Sniff Petrol is a satirical British online magazine written chiefly by Richard Porter, with contributions from
James MayJames Daniel May is a British television presenter and award-winning journalist.May is best known as co-presenter of the motoring programme Top Gear alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond. He also writes a weekly column for The Daily Telegraph's motoring section...
and others, dedicated to automobile-related humour.
Known to some as "
the OnionThe Onion is an American "news satire" organization. It features satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news as well as an entertainment newspaper and website known as The A.V. Club...
of the motoring world", the site was originally launched in 2001 with a bi-weekly release of each issue. The site was originally designed to cater to a mostly-English audience, though as the site grew in popularity, so did the scope of the jokes.
Sniff Petrol is a satirical British online magazine written chiefly by Richard Porter, with contributions from
James MayJames Daniel May is a British television presenter and award-winning journalist.May is best known as co-presenter of the motoring programme Top Gear alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond. He also writes a weekly column for The Daily Telegraph's motoring section...
and others, dedicated to automobile-related humour.
History
Known to some as "
the OnionThe Onion is an American "news satire" organization. It features satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news as well as an entertainment newspaper and website known as The A.V. Club...
of the motoring world", the site was originally launched in 2001 with a bi-weekly release of each issue. The site was originally designed to cater to a mostly-English audience, though as the site grew in popularity, so did the scope of the jokes. In 2003 the release was made monthly. In October 2004, Porter published a book entitled
Crap Cars, dedicated to some of the worst cars ever made. A United States-specific version known as
Crap Cars USA came out one year later in 2005. Since January 2006, Sniff Petrol has had its own segment on TV presenter
Gareth JonesGareth Jones is a Welsh television presenter and celebrity.Best known for his work as a presenter of children's television and science programmes such as How2 or Get Fresh, he has more recently moved to presenting motorsport television, directing programmes and music videos for the band Art...
' motoring podcast, Gareth Jones on Speed. At the end of May 2007 it was announced that the site would alter from the monthly layout to a new
blogA blog is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order...
-style format, updated in smaller chunks but more frequently, but in April 2008 the site reverted to the monthly issues, yet still using the blog layout.
The new site was first presented using a free
BloggerBlogger is a blog publishing system. It was created by Pyra Labs, which was bought by Google in 2003.
The service itself is located at , and blogs that do not publish to their own websites are hosted by Google at subdomains of blogspot.com.- History :*On August 23,...
account, but was quickly moved to a fully-hosted WordPress installation, with a custom design commissioned from Interconnect IT.
Running jokes
Sniff Petrol has many running jokes and vendettas. The most well known of them is a constantly-released stream of fake advertisements, (based on actual ones) highlighting the flaws of the cars being advertised. The bulk of the adverts are MG Rover and British Leyland/Austin Rover which are included in each issue using an old car advert from the '70s or '80s. Other gags include a campaign against
ITVITV is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK...
Formula OneFormula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1, and currently officially referred to as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" in the name refers to a set of rules to which all participants...
commentator James Allen known as "Stop the Cock", a now-ubiquitous photo of
Michael SchumacherMichael Schumacher is a German former Formula One driver and seven-time Formula One world drivers' champion, and current advisor for Ferrari. According to the official Formula One website, he is "statistically the greatest driver the sport has ever seen"...
sneering at brother
RalfRalf Schumacher is a German racing driver, and the younger brother of seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher...
accompanied by a snide remark (which changes in every issue), all news events having happened "yesterday", many of its Formula One-related quotes coming from "
Maurice ItalThe Morris Ital is a medium-sized car built by British Leyland from 1980 until 1984.-Design and launch:The Ital was launched on 1 July 1980. It took its name from Giorgetto Giugiaro's ItalDesign studio, who had been employed by BL to manage the re-engineering of Morris Marina, a car which had been...
of
Every Other Sunday magazine", referring to TVR owner
Nikolai SmolenskiNikolai Smolenski , born 11 June 1980, is a Russian banker, president of international private bank Alfa Bank.Smolenski is the son of Russian oligarch Alexander Smolensky the former head of large Russian bank Agroprombank/SBS-Agro-Bank which collapsed in 1998...
as a 12-year old boy, the notion that modern
Land RoverLand Rover is a 4x4, SUV and all-terrain vehicle manufacturer, based in Solihull, West Midlands, England, now operated as part of the Jaguar Land Rover business owned by Tata Motors of India....
vehicles weigh more than the Earth itself, and many others including a short series of photographs depicting
Pedro de la RosaPedro Martínez de la Rosa is a Formula One driver, originally from Catalonia, Spain, currently the test driver and reserve driver for the Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes team. De la Rosa has participated in 72 Grands Prix, debuting on March 7, 1999 becoming one of very few drivers to score a point at...
falling into various rivers - probably inspired by the
Formula OneFormula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1, and currently officially referred to as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" in the name refers to a set of rules to which all participants...
driver accidentally jumping over a barrier into a stream following his retirement from the 2002 USA Grand Prix. One successful campaign offered car designer Peter Stevens £20 to shave off his moustache. Stevens agreed, in return for a £50 donation to a charity of his choice which he matched from his own pocket. Starting in 2003 was a long-running campaign against mopeds, with the catchphrase "
The Great Sniff Petrol Moped Campaign - Annoying them as much as they annoy everyone else" - its logo was a moped with "Get a Proper Motorbike" spray-painted over it.
Controversy
The website is often critical of many different people and companies for a variety of things.
BMW, is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company. Founded in 1916, it is known for its performance and luxury vehicles. It owns and produces the MINI brand, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.-Company history:...
styling director
Chris BangleChristopher Edward Bangle is an American automobile designer. Bangle is known best for his work as Chief of Design for BMW Group, where he was responsible for the BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce motor cars....
, often lambasted by the magazine, once reportedly described Sniff Petrol as "fucking scum", following a spoof piece about him in
Top Gear MagazineTop Gear is an automobile magazine published by BBC Worldwide, and named after the BBC's Top Gear television show. It was first published in October 1993 and is published monthly at a price of £3.95. The major presenters of the television series - Richard Hammond, James May and Jeremy Clarkson -...
.
The website also withdrew a story about the late legendary motoring journalist Russell Bulgin after he reportedly took offence at it.
In November 2004, an MG Rover lawyer contacted the website when the company failed to realize that an article about it being listed on eBay was a spoof.
In October 2006, Neil Lyndon contacted the site to complain about an article satirising the reaction of certain members of the motoring media to
Richard HammondRichard Mark Hammond is a British TV presenter, most noted for co-hosting car programme Top Gear alongside Jeremy Clarkson and James May, as well as presenting Brainiac: Science Abuse on Sky1, Should I Worry About...? on BBC One and Total Wipeout, also on BBC One and Richard Hammond's Blast Lab on...
's jet car accident. He took offence as the original
Daily MailThe Daily Mail is a British daily tabloid newspaper. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper, The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982. Scottish and Irish editions of the paper were launched in...
article that was parodied was heavily edited by the subeditors, and that he wished to dissociate himself from it. Sniff Petrol replaced the parody with a link to the email exchange between Lyndon and Richard Porter.
In November 2007, under threat of legal action from the representatives of Foxtons Estate Agents, Sniff Petrol removed an image of a Foxtons Mini titled "Foxtons lets public design their new MINI livery". The photoshopped image of the car was decorated in part words and images that suggested negative feelings towards the estate agents. The episode has been referred to occasionally in the blog, such as when the strapline was changed to "And your MINIs are lovely".
Famous fans
Popular British motorheads
Jeremy ClarksonJeremy Charles Robert Clarkson is an English broadcaster and journalist who specialises in motoring. He is best known for his role on the BBC TV show Top Gear along with co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May...
,
Tiff NeedellTimothy "Tiff" Needell isa British racing driver and television presenter. He is best known as a former co-presenter of Top Gear and a current member of the Fifth Gear programme.-Biography:...
,
Jason PlatoJason Plato is a British racing car driver. He was 2001 BTCC champion, and has finished in the top 5 in the championship 10 times.-Biography:Plato was educated at The King's School, Tynemouth....
and
David CoulthardDavid Marshall Coulthard, often called DC, is a British former Formula One racing driver from Scotland. By virtue of a long career he has amassed a notable points haul, and lies seventh on the all-time scorers list, being the top British scorer...
have all acknowledged being fans of the magazine, and in the past the site has featured contributions from
James MayJames Daniel May is a British television presenter and award-winning journalist.May is best known as co-presenter of the motoring programme Top Gear alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond. He also writes a weekly column for The Daily Telegraph's motoring section...
and
Jim BamberJim Bamber is a British artist and editorial cartoonist specialising in motorsport, who is best known for his motor racing related caricatures which incorporate his distinctive driver designs, that now adorn every issue of Autosport magazines as well as his annual compilation of cartoons from the...
. However, when trying to discover whether personal hero
Gordon MurrayProf. Gordon Murray is a renowned designer of Formula One race cars and the famous McLaren F1 'supercar' road car.-Early life:...
was a reader, a colleague at McLaren acknowledged that Gordon had not seen the site and was "not very good with computers".
External links