Car Throttle

Car Throttle was launched in November 2008 and is one of the leading youth sources of all performance car news and reviews. This site is a dedicated hub for car enthusiasts, high performance automotive drivers and racers, and provides a quirky but informative environment with which to interact!

We review the latest performance cars and take them to the road to see how they really perform. We also relay the latest car news to you guys and provide you with photos of the latest models to hit the tarmac, but in a friendly and social atmosphere different to that found on all other car sites on the web.

UK

Adnan Ebrahim – Founder and Editor-in-Chief

The life behind Car Throttle, Adnan took an early interest in “fast lane life” when he hooked onto go-karting, racing at numerous UK circuits. Since then, he’s dreamed of racing supercars and having the ability to be involved in the automotive world. He founded Car Throttle whilst at University College London – after the sale of Blogtrepreneur whilst he was at school – and after more than 2 years the site now serves a large worldwide audience, works with numerous major manufacturers, and runs campaigns with the biggest advertisers in the UK and abroad.

Adnan wanted to create a different type of car website, drilling down into the automotive industry to focus on reporting on performance cars but from a more unique youthful perspective. He’s the presenter of Car Throttle’s YouTube channel which brings fun and quirkiness to auto reporting; whether it’s playing “Hide & Seek” with a Fiat 500 or inter-reviewing a leading star in the passenger seat.

Adnan was recently honoured as Virgin Media’s December 2011 “Pioneer of the Month”.

Favourite cars reviewed: Jaguar XKR-S, Lamborghini Gallardo and Skoda Fabia vRS

Edward Slater – Producer

Edward studied Product Design at Brunel University, UK and aims to demonstrate reasonable skill in more than one creative field. Here at Car Throttle he puts into practice his life-long interest in producing video content.

Edward has valuable experience in product photography, scenery photography, videography and editing using programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Final Cut Pro and After Effects.

Ethan Smale – Assistant Producer

After being raised in Surrey, Ethan took a short trip up the A3 to study Film Studies at Kingston University. At Car Throttle, Ethan works on the video production team and is putting his filmmaking passion into practice.

Ethan has worked on various filming projects in the past including market research videos, corporate film, animation and software tutorials. Additionally, he has experience editing with Final Cut and Photoshop.

Whilst he loves his social networking, he severely lacks in friends. Follow him on Twitter @EthanSmale and let’s see if we can get him talking.

Tim Barnes-Clay – Associate Editor

Tim Barnes-Clay is a British journalist and a member of the Midland Group of Motoring Writers.

He initially trained in broadcast journalism and started his working life reporting and news reading for UK local radio stations, including Heart FM.

Tim’s love of working in the media was only equalled with a passion for cars, so it was a dream come true for him when he was offered a motoring journalist role with the Mirror Group’s legendary L!ve TV cable network. After a couple of years working with the great, the mad and the good, he went on to become a presenter, reporter and producer at ITV in Birmingham.

Over the years, Tim has turned more and more of his attention to writing. His main subject matter is, of course, cars, but when he isn’t driving or writing about new motors he works in media relations, does a bit of voice-over work and presents for a Leicestershire based radio station.

To check out the cars Tim is driving and reviewing, follow him on Twitter: @carwriteups or visit www.carwriteups.co.uk

Alex Hamilton – News Editor

Alex’s interest in cars came at an early age since his father had access to various company cars such as Audis, Mercedes, Jaguars and Rovers and he discovered a habit of comparing each to the last. The interest in motors then became much stronger after learning to drive. Alex was very fortunate to be able to learn to drive in a 120d M sport (those lessons did cost a small fortune obviously) with a great driving instructor who was a big car nut that also owned an M5. After passing his test Alex has only owned one car which was a 1990s Corsa. It wasn’t a great example though as it tended to break down and annoy him all the time. It got the nickname ‘Wee Red Bucket’ off his mates although once he sold the Corsa it was starting to turn pink because of the poor paintwork.

After reading many motoring magazines, visiting various motoring websites and talking about cars a bit too much to his mates, Alex then realised that he could share all his opinions and knowledge about cars online using Twitter for the world to see instead of annoying his mates.

When not blabbering on about cars Alex is at University studying for a Business Management degree. You can find Alex on Twitter here.

Ollie Kew – News Editor

Ollie lives in the automotive journalist heartland of Stamford, Lincolnshire. Having had the ‘car nut’ gene passed onto him from his father, a fan of hot hatches in general and fast Fords in particular before family life took over, Ollie has only always wanted to achieve the goal of marrying what he does best: firing out opinions, with his obsession with cars, driving, and the auto industry. This evolved into his personal website, TyreRoar.blogspot.com, a long-awaited outlet for his motoring musings and chance for some exposure, which lead to work experience with Evo Magazine, on the way to bigger and better things. The written aspect of dream was beginning to bear fruit…as did the driving side.

Keeping the Blue Oval link in the family, Ollie learnt his craft in a Focus, before taking the ‘wheel of his first car, a sub tonne, naturally aspirated, manual transmission classic: the mk1 Ford Ka. Elsewhere, he likes to find himself in the low-slung chair of a go-kart as often as possible, despite consistent ridicule for once referring to a session as “the most fun you can have with your clothes on.”

If he’s not out taming these traction control and ABS-free machines, Ollie is also an avid follower of Formula One, or to be found browsing countless motoring websites and magazines. When this busy schedule allows, he’s also tackling the final year of a Political Science & Modern History degree at the University of Birmingham. Find him on Twitter @OllieInGear.

INTERNATIONAL

James Mackintosh – Managing Editor

James Mackintosh is a resident of beautiful Raleigh, North Carolina. When he’s not writing about cars for Car Throttle, he’s usually working on his project car – a 1988 Saab 900 SPG – or enjoying not having to work on his daily driver – a 2007 Accord. He’s always happy to turn a wrench for a friend, fixing problems or installing new parts.

When he’s not gaping Iridium plugs or installing short shift kits, he can be found behind a laptop at local bars DJ’ing, behind the viewfinder of his camera, or at a car show, race event, swap meet, or tuning shop trying to bring fresh automotive content to the world. He’s a firm believer in the sanctity of manual transmissions, and finds the whoosh of a turbocharger to be utterly intoxicating. He can be reached at james@carthrottle.com.

Rigval Reza – Associate Editor

Rigval Reza is a part time automotive journalist who is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He maintains his own automotive blog (motoring-malaysia.blogspot.com) and contributes to a Singapore based automotive site where he gets paid to speak his ‘unbiased’ mind about motoring. He will only be biased to any car company if they buy a 1970s Ferrari Daytona for him (then he will sing all the praise they want).

He loves B-road drives and thinks that handling is the paramount factor in a nice drive. His backyard consists of a mountain range that has fabulous B-roads located just half an hour from his family home and his office. His apartment where he lives with his wife and kid is only half an hour from the Sepang International F1 circuit but thinks that the comfort of home and the telly makes better and less stressful viewing of the F1 race instead of watching the race in person. This is because the only purpose of going to Sepang is to actually drive on the circuit, which he has done so on occasion.

His day job is something that involves managing a company or two that markets and sells some interesting stuff that he cannot divulge in here.