Early track action

Looking forward to a day of much nicer weather today… and some interesting early sights kick the day off well.

New cars a plenty!

Another hugely successful Moving Motor Show is drawing to a close. I’m told that almost 30 brand new cars have had some kind of debut here today, though I’d have to admit that I haven’t personally seen them all… yet..!

 

Ford’s Le Mans GT

The Ford GT #67 driven by Marino Franchitti, Andy Priaulx and Herry Tincknell at last weekend’s 24 Heures du Mans.

Speaking to Scott Krugger, Head of Alfa Romeo design

Having admired his work, now time to record a chat with Scott Krugger, Head of Alfa Romeo design.

We’ll get that interview, and others, online later in the weekend.

Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio–UK launch at Goodwood

The all new Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio has just received its UK launch here at Goodwood.

The main points:

• 510hp
• 600Nm Bi-turbo V6 petrol engine
• 8 speed paddle shift gearbox
• 0-62mph in 3.9 seconds
• Top speed of 190mph+

All of that AND 49mpg!

Prices start from £59,000…

For more, visit http://www.alfaromeo.co.uk/models/giulia-quadrifoglio

Something exciting coming from Alfa Romeo…

2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed sets off with a squelch!

The 24th Goodwood Festival of Speed may well have opened its gates this morning under grey skies and above/mixed with quite a bit of damp mud, but they’re expecting almost 30,000 people to brave the elements today for the Moving Motor Show.

 

With a number of manufacturers making the most of this event for presentations and car launches we’ll be keeping busy all day!

 

As a first taste of the spectacle of Goodwood, this year’s festival’s “Central Feature” celebrates 100 years of the BMW name.

Off the beaten track.

Kim Palmer is Public Relations Manager for Land Rover in the UK & on Saturday at the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed we sat down with him in the impressive surroundings of Jaguar Land Rover's expansive stand to shoot the breeze about all things Landie.

Amongst other things, we asked him about new additions to the Land Rover stable as well as the impending putting out to pasture of an old faithful warhorse..

Click here to listen.

photo (c) Land Rover

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..

Tow-tally Impressive

Here at UKMotortalk we're big fans of smart & innovative design and whilst at the recent Goodwood Revival we chanced upon something that really caught our attention.

Now, perhaps you're one of those really outdoors-y people who like to spend as much time as possible careering down sheer cliff faces on a thousand-speed mountain bike with your mates, or maybe you're a classic motorcycle fan & enjoy showing off your pristine 1959 BSA Bantam all over Europe.

All well and good, but what are your options if you want to stay over and make the most of a long weekend at your sheer cliff face/classic motorbike meet?

Hotel? Pricey, and if it's a big event you're at, probably booked up way in advance.

Caravan perhaps? Ok if there's room but probably not ideal if you are heading off the beaten track a bit.

The good old tent then? Maybe, but they can take up a fair bit of valuable space in a car, especially if you've got all your other gear to lug about to & from your event.

Well, what we discovered on our trip over the road to the more retail & entertainment-focussed part of the Revival might be just what you're looking for..

Resembling  the progeny of a one night stand between an Ifor Williams trailer & an Ariel Atom, the SylvanSport Go appears at first glance to be a pared-down version of the sort of thing your local gardening firm might use to cart lawnmowers around in if designed by Jonny Ive (for those of you not in the thrall of Apple's every product release, he designed the iPod, iPad, iPhone, etc).

However, look a little more closely and you start to notice that all is not as it might seem, as mounted atop the smart silver-painted tubular framework is what resembles a slimline version of the seemingly-ubiquitous Thule roofbox favoured by Audi A6/BMW 5/Volvo V70 owners up & down the land.

Look a little closer still & you'll discover some intriguing ring-pulls not dissimilar to the kind you only yank out of a hand grenade if your next action is to lob it as far away from your current location as possible..

Parked next to this apparently compact trailer on the stand was what appeared to be a funky-looking trailer tent from which emerged Steve Downey, the friendly & avuncular proprietor of Valke Outdoors, the Somerset-based importers of the Go, and a man who was about to demonstrate to us just what a clever piece of kit it is.

Steve began by telling us that whilst Go is a well-established & well-known product in its native USA - no less an authority than National Geographic calling it "The Coolest Camper Ever" - a slogan prominently displayed on the frame of one of Steve's demo models -  it's new to our shores, but he reckons it'll be a hit once people realise just what it can do.

So, we asked him, what exactly can it do?

Essentially, he explained, it can go from being the low profile futuristic-looking trailer we'd just been wandering round to the airy & spacious accommodation we were now currently sat inside, because, in a feat of packaging of which the afore-mentioned Mr Ive would be proud, all the hi-tech, ripstop fabric currently sheltering us from the West Sussex elements stows neatly away into that deceptively slim roof-box we'd spotted earlier.

And, into the bargain, the trailer was capable not only of transforming into a place to rest your head after a hard day's quad-biking, it would transport the quad bike as well..

It's the versatility of the Go which is its real USP it seems. The compact framework we'd seen on the first of the two rigs parked up in Lord March's back garden actually adjusts in height from 1.3 metres (51 inches in old money) in closed 'Travel Mode' up to an impressive 2 metres (79 inches old skool) when transporting your quad bike, jetski, 1/2 tonne of garden waste for the tip etc.

And for those of us who stand somewhat above average height the good news is that in full-on camping mode, the roof height is a vertiginous 2.2 metres (colour) or 87 inches (black and white) so if rock climbing in 6 inch (15cm) heels is your thing, you've been thought of too..

Adjusting the height of the trailer to the different configurations is as simple as removing the hand grenade safety pins and winding the mechanism up or down to the required setting using a hand crank attached to the front of the trailer - although Steve can sell you an adaptor for an electric drill if you're knackered after a day's hooning in the boondocks. Or just idle.

Other, somewhat more useful accessories offered to complement the Go's already pretty comprehensive kit list (it comes with self-inflating mattresses for instance) include a handy solar-power system for running low-current LED lights, as well as 12v & USB outlets, essential for charging your iPhone in the middle of nowhere or the Silverstone GP campsite (much the same thing if we're honest).

Steve sees the Go as a bit of an automotive Swiss Army Knife - today taking the remains of an old kitchen down to the council dump, tomorrow ferrying you & some Lycra-clad chums off to the Fells for a couple of days' charging up and down on mountain bikes & we'd have to agree, it's a versatile & clever machine whose rugged construction & ability to travel on less than perfect surfaces might also lend itself to use by the emergency services for use at incidents where a temporary R&R facility could be handy. Even if's just somewhere to sit & have a warming brew, it could prove attractive to organisations such as HM Coastguard who routinely find themselves stationed away from civilisation when called into action.

At £8994(GB) it's not exactly cheap - a fairly decent trailer tent will set you back around 5 & half grand - but that's not the point. The Go will get you there & shelter you in reasonable comfort but it'll also take all your kit into the bargain  - or 'toys' as Steve smilingly referred to them - & that so far as we can see is a unique proposition.


Dave Wakefield

Rockingham BTCC – Sept 2014

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Goodwood Festival of Speed 2014 photo gallery

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UKMT Podcast – Canadian Grand Prix Preview

UKMT’s Graham Benge looks forward to the Canadian Grand Prix. Who will the “Wall of Champions” claim this year?
Download the episode HERE
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Sir Jack Brabham

I was fortunate enough to meet and interview Sir Jack on many occasions, and I well remember he was always willing to stop and chat, even in his later years when his profound deafness made question and answer sometimes confusing!!

A triple World champion in 59, 60 and 66, he was a larger than life character, as many Aussies are. He could be a tough adversary, his robust driving in his early dirt track days in Australia earning him the epithet Black Jack.

Arriving in the UK with little money or experience, but loads of determination, Jack teamed up with John Cooper and his father. He soon started to win races against those such as Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks in the little Cooper F3 cars with their rear mounted motor cycle engines, and the Coopers and Jack soon got into F1 with what was then a revolutionary layout. The ultra lightweight rear-engined cars were nimble and soon started winning races, Sir Jack even pushing his car over the finish line to win his second World Championship without petrol!!

Sir Jack was also a very talented intuitive engineer, and his 3rd World Championship came in his own designed car, the only man to win a World Championship in a car with his own name on.

‘Brabham’ the car went on to be one of the great names but Jack retired just after winning his last race in 1970.

Slowed by poor health in recent years as he got into his late 80s, I remember his great enthusiasm for the Goodwood Revival in the 90s and early 00s where he raced against old friends and rivals with the same vigour as ever. Sir Jack was one of the great figures of a classic age of motor racing in the 50s and 60s, an age when the racing was as ferocious as the partying afterwards. A great character.

Graham Benge

UKMT Podcast – The Chinese Grand Prix

The latest UKMT podcast, the Chinese Grand Prix review, can be downloaded HERE
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UKMT Podcast – This week’s F1 comings and goings

Graham keeps up with this week’s F1 news, and looks forward to the Chinese Grand Prix.
Download the podcast HERE
Keep up to date with the UKMotortalk Podcast with http://feeds.feedburner.com/ukmotortalk

UKMT Podcast – Bahrain Grand Prix analysis

UKMT’s Graham Benge looks back at a thrilling Bahrain Grand Prix…
Download the podcast HERE
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UKMT Podcast – Bahrain Grand Prix preview

Graham looks forward to the weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix Download the podcast HERE Keep up to date with the UKMotorTalk Podcast… http://feeds.feedburner.com/ukmotortalk

UKMT Podcast – Malaysian Grand Prix Report

UKMT’s Graham Benge looks at the twists and turns of Sepang. Download the podcast HERE Keep up to date with the UKMotorTalk Podcast… http://feeds.feedburner.com/ukmotortalk

UKMT Podcast - Australian Grand Prix – Race Report

UKMT’s Graham Benge looks at the highs and lows in Melbourne….
Download the podcast HERE
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Formula One 2014… The wait is nearly over…

…. and for many of the teams the recent weeks of testing under the new regulations have been fraught with problems as they come to terms with the demands and complications of the new hybrid power trains. Red Bull, for example, required some precision hacking of cooling holes in the bodywork as their heat dissipation calculations clearly went a bit awry.

The season begins as traditional in Melbourne but for some of the teams it will be another massive test session. Expect Friday’s sessions in particular to be topsy turvy in terms of times. As they say 'the old order changeth'..!

So who are we likely to see actually racing not just car sorting?

Well, so far the Renault engined teams all have problems, the Mercedes engined teams don't and Ferrari are very impressive.

Expect Mercedes with Lewis and Nico to feature well. They are one of the few teams to actually complete a race distance. Ferrari also look very strong but the battle between Alonso and Raikkonen will consume a lot of management time! Force India have also gone very well.

Red Bull are struggling with power train and chassis issues and have only run a hundred or so laps in 12 days of testing. Lotus also look to be on the back foot with their package.  I don't expect Seb to be a strong contender in the early races but watch out for his team mate Ricciardo. He'll go well once Adrian Newey sorts the car.

It’s the same at Lotus where Grosjean will feature if they can get the car sorted, and Williams are completely revitalised with the expection of a new career lease of life for old soldier Massa.

McLaren also look strong once more with Ron back in charge, Eric Bouillier joining him on the pit wall, and Jenson with new boy Magussen showing well.

Look out also for the new cars’ noses… They are as many, as varied and some are as ridiculous as a clowns’ convention.

So what have all of the teams learned about the extremely complex new hybrid power trains? Not enough apparently! Expect a race of car failures, as for most of the teams reliability will prove to be a major issue, and, at this stage, there is no guarantee of a full grid come Sunday. I can’t wait!

Graham Benge