Chris Harris and mates at Portimao with his favourite cars from 2014. There’s no agenda, no forced result to pick a winning car. It’s simply a recipe for fun. Enjoy!
[Thanks to Richard for the tip]
To know the Tuthill Porsche is to love the Tuthill Porsche. Take one off the shelf 997 911 GT3 Cup car and adapt it to perform on the world rally stage in the RGT class and, well, what’s not to love?!
In the eyes of Chris Harris he couldn’t find anything to dislike. The best car he drove in 2014 he reckons. Watch the clip below to see why.
[Thanks to Tim for the tip]
For those about to ute, he salutes you!
Earlier this year Chris Harris took some time off and came to Australia. Turns out he got himself a little bit of play time at the wheel of a 430kW/740Nm HSV GTS Maloo while he was here. All that power being sent to an unladen pair of rear wheels, an empty race track, what do you think happened next?
And Chris, for next time, a male sheep is called a ram. Of course, he would be a wether if his ghoulies had been snipped.
[Thanks to Stu for the tip]
Harris at the wheel of the of the new AMG GT on an empty Laguna Seca. Hell yeah!
Filmed back at the car’s original launch and recently posted to his new (and free) YouTube channel we get some technical insight into the car’s construction. We’re presented with the theory on why this car should be good and then…
We get the practice. And, in a nutshell, that’s what makes Chris Harris so good at his job. He takes the time to explain things before putting them in action.
He’s certainly been more animated in other reviews, but if you want to find out if the AMG GT is better than a 911 without having access to either then this is probably as close as you’re going to get.
Good news everyone, Chris Harris on Cars is back! A number of old YouTube clips have been uploaded and are now live and free of charge. Let’s start with the LaFerrari shall we.
Do try and get some work done today.
First it was Ferrari, now it is Lamborghini who has ruffled the feathers of Chris Harris. In the first post-announcement edition of his weekly column over at Jalopnik he has taken aim at Lambo—in particular the Aventador—fired and made sure he’s got the attention he needs to grab eyeballs:
Lamborghini has lost the plot. It has become the purveyor of jewelry. Its cars exist to be seen and heard; not driven. Style has superseded substance. Their natural habitat has now been reduced to revving when stationary on the King’s Road in London—not Imola or the Futa pass or Valentino Balbone scorching the back- pistas of Modena, but with some mindless billionaire’s offspring pushing the right pedal to get himself seen on some equally mindless YouTube channel. Never has a car brand skulked so far from the origins that defined its past greatness. Typing that makes me so sad.
And that’s only a small portion of Harris’ rant!
We all have brands to manage and, if we’re to believe Harris, his brand as a fiercely independent and respected motoring hack is at its zenith; Lamborghini’s reputation on the other hand is at its nadir.
[Source: Jalopnik]
Chris Harris is one of our favourite car reviewers, and probably one of yours too. It’s not so much that he can hang the arse out of pretty much anything he drives, rather that he has an ability to describe the car he is driving and the sensations he is feeling better than pretty much anyone else.
He’s been on the motoring scene for a while now and while we suspect most of the AUSmotive audience has known of Chris for over a decade or more, he became an internet sensation through his videos for /Drive. Well, that’s about to change, as Chris himself states:
[I] will be offering even more access to my content through the next phase of Chris Harris on Cars, which will launch its new YouTube channel, free to air, November 12.
Harris, currently in Australia, has expanded on his future via his twitter feed:
– I’ve had the most wonderful time working on @drive. A great team, and some great shows. But It’s time to try something new.
– And huge thanks to those who supported the pay-wall. But I think I can just about make it work for free, and need to see if it works.
– Crucially, I’m staying involved with @drive on many current and future projects. But CHOC will move to a separate channel mid-november.
Something to watch out for! You can read more in Harris’ full statement, available in full after the break.
[Source: Chris Harris]
Ever wanted to know how to drift a rear-wheel drive car? Take one Chris Harris, one BMW 235i, one heavy right foot and a video camera then watch and learn.
Once you’ve got all that under control you can then form an Epic Driftmob with your mates, close the streets of Cape Town in South Africa, and go totally nuts! Like, really, absolutely insane.
See for yourself after the break.
Chris Harris and his buddies from /DRIVE have just launched their paid YouTube channel /DRIVE+. It will run alongside the free channel we’ve come to know and love, as well as airing the program on NBC.
Harris has explained the move in detail via his PistonHeads blog. Here’s a snippet:
YouTube underwrote two years of DRIVE programming and I loved every minute of it. At the end of 2013 the funding ended and we had to look for ways to keep DRIVE alive…
Remember that rather lovely F40/F50 video we shot at Angelsey? It cost £9,000 to shoot, and despite amassing two million views, to date has grossed us just £4,800. The maths is pretty stark across the board – even the McLaren P1 video has racked up plenty of views, over 3.6 million in fact, but its total revenue is £9,200. That means we’re in profit, but only because it was an official launch event and Woking paid for mine and Neil’s flights, and JF who was second camera used his air miles to get from the US!
It’s a brave new world for online motoring content and while it’s a shame from the punter’s point of view that we have to pay for /DRIVE+ it is a reality I fully understand.
I’ve been running AUSmotive pretty much for the love of it for over six years now. If I didn’t have a full-time paying job I wouldn’t have that luxury. It’s very hard to make a buck in this space.
I wish Harris et al well and hope they’re able to continue providing some of the best motoring content our eyes and ears can enjoy.
There’s an explanatory video and teaser after the break. /DRIVE+ kicks off this week with Harris at the wheel of the LaFerrari.
Back in December 2011 we were given our first taste of the YouTube channel /DRIVE. Since then it’s given the world countless hours of quality content. And all for free. Zero dollars. Nada. Just free.
Here at AUSmotive we’ve not been too proud to feature pretty much anything published by Chris Harris. He’s one of the best at putting you in the car with him as he tells us why a car is so good, or bad, not just that it is. He was doing this long before /DRIVE came to be, but his latest venture has broadened his exposure greatly and that’s about to increase again.
/DRIVE will soon feature on pay TV station NBC Sports in the States. It’ll be a slow start with the first episode airing this weekend, but then nothing more until July. The full detail was explained yesterday by Spinelli on Jalopnik:
We’re announcing today—right here, in fact—that /DRIVE is bringing its car-enthusiast programming to cable television, on the NBCSN, which will televise 10 episodes of a new show, called /DRIVE on NBC Sports, through the remainder of the 2014 calendar year.
The first episode sounds like a Top Gear rip off, although Spinelli promises, “we’ll stay true to the kind of programming /DRIVE’s audience expects”. Which means there should be a broader gamut of material focusing on motoring as entertainment, rather than entertainment as motoring.
Further, the /DRIVE–NBCSN partnership will produce a new F1 show called Off the grid, to be hosted by Will Buxton and Jason Swales.
Well done to the /DRIVE team, we wish them all the success they so richly deserve.
The guys have promised that their YouTube content will continue, but as Chris Harris hinted at via twitter yesterday it could become user pays.
In response to such a suggestion there has been many whingers criticising Harris and his mates for taking the pay TV route. Thankfully, there’s also been plenty of support and encouragement.
To the freeloaders out there, get a bloody grip, these guys owe you exactly what you’ve been paying to watch their content until now. Nothing.
Now, let’s all enjoy the show (there’s a preview after the break).
With LaFerrari reviews hitting the internet on the same day as this BMW i8 review Chris Harris himself described it as, “Like selling ice-cream in the Antarctic.”
However, this video is Harris in some of his best form. And there’s not one single power slide! He did try, he says.
What makes this review so good is his ability to describe the car in a way that almost makes you feel like you’re there with him. Nothing can replace the seat of the pants feel for yourself, of course, but Harris does a pretty good job.
The BMW i8 is powered by a 1.5 litre three-cylinder petrol engine and an electric motor. It weighs almost 1500kg, yet can still reach 100km/h in less than five seconds. And, according to Harris, it can easily dust a WRX on twisty roads. It looks like the future and sounds a bit like a 911, apparently.
It’s not perfect, yet, but what car is?
Chris Harris has already told us what he thinks about the new McLaren 650S. However, it would appear he thinks we didn’t get the drift the first time around, so has come back for seconds.