The Intercooler

27/07/2024

A very colourful morning spent enjoying the best and brightest at Girardo & Co.

A lot of debate over which colour won, any thoughts?

25/07/2024

24/07/2024

Our doing swapsies for a few days - can the most expensive 911 on sale possibly be worth almost 2.5 times the price of the cheapest? He’s looking forward to finding out.

22/07/2024

Aston Martin’s bid to win Le Mans outright for the first time since 1959 is underway. The Valkyrie AMR-LMH ran in anger for the first time this month in a shakedown at Donington Park. A comprehensive test and development programme, incorporating tracks across the UK and Europe, will run between now and the start of the 2025 season.

The car has been jointly developed by Aston Martin Performance Technologies and North American squad , which has established a new UK headquarters at Silverstone. It will compete in both the FIA World Endurance Championship and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Two cars will run in the WEC and one in IMSA.

Unlike other cars in the thriving Hypercar category, the Valkyrie AMR-LMH is derived from a road-going model. Whether or not that turns out to be a competitive hindrance remains to be seen, but the regulations do stipulate a maximum power output of 670hp – some way down on the 1000hp produced by the Valkyrie road car. The Cosworth-built 6.5-litre V12 is carried over but ‘adapted to meet the performance window of the Hypercar class’.

Spy videos of the Valkyrie AMR-LMH running at Donington Park suggest the car’s shrieking V12 will sound none the worse for being detuned and optimised for enduring racing – the Aston will almost certainly be the best-sounding car at Le Mans in 2025. And with the Balance of Performance regulations as they are, the Valkyrie AMR-LMH should at least be competitive with the rest of the Hypercar field.

But a first overall Le Mans win since 1959? Let’s not rule it out, but with the likes of back-to-back winners Ferrari, multiple World Champions Toyota, the ever-dangerous Porsche and plenty more besides all doing everything they can to win the world’s greatest endurance race – and all with vastly more recent experience to call on too – Aston Martin and The Heart of Racing will need to build a flawless car and execute qualifying and the race perfectly to even make the podium. And that’s exactly the way it should be in motor racing.

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20/07/2024

1939 Bristol Hercules engine. 14 cylinder sleeve valve radial. Massively successful in both military and civilian aircraft. Over 50,000 built. Wow.

20/07/2024

15/07/2024

In the car park I spotted several Jaguar F-Types including a rare Project 7, a brace of Aston Martin V8 Vantages, one Jaguar XK, two XF Sportbrakes and an I-Pace – and those were just the ones designed by the evening’s star guest.

CALLUM in Warwick was the venue for The Intercooler’s second live podcast recording, in partnership with Autoglym. The design and engineering consultancy opened its doors for us and more than 100 ticket holders on Wednesday evening last week, and while I’d love to pretend all those people came out to listen to me and my co-founder Andrew Frankel talk, they were of course all there for Ian Callum.

is Britain’s greatest living car designer (and a Ti contributor) and the creator of many of the most beautiful Aston Martins and Jaguars of the modern era including the DB7, Vanquish, DB9 and V8 Vantage, and the F-Type, I-Pace and many, many more. After two decades as Jaguar’s Design Director, Ian founded CALLUM in 2019. Since then he and his colleagues have reimagined the original Vanquish, designed luxury chairs, cocktail shakers and whisky bottles, prepared a Jaguar C-X75 stunt car for road use and launched the Skye, an electric recreational off-roader designed and engineered in-house.

Ian talked about his long and distinguished career, plus his ambitions for CALLUM, in the hour-long conversation. The full thing is available to listen to now as a podcast (search ‘The Intercooler’ wherever you get your podcasts or head to the Video & Podcast page on our app or website) and the audience Q&A session that followed will be released next week.

Our thanks go to Ian, to Autoglym for making the evening possible, to CALLUM for being so welcoming and, of course, to everybody who bought tickets and made the evening such a joy. I suppose we should start thinking about the next one…

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Photography by

13/07/2024

The hustle and bustle of a hill climb.

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12/07/2024

Here it is – Adrian Newey’s final (major) contribution to the Red Bull ecosystem. The RB17 is a track-only hypercar that can lap at F1 speeds with seating for two. Revealed today at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the RB17 was designed by Newey and Red Bull Advanced Technologies to elevate the hypercar sector to yet new heights.

Newey is set to depart Red Bull later this year having dominated Formula 1 with the Milton Keynes squad on two separate occasions. Before leaving for pastures new, though, Newey – F1’s most successful designer – applied his towering genius to Red Bull’s first customer car. And the results are every bit as spectacular as you’d imagine.

The RB17 weighs less than 900kg and is powered by a 15,000rpm naturally aspirated V10 (semi-stressed within the carbon fibre monocoque) and hybrid system that in total develops 1200bhp. Producing almost double its own weight in aerodynamic downforce, it all means the RB17 is capable of ‘F1-equivalent lap times’. As long as you’re Max Verstappen, presumably.

The V10 is the work of Cosworth, very much the go-to engine supplier for seven-figure hypercars these days (the Aston Martin Valkyrie, GMA T.50, Bugatti Tourbillon and now the RB17 all use Cosworth engines). Newey says he had been ‘mulling the idea to take on the challenge to design our very own Hypercar, from concept to delivery, for many years,’ adding, ‘we made sure to design it as a two-seater so that the thrill of driving at F1 speeds can be enjoyed with a friend or partner.’

Just 50 cars will be built, each one costing at least £5m.

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09/07/2024

My _____ brings me joy.

’s answer was of course the 2CV, what would yours be?

Price, power nor prowess matter, it's all about that elusive X factor that's different for everyone.

Do you want to read more about our cars? Tap the ‘Our Cars’ highlight button in the bio.


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05/07/2024

Last few tickets available for our live podcast recording on Wednesday evening next week! Ti co-founders Dan Prosser and Andrew Frankel will be on stage interviewing car design great Ian Callum.

The venue is Ian’s design and engineering consultancy, CALLUM, in Warwick. Guests will get a tour of the facility and light refreshments will be provided.

Click the link in stories to buy your ticket. Hope to see you there!

05/07/2024

With apologies to all those who can’t stand the damn things, next week is BMW M5 week on The Intercooler. We’ll see the very latest version, the hybrid G90 M5, running in public for the first time at Goodwood, but that’s not the half of it. Rather more importantly, we’re going to declare one model the greatest M5 of all time.

And we’ve done it properly. We brought together a fine example of each M5 produced so far – six in total, now representing 40 years of M5 production – and tested them over a full day on some of the best roads in South Wales. Only by driving an example of each on the same day and on the same roads can you possibly hope to tease out the key differences between each generation. There’s simply no other way.

What’s more, wherever possible we picked the best example of each version. For instance, the E34, the second in the line, was represented by a later 3.8-litre car with the more powerful engine. The F10 was a 30 Jahre variant with more power and an uprated chassis compared to the standard car, while the F90 we had on test was the stupendous CS with its weight saving measures and reworked suspension. The point of all this was to give each M5 every opportunity to put its best foot forward.

On Monday we’ll publish the first of three stories. In it, Andrew Frankel will pick one of the three early cars – E28, E34 or E39 – to progress through to the final. The next day, he’ll pick one of the three later cars – E60, F10 or F90 – to go up against that. Finally, on Thursday, Andrew will choose between the winning classic M5 and its modern counterpart a single champion – the car that we will declare the greatest BMW M5 of all time.

We will also bring our M5 mega test to YouTube in a pair of videos fronted by yours truly. But that’s for later on. For now, why not inspect these images from our very memorable day in the Brecon Beacons and let us know which M5 you most like the look of? Better yet, if you’ve owned an M5 in the past or you own one now, maybe you could share your experiences below.

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03/07/2024

Like every one of you, I’ve been waiting all this time for a Land Rover Defender that will powerslide on dry asphalt. Not sure how I’ve got by without one. Quite why it’s taken so long is anybody’s guess but hey – it’s here, it drifts, it has more power than a Ferrari Roma and we must wait no longer. Hurrah!

The Defender OCTA isn’t just yet another high-performance 4x4, and I can prove it in a single sentence. While other sporting SUVs from Land Rover, BMW, Audi, Mercedes and the rest sit closer to the ground to aid handling, this new OCTA has more ground clearance than other Defenders. It’s built to go like hell off-road as well as on.

The OCTA name comes from ‘octahedron’, the typical shape of a diamond, the toughest mineral on earth. The OCTA’s toughness comes from tracks that are wider by 68mm with arches to match, a ride height increased by 28mm, longer and tougher suspension wishbones, bespoke dampers, enormous brakes and the largest diameter tyres ever fitted to a Defender (33 inches).

Like the recent Range Rover Sport SV, the Defender OCTA rides on hydraulically interlinked suspension that does away with anti-roll bars, not unlike a McLaren supercar. Here the hydraulics control pitch and dive as well as body roll.

Power, sent to all four corners, comes from a BMW-sourced 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 that produces 626bhp and up to 590lb ft of torque, while the gearbox is an eight-speed automatic. The OCTA will reach 60mph in 3.8 seconds, topping out at 155mph.

You know as well as I do that most of these cars will pull away from the dealership forecourt and head straight for the nearest city centre, high street or shopping district – anywhere their drivers might be spotted. Nevertheless, I quite admire Land Rover for doing its own thing with this car. It could so easily have dropped the ride height, fitted coil springs you could crawl through and anti-roll bars as thick as your arm, slapped on a set of sticky summer tyres and flogged as many as it could make, like everybody else. Instead, it built something (more or less) unique.

Prices start from £145,300. I can’t wait to see one on Knightsbridge.

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02/07/2024

F1 cars in central London!

I remember when Formula 1 seemed like such a niche interest sport you’d be astonished to meet another fan in everyday life. Now there’s an entire pop-up fan zone on London’s Piccadilly Circus with real F1 cars on show and a suite of racing simulators.

The Fan Zone is open this week only (the week of the British Grand Prix) and drivers Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant, plus team principal James Vowles and ambassador , will make appearances.

It’s completely free and you’ll get within inches of Alan Jones’s FW07 and Damon Hill’s FW16B, plus a mock up of the current car.

The place was heaving when I stuck my head in to take these photos. I reckon Williams will earn itself a stack a new fans this week, and rightly so. Bravo to them.

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01/07/2024

Aston Martin goes green.

30/06/2024

Carhenge at . An installation by artist Joe Rush. It celebrates counterculture and ‘revolutionary heroines and heroes from the margins of society,’ like Vivienne Westwood and The Prodigy’s Keith Flint.

The couple of dozen old jalopies are described as ‘24 iconic vintage cars’. Identifying them wasn’t exactly the point, but I spotted several Jaguar XJs and one XJS, a 2CV, a 1980s Mercedes coupé ( will know exactly which model), plenty of enormous Detroit land yachts and a Minor, among others. Does that all add up to a smorgasbord?

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26/06/2024

The evolution of BMW M5 power-to-weight ratios...

E28 – 200bhp/tonne
E34 – 186bhp/tonne ⬇️
E39 – 219bhp/tonne ⬆️
E60 – 273bhp/tonne ⬆️
F10 – 278bhp/tonne ⬆️
F90 – 298bhp/tonne ⬆️
G90 – 295bhp/tonne ⬇️

8 July is BMW M5 week on The Intercooler, when we will declare one M5 the greatest of all time. Stay tuned!

24/06/2024

BMW M5 week is coming to The Intercooler on 8 July! As BMW reveals the latest M5 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, we name the greatest M5 of all time.

Are you choosing the E28, E34, E39, E60, F10 or F90?

We’ll declare our winner a couple of weeks from now, first in a series of written stories on The Intercooler app and website, then on our YouTube channel. Stay tuned!

18/06/2024

The not-so-secret SCD Secret Meet has, as always, exceeded expectations.

Kicking off with the most expensive Veyron ever built, the 1 of 1 Grand Sport Vitesse. That’s not chrome paint, the bodywork was milled out of aluminium at a huge cost to the customer.

Fantastic to see such impressive cars on the move.

Congratulations 👏

16/06/2024

What a race, what a place, what a team 🇮🇹🏁

Congratulations Ferrari for taking the top spot in a storming class of 23 hypercars.

To celebrate, we’re offering you an unprecedented 24% off a subscription to The Intercooler.

Simply use code LM24 at checkout.

14/06/2024

Club Motul Hill Climb meets and her small but mighty Suzuki Cappuccino.

Read all about it on the app and website.


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07/06/2024

The perfect gift this Father’s Day!

Father’s Day is just around the corner (16 June) and what better gift for your car-loving dad than a gift subscription to The Intercooler’s multi award-winning, ad-free online car magazine? Choose between six, 12 and 24 month gift subscriptions. You can checkout in seconds using Apple Pay or Google Pay. Our gift subscriptions are sent digitally, so if you’ve left it to the very last second like so many of us do, there’s no need to panic.

Better still, for Father’s Day only we’re offering a 15 per cent discount on all of our gift subscriptions, meaning our gifting options start at just over £30. Simply use the coupon code DAD15 at checkout to get 15 per cent off.

And if your dad loves his gift subscription as we’re sure he will, why not simply renew it again next year? You never need to worry about what to buy your old man come Father’s Day again…

Click the link in bio to see our gift subscription packages and remember to use the coupon code DAD15 at checkout to get 15 per cent off.

06/06/2024

You won’t see a better photograph of a Mercedes CLK63 Black Series today… Shot by the ludicrously talented

CLK63 Black Series versus C63 AMG Black Series coming to The Intercooler app, website and YouTube channel very soon.

04/06/2024

An evening with The Intercooler and Ian Callum, in association with

We’re delighted to announce details of our next live podcast recording, featuring special guest Ian Callum. Car design superstar has been a Ti contributor for some time now and we’ve wanted to host an evening with him since day one. The venue will be his design and engineering consultancy, CALLUM, in Warwick, the date 10 July 2024.

My Ti co-founder Andrew Frankel and I will be on stage interviewing Ian about his distinguished career in car design, during which time he’s helped create some of the most beautiful Aston Martins and Jaguars of the modern era, among many others, plus his own car collection, his consultancy and much more besides. There will be a Q&A session, too.

The evening includes a tour of CALLUM, during which you’ll see behind the scenes and get a good look at the various fascinating automotive projects the company’s designers and engineers are working on right now.

Click the link in stories to secure your tickets now.

The evening has been made possible by Autoglym, and we couldn’t be happier to be working in partnership with them. You can find out more about the company’s UK designed and manufactured car care products at www.autoglym.com.

Light refreshments will be served during the evening. There is parking on site and the exact location will be shared with you via email in plenty of time for the event itself.

Please arrive from 6pm ready for the tours to begin soon after. The live podcast recording will begin at 7.30pm and we’ll wrap the evening up at 9pm. We look forward to seeing you there.

04/06/2024

Testarossa v 512TR v F512M – all three versions of Ferrari’s 12-cylinder supercar, driven back-to-back-to-back. How do they compare?

Testarossa fanboy charts the development of Ferrari’s 1980s icon in his story for The Intercooler, live now on app and website (link in bio).

Beat the paywall by starting a 30-day free trial right away.

01/06/2024

This has got to be our spot of the week!

12 Crayford SEL estates were built and this is the only 6.3L.

What a wonderful thing 👌

28/05/2024

This is the base 992 Carrera is going to be running for us for a while. It is unlike any other modern 911 we know, insofar as total option cost amounts to (comfortably) less than a grand. It’s also the only new 911 a five figure sum will now buy. Does it feel like a 911 for someone who can’t really afford a 911 or is less actually more when it comes to such things? We look forward to finding out. First report on website and app soon. Link in bio.

28/05/2024

Porsche has updated the 992-series 911, but this is no typical midlife refresh. Instead and for the first time ever, the 911 is available with a hybrid powertrain and an electrically assisted turbocharger.

The Carrera GTS is the first variant to receive the hybrid powertrain but it’ll be adopted by other models soon. Even the engine itself is new, now displacing 3.6 litres across the usual six cylinders. In the Carrera GTS the total system output is 534bhp and 450lb ft of torque but, as found out when he rode in the new 911 at Porsche’s Weissach test track, it’s not so much the extra power but the lightning responses of the hybrid powertrain and electrically boosted turbo that make all the difference.

Andrew describes the updates Porsche has made to the 911 model range and what the Carrera GTS feels like from the passenger seat in his article on The Intercooler, live now on website and app. Sign up for your 30-day free trial in seconds using Apple Pay or Google Pay at the link in bio to read all about the new 911.

26/05/2024

Concepts, classics and crazy family SUVs with Le Mans V12s at this weekend. Which is your winner? 🇮🇹

25/05/2024

How far does £20,000 go in the used performance car marketplace these days? Plenty far enough if these three listings on the auction platform are any indication.

All are British, all are guiding at around £20,000 and all are live right now. And while they all might be described as sports cars, it’s hard to imagine three other sports cars that are less alike. Visit pistonheads.com/ti or click the link in stories to find out more.

1995 TVR Griffith, 72,000 miles

The character, feel and driving dynamics of a 1960s roadster with the performance of a modern sports car. It mightn’t be the most sophisticated car of its type, but a Griff would be hard to beat on a sunny summer’s day with that rumbling 5-litre V8 stroking you along between the hedgerows.

2005 Ariel Atom 2, 10,700 miles

The Atom has evolved quite significantly over the years, but visual enhancements have been minor to say the least. It means you’d never know this particular Atom was close to 20 years old. This one is powered by a 2-litre Honda four-pot producing 160bhp – plenty in something so light.

2000 Aston Martin DB7 Vantage, 38,000 miles

Twenty grand for a V12 Aston in this condition? Bargain. If it isn’t happening already, the DB7 will surely have its moment very soon as buyers realise what terrific value they offer. Beauty, power, a great soundtrack, the right badge – it’s all there. Just be sure to set some aside for running costs…