WhichCar's top five YouTube videos of 2021

Where would we be without YouTube? Less distracted, most likely.

YouTube is a hub of short snippets from '80s TV shows you vaguely remember, American adolescents teaching the world how to play Minecraft and, of course, cat videos. But it is also a treasure trove for automotive content, and with the world closed off, we all felt even more desperate to get our vehicular fix this year.

Below is a small selection of some of the best videos to appear on the service this year, including some by our friends at Wheels and MOTOR.

Smith and Sniff – Bond Car Bingo

Given a lot of people at WhichCar are united by the same passion – cars, mainly – quite a few of us have outed each other as fans of the Smith and Sniff podcast, hosted by former Fifth Gear presenter, Jonny Smith, and former Top Gear/The Grand Tour script editor and Sniff Petrol founder, Richard Porter.

While the duo's pod has seen it become one of the most popular lifestyle programs in the UK, it started years ago as a weekly video series before it turned into an audio-only experience.

Lovers of arcane car facts and film, the pair made use of the relaxed restrictions earlier this year and made a video en route to the premiere of the latest James Bond film, No Time To Die.

If you've got a spare 47 minutes and a love for Bond movies, this is the niche video for you – just make sure you watch NTTD first if you want to avoid spoilers, on that side of things.

MOTOR – 2021 RTR Ford Mustang review

There's a reason why Scott Newman goes by the Instagram handle, @addictedtosliding.

As if MOTOR's associate editor needed any encouragement, someone at Mustang Motorsport decided to throw him the keys to their RTR Ford Mustang and told him to have fun at the testing facility at Bryant Park.

With 559kW and 908Nm on tap from its supercharged Coyote V8 engine, it didn't take long for Scotty to send up smoke signals from the rear tyres in a car which was designed by Formula Drift champion Vaughn Gittin Jr "for fun-havers".

Despite its propensity to get sideways enough for the side windows to be covered in more bugs than the windscreen, the RTR posted a highly respectable time – although you'll have to watch to see exactly what it was.

TALLADEGA: NASCAR's Most Feared Track

Call me a racing tragic – you'll be correct – but there's something to be said for people who dedicate their own time and money into making niche content which big brands wouldn't dare touch.

NASCAR might be the most popular motorsport in the United States, but its international appeal pales in comparison to that of Formula One... right?

Will Ferrall might have made the super-speedway famous in the 2006 comedy film Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, but the 1.1 million views on this home-made video by EmpLemon shows there's a lot of love for historic NASCAR content.

Detailing the history of the fastest circuit in America, it's an hour-long labour of love which shows off the drama, tragedy and coincidental history of Talladega.

If you're into racing history or just history in general – especially that of Indigenous Americans – this is a great way to spend an hour, and I promise you'll be entertained as well as informed along the way.

Wheels – Massive 4x4 Dual Cab Test

Who'd have thought a country so obsessed with dual-cab utes would love to see them directly compared against each other?

Back in May, the Wheels team did just that, taking 11 of the top-selling dual-cab 4x4s on the market to put them through their paces.

From entry-level models to the upper echelons of the market, no stone was left unturned to investigate just which vehicle is best when all factors are considered.

You know the drill by now – go watch to see the results and how our expert team came to its conclusions.

Travis Pastrana – Mt. Washington Hillclimb Record

There aren't too many mind-bending things for cars to do anymore, with over 120 years of evolution leading to a peak of what vehicles can achieve.

However, as with most things in life, the squishy nut behind the wheel is the limiting factor – which is exactly where Travis Pastrana comes in.

If you don't know who Travis is, he can best be summed up as a combination of Evel Knievel and Colin McRae – one part action sports athlete, one part extreme competitor.

Utilising the heavily modified Subaru WRX STI which featured in Gymkhana 2020, Travis returned to Mt. Washington in an attempt to beat his own hillclimb record set two years prior – and boy, did he beat it.

Think of Mt. Washington as a tighter, narrower and shorter version of Pikes Peak, leaving the driver no time to rest, nor margin for error. The on-board shots in particular are enough to turn anyone's eyes into dinner plates.