Rain. That incessant, unyielding kind that I thought only the Lake District could produce, has somehow made its way to London. And on the same weekend I have borrowed a Harley Davidson 48.

It’s only then, weird plastic murmur tapping on my half hat, that I realise it’s an odd argument as to why anybody would prefer to ride two wheels over four. It’s always colder, usually wetter, more dangerous, there’s no radio, no bluetooth for your phone, you can’t really chat to your passengers, you look a bit of a tool arriving at work and, as I recently discovered at an airport check-in, all the time you’ve gained on the road threading through traffic is lost having to strip off your multiple layers of kit.

But having grown up on the smell of two-stroke scooters, I just can’t seem to shake the habit. I value the perspective I get from a bike and, now I’m older, I can finally get insured for less than the price of a small house.

To my surprise, the Harley 48 has proved to be the most most remarkable town bike. The frame is compact and narrow enough to weave in and out of traffic. The chunky tyres, seat and suspension have been set up to make no drama out of potholes and the 1202cc engine has so much torque (98NM), you find yourself just burbling around in any of those five gears. It’s a massively infectious riding style and one that keeps your license in tact.

Equally surprising is just how useless the 48 would be on a trek to the Scottish Highlands. The forward pegs and wide bars get uncomfortable at prolonged high speed -  seriously, anything above 60mph and the vibrations hit you hard and the burly ‘potato potato‘ thrum becomes inaudible. All your ears pick up is the apparent ticking noise of an old cinema projector.

The most frustrating part would be that piddly 8-litre ‘peanut’ fuel tank. The range is supposed to be around the 100-mile mark, but in the city, I was seeing the fuel light flash on after half that. Come to mention it, I find it quite weird that a bike with an odometer and a trip computer does not also have a fuel gauge. I could imagine becoming quite paranoid if I was ever planning a route out of town. Keep this bike in the city however, and you will fall in love.

• For more discussions on the Harley Davidson 48, please listen to our Gas Station podcast at Podisode.com

Bookmark It

Had the pleasure of riding shotgun with Team Peugeot Total racing driver Anthony Davidson, last month. As well as offering an exclusive pre-season interview, Anthony was giving me a (very quick) tour around the Silverstone Stowe Circuit in two brand new examples of the Peugeot RCZ with Feline Styling Pack. I’m talking delivery miles new, so apologies in advance to anybody who inherits these two vehicles…

Myself (left) alongside motorsport man totem Anthony Davidson

Granted, a 200 THP petrol and 163 GT diesel may not exactly be in the same time zone as his 908 ILMC race car, but you wouldn’t know it when Anthony was behind the wheel. His eyes were implacable. Racing drivers train hard like every other athlete, but there is definitely an inherent ability that’s been recognised at every stage of Anthony’s career, allowing him to climb to the very top ranks of motorsport.

My aptitudes and accomplishments on the track are more suspect. Well actually, they don’t exist, but I could still tell that the Peugeot RCZ 200 THP petrol drove with more fluency and better bump absorption and suited the driving style of Anthony. The diesel may not have been that far off the pace but you could feel the weight transfer under heavy braking and through the corners. If you’re an enthusiast, I think you’d be better off sacrificing the emissions and fuel economy and go for the livelier petrol.

Make sure you follow Anthony on Twitter and support him during the ILMC season with Team Peugeot Total. The gang dominated the series last year, but in an unprecedented turn, the cars were dogged by mechanical failure at Le Mans. Davidson wants to put that right this year. First up though, is the Sebring 12Hours next weekend!

Bookmark It

There is always a buoyant and tentative excitement with the opening of every Geneva Motor Show. It may not be the biggest event on the automotive calendar, but it’s the one that always manages to surprise. For me, the star of 2011 was the Alfa Romeo 4C, a very compact but formidable mid-engined, two-seater sports car that packed as much presence as the new Ferrari FF and Lamborghini Aventador.

Alfa Romeo 4C will go on sale in 2012 - where do we sign?

This is what it must have felt like when the Alfa Romeo Montreal was first presented at Expo’67. Complete strangers were talking to one another, almost giddy at the prospect of this being an Alfa we could actually buy in less than two years for around £35k.

The looks may hook you in, but the stats are more exciting: the Alfa Romeo 4C will use a turbocharged 1.7-litre engine that’s in the Giulietta hatchback, but it’s been re-tuned to develop 232bhp. This in a package that Alfa is determined to keep under 850kg -- that’s 100kg lighter than a Lotus Elise.

Admittedly, Alfa hasn’t had much recent success with building sports cars. The Brera coupé and 8C supercar are both achingly pretty things, but dynamically speaking, they’re pallid affairs. Everybody has their fingers crossed for this one.

In other news, the Ford B-MAX managed to make a mini-MPV both stylish and desirable (above), the Nissan EsFlow concept moved the electric car conversation beyond some sort of pernicious threat to petrol power while Aston Martin presented more uncanny clusters of genetic coincidence.

Aston Martin presented the DB9 mkII, sorry, the Virage at the Geneva Motor Show

Alongside the Cygnet -- named not after a baby swan, but the bastardisation of a Toyota iQ -- was the new Virage, a facelifted DB9 in all but name. You can have a listen to all of the highlights of the 2011 Geneva Motor Show in our Gas Station Podisode Geneva Special.

Bookmark It

The other week I headed to the Portobello Pop-Up Cinema in Laaandon to see a 60s film called Performance. The title sounded promising enough, but the early appearance of a white MkII Jag was all too fleeting. In truth, trying to explain what goes on in said film is pretty pointless because I genuinely still have no idea.

If you like Mick Jagger, schitzophrenic edits and smoking bales of marijuana, then you will most probably dig this.  Alternatively, if you’re just after some car chat with (marginally) less randomness, then my friends, you need the Gas Station Podisode in your lives! Even better news is that every show is now downloadable on iTunes, so it’s easier than ever to plug in and listen. Thanks for your continued support.

Bookmark It

We know the Goodwood Festival of Speed rocks, but how successful was the all-new Moving Motor Show?

And what did you guys think of the Alfa Romeo sculpture? Luckily, Alex Goy, Cameraman Phil and myself are here to discuss this and much more in this Gas Station Podcast Special.

Like cars? Live in the UK? Then the Goodwood FoS is an automotive mecca

As our way of saying thank you for listening, we also have also have a free prize giveaway courtesy of Ian Cook of @popbangcolour fame. Simply listen to the podcast, answer the question we set and you could find yourself with a lovely set set of limited edition prints.

Like these PopBangColour prints? Listen to The Gas Station podcast for your chance to win them!

Remember you can follow The Gas Station podcast crew on twitter:

• Jon Quirk
• Alex Goy
• Cameraman Phil

Bookmark It

Cannot believe Alex Goy, Cameraman Phil and myself have already produced 10 episodes of the Gas Station podcast!

A massive thank you for your continued support, peeps. This week, we discuss the Damien Hirst Audi A1 art car, Lotus’ decision to turn its back on Colin Chapman’s mantra of ‘just adding lightness’ and Britain’s most dangerous road.

Before the grand unveiling, Damien Hirst's Audi A1 was attacked by a loft of Chernobyl pigeons

Yep, turns out the ‘Cat and Fiddle’ – the road that’s named after the pub on the A537 between Macclesfield and Buxton – is now responsible for more road deaths per year than any other UK road. AA President Edmund King reckons it should be re-named the widow maker.

We also ask you for your own creative inputs on cars you’d most like to (i) thrash for a weekend, (ii) live with forever and (iii) crush for being an abomination. To help you along and create a bit of controversy, we’ve even offered our own suggestions to the mix. Enjoy!

Bookmark It

The Gas Station Podcast is back! This week, Alex Goy, Cameraman Phil and myself talk cars with tenuous links to the World Cup plus I have a bit of a rant about the Chevrolet Spark and its brand alliance with men with prominent guitars, facial hair and unapologetically tight trousers.

The Gas Station podcast crew is presented by Jon Quirk, Alex Goy and Cameraman Phil

We also celebrate a guy by the name of Richard Jordan who, after being left by his financé, decided to sell everything (house, car, parents, ok…maybe not parents) to buy a Lamborghini Gallardo and set out across America.

Usually cars like this are reserved for (i) arms dealers celebrating the sale of a dozen fighter jets to the Saudis (ii) bonus-splurging city bankers or (iii) a person whose ability to kick a ball has already been rewarded waaaay beyond whatever that deserves.

So, it’s good to know that normal folk can occasionally experience a big enough quarter-life crisis that, for the pure love of cars, compels them to plough all their life savings into a seriously depreciating asset. Rich, there will always be a sofa for you here…

Bookmark It

Time for another Gas Station podcast! Get excited. Now get more excited as Cameraman Phil, Alex Goy and myself take you through all the latest motoring jabber that seems to accumulate in our everyday lives.

In episode eight, we discuss retrosexuals and the Nissan Juke, fake spy photography and the Range Rover LRX plus some Kiwi supercar we’ve already forgotten the name of.

The Gas Station crew can talk for days about anything. Except the merits of the bendy-bus...

It was also my birthday so, inevitably, we adjourned to the pub. Well, a bar actually, where Goy ended up drinking £12 concoctions called ‘Zombie.’ Phil and I haven’t seen him since…

As always, all worthy shout outs are below:

• Auto journalist’s 16-year old son crashes Porsche 911 Turbo
• ‘Swagger Wagon’ Toyota rap – actually funny
• BMW M3 GT2 Art Car by Jeff Koons
• McLaren Automotive on Facebook
• Bloggox – Cameraman Phil
• Bloggox – Alex Goy

Bookmark It

The Gas Station Podisode is back! Unfortunately, special guest and design commentator Joe Simpson had to bail at the 11th hour, so it’s myself, Alex Goy and Cameraman Phil taking you through the latest motoring news, with some pretty strong views.

Like the Lexus LFA – seriously, some of the technology on this thing will be approaching bar mitzvah age by the time it hits the showroom. Please Toyota, no more special editions, no more failed racing attempts, just get it delivered!

Contrary to other reports, Joe Simpson was not with Uwe Gemballa at the recording of this podisode

Here are the worthy shout outs:

• Citroen Nemo test crash – Which?
• Volvo S60 crash – Which?
• DSG vs Manual gearbox – Autocar
• Electric Volkswagen Beetle – Pistonheads

Bookmark It

Vote cast, time to get this week’s episode, sorry, podisode of The Gas Station online.

As you’ll soon find out, the recording took place the same eve as a very important game of European football on Merseyside. We may not have been there in person, but at least we had Jeff Stelling on iPhone keeping us updated minute by nail-biting minute. Not the best of ideas…

The Gas Station podcast crew: this photo was taken when Liverpool were still winning...

This week, Alex Goy, Cameraman Phil, Nigel Swan and myself discuss everything from the return of TVR to the SEAT Ibiza Cupra Bocanegra (those paint options are a non cost option btw) while sending our usual good will shout outs to stuff on the web that isn’t crap. Enjoy!

Here are all the other worthy shout outs:

• Cameraman Phil has a blog!
• Jaguar D-Type vs. Orient Express -- Octane Magazine
• Vehicle Design Sessions at the RCA
• Skoda Octavia vRS -- MSN Cars
• Alex Goy on Smoked Out TV

Bookmark It