Ed Foster: Racing with Dad,driving a Land Rover around Australia, Mum's Escort Cosworth and the F40 that came to school! S5E10

It's a pleasure to bring you this episode with Ed Foster, a farmer, a motoring journalist, a racer, and perhaps most familiar to you as the (tall) face and voice in the Goodwood Paddocks during the Revival, Festival of Speed and Members Meeting. 

He grew up on a Farm in Scotland, although boarded at a school in London. His Dad was into racing, and owned the last ever E-Type lightweight, along with an XK120 racecar, a Ford Maverick (with a Joseph tape stuck on repeat) and his Mum daily drove a Ford Escort Cosworth.

This is a chat full of horsepower and petrol! Strap and in hold on there's lots to be discussed... Including an F40 that came to his school on a parents visiting day, and his Dad driving a Land Rover twice around Australia.... which has now returned to the family farm! 

We give Ed's day job a shout out early on - please do look the Rhynd up here. 

The Rhynd in Fife | Weddings, café, gym, clay shooting and more

You can find Ed on Instagram here: Ed Foster (@anotheredfoster) • Instagram photos and videos

Transcript

>> Ed Foster: 0:00

Age 60. She asked for the rear wing to be put back on for a bit more rear grip. And eventually I remember he just removed all the wheels of the car and just hid them. There must have been probably at the time like 50 million quid worth of stuff. Dad did two 10,000 mile trips around Australia in it.

>> Andy: 0:15

welcome to My dad'car Enjoy. Welcome to My Dad's Car. A podcast discussing our personal relationship with automated the nostalgia. And you know what, it doesn't even have to be about your dad's car. It can be, your mom's, your grand, your parents, guardians or even a neighbor'if it made an impression. Let's talk about it. Ahoy. Can you hear me? Yes, I can. Ah. we've won. That's a good start.

>> Ed Foster: 0:56

How we doing?

>> Andy: 0:57

Ahh. good day, Ed.

>> Ed Foster: 0:58

Re.

>> Andy: 0:58

Right, we're not too bad. Yourself?

>> Ed Foster: 1:00

Yeah, good, good. Is the sound okay?

>> Andy: 1:03

Yeah, sounds fine.

>> Ed Foster: 1:04

Yeah, yeah, I've got a proper mic because I do some Goodwood bits and pieces on. On the mic.

>> Andy: 1:09

Oh, wonderful. That's a good start.

>> Ed Foster: 1:11

If it's rubbish, blame them.

>> Andy: 1:14

Yeah, I'll. I'll send the Earl of March a letter. U, thank you very much for joining us. U, yeah. I'm Andy and U, up there, down there is John.

>> Ed Foster: 1:22

Hi, John, how you doing?

>> Andy: 1:23

Hi, Ed. How are you doing? All right? Yeah, good, thanks. Not too bad. So, for the benefit, the take, we're joined by Ed Foster, who, I don't think we've ever met in person, but you're sort of the voice face behind a lot of the Goodwood events. You do commentary and interviews and things like that on the grid, etc. Is that probably a summary of what you do? Goodwood?

>> Ed Foster: 1:40

yes. Yeah, I kind of fumble around in the dark like sort of my teenage self. I, I worked at Goodwood for two years.

>> Andy: 1:47

Okay.

>> Ed Foster: 1:48

And a great friend of mine, Henry Hope Frost, was killed his motorbike, while I was working there and he did the assembly area interviews and I remember the conversation with the production team and they said, Ed, could you do it? I said, I've done some podcasts and things, but I really don't think I can do live tv. And they said, well, there's literally no one else, so you have to do it. And I haven't been fired yet, so here I am. Yeah, I mean, 90% of the time I'm up in Scotland, working on the farm.

>> Andy: 2:11

So two different things. They following Clarkson's footsteps, or perhaps he's following in yours.

>> Ed Foster: 2:15

Well, do you know what? We laugh about this because my wife and I are watching the latest episode_e and they got pigs and we had pigs for the first time this year and everything we do is exactly the same as them. It'down to we're former motoring journalists, we're both divorced. Our new partners are ah, Irish women called Lisa. I'm not making this up, and it's extraordinary but I've never met Jeremy. I tried to get his email off, a mutual friend but I haven't had a reply yet. So I would just like to touch base with them and compare notes. We're going through the same hell as he.

>> Andy: 2:48

You haven't punched Piers Morgan yet then?

>> Ed Foster: 2:50

No, no, no, I'm not guilty of that. I haven't punched anyone.

>> Andy: 2:53

One to tick off.

>> Ed Foster: 2:54

Yeah, I'm very lame on that front.

>> Andy: 2:56

If he starts racing at Goodwood then yeah, there's a, there's an opportunity.

>> Ed Foster: 2:59

Yes, exactly. Yeah, I'll go and doorstep him in the assembly area.

>> Andy: 3:04

Do you want to give the day job a shout out? Is it the rind? The rind? Something along those lines.

>> Ed Foster: 3:08

Yeah, the rind, yeah. So it's basically, it's predominant, an arable farm up here but we've got a cafe that'sort of heroes local produce all made on site. we've got an event space that does kind of 40 to 50 weddings a year.

>> Andy: 3:22

Wow.

>> Ed Foster: 3:22

And then we've got r fitness, we've got a gym that's open seven days a week. We've got a clay shooting ground that does archery placeay shooting obviously and axe throwing U ah, short term farmhouse, we've got some forestry U just loads of different ways to lose money. But actually to be fair, we amazingly won diversification of the year at the British Farming Awards this year.

>> Andy: 3:42

Fantastic.

>> Ed Foster: 3:43

which is the awards that actually reallyily enough. Jeremy Clarkson and Caleb Cooper want something out a couple of years ago. so that's the day job. So I go from that to Goodwood or Silverston interviewing drivers and things. It's nice you get away from the farm and you realise there's actually a world outside.

>> Andy: 3:58

Indeed. Indeed. Well, yeah, thank you very much for joining us today. No problems, we'll jump into it. What's your earliest car memory?

>> Ed Foster: 4:05

good question. So I remember very clearly going out to the workshop with my dad to help him work on his race car.

>> Andy: 4:11

Okay.

>> Ed Foster: 4:12

Which at the time was Jaguar XK120 and I basically just sat around and got in the way. But I vividly remember that because it was an option of either going out to the stables with my mum or the workshop with my dad. So obviously it was workshop. My dad. Ive got very vivid memories of being sat in the back of that xk. There are no seats, obviously. There's two front seats, Y. but then theres just this kind of tiny little parcel shelf behind the seats. And I remember sitting in there, we used to go for quite long drives, like an hour down the road. Obviously highly illegal nowadays. Yeah, yeah, I remember that very well. And I remember my parents used to have lots of Fords. My dad loved Fords. So we went through Sierra and then I think we had a Sierra Cosworth at one point.

>> Andy: 4:55

Oh, very nice.

>> Ed Foster: 4:56

my mum then got a new Escort Cosworth.

>> Andy: 4:59

Okay.

>> Ed Foster: 4:59

Which she now she still has to this day.

>> Andy: 5:02

Wow. Oh, wow.

>> Ed Foster: 5:03

And age 60, she asked for the rear wing to be put back on for a bit more rear grip. And so that has actually just gone down. The guy that runs my MGB that I raised occasionally, a guy called Roy Gillingham, an absolute legend. Uncle Roy. He's now got the Cosworth and we're stripping it and rebuilding it. And it's never been chipped, raced, rallied anything. It's just done what all for do, which is rot.

>> Andy: 5:26

Yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 5:27

So we're sorting all of that and doing it properly. Refreshing the engine, refreshing the box, new suspension all around, standard suspension and then it'll be on the button again.

>> Andy: 5:35

What year is the Cosworth?

>> Ed Foster: 5:37

Oh, that would be 91, I think.

>> Andy: 5:39

Okay, nice.

>> Ed Foster: 5:40

Yeah. And I remember going back to school and it. And I loved going back to school because I used to go to school quite far away. And then my dad had the 13th lightweight E type, which is said they basically built kind of 12 lightweight T types of racing. And then a guy called up the factory, called Sir Henry Rotner and said, right, I want one of those race cars, but for the road. So Jaguar built him this semi lightweight E Type and he had that from, he bought that in the 80s, he swapped it for a standard V12 car and that was sold probably 10, 15 years ago. Ah. But I remember going back to school in that as well. And that was amazing because that was properly quick.

>> Andy: 6:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 6:16

I've got some, you know, some very lucky memories. And my dad loved cars and organised the historic motor tour, the courier cost tour up in Scotland.

>> Andy: 6:24

Okay.

>> Ed Foster: 6:25

And this was back in the late 80s before kind of motor tours were a thing because now you know, you can do a tour in every single country. There wasn't anything like that. and they used to get like 40 cars. So 80 people. 40 or 50 cars. And there were so many entries he could cherry pick which came. So if there were kind of six C types, he'd choose the Le man winner. Yeah. And you know, the most important GT Fort s and all this kind of stuff. And I remember them, they'd all arrived because a lot of them would be shipped from all over the country. They'd arrived the day before and they'd literally be parked in the farmeading at the back here.

>> Andy: 6:58

Do you still live on the family farm? Is that.

>> Ed Foster: 7:00

Yes. Yeaheah. I'm in a farm. I was just down the roadeah and there must have been probably at the time like 50 million quid worth of stuff. Obviously as a six year old. I didn't know. I just thought they looked really cool. I like the colour of that one. And it eventually came to a head when there were two. No, there were three cars overtaking two lorries and I think they were all caught doing over 100.

>> Andy: 7:21

Oh, wow.

>> Ed Foster: 7:22

And there was a policeman there with a gun and there was so many cars going so fast he didn't know where to point it. So he caught up with them all at lunch and basically had a bit of a word. And my dad, you know, he said it was just getting a bit over the top so then became a much smaller thing and called the Scottish Gathering and that. So my dad died five years ago, but he stopped doing it probably 10, 15 years ago. and they're still carried on by another guy and they go off after Arland theit pieces. But yeah, the Aura Cost Tour was. Was kind of one of the very early tours. So I was. Yeah, I've been surrounded by cars my entire life. I had no hope of doing anything else.

>> Andy: 7:53

Yeah. Do have any siblings at all?

>> Ed Foster: 7:55

I do. I've got an older brother and he's got the XK120 my dad's used to own.

>> Andy: 8:00

Oh, nice. Yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 8:01

So I got a brother and I've got a sister who likes cars but doesn't have the same disease as my brother and I do. The hugely debilitating car disease.

>> Andy: 8:11

So if we go back to, I guess the early days, maybe when you were kind of sort of just going to school. Except your parents, they were working as farmers. Were. They were. They were kind of doing that.

>> Ed Foster: 8:21

Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. So they moved here in 73. My grandfather owned the farm and so that time my mum would have been 23 and my dad would have been 25. So yeah, they moved here at that age as young farmers. And my last's my dad did his whole life he was a farmer. He did quite a lot of marketing stuff for Mulberry, which used to be owned by Roger Saul who's a big car fan.

>> Andy: 8:47

Okay.

>> Ed Foster: 8:48

And they used to do lots of kind of things. They'trying to do a S. Petersburg challenge by boat and air and things. So anyway, he did marketing for Marlberry but he was a farmer and he used to do maybe a couple of races a year max.

>> Andy: 9:00

Yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 9:01

But he loved it and he had a single seatater grand prix car, a 1948 Sima Gordini, which no one fitted in but him.

>> Andy: 9:07

You're quite tall, aren't you? So he wasn't that tall then, I guess.

>> Ed Foster: 9:10

Yeah, it's not great. I'm six foot seven. It's a bad height. Like Matt Neal actually looks quite small next to me. I in the assembly area he was racing a Mini at one of the Goodwood events and said matt, how do you fit in a Mini? You said ed, I don't race a Mini. I wear a Mini. Yeah. So that's basically me. I wear cars. Yeah. I don't get into them.

>> Andy: 9:35

we folded John into a Mini last year, wasn't it? Yeah. How tall you John? Six, four. Six, four and a half on a good day.

>> Ed Foster: 9:41

Yeah.

>> Andy: 9:41

I'm starting to wilt a bit now.

>> Ed Foster: 9:43

Right. Yeah. With the heels on.

>> Andy: 9:44

Yeah. Yeah. Friday night shoes. Yeah. No, it's not that bad though in a Mini to be fair.

>> Ed Foster: 9:50

Yeah.

>> Andy: 9:50

As a 6 foot 4 person.

>> Ed Foster: 9:52

But 6 foot 4 I feel is a good height. You're tall but not weird. Whereas I've gone into, into that weird bracket.

>> Andy: 9:58

I'm not going to say anything but.

>> Ed Foster: 10:00

Yeah, no, that's fine.

>> Andy: 10:00

Yeah. I think, I think there is a line that gets crossed and it does go from sort of tall to oh, he's tall. Basketballer.

>> Ed Foster: 10:07

Yeah.

>> Andy: 10:08

Yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 10:08

And that classic when anyone will come up to you like, oh, how tall are you? Or is the air thin up there?

>> Andy: 10:14

Yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 10:14

And did you think like it would be a bit wrong if someone was really sure to take the pac out of them but if you're tall it's totally fine.

>> Andy: 10:19

I've got a friend, well friends of my wife actually. And when we go to sort of birthday dues the dad of this friend often goes and he's sort of a southeast London chap every Time he sees me he's like oh well you been mate a grow bag. All that sort of thing and you know, all the classic stuff. Yeah. What's weather like up there?

>> Ed Foster: 10:37

Yeah, brilliant. Yeah. So good. I thing is that it is quite awkward at Goodwood because racing drivers and especially motorcycle riders are historically quite small. you know obviously talked about Matt Neal but he is really an exception to the rule and most of them are quite small and the worst is at the Festival of Speed because I did the interviews in the top paddock and the top paddock is on actually quite a slope.

>> Andy: 10:57

Yeaheah.

>> Ed Foster: 10:58

And the cameraman and the floor manager Steve wants to change things around a bit. So I always try and stand downhill from them but very occasionally they want us swapp. So I'm not always holding the mic in the same hand and it just looks awful. And you see the comments on YouTube. She'like how tall is this guy? What a weirdo. thanks guys. Yeah, that's me. They actually, they'get very quiet when you reply to them really politely.

>> Andy: 11:21

I think famously in the horse racing world Willie Carson used to stand on a box. Didn he? When he was next to Claire Balding. They used to do presenting so they'd sort of level it out a little bit because he's so short.

>> Ed Foster: 11:31

Yeah, yeah, they don't, they don't give me that luxury in the assembly area. There's a photo on my Instagram actually and it was with Emy Barclley and there were some other presenters as well there but we were all lined up at the end of the show. We, at the end of the show you all do a big closer. and it was at the members meeting and I wearing David Green was there as well and I was wearing my big overcoat that I wear at the members meeting and I literally looked like some kind of weird bouncer. I was just weird security off to the side of the shots. Yeah. Anyway it is what it is. I cant change it.

>> Andy: 12:01

You mentioned your mum's choice of cars and also your dads. They were both kind of very much sort of into vehicle. Like you don't accidentally buy an Escort Cosworth do use for running around. So your mum was obviously keen behind the wheel as well.

>> Ed Foster: 12:13

Yeah, yeah, she and she used to on the motor tour, she used to share the driving of the E type. but the Cosworth I remember my dad's obviously news of them came out that they were going to build them and up here there was a, there's a four door. There was a Ford dealership down the road and they could either have a white one or electric blue. And my momm said let's go for the electric blue. So they actually, they bought it new and yeah, my momm did everything in it as in she went to Tesco, she drove it down south, she just uses as a normal car. And we took the front and rear splitter off.

>> Andy: 12:42

Okay.

>> Ed Foster: 12:43

the little plastic kind of thing because that you can't go over a speed bump. And they're still sat in their plastic packaging in the sheds here.

>> Andy: 12:49

Wow.

>> Ed Foster: 12:49

And then the rear wing, my dad took off because he said it's just a police magnet. and that's why it was then put back on a few years ago. But it was just a normal car and it's weird. You guys will know what, you know what you grow up with is normal.

>> Andy: 13:04

Yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 13:05

So I found it o that other people didn't have Ford Co ve. Why wouldn't you? They're great and you can fit five people in them. And we used to go off on holidays to the west coast and theres obviously five of us and wed go sometimes go to France if the harvest had been good. Wed drive off to France and go off on the holiday there. and we used to go like 5 up in the Sierra But I remember the Sierra. I dont know if we did it in the Codssworth but to this day on a flight I sleep with my head on, my arms folded forward because my brother and sister would never let me lean on them either side of me and I was always in the middle. And Yeah, so no, but the Cosworth was brilliant. And then we had a lot of discoveries which we kind of finally nipped in the buds a few years ago. brilliant cars until they start having problems and then they're quite expensive. I think it's the politest way to put that. But yeah, that it'd be really nice to get the Cosworth going again. Roy's on the case and the rot is not too bad but it needs done and you know there the dampers are leaking and it just needs a bit of attention.

>> Andy: 14:01

Yeah, yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 14:01

But there amazing bits of cake. I think when they came out I'm sure there's a very short twisty circuit and it was quicker than an F40 around it got. And like a normal circuit I think it would have struggled with but it was something like. It wasn't Knock Hill but it was something like that Cadwell perhaps. Yeah. It could have been something like that. But actually, when you drive it now, and I drove it off to the west coast probably six years ago, it feels quite slow, you know, as in it's not slow, but compared to you can go and rent a car from Enterprise that's probably faster than a Ford Cosworth.

>> Andy: 14:30

Yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 14:30

Which is ridiculous.

>> Andy: 14:31

Especially if it's electric, I guess.

>> Ed Foster: 14:33

Well, yeah, you want. I've just sold my/et parlour. I had Dan Gurney's car from Silverson in 61 and I sold that to Justin Gurney, his son. Anyway, with some of that, I bought a, secondhan Rs6. I wanted something that I can go up and down to Goodwood and Silverston in, maybe do a track day in. This thing is mentally fast. I don't understand how it's legal because, you know, I. Obviously insurance is going to be a problem. M age 17, but even age 41, I get into that and it's ridiculous. It's 605 brake horsepower and it is so efficient. Know The Impala had 500 BR horsepower, but you couldn't use it 98% of the time because you had to be pointed straight and you know. Yeah, this thing is just. Any conditions you just put your foot down, it just goes'unbelievable.

>> Andy: 15:19

I remember just sort of talking about a story of speed being so intense. Rem My brother had a GTR when that first came out.

>> Ed Foster: 15:25

Yeah.

>> Andy: 15:26

I don't think he owned it. I think he had it for some reason for a short period. But I remember saying it was literally like a plan, you know, from stop to go. And I think it was so fast, he didn't really enjoy it. Yeah, Just kind of up strugling to control it a little bit sort of thing.

>> Ed Foster: 15:40

Yeah, I did hear that about the gtrs, is that they were just so fast. It was actually uncomfortable. Yeah. Because I've got a superbike while it's, a 2001 GSXR750. So by modern standards it's not that quick, but it's pretty quick. And, you know, when you ride that, which I rarely do, you do think, no wonder so many people end up in hospital on these things because it's so easy to go, A over the speed limit and B backwards into a hedge doing 150.

>> Andy: 16:05

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 16:06

You just hope that no one in government ever rides a superbike because realise.

>> Andy: 16:11

That, well, we could keep our fingers crossed. So they all ride super bikes.

>> Ed Foster: 16:15

Yes, there is ye. There is that. but, no, I mean, speed is Also it's always. I know it's a very well worn phrase but it's always more fun to drive a slow car fast than it is a fast car slow. And for many years I had an original 750cc FIA Panda and it was brilliant. And you just drive it everywhere, flat out and you don't break speed limit and you're sliding around all over the place. And there's a road from Glenn ch that comes down sort through the sort pretty much centre of Scotland down to Dundee.

>> Andy: 16:45

O okay.

>> Ed Foster: 16:46

And this road is just fantastic. It's such a good road and I did that in the Panda and because it's so little, it's like racing at Silverstone. The width of track you've got to play with is incredible. I mean, I crashed sort of three times with a wheel up on the Blrge but I was only doome 30, 40 miles an hour. But it was just the most fun I think I've had. It was in my top five car experiences. It was just brilliant. I sadly had to sell it to buy something that was slightly less tiring on long journeys. But brilliant. Yeah. I can highly recommend them.

>> Andy: 17:15

I think the noise you get from a slow car is often the sort of the key feature, isn't it?

>> Ed Foster: 17:19

Yeah.

>> Andy: 17:20

Because even if you're going slow and it's making so much noise, it sort of enhances the experience.

>> Ed Foster: 17:24

That's because they're always revved. You only use the last 500 revs and that's it.

>> Andy: 17:29

It'just screaming.

>> Ed Foster: 17:31

Yeah, exactly.

>> Andy: 17:32

So if you take us back to the. Yeah, maybe the Sierra or something if you're going off on a trip. Did you have the radio on? Do you have music on in the car? What was the.

>> Ed Foster: 17:39

Yeaheah. So my wife and I were laughing about this the other day. we used to have. There were tapes obviously back then.

>> Andy: 17:45

Yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 17:46

And Dire Straits was a big one. Chris Rea, Kat Stevens and then who else did my mum listen to? Those were the three main ones. And to this day, when Caat Stevens Greatest Hits comes on, I can start singing the next song before the last one's finished. You know, when you know an album that well.

>> Andy: 18:04

Yep. Ingrained.

>> Ed Foster: 18:05

and Chris Rea came on a Spotify playlist the other day and I just knew all the way. She was like, how do you know the words to this? I like. Well, it was one of three tapes and then the crushing blow was. I must have been pretty young. I don't know when Joseph and the Amazing Tenicolored Dream coat came out. But I was pretty young and I seem to remember being taken to it when Jason Donovan was still Joseph. And we got the tape afterwards and that went in the Ford Maverick, which was the farm 4x4. Anyway, this thing got stuck and I don't know how it ever happened, but the radio didn't work and you couldn't turn it off. So the only thing you can do is get the volume down a bit. So you always had Joseph and the Amazing technicored Dreamcoat playing in the fort Maverick.

>> Andy: 18:47

It must be God's work, Ed. It must be God's work.

>> Ed Foster: 18:49

It was got to the point where actually no one on the farm drove it and I don't want to drive it.

>> Andy: 18:54

I'll cycle tried it in.

>> Ed Foster: 18:55

Ah. And I didn't mind it. And it just 'kind of like Potter over the background. So that was another one that I sadly know all the words to. But even before kind of. Yeah. See, actually the Cosworth had a CD player, I think.

>> Andy: 19:06

Yessc Sc my.

>> Ed Foster: 19:07

I guess I can't remember. It's definitely tape. S Definitely tape. but I don't know whether it's got an extra CD player. But I remember there was a black box, you know, one of those kind of boxes about sort of, I don't know, 20 centimetres long and it had one of those little metal catches and you had all the tapes lined up. Yeahuse I My first car was a Mini Moe.

>> Andy: 19:23

Oh, wow.

>> Ed Foster: 19:24

Yeah. And that had no sound system at all. So I had a CD player on the passenger seat. But obviously every time you went over any sort of bump, it stopped.

>> Andy: 19:32

Yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 19:33

So I ended up just playing tapes in that. And the batteres would last for about an hour. You got an hour of music on any long trip. And those massive CD cases, they're just a thing of the past now. And I had a big kind

of almost a 3: 19:44

1 y with all the cds put in and you then lose all the covers.

>> Andy: 19:49

Yeah. I think you're still living that dream, aren't you, Andy? Haven't you got a wallet in your car? I have, yeah. I've still got c. I've got 94 4. I've still got CD player in that. And then. Yeah. I refuse to give up the cds.

>> Ed Foster: 19:59

Yeah. Oh, it's brilliant.

>> Andy: 20:00

What I really enjoy is you go to a charity shop and you can buy kind of all the albums from kind of back in the day. But for a quid.

>> Ed Foster: 20:07

Yeah.

>> Andy: 20:07

Amazing. So you can come back and it's like a 50 pound HMV haul and you've spent less than a fiver.

>> Ed Foster: 20:12

Yeah, well nowadays they're just all free, aren't they? On Spotify. As long as you can put up with some ads.

>> Andy: 20:16

Yeah, the magic's gone. Yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 20:17

progress is great. But I do, I miss those days where you. Before you left you had to choose the CD because actually trying to leaf through all the CDS on the passenger seat was. It was a nightmare. So you had to choose like what am I going to listen to between now and Edinburgh? And that was it.

>> Andy: 20:31

You'd be halfway through, wouldn't you? And then you'd get to a traffic light and they'd all fly into the footwell.

>> Ed Foster: 20:36

Ye.

>> Andy: 20:37

You'd have one in your mouth, your CD player open. You'd be trying to fish them all around.

>> Ed Foster: 20:42

Yeah, yeah. The tape in the mouth and then. Yah. The eject. Pressing the fast forward and rewind button at the same time off of the tape.

>> Andy: 20:50

Ye.

>> Ed Foster: 20:50

Yeah, yeah. Oh. What all the young kids nowadays, what. What they're missing, they got no idea. And the slightly rubbish knot. The sound was terrible. M. I don't know when car stereos got better but it can't mean until the early 2000s because I didn't remember the Codssworth was you at the time. It was like oh wow. The sounds amazing. It wasn't. It was pretty terrible.

>> Andy: 21:10

Tiny at best.

>> Ed Foster: 21:11

Yeah, exactly, yeah. And they were rubbish for a long time but I remember just thinking they were the coolest thing ever. You know you got speakers in the car.

>> Andy: 21:19

Well, speakers in the back. Wasn't it like you might have them in the front but not in the back or vice versa.

>> Ed Foster: 21:23

Yeah, yeah, yeah. There was one car I remember driving, I think it might have been the Panda, where only the passenger sides speaker worked being the driver's side. You had to turn it up much louder.

>> Andy: 21:32

Yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 21:32

And so anyone who then got into the passenger seat was deafened. They. Why is the T music so nice?

>> Andy: 21:38

You said your first car was a Mini Moe, Ed. Did you learn to drive on the farm, presumably?

>> Ed Foster: 21:43

I did, yeah. So my brother is seven years older than me. Don't know why he got a Mini Moe to start with. I don't know why that was a thing, but it was a. It was an Australian moat. Californian. So it had a 1275 engine, it had bigger wheels, had a really cool rhubar rollover bar, a back rooar, whatever you call that. And then it had this canvas roof that came forward and popped on and then zip on doors and it was just the coolest thing. And my brother then progressed to a Mini and I then learned to drive in the mini moat on the farm.

>> Andy: 22:14

Okay.

>> Ed Foster: 22:14

I remember it to this day we were outside the cornstall at the back of the farm and my father said right you're go goingn drive. So he swapped seats and I remember he said now there's lots of things I need to teach you but you really need to know how to double dec clutch in heel and toe. So I don't even know how to change gear. There was this very awkward kind of first few lessons where he was determined that I should heel and toe. But yeah, I couldn't even change Ge.

>> Andy: 22:37

How old are you at this point?

>> Ed Foster: 22:38

I must have been 14 or something. 13. 14. and then I passed. But living in the countryside you want to pass your test or certainly when we did it like you wanted to pass your test immediately and I think I passed my test two months after my 17th birthday because then sudden you had freedom.

>> Andy: 22:55

Yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 22:55

There are some buses that go past the end of the road but they're pretty few and far between so if you wanted to do anything or see any friends you had to pass your test. So then I was on the road with the Minim mo and I kind of drove everywhere in it. I went off to the west coast. I wanted to do a road trip to France but my father said this'ridiculous don't do it. And we, we were at loggerheads and eventually I remember he just removed all the wheels of the car and just hid them so I could't. Okay, cool. I'm not going then. Yeah, I was furious.

>> Andy: 23:23

You have just taken the keys. Couldn't he. You went the whole hog and just take all the wheels?

>> Ed Foster: 23:26

Well yeah, I think he wanted to make a point. Yeah. And I seem to remember you could start it without the keys. which is probably part of the reason why you didn't want me to drive to the side of France. and then that I drove through a fence and into two trees. we would. We had a racet trackck in one of the fields and wet grass turns out very slippy.

>> Andy: 23:46

Same at Goodwood?

>> Ed Foster: 23:46

Yeah, yeah. and then we went to sell it. It was all, it was all working and it was, you know it wasn't the original colour, anything like that but it was, it was also. It looked really cool. I think we sold it for £4,000 anyway through the Mini Moak owners club a few years ago. I thought everyone wants to own their first car don't they? Or certainly. I I just think it's a lovely kind of thing. Oh, that's my first civ ever car. So I managed to track down the current owners of the car.

>> Andy: 24:11

Wow.

>> Ed Foster: 24:11

And they've returned it to kind of concourse condition. It, it's bright yellow now rather than black with a red roof and it's got thinner wheels and you know, smaller engine and it's all kind of bit that's cool in my opinion. It's much more original Anyway, they wanted 25,000 for. It's not like. Yeah, okay. Shesh y so I don't think I'll ever ownw my first car again.

>> Andy: 24:32

It's incredible, isn't it? Do you remember u, kids at school with kind of interesting vehicles, kind of parents turning up and stuff, which was either really interesting or dire.

>> Ed Foster: 24:40

So I went to a school down in London and there used to be this speech day or the site open day once a year in the summer and everyone would like play sports and there was. Everyone would have a picnic. Everyone would line their cars around the games pitches and have picnics.

>> Andy: 24:55

Oay.

>> Ed Foster: 24:56

And I remember that that was the time when everyone turned up when they're cool cars. But my parents would always fly down to London and rent a car. So for five years, guys, please, please can you bring the E Type or the Cosworth or something? And they never did. And I remember there, I remember very clearly an F40 seeing an F40 for the first time and that was just. I dont know if supercarss are like this anymore because they're kind of. You see so many of them. But back then I dont t remember ever seeing supercars. You saw them in magazines and that was it. And then so seeing this F40 come in onto the cricket pitches and everyone just stopped. And obviously all the parents were like, don't make a big deal out of it. It's ours is just as cool. And all the kids just ran over. And I remember that very clearly. But I'd love the kind of kids reaction to cars because it's not polluted by politics or a sense of injustness with the world or whatever it is. When young kids see a cool car, they love it. And I just went to Lamborghini to do a tour there, factory things many years ago. And it was when the Eventeror, the soft top Aventador had just come out.

>> Andy: 26:05

Okay.

>> Ed Foster: 26:06

And they'guiding the tour. So look, do you want to take the Aventador for a drive? Yeah, I'd Love to. And he said there's a route programmed in the sat nav so just follow that, be an hour and a half, two hours. And don't worry too much about the police because we have an agreement with them. So we set off. sorry, I set off and I remember the route kind of took me into this little village and the words. Everyone stopped what they were doing and gave you a thumbs up or clapped and the kids especially, they all came to the edge of their playground and were cheering as you went past. It was a lovely reminder of what cars can do and the feelings they give you. And I think as you get older know there's always this sort of like, you know, what an idiot in his bright yellow Lamborghini with tinted windows and D. yeah. And I don't know, I love all cars and if someone wants to own a tv, good for them because it's lovely to see one that's not reversed into the hedge, broken down in a garage. If they're happy to keep it on the road then that's great. But I think it. Sometimes cars just, they get a bit political and that's sad.

>> Andy: 27:12

Yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 27:12

And you notice it when as a journalist if you borrow a ferari off the press office no one lets you out to junctions in the uk.

>> Andy: 27:19

Really.

>> Ed Foster: 27:20

Yeah, everyone hates you.

>> Andy: 27:21

Okay.

>> Ed Foster: And I, I borrowed a Oh, it was a 4: 27:22

58 I think it was and I was coming back into London and the Ferrari press office was either up the M40 or down the M4 one of the two and I was coming back into London got to kind of where you get over the Hammersead flyover and you start getting to all these traffic lights and this white van pulled up next to me and they wound down their window and they just started hurling abuse at me and I just, I was like guys this its not even my car, Im just borrowing this. But yeah, it was a really odds. Whereas if you drive, I think in Italy, Italy I used to live in for a couple of years writing for a car magazine out there. So I know that a bit better than France but they loved it and sorry, Im rambling but when the Nissan 350Z soft top came out I drove that from Milan down to just south of Florence and I wasn't speeding too badly on the altorala but suddenly these lights behind me, it's the police and they pull me in. Oh God. Anyway transpired that they just hadn't seen one yet so we got chastic about it and they said, so, how fast is it? And I said, do you know what? I don't actually know because I, I haven't read all the specs and things. They said, what do you want to find out? okay. And they said, look, follow us. We'll have a light on the outside lane, just follow us and let's see what it does. And it got to about 120 miles an hour. And I just remember thinking like this, this is ridiculous. And I hate myself to this day. I pulled in slowed down. It was all too mental for me. But you know, it's. Italians love cars. It's brilliant. I love it.

>> Andy: 28:46

Fantastic. Did you find out who owned the F40?

>> Ed Foster: 28:49

No, no, no, I can't remember. I just have. I just vividly remember it driving into the. Because it was obviously bit. I think it was a bit awkward for them because there was obviously probably a little bit of a bump going into the field. And then they were hugely panicked about probably scraping it, removing the exhaust, causing £20,000 worth of damage. but at the time it was just, it was one of those moments that was, yeah, really cool. sadly, a car I will never own, but, well, I might win the lottery.

>> Andy: 29:14

Yeah. They're beyond pretty much everyone's reach, aren't they now?

>> Ed Foster: 29:17

Yeah, it depends who you talk to. But it's the same with lots of cars that buying it is one thing and then you hear these horror stories is like, ah, well, you see, if that seal goes, they have to remove the engine, the gearbox, the D D and It's a, 15,000 pound job. And. Oh God, I just. Yeah, yeah.

>> Andy: 29:34

Even if you could manage the million pounds to buy it.

>> Ed Foster: 29:37

Yeah. It's just.

>> Andy: 29:38

You don't even see those anymore, do you? No, people would be too scared to even take them out into the wild.

>> Ed Foster: 29:44

There's, the drummer from Pink Floyd, Nick Mason. he has this kind of really weird outlook that only someone very well off can have.

>> Andy: 29:51

Okay.

>> Ed Foster: 29:52

His argument is that it makes more sense racing a Ferrari GTO than it does in mgb.

>> Andy: 29:58

Interesting.

>> Ed Foster: 29:58

Yeah. Wait for it. And I was like, Nick, do tell me why. I'm struggling with that one. Because he said if you crash the gto, there's never any question of whether or not you lose the car. And it's just a wreck, you're always going to rebuild it. And the cost of rebuilding it, say, is at, ah, the time was £300,000 or something like that. If you wreck it badly on the raised circuit, which is a tiny percentage of its value. Whereas an mgb, if you reckon mgb, it could be very quickly cost more to put together than it actually worth. so he said that, you know, racing a car that if you damage it's not going to be worth repairing, doesn't make any sense. So I can kind of see where he's coming from. But it'pretty tenuous, you know, you could.

>> Andy: 30:37

Buy 10 MGBs, couldn't you? And more for the price of fixing the Ferrari.

>> Ed Foster: 30:42

Yes, exactly. Yeah. It was sort of slightly old math, but anyway, I sort of got it.

>> Andy: 30:47

How did you get into racing then? I guess your father could. Did he push you or you were pulling on his arm to say, take me racing?

>> Ed Foster: 30:53

No, I was, I was keen to do it but it was never carting or anything like that was never an option. And when we first started ra, I was 18, I think, and my dad said, right, I think we should be racing an MGB because can get the parts easily, theyre cheap to run and theyll be worth something when you want to come and sell them. Unl My brother did fiesta xr twos @ Knock H which is basically a contact sport and I remembered he had a real struggle selling his. So my father was like, right, let's try an mgb because you can always sell it.

>> Andy: 31:25

Yeah, yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 31:25

And I'd had to do the work to turn it into a race car. So the engine was standard, gearbox was standard and we basically. I redid the suspension, I had to weld in a roll cage. But the sill on an mgb, are literally like a piece of a four, they're so thin.

>> Andy: 31:39

Oh, wow.

>> Ed Foster: 31:39

And I remember welding all of this with my mate Paddy and every time we touched the wel it just burnedt a hole through the sill, know. And so we finally got it all done but in any holes we kind of filled up with a bit of filler Anyway, it was raised sat and everyone believes, I don't care who you are, everyone thinks they're going to be the next Michael Schumacher. And you go, you think, you know what? I Im pretty quick on the road. So when I get let loose on this race circuit, I think I'm going toa be picked up as a professional driver because quite frankly I'm awesome. And I went out for practise in every single car at me and it's like I was stood still and it was just, it was one of those sudden realisations. You're like, I am so rubbish at this. and I remember going out for the race after qualifying and my dad said, look, well done and qualifying, let's just see if you can get a bit of heat in the tyres this time. Anyway, so it started there and slowly got going. Racing, a knock hill, Oh, it was great. I loved it and I loved doing it. My dad. And actually it was the day before getting the car on the trailer, getting all the bits together and going through the checklist and the early start, you know, and your new race suit, which is just the most exciting bit of clothing you ever get. And I still, I still get that, you know, when I go off to race now, it's no more serious but, you know, when I'GETTING my race bag from my room, it's just an amazing. It's just, it's exciting, you know.

>> Andy: 32:58

Yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 32:58

There are very few things in life, I think, that will stop you thinking about anything else. You know, if you go for an amazing drive, if you get to a really exciting bit of road, you haven't got anything in front of you and you've got to really concentrate on this little twisty section. You'll concentrate.

>> Andy: 33:12

Yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 33:12

But most things in life, you're like, oh, I haven't replied to that email or o, I've got to call them back or I've got to do that. And racing is one thing where you leave the pit lane and you think about nothing else for the time you're in the car. Absolutely nothing. And I love that about it.

>> Andy: 33:27

Is that the car you still race or have you got a.

>> Ed Foster: 33:29

No, no, no, not that trap. Go Andy. Ye. We sold that. so the car that I race at the moment is. I mentioned my dad had a 1948 Simica Gordini and no one fed in it, it was so small. And he was racing his XK at Le Mans in the Legends race. I think my brother was sharing the driving with him and the XK was always on drum brakes and he was going down the mill sand and he was hard on the brakes and apparently this MGB came past him still flat out.

>> Andy: 33:58

Wow.

>> Ed Foster: 33:58

not even approaching its braking zone. He was like, I want to get one of those. Because they're cheap to demands comparatively and they're easy to run. Everyone knows how to run them. So he wanted to get a, like a works car because then he said you could then still do the Laore Legends Race or any of the important historic races around the worldus. You've got an important mgb despite the fact that it's cheaper than a Standard E type, you know, is better. So he found this one for sale by Anthony Bamford, who in a weird twist of fate, now owns my dad's old lightweight TE type.

>> Andy: 34:30

Okay.

>> Ed Foster: 34:30

And he did a deal to buy the MGB off Fantasy Bamfords. And I think he bought it at auction in the 90s and had completely redone it because it was a bit of a wreck. Completely redone it into a really quick racer.

>> Andy: 34:43

Nice.

>> Ed Foster: 34:44

And it was the test and development car that Roger Reiver and Alec Pool raced a lot, especially in 67. They did the thousand kilometres of the Nururgring. loads of stuff in it.

>> Andy: 34:53

Yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 34:54

So then we started racing that together. We did the Spa six hours together.

>> Andy: 34:57

Oh, nice. Yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 34:58

Which was amazing. So I flew up from Milan. I was living there at the time. My brother and father drove the car out on the trailer and they got to, I think it was Newcastle you got the ferry from. Anyway, the ferry guys are like, no, no, you've got jerry cans. You can't have jerry cans. It's now to fill the 100 litre tank with fuel. Anyway, we arrive at spark and push this car into the pits and we're next to us, there's a team of guys and white overalls and they said, o, where's your team? So it'just us. Anyways, we forgot to take the fuel act before qualifying. So I got out first and I remember going through poo. I like, whoa. And we qualified, I think 75th out of 90. I mean, we were right at the back and my brother has one of those calculator in the shape of a massive smarty. And I remember we were sat in the pits when I trying to work out, it was like, okay, so if we're using a litre of fuel for every lap and we all literally, we had like pages and pages of pages of we thought we got this nailed. And I went out, did two hours, My father went out, did two hours, you had to buy tickets to then hand over to the fuel guys and they then basically filled up what tickets you had bought.

>> Andy: 36:06

Okay.

>> Ed Foster: 36:06

So my father comes in, hands over the tickets so we thought would get us to the end of the race. And they hand them all back and they're like, mate, you're full again. And it turns out we could have done the whole race on one tank. but we finished, I think 36th or something. So we kept plotting around. Anyway, so the reason for that story is that it's the one race that my father, brother and I all did together. And my Father. I think his Parkinson's had arrived by then.

>> Andy: 36:29

Okay.

>> Ed Foster: 36:30

Because we used to joke my brother and I when he got out of the car he was just in cuckoo land for a bit. And actually that was obviously the start of his Parkinson's. It's m a very special car to me because this is one car I've raced with my dad. And then the last probably five years I decided to spend more time and effort on racing. So Roy I mentioned has been kind of slowly improving the car and then I've had some pointers from Nick Padmore and then it all culminated with the MGB race at revival in 2022ever.

>> Andy: 36:59

Is that the one you won? I saw you won a race like.

>> Ed Foster: 37:02

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well yeah. Everyone else fell off to be fair. Yeah, I mean I've never won anything so that was extraordinary but it was just really cool to kind of tick that box. and I still, I was acting it Silverston this year and finally got on the podium of a keep which has taken quite a few years. And then brand hach the head gasket went and then we did a test day at Donington with a couple of my mates ca because there's a six hour race next year at Donington and they've never driven an historic car. They hill climb a caterm and I said let'd be really cool if we did this all together. And it was so alien to them when they first got in because there's no grip but when you turn it in the bat kind of drops down and because the tires are quite deep it rolls over on the tyres.

>> Andy: 37:48

Okay.

>> Ed Foster: 37:48

On cy and then it starts to slide and so to start with I don't think they liked it very much but by the end of the day we couldn't get them out of the car. So.

>> Andy: 37:55

Do you have any children of your own, Ed?

>> Ed Foster: 37:57

I do, yes. I've gotm Siena who's four and she lives her mum down in London but comes up here kind of every couple of months.

>> Andy: 38:03

Yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 38:04

And then we've got 21 week old.

>> Andy: 38:06

Oh wow. Okay.

>> Ed Foster: 38:07

She's basically the kind of four, five months. and Olivia and I was.

>> Andy: 38:11

Going to ask if the legacy is going to continue but I suppose it's a little bit too early to tell this stage.

>> Ed Foster: 38:16

Yeah, it's a bit early. And a part of me would love to do a race with one of them. Part of me would also hate it if they get into carartting.

>> Andy: 38:22

Oh yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 38:24

It's a Lot of money. And there was.

>> Andy: 38:26

I was hearing it cheaper to raise a Ferrari, I heard.

>> Ed Foster: 38:28

Yes. Makes it makes more financial sense. Andy.

>> Andy: 38:31

10 milg?

>> Ed Foster: 38:34

Oh, God. Yeah, it would be. It'd be really cool to do it, but my parents never forced me into racing and I would never kind of force me into it. But it's, you know, I think as parents, you'd always want to do something like that with your kids, you know, your big passion. You know, if your big passion is classastic cars, you're going to want to go on a road trip or do a rally with your children at some point.

>> Andy: 38:53

Yeah, yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 38:54

It's just what you do, whether it's horses or tidly wininks or chest or, you know. Yeah, I think we're quite selfish beings like that.

>> Andy: 39:00

Is there a car from your parents back catalogue that you wish you could get a hold of?

>> Ed Foster: 39:04

Yeah, the E type, definitely. Yeah, I did. I'NEVER it's so valuable now. There's nowhere I'll ever afford it, but if I won the lottery, that would be the first car I try and get back.

>> Andy: 39:14

Nice.

>> Ed Foster: 39:14

And it was sad selling the Impala, actually, because I bought it unseen as a wreck. But I knew it was Dan Gurney's car. It had a letter from Dan Gurney saying that this was his car and everything checked out. And so I've done. I did loads of stuff with that, you know, went out the revival with Dario Frankitti driving it. it went up the hill at the Festival of Speed. I've driven it the length of the country. I did grass auto test in it up here. won the classic V8 class of one car. It's not a big, not a big category in grass auto test.

>> Andy: 39:46

I can imagine.

>> Ed Foster: 39:47

And I did a track de at Knock Hill and I wasn't using it that much. And Justin always said, you know, if you want to sell it, call me first. It was amazing. Bit of kit.

>> Andy: 39:55

I was going to ask you something else. I was going to ask you the E, the E type, have you driven it? Obviously you know who owns it. You've been out in it as an adult.

>> Ed Foster: 40:03

I drove it once when my dad still owned it. And that must have been 2010.

>> Andy: 40:09

Yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 40:09

Because it was sold in 2011 and it was pinking a bit and so you couldn't kind of drive it properly, but I did. I drove it for like 45 minutes.

>> Andy: 40:19

Nice.

>> Ed Foster: 40:19

I remember I had to take the cushion out of the bottom of the seat to fit. John will know what im m talking about Y and it was just really cool. But I think because my dad owned it, he swapped it for this V12 car in 81 or 82. So it was literally, it was a part of my Dad's life for 30 years.

>> Andy: 40:35

Yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 40:36

Certainly the entire time that I remember my dad, he had the E type.

>> Andy: 40:40

Yeah, yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 40:40

And he was always known as. Oh, oh, your dad's got the Ropner E type, hasn't he? And all the kind of photos in the house of him. Not all the photos of him, but all the photos of him in a car really of him and the E type.

>> Andy: 40:50

Yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 40:51

So I think, yeah, there's an element to that but there's actually, there's quite a fun. I've got a, Series 2 Land Rover which my dad bought in 1971 in Australia.

>> Andy: 41:02

Oh, wow.

>> Ed Foster: 41:02

And it was an Australian export car. So they used to ship them over to Sydney flat packed.

>> Andy: 41:07

Yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 41:07

And then they had an assembly part, called Press Metal Sydney.

>> Andy: 41:10

Yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 41:11

And they assembled them, want to avoid the tax. And he bought that in 71 after it had been used by under the university, I can't remember which. And they used to use it for driving around the country. So then my dad did two 10,000 mile trips around Australia in it.

>> Andy: 41:26

Oh, wow.

>> Ed Foster: 41:26

Both with mates. And the second one my mum went on and they got engaged on the trip. And then after that trip my dad gave it to my uncle who lived in Australia and he had it ever since. And whenever I saw my uncle I used to say, frankly, if you ever want to sell that Land Rover, I'd love to buy. He said, honestly, it's a wreck. and it'll cost you more to ship than it's worth. I said, I know, but it's just, you know. And he died two bit years ago and left it to me. So I got it shipped over during COVID Just quite expensive. and I've basically been kind of returning to as it was in 71.

>> Andy: 41:57

Fantastic.

>> Ed Foster: 41:58

And it's got, you know, all the bag tanks on the front and the jerry cans and the ropes. And I've, now got the engine sorted. It's got longer diffs. I can cruise at 70 miles an hour. So I drove down to Goodwood with it.

>> Andy: 42:07

Oh, wow.

>> Ed Foster: 42:08

And drove to Wales in it a couple of weeks ago. went off to DS in it and it's just. Yeah, it's great and I love it. And on the farm it's either filled with fence posts or dogs or whatever. and that'that's quite nice. That's, you know, got almost more of a family connection than the E type. So, I think with my budget restraints, a, Series 2 Land Rover is really what we're talking about. Not a lightw way C type.

>> Andy: 42:28

Just never sell that one, Ed.

>> Ed Foster: 42:30

No, no, I won't. I said, the awful thing is I've also probably spent about 10 grand more on it than it's worth. That's not counting my time. But yeah, that's an absolute keeper.

>> Andy: 42:39

Priceless though, isn't it?

>> Ed Foster: 42:41

Yeah, yeah. The only people that it is actually worth something to in the world really as myself, my mum.

>> Andy: 42:47

Ye.

>> Ed Foster: 42:47

It's interesting. When it came back to Scotland, had arrived in April and it was pouring with rain, it was really sad and tired and it just hadnt had any kind of money or anything spent on it. And I got it started and I got my mum from the house and we went down the road and the vents you get in those in the Land Rovers that, didnt change for about 40 years. She said, God, I remember these because you either had them open and you got covered in dust or you had them closed and you just got really hot. But she slept across the back of the car and my dad's had loads of 8 mil film.

>> Andy: 43:19

Ye.

>> Ed Foster: 43:19

And I got all that digitised about four years ago and on it was loads of footage of the Land Rover, in Australia. And actually on my Instagram I cut the Land Rover stuff together. Ok. And just put it up as a video and it's just, it's amazing having that footage. It's very cool.

>> Andy: 43:32

Fantastic. Brian, I think that's a really nice place to wrap it up. Yeah, thank you very much. Really cool. Some brilliant stories.

>> Ed Foster: 43:38

No, so I feel as I've just waffled, so I apologise.

>> Andy: 43:41

That's the idea. We start you off and we kind of windind you up and just see where you go really obviously with a little bit of steering. But, yes, some lovely stories in there. I've got a soft spot for E types. My dad had a series one and a half, when I was about ten it was primrose yellows. So, yeah, we did some car shows and stuff in that and then he sold it. But yeah, that's kind of on my hit list. I've got nowhere to put a car with a bonnet that size. But yeah, one day, yeah, I do.

>> Ed Foster: 44:04

I just think E types are just really cool and it's very rare you come across someone who'like oh, I don't like E types.

>> Andy: 44:11

No.

>> Ed Foster: 44:11

It'very rare. You get of all other types of cars, there's always someone's like o you don't want to touch those or I wouldn't want something big and American and V8. But E types, everyone kind of likes them. I looked at them, recently because I thought if I sell them part I d be nice to have something I could still use. But they're so expensive. The running costs I don't think are too bad. But I was looking at the racing ones and there'for a brand new engine, if you haven't got any bits for your engine, if it properly explodes, it's £75,000 for an engine.

>> Andy: 44:40

Wow.

>> Ed Foster: 44:40

And that's a pre 63 racing.

>> Andy: 44:42

Yeah, yeah.

>> Ed Foster: 44:43

Who has that? I don't understand these guys. It's amazing that there are people out there who want to race a, 2008 Peugeot, LMP1 car. Incredible. You know, it's amazing because we're so lucky that someone wants to spend their money on that, you know, what on them for obviously making enough money to raise these E types door handle to door handle when they're worth 200,000 upwards ye and you know, that's the kind of repair bill and they're doing kind of five races a weekend in five different cars.

>> Andy: 45:10

Incredible.

>> Ed Foster: 45:11

Yeah. It's another world. But hats off to them.

>> Andy: 45:12

Quite the hobby, isn't it?

>> Ed Foster: 45:14

Yeah. But you might have do the euro.

>> Andy: 45:16

Millions, not just, the uk.

>> Ed Foster: 45:18

Yes. The lottery is not going to get you there, John. Yeah, yeah. Although guys, thank you so much and I'm sorry I, waffled.

>> Andy: 45:26

It was absolutely fine. That was great. Yeah, thank you very much, Ed. Thanks, Ed.

>> Ed Foster: 45:30

Not at all, guys. Thank you so much.

>> Andy: 45:31

Nice to meet you. Take care.

>> Ed Foster: 45:32

yeah, cheers, you too. Bye. Bye.

>> Andy: 45:34

There we go. There were some stories in there, wasn't there? Lovely. M really good. I like that. Enjoyed it. Yesah. Some Jaguar racing cars and Escort Cosworth's kind of early on, I think we sort of set the stage pretty well. Yeah, yeah, definitely. I'd forgotten how tall Ed was. When I was at the revival, the person that I was with, he m actually said, oh, about Ed, he said he actually does some racing as well. I remember I saying at the time, obviously his frame and getting into small cars is impressive. Yeah, indeed. Yeah. And needs's a Kango or something. Yeah. Very high roof on those. Yeah, yeah. yeahj I enjoyed that. And see the Land Rover story at the end was really touching actually. And yeah, we almost kind of didn't get it no, but, That's a classic story, isn't it, about a car that's not really of any value to most people, but, invaluable to. To Ed, obviously, and his mum. Yeah, absolutely. That'sah huge sentimental value and yeah, hopefully, obviously he's on the farm. Kind of sounds like he's got a bit of storage there that can be kept in his family for generations and generations. Exactly, yeah. Nice bit of recycling. Indeed. Yeah. we're going to put all, the government out on superbikes. So that sounds like a. Yeah, it. Could be your scheme, Andy, if you run for. Run your own party or something down in East Sussex. If I'm then a politician, I'm going to get sent out on some sort of crazy crotch rocket. Well, you can say it'll be your. One of your early schemes if you get into power, you'll make all other rival politicians ride motor, have to use those as their mode of transport. Yeah. So, yeah, yeah, thoroughly enjoyable lots to take in. And yeah, the Escort Cosworth's a brilliant story of. Yeah, the F40H school. Yeah. U Proper poster car, isn't it, that one? Especially from our era. That's the one. I think if I had gazillions of pounds and somewhere to put it, then. Yeah, that's the one I'd buy probably over anything. yeah, it's around about the same age as us, isn't he? And yeah, I think that era of like late 80s, early 90s, the F40. It was always the F40 and the Lamborghini Countach, wasn't it? And then to the Dialo. Yeah. But as you say, the F40 is probably the one that you would want, isn't it? Out of those, there's the Porsche 959. Which is kind of the other one. Yeah, yeah. It's a bit of a speed king, wasn't it, at the time? I, yeah, I'm into Porsches and I can completely understand it and actually far more practical than any of the others. I know people who have had them or have got them or know of them are not kind of personal friends with them, so to speak, but they do use them. They've kind of driven them some serious distance and they do crop up at events. I'm not sure I've ever seen one thinking about it. But yeah, it's the. The shock factor. It's the F40 kind of. You see that and you break your neck pretty much trying to look at it. Yeah. The Testera was Doing the rounds back then as well, wasn't it? That sort of that era? Yeah, yeah. You saw a few more of those.

>> Ed Foster: 48:22

On the road though.

>> Andy: 48:22

I don't know what the price point difference was, but, Yeah, far less common to see. I don't know whether I've ever seen an F40 driving. No, I've seen them at events. Yeah, that's kind of when a Ferrari was a Ferrari suppose. Whereas now. Yeah, they do kind of blend in, don't they? All the new stuff. It's funny, I was walking out of football earlier in the week, just going through the car park. There's a bright yellow mark 3 Ford Escort Estate just randomly there I've never seen before. Oh, wow. I just sort of. Yeah. Really turned my head where if it was like a supercar or something, I probably wouldn't even have batt an eyelid, you know. Monday Mark 3 EST Escort. Yeah, that trumps the the supercar. Yeah. Fantastic. Okie dokeie. Yeah. So thanks to Ed Foster. Yeah. If you're a regular at Goodwood, you'll have kind of be familiar with his work. We'll put some links in the description below for his farm business cafe type doodad. Yeah. Cool. Thank you very much, John. Thank you. We'll wrap it up and roll the credits. Thank you for listening to my lastct. I hope you enjoyed the show. Please support us. Buy a coffee and m subscribe and tell all your friends. Bye.