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On a recent podcast, Andrew and I got to meet the team from Crossley Motorsport, when we were able to hear first hand about the joy, passion, skills and sheer hard graft that have been lavished on their Jowett Jupiter race car. Their successes have included an impressive 14th place, out of a field of 82, at the Classic Le Mans 24 hrs and qualifying to race at this year's Goodwood meeting. We also heard on that podcast about the inspiration and support from a gentleman called Chris Spencer of the Jowett Car Club.

On this podcast, we are really excited to meet Chris and hear all about the Jowett Car Club's contribution to Crossley Motorsport's success story with their Jowett.

There is probably no greater expert on Jowett Cars than Chris Spencer. It is fair to say that Chris has spent a lifetime driving, owning and restoring these cars, as well as promoting the Jowett Car Cub. He happily jumped at the chance to help the Crossley team run a Jowett Jupiter. With an average age of just 22, and the buzz that this team is able to create, Chris can see that they will be ensuring the relevance of the Jowett Jupiter for decades to come.

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It's time for Andrew and I to book our summer holidays, but the cost of a long haul flight to Cape Town is looking a bit steep these days so we need to find an alternative. Let's ask Seth Scott and Ollie Jenks, as they've driven there in Sheila, a Reliant Robin van. How hard can it be? Well, in this podcast, we'll be finding out.

First, choose your car. Top of the tree has to be a 3-wheeler because then you can break a world record - for the furthest distance travelled in a 3-wheeled car.

Next, you will need a few modifications, and possibly a new engine enroute. Fortunately, Seth and Ollie were members of the Reliant Owners Club, who were able to source and send an emergency 'engine in a suitcase' to them.

Then, when you need to get through a border checkpoint, the love and humour that everyone has for these cars will see you through. Try the same with a new Defender!

From roadside repairs, and the ingenuity of the local mechanics, to traffic light vendors looking under the car, trying to locate where the front wheels are, Seth and Ollie tell us how it was.

Their chosen charity is https://www.schoolinabag.org/ which helps provide the very basics for school, such as pens and paper, that the poorest children in the remotest places need. Enroute, Seth and Ollie were able to see first hand just how much of a support this charity can be to these children in the far flung places of Africa.

And now to preparations for trip number 2. It's time for Ollie to start to learn something about football since, from the 11th June, the friends will be touring all of the 2026 World Cup football stadiums, driving across Canada, the US, Mexico and then back to Canada again.

10,000 miles in 39 days, and their chariot of choice for this trip is an ex-London FX4 Taxi currently off the road in Canada that hasn't run for years and won't start! Is that an issue? Of course not. They will sort it! After all, they're seasoned explorers now.

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https://www.holdmygear.org/

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Following on from the excitement of the recent podcast with Crossley Motorsports, Brian and Andrew feel the need to get back on track (as if we ever were): in this episode we welcome Christianne Ireland, the founder of Ireland Motorsports, and also daughter of Innes Ireland, a Formula One racing driver in the 1950s and 60s.

Innes started his motorsports career in 1952, very much at grass roots level, working his way up to the heights of Formula One by 1959. He also had a career in long distance sportscar racing, driving cars such as the 250 GTO Ferrari, as well as competing in the Daytona 500.

Christianne shares with us what's happening at Ireland Motorsports, a not for profit Community Interest Company, which is both helping to preserve the heritage and achievements of Innes Ireland to inspire the next generation of drivers, and providing real-life opportunities and encouragement for young people aged 16 to 24 to get involved in the many different areas of the motorsport world.

She also brings us her wonderful personal memories of growing up in her father's motor racing world, with Stirling Moss, Graham Hill and Jimmy Clark counted as his close friends.

How about being taken to school in OVX355D, the third factory Ford GT40? And then there was the Lime Green GTO. Mum was on the insurance to drive the car and so it served its purpose as a family car for getting to the shops for the bibs and bobs of daily life, with room for the dogs in the footwell.

Motorsport is undoubtedly in Christianne's DNA. However, Innes was quite old fashioned and was not going to have his daughter being a racing driver. So, instead, she went out and bought herself a motor bike!

Innes Ireland was as capable under the bonnet as he was as a driver. In later years, after driving her dad's Aston Martin DB5 Mk 2, Christianne took the car to the garage complaining of a lumpy performance in traffic. The garage's response? "Madam, you need to drive it like your dad did!" Innes had, of course, set up the carburettors to match his driving style.

Thank you, Christianne! This has been a very special and personal insight into why motorsport and its heritage matter and, above all, it is, of course, about its very special people.

https://irelandmotorsports.org.uk/

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