After yet another great trip to Le Mans this year I decided to head south after the race to soak up some sun and stretch my new Tuscan’s legs. A week before setting off I had a call from my friend Dubbs. He'd been contacted by Car magazine to see if he knew anyone with a Tuscan who might be interested in helping them with a feature. They needed a Tuscan in Nice to be photographed alongside the new Ferrari 360 Spider, and TVR didn’t have one available. It took me less than three seconds to agree, as I would be down there anyway, and with a free room thrown in plus the chance to have a drive of the 360 it just had to be done.

We met up with Paul Horrell from Car along with 2 photographers and the designer. The setting was the hairpins of La Turbie high up in the mountains above Nice, the weather was scorching and so was the gearlever, but the car stood up to it very well. After a series of passes the photo sessions began, with Paul driving the Tuscan inches away from the camera car with the photographer literally hanging out the back of it. This all happens at 30mph but looks a lot faster in print ! My turn came to drive the car with the camera crew following me. Whenever they decided it would be a good shot they flashed their headlamps and I pressed a remote shutter release that was connected to the camera which had been mounted to the side of the car.

At midday Paul was helicoptered to Monaco to pick up the Ferrari at it’s official launch, and we headed down to Menton for more photo’s. By now the sun was almost unbearable, and it took another 3 hours to photograph the Tuscan in different settings, including parking it halfway round a roundabout and directing traffic round it. The car received so much attention, a combination of the outrageous shape, rather bright colour and the glamour of the photographers.

It was then time to drive back to La Turbie to meet Paul and a bright yellow 360 Spider. After we had all stopped drooling the 2 cars were driven behind the camera car for the next hour or so, with me driving my Tuscan close to the back of the 360, making it appear to pounce on the Ferrari from the wrong side of the road. The next series of shots were of the two cars taken from a ridge above the hairpins. By this time the German and Italian press were in the area in their 360’s, and the sound of these cars hammering up and down with the exhaust bouncing of the mountain rocks was something else, absolutely spine-tingling. Day one ended with some interior shots of the 360 and then back to Nice for a beer.

At 6.30 the next morning I drove to Ventimiglia which is just over the border in Italy, through a very busy market and onto the beach, where the cover shot was being set up. Inquisitive Italian’s crowded round the car, getting very excited and shouting "Bellisima machina!" Strangely enough they nearly died when the bright yellow 360 picked it’s way through the busy market and on to the beach, a new Ferrari, in Italy...

The cars were set up and huge lights were placed around them to lift the cars from the grey pebbles of the beach, 2 hours later and it was all over. An orange Tuscan and a yellow 360 on the front cover of Car ! All in all a fantastic experience, the guys from Car just didn’t stop working all day, and both the Tuscan and myself were a little tired and a little sunburned, all that was left to do was keep quiet about it until the issue came out (July 11th).