Joe Bradley talks to the ultimate race engineer, Rob Smedley. Rob talks about his early days working for Pilbeam, his amazing first encounter with a very young Fernando Alonso, what it was like working for Ferrari, his relationship with Sir Frank Williams and how he cried uncontrollably when Felipe Massa lost the 2008 World Championship on the last corner of the final race.
This month the team looks at those heady days before WW2 when the Silver Arrows arrived in England for the Grand Prix only months before war was declared. Paul Jurd found an old copy of Chris Nixon’s book ‘Racing the Silver Arrows in his local secondhand book shop and it got him thinking about some of the ‘what might have beens..’ There is always that debate when it comes to whether racing cars belong on a Concours lawn or whether they should really only be seen on a racetrack. The HRN team is no different from any other group of enthusiasts when it comes to this discussion! Lots of different viewpoints. In ‘Corridors of Power’ this month the hot debate is about ‘The Greatest Single Seater Rivalries’. Ayrton Senna appears more than once but so do some very unexpected names. Paul Jurd, Jim Roller and Joe Bradley state their cases and Paul Tarsey tries to keep order.
The second part of the ‘Jaguars in Competition’ specia looks at some of the more successful times for Jaguar. Their success in the early days of GTP and later at Le Mans, was spearheaded by Bob Tullius and his Group 44 team, who created the sublime XJR5. Jim Roller talks to the first man to drive it in anger, Bill Adam. Joe Bradley finds out from Rob Beere just how you build a 7 litre V12 E Type racer, and Paul Jurd looks at the very strange XJR15 mini series, when drivers left the start line not knowing how long the race would be. Plus lots of nuggets and comments along the way!
Jim Roller looks back at Monterey Car Week. The Pebble Beach Concours is the highlight but, as Jim explains, there is too much going on to be able to see everything. High-prestige auctions, car shows and two weekends of historic racing at Laguna Seca make this a very special event. And talking of special events, we take an in depth look at the upcoming Goodwood Revival. Corridors of Power, our game of opinionated nonsense, takes a different turn this month with each team member choosing their weirdest cars ever to take to the grid! Join Joe Bradley, Jim Roller, Paul Jurd and Paul Tarsey for lots of chat and stories.
It’s hard to underestimate the impact that the Jaguar brand has had on motor racing for over seventy years and this month’s ‘Insider Special’ looks at Jaguars in Competition. Paul Jurd looks at the early days and at some of the failures as well as the successes, Jim Roller talks about Jaguar in the USA and Joe Bradley examines the bumpy road which was Jaguar F1. Part 2 will be broadcast on September 15th.
Kenny Brack talks about his role as Chief Test Driver for McLaren, Martin Warner gives an insight into the Shere Hill Climb and Steve Holter gives us a view of the daredevil record breaker John Cobb. ‘Corridors of Power’, our gameshow of opinionated nonsense, this month looks at the greatest drivers NEVER to have won Le Mans.
Paul Tarsey, Jim Roller and Joe Bradley are joined by David Ingram for a look back through history.
Paul Tarsey and Jim Roller look back on one of motor racing’s less successful ideas: The Monzanapolis Race of Two Worlds; Paul Jurd explores the life of Selwyn Francis Edge; and Nick Daman and Joe Bradley argue about the best F1 circuit of all time.
Brian Redman, Vic Elford, Valentin Schaffer, Hans Metxger and Norbert Singer all talk about the legendary Porsche 917. Along with our archive recordings from the people involved at the time, the team talks to Kevin Jeannette about the trials and tribulations of running Porsche 917s in the modern world. Join Paul Tarsey, Jim Roller and Joe Bradley for this special.Porsche 917 edition of the Historic Racing News Radio Show
In our June show we present our new bit of opinionated waffle called “Corridors of Power” where the team each pick their favourite F1 livery of all time and Paul Tarsey has the difficult job of picking an overall winner! Jim Roller reviews the Amelia Island Concours and talks to event founder Bill Warner, and to Lyn St James and Kevin Jeanette. Joe Bradley looks back at the Donington Historic Festival with Motor Racing Legends boss Duncan Wiltshire and we find out from Paul Jurd about about the trials and tribulations of getting race cars to Monaco with the new post-Brexit regulations.