Here is my review of the 2019 Honda GL1800 Gold Wing (the 2020 model is available shortly but only has minor changes). I took the bike down to Land's End, the most south westerly point in England, to properly test its capability as a tourer - covering 630 miles in 28 hours.
During the journey I encountered heavy wind, rain and bright sunshine (so just another typical British summer weekend), which provided plenty of opportunity to see how the big bike coped in different conditions. Check out my review below along with some pictures of the lovely scenery I was presented with along the way.
We've all seen the Cannonball Run films, a must for any petrol head, featuring a coast-to-coast US time trial; racing from New York to Los Angeles. Well, it's not as fictional as you might think. The real life start point is the Red Ball Garage in Manhattan, New York and the finish point is the Portofino Hotel, Los Angeles. The distance is a touch over 2,800 miles. This unsanctioned, illegal race has been taking place for decades and, unsuprisingly, is what inspired the 1981 film, starring Burt Reynolds.
Due to the nature of the event, records have tended to stand for some time, such is the required preperation and willingness to break the law (with the potential of a custodial sentence, if apprehended).
In 2006 Alex Roy and Dave Maher set a new record of 31 hours and 4 minutes, in a 2000 BMW M5 at an average speed of 91mph. They were the subject of the recently released documentary, APEX: The Secret Race Across America.
That record stood until 2013 when it was bested by Ed Bolian, Dave Black and Dan Huang in a 2004 Mercedes AMG CL55 in 28 hours and 50 seconds, at an average speed of 98mph.
It wasn't until 2019 that the record was beaten again. This time it was Arne Toman, Doug Tabbutt, and Berkeley Chadwick in a Mercedes AMG E63 in 27 hours and 25 seconds, at an average of 103mph.
Then came COVID-19, lock down, and quieter roads. In early 2020 "Captain Chaos" (a team not going public) did the run in 26 hours and 38 minutes, in an Audi A8 at an average of 106mph.
And then we come to Fred Ashmore. Insanely, not only did he complete the 2,806 mile trip in 25 hours and 55 minutes, but he also did it solo... in a rented Mustang! It's unclear how Avis will react when they discover that he removed all the superfluous seats and replaced them with additional fuel tanks, but I doubt they'll be pleased. They'll be even less pleased when they realise that he drove the car at an average speed of 108mph for the whole journey. His time knocked a good chunk off the previous record, a feat made even more impressive when you consider that he got stuck at a checkpoint for 25 minutes.
As is normal, Fred added extra fuel tanks to his car. What was usual though is that he figured that by not taking along passengers/co-drivers, he could utilise the saved space for more tanks. Whereas previous runs had cars equipped with around 250 litres of fuels tanks, Fred managed to squeeze an incredible 490 litres into the Mustang! More fuel meant less fuel stops and less time standing still. Amazingly, he managed the whole journey with just one stop, where he was met by a team who refilled all the tanks. He finished the event with just 39 miles worth of fuel remaining; impressive in a car which recorded an average of 12.3mpg for the journey!
Toilet breaks were avoided by urinating into empty bottles as, despite the length of the event, every second counts. Record or not, this was a supreme endurance achievement. Staying awake (and alert) at speeds often in excess of 150mph for 26 hours is no small ask.
Jeremy Clarkson once said that the fastest car is a rental and it turns out he might be right.
I posted about this achievement on Facebook and was happy to have the man himself chime in:
His Avis feedback form on the Mustang is superb.
Although, I'm not sure if they'll view this as good publicity or trolling.
But he said he did well in the same car later on, so maybe it's an advert for how well Avis maintain their cars?
He did say that he didn't mind me posting his comments here and that he put the seats back and replaced the rear tyres!
My trip to the Honda Adventure Centre may have been delayed by three months, due to COVID-19 lock down restrictions, but it was worth the wait. Situated in Exmoor National Park in south west England, you're immediately immersed in an area of outstanding natural beauty. A superb variety of surfaces and road types to play on adds to the adventure. The Africa Twin bikes proved to be superb tools, working exceptionally well both on and off-road.
There are a couple of different course options and I attended the one day option, and it's certainly a packed day with a long time in the saddle. Check out the video review below, with plenty of onboard footage showing the sort of thing you can expect to encounter on your visit and my thoughts on the day.
If you have a couple of minutes to spare and want to check out the sort of thing you can expect to see hosted on our YouTube channel and, by extension, posted here, then have a look at this short trailer.
You'll find everything from cars to motorcycles to dune buggies included, with plans afoot to expand to aircraft too! If you like what we see please give us a follow on YouTube.
Second video in a series showing great roads. The aim is not to provide flashy, high speed content (which ends with the police on my doorstep), but show footage of whole stretches of good road at legal speeds. Forums are littered with requests for good roads to try and, hopefully, videos like this will take away some of the guess work for people before they decided whether or not to try a route.
I chose the 4.2 mile Bedford Autodrome GT circuit for my Mazda MX-5 30th Anniversary Edition's first track day. It's a safe circuit, with plenty of run-off (should you mess things up) and is one of the longest in the country. With around 40 cars on track at any one time, there was still plenty of space and, once the morning's very poor weather gave way to sun, the circuit dried nicely. Below you'll find some video from my day and a group of on track pictures taken by the circuit's chief photographer, Lee Marshall (Autographic Photography).
London's Classic Car Show moved to a new venue for 2020, showcasing its vehicles at Olympia in central London.
There was a fantastic variety of cars on display; from vintage taxis to more modern supercars. See my eclectic highlights video below, together with the gallery.
This is one of the biggest motorcycle shows in the UK, attended by all the big manufacturers (as well as many, interesting, smaller ones). Check out my highlights video and gallery from the show, held over three days in mid-February.
A comparison of two limited edition cars which you'd struggle to lose in a crowd: The Mazda MX-5 30th Anniversary Edition and the Ford Fiesta ST Performance Edition. They're rare, orange, similar prices, with similar power outputs but with quite different philosophies. Here I take a look at what makes them special in their respective ranges, while comparing the way they drive, sound and feel.
Review of Honda's CBR650R, the motorcycle which replaced the CBR650F towards the start of 2019. Following the almost complete demise of the full-on 600cc race-replica class - killed by a combination of tougher emissions laws and falling sales - how will this machine attempt to fill that void while remaining competitive in terms of both price and performance?
Check out my video review below, together with pictures and useful information on this middle weight sports-tourer. Full specifications can be found at the end.
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