Richard Porter

There now follow some promotional messages for upcoming times when I will be at the front of a room on a stage. Don't worry, I'm not doing a one-man version of Pirates of Penzance. That's for next year. Here we go...

greatnorthernclassics.co.ukAn Audience with Richard Porter (Top Gear & Smith & Sniff) hosted by Paul Cowland - Great Northern ClassicsJoin us for An Audience with Richard Porter at Great Northern Classics — an evening of sharp wit, motoring insight and behind‑the‑scenes stories from one of the most recognisable voices in automotive ...

Secondly, on Thursday 26 Nov I'll be at Great Northern Classics where TV's Paul Cowland and I will be chatting about Top Gear and all manner of stuff. At the last one I said several slanderous things about Gerry McGovern so who knows how this will go. www.greatnorthernclassics.co.uk/event/an-aud...

eventbrite.co.ukSmith and Sniff live at Car Barn BeamishBe part of the audience for a Smith and Sniff live show.

Finally, on Thursday 10 December we'll be doing our last Smith and Sniff live show of 2026 at Car Barn Beamish in County Durham. Wear a Christmas jumper, bring some Baileys, it'll be festive. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/smith-and-...

Firstly, our next Smith and Sniff live show is at Stamford Corn Exchange on Tuesday 10 November. It's Jonny's home show so we might go to the pub afterwards. Or before. www.stamfordcornexchange.co.uk/smith-sniff/

stamfordcornexchange.co.ukSmith & Sniff - Live Podcast | Stamford Corn Exchange TheatreThe pair bring their freewheeling, often hilarious chat to Stamford Corn Exchange for conversation, audience questions and unexpected detours

evo.co.uk'The key to autonomous driving is obvious to anyone with half a brain' | EvoPorter's a fly on the wall in a critical moment within the biggest automotive R&D's quest for autonomous driving success

Wrote this five years ago. Thought of it today, and of all those people who keep their jobs for now because their Universal Studios stunt show con trick didn't go wrong. www.evo.co.uk/opinion/2041...

ado88.bandcamp.comMeal Deal EP, by ADO 884 track album

In case you missed it a couple of weeks ago, I've completed my trilogy of tracks sampling the C.R.E.A.M. podcast. Except the third part isn't one song, it's an EP. Two original tracks, two remixes incl. a banging '90s version of Tractors At Night. Listen here... ado88.bandcamp.com/album/meal-d...

music.apple.comMeal Deal - EP by ADO 88 on Apple MusicAlbum · 2026 · 4 Songs

It's also on all the streaming platforms including these two. Apple Music: music.apple.com/gb/album/mea... Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/6Rj3p7...

Lovely day for a TURBO.

It's not all Jag news this week. The Renault E-Space concept is interesting. Right down to the reverse rake headlights, just like the original. But the first Espace had those for a reason...

Blakesee's underpants-based prediction wasn't entirely accurate from the off. In its first month on sale in France, the number of Espaces sold was... nine.

PS If you like this sort of minutiae, why not buy one of my Boring Car Trivia books. www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09JZX63R...

amazon.co.ukAmazon.co.uk

It's not all Jag news this week. The Renault E-Space concept is interesting. Right down to the reverse rake headlights, just like the original. But the first Espace had those for a reason...

There is a Jag link here, mind you. Before it went to Renault, the Espace was a Chrysler UK project and was designed in its studio in Whitley, Coventry which was later sold to.... Jaguar.

Here are Chrysler designers posing with an early model of what became the Espace, in the viewing yard at the Whitley studio. It says 'silk short' on the side because design boss Art Blakesee told the team this car would be such a hit they'd all be 'farting through silk shorts'.

It's not all Jag news this week. The Renault E-Space concept is interesting. Right down to the reverse rake headlights, just like the original. But the first Espace had those for a reason...

It was designed as a Chrysler and given the canted forward headlights from the Alpine to save money. When Chrysler bailed, Matra took the idea to Renault and they just tooled up their own lamps to the same style rather than change it.

Meant to say earlier, the Jag reinvention doesn't start and end with the Type 01 or hinge entirely on that car's success. They've openly said it won't be biggest selling model because there are others on the way...

So, my message to Jaguar is, DO NOT JUST NUMBER YOUR CARS IN THE ORDER THEY COME OUT, IT MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE.

If I were Jag, I'd make a big saloon the Type 02 but then buy some space and make a medium-sized crossover the Type 04 or even Type 05. Then there's room for a Type 03 large crossover if needed without it becoming too confusing. Orrrr, just make the large saloon the Type J.

The lesson here is The Polestar Problem. Frankly, Polestar's range is a shitshow. In order of size and price it goes 02, 04, 03, 05. For people who just want a car, that's baffling.

(Even more baffling, in ascending order of width the Polestar range goes 02, 03, 05, 04)

I asked Jag people if the Type 01 JEA platform could be scaled down and they were vague. I suspect if it can be, not by a lot. So maybe a medium crossover would be on the other new JLR EV platform, EMA, except that's not designed for the 'exuberant' proportions of new Jaguar.

So who knows? Definitely plans for two new Jags to follow the Type 01. They're already in progress. Don't know what comes next, but a crossover would be a safer bet. Thing is, what do you call the following cars? There's a lesson here...

Long after it died in the Jag re-think, this X393 package buck was leaked which gives an idea of what it could have looked like.

Then there's X500. Under JLR codename protocol, a five at the start of the number denotes medium-sized SUV or crossover. I'd guess this will be more crossover than SUV to avoid upsetting Land Rover. But what would it be built on?

So I assume X901 is similar size and on the same all-new JEA platform. Some rumours say a more trad large 4dr saloon is coming, so maybe it's that. They've spent all the money on an EV platform that can allow low seating position, so it would make sense to use it for that.

Conversely, people don't buy saloons so much. They buy SUVs. Maybe X901 is a large SUV. But JLR has Range Rover to do that. So it's a tricky one. Under old Jag plan, LR people were allegedly not happy about X393, the rumoured J-Pace, a large Jag SUV, and kept trying to kill it.

The Type 01 was codenamed X900. It looks like it will be followed by projects X901 and X500. Under the usual JLR codename system something that's +1, like 901 to 900, would be a closely related car on same platform. Current Range Rover is L460 and RR Sport is L461, for example.

Happy New Jaguar Opinions Day! Personally, I think it looks terrific but who cares what I think? What's more interesting is how this car ended up like this and how long it's been in the making.

Anyway, TL;DR: The new Jag has been a long time coming. About six years, all told. I think out on the road with other traffic it's going to look brilliantly bonkers.

Side note: As mentioned on Smith and Sniff, last year I was shown a full-size model of the 01. The same model previewed in that image from early '23. One of the designers sheepishly admitted it had been around for a while and point out places where it was peeling apart.

Happy New Jaguar Opinions Day! Personally, I think it looks terrific but who cares what I think? What's more interesting is how this car ended up like this and how long it's been in the making.

It's interesting that the Type 01 has been set in stone for a long time. This teaser pic was published 18 months before the 00 concept (which was created after the 01). We didn't know it at the time but it shows the signed-off 01 styling model. And was released in April '23.

They also went early on visually representative prototypes because the platform had such different proportions trying to make mules by stretching existing cars over the underparts was impossible. Hence the very thorough camo including the fake estate back on early test cars.

Happy New Jaguar Opinions Day! Personally, I think it looks terrific but who cares what I think? What's more interesting is how this car ended up like this and how long it's been in the making.

And from this day, a winning team was chosen and the Type 01 is the first production car to the chosen design language. I've asked Jag people if we'll ever see photos of all those competing models on display and the answer was a firm and disappointing, no. Bah!

I heard on the grapevine that the styling models from that massive shoot out were not immediately binned but stashed away in a JLR storage unit. Unfortunately, there was an incident at this place, quite a hot and flamey one, and many were damaged or destroyed.

Happy New Jaguar Opinions Day! Personally, I think it looks terrific but who cares what I think? What's more interesting is how this car ended up like this and how long it's been in the making.

One day, all 18 full-size models were gathered together and arranged here, in the viewing yard at the Gaydon studio. I've been in this yard. It's bloody massive.

And even this wasn't big enough to display everything. Some stuff had to be shown inside the main studio. Also bloody massive.

Happy New Jaguar Opinions Day! Personally, I think it looks terrific but who cares what I think? What's more interesting is how this car ended up like this and how long it's been in the making.

When they decided to do a hard reset on Jag, they tasked three competing teams with creating a new design language that would work across a range of different types of car. This led to a shoot out at which 18 full-size models were presented. That's a shitload of work.

music.apple.comMeal Deal - EP by ADO 88 on Apple MusicAlbum · 2026 · 4 Songs

The Meal Deal EP (feat. C.R.E.A.M.) is now on all the usual streaming platforms. Apple Music: music.apple.com/gb/album/mea... Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/6Rj3p7... Search ADO 88 to find it elsewhere

ado88.bandcamp.comMeal Deal EP, by ADO 884 track album

If you've heard this week's C.R.E.A.M. podcast you'll know I've just sent them a new song which samples their show. It's called Hitting up the Discos. But I got carried away and made an EP featuring another new track and two remixes. Listen here. ado88.bandcamp.com/album/meal-d...

The EP will appear on Apple Music, Spotify and all the other streaming platforms tomorrow.

sniffpetrol.comRelatively little violence at Revival | Sniff PetrolPolice and organisers have hailed this weekend’s Goodwood Revival ‘the best yet’ with arrests down markedly on last year’s event, especially for violent crime and murder. A spokesman for Sussex police...

21 Sept

Didn't make it to the Goodwood Revival this weekend but assume it was pretty much like this. sniffpetrol.com/2014/09/15/r...

youtu.be2 Million Views Later… the Barn Find 80s MG Metro Turbo 1st drive in 34 yrsYouTube video by The Late Brake Show

20 Sept

Last year Jonny extracted an MG Metro Turbo from a garage in the Midlands in what became one of The Late Brake Show's most popular barn find vids. As you might know, I bought that car and sent it away to be brought back to good health. Now, at last, it's ready to go... youtu.be/x-WvIWJd-hs?...

Since filming the collection vid last week I've done a load of miles in the Metro. In fact, I've been finding excuses to drive it, just because. I was worried it might feel old and creaky and a bit shit but actually it's really together and lots of fun. I love it.