Takona Tlks.

Had the absolute pleasure to sit and chat with Grant Williams to talk about his adventures racing, and the ups and downs that can bring. Most notably recognised for putting on a tremendous show at the Festival of Speed and the Goodwood races in his Iconic "BUY 1" Mk1 Jaguar, you know the photo of the Mk1 in a huge cloud of smoke on the Goodwood start line? yeah? that guy, a legend. Grant is also the person who helped Williams Heynes get an engine sorted for the Goodwood Revival, a lovely moment to hear that story from another perspective, and to show just how much community there is around cars. This is also the latest episode sponsored by Scalextric, Grants iconic “Buy 1” Jag was made into a Scalextric car! (You can get 10% off using Takona10 at checkout) Get bonus Takona content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Takona Tlks with Stuart Quick, a personal friend and a man helping keep people safer in their cars, we have an explore into the world of safety harnesses, retrofitting seatbelts, and wander down some automotive tales. Stuart and I met over coffee in west London at a car meet, of course, and have become good friends ever since. We attended the Octane Magazine Historic Motoring Awards together, and often head to a lot of the same car events. Stuart has had some of his lovely cars on our stands at events like Radwood, and we're both regulars at the Wimbledon Southside Hustle, which means we've a fair few stories to share. This episode is a long one, and meanders down some different roads, with stories across a broad range of topics. Get bonus Takona content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode Takona Tlks with Antony Ingram, Freelance car journalist and writer. Antony and I met in unexpected circumstances (and thanks to twitter) when I created a mazda inspired t-shirt and was on the lookout for a local enough RX7 to grab some photos with. Antony being the gent kindly offered to let me pop over and get the photos and our friendship started there. Often spotted at car events around the country, Antony's back catalogue of work is extensive and covers not only writing for EVO and Hagerty, but also publishing his own book on the MX-5 (which you can get here) If you fancy a gander at the Photos I got of Antony's lovely RX-7 (which happened to be the Mazda press car) and possibly even some video footage we got on the road, it's up on the Patreon page. As mentioned in the new outro, for mental health resources head to the Takona site Get bonus Takona content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Takona Tlks with Dave Edmonston, the founder of PistonHeads, now working with Collecting Cars, and has spent time building and developing websites and platforms across the automotive world. With his latest venture being Driving Masters helping people to learn how to better handle the roads safely. Dave's influence across the automotive world is somewhat profound, being behind some of the communities that have brought so many people together, and having helped to improve existing platforms that people love. On a personal level it was the piston heads forums that helped me to grow friendships with other car enthusiasts, as well as providing a plethora of interesting stories and groups that got me through long night shifts in the psychiatric hospitals. Get bonus Takona content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Takona Tlks with Jon Hancock, Car builder, race odyssey founder, and somewhat feature guest on the upcoming Paddock Speedshop TV shop. Jon and I became friends thanks to coffees and cars of all things, having met at one of the Paddlup meets last year. We've since spent time at events and bumped into each other at various car shows around the country, a real life example of the Takona idea bringing people together and capturing the spirit of the automotive world. Jon has built a name for himself within the automotive circles as someone who makes fantastic custom cars, most notably his outlaw 356, often mistaken for a Rod Emory build. We sat down for a chat about how it all came to be, and what's in store for the future, including an "RWB Style" 914, and the Race Odyssey 62 Corvette. If you're a Patron you'll have seen some photos of that corvette, it's also featuring in an upcoming YouTube video we're making. Get bonus Takona content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Takona Tlks with Dan Allard, one of the founders of the RollHard Brand. Dan and RollHard have built a name for creating not only amazing events catering towards the modified car world, but also some fantastic clothing and automotive merch. Dan and I met, as many do, at the Bicester Heritage Sunday Scramble and immediately became quite good pals, sharing a common interest in both the automotive and the communities that create around it. This episode is one of our Scalextric Sponsored episodes, use Takona10 for 10% off at checkout. (we're very proud of this partnership, its a real testament to how much things have grown, thank you for being a part of making that possible) If you do like what we do, you can support us on Patreon where we share extra bits of supplementary content like the cars Dans talked about in this episode for example. (have absolutely gotten this idea from Smith and Sniff) Get bonus Takona content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our good friend Tim Oldland suggested that we do a reverse episode where Takona founder Lewis (me) answers some questions about Takona and how it all came to be and where it might (hopefully) be heading. So after luring me into BMW's M2 Press Car in the car park at Caffeine and Machines newest location The Bowl, we sat down for a chat about what's been happening, how things got started, and answer some of the questions you lovely people sent in. Get bonus Takona content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Takona Tlks with William Heynes, Jaguar restorer specialising in early E-Types. I rather ignorantly didn’t know that much about William till we sat down for this chat, other than his amazing workshop and being married to Amy Shore (now Heynes). It turns out the William Heynes name goes back to his Grandfather, who Sir William Lyons approached to be chief engineer when starting Jaguar. William goes through this story properly in our conversation and shares an incredible insight into the ordeal that was his first Goodwood revival as a race engineer. We also go through his incredible story of heading to Goodwood as a race team for the first time, a rollercoaster of emotions throughout and something that deserves listening to. A real pleasure to record, and a great opportunity to see a proper craftsman in his element. This episode is also sponsored by Scalextric, use code Takona10 at checkout for 10% off! Get bonus Takona content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last weeks an episode didn't come out, because Christmas and new years messed up planning for recording. Fortunately ahead of the Sunday Scramble I was able to sit down with Paul Wooding at Hagerty's Clubhouse. Paul is the man we have to thank for the Cloudera GT86's which I created a special edition t-shirt for, along with the replica Goodwood Scalextric track. It's all a bit of a small world isn't it! Paul shares his story of how his life in the military enabled him to step into civilian life with some well learned lessons and skills, and we go through how he's gotten so involved with Mission Motorsport. There's also a brief cameo from James Cameron (again, becoming a thing isn't it) Get bonus Takona content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Takona Tlks with Ralph Hosier, Engineer, Electric Vehicle Builder, Automotive Skills teacher, and host of TV's Megabuilds. Ralph and I sat down for a good ol chat about his career, what he's up to now, and life within the automotive world in general. The conversation steered into the topic of ADHD and Autism towards the end and we explore how society isn't necessarily catering for neurodivergent people, but there are some things that can help. A thoroughly interesting chat with a very lovely guy. To learn more about Ralph's work head to: https://www.rhel.co.uk/ For anything Takona related head to: https://www.takona.co.uk Get bonus Takona content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Takona Tlks with Ralph Hosier, Engineer, Electric Vehicle Builder, Automotive Skills teacher, and host of TV's Megabuilds. Ralph and I sat down for a good ol chat about his career, what he's up to now, and life within the automotive world in general. The conversation steered into the topic of ADHD and Autism towards the end and we explore how society isn't necessarily catering for neurodivergent people, but there are some things that can help. A thoroughly interesting chat with a very lovely guy. To learn more about Ralph's work head to: https://www.rhel.co.uk/ For anything Takona related head to: https://www.takona.co.uk Get bonus Takona content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode Takona Tlks with Cesar Pieri, Car designer, Artists, and founder of Gasoline Juice (one of our coffees and cars locations). Cesar and I met just under a year ago when he took over the former CarNatter space in Weedon Bec, since then we've become good friends. Cesars Design work most famously includes the Jaguar Project 7, a story which he shares the history of in our chat. You can find more of his design work here. And more on Gasoline Juice Here. As always, Takona topics, including the Coffees and Cars network, and our recently updated News page can be found here. Get bonus Takona content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Takona Tlks with Claire Johnson, aka The Naked Warrior. Claire is a motorsport fitness coach, dietician, author, and racing driver. We sat down to talk about her work helping racing drivers to improve both their physical and mental wellbeing to improve their performance both on and off the race track, we also talk about her new motorsport training app helping people to train specifically for motorsports. You can find out more about whatClaire is up to at: linktr.ee/thenakedwarrior As always you can find out more about Takona at Takona.co.uk Get bonus Takona content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode Takona Tlks with Joan Fidalgo. Best known publicly for her writing for the Intercooler, and owning some interesting cars including a Suzuki Cappuccino and a Toyota Sera. Get bonus Takona content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This Episode Takona Tlks with George Williams, commercial car photographer and builder of a particularly purple Lotus Exile known as Hell Slow. George has been shooting commercial grade photography for many years now, having worked with the likes of Zenvo, Maserati, Rimac, and Czinger to name a few. To find out more about George and what he does you can visit his site here or search GFWilliams on socials. For all things Takona head to our site here. Get bonus Takona content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This Episode Takona Tlks with Mark Rose, founder of the new Redline Magazine. Mark and I met up at the original coffees and cars location, Squisita, to talk about how he started, what he's up to now, and what he's hoping the future holds. You can learn more about Redline and get your hands on the mag here. As always find out more from Takona here. Get bonus Takona content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This Episode Takona Tlks with Jack Cavanagh, the face of the Stjarna Gloss detailing brand. Jack has become pretty well known for his engaging and entertaining to camera pieces talking about detailing and the brand he's building. It was an absolute pleasure to sit and chat with Jack about where the brand came from, how it's grown and how he ended up filming for Top Gear! We go down into a deep chat about mental health, some of life's struggles, and some ways to manage when things get tough, a true example of how casual chat can be the gateway into a properly meaningful conversation. For all things Stjarna Gloss head Here. For more from Takona head Here. Get bonus Takona content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A special two guest episode! Takona Tlks with both Jonny Smith and Richard Porter, together! We sat down ahead of their On That Live Of things recording at Bicester Heritage to have a chat about what they do, how they got started, and some of the weird and wonderful stories that have happened along the way. This is practically a bonus episode of their own Smith and Sniff Podcast, with a Takona twist. To learn more about Smith and Sniff head to their website Here. For all things Takona head here. Get bonus Takona content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode Takona Tlks with James Cameron, the founder of Mission Motorsport. James shares the story of how Mission Motorsport came to be, some of the amazing work that they're doing, and a bit of back story into how it's so close to home for him. You'll have seen both James and Mission Motorsport at various events around the country, what you might not have seen is the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes in working to help former military personnel re-enter the civilian working world. In their own words "MISSION MOTORSPORT, THE FORCES’ MOTORSPORT CHARITY AIDS IN THE RECOVERY AND REHABILITATION OF THOSE AFFECTED BY MILITARY OPERATIONS BY PROVIDING OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH MOTORSPORT AND THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY" You can learn more about Mission Motorsport Here. And more about Takona Here. Get bonus Takona content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode Takona Tlks with Matt prior, editor at large of Autocar Magazine. We go through Matts journey within the automotive journalism world and, amongst other things, share some stories from his time writing for the worlds longest running magazine. You can find out more about Matt Here:And more from Takona Here. Get bonus Takona content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.