The Mechanic's Gallon

I came upon the phrase ‘the mechanic’s gallon’ a while ago. Teams in the 60’s were trying to save weight and make the car as light as possible, inc. putting as much fuel in the car at the start of the race so that it lasted JUST to the end. This generally worked but a few times ran out of fuel with a few laps to go. So unbeknownst to Colin Chapman, the mechanics when fuelling the car would add an extra gallon, just to make sure it was enough, hence the ‘mechanic’s gallon’!

The Mechanic's Gallon is a sports podcast hosted by Gary Critcher, with 25 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Gary Critcher hosts The Mechanic's Gallon, a sports show with 25 episodes published.

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  The Mechanic's Gallon

  Chris Hessey - recorded October 2025

  Oct 11, 2025—S0

  <p> Download the audio here - coming soon on YouTube - 62 mins.</p><p>Our guest this time is Chris Hessey who had a thirty year career in Formula One. Chris is unusual in that he never worked in the lower formulae, he jumped straight into Grand Prix racing from being a master mechanic in a garage. We go from 1984 with Ram Automotive through Leyton House March, Simtek, Williams, Pacific Grand Prix, Benetton finally ending up in Formula E with Virgin Racing.</p><p><br /></p><br /><p><br /></p><br /> <br /> <br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br...

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  The Mechanic's Gallon

  Peter Warr of Lotus

  Jan 1, 2025—S0

  <p>Download the audio here, also on the YouTube Channel</p><p>Here is an excerpt from the interview we filmed with Peter Warr for my Lotus 72 documentary. These are the pieces where he's not talking about the 72! Peter (or PEW as he was known) was the Team Lotus Team Manager as well as at Walter Wolf Racing. But before that, he worked at Lotus very early on. He also tells us one of the ways that Jim Clark won the Indy 500 in 1965, pay driver Alex Soler-Roig at Clermont-Ferrand in 1970 and Dave Walker in F3 in 1971. The interview was conducted...

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  The Mechanic's Gallon

  Beaky Sims tells us what it was like to work on the revolutionary gas turbine Lotus 56B

  Dec 23, 2024—S0

  <p> Download the audio here, also on the YouTube channel.</p><p><br /></p><br /><p >Reine Wisell pictured in the 56B in the Silverstone pitlane at the 1971 British GP.</p><p >Picture courtesy of the Supercharged Collection.</p>

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  The Mechanic's Gallon

  John Miles explaining the principles of anti-squat and anti-dive suspension pioneered on the Lotus 72

  Dec 23, 2024—S0

  <p> Download the audio here, also on the YouTube channel.</p><p><br /></p><br />Beaky Sims pictured with John Miles in the Lotus 64 at the 1969 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.Picture courtesy of the Supercharged Collection

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  The Mechanic's Gallon

  Dave Brodie, recorded in April 2016

  Dec 20, 2024—S0

  <p>Download the audio here, also on the YouTube channel</p>I met the Brode just twice, the first time was to film this interview (April 2016) for my Lotus 72 documentary. The connection to that was that he was Ronnie Peterson's best friend, and indeed, at his wedding to Barbro was not only his chauffeur but also his Best Man!In this interview I cut virtually nothing out, the Brode was such a skillful storyteller that we needed no re-takes.Ronnie is my favourite Grand Prix driver and as the interview drew to a close both the Brode and I knew...

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