Driving a Special Lotus at Willow; EPA changes; New Watch; &A

Summary

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The Smoking Tire Podcast — “Driving a Special Lotus at Willow; EPA Changes; New Watch; &A”

Hosts: Matt Farah, Zack Klapman
Date: February 17, 2026

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Overview

In this engaging episode, Matt and Zack recap Matt’s experience driving a freshly restored, high-dollar Lotus 111Rs at Willow Springs, dive into the implications of sweeping EPA rollbacks on emissions, geek out about Matt’s new custom watch, and tackle a lively &A from Patreon listeners. The conversation ranges from deep, technical car talk to broader discussions of regulatory changes, culture, and collecting. The mood is classic Smoking Tire: insightful, irreverent, and packed with both practical advice and hot takes.

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Episode Highlights and Key Segments

1. Matt’s Custom “Hot Tub” Speedmaster Watch (02:00–10:10)

• Matt receives his custom Omega Speedmaster, “The Hot Tub Time Machine,” from UK dial artist Chris Alexander.
  • Matt describes how he saw hot tubs in his white Speedmaster’s subdials and sent the watch overseas for a one-off repaint.
  • Customs drama: “Shipping your own shit and then coming back… I was sweating buckets. Thought they were gonna fucking jam me up.” (Matt, 06:00)
  • Philosophical aside on the importance of word choice in official paperwork (for customs, local permits, etc.).
• Matt plugs micro-dial artistry as highly personal, affordable art for watches.
  • “Who else can do that? There’s no comps.” (Matt, 10:00)
• They compare novelty watches and discuss the value of personal creativity in watch collecting.
  • Zack: “For those people, that is their fountain pen.” (02:57)

2. Driving the Lotus 111Rs at Willow Springs — Track Impressions (10:10–31:40)

Member Day & Track Layout:

• Matt enjoys his first “member day” at the new Streets of Willow layout, noting exclusive privacy and improved track flow.
  • “It’s got tight corners and open corners… a fabulous place to test cars.” (Matt, 11:52)
• On the special cars available:
  • Rips the Lotus 4Rs Club Sport (does a 1:24 lap) and drives the Enokinetic 111Rs, a “restomodded” Lotus Elise/Xige.
    • “They had two Janettas… and like six or seven Club Sports on slicks. We could just take them. Could just rip them.” (Matt, 11:23)

The Enokinetic Lotus 111Rs:

• Deep dive on the car’s spec & $$:
  • “You give them an Elise or Exige and between $60k–$80k on top of the car… Goal is to make it drive like something you’d want today.”
  • Engine: ~275 hp from a built 2ZZ by Mountune, new lighter, more efficient blower, no intercooler.
  • Weight savings: Car weighs 2000 lbs (down ~400 lbs).
  • Chassis: Carbon buckets, open-linkage short shifter, nut-and-bolt restoration, sharpened steering geometry.
• On driving experience:
  • “It’s loud and buzzy, no fucking insulation. The weather stripping sucks. The seat is not comfortable… But because it’s so light, it actually rides well.” (Matt, 19:28)
  • Unexpectedly decent ride on the street due to light weight, soft(ish) suspension settings.
• Track & Canyon Use:
  • “In Angeles Forest, you’re having a really good time at seven-tenths, feels like you’re going 25 mph faster than you are.”
  • “If your goal is lap times, this isn’t the fastest 100GS you can spend, but to feel some fucking fizz for a couple hours a week… this is up there.” (Matt, 22:41)
• Ergonomics:
  • “I absolutely hated getting in and out of this car. It was fucking terrible.”
• On the roof and style:
  • “The Eddie Van Halen roof is a fun tribute… It’s got gold wheels. I do like these wheels a lot.” (Matt, 30:53)

Verdict

• “It’s a very distilled experience… too uncomfortable for me, I won’t be buying one. But if you’re 5'10" and thin, or limber, these are all right.” (Matt, 29:00)

Notable Quotes

• “If you want to feel some fizz, this is up there.” (Matt, 22:41)
• “Seat is like bare carbon with a piece of ham on it… padding is very thin suede.” (Zack, 30:05)

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3. EPA Rollbacks & Environmental Policy Shift (31:42–35:13)

• The “end” of greenhouse gas regulation:
  • Trump administration throws out Obama-era greenhouse gas findings; EPA reoriented to deregulation.
  • “It is a crazy thing that we are… rolling back limits on air. Air!” (Matt, 32:34)
  • Current EPA head Lee Zeldin (an explicit Trump loyalist) tasked with gutting regulation.
  • Quotes from the press around “largest deregulatory announcement in US history,” repealing protections for wetlands, pollution, and the endangerment finding.
• Implications:
  • “Project 2025 is going really well…” (bitter sarcasm) (Matt, 34:08)
  • Zack notes impact extends beyond cars to factories, power plants, etc.

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4. Laguna Seca Incident Response (35:13–41:42)

• Matt reads a statement from Laguna Seca about a controversial on-track accident from previous episode.
  • “An incident involving a track support vehicle and a race car occurred at the facility during a privately operated on-track event in December…” (Laguna Seca PR Statement, 37:12)
  • Hosts clarify: the track day was run by an outside organization, not Laguna Seca itself, though personnel seemingly overlap.
  • Analysis: Likely issue now about assigning liability for the accident; hosts expect a legal settlement.
  • “You cannot let this go to a jury.” (Matt, 40:39)
  • Consensus: optics are terrible, owner’s car is a unique, valuable R34.

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5. Listener Q&A (44:00–end)

AI in the Workplace (44:40–49:00)

• Lively debate on whether hating on “AI job replacement” is productive.
  • MixmasterCylinder: “My highly paid skill writing code is heading towards zero value.”
  • Matt: “I do think hating on it is productive. … Pushing back is the only way to modulate this a bit.” (46:19–48:44)
  • Zack shares examples of local resistance to AI data centers due to electric bills and environmental impacts.

Car, Track, and Collecting Discussion (multiple Qs)

• Raw experiences and collector cars:
  • Countach: “It’s a Countach all the time. … It’s one of a very few overwhelming driving experiences.” (Matt, 50:09)
  • Lotus 111Rs: “You give them an Elise or Exige and between $60k–$80k… they return what’s essentially a new Lotus.” (17:00-19:00)
• Track day advice (53:09+):
  • Street driving skill doesn’t always predict track talent. Let the instructor be the judge.
• Car buying/ownership:
  • On affordable/fun convertibles, praise for the S2000, Miata, and an under-the-radar plug for E46 BMW 330ci (80:22).
  • On old McLarens: “That is a shitload of car for the money. 60,000 miles is a lot though… repair costs could be serious.” (75:45)

Notable Quotes

• “If your goal is lap times, this isn’t the fastest… but if your goal is to feel some fucking fizz… this is up there.” (22:41)
• “It’s a very distilled experience that’s super fizzy in short bursts.” (24:41)
• “Optics are bad. … Buy the guy’s car.” (on Laguna Seca case, 41:21)
• “Rolling coal— that’s visible, that’s owning the libs. It’s such loser shit.” (72:22)
• “If you’re talking about a race car versus a road car, the difference is immense.” (on turbo 86s vs. 911s, 57:48–58:52)

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Memorable Moments

• Customs Snafu: Matt’s anxiety over his Speedmaster being held at customs: “This is an expensive watch… I was sweating fucking buckets.” (05:59)
• Lotus Ergos: Matt’s struggle with Lotus ergonomics — “Each section is just a bunch of mounts synced together because… I could not possibly get in and out of this car a hundred times.” (24:10)
• Horn Mishap: Accidentally honking the horn mid-corner thanks to odd steering wheel horn placement. “The guy in the nest at the exit of the bowl was like, why does this guy keep giving me the what’s up?” (25:46)
• EPA Rollback Sarcasm: Matt’s deadpan, “Project 2025 is going really well,” as EPA deregulates air quality. (34:08)
• Raw Take on AI: “The value created by AI for a very small number of people… who are more powerful than nations… that’s so bad.” (48:33)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |-------------------------------------|---------------| | Matt’s custom watch story | 02:00–10:10 | | Willow Springs / Lotus 111Rs review | 10:10–31:40 | | EPA rollbacks discussion | 31:42–35:13 | | Laguna Seca incident statement | 35:13–41:42 | | Listener Q&A (AI, cars, etc.) | 44:00–end |

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Tone & Style

The conversation is playful, smart, and honest. Matt and Zack balance deep car expertise with irreverent humor and cultural skepticism, making for a lively, accessible, and engaging listen for car nuts and industry watchers alike.

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Useful for:

• Understanding high-end Lotus restomods and owner impressions
• Catching up on dramatic changes at EPA and their ripple effect on car culture
• Insight into watch collecting and customization
• Auto industry legal and policy news
• Enjoying car-nerd banter and practical & sometimes philosophical listener guidance

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Next episode teasers:

• More on the Integra Type S
• More deep-dives on car mods and racing school experiences
• Further Q&A from Patreon listeners

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Transcript

[A]

What up, everybody? Welcome to the Smoking Tire Podcast. Today's episode is brought to you by off the Record. We love them over here because I know that off the Record is looking out for me 24, 7 when I'm on the road, no matter where I am in the continental United States. Because their coverage extends to basically 97% of the continental United States and some Alaska and Hawaii. Off the Record is a service that connects you with a qualified attorney to fight any ticket you might got, no matter where you are. So you get a ticket near home, maybe you have somebody. But what if you're in a different state? You don't want to go back there and deal with the court system on your own. That's why off the Record is here. All you have to do is go to offtherecord.comtst. that's offtherecord.comtST. then you're gonna upload a photo of the ticket, some information about what happened, your version of events, so to speak. And off the Record, we'll fight that ticket on your behalf all the way to the Supreme Court if need. And most of the time, they get her done over there. And their goal is to get those points off your record. You don't want points on your record because it could affect your insurance, could affect potentially your employment, a variety of other things. So offtherecord.com TST for 10% off all legal services. They are out there looking out for you. All right, on this episode of the podcast, I did some road and some racetrack driving at Willow Springs in the Lotus 111Rs, a sort of rest modded version of a Lotus Elise that I think will definitely find an audience. Trump has decided to essentially get rid of environmental regulations entirely, effectively decimating all fuel economy standards. And I got a cool watch.

[B]

Yay.

[A]

It's the Smoking Tire Podcast. Let's go. Oh, did you see the watch? Mm. Mm.

[B]

So. Oh, it arrived.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Great. Oh, that's right. We were waiting for it and then it didn't show. This is genuinely really funny.

[A]

Isn't that awesome? On the one hand, I get to say hot tub time machine. It is a hot tub time machine, actually.

[B]

When did you think of that?

[A]

Today, like yesterday. That's great. But also, it is such an appropriate commentary, I think. Not that I'm such a genius. I also just looked at it and went, those look like hot tubs. But it is a commentary on the fact that I think people get on the forums and shit are so, like, nerdy about timing things with Their chronographs. And I have like four chronographs and I never. If I need to time something, I'm using my phone. Yeah, but like, it doesn't mean like, but like. So.

[B]

For those people, that is their fountain pen.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, it does remove some of the functionality for like. But the part of the. It's essentially going to remind me that I was never gonna use the fucking chronograph anyway. That's what that will be the reminder of that.

[B]

No, I think it's like. I think it's a really rad idea. Truly. Cause there's some. You know, like, I enjoy Demolition man, the movie. I would watch it again. But you have the theme bathroom. I wouldn't do that.

[A]

Sure. That's understandable.

[B]

This is really funny. This is a great use of circles.

[A]

It is a great. It's great use of a guy who is really good at painting small things and circles. Yeah. And taking a thing that is one of many just like it. And this one is mine.

[B]

And the hands are still in there, right?

[A]

Oh yeah. Chronograph still works.

[B]

So time's going by for them. So people in the hot tub can keep track and get out when it's hot.

[A]

Are we live?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Oh, you can pull it up on the Instagram. We're talking about. I got my. Finally got my custom watch back from the dial artist. Oh. Who I have to invite to collaborate on this post. Cause I forgot. So I had this idea that I thought that sub dials in my white Speedmaster looked like hot tubs. And the dial artist who does micro artistry thought that that would be funny and sent me a rendering and I sent him the watch. Just like the fucking Lamborghini engine. Sending your own shit to overseas and then getting it back. The customs bullshit is mad stressful. Cuz it's like this is. Yes, this is an expensive watch that comes, you know, is of an origin of a country that's fucking tariffed. Although slightly less tariff now. Cuz the president of Rolex sucked Trump's cock. That's what happened. I sees it. I seen it.

[B]

He bought a bunch of World Trump coins. No, I didn't.

[A]

No. The president of Rolex came to visit Trump and literally gave him a golden Role desk club that is now sitting on the fucking Resolute desk. And the tariffs went from 39 to 15%. Having said that. So yeah, this is government by patronage. Right. This is how it works.

[B]

The number of golden gifts that have literally been given to him. It's like, didn't. At least Tim Cook gave him like a gold.

[A]

At least it's not Heinz. What do we bring? A ton? They know just whatever. As long as it's fucking gold, who gives a shit? But shipping your own shit and then coming back and they go, you know, country of origin. Well, like Switzerland, but actually I already bought it in America and paid taxes here. And so when it got held up in customs for eight days, I was like sweating fucking buckets. Thought they were gonna fucking jam me up, saying I just bought it out of Switzerland or something. You know what I mean? So fortunately, it arrived and it arrived covered in blue customs tape. We have opened your shit.

[B]

They opened and looked at it.

[A]

Oh, yeah, they took a peek.

[B]

Did they see some record of it going out to uk? So, like, they know this is not a One Direction.

[A]

They did not see a record of it going out.

[B]

No, they don't.

[A]

No. Cause I just shipped it FedEx. I didn't like. And I didn't put a note inside like, hi, boys. This came back, come back. But on the customs form. You had to fill out a form. And I did put it. This package, this watch originated in the us I shipped it to Europe for repair and now it's coming back, which is exactly what I said for the engine. It was exactly that. It's my thing that was going for repair. Not upgrade, not customization. Repair. That's the word. The more I get into business and there's going to be someone rolling their fucking eyes out there. The very specifics of words on forms important. Well, like when I went to the Gardena government trying to get the applications to have cars and coffees at the store or things like that. I said the word events to a normal person. Sure. Cars and coffee would fall under event. No, no, no, no, no, no. An event to a city person is like a fucking petting zoo and a marching band. Yeah, yeah. Carnival rides. And, like, traffic is getting obstructed and there needs to be an ambulance on site. Like, all I'm doing is having. As far as. Are parties now a part? A party's different. So.

[B]

Hey, so on the forum, you should have written party.

[A]

Yeah. And then they'd be like, a party. Of course it's a private property. Like, no one gives a fuck. You know what I mean? But like, you say events and they think like, the shit's going down. You know, they think like, semis are unloading, you know, carnival rides. So anyway, that's where we're at. Same thing with the customs form send it out for repair. It's a little fucking more, you know, knowledge for everybody else. But I'm super stoked about this watch. It's fun as hell. It's very cool and it, I think it comes through really nice in the photo, but in the water is very shiny and reflective.

[B]

It has a coating on it, a.

[A]

Good sheen to it. Man, this shit is so fun and it fucking feels really nice to pay an artist to make art that's for you and really cool. The dial artist, Chris out of the UK does micro artistry on watches. I mean, he'll probably paint on anything, but he does some really dope shit. Last year he painted a satellite view map of Bora Bora on my Rolex Explorer. That's pretty cool. He has some like Jackson Pollocky stuff and some like patterns. Yeah. Oh, that's real cool.

[B]

That's cool. So he like, I think sprayed like through these tiny, I mean, what stencils, right?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So they made these tiny, tiny stencils and then in the middle, middle of the watch says fuck nine to five.

[A]

That's pretty rad. Yeah, this is super cool. He does some really fun colors and like cartoon characters and stuff. Wow. Yeah, I love Chris. He's great. If you want, if you want him to. If you want to change up your watch and like, because sometimes like there's a watch called. I think it's like, it's by Mr. Jones watches and I think it's called like Another Lazy Sunday or something. And it's like pool floats going around a pool. It's a dope watch, but it's like a kind of a novelty watch. It's not like a nice watch. And so there's a fun thing about like turning a nice watch into sort of a novelty watch. Is it called Another Lazy Sun, Perfectly Useless Afternoon? Which is a fun watch, but it's like, it's a bit of a novelty. Like that's not an everyday watch.

[B]

Well, this just, this looks like the watch was. And it was designed to just do this. It is, it's like a. It's a two dimensional cartoon drawing essentially of someone sitting in a float. Like what's an inner tube in a pool? Whereas yours. It's obvious that it was a dress.

[A]

Wash, whatever you want to call it.

[B]

And then it had art added to it.

[A]

Yeah. For this the. I think her leg points at the hours and the rubber ducky is the minutes. Cool.

[B]

I think, I mean that's cool too.

[A]

Yeah, it's fun. It's fun. But I Can't use that to tell time every day. That's crazy.

[B]

Yeah, that'd be tough.

[A]

Welcome to the program. Brag about my fucking watch. Actually, I just want an excuse to plug Chris. Please send him ideas and have him paint your watches. It's not that expensive. He should probably be charging more, to be honest with you, for what he does. Who else can do that? Like, there's no comps. Yeah, it's pretty rad. Yeah. It's like you go on Etsy, let me send you my Speedmaster. I just had a nice two hour transit back from Willow Springs. My very first member day. Very exciting. There's like. Cause there's member days in terms of like, there's 20 days a month where I can show up and use the track and like, would probably be the only person on it.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Including next week when we go with the Maserati. Yeah, like, we'll probably be. I was talking to one of the other members today who was very cool to John from Colorado who said he was there yesterday and he was there for seven hours and it was just him. Yeah. Which is. Which is fabulous. But this was like a day. So there was maybe like 10 members and some guests. Jensen was there. He says hi. He was giving ride alongs in a 4Rs club sport. But they had all the club sports out and they had these Janettas.

[B]

Oh yeah, those are rad.

[A]

They had two Janettas and they had like six or seven club sports out and we could just take them. Like, we could just rip them clubsports on slicks, which was. Which was very good. They had instructors. I hadn't driven the new track layout yet. I really had fun.

[B]

Oh yeah, you hadn't.

[A]

We haven't driven since. Yeah, but we were driven.

[B]

I drove it at the media day. But at the open house we were just like walking around. What'd you think?

[A]

I really like it for. For purposes of car testing. I really think that for evaluating the kind of things that we want to know about a car, you and I and our audience, I think it's a fabulous place to test cars. It's got tight corners and open corners.

[B]

S section's great on camber stuff.

[A]

Yeah. And you can get a car nice and loose there without really having a problem, which I'm very much into. So I'm stoked. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. We use the chicane thing after the. But we don't. You don't have to. But I think when we're running lap times, there We. We should. I think we should use that one. Sure. So otherwise you just.

[B]

We don't need two straightaways when we're doing testing. And then it'll just eat the brakes if we use that second straight out of the carousel. Just eat more brakes. It's like a downhill braking section.

[A]

Yeah, no, it's. It's cool. I liked it a lot. I thought it was a fun. A fun little track. I think more than 500 horsepower there is probably wasted a little bit. There's only so fast you can go there, which is fine, but the surface is great. It's a lot of fun. This place is a slide. It looks nice. I think so. I had to go in a 4Rs club sport, which was fun. I got about, I don't know, 10 laps in that. I did a 124, which I was told was respectable for having never driven that car before.

[B]

I think so. All I know. I know, Corey. I think Larry ran around a 127 or six in his time attack car. So.

[A]

Yeah, that sounds right. I mean, there's a factory fucking 4Rs club sport on slicks. So I think that the guy who was showing me around the first time, his first name was. Shit, it was either Alex or Andrew, but his last name was Edelman. Nice guy. He did a 22. But we both said if I had a whole day with that car, I could get to that. But that was a lot of fun. And then I went out pull up the red car. Our buddies at Enokinetic, formerly known as Sector 111. They're now called Enokinetic. They lent me this. This is their 111Rs, which is total package for the Lotus, Elise or Xiche. The list of things that they do is fucking extensive, but it's a full. Basically, you give them an Elise or an Exige and about, depending on which way you go with it, between 60 and $80,000 on top of the car. Okay. And so it's not a Singer thing. It's not like a reimagining. But the goal is to take that car, that is a great car, but is now 20 years old and make it drive like something that you'd want to drive today. Folks, gotta take a break because support is coming in from hellofresh. I am going to get back on that hellofresh this spring because nothing hits like home cooking. And hellofresh makes it easy to do more of it this year with recipes that feel good and that taste delicious night after night. I love to cook, but What I don't love is deciding what to cook. It takes up too much of my brain space and then I find something that I like. But it's like it needs a marinade overnight or it needs some other thing that takes six hours. And so what's great about HelloFresh is I know that their recipes don't take very long to make. They just don't. We're busy, we get home from work, we don't want to do it. But we do want to do some cooking. So HelloFresh has over 100 recipes each week including stuff from around the world. Meals that help you beat the winter blues. They wrote that and they have bigger portions to satisfy everyone with high protein glp. One friendly and mediterranean options. There's tons of wholesome ingredients, sustainably sourced seafood, antibiotic and hormone free chicken. And it's really great because there's less waste because you don't have to buy some big jar of spices you're only gonna use once or buy an entire head of lettuce just to use half of it or whatever. It's so easy. The recipe cards, there's these big clear cards with photos and easy to read. Anyone can do it. And you keep that card and then you can multiply that recipe if you like it later and make it for a big group for a party. You know what I'm saying? So if you like to cook, you want to cook and you want to cook tasty food but you don't have time to always search for new stuff and you don't want to waste any food that you're not going to make. Hellofresh is it. That's where it's at. So go to hellofresh.com smokingtire10fm to get 10 free meals plus a free Zwilling knife. $144 value on your third box. Offer valid wall surprise lasts. Free meals applied as discount on first box. New subscribers only. Varies by plan. Do it again hellofresh.com smokingtire10fm smoking tire10fm. You got that? Now back to the show. So the engine is. It's still a 2ZZ, but it's built by Mountune. So it's a fully built engine from 2ZZ from Mountoon with this new type of blower that's more efficient than the old kind of blower so much so that it no longer requires the intercooler. So it's a non intercooler so you save weight and complexity and it doesn't need it. Shanu is the Owner of Innokinetic, he says if you're literally running like endurance racing, then you would run this blower with an intercooler. But outside of that, even for a track day, you don't need the intercooler. And my experience, it was a beautiful day today. It was high 60s, low 70s. It was beautiful. Cars did not build up any heat at all. It was fine. I mean, I did. I think my longest session in this car was maybe like 18 minutes. But it didn't move. I don't see what would have changed. I kept going. It was fine. So you get this engine. It's 275 horsepower, and the car weighs 2,000 pounds. All right? They've cut like 400 pounds out of the car somehow. It has zero sound insulation. It has carbon bucket seats. It has very light wheels.

[B]

Oh, this interior.

[A]

Yeah, it's got the open linkage short shifter. They do a full. It's full suspension. It's their spec shocks. But they also.

[B]

They rebuilt a gearbox, but they also.

[A]

Nut and bolt the car. So you get all new mono ball bushings. They rebuild the steering rack. They have different. They literally restore the whole car. So everything is either upgraded to their spec or restored to OEM spec with new rubber or whatever. Right. They have these different links that they don't change the actual steering ratio, but they make more angle per. They effectively change the steering ratio. They sharpen it up. And I mean, look, this is a very fast little car.

[B]

Probably weighs nothing.

[A]

Literally, it weighs like between 2000 and 2100 pounds. And it makes 275 horsepower. So it rips. And because it's light, I mean, look, it's loud and buzzy, is no fucking insulation. The weather stripping sucks. You can take the roof off. It's an Elise, this one. So the roof would come off and it's not what I'd call comfortable. That seat is not comfortable. Straight up. I have to wear not just driving shoes, but really narrow driving shoes to drive it. I cannot drive it otherwise. And it's pretty aggressive. Having said that, because it's so light, it actually rides well. Like, it's loud and buzzy and brrr. But when you. If you can tune that out, when you hit a bump, it actually takes the bump really well because there's not a lot of mass that it has to resist. So it's actually sprung, like, compared to like a Porsche or something, like, pretty soft. So you can take curbing on the track and if you hit a bump on the road, it's not like a nightmare. And also because it's light, it doesn't need very wide tires and so it doesn't like dart around. So actually at like 70 highway, like, pretty relaxed in the city. It is not relaxed. It's idling. You can tell that it's all like hard mounted because it's like, you know. But once you get it past like 3500rpm, even when you're cruising, you cruise at like 4. It's geared short as shit. So even when you're cruising, you're cruising up high. The power band is like 4 to 8, and it's smooth at 4, but at 2 or idle, it's like terrible. That's Lotus life, you know. But it's a. You know, I'm thinking about. Chanu said most people who get these have 100 grand into their cars. And if I think about what 100 grand gets you, outside of that, this is a pretty fucking fizzy experience for 100 grand, considering you're being handed back what is effectively a new Lotus.

[B]

Right? I mean, this is definitely. This is the lightweight answer to the track performance problem. Because otherwise you go Porsche, it's going to weigh a lot more than this. It's not a heavy car compared to some of the.

[A]

No, my Spider is like a thousand pounds more than this.

[B]

So this is nothing. C8ZR1. 100 grand gets you a lot of that, maybe even Z06. But heavy car.

[A]

Well, it's a different one. Isn't better or worse. It's different, right?

[B]

No, I'm just thinking of if you want to go to the track and you're going to spend six figures, you know, there's a lot of cars out there, but.

[A]

But it's more than just go to the track. This car is actually, I think, a better street car than it is a track car.

[B]

Really?

[A]

Yeah, I think it is. Because if you really, really want to go as fast as possible at this point, you probably want paddle shifters. Like, you can get a car that will go faster than this for maybe not the same amount of money, but like in the ballpark, you know what I mean? You get a C8Z06 on the right set of tires and you're going quicker than this around the track, easier, especially.

[B]

On a tracker, easier with more straights or longer turns.

[A]

What's great about something like this? Because in the video, I did make a video of this, by the way, I shot in the Angeles Forest in the morning and then in the track. So it's a street and Track drive with this car in the Angeles Forest or on a good road, you're having a really, really good time at seven or eight tenths and it feels like you're going about 25 miles an hour faster than you're actually going. And so on the road, you're ripping, you feel everything. You're leaning into the corners, you're heel toeing. The shifter's super satisfying. You know, you're having this analog experience and you are going fast, you're feeling g forces in all directions proper, but the numbers are not as high as like if I was driving a Bentley. Speed, oh sure, you know what I mean? But I could be going way faster and like feeling nothing. And so if your goal is lap times, this isn't the fastest way to spend 100 GS, but if your goal is to feel some fucking fizz for a couple of hours a week, this is up there. I mean, and you know, it's a simple car because it can be. It doesn't need all the fancy shit because it doesn't have all this weight to manage or size to manage. Now downsides. I absolutely hated getting in and out of this car. It was fucking terrible. I did not like it. And so consequently, as you may see in the video, each section is just a bunch of mounts synced together because I, without you or someone, I could not possibly get in and out of this car a hundred times this morning. Like it would take to make a video normally. I set up the camera, by the way, the case doesn't fit in the trunk. I had to. My racing gear, the camera gear, everything was shoved into the passenger side of this car. You can't put anything in the back.

[B]

So. Yeah, that makes sense.

[A]

It does have a trunk. But Shanu didn't take out his like car cover and stuff, so it was all full of stuff. So, like, this was really cool. It's just a very distilled experience that's like super fizzy in short bursts. And it is, it was quick on the track, but it's also like, it's work, you know, it's your, it's, it's a lot of shifting, the steering is heavy, it's a manual steering rack, the small steering wheel. And there's quite a couple of cases at Streets of Willow, particularly coming out of the bowl and coming onto the front straight where you have to do that two, three, shift right at the track out onto the straight. So you're fully loaded up with your left hand and trying to do a gear change. That's a push away gear change at the same time. So that's a tough bit of motion. And in the steering wheel the horn buttons are on the spokes in the leather.

[B]

Oh, how many times did you honk the horn?

[A]

The guy in the fucking nest at the exit of the bowl was like, why does this guy keep fucking giving me the what's up? Like what's the talk?

[B]

Yeah, because you had your thumb in there. Because for the leverage I must have.

[A]

Thought I was out of my mind. That's funny folks, taking one more break because support is coming in hot. Actually more like ice cold. In shaken with AG1 because motivation comes and goes, but habits show up even when you don't feel like it. And AG1 is the easiest habit. You, you can start now to support consistency even when your motivation isn't perfect. Right? Because most supplements over complicate things. Lots of pills. Weird timing. A doctor just told me I just had to take one of my pills at night instead of in the morning. I said, listen doc, if you want me to take it at all, it's happening in the morning. I'm not good at taking pills at night. AG1, I like it in the morning also. I take everything in the morning. Everything important. Right? Night is for fun. Morning is for important things. AG1 simplifies your nutrition with multivitamins, pre and superfoods and antioxidants all in one scoop. It's a daily reset that brings foundational nutrition no matter what your schedule throws at you. Whether it's a weekend trip, a late night or just the start stop routines that come with winter. It's the opposite of complexity. 20 seconds, one scoop. A cup of water. Done. First thing on those cozy winter mornings before your coffee, before checking your phone. It'll anchor everything else. And you don't need to like like change your entire diet. Make a huge change, whatever. Just the AG one will get you going in the right direction. Each day. AG1 has over 50,000 verified 5 star reviews and comes with a 90 day money back guarantee. For a limited time only. Go to drinkag1.com tire to get a free AG1 flavor sampler. An AGZ sampler to try all the flavors plus free vitamin D3 and K2 and AG1 welcome kit with your first AG1 subscription order. Limited time offer only available while supplies last. Drink ag1.com Tire Drink ag1.com Tire you're going to get all those flavors and I'm going to tell you you're going to end up in two places. Berry and Tropical. That's really what it's all about. I've tried all the flavors. Those are by far my favorite. They got the original. They got the citrus berry and tropical. They crush. I really like a tropical in the morning. Berries a little more, you know, desserty and so yeah. Drinkag1.com Tire drinkag1.com Tire to get that free AG1 sampler. AGZ sampler to try all the flavors plus free vitamin D3 and K2 and the AG1 welcome kit with your first AG1 subscription order. That's a lot going on, but supplies won't last long. Drink ag1.com Tire Drink ag1.com Tire and now back to the show. Wow. You know, and they've. And he's done, he's done some nice suede work on the dash and the door cards. You can see there's a radio deck delete. But it actually does have a stereo. You just connect to a Bluetooth thing and there's like focal speakers and they sound pretty good actually.

[B]

Can you hear them at all?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

When you're moving?

[A]

Yeah. I was like blasting Rise against in the canyons. It was good. Cool. Yeah. Yeah, it sounded nice. And it has air conditioning as well.

[B]

Well, I think this would be obviously tons of fun. I mean this is like mid engine Miata answer but with a little bigger budget than a Miata. It sounds red.

[A]

Yeah. It's very light. It's very responsive and very fizzy. But also you, you know, feeling everything means feeling everything. And so you get the down and the upsides of that.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

On the track, you know, at the limit, I found it to be predictable. You'll see in the video it doesn't have a lot of, lot of vices. There's a, there was a couple places where it got a little bit loose, but it was, it was very manageable. It does not have traction control or anything. The brakes are great. And in general it was, it was an absolute ride. It was a good time. So it's too uncomfortable for me. I won't be buying one. But if you're like 5, 10 and thin or 510 and under and, and, and reasonably thin or reasonably limber, these are all right.

[B]

Seems fun. The seat is like bare carbon with a piece of ham on it. That's hot. The padding is very thin suede.

[A]

But there was a long drive on the road this morning.

[B]

If it fits you perfectly, then it might be all right.

[A]

And also it takes a while. I think it's a dry sump. It takes a while. To get the oil fully warmed up. Up and until it's really soaked with heat. It is very vibrating and buzzy. So it smooths out when it warms up.

[B]

Interesting.

[A]

Yeah, interesting.

[B]

Go figure why that is. Go figure.

[A]

It's a good time though.

[B]

Looks cool. I mean, this spec is red. Little bit. Little bits of red, like bare aluminum.

[A]

The Eddie Van Halen roof is a fun tribute. You see that? You notice the. The roof is the. Is Eddie Van Halen's guitar.

[B]

Oh, I didn't know what that was.

[A]

Okay, well, that's what it is. Okay. It's a fun. It's a fun vibe.

[B]

Yeah. That's cool. Why not? I mean, people listening. It's bright red. It's got gold wheels. It looks cool.

[A]

I do like these wheels a lot. That's a nice looking wheel. Yeah. 16s in the front, 17s in the back.

[B]

Cool.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

This looks like so much fun.

[A]

And I didn't. I probably would have really enjoyed it with the top off, although I didn't have anywhere to. To leave the top. So I, you know, I had. So anyway, but it's pretty cool, man. There'll be a video coming and you know, shout out to Enokinetic and if you want one of them, they are building them. They're pretty cool. But yeah, we are gonna have us quite a lot of fun at this here. This here little race track.

[B]

That is wild.

[A]

Yeah. I also have approval for the M2Cs to go on track. BMW M2Cs. Whoa. Yeah. After ice race, we get it.

[B]

Whoa.

[A]

Awesome. Yep. That's fun. Should we talk about the fact that greenhouse emissions aren't a thing anymore?

[B]

We can. I didn't read the details. I know they're trying to get rid of. Stop start.

[A]

Well, yeah, they basically threw out the Obama era, finding that greenhouse gases were a threat to public health. And effectively all emission standards are based.

[B]

Around that, including at factories and stuff. It's not just limited to cars. So neighborhoods that are near power plants or other things could also be affected.

[A]

It is a crazy thing that we are. That rolling back limits on air. Air, like air.

[B]

The science of air, like the science of air is just being thrown out.

[A]

So this, you know this guy Zeldin, who's the head of the epa. Lee Zeldin, Basically he's a super Trumper and his mission, he's one of these guys appointed by Trump with the mission of specifically destroying the agency that they supposed to be leading.

[B]

And so since it's like Betsy DeVos, right?

[A]

Yeah, exactly, exactly, exactly. So let's see the things he's done. This guy has done so far. In March 2025, he presented what he described as the largest deregulatory announcement in US History. Whereas he reframed the purpose of the epa, which is Environmental Protection Agency.

[B]

Now it's ensure profits always.

[A]

Yeah. Towards deregulation and energy production in lieu of public health and environmental protections. Announces plans to repeal dozens of major environmental regulations, including protections for wetlands, limits on pollution from tailpipes and smokestacks, and the endangerment finding the legal basis for regulation of greenhouse gases. Cool, guys. Project 2025 is going really well.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Nice. Good thing they didn't know anything about it.

[B]

Yeah, not at all. You can look at that website called like 2025 Tracker and it just shows you how much they've accomplished from that.

[A]

They don't know anything. No, no.

[B]

Not part of it.

[A]

So I got an email this morning from a person whose name I don't need to use, but who is the head of media and public relations for WeatherTech Laguna Seca. Oh. And they wanted to have a little chat with me. They were very nice about the conversation we had. They did not. Not attempt to refute any of our opinions at all. But they said that they have a statement and would I mind reading it. And I said, sure. I said, I will absolutely read your statement. But I said, we're gonna editorialize afterwards. We're gonna talk about your statement. And she's like, that's okay, but if you wouldn't mind, it's not very long and I will read it.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

Here we go. So there's. It's not very long. Ready? And so this is referring, by the way, if you listen to our last show we talked about or two shows ago, but the one before Johnny, we talked about this dude who was at a track day in his Nissan Skyline and he pulled over in a red flag situation and a front end loader went onto the track and hit him from behind while he was stopped. And we were talking about that incident and it's pretty fucked up, actually. So if you listen to the last show, we're pretty firmly on the side of the owner of the car here. Yes, pretty firmly on the side of the owner of the car. But it is only fair to read the statement from the track. And this is to be particular. This is the track. Specifically, the PR person did want to make it very clear and you'll hear why in a second, that this was a track day run by a professional track day company. And according to the PR Person. When a company like that rents the track, they effectively assume full operations of the track. This is what they say. And I'm just repeating what they said. Exactly. Exactly. But that's not the statement. That was her framing of the thing, which she said. I could say, by the way, I did not agree to speak with this person off the record. I said like everything we say, like I'm gonna say. But that was the only interesting bit. And I asked, did the person driving the machine work for the track day company or the track? And she goes, both.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So incidents today, incident statement. An incident involving a track support vehicle and a race car occurred at the facility during a privately operated on track event in December. The track continues to work through the process with diligence and timeliness. End of statement. There's another one though, that's current status. Weathertech Raceway, Laguna Seca continues normal operations and scheduled activities. The facilitate. I don't know if I want to read this. The facility remains focused on delivering safe, well managed events while the review process related to the incident during the privately operated event in December continues. End.

[B]

Oh, so it's a statement. You're saying it's being looked into.

[A]

It's being looked into. It's nothing. I thought that there would be much more of a statement. I was very surprised to see that it made sense.

[B]

That's a sandwich, no meat.

[A]

I mean, I think.

[B]

Well, especially because now, as we talked about on two shows ago, the owner of the GTR has retained a legal representative. They reached out to the track and the guy, also the car owner, also published what those lawyers said in their letter to the track. So this seems like the track's way of saying we're looking into it with our legal team and they're probably now going to fight over who has to pay the Weathertech Raceway or the company that was operating the track. And it'll probably come down to was the company, if it was TST Promotions, did we tell the front loader they could go out or did someone else who works for the track tell them they could go out? And how does that all work?

[A]

Right.

[B]

That's messy.

[A]

That is messy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So, you know, I said I would read it and I did. And it doesn't tell us anything other than the track would really like you to know that they were not running the event when this happened.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And like, no fucking shit. Like, I mean, okay, it doesn't surprise me that this was at a track day that was run by a track day company.

[B]

Oh, well, I mean, I do understand why they're putting that out there? Because if it's not in the headline, if it's not, if people don't read deep into the article, it might not mention, hey, this was ran by a track promotions company.

[A]

Sure. And I could see it.

[B]

And the headline is gonna say Laguna Seca, Weathertech fighting against blah blah blah. So they have to kind of specify that.

[A]

Well, and many people maybe don't know that if a track day company rents the track, you know, they bring their own flaggers, they bring their own personnel. Largely the question of someone who's driving heavy machinery. Now that to me, just a guy, not a lawyer. Seems like if you're driving heavy machinery, you only work at that track. You're not part of a touring circus with.

[B]

I bet that's true. And I bet it. Let's just call him Terry. You know, that day Terry is paid by, by maybe by the track promotion company who's hosting the event. But Terry also is there when IMSA shows up.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And it's Weathertech operating thing. That seems like paper. This is almost like a semantics argument. And they're just deciding who is going to have to pay. GTR guy.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, I hope somebody does.

[B]

I hope somebody does. I don't think there's a way they can't. Yeah, I mean this was. Watch the video.

[A]

It's so legit.

[B]

Car is bright red.

[A]

Yeah. You cannot let this go to a jury. You definitely.

[B]

Yeah, they won't. Yeah, they'll let it get as close as it needs to be and they'll realize that, you know, GTR legal team is not backing down and they'll go, okay, and they settle.

[A]

It's a bad look.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

You know, buy the guy's car.

[B]

I think they will. And I'm sure, you know, large companies of which I don't run like, I'm sure they always have to. They have to look at it because if they just wrote a check the first week, then people, there are shitty people out there who might try to, to bait a front loader into hitting them and so they could get paid by Laguna Sec. Also there are shit bags out there. So they just have to do this investigation. But the optics are bad.

[A]

Yes, they are. Yeah, they're very bad. And I feel bad for the guy. His car's fucked up and he's got to wait around now. And this thing is. It's a nice car.

[B]

It's a really nice. It's like a custom built sequential box red R34. And now the entire, you know, Right. Rear quarter panel is basically in the wheel well.

[A]

Yeah. I'm not sure if it's totaled or not, but it's ugly.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah, it's ugly. So that's a bummer. The. That's really all I got. It hasn't been very long since we did our last program. It hasn't. So here we are.

[B]

Should we talk about integrity, type S or save that?

[A]

We can. Yeah, we can. I still have another. I still have another few days with it. We could marinate it a little more.

[B]

Okay. Yeah, we'll marinate it.

[A]

Yeah. But it's been 40 minutes. I think we could go to the people. We could go to the people. Why not? There's a lot.

[B]

A lot of questions.

[A]

A lot of people. You can stop sending me your truck requests now. Your truck recommendations. We get a little redundant. And it's becoming clear that as time goes on, people are actually listening to the nuance of what I needed. Less and less. The trucks are getting bigger and more diesel y and older I found.

[B]

I mean it's. I appreciate people saying, like, this is what works for me, but it was like a 15 or 18 year old suburban. Yeah. And I just know you're not gonna get that.

[A]

Yeah. Thaddeus. Thaddeus was like, dude, like 03 escalades are so cheap right now. I'm like, what, are you kidding me? What do you think an 03 Escalade smells like?

[B]

Ask Zach Mertens. He bought one for Dom Mazzetti. You can also get our friend Derek Powell sending me diesel Range Rovers. Like he has one and tows his car with it. They're like 20 grand on our.

[A]

Those are nice for a reason.

[B]

Yeah, but I think you need something newer for taxes and liability and all those things.

[A]

No, the leaders are. It's. It's still. It's still nothing. Nothing is even close to the, The Cayenne S Hybrid and the, and the. The Durango rt. Nothing is even close to those. Those are like hit. They hit all of the marks in less like a great used Bentayga comes up. Because that one might be YouTube. Interesting that.

[B]

It will be. Will it be interesting enough to pay for? Well, some of it.

[A]

I don't know. We'll see.

[B]

Like, how reliable is it? We'll find out.

[A]

It's probably not like that much less reliable than like a Cayenne or something. It's all kind of.

[B]

That's probably true. But that versus. Wow, this is funny. Bentley versus Dodge.

[A]

Brand new. Neither versus seven year old Bentley.

[B]

I honestly don't Know where I'd put my money? I really don't.

[A]

I don't either. Wow. We gotta buy both and see what happens.

[B]

The rt, the Hemi engine is a known quantity. If it was the new inline six.

[A]

That would be question mark. Sure, yeah. Question mark. Let's go to the people. Of course. Patreon.com the Smoking Tire podcast. That's where you get your questions in. When Zach posts up the show event, you can put them in the comments there. People still asking me how to do that, but that's how you do it. You also get the show early. You get the show before everybody else. You can get the show without ads. You can get extra show and you can get exclusive access, early access and sometimes exclusive access to merch collabs and stuff. I was just thinking about we should do another tactile turn pen.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

I've been using one of the ones they sent me as a demo that I hadn't thought of much of at the time. But I really like it now. It's a little smaller and more portable for bringing down.

[B]

Yeah, I use mine every day. But it is kind of thin. Thick.

[A]

The thick one? Yeah. This one is like a little thinner. It's like the thinness of like it's like somewhere between. It's more like maybe like a pilot pen. Thinness of that. Yeah, I like it. So anyway, let's see what these folks have to say. Mixmaster Cylinder Want to talk about me and Johnny fighting about AI? I think Matt and Johnny both have valid perspectives. As a software developer that's been programming for 28 years and works for for a smaller AI company, I can see that my highly paid skill writing code is heading towards having zero value and it fucking sucks. On the other hand, the genie is out of the bottle. So if I want a shot of staying in tech, I need to get good at using this. And I recommend anybody with a white collar job do the same. Matt is right that LLMs are coming for your job, but I don't think hating on it is productive. For what it's worth, I don't write code at my job anymore and pretty soon I won't have to review it either. I can't see how my current salary is justifiable long term. Wow, I appreciate the perspective. I disagree with you that hating on it is productive. I do think hating on it is productive. I think spreading valid criticism of AI to people that may not have thought of it that way is incredibly productive. Especially when fucking talking is your job.

[B]

Well, I also think I Think the information about it has led to the pushback we've seen in cities and states.

[A]

There's super bowl commercials. Where's the shark jumping? The hate on all the AI super bowl commercials this year was like pretty fucking heated.

[B]

But I think Ron DeSantis, who I don't agree with on a lot of things, he's trying to get them to ban AI data centers in Florida. There's 10 states right now that are to trying, trying to push back against it. And I think that only happens with a discussion and information being kind of spread to people about the pros and cons of it. Otherwise everyone just goes, oh, I guess it's fine. And then they wake up and their power bill is true. Power bills, people's electricity bills are doubling and tripling in areas where they've built these super data centers like that. And no one got a 2.3x raise in the last.

[A]

I spoke to somebody from Memphis and that's where the Xai AI data center is, the one that fucking running the gas turbines. He says the smell within like a mile of that place is like heinous. Yeah, yeah. And I mean, look, I don't think AI is coming for everything the way that people say it's going to. I mean, it's obviously going to be here to stay on some level. But I think it's very important. Important that we have either a regulatory framework to protect people, whether that means their jobs and unions, or whether that means a fucking, what do you call it? Universal basic income or the fucking Alaska oil pipeline, for instance. Right? The citizens of Alaska get paid from the oil that goes through the Alaska oil pipeline. Like it comes back through state taxes. Like the value that is created out of AI for a very small number of people that in many cases where individuals or very small groups of people are more powerful than entire governments of nations and are accountable to basically nobody. Like, that's really, really bad. And they have all of our data.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And can do anything with it. Like, that's so bad. That's so bad for like 99.9% of all the humans on Earth.

[B]

Yeah. I think to. What was his name is fucking productive. I think pushing back against it like it's, it's. It's not too late. And I think we've been fed this thing like it's going to solve every problem. And it may solve some problems because the compute speed is really fast. But we shouldn't accept everything because it does some things really well that do help us. And the only way to modulate this a bit. Is through pushback.

[A]

Yeah. AKA hating.

[B]

Hating. Yeah, Hating. Marching, whatever. Right. Call your senators.

[A]

I still can't figure I might need to get some special pair of glasses just to read the fucking tv.

[B]

Are these readers?

[A]

These are readers, yeah.

[B]

So the distance is wrong? Yes.

[A]

Yeah. Oh, granny shifting. Not double clutching like you should. Can you specify what you enjoy about driving your Countach? Is it the raw driving experience, the childhood poster effect, how it makes you feel, the attention it garners? All of the above. All the above. Is it fast compared to modern cars? No, but it's not slow either. I would say it's slightly like comparable to like a C6 or C7 Corvette in terms of like how fast it will go.

[B]

That's pretty fast.

[A]

It has a lot of power, but it's also a five speed with long legs. So it's got like sort of long.

[B]

Power bands up top as well.

[A]

Power band's up top. So it's got like kind of long gears.

[B]

What's the red line?

[A]

Maybe 78 maybe.

[B]

Wow, it's much higher than a C67.

[A]

Oh yeah. No, it's four cam V12. So when you're in it, it's very small and very low and you can't ever for a second forget that that's what you are driving, whatever you're doing. I'm in a fucking Countach right now. Whereas there's a lot of other cars where I can kind of forget. Porsche 959, as amazing as it is. But if you were cruising down the highway for an hour and a half, you could absolutely forget that you were in a 959. That's probably a good thing because it's very refined and nice, but also like, it's kind of why I don't lust over a 959. As cool as it is. This is like all the time. It's like fucking Countach all the time. And it's not necessarily just the attention because I'm not. I don't need to just seek attention. It's like the number of times that someone tells me that they have never seen one out in the wild. That's it. It's like this is the first one of these I've ever seen. That's pretty cool. It's an unforgettable experience. It's just. It's one of a very few like overwhelming driving experiences, which is really. But also it's very nice. Like it's not. Doesn't feel like a race car. It's like really comfy comfortable and it rides well.

[B]

It feels very fancy even like old switch gear, blah blah blah. Like you get in, you go, this is nice. This is fancy high quality shit.

[A]

Yeah. PTS normal is a 981 base Cayman in stick. A good beginner track car. Yes it is. Yes it is. I don't see why not.

[B]

Not too fast. Mid engine is catchable and usually, you know, without too many problems. That's pretty good.

[A]

Yeah, I mean they're easy. Like if you blow the gearbox, you'll total the car. That's the one thing I would worry about. Like you could. That is a real thing that could happen.

[B]

Oh wait, and this person already had.

[A]

Wait, I'm tired. He has a miata and a GT4 Riata track car and. Oh, and also has a GT4 RS. Oh well then yeah. Yes, a Cayman and stick. I just drove one in Miami. I raced that car.

[B]

Oh yeah.

[A]

That thing was like so forgiving and easy and it was nice. I do think it is paper GT3RS wings. That's a rise against reference. I have a good friend that wants to get into track days and budget endurance racing. They're excited to get into the hobby. My dilemma is they're not very good at driving. General car control, awareness, reaction time, all leave something to be desired. My question is, should I tell them my feelings as an honest fresh that maybe this isn't the right way to participate in the hobby? Should I leave it up to track day instructors and licensing programs to make the call? I'd hate for someone to invest the time and money just to be disappointed later.

[B]

It's a funny spot to be in.

[A]

It's a funny spot to be in. I like where you're coming from, but two things to consider. I have seen bad street drivers become good track drivers. Sure, I've seen it. So. So if this person's not a great street driver does not make them hopeless for track driving.

[B]

No, no, no, not at all. It's a skill that can be learned and anyone, like just anyone who has eyesight can be taught and learned to get at least to a really good, you know, good level. You know, semi pro or you know, strong amateur if with dedication. Depends on how long it's going to take them to get there.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

And how long you want them to be competent. I think the real is thing thing is you're sharing costs, you're doing lemons, you're doing champ or something. Does this person want to put their money in the pool and risk it getting crashed?

[A]

So let's assume no, let's assume that their friend just wants to do this thing and this is your friend and you want to go endurance racing. I haven't been invited, but I've been in the car with you and I'm going. Ooh. You know what I mean? In that case, don't say shit.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Let this person go to a racing school and have an instructor tell them they suck or make them better. You know, have them. You know what I mean? Do not, you know, I wouldn't off the bat, maybe pay for an expensive seat in an endurance race that they might not fit. Or you do, but you insist that you drive first.

[B]

You do that. I mean, just. I hope they get started. Depends on their budget, of course. Like, relatively cheaply to them. I mean, the good. The thing is, if they want to jump into a more expensive series, then you have to have a comp license. Right. So they're going to have to go to school.

[A]

Yes, but if you do.

[B]

If they do lemons, you just need a driver's license. And that's where they'll. They'll experience black flags. They'll see. I mean, it's a mixed bag out there.

[A]

You. You. Honestly, I wouldn't. Would you recommend someone do lemons without doing at least one racing first? I would. No.

[B]

I'm saying you legally can. You definitely should not do that.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. No, don't. Don't do that.

[B]

But for this person, if they're not going to race with them, then, as you said, this person's gonna have to go out and stumble for themselves.

[A]

Totally.

[B]

And if they choose to go cheap racing in a series that doesn't require a racing license of any kind, I mean, they're just. They're gonna have an expensive weekend.

[A]

Yeah, No, I mean, look, here's what. Here's what you. The most I would do as a football is I would say, without saying anything about their driving, is like, look, if you really want to get into a race, you have to do a school first. You're going to have a bad time if you don't do it. And so then they'll at least get a baseline, you know, and the instructors will, you know, maybe humble them a bit.

[B]

Yeah. And you can frame. Like, racing school is so fun.

[A]

Yeah, it is.

[B]

So pitch it to them like that. Like, it's going to be so fun. You're going to learn. And that way when you buy your race car, build your car, you will be faster and more competitive.

[A]

Yeah. And I wouldn't. And don't count them out. As a driver, not hopeless. Travis Pastrana's primary care provider. I have occasionally heard people describe the 86S as a mini 911. Do you think this is an accurate description? No, no, not at all.

[B]

The engines in the front.

[A]

Do you Think assorted turbo 86 can match the performance of top trim trim 911s? Or is there something just inherently better about the Porsche chassis that can't be matched? Well, hang on a second.

[B]

Wait here. The 911 Cayman chassis.

[A]

The 911.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Here'S the thing. There's a couple questions in here. Do people. Do you think of describing the 86 as a mini 911 is an accurate description? No, not at all. I don't know where that comes from. I mean, these are both great handling cars with low centers of gravity.

[B]

But, like, the only thing I can think of that gets close would be like an Alpine 110. Because the engine, especially the original one, the engine was technically rear engine. Yeah.

[A]

Or the Lotus maybe, kind of.

[B]

Maybe that's mid engine. So, like where the engine is located absolutely defines how a car feels. So the comparison kind of ends right there.

[A]

Yeah. Gr8. I mean, I disagree with that assessment. Can assorted turbocharged 86 match the performance of top trim 911s?

[B]

No.

[A]

Unlikely. Unlikely, yeah.

[B]

Top. Because if this person had just ridden 911s, the answer is maybe. But you say top trim, taking turbo GT3, any of those things?

[A]

No.

[B]

It would have to be a crazy built 500 horsepower GR86 on slicks.

[A]

Yeah. And you could. And the Porsche would be a GT3 with comfort seats and the air conditioning on. And the dude blasting Led Zeppelin, smoking a cigarette, slapping you.

[B]

Look, you just drove at streets and you ran the 124 and the instructor ran a 122, and that was a 4, you know, 4R. Oh, there's a 4S, right?

[A]

4S club sport.

[B]

4S club sport. But compared to Larry Chen's Time Attack built, turbocharged, stripped.

[A]

Was that an 86?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Oh, yeah. Okay, so fine, here you go.

[B]

And he's a couple seconds behind.

[A]

Yeah. So like, so. But I think, yeah, I mean, you could get in the ballpark, but it would be unlikely that you're gonna go out there in a time attack 86 and beat a new GT3RS.

[B]

Now.

[A]

Unlikely.

[B]

I know the Internet is definitely going to send us some links of some crazy Time Attack cars that are running crazy times. So anything is possible. But I think it's difficult and would cost a lot of money.

[A]

I mean, and Also, like, if you're talking, you will have built a race car. You will not have a streetcar anymore. Right. That car won't have an interior in it. Basically. It's not going to have like power seats anymore or a radio or anything. It'll probably have Lexan windows and shit compared to a road car. That's what I'm talking about. If you then want to compare to the race car, you're five seconds behind the Pro in the GT in the Cayman. Not even the cup car. You know, you talk about the cup car is probably two more seconds. Excuse me, Christian says, do you prefer the Ferrari 12 cylindre over the 812 GTS? The 812 seems like it sounds better. It does.

[B]

It does.

[A]

It doesn't have the particulate filters. It sounds better. That's an easily solvable problem in the aftermarket. So I wouldn't write off the entire car because of that. Having said that, I think they drive similar and I prefer the looks of the 812.

[B]

Yeah. Oh, my brain was dyslexic. I also agree 812 was prettier.

[A]

Yeah. Travis Pastrami on Rye Country Day when we moved to Rye, I was like obsessed with it being the name of bread and no one else seemed to notice. They were like, listen, fatty. I was like, it's called bread.

[B]

What.

[A]

Should EVs excuse me, be required to flash their brake lights when decelerating in a heavy regen mode? Driving behind them sometimes feels like driving behind someone with burning out brake bulbs. I've found that EVs do turn on their brake lights when they're in a high regen mode.

[B]

If I'm behind a car and the brake lights come on, I can't tell if they're braking or if the engine's doing regen.

[A]

Well, the only reason I think so is because it was in a place where it was on flat ground and so someone was just driving badly. They weren't.

[B]

I've been in that car before. I've been in that Uber.

[A]

Yes. The answer is yes. I feel like they should and I don't know if there's a law for it. And I do think some already do. Tickle your pickle for a triple nickel boy. When doing a comparison test, do you find that rain narrows the gap or widens it in terms of which car is superior dynamically? Does the rain hide a good or bad chassis or does it expose it? I mean, the rain fucking tires get all over the place in the rain because they normally send us tires with the stickiest shit possible. So if it gets wet out, it gets really messy. I hated the ZR1 in the rain. I thought it was a disaster. And the Temerario, which had much more normal tires, was fabulous in the rain. And so I was like, oh, the Temerario is a go. A much better car. And then I drove in the dry and I was like, oh, shit, the ZR1 is fucking where it's at. It was just like on slicks.

[B]

But I think there's also things where the lower G load of the rain could hide. You know, things like some cars when they compress the spring all the way, you could have bump, steer. You'd have weird behaviors. And you're not going to reach that in the rain.

[A]

Right. You're not going to push any of the car as hard. So you're not going to.

[B]

You might not have the lateral grip to use to find that out.

[A]

Yeah. Tragic pastrami. Is there a case to be had for an Integra Type R that's like a hybrid, all wheel drive, sort of like a baby NSX in reverse. Oh, so like it had electric motors on the rear axle. Interesting thought, but I don't think that platform was really designed for that. And it would put a bunch of weight in the back and it would be kind of of weird. I think if there's going to be an Integra Type R, it, it has to be lighter and more raw. Like that's just what that would be like. That formula is established.

[B]

Yeah, but I don't think they'll do. I think the Civic Type R does that job.

[A]

It does. I. I really like the Integra Type S. We'll talk about it next. Next show, Long beach blue balls. Should I judge my neighbor who left his C8 uncovered under a pile of snow in his drive? You should buy that person a beer. It's. Isn't it great when someone just like doesn't give a fuck?

[B]

Oh yeah. For some reason my brain was like, they just left the roof off. Also I was like, I think they had a beer. I think they had boss.

[A]

That's a boss move. That's a boss move.

[B]

Yeah. That person doesn't care.

[A]

Let's see.

[B]

See.

[A]

Oh, Tom Marinello. I recently acquired a C4ZR1. Now we're fucking talking. This is. That is $25,000 very well spent, my friend. I was amazed that after 35 years it still has the distinctive late 80s, early 90s GM smell. Boy, do I know it took me back to my mom's 88 Beretta GTU. She had a GTU kill. Are there any makes and eras of cars that you could sit in blindfolded and have a good idea of what you're in just by smell? Oh yes.

[B]

80S Oldsmobiles and Cadillacs. Yep. That's.

[A]

Yep. The GM that'll be the same as this GM. Yeah. How about Volkswagens? All Volkswagens. 90s all BMWs. Mid aughts. For sure all the Volkswagens smell like crayons. Yeah. I could get into any G body Porsche and know exactly that smell that I'm sitting in. Anyone that has like a full interior 90s Mercedes or a Mercedes that has like an MB techs interior I could probably get away with. And a muscle car. Vinyl.

[B]

Oh yeah. In the sun, off gassing and you know, uncatted exhaust.

[A]

Sure, yeah. Yeah. Nagaro Blue Balls. What is a corner on a track that's more intimidating than it appears in the sim or photographs? That's a good one. A corner that sneaks up out of nowhere on a track doesn't look hard.

[B]

Turn nine, Laguna Seca.

[A]

Turn nine.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

After the corkscrew is where it's high speed, it's downhill and the camber changes and there's a wall to the right which is where you will go if you. If you really mess it up.

[A]

That is where the poo came out in the Valkyrie.

[B]

Yep. Yeah.

[A]

Also turn 11 at Laguna Seco. Just the left hand, 90 degrees that everybody overcooks.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Yeah. I mean honestly, 8 and 9 at Big Willow. It doesn't look like much but, but, but when you're there all of a sudden it is very strange.

[B]

I think you're just. You're aware of the lack of runoff and the consequence and the speed can be, I don't know, 90 to 140 depending on what you're driving. It's a lot. Oh, turn three at Laguna or sorry, turn three at Willow until they resurfaced it. It had the bumps in it, you know. So you're going pretty fast. Right hand corner and it's a. So the whole time, you know, your chassis is a little unsettled. A little unsettled. That's. Yeah.

[A]

Good question though there's also a bunch that are less. There's a bunch where the three dimensionality of real life makes things quite a bit easier. Road Atlanta is hard as shit on a sim, but in real life is like no problem for me. It's weird, the dimensionality of it. Hero of Extended Warranty. Pretty cool. Close why do Hublot's, especially the Big Bang, get so much hate in the watch world? They're part of an era. They came up quickly. They kind of came out of nowhere. In the beginning they were using other movements and they have sort of a gaudy style that represents sort of a lot about watches from. From 15 years ago. And when people started to get more into like vintage and a little more into like smaller cases and stuff like that. This style of watches which was more like the Schwarzenegger, Stallone, big wrist macho that now we've gone back back, you know, at least the last few years to the sort of more like slim hipster with his vintage whatever. And like these are like not cool.

[B]

Yeah, I'm sure they'll come back because.

[A]

That'S how fashion cyclical.

[B]

But their collection is called the Big Bang collection. And it is big and it's got a lot of stuff going on.

[A]

Yeah. So yeah, they not. And people are not that. Having said that, they are like. They are fully like hot quality Swiss product. And if, if you like how they look like, I'm not gonna make fun of you. You see the one that Nino's dad, because of course he's got a bunch of Hublot's blue collar baller from Detroit, right. Wore the fucking iced out hublot to Nino's wedding. It was gold and iced the whole shit. I was like, did you buy that off like fucking Gucci mane? What are you like, what is this thing? It's crazy looking. Oh man. Okay, wait. If you were to buy one car a year and only hold it for a year before you sold it, what's the ideal month to buy and sell? To allow the order of the seasons the greatest enjoyment? Well, I mean if you have it for a whole year, you get to enjoy it for all the seasons.

[B]

So it doesn't really matter.

[A]

I mean, I suppose the cycle of new car excited and then it becomes normal and then maybe you get over it. Right.

[B]

So I would buy middle of summer because then it will feel like I have two summers of driving. You know, I get to drive, half of it turns to fall. Winter come back around, I get another summer and then I get to sell it.

[A]

It would definitely change. My answer would change depending on what the car is, you know, like this year I'm buying like an arctic trucks, you know.

[B]

Right.

[A]

I would like maximum winter, please. Yeah, interesting thought. God. Imagine buying and selling a new car every year though. Fucking headache. Lichen, hyperspore. Oh.

[B]

That'S pretty funny, is that. Well, lichen Is like, you know, a type of. I don't know if it's a fungi, but like it grows on rocks like a moss hyperspore, you know, it probably spreads by spores like fungi does, so. But it's lichen. Hypersport.

[A]

Oh, like it? Speak it out loud before you get it.

[B]

Yeah, that's great.

[A]

Is this a joke? I hope this comment is a joke, but like, it's pretty funny. Would you mind shouting out my new venture called GrillBetter AI? It watches you cook a steak and randomly shouts, you better flip it at unpredictable intervals. It's for guys with no friends who want to grill outside.

[B]

The site's not live, but you could buy it. Someone could buy it.

[A]

That's funny. Keep going. Rumors of my Selectria Sunrise greatly exaggerated. That's a rise against reference also, but I respect it. I sometimes feel isolated. As a diesel enthusiast who lives in reality and understands climate change is real, I can see that perspective. Why is the diesel scene so toxic compared to gasoline Enthusia who can admit exhaust isn't good to breathe while still enjoying cars?

[B]

I feel like that's a very good perilous question.

[A]

It's a very loaded question.

[B]

It is.

[A]

I think it has something.

[B]

How many generalizations do we want to make?

[A]

Doesn't it have more to do with the fact I think that most diesels are like trucks and then most like a lot of conservative type people. People are likely to buy those types of vehicles percentage wise.

[B]

Correct. And work in industries that tend to be conservative.

[A]

I don't think correlation is causation here, but I could see why you've ended up in that position.

[B]

But I will say that there's plenty of gasoline enthusiasts or part of the industry that's involved in gasoline cars that also probably die climate change and have donated against it.

[A]

I think it's just that like gas, like diesel people can like roll coal. Like that's like it's visible. That's them, like owning the libs. It's like rolling coal. Gasoline people don't have that. I mean, I guess they have the burnout, but diesel, but the rolling coal.

[B]

I mean, during that trolling phase of literally rolling coal, there were videos of like a truck will pull alongside a Prius and smoke it out. So you're not just doing a burnout over here and someone watches you. You're literally like a fucking affecting the air that's coming into their car.

[A]

Yeah. That is fucking such loser shit.

[B]

Yeah. Remember when Gale Banks was like, dude, that's so stupid. The God of diesel performance was like, do not roll coal. You're losing horsepower.

[A]

Laguna Seca Genesis. Are Porsche 914s that bad or undesirable that they haven't gotten as expensive as other Porsches? Or were they worth so little that the current cost of entry seems reasonable? The problem with a 914 is it costs as much to run one as it does to run a 911. You know what I mean? Like you buy one for $25,000 or something and then you find out the annual service is five grand and you go, what the fuck? It's not like a Beetle or something. You still have to buy Porsche parts. You still have to get, you know, Porsche service and Porsche this and Porsche that. Like it's gonna be fucking expensive. And unless it's a 914.6 or some other kind of like super hopped up one, the driving experience is not.

[B]

It's not fast.

[A]

It's not fast.

[B]

So you're buying a slow car that costs as much to maintain as a fast car. Yeah.

[A]

And that you have to explain to people is a Porsche that they don't know is a Porsche. Now, I've driven a couple 914s and like, given sufficient power, they're a good time. But that's why.

[B]

And the 914 6s are expensive, correct? Yeah.

[A]

Paint to sample. Bonnie blue says.

[B]

Jesus Christ.

[A]

I'm looking for the best gas efficient vehicle for my 6 foot 5 friend. Driving a ton for sales, he went from Tahoes to a Ford Edge Limit. I'm thinking Lexus hybrid ES or tx. Last podcast reminded me of an Acura. I mean, yeah, Acura's, but they're not the most. The Lexus hybrids.

[B]

The ES is awesome.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Two of Sarah's. Sarah's dad had one. Her mom has one. Separate cars. Like, her mom's car is 12 years old and feels brand new. Her dad's car was two years old. It is brand new. They have tons of space. They're really comfortable. Good highway car.

[A]

The thing about the tx and my dad for some reason doesn't learn this, the seat doesn't go quite far back enough. So if Your friend is 6 foot 5 and it's all legs, I would skip lexus and Toyota SUVs. The seats don't. They're like an inch short of where they need to be. The RXs and the TXs, all of them. And the Highlanders and shit too. The ES does not have the that problem. Toyota I foreskin cars and bids recently had a McLaren 570s sell for 89k. And I can't help but think that's a shitload of car for the money. 60k miles and there was a lien on it. Wow, that is a shitload of car for the money. 60,000 miles is an awful lot. I can see why there's lots of other McLarens out there that have still. Like, you want some miles on your McLaren. McLaren, but not that many.

[B]

And the repair costs. And I don't know what the reliability record is of the 570s, but I know that McLaren has kind of a up and down reliability record. So it is a ton of performance for the money.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

That would probably smoke the Lotus around a racetrack. But if something breaks or has a problem now you're paying supercar prices to fix it.

[A]

Keep going. Don't have an answer for those. I'm sorry. We sit on front porches and swing life away. That's, I think just the lyric of that song, but okay. Dream blunt rotation with people in the automotive industry. Most of these folks don't smoke weed.

[B]

Or you've smoked blunts with the ones who do.

[A]

I've already smoked blunts with the ones who do.

[B]

And your dreams have been realized.

[A]

See, do we. Do, you know, is it racing drivers.

[B]

Or is it actual, I think, designers.

[A]

Designer. Yeah. I want to do Gordon. You know, you'd want to have Gandini, probably just for funsies. You'd want to have.

[B]

What's the guy's name that did the Manx?

[A]

Oh, Freeman.

[B]

Freeman.

[A]

Freeman Thomas. Yeah. He probably would get down.

[B]

Yeah. Everything's too colorful and awesome.

[A]

We could probably make that happen at the ice race. I don't know if he's going, but that would be awesome. And Jamal and Richard Toddhill.

[B]

I'll say T Pain because he's kind of in the automotive industry now.

[A]

Federal investigator. What would be a good solution to crack down on distracted drivers? Driving. Man, we're hosed. We don't have attention spans anymore. And driving sucks and traffic sucks and.

[B]

Police budgets are already high. Like, the only way to do this is more. Oh, you know, if they put cameras up everywhere, which they're going to eventually, probably. And if the camera could detect you're looking at your phone. Yeah, that's the only way.

[A]

Automated enforcement is probably the only way that we'll do it. And I don't think anyone would ever vote for that. No. But yeah, I think we're fucked. I mean, I think we're fucked in that regard. I have absolutely no public transit. Actually. You'd Get a good number of those people that don't want to be driving in the first place.

[B]

That's the best answer and the one I want to see done. Yeah.

[A]

Mustang Geek. Is there room in the marketplace for a reimagined Fox body Mustang? I would say that there is, based on what I see people paying for finished product at auction. If someone like, if you and I were to do a Fox body that had a coyote motor and a great, an independent rear suspension and a great chassis and a full interior that worked. It wasn't like super over the top, but there was a great, nice looking interior. We could probably sell them for 100 grand. Probably.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Could you sell them for 300 grand? Like doubtful.

[B]

And how many could you sell? I think that's always the question too.

[A]

Yeah, I mean it would be challenging, but you know, people are paying 40, 50, $60,000 for like other people's like home built versions of this. So if there was a brand that was able to do it, you know, with a level of expertise that was, I mean there's some pretty cool shit. Did you see the thing that Rentech announced? Rentech is doing a 560 sec with a V12 in it.

[B]

Whoa.

[A]

You know. All right, cool. Good times. So that'll probably be expensive, but I, I do think you could probably get 100 grand for a really nicely done done Fox body, Coyote motor, T56 or Voodoo motor, you know, GT 350 motor, six speed gearbox, nicely sorted suspension.

[B]

Yeah, but you won't get a million. No, no.

[A]

Oh boy.

[B]

Oh, we're on page six of nine.

[A]

We're not getting through all of them. So Christy Yamaguchi Mane, I want a convertible for under 20k that I can get in and out of for revenue. Relatively flat money. Is that a nice Miata, Cheap Boxster and a fairly cheap S2000 or something else. Convertible, fun car for 20k. So I would say get the nicest BMW 330ci E46 that you can find. Not an M330ci. That's like a really nice car to drive. That would be in and out of.

[B]

Money, but I think the S2000 is probably the safest bet on this list. There's too many Corvettes, I don't know. Yeah, I mean, how long you kept it? You know, if you. One year you might go in and out for flat money. But I feel like three years the Corvette's just gonna go down. But S2000s are still like talked about sought after, you know, famous.

[A]

You could get a C4 for ZR1.ZR1 which has a targa roof. You could do that and that would be about 20k. And you could get in and out of it for flat money. I don't have. Keep going, Keep going, Keep going. Keep going. Keep going, Keep going. Sorry. There's a lot of people have nice things to say, but. Okay. Your boy Paulie, 19 and I bought my first collector car. A driver grade green 1995 Dodge Viper. Now I have to say green, assuming it's like the British racing green, is a fabulous color for a first gen Viper.

[B]

Viper.

[A]

It probably looks. It looks. I bet it looks great.

[B]

Yeah, the British racing one is awesome. The other one.

[A]

Is there another one? What's the other like nuclear waste green?

[B]

No, it looks a lot like the. I'll pull them up. It looks like that Miata kind of seafoam green.

[A]

Oh, wait.

[B]

And it could just be the picture.

[A]

Well. Oh, this one.

[B]

So there's that green. Maybe it's the same.

[A]

Oh, this one's more like an Aventurine. Huh. I wonder if this is it. You think this is the one the guy just bought this is last year.

[B]

And then there's this one, but I'm not sure if this has been repainted. But it looks.

[A]

Oh, that looks great. That one. I think that's the same color just in different light, different setting. Different light and different wheels.

[B]

All right.

[A]

Great color though. Fuck, that's awesome. These, these, these wheels do not help it. Okay, so said he got it for what? Bought it for 34k. Is there anything I could have gotten that provides a more special experience for the 34k that I paid? Well, where do you say special? I mean, because you could certainly buy something that would provide a more like a different experience.

[B]

You could buy something that's Windows. Sure.

[A]

Yeah. I mean you could buy a Lotus Elise that could be a similar experience.

[B]

But I think this has a presence that beats the Elise. I think Elise is fun. Probably better to drive in most ways, but this like this has curb appeal presence sound.

[A]

I don't disagree.

[B]

It's wild. Yeah.

[A]

You could probably get some weird imported like JDM shit. That would probably be really cool. Like a, like a. What do you call it? It's not the Skyline, like a silver. You know, you could get like an S15 maybe or something like that. But honestly for, you know, for 34 grand, you're 19 years old. That's a very interesting first collector car. Don't die.

[B]

Yeah. Be careful.

[A]

Please make new tires. You gotta. If you if this doesn't have new tires on it, you. You really need new tires. And I'm talking your date codes need to be five years or less and they need to fucking match. Your fronts and your rears. They need to match.

[B]

Buy four new PS4s for this thing.

[A]

And that car will then be easy to drive. Yeah. Scion Songs of the Counterculture. Now we're talking. I learned about a porsche from the 60s called the 356B Carrera Abarth. I think they only made 100. Do you have experience? I've never driven one. Jerry's got one. Of course he does. Of course he does. Drifting in the name of that. Have you ever given your opinion on stance? Respect all builds or get the fuck out of here with that trash.

[B]

Dude. I think they look cool when I stands built. When we see it on the road, I just worry because it's, you know, the contact patch is tiny.

[A]

But I don't like a static height stance. I don't mind if you have an air suspension and you drop it hard park. That's fine. That's okay. I like the. I think the Japanese VIP style is fun and silly.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

The pillows and the tea trays and that's great. It's a good time. I do you look. I respect pretty much all styles of car modification in their own way.

[B]

I just think there's something very aesthetically appealing. But for me it's like an art piece. It's just parked there. Extreme angles on the wheels. It reflects a ton of light and sure.

[A]

MX 5 inches.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

What are your thoughts on the Recaro seats in Mustangs compared to the heated and cooled couch seats? I had an S550 in the past. I think I want another one with Recaros. I'm 6 foot 2, 35 and I hated the Focus RS seats. I'm with you. I would only buy a Mustang with the Recaro seats. I don't think the couch seats are very good. Especially if you're talking about holding you in when you're handling. Handling. Yeah, it was. I would get the Recaros. I think you'll fit. Yeah. And I hated those seats too. Oh wait, hang on. We'll do other. Other people. The art of Losing Traction. What's the most annoying non car guy statement you've ever heard? I was at my dad's for the super bowl and one of his buddies was trying to convince me and my dad's other friends. Friends how peppy his dart rally was. And it made my skin crawl.

[B]

Well, it might be built. I don't know.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

Who knows.

[A]

It's maybe Musto's Dart with the 800 horsepower. Right? I mean it's going to be obvious but recently it's the, it's the, the, the. The. The wholesale adoption of the self driving hype. The, you know the, the. The. I have. I have actual friends who are not car people who genuinely believe that like FSD is better than dry at driving than them. And my one friend is. Is such a horrible driver that that might actually be true. But you have to be a really bad driver for that to be true. And he is a very bad driver going back 20 years. So like maybe he's the use case. Case. I do think he's untrainable in that regard. But yeah, it's generally when I hear people repeating bullshit about self driving cars that drive the people refer to things as self driving cars that aren't self driving cars. Mainly that drives me fucking batshit. All right, last one and then we're ending this show. Tack A file says I'm considering lifting my BR's Z. I'm wondering about the spectrum of off road suspension setups and where I should be aiming. There's several off the shelf coilover setups designed for rally or rally cross. But I'm not sure that's what I should be looking for. I don't really want something that rides higher but harsher than stock. Ideally I want more ground clearance and travel but with a reasonable ride quality and handling. I don't know enough about what's possible or. Or even who to ask. Good question. I do not have specific experience in this regard the brz. But rally and rallycross is where you should be looking mainly because it's sorted science for those folks and they can set you up. Those systems are adjustable so you can adjust your damping. You single adjustable. You can get triple adjustable if you've got more boost budget and you can say I want this setup soft, I want this setup harsh. With an adjustable suspension. Yeah.

[B]

It shouldn't be harsher because the lift from a reputable rally company will be coming from the control arms or the mounting points. It's not going to be lifted by.

[A]

The spring by a heavier duty because.

[B]

That'S what my lifted Crown Vic was. It was lifted by the spring and it rode like. But rally cars traditionally, I mean you watch them move like they're kind of softly sprung. There's a lot of wheel motion to absorb the bumps and keep the car settled and the tire on the ground. So that's who you should be talking to.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah, and you should. I mean, if you're genuinely going off road, you should also be investing in skid plates for that car, too.

[B]

Yeah, not a bad idea.

[A]

Thanks, everybody. I know there are a lot more questions. We will hold over the productive ones until next show, but I appreciate y'.

[B]

All.

[A]

We will be back next week, and I'll see you guys later. Bye.