Who will come out on top in 2026 - Silverstone F1 Review! | The Car Podcast #95
The Car Podcast with Chris Harris & Friends
Who will come out on top in 2026 - Silverstone F1 Review! | The Car Podcast #95The Car Podcast with Chris Harris & Friends · Jul 10, 2026
Annotations will appear as you listen
0:00
82:18
Car
Peugeot 306XSI
The Peugeot 306 XSI is a sporty version of the Peugeot 306. It’s the kind of car enthusiasts looked for in the 1990s because it was more fun to drive than the standard models.
Le Mans is a long-distance race in France where cars and drivers compete for about 24 hours. Winning in the wet is harder because the track is slippery and conditions change a lot.
In F1, wings aren’t just for looks—they’re aerodynamic parts that push the car down onto the track. More downforce usually means better grip in corners.
The airbox is part of an F1 car that helps get air into the engine. Where it sits and what shape it is can affect how the car breathes and also changes the car’s overall design.
Formula One is the highest level of race car driving with single-seat race cars. Teams constantly update their cars, and strategy and qualifying matter a lot.
Aston Martin is a car brand that also competes in Formula 1. Here, the host is saying the team hasn’t had the best start, but expects improvements with new updates.
Person
Adrian Muir
Adrian Muir is a person involved with Aston Martin’s Formula 1 team. Here, the host is talking about what he expects to happen with the team’s car updates.
In Formula 1, a “package of updates” means the team brings multiple new parts to the car. A “massive” one usually means they’re trying to improve performance in several ways at the same time.
It means they made a small change to the car’s shape and wings to help it grip the road better. In racing, even tiny aerodynamic changes can change how fast and stable the car feels.
It means making the race car lighter. A lighter car can speed up and slow down more easily and often handles better because the tires don’t have to work as hard.
Honda is a company that makes engines, including the engines used in Formula 1. Here, they’re talking about Honda bringing a new engine upgrade for the next race.
In F1, the engine is the main power source that drives the car. When they say the engine gets a step up, they mean it’s more powerful or more efficient than before.
John Barnard is a famous person in Formula 1 who designs race cars. The point here is that he’s considered one of the great technical minds in the sport.
Sprint qualifying is a shorter race weekend session in F1. It helps decide where the cars start for the main race and can affect strategy because it matters for points.
The Ford Mustang is a famous American sports car. Here, they’re talking about a problem that affects how the car’s power gets from the engine to the back wheels.
The prop shaft is the part that transfers power from the engine/gearbox to the back wheels. If it’s broken, the car may not be able to drive properly at all.
Apple Pay is a way to pay with your phone instead of a card. Here, they’re trying it at a fuel stop when they can’t pay the usual way.
Term
emergency £50 note
They’re saying they keep a small amount of cash just in case something goes wrong. In this case, it helps when they can’t pay for fuel with cards or phone payments.
In a car, “range” usually means the estimated distance you can drive before running out of fuel, based on current fuel level and recent consumption. When the estimate is low, many cars become less precise and can drop in larger increments.
This is a Porsche 911 GT2 from the 996 generation. It’s a race-style version that uses a turbo to make lots of power, and it can be fussy about hot air getting into the engine.
An intake restrictor is a smaller passage in the air intake that limits how much air the engine can breathe. Less air usually means less power, and it’s used to keep cars more evenly matched.
Place
Teter Rouge
Tertre Rouge is a well-known corner at Le Mans. It’s the sort of place where you can really feel how well the car grips and how stable it is under braking and turning.
Place
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a place that’s being used as a comparison. The speaker means the area feels like a British pocket, not like the surrounding country.
The Buick Enclave is a larger SUV that can carry more people, usually with three rows of seats. It’s built to be comfortable for everyday trips. The podcast mentions it as a specific SUV model in the mix.
“Falcon” can refer to different things. In the podcast, they’re talking about the Dassault Falcon 6X, which is a plane, not a car. So it’s included as a name reference rather than a vehicle you’d drive on the road.
Suspension is what helps the car absorb bumps and keep the tires in contact with the road. Good suspension makes rough roads feel controlled instead of jarring.
This is a Porsche from the Carrera family, which is known for being a serious performance car. Here it’s mentioned as a “big deal” car that the speaker says wouldn’t make them as happy as the other choices.
Caron Classic is where the speaker says they bought the cars they’re talking about. It matters because it’s part of how they got these specific enthusiast cars.
The Mercedes-Benz 600 (W100) is a very large luxury car made by Mercedes-Benz. It’s known for being a top-of-the-line limousine, not a normal everyday vehicle. The podcast is mentioning it because it was a meaningful car from someone’s past ownership.
This is a Mercedes-Benz SL roadster from the R129 generation, with a 5.0-liter V8. The speaker is pointing out that some versions have different engine and transmission setups depending on when they were built.
The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL 6.3 is a famous, rare classic Mercedes with a big engine. People love it because it’s tied to racing and it’s one of the most desirable versions of the 300 SL.
A “single headrest” means only one headrest is fitted in that seat area. On classic cars, the exact headrest setup can be part of how original the interior is.
A “history file” is a compiled set of documents and records for a specific car—often including prior ownership, service records, test reports, and correspondence. Enthusiasts value it because it can verify provenance and add context to how the car has lived over time.
This is a famous Mercedes-Benz from the early 1960s, and the “6.3” refers to a larger engine meant for high performance. The host is talking about how the car’s past test reports and paperwork add to its story.
“Rear kinematics” is a fancy way of talking about how the back suspension is set up and how it moves. The speaker is saying the car’s rear suspension behavior may have caused the handling problem.
Cross-ply tires are an older style of tire where the internal layers are arranged in a crisscross pattern. The host is implying that tire construction may have influenced how the car handled in that situation.
Radial tires are a modern tire design (compared to older cross-ply tires) that tends to grip and ride more predictably. The host is saying the driver thought the tire type contributed to the problem.
A head restraint is the part of the seat that supports your head. The host is pointing out that this car had a unusual setup for where the headrest was placed.
Colorblindness means someone can’t reliably tell some colors apart. The hosts connect it to racing because flags and color signals are important there.
The Volkswagen Polo is a small car, usually a hatchback, meant for everyday driving. The podcast is recalling how Polos looked in certain colors. It’s the kind of car people see often because it’s practical and easy to live with.
The Ford Granada is a mid-size car that Ford made in the past. In the podcast, it’s mentioned because of the color they remember seeing it in. It’s being used as a memory of what those cars looked like.
“R107” is a specific Mercedes-Benz SL model generation from the 1970s and 1980s. People who like these cars often care a lot about the exact color. Here, they’re debating what colors are worth choosing if you’re hunting one.
“Deep metallic gray” is a dark gray paint that has metallic particles in it. Those particles make the color look different depending on the light. The speaker is saying they might avoid that shade because it feels too plain.
Term
ultraviolet
“Ultraviolet” is a color name in this context—basically a vivid purple/blue. The speaker is joking that they can’t help mentally “naming” colors like they would for cars. It’s more about the color mindset than car mechanics.
“Guards Red” is a well-known Porsche red paint color. People who are into cars use the name because it refers to a specific shade, not just “red.” Here it’s part of the joke about the speaker seeing car colors everywhere.
Term
posse blue
“Posse Blue” is being used like a specific color name, similar to how people might say “a certain shade of blue” for a car. The speaker is joking that they can’t stop thinking in car-color terms. The segment doesn’t go into what exact paint system it is—just that it’s a named shade.
The Porsche 944 cabriolet is a Porsche sports car with the 944 model name, made as a convertible. It’s a classic Porsche that’s often considered more “everyday usable” than a 911. Here it’s mentioned as part of a joke about how Chris measures everything in car terms.
The Renault Fuego is an older Renault coupe from the late 1970s/early 1980s. The story here is about how its key could lock and unlock the car from a distance—something that felt very futuristic back then.
Hubcaps are the covers on the outside of a wheel. They’re mainly there for looks (and sometimes to help protect the wheel), and different designs can really change how a car looks.
Term
key
Here, “key” means the remote you carry to control the car. Instead of unlocking by hand, you can press a button and the car locks or unlocks for you.
Infrared central locking is a way to lock and unlock your car using a light signal from the key. It usually works best when you’re facing the car, because infrared doesn’t bounce around like radio signals do.
The Audi 90 is an older Audi family car. In the story, it’s described as closely related to the Audi 80, but with a stronger five-cylinder engine and some styling changes at the front.
“Motor-driven” means the locks move using an electric motor. So instead of just a simple mechanical action, you can hear the system working when you lock the doors.
An interlock is a built-in “prevention” feature. In this case, it helps stop you from locking the doors while the keys are still inside by requiring a specific sequence to lock the front doors.
The Bentley Turbo R is a classic Bentley luxury car. Here, the host is talking about how satisfying the remote locking sound is—like a heavy “clunk” when the car locks.
PCP is a way to finance a car with monthly payments. At the end, you usually choose to hand the car back, trade it in, or pay a final amount to keep it.
Indicator stalks are the steering-wheel levers you use to turn the blinkers on. If they’re broken, the car can’t signal turns properly, which makes driving stressful and unsafe.
A Faraday bag is a special pouch that blocks wireless signals. People use it to stop thieves from reading or using the signal from a car key fob through the front door or nearby walls.
In this context, “signal” means the wireless message between your car and the key fob. Thieves can try to intercept that message and trick the car into unlocking.
BMW is the car brand being referenced for repairs. The point is that the car had to go to BMW because the damage from the break-in was significant.
Term
mechanically opens a barrel
The “barrel” is the main part of a key lock that turns to open the door. When they say it “mechanically opens,” they mean it works by the physical key turning the lock parts.
The British Grand Prix is the Formula 1 race held at Silverstone, one of the sport’s most iconic circuits. It’s a major event in the F1 calendar, and the hosts are discussing how the crowd and atmosphere at Silverstone shape the weekend experience.
LIVE
Hello, and welcome to episode 95 of the Chris Harris and Friends podcast, which is driving
one of us so mad with technology that he actually wants to throttle himself. Guess which one
it is? Now, 95 is a significant number for many reasons. One, I bought my first Peugeot
306XSI in blue with gloss seats and wheel trims rather than alloy wheels. What else happened
in 1995? Neil Clifford. McLaren, and I was there, won Le Mans in the wet. I was supporting
the Harris car, the yellow one, but the penis extension car won. They were, weren't they?
Yeah, the penis extension. You know the clinic. My friend Chris, everyone's called fucking
Chris, my friend Chris owns it. Did he? And I've been to see it. Yeah, there you go. Is
that the, because McLaren say they own the car? Get close faces. Yeah. No, it was David
Clark's car, wasn't it? It was David Clark's car. No, that's the Harrod's car. That's the
Harrod's car. Oh, sorry. The penis extension car. What a car. 95, 95, 95. It's also the
year that Nigel Mansel drove for Ron Dennis for about a quarter of a lap and then went,
his car's too small. Yes. How was that? And actually, is it fair to say I like being positive
about all racing cars because are beautiful, but that McLaren that year was
a challenging looking device. Yeah. It had those funny wings on the, the air
box. It was, it was lit, the nose. Oh my God. It was beluga whale. You'd think no racing
car could make the Mullerborough Colors look bad, except that one. Yes. Yeah, it was bad,
wasn't it? It was bad. Then Brundel got the drive, didn't he? No, Mark Blundell had it for a bit.
Mark Blundell. When he first got in and couldn't fit his wallet in, they made it bigger. So didn't
Marky do a couple of races and then Nigel got in it at Imola and then didn't make, I mean, but we,
we don't, we don't remember Nigel for that. We remember Nigel for everything else.
How about the Sean and Lazy thing you were talking about, Mr Cooper? Well, this is one of the only
win Canada 95 in Montreal. Yeah. So yeah, my favourite memory of John and Lazy was after,
after a race at Goodwood, my business partner and man husband, Neil Kerry, who loves playing with
English language through the prism of being Welsh. I'd been racing against John, we'd had a good
old dice and we walked in, we walked back into the paddock together and Neil was filming me.
And we were just on the drive channel then. And I went, I went ask John and Lazy there and he
went, no, it's not, it's Gina Lazy. And I went, it's not, it's John. He went, he went, take a look
at the spelling. If it looks like Gina is Jean. And to me, you'll always be Gina Lazy. And ever
since then, John, you're a hero, but we do call you Gina Lazy. Brilliant. I did see him class this
year at Monaco. Oh, yeah. He looks like a proper film star now. He looks like some,
he looks cool. Yeah. Paul Belmondo proper, some Paul Belmondo still vests us to loan
clone hybrid. He looks such a rock star film star now. He looks cool. He looks like a poor Joe
McCarrie. Do you know, do you know what I like about John and Lazy is that he often turns up to
European Grand Prix looking cool as hell. He's got a vineyard that clearly keeps him happy and busy,
and he's never got an opinion to offer on any of it. He just doesn't, he just gets on with it,
watches it, supports the scuderia and is a legend. You find me a controversial quotation from him.
He's not, he doesn't do it. No. And he could drive a racing car very fast, holding a steering wheel
like that. Yes. He was, he was 11 and one, wasn't he? Unbelievable. Wow. The old rabbit's ears.
So let's, let's, let's, as demonstrated, I know people get annoyed when they can't see the podcast,
but no kid happens to have a steering wheel to hand to demonstrate what we're talking about.
I can't read the agenda here because I've just managed to punch a hole in the wall of a 17th
century property through my frustrations. So can someone please read the agenda out or the
first point on the agenda, then we can get going. Things you've done in cars this week, all good news.
All fantastic. Manage, you can go first. Okay. I'd like to talk about Formula One. Now,
I am a devotee of Adrian Muir, and I know that it has not been Aston Martin's finest getaway
at the top of the season, but I would like to say there is some very good news coming.
Ah. In Hungary, we will see a massive package. Adrian did a little,
did a little thing. We will see a massive package of updates.
We'll see a massive package of updates. And whilst the core structure to quote Mr. Muir himself
remains the same, they are going to have a little aero tweak. They've got big weight reductions on
the car. And I think we're going to see a significantly different car. And then after
that, at the Dutch Grand Prix, Honda have their first step up with the engine. So
to optimise the Formula One, some good news in Formula One, it's a British team.
He is the greatest designer who has ever walked this earth along with maybe John Barnard,
Gordon Murray, and Mauro Fogieri. They would be my absolute gods. And I can't wait for Aston Martin
to bounce back. I can't wait. I think that's great. Yes, I agreed.
I like that, man. I like the positivity. Chris Cooper, what have you done this week in cars
and forward slash positive? Well, all of the above. On Thursday and Friday, I went to Silverstone
as part of the Grand Prix. On Thursday evening, with my Motorport UK colleagues and friends and
colleagues from BRDC and Silverstone Circus Limited, we had a reception to welcome the world,
the Formula One, to Silverstone. So people from the FIA, from FOM, some of the teams are there,
Alan Wittnis was there, we had a nice chat with him about how he's getting on, all things are
going on. And we were in that new swanky veil hospitality thing, which is just on the pit
exit or entry road before the veiled squiggly bit, before we get on the start finish straight.
Very nice it was too. The canapé were very diddy, tasty, but very diddy. They're still paying
for the big swanky hospitality they were in. So that was very nice and a lovely way to start.
And so it was a Thursday, really hot evening on Thursday in Northampton,
Caesarshire. There was some stuff going on, like on stages, but no cars, no running of stuff.
80,000 people were there on Thursday. 80,000 people were there on Thursday. I drove in quite
to the middle of the evening, left quite a bit later. It was like Glastonbury x 10. I mean the
festival feel and the world coming together, lots of young people, all genders, it was wonderful.
Friday we were there to watch free practice in the sprint qualifying, went to see some of the
lovely garages and people met few mates in the paddock and talked about the business and sport
Formula One and motor racing and where everyone's at, it was all very positive. And I just wanted
to say a huge congratulations and thank you to Silverstone Circuits Limited, led by Stuart Pringle
and his team, BRDC and most of all UK colleagues, thousands of volunteers, 564,000 people attended
the 2026 British Grand Prix, sponsored by Pirelli. The biggest F1 event ever in the history of the
world. Britain did his best. I thought it was amazing. Was that the biggest attendance for a
Grand Prix weekend? Anywhere ever. 500,000, 600,000 people. To be clear, you said it's sponsored
by Max's tyres. Yeah, I'm not sure that their bid came out top. No, but I think for the purposes
of this podcast, it's sponsored by fucking Max's tyres, isn't it? That's an amazingly good effort,
yeah. And we all look forward to not leaving our share of that check. Good, good, good. Glad we
got that sorted then. So, quick factoid, nine drivers out of 22 are native English speakers.
Six, as far as I'm concerned, are English. Two are Antipodean and one is Canadian.
So, nine out of 20, there's a good reason, I think, for this massive uptake at Silverstone. It's
been a very, very long time since we've had six drivers who were born in Britain. Two who are
either Australian or New Zealand and one who's Canadian. And I think it's incredible. I can't
remember it like this. I remember the French sort of did this in the 80s, but I can't remember such
an English field, British field. Can I ask something? Because you're all cleverer than me.
I think I read the whole time, and I have some connection to this, that the hospitality industry
in the UK is dead, you know, restaurants, pubs are all dying. But people still are going out and
doing stuff and seeing things. And it seems to me the beneficiary is events. People want to put
their money and time into events rather than going out for meals into the pub. I wonder if
someone clever enough could say, well, this is the loss of revenue to the hospitality industry.
And the beneficiaries are these people. It's an interesting equation we should examine,
but it feels like that. And certainly my opinion on that. Yes.
Well, I think young people are drinking less. True fact, care about their health, care about,
you know, they're looking after themselves, which I think obviously is a good thing, let's
show in a pub. And the fat jab is meaning you're eating less. So if you're not having a drink
and you're not hungry, you'd better go to a gig. Yeah. It did feel like a lot of people had been
fat jabbing. It did look a bit like that, I have to say. But it felt like a festival. It felt like
a festival with a motor race attached to it. It's amazing. I loved it. Oh, I think that's great news.
By the way, on the subject of live events, is there anything upcoming that we could be offering
for those people? On a week on Friday, so a week today when this goes out, we are at the Clapham
Grand, Google the Clapham Grand, the forwards will be there, lots of japery, lots of audience
participation. So do you come along? What's the next point? Oh, I haven't done that. Hold on.
Neil Clifford has not done it nor have I. This has been so grossing. Neil Clifford,
what have we done this week in car? God, I've got such a lot to say, very short amount of time.
I went to Classic Le Mans. Oh, by the way, isn't it good news that Bentley have named their new car
after Thomas Tuchel? Torquel. It's named after the new...
Let's go give him the word right now. On a more serious note, I was taking the Ford Mustang
and I took it to Graham and said, Graham, please check it over because I want to take
the Ford Mustang. And then you get that phone call. Have you got two minutes, Neil?
You know that phone call and you're like, okay, what's wrong with it? What's the
thing that connects the engine to the back wheels, that long pipe? Oh, the prop shaft.
Technically speaking, Neil, the prop shaft is completely fucked. And you'll be lucky if you
get down to the Euro tunnel. So that, you know, one of those phone calls, which of course is good
news, bad news, isn't it? Because you don't obviously now want to take the Mustang because
you don't want to be stuck on the M25. So then I had too much work and it was very annoying and
my friends all went at the normal time and I was six hours behind. So I had a beautiful little drive
down on my own, which frankly, most of the time is the nicest little drive in the road.
You're not worried about the other people. You just got your own little thing to worry about,
your own little cocoon. You can stop for a pee and a coffee whenever you want.
In the Alpine, which is very lovely, got down to Mars, spent 24 hours watching Chris and Dario
and Joe and everyone go round. I was at our nage with my mates, bought a load of cheese and grapes
and apples and ham and bread from the local supermarket. Just perfect sunset at our nage.
Honestly, you can't be, take a chair. It's the first time in 27 years we've taken a chair.
Normally we're like, oh, we're going to sit on the dirt. So we've grown up and it's really,
really good. Then quick little story, I'm sorry to go on a bit, but this is funny, funny bad.
So I'm not right. What time are we leaving? Okay, well, I'm going to leave at 5am,
while I'm going to leave at 6am. I'm going to, so I'm like 5am. I'm going to get back to the UK,
see my wife. I'm fine. I've done my thing. Get in the Alpine, still dark, 70 miles range.
Oh, that'd be fine. I find a petrol station. 60 miles range, 50 miles range, 40 miles range.
The yellow warning comes on. Still haven't got to the motorway. You only know about
petrol stations on motorways in France, but our hotel was in the middle of nowhere.
20 miles range, shit. Hey Siri, tell me the next, the closest petrol station. Oh, great.
It's four miles away. Lovely little town. Can't remember. It's a knockout. You know,
one of those French towns that you can't... It's just all front of you. So it was one of those
towns, middle of nowhere towns, lovely, lovely and clean. France is clean. The roads are fantastic,
but there's nothing at 6.30. So I get to the total and there's only the remote. There's no
people there because it's like 47 pounds an hour to have an employee in France now. So no one actually
worked there. So the whole thing's dark. And now, have you noticed that your credit cards do not
work in the French petrol stations? And they used to. Something's happened. Maybe it's Brexit.
I don't know what it is. They've deliberately stopped the British credit cards. So I don't
get any petrol. So then I'm like, shit, I've got five miles left of range. Go to the next petrol
station. Another total, exactly the same. Oh my God, I'm fucked. I've got no... Then, you know,
when the mileage goes to zero? Yeah. But there's a tiny bit on the dial, but it's at zero. You're
all... And then suddenly, let's be blunt about this. I really needed the toilet because you panic.
You get that feeling of, I've now got two dramas. I need the toilet and I've got no petrol. What am
I going to do? Supermarket. So then you're having a panic. You're having a panic and you'd like,
you know, it's all connected, isn't it? So then I go to the car for... There's going to be someone
at the supermarket. The supermarket's going to be open. There'd be a cash point. You know,
I've got no euros. I'm buggered here. I'm on zero petrol. Get to the car for no credit cards. Try
my Apple Pay. Try all the credit cards. Pulling it out slowly, pulling out quickly wouldn't work.
Then I'm like, I'm buggered. I don't know what to do. Lovely little student in a two or five turns up
to put some petrol in his car. And I'm like, I've got to bribe him. I've got to do something here.
So all I've got in the back of my phone is an emergency £50 note, which I carry. So his name
was Nuno. Do you speak English? Not really. Okay, you speak some English. I am in the shit.
And even the word shit is in French. I mean, I'm in the shit. Yeah, no, it was really bad. There
was a guy who said, please give me 20 euros of petrol. And he got up his banking app and he
showed me he had 23 euros left in his bank account. And I said, please give me that. Give me that.
I'll give you the 50. And I will, I will send you something, a gift. This is fantastic. He said,
no problem. So he gave me 23 euros. All of the money had left in his bank account. I gave him
50 quid. But of course, that's hassle for him, isn't it? And he gave me 23 euros of petrol.
I had 75 miles left on my range. I could get to the motorway where there were human beings.
Suddenly, I didn't need the toilet anymore, because I got the petrol. I mean, it was so I lost an hour.
My mates got to the Euro tunnel before me. I don't know what the lesson here is, but
I always have petrol in your car. I always seem to have a petrol problem with an Alpine.
I think because you think they go on forever, then suddenly they don't.
Have you found in your Alpine that towards the bottom end, it goes down in units of 25 miles?
It goes in units of not like a mile. It goes, shit, it's gone 25 miles just in one go.
I've sent Nuno two pairs of shoes as well, because he was my hero. Nuno, just be kind,
random acts of kindness is a very good thing. Yeah, I think that's the moral there.
And I think we've all done it. I remember having a German person on a fuel station,
not far from Cheltenham a few years ago that was panicking. And I just thought, well,
I was going to pay for your petrol. And this person was totally shocked.
Well, what can I do if you are? I said, nothing, I'd just pay for your petrol.
No skin off mine. No invite. Are you done again?
I think it's just be nice, be good. Do nice things when people don't expect it.
I like it when Coop has got an edge to him, but he's on very thin ice in this podcast at the
moment, very, very thin ice. And we've not even got to him. We've not even got to the fact that
if Trump can appeal a red card, I'm going to go to MBS and appeal all your wins at Spire in 2001.
Right. Because I think we've, information has arisen. I've spoken to Stuart Parker,
information has arisen about the legality of that car.
Chris, what have you got?
I have, oh, I did Classic Le Mans. So I drove quite a weird car for my lovely friends at
Cloudson cars. It's a 996 GT2, never raced at Le Mans period, but it did raise a lot of
spa and in Europe. It's an unconventional car with a massive amount of turbocharging.
It's got quite a small intake restrictor and it doesn't like hot air. Marcus, my teammate,
raced it in period and he was mega. I maintain that if you're offered a chance to drive the
Le Mans circuit and they say you've got to do it in a milk float or a dust truck or something,
just say yes. Because it's, it's just you pinch yourself every time you, every time you come out
of Teter Rouge and you fire it over that curb, you just think, this is special. I'm in that film. I
am the queen. I'm in that film. There are lots of lovely people there. It's a great event. And even
though this year was the younger paddocks and the numbers were smaller than the older paddocks,
they will grow into your time. This one will probably be as big as the other one.
And the Moise is a strange place. It is a bit, it's a bit like, it's another Gibraltar. It's a bit
of a British enclave. The ACO doesn't like that necessarily, but the Brit representation there
is phenomenal. Every other voice you hear is British. Gordon was there celebrating his triumphs.
It's amazing that for all of his Gordon Murray's achievements in Formula One, he still ranks
90, he still ranks 95 as the most impressive thing he's ever done in motorsport because he
designed a road car and they literally stuck an extinguisher in it, took the seats out, put
a wing on the back. They thought, look nice. And, and it went to one. It's a remarkable
boy's own story of British engineering, that one. So there was lots of special stuff. I really
enjoyed it. I, I intended to drive out there in a 205, but my, my eldest son decided to take on
the role of driving one of those and his friend, Chris, came out in the other one. So they drove
out and I needed to come in a different car. So I came in and I've never been in one of these
cars before. It's called a Dassault Falcon 6X. And it's, you look it up. It's a very useful car.
It goes quite fast. So we got there in the, in the Dassault 4 slash Peugeot 6X 4 slash 205.
And then after that, we, we moved on. What I will say is, and I'm glad I did that this year,
I had a bit of time on the Saturday. And the Le Mans experience is huge because there's so
much real estate. There's so much space for them to put stuff on. Most racing circuits,
even like Silverstone is limited. It's car parks. Then you're the race circuit. Then you've got the
infield and you're limited to what you can fit in the infield. Le Mans is enormous. And so on the
infield, they've got this Bugatti circuit, which is where they race the bikes and all the French
car clubs come out to play. And I'll put some photos up for you now. And no one in France really
gives a shit who I am. So I decided to get on my moped and I spent two dreamy hours walking around
all of the French car clubs. And I just loved it. I met the lovely guy from Ravage with the
wide body Alpine version of the car you've got. He was a joy. So I talked to him for a while.
I stood and looked at the 205s for ages, the Alpines, the Porta Club had some wonderful cars.
The Citroen Club had some great cars. Honestly, I was a nerd again. I really,
really enjoyed it. And then after the race, we jumped in the 205s and we're currently
we're south of that part of the world. And this afternoon, it was a bit hot at lunchtime.
It's 38 degrees down here. And I got in my Black 205 XS and I just went for what I call a PD,
a pointless drive. And I realized why those cars are so special over here. It's like,
you just come home, the suspension is just perfect for these broken roads.
It breathes with the surface and you, you use the torque of that little 1362 engine to get to
about 60 miles an hour. And then you just pulling off all the bumps and you wobble along and I can
go and convolve my boy. And I feel very lucky to be driving down here in these cars. I wouldn't,
you could give me two Carrera GTs and I wouldn't be as happy as I am with two 205 XSs down here,
both of which I bought from Caron Classic. So I had to get the plug in there and they are not
sponsored by Ferrari either. So I think, yeah, I absolutely is for me, it's dreamy. I don't want
to say too much because I'm so suspicious of life that if I say I'm having too good a time,
it'll fucking go wrong. So at the moment, I'm perfectly happy. Let's move on to the next point
on the agenda. Are we doing the picture? Yes. No, we're not doing the picture.
Are we doing the picture? I don't mind. I'm going to use my one.
I think so. Yeah. Yeah. So this is a new section, which is a new idea, which may well be incredibly
successful or really not very successful. But you have to admire our ambition and curiosity
to change things up and try and do different things. So what we're saying is every week,
or maybe every other week, because we will forget that each of us will choose a picture,
a picture that means something to us that probably involves some sort of car. And the picture I'm
posting, which you'll see when you're watching this as opposed to live, is a lovely picture
of my first dog called Ferdy. And more importantly than him, even though he was amazing,
a Mercedes Benz 600 in black with cognac leather. And the little story of this is not a very long
story is that, A, I was never a dog person. And I was always a bit cynical about dogs.
Oh, they're a waste of time. You've got to pick up the poo. It's going to be difficult. Why do you
want a dog? Kids are better. You know, you're not going to get tired. But how'd you go on holiday
with a dog? I had a million reasons why not to get a dog. And then our son, Vincent, third child,
incredibly spasive individual, particularly to his mum, convinced us that we were absolute idiots
and we should get a dog. And we got this dog. And I fell in love with dogs. My wife fell in love with
dogs. And he lived till he was only seven. Oh, no, no, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm telling the whole
story here. He died in an epileptic fit in the back of my car driving a million miles an hour
to try and get him to a vet in Aylesbury. So that was an incredibly stressful, difficult time for
the family because he wasn't supposed to die at seven. But he had a wonderful seven years and we
miss him desperately and he's buried in our garden here. So it's a memory of him, but also a memory
of my weird connection and friendship with JK because that car, the 600, was the car that he
always talked about that was Coco Chanel's car, which in fact is not Coco Chanel's car.
But I may be a very, very, very, yeah, I'm a very good salesman, but he's even better than me.
But it was, you know, look, it could have been Coco Chanel's car because it was delivered
new in France. But apart from that, we're not so sure. But anyway, I met him filming one of his
videos and he's down in, you know, beautiful Spain now filming his new videos. And now he's
very much, he about 15 years ago in Barcelona, he was filming one of his videos with two
911 RS's and some silver Mercedes in a hotel on top of Swimpool. I was reading car magazine,
he was reading, I don't know, EVO, performance car or car or whatever. And we got chatting and
that was lovely. That was his car. And I used to go around there and he's like, you know what,
I'm not gonna want to do with that 600. I'll never drive. It cost me a bloody fortune.
There are pain in the arse. And I always wanted one. And as Chris will know, I'm always very,
very addicted to V8 and Mercedes old ones, particularly 6.3s. What a funny story there,
Chris, don't we at some point. And I've had five or six 300 6.3s, but the 600 is the one.
And I said, well, I'll buy it. And he said, you can have it. He said, okay, 600 grand, 60 grand,
60 grand, not 600 grand. The funny thing is the number plate on the car, which I think is MBZ
600. Because we think we're clever. He's much cleverer than us on everything. He said, okay,
done. By the way, it doesn't include the plate. That's clever. That's just devious. That's brilliant.
It's brilliant. It's brilliant. He's smarter than all of us. So I said, I really wanted the 600.
And I thought the plate was cool, but I wasn't losing the deal. So he said, no,
drive around with this plate. I don't need it now. But if you ever sell the car,
I want the plate back. So I had the car for four or five years, you obviously spend a bloody fortune
on it because the hydraulics leak and the windows don't work. But you know what? The fact that I've
owned one of those cars once, he's now got that 600 plate on some amazing Mercedes. So it's a memory
of Ferdy. It's a memory of my friendship with Jay. And it's a memory of owning a Mercedes-Benz 600.
So that's that picture. Lovely. I think I could do more of these. That was lovely. And I love the
fact that all of us, I don't think we have a huge amount in common. I think we're quite random.
I think we're very fond of each other. I've got connections with all of you. I've got a much longer
collection with Mr. Cooper than I have with the other two, but I can't do all his friends. But
we all share a love of dogs. We do. I think we all share a connection with dogs that I think
is abnormally strong. And quite often when I'm showing pictures of my cars to people,
I always try and choose one that's got a dog in it. It's funny how I think the two things seem to
go together. That's lovely. I want to just interrupt with one little story here because Neil alluded
to it. So I've just I've swapped the car. I've had to add a little bit of money into it. But
I've had an R129 500 SL in what I call in the window, which is it's early enough to to have the
really good 32 valve engine, but it's late. It's late enough to have the nice gearbox. They only
made them for 18 months. It's on an end for November plate. And I haven't really been using it for
a while. And I've always wanted a 300 SL 6.3. So I'll go up at the SL shop filming something
the other day. And of course, they bloody have one. So I went, okay, well, look, and these SLs have
gone up a bit. So for the first time in ages, I've actually had a vehicle that might have not
gone down. So once I worked out that I might get some money back for the car, I thought, well,
what can I add to have one of those? And lovely Sam said, we'll do a deal. So we had a deal.
So he's gone through this car. And it's the way it's the one I posted a picture of with the
single headrest. So it's got the car has one headrest at the back for the owner where he would
everyone else, the laity, the plebs don't have one. So I buy I've agreed to buy this car. They're
looking through it. And he sent me a picture of everything inside the history file. These cars
accumulate wonderful history files. There's an I shared one thing with you, which was in this
island's road test report on the 300 SL 6.3 where he goes to Matt, he borrowed a press car went to
Mallory Park and rolled it and blamed the rear kinematics and cross fly tires.
It's one of the greatest pieces of motor he doesn't ever read. It's wonderful.
And the radials, he blames the radials. And there's all sorts of history. This is that figure
of history. Then out pops a business card for a bloke called Neil Clifford of Kurt Geiger shoots.
So I've said to Sam, so what did he own it? And he goes, I don't know, but he's fucking business
cards in there. So I've had to phone Neil ago, right, I've just bought this car. We've talked
about it. Have you not mentioned the fact that you owned it? He's gone, no, man, I think I might
have bloke once. I must have given him my car because I wanted to buy it because it's got an
amazing story. That car was some really super duper oil magnet that ordered it new with one
head restraint, which I thought was the coolest thing ever. Not no head restraints in the front,
one at the back. And I met the guy, I think of Robert Roger Edwards Mercedes in in Amisham.
And I was in I had a navy blue car at the time. There was a bit of an old dog, but it was still
super cool, 6.3. And I saw this car and I'm like, mate, if you ever want to sell that car, and this
is when they were 15 grand, you know, they were they were old shitters, really. And everyone
was scared of them. I gave him my card. So he put the card in the file about 15 years ago,
and it pops back up. So that's lovely. That's nice. I've undenied about wanting one of having
one of these for years. I don't feel I deserved it. And I finally get there. It's a bit like
plucking up the courage to, you know, go back to see a girl at her student accommodation and
seeing a mate come out doing his zip up, you know, it was a bit much for me, really.
But I'm more comfortable with it now. So what's the next point on the agenda? Moving along.
Do you do you see actual car colors as you walk around in your normal life?
It's a really good question. Can I go first? Yeah.
I really do. Lots of people and a lot of people I know are colorblind and don't
see colors at all. And I only find out later in my friendship with them that they're colorblind.
And I feel really sad for them. Do you mean actually colorblind or selectively? They just don't
notice. No. No, the some like the great Peter Robinson, my hero, motor journalist,
totally colorblind, Peter, to the point where, you know, he'd order, you know,
order long term press parts and not actually, you know, what color they were. And I'd fall
about laughing. I found it so funny. There are other motoring journalists that were mentioned
who are also colorblind. Makes racing difficult with flags, I can assure you. But I think
I see colors so powerfully that I see colors before cars, actually. Yesterday, we all piled
into a little restaurant in the local town, just to have a bite to eat. And there was one of those
new Renault fives that you have the yellow one or the sort of Vipery Green one. And this thing
just leaps out at me. Vipery Green is the color. It's like a sort of attack on my retina. I adore
it. I think I fight it's almost like an endorphin hit. Whenever I sit, I could buy, I'm so great.
I'm so into colors. I could buy a shit car in a good color. I think I can be happy at times. It
can alter my perception of the car. Yes. So I really love great colors. And I think one thing
I'm very grateful for is that the UK of 10 years ago was buying so many silver and black cars,
they were so boring. And now it has changed people are much more adventurous with their
color choices. You go and look at, try and find a C63 from 10 years ago that you want to own.
There's lots out there, but they're all awfully dull colors, I think. What do you think, Mr Seat?
What you just said a minute ago, I'd buy something along the lines of I'd buy
not great car in a great color. Our producer, Mr Finley and I, were looking at the car classic
app on Saturday or Sunday. And I was sort of showing him a few things about what about this.
Color. No, color. And he sent me a picture of the one he really liked, which was
Oxford Green. Look at what maybe that was. I said, is it the car? I said, yeah, the color.
Is our producer there? Can you confirm this, Mr Producer? Malik got green. Get him.
It was an E. It was a 325 Viturine. 325 Viturine, I bet you.
Yeah. Oh, okay.
320 cab. I hadn't thought about, when I read the question, I thought, is this a question about
our consciousness of life? And if you're not interested in the car, everything's monochrome.
But rather than literally, you don't see them. And when Finley said that at the weekend, I thought,
do you know what? He's sort of right. When you're looking through other classified outlets,
all you can see is this monochrome gray, silver, black. And it just, just goes. Swipe
whatever the no swipe direction is. And you see something you like in real life. I drove driving
down the A3 and A3 today. It's quite busy, quite fast on the single lane bit through the black down
hills. And coming the other way was an Alpina green, obviously, but I think it was a B3
rather than a D3. And just the, just the shock of that color, all of the rest of the traffic
literally shrank. So yes, I think is the answer to your question. We do see, I do see.
Do you see the colors in normal life though? Do you see them on other things as part from cars?
I guess I do. I really do. I went for a meeting. It depends on what it is.
The sartorial side of life. Sartorial side of life I don't really get, but I went for a meeting
the other day. And there was a lady, sorry, my camera slipped over. There was a woman in the
meeting who was wearing the most beautiful yellow dress. And I don't really get clothes at all. But
I remember thinking in this bold bloody sterile room, her dress just, the whole thing just lifted
the whole bloody mood. Did you see me? You went speed yellow? Yeah, I went. I said, is that signal?
Yeah. Yeah. But I think, I think color, I think color is one of our great gifts above the beasts.
Yeah. And we don't use it enough. And a life in monochrome is, is, is a bit sad.
So Manish, what's your thoughts? It's funny we're talking about this color blindness,
by the way, there are three types. So in the back of your eye, you have cones and rods.
Rods do the black and white stuff and the cones do color, but you need nice bright light for color.
And there are three types of color blindness, red, green, blue, yellow, or complete. So I suspect
your motor journaling for journalist friend had complete color blindness. He basically saw the
world in kind of black and white, which is why I really couldn't tell. Do you remember I sent
all of you a picture on the WhatsApp group, probably six months ago, showing a 70s car park.
And the thing that hits you wasn't, it wasn't the escorts and the Renault and everything,
it was the fact that in the 70s and 80s people really bought colorful cars. And it was great.
There were really solid colors as well. I mean, I remember Volkswagen Polos in that kind of odd
mint green, you know, forward escorts in yellow or forward granadas in mustard or a kind of brown.
And I think, so I had a quick look at something. According to Gateway 2 Lease Me,
it says that gray and black cars accounted for 50% of the cars sold in 2025. If you then add white,
which is 13% and silver, which is 6%, basically 70% of the cars sold last year
didn't have what we would recognize as a red, green, or blue pigment in them.
And that's quite a thought, isn't it? You wondered how they even three out of 10 cars actually have
some color. This is the manufacturer's fault because it's all PCP and they don't want any risk and they
know they're getting the car back. Exactly. It's the manufacturer's fault and then they're worried
why their cars all look boring. And I think you're spot on them weirdly. That's the reason why I think
I do spot color because basically seven out of 10 cars on the road suddenly becomes some kind of
strange backdrop to the cars that you see that are really, really vibrant. And the things that I
would say, modern Chinese cars and a lot of South Korean cars, they're going for it, aren't they?
In kind of electric magenta, electric green, sometimes it's kind of electric yellow almost,
and every shade of red down through the darkest mode that you can imagine. And it has to be said,
you know, it's a bit like, I guess in Mad Men, wearing a hat. It's kind of expanding on your
personality. It's saying, look at me, you know, and I think that's a rather wonderful thing. And
maybe this dull and characterless world would be so much better if we just basically said that
next car I'm buying will not be silver. It will not be white. It will not be black. And it will not
be gray. And I think I'm going to stick my neck out there. I'm going to, if I find my
perfect R107, maybe it won't be deep metallic gray. Maybe that's just boring.
R107s aren't generally speaking available in a pleasantly broad range of colors.
Yes. And I think that sort of the, it's, I mean, they clearly started in the 70s
and got almost, well, 18 years, 19 years around for sale for 71 to 88, 89.
43, 44, 44, 44, 44 years.
So yeah, I would, I won't include, I won't include white in that. I think white is a great color
for a car. I think silvers and blacks should be demonized. But I think white cars are still
it's, it can look, it can be an exciting color. I'll come to that later. Hold that thought.
Ah, okay. Right. So Neil, Kevin's not telling us his thoughts on this.
Well, I suppose my point here is the love of color really. And I see car colors in normal walks of
life when I'm just walking along. And it says, it's one of those secrets that I don't share
really, because people would think, not you people, not you three obviously, because you're
all weird like me. But if I walk down the road with my wife and said, oh, look,
there's ultraviolet in that restaurant. Or those, the salt and pepper pots, their guards red.
Or, oh, I think that guy's suit looks like posse blue.
I do that in my head. I stopped myself speaking. It just, it's going on internally.
You know, I'm seeing all these things, but I can't tell anyone because people would think I'm
stranger than I am. No chance of that. I think, but I think viewing life with the
prism of motor cars is at the heart of this condition. So everything I do, I equate to,
the value of life is either based on what I think, I was always, that's so many tanks of fuel,
or it's, if someone says how much the house, I'm like, that's a couple, that's a class of career
GT. I'm always everything's equated to cars or fuel. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If someone says to me,
why is 10 quid at 10 pound of pipe? I'm like, well, that's cheap compared to fuel. I'll get in
there and have a couple of them. Yeah. How much are you a day, Chris? Oh, I'm a leggy 944 cabriolet.
Yeah, exactly. That's what I am. Yeah. So here we go. Pitch tells the story,
GCelestial cars, favorite locking mechanism. There is only one answer to this.
Okay, well, you go first then, Manish. GP friend of my dad, right? First person I ever met who bought
a Renault Fuego. You remember those with the hub gaps, one of the great cars. So
straight off to my then O-levels, I guess the GCSEs now, he brings his car around,
he got a silver one. And it had those, it had those hubcaps, you know, with the straight
lines that go from incredible car and curved back windscreen actually just look cool. I think it's
just, yeah, in the end of the summer, 83, I found a lot for it, right? He gets his keys out, and he
presses a button on his key, and the car locks. And we're like, what? What do that again? And then
he presses it again, it unlocks, and he presses again, it locks. And this was the first car with
an infrared central locking, even though he had two doors and the back thing, oh my God, I think
that has just come out of Dr. Who's TARDIS. This was just a billion light years ahead of anything
out there. I just, it was just going click, it was unbelievable.
Do you think this consistent is if you stood in a car park and put it on your head,
it would definitely, it could do it from 100 yards further. It still works. Yes. That still works.
Fantastic. Sorry, boys and girls. I was in a car park about three weeks ago at a UK airport,
stood in the middle of it, having lost my car, doing that, and someone walked up to me and went,
all right, Chris, I just walked off. They must have thought I'd absolutely lost my shit.
I suffer from it. I kind of have this, this, sometimes I feel really embarrassed by the
affliction. And when it, because you know, I'm obsessive about clean cars, a clean car is the
nicest car to drive. It's so nice to drive, you don't want to drive it because it then won't be so
clean. So if I've driven it somewhere, before I get to where I'm going to, I'll often stop
two minutes before where I want to get to. And I'll find a car park or something that's sort of
hopefully not overlooked, and nobody will drive in. And I open the boot and get the car cleaning
stuff I carry with me everywhere, in every car. And like black the wheels again, and maybe wipe a
cloth around the edge of the wheel, where there's a bit of brake dust, and I'll clean the windows,
and I might get a bit of bugs off the front. If somebody sees me, I am racked with shame and
embarrassment. And I have to stop and pretend I haven't been doing it, because I just feel such a
nerd. And so actually, what you're thinking is, by trying to avert the fact that they think you
might have been cleaning your car, the way that you present yourself, it looks like you've just
had a... Well, maybe not the way you do. But you know, maybe we do it differently. I don't know.
I don't know. But the point of that is the thing about... Do you think the Latin term for that is
wankus interruptus? Because I think that's exactly... Yeah, it could be all of you above Manish,
really. Oh, sorry. The key to the head thing, I do do that. And it still works. But I can't do it if
somebody's watching. I just can't do it. Well, I thought no one was bloody watching when I was doing
it. Okay, here's the deal. I'll do all you do. We will go, the next film we record is we will go into
the field, like the little tomorrow, the moment tomorrow as well, when they leave the studio and
go into the field. We're going to go into the field and test this theory. And we are going to test
this theory. So who else? I'm going to tell you my central locking, my locking story. And it is
central locking. So when I was... Everything's about your dad's car, isn't it? Everything's about
your dad's car. And we were lucky that we grew up in an era where there'd be these massive leech and
technology, which at the time felt earth-stattering, but turned out to be another headrest in the rear,
or a second... I remember when my father came home and his car had two rearview mirrors,
two wing mirrors. I was like, wow, it's not a second rearview mirror or wing mirror.
But he got... He wouldn't buy a BMW because they wouldn't do him a deal. He had about 18 of the
things. So because he was as petulant as I am, I think he literally walked around the corner to
the Audi dealership and went, right, I'm an Audi man now. And he bought a thing called an Audi 90.
Yeah, cool car. And it was actually quite... It was basically an Audi 80 with a bit of a...
With a five cylinder engine and a slightly different bodywork on the front of the nose.
It took that... It was a very sweet little car, but it had an Audi central locking system. His
BMW's never had central locking. He wouldn't pay for it. This came standard with central locking.
And the Audi central locking of that era was motor-driven. And it made this moaning sound.
So you'd lock the door and it'd go... A bit like a 928. And in my mind. And that sound
stays with me to this day. And if I heard that sound in bed tonight and wake up and I go,
that's an Audi 90 2.0-litre central locking system. It's absolutely there. But to me,
it's so exotic because it was like the car was roaning as it went to sleep or something. So for
me, Audi 90, 1985, C352 CEU, if you're out there, it was your central locking system.
Let's go into the Manage. Sorry, Manage. Let's go. So can anyone remember
the four central locking? To stop you locking the keys in the car,
you could press the button down on the rear doors and shut them. And they'd lock.
On the front doors, you had to hold the handle up.
Exactly. Yes. Hold on. Put it down and shut it. Very good. It was the early mechanical version of
you can't lock your keys in the car with the other remote. It was an interlock. And the interlock was
you had to lift the handle up. So you really had to mean to do it. And it kind of worked.
It kind of, you know, it taught us a lesson. And if you got it wrong, because somehow you think,
I've got the keys in my pocket and I've held it up, or you pushed the front door shut and you
reached round and pushed it down. And then that's going to sound weird on the OnlyFans version.
And then you shove the rear door shut. And that's how we learned how to go those little
plastic packing straps. You would lick them and then squeeze them into the lips and just
force it open a bit and wiggle it up and down a bit and you then pull the stalk up and then magic
happened. So just to be clear, if you just, if you just joined this podcast 30 seconds ago,
that is easily, and we've been doing this for 95 episodes, the most wrong sequence of words I've
ever heard in my life. We'll leave them in there. But even Mr. Cooper knows he's just managed to use
stalk, lips and something else, which even by his grand standards is quite remarkable collection
of adjectives. Wow. It's extraordinarily brilliant work, Mr. C. I've lost my, I've lost my count.
Manage, did you go? You did. Well, no, no, all I was going to say was there was something naughty
you could do to those cars. That was the whole point. You would let them lock from the front.
And then what you would do is you'd get out of the back and shut the door.
So you'd pop them down from the back, you'd get out the back, shut the door and people go,
hold on, I'm locked out. You do it with the keys in. Very naughty. We may have done that once or
twice. So we're going to, so has everyone answered this one or not? No. No, off you go, Neil.
Two things I've got to say. One is I've got lots of these. I'm really obsessed with the sound of
locking. Bentley Turbo R with that really old school leather, big remote control that Bentley
clunk. It's really good. And you watch them go down and sometimes one doesn't go down and then
you've got to do it with the key. I love the nine to eight. It's more about that internal button,
that sort of nuclear Russian submarine button that's like, we're doing.
Really. I love the G wagon 63 sound of the remote locking on that on the G wagon.
It clank to clank. The clank is so good. So I've got lots of those. I would like to have
very, very rare for me, but something just one minute of negativity.
My daughter, this is, that was locking. My daughter had six years of an old
Beetle convertible that I bought her did 30,000 miles in it, no carplay, no air conditioning,
lovely car, little cabriolet. And I said to her, you know, darling, I'm going to get you a new car.
We'd go to BMW and we would see what the cheapest little new BMW I can get you.
So we went to BMW and a lovely man at BMW helped me the whole thing. We got a new, brand new,
one series, 120 sport, the cute, really lovely little car. There's not anything negative on
BMW, fabulous car, great service, little, little PCP that I'm paying monthly, whatever it is,
200 quid a month or something as a gift for her because she's worked so hard,
delivered to me, brand new, how lovely, we've never talked about it, how lovely,
lovely is a brand new car. Yeah, that's great. I was so pleased for her, she's 25, she's worked her
ass off, it's a gift from her dad, she picks it up from the office, she lives in Clapham, drove it to
Clapham, 70 miles on the clock, darling, you better get one of those, everyone's got one in the road
because obviously lamb rovers get nicked and all cars get nicked now, one of those yellow,
you know, let yellow things that lock, this lock on the steering wheel. One week it's there,
she rings us on Sunday, I think something's gone wrong with the car, I sent me a photo,
that the this locked had turned right the way round, that smashed and broken off all of the
indicator stalks, basically the invention of this remote key that you can basically nick the
transmission of the car through the flats because she didn't have her keys, stupid dad,
didn't tell her to buy a Faraday bloody bag to put the keys in, it's on the cc, ring
ring thing, someone can just walk up to her flat door, sensor, nick the sense, get the key,
open the car, didn't nick the car because it had the thing on it, but it's 1500 quid's worth of
damage, got to get it to BMW, she can't drive the car, she's had the car one week, so if anyone in
any responsibility of cars, stop making that stuff that's so easy to break in, it's really
desperately fucking stupid. That is, she was right up the junction, wasn't she?
I just, I felt really, because if someone's broken into your car, it's never quite the same,
is it? No, no. They've broken it, all of the cowl around the steering wheel's broken, you know,
we've got this car for two years, I've got to fix it for her, we've got to take it, BMW are busy,
takes two weeks to book it in now, because everyone's whatever, she can't drive it, she
can't indicate, she's scared to drive it, can't indicate, it's a shit piece of technology,
it's when technology, that everyone thinks they've found something clever and it's gone backwards.
Sorry to be negative. Do you remember when Ford, in the late 80s when Ford
released the first anti-theft key, which was that sort of long, thin, sort of prong,
that had the spikes, a bit like a tree, and that's quite effective. I remember, certainly,
the local community around me, they suddenly were like, fucking hell, we can't get in as easy as we
used to. What if keys came back into fashion? What if really clever keys came back into fashion?
Well, if, you know, vinyl's back, you know, I don't know what, mustaches are back, you know,
I don't know, just bring back the key. You mean a mechanical, it mechanically opens a barrel,
yeah, it's got tumblers, yeah, yeah, you mean, yeah, yeah, yeah, you literally, you need Parker
from Lady Penelope, wouldn't you, to open a car then, be fantastic. This is rambled so much,
I don't know who's most answered. We've all answered. Okay, good. We're going to miss out the
next one, because I've got to get going. Yeah, we'll move back to next week, again. So, can we
have a look at the F1 at Silverstone, please? We'll go first to Mr Cooper, who I believe was,
who had been there earlier in the weekend. So, I didn't see, I wasn't there on Sunday,
or Saturday. Finley was there all weekend, he was camping. He seemed to have a good time,
he went with some mates, he did three days of camping. He seemed to have a really good time,
I mean, it's just a massive, we said it earlier, it's just, it's extraordinary, cultural,
collective phenomenon now, the British Grand Prix. It's Betelmania. There were people camped
outside the Hilton Hotel, camped outside the palette, just waiting to see whoever, I mean,
it's extraordinary, the race. It's kind of the new cars, and people said this.
I think Silverstone, unbiased. Silverstone has been easily the best place to race and see being
raced F1 cars. That circuit just works. You need a squillion horsepower, and the characteristics
of reasonably modern F1 cars, and it just works. The 2021 British Grand Prix, that first lap between
Max and Lewis, which lasted almost a lap side by side, dicing, old style engines, blah, blah,
it's brilliant. A bit of that got lost this year, and I think the sprint race, when they were yo-yoing,
looked not great. I'll leave it to that. But the race was pretty good, exciting.
The thing, I'm finished here when he came back, and I noticed it on the Friday
when Lewis got pole in the sprint race. Silverstone is still Lewis' back garden.
Doesn't matter how big your Lando stand is, and it is mahusive.
Lewis, you can hear it around the circuit. You can hear it, the circuit from anywhere.
It's like 2004 F1 cars. Wherever you are, you can hear it. The crowd for Lewis is like that.
I mean, obviously, Friday was a great day for him. Saturday and Sunday, slightly more frustrating.
The Lewis phenomena and goodwill and love and obsession and fascination is as strong,
if not stronger than it's ever been. Wouldn't it be great really? This year, late Lewis 8
would be it, because it would just be wonderful.
Manish. My big observation was I've read a little bit about Charles Leclerc's win.
Again, this is really talking about Lewis. When he arrived, he wasn't super happy with some of
the Ferrari procedures. A few of the people who'd been at Ferrari for a long time were not happy,
perhaps, that Lewis had arrived. Lewis pointed out that one of the two of them had been multiple
champions in recent years, and it wasn't Ferrari. He has managed. We heard a few weeks ago that he
just basically said, I'm not going to rely on this simulator. I'm not going to rely on the
data as it is. I'm going to go my own way. There's a fantastic article in the race. I really
recommend everyone read it. It's all about Charles' weekend. He was sort of nowhere,
and he was looking at Lewis' traces. He was like, well, hold on. He's quicker there,
and he's later on the brakes. I'm not saying that he modified his racing style, because he
feels Charles is Charles. Let's just say he made the car a little bit more Lewis. He really was
inspired by Lewis' telemetry. There's some background to this. He's also saying maybe
the seven times world champion does have a tiny bit of insight into how to win a race and how to
win a championship. It was very interesting that he went along that route, and he won.
I'm the one who perhaps is the least Lewis fan out of the four of us, but I have to say
what I'm enjoying about the season, I can blank out the yawing, the lack of power, the clipping,
all the rest of it. If I really get into that, I might as well just not watch the season. It would
just be too aggravating. Just taking a little bit of a step back. You realize the greatness,
true greatness. Maybe it's not being the best engineer, whatever it is, but I think there's
something instinctive about the Lewis Hamilton's, the Michael Schumacher's, the Fernando Alonso's,
the Etton Senna's, the Nelson Piques of the world. They can back it up with data or not back
it up, but the point is something makes them special. I think this weekend, I'm turning
around, starting to believe a little bit, because people have their systems, they have their this,
they have their that, and then Lewis comes along and he imposes himself a little bit on that,
and maybe he's right. It's kind of wonderful again to watch, because Ferrari, thank God,
making a little bit of a two-horse race of this. Otherwise, really, and by the way,
my other little point perhaps is just that what an incredible competitor Mr. Antonelli is.
You know, he had the problem that he had, and he's still out there. He slightly reminded me of
Shiel Veilnerve, and many of the viewers won't remember this, but 1979 Veilnerve basically
managed to corner his car and somehow got back almost to the pits with sparks flying a wheel
dangling off, and it was kind of lovely for Kimmy to just go, no, I'll stay out a little bit more.
Yes, that's true.
No, I'm going to go for the point. I'm going to have a go. I'm going to have a go.
What a wonderful, wonderful young man. After the race, he sort of said, well,
he said, yeah, I know I've had two car failures out of the last three races,
but I had a fantastic run and five in a row. What a positive, wonderful young man.
So thank you, Ferrari. Thank you, Lewis. Thank you, Shal. And thank you, Kimmy, for making this.
I think it's going to be a great season. I don't think anything's decided.
What do you think, Neil?
I think that's good. I'm trying to remember it,
genuinely, because there's like a really shit end.
What happened there? What happened at the end, though?
What happened at the end was what should have happened at the end of Abu Dhabi 2021,
in that when the unlapped cars of all unlapped themselves,
then there has to be an announcement to the drivers, the field, that the safety car will
come into the end of next lap. And my understanding is, Shal had the leading driver had just crossed
the finishing line to start the 51st lap. And therefore, the next lap would be
when the safety car came in, lap 52, the end of the race. So there was a lot of... I did think that
the Sky Team rather got in the UK, got rather buried in the sort of the wormhole of why did
this happen, blah, blah. And actually, it was Jensen who said,
can we actually talk about the race? Because the race is actually quite exciting.
Yes. Yes. But is it not fair to say that if you were Liberty or you were viewing your own sports,
as a global sporting spectacle against, and you're matching yourself against,
cricket and football and the other sports that go on a massive audience is,
and NASCAR and IndyCar, that wasn't good enough. Yeah, you could, what you could have had would say...
If one of the sports would quit, you could have had...
I mean, you're right, Chris. You could have had maybe a world leader phoning up the FBI to say,
could you just add another lap on the end? You know, maybe we're sitting in that red car.
I mean, I don't think it was... With my officialdom hat on, and defence of the officials.
Having looked at it, and because there's a bit of chat about this obviously behind the scenes,
my understanding is actually they did everything right. And sometimes when you do everything right,
you end up with a sporting outcome, which is frustrating, but a regulatory and rules and
organisation outcome, which is accurate. The only alternative would have been to say,
oh, shit, that means the safety car comes in at the end of the last lap. It's static.
And you could say, OK, add another lap. Well, what if they haven't got fuel? Sometimes what you want...
No, that's not... I'm not saying that you should add another lap, but quite clearly,
what was being delivered to the media that had to report on the sport was safety car in this lap,
and then safety car was redeployed to justify the last lap not being competitive.
I actually don't think it was redeployed. Not great, if you're...
Yeah, I think that was misreporting as well. That was the exact wording that was...
Well, that was... OK, well, that's what they said. I listened to it on the radio,
and you'll listen to it thinking, well, this is a formula one kicking itself in the bollocks again.
And they're all going, it's in this lap, it says on our screens,
it's in this lap, and then it was redeployed. You're like, wow, I'm on a minute.
Yeah, because I was all getting a bit excited, because it was quite an exciting...
You know, it was quite an exciting race, wasn't it? I can't really remember what happened.
Where was George? Ikvini's second.
Well, that was the great thing, is that George, it looked... It was brilliant, because
George, you're thinking, George, why have you not changed your tyres?
The Jeopardy was, as the safety car laps ramped up, you're like, George, this is bloody genius.
You might get away with this. So there was lots... There's always Jeopardy to find,
but I still... You can't imagine a NASCAR race finishing like that, can you? I'm going to allow it.
Yeah. It was the George Sandwich, Neil, with a couple of slices of Ferrari either side.
Yeah, but Ferrari are only about 30 points behind now in the constructors, aren't they?
You've got a... They're finishing races, aren't they? They are finishing races.
And is Max leaving?
There's lots of gossip, isn't there, about Max maybe, you know, he's going to move, and it's
going to be announced quite soon, or is that... So whenever there's kind of some kind of gossipy
Formula One column online that says, Max Verstappen's leaving and Toto said, no, no, I can't have you.
Yeah. And so Zach was like, no, I can't have you. I mean, I think if he seriously wants to go to any
team in Formula One, Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes, he's in. He won't be in any of those teams next year.
If he wants to do it, he can go. Where's the next race?
Belgium, are we contested today? Just about the lights and the safes.
So two things, two things. Yes, so go ahead, Chris, I want to hear this point. So Chris,
could you tell us what you were going to say? So our producer who was there,
I think watching a Beckett's, Mr. Producer, were you? Yes, I think, yeah. Tell us, so you said,
what's the safety car lights go out on the safety car that went off after cops?
Also, you've just said that Max, you said Max would not appear at any of these other teams.
What's your base of the same now? I don't think it's possible for Toto and Zach to have said in
public, we're happy for our drivers next year and then to go back on that in public. I think it
just, I think professionally, if they wanted to reserve the right to keep it open, they wouldn't
have said that in public. Would be my view. Or is there not a lot of precedence in Formula One
in the past? I think there is. People say one thing and then when they get a chance of a
staff and suddenly all that goes out the window. I don't think they either of them said that was
Christian Huno was there. Do we think Christian was there? Rowing around. It is, I have to say,
as an entertainment package, it is delivering on all the levels. There's lots of suspicion,
there's lots of skull-duggery. There's this ever-looming specter of is Max going to leave.
The racing for the most part is fantastic. Also, as a set of drivers, the skills are off the dial.
They really are. When you've got Landos and Piastri coming in top midfield, you look at the
quality on display. Any one of them can and are world champions, so we're bloody lucky.
Here we go. The only thing I'd add is I listen to it on the radio, the BBC radio coverage,
which do you know what? I don't celebrate them enough. When I can't get hold of a signal for
Sky or watch it when I'm abroad, I always VPN my way to the BBC radio coverage. It's always
bloody good, actually. It's really, really good to listen to. Let's do some music before we go.
I've actually got the two Cargaris here. Here we go. After an incredible 6-0 defeat of Norway
by England with Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane both scoring hat tricks, the two players have been
awarded by Sir David Beckham £250,000 each to buy a car and classic to drive from Miami to Atlanta
on Sunday for the semi-final against Argentina where they'll surely get their legs broken.
They are then allowed to ship the car back, both cars back to England. Both cars need to
represent how they feel representing England now and the pride and love for their country.
Choose a car that will always demonstrate the strength and personality of three Lions team
in the game against Mexico. That was written by Neil Clifford. Let's go to Chris Cooper first.
So, I think the first car for £250,000 that I would choose would be a VH Vantage X-Pack
on sale for £335,000. Nicholas Me. It's on sale for £335,000 at Nicholas Me.
So, we're going to get it for £250,000 because Nicholas Me is a true patriot
and Sir David will see him right. So, for all public purposes, it will look like this car
has sold for £250,000 but everybody will be happy and I think that look at the colour of that.
That's good. I mean, it's just great colour. British, it is proud, it is bulldog,
it is unapologetic, it will take on the world in a plucky, slightly, might not start every time way
but we'll get there in the end. So, I think that's the first one and I think then the second one
has got to be a Bentley. It's got to be... Yes, it has. Big, beefy British and I think...
Not a Bentley too cool. No, not a Bentley Tarquin.
Isn't that Bentley name a derivation of... Because it's Torquil, basically, isn't it?
Torquil is the English version.
Torcal, I thought. No, but the English version of that name is Torquil.
I just have a bit of looking up. It's a mountain. Do we have mountains called Torquil?
It's a Norse name. It doesn't matter what you're saying because I'm cutting all this out anyway
Well, I think you'd have one of those. It is a Bentley S1 Continental,
H.J. Mulliner Fastback, Series 1 Continental Fastback, not an R and that is on sale for £295,000
if and when Sir Harry and Sir Bellingham both score hat tricks. The very kind dealer in his duty
to car and classic in all things British will knock that down to £250,000 and everyone again will be
happy. I like it. That's a strong pairing actually. Let's go to Neil Clifford.
Right, you're right. It has to be a Bentley. Benleys are for driving. Benleys are British.
They're like, I don't know, it's the most British thing. Cup of tea, full English.
The whole bloody works. I'm going to Benleys. I'm going old first of all because they're going
to swap. They're good mates and they're going to win the World Cup and they'll be like, you know
what, that's amazing of David Beckham. But we don't, you know, let's just, we'll share these cars.
I will have one for a month. You have one for a month so I can have a vintage one. You can have
a not so vintage one. So I'm having a four and a half litre blower. This one is prime candidate
actually for doing, and they say it in the description, for doing the peaking London's
a peaking rally, bloody gorgeous thing. Look at that. 1928 fit four people in the back,
not four people in the back, fit four people in the total car, not just in the back.
So that's bloody wonderful. And it's POA and I've rung them up and it's £249,995, amazingly.
And then I'm sure everyone has seen this car on Car and Classics. It's available
on Car and Classics, but at P&A Wood, which is a super cool place, and particularly their
website is called Panda Wood. It's brilliant, isn't it? I think it's always, it's always really great.
It's my favourite. It's just my favourite website, Panda Wood. And this car, look at this, right?
This is the next S3. Oh. The best thing about this car, right, special order light green with
champagne hide upholstery, exceptional and extensive history with only two long-term owners.
The current one since 1998. And the car has been maintained by P&A Wood since the late 1960s
with 458,000 miles from New. The original owner, Mr. H. C. Green, could be Harry.
What's that? Huey. What's that guy that did the TV show?
Huey. This could be Huey Green's car. And it's green. Wouldn't it be fucking amazing?
Let's call it Huey Green's car. Huey Green's green vedly. And I mean, it's got full service
history from New. And it's only 100, it's actually genuinely only 150 grand. Look at that. That is
absolutely amazing. And I've got 100 grand left. So when those two cars go wrong, I'm going to buy
myself the last, I've got 100 grand, the last of the W12 Contis in brown. Look at that.
So I've got a free car garage as well. I like that. The width of Cooper about that. Have yourself
an extra car. Let's go to Manish. Well, I'm going for double footballer car, but I'm going super
classy. So 1990 Kingsley Range Rover. And the reason why we're going to get this beautiful green
Range Rover is because it has Apple CarPlay for Neil Clifford. This actually comes with that.
Gorgeous thing. And of course, of course you have to have a Bentley. But I'm going slightly
different Bentley to you, Chaps. I am going 2023 GTC V12. It is a kind of pearlescent white
with Oxblood interior. And I think a Bentley and a Range Rover, there's something completely right.
It's two top English players. It's quite chasing in the Chester Shire, isn't it?
Yes, exactly. I spent some time researching the non-camo masked cars that Chester Shire
football players wait. And those are the two. I've gone about this slightly differently. I'm
with you on the fact that you need something very British, quintessentially British. I mean,
quite the state Neil will be in driving in an old blower into the Georgian summer in July,
August. I think you might die because it will be about 112 degrees. But it will be a great
appearance. So I want, and I can't show you a picture on here because I've got my telephone
that I'm using for the podcast. I'm looking at a 1972 Rolls Royce Corniche convertible in
dark indigo blue. It is utterly gorgeous. It's being sold by a company called Mullener Limited,
but that's not actually the Mullener that's based at Bentley. It's small bumpers and it's got a
linen hide and it's only £70,000. But I think there's something about the Corniche convertible.
Ever since I saw that first Pink Panther film, where Sir Charles Phantom, the notorious Lytton,
is hiding up in the hills and she gets driven up in the yellow one up into the hills,
I just think they're glorious. So for me, it's the same car, I know, but it's a Roll and not a
Bentley. The problem I've got with the second car is if you go double Brit, what have you got
as your memory from this amazing win? Because I always like, I like to come home with an artifact
and want to come home with something that reminds me of being there. So I've got to have an American
car again like last week. So I've got my Brit car, but I need, I need an American car to come home
with to remind me. And the best American car I've ever driven is the Mustang GTD, the new one.
So I've got the Corniche, but I've done it cheap, £400,000 is going to get me an off-market Mustang
GTD. There isn't one for Sirlan car and classic, but we'd like one for Sirlan car and classic. So
if you'd like to consign one with us, we would happily sell it on your behalf and I'll then ship
it home after I've scored my hat trick. So there you go. We wouldn't need any presentment intervention
to sell that. No, you certainly wouldn't. And I'm not sure his, his nibs would fit in
it anyway. So let's go for some music. Let's go first to Neil Clifford. It's only one song for
me this week, three lines. There you go. Come on, come on England. Let's go to Chris Cooper.
So I watched the Spain versus Portugal game. I think we just had the evening on his track of
days. It might be yesterday before I can't remember. Which is a bit dull until right at the end when,
to my kind of follow, the producer and I used to go to quite a lot when we were season to go.
An Arsenal player, Miquel Marino, scored the Spanish winning goal and sent Ronaldo home from
his last World Cup. There was kind of Ronaldo and Neil Arsenal won. They used to play at the
start of Arsenal games, London calling. So I'm going to this week in honour of Miquel Marino
putting Portugal out of the World Cup, London calling a clash. Neil Clifford. Just did mine.
Oh, sorry. Managed, carry on. I'm doing the, I'm doing the patriotic theme, but with a managed twist.
I think we should listen to Elgar's cello concerto played by Jacqueline Dupre. And that is
Britain, Opus 85 cello concerto. Let's go to British. Yes.
Nimrod. Dear me, Neil Clifford, wash your, wash your mouth out. I'm going to, I'm going to slightly
give it a face. So I'm in France at the moment and I've just done one of those little road trips
that will stay with me for a while. And we lost, I've got two 205s out here, just not three, just
the 21 of which has got some funky system in it. It's Bluetooth. But my boys got that one.
And I was with my youngest in the other one. We were in it for six hours on Monday. We're
beating down through France having a great time. But all we have is the radio. And it's that great
game where you, you pick another station up every, you normally get three quarts of a song
before you get to the next station. And I, and my boys on the button got another station.
And we just had a wonderful fleeting 30 seconds of voyage, voyage by Desirless,
which is the ultimate French travel song. There's no greater pop song that to describe
the romance of covering ground, particularly in a French car. And it felt like a metaphor for our
trip. So I'm choosing that song. That draws proceedings to a close. Mr. Cooper, any housekeeping
or not? No, we've had the housekeeping about Clapham Grand and tickets still available,
go to Clapham Grand website. I was just thinking about your bringing a memento home that would
remind you of the World Cup event and what that car might be. One hopes that the memento that
all of us would bring home will be something French and broken. Let me get to the latter end
of the World Cup. Well, I'll tell you what. Not a Chris Harris 205. I've got a shed full of that.
You can join that. So on that note, we look forward to borrowing you again next week. Bye-bye.
About this episode
A lively, nostalgia-heavy chat that pivots from F1 updates to real-world event culture. Chris Harris & Friends debate Aston Martin’s likely turnaround, citing Adrian Newey’s influence, planned Hungary aero/weight upgrades, and Honda’s engine step at the Dutch GP. Chris Cooper then shares his Silverstone weekend experience—massive crowds, festival energy, and a notably British-heavy driver lineup—plus thoughts on why people are shifting money from pubs to live events. The hosts also swap quick car-week stories, including a Mustang prop-shaft scare and a relaxed Classic Le Mans trip.
