Takona Tlks.

This Episode Takona Tlks with George Williams, commercial car photographer and builder of a particularly purple Lotus Exile known as Hell Slow.

George has been shooting commercial grade photography for many years now, having worked with the likes of Zenvo, Maserati, Rimac, and Czinger to name a few.

This Episode Takona Tlks with Mark Rose, founder of the new Redline Magazine.

Mark and I met up at the original coffees and cars location, Squisita, to talk about how he started, what he's up to now, and what he's hoping the future holds.

This Episode Takona Tlks with Jack Cavanagh, the face of the Stjarna Gloss detailing brand. Jack has become pretty well known for his engaging and entertaining to camera pieces talking about detailing and the brand he's building. It was an absolute pleasure to sit and chat with Jack about where the brand came from, how it's grown and how he ended up filming for Top Gear! We go down into a deep chat about mental health, some of life's struggles, and some ways to manage when things get tough, a true example of how casual chat can be the gateway into a properly meaningful conversation.

A special two guest episode!

Takona Tlks with both Jonny Smith and Richard Porter, together! We sat down ahead of their On That Live Of things recording at Bicester Heritage to have a chat about what they do, how they got started, and some of the weird and wonderful stories that have happened along the way.

This is practically a bonus episode of their own Smith and Sniff Podcast, with a Takona twist.

This episode Takona Tlks with James Cameron, the founder of Mission Motorsport.

James shares the story of how Mission Motorsport came to be, some of the amazing work that they're doing, and a bit of back story into how it's so close to home for him.

You'll have seen both James and Mission Motorsport at various events around the country, what you might not have seen is the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes in working to help former military personnel re-enter the civilian working world.

In their own words "MISSION MOTORSPORT, THE FORCES’ MOTORSPORT CHARITY AIDS IN THE RECOVERY AND REHABILITATION OF THOSE AFFECTED BY MILITARY OPERATIONS BY PROVIDING OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH MOTORSPORT AND THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY"

This episode Takona Tlks with Al Clark, automotive film director behind some of the most interesting and exciting videos you may have seen. Including one with a rather fast moving Bugatti...

Al and I sat down for a good ol chat about what he does, how he got started, and how the automotive world can be a great connector.

This episode Takona Tlks with Edward Lovett, founder and CEO of the collecting group which includes both Collecting Cars and Watch Collecting.

We look into the origins of collecting cars and some of Edwards story to how it came about, along with some of the ups and downs of creating a platform from scratch. Shorter than usual episodes as Edward is a pretty busy chap, insightful and entertaining throughout with less of my meandering off on tangents.

This episode Takona Tlks with Matt Goodwin of High Peak Autos. Matt runs a YouTube channel alongside his car dealership, giving people a pretty transparent insight into just what it takes to make that business successful. We go through his story of starting from scratch buying 7 cars for £1,000, to running a successful business along with a YouTube channel, and everything in between.

This Episode Takona Tlks with Joe Achilles. From his start working in the fashion industry, his time spent on BMW forums, to now working full time on content creation, video journalism, and partnering with the likes of Michelin. Joe shares his story and we go off on a few interesting tangents here and there.

This episode Takona Tlks with Charlotte Vowden, freelance journalist for the likes of Hagerty and Mike Brewers Motoring amongst other diverse outlets. Charlotte and I have been around a fair few of the same events and people for the last couple of years giving us quite a bit of familiarity to catch up on. We explore what it's like to be a freelance journalist, life with a classic MGA and how it almost got trapped out at sea, and go down her previous works for the like of the Times.

A real pleasure to sit down and have a casual chat with someone who's name is growing pretty quickly within the automotive world, and rightly so.

This episode Takona Tlks with Vanessa Ruck aka The Girl on a Bike, motorbike endurance rally rider, Bowler Motors racing driver, and presenter.

After a tragic accident on her pushbike followed by 7 surgeries over 7 years, Vanessa discovered the world of motorcycling, and just as importantly the thrill of exploring the world on them. As a rider she’s pushing the boundaries in a huge array of motorcycle disciplines. From full blown desert rallies, to hard enduro and road touring, to knee down track days, and trials. If it’s got an engine and wheels, Vanessa will be excited. 

Vanessa is on a mission to show that nothing is impossible if you work hard enough, even as a slightly reconstructed person following the accident. Instead of adding to the sometimes-toxic media landscape filled with ‘all so perfect’ lives, she’s real and honest, sharing the highs and the lows. Showing the strength needed to come out stronger against life’s curve-balls.  She believes it’s about realising that wanting to quit is normal, that anxiety and stress can be overcome and that with the right mindset and strategies anything is possible. Born from real life experiences, she brings highly relatable lessons and tools to help face the battles and challenges of life.

As a force to be reckoned with, she's an rider, racer and adventurer living with ongoing pain, and is determined to make the most of every day despite her past, and help others do the same. Vanessa will be joining us with her energetic real life experiences following her life changing story from accident to becoming a rider and international racer who has now ridden in over 28 countries.

Takona Tlks with Sam Moores, Podcaster, photographer, and car enthusiast. Sam very kindly invited me down to sit and chat with him about his life behind the camera shooting some pretty amazing cars, his podcasting with interesting people from within the automotive world (feels familiar), and we have a chat about some of the interesting and exciting cars he's had the good fortune to own and drive.

You can find Sam's podcast where you found this one by searching "Car Chat"

This episode of Takona Tlks is with Editor in Chief of Road Rat Magazine, Mikey Harvey. With a varied background within journalism and news we had an intriguing conversation into the back catalogues of Mike's working career, how Road Rat came to be, some of the challenges he and the team have faced and what's in store for the future. We also headed into a proper conversation about mental health and some rather close to home stories around the topic.

This episode of Takona Tlks.: I sit down with Ian Cook, automotive artists best known for his painting with remote control cars. Ian has been a regular face throughout the automotive community, having done his live art at events such as the Silverstone Grand Prix, Goodwood festival of speed, and shows across the planet. We sat and chatted about all things pop bang colour, Ian's story, and what life is like as an artist.

This episode I sit down with Photographer, content creator and social media person (not influencer), Roger Chan. 

This episode of the morning drive: I sat down with the wonderful Jon Bentley, a man I'd grown up watching on the likes of the Gadget Show and Fifth Gear, bumping into him at the Bicester Scramble was surreal, sitting with him for an hour and a half for my own podcast was a treat younger me would never have expected to happen.

Jon and I recorded this episode in a Skoda Yeti which was actually pretty good to record in, but there may still be some background noise from time to time. 

This episode of the morning drive: I sit down with Ben Pearson, best known for his time on the police interceptors. Ben met with me at the Motorist, after one of our coffees and cars meets, to have a chat about life as a police officer and how he came away from that career due to PTSD. Ben is now working hard to raise awareness for PTSD especially within the police force, by hosting events, writing books, giving talks, and more! He's really using his own experiences to help others and it was great to sit down and have a good chat about it all. 

We do touch upon some quite dark places, please consider this a trigger warning ahead of listening. 

We had a trip up to our coffees and cars meet at The Motorist in Yorkshire which turned out to be the perfect meeting place to sit down with our brand ambassador Alex denham.

Alex is a fantastic photographer, with a portfolio of stunning work to her name. Currently known for her motorsport work mainly, with a more diverse range on the horizon. Alex is someone I personally followed on social media and found to be inspiring, skilled, and openly talking about mental health in an honest and encouraging way.

We sat down and had a great chat about all things cars, cameras (and driving a C8 corvette to Le Mans) 

I sat down with Liam from The Back Roads to talk about the mighty return of the 944 after it's 2 years of being fixed.

We looked into the origin of Charity Corner and the amazing friends that connect us.

We also got an interruption about halfway through were someone walked into the cafe, so you are forewarned.