Season 5 of The Ultimate Road Trip Podcast is here! It’s been a while, but James is back interviewing more brilliant guests and asking, funnily enough, ”What’s your Ultimate Road Trip?” This week’s guest, Billy Reeves, is amongst other things, a musician, producer, journalist, commentator, podcaster, artist and fundraiser - he’s also a big fan of Brentford FC, buses and his hometown. Billy’s music career includes founding the band Theaudience and getting The Darkness their first live gig, but after a near-fatal car crash in 2001 he retrained, taking up journalism and commentating.... but he’s now back to making music (along with everything else) with 3 albums under his belt along with various singles and live performances across the UK. So what’s his Ultimate Road Trip and does it include a Weekend in Staines (upon-Thames) ?

Singer Vehicle Design founder Rob Dickinson is the final guest on the Ultimate Road Trip Podcast for 2023! This year marked the 60th Anniversary of the unveiling of the Porsche 911 at The Frankfurt Motor Show and it’s fitting that we have the man behind one of the most celebrated automotive companies of recent years on the podcast, chatting about his childhood through to his time in 90’s band Catherine Wheel, to starting Singer. The company restores and reimagines 911’s -based on the 964 chassis- in the direction of each individual clients’ wishes, striving for ”a relentless pursuit of excellence” and it was a privilege to chat to Rob about Singer, as well as, of course, his Ultimate Road Trip!

Coronation Street actor Shelley King joins James on the Ultimate Road Trip Podcast this week! She’s played Yasmeen for almost 10 years, but in 2019 hit the headlines for her character’s gradual degradation at the hands of her thoroughly nasty husband, Geoff Metcalfe (played by Ian Bartholomew), throwing the real-life problem of coercive control in relationships into the spotlight. What many of her fans may not know, is that along with acting, one of her other passions is cars. Especially ones from Stuttgart....

I’m lucky to be joined by another legendary musician this week - who just happens to be a car and motorsport fanatic. John Oates has been making music his whole life, and along with his creative partner Daryl Hall, has released almost 30 studio and live album, had six #1 singles and also a flourishing solo career. He’s a self-confessed ’gearhead’ and in our chat reminisces about cars he’s owned, lost and rediscovered, before we cover his Ultimate Road Trip. The car he’s picked is a reinvention of one of the most famous sports cars of all time and his song choice is, not surprisingly, from another legendary soul man.

We’re back with Season 4 of the URT Podcast and on this latest episode, James is joined by a very special guest - 1992 Formula One World Champion, Nigel Mansell! Nigel was at the Goodwood Festival of Speed last year driving a variety of cars including his Ferrari 640 from 1989 and the 1992 Championship winning Williams FW14B - celebrating 30 years since he claimed the F1 title. ’Our Nige’ drew huge crowds at the Festival, but spared a few minutes to speak to James about his thoughts on the incredible collection of cars that had been gathered from his career - and then his Ultimate Road Trip. The car he chose isn’t from Maranello, but the tune? Well, that’s by a musician who’s love of the prancing horse marque is no secret.

Chef Ben Robinson from the superyacht reality TV series ’Below Deck’ joins me this week on the podcast! Ben’s experience in Michelin starred kitchens and on yachts, along with his British sense of humour and outlook on life obviously ticked all the producer’s boxes, as he appeared in the first series of the show back in 2013. Six further Seasons later and after gaining a huge following, he decided to concentrate on his own international catering business, specialising in holistic nutrition. As well as the road trip we chatted about getting through the pandemic, his current projects and of course ’Below Deck’ - as you’ll hear, the cooking wasn’t an issue, but his first time in front of the camera was a different kettle of fish!

Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen driver Zhou Guanyu was one of the star drivers at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed in June and I was very lucky to spend a few minutes with him on the Alfa stand in the middle of his packed schedule. After chatting about his move to the UK and rapid rise through the motorsport ranks to the heady heights of F1 and a successful start to his debut season, along with his thoughts on the Alfa Tonale, we then got onto his Ultimate Road Trip. As you’ll hear, I wished him all the best for the British Grand Prix the following weekend, but any luck for a successful result at Silverstone would be used up, walking away with just a few bruises after that terrifying crash at the start of the race.

This week on the podcast I’m joined by the Chief Executive Officer of W Series, Catherine Bond Muir. We met at last year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed where one of her Tatuus-Alfa Romeo F3 cars was just about to be driven up the famous Goodwood hill in front of thousands of spectators.  Before we talked about her Ultimate Road Trip, Catherine told me why she started the W Series championship and how encouraged she’s been in making so much progress in a traditionally male dominated sport, in such a short period of time.

I’m joined by London-based automotive artist Ella Freire on this week’s episode of the Ultimate Road Trip Podcast. Inspired by stories of her Grandfather racing at Brooklands and in the Mille Miglia, Ella creates stunning silk screen prints of classics and supercars, framed in flame brushed acrylic and aluminium. She has exhibited at shows and events across the UK alongside taking on many private commissions, and has recently been involved in exhibitions to help raise funds for the London Air Ambulance and Auto Artists for Ukraine. Check out her fabulous pieces at www.freireprintz.co.uk

On this week’s episode I’m very lucky to be joined by one of the UK’s most popular entrepreneurs, Theo Paphitis. He’s best known for the BBC show ”Dragon’s Den” and his incredibly popular ”Small Business Sunday” weekly competition on Twitter, but I’ve known about his love of cars for many years, so thought he’d be the perfect guest for the podcast. But before going through his Ultimate Road Trip, we talked about the business of shopkeeping and how the industry has been affected by the pandemic.

On this week’s episode of the podcast I’m joined by one of the most influential designers of his generation and a man who likes his cars - a lot. Marc Newson has designed everything from an ashtray to an airport departure lounge and last year during lockdown it was great to chat with him online, touching on early years in Australia, his Ford concept car design and his Ultimate Road Trip, which he would like to undertake in two very different machines...

It‘s a very special episode of the podcast this week as I‘m joined by three-time Formula One World Champion Sir Jackie Stewart. It was a privilege to chat with him about his early years shooting and then racing, the people he‘s met from many and varied walks of life, to setting up the pioneering charity Race Against Dementia. His love of Scotland has never diminished and as you‘ll hear, it plays an important part in his Ultimate Road Trip.

Season 3 of The Ultimate Road Trip Podcast is here! Over the next few weeks, I‘ll be chatting to the great and the good of Formula One, W-Series, design, business, music, art and more.... and for the first episode of the new season, it was wonderful to catch up with The Boxer Rebellion‘s Piers Hewitt. During lockdown, drumming had been restricted to his online lessons, rather than playing live to the band‘s loyal fans, but it also meant he could find time to come on the podcast and talk about some of his memorable on-tour moments, the music business and of course his Ultimate Road Trip...

Chrysalis Music Group co-founder Chris Wright joins me for this episode of the podcast. He helped to launch the careers of Jethro Tull, Procol Harum, Blondie and Ultravox and built up a media empire expanding into Radio and TV. He's owned QPR and Wasps (winning the Heineken European Cup twice) and runs a successful horseracing stud with a number of Group 1 winners. He's also travelled the world both for business and pleasure, so in terms of the destination and tune for the Ultimate Road Trip, there's lots to choose from. But the car? Well, he's come a long way from his first set of wheels.

The Classic Motor Hub based at the former RAF Bibury in the Cotswolds is a unique space - car sales, storage, workshops, concierge services, events and more are taken care of by a hugely experienced and knowledgeable team. As they themselves say, "Its more than just a showroom..." Richard Wrightson is Sales Manager at the Hub, and joins me for this week's episode of podcast. As well as going through the five Ultimate Road Trip questions, we talk about how the Hub and the classic car market generally have been coping over the past few months. And of course, we're also really excited that The Classic Motor Hub now sponsors The Ultimate Road Trip podcast.

Film and TV producer Tarquin Gotch joins me for this week's episode of the podcast. He started his career in music publishing and A+R, but moved into music supervising and then producing on many of John Hughes' films through the 80's and 90's including Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Home Alone. He's also managed musicians, actors and writers including Rowan Atkinson, Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais and Brian Johnson, and was in the middle of producing the latest series of "A Life on the Road" when the pandemic hit and shooting was stopped. I caught up with him a few weeks ago to talk about his career and go through his "URT" - the choice of car and tune in particular brought back some memories...

On the podcast this week, I'm joined by Dave Robinson, co-founder of the iconic Stiff Records, the label which turned the music business on its head with its anarchic, leftfield approach to promoting its bands and artists. Stiff signed names including Madness, The Pogues, The Damned, Elvis Costello, Kirsty McColl, Nick Lowe and Ian Dury, but Dave's also known for tour managing Jimi Hendrix, running Island Records and putting together 'Legend' , the Bob Marley compilation. He's still managing and promoting new bands, but the car and tune for his Ultimate Road Trip includes a couple of his old favourites.

This week's guest fronts the world's biggest rock band - AC/DC's lead singer Brian Johnson is also an authority on cars, and it's a real privilege that he joins me on the Ultimate Road Trip podcast. Along with the usual 5 URT questions, we talked about his general love of cars and motor racing and how all things automotive have played an important part in his life. There are the TV shows which he's presented over the years, covering both music and cars, and then of course we talked AC/DC, and how the band approached the release of their 17th studio album 'Power Up', despite the pandemic.  Thanks again for listening, please share/follow or subscribe! The five elements that make up the Ultimate Road Trip...
1. What's the car - make, model, colour
2. Why that car
3. Destination......anywhere
4. Passenger
5. Seminal soundtrack

The name Alex Hirschi may not ring too many initial bells, but undoubtedly you'll have heard of 'that girl with the cars' Supercar Blondie and I'm excited to say that she's my guest for this week's edition of the Ultimate Road Trip Podcast. She's a social media sensation with millions of followers, but last year was of course a little different than usual. After initially taking advantage of the pandemic travel restrictions to have a breather from her hectic schedule, Alex then got on with what she does best, bringing the latest in automotive culture to a rapidly growing audience worldwide. And shortly before Christmas she found time to join me for her Ultimate Road Trip.

Last year, the motor racing world paid tribute to the great Sir Stirling Moss, who died in April at the age of 90. It was a huge privilege for me to interview him on a number of occasions, from Brooklands to Goodwood, and the last time I briefly spoke to him was at the Festival of Speed. He was there to drive his ex-Mille Miglia Mercedes 300 SLR and I thought I'd ask what he'd take on his Ultimate Road Trip...he was in absolutely no doubt about his choice of car or passenger, as you'll hear in this special episode of the podcast.