The joy of driving slowly | The Car Podcast #59
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Car
Ferrari 456
The Ferrari 456 GT is a type of sports car made by Ferrari that is designed for both speed and comfort. It has a powerful engine and is often used for long drives.
Car
Bentley GT3-R
The Bentley GT3-R is a special racing version of the Bentley Continental GT. It's built for speed and performance on the racetrack, making it much faster than regular Bentleys.
Car
Lancia Delta Integrale
The Lancia Delta Integrale is a famous rally car that was very successful in competitions. It has a powerful engine and all-wheel drive, which helps it handle well on different surfaces.
Concept
Nürburgring
The Nürburgring is a well-known race track in Germany where many cars are tested. It's famous for being very difficult and is popular among car lovers.
Concept
Monza Grand Prix
The Monza Grand Prix is a famous car race that takes place in Italy. It's part of the Formula 1 series, where the fastest cars compete on a special track.
Concept
Formula One
Formula One is a type of car racing where very fast cars compete in races around the world. It's known for having some of the best drivers and the latest technology in cars.
Car
Citroën SM
The Citroën SM is a stylish car made by the French company Citroën. It was produced in the early 1970s and is known for its distinctive look and innovative features.
Car
Bristol Fighter
The Bristol Fighter is a special sports car made by a company called Bristol. It's known for being very fast and having a unique look, but some people say it has some issues.
Car
Volkswagen Bora
The Volkswagen Bora is a small sedan that’s good for everyday driving. It’s known for being well-made and comfortable, making it a favorite for people who need a reliable car.
Car
Peugeot 504
The Peugeot 504 is a car made by the French company Peugeot. It was popular in the 1970s and is known for being comfortable and reliable.
Car
Citroën DS
The Citroën DS is a famous car from France that was made between 1955 and 1975. It's known for its unusual shape and advanced features, making it stand out from other cars of its time.
Car
Renault 5 GT Turbo
The Renault 5 GT Turbo is a sporty version of a small car made by Renault in the 1980s. It was known for being fun to drive and had a unique look, especially with its yellow fog lights.
Car
Peugeot 1.9
The Peugeot 1.9 is a model from the French car manufacturer Peugeot. It's known for being sporty and fun to drive, especially in its GTI version.
Car
Renault 5 Turbo
The Renault 5 Turbo is a sporty version of the Renault 5, a small car from France. It has a turbocharged engine, which gives it more power and makes it exciting to drive.
Part
fog lights
Fog lights are special lights on a car that help you see better when it's foggy. They shine a wide beam of light close to the ground to cut through the fog.
Term
alloy wheels
Alloy wheels are wheels made from a mix of metals that are lighter and look nicer than regular steel wheels. They can help the car handle better because they are lighter.
Car
Peugeot 205 GTI
The Peugeot 205 GTI is a small, sporty car from the 1980s known for being fun to drive. It's popular among car fans because of its quickness and handling.
Car
Citroën GS
The Citroën GS is a small car made by Citroën that was popular in the 1970s and 1980s. It had some unique features that made it stand out from other cars of its time.
Car
Citroën CX
The Citroën CX is a larger car made by Citroën that was known for its unique shape and advanced features when it was released in the 1970s.
Car
Matra Simca Bagheera
The Matra Simca Bagheera is a rare car from France made in the 1970s. It has a unique design with three seats and is known for being lightweight and sporty.
Car
Matra Bagheera
The Matra Bagheera is a unique sports car from France that was made in the 1970s. It has a special design and is known for having its engine in the middle, which is different from most cars.
Car
Allegro van den Plas
The Austin Allegro was a car made in the 1970s, and the van den Plas version was a fancier model with better quality inside. It's not a common car today, but it can be interesting to see at car shows.
Brand
Lamborghini
Lamborghini is a famous car brand from Italy that makes very fast and expensive sports cars. They are known for their unique shapes and powerful engines.
Car
BMW M4 GTS
The BMW M4 GTS is a special version of the M4 sports car that is designed for high performance on the track. It is lighter and faster than the regular M4, making it very unique.
Car
Nissan Altima
The Nissan Altima is a regular car that many people use for daily driving. Some people also take it to racetracks to have fun and see how fast it can go.
Term
track day
A track day is an event where people can take their cars to a racetrack and drive them fast. It's a fun way to see how well a car performs.
Car
Bristol
Bristol is a brand that makes special luxury cars. They don't make many of them, so they are quite rare and often sought after by car enthusiasts.
Car
Alfa Romeo RZ
The Alfa Romeo RZ is a rare sports car that looks unique and is fun to drive. It's not commonly seen, which makes it special for car lovers.
Car
Alfa Romeo SZ
The Alfa Romeo SZ is a rare sports car that was made in small numbers. It has a unique look and is appreciated by car enthusiasts for its performance and design.
Car
Bugatti Chiron
The Bugatti Chiron is one of the fastest cars in the world, with a very powerful engine. It's a luxury car that very few people can afford.
Car
Ferrari Laferraris
The Ferrari LaFerrari is a very fast and expensive sports car that uses both gas and electricity to go super fast. It's one of the rarest cars made by Ferrari.
Car
Porsche Boxster
The Porsche Boxster is a sporty two-seater car that you can drive with the top down. It's popular because it combines fun driving with a stylish design, making it a favorite among car enthusiasts.
Car
BMW E30
The BMW E30 is a popular version of the BMW 3 Series that was made in the 1980s and early 1990s. People love it for its good looks and how well it drives.
Car
Rolls-Royce Phantom
The Rolls-Royce Phantom is a super-luxurious car that is very expensive and known for its incredible comfort and style. It's a car that many people dream of owning because it represents the best of luxury.
Car
Toyota Land Cruiser
The Toyota Land Cruiser is a big, tough SUV that can go anywhere, even off-road. It's known for being very reliable and comfortable, making it a great choice for families or adventurers.
Car
Porsche 911
The Porsche 911 is a famous sports car that looks unique and is very fast. It's loved by many people because it combines great style with powerful performance.
Car
Bmw X5
Car
Kia Rio
The Kia Rio is a small and affordable car that's great for getting around town. It's known for being reliable and good on gas, making it a smart choice for many drivers.
Car
Volkswagen Golf
The Volkswagen Golf is a small car that many people like because it is practical and fun to drive. It has been around since the 1970s and comes in different versions.
Car
Ford Mustangs
Car
Chevrolet Camaros
The Chevrolet Camaro is a sporty car that looks really cool and goes fast. It's part of a group of cars called muscle cars, which are known for their power and fun driving experience.
Car
Porsche 914
The Porsche 914 is a small sports car that was made a long time ago and is known for being fun to drive. It's special because it's one of the more affordable Porsches you can find.
Car
Land Rover Range Rover
The Land Rover Range Rover is a fancy SUV that can go off-road and is very comfortable inside. It's popular among people who want a stylish car that can handle rough terrain, but sometimes it has reliability issues.
Car
Mini John
The Mini John Cooper Works GP is a fast and sporty version of the Mini car. It's special because it's made for people who love to drive and is produced in limited numbers, making it rare.
Car
Mclaren F1
The McLaren F1 is a super-fast sports car from the 90s that is very rare and special. It's famous for being one of the fastest cars ever made and has a unique way of being designed with the driver in the middle.
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Right, now we're recording. Right, hello and welcome to the CARD Podcast.
Again.
With Chris Harris and what you used to do.
Chris Harris, yes.
Because what you won't know is that I'm producing the podcast again this week,
because Finley's on holiday and we were 11 minutes in and I went,
lads, I haven't pressed record.
What?
So, we start again now. Chris Cooper's so well prepared. I'll start with the agenda straight away.
Right, I'm going to get shot here.
Suggest a road trip for 2025, or should that be 2026?
I tell you what, I'll be doing this solo next week at this rate.
So, over to you, Chris Cooper, who I do believe has got a map.
I've got a map.
Quite cross about it.
Can you show it the right way up this time?
Yeah, there you go.
Other way.
I know it's the other way. That was a gag.
That's about as much as I can manage on the third time I'm trying to do this.
Right, so just to recap, for those that weren't listening beforehand,
because it wasn't recording, Chris Cooper started by telling us he wants to go to Scotland.
He was telling us that we should all leave by driving up the A1M.
I said, is the A1M all motorway, or is that an A road, or is it two different roads?
He said, no, the A1M is the bit that goes into dual carriageway, but it is one road.
And I said, aren't there private shops on there?
Then he told a joke about Sandy, and I thought, Sandy, private shops, bit weird.
We're there now. Go.
So the reason I like the A1M and the A1M is it takes you up that,
it's always something interesting going on, not just the porno shops.
There's always something interesting going on, lots of roundabouts.
And once you get north of Leeds, it's just very beautiful countryside.
You sort of curve around the north bit of England, Saskatchewan,
and Berwickshire in Scotland.
Get to Wedenborough, beautiful place.
And then you'd Meander, sort of northwest across Scotland.
Because, you know, I'm obsessed with ferries.
I said that in the last 11 minutes, we didn't record.
I'm still obsessed with ferries.
And in my little, for fuck's sake, why is it upside down?
No, it's not upside down.
It's not upside down.
It's completely thrown me out.
One day we'll get a professional to do this.
You're doing a piastry, his head's gone.
It has.
So I think a little road trip for the four of us,
I've never been to the Western Isles of Scotland.
I've done, obviously, the West Coast.
I've actually been to the Orkneys and the Shetland Isles,
but never the Outer Hebrides.
Tyree.
Tyree.
That's one of those weather stations.
Inner Hebrides, that's an inner, isn't it?
Tyree is Inner Hebrides.
So what you could do, drive all the way across Scotland,
Shire, basically to here, that's Glenel,
where my favorite ferry goes from,
cross to Skye, and you can drive all the way through Skye,
which is stunning.
Now Skye is absolutely stunning.
Skye, distillery, I think the only distillery on Skye,
lovely single malt, all the way through there.
And then you can get a ferry up to there,
Tarbet in the Outer Hebrides.
And it looks like these are little several eyes,
but there are lots of bridges and causeways,
which link all of this together, all the way down to there.
And then you can drive back to Mull,
Tobemory, drive all the way through Mull,
and then get a ferry to Oven.
I think that would be the most beautiful picturesque.
It's not the North Coast 500.
It's kind of not the North Coast 500,
which is why I think it'd be interesting.
I think we love to do it.
There were no Ferrari dealers there.
You know, Manish, you just, we just have to,
I could take a trailer, I suppose.
Yeah, no, no, no.
If you calculate the speed of a Ferrari 456 GT
in sixth gear in limp home mode,
it's probably about 38 miles now, which is enough.
It's plenty enough, isn't it?
Yeah.
And we were saying when we weren't recording it before,
like a little bit on the A30,
where Manish broke down before, I go past that a lot.
And I have started just to stop there to have a moment
and just see whether that little spot where it broke down
and we were picked up by that lovely chap in that recovery truck,
whether people have left little toy 456s
and little teddy bears or other mementos of low-loss ester shireness.
So I think a road trip,
I'm trying to think what time of year we do it.
I think there's an argument to do it about this time of year,
but I can't wait that long
because there is that amazing, fantastic rally on the Isle of Mull.
Can you see the northern lights from there?
You could see the northern lights from,
I think probably all of that route.
Certainly go up to Talbot.
It went as far as Ullapool over to Stornoway.
You could definitely see northern lights.
Oh, I'd love to see that.
I'd love to see that.
I think northern lights would be great, wouldn't it?
So, but I think actually a nice time to go
would probably be in the spring.
So before all the midges,
spring comes quite late in the North Scotland,
probably sort of April, May-ish time sometimes.
But I think in the, yes, Harris?
I don't think we have four seasons anymore.
I think we have two.
It goes winter, summer, summer, winter.
I don't know, I don't, spring doesn't happen.
Autumn.
It's a very good meteorological climatic.
It's about three days, autumn.
Yeah, I don't believe,
so I think you're going to go late winter
or you're going to go early summer.
I think it would be an early summer.
It would be sort of April, May time.
Three midges.
So the other thing I was going to say is
we would need a new merch.
Yes.
Yes.
We've got merch.
This is the merch.
You can see why I don't wear hats.
How fucking stupid do I look in this?
Very.
You won't.
If you buy one of these, you won't.
So these cars on here.
Why does that not work on your head?
What's going on?
My head doesn't work with hats.
This is interesting actually, yes.
How stupid.
There is something of a Humpty Dumpty
about what it's made.
But on this hat here, you can see,
so that is Neil's Bentley GT3R.
That's the Integrale.
Even better now than it was then.
That's Lola.
Quite why that's in the hat at all.
I don't know, because it didn't really finish.
And that's the sausage at the back there.
No, yes.
These are going to be, you'll be able to buy these
for Christmas.
We'll have them on a little.
For those of you that haven't seen that,
there's merch cap coming for Christmas.
So only this podcast could try and sell G-Lays
on the hottest day of the year.
You did try that.
And summer caps in December.
Genius.
Genius.
We'll be launching our hot water bottles in June.
Yeah, we should get a retailer on the podcast.
If only.
Right.
With it, I think we're about 14 minutes in,
having recorded for seven minutes.
Neil Clifford, you've not had much time for this.
Historically, when you've not had much time,
you tend to go off on a tangent.
So I'm asking you for a road trip idea.
I suppose you're going to talk about smoking a pipe or something.
No.
I think there's so many road trips that I want to do.
But I suppose what I wanted to urge everybody
is just plan one.
Just, you know, it's so easy not to do shit.
Yeah, 100%.
And you don't, I don't think you look back when you're,
you know, in the home, slightly pissing your trousers.
Age 85.
You don't sort of say, I wish I'd have done less.
Yeah.
And I think whether it's on your own,
whether it be with your partner,
whether it be with your mates,
and it's much more difficult to corral your mates together
as time goes on.
There's so many wonderful things to do.
For me, it's all about as much time in Italy as possible.
You know, you can get to Milan in a day.
You know, it feels like an impossibility.
It feels like a really difficult thing to do.
You can get to San Moritz in a day.
Go and do that wonderful, go to the ice, you know,
get some bloody winter tires.
I'm not as if they make any fucking difference,
but go to the ice in San Moritz or there's that wonderful event
which I now can't remember that's in San Moritz in October.
Drive to Milan for the weekend.
And just go and do shit because it's just lovely, isn't it?
And do something surprising.
Go to Ireland.
I haven't done Ireland for a road trip.
I think that would be fabulous.
Scotland's bloody brilliant.
I've never done Germany.
Never.
I've been to the Portia Museum.
That's about it.
All of that sort of Nürburgring and all, you know,
the Black Forest.
I've never driven any of that in Germany.
Travian Alps are amazing, like wicked roads.
Yeah, Austria.
I've done a little bit of Austria.
I went to whatever that place is where Mr. Portia was born,
but I haven't really done much of that.
There's so much to do and so little fucking time.
And we all work hard,
but you should carve a little bit out for yourself.
Completely agree.
Manage.
What road trip advice would you have?
It was actually something I'd really hope that we all do do next year,
you know, Lola permitting.
When we were all in Bologna this year together,
I have to say that was some of the most fun
I've had in a very, very long time,
because it was so impromptu.
I really didn't expect Chris and Neil to share a turn up
and hang out with Chris and me.
The other Chris was great.
Great.
And do you remember that we had that sort of massive dinner
with the crew that evening and just sat down.
The food was, I mean, you know, it also cost about 10 euros a plate.
It was just fantastic food sitting in the piazza.
So I thought what would be amazing fun is for the four of us
to drive to Bologna and kind of slightly revisit it.
I've never done this route.
I actually got onto the computer today,
did a little bit of logistical research and got onto YouTube.
And the route we've got to go is Paris, Geneva, Chamonix, Mont Blanc Tunnel, Bologna.
And I looked at each of those sections and I thought,
oh my days, I think we'd have a laugh doing that.
I don't need to take two.
I'd actually love to do it over two or three days
rather than sort of, you know, pegging it down there.
That's exactly the route I did to come and see you in Rome.
Really.
But then what I was going to say was as a little bit of a joke,
what we would do is we'd leg it to Rome.
And Luca's mate, Diego, very sinister Mr. de la Valle,
he, I know your good friend Neil,
he is one of the biggest benefactors of the Colosseum in Italy.
And he is organized for me to go on a tour of the Colosseum,
which I cannot explain to you.
There was a queue that was 300 kilometers long.
We just walked in past this little gate.
Very nice curator met us,
went down to the absolute base of the base of the Colosseum,
saw where the animals would have been walking down a corridor.
The gladiators would have been walking down,
got into a lift, went up, went up, went up the glass lift.
So you go up straight through the thing.
You're on the top, top tier where the poorest Romans,
who would have gone to the forum would have been,
gambling, bringing their food.
The view is unbelievable.
But we've got to do that next year.
We've just got to do that next year.
Yeah, he's done all that.
He's spent all his, that's his money, all that is.
Absolutely, yeah.
So Diego's really, really done that.
So can I do that, Todd, you know, loafers?
I might buy myself a pair for next summer, actually.
Absolutely, they're on the driving shoes, Chris.
I, Mr. Clifford sorted out a pair for me.
I can sort them out.
Exactly.
If he's giving to the Colosseum, I'm buying.
Actually, my better half has just purchased some Kurt Geiger shoes.
And she's very, very happy with them.
In fact, last night I got told that as they're the,
they're the trainers with the higher hot soles
to give her a bit of extra height.
The ones she had before, a bit unstable.
I'm not a fan of that type of that,
but she was singing your prayers and I said,
they were great daps.
A really good dap.
Good.
Now, I agree.
I'd like to, I'd like to spend more time in Italy,
but France is better for driving.
So I want to do this with you, Chaps.
I want to go to the Monza Grand Prix next year.
That's in Italy.
Yeah.
But so I want to drive,
I want to drive as long as I can in France.
So I want to go right to the bottom
and I want to do auto route to Soleil.
I want to go right along the bottom, Frejus.
I want to see, I want to see Lola
with little vortices burning a little bit of oil.
She fires out of a payage out of Frejus towards Monaco.
You know, because a four or five, six needs to be seen doing that.
So I want to do that and then go right along the bottom there
and then, you know, nip over the top Monaco
and then go straight across to Milan,
where you've got to go up a bit to Milan.
Haven't you gone too far south?
I think I'd just love to go and see the Monza Grand Prix.
To see a Formula One car trimmed out,
doing 215 miles an hour, whatever it is, is quite something.
And I just, there's something about eating around there
when it's race time.
I've never been there for a Grand Prix.
I've been there for some of the big endurance races and it's mega.
It is mega, new park.
But I'd like to do, I'm not so angry about auto routes
that I want to go down D roads and M roads all the way.
But I think half and half really, I'd like to,
I think you'd be disciplined and say,
well, you're not allowed to spend more than an hour on an auto route.
You almost like have a tag hood,
have a Heuer timer on the dashboard.
Yes.
That's your hour.
Now you're coming off and you're going to follow your nose.
And maybe you have to, you set chart,
and maybe the thumb would be, you've got to,
you're allowed a sat nav for an hour,
then you've got to just follow your nose, do an old stop.
Then you've got to have map book for an hour.
You've got to use your map book for an hour with a passenger.
And spit it all up, set some tasks,
make it a little bit of a treasure hunt.
You've got to get to whatever, to some weird vineyard
and buy yourself a bottle of some very strange grape
you've never heard of.
Yeah.
Have some fun.
But end up sitting and also peasant seats.
You're not, we're not allowed to take the hostility.
We're going to sit on some wooden boards
in a really ropey position of the track.
We take some scaffolding.
To sit there.
Yeah.
And just sit there and swill some San Givese
and watch a bit of racing.
That'd be amazing.
We should do that.
We've got to, I mean, no seriousness.
We'd be great to do something in the spring
because we can't wait until September.
That's true.
That's true.
Definitely.
We should do a convoy.
Anyone that wants to come with us.
I was going to say, it's a bit like Forrest Gump, isn't it?
Yeah, but we'll have at least three other cars.
Amazing.
Yeah.
Don't follow us.
We weren't.
Okay.
Moving on.
We are now talking about yellow headlights.
Colon, the coolest car for them.
Is yellow headlights not yellow snow?
Don't snigger at the back there.
Yellow headlights, not yellow snow.
I think you're a devotee of the yellow headlight.
I can't really decide.
I've got two cars,
both of which I have painted the headlights yellow.
Have you?
What did you use to paint them?
You had to use film.
No, the funny thing is that's a good, very good question.
I bought it off of eBay on the SM,
so I'm going to go straight to one of the two cars.
That light green SM with the tan cognac leather.
Lovely.
Shouldn't have sold it.
That lovely man that was the partner of Richard Branson that started Virgin
who's got like 64,000 cars and owns every single Bristol,
whatever his name is, lovely man.
I rang him actually when I was buying the Bristol fighter
and he said, if you're ringing me for any logic to buy a Bristol fighter,
forget it, they're absolutely shit.
Enjoy.
But on the basis that it's one of the coolest cars,
anxiousest cars ever, I own one.
So if you want to own one too, I'd recommend it, but they're rubbish.
I had to rebuild it for two years after I bought it.
So him, that lovely man who now owns my SM actually, I painted.
The assignment.
Simon Draper.
Simon Draper, yeah.
Yeah, proper mega, mega dude, mega dude, literally owns every single Bristol I ever made.
Yeah, bastard, he owns my SM and won't set me back.
It's got those rare pretend carbon fiber plastic Rostar wheels
that were a very, very rare option on SM.
They are a source of carbon fiber, aren't they?
It's sort of a carbon fiber.
They're sort of Calvary semilux carbon fiber and plastic.
Yeah, the real deal.
Mega dangerous, but they look cool as fuck on that car.
They're the one to have.
And I think there is like a professional way of painting their headlamps yellow,
but I just bought whatever it was, the eight quid bottle off of eBay.
And it's really difficult not to get the drips.
And also I have the patience of a nat.
So I did it badly anyway.
I used to drive to Paris quite a lot in that SM.
And when you're going up the Champs Elysees out at dusk,
there ain't much cooler than in a yellow headlight SM.
So that would be one.
And then the other one would be 456.9.
Those with the, and I've also done that on yellow headlamps on that car.
And that, to me, they are the ultimate of 70s dude cars that, you know,
you've not done Contes or Boxer or Bora or you've gone a bit more off piece chic.
You've got your luggage space.
You're a bit more of a cruiser.
But it's still, you know, when it comes to the box of not German cars,
fast cars, older nudes.
Yeah.
Did you paint them like that?
You probably can't see it on here, but basically the.
I painted the outside, not the inside.
How did you make, how did you make it not look total shit then?
No, it did look total shit, but at night it looked okay.
I had to bring it back and.
Because it's interesting on.
Watched off with meths.
In this picture here is only the inner two lights which are painted yellow.
Only the inner two.
That is the way to really do it, but I didn't do it that way.
Because I mean, I didn't know how to take that perspex thing off.
I suspect it's a bit of a chore.
But yes, 56.9 or SM.
Probably in my view, because it has to be 70s with yellow headlamps.
I remember going there with my mum in the 70s and she's trying.
I can't remember what our logic was, why it was yellow, not white.
But it just, when you stand on that Champs Elysees and see those.
Yeah.
Actually they're not yellow anymore.
You go there now, it's all white.
The laws changed.
It was a French regulation about not dazzling other drivers.
Yeah.
And they realized that they were losing that battle.
But it's, yeah, but those are the cars for me.
I love the sensible consumer advice we give to people here.
Manage, what are your yellow lights going to go on?
Well, we think that yellow lights equals France, actually.
I know other nations are available, but I'm telling you.
These cars.
So, and I also had two.
So, the kind of very beautiful one, two, three, four.
Quadrilateral Peugeot 504.
Good, yeah.
Just, I mean, just, yeah, as you said, Neil, it's got to be kind of 70s, hasn't it?
60s or 70s, that just tells you in French.
But I actually have the absolute killer here.
And this is the non-covered top, Citroën DS.
Yeah.
I don't think it gets any better than that.
I mean, look at that.
That is, that is.
That is, that is.
Yes, yes.
That is.
Absolutely.
Like, you know, so two CVs, all of this, they all look great.
But the DS is the car.
Yeah.
Chris Cooper.
It has got to be French, isn't it?
Because it is a French thing.
Yes.
Yes.
It's a French thing.
And I don't think it has to be 70s.
But there is that sort of, I was, the day of the jackal, the original film,
is on one of those movie channels.
I don't know what it's a streamer on.
I was about to talk about the day of the jackal.
I know what you're going with this.
I know what you're going with this.
It's on there a lot at the moment.
There's some quite cool cars in there.
And that, so that film was 1966, 67?
Or is it later than that?
No, no, I think it's about then.
Edward Fox, a very young sort of.
Lied Edward Fox.
And that era, the Champs Elysees, is that sea of yellow.
That lovely sea of yellow.
But my first memories really were probably a school trip,
having, doing it in our O level year.
That ages me.
It wasn't GCSE, it was O levels.
We had a French trip for a week.
To a very pretty little town called Rambouille,
which is sort of south of Paris,
not far from Versailles.
I went to Paris and Versailles.
And we went across on this coach in the ferry, I think.
And we were drove all the way down to Paris, blah, blah, blah.
And then just on the periphery, that sea of yellow
is so evocative of that.
And that would have been early 80s.
But for me, I mean, I've just tried to wear a hat live on the pod.
So everyone now knows that coolness and me
have no proximity to each other.
So I can't really opine on what was cool.
What I can say though, is that the one that means the most,
and it was my first proper car,
Renault 5 GT Turbo, with the yellow fog lights.
Yes, good.
Yeah, not the headlights.
I did that.
I did that.
On the 1.9 Peugeot and the Renault 5 Turbo,
I did the fog lights only on yellow.
The fog lights.
I get it.
I think that phase two, second generation,
the one with the proper alloy wheels,
not the smoky veined ones.
That came standard with yellow fog lights.
And to my eternal shame,
I could never get both fog lights working at the same time.
But just the coolness of that,
I saw one for sale actually earlier on this evening,
I sort of nearly had a tickle at.
And honestly, it was the yellow fog lights.
That's the last car I was in the show.
That's exactly what I was going for the yellow.
So for me, the car that does it for me,
I agree, 60, 70s is more, perhaps more meaningful,
but actually it can be,
and I'm a kid of the 80s really.
Film Subway, remember Subway?
Christoph Lambert, that incredible opening sequence
with the 205 GTI phase one,
when he's deep enough down.
It's got yellow fog lights.
That's it, that's it.
I haven't seen the yellow fog light in going,
oh my lordy, that.
And it's also,
I don't know whether he's knocked the wing mirror off by then,
but it's got, it's a single mirror car, look.
No, that's standard of it.
But yeah, I just think yellow fog lights.
I've got a 205XS on the road at the moment.
I'm going to yellow the fog lights out tomorrow.
Cool as.
Wasn't France calling,
I mean, I know France is calling now,
but it was really cool in the 70s, wasn't it?
It was so sort of, I don't know, sexy,
it was so mysterious, wasn't it?
We only really, we only really saw it through,
it's a knockout, didn't we?
Yes.
But it also, they just saw a lot of it.
We love to talk about it's a knockout now.
I didn't think we could do that.
There you are.
It's the back end of when France just didn't give a shit,
they did it their way, look at their cars.
They were making the Citroën GS.
Well, Volkswagen made the gulf.
Go and look at the instruments on a first phase Citroën CX.
I mean, it's like they were on acid or something.
They were.
They did not give a shit.
They were brilliant.
It is extraordinary, because our first,
if you go out like me and Kent,
the excitement of getting on the hovercraft or the ferry
to go that 23 miles, we lived near Ashford and Kent,
often our 40 minutes, whatever,
maybe an hour from the ferry port,
go across on the hovercraft or the ferry to Boulogne or Calais.
And in the 70s, when I would have first have gone there,
it felt like it couldn't possibly be only 23 miles.
It felt like a different planet.
Yeah.
And most of that was the cars and how different and weird and wonderful.
And a DS is a taxi with that little button as a brake pedal.
I think, how does that work?
It was just...
People looked like they were out of asterisks, the gall as well.
They really did.
You know, they did look different.
It did.
Or tinting.
It was tinting, Fred.
Belgian.
Oh, Belgian.
But he was a French part of Belgium.
No, sorry.
Herger, that was...
No, they were both Belgian, weren't they?
Yeah.
Asterisks was Belgian.
Surely French, asterisks, wasn't it?
Herger, it's my world week.
French.
Asterisks is gone.
But we'll get...
Stato can get on with that when I get on the next bit.
Okay.
This isn't...
Now, this is interesting.
It's just a phrase that was written down based on last week's pod.
And I don't...
Let's...
I mean, you can make suggestions,
but I want to talk about the concept of this, really,
and the value of it and how it makes us feel
and maybe how it feeds the seduction of just being standing out.
Well done, Cooper.
Well done.
I'm just standing out from the ground.
So, the phrase is,
the only one in the car park.
How powerful is it to have the only one in the car park?
I think it's really powerful.
So, Manage, explain the only one in the car park.
When I read this after typing it out,
because this was basically something that...
Neil, did you say this last week?
Well, we talked about it last week.
Yeah, we did.
No, no.
So, what I had in my head was that, you know,
was it the really fast show sketch?
The only gay in the village.
Remember that?
That was Little Britain.
Little Britain, sorry, Little Britain.
Apart from that, that was absolutely accurate, yeah.
Sorry, apart from that, yes.
Wrong show.
It sounded like the only gay in Bangladesh, as well, to me.
You ought to work on your access.
New Delhi, New Delhi.
I can't do a washout.
You're right.
I think in this modern, highly automated, highly regulated world,
it's really difficult to be an individual
without either looking like you're making too much effort
or actually just looking really weird.
And I would say the four of us, we...
I think the four of us probably have a few things in common.
I think there's a certain OCD that we all have.
I think we all...
I wouldn't describe myself as completely neurodivergent,
but I probably am a bit.
And I...
Are you?
I look for sure.
Did you just say a bit?
Tiny bit, teeny tiny bit.
What is it to be the only...
I mean, the only...
The one car in the car park is the most positive way
of spinning an idiosyncrasy, I think.
It's saying, look, I'm an individual.
I am odd.
I stand out a little bit.
But my God, do I do it in a positive way?
In a way that it's...
I was almost going to use the word wholesome.
Wholesome's not the word I'm looking for.
What's a word I'm looking for?
I think being different is wonderful.
You know, if we were gazelle,
we'd be the ones that were eaten first by the lions.
We just would, because we're the ones who do stand out.
And the herd do just slightly move away from us.
But at the same time, I like to think we're the ones
that kind of entertain the herd as well.
We're the ones that make being part of the herd
slightly less gray.
So I was thinking about the perfect car for this.
And I've seen one, once.
And I now know why, because as ever,
I do like researching this.
And I found this thing.
A Matra Simka Bagheera.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Bagheera!
Bagheera, exactly.
Now it turns out there are eight that have got MOTs in Britain
because you can look these stats up.
Wow.
And I reckon drive that baby into a car park somewhere
or a car event.
And I think people will stare at it.
And it's an incredible car in its own slightly mad way.
And I think...
Three-seater.
Two-seater.
Yeah, three-seater.
Can I just pre-empt the obvious comments
that are going to come now?
Because obviously, those that watch Top Gear know that we...
I wasn't available for a film and my two co-hosts,
one of them chose a Bagheera, which was one of nine,
I presume, then that was registered in the UK.
Yeah.
And it took a bit of a beating.
It was left in the Borneo jungle.
And I got so much...
I wasn't even in the episode and I got hate mail for it.
So I apologise now on behalf of me
and anything I've ever done for the fact that that Matra got hurt.
I didn't like it, but it happened and I wasn't there.
We understand.
And I didn't pick it for that reason.
I did know about that.
But I'm just saying, I just think there's something so gorgeous,
idiosyncratic, odd, whatever.
And I've just realised now,
actually, she's basically got Lola's headlights, hasn't she?
They're so slightly squared off,
but 20 years before Lola was even conceived.
Look at this.
Oh, look at this.
Should it be pop-ups?
Good work.
Yeah, good work.
Yeah, boy.
That's good work.
Clay Vincent.
Hello.
Good work.
Good work.
He's in there.
Yes, Manish.
Well, I think that's...
I think your breakdown of what it means
and the car are both good.
I'm going to nip in there quickly.
I think the only one in the car park is...
It's a way when treated positively for people like us to speak to fellow nerds
in the cars that we choose,
because actually we're more self-conscious when we try and choose
the only one in the car park than we want to let on.
We're trying to be clever.
We're trying to use our choice of strange idiosyncratic vehicle
to speak to other people to impress them.
In many ways, it's like a sort of songbird subtly flashing a bit of plumage
so you can see the colors.
I think it's a mating call.
So I think you want to choose something that's clever but not too showy.
You apply all sorts of criteria to these choices
that almost funnel down into something that's so minute what you could choose.
And so it's not enough just to turn up in the most expensive or the fastest.
It's got to have thought behind it.
But a thought that you know that Neil Clifford,
if you listen to his book, Neil Clifford walked past it and go,
and he just said to himself,
he knows or she knows or that's nice.
I wish I had one of them.
It's about maybe impressing people you've never even met,
but I think it's a really nice exercise.
And it's one of the few exercises that's meritocratic
because you can win.
You can often win with something that's much cheaper and was more ordinary.
And I do believe if you turned up with an Allegro van den Pla
in the right place, it would get more attention than the latest Lamborghini.
And that's what maybe that's the hub of why we love motor cars.
That can happen.
You don't have to have the ultimate of everything
and have to get your willy out and wave it around.
You can get the attention of those that you want the attention from
by just being doing something a bit outrageous
or having found something really cool.
I'm not going to choose my car yet.
I'm going to hand over to Chris Cooper.
I started this conversation last week
by observing that track days had sort of become Formula GT3 RS.
That's not a bad thing because it's an incredibly capable car.
But, and Manish, you kind of, I hadn't thought about this brand until you started speaking a moment ago,
but you're absolutely right.
There is, I'm a bit of a contrarian, which I might have said before
and others might have noticed.
I didn't fit in when I was younger.
Many might say that hasn't changed.
You will one day.
I keep on thinking one day my day will arrive.
But I've never felt I fitted in at school at all.
And my escape when I was at school was sailing, dingy racing.
Nobody else understood it.
I didn't do it to be different.
I did it to find something where I felt at home.
And the car is like that.
The car is definitely like that.
And I think there is something about not necessarily wanting to be a member of a club.
There's something about that in it and not because you want to be different,
but because you want to be yourself.
I think that's a really important thing.
And I think for many of us, because of the enormous range of possibilities of what the car offers us,
we've been speaking for three years about cars.
We haven't run out of stuff to talk about.
And that sort of proves to us that you can be yourself and everybody who writes to us
and it sort of clearly means something to lots of people.
So taking the track, Dave.
So I think there's definitely that to it is feeling comfortable and confident enough
and not worried about whatever else things to say.
People might laugh.
People might think, what were you thinking of?
It doesn't matter.
In fact, they could all fuck off.
They really can.
They really can.
And I was thinking, I spoke to Will about it after last week's podcast
because what prompted it was his stunning M4 GTS,
which he's taken to a few events that we've all been at this year.
And you literally don't see any of those anywhere else.
But I was thinking about, in fact, this is owned by,
it's actually a mutual power of Will as well, Jono.
He's got one of those.
It is an Altima.
He's got an Altima, which he takes on track days.
I think he actually took it to the ring in September this year.
I can't think of a braver thing to do to take an Altima to a track day.
I mean, it's basically people that will put a picture out properly.
You can Google it if you don't know what it is.
It's an extraordinarily British quirky,
actually quite well engineered thing.
Chevy LS3 engine or whatever it is, some big small box, some big small box.
They're all big Chevy Vier engine upwards of 500 horsepower.
No anti-lock, no traction control, not much crass structure, really.
That would be, if you took an Altima to a track day,
particularly the ring, I think you're going to be the only person in the car park.
And the guy, Jono is, Jono has got this.
He ended up with it because he was bored with GT3s and GT4s.
And he said, I want to try something different before I literally get told it.
Jono is in his 70s and he's a good man.
I mean, good man.
So I think it is about, I mean, in my part, it probably would be contrarianism
and this sort of lifelong challenge of, do I fit in?
How do I feel about not fitting in?
And how do I feel about, actually, I don't get.
I almost instinctively feel suspicious of everyone thinks that's the right answer.
All my natural tendencies say, are you sure?
And why?
So I celebrate the M4 GTS, the Altima and those choices, because I think they were,
it's the ultimate expression of why we love the car.
Yeah, I agree.
It's just about all of that.
I've said, I'd still want to pay 50 grand for M4 GTS, not 65 though.
No, Clifford.
This is the reason why I'm on this planet.
I fucking love this subject so much.
I've always been in search of this.
I think you guys have expressed it so well, much better than I could or can.
And it is about your personality, isn't it?
It is about wanting to express yourself slightly, wanting to, it's that if you know,
you know thing, you want to communicate, but you only want to communicate to certain types
of people because you don't really give a shit about lots of people in a very positive way.
Of course, I care about everyone, but in the world of cars, so us being the 5% or the 10%,
and when you're going to, going on car trips or going to, I don't know, Goodwood Breakfast Club
or Revival or Bista or just a little coffee event in the West End of London,
you do want to express your personality.
And frankly, you don't want to have the car that there's seven or eight or nine of them.
And I'm always in search of this, even to the detriment sometimes maybe of making the wrong
choice. I'd rather have something niche and cool, even if it has a higher percent of shit
that goes with it, because clearly you can look in auto car or EVO and look at the 5 stars at
the back, which obviously we all do. But sometimes you want to go off piece a little bit, you want
to just be making a slightly different message. You want the rarity, even if rarity is, I don't know,
like dog shit. Do you know what I mean? That was rare, wasn't it? Actually it's really rare now,
you never see it anymore, do you? It was everywhere in the 70s. I don't know, it was probably dogs
only at bones or something, now that we're all richer and dogs actually have proper food. But I
think I'm always in, that's why, partly why I've owned so many Bristol's I suppose, because I don't
really, really, really care about dynamics. I care about what they look like and therefore,
okay, clearly a Bristol is a bit shit or an Alpha, I've just bought an Alpha RZ.
There it is, there it is, that's the answer to the question. You know, you can guarantee yourself,
I'm going to drive all the way to Monaco Casino Square and there will not be another Alpha RZ.
There might be three Laferraris, a couple of Verons, a Chiron, a fucking whatever singer,
there ain't going to be an SZ. And I like that about it because it punches, it punches above its
weight in the car park because of, if you're talking to the audience that you care about,
they know. They're like, wow, an Alpha RZ or a Steen. You know, you know, you can drive all the way
to Monaco. There's a chance there's going to be another T16 actually, but low level of risk.
That's really the car that I love, that the car that's just standing there on its own
with friends, but not really with friends, you know, you're there, but you're there with people,
but you're there on your own. And you're talking to only the people you care about, which is your
rather car nerds. I don't care about people that just says, oh my God, how much is that worth?
I care about the people that are like, oh, he's made a very thoughtful choice there.
That's our world, isn't it? That's the world that we enjoy.
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I mean, the joy of choosing that car is maybe the ultimate expression
of the joy of classifies as well, isn't it? When you're sitting there, because it feels a bit naughty.
You know you're doing something that's deliberately obtuse. And how many times, I mean,
Manish probably hasn't done this because his car buying hasn't got there yet,
but he's going to join the club at some point. Oh, hold on a minute, that's my piss people off
on Piston Heads Alarm. Just to get rid of that. There we go. I've got another one set for 15 minutes.
I think when you're doing that, you have to admit that we've all probably bought cars
on reflection that we intended to use once for that one particular appearance.
I'm not saying you bought cars for £100,000, but I bought cars probably for £3,000 or £4,000.
If someone had said, will you ever use that again after that one appearance or journey,
the answer is probably not. Yeah, but it was worth it. It was worth it. I loved,
I'm going to some meeting once and I got put, I was in my little 205 rally and I got stuck.
The latest Ferrari was an FTDF then and they were very valuable things and I got part between
two of them at this really fancy event. First of all, I was the guest of this event
as I presented a certain TV show and they said to me, it was a fatal mistake,
turn up in a fancy car and I was like, don't say that. So I turned up and they tried to
make me park somewhere else and I went, no, I'm parking with the big guns. This is more
special than that shit. So I say it's a sea of laughs and fucking whatever.
All these amazing cars, this little Peugeot and of course it got much more attention and people
would come over and talk about it and people were comfortable with it and it was comfort food
and everyone had a 205 store. It might not have been a rally, but it was an XS or it was their
Grand Mars or it was a GTI. I just thought it made people's day better that car did.
It sort of peeled them away from the bullshit. Maybe that's what these quirky cars do is they
reveal what it is to love cars a bit more. When you go to, I don't know, often me and
my friend Lou Konzade on the first Monday or the last Monday is really a good thing to do in the
winter on a Porsche Monday night at the Ace Cafe. And frankly, you're all crowded around
the 996 Tiptronic with the wood. You know what I mean? You don't give a shit about the GT2RAS or
the manual 908. You care about the, you know, the oak green Boxster with the green leather,
but you know, someone ordered it as a Tiptronic and got the wood and the green hood.
Those are the ones. Those are the ones that are the magnets at those events. It's not the flashy
obvious things. It's the, you know, it is the white dog shit when it was new, probably. Like,
how did they order it like that? But now, because there's only one of them, you find those things
on piston heads or auto trade or our friend Hill and Toe, and you're like, it was really
shit when it was new, but now that's really cool. Yeah. Well, that, no, hold on. That's,
we've had that before. We'll come back to that one. Was, was shit is now cool. Manage thoughts.
I've already done mine, but... I'm sorry.
But he didn't do his car. I give us an idea of a car. He did.
I think it's a big error.
Long day. I don't forget at about seven this morning, I was hunting for an Osmo on the M32.
Right. A model that got better with each iteration. This is interesting.
This is a really interesting one.
Because do you mean, do you mean a model as in E30 BMW? Or do we mean the three series in general?
I think you mean, yeah, that's sort of thing.
How broad is this?
I think I meant, I think I meant...
I think there's only one. There's only one.
Okay. We can make this quick. I'm going to go first with Cooper.
Rolls-Royce Phantom.
Oh. Okay. Neil Clifford. Don't explain yet. Neil Clifford.
I see. I'm not sure that's true.
Yeah. If it ended at 991, maybe. Right. So what about Manage?
I'm going to lose this, but Land Cruiser.
Yes, you've lost.
It went like this at the end.
I think Phantom's good. Explain yourself, Mr Clifford.
Yeah. Yeah. Who, me?
That's why I said Mr Clifford.
I'm sorry. I couldn't hear you.
Explain yourself.
I think if you're saying better, as opposed to cooler, or better really means an advancement
in logical engineering terms, as opposed to emotionally better, or emotionally cooler,
I think you have to say the 9-11, because even if you're, oh my God, when they went to water
court, they ruined it. The fucking 996 is so much better than the 996.
Totally by that.
Okay. We can argue about the cup holders in 992 or whatever, but it's got to be a better car.
I think the Germans, they just nudge it on every time, don't they?
Ill quality has gone backwards.
I think what's interesting is that this question at face value is a sort of
let's celebrate something that's just got better and better and better, but it's made me realise that
most cars in the last three years have produced a version of themselves
that wasn't quite as appealing as the one before, and that's never happened in history.
You could argue objectively better in some areas, but there are some that really haven't
done that that I would have expected to. I don't think it's the car maker's fault.
They've had to make cars with a set of rules, which are just trying to do a running race with
two legs tied together. Manage what you're thought. It's funny. I thought about this because I
think it's like any curve that things go up, they come down. They go up, they come down,
and I picked the Land Cruiser because I know it's not as sexy now as it was.
When was the Zenith Land Cruiser? It will not break down. You can drive it from London to
Addis Ababa without a problem. If you need a part, you can get it.
I think it's people would say 100 series probably.
Yeah, but weirdly though, I think it was what Neil was saying. Objectively,
all the tolerances are better. The engine is smoother. It gives you better gas mileage. Probably
the chassis is stiffer. What's the biggest complaint people have about them now is maybe
we don't love the aesthetics. I've only got five doors and seven seats. That's not a bad thing for
something that can take you from London to Bombay, literally. But I do get exactly what you're
saying that maybe the rules of making cars have just meant that peak car, if you take the same
iteration, maybe it was a decade ago. Okay, here's, I'll throw this curve board in that we're googly
for the group. Dude, this way you'd have to choose a Korean car or a Chinese car because they are
now making the best cars they've ever made. So, you know, it's not a model though. It's got to
be a model, can't be. Look at a Hyundai Santa Fe or something like that. You know, that name's
been applied to car for 25 years. The first ones were a joke. And now it's a car that people are
buying over BMW X5. I mean, that's a remarkable turnaround. A remarkable turnaround. Kia Rio
generated the most famous subtext head was Stan First in car magazine history. Her name is Rio
and she's shit, I think it was. And I think, yeah, the Chinese car makers, most of them,
I don't know who they are, but I remember going to look at Geely's in 2010, I think a nine or 10
in China. And, you know, they had a car called the Panda. It wasn't styled so badly, but it was
objectively not really very good. What they're making now is... And I think Japanese went through
that in the 60s and certainly 70s into the 80s and beyond. I think this is a really... But if you
take a mature manufacturing base, like say Germany, Porsche or the Phantom, it's actually a really
hard question. I mean, a more interesting variation of it is, I mean, and the Gulf would be the ultimate
manifestation of this. The Golf Mark II was pretty strong. There's an argument that some of the
Mark III, the Golf GTI Mark III, perhaps slightly sort of, but then to the Mark IV, horrific.
But then the Mark V absolutely blew it out the park.
I don't think the three... See, the three is rusted and they weren't that good.
No. Because the four might have been a bit stodgy and slow, but they were tough as on boots.
They were better built. And they introduced that pump dues engine, didn't they? The PD diesel engine,
which was everyone in the early 2000s. Everybody wanted a PD150. If you've got PD150 Golf,
you're the kind of guy that gets something done. My bog reading at the moment is 1983,
I think it is, or 84. It's a Golf GTI versus Abarth 130 TC for Car Magazine. What a twin test,
that is. Yeah. And the thing is, from seven to eight, they really fucked it. Yes. That eight.
But they had to make a car within a set of constraints that I think was impossible. I feel
so sorry for them. It's a good question. Well, I don't know. I don't think the European Union said,
do not illuminate the switches on the dash for the heater. Yeah. Make the switches feel really
creaky and whimsy. They fucking did that. And you can't adjust the heater when it's dark.
I love it when I could spot Mr Clifford's body language. And we were halfway through that. He
thought, it's one of those questions, we're all going to start whinging about new cars being bad.
And I think I get him. We're not those people. No, we're not. But it's, we're going to come back
to this in a few weeks time. And we're going to have thought about it some more. We're going to
come up with a load of really positive answers. Okay, that's what we're going to do. That's our
homework. I think that to me, there's no doubt that they're going to change all these stupid
laws. Yeah, that is, I think that's already changing. Yeah, yeah. It's totally Darwinism.
They've got to make the move because it's just going to, you don't go out and buy something new
that's worse than the thing you already own. Yeah. And that is the current status and that,
that cannot stack up an industry. Agreed, man. That's a good point. Right, let's move on to the
Formula One. I always asked this straight off the bat. Neil Clifford, did you watch it? I did
watch it. Let's start with you then. Here we go. No, I watched it. I thought you bastards. I've got
to watch this. I did. I did watch it. And I just think it's great. Lando won and he won easy. Didn't
he really won easy? And there's lots of stuff going on that you guys will talk about. But
he's in front now. And it'd be really great if he won because I think he's a jolly nice chap.
And he deserves it. And actually, what's his colleague that manages in love with? He's bottled
it. Something's happened. That's, by the way, that's Piastri. I mean, love with Piastri. That's
a little. You are very pro-Piastri this season, which I do like and impressive. So Manish, respond
to that. It's impossible. I'm in love with Oscar Piastri. I mean, they do biomes and roses.
Manish loves Oscar. Manish loves Oscar.
So look, I do wonder, I've been reflecting on your analyses of papaya rules. It's what I'd like to
get into. So I think if you've got the philosophy of having two quick drivers, you have to be reasonably
firm with them about taking each other off and over-competing with each other. As we've said,
if you've got a car, that is way faster than everything else. I think the negative part of
papaya rules here is if one driver feels that they've been discriminated against.
And there are lots of reasons as to why a driver might feel that they've been discriminated against.
Anyone's told me about a journalist who was very close in later life to Nigel Manfield,
that very early on was very close to Carlos Reutemann. And he said that this journalist
was always very negative and would always talk Reutemann into a very negative mindset. I'm not
going to name him, but Carlos Reutemann very famously lost 1981 Formula One World Championship
at the last race in Las Vegas to Nelson Piquet for a lot of reasons. But if you looked at the last
half of his season, I mean, he had an absolutely dominant first half of 1981 and chucked it away
slowly, losing it massively at the last race, even though he was ahead. I do wonder whether
something has got into Oscar's head, which isn't Oscar and which isn't the season. And I'm alluding
to a personality or some personalities. I wonder whether somebody is over-interpreting everything
that's going on and massively amplifying it in Oscar's head, because I don't think you can be cool
and then suddenly just not be cool. I don't think that happens. I think someone gets into you and
someone that you trust gets into you and says, oh, they're doing this, they're doing that. And that's
what I really do one day. And I may be right, I may be wrong, but you can't. This boy's in his third
season of Formula One. Five races ago, he was flying away with it. Now I know Max has got the car
under him. Chris Harris pointed out that I think Max is in the box seats, and I didn't understand
that when you sent that, but you were absolutely right. He went out on mediums. He had a massive
offset. He had a much lighter car. He had a much more sort of run-in circuit. He was on softs and
he was unstoppable. I mean, if you hear Lambiasi's quote, he says, that is some stint, Max.
I mean, the confidence was through the roof. If they hadn't been that ridiculous virtual safety car
for God knows what reason, there was no doubt Max would have come second. There's possibly a bit
of doubt as to whether Oscar would have come third. All I would say is my Piastri love, I just
do wonder whether something has infected him and it's not from inside himself. And I think that
McLaren should look at that. And they should say, you know, you've got that. I mean, the McLaren,
this is why I was saying about this race being the litmus test for me. Because I think the last race,
I think it was just so unfortunate that they wiped each other off. It was definitely Oscar's
thought. We definitely worked out that, you know, it was probably a lack of experience. You know,
he decided to tuck in a way, which if you do it halfway through a race, someone might be there.
If you do it on the first corner, there almost certainly will be somebody who's there.
But I thought it was a really weird, slightly one-off race because that really Austin is a
bit of a McLaren circuit. This was 100% of a McLaren circuit. One person capitalized on it
in a way that we haven't seen this. How far ahead was Landau? It was over 30 seconds ahead.
Yeah, I think so. You know, in a 71 lap race to pull out half a second a lap, we're talking about
80s motor racing here. Also, at half race distance, he was putting away a second lap.
Maybe he obviously backed off to protect the machinery. He could have had a little pit stop
and still come out much the quickest. But for Oscar not to be able to deliver that, for him
not to be able to believe in the car the way he does, and I think he's genuinely adaptable,
he is actually quite right of an esk in that he will do a few slow laps and suddenly bang,
be much, much quicker. And he surprised us with that a few times. I just do wonder whether that's
going on a little bit in the background, but I do think this was the epitomist test race.
This was service as normal. I think we saw the Red Bull is maybe the second or third best car.
We saw the best driver drag it to what should definitely have been second place because he is
just that bloody good. And I think we are seeing the world championship for what it will be. I
interesting. I think this is it. Service as normal. And I think Landau is dander as art.
It's his seventh season. Is it seventh season in Formula One with Clarence seventh or eighth?
I can't remember so. This is it now. I think he's going to do it. I think he's going to do it.
Chris Cooper. I'm not going to talk about Formula One because I think there is something
much, much more exciting and amazing than Formula One. It's the thing that has had more reaction
from something I posted on Instagram. Okay, I've got about six followers. So, you know, caveat, but
about a month ago, a few weeks ago, I posted a few clips of the Bathurst 1000 from Mount
Panorama. My giddy aunt, have you seen that race this year? I kind of have always watched bits of
it. This year, it was unbelievable. The best motor race I've seen in over 10 years. Bar none.
The commentary, the commentators are brilliant. I mean, they should be commentating on all motor
racing. All motors, all racing circuits should be Mount Panorama. Or this weekend, surface paradise
on the Gold Coast in Australia. Did you see, I mean, the internet broke this weekend with everybody
posting these shots from, I think it's the beach side chicane. But it feels like there's almost
four or five apexes they're bouncing off. And these four Mustangs and Chevy Camaro's are
literally bouncing all four wheels. It looks like it's AI. Somebody said to me, that's AI. I said,
it is not AI. Okay, let's call it Australian intelligence, because that is just the cleverest
thing I've ever seen. These things literally floating and flying. Australian motorsport is just
unbelievable. I think there was, Ford and Holden, most people know this, it's tribal.
And I kind of think most people, particularly outside Australia, wondered when Ford and Holden
closed their factories in Australia, 16, 17, nearly 10 years ago. There's been no manufacturer
of those cars. In fact, the Holden brand has gone. It's just now GM Chevrolet.
And you'd think, is that the end of the eight supercars? Hell no. Just the most exciting,
extraordinary, just full on. Yeah, I made it. Honestly, this weekend service powder. Mexico
is quite interesting, because some stuff happened largely because as George said, people went lawn
mower racing at the first corner. That is just silly, that bloody first corner Mexico. I mean,
Jesus Christ. The more you watch it, you think, everyone just said, hey, no one's watching.
Let's just go straight across the grass, see what happens. So no, this salute,
Australian motorsport, V8 supercars, Ford and GM, the teams, the drivers, Brock Feeney,
who I think is leading V8 supercars, 23 years old, what he was doing with that car. Jesus Christ.
I bow down to all of you. Great entertainment. I think, I love those clips. I would, yeah,
lots to take on from that Mexico race. And I'll go quite quickly. I don't know how Max actually
kept it out of the tires on that first corner. I mean, if you've ever driven a car on slicks on
grass, and I've not driven one with 1000 horsepower, he was just basically sort of on lock and then
somehow kept out of the barrier. Yeah, the first corner was a joke. I thought it's interesting,
isn't it? As an armchair viewer, if you've done a bit, you quite often sort of try and interpret
or imagine what you would do if you'd been a steward. And normally you sort of reach similar
conclusions. That was one of those races where a lot of the decisions, whether you were sort of
tribal or you loved that driver as your favorite driver, you thought, I'm not sure that's the
right decision. I just thought, I thought that the stewarding was more difficult to explain
from the outcomes in that race than I've seen it, than you would normally have, let's say.
The VSC at the end was a joke. We didn't see this incident with Lawson where I nearly hit
two marshals. That needs to be looked at. That was quite severe at the beginning there. I think
Lawson was rightly quite shaken up by that. I thought Lando just demonstrated when you've
checked out. It would be lovely to think that's a human thing, that he's just found a way of
operating that is beyond anyone else. I visit me and think that's possible, but something's
going on. Lando was struggling by tents against his teammate a few races ago, and now he's gone
the other way. So it's swapped almost to a second if you look at the difference.
And what's that about? We'd like to get to the bottom of it. What I can say is it's brilliant
drama. It really is. I grew and managed. It was a strong statement by McLaren, but I think the
altitude amplified some behaviors there in Mexico and that circuit as well. So I'm not sure this
is normal service for the rest of the season, and I suspect the max might come back irritatingly
strong in the next race. Either way, I want to watch it. Ollie Beerman, fantastic. George Russell
getting shitty on the radio. Fantastic. If I had pals with me on Sunday that didn't like Formula
1 and were always a resistant, I'd say you want to watch that one. That's a good advert for the
sport I love. I suppose I'd say that. It's a great race. Moving on to the two-car garage bought to you
by Pista. A car and classic bought to you by car and classic. You're turning 35. You and the girlfriend
have moved out of the central Manchester loft to a small cottage in Buxton on the edge of the
Peak District for space, fresh air, silence, and most importantly a garage. Before getting
boring with the marriage, dogs and kids, you're going to treat yourself with a couple of interesting
cars. One had to be the daily life car that can still bring you geeky car joy whilst taking
you both into Stockport station in all weathers. The other weekend fun machine can handle weekends
away either down to the Bista scramble or summer Europe driving holidays, budget 30 grand. I'm
going first. What I love about this is I've not got auction cars but I've got some good tackle here.
First of all, we need to go for a good surf around car and classic that you realise there's a lot of
ordinary tackle on there as well, right? So how about this? Absolutely Peak F30 3 Series 320d.
That's arguably the best all-round car ever made. It's done fewer than 60,000 miles and
they want 10.5 gram for it. Look at that. What a car that is. I did see that. Yeah. 320d. That's
ordinary wheels covered. So I've won that already now. These are much cooler car people than I'll
ever be. I've been to one of their events. I know they're cool. They've even got cool names. They
sound like wizards and that. The old Duke of London Porsche 914 red 20 grand. Look at that.
But I think the 914 is due to come back. I just love them. Oh, there's a lovely original 914 6
pinging around at the minute. Yeah, but that's more than my flat worth. So I'd say 914 and I'm
30 grand there. No auction, sadly, but things I've learnt this week. There's a lot more ordinary
tackle on car and classic than I thought. Neil Clippard next. Yes. Well, I did this on my way home
tonight. I think I was really trying not to do the sort of niche but cool white dog shit car
because I just he needs a bit of reliability. This guy he wants your or him and his partner.
They want they want cool. They want to be recognized as being the thoughtful, thoughtful car lovers.
And they want pretty. I think you do you do what's not pretty about 914. Now what are you
saying here? No, I'm talking about my choice. I moved on from your choice. I do like a 914.
I've never owned one. And I'd like to own one. So I've gone Defender for I just think it's actually
if you if you if you're going to do the four by four thing, it's probably
top three pretty four by four. Just go for or Defender just go for just go for I'm sorry. Yeah,
just go. Yeah. Yeah, I think. Okay, you could argue it's three to two Range Rover, but they're
a bit flaky on the reliability. Frankly, so is this if you get the diesel one and it gets all
those intergestion problems, you've got to go and have it blown out or whatever you do. But
this I found a brown one. The brown ones really nice. Yeah, look at that. Yeah, that bronzy brown
one is really nice. What was that called? It wasn't like Sandringham snake shit or something?
What was the name of that color? I don't actually know. I think it's something bronze.
Yeah. Yeah, Sandringham bronze. It's got to be Sandringham or Balmoral.
Prince Andrew bronze. Balmoral puppy poo. Yeah. And I'm going I'm going for I'm doubling up on
the bronze gold look for the old, you know, for looking the driveway and looking at that, you
know, I was going to go at least. But then it's a bit bloody tiresome on long journeys at least
because he wants to they want to use this for, you know, going down to Italy. They want guaranteed
reliability. They want a bit of fun. They want roof off. But they want to they want a hard top for
the winter. We've got 15 grand left. But actually this is only this is seven grand. Look at that.
There's the series two MX five. So I've gone the one after the pop ups. I know you can't really
love a Japanese car that easily. But for gold, that was the launch color. And it comes is with
the hard top as well. Yeah, launch color. I'll post the little link. Look at that hard top.
That is a gorgeous little car for seven grand. It's probably the best value car in the world.
They are and they'd last forever unkillable. Yeah, you know, get buried in that. And you've
actually got five grand spare for fixing the disco. Manish what are your two cars?
Well, I think the reliable one I would nail it's some it's a couple that don't have children yet
they're not married. They want to have a little bit of fun. I found this I did actually look on the
auction site and I hope it's still here. It's a 2003 E 46 325 CS I look at that. That's good.
Yeah, Oxford metallic green, two five leases. Look at the interior. Yeah, yeah. Got the wood
and the 10 year is that I can't see the picture. 2003 325 CI that's a lovely car.
A lovely car, gorgeous car. So that's your that's your daily. And then this is for Chris Cooper,
actually. I think this might cause you one or two problems. 60,000 miles. It's in France.
It is right hand drive though. And it is the 96 TVR Kimera 400. You don't know how close that is.
I think that's a beautiful car. Get the lid off and go into Europe with that. It's already in France.
Just is it right hand drive or left hand drive? Hold on a minute. I thought it said RHD. I can't
have you see the steering wheel from this picture. It's in France. Yeah, it's a beautiful thing.
Good choices. Right hand drive. It is right hand drive. They never made the left hand drive,
did they? I don't think they did. I don't think they did. Three days to go on that. Chris Cooper.
I've got this licked. Licked like a lolly. And I think this is a great one.
Buxton is really, really pretty. It's pretty. It's really pretty. The Peak District, the road
from Buxton down to Ashbourne going south to 515, mega beautiful countryside, quite fast, quite,
quite good fun. And then the cat and the fiddle road, the one that goes from Buxton sort of
and then back up towards sort of the northwest. And those beautiful moorland roads, lots of
visibility. Don't misbehave. It's from Meadowhall shopping centre to Trafford centre. Yeah.
I'd go that way instead. Yeah. Yeah. The detour. Yeah. Yeah. So I think it's a brilliant sort of
so. I think the thing that would give you a bit of a daily bit of excitement.
I can't believe it's a 2010 mini John Cooper works. Yeah. This has only got 44,700 miles.
It's going on auction. It starts on, it'll probably be the day before this comes out,
Thursday Friday this week. And just looking at what they're going for. I reckon that's probably
$6,000. I was driving one today and what an amazing little car that mini. I think those,
they're just the mega. So that's kind of, you know, that's sort of $5,000, $6,000 worth.
And then Manish, you're very, very close to it. That is a TVR. Go on. There is Griffith 500.
Goes on auction. It goes on auction. It'll start on Wednesday this week. So beyond,
it'll be up for two days before we come out on Friday. 46,000 miles. Pretty good.
TVR Griffith 500. It says in the right up in the auction that it's had the Outriggers done.
Very important on a TVR. And there's some pictures of the underside that looks like it's sort of
pretty clean, been waxed on and so forth. It's got 20 grand. And I reckon that will be 20, 25 grand.
Yeah, 20. It is brilliant. I mean, the idea of, it's slightly different this week,
slightly smaller budget, slightly younger, enthusiast. There was so much stuff I could have
chosen. It's a very cute little car. Do you remember, Chris, when we went to the Ring with
Sir Hoy in the summer and on that Friday night when the roads are all gridlocked because it was
reopening for Tourist Fountain? Yeah. And we'd walked down to the Piston Plaza. There was, in
one of those little B&Bs in Nürburgr Village, there was obviously a 911 owners' club gathering.
There was. There were about six or seven of them together. I didn't know there were six or seven
of them, but they just looked so cool. They sold thousands of them. They must have looked so cool
in 1972 or whenever it was. It just looked brilliant. It still looks clean now. Right,
let's do some music. Man, if she starts us off. Do you remember, I think it was Edwin Collins,
Orange Juice, Rip It Up and Started Again. Oh, that was one of the great songs.
Very, very good tune. Like in that. Neil Clifford. I've just been listening to the new Dave album,
and I like Dave. The Boy Who Played the Heart. The Boy Who Played the Heart. Yeah,
so it's a cute name for a song as well, isn't it? Amazing. Chris Cooper.
You might have had this before. I don't care, but I listened to it a lot the weekend. Van Halen
Jump. Oh, you've had that at least six times. Isn't it just the best? There are only nine podcasts
where you haven't mentioned that. It's your favourite. I don't care. I'm going. Right, so I've just gone
to the local BMW dealership. I did love it, BMW. 1988. And I've just bought myself a facelift,
325i M-TEC body kit with the sport seats in cloth. And I'm wondering what to play on the way home.
And I'm playing Prefab Sprout, King of Rock and Roll. Nice. That's what I'm playing. Take in my
Blaupunk Toronto because I've gone for the upgraded Hi-Fi. It's 88. I'm probably wearing a suit with
very pleated trousers. So I might have had white socks and loafers on because you could, couldn't
you? I know air conditioning, but some roof. Yeah. Hopefully. Yeah. There you go. All right,
so I want to apologise for the in-jokes at the beginning because I did forget to press record.
Finlay, get the hell back here quick before it really goes wrong. Number 59. That was number 59.
So we'll be getting on towards 60 in the middle of the week. Didn't that F1, the McLaren F1,
wasn't that number 51, the penis extension car? Was it? You've lost me completely. The UNO clinic?
Yes. Was it 59? It was a penis extension clinic in Japan, wasn't it? Was it?
That they were surgical assistants, yes. They ruined it for me completely.
Yeah. And I'm sure that was number 59, the car. Well, look, it was the garage 59 was there,
was the one they worked out of for the win, wasn't it? Le Mans win.
Yeah. It was penis extensions. Can I, can I, before we sign off just very quickly, to a quick plug,
we are all going to be at the Everyman in Bristol on the 4th of November,
on the 4th of November for a very special screening of the Lucca film. But every man's
cinemas, if you really want to watch it, it's another little plug, up and down the country,
every single Everyman on the 10th and the 12th of November will be screening Lucca for those
two nights only at this point. So don't go on the 11th. Yeah, don't go on the 11th. I'll give that a
kick on the old social. 10th and 12th of November, that's when they're showing it. This is technically
pre-released because the distribution deal has not been done. Get out there. It's, you know,
I'm a bit biased, but you want to watch it for Lucca. He's great. So I think, I think we've done
some decent plugging there. I want to say thank you to my fellow hosts, Manish, Neil Clifford and
Chris Cooper. Yeah, lots of fun. And again, I'm sorry I didn't press record, Chris Cooper. I suspect
I'm going to get, I'm going to get one of those things that in Harry Potter called a howler,
you know, that letter that would come out and scream at you from your phone. I'll leave it on
that note. Thank you very much. Bye bye.
About this episode
A lively discussion unfolds as Chris Harris and his friends propose exciting road trip ideas, focusing on scenic routes through Scotland and Italy. They share personal anecdotes, including a nostalgic look at past adventures and the joy of driving unique cars. The conversation also touches on the charm of yellow headlights and the allure of being the 'only one in the car park.' With humor and camaraderie, they explore the essence of automotive passion and the thrill of planning memorable journeys.
Alfa Romeo RZ
Alfa Romeo SZ
BMW 3 Series
BMW M4
BMW X5
Bristol Fighter
Bugatti Chiron
Chevrolet Camaro
Ferrari 456 M GT
Ferrari LaFerrari
Ford Mustang
Kia Rio
Lancia Delta
Land Rover Range Rover
Matra Bagheera
McLaren F1
Mini John Cooper Works GP
Nissan Altima
Peugeot 205 GTI
Peugeot 504
Porsche 911
Porsche 914
Porsche Boxster
Renault 5
Rolls-Royce Phantom
Toyota Land Cruiser
Volkswagen Bora
Volkswagen Golf
Original notes
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The Car Podcast with Chris Harris & Friends
Chris Harris
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