Inside DirtFish Owner's Secret Collection of Rally Legends

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]Dirtfish is widely regarded as the greatest rally school in the world. And its founder, Steve, coincidentally, has one of the greatest collections of rally and road cars I have ever seen. On a recent trip up to Seattle to drive the cars at Dirtfish, I spent an hour with Steve checking out his phenomenal collection.

[00:00:19]>> Deepest darkest.

[00:00:20]>> Oh my goodness. Bloody hell. You weren't kidding. This is amazing.

[00:00:36]I would still describe myself as an analog guy in the car world, you know.

[00:00:40]Um, growing up in the ' 60s, '7s, and 80s, you know, the logic was you you you go back to your youth. you actually >> right >> try and relive your youth >> through the cars, the metal, but also the people associated with those eras that you where you were there. So when you look at pulling together this >> row of cars, it's memory lane for me.

[00:01:03]You know, the Ford Focus is something that's a little different and more modern and and is common to over here.

[00:01:09]The background to this RS was was Chem Block. It incentivized Ford to say, "Well, I've got Ken Block and I've got a Ford Focus in in in Europe, so why don't I do one here?" Ken was fundamental in designing this RS for the US. When Ford actually launched the RS at the New York Auto Show, >> they said, "Let's bring a little bit of history with it." So this specific car, yes, >> the Escort Cossworth RS was used by them at the New York Auto Show to launch that car. So they did try to bring the legacy across with it. When Ken passed away, they did the Olympus rally here. Um we to be truthful, we recreated his car the way we the way he rallied it. So and this one recreation of Hannah Mickela's uh car, a world rally champion. I stood in the forest in the north of England watching this car. This is a clone obviously. This is not the original.

[00:02:09]>> Um, watching the original car come through in the m middle of the night.

[00:02:13]All I saw was six spotlights and yeah, lots of revving.

[00:02:18]>> I never dreamt that I would get to meet Hannah Mika. But cars, you know, they it introduces you to people.

[00:02:25]>> That's right.

[00:02:26]>> Hano actually drove this car.

[00:02:27]>> Oh, wow.

[00:02:28]>> I got to know Hano and I' I know his sons now. And >> yeah, >> I actually have Hanu's um Audi S1E2, the works car down in the Peterson right now. Talking about rally themes and everything else and getting a little bit more modern moving from the Fords.

[00:02:44]Subaru is obviously a key component to Dirt Fish with the BRZs and the STI, but it's also so iconic in the era, you know, when Mitsubishi and Subaru were going headtohead.

[00:02:54]>> This is my era. This is where I came online with the Rally stuff. Yeah, >> Rally Over here and Rally Cross sort of did the crossover by getting into X Games. Travis Pastana, Ken Block, Colin McCrae.

[00:03:06]>> Yeah, very famously. Remember that the roll and carry on.

[00:03:09]>> Amazing.

[00:03:10]>> So, this is Travis's car from the XG Games.

[00:03:12]>> Wow.

[00:03:13]>> Built by Vermont Sports Car.

[00:03:15]>> Ran the North America Rally Championship. X Games. It's been driven by some special people. Starting with Travis. Um Max McCrae. Um Alistister McCrae's son drove this Laguna Secika and there's a famous picture of him coming over the courtroom with no wheels on the ground and sideways and that was him and that was this car. Amazing.

[00:03:33]>> Brought the car back in >> and >> there was no tread left on it.

[00:03:39]>> It'd been sideways out there for like six and relax and literally we put soft tires on it to give it more >> um excitement, you know, for for viewing. So >> you you achieved your goal there, I think.

[00:03:51]>> Yeah. Yeah, we did. That was fun.

[00:03:52]>> Goodness.

[00:03:53]>> And then we move up from that car >> into the early 2000s here.

[00:03:58]>> Look at this.

[00:03:59]>> Tommy Mcinum was the world rally champion several times in the '9s with Mitsubishi. He moved over towards the end of his career to Subaru.

[00:04:06]>> And this is Tommy's car is um when you look at these, they're very basic, but if you if you start looking inside this one, you start, you know, the technology is very >> serious at this point, aren't they? But James, our son, has driven this several times again at Lagona and Soma for Velocity Invitational, >> and he loves this car. He just said it.

[00:04:28]It is just fabulous.

[00:04:30]>> I find it fascinating that that up until now everything's been rally rally rally >> and then we come down here and there's just the most amazing line of Ferraris.

[00:04:39]There's obviously some Porsches over there as well. Just tell me about and I suppose in a more general sense the the collection bug, how it's manifested.

[00:04:47]It's very obvious that as you said this is this was your you know youth manifesting in in later life. This is an appreciation for the sport in North America and Subaru.

[00:04:56]>> Why this >> why this stuff? So again going back to your youth I had a friend who was uh in the UK quantity surveyor um really good friend and first job out of college his b you'll remember this he the M55 junction in the UK >> um he met his boss >> there in a morning they drove up to Morham where there was a building site and they worked on his boss had a 930 turbo so I used to envy this thing you know when he got when he got out of car.

[00:05:30]>> So, I I started repositioning out of some of the newer 911s into some of the more analog 911s. You know, you look at the 997.1.2 GT3 RS's, the 996 Turbo.

[00:05:44]>> My favorite is the 993 Carrera RS.

[00:05:47]>> Um, >> and then this one's a bit sacrilege to the Porsche community wouldn't really like if I told you you lift the hood on that that's electric.

[00:05:56]>> You're joking. It's an Evati.

[00:05:58]>> It is an Evati. So, it's a nice four.

[00:06:01]>> Yeah.

[00:06:02]>> That um has motor and battery in the back and batteries in the front.

[00:06:06]>> Yes.

[00:06:07]>> It's about 200 mile range.

[00:06:09]>> Okay. That's Hey, come on.

[00:06:10]>> It's two wheel drive this one. You the donor car. Um >> I I I made it look a little bit more like the 993 next to it. I wasn't trying to pretend that it's an RSR, but you know, it's like it's something we enjoy and we feel good about.

[00:06:24]>> Good. and Evati are doing a lot of things now. Yeah. Certainly are. So that beautiful that's not quite analog. But if we move down here, >> so coming back to the Ferraris, I decided well analog. Let's start looking and start collecting stick shift Ferraris. So stick shift 512 TR. I love the 355.

[00:06:47]>> Yeah, I've always been a big 355 car.

[00:06:49]>> I got this one here. I've got a red one down in California.

[00:06:51]>> It's got a red one down in California, >> which is a driver.

[00:06:54]>> Okay. cuz it's got So again, what I want to try and do is is have things you can drive.

[00:06:59]>> This has got like 28,000 m on it. This one's got like 11,000 mi.

[00:07:03]>> Yeah.

[00:07:04]>> And the problem with the 355 is >> time evolution on belts, >> engine out service. It needs an engine out service.

[00:07:12]>> It's going to stay parked for a little while because >> Yeah.

[00:07:15]>> You know, and I'll drive the red one.

[00:07:16]It's got that's got 41,000. So it's great.

[00:07:19]>> The 456 GT and again stick shift.

[00:07:22]>> Yep. Pretty unusual. Skylleti 612 in a stick.

[00:07:26]>> That's amazing. They can't have made many of those in that specification.

[00:07:30]>> No, not at all. And I less than 200, I think.

[00:07:33]>> Wow.

[00:07:33]>> I think >> exceeding.

[00:07:35]>> Yeah, >> look at that.

[00:07:36]>> Yeah. So, that that's a good one.

[00:07:38]>> Great car.

[00:07:39]>> 430 stick shift.

[00:07:41]>> Beautiful.

[00:07:42]>> This car came up uh at auction in Montter last last year >> and it's got 50,000 miles on it.

[00:07:51]>> Wow. It's been driven.

[00:07:53]>> So I I sat there thinking if this goes for the right price, I want a driver.

[00:07:59]>> That would mean >> Yeah, exactly. Fortunately, I did.

[00:08:01]>> Oh, congrats.

[00:08:02]>> Now, but if you if you take a quick gander inside it >> um just out of interest.

[00:08:08]>> Oh, hello. What's going on?

[00:08:10]>> So, having said it's a driver, I want it to be um reasonable.

[00:08:15]>> Okay.

[00:08:16]>> So, >> and is it being unreasonable at the moment, Steve? It's being very Ferrariish. Sticky buttons.

[00:08:22]>> Ah, >> road car. BMW M3, E30 M3. Um, Evo 2.

[00:08:28]>> Oh, yeah.

[00:08:29]>> Not the Evo Sport. Unfortunately, I keep looking for that.

[00:08:32]>> DTM, obviously the E30 M3 against the 190s were crazy. So, Evo 1.

[00:08:38]>> Yes.

[00:08:38]>> Evo 2. Obviously, aerodynamically you can see the visible changes, differences to it. at and center driving, you know, these cars, you know, went in the day, you know, it's like it it evokes the people >> evocative. Yes. Exactly. Yeah. And and and Oh, sorry to to cut you off. My So, my mom had a a very very basic 190 when I was growing up. And and for me, >> it was so exciting that the cars you could see on television or VHS as it was with DTL. I couldn't find it on terrestrial TV, but I could find it on VHS. Look like my mom's car. And again, that's something we've kind of gotten away from a little bit in recent years, but for me, that was such an exciting cultural touch point. I was so into that, you know, >> totally. I love the cars. They get driven regularly.

[00:09:23]>> Great.

[00:09:23]>> The the Evo 1 is actually more it's a better road car.

[00:09:27]>> Wow.

[00:09:27]>> This I think with it's much more tuned, you know, as you would imagine with the Arrow for competition and stuff, you know. Yeah. Yeah. My journey into car collecting has also gone into memorabilia and dirt you'll have seen you know the F1 suits and everything else. Yeah. So there are some around here as well. Most dangerous time is you know when you're on conference calls or when you know there's an auction happening in Europe.

[00:09:51]>> There's always deals >> and the time zones are different.

[00:09:54]>> First cup of coffee. So what do we have?

[00:09:56]This came today. Yesterday.

[00:09:58]>> This came yesterday.

[00:09:59]>> Hey hey hey.

[00:10:02]And um >> bloody hell.

[00:10:04]>> So drivers are important.

[00:10:07]>> Yes.

[00:10:08]>> But co-drivers in rally >> absolutely are absolutely >> equally important.

[00:10:13]>> And these are a collection of five helmets.

[00:10:18]>> Yes, there's five helmets in here.

[00:10:20]>> There's five helmets that were worn by uh co-driver, one of the Audi works drivers. Um, oh, so they're not as spectacular as some of the F1 Beijing. Look at that.

[00:10:35]>> But again, it's an era. Um, and co-driver to one of the works um Audi drivers. Um, >> incredible.

[00:10:43]>> And I made the mistake of having it delivered to the house.

[00:10:47]>> Yeah. Yeah, that was your first mistake.

[00:10:49]and my wife was in and signed for it and she she said >> this big package but it says it's a race suit but it it seems a bit big for a race suit.

[00:11:01]>> So I won't bore you with the details in it but in in here somewhere >> is Estavan Aon's um Force India n 2018 Formula 1 suit. So >> oh my gosh >> it this will add to the collection.

[00:11:15]>> Okay. Well, that's uh >> space is at a premium, right?

[00:11:19]>> Well, yeah, I can see there's a bit of I can see some blank walls. You got some space. Put some shelves up.

[00:11:23]>> A little bit of remodeling here. We can create more.

[00:11:25]>> Yeah. Yeah. Josie, get on that.

[00:11:29]>> Yeah.

[00:11:29]>> Well, so we're talking about the slippery slope of collection.

[00:11:33]>> Oh, yes.

[00:11:33]>> Should we?

[00:11:34]>> Let's do it.

[00:11:34]>> Yeah.

[00:11:36]>> So, the RS200 became Ford's group B car.

[00:11:39]Four-wheel drive mid-enine car at the back. 2.1 L BDG engine. twin turbocharged. They had to make the 200 road cars. They produced about 250 horsepower. The warts cars were 350 to 450.

[00:11:54]>> But like with a lot of the Group B era, the road car didn't sell very well.

[00:11:58]>> Right.

[00:11:59]>> So towards the end of the line, Ford said, "How are we going to get rid of them?

[00:12:03]>> What are we going to do?"

[00:12:04]>> Because Group B had been cancelled.

[00:12:06]>> Yes. They were still They still had some on the lot at that point. Wow.

[00:12:09]>> And so gosh, >> they did a couple of things. They did an Evo.

[00:12:13]>> Oh yeah.

[00:12:14]>> This is an Evo. This is an EVO, I see.

[00:12:16]>> So, the Evo has 600 horsepower.

[00:12:18]>> Excuse me.

[00:12:19]>> Um, >> and then they did, >> how did they achieve that? What did they do? Can you remember?

[00:12:24]>> Um, again, it was a lot of um boosting on the the turbochargers.

[00:12:29]>> An unstable 600, >> right? But but they did do a lot of work to the heads and Yeah. So, they did 20 what they call S's.

[00:12:38]>> And to be honest with you, the S's had power windows. They had leather seats.

[00:12:42]>> Okay.

[00:12:42]>> This is one of them. And I think there's only two in blue >> to the extent color matters. It makes it faster. If it's red, it makes it faster.

[00:12:50]>> And that is a good blue, isn't it?

[00:12:52]>> Opal, you know, out of Germany, the the rally team, you know, had a go at Group B, but not really >> two wheel drive Opel Manta 400 was sort of quasi group B, but not really. So, this is a road carigation special.

[00:13:08]>> Looks mega, doesn't it? And homologation specials. It's the area of automotive culture and fandom that gets me the most excited. I just think it was they were so over time. It's such a snapshot of of of, you know, the moment culturally and motorsport and road cars converging and and some of them are a little disappointing to drive. Not necessarily some of the ones here, but I've driven a few. You know, the Mitsubishi Pajero Evo I find to be a little bit of a slug, you know, things like that. But but my goodness me, what a cool thing to to to have done. emotion that they brought with them as well, you know, they're buying. Yeah. But um >> really the car that started it all was the Audi. And as I I said earlier, Audi started with the long wheelbase car.

[00:13:48]>> Yes.

[00:13:49]>> Very heavy car.

[00:13:50]>> Yeah.

[00:13:50]>> 5-cylinder turbocharged four-wheel drive. But it did the job >> until it didn't.

[00:13:56]>> At which point they said, you know, really our our wheelbase is a little bit too long. The car is not as nimble as it should be.

[00:14:04]>> We're heavy. So, >> let's just make everything out of Kevlar. Let's chop a bit out of the middle of the car.

[00:14:12]>> A good foot, right?

[00:14:13]>> Y >> and let's put Kevlar >> and let's boost the engine a little bit.

[00:14:18]>> So, this one's got a little bit of tail to it.

[00:14:20]>> It's one of five Malikite green ones.

[00:14:22]But if you go on the internet and put uh green Audi Sport Quattro in, you're likely to pull up this car.

[00:14:29]guy named Tom Hammond, no in relationship to Richard Hammond, was a very successful rally cross guy in the in Europe in UK and rally.

[00:14:37]>> When this came out, he ordered a road car. Uh but he wanted a worked car to go with it. They said, "No, we we've not got any." He went over to the factory to pick this car up.

[00:14:47]>> Yes.

[00:14:48]>> On the plinth in the delivery center in Germany was a rally car.

[00:14:53]>> Yeah.

[00:14:53]>> He said, "Well, you told me he didn't have one." It took him 3 days.

[00:14:56]>> Mhm.

[00:14:56]>> It was a prototype car. He ended up coming back with it. He bought a tow hitch for this car.

[00:15:01]>> You're joking.

[00:15:01]>> And a trailer.

[00:15:02]>> You're joking.

[00:15:03]>> And towed that car back.

[00:15:05]>> And on the internet, this car became his tow car for every rally cross event he took the car to. So there's photos of it.

[00:15:12]>> Spectacular.

[00:15:13]>> This is like 120,000 miles.

[00:15:16]>> Wow.

[00:15:16]>> It's a driver. We drive it all the time.

[00:15:19]Just had a new clutch. It needed a new clutch, but but it's an awesome car.

[00:15:22]>> That's incredible. What a story.

[00:15:24]>> Going my favorite word, very analog. But it's great. It's great. Group B, again, you you start looking at the Rena 5 Turbo.

[00:15:31]>> Yeah. Another car my mom had the very boring road car version of and I took great joy in seeing photographs of this hooning around.

[00:15:40]>> So, this car uh again, >> this is two wheel drive mid mid engine.

[00:15:44]>> Y turbocharged. So, this car is a standard road car. It's a little bit different. You feel free to open it up.

[00:15:50]>> Oh, thank you.

[00:15:51]>> You know, they they have these spectacular interiors. I'm just sorry it not got one of the very French red and blue interiors that some of them say.

[00:15:59]>> I drove one of those. Yeah. And it's it's it's a it's like an a panic attack for your eyes. It's very you know >> this has got 500 miles on it from new.

[00:16:07]>> You're joking.

[00:16:08]>> It was delivered new to the owner. Just look at this side versus the other side.

[00:16:14]Just out of fun. Delivered to the owner of the Renault dealer in Singapore. He left it in the showroom for 23 years.

[00:16:20]Never drove it. If you looked at the other side, one side was in the sun.

[00:16:24]>> Yeah.

[00:16:25]>> And this one wasn't.

[00:16:26]>> Oh.

[00:16:27]>> So, it took all the color out of that side. So, I've left it basically as >> Oh, I love it.

[00:16:33]>> As it was, you know, I've not restored it. I've not done anything else with it.

[00:16:37]It's just very original. So, >> I love these.

[00:16:40]>> Again, I like the originality of things.

[00:16:42]>> Yes.

[00:16:43]>> And stories. Yeah.

[00:16:44]>> God, it's spectacular.

[00:16:45]>> Yeah. The last two wheel drive car to win the Royal Rally Championship was the Lancio37. I hate to say it, but you know, not very well put together. I mean, a lot of these cars, the homologation cars were thrown together because they were a means to an end.

[00:16:58]>> So, this uses the the tub from the Lancia Scorpion or the Beta Monte Carlo as it was in Europe. That's all it is.

[00:17:06]And then you put >> space frame chassis around. Uh, it's like a little go-kart to drive.

[00:17:10]>> Wasn't it mandated at the time that it was 400 homologation cars, but Lancher made 200 and showed the inspectors the same car twice? Didn't they show them a car park full of cars?

[00:17:22]>> Have you ever seen the um RS200 photo?

[00:17:26]>> No.

[00:17:28]>> So, there's a big like hanger building and and Borum.

[00:17:31]>> Yeah.

[00:17:32]>> And there's somebody on a cherry picker took a photo.

[00:17:35]>> Yeah.

[00:17:35]>> And they built them all white, >> right?

[00:17:38]>> And they're driving out of one end and around the And there there's Ford engineers changing the chassis. So we never know >> right >> actually how many cars were built but it was quite an investment to to actually especially against the background if you can't sell the road car like I was saying about the RS 200 >> a lot of these cars >> you know you couldn't sell the road car so >> they did the minimum they could do >> very Italian >> the the winningest uh group B car was the Pujo 205 T-16 this is kind of a cheat >> okay >> it started off life as a road car >> Mhm. Mhm.

[00:18:14]>> A guy in the UK who was so focused on building a as close as he could to as a factory car found actually bought a whole pile of um Evo one parts. Oh yeah.

[00:18:27]>> From the factory or maybe not directly from the factory that would be >> this car came to me. I won't say need of restoration but it certainly needed something.

[00:18:35]>> Right.

[00:18:35]>> So what we did we took it apart. Uh we made molds to because the standard road car doesn't have this air intake on the front.

[00:18:44]>> Interesting. Okay. So this is a homologation car again. This is a >> it's a standard 216 road homologation car. So it it is a legitimate homologation car >> but there are some but now we've got the Evo one part. It's about 345 horsepower.

[00:18:59]>> Wow. And then you get this >> just >> Citroen decided really towards the end of >> um group B that maybe they should get involved >> a little bit too late some would say >> too late and >> again it was costing a lot of money. So >> essentially what you do is you take an existing car >> and yeah sure it's got hydro elastic suspension you know everybody's moving their engines to the rear.

[00:19:27]>> Yes. I won't open the hood, but the engine on this car is in front of the front axle >> really.

[00:19:34]>> So, does that tend to suggest a snow plant?

[00:19:38]>> Um, it tends to look that way. So, >> this was, I would say, the most unsuccessful group B car.

[00:19:46]>> It was so embarrassed where Citroen about it that they bought the majority of their road cars back and and scrapped them.

[00:19:53]>> Wow.

[00:19:54]>> We think there's about 10 road cars left.

[00:19:57]We also think they didn't build 200, you know. But >> some of my favorites here, Lancia um moved from winning the the the World Ride Championship with the 037 rear wheel drive. They said, "Well, we better pay attention and let's do four-wheel drive." So, they moved and they did the Lancia Delta S4 in imitable style. If you open the the door of this Delta S4 road car, it's got red velour padded cards, door cards on it. And yes, not at all.

[00:20:26]>> Oh, look at this. So, wait, hold on. So, this is a homologation car or this is a competition?

[00:20:32]>> No, this is the homologation car. Yeah.

[00:20:34]>> Oh my gosh, look at this.

[00:20:36]>> But inside the door cards, look how it's padded. And >> look at that.

[00:20:41]>> It's like, no, no, no. I mean, it's that compromise. Okay, it's got to be a competition card, but I'm Italian. It's got to have style. It's got to have comfort.

[00:20:49]>> It's like a walking club in here. Look at this armrest. Yeah, just feel the weight of the door out of interest >> and then we'll we'll we'll say it for a reason.

[00:20:59]>> Okay, >> so the competition car obviously >> unfortunately at the center of group B, >> you know, coming to an end. Group B got to probably an extreme that was too far, especially within the condition that they were competing on a track different.

[00:21:15]>> Yeah. But if you look at the Lancia Delta S4, actually Henry Toyven and drove this car as his wrecky car for Monte Carlo. Never competed in it.

[00:21:24]>> Wow. Well, which is probably why it's still here.

[00:21:25]>> Yes.

[00:21:26]>> Between him and Colin McRae. Yeah, exactly.

[00:21:29]>> Marco Alen drove this in competition.

[00:21:31]>> But just to give you a feel of what they did to the car, >> um, >> just feel the door.

[00:21:38]>> Good grief, there's nothing there.

[00:21:40]>> Bloody hell.

[00:21:41]>> So, one of the problems with Group B is we took it to an extreme. So, this has some substance.

[00:21:47]>> Mhm.

[00:21:48]>> This not so much.

[00:21:49]>> I see >> the roll cage is aluminum >> for saving weight.

[00:21:53]>> Yeah. I don't know about that.

[00:21:54]>> A roll cage is supposed to protect you.

[00:21:56]>> Yeah.

[00:21:56]>> So, >> yeah. It's barely there, isn't it? Look at that.

[00:21:58]>> And you know what? You're sitting on >> a fuel tank fuel cell. Oh, no.

[00:22:02]>> So, so we we kind of >> high stakes.

[00:22:05]>> I won't say lost the plot, but we we kind of took it a little bit too.

[00:22:08]>> The reach, you know, out out what's the phrase? Reach out exceeded its grasp.

[00:22:14]That wasn't very well put, but basically it was >> some crazy was going on.

[00:22:19]>> Yeah.

[00:22:19]>> Yeah.

[00:22:19]>> But um this one was just restored. The good news is, you know, we've been able to take this like up the hill at Goodwood and Wow.

[00:22:29]>> Again, you never believe you could do it, you know, but >> you personally, >> well, James actually drove it up the hill.

[00:22:35]>> Oh, it's nice.

[00:22:35]>> Yeah. It's like it's all about my kids apparently.

[00:22:37]>> Dad of the year. I'm going to keep saying it. So this is the works version of um the 037 road car. Lancancy had two teams, the full works team and then they had something called the Jolly Club.

[00:22:49]>> Ah >> and this car was built by the works and and and rallied by the works but ended up with the Jolly Club.

[00:22:55]>> Okay.

[00:22:56]>> And um a guy named Tabaton won the world the European rally championship.

[00:23:00]>> Wow.

[00:23:00]>> This car world rally championship winning car with uh Canankanan.

[00:23:05]>> Gosh 205 T16. Uh decided to sell some of his personal collection. He bought this car, the T16 directly from the factory.

[00:23:15]>> Oh wow.

[00:23:16]>> So having and owning this car is like >> amazing. This is royalty.

[00:23:20]>> I've been fortunate enough because of that to meet Uhaw Kankan on a couple of occasions. This has been to Velocity Invitational a couple of times.

[00:23:28]>> Fantastic.

[00:23:29]>> It's been great.

[00:23:30]>> So >> if you're in rally circles and if you're a Brit, >> two names probably stick out to you.

[00:23:36]Colin McCrae and Richard Burch.

[00:23:38]>> Yes, sir.

[00:23:39]>> Very much rivals, but very much friends.

[00:23:41]>> Colin won the World Rally Championship in a Subaru. Richard won the World Rally Championship in a Subaru. Colin ended up with Ford. Richard went from Subaru to Pujo. And this is sort of the Pujo 206 is sort of the derivative, the next evolution of the 205. This 206 WRC car.

[00:23:59]This car was also driven by Marcus Groonholm in in period. But Colin and Richard sadly neither of them um you know with us any longer. Having those in the collection again is just iconic to me of the people.

[00:24:16]>> You know, yes, the machinery is great, but the people >> we come into sort of workshop area. The >> You think we're done? We're not done.

[00:24:24]>> Well, there's things tucked away. Um and again, excuse our appearance. Um, >> no. No.

[00:24:30]>> So, what happens if you take a UK car manufacturer and say, uh, we want to get into group B.

[00:24:38]>> Well, what what would we do? Well, maybe we give >> one of our shopping cars >> to Frank Williams and Williams F1 team and say, >> see what you can do. It's just >> so hence the Metro 6R4 became >> pretty synonymous and the arrow on it is probably very definitive. You know, how you approach an F1 car, it's it's probably >> Arrow.

[00:25:02]>> Yes.

[00:25:03]>> You take a Rover engine out of it, >> which is actually the engine that's the same as in the XJ20.

[00:25:09]What a cool thing. And which people hate on because it's not a V12. But I mean, you you you know, point them in this direction. Show them some footage of this running.

[00:25:17]>> Yeah.

[00:25:17]>> If they're not convinced. Yeah, this car was actually on a boat between the UK and Bahrain when when Group B got cancelled. The guy who bought this car >> um lived in Bahrain and was going to rally it in the Middle East.

[00:25:31]>> Yeah.

[00:25:31]>> And when it got there, Group B was cancelled and said, "I don't want it."

[00:25:36]>> Really?

[00:25:36]>> And it ended up in Portland. Oh, >> as it does.

[00:25:40]>> Funny how those things work.

[00:25:41]>> So, I bought it from uh a guy down in Portland. And then >> you come down to reality. This is, you know, the dreams. And then we've got somewhere >> my daughter started doing some local rally grassroots events in this.

[00:25:57]>> She calls it lady avocado.

[00:25:59]>> I love it.

[00:25:59]>> Just because of the color the mure over here.

[00:26:02]>> Yeah. Oh yeah, of course.

[00:26:03]>> But you know Cossworth like in the in the UK.

[00:26:07]>> Yeah.

[00:26:08]>> Um >> spectacular.

[00:26:10]>> But just a fun car.

[00:26:11]>> Oh, wonderful. and one that uh >> I think will be fixed in her memory of >> starting out there. And >> it's not a rally car, it's a rally, you know, ultross rally cross car. So, >> you know, it's a learning car, which is great.

[00:26:26]>> But it's what it's all about, right?

[00:26:28]This is the sport at its most fundamental level. It's about, you know, getting rid of some weight, adding some safety features.

[00:26:35]>> Yeah.

[00:26:35]>> Getting out and having some fun.

[00:26:37]>> Definitely >> spectacular. Well, Steve, thank you so much for taking some time to show me around.

[00:26:42]>> That is by far and away the most eclectic but wonderfully focused collection.

[00:26:50]>> It's very British, isn't it? You know, as British, you know, we're all over the place.

[00:26:53]>> Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. We're everywhere.

[00:26:55]As are all these amazing rally cars popping up in Portland and whatever. And thank you for curating and collecting and >> critically, I think, showing them off to people and allowing people to come and see them and drive them and experience them as they should be.

[00:27:06]>> I appreciate the cars. I appreciate the people who are are passionate about them and feel very fortunate that we've managed to do this. I think my ADHD diagnosis is in front of me. I'm not very focused.

[00:27:19]>> It has manifested but um it's it it's just great and I love the connection with my kids.

[00:27:26]>> Yeah.

[00:27:27]>> You know, we tal we talked about it, you know, it's like >> you you can't force your kids in a certain direction. they always you know they will choose what they want to do when they want to do it which is quite correct >> but um I got to say that the connectivity of this >> um you know uh again on a personal level on a people level and this time it's family has just been >> it's blown me away.

[00:27:51]>> Steve Rimmer dad of the year. I've said it before and I'll keep saying it.

[00:27:54]Thanks again. Thank you.

[00:27:56]>> Thank you.