Porsche Passion with Sarah Rhodes
It’s me, Mark Stone, and in this episode of the Backseat Driver Podcast, I explore a striking statistic in the Porsche world: there’s said to be a one-in-three chance of owning a Porsche, yet the ownership rate among women is far lower.
To dig into that, I’m joined by Sarah Rhodes, a passionate Porsche owner who defies the odds. Sarah shares her journey from early fascination to the moment she found her perfect match in a stunning Ruby Star 992.1.
We talk about the experiences and challenges faced by women in what is still a male-dominated sports car scene, and Sarah introduces Ruby and the Blonde, her growing community designed to support and celebrate female Porsche enthusiasts.
This episode is both a tribute to the cars we love and a celebration of the rising representation of women shaping the future of Porsche ownership.
___
Visit our sponsors
Mentioned in this episode:
Visit the Backseat Driver Podcast Sponsors
GAZ Shocks - Home of the 116 Trophy and the 120 Coupe Cup. Find them at www.gazshocks.com | Hodder Tyres - Trusted brands, every season, every condition. Visit www.hoddertyres.co.uk | Tarox Brakes - The Art of Slowing Down, precision-built in Italy. Check out www.tarox.com | SAS Autos - Experts in high-quality servicing and classic car restoration. Discover more at sas-autos.co.uk
Transcript
Recently somebody did a survey and they worked it out that you have a one in three chance of owning a Porsche.
Speaker A:All well and good.
Speaker A:I suppose you have to be a car enthusiast to want a Porsche.
Speaker A:It's also been worked out that it is even less than a 1 in 3 chance that a woman will own a Porsche.
Speaker A:Apparently they are not a car whimming by.
Speaker A:Well, today's backseat driver guest is proof that she is not part of the average percentages.
Speaker A:So I'd like to introduce the backseat driver, Sarah Rhodes.
Speaker A:Sarah, welcome to the backseat driver.
Speaker B:Oh thanks Mark.
Speaker B:How are you?
Speaker A:Not too bad.
Speaker A:How did this come about?
Speaker A:How?
Speaker A:Why am I talking to a lady who is Porsche through and through?
Speaker B:Well, I'm one of those ladies who ever husband who likes to buy Porsche so I've been quite lucky.
Speaker B:But my sort of love affair began way, way, way before I met him.
Speaker B:So I'm a 54 year old lady and back when I was a child I had a neighbor who turned up one day with a brand new 924.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I thought his car was awesome.
Speaker B:It was beautiful, it was bright red, it was sleek, it was fun.
Speaker B:My dad think at the time had a Volvo.
Speaker B:So this Porsche was just, and I tell you what, my head was turned and he used to cart us kids around in it and I thought it was just the business.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so you know I sort of became kind of obsessed back then.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And then as I got a little bit older my head got turned towards the 911s and proper ones.
Speaker B:Proper, proper Porsches.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Not, not the pop up lights anym.
Speaker A:I mean there's nothing wrong with the 924 apart from the fact that technically like the 914 before was a Volkswagen and Audi.
Speaker A:The 924 technically should have been an Audi but like the 914 they bailed out.
Speaker A:So Porsche ended up taking it on and it turned into successful Porsches.
Speaker B:I mean it was I think one of their first really, really popular cars which sort of got launched, wasn't it?
Speaker A:So well technically they were affordable.
Speaker A:The 911 was still for many an aspir, but the 924 was affordable and because it was a more traditional layout of engine up front driving the rear wheels and it was comfortable where 911s haven't always been the most comfortable cars.
Speaker B:No, I mean these 924s, I mean you see them shows, they're brilliant, they're lovely and it's a real sort of blast from the past.
Speaker B:But you Know, I really like what you said about aspirational because when I was a 20 something working in office, I got sent by my boss to do some training and the lady sort of wrapped up the three day conference by saying, right, I want all of you to get a scrap of paper and you've got to keep this secret amongst yourselves, but you're going to write on it what your dream is and you're going to take that back to your offices next week and you're going to fold it up and stick it in your drawer and forget about it.
Speaker B:And I can guarantee whatever you wish for, you will get at some point in your life.
Speaker B:And on my piece of paper I wrote I want to own a 9 11.
Speaker B:And it happened.
Speaker B:I mean I had to wait quite a few years.
Speaker B:Yeah, but you know, we joke when, when I was dating my husband and I was in my sort of early 30s at that point he would come into my office and I would have this Sarah's Gold Hall.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I had a boss at the time, he was quite happy for me to stick pictures up.
Speaker B:I mean I had one of Tom Cruise up there but I never married him.
Speaker B:I Bob Priest.
Speaker B:But one of these pictures was, it was a Porsche gt, a Carrera gt.
Speaker B:Now I haven't got one of those yet but you know, it was always.
Speaker B:Porsche was always what I wanted and you know, I got there.
Speaker B:So if I can do it, anybody can do it.
Speaker A:I mean the thing was back, I mean, I am a little bit older than you.
Speaker A:Not a lot, but a little bit older than you.
Speaker A:The one thing as before we went on air, we were discussing, I like the early Porsches, but the One thing about 911s, until the modern incarnation of them, which as you know, I'm not a major fan of, they were a very spartan car and they were notoriously difficult to drive.
Speaker A:And during the era of the yuppies, the 911 Turbo did a cracking job of keeping them thinned out because they, if you're not careful With a proper 911, you will exit a corner backwards and then disappear through a dry stone wall and away into the scenery before you.
Speaker A:While you were dreaming about them, did you look into the fact that they were a difficult car to drive?
Speaker B:Well, I mean, yeah, there's that lovely widowmaker one, wasn't it?
Speaker B:Yeah, sorry, yeah, I mean that was.
Speaker B:I loved how the 911s looked in the 80s.
Speaker B:I was a real 80s girl.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I loved the music, loved the style, loved everything about it and I loved 911 Turbo.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:But it was a beast.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And it was batshit crazy and you know, terrible oversteer, very abrupt with power.
Speaker A:It was on or off.
Speaker A:That was the problem with turbo cars.
Speaker A:I mean the other one that used to, shall we say, keep the populace numbers down was the sub turbos.
Speaker A:Because as soon as the turbos cut in, away you go with enthusiasm or more enthusiasm than you're anticipating.
Speaker B:Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:So, I mean I got my first Porsche.
Speaker B:My first Porsche.
Speaker B:Now this is my very own, not my husband's.
Speaker B:He's had about 14 or 15 so far and you know, you go in and you place your order and I waited two, two years after mine got specked up and it arrived and I never.
Speaker A:So your first one was a new one?
Speaker B:Yeah, brand new.
Speaker B:So I have.
Speaker B:My current is a Lovely Ruby Star 992.1 called Julie and I had a sharp blue one before her and you know, Porsche, bless them, I didn't get offered a drive or anything in one of their current ones.
Speaker B:I, I kind of just went in blind.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I suppose the other thing in just butting in, a lot of them would think if you went in that either dad was buying it for you or hubby was or husband.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:I mean this is, this is exactly.
Speaker B:It's a, it's a lovely community but it is quite male dominated and you know, the fear was that, you know, I didn't even know how it was going to handle or how to drive.
Speaker B:And of course Porsche are great.
Speaker B:When you buy a new Porsche they send you to Silverstone to their center and you get to drive.
Speaker B:But it was quite sort of scary sitting behind the wheel.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And putting your foot down.
Speaker B:But oh my God, just.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:Driving a Porsche is to me heaven.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And it's fun but it's, you know, it can be daunting and you can do your kind of foot down, off you go and it's so quick and so responsive.
Speaker B:So you know this sort of cars that you're kind of brave about but oh boy are they so much fun to drive.
Speaker B:Love them.
Speaker A:And the other thing is, when you bought yours you'd be buying air cooled, won't you?
Speaker A:And there's nothing, I'm sorry, modern 911 owners.
Speaker A:But no matter what you do or what you say or what Germany do to them or Finland, if they're still making them there nothing sounds like an air cooled flat sakes on full chat.
Speaker B:Oh yeah, I agree, they are amazing.
Speaker B:I love a pool sound and they sound the best.
Speaker A:And the great thing about Porsche is, and I mean, a lot of the problem is now a lot of history and a lot of heritage is forgotten about because modern people don't have a habit of not looking back.
Speaker A:But the history of Porsche they built.
Speaker A:I mean, the 356 is a stunning car.
Speaker A:The derivatives of them, like the 550 spygas, the famous one that James Dean was killed in, I mean, they were very basic cars, they were a daily car.
Speaker A:That's the great thing about a Porsche.
Speaker A:You could race a 911 at the weekend or one of the cars that I rallied on two occasions had the chance to buy, didn't the 912, which was a 911 with a 356 engine.
Speaker A:You could race them, rally them and go to work in them and go shopping in them, couldn't you?
Speaker B:Yeah, we were chatting about that earlier, weren't we?
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, you sort of, you'd rock up, you'd take your dressing gown off, get your pat lunch off out of the boot and, you know, all of a sudden you could take it on a track and just be somebody completely different.
Speaker A:And you even got vinyl seats and rubber mats and things like that.
Speaker A:That's how basic they were.
Speaker A:That's what they were meant to be.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, I love the 80s Porsches.
Speaker B:And then in the 90s, I remember going with an old boyfriend to go and look at one and it was so plastic inside.
Speaker B:You're right, there was nothing.
Speaker B:You had to buy everything as options.
Speaker B:And I thought, you know, I've.
Speaker B:I've got this car in my mind.
Speaker B:I've had this car in my mind for so many years.
Speaker B:It's my car idle and I suppose, I don't know, a little bit of a letdown when you got into it.
Speaker B:And luckily now Mark with the nice new ones, you, you know, they are very different and you get a lot for your money and you can have a lot for your money.
Speaker B:So I think they realized that they should maybe pretty for muck a wee bit and it worked.
Speaker A:Now the one thing you've become involved with is forming a club.
Speaker A:And it's like I said, the York Club is Ruby and the Blonde.
Speaker A:So as you said, your Porsche is Ruby and you're the blonde.
Speaker B:I am, yes, yes, it's me and my girl car.
Speaker A:How did this come about?
Speaker A:Because it is an organization for women who own or drive Porsches.
Speaker A:I mean, from we were saying, these stats that have been worked out, technically, there's not Many of you.
Speaker B:No, no, I mean, when you go to your average Porsche, me, it's mostly men.
Speaker B:And some of these men might bring their women along and some of the women look a little bit bored.
Speaker B:Some of them are very enthusiastic, like myself.
Speaker B:I was always lucky enough to rock up to these meetings, either in my own car or driving my husband's car.
Speaker B:Yeah, we both have Porsches now, so we take both cars.
Speaker B:Or you'd also find, you know, for your single woman, who you'd get chatting to, and they would always sort of say to you, it was so nice, you know, there's another lady here.
Speaker B:I always feel a bit uncomfortable.
Speaker B:The men look at me like, you know, I'm after a husband, and the women look after me like I'm after their husbands.
Speaker A:Well, do I not be funny?
Speaker A:Don't take this wrong.
Speaker A:I've been to certain events, not just Porsche, but a lot of the glamour sports car events are glamorous cars and the women tend to be looked upon as accessories.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, there's a lot of pretty ladies out there attached to pretty girls with their very nice husband.
Speaker A:So I suppose.
Speaker A:I suppose the thing is, expensive car, rich bloke, that's.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:That's my next target.
Speaker B:Could be.
Speaker B:I've never had any men approach me with that attitude.
Speaker A:I've been saying, I've never.
Speaker A:I've never had this problem.
Speaker A:I spent my entire life skint.
Speaker B:No, you were always in the car.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:I thought it was in the car.
Speaker B:Well, I mean, like, you know, my husband and I, we joined a group.
Speaker B:When we really got into the Porsches, we decided, you know, we'd love to sort of, like, have something for us as a bit of a marriage bonder.
Speaker B:So our common passion were the cars.
Speaker B:So we rocked up and we.
Speaker B:We joined this group and I got talking to other ladies and, you know, what I sort of found quite quickly was that, you know, there was nothing solely for us.
Speaker B:Yeah, Nothing solely for women who could just sort of bond over their cars and take them out.
Speaker B:I mean, I remember going out on a wee drive a couple of summers ago and there was five of us girls.
Speaker B:The group leader had arranged this.
Speaker B:It was a Ladies day and we went to the Cotswolds and it was a beautiful day and I had the roof down in my car and everywhere we went, what I could hear people say, lady Porsche drivers and.
Speaker B:Oh, I mean, there's something about being in a Porsche convoy anyway.
Speaker B:But when you're with females and somebody says that, you.
Speaker B:You get the hairs rise in your.
Speaker B:Your arms.
Speaker B:It's exciting.
Speaker B:And I thought, well, gosh, I. I love this sort of thing, so let's just do something for us.
Speaker B:And, you know, I've got a nice sort of base of ladies that I know.
Speaker B:I mean, quite a few of them, it's their husband's cars, they'll come along, but a few of them have their own.
Speaker B:And I think with Ruby and the Blonde, what we wanted to reach out to was the lady drivers.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:The ladies whose partners have Porsches, who might decide to send them out in it to.
Speaker B:To Ruby and Blonde.
Speaker B:We'd like to do that as well.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And we also.
Speaker B:I mean, for me, I've.
Speaker B:I've had this passion for years.
Speaker B:And, you know, my husband says he's quite lucky because we go off to a dealership or he sees something and I'm like, buy it, buy it.
Speaker B:You know, and he says, you know, it's great when you've got a lady behind you who's saying, buy that car, get that.
Speaker B:Because they're passionate as well.
Speaker B:So, you know, he has no worries.
Speaker B:So I'm hoping that the ladies who sort of think, well, what's all the fuss about?
Speaker B:Will suddenly sort of realize that, actually, this is great.
Speaker B:These cars are wonderful.
Speaker B:This is what they can do.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I'm going to go and encourage my husband or my partner to go and get new ones.
Speaker B:So, you know, that's kind of my ploy.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So what we're doing is mean.
Speaker B:I've got my first ever meet this weekend.
Speaker B:Tomorrow, in fact.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I'm hoping that, you know, the advertising's been working, but we're going to be doing cars and coffee.
Speaker B:We're going to be doing drive out because I love.
Speaker A:I hope you're not going to be discussing which cafe sells the best scones or scones.
Speaker B:No, no, leave that to somebody else's club.
Speaker B:Well, I want to do such cool things.
Speaker B:I mean, last weekend we were in Cornwall wrecking out a lovely route with our partner company, Pirate Runs, which is for everybody, man.
Speaker B:Ladies, I want to do collabs.
Speaker B:I'm not sort of here to tread on anybody else's toes or still members from other clubs.
Speaker B:We're.
Speaker B:We're here to compliment and just feel for that gap in the market.
Speaker B:But I think it's quite obvious that does need filling.
Speaker B:So we've got lots of exciting ideas.
Speaker B:And, you know, it's not just going to be about scone recipes or child care or, you know, or wearing the.
Speaker A:Matching sweat or wearing matching sweatshirts.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:No, no, nothing to do with merch.
Speaker B:That's not my scene.
Speaker B:That's not my cup of tea.
Speaker B:But we just want people that generally love the cars, ladies who just would like to get a bit more out of their cars, expand on the friendship group and let's just see how it goes and where it takes us.
Speaker A:I mean, you mentioned like driving quickly.
Speaker A:I mean there's nothing apart from all the speed cameras which now litter the highways and byways of England along with pothole filled.
Speaker B:Yeah, sorry is potholes.
Speaker B:And that's where I'm based.
Speaker A:Don't take this wrong because there's enough men guilty of this as well.
Speaker A:How many of your lady members or lady owners or lady drivers actually do drive them and don't just puffer around in them?
Speaker B:I've got a great friend called an and she's got a997 and she goes like the clappers.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And generally the ladies that I know like, like to sort of put their foot down.
Speaker B:So I'm feeling quite confident there's going to be a lot more out there who like to drive a car.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And would you consider doing track days or anything like that to let the women who own or drive Porsches actually discover what these cars can do?
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, we're happy to take on board any ideas that people want.
Speaker B:I mean, I'm doing a track day in a few weeks time and so hopefully, you know, I can bring ladies to that sort of thing.
Speaker B:I mean, one thing when, when we got our cars, that Porsche, very good of.
Speaker B:It's a new car.
Speaker B:They'll send you off to their hub at Silverstone and you get to do things like skid pad training, you get to hone around a track and I absolutely loved it.
Speaker B:I'd never done anything like that before.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so, you know, any idea we'll do it.
Speaker B:If I get enough interest, then we'll take ladies to track days, circuit events, anything and everything.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Have you been able to get any of the Porsche dealers in Tracy?
Speaker A:Because, I mean, lots of.
Speaker A:I mean, as I was saying before I went on air, I'm involved with a company called Specialized Automotive Services and they have owners club gatherings there.
Speaker A:They get guided around the workshops and the body shop.
Speaker A:I mean, ultimately they hope that some of them will start to bring their cars in for maintenance.
Speaker A:But have you been able to get any dealers or any specialists interested in getting all you girls to go and visit them?
Speaker B:My local dealer is in Guildford.
Speaker B:Excellent Porsche centre.
Speaker B:Totally recommended to everybody.
Speaker B:They know what I'M doing and they've said we're more than happy for you to come use the facilities, you know, to meet the ladies there, to do walk arounds, to start, meet off from there.
Speaker B:So they're very supportive.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean obviously there's Porsche Club GB which affiliate with a lot of Porsche centers and they do some cool walk arounds and that sort of thing.
Speaker A:But because they used to be, besides Porsche Club GB there was like an offshoot.
Speaker A:I don't know whether that still exists or not.
Speaker A:But do they exist and are you involved with them?
Speaker B:They have taipe, which is the independent Porsche enthusiast club.
Speaker B:But they, these bigger clubs tend to keep to themselves.
Speaker B:They do their own thing, they have massive followings.
Speaker B:A lot of them are quite good if you, you want to sort of bring people along.
Speaker B:That's that idea.
Speaker B:But you know, they're so well established, they've been going for so many years, they have a big market for that sort of thing and we're sort of little fish just starting off.
Speaker B:But you know, I'm learning so much from these groups and yeah, I'm getting some good guidance that, you know, my business partner, myself, we're just going to let it evolve organically and see what happens.
Speaker A:Now the other thing is, I mean you're in the fortunate position of being able to buy new or nearly new or a lot of the slightly say more desirable versions of the 911.
Speaker A:Have you spoken to any women who would like to own a 911 of whatever era and give them advice and say, look, you don't need to buy a GT3, you don't need to buy an RS, you can go out and buy, I mean a friend of mine just bought a 22 year old 911 and he hasn't paid a fortune for it.
Speaker A:And it's buy wisely of course, but he hadn't paid.
Speaker A:But it's a cracking car, it's now his daily car.
Speaker A:I mean, do you offer advice to the ladies and say look, you don't need to spend high five figure or six figure sums on owning 911s.
Speaker A:You, you can pay.
Speaker A:I know it's still a decent amount of money, especially in today's current circumstances, but 20, 25,000 pounds if you buy wisely will give you a good usable 911.
Speaker B:I mean the community on a whole, you see so many different models, you see so many different years, all different colors, shapes and sizes.
Speaker B:You know, the whole rang from bargain basement up to, you know, ridiculous amounts of money for these cars.
Speaker B:And I think, you know, with my car, it's quite a striking color, so I get people flocking to it anyway.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And, you know, you swap your stories, you get a lot of admirers, you get a lot of Porsche owners, you get a lot of non Porsche owners who would love to buy the brand.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I think when you think of Porsche, you think of big money, don't you?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, buying new, everything's a hundred, 150k plus.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And, you know, the average joke doesn't have that sort of money.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:And so, you know, what, what we found, I mean, we're on our 15th Porsche so far and they've all been fairly newish.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And my husband has financed a few.
Speaker B:And when you sort of go into the finance aspects, you realize actually that these cars become affordable for newer ones.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:But then, you know, it leads you to look on sort of the Auto Trader pages and, you know, we'll always recommend people do this because everything suits any budget.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And, you know, you don't have to have this flash 100k plus car.
Speaker B:You can have something that you've maybe spent 10 or 15k on, maybe a bit less.
Speaker B:And they still keep going for years and they're still lovely and they're still beautiful.
Speaker B:So you just sort of spread that word.
Speaker B:And, you know, I think it's a real eye opener.
Speaker A:I mean, the one thing is, I mean, I was talking to somebody a while ago and the guy who's just bought the one for 20 odd.
Speaker A:If you look at how much a modern Volkswagen Golf will cost you, especially one of the nicer ones, you can be into a Porsche for immeasurably less than the modern Golf.
Speaker A:And the Porsche, in my opinion, it's a far more desirable vehicle.
Speaker B:Well, it is.
Speaker B:I mean, a wee while ago we were thinking about offshooting.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And we.
Speaker B:We own a Taycan as well at the moment, which is our kind of like family dog teenager car, and it's great.
Speaker B:And my husband had bought that on finance and it was a very, very good deal.
Speaker B:And the deal on that sort of finishes next March.
Speaker B:And he was having a bit of a throwback to nostalgia.
Speaker B:He used to drive Renault back in the day and they produce this amazing Renault 5 electric.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And the top of the range one is going for stupid money.
Speaker B:It's Porsche money.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so when you start sort of weighing up what's out there, suddenly you think, holy moly.
Speaker B:These supercars, because Porsches are supercars.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Are suddenly on a par with you know, some of more kind of routine brands.
Speaker B:So it's surprising, once you start looking about what you can get.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I mean, some of the Porsches that I know women like because they're very, very practical cars, are things like the Cayennes and the Macan.
Speaker A:Now, we all know a Macan is a very, very pretty and jacked up Volkswagen Golf, but I had one of those.
Speaker A:But I mean, how many women do you know who drive, shall we say, not the 911s they drive the SUVs, which are good, practical cars.
Speaker A:And if you buy wisely, once again, you won't pay a fortune to have one of those in your driveway.
Speaker B:No, no.
Speaker B:So we have owned every model apart from the Cayenne so far.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I live in a lovely little suburban town in Surrey, actually.
Speaker B:It's the UK's biggest village.
Speaker B:And, you know, you tend to recognize other Porsche drivers.
Speaker B:You'll wave, say hello everybody, but you're quite friendly.
Speaker B:But the majority of women that you see going past are in the big Cayenne McCanns.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And back in the day, now, my kids, I've got three kids and there are two teenagers and one 26 year old now.
Speaker B:But back when they were small, I drove an suv.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Because they were little and you had to transport everything.
Speaker B:And I loved it.
Speaker B:I loved safety, I loved the look, I loved everything.
Speaker B:And now that I'm older and, you know, I don't need to squeeze babies or toddlers into cars and all.
Speaker B:That's why I went with, with my true love, which was 911, instead of sticking with an SUV.
Speaker B:But, you know, around thoroughly.
Speaker B:Your average driver is probably in one of the SUV styles.
Speaker B:And I mean, each car is very unique.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:When somebody says to me, you know, so what's your top three out of what you've had?
Speaker B:Then I would put my car that I've got at the moment, that's my first.
Speaker B:Of course, she's my passion.
Speaker B:I'd probably put Macan GTS that we had.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:As second.
Speaker B:And then we did have a GT3 touring last.
Speaker B:Last year, we sold it.
Speaker B:I love that car.
Speaker B:So that would be number three.
Speaker B:But, you know, they're all very unique.
Speaker B:They all have, you know, different levels of what you're looking for in them.
Speaker B:I mean, they're great cars.
Speaker B:We were lucky enough.
Speaker B:I think one of the first ones like we drove was Panamera.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:And that was.
Speaker B:That was like driving an executive cloud around.
Speaker B:It was bloody lovely.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So, you know, so going back to Your previous question, if somebody comes to me and says, what do you reckon about this?
Speaker B:I feel that we're quite in a good sort of space to be able to advise what does what and what you might like in this one.
Speaker B:And, you know, a McCann, for instance, that has all the good stuff in one car.
Speaker B:So, you know, I'll promote that to the Cows Come Home because it's great.
Speaker A:And any of the members, like we're talking earlier on about the early cars, do you find that once one of your members has bought a 911, be it brand new or whatever, do you find this start to take an interest in the history of the mark or what it's done, its famous drivers?
Speaker A:I mean, the ultimate is the.
Speaker A:Well, I still think the ultimate two Porsche racing cars are the 917S and the famous 956 is the Rothmans cars.
Speaker A:I mean, do you find that people start to develop an interest in the history of them and then go and try and seek out where these races are and go and have a look at them?
Speaker B:I mean, personally, my favorite era was the 80s for the 911s.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I think, you know, we've driven different makes of car before, but I've never felt passionate about Nissan or Audi or Renault like I have with a Porsche.
Speaker B:And for me personally, Porsche kind of made me feel that I wanted to be part of a community and to know more about it.
Speaker B:I mean, I knew quite a bit back from being a younger person.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:But, you know, it's, it's a brand which kind of brings people together and a lot of the women that I know have the older cars and they, they're very knowledgeable about it.
Speaker B:Yeah, the women whose husbands have the cars, they tend to be maybe the newer cars.
Speaker B:And so it's, it's a pretty brand and they're lovely and they're eye catching, but they don't know too much about the background.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I find that, you know, if you join a car club, then a lot of the clubs will organize for you to go off to.
Speaker B:I don't know, maybe we had a trip to Stuttgart last year to the Porsche Museum and.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, that place is fascinating.
Speaker B:So, you know, the whole idea about car groups especially is that they want to educate their members and they want to do interesting things and they want to build the brand.
Speaker B:And, you know, it's a brand that people generally do want to find out about and they do like the history and they, they love the lines of the younger cars.
Speaker B:You know, the older Cars, the.
Speaker B:The air calls and I mean, the 911.
Speaker B:Especially though, if you think back to when it was first manufactured to now, you can tell that it's a 911.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I love that consistency that they've had over years.
Speaker B:And I think, you know, if you walk up to one of these lovely old autobahns and you know what a 911 looks like, and then they're just beautiful cars and, you know, beautiful cars like, these people want to input the time and they want to find out about them.
Speaker B:So, you know, generally the ladies that I know at the moment know about their cars and that's great.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:It gives us more stuff to talk about.
Speaker A:And the other thing, of course, is you'll find that, shall we say, the.
Speaker A:The wife of somebody who owns a Porsche, if you can get your hands on, are you able to say, well, why don't you go and buy your own?
Speaker B:Well, this is what we're hoping will happen.
Speaker B:I want to give my passion to, you know, a lovely new lady member whose husband said, you know, take my car along to Sarah's meet.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:Yeah, no, the idea is that she'll love it as much as I do and just say, come on, let's.
Speaker B:Let's get myself one or let's go and get a new one or another one.
Speaker B:Yeah, it works.
Speaker B:My husband.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So hopefully, you know, I can get some more enthusiastic ladies out there and see what we can do.
Speaker A:I mean, ultimately, what's been the reaction to your Ladies Only club?
Speaker B:Funny enough, I've had a lot of men approaching me about it.
Speaker B:They're like, can we come?
Speaker B:And I'm like, no, it's ladies.
Speaker B:It says ladies.
Speaker B:You know, it's been very positive, actually.
Speaker B:There's nothing really out there for us girls.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, Porsche Club have an offshoot, which is Porsche Bells.
Speaker B:And then there's a lot of.
Speaker B:There's a wonderful lady called Tanya who runs a club called Women and Wills, but she does all sorts.
Speaker B:It's not just Porsche.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And she seems to be very successful, so she's a bit of a kind of a hero of mine.
Speaker B:So I see that there is a market.
Speaker B:I'm hoping that ladies will want to come.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:It'S all been very, very positive.
Speaker B:And we've had a lot of feedback from around the country.
Speaker B:You know, a lady in Yorkshire said, God, could you come to me?
Speaker B:And that's our aim.
Speaker B:You know, we're not just sort of like, looking after Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire.
Speaker B:We want to become people that Will travel out and, you know, visit different parts of the country, you know, Yorkshire or something, and, you know, there'll be enough interest for me to collect ladies van and the idea is to collab with some of the bigger groups.
Speaker B:So, you know, you're always going to be sort people and taking them from A to B and, you know, sort of opening people's eyes to what is out there.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Have you found that there's a part of the country where there tends to be a greater number of ladies who drive Porsches?
Speaker B:Just south of England, I mean, Surrey, there's a lot of Porsches.
Speaker B:My business partner, Leon, he actually lives in Cornwall and he comes up to sort of like, do stuff with me and he says, sarah, you know, Surrey is Porsche capital, whereas Cornwall maybe not.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So I definitely think it's the more affluent counties around London, which probably have a higher percentage of these beautiful cars.
Speaker B:And, you know, not just Porsche, but you've got the other big brands out there, like Aston Martin and Ferraris.
Speaker B:We have a lot of Ferraris around this part of the world.
Speaker B:So I definitely think there's a good concentration where I am.
Speaker A:And how many ladies do you come across that you've been able to educate into the fact that the Porsche that she's driving, whether it's hers or her husband's, isn't just, shall we say, a fashion accessory that Porsches were always built to drive and to do things with.
Speaker B:When we were looking at the.
Speaker B:The different cars in our budget, Porsche stood out purely because I knacked my husband.
Speaker B:We got to get one.
Speaker B:Got to get one with my passion.
Speaker B:But they stood out because out of all these fabulous sports cars, supercars, they are daily drivers.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:You don't mind putting the mileage on them.
Speaker B:They are there to be driven.
Speaker B:And the women that I know who own Porsches drive them.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And they know what to do with them.
Speaker B:They love them.
Speaker B:It helps that they look so pretty.
Speaker B:But that's not all they.
Speaker B:They.
Speaker B:It's an experience to drive one.
Speaker B:And personally, for me, I'm.
Speaker B:I feel very privileged and honored to be able to drive my car.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:But it does so much.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's beautiful to look at, but it does so much.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I mean, that's the one thing about them.
Speaker A:I mean, I've always said.
Speaker A:I mean, due to what I used to do, I used to spend a lot of time in Europe.
Speaker A:And the one thing that I.
Speaker A:That always struck me as unusual, you could walk through a German or an Austrian city and find a 911 just parked at the side of the road and nobody thought it was an unusual thing to be parked at the side of the road.
Speaker A:The Europeans, especially the Germans and the Austrians, have.
Speaker A:Or had a very different attitude to them because they were such a practical, everyday car.
Speaker A:To see one parked on a side street for a couple of days because the owner hadn't gone out for a while, nobody looked askance at this.
Speaker A:In England, people would be absolutely stunned that you'd left your 911 part at the side of the road up a side street.
Speaker A:There is a different European attitude towards them.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, I'll admit if I go and park up somewhere, I maybe are a little bit sort of wary about where I'm taking the car, but there's been no problems with leaving it overnight.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I'm not sure if I was to take a Ferrari out, whether I'd feel the same.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I mean, we drove into Europe this last year, beginning to summer.
Speaker B:We took my husband's Spider RS and we started off in Stuttgart.
Speaker B:And I mean, every other car is a Porsche.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:But it's the attitude.
Speaker B:I mean, there's so many.
Speaker A:It's like, got to Engelstadt.
Speaker A:Every car, every other car is an Audi.
Speaker B:Totally.
Speaker B:I mean, my husband's, he's got this really cool black and yellow Spider rs and, you know, people ask about it everywhere.
Speaker B:It's a magnet.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And in Germany, well, not so.
Speaker B:But we drove it from Germany through Italy, through France, and everybody loved this car for kids.
Speaker B:Loved it.
Speaker B:Italian kids didn't really know, but it was a Porsche.
Speaker B:They knew it was a fabulous car, but it was just so cool to see the teenagers, like, oh, your car is beautiful.
Speaker B:Can we take photos for Instagram?
Speaker B:And they all love it and it's a really nice attitude.
Speaker B:Whereas the French are a little bit cooler, aren't they?
Speaker B:But, you know, everywhere you went in the, in this car, people, people just, just loved it.
Speaker B:So I, I love that about driving Porsches.
Speaker B:They're, they're, they're very easy to drive.
Speaker B:There's lots of them in the uk, but they're still head turners.
Speaker A:Well, the one thing about the French is they are greater lovers of their own brand, which is why the Alpine A110, the reintroduction of it, has worked so well.
Speaker A:I mean, there are hundreds of them in France, so the French might look upon the Porsche as a bit of an interloper, though.
Speaker A:There are plenty of 911s in France.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, we had a little Convoy of our group going through and.
Speaker B:But the best kind of reaction was the Italians, they just love sports cars, care, but it's not one of their own.
Speaker B:They just.
Speaker B:They just over the moon to see them.
Speaker B:And that was just lovely driving in Italy.
Speaker A:Well, the one thing I've always loved about the Italians is you'll see a sign that says slow roundabout.
Speaker A:No, the Italians regard that as a chicane.
Speaker A:And we'll see how quickly they can go around.
Speaker B:You mean put your foot down, don't mind me.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally.
Speaker A:So if somebody wants to get.
Speaker A:If a.
Speaker A:If a Porsche driving lady wants to get in touch with you, how does she go about it?
Speaker B:She can look on the Instagram page that we have.
Speaker B:We have a Facebook presence.
Speaker A:So what.
Speaker A:I mean, what, on Facebook?
Speaker A:It's Ruby on the blonde, isn't it?
Speaker A:Sorry?
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:It's all one word.
Speaker B:Ruby and the Blonde.
Speaker B:And E at the end of blonde.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's like the same on Instagram.
Speaker B:We do have a website, Ruby and the Blonde dot com.
Speaker B:And I also advertise on a lot of the Facebook forums.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So, you know, any queries, any interest in ladies, please feel free.
Speaker B:You know, I sort of like mentioned that we had interest from men.
Speaker B:So we see, especially in the part of the world where I am, there's a need for a driving group for men.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So we've.
Speaker B:We've just created one called Pirate Run.
Speaker B:So again, you can find that on Insta and Facebook.
Speaker B:And at some point we'll start up a website and, you know, we'll do collabs of each other and, you know, hopefully at the end of the day we'll have a package for everybody, not just the ladies, but, you know, for me, I just wanted to give the girls a space where we can do our own thing, basically.
Speaker A:Sarah Rhodes, it's been a pleasure chatting to you.
Speaker A:Can.
Speaker A:I wish Ruby and the blonde and all the ladies who drive Porsches, who drive them properly, all the best.
Speaker A:But apart from that.
Speaker A:Sarah Rhodes, thanks very much for joining me on the backseat driver.
Speaker B:Oh, it's been a pleasure, Mark.
Speaker B:Real pleasure.
Speaker B:Thank you so much.
