Driving School; Dodge Charger Review; 1981 Classifieds; Q&A

Summary

The Smoking Tire Podcast — April 21, 2026

Hosts: Matt Farah, Zack Klapman
Episode Highlights: Skip Barber Competition License, Dodge Charger Six Pack Review, 1981 Classifieds, Autonomous Cars, Listener Q&A

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Episode Overview

In this lively episode, Matt and Zack cover a range of automotive adventures and opinions: Zack takes listeners through the process of earning his competition racing license at Skip Barber (Sonoma); Matt reviews his 1,600-mile road trip in the new Dodge Charger Six Pack coupe; they examine exotic car bargains from 1981 classifieds; and riff on everything from autonomous cars to watch collecting. The episode closes with a deep and humorous Patreon Q&A, touching on topics from car buying to the shifting automotive industry. As always, the conversation is candid, irreverent, and packed with practical insights.

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Main Segments & Key Highlights

1. Opening & Banter: 420 & Old School Cigarette Memories

• [00:00 – 07:30]
• Matt celebrates his wedding anniversary and 4/20, recounting weed/cigarette nostalgia from the early 2000s:
  • “You know what I actually just did... I scraped the kief out of my grinder.” (Matt, 02:24)
  • Discussion on the joys of mid-meal cigarettes and the fading era of smoking in bars:
    • “Nobody liked cigarettes more than me.” (Matt, 04:28)
• Mention of Musso & Frank’s Steakhouse and the culture of old-school LA dining.

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2. Heritage Invitational & Pro-Am Racing Observations

• [07:30 – 09:50]
• Recap of the Heritage Invitational: driving Legends cars, seeing racing icons like Jeff Gordon and Bill Elliott compete alongside talented amateurs.
• Standout moment: Facility utility manager “JC” on the podium among NASCAR greats:
  • “He’s on the podium with NASCAR legends, which was an unbelievable thing to see.” (Matt, 09:19)

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3. Zack Earns His Competition Racing License at Skip Barber

• [09:50 – 28:31]
• [10:03] Zack explains the process of passing the Skip Barber two-day advanced class for SCCA race licensing.
  • “I passed. I passed.” (Zack, 10:04)
  • Key tip: "Don’t crash and don’t go far off. You'll probably get the license." (JF, relayed by Zack, 10:12)
• [11:27] Incidents and learning moments on track.
• Car used: Early-2010s Mustang with 4.6L V8 — reliable, basic, “very similar” to Lemons racing Ranchero, offering good real-world practice.
• Comparison between Skip Barber (Sonoma) and Spring Mountain (Corvette) schools:
  • Spring Mountain offers rich data analysis (Cosworth Toolbox, PDR video, instructor debrief) [18:53]:
    • “Between sessions at Spring Mountain, they would pull up your video with your brake trace, GPS trace—helped me a lot more than what we did between sessions at Skippy.” (Zack, 19:32)
  • Advice: Break learning into manageable changes for each session.
  • Skip Barber’s instruction is more focused on safety and self-coaching; less specific with performance advice.
  • Highlight: The variety of skill levels, racecraft lessons, and unexpected speed from “old guy in cowboy boots.”
• Discussion of Sonoma’s corners and Skip Barber’s appeal of letting you drive dream tracks like Lime Rock and Laguna Seca:
  • “Turns 1 through 6 at Sonoma are fucking rippers. I just love driving that first half of that track.” (Matt, 26:24)

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4. Road & Track Desert 600 Rally and Dodge Charger Six Pack Review

• [28:32 – 47:49]
• Matt’s Take on the New Charger:
  • Drove the new Dodge Charger Six Pack Scat Pack Coupe across 1,600 miles (to Vegas & Scottsdale).
  • Looks: “I think it’s a cool looking car… basically a modernized version of the ’68–70 Charger.” (Matt, 32:53)
  • Practicality: True 4-seater coupe, huge hatch cargo space, comfortable interior.
  • Powertrain: Twin-turbo inline-6, 550 hp, AWD, average 19 MPG. But...
  • Major critique: Poor sound quality—“It sounded like a droney VQ. Not good.” (Matt, 37:27)
    • Possible issue: Modern turbo I6s with dual exhausts just don’t sound good vs. classic single-exhaust I6s.
  • Driving experience: Not particularly fun or engaging; heavy (4800 lbs), “rides like it’s on cut springs,” lacks adaptive suspension, unremarkable handling and acceleration.
    • “It just didn’t feel like a serious performance car, which was unfortunate.” (Matt, 42:03)
  • Compared to cars like Bentley GT, BMW 8-series—Charger lacks refinement and “budget GT” credentials.
• Hotel & Route Highlights:
  • Glamping near Zion National Park (Under Canvas Zion experience).
  • Beautiful desert driving, notable road sections, rave on Pacific Northwest tour with dual track days at PIR and DirtFish rally.

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5. Autonomous Cars: Waymo & Tesla Observations

• [51:22 – 55:57]
• Matt encounters a Waymo “left-lane hogging” at 66 mph — initially assumes a failing in the self-driving system, but it's a human driver.
• Insight from Alex Roy:
  • “Tesla’s algorithm optimizes for time; Waymo optimizes for safety. That’s why a Waymo might route you in a weird way—it’s self-insured and avoids statistically dangerous intersections.” (54:51)
• Q&A on future EV taxis (the logic of Tesla’s two-door robo-cab design).

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6. 1981 "Classifieds Time Capsule" — Exotic Bargains

• [57:50 – 67:08]
• Matt reads from a December 1981 Road & Track—the prices and inflation math astonish:
  • 1965 Ford GT40 Roadster: $150,000 (~$525k today), now worth $10 million
  • Ferrari 275 GTB 4-cam: $55,000 (~$192k today), now $3 million
  • Dino 246 GTS Spyder: $30k (~$100k today), now $400k+
  • Lamborghini 400 GT: $18,500 (~$60k), now $500k–$700k
  • Porsche Speedster: $19,500, now $300k–$500k
• “If only someone had held on to those cars for 30 years... That’s a buy and hold.” (Matt, 61:13)
• Ed Waterman’s D.C. inventory as the 1981 blue-chip dealer roll: Miura SV for $55k (now $5M), original Cobra for $35k.

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7. Listener Q&A (Patreon)

• [67:42 – End, select highlights]
• Watch nerd take: TAG Heuer Monaco Caliber 11? “Educated people wear them, Alex Roy has one, but I’d get a Cartier Santos if I wanted a square watch.”
• Should you make your car hobby your job? “If you see too far behind the curtain, it can ruin it as a hobby. Most people on our events are escaping the office; for us, it’s work.” (Matt, 72:50)
• Physical gauge clusters? Don’t count on a comeback: “They’re just too expensive, and screens can do everything now.”
• Suggestions for NorCal honeymoon car trip: Coast Highway 1 drive, Russian River loop, or DirtFish rally school.
• GT3 SC Cabrio: “Nice, but would have rather seen a Speedster. It’s an extremely high-margin, parts-bin car.”
• Car consolidation advice: 718 Cayman/Boxster vs. F150 PowerBoost camper to pair with a 944 Turbo or Vanagon; both valid, depends on adventure style.
• Entry-level sports car pick: GR86 manual over EcoBoost Mustang auto.
• Nürburgring lap time wars: Ford, GM, Porsche build “competition special” models, sometimes with powertrains not even street-legal.
• Automotive journalist focus groups in product development: Marketers use “intellectual influencers” (not strictly journos) for feedback in early design phases.
• Bonus: Embarrassing stories about being caught high/drunk:
  • “The first 10 times I smoked weed, my parents caught me every time; they thought I was an addict when I was just bad at hiding.” (Matt, 90:07)

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Notable Quotes by Timestamp

• [09:19] Matt: “He’s on the podium with NASCAR legends, which was an unbelievable thing to see.”
• [10:04] Zack: “I passed. I passed.”
• [19:32] Zack: “They’d pull up your video with all your brake trace, GPS… [at Spring Mountain]—helped me a lot more than at Skippy.”
• [26:24] Matt: “Turns 1 through 6 at Sonoma are fucking rippers. I just love driving that first half of that track.”
• [37:27] Matt: “It sounded like a droney VQ. Not good.”
• [42:03] Matt: “It just didn’t feel like a serious performance car, which was unfortunate.”
• [54:51] Matt: “Waymo optimizes for safety; Tesla optimizes for time...that’s why Waymo takes wonky routes.”
• [61:13] Matt: “That would have been a buy. By the way, you know who was buying cars at these prices? Ralph Lauren...he’d buy the one that won Le Mans.”

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Memorable Moments & Stories

• Zack’s race school run-in with “old guy in cowboy boots” who absolutely rips on track, catching him totally off guard.
• Matt’s candid Charger review, encountering the underwhelming engine note and ride, and being humorously upstaged at a gas station by an M3.
• The rally across the desert and glamping under the massive starry sky at Zion:
  • “Ripped, great hot water. And I had the fire going all night. Ripping J’s under the stars. You’ve never seen stars like this outside of Zion.” (Matt, 47:00)
• Listener’s car-buying time machine segment with real, inflation-adjusted 1981 classifieds. The team’s shock at then-tame prices for now-appreciated classics.

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Useful Timestamps for Reference

• Skip Barber Competition License: [09:50 – 28:31]
• Dodge Charger Six Pack Review: [32:52 – 47:49]
• Desert 600 Rally Stories: [47:00 – 49:30]
• Waymo & Autonomous Cars Segment: [51:22 – 55:57]
• Classic 1981 Classifieds Deep Dive: [57:50 – 67:08]
• Patreon Listener Q&A: [67:42 – End, especially 69:54, 72:50, 74:06, 83:24, 85:23, 87:18]

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Episode Tone & Style

• Irreverent, candid, and relatable—a mix of firsthand expertise, deep-dive banter, and behind-the-scenes realness.
• Emphasis on learning by doing (race schools), lived automotive experiences (cross-country rallies, road trip lessons), and willingness to critique both old and new in the car world.
• The hosts don’t shy away from calling out car industry trends, or their own preferences and irritations, making this episode especially valuable for enthusiasts weighing their next automotive adventure.

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Transcript

[A]

What up, everyone? Welcome to the Smoking Tire Podcast. Today's episode is brought to you, as always, by off the Record. We love them over here. And as I drive around the country, I know that off the Record is always looking out for me. If the V1 doesn't get them, if the Waze doesn't get them, off the Record's gonna get them. Off the Record sets you up with qualified attorneys in every state in America to fight moving violations on your behalf. Don't let it ruin your day, don't let it ru. Ruin your vacation, and certainly don't plead guilty. Get off the record, go to offtherecord.comtst to get 10% off all legal services through off the record. Again, that's offtherecord.com TST to get 10% off all legal services through off the Record. All right, folks, on this episode of the podcast, Zach gets his competition racing license at Skip Barber sonoma. I drive 1600 miles in the new Dodge Charger six pack and give my review. I found some exotic car bargains from my birth year, and a Waymo was driving like a dick for an unexpected reason. It's the Smoking Tire Podcast. Let's go, guys. The Smoking Tire is giving away a 992.1 Turbo S. In partnership with Dream Giveaways, we are giving away a $275,000 car with some slick choice mods. The proceeds benef charity, and you don't have to buy any merch. It's a straightforward entry process. So hit the link in the show notes and get entered to win today. What ze fuck is up?

[B]

Your favorite date, Matt.

[A]

Happy, happy motherfucking. 4 20.

[B]

It's your anniversary of your 2000 and 20.

[A]

It's my anniversary of my celebrates Two Favorite Things. My wife and the chronic. And to celebrate, I have taken some advantage of both today. Don't you worry. Don't worry. Unlike most other podcasts, I did smoke some weed before this one to celebrate. 4:20.

[B]

Yeah, it's important.

[A]

It's a real change in behavior.

[B]

Yes. It's nice of you to do that for the people.

[A]

You know what I did, what I actually just did, for real, if I'm being very honest, was go to the locker. Realized that actually I was out of weed here at the office, and I scraped the resin. Hit scraped, not resin. No, no resin. What am I, in college? No, no. But, you know, with the grinder, makes a healthy amount of kief. And so guitar pick to the keefe.

[B]

And it's all stronger than weed, right?

[A]

Oh, it's delightful. Keef was. I mean, when I learned you could just buy Keef and I don't even know if you can anymore, but you could.

[B]

That was. I remember that's when we were living together.

[A]

You could just buy banks, Keith. Cause the combination. The year, the year was 2004. The place was Smokey Joe's bar at the University of Pennsylvania. Still there. Shout out to him. Band used to play there. This is the last time I remember being able to smoke cigarettes in bars. Like while I smoke, like not in Vegas or anything. You know what I mean? Like local. And I had that jar of Keef. And when you'd pack your stogs, it would leave that gap, right? And so that it would have that scoop at the end. So you would just gently do a nice little scoop and then you'd fucking tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap it down. A nice little scoop. Tap, tap, tap, tap. And then when you just go to light your cigarette in the bar, you'd have that first banger and then it was, oh, what's that smell? I've just got a cigarette.

[B]

Yeah. Everyone's like, who's smoking weed? And like, no, it's not him.

[A]

Not him.

[B]

He's just got a cigarette.

[A]

Just that very happy looking man with a cigarette.

[B]

Matt's not as angry right now as he was before, huh?

[A]

Talk about the glory days.

[B]

They got a website and then you

[A]

were already smoking a cigarette. Then you, you already were. You were still at the bar and you were already sm. I mean, God damn it. Oh, great.

[B]

I've never enjoyed anything as much as you enjoyed smoking cigarettes.

[A]

Wow. Nobody liked cigarettes more than me. It's so. They're so bad for you. But socially did so much for me.

[B]

But. But you and other people who smoked a long time, they talk about it like it's this oasis that they used to live in before, you know, the communist rules showed up or something. It just.

[A]

Oh yeah.

[B]

In the morning, before you even have water. Yeah, it's the best. You're like, right, it's. Cause you're craving this addiction. You're like, yes. And now I don't feel terrible. Cause I had the thing.

[A]

I had this last night we were at Musso and Frank's. Shout out to TST listener Brian, who works at Musso and Frank's, the oldest restaurant in Hollywood. Old school steakhouse. Fucking great.

[B]

It's good.

[A]

And Brian gets us the best table. He's a car guy. We see him in cars and coffee. And for years he's been like, come to Musso and Frank's. And I was like, well. But then I finally was like, hey, man, I'm gonna come. He sets us up in the table that Al Pacino and Brad Pitt are sitting at in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It's like, apparently a very requested table. It's pretty cool. We had a fucking fabulous meal. But this group of like six super drunk guys was next to us. They're like our age, but they are schwasted and they're fucking loud and Brian's taking care of them. So he's like, here's some, you know, what do you call it? Some amused bouche. Give me a second. These dudes are wasted. Let me get their food out. And he goes. They start bringing out like three trays of food. All five of these guys get up to have a stog outside. And Brian just looks at me, he's got all this tray. He looks over and he's like, huh? I was like. And we started talking about how great that mid meal grit was.

[B]

Didn't it reduce the flavor of all the food you're eating?

[A]

You don't know. You don't. You don't know what you're missing. Like, I know what you mean. Yes, smoking does reduce the flavor, but it's not like yesterday, I wasn't smoking. You know, it's a slow changeover.

[B]

There's no immediate change. Like if you take a bite of steak and then go smoke a cigarette and come back.

[A]

No, no, no. There's no short term. Yeah. There's no short term effect.

[B]

Yeah. Okay.

[A]

Especially if you've been fucking pounding, you know, Italian red wine.

[B]

Right? Then, like, everything tastes delicious. Sure. Just put more salt on it.

[A]

So that was our. That was our Ann celebration. And Brian was all fucking Zuckerman and Johnny have both been in this week also. I guess it's a popular spot to go this week, but we should go again because it was. It was superb. Fucking so old school.

[B]

I ate there with Lin Woodward. Aaron Robinson.

[A]

Oh, yeah. Like our oldest. Our oldest young friends. Our friends that are roughly our age but are like out of the 30s.

[B]

And Lynn drove her old Porsche and Aaron drove like an old Buick that opened when Musso opened. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

We say this with the greatest love. Yeah. They're our friends from, like, another time.

[B]

For sure. Yeah.

[A]

Anyway, hi. Happy 420 and all that. A lot has gone on since we last talked. We got ahead because we were traveling. We did the gig at the Heritage Invitational.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I hope the people at home enjoyed that. Show. We certainly enjoyed doing it. That's a really fun event. We got to drive the Legends cars on the track. We saw a bunch of very, very famous and legendary racing drivers duke it out in similar cars. And then we saw like in the Pro Am where they had a bunch of these pro drivers. I mean NASCAR legends, they had Bill Elliott and Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon. Jeff Gordon. There was Tommy Kendall, Kurt Bush. Was Sterling Marlin there too? Kurt Bush, maybe Sterling Marlin. But like fucking guys that were legends and they put them all in these Mustangs. And then a bunch wealthy amateur drivers got to donate money to the charity and buy seats to compete. And it was like a team sport. Pretty fun. My highlight of it was when like the 19 year old utility track kid

[B]

there, JC, so I drove his Legends car. Yeah, he's the got on the podium utilities manager. He's third place and he's really fast. He was, we were watching, it was like in the semifinals, I think he had the second fastest time and then maybe Jeff or Kurt found like a second and a half and suddenly jumped way ahead. But yeah, I think it was cool

[A]

because Jeff was in the lead and JC was right behind him.

[B]

But JC's this guy who just started driving a few years ago and is one of the fastest people in Legends, One of the fastest people at this track. And I was like, oh, is he an instructor here? And Graham goes, no, he's like the facility's something or other. So he just does sim stuff and drives when he can. And he's really good.

[A]

And he's on the podium with like NASCAR legends, which was an unbelievable thing to see.

[B]

Yeah, really cool.

[A]

I was into that. And it was a very fun event. Oh yeah, the vintage Tide car too. We saw some, the Radwood portion art and art and fucking. And Warren and the boys did a great job with this Radwood. This was a really good one.

[B]

It was a really like nice diverse mix. Not too big spread out around the track. So you kind of walked. You walked a couple corners.

[A]

But also a Great spread of 80s and 90s NASCARs and race cars which were really, really fun. So that was a good time. And then Zach went to get his competition license. I did. How'd that go?

[B]

And I got it.

[A]

You passed?

[B]

I passed. I passed.

[A]

It is pass, fail, open book.

[B]

It kind of is. Yeah, it is. Yeah. I think it's like, what did JF say? Cause JF did it too. He's like, don't crash and don't go far off, you know, and be a Problem. And like, you'll, you know, they'll probably give you the license, but that's just

[A]

like the actual race, by the way. That's the same.

[B]

It's the same rules, right?

[A]

Like, the sanctioning body gives no fucks if you're fast or slow. They care if you're crashing into shit.

[B]

I had, I had one off, but it was in a. I was just practicing, like playing with deeper braking zones. And it was an area that was coned, not dirt. And I went, all right, if, like, if I overshoot this, I have Runway.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So I. And I overshot it by like eight feet.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And they flagged me anyway because that's just protocol. And they were like, hey, what happened there? And I went, here's what happened, here's why, blah, blah. And they went, okay. Like, this was not, this wasn't an accident that you don't understand.

[A]

Yeah, you found, you found the safest place on the track to push this one thing. And you saw what happens, right?

[B]

Second safest. Yeah. They were like, we like to do this in corner seven. And I was in 11.

[A]

Oh yeah. But it was short 11.

[B]

They coned 11 off. Yeah.

[A]

If you run short 11, you've got. Unless you're blowing that at 100 miles an hour. If you blow that by a few feet. That's a.

[B]

So much room. Yeah, so much room with an exit,

[A]

with a return route.

[B]

A guy in my class did have an oopsie on that corner on day one and whacked a wall.

[A]

Get out of here.

[B]

Like, he, he got on the gas too early coming out of it. And 11's bumpy. Like you just. This class is. It was. So this was the advanced two day Skip Barber class. I had signed up for it months ago. And then it just so happens that this also counts for the SECA's like full competition license if you get passed through in the advanced class. So they send a certification to scca and SCCA says, oh, okay, here is your license. Spring Mountain also counts if you do the two day advance class, which you've already done. I did that a couple years ago.

[A]

So you could. They could have just sent in the thing and you would have had the license.

[B]

They probably could have done that.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But Spring Mountain took that off of their website for some reason. Like it used to be in their marketing. And so you have to find it in SCCA's webpage, which I did after I did this class.

[A]

I mean, more training is always totally.

[B]

And I was already signed up for it before Even like I was happy to have the training.

[A]

This is at Sonoma. We were talking about corner numbers and I don't think we said Sonoma race.

[B]

You're right. I didn't set it up at all. So I did the Skip Barber two day class. I was driving.

[A]

You're doing a bad Drive.

[B]

In 2013 Mustangs at Sonoma, weather was perfect. The cars are pretty simple. They've got stop tech brakes, half cage harnesses. That's it. I mean some of them have been swapped to the Tremec 6 speed. I think a few are still 5 speeds, but mine was a 6. Not that we needed it. And it's pretty much it. It's a real simple formula and square stance, I think.

[A]

And you said it's a 13, so it's a coyote motor car at least. Right. It's not a four valve car.

[B]

No, it was a 4.6. Sorry, it's a 4. 6.

[A]

That's like a 10.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Or no. Oh wait, let me see. Oh, that car is like older than that. That car is like a nine. Yeah. 809 maybe.

[B]

Yeah, it was the four. It was definitely the four. Six mod motor.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Which Reliable, cheap.

[A]

I mean for a school car, who gives a shit?

[B]

I think that's the plan.

[A]

As long as it as if they're reliable. That's really fun.

[B]

Like mine had 90,000 miles on it or something like that. And Skippy is a Skippy does. They're making it work. You know that company went bankrupt a little bit and now they're back. Some of the other people in the class said like their cars were being weird. And I don't know if that's, if that's the way they were driving them or the cars were being weird. I think there's a bit of both. So I think, I think one person was upshifting super early and they're like the car bogs like.

[A]

Sure, yeah. But when you shifted three.

[B]

But one guy who was very capable, he was reporting some transmission oddities.

[A]

Well, if it's that five speed.

[B]

Yeah. I don't know which one. Mine was the Tremec. So it felt great.

[A]

Sure, yeah.

[B]

Funny enough, this car felt so much like the Ranchero I race in lemons. I swear to God.

[A]

That is a compliment to a certain car and an insult to the other one.

[B]

Correct, Correct. It's a compliment to Tim and Glucker and the guys that built that car. And I went, oh, all right. I know how this feels. Just be delicate everywhere.

[A]

That rules. Okay. So for someone who might want to go get their license and they go, well, I could go to Skippy at Sonoma or I could go to Spring Mountain and drive Corvettes. How do you compare those two experiences? Folks taking a quick break for Mac Tools. You know Mac Tools, you've seen the Mac Tools truck at shops before, but have you ever thought of being the one who actually owns that root, selling those tools to those shops? For anyone already into cars, working on them, being in and around shops, or at least spending your weekends wrenching on something, this is perfect because Mac Tools franchisees run their own mobile tool business, selling directly to shops and technicians. It's a relationship business, repeat customers that you service every week, but you're not left to figure it out on your own. They've got an extensive training program and support to build this the right way. As a small business owner myself, multiple small business owner myself, I really think this is a good idea because I had to figure out a lot of expensive and difficult lessons to start my business. But if you've got a partner that's been around for a long time and they've got training, they've got resources, they've got support, they can integrate you into their ecosystem and set you up with stable income for a very, very long time, that is incredibly beneficial. If you're trying to be your own small business owner and you're not ready to learn some of those lessons in what we call the Trial by Inferno Way, like I did, Mac has been doing this for over a century. There's a reason it still works. So if you've ever thought about doing your own thing in the automotive world, it is worth checking out. Go to mactools.org tire to learn more and see if there's an open route near you that's M A C T o O L S dot or mactools.org tire to learn more. We also got support today from Factor. And for me, eating healthy isn't a willpower problem, it's a setup problem, right until I found Factor. Because here's what happens to me. My setup is a mess. I do not put time to eat in my calendar. I got four jobs, I got a lot to do. I'm running all over the place. I don't put that hour or whatever to deal with lunch in that schedule. But with Factor, I can hit the nutrition goals, I can eat on time, I can eat correctly without the planning. The grocery store runs the cooking because the factor food, it's already in the fridge, right? Factor's got meals built around goals. Right. That could be weight loss, it could be overall nutrition, it could be protein, could be GLP1 support for strength and recovery. They've got the Muscle Pro collection, and every meal is crafted with those functional ingredients like lean proteins and colorful veggies, whole foods, healthy fats. Factor in fact, bans 175 ingredients. There's no artificial colors or sweeteners or high fructose corn syrup, all that stuff. Everything's fresh, it's not frozen. And they have over 100 rotating weekly meals. So basically, when I'm running around all morning, I don't get to noon or one when I'm starving. And then I try to figure out what to eat. I make an unhealthy decision because it's whatever's quickest. And that's how you justthat's how your diet completely falls ap. But with factor, the food's here, it's in the fridge, it's ready to go. Two minutes in the microwave. No mess, no prep. All good. Factor shops, preps, cooks and delivers right to your door. So I have more time for work and everything else that I love. So head over to FactorMeals.com Tire 50 off and use code Tire50OFF to get 50% off and free daily greens per box with new subscription only while supplies last until September 27, 2026. See website for more details. One more time FactorMeals.com Tire 50 off. That's 5, 0. Tire 50 off and use code Tire50OFF to get 50% off and free daily greens per box. And now back to the show. I know what I would do, but you go.

[B]

I will say I paid retail for both, so no one owns my words. I would go to Spring Mountain if you can make the flight and the travel because the new Corvettes have the data logging system built into it. And what we would do between sessions at Spring Mountain helped me a lot more than what we did between sessions at Skippy. So between sessions at Spring Mountain, they would like, pull up your video with all your brake trace, your GPS trace. They would show your route and show where I was braking too late, too much, I was getting on the gas too early. Here's where you need to wait more.

[A]

And this is with the stock Corvette PDR thing.

[B]

Exactly. So it's that with a Cosworth software.

[A]

Yeah, it's Cosworth Toolbox.

[B]

It's Cosworth Toolbox. And they'd have like two or three instructors in our classroom attending to a person at a time. And they're like, see here, this is Wrong. Right there. That's good. And then you're able to look at it on video and go, okay. And then you go back out and remember, here's the spot I was doing X wrong.

[A]

Yeah. And in between each session, you only want to make one or two changes. You don't need to overwhelm yourself and go, here's where I'm fucking up every corner.

[B]

Right.

[A]

You go, this session I'm going to find a half a second in these two corners. Then once I get that and make that automatic, next session I'm going to find two tents in these two corners.

[B]

100%.

[A]

And now you don't overwhelm your brain.

[B]

Yeah. Because I think when I first went to the Spring Mountain school, the first day I was like, oh, we're taking all these breaks. And now I realize that the breaks we take, Skippy or Spring Mountain or anywhere are really important because one, you can analyze what you're doing. Two, you need to rest your brain and kind of calm yourself down a bit and process. And like, it's amazing how much I don't know, thinking you do. I mean, racing cars or driving cars or doing school stuff. Like, you are, you're analyzing your performance, then you're performing, then you're analyzing your performance, then you're performing and you're doing it, you know, all in one day. So I just found the tools they had available that are native to the C8 really helpful. But also the specificity of the instruction that was given at Spring Mountain was like, here's where you're braking wrong. Here's how you're accelerating wrong. Like, and at Skippy, I think they're doing it maybe a little bit to be safe. They don't, like, they never use the word speed. They never say, you're carrying good speed there. They say energy. I think that. And they wouldn't give people braking markers because it's like they wouldn't say, hey, you should break at the three and a half. Because I think their concern is if I don't know how to brake as well as you or I don't get as far in the pedal, then that marker means very different things, which does make sense. And there were very different skill levels in my class.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

But I came away. I learned a lot that I had to self coach myself through. And they do say, like, self coaching is a big thing of driving, which I agree with. I just wish there had been more notes given in these breaks because for me, like, the only note they'd say is try more energy into 7. And it's like, what about corners 1 through 6, 8, you know, 9 through 11?

[A]

Having the data is just, like, so important. Like, when we go to Road America, like, the by far the most important thing we're gonna do is on the Friday, which is qualifying day, Tato will go qualify the car. Right. Because obviously he fucking will.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then we'll have his. His data, and then we will go practice the car and we'll go do a session, you know, 10 laps, 15 laps, whatever. Practice in the race car. And then at home at dinner that night, it's, here's your line, here's Tato's line. He does this much more brake pressure. He does this much less he. Blah, blah, blah. And then you can, you know, throughout the race, try to go, well, what are the three things that I can do based on what he's doing, you know, that can make me where he is? If he can make the car do it? I probably could. I found it's not entirely true, but I can. At least. I can. At least. You know, there's certain big ones. Like, After comparing my data to his in the next race, my very best lap only got a tiny little bit faster, but all the rest of my laps got closer to my best lap. Like, the. I was much more consistent. Yeah. Like, my best lap was, like a 235.5. And my worst lap was like a 238 instead of like a 242, you know?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So I think, like, either my slop got less.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, like. And also, I set up passes, you know, and got stuck in traffic less.

[B]

That's something. I get stuck in traffic a lot in lemons. I mean, sometimes you're stuck, but, like, planning those moves, three corners out so that you don't get stuck on the third corner, you just go by is something that I just have to learn.

[A]

If this series, it will be more than that. More corners than that. There were passes, and maybe if you're fucking Tommy or Tato, you don't have to do this. But if you're me, there were certain cars where the cars themselves were basically the same speed, and so I could not beat them down straightaways and whatever. But. But I could see where I would watch them and I'd go, all right, I know I can go through that corner fucking faster than them. So I'd set it up and I would chill and I'd go. And then I'd wait for the next time around sometimes, and then three corners Ahead from there I'd go, all right. And it usually would work, but it would take a while to get by.

[B]

And they did cover some racecraft in the class. They covered a lot of stuff. I don't want to harp on them entirely, but the one other fast guy in the class was an old man wearing cowboy boots. Yes, his name started with a C. And when I did the Spring Mountain School, there was an old man wearing cowboy boots whose name also started with a C, who is fast as fuck. Different names. But my lesson to people is if you're in a racing class and there's an old guy wearing cowboy boots, just be very careful because I, I was just, I was fat, I was getting point buys and stuff. And then I'm just, I'm going up like turn three at Sonoma and I look at my rear view and someone is up my ass. And this is day two. That hadn't happened yet. I went, my ego. I go, some instructor put on a regular helmet and he's fucking with us. This is open passing time. That's what's happening. And so we, I give him a point buy and we pull in and it's this guy Charles. And he gets out, he's like, his hands are shaking. He's like, ooh, that was something. I go, well, you were flying, dude. He's like. And he always seemed scared when he got out of the car. But to your point, the next time we went out, I watched how he went through one through five because he was quicker than me. And that's when I learned, oh, I don't have to brake going into turn two. I can just downshift. Oh yeah, with the hill, with the elevation. I was doing like a light tap. But I just went, well, if I'm going to catch Charles, I'm just going to go for it. And it worked. And then I was catching him on the back half.

[A]

Yeah, there's nothing, There is not much braking into turn two if you've got a light ish car with good tires. Like when I drove the Bentley gt, I had to like a little bit. But in some other cars. Yeah, not so much.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, I will say that

[A]

whole complex turns one through six at Sonoma are fucking rippers. I just love driving that first half of that track.

[B]

And I think that is the big, the big kudos to Skip Barber, at least for the advanced thing. Maybe the three day fundamentals, like really good. But the course comes to you and you can drive tracks you've dreamt about. Like they do this at Laguna Seca and Lime Rock and Coda. Like, so if you don't want to fly to Vegas, you don't have to. But also you can kind of like go drive a track you've dreamt about for a long time. I mean, I had so much fun. And these cars, my car was really balanced, like it was a good teacher. You just lift a little bit, you feel the back get light, you add the gas a little bit, it settles back. I mean, it was really talkative.

[A]

Mustangs make good track cars. You don't have to do much. It's a basic suspension and brake package and then the right size wheels and tires and that's it. These cars don't have anything else besides that.

[B]

Yeah, it was great. No steering feel, but we're used to driving BMWs. And also when you're in a racing seat and everything else is so locked down, you get enough information that I knew when I was understeering very easily.

[A]

And you've driven enough cars, you don't need super, super steering feel to get through that kind of stuff. It's like you might not choose to buy this car, but you could certainly drive it fine. That's great. I'm glad you had fun, got a license. And now we get to go fucking race. Now you get to go race a car with Tommy Kendall like in a few days.

[B]

So crazy.

[A]

Yeah, right?

[B]

Yeah. He is still extremely fast, as you saw.

[A]

Yeah, well, I mean, look, to have a unnaturally fast child, you know, and then also to have a dude who's a legend and who's seen everything and go, oh, this is like, you know what happened at this and this and can, like see, just knows like everything about pit stop strategy and how to like mentally fuck with other teams and like all kinds of shit.

[B]

Yeah. The creativity of youth and the boldness, of course, because he does not fear death. And then the wisdom. Yeah.

[A]

So while you were doing that, I went on the road and track Desert 600. Folks, one more break because support is coming in from Bluechew. You know what it is? The future of erectile function is here, not dysfunction. Clapman function, high function. And it's my anniversary today on 420. So Blue Chew gold. It is changing the way millions of men are having sex in 2026. The new arousal boosting formula combines passion and performance into one tablet that dissolves under your tongue for super fast onset crazy. No more waiting for them pills to kick in. No more moments ruined by performance anxiety. Just the results you want when you want them. Most CD meds focus on blood flow al but bluechew Gold goes further by combining two ingredients for blood flow with two for mental arousal and connection. So you're not just physically ready, you're actually in the mood. This type of innovation is why bluechew gold is the number one brand in erectile dysfunction. The process is super simple. It's all online. Get started [e-mail] and go for the gold. I mean, dude, dude, you can. It's not about need, I think anymore, right? That's why they're saying function. Because it's like it used to be like, oh, you have a problem and this can fix it. Now it's like you don't have a problem, but you can be superman. I think that's where it's at. And I like that thought process. It's a reframe, folks. And boy, do we have a special deal for you right now. Get two months of Bluechew Gold, you get the third for free with promo code Tire. That's promo code Tire bluechew.com for more details and important safety information. We thank bluechew for sponsoring the podcast again. Codetire get a third month free when you get two months of that bluechew gold, baby. Guys, taking a break from the action because support is coming in fast. Like Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford who's now got a podcast and you're always asking me what I'm listening to when not recording this show. And right now it's this, the new season of Drive with Jim Farley in and it the Ford CEO talks to some of his favorite people about what they're driving and what drives them to succeed. Like Formula one driver Daniel Ricardo. Listen, there's a well worn trope about racing drivers not being interesting to listen to, but if there is one that is interesting to listen to, it is Daniel Ricardo. I think this guy's takes on stuff and life are great. And look, Jim is a racing driver also. I personally raced against him like two months ago. And for me, a CEO that drives race cars on the weekends is about the pinnacle of CEO dom when it comes to car companies. So the two of them together obviously have a lot of things to discuss on Drive with Jim Farley which you can get on your podcast app. Very easy to find Drive with Jim Farley. Check it out across. You can play that if you want to see all the cars. There's that reel. I put those are all the cars on the event. You can just make muted play it so I was driving the new Dodge Charger six pack scat pack coupe and I actually like was pretty excited to drive that car. I requested it and I actually had to do kind of a lot of work to get. Was substantially more work than getting like most normal press cars. I, I am not sure why, but I actually think it looks cool. I think it's a cool looking car. It's sort of how I wished the original Charger sedan because they make this as a two and a four door now. And I always thought the Challenger sort of looked like the old Challenger, just bigger. But the Charger didn't look like anything from back then.

[B]

True.

[A]

This looks like a modernized version of the 68 to 70 charger basically. Right. Is that the right years? Yes.

[B]

68, 70, 66 to 69. Basically.

[A]

Like, yeah, the one you're thinking the good one right now. And I was like, oh, this is, it's gonna be. We're doing the Desert 600. I have a big, a long highway transit to Vegas. We got a lot of big open sweepers across the desert, not a lot of hairpins. Some long highway transits, some high speed, two lanes. And then I got a big transit home from Scottsdale. It's like 1600 miles. I was like, this is a big American GT coupe. I drove it in the Corvette already, right? I did the E Ray and my pecs and arms were sore from keeping the car straight, remember? So I was like, give me some relaxed shit. It's got the Twin Turbo 6. I thought that would be an interesting thing to experience. Can you tell by how I'm setting it up that I didn't like it very much?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay. For the record, I do think it looks great and it is really the only two door coupe that you can actually fit four people and four sets of like luggage in like four people and four weekend bags, no problem. Four people and four sets of golf clubs, no problem. Like that's pretty unique in the space right now. You know, there really isn't like an S class coupe anymore, you know, and any two door car that has back seats, those back seats are pretty small. Like what's the next biggest? Right. Bentley GT at whatever X the price. BMW 8 series, like kind of. Not really.

[B]

I mean the M2 is a 2 plus 2, but has not much headroom.

[A]

I remember Mustangs, not really.

[B]

Brz.

[A]

Forget it.

[B]

Yeah, that's true.

[A]

So not a lot of big coupes out there. And so I have no issue with Dodge going for the big coupe thing. And to their credit, I Can almost sit behind myself comfortably. Wow. I could sit behind you comfortably in the back of that car and also pull up the rear view. I should have airdropped you this picture of the open trunk because it doesn't look like it, but it's a hatchback. The whole rear window opens.

[B]

Oh, wow. That's hidden really well.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Should I let me airdrop you? It's worth it for me to airdrop you the picture of the open hatchback here, just so we have it. So I mean, it's actually like as a prac. Come on.

[B]

Bloo.

[A]

Bloop. As a practical long range car. Not bad. Okay. And over that entire drive, I averaged like 19 miles per hour per gallon, which for a 4800 pound car. 4800.

[B]

Damn.

[A]

Not an EV.

[B]

Not a hybrid. Not a.

[A]

Not a hybrid. Wow. Gas powered front engine. It is all wheel drive.

[B]

It's all wheel drive.

[A]

It's all wheel drive.

[B]

Jeez.

[A]

But that's what we're talking about here. But the hatchback is dope. Actually. I am fully about this.

[B]

And so I thought in the other picture that this top roof thing was a hinge for people listening. It looked like there was a big pivot point and it's not. So they actually. They hide the seam. It's like hidden on the glass. That's really clever.

[A]

Yeah, it's cool. Yeah. So that I found to be a nice bit of practicality about this car. It also has comfortable seats in general. It is a comfortable place to spend time in any seat. Heated and cooled seats with a nicely adjustable lumbar. And maybe not as substantial as Porsche, but an extendable thigh bolster. Not bad. Not bad. Body does not hurt. Okay. The engine, I thought it sounded worse than an M3 competition until the very last fuel stop on the way home. When an M3 competition pulled up next to me at the gas station and we talked about the cars, I was like, oh, this has the three, blah, blah, blah. And I started it for that person and he went, oh, okay. And I turned it off. I go start that. They are actually very similar sounding. Yeah. The whole time.

[B]

Quad exhaust in the back.

[A]

It has dual exhaust.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Now I have a theory, actually, because I think this car doesn't sound good. Doesn't sound good on the inside. It doesn't sound good on the outside. Hearing the M3 next to me, I was like, oh, shit. I thought this was worse than the M3. But then the M3 pulled up and that's actually pretty bad too. But. But I Was trying to think of all the really good sounding inlines. I was like, why? This is an inline six, it's not a V. It sounded like a fucking droney vq. It droned and I was like, what is wrong? Why does this drone. And to their credit, it makes good power, it makes good torque, and if you keep it up high in the revs and I mean above four, it sounds okay.

[B]

Okay, but on the highway, drone. Really?

[A]

Yeah. And a ton of drone at really low speeds. Like, dude, you should have standing at the hotel valet when they pulled this motherfucker. I was like, oh, it's embarrassing. It's like not good. The car, the look of the car, the vibe of the car.

[B]

I wonder what the exhaust design like is separating the pulses weird. Or someone's smart. Throw that in the comments.

[A]

But ponder this. The best sounding inline sixes that you know are gonna be like the Skylines, the RBs, the Supras, the JZs and BMWs for the most part. Right. They all have a single exhaust.

[B]

Yeah, true.

[A]

The ones that don't sound so great now, I haven't. I don't know, Does a new M3 have a 1 into 2 or is a new M3 a dual exhaust? I suspect.

[B]

Do you think the headers are two sets of three or is it one set of six?

[A]

That's what. I don't know if it's. And maybe someone who's smarter than me can actually tell me why the older engines sound good and the new ones don't. Maybe it's the displacement of them, maybe it's the firing order, maybe it's the configuration of the turbos, I don't know. But like this engine doesn't sound great and neither does the new M3. I'm not saying it's worse, but it doesn't sound great in fucking drones. Which for a twin turbo. So inline six to me is not really acceptable. The gearbox is also. It's just a boring. Like it's not so.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Despite the fact that this makes 550 horsepower, despite the fact that it looks pretty nice. I just. Despite the fact that it seems like it was screwed together well and has some good things going for it, it's just not any fun. Like that's ultimately the problem. Like it's not. It accelerates briskly, but not mind blowing. It handles appropriately but not impressive. And it looks nice. But you see, look how high the fender gap is really big. Right?

[B]

Yeah, but.

[A]

So you'd see that and you would go, well, it probably has a Very squishy ride.

[B]

Right.

[A]

For highway. Like a highway touring car. It rides like it's on cut springs. So the problem here is it's a very heavy car. 4,800 pounds. It does not have adaptive shocks, so

[B]

it's probably over damped.

[A]

So it's over sprung and over damped to compensate. And it just, it's got stiff springs. And then they've tried to find a balance between ride and handling. Yeah, but without an adaptive shock, when your car's that heavy, you're gonna end up in no man's land. And it doesn't ride that well, and it doesn't handle that well either. Yeah, so like a car like this needs an advanced suspension to handle and ride appropriately. It's just too heavy for like a basic ass set of shocks.

[B]

I wonder what it is. But like the Lucids famously don't have adaptive suspension. And so impressive.

[A]

They don't have like a powertrain. You can have like crazy long control arms.

[B]

Yeah, I think, well, that's the answer. Like it speaks to the suspension geometry itself. And then maybe where the weight is sprung in that car. Your phone's ringing.

[A]

Oh, we don't need them. So that was, it was only here to airdrop and we're not big enough, but.

[B]

So the BMW engine, because it's twin turbo, does have two exhaust manifolds. It looks like there's two sets of three that. Each one that goes to a turbo. That makes sense. And then it's, you know, the pipes run parallel for a while and then they cross over at a point and then separate again in the muffler. So could be a bunch of things influencing why this sounds like the way it's. It does.

[A]

It could. But I, you know, us enthusiasts, we hear on the marketing, oh, inline six, it's gonna be, it's gonna sound good and then it doesn't. So that was very disappointing. And ultimately it just didn't. It didn't feel like a serious performance car, which was unfortunate. You know, I, I know they didn't. They told me specifically, I'm not allowed to put it on track. It only comes with all season tires. So like, they're trying to convince me and everyone else that this is not a serious performance car. Okay.

[B]

Okay, well, is this replacing the Charger 392? Is that what it's supposed to replace? Or is it just like the regular rt? Because it may not be aimed at being a serious performance car. I mean, it's like. But the problem there is that if it's not a Serious performance car. Then it seems like it should be aimed directly at good GT car. But then the ride, maybe they should soften it a bit. Even though reviews would say the ride, you know, gets soft in the corners. Sure. But if it's not comfortable riding around town or riding on the highway, then you kind of have a no man's land.

[A]

It's all right on the highway. It's terrible around Los Angeles. It's really brutal. I'm like, you know, it's so funny. I booked it hoping for. To discover that this is the budget Bentley gt, you know, and I gave it back yesterday and I got the new Genesis GV60, which is the small electric crossover. Like, it's about the same price as this. This is the budget Bentley gt. But the interior, the ride, the acceleration, the cross stitching and the materials, the sculpture of the seat in this car, that's the fucking budget Bentley gt. Much more so than this is. That's like. That's actually like, you know, if you put someone who didn't know better and close their eyes and put them and had them like, touch shit, they might actually get confused, you know? Anyway. But I do have to say, oh, what else did I write on my notes? Okay. But there are. There's some. So the bad things. The ride doesn't sound great. CarPlay was glitchy. Did I send you the little video of the flashing? I'm gonna put it on my Instagram review, but CarPlay was glitchy a little bit and. But like, some. Some good things. One thing I do really like was the dashboard is much lower than the outgoing car. The outgoing car, you sat behind a very tall dashboard.

[B]

Tall engine, like, shorter.

[A]

People will love this. It has much better, like, sight lines and a much lower dash that opens up the greenhouse quite a bit.

[B]

Nice.

[A]

And the wind doesn't buff it when you go on the high when the window's down. So it's a cool cruiser. Actually, if this thing had adaptive shocks, better sort of wheel and tire fitment, and the rear windows went down to make a pillarless coupe, that would be extremely sick.

[B]

That would be cool. They probably wouldn't patch that like the past side impact standards.

[A]

Yeah, maybe, but, you know, that would be cool. It had a great curb appeal. People ask me about it. The valets at the hotels, almost all of whom recognize me. I'm huge with valets. Like, you and I are celebrities. Major to valets, which is that industry that we target directly.

[B]

Yeah. That is the gateway job into car enthusiasm and car drama.

[A]

They Loved it. And I was like, do you like the sound? And they're like, yeah. So they didn't mind the farty. The farty exhaust. We know they're putting a V8 in this. It's gonna be fucking hellcatted, like, next year. If.

[B]

Then that will probably get adaptive shocks.

[A]

I hope so. And look at it. Doesn't it look like it needs a fucking V8? I mean, it just. The idea that this has this sort of, like BMW M3 light powertrain in it. It's just, like a total mismatch of character. And I know they were, like, in a tough spot, and this was gonna be a full ev, and then they backtracked. And it does sort of feel like a no man's landy kind of product. So, like, I sympathize. I really do. But I thought it would be a better GT if it wasn't gonna be a serious. You know, it was a little no Man's Landing. But this event we did is one of my favorite ones I've ever done. The. Just the balance of the driving in the hotels. You see the tent. I put the picture. We stayed at this place called Under Canvas. Zion in Zion national park, or right next to Zion National Park. There it is. And it was like a glamping type of deal. The tents were dope. And there's like a potbelly stove in there. And you got to make the fire and keep that bitch going. But had a nice bathroom.

[B]

That's awesome.

[A]

Had hot water, shower. It was awesome. Ripped, great hot water. And I had the fire going all night. Fucking. Just fucking ripping. J's under the stars. And, dude, this place is, like, outside of town. And so you've never seen stars like this outside of Zion.

[B]

Yeah, like the southwestern side of it, where you come in from where we

[A]

came in with a portion before you go get into town. Yeah, it's south of town. You can't. It's not the one you see from the road. You can see a glamping place on that road. You have to drive off, turn left up there, and then go like six miles up the hill. Yeah, there's nothing up there. It was the best. I would. I would 100% go back and stay. I don't know if I would do more than like, two or three nights there, but I would absolutely do two or three nights there. That was a good time.

[B]

That's like a restful two days. Get away from everything. But.

[A]

Well, it's. There's hiking. I mean, there's. There's Trails you can get to from here, but also you can go hike in the park and then just. And then just come back. But it was rad. They've got a restaurant there. There's probably, like, 60 of these tents. They had one that had a window over the bed so you could look at stars. Yeah. I don't know what they cost. It's part of the thing, but it was cool. Las Vegas Motor Speedway, great event. And we did the Lake Mead Valley of Fire drive. And there's a drive from the drive from Zion to Sedona. The route that we did was fucking sick. It was so nice. It was some of the best drives we did. So we still got a few spots left in the Pacific Northwest one. It's filling up, though. I'm stoked about it. We had sort of a slow start. I don't know if people, like, were not necessarily ready to pull the trigger, but we had two people who came on this event sign up for the Pacific Northwest one while they were there

[B]

because they had so much fun. Yeah.

[A]

And you see that picture of the challenger next to the 355? That's this dude, Abhi, who rolls solo. He brought a Ferrari 355 on this event. Fucking ripped it on the track, fully smoked the brakes.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[A]

And drove it solo for the entire rally.

[B]

Bravery.

[A]

No mechanicals. It was a boss move.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

There were quite a few TST fans on this. Shout out to Lance. Shout out to Matthew. Shout out to Alan. Shout out to abhi. All TST fans who came on the event.

[B]

How many people in the event?

[A]

Total 25 cars.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

This dude, Lance, went for it. Taycan Turbo gt. Shout out to him was a bad idea. It was a bad idea. Second EV to ever come on one of these. The first one was the Smokies, and it was a lucid air GT long range. That gentleman who was very kind, he kind of hung back and drove slow. And in the Smokies, the average speeds are much lower. You know, the roads are windy and technical, but in the desert, it's like, you know, 90 miles an hour. You know, it's these wide open roads. You know, the average speeds are much higher. So this dude was ripping through his battery. And this guy has a heavy foot. This is a heavy foot.

[B]

Was he charging until breakfast ended, and then he hops in the car.

[A]

His charge plan. He had a plan. He told us what we're doing. We sent him the route ahead of time. He was like, okay, cool. Like, I got it. No problem. He had to make extra stops every day. He was going through batteries so much.

[B]

So when he calculated it, he was like, oh, the max distance I can go is this.

[A]

But yeah, yeah, he was going heavy foot through the battery. Yeah, he was going through the battery.

[B]

Look at the size difference of the 355 in the charger. Wow.

[A]

It is.

[B]

Charger towers over it.

[A]

In fairness, the charger does at least hold a lot more stuff. If you put that 355 next to a GT3RS, it's much huger and holds the exact same amount of stuff.

[B]

Great point.

[A]

You go, oh, I see what the problem is here. But yeah, there was a really good spread of cars on this one, too. So if you want to come drive with me in June. Oh, dude. And we talked about. I'm not going to say what they are yet because they're certainly not ready, but we talked about the four events for next year. Some bangers. Some bangers on the schedule.

[B]

This next one has a stopover at Dirtfish, which is like one of the

[A]

fun places on earth, the Pacific Northwest. One has two track days. Well, one track day at PIR in your own car. Portland International Raceway, which is a great little track. Not little. A great road course. And then a day at Dirtfish in their Subarus, ripping on the dirt Ski, which is gonna be just the best. Before we get to a few questions, I want to. To say something really funny that happened yesterday. You know, Waymos can go on the highway now. And so we're going. I forget where I was going, but I'm on the highway last night. Oh, we were going hiking in Malibu. So I'm on the 405 going north, and there's a Waymo. And I go, okay, Waymo on the highway. And it's in the left lane. I go, the Waymo's in the left lane. And I go, is the Waymo left lane hogging? And it was going like 66 in the left lane. I was like, oh, no. I was like, we're gonna have a big problem if Waymos are going on the highway. And left lane hogging. This is fucked up.

[B]

Yeah. I can't pull him over.

[A]

Yeah. This is crazy. I was like, this is so bad. And I go, to pass the fucking Waymo on the right. It's being driven by a human.

[B]

Oh, God. What an amazing highlight of the problem. Incredible. So, Waymo, if you're listening to this show, tell your engineers.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

To not do that.

[A]

So listen to this. Here's something else. I figured it out. I had Dinner with Alex Roy. And so we talked about a great many interesting things. As any dinner with Alex Roy is going to be very interesting. But the difference between Waymo and Tesla's self driving. And when I say self driving I don't necessarily mean Tesla FSD supervised, I mean their cyber cab. The difference between their algorithms. Tesla's optimizes for time, Waymo's optimizes for safety.

[B]

Oh boy.

[A]

And so that's why a Waymo will take longer to get places than Tesla FSD supervised or a. Because it will take the safest route. Because they have their own insurance, they're self insured.

[B]

Yeah. What could go wrong?

[A]

So there's that. So this is according to Alex, but Alex is I think can be a trusted expert in this field and he's not anti Tesla. He did the fucking Tesla across the

[B]

country thing months ago.

[A]

Yeah, he thinks Elon Musk is a shitbag. But he gives Tesla a lot more credit for things than I personally.

[B]

Does he know why? Someone sent me a picture of the robo taxi recently. But like it's an old story. Why do they do two door car? Did they take an average, a survey of like, hey, average cab hire is one to two people you don't need.

[A]

Okay, that's why I think that's silly. When you could if you don't need a driver, have a vehicle like that little van thing that's driving around here now that could hold more people even if it doesn't need to. But you know, okay, whatever.

[B]

Got it.

[A]

That's what. Yeah, I think that's silly. But it's one of the less fucked up decisions I guess that Elon Musk has made recently.

[B]

Oh for sure. I think it's one that got a lot of attention because everyone's like a two door cab and you're like, that is the low hanging fruit of that we need to analyze. Sure. It's a question that I guess could be answered quickly.

[A]

It's like the yoke, you know, it implies things, you know, it implies that there won't need, there won't ever need to be a driver because you're sitting where that driver could go.

[B]

You know, I was more thinking like it's just why not make a car that has four seats so that people can share a cab and go out together as a group. But if the, if 93% of cab hires are from one or two people, they go, why would, would we spend extra money to make extra space that won't be used?

[A]

I think a very high percentage of Cabs are one or two people.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. But.

[A]

Yeah. Oh. So we were talking about that, but he thinks. I told him about, you know, how the waymos take the long way from my house. Like, if they need to go east, they leave west and then go back east. And I told him about that. He said there are almost certain a substantially higher number of accidents at the other intersection than at the one that it uses to leave your house.

[B]

Oh, cool.

[A]

So it will take ways. It'll take routes that sometimes seem odd, but that for one reason or another, are substantially safer.

[B]

So maybe it has the accident data from different areas and it goes, oh, it's a dangerous intersection. We'll avoid it. Smart.

[A]

Yeah. Interesting, right?

[B]

Yeah. Cool.

[A]

Yeah. So, I mean, if somebody, anybody that is equal level of expert to Alex Roy would like to fact check that claim, like, I'm open to hearing other information, but I just thought that was very interesting.

[B]

Nick Shirley will be on the case.

[A]

Yeah, that's pretty much all I got. That's all I got.

[B]

That's what my week was.

[A]

Yeah, we both had busy weeks. Busy weeks driving cars, which we will

[B]

have this week as well and every week forever.

[A]

Yeah, we got a Durango Hellcat which will be kind of fun to take to Road America. I hope they let us take it on the track. There's a bit of a. People have sent me a thing that Road America doesn't necessarily allow SUVs on track, but when an organization rents out the entire facility for a weekend, the rules may be different. So we'll see when we get there. I hope we get to have a go.

[B]

I'm just glad gas is slightly cheaper in Michigan or Wisconsin, where we're going, because Hellcat, Durango, you know, a lot

[A]

of these folks who do our road and track events, they come from all over, you know, they come from all over. And so a lot of them are east coast, some are Midwest, you know, whatever. And so we were at somewhere in fucking Utah, you know, and gas was 459. And, you know, one gentleman was like, holy shit, 459. What are we in California? I'm like, fucking habibi. I'm looking at 699 over here. Yeah, 459. That was like two years ago. Yeah, they freaked out about. That's years ago. This is.

[B]

Yeah, 450 is close to national average. That's not bad.

[A]

Right next to us, Diesel. Diesel behind us here is seven and a quarter.

[B]

Diesel's crazy. I mean, diesel's been nuts since basically since Dieselgate. Before that, diesel was cheaper than gasoline. And then the market, the demand for it dried up and now it's more expensive.

[A]

Oh, wait. So before we go to some questions, we have, Vinnie did bring me the road and track from December 81. My birthday, my birth. And so I did want to show a couple of highlights. We've got the 911 all wheel drive convertible on the COVID This was a prototype that I've actually seen in person. They built. It was an early version of basically the all wheel drive system that they used in the 964 or the 954 actually, and then in the sort of later trio to 964, but they never built it. This was a convertible SC and it's in Porsche's collection. And you can see it sometimes it rotates through the museum. So that's pretty cool.

[B]

But it feels like the Saab911 all wheel drive for the winter, but soft top.

[A]

So I love this. This is fabulous. This is a review of the DeLorean cutting through the hype to discover an exciting GT car. And the photographs are actually, are particularly artistic and striking from this 1981 thing. And I went back to look who shot it. Jeffrey Zwart.

[B]

No way.

[A]

Yeah. This is a Jeff Zwart joint. Dude.

[B]

Wow. No wonder the pictures were so like. A lot of people listening are like black and white photos of a delay. They're called the next one.

[A]

Yeah, these are. There's some, some very like dramatic looking.

[B]

Yeah, the inserts are dramatic. Black and white.

[A]

Isn't that funny? Yeah, I gotta save this and for Jeff. But I, he. He photographed this for the year I was born, which is, which is hilarious. And so.

[B]

That's wild.

[A]

Yeah. So then let's go to the. The classifieds. That's of course the, the bit that's interesting. And see the deals that people could have gotten had they bought a car 44 years ago, had your parents bought

[B]

a car instead of raising a child.

[A]

Right. So just real quick, what is a dollar in December of 1981 with inflation worth today? What would a dollar be today from 44 years of inflation? Just so we have

[B]

$1 then is $3.63 today.

[A]

Okay, so three and a half. We'll call it three and a half. Three and a half X. So in December of 81, in the back of Road and Track magazine, you could have bought a Ford GT40 roadster, chassis number 108, original condition, complete documentation tested in October 1965 sports car graphic magazine. $150,000.

[B]

Okay. Wow.

[A]

So not nothing. But that's, you know, 450 in today's money, right? Or let's call it 525. 25 in today's money. That car is probably worth $10 million.

[B]

That's a good. That's true.

[A]

That would have been a good buy. That would have been a buy and hold.

[B]

Right.

[A]

How about Ferrari 275 GTB 4K Cam, serial number 93, restored to museum quality. This one's right here in Encino, California. $55,000.

[B]

Yeah, I was going to say that's going to be less than the GG40.

[A]

So, yeah, so that's like, let's call that, you know, three and a half, four. 2000-002002-10000, something like that.

[B]

192.

[A]

192 in today's money. Car's worth 3 million bucks. Would have been a buy. Hey, that would have been a. By the way, you know who was buying cars at these prices? Ralph Lauren. Oh, Ralph Lauren in the late 70s and into the 80s was buying shit just like this for money. Just like this. But he would buy the one that

[B]

won Le Mans, you know, because he was into it.

[A]

Instead of 55 grand, he'd pay 155

[B]

grand and it would be pull him and Bruce Meyer. Yeah.

[A]

How about a Ferrari Dino 246 GTS Spyder?

[B]

Oh, this would be $8.

[A]

California car, original mint condition, 30,000 bucks.

[B]

So 100 grand.

[A]

100 grand. But today that car is, you know, 3, 400 grand.

[B]

Yeah. Wow. That and those went through a dip then. That might have been. There might have been a dip coming after that because those things were pretty cheap for a while. Like early 2000s, the Dinos were pretty inexpensive.

[A]

All right, here's a super banger. 1966 Lamborghini 400 GT. Very, very rare. New two tone silver paint, black leather seats, fresh service, new tires, $18,500. So, you know, 50 grand. 55 grand, something like that.

[B]

Three and a half, three and a half.

[A]

55, 60 grand, that car. Half a million. 600. 700,000, something like that, if it's a nice one. And final. Finally, 1955 Porsche Speedster. New paint, new interior, top mechanically superb California car, since new. 19,500 bucks. So again, there's your $60,000 in inflation gets you about 3 to $500,000.

[B]

Are there any old 911s in there for like 2 grand?

[A]

Well, no, not really because interestingly, you know, like a 79 Porsche Turbo was like, only it was only two years old. So that was 52,000 bucks. You know, those kind of things were actually like pretty expensive. The funny ones are like stuff that is exactly the same dollar amount now. Yeah, like this. How about like 1979 transaction exam, custom built motor, blah blah blah, immaculate condition. 22,000 bucks.

[B]

That's probably what that costs now.

[A]

That's what that costs you today. How about a 1979 Lotus Esprit S2? 6,000 miles, 23,500 bucks. That might be 40 now, but it won't be hundreds.

[B]

So those should be cheaper than with inflation, right? Yeah,

[A]

like. Oh, dude. 1979 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow. So this is like these are six grand. You find one of these. This is the cheapest. These things are sub 10 GS. So this one, 9,000 miles. 72,000 because it was only 2 years old.

[B]

My grandfather had one of those because he owned a scrapyard and someone literally like dropped it off just to donate or exchange it for money for the metal.

[A]

Oh dude, I didn't even see this. I missed this whole thing. Hang on, give me one real quick because this is a fun one. Ed Waterman's thoroughbred motor cars in Washington D.C. they have some inventory. I'm not going to do the translation of all these, but I think everyone understands the scale of prices, right? So like 63, 289 cobra, very early. 19,000 miles. 35,000 bucks. Right. Okay, how about about. 1953 Mercedes Benz 300 gullwing.

[B]

Oh boy.

[A]

21,000. Right. Lamborghini. Lamborghini 400 GT as is bargain. This must be a shitter. 10,919 71 Miura SV red, black. That's 5 million today. So 55 times 3 1/2. That's 275 inflation. So this car outperforms that by probably 20x inflation. Not the market. The market is a different thing. I'm just talking about inflation. This dude is sitting on. Wait. 1, 2, 3, 327 5. A 330 GTC GTS. Okay, wait, what's the dopest shit he's got here? All right, so this is really funny. He's got a 54, 250 Europa, a 55, 375America, a 56 Tour de France. And 1, 2, 3, 45275 GTBs. A 330 GTC, a 365 GTC4, a 246 Dino. Okay, the most expensive car he's got, and I mean the very most expensive, more than the Miura, more than anything, is the 250 Ferrari TDF 65,000. I understand that the second most expensive is the Miura SV. The third most expensive is a one year old Ferrari 308 with 3900 miles on it.

[B]

Yeah, I mean so the 43,000, it's when they're 30 years old no one cares about them. That was like because it's 81. So the Cobra was 63. So that was 18 years old. The going was a little older.

[A]

28, 18. Oh so that was 18. I'm sorry, excuse me, excuse me.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it, you need to wait for the depreciation to hit and they go back up wild.

[A]

Right. So that's fun. That guy was sitting on some stuff.

[B]

Yeah. And if he'd help, you know that guy could have just held for just 30 years.

[A]

Just keep it all you idiot. Don't sell anything.

[B]

But you know he had to buy those cars. He's sitting on them. He's just trying to make a couple grand on each trade or on each sale.

[A]

Moving and shaking. That's day trading. What he's doing is day trading compared to, you know, just sitting on it.

[B]

Right. Well that's what every business is really doing.

[A]

Right.

[B]

I mean if you trade products you're like I buy these cups and now I sell these cups in my store. Yeah, you should have held.

[A]

Held for 30 years. How do I pay my red? Can you make that bigger? Let's go to the people [e-mail] the smokingtirepodcast we love you folks over there really fuckin killing it for us. Taking care of us. We're trying to take care of you by letting you guys ask questions for the show. Watch the livestream, get the show before anybody else get extra show. Get the show without ads and more. We've got the Patreon exclusive notice Canyon Brosen Fairy metallic pink like dial. I have been getting calls from a lot of personal friends who want to make sure that there's one for them but the patrons get first crack at all of that shit. And so I will have the link for you very very soon. They will sell out probably in a day so mark your calendar for when I send the link, you feel me? And let's go to the people just J says your thoughts on the other day on the Speedmap. For as long as I can remember I've wanted a TAG Heuer Monaco caliber 11 like Steve McQueen's from the movie Le Mans. For my 50th birthday my wife bought it for me. It's my baby and I'll likely have it forever as such. I don't care what anyone else thinks about it. But I'm curious what the word on the street is. I know many smart and successful people that like the TAG Heuer Monaco. Alex Roy, as a matter of fact, wears a TAG Heuer Monaco. It is the kind of watch that I think educated people wear. It's a very unique piece. It's the square case. Nothing else looks like it. And either you kind of love how it looks or you don't really care for how it looks. If you ask me, I personally don't really care for how it looks. I don't have a desire to own one myself, but. And if I wanted a square watch, I would get a Cartier Santos. But for people who like them, more power to them, it's certainly a respectable timepiece. Steve McQueen's a real shitbag, though, you know?

[B]

Yes, correct. But the watch is the watch that makes sense. Alex has it. It looks French to me, even though it's not. But he's Citroen, man. He likes things that are a little different.

[A]

Ball cap. Growing up, I loved cars, but I was told to make cars my hobby, not my livelihood, by a family friend who worked for Ford. Would you agree?

[B]

You know, I feel like I went through a period where I got over cars for a bit during. And it was really. When I was working for Tangent and tst, it was just, like, too much. But I think we're very fortunate that we get to go for drives in the canyons and track stuff. And, like, that's work. We had paid for that based on the things we make. So there are definitely worse things to do. But you. You will get a little jaded. Like, that will happen.

[A]

Yeah. When you make cars, your livelihood, it does ruin cars, the hobby, a little bit, because when other people might want to go do car shit in their free time, you're like, I don't want to do that. Like, I felt really bad. There was a guy on this event, he was a very sweet guy. And if you're out there listening, I'm not going to use your name. You know who you are. That was, like, trying to recommend places that he knew that had good roads. And, you know, he was first trying to suggest why that we should have an event there, as many people do. And we usually respond with like, here's the things we need to make an event. And, like, we need good hotels, we need a racetrack, because there's a lot of places that have one or two of the things we we need, but not three. And so we're not trying to be shitty. We're happy to hear suggestions, but we usually respond with like, do you know any good hotels in that area? Do you know? Not to be like downers about it, but to like help, like, you know, if, you know, like, let's tell us. So anyway, the person was like, just this place. They were talking about the Black Hills, where Sturgis is. And I was like, I don't know if they have race tracks up there. I don't know about the hotels. These bikers like love it, but like, I don't really know. And he was like suggesting I should like go up there as a vacation. And I kind of responded like, I'm at work right now and I had to drive this thing twice to do this work. My vacations are not road trips. And I might have been, the way I said it might have been a little dismissive. And I think people who come on our experiences can't fathom that. Somebody might because they're, they're paying a lot of money and coming from all over to go on road trips because it is their hobby. It's their escape from whatever the fuck their office job is. But it does ruin your hobby. Like I, if I had an office job, I might want to go to the Black Hills for a road trip. But now I'm like, if there's a gig, you know, And I felt like kind of a dick.

[B]

Well, we do mini road trip. Like, you know, driving to the Canyons once a week is like a four to five hour thing we do. It's an hour to their each. It's not really a road trip. That's a lot. For most people, five hours is a lot of driving. And for us it's like that's kind of how we're going to the office Tuesday. Yeah. So I get it.

[A]

Yeah. But I certainly, if you, if you see too far behind the curtain, if you work at Ford, you might go, ugh, this industry is full of dick.

[B]

Also, you gotta ask this relative or right. Family friend, you know, they might have liked cars and now they're just building them and they just, they hate cars because they hate their job because they're an assembly line. I don't know what it is, Is like they might just be so disgruntled in what they see as a car and what. They're really unhappy about something else. So there's a lot to unpack there.

[A]

Yeah. Like if you do the thing within the term cars that you enjoy, you probably won't feel that way, but you may not want to also do it as a hobby.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Fartmeister says with the shift from haptic and screen controls back towards physical buttons and knobs. Will physical gauge clusters also make a come back? No, no, no. They're just too expensive.

[B]

They're too expensive and I think there's too much information now they want to or need to show on the screen. And a screen is the most effective way to do that by a huge margin.

[A]

At the high end you may see screens implemented in a creative way like what Zenvo does or what Ferrari maybe is going to end up doing with this Johnny. I've carried. So hopefully we can see innovative uses of like OLEDs and stuff like that.

[B]

But like I still like what Porsche is doing where there's a few gate. Like the TAC is real. It's not. And then like screens around it. But you know, Ferrari went to digital TAC a long time ago and they're probably not coming back from it.

[A]

Yeah. Front wheel drive nsx. My wedding was Saturday. Congratulations. And now I'm looking for a car themed honeymoon activity in Northern California. They've done track days in Thunderhill and Sonoma. Looking for something new. I mean, wine country road trip. I don't know if you're drinkers, but wine country road trip is always a beautiful thing to be doing. I mean, I don't know.

[B]

They're taking two different cars like his and hers Accords. If that's real.

[A]

A car themed honeymoon activity.

[B]

I mean Drive Highway 1 from SF to like Oregon.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because the landscape changes. It's gorgeous. I would do that. You could stay at some glamping places or camping or whatever. But that's a pretty good thing to do.

[A]

I don't know to me like car themed is like a couple like road trip or track day.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like, I don't, I'm not really sure.

[B]

I mean if you can afford the time, you could drive all the way way from Norcal to Washington and end at Dirtfish and then like do a two day rally school. Yeah. As like the payoff.

[A]

But I mean I, you, I could. You could rent an SUV and do part of the beat backcountry discovery route.

[B]

Yeah. I mean, or just take one of their Honda Accords and do that. You could probably make it. Yeah.

[A]

But like, I mean road trip, you could do the Russian River Valley Valley loop down and then down PCH back down to Marin County. I mean that's beautiful. But like, not sure if I'm not Sure.

[B]

I mean I think what we're saying is that the options for a car themed event are you can meet in a parking lot, you could build something, you could road trip something or you could race something. Right.

[A]

It's kind of it pretty much.

[B]

Or you can adventure, you can do overland adventure. So those are your categories of car themed thing.

[A]

You could buy seats in a ride and drive race car. Yeah, you could do that and you could go do. You could do a Lemons or a champ race together. They. They don't often require any wheel to wheel experience.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

I don't know where like Sierra cars or cross carts are based but if you can go rip those. It also depends on what these motorcycle

[B]

skills and sensibilities are.

[A]

So yeah, zr1x gonna give it to. To you. That's pretty funny. Thoughts on the GT3SC cabriolet. I wish it was a Speedster. I don't. I'm sure there that someone said somewhere said I want a GT3 with back seats and a soft top and then we could sell it for a shitload of money. And I'm sure it drives lovely. You know it's got the ST side doors on it. So it looks pretty cool.

[B]

Does.

[A]

I'm sure it's nice. I think it will not be worth the amount of money that people have to pay to get them unless they're one of the allocated.

[B]

Right.

[A]

You know. But I'm sure the 911 Cabrio in general is a very rigid cabrio. Like as far as soft top cars go. Like that's a pretty tight, tight package.

[B]

I mean I watched Harris's video on it and according to ap, like they didn't have to add a bunch of structure to it compared to the normal cab because the normal cab is very stiff already.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So that tracks. Now if they had made a Speedster, would they have to make a new body for that or would they just kind of stick on, you know the whole backseat filler thing that like pull

[A]

up the 991 speedster. I think they have to make a whole new back. I don't think it's a separate. Just pull up images. I'm sure. I think it's a whole. Yeah, it's a. It's a different thing. Yeah, that whole top, that whole rear rear bit is different because the way it meets with the, with those fenders is different. You know, that's all different.

[B]

Yeah. So that's.

[A]

So this is a much cheaper.

[B]

What they've done is much cheaper.

[A]

Yeah, like it's cheaper to, you know, rather than having to redesign a whole rear car clip. They have the convertible, they have the lower bumper already. They already have the ST doors, they already have the ST fenders. So they could mix and match existing shit.

[B]

Yeah, exactly.

[A]

That's why.

[B]

And we know where Porsche is at financially, so that's what they're going to do. They probably started planning this a little while ago, but I'm sure that the cost savings was a benefit.

[A]

This is a extremely high margin parts bin car, I mean, which is like. I'm sure. I'm not saying it's not developed. I'm sure Andy and his team have made it a thing that can proudly wear the badge, but nevertheless, like everything that's in it, from what I've seen, at least the boilerplate items, I'd love to drive it, I'd love to talk to Andy, I'd love to go on the launch, if that's a thing. But the boilerplate items, it seems like is pretty mix and match from stuff they've already got.

[B]

Yeah. And I guess if it's something, I don't know if they do like research with customers and say, is this something you'd like? Or if Porsche, they make it and they know that the customers will buy it, it's nice that the soft top is more usable than the Speedster solutions. You don't have to get out and set up your tent.

[A]

Right.

[B]

I'm sure they'll sell all of them.

[A]

Of course they will. It's not a product that necessarily interests me as a consumer, but I interest me very much as someone who gets to taste. I look forward to having a go for sure. Okay. Matt Brook says I'm looking to consolidate from four cars down to three by selling my daily driver Taurus Sho and one of my fun cars. Two of those cars are a 944 Turbo Turbo and a VW Vanagon camper. Do I replace the 944 Turbo and the SHO with a base 718 Cayman or Boxster? Or do I replace the Sho and the vanagon with a Powerboost F150 with a pop up bed camper?

[B]

I mean, these are really different, Matt. Plus you follow up saying like, you camp a lot but you're outside Atlanta and this would be like a fun thing to drive around. So if you get the 718, it will be fun to drive in the back roads of Georgia and you could bring a little camping gear. But obviously the F150 is going to be, I mean I think it's a more comfortable daily. It's just easier in so many ways. You can carry more stuff and then if you're going camping and if your camping involves way more gear, like the trip we did, you know, Power boost I thought was great. It was cool for off roading, plugged in a blender. You know, you can put a rooftop tent on it or a bed tent. Like you have so many options with it. But it's not gonna be fun to drive in the back road. So like is your definition of a weekend fun? Is it driving quickly and you know, packing light or are you bringing mountain bikes and a gun and bringing a deer home and I don't know, like these are really different vehicles.

[A]

Yeah. You know, work from home and have no commute. That's great.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

That means you don't, you don't need a normal car as much much. Right. Three weird cars equals one normal car if you work from home, I guess.

[B]

Oh. Is this question what we don't know?

[A]

We don't know is the extra car. We don't know. We don't know the extra car is.

[B]

I think what the crux of this is. Matt. Would you rather have a newer 718 and a Vanagon for camping or an F150 power boost and your fun car is a 944 Turbo? Yeah.

[A]

The thing is, is like a 718 is an excellent option if you want something in that category. The PowerBoost F150 with a camper is an excellent option for something in that category. So the question is, do you want to have a old weird car as a weekend car and a normal car as a daily or as an everyday car or the other way around. So that's tough. I don't know. I'd probably rather have have the F150 and the 944. Probably. But. Right. Because I'm not that into actually camping in a 35 year old Vanagot. I'm not into vintage camping compared to new camping. Whereas I am into vintage sports cars.

[B]

Yeah. I think I would be more willing to do adventures in an F150 than the Vanagon. I know that they can be amazing cars, but like slow climbing hills, all that stuff. So yeah.

[A]

Wheat city night court. Is it okay to wear a gold colored watch that isn't actually made of gold? Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Many fine watches are colored gold that are not actually gold. It is totally okay to do it either ironically or seriously. The awesome gold turtle that I gave Foley from are you garbage that he wearing all the time now? Which is awesome.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

PVD gold. It's great. Ayg, by the way, we're going to see them. It's like May 7th in LA. I've got tickets and if you're in LA on May 7th, come see AYG live with us. It's really fun. Username reimagined by Singer Are we gonna have any comics from the Netflix of the Joke Fest sit up for podcasts if they have time. I'm trying to get tomorrow in. He's going to be around and I will. I will try to get the AYG guys if I can. Tim A okay, cool. That's not a question, but Tim A Shout out to your new scooter. Moonshiner28 is considering getting my USCG license.

[B]

Is that Coast Guard?

[A]

Coast Guard license? What kind of license do I have? I have the ASA bareboat charter certification. That's up to like 80ft, 88ft or something like that. I got it like when I was 17. I got it a really long time ago. So yeah, I don't think you need anything more than that. Usually if you're talking about chartering boats, you want to get bareboat charter. And maybe you want to take the catamaran course if you've never sailed on a catamaran ran before. But I don't know the names of those courses. Sorry. Quadrifolio face. What is the best M2 generation and gearbox?

[B]

First gen manual, I think.

[A]

First gen manual, I would say the last gen CS manual.

[B]

Oh, you like the. The facelifted one? A little bit, yeah.

[A]

Queer shift in gears. They're always out there.

[B]

They're.

[A]

They're so shifty. I'm doing. I think this is. I'm pretty sure it's them. I'm doing their podcast.

[B]

Oh cool.

[A]

Which has a very funny name. That funnier name than this. Vaughn talked about the RTR EcoBoost Mustang and it got me thinking about entry level sports cars. Curious about your take on the GT86 compared to the EcoBoost Mustang as fun, sporty drift cars without driving JR's car, I can't say because the last one I drove, Cobb Tuning did a full package on an EcoBoost Mustang that I just hated. This was like 2016 or something though. The first year of that car. It's been some time and I have driven no Ecoboost Mustang since then. I really want to do JR's car but like a Mustang is so big compared to an 86 and this person

[B]

also replied to themselves that the Mustang only comes as paddle shift automatic. You cannot get it. No manuals, obviously GT86 you can get as a manual. And I think it's a pretty good one, especially for the money. And it's a smaller car.

[A]

I'd get the $86 for dollar unless I didn't fit in it or it didn't hold hold the amount of stuff and people that I needed it to hold. Right outside of that, there's a tough argument for a four cylinder Mustang with respect to JR and whatever it is that he builds. Mustang Geek thoughts on the tit for tat Nurburgring battle between Ford and Porsche.

[B]

It's really Ford and Chevy right now, isn't it? I mean the whole zr1x versus gtd

[A]

thing going on, man ties in there as well.

[B]

That's true.

[A]

Manti is getting it done as well. Yeah. And then they wonder if the GTD competition has a Whipple Blower instead of the Eaton. I mean it's probably like a thousand horsepower instead of the eight, you know, 38.

[B]

Yeah. Because they just shave seven seconds off their time or something and they now ford is the GT is faster than the ZR1X. But people are like, is this a cheater car?

[A]

Yeah. I mean it might not be street legal. You know, whatever this power unit is may or may not be able to pass smog or anything like that. So it remains. If I had put money on a GTD that was just delivered, I would be extremely pissed that they now have this faster one. I'd be like super pissed that six months later here's a faster one.

[B]

So I'd expect a hopefully it's not street legal because otherwise it diminishes the value of the current one.

[A]

So we'd see tapping Z's nuts. That bridge is always going to be the Tappan Z bridge for me. I'm not fucking calling that shit the Mario Cuomo bridge. Fuck you. I'm not a Cuomo fan. When WCCS is selling a car on behalf of an owner, how do you decide between listing it on bat versus cars and bids? First way is if the owner personally has a preference. We work for the owner of the car. And if they are knowledgeable and have a preference then we, we will do what makes them happy. And then our head of concierge Dave will run comps on both sites and see if these type of cars perform notably better on one site versus another site. And then also some cars are too old for cars and bits. So Some cars it's like you only have bad is your only real option. Duffel Shuffle Retirement Club says, I saw that you liked the Mustangs provided by Skip Barber. Although this was probably written before the show started, I found it surprising since Ron and Vin had nothing good to say about them on Scotto show. Anyhow, in theme with the date, what's the most inconvenient or embarrassing time y' all have been interrupted while high or drunk?

[B]

Interrupted. So you, you've embarked or ingested and then something interrupts you.

[A]

There was a time of yet I had to run Lamar and then they told me I couldn't drive and so I went to the bar and got shit faced and they were like, Matt, you're back in. I did once.

[B]

Oh, I was interrupted by the police showing up at our house when we had Brownie and someone in our house had a panic attack and decided to call 911-ON-420 and Boulder police are like, yep, we get a lot of these calls this day. That was bad.

[A]

The, the first 10 times in my life that I smoked weed and I'm talking like when I was like 13, 14, I was caught all 10. Like not like joint in hand, but I was caught like either while smoking or just being high and smelling like because I was 13.

[B]

Smells like weed. Yeah.

[A]

And I was very young and so my parents were like thought that if they caught me 10 times I must have done it. Been doing it a thousand times all day every day. And they wouldn't absolutely not believe like no, no. I'm just very bad at hiding cuz I'm 13 and we don't have cars and can't go anywhere. You've caught me every time. Or someone has caught me every time. And they just didn't. So they sent me to rehab where on the very first day the guy called my parents and was like he does not need rehab. He's just bad at doing this. He's caught me. You've caught him every time. I don't know what this Rye Pontiac Rye's questions is. What is this?

[B]

Well before last week, before Vaughn came on the show when car and driver tested the RTR and their instrument testing was not very flattering. He I guess had said, did AI write this review? And I think he has since retracted that. And I also, I learned after the show I should have looked up before. But that article was written by Alana Sher. So Alana knows how to drag race, she knows how to run cars. She's also a huge fan of Muscle cars and old cars. So some of the criticism toward that was like maybe the person who wrote this is not a car person. That is obviously not true with her. It was just like the numbers are the numbers in that particular test.

[A]

And it just didn't accelerate quickly.

[B]

It was slower to 60 and quarter mile I believe than a regular Mustang GT. Not good if the car has 200 to 300 more horsepower.

[A]

But if it did not have appropriate tires for that type of test or got worse traction, I mean, you know.

[B]

Yeah, I don't know. I don't know if car driver has tested a Mustang on that same road. Same like different tires. I didn't read it that see that in there but I would just say like the person who wrote it is a trustworthy source. So they should just do. I don't be good content if they do drag race, like take them both to a strip and see what happens. If you can get the RTR to hook up. Yeah, I don't know.

[A]

Oh yeah. Okay. So that's the first I've seen of that. Okay, Mr. Nail Head. I want an Elantra N to be my next car to replace my 2011 Mazda 2. If I'm buying used. Is there any real difference between a 2022 and a 2026 Elantra N to warrant spending more on a pretty tight budget? I don't think there is enough that if money is tight you should spend it on.

[B]

I feel like it was mostly. I'm sure there were some small hardware changes, but I think the big story was the facelift. The new one looks way better, but that's it. The old one was fast, handled well, seats were good, blah blah, blah.

[A]

I drove the post facelift and pre facelift one and when I drove the post facelift one there wasn't anything about it from the driver's seat that was different enough that if you didn't have the old one immediately next to it to try it back to back, you could tell the difference. Difference there just wasn't. It was really looks. So save your money. Get the older one. The only difference is if I don't know what's. I know Hyundai has a great warranty. So like maybe there's some math to be done on. Well, it's, you know, it's $1500 more or $2000 but I get an extra three or four years of factory warranty. Like that might be it. But outside of that driving nick. Okay, wait. Beeping 8 Asshole bang for the buck. What items provide the most value in Terms of quality and tactile feel, certain cars or watches, et cetera, there are a lot, I mean most, well, most value is a hard one because when you talk about, about quality and tactile feel, these are usually, that's usually not where you find value. You know, like that's usually the first thing that gets cut out in search of value. Right. I mean so like, and then there's also like how long that like for instance a brand new Genesis G90 or whatever and a brand new Bentley GT have actually some pretty similar, like the way the quilting and the touch and blah blah blah and all that stuff but like 5, 5 years down the road, if you look at a 5 or 10 year old or 50,000 mile Genesis G90 at a 50,000 mile Bentley GT which will have worn in better and held up better. So I mean, I don't know, I've said a whole bunch of times that the best, the most satisfying shit I've ever bought is steel Rolex watches. My Vespa. Porsches just you know, my, a brand, a brand new Porsche, my, you know, my Spider, a MacBook Pro. I mean honestly, you know, in your hands.

[B]

Yeah, that's true.

[A]

The titanium fucking MacBook Pro. That shit is sick. A great, a great pen. The tactile turn pens are really nice.

[B]

I mean I think, I think the Miata at the cheaper end is the best example of like has great tactile feel because it's focused on that. But once you start, once you go upmarket a little bit, the focus becomes more broad like we m2 or other cars, Mustangs and stuff. And then when you get to the top, the Focus can narrow again because they go, here's a car that's just about feeling nice when you shift. Or here's a car that's just about having gauges.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. But there's a lot of stuff that factors, you know, high end cameras, leather, good Leica camera and some, I mean some gun manufacturers.

[B]

And even then like you just spending a few hundred dollars more to go from like a polymer gun to an all steel gun, it feels like it's worth a lot more money even though it's not.

[A]

Yeah, I mean there's stuff that you can do to make shit feel way more, way more expensive than, than it is. I mean for instance, like they make a mod that if you wanted to take your, your G shock watch for like $150, you can make that fully metal. Like just they take it and put it in a metal. It's a Metal aftermarket case. And so, like, you know, you can, you, you can mod a watch to make it feel more upscale and luxurious

[B]

or like Fad's shifter in his E36. Yeah, that's tactile as fuck. I mean, it's a giant motorsport shifter, but it's an upgrade you can make.

[A]

Yeah, but I mean, one of the things, for instance, that we did with this, just as an example of how much I give a shit about the notice canyon. This is the prototype, right, that I've been wearing for like a month. You know, they wear it and I said, and I compared it to my other ones because this is a new bracelet, this new clasp. And I said that the edges of this bracelet are not smooth enough. Like, the corners are like a little rough. And they're not. It's not, not if I hold it up next to my Rolex bracelets. It doesn't quite feel right. And it's not that they don't have the right materials or everything. I just want those corners to be slightly, slightly softer to give it a little bit of a more luxurious feel. Really perfectly rounded off and smoothed edges give a luxurious feel. So that's kind of a thing that we're working on just now. And they've got it, they have the new bracelet. And then the other thing is this bit, the bottom bit that sits on your, on your. The part of the clasp that sits on your wrist now is longer and smoother. And that way when it sits on your wrist, you don't have to have this as tight, but it just the fact that it's a little longer keeps it from moving. Yeah, it's like having to be as tight. So that's a nice thing that we're really focusing on. And that's when a watch, particularly, a lot of people buy off what they see on the Internet, they see a picture that's taken at the right. And of course it's a lot of ways you don't have a choice. The store's not near you, whatever. But then they put it on and they go, ugh, that's not right. So if you can try before you buy, that's great, but if not, know that at least your boy's over here fucking thinking about this kind of shit when you buy my watch. Mustang geek says, do manufacturers discreetly include automotive journalists in focus groups on the front end of product development? Not necessarily journalists, but influencers, yes. So full disclosure. My wife Hannah does research and she works for a company semi full time, but also does freelance on the Side and Hannah was asked to put together a group of intellectual influencers, not just like stupid influencers influencers to consult on a new product for an oem. I don't do that. But I arranged for a whole bunch of people that are in the scene but don't call themselves journalists, such as Scotto, such as Larry Chen, such as people who really know cars but aren't like journalists and wouldn't be ethically compromised by working for an OEM directly for one reason or another. And Hannah ran a focus group with those people, the results of which were delivered to an OEM and helped in my opinion greatly improve what ultimately became the GR Corolla. And again, what is going to become the GR GT or whatever this new high performance GR sports coupe is. So Hannah did help run a focus group of influential people that I was not personally, although I handed over a Rolodex of people. So yeah, I mean they kind of do.

[B]

I think the question would be like how far, how early in the process do they involve people? Because the OEMs, do they go, hey, we've got these hard points, this platform, here's what we're doing. Or do they approach them with blank canvas and say what do you want to see?

[A]

Yeah, I'm not sure either. I mean obviously Harris was just driving a GT3 convertible mule in that video, so. And we know, we know that he has a relationship with Andy and is probably does some driving of these products, you know, and I don't think that makes him unobjective or whatever, but like I don't personally do it. Darien Lux narrowed down your top my top three seven figure cars into the three favorites which are the Singer DLS, McLaren F1 and Carrera GT. Can you think of one six figure figure car or less that you would rather have than any of those cars? No, that's why those cars cost cars were at the top of the list. I mean that's why they're. Yeah, I don't want those cars because they're expensive.

[B]

No. The only downside about those is that they're expensive not only in the sense that you can't acquire one, but that if you're hesitant to drive it hard because of the cost. We see so many owners that just bubble them because they get afraid of getting hit or getting rock chips and so then it's actually demerit to it.

[A]

The flexing nib. Have you guys ever been gatekept and how did you deal with it? Like, I'm not, I don't think so like, like blacklisted or what is. How do you, how do you interpret the use of that term?

[B]

Well, it can just be like, I mean, I looked it up because it's such a broad term, like controlling the actual access to resources, information, community, belonging. I mean, I don't know, there's stuff like there are car clubs that require membership to attend. So like, technically that's a gatekeeping thing. Can you afford the membership or not? I mean, there's private country clubs and racetracks and stuff that have. Seems like almost anything that's gate kept there is a free or cheaper option. Like there's expensive golf course country clubs. There's also public golf courses. Like there's private racetracks, public racetracks. Then there's autocross, like the even cheaper version. So I think the way to approach it is what are you trying to get from that place that is gate kept and can you find 80% of that experience cheaper? And the answer is probably yes. Now, if it's information, I mean, now with the Internet, like, I think that tore down a lot of the gates that a lot of institutions and universities.

[A]

Well, yeah, I mean, in the beginning we, you know, we really thought that YouTube would be this rolling audition for television. And we did get to the sort of the edge of television and to do a little television, but it never became the thing. And I don't, I don't want to call that gatekeeping or we just didn't get it done good enough when we were there or whatever.

[B]

Actually, that's a perfect example because the formula for a long time was move to Hollywood, get an agent, audition for shit pitch shows to very specific people. The way to get in those meetings was oftentimes you had to have a relationship with someone that could vouch for you so that the person who is important knows they're not wasting their time with you. And we circumvented it by the Internet being invented. YouTube. And we go, oh, well, what if we just make the thing and then hope eventually someone sees it, which is what happened.

[A]

Pretty much. Last one and then I'm gonna save the rest for the next show. Twincam home Haze says we're actually going to one of my favorite restaurants tonight in LA called Two Homies for Our Dinner. Cannot recommend it highly enough.

[B]

So good.

[A]

It's on all the lists now. It's the fucking pets. Looking for a sports car this winter to replace my NB Miata. I drove the GTS 40 and loved it. GT350 and loved it. Emira liked it Manual 2024 Supra. Hated it. And a manual 2024 M2. Enjoy. Enjoyed it. Anything else I should drive before I buy a GTS or GT4? I would say if you can find a great Camaro ZL1, I might consider that.

[B]

Or SS1LE also.

[A]

I mean, if you've got. If you've got money for. For this other, you can buy a ZL1. They're not that expensive. They're not that expensive. ZL1s are fast. They got mag run. Yeah, they're good at a lot. So if you like the GT350, I think you'd probably like a ZL1. The M2 you liked Supra, you hated. Okay. So don't bother with the Z4. You know, GTSs are a gold standard for kind of a reason. You know, I don't. The Amira is the obvious option, you know, and that's. That's the best choice. If nothing is. If you don't like Porsches, I mean, you could get something old, you could get something older. I mean, everything you're talking about Here is the GT350 is really the oldest car.

[B]

That's true.

[A]

You could go older and you could go with something like. You could try a Viper. You might like a Viper.

[B]

You might like a Corvette Grand Sport.

[A]

Yeah. You might like either a front engine Corvette that's higher equipment, or a C8Z51. You may like that. If you've got 75,000, 80,000 bucks to spend, you're deep into low mile C8 territory.

[B]

I feel like if you merge the GT350 and the Amira, you get C8 Corvette Z51.

[A]

Yeah, pretty much.

[B]

It's a comfy ride like the Amira. Mid engine, of course, but sound and power like GT350. And the engine's also less problematic, probably. 350, sure. Oh, Mustang Mach 1 as an honorable mention. Great ride, simpler engine, plenty powerful. And also a guy in my school, he runs as a track car frequently and he's like, no problems. So that's a pretty great car.

[A]

There's some good options.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I mean, and I really. The GTS is the gold standard, but I think your head's in the right place. You got good choices.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Thanks, everybody. We'll save the of the rest. Rest of those questions for another day. I'm trying to get. Before we go racing, I'm trying to get Shont, who's building my Benzito, to come in here and give us the nuts and bolts of the project because I post content about this thing. People clearly want to know about it. But there's a lot of debate, which is fine, but particularly around which engine we're using, why we're using the E55 and not not the M119 from the 500E. There's a very good reason. Mainly you have to modify the unibody to do the 119, but I want Shont to take us through the whole process of it as well as his crazy story and all that wild shit he's building.

[B]

Yeah, cool.

[A]

Hopefully before we race, but if not, if not, certainly afterwards. Thank you to our patrons for Support [e-mail] the Smokingtirepodcast get in that game today. And last but certainly not least, don't forget we are giving it away. A 911 Turbo S brand new, tuned by us. You can go to the link in the video or podcast description to get over there. You can buy tickets and get entered to win. The game ends on August, I believe, 20th of this year. And yeah, you're going home with a 911 Turbo S and 75K to pay the federal taxes to offset that. Thanks everyone. We'll see you next time. Bye.