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Looking back and looking ahead: A journey with The Car 61 Podcast

Writer's picture: Gabrielle LewisGabrielle Lewis

The Car 61 Podcast was the brainchild of Media Team Lead, Elliot Royce, in 2023. It was a way that he could contribute to the long-term success of the Salford Racing team. Though studying Broadcast Journalism, he’d never done anything like a podcast before. Nevertheless, he set out to create a product that has become an integral part of Salford Racing’s image since its first episode on October 16, 2023.


Season 1 featured special guests, like Chris Summers of Morson Projects, and several team members, and the topics discussed ranged widely from whether there should be a ban on SUVs, to the future of EVs. The season culminated in a 2-part episode which offered listeners a behind-the-scenes, immersive view of the team’s experience at the Formula Student 2024 competition. Elliot interviewed several team members and guests and you can hear the hopes, fears, relief, and excitement as he navigated the week of activities at Silverstone.


Chris Summers (Morson Projects), Cilla Fancony, Ben Naylor, and Joe Cook in the recording studio
Chris Summers (Morson Projects), Cilla Fancony, Ben Naylor, and Joe Cook in the recording studio

When Elliot decided to complete a semester in the USA for his undergraduate degree, he wondered if all his plans for Season 2 would have to wait until he returned.


However, with the new semester at the University bringing in fresh recruits, brimming with exuberance for Formula Student 2025, Elliot’s hopes reignited. He was commendably seconded by Priscilla Fancony, a second-year undergraduate student of Psychology, to coordinate all the activities of the media team, including The Car 61 Podcast.  As episode 5 of Season 2 wrapped just before the Christmas holidays, Elliot shared his thoughts on the journey of the podcast and his hopes for the rest of the season.


Why did you want to start a podcast for Salford Racing?

I wanted to try my hands at hosting a podcast and thought Salford Racing was the perfect place to do it because I felt there would be eager people willing to invest in the project. There was a target audience there already. There was a big pool of talented engineers and young entrepreneurs willing to be interviewed and develop really good stories.


What are your favourite episodes of Season 1?

Two of my favourite episodes were the Silverstone ones. They took the longest to edit, as I did the editing myself, and put a lot of hours into editing them. I’m really proud about how they came out, like an audio documentary which was completely different from anything we’d done before. It meant that I got to truly immerse myself and enjoy the experience. And what a year to document! We made history, and I was there with my microphone and got to create some really good content. I’m forever grateful to have been able to do that and I wouldn’t have been able to go to Silverstone if it wasn’t for my contributions with the podcast and it’s probably why I’m here now as Media Lead, because of Silverstone and what happened there.


How has Season 2 been going so far?

Season 2 is going fantastic. Gabrielle is doing a fantastic job and the commitment she’s put into it is more than anybody else did, besides me last year. I really appreciate everything she’s done to keep this podcast going and everybody else as well. I’m so grateful for the number of people we’ve had working on it. We’ve had up to 6 people from the media team working on the podcast, which is absolutely brilliant, considering that Silverstone was entirely a product of me because there was no one else to work on it.


I think the podcast is in a really good place. I’m happy that we’re still going, and still creating great content considering I was on the other side of the world, which was a real worry for me. But people like Gabrielle, Cilla, Tom, Ollie, Dovy, Ben, Sam, and everyone else who’s been involved, have kept it going.


What do you hope to achieve through the podcast?

I hope the podcast gives the team exposure. It’s a platform for people to talk about the process and it’s a good documentation of the progress of the team throughout the season - even looking at where it started, to where it is right now, and where we were at Silverstone. There’s been constant progress and we can see how the team is growing through the podcast. This is something we can do regularly with other members of the team. 


A podcast is a contemporary journalism asset that everyone is jumping on the bandwagon of, since podcasts are the things that people listen to.


No other team has a podcast and no other team has a media team like this, so hats off to everybody. I’m confident we have the best media team in Formula Student UK, if not the world of Formula Student.


What are your aspirations for the podcast going forward?

I would love to get more external guests in. That’s been on my mind since it started and Liv [Olivia Evans] was co-hosting with me. There’s been a couple of names on my list. That’s one of my aims, to reach out to them and really get this happening. I also want to come back to the podcast and just have fun with it. I can’t wait to try out all the elements I’ve seen so far in Season 2 when I get back in the studio: like doing the timed sim laps and talking to all the new people. I’m really excited!

Elliot Royce celebrating at FS 24
Elliot Royce celebrating at FS 24

Now that Elliot is back in the studio for the rest of Season 2, you can look forward to more fun and informative interactions between him, his co-hosts, and many internal and external guests.


If you missed any of the current season’s episodes, click the links to hear what’s been going on with the Salford Racing Society.



Want to get involved with the team? Drop us a message by clicking this link.



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