''Sniff Petrol'' is an online motoring
satire
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...
magazine, first published in 2001. ''Sniff Petrol'' was originally published weekly, but due to other commitments of the writers this schedule was reduced, first to a monthly schedule, and now to a blog format, updated on a regular basis. It receives over 10,000 hits a day.
''Sniff Petrol'' articles comment on motoring and motorsport (especially
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
) events, both real and fictional, by parodying the styles of presentation and language used in various motoring fields. Most notably, this includes motor manufacturer press releases, but also extends to motoring magazine reviews and the like.
Regular features
Alongside satire directed at motoring and motorsport related news, ''Sniff Petrol'' has a number of long-running regular features, most notably including:
* Carcoat Damphands – A used car columnist who aims to give insider information on buying and selling cars. The writing, although superficially intelligible, uses a large number of fake motor trade
colloquialisms
Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom normally employed in conver ...
and made-up
rhyming slang
Rhyming slang is a form of slang word construction in the English language. It is especially prevalent among Cockneys in England, and was first used in the early 19th century in the East End of London; hence its alternative name, Cockney rhymin ...
which results in a column of incomprehensible whimsy. The author signs off every report with the word "minty".
* Crazy Dave Coulthard – A parody of the racing driver
David Coulthard
David Marshall Coulthard (; born 27 March 1971) is a British former racing driver from Scotland, later turned presenter, commentator and journalist. Nicknamed 'DC', he competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between and , taking 13 Grand Prix vi ...
. This feature began during the 2005
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
season and was a satirical comparison between the public relations attitude of the
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...
F1 team, whom Coulthard had driven for in the 2004 season, and the
Red Bull
Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austria, Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwid ...
team, whom he was driving for in 2005.
:''Crazy Dave'' writes about
Formula 1
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
using a fake urban slang, possibly in an attempt to be relevant to the
Red Bull
Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austria, Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwid ...
target market
A target market, also known as serviceable obtainable market (SOM), is a group of customers within a business's serviceable available market at which a business aims its marketing efforts and resources. A target market is a subset of the total ma ...
, before switching to conventional English for the closing remark which is used to unashamedly promote a product or television programme with which the real life Coulthard is associated.
* DriveL – The only regular non-satirical content of the site, these are car reviews authored by Richard Porter and primarily written in a day-by-day format. Articles are usually titled "A week with a
ar name, though some reviews encompass a shorter time period.
* Not advertisements – Spoof car adverts, usually based on a current campaign but modified for humour. These "adverts" will generally prey upon the perceived attributes of the owners and drivers of the advertised car, or perceived flaws of the car or its manufacturer.
MG Rover
MG Rover Group was the last domestically owned mass-production car manufacturer in the British motor industry. The company was formed when BMW sold the car-making and engine manufacturing assets of the original Rover Group to the Phoenix Consor ...
was a frequent target of these spoofs until the company's demise in 2005.
* The Schumachers – A running gag which began in August 2004 and appeared several times in following months, it features a picture of
Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher (; ; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver who competed in Formula One for Jordan, Benetton, Ferrari, and Mercedes. Schumacher has a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Lewis ...
appearing to snarl a cruel, topical remark at his brother
Ralf Schumacher
Ralf Schumacher (born 30 June 1975) is a German former racing driver. He is the younger brother of seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher, and the pair are the only siblings to each win Formula One races.
Schumacher began kart ...
, based upon the public view that younger brother Ralf was a lesser driver than Michael. The photograph has been Photoshopped several times during the life of this recurring joke to give the Schumacher brothers hats and clothes that reflect their current team or sponsors.
* Small Ads – Classified-style ads, generally spoofing recent Formula 1 activity.
* Roy Lanchester – A former local newspaper journalist turned blogger, Lanchester typifies a breed of freeloading car writer more concerned with getting fed and plied with alcohol at someone else's expense than with reviewing a car or product, which he always does in a fawning and uncritical way, often resorting to copying and pasting the manufacturer's own words to fill space. Frequent references are made to his enormous alcohol intake, and tendency towards accidentally soiling or otherwise destroying press cars while drunk.
* Troy Queef – A spoof columnist claimed to be the Executive Associate Editor-At-Large for ''Dab Of Oppo'' magazine. Queef uses an over-written, pretentious and self-aggrandising style inappropriate for the cheap, slow cars he reviews and signs off each column by claiming that the car in question was "a bitch" which he "spanked". Queef has only driven one car with an engine capacity in excess of 1.8 litres, which he crashed.
* Trentham Sleaves' Grand Prix Preview – A parody of
Formula 1
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
print journalists and their accounts of
Grand Prix
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour
Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to:
Arts and entertainment ...
weekends, which are often perceived as being overly romantic, self-indulgent, and clichéd. He frequently mentions his "casual" encounters with people such as "my old mate
Alain Prost
Alain Marie Pascal Prost (; born 24 February 1955) is a French retired racing driver and Formula One team owner. A four-time Formula One World Drivers' Champion, from 1987 until 2001 he held the record for most Grand Prix victories until Mich ...
," and "a certain
1998/1999 World Champion", and misinterprets their open disdain for him as jovial banter. He often eats alone at "a charming little Italian off the beaten track, the name of which discretion prevents me from mentioning," and closes reports by predicting, in turn, that every single competing team may win on Sunday, signing off by reminding the reader that he will be enjoying every moment, "Because remember, I’m here and you’re not."
Campaigning
''Sniff Petrol'' has run several satirical campaigns since its inception. These have included
* Car Designer Face Hair Removal – An unusual campaign which offered money to car designers if they shaved off their existing beard or moustache. Met with some success when
Peter Stevens, then lead designer at
MG Rover
MG Rover Group was the last domestically owned mass-production car manufacturer in the British motor industry. The company was formed when BMW sold the car-making and engine manufacturing assets of the original Rover Group to the Phoenix Consor ...
, shaved off his moustache in return for a donation to charity.
* Jordan Sponsorship Offer – A short-lived campaign in which the
Jordan F1 team was offered £20 to write Sniff Petrol on the side of their racing car.
* Moped (& Scooter) Campaign – A campaign which aimed to "rid the world of this sub-250cc menace".
* Stop The Cock – A long-running campaign which aimed to remove commentator
James Allen from the then-current ITV F1 coverage. Sniff Petrol produced Stop The Cock T-shirts to promote the campaign leading to the publication of photographs depicting supporters sporting these shirts whilst standing next to F1 pundit
Martin Brundle
Martin John Brundle (born 1 June 1959) is a British former racing driver, best known as a Formula One driver and as a commentator for ITV Sport from 1997 to 2008, the BBC from 2009 to 2011, and Sky Sports since 2012.
Brundle contested the 19 ...
and ITV F1 anchor man
Steve Rider
Stephen Rider (born 28 April 1950) is an English sports presenter, and was the anchorman of ITV's football coverage. He anchored ITV's Formula One coverage from 2006 to 2008, and football coverage from 2006 to April 2010. He was the lead present ...
.
Twitter
''Sniff Petrol'' started a
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
feed in April 2009. In October 2014 it had over 57,000 followers. The ''Sniff Petrol''
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
account is used chiefly to give real-time commentary on
Formula 1
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
races and brief comment on motoring news as well as reports of mini-cab journeys undertaken by the author.
The ''Sniff Petrol'' Twitter feed came 17th in the Humor category at the 2010 Shorty Awards.
Media coverage
Sniff Petrol content has been reproduced on many other websites including US car blog
Jalopnik
G/O Media Inc. is an American media holding company that runs ''Gizmodo'', ''Kotaku'', ''Jalopnik'', ''Deadspin'', ''Lifehacker'', ''Jezebel'', ''The Root'', ''The A.V. Club'', ''The Takeout'', ''The Onion'', and ''The Inventory''.
History
G ...
and in other media, including the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. Porter credits the site (and
's enjoyment of it) as being instrumental in his getting the job of script editor on Top Gear and later
advertisements were turned into a charity calendar.