Archive

Oz and James - A Radical Adventure

19th January 2009

A BBC program filmed an unusual biofuel experiment on the whisky island of Islay, the show will be aired on BBC2 at 8pm tomorrow (Tuesday 20th January) 

TV’s wine expert Oz Clarke and Top Gear’s James May ran a Radical SR4 on a special distillation of Bruichladdich single malt whisky.

The presenters were filming for Oz and James’ Great British Adventure, the third series, that follows on from their educational wine tours in French and Californian vineyards. 

Bruichladdich’s unique quadruple-distilled ×4 Islay Spirit was first tasted by wine & spirit expert Oz Clarke for proof before 3 litres were filled in to the car’s fuel tank.

Using an Atlantic shore road closed to traffic by the island’s 5 policemen - cleared of sheep and cattle - the SR4 achieved a hair-raising 0-60 in 3.5 seconds over four runs, complete with it's two occupants.

“The exhaust smells much better than petrol”, said Duncan MacGillivray, Bruichladdich distillery manager, “sure it’s a sustainable biofuel; but at £26 a litre, the Duty and VAT isn’t!

Petrol here is a whopping £1.50 - £1.60 a litre - so it’s not a viable alternative - just yet. The police even tried to breathalyse the car but fortunately they had the wrong type of tester.”