Project Petrolhead

The automotive world can be a bit po-faced at times, with every development in technology or successive generation cycle being treated with the same searing scrutiny and ponderous chin-stroking as somebody inventing the cure for cancer. Maybe what we need then is some gentle ribbing to even things out and deflate the egos of those at the top of the tree.

Enter Sniff Petrol.

Sniff Petrol was founded in 2001 by Richard Porter, of 1998 Top Gear Subaru Legacy review fame, with the aim of poking fun at the often-over-serious car industry. With regular columns from characters like Crazy Dave (following David Coulthard on his move to Red Bull racing), Roy Lanchester (an amalgam, of dyed-in-the-wool car journalists, just in it for the free booze on press launches), Trentham Sleaves (a name-dropping romantic who covers the Grand Prix), and my personal favourite Troy Queef (a pitch-perfect spearing of the flinty-eyed “power slides and hyperbole” road testing helmsman). Initially anonymous, it quickly became an open secret that the site was under the stewardship of Porter, himself a columnist at EVO, script editor for Top Gear and The Grand Tour and co-host of Smith and Sniff: (allegedly) the UK’s Number 1 car podcast. In fact, it was Porter’s work on Sniff Petrol that secured him the job on post-2002 Top Gear, becoming an instrumental voice that helped shape the tone of that programme into something that virtually became automotive catnip for those of us whose communion wine has an octane rating.

Unfortunately, with his numerous other (better paying) projects, Porter is no longer able to commit the same level of attention to Sniff Petrol and, as such, the motoring world is once again starting to take itself too seriously. Manufacturers are making bold changes to their brands and identities, Formula One has devolved into a “Real Housewives of Silverstone” style reality show and marketing is now more and more focussed on the fast-paced, copy-paste world of the influencer, with less attention paid to people who can actually tell you what a car is… you know… like to drive beyond “loud” and “fast”.

There have been a few attempts to fill the void left by Porter and ‘Petrol, namely with Top Gear magazine’s feeble attempts at “biting” satire on their website (with such laugh out loud headlines as “Report: AI speed camera spots motorist picking their nose” and “F1 title to be decided by Eurovision-style phone vote”) but for me, the most successful attempt hasn’t come from traditional print media at all.

Deep in the uninhabitable frozen wasteland of Toronto Canada, Throttle House was born. Initially starting as a more straight-forward attempt at YouTube-based car journalism, the channel quickly evolved to include scripted sketches at the start of otherwise cookie-cutter reviews. These sketches pointed the finger at humorous little titbits of motoring life like MX-5 zealots, predicting in-car ads (surely just a matter of time), pointlessly “utilitarian” SUVs and overly flowery press releases. Add onto this the fact that these sketches are just additional material for genuinely and impressively in-depth car reviews and Throttle House have quickly become one of my favourite channels on YouTube. Keep up the good work lads!

Every great industry needs a good satirist. For every bungling MP, there is Private Eye. For every self-aggrandised Oscar winner, there is Mel Brooks and 30 Rock. For every over-promised and under-delivered video Game, there is Hard-Drive.net. It’s great to see that, for the motor industry, the baton has now been picked up by a new generation.