Does the Maserati MC20 GT2 Deliver on its Wings?

Summary

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The Smoking Tire Podcast

Episode: Does the Maserati MC20 GT2 Deliver on its Wings?

Date: February 24, 2026
Hosts: Matt Farah & Zack Klapman

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Episode Overview

Matt and Zack record this episode while driving back from Willow Springs in the Maserati MC20 GT2 Stradale, diving deep into its character as Maserati’s newest "track-focused" supercar. They offer a meticulous, experience-driven review, compare it to rivals, raise questions about performance and emotional engagement, and pepper in automotive industry banter. The second half takes a detour into nerdy hobbies (Magic: The Gathering and fountain pens), before answering a slew of engaging listener questions on everything from ADAS (driver assistance) systems to getting into vintage racing on a budget.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Driving Impressions: Maserati MC20 GT2 Stradale

(01:47 – 29:36)

• Track & Road Experiences

  • Matt drove the GT2 at Willow Springs; Zack shares experience from Ascari in Spain.
  • The GT2 is "tracky," with more downforce, upgraded brakes, lighter weight, stickier tires, and less comfort compared to the standard MC20.
  • Brakes felt lackluster, with a soft initial bite not on par with modern ceramic standards.
  • Despite upgrades, the extra performance feels incremental, not transformative.
  • Sound is a letdown: "It just lacks like any of the verve and spice and kind of passion stuff..." (Zack, 07:53).
  • Cosmetic upgrades may overpromise: “We got wing, we got canards...but it's just like not that quick, not that exciting.” (Zack, 08:16)
  • Daily use is possible, but comfort sacrificed for little added excitement.
  • At this price ($325k+), the emotional and visceral engagement just isn’t there, especially next to wild cards like the Corvette ZR1.

• Comparison to Rivals

  • Versus Porsche and Ferrari, the MC20 GT2 doesn't measure up in outright performance or engagement.
  • Engine makes only +10hp over regular MC20, while Maserati’s racing version does 740hp; track version doesn’t approach that escalation.
  • The GT2 Stradale is called "barely street legal"—Matt laughs this off as exaggerated marketing (11:44).

• Ownership and Practicality

  • The GT2 can be had with less severe seats (recommended).
  • Still quite usable daily, but quirks annoy: “No cup holders is tough...Even in my quote track day car. I would like a cup holder.” (Matt, 17:50)
  • Boot-up times for infotainment are slow, inexplicable warning chimes, and poor ergonomics noted.
  • Sitting in the bucket seats is physically unpleasant for long journeys: “It's like your back is leaning against two...half-cut watermelons. It's weird.” (Zack, 49:03)
  • The car appeals most to buyers desiring exclusivity, not the last word in performance: “It’s really like someone who is unsatisfied with the other mainstream offerings and just sort of wants to be different.” (Matt, 20:35)
  • Holds value better than some expected, but not immune to depreciation.

Notable Quote:

“When stuff starts talking about numbers that start with a 3 [hundred thou], I need my head blown off.”
— Matt, (08:55)

Notable Quote:

“You’re going to be the only guy at the track day who’s got one. Maserati does mean something.”
— Matt, (21:27)

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2. Nerdy Weekend Adventures: Magic & Fountain Pens

(29:36 – 45:18)

• Zack went to a Magic: The Gathering house party (not a tournament).
• Matt attended the California Pen Show: “...every bit as dorky as I hoped it could be.” (Matt, 30:12)
• Demographic breakdown: surprisingly decent number of women, especially into calligraphy.
• Pens ranged from $2 Japanese pens to $100,000 gold-and-jewel encrusted masterpieces.
• Matt’s purchases:
  • $200 anodized aluminum fountain pen with extra fine nib (“like Eddie Van Halen’s guitar,” 39:53)
  • $325 resin-bodied pen with steampunk, watch-gear inlays.
• Discussions on the tactile joy of fountain pens, incremental prices, and the illness (and joy) of collecting.

Notable Moment:

Matt’s “parent-style” incremental collecting: "You did that thing like a parent...If you take care of this, you know, prove that you’re really into having a pet." (Zack, 42:53)

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3. Q&A Lightning Round: Car Culture, Ownership, & Industry

(45:18 – end)

Performance & Ownership

• Favorite Subarus? (48:05)
  • STI-swapped 2.5RS is the panel favorite.
• Would you buy an MC20 for a third off MSRP? (66:40)
  • “I still wouldn’t buy this car, but I would buy the regular MC20 for a third off.” (Zack)
  • "I would too." (Matt)

Industry & Market Trends

• Why does Buick still exist? (52:42)
  • Mostly for China, but less clear now; no emotional or product draw for younger US buyers.
• Rolex Market/Easy to Buy? (56:12)
  • Less hype, more availability recently; advice: create an occasion and ask AD for engraving to show you won’t flip it.
• Top Gear Revival? (70:03)
  • Matt: Uninterested in direct revival—stone is cast by original cast's chemistry and writing.
  • Zack: Any revival needs new talent with similar rapport and wit (referencing Throttle House as a new-gen example).
• Nameplates That Came Back Stronger? (62:30)
  • Bronco (clear winner), FJ Cruiser, Corvette Stingray, Aston Vanquish, Supra (possibly).

Driving & ADAS (Active Driver Assistance Systems)

• ADAS Annoyances & Pros/Cons (64:07, 73:16)
  • Both agree ADAS is beneficial for most, but must be fully and permanently deactivatable for enthusiasts.
  • Insurance claim fears over disabling ADAS seem unfounded as of now.
  • “My problem with ADAS isn’t that it exists, it’s that you can’t fully disable it or the process is a pain." (Matt, 64:26)

Listener Projects & Recommendations

• Best way into a vintage rally for under $50k? (50:14)
  • Seek esoteric, low-profile race cars with actual event history rather than "shitty Porsches."
• $40k RWD Manual Fun Car? (67:04)
  • C5/C6 Corvette, second-gen CTS-V, 996 Carrera 4S—options depend on priorities.
• Golf GTI vs Golf R vs GR Corolla for daily, spirited use? (67:54)
  • Golf R “just a better car,” but GR Corolla is motorsportier.

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Time | Segment/Topic | |-------------|-------------------------------------------------------| | 01:47–11:08 | Initial review/impressions of MC20 GT2 | | 11:42–19:49 | Comfort, options, practicality, and user experience | | 20:35–24:28 | Target market and who this Maserati is really for | | 24:28–29:36 | Behavior at/over the limit, chassis balance | | 29:36–45:18 | Pen show, collecting pens, hobby psychology | | 45:18–54:07 | Listener Q&A: Subarus, vintage rallies, market trends | | 56:12–62:16 | Luxury watches, nameplate revivals, insurance Qs | | 64:07–66:18 | ADAS systems, enthusiast vs. general driver | | 66:40–end | MC20 at a discount, fun car buying advice, Top Gear |

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Memorable Quotes

“If there’s 10 categories and you’re charging 300 gram, you need three or four of those categories to be 10 out of 10…”
— Matt, 19:15

“I just think the road car and especially the Spider is one of the most beautiful mid-engine cars made…pretty much of any era.”
— Zack, 28:10

"You're going to be the only guy at the cars and coffee who's got one."
— Matt, 21:27

“I love to love Maserati, but it's like, if they turn that volume knob from 8 to 10... I don't know if the development, the budget, or the bones are there.”
— Zack, 25:23

“A fountain pen, you don’t have to apply any pressure to the page...my hands feel better afterwards.”
— Matt, 44:43

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Tone & Style

Matt and Zack keep their conversation candid, irreverent, and highly knowledgeable: automotive details are mixed with playful sarcasm and the comforting informality that marks long-term partnerships behind the mic. Their critique is honest without being unduly harsh; obsession with the details (seats, sound dampening, boot times) is matched by a willingness to admit their own quirks and indulgences, whether in cars or collecting.

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This summary covers all main topics, key opinions, standout moments, listener engagement, and provides a clear reference for those who missed the episode.

Transcript

[A]

What's up, everybody? Welcome to the Smoking Tire Podcast. Today's episode is, as always, brought to you by off the Record. We love off the Record here at the Smoking Tire because they are looking out for us 24 7, 365. Wherever I drive a car, whatever state, whatever jurisdiction, I know that if I get yoinked, off the Record is right there backing me up. All I got to do is go to offtherecord.com TST send a photo or scan of the ticket along with a description of what I was doing at the time. My version of events, if you will. And off the Record goes to work. 95% of the time, you just get that text message just long enough later that you've completely forgot about it saying dismissed. Other times, you got to take a little extra action. Either way, they are looking out for you. It is affordable and is high quality and you're supporting your favorite podcast when you use them. It's a 3 Pete winner, folks. Offtherecord.com TST that'll get you 10% off all legal services booked through off the record, once again, offtherecord.com TST all right, on this episode of the podcast, Zach and I are driving back from Willow Springs in the Maserati GT2 Stradale. We give a thorough review of the car. Plus, I did some very, very nerdy things this weekend and I start pretty pulling out my pens, if you know what I'm saying. Plus, our ideas for the best way to get into a prestigious vintage racing event for under 50 GS. It's the smoking Tire Podcast. Let's go, everybody.

[B]

Welcome to Roadshow Smoking Tire Podcast in the car. You see, Zach and I are a master of efficiency. When you are in the gig economy for a long time, you must be a master efficiency.

[C]

So one of the, like doordash while driving lift so you pick up people, it smells delicious, but you're delivering food, not to them.

[B]

And while reviewing the car for YouTube. Yeah, you know, the whole thing. And wasn't it Parker who did it

[C]

and you're sponsored by the clothing you're wearing.

[B]

Was it Parker who did the driving Uber for you? I think with. For YouTube. I think he did. Anyway, we're in the Maserati GT2 Stradale. That's the tracky version of the MC20. We are driving home from Willow Springs and what I was sort of getting at was that unpaid transit time. Unpaid, unproductive transit time is one of the hardest parts of this gig. And so one of the best Ways to work with that is by recording shows in the car. So I know it's not as optimized as shows in the studio, but we have exactly an hour and a half from Willow Springs back to the studio, so why not use that time to do a thing that also takes exactly an hour and a half? Like, so. So should we just start with the Maserati? I guess.

[C]

Yeah, let's. You just spent the morning driving it on the track. Morning on track. Having a pretty fun time. You had the track to yourself, like a fresh powder. I drove this car at Scarry in Sabane.

[B]

Was it a year ago?

[C]

I think it was like, about a year ago. I drove, like, a bronze one. I drove it on the road also. But the roads are very different there, of course, from here. So people saw my video, you know, my take. But I was very curious to see what you think about this thing.

[B]

I mean, we ended up in sort of the same place, didn't we? I think the thing about the regular MC20 is it's. It's a supercar that's great up to like, 7, 8, 10. Not as good as, like, Porsche and Ferrari and McLaren when you really start pushing it, but nice to use every day. This car has more downforce, little more horsepower, less sound insulation, these stupid bucket seats, lighter wheels, stickier tires, better brakes. So it is an upgrade package. Better cooling, you know, it's an upgrade package that's designed to make the car work better on the track.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

The thing is, in my experience this morning, it sort of mirrored what yours was in Ascari, although you're much more limited because they had. They had restrictions for you. And I could do whatever I wanted. The car is very competent. It objectively does things proper pretty well. Except the brakes aren't where they should be given the. Given the. The rest of the car, honestly. And the fact that this is an upgrade package still, the brakes should be better right now.

[C]

Do they feel like they didn't slow you down as much as they should have for the pedal?

[B]

They don't have the initial bite.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

That you get out of almost any other set of ceramic brakes. I mean, they feel kind of like ceramic brakes from, like 2008, you know, where they're very soft on the tip end. Whereas if you drive a Z06 or ZR1, if you drive. I mean, I recall on the MC20 launch, that same track two years ago, whatever it was, three years ago, we made the mistake of driving a Black Wing to the launch.

[C]

Oh, yeah, we did.

[B]

And we drove the MC20 and got back in the Black Wing, we're like, holy brakes.

[C]

Yeah. And in that review we only did on the road. Yeah. And as a grand touring car, I think it's a pretty strong thing. And then we drove the Spider one whatever convertible like in the canyons and rides pretty well. It's got, it's a long car, kind of long wheelbase, looks fantastic. I just love the shape of it before they add all the carbon to it. But I think they've changed the character a lot. But they haven't gotten it as far as where Porsche gets the, you know, the 911 to the RS or McLaren when you get into like the 750 land.

[B]

And also Maserati's racing version of this engine makes 740 horsepower. This only makes 10 more than the standard one. So yes, it's lighter, it's like 135 pounds lighter. It's a little sharper, it's louder, it's a lot less comfortable because the seats. But it's only like a little bit tuned up, you know, and it's a big price jump.

[C]

You know what the only spice that's added is in the discomfort, you know, like during the drive bys. The car's not that much louder outside. It's not a very loud car. It's a very small V6. And it just sounds kind of like a vacuum, which I love in turbo.

[B]

It doesn't sound like anything in the car either. In fact, like as you'll see in the video, you know, on the track, it's like it's, it's not, it's not setting any new standards. Right. It's not blowing any minds if you, if you're experienced, McLaren 750 or a ZR1 or something like that is, is much more explosive and sharper as well. But the real problem is if you're not going to hit those marks, if you're not going to be faster, not going to be sharper, more explosive. I need, I need a little more emotion and particularly with a helmet on this engine just like doesn't sound like anything. Like if I go down four gears from a, like. It's, it's generally like pleasant but it's definitely not exciting.

[C]

I think it sounds so much, I'm just realizing this, it sound much like the Amira.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Like you've got a V6 right here that had a little blower wine. But that car cost $100,000, you know, so this car, three times as much, not three times the sound not even a little bit. Plus the turbo quiets things down a little bit. It just, it just lacks like any of the verve and spice and kind of passion stuff where I think the road car is a totally good, like art piece to drive around.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But this tries to be this extruded, like, you know, extroverted track thing. But it, it can't. Like, it's like someone on, someone on steroids who can't fight. Yeah, that's what it is. We got wing, we got canards, we got air vents, but it's just like not that quick, not that exciting.

[B]

And the regular one is a fast, fun, comfortable, usable daily supercar. And this one takes away a bunch of the usability of it, but it doesn't exchange it for like all that much more fizz.

[C]

Right.

[B]

Having. I mean, look, it's not, not fun, but this car is three and a quarter. Like when, when stuff starts, when stuff starts talking about numbers that start with a 3, I need my head blown off. You know what I mean? Like, especially now that the ZR1 is in the game.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Because the ZR1 delivers the performance that you typically had to spend 400,000 on a 750 to get. You can now get that for 220.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

That type of speed and that type of like, oh, Mark, you know, like, wants to tear the tires off the ground kind of thing thing.

[C]

And I think like, what does a 296 start at base? Four fours.

[B]

Yeah, they're, they're, they're more expensive and

[C]

they're sharper, but that's the thing.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Yes, it's more expensive, but that is not, it's not the 296 track version. Right?

[B]

No, it's a regular one.

[C]

It's a regular one, but I think it's got a more exciting sound by a huge margin still. It's also a small V6. Transmission's fantastic. Steering is sharper. It's just got like, you get more sound in the car. I just think it's a better, more exciting thing. And it's not even yet the 296Cs right now.

[B]

If, yeah, if you're talking about the, the special or, or whatever they're calling.

[C]

Yeah. I mean any of the Pista models, like those were all turned up a notch. This, this is trying to be that, but it doesn't. It can't even compete with the one that is the entry level car.

[B]

Yeah. Which is like a shame because I actually like the car. Like, I think it's very pretty. I Think it looks, I think at this price point and in this category looks really do matter. And I think it's prettier than anything Ferrari is making right now. I think the regular, the regular one is this one. It might jump the shark a little bit and maybe like I haven't tried to build one. Maybe you could get one with a matching roof or like you could maybe like let's call it E ray it up a little bit where you, where you. You know what I mean? You know what I'm talking about. Where you like paint match the stuff I do, right?

[C]

Yeah. Maseri, like what a comparison. Like if you could do make this a little more Corvette, you know, that would really help the aesthetics.

[B]

And also, you know, I've been spending hours correct crapping on these seats and they are actually optional. So you can, you can get. Oh habibi, you can get the GT2 Stradale with the regular seats, which actually might be the move. I mean it would be the move because Nothing about its GT2 Stradaleness makes it worse of a car every day. But the seats, that's true.

[C]

The ride is still pretty good.

[B]

Yeah. Like the marketing says the, the press release I read for this, it's like barely street legal track car like bro, horseshit.

[A]

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[B]

I have been dailying this thing around LA for six days. Like it's fine other than climbing in and out of it with these seats out of that. You could absolutely daily this car. So I don't know, I'm laughing at the, you know, thing, the software, simple, you know, you don't have to, you're not gonna get lost in it, which is good. And I haven't had anything about it fail or, or freeze. But it does take a minute to boot up. You know, when you turn it on and get that, that disclaimer and that accept button doesn't do anything for 30, 45 seconds. That's a, that's a little slow to boot up. And then also it makes a couple of beeps and boops that I, I that are not accompanied with any visual indicator of any kind. And I cannot figure out what they mean. No clue what they mean. And, and I've turned off all of the eight ass beeps and boops so it's not that they happen at random times. And there's two different chimes I've heard. Couldn't tell you what they do. No clue.

[C]

I heard one. Yeah, same. I was in the car today and it did a little bing and we looked around and we looked at the gauges and there was no, there was no visual.

[B]

Nothing.

[C]

Nothing.

[B]

Usually the chime is a. Your parking brake's on or so you

[C]

know something because there's the horn one, there's a little Italian horn, but that's like the forward collision one. Right. And it does it. If you're, if you don't have the blinker on to change lanes and you move lanes, it kind of alerts you. But that one we identified. But yeah, there's a lot of other

[B]

little Bing bongs boxed in by this.

[C]

Got no cup holder.

[B]

Also no cup holders is tough. I'm sorry to say. Even in my, even in my quote track day car. I would like a cup holder. I do because I'm having a coffee on the way to the track.

[C]

Right. How was transmission like on the track? Yeah. Or you did a lot more laps than I was allowed to do.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So how was that upshift, downshift speed?

[B]

It's fine. It's effectively the same as it is in the Corvette. It's the same gearbox, Tremec dct and you know in my opinion, that gearbox does what it's told. The speed of the shifts and the response time from paddle to gear change is well within my tolerance of, of not criticizing. It was fine. If you bang the red line, it stays there. It's got. Actually, I think this, this may be the best implementation of shift lights on the steering wheel I've seen. They're hidden, they're totally hidden in this carbon fiber top of the steering wheel. But they're just. And they come, they're really nice. That's dope. Because they're just. It's not this big. It's not like a screen in there.

[C]

Right. Well, I mean, Ferrari has that too. Yeah. But you can. Some used to be able to see the scene where they put the light in the wheel. Yeah, that's gone now.

[B]

Now you can't see. You can't see or feel anything. So that's great.

[A]

Yeah, no, there's like, there's a good

[B]

bit about this car to like. There really is. It's just that at this price point, you gotta like, you gotta wow the out of me, you know, and at at least a couple, couple of boxes, if there's 10 categories and you're charging 300 gram, you need three or four of those categories to be 10 out of 10, you know what I mean? And the rest need to be like sevens. Like you can't, you can't have a car that's a bunch of eights or a bunch of sevens and then charge that kind of money for it.

[C]

Well, because the competition.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

From McLaren, Porsche, like a Corvette, I mean, they're charging either the same money or less.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And they're hitting those markers of like the transmission is perfect, the braking response is what you expect and want. You know, getting in and out of all those cars is easier.

[B]

Yeah. Well, without the roof, when you have butterfly doors and no roof cutouts and then carbon buckets, you, you have a sort of worst case scenario of having to crunch me and Zach look like some broken, broken ass people getting out

[C]

of this car, pulled ourselves in here.

[B]

Oh, it's not great. It's not as bad as that Lotus last week, but it's close.

[C]

Okay. Yeah, that was it. That was a smaller car. Much tough.

[B]

Yeah. So it's who, you know, who is this car for? I mean, I hate to say it because not a good reason, but it's really like someone who is unsatisfied with the other mainstream offerings and just sort of wants to be different.

[C]

If you don't want to wait in line at Ferrari and buy. If you don't want to buy their SUVs before you can get something, Aati

[B]

will happily sell you.

[C]

They'll happily sell you this. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. So. And I think if you, you know, if you, if you're fortunate enough to be in the kind of social circles where other, a lot of other people have GT3s or a lot of other people have Lambos and you know, in the kind of circles where people drive this stuff, like that's possible.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

There is something to be said for being different.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

You know, is this, this, this is different. You're going to be the only guy at the track day who's got one. You're going to be the only guy at the cars of coffee who's got one. Maserati does mean something. The name, it's a carbon top car. I mean, it's, it's very much a supercar. And if you're not gonna be pushing it beyond the limits, you know, constantly, and you really are honest with yourself, you be. You're really just gonna be driving it around, then it's cool.

[C]

I mean, it definitely look, it looks the part.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And then if it starts to play the part, you know, maybe its accent falls apart, you know, here and there, like throughout the scene because it's not perfect on the racetrack. You did some six slides though, speaking of going over the limit. So was it talkative? Did you know that was about to happen?

[B]

It's not very talkative. On the entry, the steering feel does not have much. The steering does not have much feel. Having said that, the chassis itself is extremely balanced. And so once you get it loose, it's very easy to hold the angle and adjust the angle with the throttle.

[C]

Nice.

[B]

And it is well behaved on the unwind for the most part. But on the entry it's not it. You can't really pendulum it because it is very mid engine. It's not a rear super rear biased. And the steering isn't telling you what's going on. Like a McLaren, you can, you can slide it on the entry because your steering is so great that this. You kind of can't. But it does hold some decent slides on going on the exit. Once you got it crossed up, it's very easy to hold it there.

[C]

It appeared so, yeah. There was some good tire smoke.

[B]

Do these cup twos get smoky?

[C]

Yes. Cool. Several times.

[B]

Those are all second gear slides. They were not coming onto the front straight. I banged the rev limiter in second. The burnout on the launch, I did into three gears.

[C]

Whoa.

[B]

That was a three.

[C]

First one. The first one you did late. Nice 11.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And I mean these tires don't smoke up like, I don't know, third gear Hellcat. Like it's not billowing out, but it is, it is visible wisps.

[B]

It is, it was.

[C]

It.

[B]

I mean anything is fun to slide. I will say that when you are, when you are sliding it, it doesn't have any terrible habits. You just hold, hold your throttle position and gently wind and unwind the wheel and it will, it'll stay balanced, which is very nice now for me.

[C]

Like Maserati, I, I love to love them and I want to love them. And we drove that last Gran Turismo and I was really impressed with it as like an 8/10.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Long distance and then take a canyon between highways.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Totally capable, fun. Felt really balanced even like everything about it. I was really surprised. Pleasantly surprised. Surprised despite how similar it was in appearance to the old one.

[B]

And then when we had it on the track for performance car of the year, when you really tried to drive it past the limit of grip, it was very unhappy. Gotcha. That was all wheel drive also. So.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Part of that is why. But, but it was, it was not happy to be doing that stuff. Same as the Mercedes SLS and GTs. Now the AMG GTS, they're fabulous within the Lev. Within grip, they're awesome. They're fast, very competent, comfortable, great in the canyons. But if you start to want to do big slides, they, they get very confused and so, but that's, that's a very small number of people that are doing that.

[C]

Oh, definitely. I just, I just think Maserati, like they've made such nice art and it's pretty good at looking good, going pretty fast, but yeah, not the fastest. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So this seems like an example and I'm not trying to disrespect the company constantly. If it sounds like it, if they try to turn that volume knob from 8 to 10 door to 11, I don't know. If they don't have the development, they don't have the budget for it. I don't know what happens. It's just like they can't. Or maybe it's just the car, you know, the bones are not there to begin with. Like it's a fantastic GT car, but you can't make it a track car.

[B]

Yeah. I mean, you know, car and driver weighed the regular MC20 and even though it was a carbon tub without any hybrid stuff in it or anything. It was like 3,700 like high 37s. So they, you know, if, if they've shaved 135 pounds out of this, this is still over 3,600 pounds with a carbon tub and no hybrids. Like that's a lot that's heavy. Like so it's, it. Even though it's carbon, it's not as efficient of a, of a chassis or setup as it could be.

[C]

Kind of wonder where the weight comes from because it's. We got no cup holders, we got a lot of visible carbon. It's. And I'm not trying to be just like it's a pretty spartan car.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But I don't know, maybe the doors are made of steel or something.

[B]

Yeah, I mean it's, it's, it's heavier than a lot of the cars that it is competing against. So. And the ones that where the weight is the same, they've got hybrid systems in them and, and the hybrid systems are delivering that sort of special sauce that make the cars feel just like insanely fast and responsive. You know, on the other hand, like there's people that absolutely do not want to buy a hybrid car. They're not buying a 296, they're not going to do an Artura. They're not doing Lambos. They do not want the hybrid. So like you know, this is like fairly traditional setup. It's got an internal combustion engine and a, you know, and a light ish weight body. So for most people and truly for most people this would be a very, very fast car.

[C]

Yeah, very true.

[B]

We're, we're in pretty rarefied air in terms of being able to critique this thing and go well it's, it's 8, 10. The vast majority. I scared the out of Hannah on the 90 the other day.

[C]

Nice.

[B]

I mean it didn't, it and it didn't take much, you know.

[C]

Yeah, it's fast. I mean you get into it and that boost kicks and it really goes. Yeah, we're just, we're just, we're nitpicking cuz we can compare it to its competition.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Like that's what you have to do. I, but I still think that the road car and especially like the Spider is one of the most beautiful and mid engine cars made like pretty much of any era. I just think it's a fantastic shape, great thing to drive around, great thing to park, has tons of presence fast enough. I wish it sounded like a little more but maybe there's aftermarket exhaust from somebody. Although it is a, a small V6, so you got to be careful with that.

[B]

Limited options there. You could make it sound terrible accidentally.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

You know what surprised me is in my head I went, oh, you just buy, just buy the, the regular one, like used for half price. According to Bat. You know, they, they have depreciated more than some other supercars, but not as much as you think.

[C]

Oh.

[B]

If you, if you want like a low mile one, you're looking at 200 still. Wow. Like, the cheapest one that sold was 155 and it was an early coupe with like 18, 000 miles on it. Not that 18, 000 is, is all that many, but you know that that was the cheapest one. So they haven't depreciated in the first couple years quite as fast as I thought they would. So, so that's, I mean, that's good news, I guess, if you own one. Bad news if you expected to buy one at half price so fast, you know.

[C]

Yeah, I thought they were going to drop faster than that, to be honest.

[B]

Yeah, me too. Me too. So that's the, the GT GT2 Stradale. There will be a video up some track driving, some smoky slides and things like that. That'll be up, I don't know, in a couple of weeks because we gotta edit that. So on the way up to the track Zach and I were talking about, he went. He went to a Magic the Gathering tournament.

[C]

I did.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

I didn't go to a tournament.

[B]

It wasn't a tournament.

[C]

No, it was like a house party that had four or five tables also set up for funsies.

[B]

Oh, okay.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

So. So imagine the Gathering tournament. And, and you know, that's, that's fairly dorky. No, I'm not hating. I used to play Magic the Gathering, but that is fairly dorky. But yesterday I went to the California pen show at the Torrance Marriott, which was every bit as dorky as I hoped it could be. By the way, when I told our friends Jen and our friend Sarah about this, they were both like in. They couldn't wait. Oh, everybody.

[C]

I was about to ask what the demographic of men and women was at the pen show because I was curious if matches the other party I went to, it was like 50.

[B]

50. Okay. No, it was. This was, this was more women than you would have thought. Like, this wasn't the pension at. Because also it's like, it's like, you know, fountain pens, but also like calligraphy and artistry pens. And then there's the whole sub Genre of, like, the Japanese pens, which are just a different, like, style of pen, like the kind of stuff you would see at, like, Muji, you know. Okay, so there's like, those cheap pens, which could be anywhere from $2 to 10 or $15. And those are a lot of your Japanese pens and stuff like that. And then you have. Yeah.

[C]

What was the square footage of this convention?

[B]

Oh, more than you would think. I would say there were probably dozens

[C]

or hundreds of booths. Square feet.

[B]

Of square feet. Oh, no, dude. There was probably 10,000 square feet. Wow. It was a big ballroom and then a smaller ballroom at the Torrance Marriott.

[C]

Got it. Okay.

[B]

There was probably like 100 to 120 vendors of pens, papers, journals, things like that.

[C]

What was the most expensive pen there that, you know about?

[B]

The most expensive pen I saw was the, like, a hundred thousand dollars. And it was literally like gold and rubies. I mean, it was. It was jewelry. It was a pen. It was like a.

[C]

It was like. It was like a new pen. Or was it. Was it from 400 years ago?

[B]

No, it was new. But it was. It was new, but it was done

[C]

by, like, Jacob the Scribbler. Jacob the jeweler? Yeah.

[B]

No, like, like, yes, it was gold. It was like a scepter that happened to write.

[C]

Take a scepter, shrink it. It was big and it was thick,

[B]

and it was covered in jewels.

[C]

Okay. All right. Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

But that was, like. That was, like, pretty unique. There was only one or two vendors that were selling pens that were, like, actual jewelry and covered in, like, diamonds and everything else ran the gamut from vintage pens, you know, real estate, estate sale, you know, type vintage pens to new pen manufacturers had their. Had stuff to sell and like, independent art. Like, there's like, small independent pen companies like, that'll. That'll make pens out of, like, a resin or wood or, you know, different interesting materials and stuff.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

And so the dorkiest people were the. Were the. The vintage pen people. These are like. These are the nerdiest people I've ever seen in my life. Talking about, you know, the. The gold nibs from the 40s versus, you know, all this. And they've got just a crazy variety of stuff that is. It's different, but it, like, looks mostly, you know, it looks mostly the same. Like, how many black and gold pens can there be? You know what I mean?

[C]

Like, but they are depends. But we are to cars, like, you know, for sure. So they could talk about the. Whatever the pen version is of, like, the brake doesn't engage. Early enough when it travel for sure.

[B]

But it's. It's. With a car. Well, I'll tell you, with a pen, it's closer to a car than like a watch, because you don't, like, you feel how a watch fits on your wrist, but you don't feel the machinery in there moving, you know, you don't use it. Yeah. Whereas how a pen physically meets the paper can feel a little different, you know, and. And the ink can flow different depending on. If you're talking fountain pens, like the actual nib or is it a gel or a rollerball or, you know, whatever. So. So. So, like, I like these fountain pens now because I don't have to press down. I just glide it on the page. I don't have to, like, grip it and press it in. And I really like that I can have such a loose. So, you know, we've. We've talked about it before, but it's always been like. I didn't want to just, like, go hard into this stupid collecting stuff, but I'd, like, lose the pen or something. So I started with the. The pack of six pilot disposable fountain pens. I said, all right, if I get through these, I'll buy a $25, right? So I got a $25 pen. I liked it. I had it for like a year. And then. And now I got like, a. The metal version of that one, which is like a 50 pen. The Lamy Safari. So I've had that for about a year. Haven't lost it. Gone through a couple of cartridges. So is this. Is someone just spraying their windshield? Yeah. And so I was like, all right, the pen show. You know, if I could, maybe I'll now bump up to something that's like a hundred bucks.

[C]

All right.

[B]

You know, not. But what I found out is, like, watches, there's a really big gap in between. Between 50 and about 275, 300. There's almost nothing that's good in between that. Wow. Like, for 50, you can get a basic pen with a decent nib that will just be one color of something and will just kind of look all right. It won't look like anything. It'll just be a pen. But if you want something that looks cool, whether it's made of resin or wood or metal or like, whatever, you're probably spending 250 to 300. And I was very shocked at the number of people that were there, at the number of pens that were in the thousands. There were in the four figures between 1,000 and 10,000. There's a lot of pension where I picked it up, and I went, oh, that's a very nice pen. I'd like, I'd like to. How much is that? $4,500.

[A]

Whoa.

[C]

And what. So what makes the cost that high? Is it the material it's made of?

[B]

It'll be six. It'll, It'll be like. It'll be made of some really nice material. It'll be made by hand. It'll be. It won't just be a resin mold. They'll. They'll have made a hundred resin molds and chosen the very best one. You know, it's. It's the little things that make. You know, why, why is. Why is a think. Think 911 Carrera T vs GT3 touring from 50ft away? Why is one of these twice the price of the other? It's all, it's all those things or a watch.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Why isn't Rolex five times the price of a notice canyon?

[A]

Well, you need it.

[B]

You need to be up close and see small differences. So, But, But I, I, I, I was like, all right, so I. If I'm gonna actually spend any money at this place, you know, I have to up my budget a little bit. But also, there was so many vendors that unless I saw something that really spoke to me, I wasn't. I didn't feel forced. So I, I ended up buying two pens, and I will show them to you. I have them in my pocket.

[C]

Pocket. Oh.

[B]

I took them out of the man bag before I put them in my pocket. So. Okay. Pen number one.

[C]

Wow. It's like in a cigar case.

[B]

It's in a cigar case. It's from. From a small company in Philadelphia. And what's hilarious is I forget the name of the company. It's just in a. It's just a cardboard tube. So this is an anodized aluminum that's been, like, color treated in sort of a fun way.

[C]

This is Sean. Sean Osen.

[B]

Sean Osen. Okay, sure. And you unscrew it to take the, to take the cap off. But I like that it's metal, and I like the color profile. And this one has an extra fine nib on it, which is the very narrowest one, so that when I write in my notebook, it won't bleed through.

[C]

Got it?

[B]

Yeah. So I haven't. I like this pen. This pen was. Was 200.

[C]

You could change the cartridges, right?

[B]

Yeah. Different colors. This one has cartridges, but it also has. There's a thing. There's a thing. It's called like an adapter or a converter. It's called a converter, and you can use it as a. The pen that sucks the ink up the nib. Or you can just use interchangeable cartridges. I like interchangeable.

[C]

So for people listening, it's like two different colors of gray, kind of like splotchy paint with then yellow accents that crisscross on it. Sort of like.

[B]

It's like. Like Eddie Van Halen's guitar.

[C]

Yeah. Pattern by the Lotus Rich. Like the Lotus Rich. Hold it up to the camera. And then the. The nib has like some. What's it called? Engraving on it.

[B]

Yeah, well, the engraving says who made it and what kind of nib it is. So. And then, by the way, the nibs, they can be made of different stuff. So this company offered steel and titanium nibs. The titanium nib was a 200 premium. Wow. So this same pen with the titanium nib was 400.

[C]

Right.

[B]

So I did not. I elected to not the st. Because

[C]

then it weighs just a little bit less.

[B]

I just. I wrote with both nibs and. And I. There was not a huge difference. Now there are some pens that use a gold nib, and I really do like gold nibs. And they are very expensive. They're like 400. Wow. So. So that's pen number one. This is the other one. And this one is a little more expensive.

[C]

All right. And then a felt case. The fit.

[B]

I put it in the case.

[C]

Okay. It's got like a bronze clip.

[B]

Well, when you take it out, you'll know the whole. Whoa. So this pen is made of. It's. It's steampunk.

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

This is made of resin.

[C]

Up your alley.

[B]

But on the inside of the resin, it has a knocked tin surfacing with. Interspersed with watch gears. Yeah. So it's this total steampunk vibe that I really like. It's like you're looking at some really old school machinery that's happening in there.

[C]

Well, it looks like it's. It looks like there's a bunch of little squares riveted together to make the body of, you know, like a torpedo.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

That you made yourself. And then it's got all the little gears kind of sprinkled about. Yeah, that's cool.

[B]

So this company had. This was called believe. It's called Eagle Pen company. And they had some other stuff, but was dope too. They had. They had a couple of pens that were made of fully disassembled watches, including the dial. But this. This steampunky guy really spoke to me So I think this one, this one was a little more expensive. This one was 325, but it does have a slightly higher end dib on it. And I, I think they're both really cool, so hopefully I won't lose them.

[C]

I was looking at, I thought the handle length was different.

[B]

They're slightly different.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, and, and these are, you know, I'm not going to travel with them. I have my travel fountain pens. The other pen, my 50 pen, that's now my travel fountain pad.

[C]

Right.

[B]

So these can live on my desk.

[C]

Yeah. That's cool.

[B]

This is a very stupid hobby. I mean, it really is, but, like,

[C]

well, they kind of all are, like, all our hobbies are pretty stupid. Stupid.

[B]

My back. Oh, dude. I've hit the hourly limit of these.

[C]

These are so dumb.

[B]

Where's my little felt case there?

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

So, I mean, I, I, at least I did it, right. I didn't just start by from going from nothing to going from.

[C]

You did that thing like a parent. Like, you started with a goldfish because you wanted a dog. You know, if you take care of this.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

You know, prove that you're really into having a pet. And you did that. That's very good.

[B]

I, I feel like I'm about at my le because the idea of spending over a thousand dollars on a pen, to me is, like, a little sickening. You know, even though I look, I, I, Other people could go, but you spent how much on a blank. So, like, I get it. I'm not throwing stones. But it would just, you know, there's steps with watches too. Right. Like, you got it. There's jumps in quality. Right. But with a pen, once you get to something that feels nice in your hand and has a cool look and a gold nib, you're at the end of the functionality. And then it's like jewels and shit.

[C]

Well, but then you get it. I think the difference is the watch you wear in public.

[B]

Right.

[C]

Other people see it. Other watch people see it. Not, not necessarily that you want to show off, but other people recognize what you've purchased and might be into it. Also, the pen, if you mostly use it at your desk, no one sees it very much for you. So that slippery slope of now I'm getting past the gold nib, and I'm just collecting to collect. Like, yeah, that's what pulls people in. And they just. It's like people that have 50 different knives. Right. It's all the same. And I think dudes, dudes love to collect stuff. We get into A hobby. And we get really like into the minutia. We get a bunch of the things and then we move to the next one and whatever, we all do it.

[B]

If I, I can imagine like if I was like a lawyer in court, you know, and my pen was like part of my courtroom wardrobe, you know, match it to my tie or whatever.

[C]

You do that.

[B]

That's a. That's a thing, you know, I think.

[C]

But I think it's cool because it's something that, that makes you happy to use even if no one sees it. Yeah, yeah. Dance like no one's watching.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, I do. That's why I really liked this. The metal one was about supporting a small business from Philly and the other one was like, I, I like. I'll leave that sitting on my desk and I will enjoy seeing it there every day. But if you've never written with a fountain pen, I really do like that. You just don't have to apply any pressure to the page. That's really nice. My hands, if I, if I write a lot, feel better afterwards.

[C]

Yeah. Cuz they're not pushing down using all those muscles.

[B]

Do you want. Were you looking at questions?

[C]

I'm trying to pull it up. Yeah.

[B]

Did I have. I did have something else in my notebook that I wanted to discuss on this program. And let's see if I can remember it. What does that say?

[C]

This thing sounds terrible right now. It's got like cylinder.

[B]

Oh yeah. When you. And you're an eighth gear. It was real clattery. I can't. So what is. Is pre check open or closed right now?

[C]

What?

[B]

Did you hear about this?

[C]

No.

[B]

I hope this doesn't age poorly in the show, but yesterday they announced or two days ago that because of the DHS shutdown that they were closing pre check in Global Entry. And then there was a huge break backlash. Obviously they said. No, no, not, not precheck. Just Global Entry.

[C]

I don't know.

[B]

Yeah, I don't know either.

[C]

Oh, right. Because the shut down. They shut down DHS specifically.

[B]

I don't know, Ma. And my guess is they're not shutting down like the bad things like ICE raids. They're shutting down the things that people find convenient and will compromise in order to have them reopened. Because they don't want to be inconvenienced.

[C]

Yeah. Because like that's the political strategy. I think the Democrats right now are initiated the shutdown because of ice and other stuff.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But they will, you know, the other party will try to make them look as bad as Possible vice versa.

[B]

But I've got four flights in the next week, including an international.

[C]

Oh, that's right.

[B]

I'm going. I'm coming back from Ice Race and I'm going to Spain. Straight turnaround to Spain.

[C]

I mean, if it's any reassurance, the last time I flew in from a different country, I was. I landed. I went, oh, I still haven't done the Global entry thing. And then I walked up and they had the new eye scanners and it was faster than the global entry line. Like, okay, I went through so quickly at lax, so.

[B]

All right, well, should we get to the people?

[C]

Yeah. All right.

[B]

Patreon.com/the Smoking Tire podcast. If you want to ask questions for the show, partake in the show when it is live, which is most of the time when we're not in the car. And of course, get ad free experience. Get extra show, get the show early. Get exclusive access to collabs. Oh, Zach and I have a new collab in the works that is going to be very fun with Nick.

[C]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Yes.

[B]

If that's gonna be the. And that's gonna be something that people did not see coming, it'll be a little different.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

So that'll be really cool. In time for the summer and. Yeah.

[C]

All right. Yamahabibi says, what are our favorite Subarus we've driven and why?

[B]

It pretty much starts and ends with the Rsti Swaps.

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

Yeah. I mean, that's really it. There's JDMST. I've never driven a real 22B, but the JDM 2 liter STI engine I like better than the US 2.5. And a 2.5 RS with a STI powertrain is about as good as it gets in the States, you know?

[C]

Yeah. Small, light, fast. F. Yeah.

[B]

I drove that Japanese legacy that had the sequential turbos. Remember in Connecticut we did that for two.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

And that was neat and different and weird. If you want it to be neat and different and weird, but that's about it. Wow. My back is hurting right now from this. God, what if I.

[C]

People listening.

[B]

The.

[C]

My back is not the only part of my back that's contacting the seat is from about the middle of my lats, about 4 inches down in my ribs. That's it. Nothing above, nothing below. No lumbar. Like, no lower part of my back is touching a seat right now. It is like. It's like your back is leaning against two. I don't know, like half cut watermelons. It's weird. Yeah. Terrible. Peaches for free says I got a. I received an IWC Volvo Ocean Race edition for a birthday.

[B]

Wow.

[C]

And I don't know anything about watches. Does this take wear and tear?

[B]

Well, yes. IWC's are very tough watches. They. You could beat the out of them. You know, don't get it wet unless you are sure the crown is screwed down so you don't get water in there. But yes, all IWCs are tough watches particularly. What which one they get? Ocean Racing something Volvo Ocean Race edition. I mean that's going to be a tough watch, right? Ocean Race, that's a. That's a pretty elemental thing.

[C]

Sturdy.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Deuce Alpha Omers. I think it's two. Two Alpha Homies do Alpha Omers says your Manx gets you part next to bajillionaire cars. True. What would we buy to do a vintage rally like the Copper State 1000? So if we had 50 grand to spend on a pre1974 car somebody, and

[B]

I want to say it was Colin Comer at Hagerty wrote a great article covering that exact thing. What is the cheapest way I can get into a prestigious vintage rally? And prestigious vintage rallies prioritize story and heritage and historical significance over make model. Right. So you shouldn't try and get a shitty Porsche. You should try and get some fucking terrible car that ran in le Mans in 1973.

[C]

The thing that was like an F card class. Yeah.

[B]

Like. Like I think in the article there was like some Triumphs that were like junk that ran in. In there like Alencia Fulvia or something like weird two box stuff that, that there were strange factory teams for, you know, weird Fiats and stuff. Look up Colin Comer's article. But like what would I, what would we buy? Like I would be looking for, for something like that. You know maybe there's a. Maybe there's like a Corvette somewhere that was. That was like an SCCA race car or something.

[C]

That would be rad if I could, you know like a Triumph. The little Spitfires are very cool. May. I don't know. GG350 is lame but I would still want. That's what I would want to drive is something loud and kind of fast from period.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But if I need to apply and get something weird and obscure like a Bug eye Sprite race car from back in the day. Yeah, that. That would be exciting and weird. What do we think about ducktail spoilers on 997.2s? I like them.

[B]

I'm. I'm Pro. I think they're pro the existence. I like, I like when you balance it out with the GT3 chin splitter though. I don't like when you, when you do the ducktail but leave the bass.

[C]

Oh yeah, you gotta balance. Yeah, you need that. Michael, very simply named Michael says, why does Buick still exist in GM's lineup? Shouldn't it have gone the way of Pontiac, Saturn and Oldsmobile?

[B]

I mean, for a while the answer to that question was China. But I, I don't think they're buying any Buicks in China anymore. I think they're buying by these over there now.

[C]

I don't know. I would have to look up their annual sales here and globally. I feel like they sell a lot of rental cars. I do see their crossovers around a fair bit, but I don't know if that's enough to sustain them for the next 10 years. I am also surprised they still exist.

[B]

I am too. I, I don't know. I mean what it would, what it would take for me to buy a Buick today, I'm not really sure, but I've never seen it. I mean, I think Buick, if gm, you know, performance really wanted to try and do something interesting. I think a Buick grand national that was like an electric, electric drag car could be cool. Like if they got the design right and they made it, you know, the Cadillac IQ motors or whatever in there, like that could be cool.

[C]

Yeah. I mean they need something like that to rejuvenate.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

You know, the interest of anyone under 60 years old. Yeah. So I don't know. But I don't know if that would then if they have the money to do that to even try. Ali Daneshavar Daneshvar says, do we think, Ben, do we think Mercedes, BMW and Audi should keep their light, high performance trims like the S, S3, S4, the 43 and 53AMGs and the blah, blah BMWs. Given it seems like BMW has phased those out on the 5 and the 7 series. I mean, I think, yes, like the S3 is a good car and they sell a lot of them.

[B]

They didn't phase them out, they made them electric. Now with BMW it's the M over the I i5, M60 or whatever. So they refocused those. And by the way, those, the ones I've driven, the BMWs are not very good.

[C]

I think, I think the 53AMG is a good car. I think the engine works great. Smooth, fast, powerful. I think it's a great midpoint and the performance is enough where I Think it justifies that name being on there? That wasn't the case always. Especially like, I don't know, 15 years ago when they were just slapping those into the badges on everything.

[B]

I don't, I don't at all hate, you know, M performance and then M or the. The S and then rs. Like, that's fine. What I really don't love is when they do the. The S line, which is where you basically get the wheels and the bumpers, but with the base engine.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

That I, I don't love. I'm not like, offended by it, but it seems like you're cashing in the equity you built by building fast cars.

[C]

Yeah. You're a spectator at a football game wearing a jersey. Yeah. You're like, oh, I'm. I'm also an S. Audi. Like, no, you're not. You don't have any of the horsepower power. We actually talked about that already.

[B]

Of course we did.

[C]

Your poorest patron says, what is our take on the current Rolex ad environment and where would we buy on the gray market?

[B]

Well, I have heard that it is easier to buy some watches now that, you know, some of that hype balloon burst, you know, people that, that thought that watches were an investment grade thing that would just keep going up. I think they've figured out that that's not the case entirely. So there is stuff you can get. You know, you still have to do the, the. I mean, you still got to jump through the hoops. And my advice, if you want to buy a Rolex from an authorized dealer, brand new, has always been the same. Pick an occasion that's like a thing that's happening in your life and you want to get the watch for that occasion. Go in there, tell them about the occasion, tell them why you want to match that watch, whatever, and then immediately start asking, could I get this watch in time for this occasion that's a few months down the road? Immediately start asking about getting the watch engraved. Because if you're going to get the watch engraved, you're not going to flip it. Nobody engraves a watch to flip it. So in my opinion and experience, that's the best way to project to these folks that you're not trying to make money on a flip. Oh, well, it's bottomed out, right? Yeah, we hit the bump right there and it takes all the damper out of it and it's actually possible to bottom it out. Wow. Oh, my back, dude. Oh, this sucks. Okay, so at gray market, I mean, you know, Bob's Crown and Kids caliber European watch, you know, ebay with their authentication program. But yeah, I think, I think unless you want a white dial Daytona or something or a Pepsi gmt, I think you could sell it to an ad and I think you would get the hookup.

[C]

All right, listen. And sometimes watch. It says, how much more special does a C8Z06 feel compared to the Stingray? A lot. Does it feel more special when you're not in the canyons?

[B]

Yes. The engine, the powertrain feels like a Ferrari powertrain, not like a truck powertrain.

[C]

Every time you start it, every time you accelerate, decelerate, downshift, it will not sound like a Camaro.

[B]

Correct.

[C]

A truck, a Corvette. Like, it'll just sound so special.

[B]

Yeah, it's that the Z06 sounds and revs and feels and gives the vibes that are most commonly associated with the best Ferraris. Not. Not Chevy's.

[C]

It kills me not to notice. Says with the EPA no longer regulating tailpipe emissions and tax credits for EVs gone. Do we think the market for EVs will dry up in the United States States?

[B]

Not entirely, but you know, it'll shrink.

[C]

Yeah, but I think a lot of people that, I mean like you're an example that have driven evs go, well, I'm never going back my daily. It's just there's too many benefits. But they've taken a bunch of money out of it, so. Or sorry, a bunch of the financial incentives. And that will definitely shrink the market. Cover that. See, I blow horns. Have we driven high downforce cars where you have to ease off the brake pedal before braking from high speed as the downforce bleeds off, or do we just let ABS sort it out? So if you're driving high downforce. Yeah, I guess when you go to the brakes, do you release gas? Let D cell kind of work its magic then break, or do you still go directly from gas to break? So go. I have to break.

[B]

I've never driven. I mean I've driven a couple of slow prototype cars, you know, like sub 2000 pound but like 200 horsepower cars where you do have downforce, but it's not like Le Mans grade downforce. And then I just drove the. I spent the day with the Mustang GT3 which does have downforce. And no, I've, I've not done the thing that is described. There I go, I'm on my. I'm left foot braking and I'm going from full gas to full brake. Pretty, pretty hard.

[C]

I think something that they bring up though is if you're driving a really high speed, if you're up at 160, 70, 89 or above, you can't just come off the brakes or, sorry, come off gas and go right to brakes. If you're doing like a ton top speed event, you kind of want to like ease onto it.

[B]

If you're going 200 miles. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you're going 200 miles an hour, you need to like come off the gas, let the car settle, then hit the brakes, right? Yeah, yeah. You can't just go gas, brake most of the time. If you really do have a ton of downforce, you might be more likely to like when it's sketchy to do that is in a car like a McLaren 570 or the early Koenigsegg, when you have no rear wing and you transfer that weight forward without a stabilizing element in the back. And the back wiggles all around.

[C]

Right.

[B]

That's like the, the Singer V Max did that too.

[C]

Audi tt.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

You know the back end getting light. Yeah. Very dangerous at high speed.

[B]

So I, I think if you have a balanced downforce package, you should be able to go from gas to break as fast as one can. You know, unless you're talking about like literal land speed cars or something.

[C]

Temple of the Unimog with many cars coming back as flops. Parentheses, like the Prelude, the Eclipse Cross Blazer ev. What are some name plates that were resurrect, resurrected and were better than the original? That's tough because I feel like a lot of the cars that kept getting better, they, they kept around.

[B]

That's a good point. They just stuck around. They didn't kill them and then bring them back.

[C]

Like I feel like the 6th gen Camaro is the best Camaro, but they never, they never, you know, they didn't sun, they didn't put it to bed for 10 years. You know, the things go to bed for two years while they make the new one and then they bring out the next generation.

[B]

Oh, that's so interesting. But if they brought back a name from the Bronco.

[C]

Oh yeah.

[B]

Bronco is the, is the obvious one

[C]

the best answer that was gone.

[B]

You could say Toyota FJ maybe. How about Corvette Stingray?

[C]

Just bringing back the name.

[B]

The name Stingray. Yeah. How about have any of the, oh, Aston bringing back the Vanquish.

[C]

Oh, that was a good one.

[B]

The new Vanquish is epic.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

What other. Who else has got. Toyota hasn't brought back any dead names.

[C]

Well, the Supra took a long break The Supra.

[B]

Oh, that's an interesting one.

[C]

That car got better in. Yeah, the, the new one is better than I think the Mark IV Mark 4 is the legend. Yeah, you could still get it but now you can get a ton of power out of the B58 and it also handles way better. Yeah, so that's actually a better driver's car. It just doesn't have all the provenance.

[B]

All right, good question.

[C]

That's a good question.

[B]

Yeah. 15 minutes.

[C]

All right, send. Prelude says you're very vocal about being against ADAS but they can't help but think but for 95% of regular drivers it probably helps prevent fender benders in small accidents. Do we think it is beneficial for the average non enthusiastic driver? I mean I think it definitely is.

[B]

Yes I do but I think if you're an enthusiast attentive driver you need to be able to fully disable it and it needs to stay in the settings where you left it. Like my problem with adas isn't that it exists, it's that it's when it can't be disabled fully or when it, if, when it you have to go through this process every time you start the car and that process is very obtuse and a waste of time and a waste of energy and it's in menus and particularly in a luxury car. It's not a luxurious experience. But yeah, I'm not against the my I, I, I actually, I mean rather than having a quote self driving car where you zone out and take a nap, I mean I think we should have cars that you drive yourself but are basically uncrashable and adas is what's on the way to that. But some of the systems suck and if you can't turn them off every time and you want them off like that sticks.

[C]

Steven J24K has a 2020 992.1 Carrera S but it's PDK. Enjoy it. But thinking about swapping it out for a 911 with a manual. Maybe a cab. Something more fun, more visceral. Under 150 grand. What, what should they do? What should they buy?

[B]

Spider.

[C]

Yeah if you want convertible, manual. Fun.

[B]

I'd probably just get a Spider. Yeah but if you want a cab like a 911 cab, dude, a Carrera T cab with a stick would be fire. That's a lovely car.

[C]

It's true.

[B]

The new one with the six speed, I, you're just maybe getting in under 150 for one of those. But if you can. If you can swing a Carrera T cab light on the options that would be fabulous. Wow.

[C]

Quadrifolio face says they bought a brand new Maserati Grecale trofeo for a third off. MSRP.

[B]

Nice.

[C]

Would we buy an MC20 for a similar discount?

[B]

A third off sir, that would be 110,000 000 off. So I would. So this. This would be then 2220 instead of 330.

[C]

I still wouldn't buy this car but I would buy the regular MC20 for a third off. I would second.

[B]

Yeah I would too. Yeah.

[C]

I love vag VAGOM or VCOM. VCOM 2027 purchase. They want to spend 40 grand. Rear wheel drive manual, no track use. Just a fun thing.

[B]

I'm sorry I was passing. Say that again.

[C]

If you have. If you're spending 40 grand for a fun rear wheeel drive manual car that will ever see a track that Corvette. Right. Corvette or second gen CTSV. Are those still.

[B]

Sure. Or like a 996. You know Carrera 4S.

[C]

Wow. You used to be able to get turbos for that money. That's nuts.

[B]

For 40 grand. Yeah. You'd get a terrible turbo with an automatic for that.

[C]

No, you used to be able to.

[B]

I know you still could. If you want an auto you can get one for 40 grand but yeah,

[C]

I feel like we've covered that a lot. Thoughts on the mark 8 GTI vs R for daily and occasional spirited road drink driving. And where would we put the GR Corolla in that mix?

[B]

If you can afford a Golf R it's a better car than a gti. Yeah, I mean it's way faster. The gearbox is tuned better. The suspension is a bit more dialed in. You can't sort of oversteer it. If you try hard.

[C]

Anybody Even if you don't I. You can feel the rear diff like pushing around turns. It just feels different dynamically.

[B]

And the resale is better. Yeah, the GTIs are fine though if you're just commuting around like and you don't need the extra performance like a GTI is fine. A GR Corolla will feel more motor sporty. Yeah, they're much sportier tuned than GTIs or or GR Corollas are or. Or Golf RS are and I think

[C]

the GR Corolla has heavier steering than the Golf R. It'll just heavier steering and a ratio youthful, exciting. Have we considered the Defender Octa as a towing vehicle?

[B]

No, I haven't. Does the Defender Octa have a good tow rating.

[C]

This person uses it for their open Brian James trip trailer to tow stuff to the track.

[B]

Oh, I think they're really expensive.

[C]

Yeah, I think they are.

[B]

I think that is well out of my price range. And there's no such thing as a used one yet. They're all brand new, so I think I got to bow out on that. The leader, the, the, the top of the leaderboard is still like a two year old cayenne hybrid.

[C]

Let's see. With all the talk. Oh, there's a, a tickle your pickle for a triple nickel. With all the talk about the new Grand Tour cast, do we think it's time for Top Gear to come back? Do we think the original formula should return or should they rework the entire program?

[B]

Top Gear, I mean, look, if you, if you go watch old Top Gears now, and I don't mean the specials, I mean, like the studio shows, look, it was great. It was influential. It was, it was great. But like, I, I don't, I don't think the, that we need to go remake that. I mean, they tried to remake it like four times afterwards.

[C]

I mean, I thought they did a good job when they had, you know, Rory, Chris and Matt LeBlanc. I think they should have let that continue. But I think nowadays you can get so close to the car reviews online from so many channels, like, they'd be really hard pressed to find, fight for the attention of everybody. And so you need the specials, but now you're gonna have the Grand Tour on Amazon doing that stuff too.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So I don't know if they'd want to try to compete.

[B]

I also, like, I don't. I mean, look, with respect to, to Thomas and James, who I love are great and are very good at their jobs. Like, they're some of the best. You know what I mean? So I'm not jealous or mad. I'm happy for them, you know, for getting this gig. Right. But like, to me, like, an iconic show is, is so tied to the, the cast of that show that remaking the format with new people just doesn't interest me as a viewer. Like, I don't want another Top Gear because Top Gear to me was those three guys. And like, I was happy when Chris got the gig. I was.

[C]

Ha.

[B]

Like, I'm not, I'm not saying that it needs to die because those guys left, but like, the reason that I watch that show when I go back and watch old episodes is because of the, the chemistry and the writing between those guys. I think Is, is, is unique in the space in the same way that there can't be another Bourdain or whatever like it, It's a, it's a very specific, it comes from a very specific perspective and place and is delivered in a very specific way that I really related to and that it wasn't that, oh, you could plug somebody else, even if they're a good writer, into the format of the show and have a show that's just as good or anywhere close really. You know what I mean?

[C]

I would go the other way because, like, I watched the new Naked Gun, which I think is hilarious, and it's very much in a style of comedy that we don't see a lot these days. But I also like the old one, so, But I think you, you have to plug in, you can't just plug people into the format. You need people that are as clever, have the rapport of the old guy of the past trio. You need all that stuff. Yeah. To try to make something that is like, I guess, as good, you know, it has to be really entertaining, funny, insightful and witty. And it has to have all that stuff and a little bit of talking too. So you can't just say, here's three people that are going to go on car adventures. They have to have the glue that was those folks. But I, I, I welcome the new entertainment. I mean, I like Throttle House and they're like, they're two funny dudes that are doing good car stuff and doing things in an entertaining way. And.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So I think.

[B]

Last one, this is the end of our, the end of our drive here.

[C]

Flying Monkey says with ADAS functions becoming more prevalent in the industry and require requiring more steps to disable them, do we think there will be a point where insurance companies will start denying claims if they discover that the driver turned off ADAs?

[B]

No, I, I, I don't. How, I mean, no, I mean, just, I think the, the, the, the, the precedent there is traction control or stability control. I mean, if you, you turn off traction control and you have a crash. I don't, I'm pretty sure your insurance company cannot use that as a specific way to deny your claim.

[C]

Sounds like a train is coming.

[B]

Brakes are very, very dirty from the track. It's squeaky. They need to be hosed off. But I don't, you know, I'll have to, we'll have to, we, we, we definitely have at least one listener that is in the insurance business. And if you are in the insurance business and you're out there and you've ever heard of claims being denied specifically because adas was turned off, or you've even heard rumblings that that could be a thing, please do let us know. That is our program, folks. We appreciate our patrons, particularly for asking such good questions to today, and we will hold over the ones we didn't use for the next show. Although next show, I'm actually going to be in Montana with Mr. West Seiler, so that'll be fun. Live from my Airbnb in Big Sky. And we'll see the rest of y' all after the Ice Race. Peace.