Extract from Salon Privé Video production
Chris Evans
Rissy Mitchell: Hello Chris. Salon Privé, fantastic car debuting here, how do you feel?
Chris Evans: Feel OK, yeah, very relaxed.
Rissy Mitchell: You’ve had a lot of interest today. I’ve seen crowds gathering with excitement. What’s the feedback you’ve been getting?
Chris Evans: Well the second I bought it, it went a bit mad really. I mean you could make a living managing this car. It’s like a Pop Star or a Rock Star. You take it around the world. People will pay you to show it. Everybody wants it everywhere. And we thought we’d bring it here mainly because we’ve got the Steve McQueen Lusso here as well.
Rissy Mitchell: I know, I’ve heard. But this was originally owned by James Coburn wasn’t it?
Chris Evans: Yes it was but only because he met Steve McQueen and Steve McQueen was into Ferraris and he got James Coburn into Ferraris and that’s consequently why I bought this car.
Rissy Mitchell: Enjoy Salon Privé. I hope you have a great time and I might see you again in a couple of days.
Chris Evans: Merci Beaucoup!
Extract from The Hippodrome Casino documentary Video production
Shaun Broughill-Dowling
Shaun Broughill-Dowling: From the beginning our role as project managers for the project was to look at the structural elements to get the robustness of the building back into shape.
That meant the underpinning of the existing foundations, putting some new piling in so we could build up a new steel framework,
join the two buildings together and then create additional floor spaces behind the stage area and the ground floor. And then in the back of the seating rebuild the seating area to accommodate the new changes in the restaurants and bars that it’s designed for.
Quite straight forward when you’re building a new build. You know what you’re going to get. You know what you’re going to do. So every day is kind of easy to program.
When you’re working in a building of this nature: Grade 2 listed, a lot of history to it, originally built as an entertainment complex and functioned like that quite well for quite a long time and then started changing its function. When it started changing its function and became a theatre and then other uses throughout the years, a lot of ‘butchering’ went on. A lot of work’s been carried out to the building, sometimes not always good.
And unfortunately there are not a lot of records kept on some of the changes that have been made. So while we’re carrying out our work we found a lot of items and issues that we weren’t expecting to find and sections of the building that hadn’t been identified before. And we had to change the way that we had to work. So our work’s taken on a different venture or nature from how we had originally programmed it in.
The work itself is a massive challenge as it does change everyday as to what we’re finding. And until such time as we can get the building fully robust and back to its original structure it can’t flow on. I’d say the most difficult challenges are actually the works to the back of the seating area here. There’s been a lot of works carried out to the back area and changes over the years. There’s been staircases and floor levels added that aren’t identified. So as we’ve demolished certain areas at the back of the seating area we’ve found that we’ve had to redesign a lot of temporary works and to support the structure temporarily while we try and rebuild it back up again.
Extract from Salon Privé Video production
Du’aine Ladejo
Rissy Mitchell: Two times Olympic Champion and now our best Gladiator. How are you doing?
Du’aine Ladejo: very well. I’m having a massage… …what’s the organisation? ‘Exhilarate’
I tell you what, it is exhilarating.
Rissy Mitchell: Now you’ve been and walked around today and seen some spectacular cars. What’s taken your eye?
Du’aine Ladejo: You know I really liked JK’s Porsche. That Porsche is something else.
Rissy Mitchell: That is pretty special. I think it’s those hub caps.
Du’aine Ladejo: the hub caps are great… it’s the whole thing actually. You like the hub caps… I like the whole car.
Rissy Mitchell: I like the hub caps. I do like the hub caps.
You also fell in love with the electric car.
Du’aine Ladejo: I did.
Rissy Mitchell: Now tell me about that because you actually test drove that earlier and that’s a really interesting car that’s debuting here for the first time at Salon Privé.
Du’aine Ladejo: It was great because I’m involved in an organisation called yourgreencar.co.uk and it promotes basically hybrid and electric cars, for helping the environment, and I have a hybrid Lexus GS. I think they’ve done very well in the States. I think they’ve sold over a thousand cars there. They’ve done extremely well. I think it will take on over here.
I think it’s exhilarating just like my massage by the exhilarate girls.
Rissy Mitchell: Have a fantastic day, enjoy your massage.
Du’aine Ladejo: Queen of Extreme, it’s been a pleasure.
Rissy Mitchell: It’s been a pleasure too.
Extract from Salon Privé Video production
Chris Holdsworth
VO: Last Call, Last Call!
Rissy Mitchell: Hi Chris, How are you?
Chris Holdsworth: I’m Fine.
Rissy Mitchell: So this is your sidecar that you’re going to race today. Take me through the dynamics of where you’re going to sit and where the passenger sits because I’m really confused by this.
Chris Holdsworth: Well the driver sits here in the tub kneels down, operates the breaks from his left foot and the gear change on his right foot. So you’re like in a kneeling position so it’s very different to a normal motorbike.
This was Klaus Klaffenböck’s who was the 2001 World Champion. It was his bike that he had built for 2002. So he raced it through 2002 and he came second in it.
So it’s quite a special bike.
Rissy Mitchell: So how much would something like this cost?
Chris Holdsworth: Forty to fifty thousand pounds to buy.
To build the engine up I’ve been told would be about eleven thousand pounds. It’s a very special engine. It’s 190bhp (break horse power) at the rear. Kicks out about 140 / 150.
What Carl was saying about the bike was that his most important job is to be smooth and to give the bike traction and stability through corners. My job is to aim the bike in the right position.
Rissy Mitchell: So you’ve actually got the easy job?
Chris Holdsworth: Well, we’d say it was the other way around. It’s certainly a completely different role, the driver has.
Rissy Mitchell: So the whole time you’re in kneeling position?
Chris Holdsworth: A kneeling position like this with my arms inside the bike.
Rissy Mitchell: My goodness you really are low aren’t you.
Chris Holdsworth: It’s part of the experience really. You’re so low down you really feel the speed. The ground is whizzing past you.
Extract from Salon Privé Video production
Michael Songhen
Rissy Mitchell: I’m so excited. I’m just about to go and see the World Debut of the Veritas. Now it’s only ten hours old. And I’m off to go and meet the designer Michael to tell me more about it.
Michael this is amazing. I feel like I’ve gone twenty years forward into the future with this car. How did you come up with this design?
Michael Songhen: The idea of the design of this car is that it looks like an animal. Inside, you have the space frame. And the space frame is for better traction. I make the design, not for show. Design is when you can marry the technical with good styling.
Rissy Mitchell: And how much would a car like this cost?
Michael Songhen: Three hundred and fifty thousand euros.
Rissy Mitchell: The inside of this car feels like a racing car.
Michael Songhen: I know we have checked on the computer the car must have a speed of over three hundred kilometres an hour. And we have five hundred and seven horse power from the engine, ten cylinders, a five litre engine and a pedal shift gear box with clutch – without a clutch pedal. And we have a push-rod system for the suspension.
Rissy Mitchell: How long does it take to make a car like this?
Michael Songhen: For this car from a blank sheet of paper to the point you can sit here, we need eight weeks.
Rissy Mitchell: Do you know what, I think this is the perfect car for me to go and do my shopping in.
Michael Songhen: I think not.
Rissy Mitchell: Thank you so much.
Extract from Salon Privé Video production
Michael Newton Wolf
Rissy Mitchell: This is your second time at Salon Privé with this fantastic Riva boat. What’s the response been this year?
Michael Newton Wolf: Much better than last. Being the first time people were uncertain what to expect last year.
And even with current economic conditions people here have been fantastic. They love to see the Riva again. So, really pleased.
Rissy Mitchell: Tell me how much work actually goes into one of these boats and how long does it take to make it.
Michael Newton Wolf: Once the hull is laid, which is the longest process, it’s six months to put in all the internal fittings. The longest part is actually the fore deck: one man, one month, twenty one layers of varnish, hand applied, hand fed. And he does it twenty one times to get the mirror finish that you can see on here.
Rissy Mitchell: How have sales been for you this year?
Michael Newton Wolf: We’re working twice as hard, for half the reward. There are still people buying. It’s discretionary spend.
You don’t need a boat of this magnitude and certainly this amount. I mean it’s half a million pounds.
But because it’s an emotional rather than a rational purchase, people justify it to themselves. They haven’t changed this model in nine years and I don’t think they’ll change it for another nine. Because it’s perfect.
Extract from Salon Privé Video production
Martin Brundle
Rissy Mitchell: Martin, it’s been a pretty special day for you today because you’ve handed over some keys to a pretty special car.
Martin Brundle: I have indeed. It’s the Eagle Speedster. It’s such a beautiful creation and so unique.
Rissy Mitchell: This is your first time at Salon Privé.
Martin Brundle: It’s a really classy event isn’t it. Very calm and some masterpieces around here. And you know, designers today with all the regulations and the crash testing and what have you, can’t create cars like this anymore so it’s great to see them celebrated and not under a dust sheet tucked away where nobody can see them. And I really admire people who allow their masterpieces to come out here so that we can enjoy them.
Rissy Mitchell: Now I’ve got ask you, Formula One – a lot of politics going on which seems a shame because it takes away from why we all love Formula One.
Martin Brundle: Our TV audiences are nearly double this year and I think people are excited to watch. Because you don’t know who’s going to win the race. And it’s not a Ferrari and it’s probably not a McLaren and people are very excited about Formula One again. I know that the politics have been a bit smelly but it keeps Formula One in the media in between races. They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity. I think we’re verging into that territory now because it’s really not been very well-handled in Formula One this year. But the racing itself is brilliant.
Extract from Salon Privé Video production
Derek Bell
Rissy Mitchell: Derek, it’s so wonderful to see you here at Salon Privé. And I believe it’s your first time here as a judge. How have you found the experience today?
Derek Bell: Well I’m much better behind the wheel of a car. I’m more relaxed doing what I do naturally. To be a judge isn’t the most natural thing in the world. However, it was very much easier than I thought. I had a good group of judges with me who took a lot of the load off me and made it very interesting and good fun to do and in the end of it it’s been a piece of cake actually.
Rissy Mitchell: Was there something here today that really took your eye that you haven’t seen before that perhaps you’d like to drive.
Derek Bell: There were lot’s of things I was really happy to see here. I mean some fabulous cars. But to see the Le Mans group, these guys down here, was rather special particularly as three of them I raced. And all of them were during my era apart from the cars right at the end.
This is chassis one and I actually did the shakedown testing way way back in nineteen eighty-ish. And this car subsequently I won Le Mans with four times. So it obviously means a lot.
Actually I lie. I won it three times in this car once with another Porsche before that and in the Ford before that. And I won the Daytona twenty four hours three times in one of these. So you know it has something rather special for me. It really made my career. Without it I would have been nobody.
Rissy Mitchell: We’ve got this kind of tough time in the markets and clearly the car market has taken a huge whack.
How do you think the car market will change in the next two years?
Derek Bell: Well I personally don’t really know but I keep reading what all the experts say and I just do it by my gut feeling but I think what it’s going to be, there’ll be fewer supercars out there – fewer in number. And then on
top of that the people that do go and buy the supercars will be a rather more special, select group of people. I think that the day of the super supercar in mass production won’t be there for many years to come from what I can see.
But they’ll still be able to produce wonderful, wonderful cars, – everybody, whatever manufacturer – and there will be people out there to buy them.
Rissy Mitchell: Are you going to be coming back and judging next year?
Derek Bell: They haven’t asked me yet.
Rissy Mitchell: Have you behaved yourself enough?
Derek Bell: So far but it’s not over yet. I’ve really enjoyed it. I’ve met some super people and you see all these wonderful cars and you realise that’s part of your history and you’re really lucky to be part of such a magnificent industry really.
Rissy Mitchell: And It’s a beautiful club as well.
Derek Bell: Ah well, you can’t even begin to talk about that, to have something like that so close to London, it’s just wonderful.
Rissy Mitchell: I’m a massive fan of yours and always will be and I hope you do come back next year.
Derek Bell: So do I, and you too.
End – Video production transcript for Interview reel.
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