Hello from Ex Renault UK PR Manager

[GPH]

Hello, I'm Graeme Holt and thought I would post a message to introduce myself as I was the Press Relations Manager for Renault UK from 1994 to 2007, when Jeremy T was the Clio Product Manager before he took over from me in PR, so I was responsible for all the media relations and product launches for Renault for 13 years including of course the Clio V6. I was lucky enough to have a Clio V6 ph2 as my company car for 19,000 miles (a liquid yellow - was HV55 XHT now registered as CO02PEK I see.) Having been lucky enough to drive most new cars that were on sale in that time ( including supercars etc) at Motor Industry test days at places like Millbrook and Bedford autodrome, it was always a total pleasure to drive home in such an interesting and exciting car on a daily basis and I miss it this day.
Hence why I have been reading this site with interest since joining as I want to become an owner again in the near future. I did talk to Nick Trott about buying his but the timing was not quite right for me yet but I'm pleased to see Sam is looking after it very well for me for now lol It's great to see such a good bunch of enthusiasts on here with a passion for the car.
I'd be happy to answer any questions and may open some topics that might be of interest to you and also reply to a couple that are older ones that I may be able to answer.
Also I see that there are a couple of links to some of the magazine road tests but not all. Perhaps a new section with some articles on line with some history behind them would be of interest and if copyright is an issue i'm sure between myself and Jeremy T we could get them approved. One of my favourite V6 Ph2 events we did was ice driving in the Alps at a Trophy Andros ice circuit ( yes really) and there was a great article in autocar that many of you might not have seen.
anyway, I look forward to chatting with some of you and becoming a Vee owner again soon!

 

[Jamesv6]

Welcome Greame.

Very good to see you on the forum, I believe our paths have crossed a few times over the years at Renault events, and I think recently we discussed the awesome restyling of CO02PEK

I certainly look forward to expanding our articles section in the knowledge base.

A little something from your wall now on mine.

 

[RUSSO]

:welcome: to the forum Graeme.
What a great job it must have been and good to hear you wish to be back in the fold [cmilie=iconcheers.gif]
Looking forward to some of the tales and interesting topics I'm sure you'll post from your years of Renault PR

 

[Will]

:welcome: Graeme that is quite some Job to have had . In your 13 years you must have seen the arrival of some pretty interesting cars at Renault, including the Clio v6.
The other car that immediately springs into my mind is the Sport Spider, do you have any stories to tell about them?

 

[GPH]

Hello James!
thanks for the official welcome to this great site [smilie=thanks.gif]
having read through a few of the posts it's good to see so many genuine enthusiasts who have a helpful attitude unlike some forums.
And just in case there are some who still don't realise what a special car you are lucky enough to have I read with interest recently Aston Martin boasting that one of the main features that justifies the £1.3m price tag of the One-77 is that it is not made on a moving production line but by a couple of experts who build it on the spot. In other words exactly like a V6 Ph2 was at Dieppe. i remember taking a group of journalists there for a UK launch event of the 182 Trophy ( the one that resulted in the Autocar front page " World's greatest hot hatch" - that was a good day in the office [smilie=yay.gif] ) and we had to drag ourselves away as we could have stood there for hours watching a black Vee being constructed.
Lets see what articles I can dig out as i kept some when I left RUK.
And yes i remember that picture of the Clio on ice! pleased it has found a good home.

 

[ian hosk]

Ah, Big G.... the reason I am a V6 owner! Donnington 2002/03 i think was where the sale was confirmed. You chucked me a set of keys and said "drive it and then try to tell me you don't want one"

We then went to drive the Ph1 back to back wth the Ph2... there is a clear difference in the handling we found as the Ph1 went a little bit sidways the backwards.

Ian

 

[Lankan]

Graeme, read through your post with interest.

Would love to hear details of the Ice Driving experience - is this a similar event, albeit not a write up in Autocar? LINK Noticed that the Vee's reg plate (HN53 YHV) is the same as the photo in Jame's post above.

Must have been fun riding with Patrick Tambay.

Good luck in your hunt.......

 

[GPH]

:welcome: Graeme that is quite some Job to have had . In your 13 years you must have seen the arrival of some pretty interesting cars at Renault, including the Clio v6.
The other car that immediately springs into my mind is the Sport Spider, do you have any stories to tell about them?

Thank Will.
It was a great job as Renault was really on a roll in the 90's and early 00's with Patrick le Quement as the Design Director. cars like Scenic and the "ass shaking" Megane ph2 were really mould breaking and that's before we mention the Avantime and Vel Satis. Of course having always been a car nut the sports cars were always exciting for me. The Sport Spider was just amazing for its time. Even now, 16 years later it could pass for a new car. For all Renault's ups and downs over the years it's a credit to the managment that they realise what an asset they have in Renaultsport and AlpineDieppe.

At the time the Spider came out I had a Press Officer working for me I had hired from local radio who wanted to get into the car industy called Richard Hammond. Yes Mr Top Gear. Months before the car was to be driven by any journalist we agreed that Jeremy Clarkson could drive the only show car around the Monaco GP circuit for his Motorworld programme but that meant getting the car there. funnily enough richard and I "volunteered".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggho5QBS45M

It was the one with out the windscreen but obviously it would have been far to "uncool" to wear a helmet so we went for sturdy sunglasses instead. We soon learned to overtake trucks fast to avoid the stones being kicked up. If i remember rightly Richard got away with a large stone impression on his forehead and a little blood and me a cut to the cheek. It was worth it. lol

One funny little story was the race home from the Spider Racing version launch. You know when someone flashes their lights at you to give you a "warning" well, ever been "flashed at " by a Boeing 747? The launch had been at Paul Ricard Circuit in the South of france which meant 2 private jets. ( yes journalists are spoilt but you knew that !) On the return to heathrow, Vicky Butler Henderson was on the first one and I was on the second but my pilot reckoned he could beat them back by flying higher even though we took off after them.A bet was duly laid down with the speedy Ms BH. Having landed at heathrow we had made up the time and could see the other plane ahead taxing to the private terminal. Between us and the terminal was the runway and our pilot decided to go for it despite a 747 beginning to take off. hence the flashing of lights from the747. ... and we still lost the bet by about 200 metres [smilie=icon_aaargh.gif] fun times.

 

[Duncan]

Welcome Graeme, fantastic to have you on here. Hope you manage to find another v6 & look forward to hearing more stories!

Loved reading about the spider!

:welcome:

 

[roystinho]

:welcome:

Looking forward to some great little stories, keep 'em coming :approve:

 

[Ali]

Welcome!

 

[paul o]

Welcome to the club,must of been a brilliant job to have very jealous ,cant wait to hear some more story's :approve:

 

[ravydavy]

Howdy. :salut:

Do reno keep heritage cars in storage out of interest?

 

[® Andy]

Howdy Graeme ... welcome to v6clio.net :approve:™ and most definitely cool to have you along :welcome:.

 

[Brett]

Welcome aboard fella.

 

[Matt]

Welcome Graeme - looking forward to some of the tales and reading the articles you have.
Best wishes,

Matt.

 

[GPH]

Howdy. :salut:

Do reno keep heritage cars in storage out of interest?

appologies is this is posted twice as the first draft vanished......

Hello
Before i joined in '94 the only car Renault UK had was a vintage car used in the London to Brighton each year so myself and the Director at the time decided to start keeping examples of the more interesting cars that may be useful for future Press events. Renault Paris has a huge collection stored in warehouses that are not open to the public and have no museum either . it is a real shame but no one wanted to justify spending the money on building a museum in France.
I kept a blue Spider as it was obvious it was something special then the fast Clios were an obvious place to start so kept press cars at the end of their life if i thought they were going to be future classics! A Clio 182 trophy was soon joined by the liquid Yellow Vee HN05 VHX. As silver had been used for the launch colour of the ph1 and Illiad blue for the ph2 i wanted to use some id colour cars when they were launched as i knew they would stand more chance of being used on magazine covers when the car was no longer brand new. hence one acid yellow and a couple of Liquid yellow were ordered. In addition we gave Chris Monkey Harris on Autocar the black one with the full id leather interior which he loved. My personal favourite is the LY hence that was the car we kept for the heritage fleet. I'm not normally a yellow car man but the LY is amazing in its depth of colour. The Dieppe factory manager told me that Yellow is very difficult to paint hence why they are often flat colours but LY cars went through the paint shop three times to get the reflective depth ! hence the extra cost when new.
Best purchase was Clio Williams number 001 which was given to Frank Williams when new. Then they decided to sell off cars from their museum 8 years ago so RUK bought the car. much to the disgust of some Williams owners we decided to register the car and let it be used on the road in very limited way feeling it was better to let the car be enjoyed on the road rather than just looked at. of course its a risk but the journos were told in no uncertain terms about its unique status. It featured in the great Clio 20th birthday feature in EVO 146 in August 2010 along with the Vee and Trophy and also a 172 and new 200 Cup.
I think there is an Avantime lurking in the shadows too and a ph1 1984 Espace we bought and refurbed. Also an original R4 was bought. No R5 Turbo unfortunately though....

 

[Jamesv6]

much to the disgust of some Williams owners

You have met King Stromba then I guess?

 

[GPH]

much to the disgust of some Williams owners

You have met King Stromba then I guess?

I just remember a Mr Angry letter from someone who was chairman of a Clio Williams group i think. The Director replied to him explaining that we wanted people to enjoy the car not hide it in a warehouse. Paris already have one of those.

 

[GPH]

Ah, Big G.... the reason I am a V6 owner! Donnington 2002/03 i think was where the sale was confirmed. You chucked me a set of keys and said "drive it and then try to tell me you don't want one"

We then went to drive the Ph1 back to back wth the Ph2... there is a clear difference in the handling we found as the Ph1 went a little bit sidways the backwards.

Ian

Ah Ian my friend. That was an interesting test drive wasn't it and yes it was Donnington circuit where i demonstrated my ability in a ph 1 to have the rear swing out one way, then back the other then back nearly straight before dumping us in a spin on the grass! We both then concluded that the ph2 went through the corner a lot better and that was the most satisfying friends and family discount i ever organised. 10% off wasn't it