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The Motorsport Brief: Top Gear Australia Preview with Jonathan LaPaglia · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:04
  Welcome to the Motorsport Brief.
• 0:06
  It's Friday the 3rd of May 2024.
• 0:08
  We are just a fortnight away from the return of Top Gear in Australia.
• 0:12
  A fresh take on the iconic franchise.
• 0:15
  And today we'll talk to one of the lucky presenters taking on something that for most of us would be the dream job of a lifetime.
• 0:23
  G'day everybody, Rusty here.
• 0:25
  Welcome to another ep of the Garage Shortcast.
• 0:27
  We're about to talk to actor Jonathan LaPaglia, who has a couple of cool cars in the garage too.
• 0:34
  The idea for this pod came about when we caught up briefly on the grid among a sea of people before race start at the F1 Grand Prix in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago.
• 0:43
  We will get to JLP, as they call him, in just a moment.
• 0:46
  The latest feature episode of Rusty's Garage is out now with former Ferrari and Williams F1 engineer Rob Smedley.
• 0:53
  Good chat, that one.
• 0:54
  From fast-talking security at the British Grand Prix as a teenager, left a lasting impression on him too, to his partnership with Felipe Massa.
• 1:03
  And who followed who to Williams from Ferrari?
• 1:06
  Plus dealing with tragedy, a life-threatening crash for Massa and the loss of Jules Bianchi.
• 1:11
  Plus what he's doing now, leading the All Electric Global Karting League, which helps open doors to motorsport for people that in the past may have found it hard to get a start.
• 1:21
  Search for that in the Rusty's Garage library.
• 1:24
  Imagine getting the call up to host a reboot.
• 1:27
  of the legendary show Top Gear in Australia.
• 1:30
  It's just about to hit our screens again from May 17, streaming on Paramount+.
• 1:35
  Hosted by Moog from Mighty Car Mods, Blair, who you'll know.
• 1:39
  The featurette with he and his good mate Marty is already in our Rusty's Garage Library.
• 1:44
  You can check that out later if you haven't heard that one.
• 1:46
  Alongside Moog is Bo Ryan, the larrikin, former rugby league player, who you'll know from...
• 1:53
  the footy show and his antics there and in more recent years amazing race australia the final part of the front line originally studied medicine if wikipedia is accurate before following his famous older brother anthony into acting and he is internationally acclaimed in that space he's been in the sopranos ncis cold case closer to home the slap underbelly and the reckoning he has as i said
• 2:18
  some cars in the garage and he uses them quite often as dailies.
• 2:21
  You'll hear about that shortly.
• 2:23
  One of them has featured in magazines too.
• 2:25
  He's perhaps best known as the host of Australian Survivor.
• 2:29
  Hello Jonathan LaPaglia, welcome to Rusty's Garage.
• 2:32
  Thanks for having me.
• 2:33
  Did it take much arm twisting to get you involved in this and how did the opportunity kind of come about?
• 2:39
  Zero arm twisting.
• 2:41
  Seriously, look, I'm a huge fan of the original Top Gear from, you know, the moment it started in the early 2000s, watched all of them, and have watched the current iterations and watched the American iterations.
• 2:57
  And in fact, I've said this before, but I had this fantasy.
• 3:01
  I kept hoping that I would be invited to be
• 3:06
  to come drive there, you know, start a reasonably priced car.
• 3:09
  Of course, it never happened.
• 3:11
  But cut to, you know, years later, and they, you know, I got to be a host.
• 3:15
  So I pinched myself.
• 3:18
  I pinched myself.
• 3:19
  I can't believe it's true.
• 3:20
  So cool.
• 3:21
  Were you on some remote island somewhere doing Australian Survivor when you found out that it was being rebooted and that was being given the green light and you were in the driver's seat?
• 3:31
  Where'd you find out?
• 3:32
  Well, to be honest with you, they had a whole bunch of people that they were interested in for the job.
• 3:39
  So they got all of us together for two days out at Eastern Creek Speedway.
• 3:44
  And we did like a chemistry test, like this group chemistry test where they mix and match various combinations of three hosts.
• 3:52
  And we did that for two days.
• 3:54
  And then I didn't hear anything about it for many, many months.
• 3:57
  And then when I was out shooting Survivor in Samoa, I finally got a call that I was one of the three.
• 4:03
  So it all worked out.
• 4:05
  Super.
• 4:06
  On the one hand, it's dream job, right?
• 4:08
  But I mean, it's been such an incredible show, such an amazing franchise, as you detailed at the beginning there, with all of its different iterations worldwide.
• 4:18
  You could be forgiven
• 4:20
  Jonathan, for being a little bit nervous about taking this on.
• 4:23
  Was there any reservations, even in the slightest?
• 4:26
  100%.
• 4:27
  In fact, I was so excited when I got it, but I really did have a bunch of sleepless nights about whether I should do it or not.
• 4:35
  Because it's one thing redoing a show that wasn't done very well, right?
• 4:42
  But it went extremely well.
• 4:45
  Especially the original version with Clarkson and Hammond and May
• 4:51
  It's kind of lightning in a bottle, the relationship that those three guys have.
• 4:54
  And it's billed as a car show, but it's much more than that.
• 4:58
  In my mind, it's really a buddy show.
• 5:00
  It's about three guys traveling around the world doing crazy things in cars.
• 5:06
  And if that relationship isn't there, that chemistry between the three, there's really no show.
• 5:12
  So I did feel like all three of us were kind of stepping into the deep end because we actually didn't even really know each other apart from the two days when we're doing the chemistry test.
• 5:23
  So there's no way of truly knowing if it really works.
• 5:26
  You just got to take a leap of faith, right?
• 5:29
  And we did, and it seems to be working.
• 5:31
  But look, the comparisons are going to be inevitable with the original guys.
• 5:35
  It's just going to happen.
• 5:37
  And we're not those three guys.
• 5:38
  We, we're, we are, we're very different to those three guys.
• 5:42
  But I think we do have good chemistry and good rapport that hopefully people will find that entertaining enough to watch.
• 5:57
  Show how it's done.
• 5:59
  New Top Gear Australia is coming, and it's making tracks around the world.
• 6:03
  How about you from Australia?
• 6:04
  You're a top-class idiot.
• 6:07
  Oh!
• 6:11
  This is one of the most iconic Ferraris ever made, and I've got two words for you.
• 6:16
  Midlife crisis.
• 6:23
  My car's on fire.
• 6:25
  We got a fire.
• 6:27
  We got a fire.
• 6:28
  You can't unsee that.
• 6:29
  FedEx truck at 9 o'clock.
• 6:31
  Take him out.
• 6:36
  Hey, boys, this is not going well.
• 6:39
  Oh, it's all caravans, come on.
• 6:41
  This is the most fun you can have with your pants on.
• 6:43
  Top Gear Australia, new series streaming May 17, only on Paramount+.
• 6:48
  Die-hard followers of the podcast might remember there is a little bit of movie crossover into cars and motorsport for you, and it actually involves Ford versus Ferrari, and you playing Carroll Shelby's crew chief at Le Mans very early in that movie.
• 7:04
  Yes.
• 7:04
  Isn't he?
• 7:04
  Yes.
• 7:05
  Actually, the director, James Mangold, he's a friend of mine.
• 7:08
  And when he was in development, he was developing the movie, I'm like, oh, mate, I love that story.
• 7:14
  I've always loved that story.
• 7:16
  Such a great underdog story.
• 7:19
  And I said, I just, I want any part of it.
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  Whatever you're doing, I want something.
• 7:22
  I'd love to be in it.
• 7:24
  Yeah, sure, no problem.
• 7:25
  But I was shooting Survivor at the time.
• 7:28
  So when I came back, almost all the movie was shot.
• 7:30
  And he's like, actually, there's this one scene left.
• 7:33
  It's really, you know, it's a pretty small scene.
• 7:35
  I'm like, I don't care.
• 7:36
  I'll do it.
• 7:38
  Very cool.
• 7:39
  I think that from memory, the Aston Martin catches fire and Matt Damon, who's playing Shelby so well, has no intention of that fire stopping him continuing on in the race, does he?
• 7:47
  So have there been any other moments along the way in your acting career, whether it's Underbelly, The Reckoning, whatever it might be, where you got to drive something cool?
• 7:55
  Underbelly, I drove this Camaro, which was kind of cool.
• 8:00
  But I was a little disappointed, actually, because Underbelly is a very Australian story.
• 8:06
  And we had a lot of dramatic license with it.
• 8:09
  And they got a Camaro for me.
• 8:10
  But I really wanted them to get me some iconic Australian muscle car.
• 8:16
  Yeah, you know, like a GTH.
• 8:18
  Commodore.
• 8:19
  Commodore or a GTHL or something, you know, but...
• 8:21
  So I drove a cool Camaro in that, and I don't know if I've driven – I mean, all the coolest – I mean, I've driven cars personally, but all the coolest cars I've driven on film really are in top gear, you know.
• 8:36
  Love it.
• 8:36
  Yeah.
• 8:36
  Love it.
• 8:36
  Well, we're going to get a better sense of that when it's released in the not-too-distant future.
• 8:41
  Just to kind of underscore love of cars here, am I right in saying, Jonathan, there's a little bit of –
• 8:47
  family history here.
• 8:48
  Was your dad a kind of mechanic and car dealer?
• 8:50
  And did the fondness of cars perhaps come from him?
• 8:53
  Absolutely.
• 8:54
  So yeah, my father was a mechanic by trade and then he became a car dealer and ended up having his own car lot in Adelaide.
• 9:04
  So I was constantly surrounded by cars.
• 9:07
  And I remember when I was a kid.
• 9:10
  He actually went to one of these car auctions, and for some reason, I think maybe it was GM was selling.
• 9:17
  They had a whole batch of muscle cars from the 70s.
• 9:22
  This was back in that period.
• 9:24
  So they had the SLR 5000s, the XU1s, the Ford Cobras, like all of them.
• 9:32
  And I remember my old man, he bought all of them.
• 9:34
  He bought, it was maybe 50 of these cars, right?
• 9:37
  And everyone thought he was a lunatic because he paid top dollar for all these cars.
• 9:43
  But he turned out that he was a genius because if you wanted one in Adelaide,
• 9:47
  He was the only person who had them.
• 9:49
  He was the only dealer he had all these cars.
• 9:52
  But I remember that his whole dealership was just covered in these amazing, iconic 70s Aussie muscle cars.
• 10:01
  So I was definitely surrounded by cars growing up.
• 10:07
  And so I had a peripheral interest, but I wasn't deeply interested in them.
• 10:12
  And it wasn't until I came to that I moved to the US.
• 10:16
  And initially I moved to New York.
• 10:17
  I didn't need a car there.
• 10:18
  But when I moved to LA a few years after that in the late 90s, I needed a car, obviously.
• 10:24
  And my first car there was a Bronco and it was a VA.
• 10:28
  And that was my first V8.
• 10:30
  And then something just clicked.
• 10:31
  It was like, oh, now I get it.
• 10:34
  A V8.
• 10:35
  It's just the sound and the power of the V8.
• 10:38
  I became drunk on power.
• 10:40
  So then it just started there and it went, you know, it became a little silly.
• 10:46
  I kept buying V8s and modifying them and doing supercharging them and doing stupid shit to them.
• 10:52
  And then finally I got on some muscle cars and, you know, and the 73 Challenger you asked me about before.
• 10:58
  I built that one from scratch.
• 11:01
  Share that with our audience because we spoke about that before I hit the record button here.
• 11:05
  I mean, that thing is very cool.
• 11:07
  73 Dodge Challenger.
• 11:08
  Am I right in saying I think it's Petty Blue and you've got a 6.1 in that?
• 11:13
  What have you got in that thing?
• 11:14
  Yes, it's for many years, for a number of years, I had the original 340 in it, but it wasn't reliable.
• 11:20
  So I yanked it and I put in a 6.1 Hemi with a Tremec five speed.
• 11:25
  It has bare racing brakes all around and all the suspensions redone.
• 11:30
  But so, yeah, that's my daily driving now.
• 11:32
  There is a little something else to a Pontiac.
• 11:34
  Am I right?
• 11:36
  Yeah, 67 GTO.
• 11:38
  It's kind of a rare one, actually.
• 11:39
  It's an HO, 40,000 original miles.
• 11:42
  It's a bit of a time capsule, that one.
• 11:44
  A quick break here on Rusty's Garage.
• 11:46
  Stick around.
• 11:46
  More of our chat with Jonathan LaPaglia in just a few moments.
• 11:54
  You're listening to the Motorsport Brief, something a little different this week, a quick catch-up with Jonathan LaPaglia.
• 11:59
  How cool to get him on.
• 12:00
  And this is, of course, ahead of Top Gear Australia's return through Paramount and 10.
• 12:05
  Let's get back to the convo now.
• 12:07
  Hey, you are paired for this with Moog Blair from Mighty Car Moulds, who's been on our pod before.
• 12:13
  Bo Ryan, all of you on this adventure together.
• 12:16
  Firstly to Moog.
• 12:17
  Now, he's coming into the car world, or he's from the car world, I should say, but coming into kind of the television side of things.
• 12:25
  Being from that YouTube juggernaut, self-produced success story.
• 12:29
  But, I mean, he properly understands, Jonathan, the production process too, and he gets right into that, I would imagine.
• 12:35
  Yeah, he's so annoying.
• 12:36
  He's so annoying.
• 12:40
  Just shut up.
• 12:41
  Just stay the line.
• 12:42
  Stay the line.
• 12:45
  I'm trying to cut the show.
• 12:47
  We haven't even shot it yet.
• 12:49
  And on the flip side, Bo looks like, I mean, he came up at the Grand Prix when we all saw each other and gave me this massive hug, and he looks like the kind of guy that is unafraid to venture off script, even as daunting as something like Top Gear might be.
• 13:04
  Oh, yeah, totally.
• 13:05
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 13:08
  He's kind of interesting, actually.
• 13:09
  He does a lot of preparation, but he makes it look like it is off the cuff.
• 13:14
  He's very fastball, and he's very much able to move with whatever's in front of him.
• 13:20
  But he comes with all his barrels loaded, ready to go.
• 13:23
  It's actually quite interesting because he, you know, he's really perfected this persona of like, you know, the dumb footy player, but he's anything.
• 13:32
  But he's very, very smart.
• 13:34
  He's a whip smart individual.
• 13:36
  Awesome.
• 13:36
  Is it fair to say kind of we're going to be treated to something that has a bit of Australian flavour here, but as Top Gear is renowned for some international adventure, some beautiful pictures that will take us to all kinds of places, is that what viewers can expect?
• 13:53
  Yeah.
• 13:54
  100%.
• 13:55
  In fact, the EP on the show, he was a producer on the original Top Gear for many, many years.
• 14:03
  And he said to us that we've gone in the Australian, this is a version of the Australian Top Gear.
• 14:09
  We've gone to more countries than the original Top Gear would go to in a season.
• 14:14
  So we shot in Colombia.
• 14:17
  We shot in Italy, in France, in Swiss Alps, Monaco.
• 14:24
  We went to St. Tropez.
• 14:26
  We went to the U.S., went to Dallas, went to L.A., and, of course, Albion Park.
• 14:31
  We went to Albion Park, too.
• 14:33
  Yeah, awesome.
• 14:34
  Hey, you and I caught up, as I said, at the Grand Prix.
• 14:38
  So there is, for fans of motor racing, a little bit of motor racing flavour that creeps into this too.
• 14:43
  We can't probably spoil the story, but fans at the GP in Melbourne were treated to a bit of filming with you guys, weren't they?
• 14:49
  Yes.
• 14:49
  So at the end of one of our stories, we're still having trouble deciding which car is the best.
• 14:55
  So we hand it over to the very knowledgeable crowd at the Melbourne Grand Prix and they decide which car out of our three is the best.
• 15:06
  Did you enjoy the GP?
• 15:07
  It's crazy on the grid there with all those people.
• 15:10
  I mean, it's one of the biggest crowds I think that event has ever had, 450 odd thousand over the four days.
• 15:15
  That must have been mega to be a part of all that.
• 15:19
  It was hectic.
• 15:19
  And I'd never gone on the grid before, which was a mind-blowing experience.
• 15:24
  I mean, there was just so much adrenaline.
• 15:27
  It was crazy.
• 15:28
  Typically, there are lots of challenges on this show by nature.
• 15:31
  Were there some heart-stopping moments in the eight episodes so far?
• 15:36
  We have had a couple.
• 15:38
  I don't want to spoil them too much, but...
• 15:41
  Yes, we do have a couple of incidents that are a little touch and go, but we all came out the other end.
• 15:50
  We're all here, so it's all good.
• 15:52
  Terrific.
• 15:52
  So eight-part first series, this reboot.
• 15:56
  We're talking pretty much on the eve of release.
• 15:58
  The sneak peek I've seen looks absolutely beautifully shot, Jonathan.
• 16:03
  Has the reaction at Paramount and 10 been good?
• 16:05
  And I hope there's kind of a little bit of loose discussion happening in the corridors there about maybe commissioning a second season.
• 16:11
  Everyone's super excited about it.
• 16:13
  You know, the show is, the scope of it is huge, as you can probably tell from the trailer.
• 16:19
  It really, we go all over the world.
• 16:21
  It has a huge budget for an Australian production.
• 16:25
  And we also, we had a lot of the UK crew come along as well, as well as the Aussie crew.
• 16:31
  So there's a lot of knowledge that's been injected into the show from the original show.
• 16:37
  And hopefully, you know, all of that is a recipe for something that's going to be supremely entertaining.
• 16:43
  I hope anyway.
• 16:44
  I'm sure it will be.
• 16:46
  I can't let you go without saying massive congrats on Australian Survivor either.
• 16:50
  You're probably not all that far off in real terms of chalking up, I think, a decade as host of that show.
• 16:56
  My wife is addicted to it, mate.
• 16:58
  She's never missed a series.
• 16:59
  Love Jeff Probst in the American series as well.
• 17:02
  And I would imagine...
• 17:03
  He's kind of a hard act to follow or be compared against, but you have made that Aussie series your own.
• 17:09
  Congratulations.
• 17:10
  Thank you.
• 17:11
  Yeah, no, look, Jeff, he's the master, right?
• 17:14
  He's the best.
• 17:15
  But I think our show has kind of taken on its own flavour.
• 17:19
  And I'm glad your wife enjoys it.
• 17:22
  She really does.
• 17:23
  You've dreamt of being a guest on the reasonably priced car segment.
• 17:26
  Now you are in the driver's seat with the keys.
• 17:28
  Good luck with it.
• 17:29
  We hope it goes exceptionally well.
• 17:31
  We're really grateful that you came on the pod today.
• 17:33
  And I'm still not sure whether Albion Park or South America is going to be the height when I watch the eight part series, mate.
• 17:39
  Awesome.
• 17:40
  You'll be an Alvin Clark.
• 17:42
  Of course it is.
• 17:43
  Of course.
• 17:44
  Love to ask.
• 17:46
  The eight-part series launches Friday, May 17, on Paramount+, the global digital video streaming service, where you'll also be able to find a bit of the back catalogue, seasons 27 to 31 of the UK Top Gear series too.
• 18:00
  Enjoy that at your leisure.
• 18:02
  This isn't the first time we've had a Top Gear in our part of the world.
• 18:05
  Remember, Shane Jacobson and Steve Pisardi, who've both been...
• 18:09
  Thank you.
• 18:30
  Now I note that there are a couple of people online already questioning if all of the host team are properly passionate about cars.
• 18:37
  So hopefully my chat with Jonathan here today has painted a bit of a picture for you of his love for it that you may not have known before.
• 18:44
  Wait until you watch the series, then make up your own mind.
• 18:47
  Often it's about the chemistry of the on-air team, the cinematography, the places they go, the adventures, and of course, the cars.
• 18:54
  Music
• 18:55
  Before we go, we've just learned that Rusty's Garage is among the finalists for Motorsport New Zealand's Best Use of Digital Media Award for 2024, which will be decided later this month.
• 19:06
  It is up against some very good content, but we are thrilled to have even been nominated.
• 19:11
  That is it for today.
• 19:12
  As always, thank you so much for listening.
• 19:15
  If you get a chance to rate and review the pod, I'd be very grateful.
• 19:18
  Enjoy the Miami F1 Grand Prix this weekend, and we will catch you next week.
• 19:22
  Bye for now.