Car Sangarz

Meet FotW #19, Guy Martin, 28 year old truck mechanic. This is the cold "office" from which he travels to and from in a Ford Transit van, ideal in handling the decrepit roads of the truck yard six days a week. Those are his goggles propped on his mucky hair, that's his name on the breast pocket of his overalls, and these are his tools held between his greasy hands. Martin does not have a pension plan, has nothing in savings, and doesn't have a mortgage either because he never bothered to own a home. He lives in the home of his girlfriend's parents.

But what Martin DOES own... is this--

"There are times when I’m racing that I’ve thought, 'This is it', but when you survive you’re left with a feeling like nothing else. It’s a buzz you can’t describe. And I’m chasing that buzz all the time. I love risking my life, but to get the buzz on a bike on public roads [when they’re not closed for racing] I’d need to be doing 180mph. You can’t, and I wouldn’t want to. The Aston isn’t everyday transport. It’s for a mad half-hour every now and then. And it’s also forever. I don’t think I’ll ever sell it..."

There are two schools within the general field of automotive journalism. Actually there are more, but let's keep it at two for the sake of simplicity. The first school is those who write with number-centricity; laying out straight line performance data as well as cornering speeds, lateral g, etc. The second school is sensation-centric where the overall driving "experience" is of paramount. How does a car make you feel inside?

UK's EVO magazine is a champion of the second. It's tagline? Simply, "The Thrill of Driving." Of their line of talented writers and journalists, Chris "Monkey" Harris is one of their more notable, as he made a name from his entertaining test drive episodes at Autocar before joining the EVO team. Moreover, Chris is an outspoken fan of air-cooled Porsches and I can certainly appreciate that.


It's a bit of the "Holy Grail," really, when someone is trying to describe the ultimate Porsche 911. Many have made the claim, but not soon later there's always another person that would want to one up the current car in question. The most recent claim is from Singer Design and it certainly is the business and I'll be sure to feature that car once I find something that hasn't already been discussed but for FotW #17, I want to talk about the one Chris created.

The following video is from two years ago but surely this 911 still takes the cake. It's quite an honest car and even without all the modern updates like carbon fiber panels that Singer chose to utilize, Chris' 911 still weighs in at under 1000kg and its chassis has been enhanced to be more rigid than a 997. Don't be mistaken that Chris sacrificed everything for weight and performance either. There's a stereo system, the seats are leather Recaro, and the trim on the door is hand-stitched leather!

There you have it. Chris' dream has just convincingly influenced mine!