Shadowing Practice: Racing the World’s BIGGEST Plane in the FASTEST Porsche Ever! - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Whoa, this is nuts!
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So, you're probably wondering how I got here.
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Well, this is the story of the most dangerous drag race I've ever agreed to
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because I'm about to drive under the wing of the biggest aircraft ever built.
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I'm going to be driving the most powerful Porsche ever made, the new Cayenne Turbo.
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But there are some major problems.
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Number one, the weather is turning and we could lose our opportunity to do this.
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Number two, a Hollywood A-lister may steal my seat, which means I could actually have to do an even more dangerous death run.
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And finally, I've messed up, which means that any delays could mean I miss my flight home.
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I'm Matt Watson, and you're watching Car Wow.
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I knew today was going to be absolutely stupid crazy.
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I'm at this airfield with more rules than a school swimming pool.
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I've actually got my own mind there, just keeping an eye on me.
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That's because we're at the Mojave Air and Space Port.
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Yeah, space, as in rockets, because this is the USA's first horizontal launch site for real spaceships and hypersonic test planes.
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Here, they get fired into the heavens directly from purpose-built aeroplanes, like this one.
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It's operated by Strato Launch, and it's nicknamed ROC, not after Dwayne Johnson, but after the mythical bird of prey that could supposedly carry an elephant.
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It's bonkers.
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I'm going to basically be drag racing a flying multi-storey car park.
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And that's not the worrying bit.
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You see, if the wind picks up, it could cancel the whole shoot.
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RARC has two giant fuselages and six massive engines from a Boeing 747.
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They produce around £340,000 of thrust and the pilot steers the whole thing with the help of two huge tail fins, which are 15 metres tall.
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But in high winds, these act like sails and they can blow the whole plane off course.
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That would mean the pilot would have to make a sudden correction and I could end up like a Porsche-shaped pancake.
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And then I met someone who didn't care about these risks at all, nor the fact that they were stealing my job.
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That was Hollywood actor Orlando Bloom.
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What happened was I was supposed to be doing this shoot for Porsche on their channel.
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He found out about it.
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He's a Porsche ambassador.
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He said, can I come along and take part?
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And obviously they said, oh, we'd love you to feature in our video on our channel so yeah, I'm not doing it anymore for them.
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But I am getting the second run, which is the more dangerous run, because the wind's going to pick up later in the day.
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So thank you, Orlando, for not only taking my seat in Porsche's video, but for putting my life even more at risk.
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I guess Porsche just wanted an A-list celebrity for the hot seat.
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Apparently, having a guy who reviews cars and talks about cup holders doesn't quite cut it.
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I just hoped I wouldn't embarrass myself in front of this huge crew when it was my turn to drive.
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But then Porsche delivered even more bad news.
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There's a possibility that you might get one run with the plane, but we do have a backup plan.
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So the problem is that, like, because I'm going to get the run after Orlando, so the wind might have picked up by then.
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Exactly.
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So that's why we have a backup plan.
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The cars are en route now.
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This is really like kind of everything's converging at one point just because of the weather.
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There's the takeoff and there's the landing component.
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Yeah, so there's the takeoff.
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Yeah, I knew about that.
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And then there's a landing.
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What do you mean?
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So as the plane lands, we'll come up behind it and chase the plane down on the ground.
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That's pretty crazy.
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My driving would have to be absolutely perfect.
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If I accelerated too fast, I would end up beneath the plane.
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I'd be invisible to the pilot and I could be crushed by the huge landing gear.
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If I was too slow, my car could be flipped by the jet wash coming off the six massive engines.
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There was a genuine risk that someone could actually be injured today or worse.
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And this meant I would have to do something I really didn't want to do.
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So this is one of the most scary documents I've ever had to sign.
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So it details all the stuff about like the hazard with the wind blowing the plane into the car, the car dropping back too much and getting flipped.
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It's all very, very worrying.
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It's less of a waiver, more of a goodbye letter.
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I'm a little bit nervous but here we go.
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Now let's go and see where I'm actually going to be driving.
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And I've got a feeling it's going to be even scarier than it seems in this document.
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Porsche had just taken Orlando out for a test run, which gave me enough time to rush back to the plane and get to grips with what lay in store for me.
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It's massive, especially the 117-metre wingspan, which is larger than any plane ever built.
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It's almost 1.5 times wider than an Airbus A380.
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And fully loaded, this plane weighs almost 600,000 kilograms.
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So I've got to drive between these two fuselages, roughly 30 metres, which seems like a lot of space.
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However, I need to stay well away from the wheels.
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So I've actually got to stay driving just within this bit, which is about, I don't know,
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one and a half car's width.
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And I've got to stay slightly back from the wheels,
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so about here, which means I need to maintain this space while going at high speed down a runway.
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Anywhere outside of this is in the danger zone.
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Now it was my turn to learn the ropes, because Orlando had just finished his test run.
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And is annoyingly good.
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But I wouldn't be on my own.
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This is Patrick Long.
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He's a Porsche factory driver, and he's won his class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice.
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Now he's going to teach me how to race the most
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powerful Porsche road car ever against the largest plane in the world And because this Cayenne turbo has
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1156 horsepower and 1500 Newton meters of torque.
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We're gonna start with the basics Firstly, how fast should I accelerate so I don't overtake the plane
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and secondly How do I hit the exact braking point so I don't crash off the end of the runway?
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We're gonna simulate the aircraft craft departing
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and what it does is it kind of just it's like
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a slow roll through a stop sign for about two
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or three seconds and then rock will tell us
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that it's you'll hear a call what do you guys say
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when you get on the power sticks up and then
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that means you can pretty much jam as hard as you need to to maintain
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that distance to the back of the plane all right we're good to go all right whenever you're ready Go ahead,
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go ahead, go ahead.
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Full speed.
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All right, you can roll out of it.
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Start lightly braking.
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That's your four.
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Approaching your three.
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So more brakes.
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Nice.
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Patrick's feedback wasn't exactly Oscar winning, but I was feeling confident.
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However, I then found out the hardest lesson was still to come.
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For the landing, what we're going to do is we're going to stage up over here
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and we're going to be aimed onto the runway.
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We're going to launch from here as hard as we can
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and the airplane's going to be touching down and we're going to try to catch it.
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Hey.
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Are you doing launch control? can um just be aware
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that you got some work to do to make that corner yeah
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so the plane will be coming from the right yeah we will get a call from john yep um
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and he'll tell us to hammer it at your call john
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so here comes the plane plane's to our right make your turn look
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that center line stay after it now the planes in front
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of you remember it's going to be decelerating this time okay
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so what so you're going to get to 100 feet from it yeah it's going to be decelerating now
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so you are backing off
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and then it's going to be slowing down slowing down it's going to come to a stop
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so go ahead and slowly brake
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that was a good one it goes yeah i might have
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lost my place as porsche's number one driver to a hollywood hero
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but i was about to get a message
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that really lifted my spirits I'd like to try that one more time if you wouldn't mind.
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I had a bad run, I got a time effect.
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The reaction time at Max is much better than Orlando, so I was already back by 200 yards, so I'm not being honest, it's been a while.
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We won't tell Orlando.
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Yeah.
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Another attempt will give me a chance to raise the bar even higher, but all that praise must have gone straight to my head...
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Nice.
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..because I pushed too hard and I made a mistake.
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that was some understeer on that one yeah i noticed the push
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so i thought it was wise to dial in more steering angle no
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that was fine you you corrected
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so that's it then end of day one practice complete successful i am nervous especially i don't know
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if you can tell the wind is definitely picking up things could be sketchy tomorrow it's pitch black
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freezing cold and I've never felt more awake.
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But there's a problem.
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I still have no idea if today's flight will go ahead.
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So I went to talk to the one man who might be able to save this whole operation.
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So, John, you're flying the plane.
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A little bit worried about the weather.
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What's the chances of that second sortie taking place?
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Right now, chances are probably 50-50.
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50-50?
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50-50 on the second sortie.
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But if we limit the time of the first one, then we might be able to make up some time and beat the weather.
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Okay, so we're not sure yet.
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And is it likely that if you go for the second sortie anyway, it's going to be a little bit more sketchy anyhow than the first one?
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It will.
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The crosswinds will start to pick up, the gusts will start to hit, so it'll be even more critical that we're on center line,
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so that we don't deviate left and right.
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Okay, so I don't think you wanted to say the word dangerous, did you?
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No, no, we always mitigate danger.
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Good.
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Right, so I'm a bit nervous.
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OK, so maybe it'll go ahead, maybe it won't.
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We're going to find out.
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I'm a little bit scared.
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You'll be good.
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Stay between the fuselages and you'll be good.
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OK, I trust you, I trust you.
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But the Mojave Desert had other plans.
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You can probably hear that the plane has started up its engines to warm off.
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And you're probably noticing this as well, the wind, it's picking up, it's getting worse.
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I'm not sure I'm going to get the chance to fly.
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We were already seeing 20 mile an hour crosswinds and they kept getting faster.
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Yesterday, these gusts were just a paragraph in my waiver.
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Today, they were strong enough to keep a 600-tonne aircraft pinned to the ground.
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Bad news, Chase plane is coming back.
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OK, they just called it, cancelled.
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Today's off, too windy.
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Question is now, though, are we going to run tomorrow or Friday?
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And can I even do Friday?
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Supposed to be going home.
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I really feel for the guys at Porsche, all this planning.
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Me, slightly relieved.
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I really, really want to do it, but I was a bit nervous nervous but for them this idea or the effort they're putting must be so gutting.
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If we can't fly again before Friday this whole video would be a bust
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and nobody will get to race this incredible Porsche against an even more spectacular plane.
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If later this afternoon things are shaping up like today is
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my recommendation would be you know just skip Thursday go with Friday get all the pieces lined up
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if the forecast starts to trend better and I say let's send it
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and let's go to And that decision gets made at 3.30 this afternoon?
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I think that's where we have to make it, yeah.
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And that afternoon, my worst fears came true.
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The weather forecast hadn't improved.
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The only day they could fly was Friday.
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But that meant I had to face another big problem.
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I was due to fly back to the UK early that afternoon.
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If ROC had any further delays, I might end up missing my plane home.
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But it turns out I wasn't the only person at risk of missing a very important flight.
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It doesn't look like Orlando is going to be driving for the first takeoff because Rock's over there, Orlando is over there.
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What's happened is that Porsche just wants to be doubly sure that it's safe on the takeoff.
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That is very risky, the takeoff, because of the downdraft.
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So their pro driver is going to do the first run.
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I don't know if that means then that Orlando will do a landing and then the takeoff, which was going to be my takeoff, and I'll just be doing a landing.
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Everything keeps changing and I also need to sort my flights out.
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What's going to happen next?
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Orlando and I were left standing on the tarmac, like two kids who'd just been told they weren't allowed to go down the big slide at a water park.
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And despite the team's best efforts, there was still no sign of Rock taking off.
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I was getting seriously worried I'd have to leave before I could do my run, and I wished I could take Orlando's place for the first take-off.
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That way, I'd have just enough time to race back to LA, ditch the high car, check in, and just about catch my flight home.
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But a Hollywood A-lister like him always gets first dibs, and that gave me a choice.
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Miss my run with Rock or potentially miss my flight home.
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OK, so take-off is 7.50, which is 20 minutes behind schedule, which really puts me under pressure to be able to catch that flight back to the UK.
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I don't think I'm going to make it.
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I mean, if anything gets pushed further back, it's game over for me.
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I've come all this way.
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I'm not going to have a go at driving against that plane.
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And then, after three days of waiting, we finally got word that the flight could go ahead.
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But there was a catch.
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We'd only get one shot at this and the conditions still weren't perfect, which made it too dangerous for Orlando, or me, to drive.
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I was gutted, but then I remembered the understeer I'd felt in practice.
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That happened on a calm day with no crosswind, no plane, and no jet engines trying to blow me off course.
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So maybe the professionals had a point.
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And as soon as we headed out onto the runway, I realised the scale of this whole operation.
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Porsche had definitely made the right choice.
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Here we go.
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Creeping forward.
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Waiting for more engines to engage.
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Here we go.
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We're at 110 miles an hour, it's going to start rotating soon.
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It's lifted!
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Wow, look at that!
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Wow!
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That was amazing just watching that lift off.
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Do you know what?
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I think that's better from the passenger seat because you're not having to faff it out trying to keep level up.
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Yeah, it was so cool.
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That was a great view, the whole thing.
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Watching that lift off, good job that the car's got the full length sunroof.
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So if you're ever buying a car and you're thinking, yeah, maybe one day I'll be underneath the world's biggest plane,
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make sure you tick that box for the optional moonroof.
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It's very important.
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But that's just the easy part, because now Rock was coming in to land.
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Patrick had practised his launch that morning, but he'd been too slow off the line, so I had to count him in to make sure we timed it absolutely perfectly.
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This was far more dangerous than the take-off.
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If I got the countdown wrong, we could be crushed by the plane's undercarriage or flipped by the wake from its six engines.
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Legolas might end up legless and it would all be my fault.
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Tarmac.
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No. Whoa, this is nuts.
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I'm in the tunes. Are we good?
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Yeah, keep going.
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They're slowing down.
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Whoa.
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I'm alive!
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They're breaking hard.
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I'm good, I got lots of brakes.
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Yep, you just need to stay behind the tails.
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I'll tell you what, when we were going into that, that was close.
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You nailed that Patrick.
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Be set tarmac.
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No, no, you were fine.
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You actually got in between the tails.
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That was more difficult than take off.
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Way more.
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I always thought it shattered.
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Yeah, you were under.
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That was utter chaos.
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I thought we were going to crash into the plane for one moment.
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But now I need to move because I've got to get my flight.
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This is going to be so tight.
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So it takes off at 3.30, which means I need to be at the gate by 3 o'clock.
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The sat nav is currently saying I'm going to get to the airport just before 20 to 3.
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So 20 minutes to get through security and immigration.
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Maybe I could do it.
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But there is one major problem.
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It's this car.
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I've got to return it to a parking lot.
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Squeaky bump time.
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Somehow I made it to the gate on time.
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Done.
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But was I disappointed about not getting the chance to race rock myself?
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No, not really.
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And here's why.
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I got to spend the day with Orlando Bloom and it was really cool.
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Plus, actually being there as a passenger, watching the plane just come low level over the top of us, looking through the glass roof of the Cayenne was incredible.
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And I actually think that if I did it in driving, I wouldn't have got that view.
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And it was amazing.
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Best day ever.
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Without a doubt, that was the most incredible thing I've experienced in the backseat of a car.
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Well, actually, it's the second most incredible, but I can't explain that here because YouTube will probably demonetise this video.
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Now, if you want to see what else I got up to with this amazing Porsche, click on the video window appearing to watch me challenge Orlando Bloom to a Cayenne face-off.
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We launched three of the most powerful Porsche SUVs ever to find out which one is quickest, petrol, hybrid or pure EV.
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And we'd find out who's the better driver once and for all, Orlando or me.
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The stakes were huge, but to see what happened, you'll have to watch the video.
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And make sure you subscribe to this channel because I've got some amazing drag races coming soon with a Cayenne Turbo EV, which you definitely don't want to miss.
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Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Racing the World’s BIGGEST Plane in the FASTEST Porsche Ever!”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: plane, Porsche, Orlando. This video has 287 sentences and 3263 words to shadow. The speech runs for 18:19. The speaker talks at a natural 178 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| takeoff noun | A launch or ascent into the air or into flight, such as of an aircraft, rocket, bird, high-jumper etc. | |
| runway noun | /ˈɹʌnweɪ/ | A defined, narrow section of land or an artificial structure used for access. |
| brake noun | /bɹeɪk/ | A device used to slow or stop the motion of a wheel, or of a vehicle, usually by friction (although other resistive forces, such as electromagnetic fields or… |
| crosswind noun | /ˈkɹɑːs.wɪnd/ | A wind blowing across a line of travel, especially perpendicularly. |
| fuselage noun | /ˈfjuːzəˌlɑːʒ/ | The main body of an aerospace vehicle; the long central structure of an aircraft to which the wings (or rotors), tail, and engines are attached, and which… |
| sortie noun | /ˈsɔɹti/ | An attack made by troops from a besieged position; a sally. |
| tarmac noun | /ˈtɑː(ɹ)mæk/ | Tarmacadam. |
| turbo noun | /ˈtɝ.boʊ/ | A turbine. |
| metre noun | /ˈmiːtəɹ/ | The basic unit of length in the International System of Units (SI: Système International d'Unités), equal to the distance travelled by light in a vacuum in… |
| flip verb | /flɪp/ | To throw so as to turn over. |
| decelerate verb | /diːˈsɛləɹeɪt/ | To reduce the velocity of something. |
| gust noun | /ɡʌst/ | A strong, abrupt rush of wind. |
| leister noun | /ˈlistɚ/ | A spear armed with three or more barbed prongs for catching fish, particularly salmon. |
| sketchy adjective | /ˈskɛt͡ʃi/ | Roughly or hastily laid out; intended for later refinement. |
| understeer noun | The condition in which the front wheels of a car fail to follow the desired curve while cornering, instead following more of a straight-line trajectory, losing… |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| go ahead verb | /ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/ | To proceed with; to begin. |
| pick up verb | To lift; to grasp and raise. | |
| take off verb | To remove. | |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. | |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. | |
| slow down verb | To decelerate. | |
| lift off verb | Synonym of take off (leave the ground and begin flight). | |
| back off verb | To move backwards away from something. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- He said, can I come along and take part?
- What do you mean?
- I'm a little bit nervous but here we go.
- Are you doing launch control?
- What's the chances of that second sortie taking place?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | If I accelerated too fast, I would end |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | seat, which means · fins, which are · someone who didn |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've ever agreed · I've messed · I've ever had |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | could be crushed · could be flipped · be injured |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 109 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, I've, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: mythical /ˈmɪθɪkəl/, thrust /θɹʌst/, width /ˈwɪtθ/, underneath /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/, beneath /bɪˈniːθ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: fuselage /ˈfjuːzəˌlɑːʒ/, crush /kɹʌʃ/, shatter /ˈʃætɚ/, optional /ˈɑp.ʃə.nəl/, correction /kəˈɹɛkʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: decelerate /diːˈsɛləɹeɪt/, accelerate /ɪkˈsɛl.əˌɹeɪt/, annoyingly /ʌˈnɔɪjɪŋli/, demonetize /diˈmɑnətaɪz/, hypersonic /ˌhaɪ.pəɹˈsɒ.nɪk/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like takeoff, runway, brake.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.