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25 years of memories

Autocar UK

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September 24, 2025

Autocar's writers recall their most memorable motoring moments

- STEVE CROPLEY

25 years of memories

My outstanding memory is travelling to Toyota City in 2018 to award then CEO Akio Toyoda Autocar's highest annual accolade: the Issigonis Trophy. He took the award extremely seriously, giving us an afternoon of his time, showing us around and even arranging to drive into our video set in an original Issigonis Mini like the one he owned when he worked in London decades earlier. His time as CEO was ending, but his prominence, influence and love of cars continues unabated.

imageJOHN EVANS

Hobbies come in all forms and attract all sorts, but had I not seen this one for myself, I would never have believed it. For the niche activity known as tether racing, grown men and women gather each weekend at small oval circuits to see whose model car can circulate around a pole the fastest - and it is fast, with speeds reaching 200mph. The hobby's heyday was the 1930s, but tether racing is making a modest comeback. Of the many stories I've covered for Autocar, this is the one that makes me question who is pottier: the people actually taking part, or me driving 150 miles to watch them do it.

imageFELIX PAGE

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