"Classic Cars" Magazine Article

[Spanker]

Back in late June, Andrew Noakes (respected UK motoring journalist) contacted Neil and MJ asking if they knew anyone with a brightly coloured S8 for a photoshoot.
He contacted them separately and they both pointed the finger at me (thanks Neil and Michaela).

So Andrew got in touch and asked if I was interested in a photoshoot for a cover story in "Classic Cars" magazine, to be published later in the year. The shoot was to be at Longcross Studios:
http://www.longcrossfilmstudios.com/
with six cars - all ‘super saloons’ of their era.

He and his photographer wanted to do static and moving shots of all the cars together and each one individually. Then he wanted to get some thoughts from the owners on the experience of ownership before he drove the cars around the scenic test track to get his impressions.

BTW this is the same test track that Mat Watson uses on the CarWow YouTube channel which you can see a glimpse of here:
CarWoW at Longcross - (Sorry it's a BMW). In fact, I saw Mat there on the day in what I recall was a Mitsubishi... but I digress.

So after Bauer Media had set up the insurance and stuff, I journeyed down to Longcross in Surrey on the 11th July for the 10 am start.
Unfortunately, a sixth car didn't materialise (I believe it was going to be a Rover - probably an SD1 Vitesse) and was never discussed on the day, and the Vauxhall Lotus Carlton that was planned broke down on the way to the studios so a last-minute replacement from the Vauxhall Heritage Centre was summoned. The very vehicle mentioned and shown by this proud chap in this Vauxhall Heritage Centre video

At around 11 am we all got together and the job commenced. And what a boring undertaking a photoshoot can be. But this was very well explained to me beforehand so there were no complaints. Not from me. Not from any of the owners.

We had a lazy day chatting in the sun whilst our cars were given the once-over by the journalist and the photographer.

If you are ever given the chance to partake in such a thing I would highly recommend it. The drive around the track with the camera car being about 12 inches away from your pride and joy is quite nerve-wracking!!!
Especially with a cameraman strapped into a harness hanging out the back of the camera car, right next to your wheels.

So fast forward to yesterday evening in Asda when I was walking past the magazines and spotted my car, albeit in a very small thumbnail format, dotted on the front of "Classic Cars" magazine.
I was hoping to get a heads-up from Andrew as to when it was going to be released but as a freelancer who writes and submits articles to various publications, he said that I would find out around the time that I did.

On the day I could sense that the Mercedes was going to take pride of place as it received the most attention. And as it happened, when picking up the magazine I found that my hunch was right. It was a lovely car.

Anyway, I thought I'd scan/photo the pages for anyone who is interested and you can see the images below.
I have also attached a PDF in the attachments which if clicked, should give you a better opportunity to read the text should you so wish.

If you read right the way through to the last page, you will see that Andrew has mentioned some "thank you's". Mikke Jayne has been mentioned but not Neil, which is a shame as it was Neil who contacted me directly to ask for my permission for my details to be forwarded.
And I did mention the A8Parts.co.uk forum AND A8 / S8 UK Facebook group to Andrew for credits but he seems to have gone with AOC. Well, it wasn't for the want of trying I can assure you.

I chatted with Andrew throughout the day whilst waiting for photos to be taken and also during the spirited drive around the track so we discussed the car and my ownership quite a bit. Unfortunately, the bit he attributed to me on the page about ownership appears to be quite lame when I read it. I am sure I gave him a lot more info on ownership that just that

And just in case anyone spots it, Red Dwarf (as nicknamed by MJ) is wrongly labelled an S4 in one image and the 355 BHP may raise a few eyebrows for those that believe the FL S8 has 360 BHP.
Does the FL S8 have 360 BHP?
Or is it 360 PS which may (or may not) equate to 355 BHP

A topic of discussion there that someone may be able to answer quite instantly

And finally, after the magazine article below, I've posted some images I took myself on the day.

I hope somebody finds them interesting.

Dean



































And finally, some images I took myself from the day:






























(Oh! How did that get in there?? )

[tintin]

[gninnam]

Brilliant and your car pops in the photo's

[Conan_the_Librarian]

Excellent read. Well done Dean, doing the marque proud.

[Regulus]

Great photos, and a pleasure to read the article

[steamship]

Thanks for reproducing the article. An interesting read, and nice to see the S8 up against the competition.

[briang9]

Great stuff, thanks for sharing it

[Audidothat]

Thanks for sharing.

The red really stands out in the photo of all 5 marques together, I was trying to imagine another colour in there, would have made the photo look quite drab.

[moltuae]

Great article. Nice one Dean

[tc4332]

Well doned Dean.
Nice article.