Richard Porter, Journalist and Podcaster
Richard Porter – the Sniff in Smith and Sniff – describes two diametrically opposite drives that vie for the title of his Favourite Detour.
“It was like a perfect moment of Zen. It was the road and the car and the weather and the music and it was perfect.”
“The Thunder Walk is a charity 24 hour walk across the Brecon Beacons. Some friends of mine were doing it and I was their support crew driving an old school Land Rover Defender 110. My job was to intercept the walkers throughout the 24 hours to give them food and stuff. After I did an evening pit stop with them, I packed up the Defender and set off down off the Brecon Beacons towards Brecon.
It’s a breathtakingly beautiful part of the world, it was a sunny evening and this sort of orange light across the hills made it especially pretty. I had the windows down and I was playing music that I love and I just drove down into Brecon town itself and got fish and chips. I ate the fish and chips off the front wings of the Defender with a cream soda or something excellent like that. It was like a perfect moment of Zen. It was the road and the car, because I love those Defenders even though they’re crap, and the weather and the music and it was perfect. I can absolutely picture every part of it, even the smells, and can remember that warm evening air swirling through the open windows of the car as I came down from the mountain.
Photo Land Rover
So it wasn't like screaming down the Col de Turini in a 288 GTO, it was quite pedestrian really, but I think that great drives are more than just the road and the car. It has to be a whole coming together of elements, doesn't it?
About 10 years ago I did the EVO Car of the Year. We finished doing photography and faffing about for the day. It was dusk and we needed to get back to where were staying. We had a Jaguar F-Type R and for some reason I had the key for that. Jim Cameron from Mission Motorsport had the Ferrari 458 Speciale and was leading the way and I gave chase. Jim is quite a handy driver and that Ferrari is just one of my favourite cars, a sensational thing. But the Jag is also a great car. Driving at dusk, spearing across the Scottish Borders, chasing a former tank commander: that's not going to leave my brain until I fully lose my mind.
That was a bit more “helmsman”-style driving, to the extent that when we pulled into the hotel, I realised that the suede on the steering wheel was quite damp because that Jag was a bit bloody lively. It sounded good as well and a car that howls its way down the road adds another little element to the package. It's never just as simple as road and car. There's all these other little details, little bits that make it really special.”