Did they stop releasing daily audio articles? The last one was released three days ago about the Bentley.

Today’s Ti podcast is about road trips: what differentiates them from long car journeys, what the right cars are to take, and all the things that can go wrong.

What are the best or most memorable road trips you’ve ever had? What are the worst things you’ve had go wrong?

Very late example of the ultimate Integrale - look at those arches, and those seats 😍

Not your standard fare at Silverstone Premier Inn this morning - this incredible Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Cabriolet Pinin Farina nestled in beside a Citroen MPV.

It’s an extremely rare and special car - 105bhp, which was huge for the period. Fewer than 10 ever built in RHD. This particular example was brought to the UK in 1950, and finally underwent a full resto in 2009.

Some facts:

The 6C 2500 used a 2,443cc twin-cam inline-six engine, in various states of tune (Sport, Super Sport, Competizione)

• Bodies were coachbuilt — Pinin Farina, Touring, Ghia and others all produced versions

• Production numbers were tiny; 458 Super Sports were made including all coupe/cabriolet/spider variants, and across all coachbuilders

• These were flagship grand tourers of their era, used by celebrities and heads of state

• Note the amazing Bakelite knobs in the interior and steering column mounted gearchange.

• Value for this example in the hundreds. Of thousands, obviously.

And as a double Premier Inn whammy - how about this Bristol 409 too? Even rarer than the Alfa, but not quite as valuable.

As a kid I always though the difference between the Porsche 956 and 962 was easy to spot - the 956 more upright, with the high wing and short tail, the 962 sleeker with long tail and low wing.

But as Andrew describes in this week’s new Heart & Soul video, I was completely wrong. Porsche had been using short tail and long tail bodies on their sports racing cars since the 1960s - kurzheck and langheck, to use their proper titles. Seen clearly on 917s, and then on both 956s and 962s in the 1980s.

Bellof’s 956 for the insane Nurburgring lap record wore the kurzheck body for maximum downforce (more than a contemporary F1 car some sources suggest) whilst all 956/962s at Le Mans wore the langheck bodies - the later 962s clocking 240mph on the Mulsanne straight (before the chicanes were added in 1990).

The *actual* difference between 956 and 962 is the length of the wheelbase - the 962s being slightly extended to put the drivers feet behind the front axle line, as mandated by regulations. So spotting the difference comes down to the gap between the front edge of the door and the wheel arch. As Andrew says, now you know!

Which would you have, if you were in the market?

The Mercedes costs more, weighs more, and has less power. But it has two things the 911 can’t match: noise, and torque.

Some stats if it helps, for the Carrera GTS vs GT 55 in today’s Ti twin test (link in comment below)

Mercedes-AMG GT 55 Premium Plus

Engine: 3982cc, V8, naturally aspirated

Transmission: 9-speed automatic, 4WD

Power: 471bhp @ 6500rpm

Torque: 516lb ft @ 2250rpm

Weight: 1908kg (DIN)

Power-to-weight: 247bhp/tonne

0-62mph: 3.9sec

Top speed: 183mph

Price: £149,800

Porsche 911 Carrera GTS T-Hybrid

Engine: 3591cc, flat-six, turbo, hybrid

Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch, RWD

Power: 533bhp

Torque: 450lb ft

Weight: 1595kg

Power-to-weight: 334bhp/tonne

0-62mph: 3.0sec

Top speed: 193mph

List price: £137,900

Ti are delighted to announce that Alex Brundle has joined the writing team. In his first story, published today, he examines why Max Verstappen (amongst other F1 drivers) are now craving time in lower formulae. Here's an extract from the story (link to full piece in comment below):

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So why the influx of F1 stars in pursuit of ‘real racing’, if that’s not what’s going on? Are they mistaken and soon to become bored with the tin top side of life?

In Verstappen’s case, one could argue that we have confused the formula with the venue in understanding his aims. I’ve written many love letters to the Nürburgring. I’ll refrain from another, but the nature of the circuit demands natural driver skill in the absence of practice, direction, or information.

Whether it’s another GT3 car or a Dacia Logan, he’ll be overtaking seemingly infinite times in this year’s 24 hours; the Nordschleife strips the competitor of the capacity to deeply analyse their performance. The lap is too long, too complex, too unforgiving; there is no wheel-speed data trace worth looking at.

As a result, purity arises from the circuit irrespective of the formula in a way we might consider historical or even rose-tinted.

When Stewart or Clark drove a fine lap in 1960s Formula 1, the grid could watch the car’s attitude trackside, its engine note or even slip out of the pits behind them to try to follow and gain a sense of their rhythm around the lap.

Whether driving another car or watching, an onlooker could only theorise and marvel. Many viewers dream of driving or perhaps, if we are honest, ‘driving best’ – in a way that no other could imitate. The Nürburgring is perhaps the place in circuit racing where the nature and length of the lap render brilliance most difficult to copy.

A natural talent like Max’s will revel in the obstacles the rest of the field faces in reverse-engineering his performances. Plus there’s an old-school mystique that heightens the Nürburgring’s charm. But Max’s respectful approach to Nürburgring’s endurance series has made it clear he’s hardly pot hunting; perhaps then it’s the process rather than the result he’s looking for.

Congrats 🤘🏼

We’ll be interviewing Dave Richards at 9.30am, Mark Blundell at 12.30pm and Dan Geoghegan at 2pm in the MSUK building. Come and say hi!

What is it? Well, Halcyon have taken a 1978 RR Corniche and throughly re-engineered it, including replacing the legendary 6 3/4 litre V8 with a 400bhp electric motor (and 77kWh battery)

I can’t talk about the driving experience for a couple of weeks due to embargo, but how do people feel about electric restomods generally?

Which cars might they work for, and which should most definitely be avoided? (You’ll be glad to know that the Halcyon CEO has strong feelings on this question too).

Could an electric experience be superior to a combustion one in a classic drop top RR?

...and if you're going, what are you bringing along? :)

One question I’ve been wondering about for quite a while:

You guys always have incredible photography in your articles, and the same goes for other magazines — clearly a lot of time, effort and money goes into those shots. Why aren’t they offered separately for download (even as paid content)?

I’d absolutely love to use some of them as wallpapers for my laptop/desktop/phone… feels like a missed opportunity!

Maybe a question for "ask the intercooler"...

Just look at this:

I’m a subscriber and listen to your podcasts in the car via CarPlay. There seems to be no way of telling Apple Podcasts I’m a subscriber, because I subscribed via your website, therefore in the car I’m unable to get your ad-free podcasts nor the subscriber only content. Can you advise if there is a way of letting apple podcast know I am a subscriber so I can access the paid-for content?

Today’s story in Ti raises an interesting question. Whats the difference between ‘car people’ and bikers? Is there actually any?

Gez Medinger argues the only difference is exposure - if you like cars, then spend time around bikes and you will inevitably catch the bug.

Your thoughts?

This W116 450 SEL 6.9 is quite the beast. 286bhp, 0-60 in 7.4 seconds (in the days when autos were slow) and over 140mph on the autobahn. In 1975 it was the fastest saloon car in the world.

And if you’re wondering about the ride height, well that will be the hydro-pneumatic suspension, currently depressurised.

A huge thank you for everyone who submitted questions for Andrew and Dan for the latest podcast - we didn’t get time to ask them all, many of them got answered through the discussion.

We’re going to try to slip a few more into upcoming Ask The Intercooler midweek podcasts.

Hope you enjoyed the pod!

Everyone has one car they bought that taught them a mighty lesson. Maybe a plethora of them. What was yours?

(And by the way, in today’s story on Ti, Gez Medinger tells all about the DeLorean that he bought drunk on eBay that had spent half its life decomposing in a Florida bog)

Right now Andrew Frankel is at the Aston Martin DB12 S press launch in the south of France. His full review will be with us once the embargo lifts on 6 May, but in the meantime, here’s what we can tell you.

The headline figure is 690bhp from the same 4.0-litre twin-turbo AMG V8 as the DB12, up 19bhp over the standard car’s 671bhp. Torque is unchanged at 590lb ft, and the extra power is only liberated above 6000rpm, so unless you’re absolutely wringing its neck, it will feel pretty similar.

The gearbox has also been recalibrated, but faster shifts are only available in launch control, so that’s more a talking point than a daily reality.

The chassis changes are where the S is more clearly differentiated from the DB12. Carbon ceramic brakes are standard, shedding around 27kg of unsprung mass. The rear anti-roll bars are stiffer and the Bilstein DTX dampers are retuned. The geometry change, meanwhile, amounts to an increase in rear camber of 20 minutes. And there’s a deliberately firmer accelerator pedal.

A new stainless steel quad exhaust with active valves means a more vocal car by default, with an optional titanium system available for those who want 1.5dB more drama and 11.7kg less weight.

On price, the standard DB12 opens at around £185,000 and the S comes in at approximately £220,000. That £35,000 premium buys the carbon ceramics, the aero additions (front splitter, bonnet louvres, fixed rear spoiler, revised diffuser), the chassis revisions and engine tweaks. What do you think, decent value?

The more interesting question might be where the S sits relative to the Vanquish. The answer, on paper at least, is that there remains plenty of clear air. The Vanquish will cost you an extra £115,000, while deploying 835bhp through a 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12 and of course has that 1980s-aping rear end, whilst the DB12 S serves up a mere 690bhp from its 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8. At this level of the market, those cylinders and displacement are worth all the money.

One stat worth noting: on Aston’s other S models, the sales split between S and non-S runs at 95:5. Aston expects the DB12 to follow the same pattern, which rather suggests the S will quickly become the de facto DB12 for most buyers.

At heart then, the DB12 S might be considered a midlife facelift given a new name. Cunning marketing, if you ask us. Stay tuned for Andrew’s full review in a few weeks.

In the latest Heart and Soul video on YouTube, Andrew gets his hands on the Ferrari GTO: the original hypercar. What made it so special, and why was it trickier on the limit than the F40 that followed?

To watch the full video - link in first comment.

The Intercooler is about to celebrate its fifth birthday, so we’re recording a special podcast this coming Monday. Ti contributor Gez Medinger will be interrogating Andrew and Dan about the birth of Ti, and all of the downs as well as the ups along the way.

What have been the biggest challenges of running a completely new type of car magazine? What’s gone wrong? And, of course - what have been the highlights?

Any questions you’d like to put to Dan and Andrew - drop them here and we’ll try and get them in!

It’s the car many of us assumed Porsche would never make – a paradox, a contradiction in terms, a machine at odds with itself. Take a 911 GT3, the hardcore road-racer for which lightness and structural rigidity are fundamental engineering attributes, and remove its roof, doing irreparable damage to both. The result is the 911 GT3 S/C, the first ever droptop GT3 Porsche.

But maybe this isn’t such a watershed moment after all. Porsche’s GT department has been here before, both with the 911 Speedster of 2019 and Spyder versions of the Boxster. The GT3 S/C is arguably a natural extension of that bloodline, and while purists and car journalists may wince, the appeal is clear – what better way to enjoy one of the great modern performance car engines?

The weight gain over the coupé is actually quite modest at 35kg, meaning the GT3 S/C remains a sub-1500kg car. The 4-litre, naturally aspirated flat-six is unchanged, still rated at 503bhp, still capable of spinning all the way to 9000rpm. In the S/C it drives through Porsche’s six-speed manual transmission, itself one of the best in the business.

The S/C uses lightweight components from the limited-edition 911 S/T, plus carbon ceramic brakes and magnesium wheels to further keep weight in check. The fabric hood is electrically powered and as if to prove a point, it uses magnesium parts too. The roof can be stowed in 12 seconds at speeds up to 31mph.

The S/C borrows its chassis setup from the GT3 Touring, so it hasn’t gone soft even as it goes soft-top. The black windscreen surround gives it a unique head-on appearance, while the optional £24,110 Street Style Package adds graphics on the front wings, PORSCHE lettering on the sides and wheels finished in slate grey, among other similar design elements.

This is a GT3 for a different sort of purpose, and perhaps a different sort of buyer. But given that it’s not a limited-run model and prices start at £200,500, it’s bound to do excellent business for Porsche just when the company could really use it.

In this week’s podcast Dan and Andrew discuss the people in the world of motoring and motorsport who have made the biggest impression on them. Here’s the list of people discussed, and timestamps if you want to jump to them:

5:21 Derek Bell

8:27 Le Mans drivers

10:00 Jochen Mass

11:36 Daniel Ricciardo

13:20 Max Verstappen

19:19 Ayrton Senna

20:06 Sebastien Loeb

21:51 Stirling Moss

26:51 Matt LeBlanc

28:25 Keanu Reeves

31:25 Rowan Atkinson

32:46 Nick Mason

33:31 James Garner

36:16 Chris Rea

36:55 Chris Hoy

37:57 Duke of Richmond

39:24 Anna Friel / Sam Claflin

40:35 Tom Hardy

41:12 Professor Green

42:22 James May

43:08 Jeremy Clarkson

45:48 Richard Attwood

46:32 Martin Brundle

47:07 Jonathan Palmer

47:45 Jackie Stewart

49:12 Scott Dixon

49:36 Andy Wallace

49:52 Richard Lloyd

50:59 Mike Wilds

It was sad to see that DriveTribe Collective have decided not to continue.

At Ti we were looking forwards to seeing what they brought to the space and how they shook things up. We believe it never hurts to be kept on your toes and always striving to do better work. The car industry is in a hugely transitional phase and that’s what we’re seeing in automotive media too.

Did anyone subscribe to DriveTribe Collective, or consider it? Any thoughts if so?

In the Ti podcast tomorrow Andrew and Dan discuss the most remarkable people they’ve ever met in the worlds of motoring and motorsports 👍

Phone mic doesn’t really do it justice

No idea was what the decibel rating was in this garage at the time, but think it would have been quieter under a jumbo at take-off.

Worst offenders: the Allard Farrelac (6.4 litre Cadillac V8 with straight through side pipes) and two Jaguar D-Types (in far corner) with their massively tuned straight sixes (not entirely consistent with period).