sounds amazing.

So I went up and did some driving.

Did an interview.

It was one of the best jobs I've had to do

because it was like just chill.

I was just driving a turbo S in the snow.

Yeah, nice.

Anyway, they've now published this video

and they've used it on the billboard to say

if you fly in or out of Luxembourg Airport,

I am there.

If you want to make money,

if you want to live your dream,

get involved with this.

Thank you.

It was so cool.

So I thought it was amazing.

So my whole family like, oh my God,

I'm fair brand.

But it has been,

it has been great fun.

And we have to say a thank you to them for the stuff

that they've organized for us this year

and their continued support.

And that is going on into 2026.

So you will hear more about them.

But actually,

we haven't spoken about the investments I made on that

because if you missed this,

by the way,

the whole reason I started,

we did speak about it.

But we haven't updated where we're at.

Oh, we haven't.

Oh, right.

Because the whole reason I started working with them

was because I moved my investment portfolio

or 52 pounds a bit.

Sorry, yeah.

Over them independently.

And then off the back of that,

I started chatting with them in meetings

and they turned out to be petrolheads.

And that's how it all began.

And after I did that awesome boxed a trip,

we were chatting like,

okay, what could we do here?

And I decided to make some very low level

sort of trial,

automotive based investments

to be like,

let's do this and we can talk about it.

And then we just forgot to talk about it.

So I wanted to recap on...

Are you winning or not?

Go through it, mate,

and just tell me whether you're winning on what

and what you're not winning on.

So bad.

As ever, whenever we're talking about stuff,

really, really important for me to say,

this is not financial advice.

No.

And you will find out in a second

why it should not be considered financial work.

Because clearly I am not someone

who should be advising you on investments.

No.

If you are someone who's interested in investing,

if you want to gain checkouts with Scope Bank

at your website, there'll be a link below.

They have all the information there.

They also say,

make sure people know to get their own advice

before they start doing any investments.

I'm doing all of that because I'm not sure

we're supposed to be talking about money on here,

but this is fun.

Because if you didn't have such a big trust fund,

you should be bust.

Oh, mate, so bust.

God, I would...

You know what?

That would be such a dream, wouldn't it?

Yeah.

Like, what a lovely way to live life,

to grow up knowing that at some point

there's just going to be a windfall of money.

And not just that,

because I don't think it all comes at once.

It gets dolloped in every now and then.

I think it depends on what the fund is set up for.

Yeah.

But I mean, what a...

Anyway.

What a life.

Right.

This is so bad.

To remind everyone,

the four companies I invested were

Ferrari,

Aston Martin,

Mercedes,

and BYD.

Now, my thought process there was

Ferrari,

Lewis Hamilton just joining.

I thought that could go well.

Aston Martin,

the Adrian Newey News,

and blah, blah, blah,

and also,

could it get much worse?

Yes, it can.

Mercedes just because...

I don't really know.

I didn't know the brand that it is.

Maybe a bit of safety.

Yeah, I was just...

I don't know.

And then BYD,

because popping off,

as we know,

Yang Wang.

Traditional BYD.

You want me to guess what I think's happened

before you start?

Yes.

Blurting.

Please.

Ferrari,

I would say you are up on.

All right.

Don't say nothing.

I'm not.

I'm giving you complete poker face.

Mercedes,

I would say you're fairly level on.

Aston Martin,

you've definitely lost money.

And BYD,

I think you've probably lost money as well.

You are completely wrong.

Am I?

Yes.

Don't take any of Tony's final advice either.

Ferrari.

Yeah.

Year to date.

Yeah.

Down.

Right.

23%.

Wow.

But do you not remember,

there was a big dip when they came out

in and around their EV plan structure

when they were launching the

Oh, yeah.

Electrificata,

whatever they call it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So there was a bit,

so I got hit hard.

I was doing all right

until that big announcement came out.

And then it really hit me hard.

So,

damn you,

throwing your electrification.

So that was a bit of a brutal one.

And also the Lewis Hamilton effect,

as in the non-Lewis,

that wasn't a favorite.

Originally, there was a big spark.

Yeah, yeah.

Cause I was, that's what I was like.

And then it come off.

Yeah.

Cause they didn't do anything.

Cause you didn't do nothing.

What do I do next?

Mercedes.

Yeah.

The one that I was leased like,

Yeah, yeah.

Up 14 and a half percent.

All right.

That's nice and steady.

And it's been very steady.

Good.

So that was the one that I,

thank God I did.

Yeah.

Cause I had no real reasons.

Okay.

B-Y-D.

Yeah.

Up.

You're up.

Five percent.

Good.

But it's been a pretty volatile year.

Up and down.

Yeah.

Right.

I could have,

if I'd cashed out earlier in the year,

I'd have been much happier.

Okay.

But that's not the point with stocks and shares.

Stay in long-term investment type.

Try and stay.

Gotta ride it out.

So, you know,

at one point in the year,

I could have been up much higher than that.

And then.

Aston Martin.

You don't have your money.

Aston Martin.

Yeah.

Damn you, Lauren Stroll.

Last dollar deal.

Down.

Yeah.

41 percent.

But can I just say something?

After I've stopped laughing.

They,

they don't make money, mate.

Why did you invest in Aston Martin?

No.

Because I thought the whole

ageing new thing.

And look,

there's a lot of noises coming out of

Aston Martin F1 at the minute

with the Honda tie

and that they're talking a big game

for 2026.

Like a big game.

I think I went too soon.

So I'm going to,

I'm going to,

I'm going to stay.

I'll stay.

Will I ever recover that?

I'm not sure.

But obviously it means that I am

significantly down for the year.

Right.

On all four.

To repeat, like this was a very,

this was a bit of fun.

This was a very minimal investment.

Like, and it's a long term thing.

I'm just having, you know, with.

Yeah.

But also as well,

like your investments are all in

automotive and automotive.

There's a bloody terrible year

last year.

And just to repeat again,

like this is,

these were,

this was for us to talk about

here on the podcast.

This is not really my actual

investment strategy.

This was a little bit of money that I did.

This was going to be like,

let's put to see what happens.

Yeah, yeah.

And I now need to stick because I'm down.

It's, yeah, it's all a bit of fun.

The, the main chunk of my investment

is in a much more stable place.

And actually,

if you remember,

that's what allowed me to do that whole

Lombard loan thing.

That's what Swiss Bank Europe do.

Which is super interesting is allow the

Lombard loan against your investments.

And it gives you all that flexibility

and actually what allowed me to go

and buy the box throughout in America.

Still, again,

that's going to help facilitate some of the

adventures over with the Land Rover next year.

So that product's actually been really useful to me.

And I can only do that because of the

proper investments I make.

Otherwise,

against the automotive investment,

it would be a bit tricky.

But yeah,

huge thanks to them.

If you want to go and check out anything with that,

go do it.

We'll keep an eye on,

I'll let you know next year if any of those

recover.

But for now,

not so good.

Anyway, mate.

Those have been some of my highlights for

at least the year.

We had lots going on.

Some of them.

Yeah.

They did some cool stuff.

Yeah.

But I thought it'd be fun to look back on the

year in general

and see what some of the big moments have been.

All right.

And to help us with that,

why not use a big thing

for 2025?

AI.

So,

I'll put my name in it.

It'll come up.

No, no, no.

It's been to Google

what have been the top

automotive moments of 2025.

Oh.

And see whether we care about any of them

because I think it's quite unlikely.

All right.

So,

I agree.

We'll kick start with,

firstly, they list

performance and top speed records.

Yeah.

The quest for the title

of the world's fastest

reached new heights in 2025.

Yeah.

We had the

Kernigsegg-Yesco absolute

reaffirm its position

as the world's fastest production car

with a claimed top speed

of 311 miles an hour.

But,

hold on a second

because what about the Yang Wang?

So,

AI,

what are you on about, mate?

Was that right?

I thought Yang Wang took it.

No, Yang Wang was electric.

I thought it was for any production car.

I think it was electric.

308.

Yeah.

I thought it was for any car ever.

Oh.

Anyway,

Kernigsegg-Gemera crowned

the most powerful car

with 2,300 horsepower.

Yeah.

But that car's never

actually going to be made.

Do you know what I mean?

Like,

the Kernigsegg-Gemera,

like, it's not a production car.

They just made that car up.

Have we ever seen it?

Don't they keep changing the engine?

That's the car you were going to buy, mate.

Did I order that one?

Yeah.

That's the four-seater one.

See, this is why

AI is so crap.

Well, it's like,

I don't think it exists.

Oh.

It's a classic Kernigsegg.

And then the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1

debuted as the fastest

and most extreme road-going Corvette ever,

surpassing 1,000 horsepower

with a massive aerodynamic kit.

And I think real will drive, isn't it?

Nice.

So, I mean, that's, again,

AI, what you're on about.

Yeah.

So performance and top speed records,

I'm going to say Yang Wang

is the one that I would take

for performance and top speed.

All right.

And arguably,

what else is the...

The W1, was that this year?

Was that last year?

Back in the last unit.

Was it the FIT this year?

I guess.

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Was that a hard one?

I don't care about any of it, isn't it?

Well, performance and top speed records.

I mean, turbo airs,

I don't think it was actually as revolutionary

as we were thinking.

Well, you told me it was unbelievable.

No, no, I said it was a great turbo airs,

but I'm talking about the big moments,

performance and top speed records.

Is there anything that you can think about?

God, that was unbelievable that they launched that car

with that power type thing.

No.

Nothing.

Landmark motorsport shifts.

Yeah.

2025 served as a hard reset

for several major motor racing series.

So, Formula One's getting there overhaul.

We know that.

Yeah.

WRC going hybrid.

I missed that entirely.

And me?

So, the World Rally Championship is going fully hybrid.

Wow.

And then the Audi Dakar innovation.

Yes, the RSQE Troy.

Oh, I'm not interested in it.

I think, yeah, that's fine.

Major global car launchers.

Here we go.

Yeah.

It's the kind of stuff that we like.

We like this.

Aston Martin vanquish.

I would agree.

That's probably quite a big moment.

See the vanquish come back.

Really?

Yeah.

It's the headlines, the flagship Aston Martin.

Okay.

Pretty car, cool car.

We saw one, didn't we?

Well, I drove one, man.

You drove one, yeah.

That competes against the Doddachie Chilindry.

Which is in there.

Which is in there as well.

For me, my car of the year.

Yeah, yeah.

That's ought to be revealed soon.

But I think that's a good moment.

Mercedes-Benz EQS and AMG EV.

That thing that George Russell drove.

Oh, yeah.

You know, yeah, yeah.

Cool.

We'll take that.

And the BMW Neuer Classe.

Is that the end of the list?

Well, that's car.

My eye is terrible, man.

That's the end of the bin.

Right, so what is this?

Let's forget that.

We'll focus on ourselves.

Let's do that.

But we do most weight.

So talk to me, mate.

What have your big moments of 2025 been?

Five.

Or how many I can reel off?

Go on.

All right.

How many you can do?

Number one.

Tell me.

Not in no particular order.

Sure.

Starting a business is one of my best mates.

Who is that?

You, your mob.

That's nice of you to say.

Yeah.

That's quite a landmark moment.

Yeah.

On the road driving tours.

Yeah.

We did actually.

Yeah.

We should have the certificate somewhere.

We should frame it.

I've got it.

Do you?

We'll have it, yeah.

Nice.

An email form.

Yeah.

I can print it off.

Thank God one of us has a printer.

Yeah.

Yeah, OK, nice.

That was a big moment.

That's a nice moment.

Yeah.

Because it's a big thing, mate, having a business.

We haven't had our team Christmas party.

Oh, I'm going for one tonight.

Oh, right.

You want to come?

Sure.

You're welcome.

Am I invited?

Yeah, of course.

Number two, while we stay on the tours, is one of the driving tours.

Which one?

I'm going to say Portugal.

Why?

I really liked Spain.

I just think we, as a pair, nailed Portugal better as a trip.

So I enjoyed it better.

Because it was maybe smoother.

It was a bit smoother.

Yeah.

Yeah, I wouldn't disagree.

I thought both were, I thought the groups were sort of identically awesome.

As they always are.

Which we're so lucky about.

I preferred the roads in Portugal.

Yeah.

But I do think the event was, we just did a better job of prepping it, staging it.

It was less stressful.

Yeah.

We could just focus on the people.

I prefer the roads in Spain, actually.

I know you do.

But as I look as an overhaul, overall, not overhaul, an overhaul, we done a better job, Portugal

and everything.

I had a nicer time overall.

Maybe because you weren't in the Spyder RS.

I think that might have been, and as we say that, number three is the Turbo S.

Yes.

What a revelation.

What a car.

I mean, loved it.

We always knew it.

Yeah.

But that...

Well, I had two before.

But that's what I mean.

And you always loved them.

Loved it.

We slash you, we're just an idiot to not go and buy one.

Carry on, yeah.

Yeah, it was just so the obvious choice.

And I remember, literally, after we got back from Spain, where you had a fairly miserable

time in the Spyder RS.

Not miserable.

Not miserable, but...

Yeah.

We then took that Turbo S 50 years to the Luxembourg, Swiss Group Bank Europe podcast event.

And literally, about three hours in, we were like, why didn't you just buy this?

Light bulb moment.

Yeah, yeah.

And then it was unbelievable in Portugal.

Yeah, yeah.

Perps suited you so that spec of that car is fantastic.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And that might be a bit of a keeper for a while now, which is very unlikely.

Absolutely, yeah.

For you is unlikely, right?

Got no reason to sell it.

It does, you know...

It does work.

It says something in the garage.

2011.

So, okay.

Tony 2 Porsche, I'm calling it.

Going into 26, have you started to think about which cars are on which tours?

Because we've got...

Why are the GT3s fixed?

Do we have to...

We're not speaking about that.

No, no, no.

They fixed it.

All sorted.

It's fixed.

Okay, perfect.

I went to Snettern on Sunday and tested it on track.

It's fixed.

Last we spoke about it, they'd sort of figured out what they thought they were going to do,

which was...

Bearing.

And then to Dunn.

Happy days.

Seems to be absolutely fine.

Finally.

I wasn't going flat flat.

It's been broken all year, that car.

It's been broken like quite a long time, yeah.

But it seemed to be completely fine.

Okay, so...

I look forward to getting out and that properly.

It's so weird though, mate, because I barely used it this year, but I've somehow managed

to do 3,000 miles in that car.

Really?

Yeah, because I went to Wales in it.

Yeah.

Well, you say you barely used it.

You have used it.

Yeah.

But it's not done.

You normally do.

Yeah.

And you know, it's been testing.

Yeah, literally testing.

That's been the majority of the miles.

Shaking it down for a year.

And the big memorable stuff you've done in the Turbo or the Spyder RS.

Yeah.

Or, you know, us in press cars or whatever.

So, yeah, maybe you haven't had a chance to make the memories with it as such.

Yeah.

But we also, we got the short tour at the start of the year.

They're a Perotivo tour.

Yeah.

Which is a European trip.

Then we've got the, what we're calling the Croatia and the Alps.

Yeah.

And then to the Monaco or the South of France trip.

So have you...

Turbo S on the first one.

I don't know whether I'll bring it on both tours, the GT3,

but I'll definitely do one in it.

And then, because the Turbo S is my weekend tour car, essentially.

So the GT3 is, you know, my track car, which I'd like to keep it that way.

I think bring the GT3 on the Croatia and Alps trip.

And I'll do the same.

I agree.

I think, you know, I'll do the same.

Yeah.

And then for the...

We can bring the Turbo S.

Yeah.

Yes.

And Project A probably.

Yeah.

I think is my plan.

And then I don't know what I'll take on the short...

On the first one.

Yeah.

That one.

I might borrow something for that one.

Yeah.

That could be good.

Anyway, well, let's wait and see.

Okay.

So those are three.

What else?

Four.

Not a lot of people, you know this, but I drove a GT3 RS on track this year.

992.

There we were.

And you told me all about it.

I did.

And we loved it.

We didn't really speak about it because it was...

I forgot.

Yeah.

I think it was when we were off air, actually.

And then we just forgot to ever talk about it.

You loved it, didn't you?

Loved it.

But I remember our speaking afterwards and said, so why don't you go and buy one?

Because...

Just for the money difference.

Money difference and practicality is what you kept saying.

Yeah.

It doesn't fit.

It doesn't work in your usage case.

And do I track specific here?

Do I really care carrying an extra bloody 10 mile an hour up and down El Rouge or Bloody

Cops corner?

El Rouge?

Up El Rouge?

El Rouge.

You know what I mean?

And it's not...

El Rouge.

For like 70 grand more, it's not...

I don't...

Personally, I don't see the value.

It's very good.

It's very fast.

70 grand more?

How much is it?

70 grand more.

150 my car.

Yeah.

225, 230.

233 RS.

78 grand more.

So, yeah.

But you loved the experience.

Oh, mate.

It's like it's much better planted than my car.

Yeah.

You know, we know what the difference is.

Of course.

And then number five.

Go on, mate.

Is bit of a personal one, bit of a dad moment, essentially.

Oh, love that.

So, my daughter, early in the year, they all would do plays every year.

Your daughter's going to start getting this soon.

And she was nominated for the lead role in Matilda.

No.

So, yeah, out of 50 kids, so two separate classes in her year, she was nominated for the lead

role.

Which, any dads out there, I was like, that is actually probably the real highlight.

Because of her face when she said, daddy, I got the lead role.

That's outrageous.

It's like...

Is that being in God?

No, no, no.

So, she's been learning it for like three months, the performance is January.

Yeah.

So, she's learned all the songs.

Yeah, that's so cool.

All the lines.

And originally, she was reading it like a bit of a robot, a bit of a computer.

Because she's just like...

And I said, Diane, slow down.

Use your personality in it, which she's doing now.

Acting training.

Yeah.

Not acting, but you know what I mean.

With all the fitness.

And she's now in it.

She's coming home and she's doing it off by heart.

Amazing.

Yeah, I literally can't wait.

So, that's really the...

Because that's what it's all about, right?

Yeah, of course.

That's a true highlight.

Oh, incredible.

Okay, well, those are pretty good moments.

What are yours, mate?

Well, I've got a video coming over Christmas, which is kind of like my car of the year type

video, looking back on some of the cars I've driven.

So, I'll mention some of those.

But again, I don't want to repeat myself too much.

Obviously, finishing the restoration of the Cherokee Valley.

Yeah.

Because that...

Yeah, that bled into this year far longer than I thought it was going to be.

Cost me way too much.

But...

That was quite a big moment for me, actually.

You're not hearing about it anymore.

I was ecstatic with the results, that trip that I did when I first collected it.

I'm just...

We went to Monaco.

Well, of course, that was another...

I met you.

That was another Swiss Bank Europe event.

Yeah.

But yeah, it was truly...

Well, it's just been better than I could ever expect.

And now to have that car, yes, the way that it looks, everything about it.

It's like perfect.

I'm like done.

It's just like done, like finished.

Like completed it.

Completed it.

So, so happy.

And I had a funny chat with someone the other day because, you know, challenged early prices

and now we're starting to pick up.

Not your one though.

Just as I make my unoriginal one, like put a load of miles on it.

So, mine will forever be the least valuable.

But I couldn't care less.

It is.

Yeah, it's just...

Yeah, I'm so, so happy.

That whole moment of what was quite a big thing, pulling the covers off, seeing it, the

job that Hilton and Moss had done, EDP, like the whole thing, just unbelievable.

So that was pretty amazing.

Something which we talked about briefly, but I never really talked about too much was

going on the grid at Silverstone for the F1 this year.

Oh, because I went with Tag Hoyer.

Yeah.

They saw you on the camera.

Yeah, they gave me amazing hospitality.

And I remember we, we didn't really know much about the day.

I was like, just come along.

It was a small group of us.

They didn't really say what was planned.

It's like, you just come pad a club like great.

I was like, yeah, sounds amazing.

And I think we'd gone somewhere.

I'd gone to the loo or something, came back to table on my table, like where I was sitting

sits a pad at pass.

And I was like, oh, that's pretty cool.

Has someone left this here?

Oh, so grid pass.

So someone left this thing.

No, no, no, no.

We're going on the grid.

First time ever, never been on the grid in F1 before and it was everything as a lifelong

F1 fan.

I hoped it would be.

Saw all the drivers.

Saw all the drivers, but just the atmosphere.

It is a wholly special, unique, chaotic, mad moment.

You know, like, yeah, of course, recognizable faces, but formal one person not to get close

to the cars, to be honest.

It just was insane.

And yes, as you mentioned, ended up in the background of Martin Brundle's gridwalk.

On purpose.

Not entirely by mistake.

But me and an amazing journalist called Jason Barlow who writes for various different publications.

It was his first time on the grid as well.

After 30 odd years of covering Formula One and Ferrari.

And we both went, we can't, we do have to.

We need to get on telly.

Yes.

Just prove we were there.

You know, it would be a shame.

So I managed to do that.

And that was pretty cool.

And yeah, just a really amazing moment.

And then obviously seeing Lando win at home, then obviously went on to win the championship.

So just a really cool F1 moments.

That was pretty sensational.

I struggled a bit with the press drives and car launches.

Again, that will come probably in the video that goes live over Christmas.

But the two that sort of stick out specifically were weirdly defender octa at the start of the year.

Because you went off road in that, didn't you?

Well, yeah.

But I mean, I explored Africa.

Essentially.

Wow.

Firstly, because I remember that.

Yeah.

Well, it was a long time ago.

That car is sensational.

That car is unbelievable.

And at Top Gear Awards, it won best.

Like rightfully so.

It's just an unbelievably cool car.

And I had an entire rotation to myself.

Which like, if you're not in this, like that sounds to explain.

Do you want to explain what a rotation is?

Because a lot of people won't know what that is.

On an international media drive, let's say that it happens over two or three weeks,

they will have six or seven rotations that come through.

And that is groups of media from around the world that have a UK rotation,

an American rotation, a French rotation.

So that essentially the PRs from those markets bring in the various journalists they want to invite.

And you chop it up so that you get, rather than just doing one day with 400 journalists,

you get various groups of journalists coming through.

And it makes it different parts of the world.

Yeah.

From different markets.

And sometimes it's not just you're not just on a UK rotation.

It might be UK and US, but, you know, it means that they can have enough cars.

People can get enough time in their cars.

But for whatever reason, I ended up by myself, like complete solo and complete freedom.

I mean, I was done on purpose, mate, because no one wanted to sit in the car with you and listen to you.

Probably.

I got in with that posh bloke.

But it was like, here you've got 48 hours with the Octa and South Africa.

Yeah, lovely.

What do you want to do? Where do you want to go?

And it was just so cool and hilarious.

And the Land Rover team were amazing.

And I was out there with a couple of press contacts that I love and love spending time with.

And we stayed at these hilarious places and stopped for great food.

I lost my voice, but it didn't matter.

It was just awesome and amazing.

How'd you lose your voice in the car on your own?

Talk to yourself.

No, but I'd got sick, I think, on the way there in the airplane.

And the whole video I had to do was voiceover.

Because I literally lost my voice at the start of the video.

Like it was insane.

So that was a pretty unbelievable unforgettable trip.

And then the Nanaju.2 GT3 launch, because it was my first GT product launch.

Yeah, nice.

So that was a total add.

It's by RS.

Yeah, I was going to say, I thought, yeah.

So GT3 launch, let's say.

But so that was that was pretty special moment.

I'm sure there'll be others.

And then project eight, obviously the purchasing of project eight after how many years,

the one that got away, all those kind of things.

And more so taking it on the Portugal trip.

So that car kind of living up to my hopes and expectations.

But hold on a minute, though, mate.

Can I pull you up on something there?

Go on.

I don't know if we spoke about it, but I'm going to drop you in it now.

Because you had a fairly hard start to live for that car.

I don't want to battle it.

OK, fine.

I very nearly sold it.

I know.

A million times over.

But you've got over it.

Oh, a million percent.

And now you love it.

Absolutely adore it.

And it works completely fine.

Absolutely.

I mean, I literally just got back from a 1,500 mile trip to Switzerland back.

Lovely.

It is now perfect.

And it's so weird that car goes, yes.

But buying it, the moment of buying it, unbelievable moment.

Yeah, of course.

Because I say, like, sort of the one that got away about a month.

Yeah, yeah.

Then a shit show for four months where I was like, what am I doing?

I'm going to drive it into the sea.

Literally.

And in August was like, I'm selling it.

Like actively like pursued trying to get rid of it.

And then came to that crunch point of like.

Portugal that was.

Yeah.

Either I've got to take it on the tour and hope it figures itself out or what.

Took it on the tour.

And that weird thing about that knocking.

And I talk about this in the video that's going live on Sunday.

This problem, which seems to be in all project eight.

When I talked about it in the video, so many project eight owners messaged me saying,

yeah, that's very normal.

We all experience it.

Yeah.

It's just like a characteristic of the car that just stopped midway through Portugal.

And I assume because maybe temperature related or a component had been through a heat cycle

or something, but it's never come back.

Not doing it now.

It's never come back.

I just needed a bit of a run mate.

Minus two degrees in Switzerland this weekend.

Right.

And it didn't return.

So I don't know what that is.

And maybe project eight owners, you just need to go and put some serious.

Go and drive the bloody thing.

Mileage on the car.

That could be a part of it.

And it might have been a heat cycle thing.

It might have been the fact that it was continuous hard driving of the car.

Or whatever happened, but gone.

And now the car is perfect and works absolutely perfectly.

And I adore and I love it.

And that's been fantastic.

Super impractical and ridiculous to run as a daily, but it is what it is.

I'm racking up far too many miles, but that is.

Okay.

Exactly.

And then yes, of course, driving tours.

I, I really struggled to pick between the two.

I leaned towards Portugal only because we did the recce as well.

I don't remember in the sport class of nine 11, which I love.

So it was like, I got to do Portugal twice, but Spain was also mega.

Cause obviously I was in the GT three.

We had the two other GT threes with us.

The two, nine, six is like, and a good pace at the front.

Like, and that trip was, I didn't love the route as much,

even though it was an epic route.

I just preferred the cut the type of road in Portugal.

Um, I, yeah, I think I'm just going to say the driving tours in general,

like doing it as a formal business.

Yeah.

Um, really, really amazing.

Uh, and then something which happened for me on a personal level,

obviously restoring a dad's Land Rover, which is now my Land Rover.

So that whole experience,

but the actual special moment was once it was all done,

the other weekend went back and took my daughter in that car for the first time,

moved the baby seat in the front seat.

Yeah.

No, of course not.

I was going to do it with a seatbelt.

Yeah, of course.

Yeah.

Um, and she was so excited and so happy and like loved it and thought it was hilarious

that my mom was sitting in the back and she was in the front and just taking her in that car

and like bumbling around.

And like that was such a insanely cool and special moment.

So weirdly full circle right now.

I'm driving her where of course my dad always drove me in it.

So yeah, that was a, that was a pretty awesome sort of, you know,

personal moment in amongst all the work stuff.

But as I say, I've got a video coming,

which is going to be my kind of recap of the cars of the year more specifically,

but I think in terms of personal moments,

there'll be tons of others.

My trip to California at the start of the year where I took the Storato out to the desert,

the car week with the black wing was pretty amazing.

As you say, like us going down to Monaco in the CS or at least you meeting me there,

my trip back through that, the launch of the Amalfi taking my CS to a Ferrari event.

There have been so many different things throughout the year.

I also went on a Belmont train to Goodwood.

That was so cool.

Five-star luxury train.

I had afternoon tea on the train.

One of my best experiences ever.

Really?

Oh, mate.

So unbelievable.

Love that.

I went to New York for my cousin's wedding,

drove the 812 Competizione.

Like it's been another fairly like.

Outrageous.

Yeah.

Just a joke of a year basically as ever.

But we're now launching into 2026.

I think both of us feel like it's going to be that times set.

Yeah.

We've got a lot on, yeah.

Well, we've got three driving tours to start with.

Yeah.

We've got some great plans for the podcast.

Yeah.

We've got some, you know, other plans in the monks seen through glass stuff.

Yeah, yeah.

It may be the year that we finally follow up on our Mila, Mila adventure.

So we watch this space.

Well, we've spoken a few bits about some stuff there.

So yeah, lots to look forward to.

And as we said at the start of the episode,

I do think there's going to be exciting cars coming next year.

Let's hope so.

We usually kickstart in January with a rundown of cars to be excited about in 2026.

I just think given the news that we've seen the stuff going on,

there's going to be stuff to look forward to one way or another.

So yeah, here's to some.

We expect another GT car next year.

Yeah.

The new M3 will probably come next year or get some sort of an ounce.

Yeah.

If not the electric one at least.

Yeah.

There's going to be some hot ticket stuff.

Lots to be seen and developed upon and we hope to drive lots of it as well.

So as I say, we will be back.

I think that first full week in Jan.

So there's only a couple of weeks that we're off.

As ever, you can find us in all the places.

Go back and check out some of the episodes you might have missed this year.

We are going to be doing more of our helping you buy cars advice.

So if over Christmas you're sitting there cruising the classifieds.

I wish they will be.

Please send us your conundrums so we can get straight into that in January.

And when he gets stock watch back mate.

Stock watch is coming back.

Yeah.

We're going to hear all about your adventure to Austria and the Range Rover.

Oh yeah.

And I've got over Christmas a brand new Taycan 4S on loan.

Which I think is a car.

Yeah.

Duh.

Just in case mate.

Because no one knows the Taycans electric.

Some people might not.

Diesel Taycans.

Yeah.

I think that would be really interesting because that's their attempt at a longer mileage car.

It's got the active ride on it which is supposed to be the sensational suspension.

But obviously nowadays you can pick up the used Taycans for 35, 40 grand.

I want to try a new one and just see like where we landed how many years on.

It's actually quite exciting.

It's been a while since I've spent considerable time with an EV probably since the 5.5 loan.

Can you charge it at home?

Of course you can charge it wherever you want.

Slow as ever.

Have you got a charger at home?

I'll plug it into a three pin point.

Oh well there's no point.

No.

So you're going to get annoyed?

No I'm not.

Paul should give you...

I've got literature chargers everywhere.

They give you a...

When you buy I think you get half price public charging for the first year or two years like that.

That's nice.

So yeah I'll be out and about and my experience of public charging hasn't been bad.

Okay.

I'm not going far enough afield to need it and it should do 300 odd miles.

So I should be fine but we'll find out in the new year.

I've had very positive EV experiences like that McCann Electric.

I had a great time so let's say I wouldn't want to be driving to Austria in it.

That is absolutely the truth but the rest of it should be absolutely fine.

So wash your space.

I hope you all have a happy holidays.

Merry Christmas.

Time off if you're getting time off work.

Happy New Year and all that stuff like that and we will be back with you.

Giving it large in 2026.

See you then.

Bye bye.

See ya.

[S8, E13] Our Favourite Moments of 2025

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