Yet another stunning piece of top class podcastery. Great to see Richard has learnt nothing from previous attempts to see prototypes. Jonny has a lot to live up to for his next solo podcast. More of the same please boys!
I went to Gaydon on a school trip once, the I-Pace had just been launched, there was a few knocking around the test facilities with the reveal livery still on which I recognised from the some of the press releases. On walking into one of the facilities we came across a group of engineers standing around one of said I-Paces, laughing and cheering while their colleague tried to set off the side curtain airbag. He was using a shopping trolley with a bunch of dumbbell plates in, sprinting up to the car and shoving into the drivers door, which as you can imagine was severely dented. I remember as a kid thinking that they possibly had the best job in the world as they were having so much fun.
I’m imagining comedy gold if, just as Richard pulls away in his car off home, the new Mark 2 XJ220 Electric rolls out unadorned with camouflage for its public road test!
Loved it, deep knowledge of a "dull" topic is often super fascinating! Also I laughed far too hard at the offhand _"...something by Ian Callum"_ line following your Aston/F-Type mixup, immediately imagining it as a perfume that would warrant all sorts of silly taglines riffing on the concept of how, no matter what it is, it makes you look good.
Richard, I, too, used to love the prototypes section of a car mag or two. I, born and raised in Eire, now reside in Northern Wisconsin. U.S. HWY 2 cuts through upper Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and so on west. Although upper Michigan is not easily accessible from the lower half i have on occasion spotted GM and Ford vehehicles wrapped in their zebra camo drive passed me as I've been traveling on HWY 2. There is something very cool about seeing them go by. I have never had the time to snap a pic. Thank you for the great episode.
Also worth a trip to Fen End which I believe was the Prodrive track for a while - we had a job where we could see over the fence and we saw some 'interesting' vehicles being driven around the track and on the neighbouring roads - there were also a fair few 'New' old defenders parked up in the centre after production had stopped.
What great listening. My first prototype spot was the Vectra, back in 1995 or so. They were doing some photo shoots with pre production cars at Lindisfarne causeway, I even managed to get a picture! Then I sometimes saw disguised Rolls Royces near Crewe, they must have been prototypes for the Silver Seraph as I spoke to a recovery driver who’d said he’d been called out to one and he’d had to clean all 12 spark plugs at the roadside. Other notable spots include a Panamera / Bentley test mule seen when heading to the Alps a few years ago. I also worked at JLR for a while and there were just too many prototypes to list as well as full size models of forthcoming cars, some of which never got released. They were very strict about photos though and phones often had to be locked away so I couldn’t pap any of them….
Strangely enough, I've seen a few JLR prototypes at my local park, basically in Nottingham, during the 2020 lockdown. One was a Defender 90 in full launch spec, and the other a Jaguar XF Sportbrake in full camo - being followed by a black prototype Defender 110. I was informed of a rumour that JLR's prototype cars helped deliver medical supplies. I haven't really seen anything else since, but I don't walk there as often these days.
I used to live in Nuneaton so plenty of JLR employees knocking about that part of Warwickshire. I saw a couple of ‘Prototype Vehicle’ stickered cars parked outside people’s houses over the years, and one morning whilst walking to work a fully camouflaged Aston Martin DBX (I think that would have been pre-production at the time).
I saw an XJ40 test mule rocketing over a roundabout near Gaydon in the early eighties. It was matt black with no chrome and no radiator grill and I thought it was a weird custom XJ6 because the front lights were awful and the rear looked pretty bad. Couldn't believe it when about a year later the photos came out showing the car exactly as I saw it (except for added chrome and a radiator!).
I remember seeing a brand new Rover Metro parked up in my home town with it's badges covered up and this was before the launch back in the 9 D's, my favourite test mule is when Citroen were developing the Xm they used a Cx as a mule 😊
I share this obsession. At the ring you are treated to all kinds of wonder in the industry pool sessions! Also have this odd wish to take a rover 75 and fake prototype it 😂
'I'm back at the Gaydon petrol station...I've just got myself a coffee...they're having some petrol delivered...no use to me 'cos I'm in an EV'. Peak Partridge!!
I'll check out that back entrance to see if it is 'live' / used next time i'm in the area - looks like no problem just walking down it from the main road. From google earth it looks like a proper dirt track with grass mound in the middle towards the JLR end.
My mate was working for Valeo in the 80s, making washer bottles. He discovered that they had a prototype of the new small Volvo 480 in a secured room. He told me about this, and Autocar was running a competition for a job as a photographer on the mag if you could get some photos of something good. So I told him about this and armed with a camera he st off on the mission on a Saturday night. After crawling through some ducting, Mission Impossible stylee he dropped into the room with the 480. He took some photos and then... He nicked the Blaupunkt stereo out of it as it was a top of the range model. Needless to say he couldn't send the photos in when I pointed out they would find out he'd robbed the stereo if the photos came out. Balls, run out of room😎.
A friend got involved with testing Jaaags a long time ago. They were running around Canada. If they're running something like an unreleased Land Rover then one passed me in the street the other day. It looked like a new LWB one from where I was but had all the pointless cack removed.
brilliant podcast that i enjoyed today. Cheers Richard. Can you ever tell us the story of the Range Rover that you recently sold? (a supercharger??) You referenced it in previous podcasts about "interesting" selling experience?
Richard, could the what we think is the Velar prototype in fact be a Jaguar? I think it looks i Pace ish at the back and front. Best foolery ever of a prototype car if so!
I thought that, especially when you see how much camo is on those prototypes and notice details like the different offset to the rear wheels, but I've been assured by people who should know this stuff that it's the next Velar under all that cladding. Richard
Loved this episode however both me and RichTysoe both were saying that you were in the wrong spots & possibly the wrong day. We live 2 miles from the petrol station (lethal as love a Greggs) and Rich sees them on the B4100 more towards Banbury. Not sure if they go out the Kineton way. Maybe next time visit Keith's place Gilks? Also I really miss roundabout bloke, used take him a brew & chat whilst spy spotting, since they changed the roads I've not seen him. I remember spotting a car that didn't look right the handles just were odd, which I pointed out & he got all excited taking lots of photos and he said it was the baby jag. Finally, did you pop and see the Vulcan at Wellesbourne? Highly recommend the Touchdown cafe for plane watching and yummy food.
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Yet another stunning piece of top class podcastery. Great to see Richard has learnt nothing from previous attempts to see prototypes. Jonny has a lot to live up to for his next solo podcast. More of the same please boys!
‘I can’t believe it’s not Partridge’ , Utterly Brilliant.
Richard hard at work avoiding another pesky deadline 😂
I went to Gaydon on a school trip once, the I-Pace had just been launched, there was a few knocking around the test facilities with the reveal livery still on which I recognised from the some of the press releases. On walking into one of the facilities we came across a group of engineers standing around one of said I-Paces, laughing and cheering while their colleague tried to set off the side curtain airbag. He was using a shopping trolley with a bunch of dumbbell plates in, sprinting up to the car and shoving into the drivers door, which as you can imagine was severely dented. I remember as a kid thinking that they possibly had the best job in the world as they were having so much fun.
I’m imagining comedy gold if, just as Richard pulls away in his car off home, the new Mark 2 XJ220 Electric rolls out unadorned with camouflage for its public road test!
That was great fun for a change! Looking forward to seeing you guys live on Dec 18th
Loved it, deep knowledge of a "dull" topic is often super fascinating! Also I laughed far too hard at the offhand _"...something by Ian Callum"_ line following your Aston/F-Type mixup, immediately imagining it as a perfume that would warrant all sorts of silly taglines riffing on the concept of how, no matter what it is, it makes you look good.
Richard, I, too, used to love the prototypes section of a car mag or two.
I, born and raised in Eire, now reside in Northern Wisconsin. U.S. HWY 2 cuts through upper Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and so on west.
Although upper Michigan is not easily accessible from the lower half i have on occasion spotted GM and Ford vehehicles wrapped in their zebra camo drive passed me as I've been traveling on HWY 2.
There is something very cool about seeing them go by. I have never had the time to snap a pic.
Thank you for the great episode.
Also worth a trip to Fen End which I believe was the Prodrive track for a while - we had a job where we could see over the fence and we saw some 'interesting' vehicles being driven around the track and on the neighbouring roads - there were also a fair few 'New' old defenders parked up in the centre after production had stopped.
What great listening. My first prototype spot was the Vectra, back in 1995 or so. They were doing some photo shoots with pre production cars at Lindisfarne causeway, I even managed to get a picture!
Then I sometimes saw disguised Rolls Royces near Crewe, they must have been prototypes for the Silver Seraph as I spoke to a recovery driver who’d said he’d been called out to one and he’d had to clean all 12 spark plugs at the roadside.
Other notable spots include a Panamera / Bentley test mule seen when heading to the Alps a few years ago.
I also worked at JLR for a while and there were just too many prototypes to list as well as full size models of forthcoming cars, some of which never got released. They were very strict about photos though and phones often had to be locked away so I couldn’t pap any of them….
Strangely enough, I've seen a few JLR prototypes at my local park, basically in Nottingham, during the 2020 lockdown.
One was a Defender 90 in full launch spec, and the other a Jaguar XF Sportbrake in full camo - being followed by a black prototype Defender 110. I was informed of a rumour that JLR's prototype cars helped deliver medical supplies.
I haven't really seen anything else since, but I don't walk there as often these days.
I used to live in Nuneaton so plenty of JLR employees knocking about that part of Warwickshire. I saw a couple of ‘Prototype Vehicle’ stickered cars parked outside people’s houses over the years, and one morning whilst walking to work a fully camouflaged Aston Martin DBX (I think that would have been pre-production at the time).
I saw an XJ40 test mule rocketing over a roundabout near Gaydon in the early eighties. It was matt black with no chrome and no radiator grill and I thought it was a weird custom XJ6 because the front lights were awful and the rear looked pretty bad. Couldn't believe it when about a year later the photos came out showing the car exactly as I saw it (except for added chrome and a radiator!).
Turns out Jonny is on a secret trip, he is testing these Jaaaags that Richard is looking for. 😂
And in next week's episode Richard goes back to spy skool 😅
Can you do this more often. It was great.
I remember seeing a brand new Rover Metro parked up in my home town with it's badges covered up and this was before the launch back in the 9 D's, my favourite test mule is when Citroen were developing the Xm they used a Cx as a mule 😊
I share this obsession. At the ring you are treated to all kinds of wonder in the industry pool sessions! Also have this odd wish to take a rover 75 and fake prototype it 😂
'I'm back at the Gaydon petrol station...I've just got myself a coffee...they're having some petrol delivered...no use to me 'cos I'm in an EV'. Peak Partridge!!
Hi Rich, have you ever listened to the Alan Partridge podcast, "From the Oasthouse"? I only ask because this sounded like an episode of that.
Someone else said that! I love From The Oasthouse but in this context I don't know whether to be proud or horrified. Richard
@@smithandsniff Horrified.
I was listening to tis whilst passing Gaydon on the M40
Had the feel of an Alan Bennett monologue.
I'll check out that back entrance to see if it is 'live' / used next time i'm in the area - looks like no problem just walking down it from the main road. From google earth it looks like a proper dirt track with grass mound in the middle towards the JLR end.
My mate was working for Valeo in the 80s, making washer bottles. He discovered that they had a prototype of the new small Volvo 480 in a secured room. He told me about this, and Autocar was running a competition for a job as a photographer on the mag if you could get some photos of something good. So I told him about this and armed with a camera he st off on the mission on a Saturday night. After crawling through some ducting, Mission Impossible stylee he dropped into the room with the 480. He took some photos and then... He nicked the Blaupunkt stereo out of it as it was a top of the range model. Needless to say he couldn't send the photos in when I pointed out they would find out he'd robbed the stereo if the photos came out. Balls, run out of room😎.
A friend got involved with testing Jaaags a long time ago. They were running around Canada.
If they're running something like an unreleased Land Rover then one passed me in the street the other day. It looked like a new LWB one from where I was but had all the pointless cack removed.
brilliant podcast that i enjoyed today. Cheers Richard. Can you ever tell us the story of the Range Rover that you recently sold? (a supercharger??) You referenced it in previous podcasts about "interesting" selling experience?
Richard, could the what we think is the Velar prototype in fact be a Jaguar? I think it looks i Pace ish at the back and front. Best foolery ever of a prototype car if so!
I thought that, especially when you see how much camo is on those prototypes and notice details like the different offset to the rear wheels, but I've been assured by people who should know this stuff that it's the next Velar under all that cladding. Richard
amazing
Smart #1 you say? Registration number KX23 DVH was it?
I think so, yes.
Loved this episode however both me and RichTysoe both were saying that you were in the wrong spots & possibly the wrong day.
We live 2 miles from the petrol station (lethal as love a Greggs) and Rich sees them on the B4100 more towards Banbury. Not sure if they go out the Kineton way. Maybe next time visit Keith's place Gilks?
Also I really miss roundabout bloke, used take him a brew & chat whilst spy spotting, since they changed the roads I've not seen him.
I remember spotting a car that didn't look right the handles just were odd, which I pointed out & he got all excited taking lots of photos and he said it was the baby jag.
Finally, did you pop and see the Vulcan at Wellesbourne? Highly recommend the Touchdown cafe for plane watching and yummy food.
Ambitious but rubbish. 😂👍
G'day! 😝
swwwweeeeet sweeeeet gsssss, tmcmb
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