
Matt Farah spent a day at the race track with a 996 Porsche Cup Car; Zack Klapman spent the week driving the 7-passenger Hyundai IONIQ9. Patreon questions include: Is this used Macan S a good idea? Porsche GT4RS: too stiff for a weekend/track car? Have restomods gone too far? Why are Cyber Truck owners removing side mirrors? Does the 2000 Accord Coupe look good or is it a Temu NSX? You get pulled over: do you hide the radar detector? Worst seats in the best car? 2023 Kia EV6 GT vs 2025 Ioniq 5N Catio advice And more! Recorded July 30, 2026 Tickets to our live show: https://improv.com/irvine/event/the+smoking+tire+live+feat.+smith+and+sniff+with+matt+farah%2C+zack+klapman%2C+richard+porter%2C+and+jonny+smith/14213624/ Right now, save up to 20% on mattresses and up to 25% on everything else when you go to Casper.com. FitBod Get 25% off your subscription or try the app FREE for seven days at https://Fitbod.me/tire Hims Ready to reach your goals? Visit https://hims...
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Matt Farah
We are going to be at the Irvine Improv Live with Richard Porter and Johnny Smith of Smith and Sniff, legendary British podcasters with the smoking tire. August 18, 8pm at the Irvine Improv. Hit the link in the show notes or on our Instagram bio or just Google the Smoking Tire Irvine Improv and
Freddie
you will get there.
Matt Farah
Once again, LA people, Orange county people, come on out and hang with the boys. August 18th and yeah, we love you guys.
Freddie
It's going to be a great time.
Matt Farah
Let's go on this episode of the
Freddie
podcast, sort of opposite day. I drove a legit race car on the track and Zach, well he drove an electric crossover. Boy, is the energy shifting in this show.
Matt Farah
It's the Smoking Tire podcast. Let's go.
Freddie
Guten Morgen. Hello everybody. Vilcomin to the podcast. Bonjour, Bonjour. Bienvenidos. What the fuck is up? Just had my ears filled with a bunch of silicone. It went.
Zach
You went to the thing.
Freddie
Crackly thing. And it was, it was time you got it. I. And my. And you know what the guy told me I'm getting the custom ear molds for not just racing comms earbuds, but I'm having a second set made that are just like you have, that are just nothing. They're just regular for motorcycling and or whatever else non comms related shooting, et cetera. And he said that my right ear has a scratch deep in the canal and I think it's from when I took my helmet off at the Cletus race. It like yanked the foamy earbuds out like hard. And I think that scratched the inside of my ear.
Zach
Yeah, the foam things, I mean they're a good solution. They're a little overpriced in my opinion for what they are. But eventually after using them like seven times, if you're not really careful, the speaker will push through the foam because it's metal versus foam and then it starts to like poke your ear.
Freddie
Yeah, it's no good.
Zach
That's when I was like, it's time to get the real ones. Because those things, they sell them on racing Electron, whatever website and they were still like 120 bucks.
Freddie
They're generally far too expensive considering It's.
Zach
It's a 20 cent earphone plug wrapped
Freddie
around a tiny maximum $1 wire and speaker set. Yeah, like the cheapest possible quality in communications.
Zach
$40, not 100 and whatever it is,
Freddie
which they probably were a couple years ago.
Zach
That's a good point. That's a very good point. But yeah, man. The custom things, man, they were. They're amazing. When I wore them at the Cletus
Freddie
race, buy it once, buy it for life. Pretty much, yeah. Yeah. So I'm excited to get those, but they. Looking at the inside of your ear in silicone is funky.
Zach
It is more twists and turns than I expected. And then. Did you watch the screen when they were.
Freddie
I didn't watch the screen I loved. I just. When the thing came out and it looked like a, you know, flaccid pink cock. And they're like, that part is the curve of your ear canal. And I was like, the cock part? And he's like, yep.
Zach
Yeah.
Freddie
So it's very exciting.
Zach
It's meant to receive, definitely. It was cool. I could see my titanium implant on the screen. When he's like. You see that? I was like, yeah. Why is there a jewel in my ear? And he's like, that's. Your eardrum's clear. Which I didn't know you could, like, see through it. It's cool.
Freddie
Yeah, I know. I didn't pay attention to the. To the screen. I actually didn't realize there was a screen.
Zach
Neat. Yeah.
Freddie
Getting prepped for the Vespa trip. It's happening on Monday. The big decision is, you know, we are likely to see temperatures as high as 105 degrees and as low as, like, the low 60s. So the question is, do I wear my fall winter jacket, which is wind and waterproof, but does have vents. It's got, like, six vents that can open and suffer through, like, four hours on day one, but be better on day two or three? Or do I wear my summer jacket, which is mostly like, a mesh textile? Yeah, yeah.
Zach
It all breathes, right?
Freddie
It breathes except for the very upper. My shoulders and down to the elbow. Like, the outer bits don't breathe, but your whole chest effectively breathes. I look sexy in it. I'll be honest. I look better in it. I look good in that jacket. Cause when I have shoulder pads on, and it really makes my body look like fucking Dolph Lundgren, dude.
Zach
Totally Wolverine in that. When I wore my motorcycle suit back in the day, I was like, I'm a superhero.
Freddie
I look great.
Zach
I am Wolverine.
Freddie
When I ride the Vespa to the grocery store and go in wearing the jacket, and people are like, hey, what's up with this guy?
Zach
You feel invincible. You got these pads on.
Freddie
Seen you in a Myers and, like,
Zach
the knuckles on the gloves.
Freddie
Yeah, yeah. So.
Zach
But.
Freddie
And I could wear, you know, various under, you know, layers underneath that Would keep me warmer for the. For the bits in the morning when it's cold. And then I would be very comfortable when it got hot. But I do not really have waterproofness.
Zach
Is it only going to be in the 60s, like in the mornings of day two and three? Cause you're gonna be on a moving vehicle. So I looked up windchill factor and if.
Freddie
No, the highs are like in the mid-70s to low 80s every day.
Zach
Okay.
Freddie
I think summer jacket base layer or thin fleece if needed for cold mornings. And roll the dice on getting wet.
Zach
Because I'm curious about the wind chill factor. Because if you're going 60 miles per
Freddie
hour, I mean, look, usually the line, you don't need to do math on this. But usually the line for me of which jacket I wear is like about 70 degrees. 70, 75 degrees. If it's above 75, then summer jacket for sure. Particularly if I'm riding in the city, not the highway.
Zach
Right.
Freddie
And if it's below like 70, winter jacket for sure. But like, ugh.
Zach
I guess I would go textile jacket, bring extra layers. And you could always. If you have a shell that will fit over it. Yeah, that's how you make that windproof for the morning, you know, and it won't breathe as well.
Freddie
But I also like, I have to, I really have to pack very light.
Zach
Yeah, but don't you have a shell that rolls up to like the size of this water bottle?
Freddie
Right? I think so. I think so, yeah. I don't know if it'll fit over my motorcycle jacket to a point. Yeah. Usually compact rolling up thing is not, you know. So I think right now summer jacket with under things is leading and roll the dice on getting wet. It seems unlikely we will get wet.
Zach
I mean, you could also wear a shell underneath the moto jacket.
Freddie
That's the other. If I had. That's more likely is I would have some kind of water resistant under thing.
Zach
I mean that gives you cause then you can always take layers off, obviously. But like if you're wearing the winter jacket, you open those zippers and that's all you got. It's 190 degrees. Yeah, that's not a good idea.
Freddie
105.
Zach
105 is like if you get overheated, like that's dangerous. Truly.
Freddie
I mean, for the part where it'll be that hot, which is when we go up over the 33 into central California, we're only in that bit for like an hour and a half to two hours. But it's a fucking hot bit. And it's in the middle of a long day of riding.
Matt Farah
Right.
Freddie
So it's like a 240 mile ride day, which on a Vespa is a summer jacket.
Zach
A lot.
Freddie
Yeah, I think that's the move. So that's what that.
Matt Farah
And I'm trying.
Freddie
And I'm trying to figure out, because you know what, duffel bag will be very light, but hold the two to three days worth of clothing because I effectively have. I gotta carry that home on the plane and leave my motorcycle. Shit with the bike.
Zach
Oh, right.
Freddie
You know, so I can't just like use the thing with that, like full of clothes with no, like duffel bag. It's gotta. I gotta have the duffel bag. So anyway, that's the math I'm doing right now. Great times.
Zach
That'll be cool.
Freddie
Yeah. But yesterday I went out to Willow Springs. Oh, I didn't send you. Marco put up pictures on TLG Auto's Instagram. I didn't put up pictures yet of Marco, our friend. Porsche service, restoration and motorsport genius. Our pal Marco bought himself a 996 cup car at Luft last year at the Broad Arrow auction that they had at Luft, he bought himself this thing. It's a 2002996 cup card originally driven by Timo Bernhard. Finished, I think it was second or third in the championship that year. It's in really nice condition. Cosmetically. It was never crashed as far as he could tell. There wasn't really a record of it being crashed and it's just in really, really nice condition. And he put a f kid's seat in it and fully serviced it and put new brakes and new tires on it. And I had him out to abuse my membership at Willow Springs. And we ripped the shit out of this car all morning. I really wish you were there. We're gonna take it out again. We're gonna have another go in it later. This car. And I made a video. There is a video. I was by myself. So it's pretty primitive video. But there's lots of cool angles and the audio work good.
Zach
Oh, wow.
Freddie
Yeah, whatever my placement was of the exhaust mic was like pretty ace.
Zach
Nice.
Freddie
And what a couple things about this car. One, it really. It's amazing how the power train, in terms of the powertrain, how really like streetcar it feels. And I've driven the 992 cup car. The 992 cup car, whatever relationship it has to the street car is not perceptible when you're driving it. There's like nothing there from the streetcar. It's got this big butterfly steering wheel with a million fucking knobs and all the. This car, it's like round steering wheel, stick shift key. That's it. There's a digital race, right?
Zach
So it feels more like they took the streetcar, stripped it, and then just
Freddie
added the dated cage and like, racing suspension and like, that's it. And the engine is effectively a stock 3.6 from the GT3.380 horsepower, maybe a little more. Cause it's got no cats and it's got a racing muffler. It has no airbox. It has, like. It might just be a straight, like K and N cone in. Whoa. Yeah. Funny. I mean, it's pretty awesome. It sounds great. And it was fantastically light and talkative and easy to drive. Very, very low learning curve. Warm the tires up and you just drive it like a sports car. It doesn't have, you know, with this arrow, if you can even really call it an arrow setup.
Zach
It's really got a big wing.
Freddie
It's got a big wing.
Zach
There's no big front splitter at all.
Freddie
No big front splitter just as it was. You know, it's not. It doesn't have, like, big downforce. What it has is, it's stable, it's got a lot of stability, but it's not like you're not going flat over the fucking. You know, because you've got so much downforce. Like, no, you have slicks. Slicks go a pretty long way, but you have a lot of stability, and that's really nice. It had a great balance. The steering really talks to you. The ratio wasn't too sharp, but on streets, I never had to go over 180 degrees, so there's no. I didn't have to shuffle steer six speed. You know, it was.
Matt Farah
It's not.
Freddie
They use like the numeric or whatever. There's like an upgraded cable set up for the shifter that makes it a little notchier. But it's stock ish gearbox. It's got a diff, I think, in it because it's put. And it's great the way that it kind of hops a little through corners like you've seen Porsche's doing in racing footage. You can sort of stick it, but also kind of hop it a little. You can really stand on the brakes and it turns in hard. And once you've got it set, you just start to feed in the power through the corners. And it's really, really, really nice. And after a couple sessions and we got the tires scrubbed off and had the pressures set. Really nice. It was fucking good time. Really good time.
Zach
No race car.
Freddie
And this one, because it has an interesting history and it's in very nice shape and it's been fully. If Marco wanted to turn around and sell this thing today, it would probably be like 130, 140 grand. This is probably at the upper end of 996 cup cars. But like you can get one that doesn't have, you know, that doesn't have a famous history that nobody was driving or, you know, whatever. 75,000 bucks. And for a interesting and easy and fun and really engaging track car, like, wow, this is. That's a something like. That's definitely something I could get down with.
Zach
Yeah, that would be really exciting. Do you know one of the big things they talk about as the GT3 generations went on is adding the double wishbones, which was like I remember talking to Lee Keane who used to race GT3 cars about like how when they changed that like the turn in was better and you could hit bumps better and all that stuff. Did this have that? No, I assume no. So did you hit curbs at all and feel like.
Freddie
Yeah, it hops over curbs if you hit a curb.
Matt Farah
Guys taking a break from the action because support is coming in from Casper. You know when you've had that long day and you just can't wait to get to bed? You give a presentation, the Internet cuts out, you go on a date. It's awful. Nothing seems to work. But you can always go home to your Casper bed with snow technology to keep you cool no matter what. The day always ends well for me with a Casper. There's just nothing better than coming home from that long trip and sleeping in the Casper mattress. Right?
Freddie
It's amazing.
Matt Farah
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Freddie
And maybe you've been thinking about getting a new bed.
Matt Farah
Well, now is the time. Casper is doing the back to school sale. Head over to Casper.com and you can save up to 20% on the mattress that you deserve. They're built to be durable and long lasting. So you're not going to be Replacing that mattress every few years. Casper's products are designed to withstand the test of time maintaining over the long haul. Plus they got that 100 night risk free trial so you can give a Casper's mattress a try risk free. Although with 110,000 plus 5 star reviews, I'm sure you are going to like
Freddie
it like I do.
Matt Farah
My Casper mattress is so dope that when I sleep in it, all four of my cats cannot help themselves.
Freddie
But come and join me and then
Matt Farah
when I get up to go to work in the morning, they have breakfast and guess where them cats are going? Straight back to the Casper bed. Now they've offered a wide range of mattress types. So whether you like it firm, soft, somewhere in between, there's something for you@casper.com I like it firm with a soft mattress topper so it feels soft to the touch but it gives me that back support. You know what I'm saying? Plus they just launched a brand new kids mattress so even the youngest sleepers in your family can you get the
Freddie
same comfort and quality that you do.
Matt Farah
Remember, the day always ends well with Casper. Right now save up to 20% on mattresses and up to 25% on everything else. When you go to Casper.com one last time. That's Casper.com and save up to 20% on the mattress that you deserve. Folks, we're also being supported today by fitbod. You know about fitbod? I have been talking about them repetitively, which can be a problem when you're working out. Repetitive routines are the fastest way to fall off your exercise game, especially during the summer when you just want to chill. But fitbod keeps you locked in by making every session a new challenge. It takes the mental load away from planning the right exercises at the right intensity so you can stay focused on your gains. Like I said, personal trainer right in your pocket. What can be really frustrating when you're trying to get in shape is hitting the that progress plateau. Especially if you're looking on feeling and looking your best for the summer, right? And consistency is key. But steady improvement and variety in your workouts is what fuels you to keep going. Now fitbot is there tracking every rep and adapts your workouts so you're never spinning your wheels, right? If you've always wanted to have a personal trainer, right? But you've never had the funds or been able to find one that you like, try fitbod. It's like a personal trainer in your pocket. Fitbod creates a personalized workout routine based on your goals, fitness level, and the available equipment. The workouts adapt to your growth, so each workout is challenging enough to push you to make progress. Fitbod tracks your muscle recovery so you can avoid burnout and keep up your momentum. It's fine tuned by certified personal trainers to bring best practices and exercise science to you. And There are over 1000 demonstration videos so you know your form is correct. This summer, push your progress and see what you're really capable of. Join Fitbod today. Get 25% off your subscription or try the app for free at seven days at fitbod Me Tire. That's fitbod Me Tire.
Freddie
If you hit a curb, it will take. You can use an inside curb to help you rotate the car. And there's times where I was pretty sure the inside wheel was like lifting a little bit and I was using the outside wheel to stick a corner. But you will hop the car. It will not take a curb smoothly. But the curbs at streets of Willow are not that aggressive right now. They're pretty mild in terms of the grand scheme of curbings, so it didn't upset the car that badly.
Zach
How did it feel compared to newer GT3 cars you've driven? Like, it's smaller.
Freddie
Yeah, it's. The visibility is really good. It's small. It doesn't. It doesn't. I think it weighs like 2,900 pounds. Like it's fucking light. And so it, it feels kind of
Matt Farah
like
Freddie
tracking sort of like a modern like a GT3 street car, but like shrunk down. Like the experience is the same. It's like revs to 8. The experience is kind of similar of the rear engine design. It's definitely not as wide, it's not as bulky, it's not as big, and it's more raw. But like I really, I didn't love the 996 GT3 street car. When I drove all those GT3s back to back, it was like my least favorite of them. But like when you put slicks on it and like, like when you turn it into a race car, somehow it's like it's a different vibe and it was really, really fabulous.
Zach
When I drove the 996 GT3 in Germany, I just remember it like it sounded, it looked, sounded in road like a race car.
Freddie
Yeah.
Zach
But the interior was cosplaying as streetcar, which I mean, granted that's what they're all doing. That's what the rss are all doing. But it just was like so firm and not unrefined. But it Was like clearly from a different era. Before mag ride, before adaptive this and that. Like before all the technology that can kind of make a car do more than one thing. But in this setting, you know, you've taken that, the essence of the car.
Freddie
Yeah.
Zach
And let it be what it is.
Freddie
Yeah.
Zach
And that seemed a lot.
Freddie
That makes sense. It makes a lot of sense. And it makes even more sense when you consider that Marco sold his GT 2004996 GT3 streetcar and spent the money on this. So, like, he had the same thought. He was like, you know what? I can see what this should be. Let me just get the actual thing. And it makes a lot more sense as a race car. Yeah.
Zach
There's something so fun about. I mean, any race car that's that stripped out is just like, you feel focused. You are focused. The conversations with your body, the lockdown seat, just all that stuff. All the extra noise is gone, you know, the static or like it's just a clear signal. It's so fun.
Freddie
But this car's 23 years old, 24 years old, and other than being serviced, you know, by Marco to be safe to drive, it hasn't been improved on since then. It's not like he went, well, I put better shocks or I put better this or better that, or, you know, they used to do this, but we fixed it. Like, no, no. It's as it was and it does not. It's considered classic at this point. You could buy this and race it in. They're doing Goodwood at Willow Springs in two years, 20, 28. They're actually having Goodwood. Goodwood, not another brand. It's like Goodwood at Willow. Marco is going to be able to enter this.
Zach
That's wild.
Freddie
Yeah, it's wild.
Zach
Considering most of Goodwood revivals footage that they show on Instagram that I watch every day is like the cars from the 60s.
Freddie
Sure, they're gonna have that too.
Matt Farah
But this is.
Freddie
This is a classic race car now.
Matt Farah
And it's.
Freddie
You know, when you drive a. I've driven like air cooled race cars, Right. And when you drive an air cooled race car, like it doesn't feel modern. It feels like a fucking old car that you're driving. Like this doesn't feel any different to drive than if you were driving like a fucking. A gutted 86 with a cage or something. You drive it just like you would drive a sports car today. You don't have to classic car it adjust in any way. The pedals, the shifter. It's just like driving in the canyon. Except way more grip. And everything is super, super tight. Tight, tight, tight. And because you're strapped in so tight. It's true. Fingertips driving. Wait till you see the video. It's just a fucking delight. It's great. Car ran. Car ran.
Zach
Cool.
Freddie
You know, the coolant never got over like 205.
Zach
What was that tempo there?
Freddie
Hot. I mean, it was high 80s, low 90s.
Zach
Okay.
Freddie
Yeah. Pretty warm.
Zach
Yeah. Marco wrote the weather was perfect. I read that this morning. I was like, oh, maybe it wasn't as hot as I expected.
Freddie
Well, I mean, it was per. You know, high 80s, low 90s at Willow isn't actually all that bad. I mean, it could. And by the. Do you see the. Wait, is there a photo? Do you see the shade they built? Wait, look at that.
Zach
Yeah, look at that.
Freddie
We went out there. Fucking 20 years we've been going to this track. It's been blaring sun. They built a giant awning to have as a paddock. Fucking.
Zach
Yeah. This is like the one they have in Miami.
Freddie
Yeah.
Zach
Which is very helpful in Miami. Yeah. Oh, right. Thermometers.
Freddie
Yeah. The shades are like game. Game changer.
Zach
Shit, Eleanor. Must or revology?
Freddie
You don't recognize that car? Cause I recognize that car.
Zach
Is it the one we drove?
Freddie
It is. Its owner brought it out there.
Zach
Whoa. Cool.
Freddie
And was running some laps.
Zach
Oh, yeah.
Freddie
Yeah. And heat soaked it and kind of overheated it in like two and a half laps. And it was like the blower, obviously, the blower also got wheel spin. I was on the side. I was in the paddock watching. Got like, wheel spin at like, 90. Coming onto the front straight. Had corrected, you know, fortunately, but, like, whoa.
Zach
Was the driver happy about that moment or. It was a surprise.
Freddie
He had some experience. He was not a massive amount of experience, but he. I think the story was he was British and really didn't have much experience driving on the left hand side of the car.
Zach
Okay.
Freddie
Which. But, like, he was a nice guy. I don't want to say his name or anything, but, like, I don't think he was expecting that. It wasn't like a hold my beer moment. It was a, wow, this really does have 700 horsepower.
Zach
If tires are really hot, if it's been out there for a couple laps.
Freddie
He was a very good sport about it. And he said. They warned him. He said, if you really are going to be taking this car on the racetrack or driving it really hard, you want the naturally aspirated one. Which is true for all Mustangs, basically.
Zach
And C6 Corvettes. Yeah. Yeah.
Freddie
No. If you had a brand new Mustang GT and you were considering putting a blower on it, that would be the same advice.
Zach
Yep. What else? You guys had a couple of things out there. What was the Alfa deal?
Freddie
Oh, that was this dude, Anthony, who was a alpha, like restorer racer, and he was building. He built a car for our homie Tommaso and Jimmy Johnson to race at Monterey and Goodwood. And so he was shaking it down. Okay, it worked.
Zach
Yeah.
Freddie
Lovely little thing, aluminum gta.
Zach
Those are such good looking cars.
Freddie
Yeah, really. But it looked like a very expensive build. And when I tell you that he gave me a point buy with about a 50 mile an hour differential in this car. Really?
Zach
Yeah.
Freddie
Wow.
Zach
Yeah. Yeah. Well, he's running like a 1.8. I think it was a 1.6.
Freddie
Yeah, it was beautiful. The car was gorgeous.
Zach
They are.
Freddie
Someone's gonna have a real good time Dr. It. But yeah, this car, this was like fast. Like what was. I think I'm pretty sure. I don't know how connected it was, but I'm pretty sure I saw 126 on the display on the dash, which is a pretty decent time for this track.
Zach
Yeah, I think. I think when Larry Chen had his time attack car there, they were running around that time.
Freddie
Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, I think it was a pretty solid time considering my first two sessions ever in this car. It's 25 years old. It was, dude, next time we bring it out and there will be more times for sure. Marco was like, oh, yeah, this was fun. We're gonna do this. Yeah.
Zach
That's the point of having that car.
Freddie
That's the point of having this car. You have to drive it. It was just so. It's like you need one lap to put heat in the tires and then you just hammer the fuck down. It's very, very cool. Really good fun.
Zach
Do you trail brake these to keep the. I always forget, like, brake weight in
Freddie
it and then hold. Yeah, hold the brake and trail brake in and then just right on the gas and be ready with my left foot to hover on the brake a little bit rather than lift off the gas as I exit the corner. You know, in a rear engine car, you don't want to lift off the gas, but if you have to set the nose, you can brush with your left to set the nose.
Zach
Yeah.
Freddie
Whoa. Yeah.
Zach
Cool.
Freddie
Very nice.
Zach
And it looks so simple. I love the rockers on these. It's just a great shape. I know it's a weird note, but like Just a good looking car.
Freddie
Yeah. I mean, I think the look. All cars look better as race cars. That's true.
Matt Farah
Right.
Freddie
And so I don't hate the 996. It's my least favorite modern 911.
Matt Farah
Sure.
Freddie
But like as race car with cool livery. Yeah, yeah. Not kicking that out of bed.
Matt Farah
Not.
Freddie
No way. Fucking great.
Zach
Yeah.
Freddie
It was a good time.
Zach
I mean, when they first reviewed the Gumpert Apollo, the first one, I remember going cool. And my brain was like, really? Look at all the shapes. And I was like, I know, but fast.
Freddie
Yeah, Gumpert.
Zach
Same rule applies.
Freddie
Oh, Gumpert. And they dropped the Gumpert just became Apollo.
Zach
That's true.
Freddie
Yeah. Willow Springs just got a. They bought an 86. They realized like they had bought these club sports. Those came in and they're like, yeah, you know, we were getting people who were coming out and like had like very little experience and we're just putting them in these club sports, you know, on slicks. And we realized there should probably be some kind of a stepping stone to that.
Zach
Yes, that's a good idea. Yeah. What do they do at Thermal, the BMW school? What is the first car they put you in? Do you know?
Matt Farah
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Freddie
in, like an M2. I mean, it's a lot.
Zach
It's on the small handling course.
Freddie
Yeah.
Zach
So you can just.
Freddie
But it's a. It's a streetcar.
Zach
Yeah.
Freddie
These fucking things are on slicks.
Zach
It's true.
Freddie
Yeah. You don't want to go from. I mean.
Zach
And the tightest track here that's open is streets.
Freddie
Yeah. No, you don't. I mean, I love these race cars. These are fucking so fun. I've driven them. They're like a great time. But, like, I can imagine coming off the. I think. I think every time a new one of these clubs open, they're surprised at just how high a percentage of novices, true novices, are interested in joining. Remember our buddy Aaron down at the Concourse Club? The dude who runs Shout out to Aaron at the Concourse Club in Miami? The best.
Zach
Nice guy. Does a great job.
Freddie
The coolest. Love the guy. He was like. He said 80% of their members had never driven on a racetrack when joining.
Zach
80.
Freddie
That's a fucking crazy number, isn't it?
Zach
That is really high. I mean, so high. I can understand if they've only done it once. Yeah. But never.
Freddie
Never.
Zach
Never is really high because they're clearly into cars and driving and they've been making money for a long time to become members there.
Freddie
Yeah.
Zach
So you think at some point. But, you know, I guess life.
Freddie
I think, you know that because the Concourse Club is in effectively downtown Miami or very close to it, you can use it as more of a social club. You can use it as more of a hangout. And so I think the percentage could be a lot like Willow. It's in the middle of fucking nowhere.
Zach
But, like, imagine joining a. Like a golf country club and be like, never played before.
Freddie
No, I. Crazy. No crazy.
Zach
And I'm jumping right in to this very specific thing. And the country clubs usually have a lot more amenities than just the course.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach
But these track clubs, it's like, for the most part, to track a restaurant and some rooms to sit in. Yeah.
Freddie
I Mean, maybe their friends are into it and got them into it. Maybe they came out on, got a tour and got a taste, you know, like these guys do. And they were like, holy shit, I'm in on this. You know, I don't, I don't. I haven't sat down and interviewed. That would be a good story. Maybe talk to the people that went from zero to spending half a million dollars joining a track club. I think would be a very interesting. Maybe the Willow people would set that up. The percentage must be lower at Willow Springs. It's way out there. You're not gonna commit your time if you don't have the experience already.
Zach
Driven by passion to get out there. Concord Club was smart because they had those M235s, right?
Freddie
Yeah.
Zach
And that was like the series that members could race in.
Freddie
Well, that's right. Yeah.
Zach
I mean, safe cars, power's not too high. Yeah, it was a good entry.
Freddie
That's what Aaron was saying is like the most forgiving beginner race car. And having raced it. Yeah, that tracks. 100% that tracks. These are the next step up from that in price and performance and everything like that. These came in club sports GT4RS. Club sports. But yeah, they do a lot of the clubs that I know here. They're trying to figure out what at Willow they're going to do a member racing series. What is the car going to be? And it's, you know, there's a variety of skill levels, budgets. And I said talk to Aaron. You know, the M2s, M240s, they seem to be very popular. They were talking about maybe the 86 cups. Mm. I've driven them. They're a great time. They're a hoot.
Zach
They run the autos in those, I think, right.
Freddie
Sequentials.
Zach
Oh, they switch em.
Freddie
Okay. It really makes that car feel like a fucking race car. I mean really. It's shocking how much difference that thing makes. Yeah. 86 cup is very fun race car. So I don't know. I mean, I don't know where they'll land.
Zach
Yeah. Cause you go like, what does our clientele want in terms of brand association, power, all that different stuff.
Freddie
Yeah. So I'm sure they have the data and will let us know. But yeah, having something below GT4Rs, club sport on slicks.
Zach
Yeah. You start with street tires. Slicks are totally good.
Freddie
So you gotta start with street tires. And you gotta start with something with friendly. You can't have someone looking at this steering wheel with a thousand knobs on it, you know. And a motec display, you need to have normal gauges, normal inputs, just for most people to go.
Zach
Even when I get in those things. Or like the SIM stuff, like, for people like us who don't drive race cars all the time, you go, what does this stuff do again? And they'll always go, you don't need these seven. Yeah, okay. But I'm still looking at them and my brain is worried that I need to interact with these buttons.
Freddie
Sure.
Zach
So if you've never driven anything fast or been to a track before. Total overwhelm.
Freddie
Yeah. It's also why when I drove the GT3RS at thermal and it was, you know, the thing was $350,000 and it's a stupid street car because of how they've made it so racy. And, you know, I'll stand by that. That's fine. Say that shit to Andy's face. And I was like, right next to it, a row of GT3 RSS was a dealership at the Thermal track selling a brand new Ligier LMP3 car. And it was $179,000. And I go, if the car never has to leave the property, why would you get. And I was like, how much faster is that around the. And they're like, you know, six seconds or something. And I go, why? Why would you not? And they go, look at it. Just look at it. Versus get in it and press. Or turn the little. Turn the little thing and you're there. That's it.
Zach
That's part of it. I also think that some of the popularity of like IMSA and GT racing is the cars look like the cars on the street. You know, like a lot of people,
Freddie
if that was the case, people would buy cup cars. They just buy the IMSA cars.
Zach
Well, the 3Rs, they go, well, if I want to drive it on the street, I can. But I think the Ligier, it is a step into a different kind of world and it's not as relatable and people don't know what it is. I think there's a lot of that.
Freddie
Yeah, you can't brag about your Ligier, I guess, but if you showed someone a picture of it and said, this is my race car.
Zach
Well, now that we know how many people at these are. Are brand new to track, if you say, I have a Ligier, they go, what?
Freddie
Well, that's the thing. A GT3RS, it's the track car that when you sit in it is mostly as approachable as a streetcar. But my argument is that the 996cup car is even more approachable. You just turn a goddamn key and it's on the clutch. It's not a street clutch. It apparently holds more power, but it doesn't chatter at all. You just take off like you would in a streetcar. The rev matching is just like a street car. Everything else, it is as close to driving a 2005 era street car, which I think we collectively agree is like the height of driving analog, lightweight, before shit got too complex. I think we all have all collectively the market. Everyone has decided that 2005 is. That's it. You know, this is just that in race car, before the race cars got, you know, crazy complicated, you know, you could probably like mostly if you were handy like service that car yourself.
Zach
Yeah, definitely. It's amazing that these existed at almost exactly the same time that Ferrari was putting like developing the ELSD. And their F1 cars had like the GPS control, differential and suspension stuff that like got banned like.
Freddie
Yeah.
Zach
You know, and now. And then that stuff did actually trickle down to race cars. And now race cars and some of the street cars are so complicated because it's like adaptive this and crazy diffs that and everything's just gotten so busy.
Freddie
Yeah. And I mean of course it makes the trickle down is great, all that stuff. But I'm just talking purely. If you're spending real money on a track day toy, this is a thing to really consider because it's real driving and hopefully durable.
Zach
I mean it's a simple engine. Right. It's a flat six. It's a Metzger, very Metzer motor.
Freddie
It's the Metzger motor.
Zach
Right.
Freddie
I don't think Porsche engines get more durable.
Matt Farah
Right.
Zach
So that makes it pretty attractive. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Freddie
Pretty wild stuff. Should we get even more exciting? Tell me about that electric, electric crossover.
Zach
Wait till you hear about the Hyundai.
Freddie
Just really pivot, really pivot right now.
Zach
Speaking of electrifying stuff.
Freddie
But wait, hang on, let me really tee it up after the break.
Zach
That's not a bad idea.
Freddie
Little Robert Evans for you.
Zach
Robert Evans behind the basket.
Freddie
Oh, his throws to ad breaks are legendary shit. By the way, I just spent a lot of time in the car and I listened to the three parter Alexander Hamilton on the dollop. Boy, fucking Lin Manuel Miranda should be fucking put out to pasture, I think for making a musical about Alexander Hamilton.
Zach
It's a good musical.
Freddie
Terrible. Human.
Zach
I think everyone was probably terrible back then.
Freddie
I don't know if anyone was as terrible as Alexander Hamilton. Really many people. Most people. I Would argue were not as terrible as Alexander Hamilton.
Matt Farah
Wow.
Zach
Okay.
Freddie
His terribleness directly caused a lot of the terribleness that we have in our. Like, a lot of the specific failures in our society today are a result of things Alexander Hamilton did 250 years ago.
Zach
Interesting.
Freddie
Yeah.
Zach
All right.
Freddie
If you got fucking six hours to kill and want an in depth dive about why he's such a piece of shit.
Zach
Okay. I'll save it for a long trip at some point by myself.
Freddie
Yeah. When we go to Detroit. So it's an aeroplane.
Zach
Yeah, we take the aeroplane. I'll probably edit or whatever the hell.
Freddie
Haven't tried listening to podcasts in the motorcycle helmet yet, though. I don't know if that's gonna work versus just music background.
Zach
I don't think. I think I'd be paying attention to too many things. And then I'd be like, where was I? I have to go. Like, that's why I don't listen to books on tape or audiobooks. Because I often have to go back and reread the paragraph that. Yeah, and you can't do that.
Freddie
You can't multitask while doing. The only multitasking I can do while listening to a podcast is drive.
Zach
Yeah, that's it.
Freddie
And sometimes that doesn't even work, but
Zach
you still miss stuff. But usually a podcast is inconsequential. Like people go over things again, we do that. But a book, there might be a core piece of information in that sentence. If you miss it, you're like, why'd he shoot that guy later on?
Freddie
Yeah. A book on tape is much more. Yeah. Cooking is one I can listen to.
Zach
It's like the Hamilton musical. They omitted information and you get a different story. So if you're reading a book and you miss stuff, you're omitting information by accident and you get a different story. Yeah, you're like, this guy just wanted to be a painter. And then I don't. I didn't listen to the rest of it.
Freddie
That's very good. That's very good. Wait, I thought he was going to art school.
Zach
Yeah. You miss the 18 years or whatever where the transition happened and you're like, he shot himself because of the art. What happened?
Freddie
Nobody bought his paintings.
Zach
They had an art retreat in the mountains. Right. That's what this house is.
Freddie
Oh, my God, these jokes. And more in our live show. August 18th, Irvine Improv, Louisiana. People, O.C. people, come on down, hang out with the boys. Not just the boys, the boys from fucking England.
Zach
Richard Porter, Johnny Smith. Truly the Funniest people in this game. And it is an 8pm show. So I know that it's a weekday, but that gives you time to have dinner, hand your kids to whoever and then drive to the show without having to deal with too much traffic.
Freddie
Come on down. And we'll be talking about riveting topics like the Ioniq 9.
Zach
Well, we're also gonna do like UK versus American cars. We're doing some good bits. But we're also gonna talk about the Ionic nine on the show.
Freddie
Like now this show.
Zach
But also the live show also there the first hour, I think.
Freddie
Yeah, that'll be the headline topic.
Zach
Yeah. Because we've got range and so does the Ioniq 9. Does it 335 miles if you get the long RA2 wheel drive version is this matte finish. It's sort of like a matte silver. It is kind of a matte silver.
Freddie
It's pretty cool. It looks kind of like trawny and nice in that color.
Zach
Actually I thought it was a pretty cool looking car.
Freddie
But your comments in your Instagram seem to disagree with me completely. Everyone seems to think it's ugly. The top. Including Johnny Smith. Oh no, he just says why it's not a Roadmaster.
Zach
Why isn't it?
Freddie
Which is a fair question if I'm honest. But everyone else seems to think it's
Zach
a. I think some angles are cool. Like I basically I like the roofline. It reminds me of the Mercedes R Class a bit. But then there's these things. Someone called them eyebrows on the fender. I just think. And if we zoomed in, it looks like you can take off a flat panel and attach a flare you purchase at a later date. It is a really weird.
Freddie
It's for when they do the XRT one.
Zach
Oh, it won't let me do it. I broke it. Yeah, it looks like they're doing XRT Raptor version and you'll just plug these fenders in.
Freddie
I have to say this particular photo that's on your Instagram right now I think is mildly unkind to this vehicle. I think shot at broadside with what appears to be the non zoom version of your iPhone lens. Just a normal wide angle, possibly even in vertical. I think it looks wider and more distorted than it actually looks in real life.
Zach
Maybe. I don't know. I mean it is long. It's like a 200 inch long car. It's actually 2 inches shorter than a Rivian R1S but has a longer wheelbase.
Freddie
Well, that's good. It makes it actually means it probably has high speed stability unlike a Rivian R1S.
Zach
I think it does, it does ride better. I don't think it rides great. We can get into that. But it does ride better than the R1s in my opinion because this has adaptive dampers. But I think the 21 inch wheels around LA. I don't know. I know EVs need a lot of spring but when I'm in a seven passenger car I basically got out of this going make cars wallow again if the car's real big. I know we all complained back in the day like it leans too much and stuff but I think for some vehicles we've gone too far the other way. Just make it soft. Yeah, who cares.
Freddie
Not every car needs to be sports car handling. What do you call it? The Genesis GV80 I had was soft in a good way. The handling was eh. But it was soft.
Zach
Yeah. I wish this had more of that. This was kind of like the lucid. We had gravity where you went huge car. I expect this to ride like you know, soft Mercedes. And then it's like, you know, it seems too stiff for whatever reason. It was like that. I mean it's £6,000 but you know
Freddie
it's hard when you got that weight. The battery, you gotta spring them stiff.
Zach
You do.
Freddie
So it's actually. It would be hard to make it too soft also because then it would
Zach
sag on the springs. I know that that is true.
Freddie
Yeah.
Zach
That maybe is just the math and the math can't math.
Freddie
Okay. So like what's good?
Zach
Good things. Price. This thing starts $20,000 cheaper than a Rivian R1S. It tops out where the Rivian starts. I didn't realize you know Rivians are so expensive but they start at like 80 grand. So. And this main competition, if you want a seven seat SUV that's an EV, it's Rivian Volvo EX90. And the Cadillac, what the heck was it called? The Vistick.
Freddie
Oh the Vistic.
Zach
Which is a cool looking car but all of those start at the high 70s. So Hyundai as usual is a bargain. I think the seats are really comfortable. It's super quiet inside. All the trim levels come with like double laminated super dual pane glass. It's got it just. It whispers on the highway unless you hit an expansion joint. And I do think the interior.
Freddie
I thought you were going to say there's a lot of things you could have followed up with unless you hit a human.
Zach
No. Well the car would whisper. They wouldn't. And you depends on your Sociopath percentage, your reaction. You might just turn on the windshield wipers.
Freddie
It would be a good fun, like April Fool's Day commercial or something. If Hyundai just had you just running over series.
Zach
You didn't hear any of it.
Freddie
It's so quiet.
Zach
You just don't. I feel like that surely that's been a car ad in the 90s. Like they're not hitting people, but maybe they accidentally drive through a shopping mall and everyone's screaming. But inside it's less funny now, I
Freddie
think because people do that to protesters
Zach
or by accident because they're 85 years old or they hit the wrong pedal. Yeah, that was a sad day. Anyway, it's got three passenger rows. Tons of room inside. Front and rear seat are very comfortable. Huge leg room. I like the interior. It's different. You get in there and it just feels very pristine and calm. Like we said on the other show, it's like discount Range Rover, like a fancy dentist office or maybe a spa. I think it does a lot of that stuff. It makes you feel like you have more money than you do. Which is really what Hyundai and Genesis kind of shined at.
Freddie
That's what most people are looking for in a car. Yeah, they don't say that outright, but that's like sort of what they mean. How do I look?
Zach
Right.
Freddie
Little risky.
Zach
So if you get a base cla, you're saying I have Mercedes money. But you don't really. You have base CLA money.
Freddie
I mean. Or they just get an 85 month loan or something.
Zach
Yeah, yeah, that's good. Range is pretty good. Charging time is fast on 350. It has 800 volt architecture, so you can charge it in like 25 minutes or whatever on the right thing. I like it has knobs on the interior. Thank God. I also like that the screen is horizontally mounted. It's not the big tablet. I just like the eye line of that better. I like that I can control things
Freddie
with horizontal, not vertical.
Zach
Yeah, it's horizontal, not vertical. And like coming out of the Mach E, which we've talked about, has all the temp controls. Everything's in that screen except for the weird knob. I like this is a great blend of both. This is much more like BMW, Cadillac, whatever. Do you have questions or are you just waiting for this part to end?
Freddie
I like knobs. No, I'm pro knobs.
Zach
You're just nodding and looking at your notebook.
Freddie
No, I'm pro knobs.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach
Oh, and something things I don't like. The regen mode doesn't Stay where I set it.
Freddie
So I want one every time.
Zach
Yeah. So, you know, these have like the paddles where you can adjust it, which is a cool way to use a part from a different car.
Freddie
So it's also like multi stage. Right. It's like there's like four.
Zach
There's four stages of regen. You just have a paddle and it goes up and up.
Freddie
Four stages of regen.
Zach
Yeah. The first is acceptance. But, you know, I would get in the car.
Freddie
I think they should change the inevitable podcast name to they should.
Zach
You know, you set it to like one pedal mode. And then I'd get out of the car, turn it off, and I'd get back in. It would go back to the third stage. It would get. It wouldn't go back to one. It would go from four to three.
Freddie
That's so funny. It won't allow you the limit, I guess.
Zach
I don't know if they.
Freddie
That's weird.
Zach
If customers had problems complaining and they go, okay, this is a way to fix that. That was just a weird thing.
Freddie
If you left it at three, it would stay at three.
Zach
Yep.
Freddie
If you left it at two, stay at two.
Zach
Yep.
Freddie
Just four. Four does that.
Zach
That's.
Freddie
That's Max Regen.
Zach
Yes.
Freddie
They. I think they would call that like n N pedal or something in the.
Zach
They would,
Freddie
huh? It's like too jerky for some people or something. But like, if you put it there in the first place, that's.
Zach
It has to be something like customers did it by accident.
Freddie
No, it probably turns the regen up so high that it affects the efficiency.
Zach
I bet it does.
Freddie
And it turns it back down to below that threshold.
Zach
Sure. Well, because Porsche are in the early Taycan days, they had it. They would let it coast because they're like, this is more efficient. That's a good point. So that's how you get your big range.
Freddie
They still do that, by the way. They still choose coast.
Zach
Right.
Freddie
But they offer you a more turned up auto. It's not true. One pedal, but it's more regen.
Zach
Closer. It's not level four, it's a three.
Freddie
Yeah. That's probably why it probably passes the threshold of efficiency.
Zach
That makes sense. Yep. But yeah, it's an egg.
Freddie
But it's comfortable and quiet.
Zach
Yeah, it's like a weird retro future egg. I mean, it definitely looks distinctive, which is kind of Hyundai's game. Parts of it are good, parts of it are strange. But yeah, it's a quiet egg that costs less than comparably equipped vehicles.
Freddie
All right. Yeah, that's what? Like that's what they do over there.
Zach
Yep, exactly.
Freddie
Speaking of which, they just announced the pricing of the GV60 magma that we talked about. 71 G's okay. Starts at that. And this is basically a Hyundai Ioniq 5N with a Genesis GV60 body on it. But the interior also is pretty dope. It's like that quilted, but it's grippy texture. Quilted. I don't know how long it will. I don't know what it'll look like at 100,000 miles, but if you look
Zach
at the screen, buttons, knobs. Great.
Freddie
Yeah, all good. And apparently, you know, it's got. It's got the. You know, it's got all the things the Ioniq 5N has, but it has a different sound and different gear ratios for its fake sound and fake gear
Zach
to make it feel different. Do you think that's to separate it from the Ioniq 5 or to improve upon.
Freddie
I mean, probably both. They've had a little further development, but it's also just to make it different.
Zach
It's a good looking car.
Freddie
Yeah, it looks cool. I can't wait to drive it. By the way, if you hear power tools in the background, we're having our annual lifts servicing here at WCCS today, so I apologize. Yeah. Don't those seats look nice?
Zach
Those seats look great.
Freddie
Yeah. With the quilty stuff, I hope that holds up to 60 or 70,000 miles. You know, I hope it doesn't start looking like absolute shit, but I bet initially they'll be really nice.
Zach
This is cool. This is like, for people listening, it's like alcantara in the center, but it looks plaid, but it's three dimensional. Like there's just stitches where all of the plaid striping would be. That's cool.
Freddie
Yeah. Like, usually quilting is like diamond stitched or something. This is square hatch.
Zach
Be called hatching or something.
Freddie
Duh. Hatching is something different, I think.
Zach
Yeah. Looks cool.
Freddie
It does. Very nice.
Zach
Was the US press launch.
Freddie
Except I bet you these seats are manual, which means Hannah won't want one.
Zach
Right? So that was. That is a demerit. I remember when you guys drove it. At the time I had a fully functioning spine. I was like, who cares? And now I would care. I can't lean over and like pull this thing. Especially for a car that costs this much money. It's gotta have automatic seats now, I think.
Freddie
So maybe they're trying to save weight. I mean, they are probably a lot lighter. They're a lot lighter.
Zach
But like, what, 200 pounds lighter. Yeah, sure. In a car that weighs.
Freddie
Do you know how expensive. Do you know how expensive it would be to cut £200 any other way?
Zach
Yeah, it'd be a lot. But I'm saying if the car weighs 5200-5600 pounds, what's another two. Really?
Freddie
Look, I understand, but I bet you that's what they would say. They would say, look. Yeah, it would be. It would cost you $50,000 to cut £200 from this car any other way or.
Zach
Yeah, right.
Freddie
And look, quilting. Look at the quilting. Look at the quilting. It does distract them.
Zach
I mean, it works in M3s and McLarens and everything. We're like, look at the shape of the seat. Is it comfortable? Sort of.
Freddie
Well, I mean, it looks.
Zach
Get in carefully.
Freddie
Yeah, yeah, but I'm excited for that.
Matt Farah
Yeah,
Freddie
that's really. Oh, there's more. Is it too depressing to talk about Flock more? Because they interviewed the CEO of Flock over at the Drop.
Zach
I saw their Instagram post. I didn't listen to the show.
Freddie
I didn't need to listen to it. I read the article and there's key quotes polled. And basically the CEO of Flock is openly and with a smile on his face and saying. It's what people. People are saying. He's saying that it's that they want a surveillance state. They're saying that they want it to be much harder to commit crimes because everything is on camera.
Zach
Right. It's like Dubai.
Freddie
Like Dubai. And so in Dubai, I mean, that's. I don't know if it's administered by non government entities or whatever, but usually this kind of thing would have to be voted on, and it's not. It's not being voted on. Police departments are just spending the money and then up the things go. And that's kind of it. So this guy's openly saying, like, we are absolutely happy to trade your privacy and whatever negative externalities come from it without your consent. If it makes a neighborhood or a city, if it turns it into what I. My version of safer. Not my Matt Farah. This person's version of safer.
Matt Farah
Right.
Zach
Well, yeah, I mean, I think it would. I assume it would follow the law, but this is kind of like if the Patriot act had a mouth.
Freddie
Yeah.
Zach
Because a lot of that stuff was buried in paper. Because it was all basically, this is for safety. This is for your safety. We're doing these things and then the things haven't gone away. Supposed to be short term. So now it's the same Thing. But you've got like a person who owns a company just going like, yeah, we're doing that too.
Freddie
And they have the computing power to just follow everybody all the time.
Zach
Right.
Freddie
And then use that data later however they see fit. And it also begs the question, what is considered crime? Because it only is targeting a certain type of crime. And like Anand Garardius, who I follow along with, really, when people talk about crime statistics, crime rates, a lot of times they're referring to a very specific type of crime. It's all like crime that is like, well, there's violent crime and then also like low level, like theft, like non violent, like, you know, things that people really think about as being crimes. It often fully excludes white collar crime.
Zach
Right.
Freddie
It also fully excludes crimes committed by cops. And so, you know, when. And this Flock CEO says, I want to make it very hard to commit crimes in this city. It's a specific kind of crimes that are typically done by a specific kind of people that he considers undesirable. And if it makes him feel safer. When I was growing up in Westchester, I felt safe and I was surrounded by fucking criminals.
Zach
Right.
Freddie
You were causing harm to like millions of people across the country.
Zach
You know, that stuff's not, it's not prosecuted here. Where's the thing? Like, if the fine is less than the profit you made on it, then it's not a, it's not a fine, it's a fee. And you, you know, you can't videotape embezzlement. Yeah. Right. So it's just easier to track these physical crimes, I guess we'll call them,
Freddie
you know, but the, but the whole. Well, you know, just don't do anything wrong then like, like they're still tracking you.
Zach
Well, and then the next question is, is this gonna be. And maybe conspiracy theory, but like China has the social, what's it called? Social score.
Freddie
Yeah.
Zach
Like they have that now. Yeah. So obviously you need the infrastructure to, to monitor everybody to have a social score. This, you know, would be a step in that direction.
Freddie
Sure.
Zach
So if you don't want.
Freddie
If you have the data first, it's very easy to assign a score to the data.
Matt Farah
Sure.
Zach
And going forward, like if you have the system that can monitor everybody and then you can go, okay, everybody has to conform to these exact behaviors to have their social score to do, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Then like that just kind of to
Freddie
get a passport tightens the net.
Zach
A. Yeah.
Freddie
Awesome. It's totally cool that.
Zach
Hey man, freedom ain't free.
Freddie
Yeah. Surveillance Though, no, it's also not free. It's less free.
Zach
It's a weird, disappointing time. Like, there's always videos of, you know, these city council meetings of people protesting data centers in their area. And like the city council just removes people from the audience if they clap for someone else. It's like they have people there to speak their mind about their community. And then the city council is probably just bought and paid for. Are just like, nope, nope, nope, we don't care, we don't care. This is a formality. And then they greenlight the thing.
Freddie
Yeah, I saw the video of the guy who talked about his new plan to surveil the city council people. Like, as a joke. It was as satire. And the faces on their faces as he's explaining his plan to keep them safe. Of course.
Zach
Right.
Freddie
It's to keep them. The city council has to be kept safe. So we're starting a new patrol as the citizens to monitor your movements, follow you around to make sure that you're safe at all times, you know, and after like two minutes of this, he's like, do you see how fucked up this sounds? And they had him removed.
Zach
Well, it's like the flock people got mad because people were videotaping the flock, like building and they're like, you can't do that. Yeah, right?
Freddie
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Zach
What is happening?
Freddie
No, these are for me to tape you, not for you to.
Zach
Yeah, yeah. Anyway, great.
Freddie
Yeah, definitely, like, let's have this everywhere. There's absolutely no way any of this could go wrong. And you'll definitely just be safer, but there will not be any other externalities at all.
Zach
There will not be any problems behind the scenes whatsoever.
Freddie
Not a chance. Let's go to the people@patreon.com thesmokentyrepodcast it's how you ask us questions for the live show. Watch the live show. Get the show early, get extra show. Get the show without ads. All the extra things that make having a show all for yourself worth having. You're an insider, you're part of a cool kids club and you really help us. Honestly, a lot. You really do. Patreon.com the Smoking Tire podcast Ask Clapman in. Ask Clapman in.
Zach
Ask Clapman in.
Freddie
Ask Clapman in.
Zach
Okay, okay.
Freddie
Wow. My baby mama's Lincoln's tranny is going out at 66,000 miles. Hell of a sentence right there. We narrowed down a replacement to a Macan S off lease return with 20,000 to 25,000 miles. Comes with a two year CPO warranty, adding an additional two years is almost $6,000. Is the $6,000 worth it for two additional years or is it unlikely that out of pocket expenses will exceed the 6k in that 2 year span we plan to own for 6 to 8,000 years. Yes, the 2 years is worth it.
Zach
Yes, it is.
Freddie
Yes, it is.
Zach
Like the smallest things could go wrong that will easily eclipse six grand. And if it doesn't happen, that does suck. And you're like, dang it, we just wasted six grand. It just depends on your financial situation. But for me, the peace of mind of owning a car that is is that far out of its original warranty. And my cousin had a CPO Cayenne S and first year, he loved it. He's like, this is the greatest thing in the world. He's got the V8. Da da. The next year he was like, I spent $15,000 fixing this car because he didn't get the extra warranty. It changed so quick.
Freddie
My Taycan had a year of factory warranty on it and then I got CPO on top of that. So, like, depending on which macan s you find, you may be able to find one that still has factory. So you may able to like, you know, get a little extra value depending on the specific car that you find to buy. So, like, take a look out for that as well. You had me at hel Lotus. It's pretty good. Pretty good. It appears GT4Rs prices are down and approaching their MSRP. Do you think they'll continue to depreciate or are we approaching the floor for cars with the 9,000 rpm flat 6? I'm considering one to replace the Amira for track and rally and canyon trips. Do you consider the interior too loud and the car too stiff for that use case? So it depends on the person. I know a couple people that are pretty hardcore. Our buddy Ryan from Sacramento, who does track days, weekend drives and a lot of road Trips in his GT4Rs. He put a fucking exhaust on it and somehow that's okay with him.
Zach
Well, that drowns out the intake.
Freddie
Yeah. So in my opinion, track car, yes. Weekend car, possibly. They're fucking. It makes a nice sound, but at from 2000 to 3000 RPM, there's a drone in that airbox. That's tough.
Zach
We spent, I don't know, six hours in it. The day we filmed it, we drove to the 29 filmed up there, I think came back down, like by hour four. I was kind of over it because of the drone. And the intake is right Next to your left ear. It just kind of wore on me.
Freddie
It's a lot. It's a very exciting car. The powertrain's great, it's sharp. It is an exciting car for sure. And if you are gonna keep the engine above 3000rpm, it's Nashy, but it's not Droney.
Matt Farah
Spyder.
Freddie
RSS don't actually have this problem and you still could take one to a track day. It's not ideal, but it does have roll hoops. You know, you could do it. So I might. If you're really going to be road driving it, I would go for the Spider versus the GT4 or even you
Zach
could go Cayman GT4 like the 4.0. That's still slightly softer than the RS and definitely quieter.
Freddie
But if you really want that engine, you know, you can only get it in certain places. I don't know, I can't say will they continue to depreciate or not? I mean, too many factors, you know, they've just stopped making them. So they're unlikely to depreciate much further soon. You know, they'll probably. They don't have another hardcore mid engine car. They won't have another hardcore mid engine car for a while. Yeah, this is going to be the pinnacle of their mid engine program for a few years at least, so.
Zach
But I think I get nervous calling the floor because supply is one factor, but there's so many economic factors that could.
Freddie
Yeah, that too. That too. Pearl Love, Bone of the Mad Green Dog. That's every band that the members of Pearl Jam have been a part of made into one. And by the way, rip to Glenn Hansard. Do you know who Glenn Hansard is?
Zach
I don't.
Freddie
He's an Irish musician who died in a motorcycle accident yesterday and he played, he was very good friends with Eddie Vedder and he played with Pearl Jam and with Eddie's solo band also. And I saw him perform a couple times at the Ohana Festival, which is Pearl Jam's music festival here. And he was immensely talented. Guy, 56, died in a motorcycle crash in Ireland. RIP to Glenn Hansard. His music was beautiful. Excuse me. Henry Catchpole just reviewed a carbon bodied, I think that's supposed to be an Austin Allegro with a Type R drivetrain. Have Resto mods gone too far? I don't know. Let's see this thing. Oh God, does that look lovely. I would love to have a go in that middle.
Zach
Very cool.
Freddie
Wow.
Zach
It's got like Honda Civic front lights, huge flares, gold car, two Door hatch.
Freddie
Okay, Keep going, Keep going. With a little Honda Civic Type R motor. Oh, wow.
Zach
Oh.
Freddie
Honda Integra Type R motor DC2. This looks great. I'm in.
Zach
That screen install is cool.
Freddie
I'm in. Yes.
Zach
Great fabric interior.
Freddie
Oh, dude, this is dope.
Zach
This is built by Retro power cars.
Freddie
That looks fabulous. I mean this is probably very expensive and I would only put so much money into a front wheel drive car. No matter whatever. But the execution looks fabulous.
Zach
Yeah, it's a gorgeous thing. You just have to be really into this. I mean this is probably one of those things where. Let's see, are they building more of them? Could be one customer who wrote the check or is this going to be a thing that they produce?
Freddie
Yeah, no, I mean I love it. As a one off project for a cycle. Do I think they would have success selling a whole range of those cars? I somehow doubt it. But it seems like these guys, I
Zach
guess they made a few. Isn't this another one? Oh, no, no. That's a. Oh, that's an old.
Freddie
That's the borum car.
Zach
Yeah, yeah. Okay.
Freddie
But you know it seems like they are doing custom builds for people and it looks.
Matt Farah
Ooh.
Freddie
Saab 900 Turbo. What's that? Saab 900 Turbo with a plot twist. I love the idea of a Saab 900 Turbo. Looks like it still has a longitudinal engine. It will be four wheel drive. Oh, it's gonna be an Audi wide body. Oh, this looks like an Audi Quattro. Like powertrain, like setup. Oh, neat. Good for these fucking guys. That's.
Zach
I just have to set this outside real quick.
Freddie
Oh, are they coming to collect or someone. Someone doing a thing?
Zach
Sarah's car got sapped on.
Freddie
Oh, it's sapped on, dude. Sarah's car got sapped on. That is no bueno. It's gonna be a sticky mess. Good thing your boy here owns a detailing shop. What a delight. Yo. Shout out to retro power cars. That seems cool. This shop looks like Matt Quick shop.
Zach
Yeah, this doesn't look like. It's not like a Singer situation. They're doing cool one off stuff.
Freddie
Beautiful work. Very cool.
Zach
I think. Have restomods gone too far? No, because if someone wants to commission a one off project they go, I love this Austin but can we make it really fast? And I like this engine. And then sure.
Freddie
And also I think there's a lot of people that are looking for analog cars that many manufacturers can't or won't or don't make anymore.
Zach
And with more modern spe, the Original Austin engine, I'm sure is interesting but slow.
Freddie
Let's see, carbs. Legal bakery. Have you heard of anyone removing side mirrors? I found cybertruck owners are doing this probably because the fucking concept didn't have it. So these are just like full on aluminum mirror. Do they also have cameras?
Zach
So this was a link to a billet aluminum mirror delete kit for $130.
Freddie
That's like super. Don't do that. Why would you do that? I mean, I know when you turn on the blinker on a Tesla you get the camera that comes up in the cluster, but that's not like you're gonna get pulled over for that. Like you need to have mirrors. You're probably doing a crime.
Zach
I also use the mirrors far more often also because in the cybertruck all the displays are in the center. So like, like Hyundai's have. When you signal, there's the little screens that pop up in the display in front of you. Can be useful, but it's more. I prefer it in my eyeliner. Just drop down, I see it, I look back up. But I still use the mirror more of the time because that's instant.
Freddie
Imagine not having a mirror.
Zach
No, my old Pontiac had no right side mirror and guess what? I backed into a wall. I did.
Freddie
Yeah. Oh my God. If you weren't like, if you weren't already the biggest loser in your neighborhood driving one of these fucking things. Holy shit.
Zach
Don't you know this is like there's an argument in skateboarding that keeps going. Like the cool skaters don't wear helmets. And it's like, yeah, but they're getting concussions all the time. Like Nyjah Houston.
Freddie
Just wondering.
Zach
So this is that.
Freddie
This is cybertruckco.com really thought they had a fucking humdinger of a business plan. And then this truck, after a year and a half has fucking tanked.
Zach
Maybe, but depends on how much money they put into the R and D of these. So. Yeah, but yeah, don't do that. Keep yourself safe.
Freddie
Don't do that.
Zach
Trust me.
Freddie
Queer shifting Gears says the 2000 Accord coupe is starting to look good from the rear. Is it just me seeing the NSX or am I not okay? I'm telling you, I had two friends who had the 2000 Accord coupe. Two brothers, shout out to the hills. Matt and Mark Hill. They were a year apart in school. Each of them got an Accord coupe. Both of them. Matt got the manual, Mark got the automatic.
Zach
And one kept it for 20 years and the other one crashed it. Right.
Freddie
Mark was A horribly irresponsible human. But a responsible driver in his youth and kept his for 20 years. Matt. Probably a little bit of a more responsible human, at least in his early years, but definitely a less responsible driver. Tore this motherfucker to shreds and it still made it seven or eight years on three gears. First he lost fifth, then he lost second.
Zach
You don't need those.
Freddie
He was shifted 1 4. 13 4.
Zach
All right. One to three. The Corvettes do that. You know, I think this person's just seeing the NSX rear. I think the back of this is really kind of dull and flat and weird.
Freddie
But the full light bar across the rear, that's nsx.
Zach
Yeah, Yeah. I don't think it looks great, but to each their own.
Freddie
NSX did it first and then they.
Zach
Oh, of course.
Freddie
Quadrifoly O face. Do you scramble to hide your radar detector when pulled over? No, they're legal. That ain't no thang. Although, you know, if a copy. You know, if a cop's not shooting radar, you know, I don't get. I don't really get hit with. I don't get pulled over with radar. I'm too prepared. If a cop is using radar, they're not getting me.
Zach
It's laser.
Freddie
Laser gets me. And if. And if a cop's got a good hiding space, I show respect. If a cop fucking nails me, I'm like, dude, that's a good hiding space. You're all right. I like when they work for it. Hide, motherfucker. Pop out of the shrubs or something grassy. You know what I mean? Don't you put in a little effort. You're gonna get me. You put in some effort.
Zach
Some of them just call it off the record, easy fishing. Sometimes they just sit on the side and wait for someone to go by way too fast.
Freddie
Yeah, that's for silly people.
Zach
And it gets the silly people.
Freddie
It does. That's for everybody else. That's not for fucking advanced road users like us. One more and then we're going to call this show because I have a team meeting. That's urgent. Today. Apologies. On that one VW bus with sema foreskins, what car has the most mismatched seats relative to the driving experience and capabilities of the car?
Zach
I think a poorly optioned Mustang.
Freddie
That comes to mind.
Zach
Real flat.
Freddie
And a poorly optioned Mustang is the right terminology as well. Yeah, you can get a dark horse that'll pull like 1.1 G's with the base seats. That will hold about six G's.
Zach
Yeah, less. Yeah, that's what I thought of.
Freddie
Let's see, you could.
Zach
You know, some of the Ferrari. The cheap Ferrari seats are uncomfortable and don't hold you in. And that actually might be worse because at least the flat Mustang seats, when you sit down initially, at least, are comfortable. It's like sitting in a couch.
Freddie
Yeah. Ferrari sometimes gets away with putting some fairly crappy sculpt. Not, like, in terms of poor quality, but sculpted, not that great. Lack of proper lumbar and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm trying to think of, like, a normal car that comes with, like, real buckety seats to a degree that it bothers me, but where it's just not that high of a performance machine and there's real buckety seats in it. But I can't really think of one.
Zach
Do the Corolla. You see, there's a new Corolla that's like $70,000. The GRMN. You know, it's just. It's more GR.
Freddie
Yeah, yeah. Does it have rear seat delete?
Zach
It's like Marizo Plus. Yes, it does have rear seat delete.
Freddie
Oops. Get one as a press car. No, but the GR Corolla, I mean, my Focus RS back in the day had just poorly. The seats were just very badly. The ergonomics were just all kinds of fucked up. You could not make them. You couldn't sit in the right place and also be comfortable.
Matt Farah
Hmm.
Freddie
I don't know. Given that a Crown Vic can apparently handle a fucking almost a NASCAR race, I would say the bench seat that comes with its stock is maybe inadequate.
Zach
Probably contributed to some of my back problems, honestly, for sure. Oh, you know what else does any 60s cobras, you've got this, like, seat that comes up to your ribs and it's like, all right, goes 150 miles per hour, sort of. And you'll probably crash. Like, that's a terrible idea.
Freddie
Sure. Wheat City Night Court. I'm thinking of buying a depreciated performance EV as a daily driver. What do you prefer? A 2023 EV, 6GT or a 2025 Ioniq 5N? I mean, Ioniq 5N that has electric seats. It does not. Neither of them do. They both have the manual seats, the GT and the Ioniq 5N. Yeah, but that may not bother you, but, like, between those two 5N, if I'm actually spending money. Maki Rally Roadhead and Track Marks. Maybe the best username ever. Wow.
Zach
This feels like. This feels like a country song.
Freddie
Is there anything you learned or wish you did Differently when building the catio? No, not really. Arcadio is pretty sweet. Let's see. I may have built. So my catio is meant for humans and cats to hang out in together. So some of the things that make it comfy for humans are. Are probably not fully optimized for cats. I've seen people have catios that have big trees and stuff in them that are really cool for cats, but a human wouldn't want to spend any time in there. Ours has a couch and a coffee table and a couple chairs so that humans could be in there with cats. If you wanted to do that, that's a different story. So just figure out, like, are humans going to hang out in there or not? You're already doing ledges and perches. We call them catwalks, obviously. Are they going to have a door, their own door to go in and out? I would make sure that it's at least possible to. You can buy the actual doors on Amazon or whatever. It's possible to have the locking lever so you can keep them inside if it's cold out and you don't want them going out. Ours has lighting in it as well. I would have put more hooks in the ceiling to hang plants and maybe I could still do that. But I mean, you've got an 8 by 20 foot deck that was enclosed underneath and used as a hot tub room. But if you don't need it as a hot tub room, wrap the space in galvanized hardware cloth and build ledges and perches for them to. It sounds great. Your cats are going to be very spoiler.
Zach
Yeah.
Freddie
Respect. Some people it's like, what are you going to use for protection? Some people use a chicken wire. We got. Ours is like made of nylon. It's like nylon webbing that's supposedly, you know, raccoon proof.
Zach
My brother did that in his whole deck.
Freddie
Yeah.
Zach
Because he has cats.
Freddie
Same shit as us, I think.
Zach
So it's like this black nylon and snow bugs can get in. The cats walk around the whole deck and they use it. There's like a hot dog tub and stuff out there, but it's really awesome. Then you can sit out on your deck and have a meal or whatever and no bugs are gonna intervene. It's great.
Freddie
Oh, yours is like. You're talking about like a screen.
Zach
Yeah, but it's like huge, dense nylon stuff that you.
Freddie
No, ours is netting, like a rope ladder netting on the catio, bugs can get through it. It's 1 inch square netting.
Zach
Oh, okay. Yeah, I like the screen. I wouldn't want chicken wire.
Freddie
That would be just chicken wire. Doesn't look great. But if you have like. But for when they build, like, catios out in the woods.
Zach
Keep foxes out.
Freddie
Yeah, if you need it. If you want to keep, like bears and not maybe not a bear, but like, you know, bigger shit out of there. Yeah, but fabulous. Fabulous.
Zach
All right.
Freddie
Thank you. I gotta go. The show ticket link is up. If you're in LA on OC August 18th, some come see us us with the Smith and Sniff show at the Irvine Improv. Our blazers are up for a few more days if you want to grab one while they last. And thanks to our patrons for such good questions today. We'll save the ones we didn't get to for next show. See you guys later. Bye.
Episode: Reviews: Race Car and the Robot
Date: August 4, 2026
Hosts: Matt Farah & Zack Klapman
In this episode, Matt and Zack swap automotive worlds: Matt reviews a genuine Porsche 996 Cup race car after a Willow Springs track day, while Zack tests the new all-electric Hyundai Ioniq 9 crossover. The show covers their contrasting drives, delves into motorsport nostalgia and race club strategies, and explores modern topics from restomodding classics to the expanding automotive surveillance state. Listener questions cap things off in the show’s classic witty and informative style.
(08:40 – 25:04)
(29:56 – 37:01)
(37:01 – 40:42)
(44:20 – 53:02)
(53:05 – 55:17)
(56:15 – 62:35)
(63:27 – 79:50)
This episode deftly captures The Smoking Tire’s magic balance of deep automotive insights, irreverent banter, and sharp commentary on car culture’s past, present, and future—while fielding sharp listener questions with both humor and expertise.