Nathan penney

Active member
Jul 8, 2017
804
1,063
Liverpool
Don’t miss December’s issue of Top gear magazine as there should be a feature in there with my car taking centre stage.
Offering to let TG use my car for a photo shoot and a test drive was met with both excitement and the big question from my wife; “and you won’t even let me drive it?”
I had no comeback to that bombshell other than to say ‘Love you’ then disappear prepping the car ready for photos.
I didn’t have as much time as I’d have liked to polish etc as the weather was against me even though it was September.
Thankfully I do try keep it clean as possible even though it lives outside and does get used.
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I did spend a bit of time under the bonnet cleaning up some of the plastics and other bits and bobs.
Also the hinges and door stays were a bit of a mess. I always clean the door shuts and surrounds but tend to leave the hinges as I’d rather them be covered in grease and not squeak or rust. However just incase they appeared on photos I decided to degrease them and give them a wash.
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We’d arranged a meeting point in Bedfordshire so left in plenty time as my journey down involved the M6 and M1.
My clean and polished car was now being subjected to torrential rain and spray but I had my quick detailer with me so wasn’t really bothered.
Coming off the motorway however onto a new road network with tippers and diggers also spraying mud everywhere my car resembled a rally car by the time I arrived to meet the guys.
They introduced themselves and I set too with the detailer. They told me not to bother as you wouldn’t see the dirt in print but I just couldn’t leave it like that.

The feature in TG magazine is called ‘Meet your Hero’
Someone from the magazine chooses a car which is special to them or a car they always wanted. They drive it ( on the road, not track) and hopefully write a glowing review on how amazing the car is.
The guy who chose the Cupra R was Pete.
A nice fella who has a love for Fast Clios but he’d always had a soft spot for the Mk1 Cupra R also.
We took it for a couple of laps around the roads they had in mind for photos with me driving, then swapped to let Pete drive.
He really enjoyed it praising the power, the turbo and generally the way it drove.
I can’t wait to read the actual feature to see what he writes, hopefully all good.

We had a chat about how I got into them and he was pleased to hear that I’d had five mk1’s since 2002, ranging from 1.6 to the Cupra R’s.
Then the exciting bit, to see how they get these stunning shots of moving cars in the magazine.
I was suprised at just how slow it actually is. 25 mph!
With me sat in the back of the camera car and Pete driving mine, with the photographer hanging out the window in the front passenger seat I watched as we travelled practically on the rear bumper of mine to get action shots.
Photographer then harnessed himself in the boot of the 5 series estate to get the front, side shots.
After a few runs up and down to get the photos in the best light before the rain came was priority so I sat there and let them get on with what they had to do.

Happy they’d got enough moving shots they took some more once stopped of the inside as I stressed to them to get one of the rare original chequered floor mats. :ROFLMAO:
The four of us chatted some more about cars we like or don’t like and they all agreed that shooting the cars for this particular feature is one of their favourites as they get to see and drive cars that in their words are proper old skool.
We laughed at the size of my car compared to the two cars parked in front that they had been doing a twin test with in the morning, a Nissan Qashqai and a Dacia Bigster. The Qashqai riding on huge 21 inch rims in mid spec compared to my huge 18’s.
All agreed the Cupra R would be the one they’d want to take home though.
Winner!
All in all, an interesting day to watch how these shoots are done and even better, the mk1 Cupra R gets some love in a mainstream car magazine.
Keep your eyes out for it, you shouldn’t miss mine inside the Retro section.
Happy reading.
 
Don’t miss December’s issue of Top gear magazine as there should be a feature in there with my car taking centre stage.
Offering to let TG use my car for a photo shoot and a test drive was met with both excitement and the big question from my wife; “and you won’t even let me drive it?”
I had no comeback to that bombshell other than to say ‘Love you’ then disappear prepping the car ready for photos.
I didn’t have as much time as I’d have liked to polish etc as the weather was against me even though it was September.
Thankfully I do try keep it clean as possible even though it lives outside and does get used.
View attachment 51003
I did spend a bit of time under the bonnet cleaning up some of the plastics and other bits and bobs.
Also the hinges and door stays were a bit of a mess. I always clean the door shuts and surrounds but tend to leave the hinges as I’d rather them be covered in grease and not squeak or rust. However just incase they appeared on photos I decided to degrease them and give them a wash.
View attachment 51004
View attachment 51005
View attachment 51006
We’d arranged a meeting point in Bedfordshire so left in plenty time as my journey down involved the M6 and M1.
My clean and polished car was now being subjected to torrential rain and spray but I had my quick detailer with me so wasn’t really bothered.
Coming off the motorway however onto a new road network with tippers and diggers also spraying mud everywhere my car resembled a rally car by the time I arrived to meet the guys.
They introduced themselves and I set too with the detailer. They told me not to bother as you wouldn’t see the dirt in print but I just couldn’t leave it like that.

The feature in TG magazine is called ‘Meet your Hero’
Someone from the magazine chooses a car which is special to them or a car they always wanted. They drive it ( on the road, not track) and hopefully write a glowing review on how amazing the car is.
The guy who chose the Cupra R was Pete.
A nice fella who has a love for Fast Clios but he’d always had a soft spot for the Mk1 Cupra R also.
We took it for a couple of laps around the roads they had in mind for photos with me driving, then swapped to let Pete drive.
He really enjoyed it praising the power, the turbo and generally the way it drove.
I can’t wait to read the actual feature to see what he writes, hopefully all good.

We had a chat about how I got into them and he was pleased to hear that I’d had five mk1’s since 2002, ranging from 1.6 to the Cupra R’s.
Then the exciting bit, to see how they get these stunning shots of moving cars in the magazine.
I was suprised at just how slow it actually is. 25 mph!
With me sat in the back of the camera car and Pete driving mine, with the photographer hanging out the window in the front passenger seat I watched as we travelled practically on the rear bumper of mine to get action shots.
Photographer then harnessed himself in the boot of the 5 series estate to get the front, side shots.
After a few runs up and down to get the photos in the best light before the rain came was priority so I sat there and let them get on with what they had to do.

Happy they’d got enough moving shots they took some more once stopped of the inside as I stressed to them to get one of the rare original chequered floor mats. :ROFLMAO:
The four of us chatted some more about cars we like or don’t like and they all agreed that shooting the cars for this particular feature is one of their favourites as they get to see and drive cars that in their words are proper old skool.
We laughed at the size of my car compared to the two cars parked in front that they had been doing a twin test with in the morning, a Nissan Qashqai and a Dacia Bigster. The Qashqai riding on huge 21 inch rims in mid spec compared to my huge 18’s.
All agreed the Cupra R would be the one they’d want to take home though.
Winner!
All in all, an interesting day to watch how these shoots are done and even better, the mk1 Cupra R gets some love in a mainstream car magazine.
Keep your eyes out for it, you shouldn’t miss mine inside the Retro section.
Happy reading.
Lovely car, takes me back to my first Biza Cupra that was the same shape.
 
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@Nathan penney; fantastic example of a mk1 Cupra R and it’s great that it gets used rather than treated as a garage queen. Looks brilliant in yellow 😎 and I love the alloys - just goes to show that alloys don’t need to be diamond cut to look good.

The car I should have bought in the early 2000’s rather than the mk4 Golf I did buy…………..
 
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Reactions: Nathan penney
Just love this motor, it is a great car in its own right buy your particular it a credit to your dedication to keep this car original and working.

Keep up the good work, this car will outlast many new motors from today and i have to agree about the size of the other cars they are just getting bloated.