It’s me, Mark Stone, and in this episode of the Backseat Driver Podcast, I take a hard look at the enduring allure of supercars and the often sobering realities that come with owning them.

I’m joined by Nick Foster, an experienced specialist who works daily with some of the most desirable performance machines on the planet. We discuss how the supercar world has evolved, including the dramatic shift from boutique production numbers to large-scale manufacturing, as seen with Ferrari increasing output from hundreds to thousands of cars per year.

Nick explains what truly separates high-performance cars from everyday vehicles when it comes to servicing, reliability, and long-term care. We also explore the realities owners face as these cars pass through multiple hands, often accumulating hidden issues and deferred maintenance along the way.

This episode offers a candid and practical insight into the modern supercar landscape, cutting through the glamour to examine what ownership really involves and the expertise required to keep these machines at their best.

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Most people who are into cars, true petrol heads, secretly harbor a desire to own a supercar or a performance car.

It is not an unusual thing, whether It's a Ferrari, McLaren, Bugatti, Lamborghini, one of the McLaren worked on Mercedes Benz.

Everybody would like one of these cars.

And as time's gone on, the sales numbers increase because of course, there's now the opportunity to win a lot of money and go buy one.

But to give you an example, a good few years ago, when Enzo Ferrari was running Ferrari, if they produced 800 cars a year, they'd had an exceptional 12 months.

They now manufacture 10,000 a year, which indicates that the good old days of artisan craftsmanship has probably long gone.

There also used to be the favorite statement off Enzo, since his road cars were there to finance his racing.

I will send you and sell you a very expensive, very high performance engine, the car I give you for free.

But working on these cars, you suddenly realize that the glamour of ownership probably isn't as glamorous as you think.

Which is why people like my guest today exist.

So I'd like to welcome to the backseat driver, Nick Foster, who is the sports car performance car supercar mechanic from Specialized Automotive Services, one of the backseat driver's sponsors.

So, Nick, welcome to the backseat driver.

Thank you, Mark.

Glad to be on board.

How long have you been a mechanic?

I've been wielding spanners for about 25 years.

Yeah.

What made you want to start working on or how did you start to become working on high performance cars?

Because that's the one thing you're known for.

I mean, was it by chance it was that your heart's desire?

Oh, yeah, it's the heart's desire.

Something as you start as a young mechanic, you always want to be working on the top.

The best.

Yeah.

And it's not until I found this Specialized automotive that that, yeah, this is my gateway into.

Yeah.

Getting into high end performance and special cars.

What do performance car super cars have in common with ordinary cars?

I mean, okay, it's four wheels and an engine.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But I mean, there's got to be a point where they diverse, they diversify away from a standard car.

Where does that happen?

Often it is right down to the bones of it, the actual structure of the car.

They're often.

Well, I mean, nowadays there's a lot of carbon fiber, so there's some carbon fiber tubs going around.

But kind of traditionally you'd be more Aluminium based, often kind of glued and riveted together sort of things.

Whereas your standard car will be steel and it'll be welded and cheap and.

Yeah.

So it's a bit like the Lotus Elise.

There's one thing about the chassis on a lot of Elise, it was glued together and if it had been in an accident, you couldn't repair them.

No, that's it.

That's it.

Chassis gum.

Yeah.

Yep.

So when you work on them, I mean, how long does it take for you to learn about these cars?

Because, I mean, they are all reasonably unique and I can include a Ferrari is different to a McLaren, to a Lamborghini.

On and on and on it goes.

They will all be different, I conclude.

Oh, yeah, yeah, there is.

Yeah.

It does take you a while to.

To learn them.

It.

You kind of need a good couple of hours going through a car, just, just looking at it and it'll get you an idea of its, its build and it's what you've kind of got yourself in for in a way.

Yeah.

And it's a bit like.

I mean, today you're working on a.

A Bentley Continental.

Yes, yeah.

And that's kindly done.

It's cylinder gaskets in and you're knelt on the engine to work.

I mean, when you look under the bonnets of these things, I mean, they've got to be daunting compared to a normal car.

Oh, yes, yeah, yeah, there is.

It's.

It's an enormous bay, but it's filled with enormous engine.

Yeah.

And you do have to get in there on top of it to, to reach anything, to see anything.

Yeah.

And are the components different?

You.

I mean, I.

My standing joke is everybody knows my everyday car is a Fiat Panda, four wheel drive.

And I always say to people who have Ferraris, you do know there's a commonality of parts, not very many and especially the engine.

But do you find that on supercars, the parts, the components are different things?

Some are, but lots and lots is still used from your basic everyday car.

Yeah.

Down to door latches, to, you know, components behind a dashboard, things like that.

They will be common to.

To everything within the.

Within the.

Within the room.

Yeah, within there, yeah.

Yeah.

So, I mean, as we all know, Fiat, Ferrari applied to Fiat.

Yeah.

Lamborghini now is part of a Volkswagen.

Yes.

Yeah.

So, I mean, you look at a Lamborghini and you see all these Volkswagen, but if you're familiar with Volkswagens as regards the interiors and things like that, you do see them, they are common.

So if you're looking for parts.

Do you start with say, Jew's Lamborghini as an example?

Do you start with the Lamborghini parts book or do you, then do you look at Volkswagen's part book?

No, we'll start with, with the brand and then obviously if we're.

If you struggle to find bits, because often you can't find things or, you know, so then you can look down the route of, you know, what else in their manufacturing branch uses this component.

Yeah.

And yeah, a lot of the time you can find things that, yeah, your local general factors can impact.

Yeah.

I mean, there's a story going around and it is verifiable that somebody in Scotland who was a Bugatti Veyron, one of the toddler switches in the cockpit snapped and he inquired with Bugatti about wanting it repairing and they said, you'll have to bring it back to Germany and by the time we finished it'll be 17,000 pounds.

So he contacted a friend of his who was an auto electrician and mechanic and said, could you look into this for me?

And two days later he got a call saying, there's good news and there's bad news.

The good news is these toggle switches are made in Scotland.

Ironically, they are £1 70 each, but you've got to buy 10.

And the other problem is they don't have the letter B on top of them.

And the guy said, fair enough, could you do the job?

He said, certainly.

He said, how much would you want for doing it?

He said, next time you're passing, buy me a pint.

And is this.

I don't mean that particular thing, but do you find this as an example, you'll get a quote on parts for whatever.

Yes.

And you can find them immeasurably cheaper elsewhere.

Yeah.

Or do you find owners bring their cars in and say, look, I've been quoted a stupid amount of money for this.

Can you do the same job for less?

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, let's take this Bentley Continental, for example.

There is some large diameter rubber hoses on the intake system.

They're ludicrous money from Bentley.

But you, you can look about and you can buy a length of this hose for a fraction of the price, but you'd have to trim it down.

Yeah.

So, yeah, yeah, there's, there's quite a bit you can kind of get away with in a way.

Yeah.

Without having to pay the extortionate prices.

Yeah.

One of the other favorite things, and I mean Ferrari are notorious for this.

The number of times for what Might seem a small job.

The engine has to come out.

Oh, yes, yes.

I mean, why do you constantly have to keep taking the engines out of them?

It's.

It's space around them.

They're built to a.

A specification of.

It needs to be so.

So light and, you know, it needs to.

The engine needs to be that low in the engine bay for weight distribution, etc.

That.

Yeah.

A lot of the components you can't get to.

You can't get spanners on bolts.

Yeah.

So, yeah.

Dropping the engine is.

Yeah.

Are they easy to get out?

Are they made to come out?

Yes.

Yeah, yeah.

From my experience so far.

Yeah.

Everything if.

Yeah.

Like that.

If you take an engine out, it is meant to come out because that's how they put them in.

It's when.

It's when you are trying to do a job that should have an engine out and you think, well, I might be able to get around it.

Yeah.

And that's when you start struggling.

Yeah.

To try and.

Yeah.

To cut corners, you know, or cut costs at least.

Anyway, I mean, I know this is what.

I once came across this full enough in Italy, and I was looking at a Ferrari on ramps and you could see with the rear left wheel removed, part of the inner wing had been cut away and then welded back into place and sprayed red again.

And I inquired as to why, and the owner said to do the job that needed doing, it was engine out, he said.

But I worked out if I cut that little bit of inner wing away, I could get to the part I wanted, replace it, and if I welded that piece of body work back on, the job was done and dusted.

I mean, is this a common thing or have you ever been tempted to, shall we say, do this?

I've been tempted, yes.

Yeah.

It's always an option.

You'd.

Perhaps, if that was the case, you'd go to the customer now and tell them there is a possible shortcut.

Yeah.

And we just kind of leave it with them, really.

If they're.

If they're precious and everything has to be 100 original.

Yeah.

Then we just carry on and go about it the hard way.

Yeah.

The problem is, though, doing it that way, the bill will go up astronomically.

Absolutely.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You've got to be expecting massive bills.

I mean, how long does it take to get the engine out of.

Once again, was for Ferrari.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You could be a couple of days.

Easily.

Yeah, easily.

And then whatever work you need to do, and it's always longer putting it back in because everything's got to be neat cleaned and.

Yeah.

So, yeah, even a simple kind of job could take you.

Could take you a week.

Could take you a week or more because.

Yeah, because you're having to take the engine out.

Yeah.

Now, I mean, say you say you buy a new Lamborghini or whatever, the first owner will probably take it back to the dealership he bought it from because when you buy them there tends to be a package available, a servicing.

Yes, that's.

Yeah.

A warranty and.

And then a lot of people who buy these cars new don't keep them long.

The black two years, something like that.

If that they don't put a lot of mileage on.

The second owner will probably maintain this regime.

But by the time they get to the third owner, things will have changed, won't they?

And maybe the maintenance levels won't have been.

Yep, kept going.

Do you find that this is one of the reasons that some of the cars that come into SAS come in because they've been bought by enthusiasts and they bought a car that requires maintenance, probably more maintenance than they expect.

Oh, yes, yeah, yeah, definitely.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

They definitely need a lot more thorough servicing.

Parts do wear out because they're quite.

They're built as race cars, essentially and.

Yeah.

So expecting a hundred thousand miles out of them is probably pushing it a bit.

Yeah.

And I mean, I think the other thing is.

I mean, once again I've seen it.

I saw it here.

There was an absolutely stunning 308 brought in Ferrari 308.

And on the ramps somebody who tried to maintain it had jacked through the floor.

Yes, in two places.

Do you tend to find when some of the cars come in here that people who've tried to maintain them be the.

The all new or else other garages do you tend to find they've made more of a mess of them repairing them.

Yeah, definitely.

Yeah.

You'll often see, yeah.

Trolley jack marks underneath, things like.

Or silicon smeared over engine bays and things to try and keep oil leaks at bay.

Ferrari Testeros that we just had in has been a good example that the rocker covers are an inch of silicon all around them because.

Because you probably have to take the engine out to get to them and then to replace the seal.

So, yeah, it's just been silicone dump.

Yeah.

Which you don't see till you're underneath.

So I mean, with something like that, I conclude before you can do the job in hand, you've got to then try and repair the work that's gone before.

Yes.

Oh yeah.

Yep.

Yeah, yeah.

A lot of your time can be wasted on.

Yeah.

Just.

Yeah.

Fixing what somebody else has had to go out.

Yeah.

And you'll find.

Yeah.

Some cars will.

Been to their local garage and then they realize they can't do it.

Yeah.

And then we get to them.

There's.

You get a box full of bits and so you're having to.

Yeah.

Go back to.

Go back to the beginning with it and.

Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of research and a lot of sitting down and trying to study photos before you.

Yeah, before.

How easy is it to find the information out about these cars?

Because I mean there's a.

There's a. Shall we say you probably won't find there's a Haynes manual.

No, that's right.

No, no, auto data won't list any details for it.

No, that's right.

I mean I'm sad to say, but Google is quite good.

You can find torque settings quite quickly and things like that.

Lubricants and yeah, the, the grades and that sort of thing of oil.

But yeah, there is, there is some good websites, especially Ferraris.

They are for good.

I can't remember the name of the website but there's.

All the parts diagrams are in there, all broken down.

Yeah, exploded diagrams.

So yeah, they're quite useful actually.

Yeah.

And how easy is it to get components for, shall we say older performance cars or all the supercars?

Because I mean a lot of the car manufacturers now unfortunately don't make the parts.

I mean another example, if you buy a Bentley, say 4 or 5 years old, it's electric window motors or out of a Twerigen.

The double glazing in the Bentley is basically too heavy for the electric motors.

The electric motors burn out under the early Tuareg motors.

A Volkswagen have more or less stopped making them.

Do you find this a lot and how do you get round this?

Well, yeah, that's a good point.

Really.

Yeah.

Because like we were saying earlier about the sharing of components between your.

Your basic everyday cars.

Yeah, I mean, no doubt.

Well, I would assume there would be some kind of upgrade that they would have done to these, to these window motors.

But yeah, often I guess not then.

And yeah, we'd.

Because I mean I have been in here and watched the electrician etc strip what are basically simple electrical components down that you would have replaced no problem.

And start to rebuild the entirety of a little electric bolter.

Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean again, that's down to parts availability and like we say, you can't always get new parts.

Yeah.

So yeah, you're often making do in a way.

Really?

I mean, is it easy to get parts?

I mean, once again we'll go back to Ferrari.

Can you get the.

Do you, do you deal with Ferrari or do you deal with some new supplies?

Yes.

How does it work with them?

Because a lot of these manufacturers don't like non original equipment manufacturers manufacturing parts for their cars.

No, that's it.

And they don't like selling them to, to small garages as well.

Often.

Yeah.

Because they don't assume that.

What are you doing touching a Ferrari?

How dare you.

But yeah, I mean a lot of it takes Ferrari for example.

Most of the bits are available even for old 70s Dino.

Yeah.

All the wheel arch trims and everything like that.

It's all available.

Yeah.

There's just long lead times so you can put in an order and it'll have to come from Italy and it'll be on a boat and then it.

Has to clear customs.

You have to clear customs.

Yeah.

So you might be waiting months, months for it to turn up.

How do you find the owners react to this?

To be told, yes, we can get the part.

Yeah, back in 10 months.

Often they're quite understanding.

Yeah.

There is a certain, should we say breed of people that assuming these, you know, they, they'll just have them on a shelf somewhere.

Yeah, they don't.

And they need, and they need a bit of re.

Education into, into quite how hard it is to get some bits.

Yeah.

And the other thing is like we were saying, Bugatti's now part of Volkswagen, Lamborghini is part of Volkswagen, Ferrari's part of Fiat and so on it goes.

Maserati is part of Fiat, Bentley's part of Volkswagen, Rolls Royce is part of BMW.

Do you find that when the big manufacturers acquire the supercar brands, how do you find they treat their brands their new toy?

Yes.

Yeah, that's a. Yeah, that's a good question.

Sometimes.

I mean you can tell often looking in an engine bay kind of who owns the, the company in a way because.

Yeah, you'll find maybe coolant caps.

Yeah.

And look exactly the same as your Volkswagen Polo or something.

So yeah, you can, you can you get an idea of, you know, they're kind of cost cutting, I suppose.

Yeah, yeah.

They're just using the parts bin maybe.

Yeah.

So you can, yeah.

You often see it.

Which are the better to work on the, shall we say major manufacturer built supercars or the Original manufacturer supercars, which tend to be the better to work on or the nicer to work on.

Yeah.

It is a difficult question because if you're thinking of original, say, sort of going back to the 60s, take an E type, for example.

Yeah.

It would have been a supercar today.

Yeah.

And, well, they were.

It was the car that Enzo Ferrari was envious.

That's it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And they are notoriously difficult to work on because they're built.

Was it from a D type, really?

So just a racing car just adapted for the road.

Yeah.

So I suppose the newer stuff is often a bit easier, but it's possibly to do with this computer design as well.

Yeah.

As it's put together and.

And been drawn out.

Yeah, you can find it.

Yeah, it's a bit.

They are a bit easier sometimes.

Yeah, sometimes.

And it's like you said, with the E type and the D type racing heritage, I mean, do you have to look back at certain things and think, well, that was derived from that.

Yeah.

So if we look at what it was derived from, is that of any use to you?

Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.

If you're having to remake components, say, if you can't get hold of something.

Yeah.

You.

You can.

You can kind of see the design brief and say, why did they make it like that?

Oh, it's because it's.

It's either been.

Because it's supposed to be lightweight or.

Yeah.

You know.

Yeah.

It gives you an idea of.

Yeah.

Of what.

What they're for, really.

And.

Yeah, you can call it.

Yeah, yeah, it's easy enough.

I know.

You were saying, like, the modded supercar isn't designed to do tremendous mileage.

Is there any way, when you get one in, say, like the Testarossa, that you can improve the parts to make them.

To give them more longevity or are you stuck with what you've got?

You're kind of stuck with what you got.

If your customer is quite happy for, you know, upgrades and modifications and they're not sticking to the original plan.

Yeah, yeah.

You can find.

You can replace stuff with a lot better components from new.

Let's say fuel pipes, for example.

Yeah.

Obviously with the E10 fuel now, the original hoses and that aren't any good anyway anymore.

So you have to replace with new.

New modern.

Yeah, Modern pipes and.

Yes, you can get around it, but, yeah, it's just.

I suppose this is where the originality problem comes in.

Yeah.

There again, there's no such thing as original car.

The other original car is the one that came out the factory and nobody actually touched anymore.

Yeah.

The bomb find essentially.

Yeah.

I mean once again like the tester also that came in, that needed its.

That came in via Switzerland.

So it was a Swiss registered car and it passed what you might call the Swiss MOTs in England.

Our MOTs are different.

Yeah.

They only wanted the speed of changing to miles per hour.

There was something had to do with the fuel gauge.

All the lights had to be changed.

Bingles of course to be designed for driving on the right, not the left.

That's it.

Yep.

Yeah.

So I mean doing something like that, how big a job is it?

I mean technically it sounds quite simple.

Or just give it.

Just change the headlights and everything else.

Yeah, yeah.

Sounds simple enough.

But again like test Ross or a pop up headlights.

Yeah.

We didn't have to take the bumper off for that one.

But it was close to.

Yeah.

You got this intricate little metal surround around the twin headlights in each pop up.

And of course I don't like having screw heads on show or anything like that.

So everything.

Everything's hidden away.

Yeah.

So yeah.

What could be a simple job can turn into.

Yeah.

Masses of work.

Because the problem is, I mean that was a.

That was an 87 car.

Which to you and I doesn't sound old to a.

To somebody a bit younger than us it sounds like it's positively veg.

Yes, exactly.

A lot of the screws and the clips will no doubt have become quite brittle.

Won't be.

Yes.

When you're working on them that'll be one of the major problems.

That's right.

Yeah.

Things break it.

Yep.

Yep.

Rubber deteriorates.

Plastic goes hard and brittle there.

Yeah.

There's so much.

Age is the biggest killer.

Really.

Yeah.

And there's not a lot you can do about it.

I mean the heat of an engine bay over 15, 20 years degrade any rubber.

Yeah.

No matter if it's original equipment and supposed to do the job.

It's.

Yeah, yeah.

Age is, is the.

The key really.

Yeah.

So when something like that comes in or you know it's coming in, do you look at finding potential components and parts that you may need to buy or do you forward the owner?

Look just doing this little job given the age of the car could turn into something slightly more major.

Yeah.

Are they aware of this or do they think their pride and joy is going to be absolutely perfect?

Yeah, some of them do believe that.

Yeah.

Just because it's old it shouldn't matter because they've kept up with their service history.

Yeah.

And that sort of thing.

But yeah, we do have to educate some people in that.

Yeah.

It's been on the car for so many years.

Yeah.

Now we've got to try and release it off the car.

It's going to cause problems.

Yeah.

And yeah, more or less saying, look, when we try and take that off, it'll break.

That's it.

Yeah.

This Bentley, I've got the engine out of at the moment.

So while it's all stripped down and replacing every vacuum hose, every little plastic connector in between them.

Yeah.

Because I know that they've gone brittle.

They're hard.

Yeah.

And I can almost guarantee by the time I build it up and road test it, they're going to then split.

Yeah.

So, yeah, I'm having to go through it just for my own peace of mind, for the, you know, the company's well being.

And the interesting thing is the engine in that Bentley, the V8, is probably a late 50s, early 60s Rolls Royce design.

That's right, yeah.

Can you tell the.

When you're working on that engine, can you tell that though it's a modernish engine, that his design is old?

Can you.

Do you look at that and think, by God, I haven't seen one of them for a long while.

Yeah.

But at the same time it was very advanced for its age.

Yeah.

So it's got a lot of modern technology you see commonplace now.

Yeah.

It's just older and bigger and number.

In a way because, I mean, that's how the turbocharger fitted.

Yeah.

That engine was originally never designed to have a turbo.

No, that's right.

Do you find that fitting things like turbos to them has a detrimental effect on them?

Yes, yeah, yeah.

This is a prime example that 50, 000 miles this car has done and head gaskets have blown.

Yeah.

Whereas if it was a non turbo, it would go on and on and on.

Yeah.

It's whether it was a bit of an afterthought they needed to to keep up with the market.

I mean, you just put it in.

I mean, one of the big things with supercars and performance cars is they're all the same, they break horsepower.

Competition.

Yes.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, car.

Supercar A has now got 600 horsepower, so Supercar B has to find 20 more and 20.

And all this will have a detrimental effect on the engine, won't it?

Because I mean, engine can only stand so much.

Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's top trumps at the end of the day, isn't it?

Who's.

He's got the biggest, biggest figures yeah, so, yeah, you're finding these highly tuned engines, they will need oil changes every 3,000.

Yeah, there's lots of things.

Yeah.

Going back to what I was saying earlier, you do.

You can't just get in them and drive them every day.

Yeah.

You can't boot them from cold or you shouldn't do any.

And yeah, there's lots of things like that that, yeah, you really.

You need to be educated often.

Yeah.

Before.

Before taking on a supercar.

Yeah.

I mean, I will say the one supercar that seems to or used to defy the logic was porsche with its 911.

I mean they were okay, it was derived from a Beatles, a 356 and then the 911 came along.

But beetles, not Porsches, the 911s.

I'm not saying the modern ones, I don't know a tremendous amount about the modern ones because I'm not particularly struck on them.

But the 911 from say the late 60s, 70s, 80s, etc, you could more or less treat as a normal car, couldn't you?

I mean, what was it that set the Porsche apart from everybody else?

Yeah, I don't know.

It's a very good question because.

Well, I kind of see him as sports cars, not supercars.

Yeah.

But they just happen to be able to keep up with the supercars.

Yes.

Yeah.

I don't know what they were doing at the time, but they were doing it right.

And yeah, sure enough, they.

You tend to find they don't have that many problems.

No, the latest ones seem to suffer from boy score, which apparently no matter what you do, even if your modding 911 doesn't suffer from boy score, hang around, chaps.

It will.

And it's due to the cylinder linings which you then got to put the linus from a GT3 in because they don't suffer from it.

It's the lesser model.

Right.

But the other thing I've noticed, and I've noticed it because you're the man who works on my Renault Alpine, A110.

The modern oils.

Now the modern engines love this thin oil.

I mean, how does this come about?

Because, I mean, at one, okay, I used to run a Jaguar XJ6 in the 80s.

When I used to drive it down to central France and Southern France, I always made sure I had two gallon cans of Castrol GTX in me boot because by the time you got there it had more or less got through a gallon of oil.

It was just known for doing it and it never struck you as strange.

But why are these modern high performance engines suddenly become so oil thirsty?

Yeah, it's.

I think a bit of it is down to emissions and all, all engines will burn a bit of oil.

Yeah, it's guaranteed.

But your old mineral oils are more polluting than this modern.

Yeah.

Fin piss and stuff.

Yes.

Synthetic oil.

Synthetic, yes.

But yeah, again you'll find a lot of pistons will have to have it like a Teflon coating.

Yeah.

Which obviously does break down and this gets into your oil.

Yeah.

And then it, yeah, it renders it kind of useless, the modern oil.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know, in your contact areas.

And so by its nature thin oil burns away.

Yes, yeah, yeah, it does, yes.

It, this modern oil, it doesn't have the same, the same lasted, same durability as your old fashioned oil.

And yeah, like you say, it's thinner.

More will stick to the cylinder walls.

Yes.

And more will burn away because the.

Other problem is it's expensive as well.

It is, yeah, yeah.

It's vastly expensive.

Black gold.

So I mean, one question that has to be asked when you answer it, it's a question of why, if Nick Foster was going to own a supercar, what would you own?

Or is it none of them?

Yeah, kind of none of them.

I'm definitely a sports car fan.

Yeah.

I like to get in a car and I like, I like to be able to throw it around the B roads again, not worrying too much.

Being out, having fun.

Yeah.

It's got to be involved and you gotta, you know, the experience of it.

Yeah.

Whereas if you jump in a modern supercar, you're often scared witless to, to be able to go anywhere, to be able to throw it around.

Yeah.

There's too many potholes, too many, too much stones on the side of the road that.

Yeah.

I don't think I'll get out and enjoy one.

So I think, yeah, if, if I had to, you know, if I won the lottery and a nice big warehouse full of supercars, they would probably stay in there as ornaments.

So.

Yeah, yeah, kind of not for me really.

Although I appreciate the design and I.

Mean the other great thing is when they come in here for service and everything else, they all test driven and road tested.

Which one of all the ones you've driven has impressed you the most?

Oh well.

Oh yeah.

That's a good question.

I can tell you what I was least impressed with.

Do tell.

So an Audi R10 recently.

Yeah.

Which is a phenomenal car.

I can't.

Which ended in a different body, becomes a Lamborghini.

Yes, that's right.

Yeah.

But just really dull to drive.

It was, it was far too easy.

I mean they make a nice noise.

They do, oh yes.

Yeah, yeah, they do make a nice noise.

But yeah, I didn't feel involved in it.

You just kind of, you don't feel like you're, you're driving it as such.

I just, I think the other problem.

Is, I mean I have been in one and you do feel like you're in a two seater Golf.

Yes.

Because everything Volkswagen and Scoder and seat.

There's nothing wrong with this in your average Golf or Skoda you can see the commonality of the parts bib.

Yeah.

But when you get in a high performance Audi mid engine supercar, you don't expect, really, you wouldn't expect to see the same thing that you can see in your everyday Golf.

That's it.

You want to feel more special, don't you?

You want it to feel completely different in another world.

Yeah, but yeah, you're not often.

I, and I mean one other quick thing and I can remember this, I was talking to somebody in an Aston Martin showroom and the latest Aston Martin was there and I looked at the side repeaters on the front wings, I said, they're off a Ford car.

And I was told, yes they are.

I said, what reaction do you get?

They said, well, the thing is, people who come and buy Aston Martins is highly doubtful they will ever go and buy a Ford car.

So they will never notice this commonality of componentry.

And there are these things offer we might call a cheap everyday shopping cart.

And I get the feeling, I don't.

Whether you found this talking to the owners or the owners of supercars, do they have a different mindset?

Yes, some of them do, yes.

Yeah.

You feel like.

Yeah.

Like you're saying that they're not likely to have to come in contact with small, cheaper cars.

Yeah.

So yeah, yeah.

They feel like just because it's got a badge on the front, it's bound to have far superior components.

Yeah.

Which is not always the case.

No.

So once again we go back, if you were going to have one, we've just said which door you like, you don't like the Audi and you can finish answering that question now.

What supercar have you driven that you've serviced and road tested that you thought if I had the money I'd have one of these.

I do love summit.

British.

I'm patriot.

So Aston Martin is always a. Yeah.

Any of them really.

They're all, they're all good for me.

They're or regrettably they now fit Mercedes Benz.

But you feel like you need to have a hairy chest to drive them because the clutch is stiff and yeah, it's a. Yeah, it's a proper involved driving experience.

Yeah, I do.

I've worked for quite a while for jlr so I got to know F types quite well.

Yeah.

Again they are phenomenal car.

Yeah.

And yeah they.

I find their drive is, is good and it's engaging and yeah, I feel like although they're not at the top end of the supercar market.

Yeah, you, you're less likely to.

To worry about, you know, a few stone chips, a bit of gravel rash or something like that.

So yeah, I'd go down that route I think because yeah, a bit more of a usable.

Yeah.

User friendly supercar.

And though you work on the modern ones, would you have a modern supercar or would you have an old one?

I'd have an old one, yeah.

Yes.

Yeah, I'm just.

Yeah.

Perhaps I'm just not quite with it, with this, with the modern technology.

I'm not bothered if my stereo can't play Spotify or things like that.

I do like a car with that.

Makes you feel like you're in charge of it, not the other way around.

And I mean to finish off, I mean you very kindly work on my Alpine, a 110 as we've said.

And Nick from Tarox, another sponsor, kindly upgraded my brakes on the Alpine and it never dawned on me till I saw you do it.

You to use an iPad to disengage the electric handbrake.

Oh yes, yes.

And this to me is farcical.

Absolutely ficycle.

It's very common now.

There's.

Yeah.

Lots and lots of components have to be told to release or you have to be put back into the base setting before you can take them off.

Oh yeah, definitely from the last 10 years or so, perhaps more.

You have to have a diagnostic machine with every job.

And I think that's probably the thing.

You look at the old supports guys.

Yeah.

A computer is something you might put on the passenger seat but they don't talk to each other, which is probably a good thing in many ways, isn't it?

Because listen to the engine you don't need.

You regrettably now have to have a computer to talk to the engine.

Yes.

Oh, yeah.

In the good old days, mechanics used to put their heads under the bonnet and listen.

Yeah, that's it.

Yeah.

Well, that's it.

I mean, a lot of the traditional skills are dying out because.

Because there's not need from now.

Yeah.

So if.

Yeah.

An owner of a slightly older supercar goes to their nearest garage.

Yeah.

They probably won't be able to do anything because, you know, the skill set isn't there to.

To be able to listen for noises or.

Or know what bits should be doing.

Yeah.

Without the computer telling everyone it's human.

Yeah.

So, basically, Nick Foster, who happens to work on modern high performance cars and supercars, give them the choice one drive an old one.