Video Documentary for the Farnham Festival Of Transport

I got in touch with the committee chairman for the Farnham Festival of Transport, Eddie Pearce.
I had a brilliant idea to try and promote the festival and that was in the form of two short documentary style videos on two cars from both ends of the past century.

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Hands up if this is your era. The Menu Laguna(replica but still awesome)! #ffot #farnhamfestivaloftransport #racecar #familyfun #carshow #farnhamherald #rotary #classiccars #touringcars

A post shared by Farnham Festival of Transport (@farnhamfestivaloftransport) on Mar 9, 2019 at 1:52am PST

The first video will be on the Ford Model T owned by Sir Ray Tindle, giving an insight on how to drive it seeing as its very different to modern cars and a brief overview of the mechanics.
I had the idea to do a sort of 'top 5' list on car maintenance and with help from the team who take care of the cars would help me compile the most interesting facts.

For the second video, I had the idea to film a modern supercar. An email previously sent to Eddie was forwarded to me and it mentioned someone local to Farnham, who is also attending the show, owning an incredibly rare Koenigsegg Agera R.
I've inquired about filming the 1.6 million pound hyper car and we are hopefully going to hear back from the owner soon.

These two videos will act as promotional material for the festival which is on the 9th June.

Rising Stars - The Ashgate Gallery

I went to the Ashgate Gallery in Farnham to interview Outi Remes about the Rising Stars scheme that she runs to help small, upcoming artists get some much needed exposure.

My Mark One Mazda MX5, Angie.

Nearly two years ago I bought a 1991 Mark 1 MX5 from an old man who buys and sells them for fun. It was a project from the start, seeing as it didn’t run, her paint was flaking and rust was a massive issue.

However this didn’t bother me as I wanted a challenge, I wanted a car that wasn’t perfect so that I could take it upon myself to make it perfect.

In my time as owner I've clocked up over 5000 miles in her and I have to say it's the most fun car I've ever driven.

Whether youre blasting on B roads or pootling around town, this is a car you can have fun with at any speed, and it always leaves you with a smile on your face and eagerly wanting more.

I've had a vast ownership of fast and fun cars, I've also driven some very fast cars at track days etc so its not like I've come from a £200 rusty Corsa. I do have quite a bit of experience with fast cars.

For under £2000 this is the best car you can buy for fun factor and value for money. It's not the fastest thing in the world but thats not the point of the MX5, its meant to be a superb handler.
Thats where most people don't like the MX5, it's underpowered.

I can not reccomend this car enough, you must at least drive one before you make a judgement on them.

Podcast - A drifters guide to childhood

Kick back and relax as you let our wonderful voices wash over you in a glorious parade of knowledge gathered over 57 years of collective knowledge between the three of us.

My favourite racetracks from around the UK

I've compiled a list of my favourite race tracks that every petrol head must visit around the UK. Ranging from the old Top Gear test track to the famed Eboladrome from The Grand Tour and Snetterton to Goodwood. There's something here for everyone!

Popular demand forces Ford to make a huge change

All car lines affected are as follows, The Focus, Fusion, Fiesta and Taurus.

Ford's newly elected CEO's reasoning behind this is that the market for these cars in North America is too small to keep their lines going. There has been a massive shift in recent years towards the crossover and SUV.

The all new Focus Active, The Focus line has
succumbed the same fate as the Dodge Dart

Despite the fact that smaller economical cars like the Honda Civic and the Ford Fiesta became very popular in the last 20-30 years, However, America's roads are built for massive cars so these smaller hatchbacks aren't well suited to their roads.

US dependence on foreign oil has been reduced by
fracking and advances in technology mean Ford has 
developed SUVs and crossovers with better fuel economy.

Unlike before when bigger cars would get poor fuel economy, have extremely high tax brackets and handle like boats, advances in technology have allowed big family cars to achieve numbers of over 45 mpg and handle like the hot hatchbacks from the late 90s and early 2000s.

People love SUVs. The SUV is a jack of all trades because it can do everything, perhaps not as well as maybe a dedicated sports car or a lifted truck but it does enough to satisfy the needs of everyday consumers.

The most important factor that ensured the success of the modern SUV is accessibility, they are easy to get in and out of, have bucket tonnes of head and leg room and if you want you can fold down the rear seats and use it as a van.

It's even taken away the need to own more than one car. You no longer need a family car and a van or a workhorse and a weekend toy, the SUV can do them all.

The public backlash at Ford's latest crossover.

Hatchbacks "butched up" with elevated ride height and cladding... pic.twitter.com/duIy5r8Kp7

— Dave Mason (@BeginTry) 27 April 2018

Ford fans took to twitter to express their views, one particular tweet gained a lot of attention for saying what everyone was thinking.
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Ford Edsel - Why did it flop?

The Edsel is a platform of car planed, designed and produced by Ford in the late 50s to the early 60s.
It was highly publicised as the 'car of the future' 

The start of the Edsel's problems came from critics about its unique design, the huge vertical grill was a massive eye sore for most consumers.
Along with 'interesting' looks the Edsel was the result of ford ignoring its customer base, they took polls from Ford owners to try and create a car that they would want to buy, however they disregarded most of the results and created a car that Ford wanted to make.

From the start the Edsel was plagued with reliability issues, mainly engine failure and a sloppy new style of automatic transmission, mounted in the centre of the steering wheel.
It's over complication in design was its downfall, it was very difficult to work on and most workshop mechanics didn't want anything to do with the car.

The last reason that the Edsel failed was it's pricing.

It started at $2,500 which was more expensive than any other Ford at the time, and when all options were added the grand total came to $3,800 which was in line with smaller Cadillacs of the day which seemed ridiculous for an unreliable, ugly Ford.

In the end the Edsel's production run meandered on for 2 miserable years from 1958 to 1960 and in that time only 44,891 were made, in 1960 only 76 convertibles were made, making them incredibly rare.
A good example of the convertible sold recently for $47,000

Overall the failure of the Edsel was down to poor marketing, over hyping the car to the point where people thought it was the 'car of the future' and finally for being made incredibly poorly by Ford's own mechanics and employees, quality control practically didn't exist.

It will be forever remembered as the biggest automotive failure in the 20th century, and will serve as a reminder to Ford not to ignore their customer base again.