iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 20/09/2026

Here it is parked near to a rather less rare car. Clearly another member of the Park As Far Away From Everyone Else As Possible In The Supermarket Car Park Club.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 18/09/2026

But if you want a large electric Volvo saloon (and you don't do many miles a year), you can currently get into an ES90 for under 400 quid a month.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 18/09/2026

That's for a base spec car. For context, here's what the much ballyhooed BMW iX3 in base spec would run you. If you could get one. Mind you, the Volvo is for March delivery so that's not an off the shelf car either.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 18/09/2026

Was going to stick it on the list, but then I saw the monthlies. Yowch.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 18/09/2026

Every time I hear Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter I think it’s such a terrific pop song I can’t be pedantic about the fact she keeps making up verbs.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 11/09/2026

Last year I did an 'Evening with...' thing at the British Motor Museum with TV's Paul Cowland. No one got injured so he's persuaded me to do another one, this time at Great Northern Classics. Details here. www.greatnorthernclassics.co.uk/event/an-aud...

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 03/09/2026

Oh wait, I have one other selfie from last night. It features a car telly legend. And a man called Phil.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 03/09/2026

Smashing time at the Grand Tour premiere last night. Hadn't seen the first episode before and let me tell you, it's absolutely fantastic. The new boys done good. Forgot to take any photos so here's a selfie taken by a former colleague who happened to be there.

The old Grand Tour presenters posing for a selfie with the new Grand Tour presenters.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 03/09/2026

HORSE CAR! Find out more in our new video, Smith and Sniff do Car Week. youtu.be/aQUJL2tK-IQ?...

Jonny Smith sitting on top of a 1970s Lincoln made up to look like a horse. A bit.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 27/08/2026

“And this, Simon, is why we came last at the pub quiz.”

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 26/08/2026

Confidence is a preference for the habitual voyeur of what is known as…

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 22/08/2026

While driving down California, Jonny and I were talking about the kind of song that would feature on the Dawson's Creek soundtrack. So naturally I spent some of the plane journey home making an acid house track out of Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover. No, I don't know why either.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 22/08/2026

One of my highlights from Monterey Car Week; shouting West Country things from the balcony at a fancy event in order to attract the attention of Bristol’s Chris Harris.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 08/08/2026

Good news everyone, big discounts on grot!

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 30/07/2026

They say there's no money in releasing music these days but I beg to differ.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 29/07/2026

Head to The Intercooler today to read my story about the surprisingly elaborate measures used to camouflage the new Jag (and the really elaborate trick they decided against).

Two dazzle wrapped prototypes of the upcoming Jaguar Type 01 winter testing against an Arctic sunset. One of the cars is wearing the very early stage disguise that makes it look like an estate car.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 27/07/2026

Oh, and thanks to everyone who admired my new car, bought the day before the festival. It's a very early Ka that, amazingly, hasn't turned to brown dust. A real rarity (apart from the other very tidy P-reg Ka I saw at FOTU).

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 27/07/2026

As usual, I was having such a nice time at FOTU that I forgot to take photos. Apart from this one of two relatives.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 27/07/2026

Another fabulous Festival of the Unexceptional on Saturday. Still my favourite car event of the year. Thanks to everyone who put up with Smith and Sniff nonsense when we were on stage and came to say hi when we weren't. Truly, an great day out.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 22/07/2026

This new Range Rover GT is all well and good, but I find myself wishing they'd looked at the wider back catalogue for the side window shape.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 21/07/2026

How Many Left reckons there's just one Sao Penza left in Britain and it's SORN. The question is, where is it?

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 20/07/2026

Here's me getting to repair some of the camo wrap on a new Jag prototype. The very first new Jag prototype, in fact. I explain more in the podcast.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 15/07/2026

No, wait, also a Jag. Do not adjust your settings, it really is black & white.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 15/07/2026

Had a smashing time at the Festival of Speed but it seems I forgot to take photos of anything except two Group B cars and the world's most comfortable headrest. Sorry.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 13/07/2026

Any Logic Pro wizards know why when I move or duplicate a section using the arrangement markers, it insists on joining regions like this? It does it no matter which drag mode I'm in. Logic on my old laptop didn't do this.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 11/07/2026

In the safety of some shade, I rolled up my sleeves to pose with my new tattoo and the same design on an actual F1 car.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 10/07/2026

Well whaddya know, it's an Lucid Air. UK registered, on Birmingham plates in fact, so I assume a JLR competitor analysis car. Not sure why two people were sitting in it in the museum car park not inside the R&D place next door but there we are.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 10/07/2026

While up in the Midlands earlier this week I saw something slightly interesting lurking in the car park of the British Motor Museum.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 09/07/2026

As the first of the original batch of nine test cars, PT101 was quickly superseded by newer, more complete prototypes and by rights should have been scrapped by now. But the engineers are quite attached to it. They even let me repair some of the camo wrap on the bonnet.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 09/07/2026

This is PT101, the very first X900 prototype, hand built, very rough and ready in places, bearing the scars of hard work on early powertrain development, and dressed in a complicated fake estate car disguise kit that was never papped in the wild.

The very first prototype of the Jaguar Type 01 in full camouflage kit.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 09/07/2026

These are the SEECRIT JAGZ I was poking around earlier this week. The blue car is currently zooming up the hill at Goodwood. The car on the left is a third phase prototype in the commonly papped camo. But the car on the right is the really interesting one...

Three prototypes of the upcoming Jaguar Type 01 in varying degrees of camouflage.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 08/07/2026

Goodwood's ticket app, maintaining a vibe in the dropdown.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 08/07/2026

Well done to everyone who spotted that this is a piece of car camo wrap, specifically the bespoke stuff used on prototypes of the new Jag.

a camouflaged prototype of the new Jaguar Type 01

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 08/07/2026

Had a tremendously interesting day yesterday which led to me coming home with this. Spotter's badge if you can tell what it is and what it's from.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 04/07/2026

I dug out the XJ40 book by Philip Porter and that hotel is mentioned in the chapter about the press launch.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 03/07/2026

I think the story was that once the XJ40 was announced, Jag gave a redundant prototype to the Coventry museum still in its full camo to explain to the people of the city these unusual and mysterious cars they'd been seeing around town for a few years.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 03/07/2026

Also, the late phase camo kit used rear lamps from the Talbot Alpine/Solara. Of course.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 03/07/2026

Fun fact about the camo kit on those XJ40s; it weighed 90 kilos and, at mid-'80s prices, cost £1000 per set. Serious business.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 03/07/2026

This fully camouflaged Jag XJ40 prototype used to be on display in the Coventry Museum of Transport. Does anyone know if they still have it?

A red Jaguar XJ40 prototype in full fibreglass disguise kit, on display in a museum in the 2000s.

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Richard Porter @sniffpetrol.com · 02/07/2026

Et, pour comparaison du size, la voiture joyeuse avec un VW En Haut. (Il y a un peut du perspective ici.)

A bright yellowy-orange Renault Twingo parked behind a red VW Up.

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