Celebrating 40 Episodes: Porsche Adventures, Performance Upgrades, and a Fond Farewell to Total 911 Magazine

Andy Gorns, it's been a while.

Mr James McGrath, good to see you or speak to you, and hello to everybody listening.

Welcome back, mate welcome back to Curban Canyon, mate.

Is it true?

It was June the last time we put out a podcast, and it's now October.

How did that happen?

Well, you know, I'll tell you how that happened A lot of cancellations on your part and this thing you posted on social media yesterday.

I want to get straight into it, because you and me we need to clear some air.

We've got to get into this a little therapy session to start with, because you posting waiting for Andy Ga gaunt to uh cancel yet another podcast that was low, very low.

You know what I had to?

Draw first blood and, and I can't believe you beat me to it here live on the pod because I was about to start throwing you under the bus left, right and center.

But, dude, get this we.

So this is our fourth season.

I guess, technically, the way that we've divided it, we have 39 episodes behind us, which means this is our 40th episode.

Four, zero, that's.

I mean it's, it's.

It's not an amazing number, but that's, that's nothing to sniff at it's.

I would say for us it's quite an achievement and you know sure the run home to 40 has been a little slow.

We've sort of stumbled towards that, let's say, somewhat milestone, but hey, well done to us.

And if you're still listening and if you're someone who has listened since the start, well, thank you for listening and staying patient with us?

Yeah, totally.

And dude, we've got so much to talk about.

You know, I've kept a number of tabs open on my Internet Explorer for like well, I guess the last three months of all the things that have come up, that I thought, oh, that'll be good for the pod, that'll be good for the pod, and like, we're not going to get through all of them, of course.

For the part in, like, we're not going to get through all of them, of course.

But, um, you know, we we've got a little bit of this, we've got a little bit of that, we've got industry stuff to talk about, we've got our cars to talk about and mods.

Um, we're going to have a little chat about Luft, one of our favorite, um, Porsche shows that's coming up.

You a little bit for everybody.

So you know who's going to say it first.

Well, first thing, I'm going to say is Internet Explorer?

Well, not really.

What is this 1997?

Welcome to Curb and Can.

All right, no, to be fair, look Internet Explorer, whatever.

I have Safari, if you must know.

But who's going to All?

right, mate, it's okay.

What are you surfing on Alta Vista?

That takes it back.

So, Andy, you know, not only have we not spoken for a while, I feel like.

I feel like you've been a little bit absent from the the Porsche social media.

World no videos, no world, no videos, no major updates.

What's going on with you?

Look, all of the updates on the car have been, you know, maintenance related.

So yeah, it's funny, I've got in the show notes.

Yeah, topic number one our cars.

Bluey-tooey little green, and I feel like from a bluey-toey perspective, I already know some of the stuff that's been going on and it's some pretty exciting stuff With little green.

You know less.

So there's certainly been some driving, but as I look at the last invoice I received from uh, from the wonderful folks at nine auto here, you know the, the most recent job, which was not inexpensive, was all just about making the ac work again.

So you know it.

Like I say, it's a couple of grand.

Uh, I knew this one was coming.

They told me about it last year.

They said you're sitting down, we're going to send you this quote.

I said okay.

And I saw the quote and thought do you know what?

That's something that can wait till next year.

It was already halfway through summer or whatever by this point, so I thought that's fine, I'll just leave it.

Um, but so not only had my AC uh kick the bucket, but uh, there is a what's called a mixer flap, uh, which which basically is the thing that sits, uh, inside the well, let's say and this, I'm sorry this is the least technical explanation you are ever going to hear of a highly technical thing, but it basically takes you have a pipe that comes off your heat exchangers and the like and there's a flap

that directs the airflow.

So either bring in external cold air or warm air that comes off, I think, the heat exchangers and that is what gives you either heat or cool in your cabin, whether you're running AC or not.

And the mixer flaps that actually control that do start to fail eventually on some of these old air-cooled cars and it's a bit of a nightmare to get that fixed.

But that was done.

And the last thing, the last drive I had had, I was driving along and it didn't matter what temperature I set within the car, it didn't matter whether I had AC on or not, it was blowing full hot.

So it was like imagine your heater on its highest setting and, to be honest, in an old air-cooled car the heat is actually really good.

So it was.

I was driving along in the middle of winter with every window down, the sunroof open, even though it was pouring rain and just roasting it was, and probably the most uncomfortable moment was when I finally arrived at a traffic light and, you know, this family in an suv looked across and at that point I was driving in my underwear.

But it's all I could do.

It was all I could do to handle the heat.

So that has subsequently been fixed, all sorted, and the car is going in for a service in a couple of weeks, really just to be ready for a summer of driving and, to be honest, this winter it's been a little bit slim pickings in terms of driving.

You know, as you know, we typically drive all year round here, but you know, I just think everyone's had other things going on in their worlds and there hasn't been as much driving.

And that then means you don't do, there's not as many photos, there's not as much to share on Instagram.

So, yes, I have been a little bit quiet.

I've got to say there is content coming.

I feel like I say that every podcast.

But yeah, let's be honest, we haven't done a podcast for four months, so who cares?

But there is, there's content coming.

So that's where little green's at, that's where the content's at.

But you, on the other hand, well, some fun stuff happening it's true, but I'm just gonna stop you right there.

You've got to stop saying flap, and I'm also not a massive fan of the word flange, just just so you know.

I I don't.

I don't know why, but it makes me uncomfortable, and you've said flap at least five times, so I'm now feeling slightly uncomfortable.

That is that's I'm not hearing.

That does not surprise me at all, because I saw your Instagram post this morning.

You posted a shot of a singer I think DLS with something about pants getting tighter.

It is just for anyone listening at home.

Recording this pod is a little bit like hanging out with a 15-year-old that you went to school with.

To be fair, though, how nice was that singer?

Of course.

And what about you?

What's going?

on Dude.

So much it's.

You know I've managed to sort of break the back of all the different things I've had going on this year and, um, I've managed to find quite a bit of time to get in the garage.

Uh, and I'm super excited.

You know I've spent the past sort of a couple of weeks helping my friend chris work on his gt3 touring.

Uh, he wanted to um install, uh the uh the sole performance center muffler delete.

Um, we did that in my garage.

It was the first time we really got to give my new garage lift.

I got a two post lift at some point earlier on in the year to replace my scissor lifts which were starting starting to get, you know, a little bit bendy.

They were getting a little bit dangerous and you know, I just I guess I've been bitten by the bug again.

So working on Chris's car kind of spurred me on and you know, I think also there was a well-timed comment from you on social media where you reminded me that when I first got this 991.2

about a year ago, I kind of promised that I was just going to be focusing on performance mods and not, you know, aesthetics and look and feel and essentially all I've done for the last 14 months is tweak the look and feel with my stripes and my caliper painting and my you know my stripes and my caliper painting and my you know yellow tack face.

And I was actually about to do yellow seatbelts.

I was thinking about posting that on social media and then you dropped that line and I was like, oh fucking hell, I better start focusing on something other than tweaking.

So you know, let's do some real mods.

And so about this time a month ago, just as I was finishing off the videos about Chris's Santa muffler, somebody got in touch with me and offered me a discount on some H&R Springs, which of course made me laugh, because you're always going on about my Safari ride-hike cars and I thought you know what?

For a couple of hundred dollars, even if I don't keep them, this is worth a go.

So that rolled into something else, which rolled into something else.

And, you know, a couple of weeks later I've now got I maybe won't put a dollar value on it, but let's just say I've blown my mods budget for the next couple of years in one foul swoop and I've got a dozen different things arriving over the next week.

I'm going to line them all up in the garage and then between now and hopefully the end of the year and no later, I'm going to be doing them all.

But man, it's a big list, it's a lot so what's?

what does the list entail?

What's done and what is still to be done.

Well, nothing's actually done.

Yet I bought a carbon fibre diffuser.

Can that count as a performance part?

Wouldn't have thought so.

I mean, I'm sure the copy on the website uh pictures it as a performance part.

But no, I wouldn't have thought so.

Oh, well, that's, that's screwed that one up.

Well, so this, this carbon fiber performance part not performance part that I've had sat on my workbench for the best part of the last 10 months, actually tried to install it on saturday the fucker didn't fit they.

They uh, oh, no, they I.

I I asked them are you sure it fits a 991.2

with the sports exhaust?

And they were like yeah, yeah, yeah, it arrived.

I looked at it, wasn't too sure about it, tried to fit it.

It didn't fit.

So anyway, I did try to get started with that.

It it's not done.

So I guess I've done my tune.

That's incredible.

I saw the video, mates.

You know I've always been a little bit skeptical of engine tuning, to be honest.

I mean the whole idea that you can just magically, you know, wave a wand, flip a switch and all of a sudden your car puts out loads more power.

Yeah, I just didn't quite believe it, which is probably part of the reason why it sat on my desk for the best part of a year.

And now I've done it.

I, I can't believe it didn't sooner and that didn't do it sooner.

And now I'm like thinking, well, what else can I do?

I can get an extra 50 horses from this.

I can install some more turbos and get an extra horses over.

Uh, extra hundred horses over here.

Um, so it's a soft tronic tune.

Um, I had it on the dyno.

It's given me an extra hundred uh brake horsepower.

It's given me an extra 120 foot pounds of torque, um, wow.

So if you look at the factory specs of the of the lineup um, I am 1515 brake horsepower away from the gt3, um and I'm about par in terms of foot pounds torque with the gt3.

So for a 1500 tune, I've taken a bass carrera and it's putting out more power than the s, more power than the gts and I'm almost at gt3 levels I was about to say, where does it sit compared with the gts?

so more power than a gts yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, you know if these specs are correct and and hopefully the ones I pulled down online are um, that porsche branded um.

You know the, yeah, the, uh, the, the.

The gt3 is putting out 500, that the gts is putting just north of um, I want to say 450, I think it is um and and I'm putting out about 485 um.

That is incredible and so and I imagine obviously that that that's visible on the dyno, but I assume it's very much apparent when you're driving yeah well, I did the butt dyno test first, obviously, you know, just got out on the road and thought let's give it some gas, Even just taking it out of my garage.

The throttle response, the power was just instantaneous.

You know, I almost took it out of the garage a little faster or a little too fast, because the power is just like it's right there.

It's just right there, um and uh.

You can, you can really like feel it in the back of your head and in your stomach as you do the standing start and, uh, you know, you just tear in a way.

It's, it's, it's really incredible, um, so, yeah.

So I'm thinking now what else do I do?

You know, I'm looking at Flat Six Motorsports in Florida.

They've got a stage two or a stage three tune which they sort of guarantee will put out about 675 or 700 horses.

I mean, it's like $14,000 worth of investment.

So I don't think I'm going to go that far, if I, you know, look at just replacing maybe the turbos with the GTS turbos and some of the other parts that I've got coming with maybe a slightly more um, sort of custom tune.

Um, maybe I can get into the high five hundreds.

Although, to be perfectly honest, where I am right now, it's awesome.

It's it's, it's absolutely awesome the fact that I've got a base career that's more powerful than the s and the gts.

I'm super happy.

That's it.

It's like fantastic yeah, I, I was gonna say that because what's the what's the end goal?

Because there's only so much usable horsepower, right, and yeah, and you know, I suppose it comes down to when you're doing any of these sort of mods what's the use case, what's the end goal?

How do you see yourself using it?

Um, because actually a question I had is uh, is the calibration or tuning of things like traction control does?

Does that change?

Uh, as as as you increase horsepower, either out of the factory, from porsche specifically, or with these tunes, because I imagine, yeah, you're putting a hell of a lot more power to the rear wheels I assume there's some sort of calibration that the factory would do that.

That's probably not done via these tunes um, not from from the research that I've done.

No, I don't think so, until you actually start playing around with the intercoolers, um, and you start getting a bit or a little bit closer to the engine.

So all of the all of the um, the mods that I'm doing now, you know, basically just bolt-ons.

So I'm not doing, I'm not doing anything with the engine itself, I'm not doing anything with the suspension, um, I'm really not doing anything with the drivetrain.

They're just it's bolt-ons to basically increase airflow.

I mean, that's essentially.

It really, um, yeah, and the tune is just remapping how the power's getting, um, you know, delivered, um, so there shouldn't really be any reprogramming unless I go, I think the flat six motorsport stage four tune requires a bit of reprogramming, and that's why you're talking 700 horses plus and you're kind of into Frankenstein world a little bit there and I want to avoid that.

But you ask a really good question.

It's like what am I trying to achieve with this?

Well, the first step was actually just trying to see if I could get any more power out of it.

You know, is is, is it possible to flip a switch magically for a little bit of money and get some more power?

And so, yeah, I've done that.

What I'm trying to do now is can I, can I get the sound quality out of this car and out of this turbocharged engine and the enjoyment of that sound that I got with my naturally aspirated 991.1

?

Um, because the, the porsche sports exhaust that I've got on this 991.2

is actually really impressive.

Um, you know, just just on its own, and even before I put the tune on, I was getting lots of pops and crackles and you know all of the stuff that the, the naturally aspirated engines give you.

I was getting that in sports mode with this turbocharged engine.

I just want to see if I can dial it up to an 11.

So I've got a full sole performance exhaust coming.

I've got the headers.

Oh wow, I've got the sports cats and I've got the valve exhaust coming, and so I'm going to put those on in stages.

I'm going to start with the valved exhaust and leave the rest factory and see what that's like.

I'm then going to put the sports cats on and see what that's like and then add the headers.

So I'm going to sort of put the exhaust on in stages and compare it against the baseline, and each time I do that I'll make a video and see.

You know kind of how far I want to go, because, if I remember correctly, with my 991.1

I ended up having a full-blown end-to-end sole exhaust system system and by the time I put the headers on I really didn't notice any difference.

I think.

Well, I imagine, I imagine the valved exhaust.

Uh, that's a thatler component, I assume.

Yeah, that's right.

That's where most of the volume will come from.

Yeah, because did Tommy L?

He's done the headers and cats.

I think on his T he has yeah, actually, you know what I could kiss that guy.

Not only has he basically tested all of this for me and already made the DIY videos for me to follow and basically recreate, he's such a nice guy.

He's like been answering all my questions and he's been very gracious and offering help and advice.

Yeah, what a nice guy.

I'm going to be plugging him left, right and center and I think I've actually just ordered a couple of t-shirts just just to show him some love.

Well, do you know what?

We've both spoken with him about coming on the show and he's very graciously agreed.

We're just the worst hosts ever.

Let's do that, let's do that, let's do it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, wow.

So that's that's really exciting.

I think the exhaust is a great mod.

I still think, you know to this day, one of the best things you can do to make your car feel exciting is get volume from it.

It makes such a huge difference.

And when I think about, you know, my GT4, when I had it, that was a car that had, I think, the right level of power where you could genuinely lean on the car and push it and not be doing silly speeds.

But it had this real split personality.

It was nice and quiet when you were driving it around, but when you put it in sport mode you're in the twisties.

It really the exhaust really howled and it it, that, just it.

It brings that motorsport element.

That's where, as a you know, it kind of taps back to being a little kid and the idea of of what makes cars exciting and and you know, porsche out of the factory when they are building a Carrera.

The use case for that car is a compromised use case, right?

Even if you take into consideration the sports exhaust, they can only make it so loud.

They've got their customers to think of, as well as regulations and the like that they have to be meeting.

So there's only so far they can go with it.

Um, it's brands like Soul Performance that will actually allow you to then extract that bit of extra excitement out of it from a sound perspective.

Right, right yeah totally so.

So, if, if, if sound is like you know, use case number two, let's say um, the.

The third one is, um, driving experience and from what I understand, um, there are ways to improve, uh, the way the transmission shifts and retains the power from the turbochargers.

So, um, I've got some tile upgrades.

They're called inlet tube pipes, basically the pipes that connect the air box to the turbos and then the turbos to the cats.

They're lighter weights and they increase the flow, blah, blah, blah.

So I've got some of those coming.

They look like a pretty straightforward kind of bolt on Um.

And then, from Flatsix Motorsports, I've got some, um, uh, what are they called?

Uh, turbo diverter valves.

So the factory valves, even in the GTS models, are plastic, um, and once you increase horsepower beyond about 500, um, you can actually lose some of the pressure.

They start to bleed and leak a little bit.

Um, right, so as you're shifting through the gears, you're not actually retaining the spool and the power.

So by by including, you know, by by putting these pipes in and also by switching out some of these other plug and play kind of components, um, I'm hopefully going to be improving throttle response and improving that sort of driving experience through the gears.

What are you doing and I half know the answer to this already, but you're talking about a lot of things that, in a straight line perspective, will make for a faster car.

What are you doing so that you can slow down and get around corners?

Dude, I live in the midwest I don't need to worry about that.

I know you don't, but, but, but, but.

Ultimately, this is going to be a, a dragon slayer, right?

That's what you're trying to build.

Yeah, no, that's true yeah, yeah, so I I've started looking a little bit into like the upgraded brake kits and at some point maybe I'll get there and you know the various options that there are for the brake rotors.

In fact, I think my friend Chris showed me a link the other day to some kind of carbon fiber brake discs or carbon fiber brake rotors.

Have you heard of those?

Yeah, Well, yeah, I mean Porsche, obviously do the PCCBs.

Right, but I'm talking like carbon weave.

Yeah, I don't know.

I mean I don't think you need that.

I mean, who needs anything?

I was going to say I don't need any of these things.

I mean, look, if I'm honest, I imagine the stock stock brakes, unless you're on track, will perform just fine.

Yeah, and I've seen how you drive.

I don't think you're pushing that fast.

But you know, I know, I know again, I hate to, I hate to plug him again, but I know Tommy had done a brake upgrade on his um.

I mean, I would think, think honestly, if you just put the S brakes on, which are a bigger rotor, larger calipers, that would more than suffice, because they're the same brakes that are on the GTS.

I think.

Yeah, yeah.

I don't think there's anything.

I don't think there's a huge amount to be gained beyond that for a street car yeah, I think you're probably right and I'm never going to be getting my car out onto the track because my fat head inside a ginormous uh helmet does not fit inside my little cabin.

Oh, by the way, I knew there was something I wanted to tell you.

I knew there was something I wanted to get you.

So my birthday the other day you posting that photo of my head, the close-up shot in the video.

Oh my God, dude, I mean I'm massively self-conscious about the size of my head already.

I'm so sorry, and the screenshot that you chose was the one that my head is so close to the camera.

It's uncomfortable.

Mate, that's every shot.

That's the entire scene.

Yeah, I know, put it on the other side of your car, then your head will look small.

Yeah, but then my stomach just looks even bigger.

So you know it swings and roundabouts do you know what I like it?

I like the intimacy of it.

I feel like I'm right there with you.

It's really quite nice screw you man um so what about suspension?

uh, you know what?

I haven't even started thinking about that.

To be honest, I, I'm I've got so much to go to work through with all of these different parts that are coming.

Um, you, so that that post you mentioned, uh, about social media, last night I was, you know, I was up till two in the morning and I was looking at videos and researching tools that I need and diy jobs, and I think I'm I'm almost at the point of cycling myself out of these jobs.

I don't think I can add anything else, anything else to the list right now, but I, I am super excited about all this stuff.

Um, I, I really kind of it like I haven't attempted any of these jobs before, like I haven't done any of this.

I mean the exhaust that I've put on my previous cars I've had done for me, like Porsche Minneapolis and Eurocharge Minneapolis.

They've done the work for me.

I thought you did that.

No, I've done exhaust work on my friend Chris's turbo and his GT3, and we've done that together and, to be fair, I'm roping him in to help me with a lot of this stuff.

So this is going to be I might even swear him in as a deputy auto amateur, you know kind of auto amateur will no longer be a company of one, it'll be a brand of two.

Yeah, yeah, wow.

Well, I'm very excited to see it all.

I was interested that you chose h&r springs rather than ibarc.

I know, I think h&r tend to drop a little lower than an ibarc and tend to ride a little firmer well, you know what I'm.

I'm just, I'm interested in doing the job and I wouldn't.

I honestly it's not that hard, it's hard, that's one you can do easily.

Well, again that's another Tommy Algaric video that I've watched.

Yeah, I know, I didn't want to say it, I've watched that video approximately 50 times.

So now I feel like I could, you know, sort of recite all of his commentary, you know, on spec.

You know it looks pretty straightforward, but honestly, if these hadn't been offered to me for a couple hundred dollars, I don't think I would have, I probably wouldn't have bought them anyway.

So, um, I'm gonna give it a go, if, if they're good, if they're fun, you know great, if I don't like them I'll go back to stock or try something else.

You know, um, I'm more looking forward to doing the job actually and making the video than anything else but you'll, you will honestly, your next trip to tale of the dragon.

There there is a benefit, there is a benefit from a, from a cornering perspective that, yeah, maybe, in fact, which?

which one of your mates?

Uh, so I, when I went to the tale of the dragon this summer, I've got a shot of me going around a corner, um, taking a right, so I'm in the outside, um, I can't remember, was it philby?

I honestly don't remember.

But one of your mates was like, oh, you got your car lowered and I was like no, no, no, that's yeah yeah, I can't remember no that.

That's me in the car, weighing it down, going around a corner at speed yeah, it's just.

It's just your suspension loaded up in a corner what is it?

centrifugal motion and gravity I love those photos.

There's some uh, there's some cracking shots from that, yeah yeah, I really love that, but you know that that whole area has been hit pretty hard recently with um hurricane helen, um which yeah, it's been.

It's crazy you know to think, a hurricane that you know forms over the sea has has turned into a tropical storm which has come inland and there's been so much rainfall in the mountains that these mountain towns and cities have been basically washed away.

That's it's.

Yeah, I saw a video of the Topeka Lodge, which is this old, historic kind of hotel and restaurant at one end of the Tale of the Dragon and it's got this beautiful whitewater river that kind of flows past it.

But it's a good, it must be a good 20 feet above the river.

The photo or the video I saw had the water like level with the with the patio, and I mean I hope it didn't get washed away.

it's just incredible what's gone on there oh, yeah, these I mean the, you know there's.

It's just devastating these, these, these poor people and communities that are that are having to live through this.

You know where I'm watching it from, from half a world away, and where we're just as shocked over here and and, yeah, yeah, thoughts, thoughts are with everybody dealing with that, absolutely.

And now florida's doing the same, and I know a lot of um porsche owners and other car enthusiasts down in florida oh yeah, wake up and find their garages completely underwater.

It's just, it's tragic yeah, well, I I was gonna watch um adam lz, whose videos I've been watching a lot of lately.

He's got this project 964 that he bought from japan, a mint mint green 964 tiptronic, which he has just gradually turned into an absolute monster, and it's now got a 4.1

litre Rossport engine in it.

The thing is just the most incredible build.

Yeah, just an incredible car.

But I saw he posted on YouTube this morning that, where he is again, he's got this whole compound.

Looked like it had flooded.

So, yeah, as I say, it's seemingly hitting incredibly hard and we can see it from here.

So, yeah, like I say, thinking of everybody, yeah, totally.

Now looking at the other coast, on the west coast, let's talk about Luftgekult.

Yeah.

So I nearly went this year and as as, yeah, I which of course I would have I mean, I don't know why you didn't go, but uh, I was talking about it with kath and she said why don't you go?

You should just go.

And, to be honest, the main reason I wanted to go was it felt as though the entire global porsche community was descending on luft 10.

And you know people we've had on the show, like rick from rico customs, um.

You know mo and kirsten from from flat six, high five.

All of these people that you, you know, you just have these relationships with via social media and messages and conversations.

I would have really loved the opportunity to meet them.

And Kath was saying, well, yeah, you should go.

And unfortunately I had a work event on the Friday night here in Melbourne which just meant I couldn't get there in time for it.

And look, there was a part of me that thought, well, if I'm going to go to Los Angeles for another Luft event, it probably makes sense for me to do one.

That's not a sequel of one I've already done.

So, the only other time I've been to Loof was when it was at Universal.

So as much as I think that was an incredible event and from I've not been to any others, but my sense of it has always been that as a location, that was one of the best, unless you're, at, deus Ex Machina, back for the first one.

So as much as I think that there was a part of me that thought, okay, if I'm going to do something dumb and fly to los, angeles for a weekend, then I might as well do that when it's luft somewhere else versus universal, which I've done before.

But that said, it looks like there were all of these additional activations and things they did this time around to just elevate it yet again.

It seems to be now an incredibly well-oiled machine.

Yeah, yeah, I get the sense of that as well, in fact.

So I heard through the grapevine that you know, every year they are just trying to up their game constantly Same thing, but different, same thing but different year on year.

They're actually doing another event this weekend in Chattanooga, which, if my American geography serves me correctly, is Tennessee-ish or Kentucky, somewhere in the middle there, somewhere right in the middle.

But yeah, there's a, a motor car festival there this weekend, chattanooga motor car festival, and they're going to be there, I think, for like two or three days.

I don't know if it's like considered a pop-up show or what have you, but yeah, we're seeing, you know, kind of like I guess, little, little breakoffs from, I guess, little break-offs from the main annual events as well pop up now.

And I'm all for it.

The one that I attended in Indianapolis was still the best show I'd been to to date.

In the six or seven years now that I've been attending shows like this, it was just absolutely phenomenal.

No other event has come close, actually.

So, wow, if they're going to start spinning up these you know little pop-up shows here and there and everywhere, god, that's awesome.

Yeah, I agree, and I think you know what they've been doing in Europe is incredible.

I think the challenge you know with all of these things is how do you maintain a sense of intimacy and cool underground vibe whilst just building it to be able to cope with, now, the level of consumer, participant demand?

Because if you look at the crowds at at universal it, I mean it looked like it was heavy and you know I even saw um a few people posting on social media how frustrating it was to try and get photos without people in them and all this sort of stuff.

And look, to be honest, my view on that, certainly when I went to Luft, was get over it, because it is a show about cars and people and you know what the only choice you've got is to take photos of cars with people around them, because that's the experience and you know to see people getting frustrated that someone's in their way because they want to have a look at a 917k race car that performed at Le

Mans.

I think actually that person has just as much of of shows our good friend Darren Pfister at FD Motorsports his Deutsche Spritz Tour.

I think it's called yeah, I see it's on.

Yeah, so by the time we release this it will have happened.

But it's coming up this weekend and I've seen all of the promotions he's been running this week.

He's got some pretty cool merch.

I might hit him up and see if I can buy a t-shirt from him, because I kind of want one.

Um, but, uh, yeah, you know, I, I, this, this community just that we're in, continues to grow and evolve and, um, a man, after doing these tale of the dragon trips with, with jay and michael and chris, and so on over the last uh of years, I'm kind of just aching to have access to more of this.

I don't want to live in a world, maybe, where I've had too much, you know, and everything's just completely saturated.

But I'd love to go on that road tour and I'd love to get on an Overcrest Productions road tour.

Once a year is not enough.

I've got to do another one, I've got to get out there and I want to go and see another luft and I didn't make it this year or last year, but hopefully next year.

Um, I, I feel like we're just, we're really lucky.

There's just so much stuff going on.

I just want more access oh no, I agree, I agree, and, and, being where I am, you know we're, we're, we're miles from all of it.

And look we, thankfully we have, I think, an incredible Porsche culture right here in Australia, and I and I, my personal view is that Victoria, here in Melbourne, is is the best example of that.

Um, but, globally, there is so much I want to experience and for me, to be honest, the big pull that I feel at the moment is wanting to.

It's the sort of outreach pull, if you like, all of these people that I've had contact with that I consider friends, having never met them.

You know, you and I have never, never, shook hands, um, and all of these people like that, who I just think I'm just, I just really want to find a way to come together with these people and it's why, as I say, luft 10 for me had a real, a real pull to it, a real draw, because, as you say, I just want to absorb more of this entire culture.

The driving component I love, I've always loved, uh, but it's.

But it's also the people, the people that are involved, that I think are something incredibly special about porsche culture, and I feel a real draw to wanting to experience that on a deeper level than I can via Instagram messages.

Yeah, Well, speaking of travel, my friend, lifelong awesome, one of my best friends, jodie, who lives in Perth she is actually on her way to the States this year.

I'm going to be hanging out with her in California in December.

I've been promising to visit her now for the best part of the 15 years that I've been living in the States and she's been promising to come out here as well.

But she's been out here.

This will be the third year in a row.

Now she speaks at conferences in Vegas and you know.

So she comes out and we hang out.

But I've said to her look, all right, okay, next year is probably going to be the year I come to Australia this year.

I was maybe going to come to Australia Last year.

No, there was no chance, but this year was maybe, next year probably.

So who knows, dude, maybe I'll get to give you a high five and say hello to Choco the dog and all that good stuff.

Yeah, dude, if that happens, there has to be a rally component.

Yeah, yeah, totally, I'll have to steal a car or something, but hell yeah.

That's all right.

There's ways and means.

Well, I've got speaking of rallies.

Alpine range rally 10 is coming up in about five or six weeks.

For me, and having missed number nine, which was heartbreaking, to organize a rally and then, not go.

Uh, was, was, was a low point for me this year.

Um, so I've not done a rally since november last year, so I'm so so looking forward to this one, just cannot wait.

I mean, and I'm in the middle of this is always the exciting part once I'm designing merch, that's, that's.

That's a thing for me which I always just I just gets me so excited and you know the idea of I kind of tease it out with everybody and within the group, and you know there's always a kind of a reveal moment and yeah, you're just looking for that moment where everyone's like, oh, this one's really good, this one's really good.

So hopefully everyone loves the merch.

But I think this rally is going to be just fantastic.

I just can't wait to be out having an adventure again in Little Green.

So are all of the usual suspects signed up again.

Yeah, usual suspects, you know we try and keep it as sort of small as we can within that existing group and you know it's so hard.

I get a lot of messages from people who want to come and, you know, like good dudes who I know and would love to have along, and we've just, it's just difficult to maintain a group size that is realistic to take on a drive like this.

So I've always said I don't want to have any more than 20 cars.

I think that's about.

It's certainly about as much as we can manage in terms of the basics of booking accommodation, booking food, all of those types of things.

You know there's a lot of moving parts, but even just to safely keep everybody together and safely, you know, get everybody covering some 2,000 kilometres over four days, I just want to.

It's yeah, we unfortunately have to keep it somewhat confined.

So, yeah, the usual crew, but we're doing it a little differently this time.

We're adding a day and driving into some areas that we've never been to before.

So I can't wait for that as well, exploring some new roads.

Exciting, exciting, I'm jealous.

Exploring some new roads exciting, exciting, I'm jealous yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and so you did.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, before, so so I can't wait for that as well.

Uh, we've not spoken since you did your tale of the dragon trip yeah, tale of the dragon was awesome, but, um, yeah, there was a bit of a shadow cast over the whole weekend because, uh, everybody had some kind of car issue.

It was.

Yeah, it was pretty weird.

So Jay got sideswiped before we even got there, somebody drove into the back of him on a roundabout, but he still.

He showed up, he drove up and there he was, spent the whole weekend driving with the side of his car smashed in.

But on day two his ignition wouldn't turn over and so we managed to kind of fiddle it and we managed to get it to start, but then later on in the day it just went dead.

So day three he basically rode shotgun in a bunch of different cars, um, so that he could enjoy the weekend, and then he stayed behind an extra day to get his car fixed, um at a local shop when they opened up on the monday, while you know the rest of us, yeah, so so that was jake, um, mark and his son matthew.

His ECU and air conditioning went on the blink the week before the trip.

So they they hired a Cayman from Turo and so they didn't miss the weekend, um, and they discovered halfway through the weekend that the wheels were put on um backwards.

Yeah, the wheels had been put on the wrong way, basically, so they tied, they decided to sort of, you know, pull off the gas and just take it easy and they couldn't be bothered swapping them around.

But yeah, whoever basically rotated the tires had put them on the wrong way.

I know right.

So that was their issue.

I think what was Michael's issue?

Michael's starter motor went.

As he got home, me and Chris both got flat tires.

We got nails in the same part of the tire and my wheel bearing went as well.

It sounded like my PDdk transmission was going, actually, and I there was this humming kind of drone sound in the cabin.

So I had that issue.

And then todd, who was driving his uh convertible 993 um one of his belts snapped and he got a flat tire just as he was getting back into min.

So everybody's car was fucked at some point during the weekend.

So yeah, we're hoping you know next time we go back, everything will be fine.

But you know maybe Was the driving good anyway.

Because this was your first time there in the 991.2,

.

Right, yeah, it was absolutely awesome and I brought my son Luke with me.

Who's seven oh?

That's right, he really enjoyed it, absolutely loved it.

In fact in one of the gas he likes owls and in one of the gas stations we saw this giant stuffed owl which he bought.

And in the oh that was in the passenger seat it was in the passenger seat the whole time, but in one of the photos that was taken by Dragonslayer or Killboy or what have you, there's this great shot of my car and all you can see is this owl's head in the passenger seat.

It's a right-hand drive 911 piece.

So that was a really great weekend and the car handled really well and you know, I think in part that probably spurred me on to do some of the mods as well, because I really I took advantage of PASM for the first time.

This is the first car I've had PASM and I was driving the whole time with that on and really enjoyed, you know, and noticed the difference that with that on, and really enjoyed, you know, and noticed the difference that that it made on the suspension and go around the corners, yeah.

So yeah, get it on, get it on.

We were thinking about doing like a full color trip in two weeks time but with the hurricane and so on, we've kind of knocked that on the head so this kind of leads me and I know I'm working up the list on our show notes in reverse somewhat.

I did read in your t911 column you talked about the one thing it did, it did sort of bring to light from your perspective was the manual versus pdk thing and that that you still think you find a higher level of engagement in the manual transmission yeah, I think, I think that's true.

Um, I you know, having been on the tail now with a couple of pdks and a couple of manuals, I think the manual is the way to go ultimately.

And there's going around those corners and just picking exactly the moment when you want to change gear and knowing exactly the rev range you want to be in.

Yeah, it's more precise.

I guess that's the way I would describe it.

There's more precision.

Are you shifting in PDK or are you letting the car?

No, I am shifting in PDK.

I've got it in manual mode, um, but there's, there's just something about that moment where you make the decision to put the clutch in and you move the shifter where your heart's in your mouth a little bit and the you know the the the clutch goes back and everything re-engages.

Um, I think, just if I had to take on a road like that and I was given the choice between a manual and an automatic, I'd pick the manual for sure.

Would you if the car was a different car, let's say it was a turbo or it was a GT3, would you feel differently, do you think?

I mean, I know a turbo doesn't come in a manual anyway, so it's a moot point but I suppose my point being do you think your interest or preference for a manual is driven somewhat by the car being, let's say, a lower powered, you know kind of base model where you can lean on it really hard regardless?

Or or do you think you'd feel that way across across the board?

um, yeah, that that probably has something to do with it.

Actually, yeah, you know the idea of having to work harder to get more out of the car, um, and really make it perform, yeah, but then, at the same time, just thinking about the base nine nine one dot one and the base nine nine one dot two, yeah, there is a power difference, um, but it's you know, it's not a hundred horses, it's not the difference between a base and the turbo or a base and the GT three no that's right.

You still have to work out of the car.

Um, it's funny looking at chris in my rearview mirror where I'm pulling away from him and then, all you know, a split second later, there he is.

He's got, he's just right there.

Um, it might, it might be different now, actually, when I take it back and I've, I've got all this extra power and you know, with the, with the tune, um, yeah, I wonder what that's going to be like.

I think a lot of that.

It just depends on the road type you know, in terms of.

I know, when I had the GT4, for example, there are certain roads where, if I wanted to, I could just pull a gap on the person behind me, dependent upon if that was typically something where it was perhaps a higher speed road, perhaps it was up a hill, and then you have a torque advantage and things like that.

But you know, through the tighter twisties I didn't that car or people we've driven with with GT3s, anything like that there's still.

I think ultimately it comes down to cornering speed more than it does power and a well-set-up car and someone who knows how to drive it will keep up with most things.

But I think it's an interesting point about the manual, you know, and talking about the decision to put the clutch in, because I think one of the things I've found with my manual cars certainly versus my PDK car is, you know, there are some roads where you'll take a second gear corner and then there's a straight and another second gear corner and you kind of have this decision to make of do I ring the car's neck for three seconds and keep it in second coming

into that next corner?

Or do I shift up and then shift down?

And you know, so often, I think, in a manual car I just ring the car's neck and maybe that's not the fastest way to do it, but you know it's.

It's feels like a motorsport experience, versus if you're in a pdk, there's no um, there's no cost to shifting up, because it's just you just grab the paddle and you're up a gear and it's okay, you're still in the power band and then you can, you know, a moment later shift down again.

So I think I think again, there's something about the manual that makes you make these decisions a little.

I suppose the decision-making process requires a little more thought than it does in a, in a, in a PDK, because the compromises aren't there and that, I think, helps I don't know, just helps me get a little more out of the experience.

I don't have a view either way.

I'm not one of these people who thinks that you know, it's manual or nothing, it's three pedals or nothing.

I'm not of that view at all and I really enjoy driving a PDK car.

I think ultimately my preference for road driving in the twisties, for a spirited drive would would almost always be a manual.

Yeah, I think this is why all Porsche enthusiasts need three or four cars in their garage.

You know, yeah, yeah, it's a hundred percent fair To choose from.

Yeah, porsche enthusiasts need three or four cars in their garage.

You know, yeah, yeah, it's 100% fair to choose from.

Yeah, you know.

No, I agree, I agree.

Now, going as I said, we're going up the list.

This I did mention that I'd read your column in Total 9-11, which which mentioned your Tale of the Dragon Drive and mentioned your preference for manual and PDK.

Can we take a minute to talk about Total 9-11?

We've got to yeah, we absolutely have to, and not only Total 9-11, but Mr Lee Sibley, we've got to talk about him as well.

Yeah, yeah.

So, for those of you who don't know, total 9-11 is folding.

The magazine is finishing up.

All of us who write a column for it the living, the legend column, uh were notified, I guess a couple months back, right, um, and you know it's, it's.

It's unfortunately one of these things where, like so many magazines, they, they, they're propped up by advertising spend and you know the, the advertisers just aren't there to warrant the magazine continuing to be printed.

So it's coming to an end, which is a real shame.

Yeah, in fact, issue 249 is on the shelves right now.

My dad, in fact, just emailed me this week saying he got his in the mail and this was the first he'd heard about it.

He got an email this week saying your subscription's over.

So if you rush out and get the very last ever edition of Total 9-11, you can show that to your grandkids one day.

But it's really sad, God, I could talk about it for ages.

But you know, long story short, total nine 11 is the reason I bought my first Porsche.

You know I've I've always loved Porsche and I've talked about it across.

You know so many different forums and platforms since I was a kid.

But you know, in my mid or my late thirties, um, since I was a kid, but in my mid or my late 30s, in a position where I was able to buy a car, because I was no longer in a city like New York City or London where you didn't need a car.

Oh look, there's a Porsche magazine on the shelf.

I'll buy it.

It was an edition that was a buyer's guide.

I spent the best part of a month reading every page.

Read that thing cover to cover, learning about every single generation and the price ranges and all the stats on every model, and it opened my eyes to the fact that, well, actually there is a Porsche out there in my price range that I've come to adore over the years.

That might actually be a car that I can buy.

And a month later I'm out there in LA picking it up and I subscribed to it and I followed and I got to know Lee through the magazine and he invited me to blah, blah, blah.

I've been writing a column for a couple of years now, as of you, um, I wouldn't, I wouldn't be driving the cars I'm driving today if it wasn't for total 9-11 magazine and, um, oh man, I'm gonna miss it, I'm gonna absolutely miss it.

But you know what I, what I do like and love, is that lee isn't going anywhere and lee is the heart and soul of that magazine.

Um, you know, he uh, it's a fascinating story about how he got started there, um, because he wasn't the editor in the beginning and he's become the editor at large and, um, he's been, you know, running that that show for for a good number of years.

Um, but he's got his.

He's got his own life and his own brand and his own Porsche experience and dream, which is nine works outside of total nine 11.

And hopefully that's going to live and continue, which which we all know it is Um.

So you know, if you don't follow nine works, follow nine works.

Nine works radio.

Nine works road trips Nine Works Road Trips NineWorkscom.

Nineworksleon.

Instagram.

You know all of the fantastic content and knowledge and excitement that has been coming through Total 9-11 Magazine.

It's not going anywhere because it's there in Nine Works.

Yeah, I agree with that.

I agree with that.

I think you know what I've always appreciated about the magazine is I like that in the Porsche space there, different magazines actually fill different needs.

Yeah, so for me.

So here in Australia, duck and Whale is probably the most prevalent Porsche magazine.

Duck and Whale is, you know, produced by an organization that is really design-focused, really photography-focused.

So I always find in Duck and Whale that that's a magazine I will look through for the visual experience.

I think the photography and the layout, the art direction, is absolutely stunning and the layout, the art direction, is absolutely stunning.

What I really loved about Total 9-11 is I think the journalistic approach in that magazine was absolutely top shelf and they knew their stuff did really interesting articles, really interesting comparison articles, breaking down one car versus another, whether that was across generations or within generations, but very well considered, very well researched and in such a way that I think there was something really that you could gain from them.

I think you know the sad thing if I can pontificate for a moment about the slow decline of magazines, I think I've always loved magazines since I was a kid, and I think the role that magazines filled in our life was one where, if you have a specific interest let's say your niche interest is Porsche your access to content around Porsche is limited, or traditionally it always has

been and a magazine was the one thing that every month you would hold out waiting for, so that if you went to the newsagent or if you had a subscription and it arrived, you would then have a month to absorb that content.

And every magazine that I had I used to flip through it a million times, read articles over and over again, particularly if it was an article about a car that I was specifically interested in filled in a far more prolific way with social media, with YouTube, where you can pick up your phone any day of the week

and see plenty of amazing content on Instagram or watch an incredible video on YouTube.

That gives you that fix.

So when the magazine arrives, the desperate need that you once had to just scour it cover to cover, that has dissipated over time and that's why we've seen I think just you know across the board that magazines influence and prevalence in news agents and the like has just diminished so, so much.

But you know like you say.

Congratulations to Lee and the entire team there at Total 9-11 for such a great mag.

It's certainly been a thrill for me being able to have a printed column.

I mean, you know, I kind of hassled Lee to let me write something for him.

You know, I've always wanted to be a writer in print and the fact that he, you know, probably just thought, oh yeah, it'd be good to have a dude from australia that was uh that.

That that felt, uh, that felt like a blessing for me.

So I'm certainly gonna miss, miss writing my monthly column, but but, like james said, if you can get a get a hold of the last issue, then then I'd say it's well worth doing.

And, and I'm sure everyone here is already already following, uh, lee and nine works.

God knows, we promote them enough on this pod, um, so look, shall we jump to video of the week?

yes, and you know what I've watched video of the week can.

Can you believe it?

Have you actually?

Well, yeah, I mean you sent me the link 10 minutes before the pod and I had nothing better to do.

I was about to say which one?

Because I had suggested one.

I had suggested actually one of Adam LZ's.

This has just been an entire pot of promoting other people's YouTube channels, but I had suggested one of Adam's videos.

But then this morning I thought actually no, I want to, I want to talk about this one.

Is it because?

it's a 964 and you have a 964?

.

I must confess, I'm quite conscious of the fact that there's a video of the week does often feature an air-cooled car, but did we ever?

I you know I needed to ask you this question.

Do you remember that video of the yellow GT3 Touring that I think was going to be video of the week?

Last time we recorded, but I don't think we ever did that pod.

Was it the one that?

I chose no Because there have been a number of videos of the week that I've suggested that I've never seen the light of day.

What three Come on what?

have you ever suggested?

No, remember that amazing yellow GT3?

It's like yes, you do, it's in LA.

I sent it to you a couple of months ago.

Anyway, do you know what?

If we haven't featured it on the pod next time we record, in six months, we'll make that video of the week.

It's like a bahama yellow 991.2

gt3 touring dude, you've.

You've not only lost me, you've lost the audience.

Let's talk about the actual video of the week let's talk about the actual video of the week, which is a 964rs.

It's on the furka pass, it's a.

It's a film Night Run Films, who are doing some really lovely stuff.

Actually, if I'm honest, there's maybe a little bit too much of a penchant for driving gloves, but I'll let that slide.

I've got to say I know one or two people that wear driving gloves and I just come on, I can't do it, I can't.

I just come on, I can't do it, I can't.

I just seriously Driving gloves If you're wearing driving gloves.

stop now, because it is the equivalent of the guys who go road cycling and then get off their bikes at the cafe and come, click, click, click, clicking on their stupid cycling shoes into the cafe.

They think it's cool.

Everyone around them just thinks they're the biggest dorks ever.

Here's the thing If you are driving a short wheelbase 911 with a wooden steering wheel, wear yourself some driving gloves.

I'm all about that.

But if you've got a water-cooled car, if you're driving a car with an Alcantara steering wheel or leather, just no no to the driving gloves.

Stop Burn the driving gloves, burn them.

Exactly.

Anyway, let's talk about this film because actually, if I'm honest, one of the first things I noticed.

So the film is actually called Porsche 964 RS no emotional coffee runs and the first thing I thought when I saw that was oh, it seemed a bit of a snarky dig at cars, with Luke who often does a coffee run where he gets a bit emotional.

It felt to me like it was actually ooh okay.

As a fellow YouTuber.

That seemed like I say, a little bit snarky, but it's actually the driver of the car who says it, this guy Laz, who says it pretty early on in the film.

He says I don't use it for, I don't drive it in the city or use it for emotional coffee runs, it's just for in the hills.

So, okay, there was some context for that.

It wasn't a dig at another YouTuber.

Look, if I'm honest, one of the reasons and this may sound a bit goofy, but one of the reasons I'm not producing as much content is that I find the locations here I want to try and make beautiful content, yeah, and I find the locations of where I drive pretty bland by comparison.

I'm not going to talk about the industrial estates where you film, but you know anyone who's making these videos in Switzerland at the Furka Pass and the Susten Pass and all these amazing places it's.

I mean, come on, talk about unfair advantage much.

I know right it's just so to see a 964RS driving these incredible roads, the Furka Pass, with that amazing hotel on the hairpin that everyone takes a photo of.

And do you know?

What I love is something that Laz said.

He talks about having a 992 GT3 and how much he loved that car but how he couldn't really experience it because to drive it at anywhere near the level he needed to drive it to feel like he was leaning on it, pushing it.

You know he's going to end up in jail and you know the 964 is a nice antidote to that.

So I know I'm a 964 maven, but seeing a 964 in this environment with this sort of cinematography, I think it's pretty special.

So let me just interject an alternative theory um so laz got himself the gt3 touring 992 and um didn't appreciate the fact that he wasn't able to afford his monthly payments because of his wife's expensive coffee addiction.

So he had to give it back and trade it in for the air-cooled 964.

And now he's out driving by himself because the wife doesn't want to be seen in a 30-year-old car going to Starbucks to get a frappa-chappa-floppa-lappuccino with half-whip no-w, no whop, whip, whip phoned up.

That's the real answer, andy.

Where the fuck did that come from?

Because also, you know it's a 964RS right.

Yeah, I know it is.

I mean in terms of dollars.

I know it's a 964RS, right?

Yeah, I know it is.

I mean in terms of dollars, I know it is.

That'd probably sell for more than a 992 GT3 Touring, I know it is.

The film is absolutely spectacular.

I love the film.

James, you and me will talk off air.

I'm getting phone calls from our sponsors.

I think we've lost a couple of our sponsors.

Our driving glove sponsors have just pulled the pin oh well, look on that bombshell.

I think we're done for another pod and it's not going to be another three months until we record next time.

You better not cancel on me next week, andy gauntz, don't, don't even yeah, don't even just I.

I really want to make this clear to our listeners.

The amount of times.

Do you know what?

This morning is the first time I haven't done show notes because, quite honestly, I thought I'm gonna do this.

And then, five minutes before we're supposed to start, I'm gonna get a text message saying that opens with the words ah, fuck.

We'll see.

Well, look everybody.

Thanks for tuning in and we'll catch you in another pod soon.

Thanks gang, See you soon.

Take care.

Celebrating 40 Episodes: Porsche Adventures, Performance Upgrades, and a Fond Farewell to Total 911 Magazine

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