Honda - Playful is back.

Leon Brannan rejoices in the wonderful title of 'Head of Car' for Honda UK and he gave us an insight into Honda's plans for the short to mid-term both in the UK and further afield.

Leon used the term 'playful' to describe Honda's approach and nowhere was this more evident than in the theme of their stand at this years' Festival of Speed which resembled an oversized, boxfresh toy car collection, authentic even down to the labelling and cellophane windows.

Listen to him telling Will Chambers about Honda's resurgence in the UK, their re-engagement with Formula 1 and how they believe that the future for car fuelling will involve nothing more nasty coming out of the tailpipe than good old h2o here

HRV photo (c) Honda

Faster than a speeding bullet..

Ian King is the brave/mad - delete as appropriate - chap who regularly drapes himself across dragster bikes capable of launching him at the horizon faster than anything short of something weapons-related.

Not only is he a five time European Top Fuel Bike Champion, he also manufactures the engines used by pretty much any of the Top Fuel community worldwide - a fact which means that even if he personally is having an off day, somewhere in the world, one of his engines will most likely be flying the flag for the King concern.

He spoke to UKMotorTalk's Will Chambers at the 2015 Goodwood Festival of Speed about how he started out building bikes in his youth, how his bike is powered by explosives, and what it's like to regularly terrify small children every time he winds open the throttle on his astonishingly-loud company transport..

You can listen to Ian chatting to Will here

And find out more about Ian & his exploits here

The busy life of the F1 Development Driver

Alex Lynn, Development Driver for Williams Martini Racing, took time out on a hectic Sunday at 2015's Goodwood Festival of Speed to chat to UKMotorTalk's Will Chambers.

He spoke about the honour of being a British driver in a British team as well as how he manages to balance his duties at Williams with his other role racing for DAMS in the highly-competitive GP2 series.

Listen to the interview here.

Sights from Sunday

Another busy day spent in Lord March's back garden for the UKMT crew.

Interviews and photos will be appearing here in the next couple of days but for now, here are a few of the sights we snapped on our extensive travels.

Lottery win? Another possible object for your consideration..

Spotted in the media area at the top of Honda's oversized toyshop stand was this svelte & mean-looking creation.

At an estimated retail price of £100k when it launches - most likely towards the end of 2015 - Honda's all-new NSX hypercar isn't exactly what you'd call cheap (for a Honda at least). However, when you consider that it'll be belting out a not inconsiderable 550bhp from a petrol-electric hybrid powertrain that's located within a lightweight aluminium/carbon-fibre bodyshell, you'll be going an awful lot quicker in this thing than your cooking Jazz shopping trolley..

Dave Wakefield 

Sir Stirling Moss & The '55 Mille Miglia.

Anyone with petrol flowing through their veins knows the name Stirling Moss. He truly is one of the legends of British - indeed world - motorsport. The Festival of Speed this year celebrates sixty years since he won the awesome 1000 mile Mille Miglia in record breaking time. Hear how he and his legendary sidekick Denis "Jenks" Jenkinson won the iconic Italian endurance race in 1955 here.

  

Graham Benge

Felipe Massa - F1's charming man.

Back for his second time at the Festival of Speed was popular Brazilian Williams Formula 1 driver Felipe Massa. He's a man of great charm who was truly enjoying his weekend running up the Goodwood hill in one of the Williams Heritage Collection cars. He was only slightly confused by the lack of buttons on his steering wheel compared to his usual Sunday drive.. You can hear him chatting to me here 

Graham Benge

Don Garlits - the Big Daddy of Drag Racing.

A lifelong hero of mine is the legendary US drag racer Don Garlits. This year - and for the first time - he came over to the Goodwood Festival of Speed to perform some demo runs in one of his original slingshot dragsters and I spent an enjoyable 1/2 an hour chatting to him in the agreeable surroundings of the Drivers' Garden. 83 years old - he is still doing demo runs but took the decision three years ago to stop competing after his Top Fuel Rail broke the 300mph barrier with a tyre-smoking 303 mph pass over the quarter mile. Hear him tell the story here: 

Graham Benge

Bloodhound is Go..in a bit..

Bumping into Andy Green (as you do, it's that sort of a place) he told us that plans for Bloodhound SSC's attempt at shattering his previous land speed record  are advancing at a frantic pace - as you might expect for a team that aims to get their pointy car to go at over 1000mph..

Systems testing (up to a not unimpressive 200mph) is due to take place this coming November down in Cornwall and providing this all goes to plan, they'll all decamp to the warmer climes of South Africa in the Spring of 2016 for high speed and aero tests.

Watch this space..