The Subaru SVX is a Subaru model that’s kind of famous for its unusual look and being a “grand touring” car. Here, they’re saying an SVX will be shown at The Quail.
Term
Japanese touring car
“Japanese touring car” basically means a Japan-made car meant for comfortable trips, not just racing. They’re using it to describe the SVX as the kind of car that fits the vibe of the event.
The Nissan GT-R is a fast sports car made by Nissan. It’s designed to accelerate quickly and drive very aggressively. The podcast is mentioning that some GT-Rs can be expensive and may come in special variations.
Here, “certification” means official paperwork or approval that a car is allowed to be in a certain class or event. They’re hinting that the SVX’s situation might be a little unusual compared to the other cars.
“Car Week” is a busy time of year when a lot of car events happen close together—shows, auctions, and racing. They’re planning their trip around it and mentioning the DWA tour during that same week.
The Hyundai Santa Cruz is a small crossover that also has a bed like a pickup truck. That means it can carry items in the back while still being comfortable for regular driving. The podcast mentions it in the context of Santa Cruz, which is also the vehicle’s name.
Car spotting is the enthusiast practice of watching for and identifying interesting cars in public places. At large events, it becomes a big part of the experience because many rare or special vehicles are out on the road.
Concept
slow parade
A “slow parade” describes how traffic bottlenecks can turn normal driving into a moving display of cars. For car events, this can increase visibility and make the street feel like part of the show.
BMW is a German automaker that often brings branded “activations” to major car events. In this context, it suggests BMW had a dedicated presence/experience at the event area.
Brand
Chimera
Chimera is referenced as the organizer/brand behind a “Peresto mod” style pop-up activation. The mention implies a custom-modification or curated car-related experience rather than a standard dealership display.
Zagato is an Italian company best known for styling and special car designs. In this story, it’s the name attached to the cute electric city cars they lined up for the event.
A DCT is a special type of automatic transmission that can shift very quickly. It uses two clutches so it can be ready for the next gear, which is why it can feel snappy like a manual.
This means the driver still “acts like” they’re driving a manual—choosing gears and using a clutch-like control. But the car’s computer is doing the actual work of engaging the transmission.
A “simulated manual EV” is an electric vehicle that uses an EV drivetrain but adds a manual-like interface—such as a gated shifter and clutch-like controls—so the driver can operate it like a traditional car. The idea is to preserve the engagement of manual driving while keeping the efficiency and instant torque of an EV.
A gated shifter is a gear lever that only allows you to move it into the proper gear positions. It gives you a more traditional, mechanical feel than a free-moving shifter.
This is when the clutch pedal feel is real, but it isn’t mechanically connected to a conventional clutch. The car uses sensors and electronics to make the transmission behave like a clutch is being used.
Steer-by-wire means the steering isn’t connected to the wheels with a traditional mechanical link. Instead, electronics control the steering, and the driver can still get a natural feel if it’s done well.
Throttle-by-wire means the gas pedal doesn’t move the throttle mechanically. The car reads your input and electronically controls the throttle opening.
Koenigsegg is a company that builds very high-end supercars. The host is bringing them up because they’ve tried to make electronic/automated clutch behavior feel more like a real mechanical clutch. The claim is that it can be convincing enough that you can still stall the engine.
Clutch engagement is when the clutch starts grabbing and sending power to the wheels. Drivers feel it as a bite point where the car goes from “not really moving” to “moving for real.” If it’s realistic, you can stall the engine if you don’t release the clutch correctly.
The friction point is the spot where the clutch starts to really grab. Before that, the engine can rev but the car doesn’t pull strongly yet. Hitting that point correctly is what makes the car move smoothly—and missing it can stall the engine.
Digitally tunable means the car’s behavior can be changed by software settings. Instead of only relying on physical parts, engineers can adjust how the clutch and drivetrain respond. That can help the car feel smoother or more realistic to drive.
Term
Porsche E-Shift thingy
“Porsche E-Shift” is Porsche’s name for an electronic way of shifting gears. Instead of you doing everything with a clutch and shifter, the car uses electronics to manage the clutch/gear changes. The goal is to make it feel good to drive, not just fast.
Pagani is a small Italian company that makes extremely special supercars. The host is saying Pagani is about to debut a new car at Goodwood, which is a big event for car enthusiasts. It’s a heads-up that the next topic will be that new Pagani.
The Pagani Huayra is an ultra-expensive supercar. Here, the interesting part is that it’s described as having a real manual gearbox with a “gated” shifter, meaning you move the lever through a defined pattern like a classic race car.
A “gated” manual has a shifter that only lets you move the lever into the correct gear positions. It usually feels tighter and more controlled than a typical street shifter.
Car
fiat topolino
The Fiat Topolino is a very small electric car meant for short trips. In this segment they point out it only goes about 19 miles per hour, so it’s not really for highways.
Term
19 mile an hour top speed
Top speed is the fastest the car can go. Here, the point is that 19 mph is too slow for highways, so it’s meant for short, local trips.
A neighborhood electric vehicle is a low-speed electric car meant for local streets. It usually can’t be used like a normal car on faster roads or highways.
A quadro cycle is a special legal category for a small vehicle. It’s treated differently than a normal car, so it can be limited on which roads you’re allowed to use.
A street legal kit is a set of changes that helps a vehicle meet the rules for driving on public roads. In this case, it’s meant to raise the speed limit it can legally be set to.
A low speed vehicle is a type of vehicle that’s capped at a certain top speed. Because it’s slower, it’s allowed on roads where the speed limit is also relatively low.
A loophole is a way to follow the rules but still get around the spirit of them. In this case, the idea is that a kit can change what the vehicle is allowed to do on the road.
Term
Petal Commute
Petal Commute is mentioned like a commuting concept tied to bikes. They’re saying this vehicle could replace bike-based errands rather than replacing a normal car.
Term
cargo bike replacement
Cargo bike replacement means using something else to do the same kind of short hauling errands you’d normally do with a cargo bike. They’re saying this vehicle is for that kind of daily running around.
Highway 17 is a major road route in California that includes stretches with higher speeds than typical neighborhood streets. The segment uses it as a real-world test of whether a very small car can safely “keep up” with traffic.
NVH means noise, vibration, and harshness. It’s basically how “smooth” and quiet the car feels inside—how much rattling, shaking, and harshness you notice. A car with better NVH feels nicer for daily driving.
ABS is a safety system that helps your brakes not lock up. When wheels lock, you lose steering control. With ABS, you can usually brake hard and still steer to avoid hazards.
Car
Polestar
They bring up Polestar as an example of a newer car. The idea is that modern safety systems like ABS help you brake more safely when you’re panicking and the road is slippery.
They’re talking about an older BMW 3 Series from the E30 era. They’re using it as an example of a car that feels more raw and less forgiving for daily commuting on a stressful road.
They mention a GTI as a car they used for commuting on that road. The point is that even a fun car can feel stressful if the route is sketchy every day.
The Honda Beat is a tiny Honda sports car that’s meant to be fun and a little rough around the edges. They’re saying it’s better for occasional driving than for everyday commuting.
The Suzuki Jimny is a small SUV that’s meant for off-road driving. It’s known for being tough and for its recognizable, boxy look. People like it because it can handle dirt roads and rough terrain despite its small size.
A “K car” is a special category of small Japanese cars. They’re built to be compact and efficient, and they often come with a lot of practical features while still being enjoyable to drive.
The Honda S660 is a small sports car made by Honda. It was designed to be light and fun to drive. The podcast is saying it was discontinued, so it’s not something you can easily buy new anymore.
A scissor lift is a platform that can go up and down using a folding, scissor-like mechanism. In this context, it sounds like the truck has been converted to carry a lift for work.
A rooftop tent is a camping tent mounted on the roof of a vehicle, typically with a hinged base that opens when parked. It’s popular because it keeps you off the ground and can be faster to set up than traditional tents.
A “kei truck” is a small Japanese truck class with strict rules on size and engine. People like them because they’re compact and practical, and they’re often used for simple daily driving and camping setups.
A camping conversion means modifying a vehicle so it can be used like a camper. People add things inside (like sleeping space and storage) so they can camp more comfortably.
A lift kit is what raises a vehicle higher off the ground. It helps the tires clear bumps and potholes, and it’s often used for off-road looks and capability.
All-terrain tires are tires meant to handle both regular roads and dirt trails. They have tread that grips better off-road while still being usable on the highway.
Knobby tires have chunky tread meant to grab onto loose ground. They’re great for dirt and rough trails, but they can be louder and less efficient on smooth roads.
Fender flares are the extra plastic or metal pieces around the wheel area. They help keep dirt and rocks from hitting the body and can cover wider tires.
Term
K-van
A K-van is a tiny Japanese van in the kei class. The speaker is basically saying the van they saw is bigger and more substantial than those small kei vans.
A pre-runner is an off-road desert style build. It’s meant for rough dirt roads and often has a lift and tougher tires so it can handle the terrain better.
The Toyota HiAce is a popular Japanese van used for work and travel. The speaker likes it because it’s tough and comfortable enough for long trips, and they’ve driven some versions in different countries.
Left-hand drive means the steering wheel is on the left side of the car. That matters because it changes how the car fits the country’s driving rules and how easy it is to drive there.
The Mitsubishi Delica is a versatile Japanese van that people often use for road trips and outdoor trips. The speaker is comparing it to other versions that are more camping-focused versus more luxurious.
Car
Lexus minivans
Lexus is Toyota’s luxury brand, and it also sells high-end minivans. The speaker likes them because they feel more upscale than typical minivans, but they’re very pricey.
The Toyota Sienna is a common family minivan. The speaker is saying some people modify a Sienna’s front styling—like the grille and headlights—to make it look like a different kind of van.
Term
Rad vehicle
“Rad” here appears to refer to a specific vehicle brand or model the host just acquired. Since the transcript doesn’t spell out the full brand name, it’s best treated as a named product reference rather than a generic description.
A 1987 Toyota Corolla is an older Toyota compact car. It’s the kind of car people pick because it’s dependable and good for long drives, which is why it shows up in this road-trip memory.
The Volkswagen Bus is a van that’s known for being spacious and good for traveling. People often rent or drive them on road trips because there’s room for passengers and gear. The podcast is referencing a family trip using one.
The Toyota Camry is a very common, everyday car that’s known for being easy to live with. Here it’s mentioned as a first car/inheritance, which shows how people often start driving in a reliable sedan.
A “944 lemons car” means they’re using a Porsche 944 for a goofy endurance race. The Porsche 944 is an older sports car that’s popular because it’s fun to work on and can be turned into a track car.
A roll cage is a metal safety frame inside the car. It helps protect you if the car flips or crashes hard, which is why it’s used for racing.
Car
Volvo wagon
A Volvo wagon is a car with extra cargo space behind the seats. Here, they’re trying to fit a big safety structure (a roll cage) inside it, so it shows how much room the car has—and how hard it can be to fit bulky racing gear.
A sunroof is a panel in the roof that lets in light (and sometimes opens). They’re saying the roll cage didn’t fit cleanly because it interfered with the sunroof area.
They’re talking about what makes a road trip feel like a real trip—how you drive, where you stop, and even how you sleep along the way. The point is that it’s an adventure, not just getting from one place to another.
The Pontiac Firebird is an old-school American muscle car. “Formula” is a specific trim level, and this one sounds like it had a 305 V8 and a manual transmission, which is what makes it interesting to car people.
The Nissan Murano is a crossover SUV, and the speaker is discussing a rare “Murano convertible” variant. They describe a two-door Murano convertible that was built in very small numbers, then heavily discounted after it failed to sell.
A “crossover SUV” is basically an SUV shape, but it’s built more like a regular car underneath. That usually means a smoother ride than older, truck-based SUVs.
“Pope Mobile” is a nickname for the special, modified vehicle the Pope rides in that’s designed to be seen from far away. The host is using it to describe the tall, showy look of the car.
The Mercedes-Benz G-Class is a tough, square-looking SUV that’s built to handle rough roads. This “convertible” version is rare and unusual, so it stands out a lot when you see it on the street.
A touring rally is more like an organized road trip than a competitive race. You follow a route and enjoy the drive, but you’re not necessarily racing against other cars for position.
The Porsche 911 is a high-performance sports car made by Porsche. It’s famous for its shape and for being quick and fun to drive. People talk about it a lot because it’s an iconic model with a long history.
The BMW M3 is BMW’s high-performance version of the 3 Series. The hosts mention it alongside the 911 to say that driving a familiar kind of fast car in Japan would feel more like home.
The Fiat 500e is the electric version of the Fiat 500. In this trivia question, it’s the main Fiat model they’re counting for sales in 2026.
Term
electric run
“Electric run” here is being used as a shorthand for an electric model’s sales/market period (i.e., the EV version being counted). It’s not a standard technical term, but it’s part of how the host frames what’s included in the sales total.
The Fiat 500 is a small car designed for driving around town. It’s easy to park and maneuver because it’s compact. The podcast is also pointing out that some related versions were discontinued.
The Smart Electric Drive is a small electric car made for city driving. Instead of using gas, it runs on electricity. It’s meant to be easy to drive and convenient for everyday trips.
Brabus is a company that modifies cars to make them look cooler and often drive better. If it’s a “Brabus Smart,” it’s a Smart that’s been tuned and upgraded by Brabus.
“Dual exhaust outlets” means there are two exhaust tips instead of one. It’s mostly a styling and sound/flow setup that makes the car feel more performance-oriented.
LIVE
Can you imagine like his hand side is a little white on gray Toyota camera?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Egocidal vehiculum.
There's no doubt.
Corriettes are fast.
But I'm riding dirty right now.
The croc GT4.
The one and only.
Hashtag Don Patrol.
Hashtag senior citizen.
All right.
Hearts fired.
Welcome to Driving Well Awesome.
My name is Warren.
I'm Lane.
And we're joined by Clark, software of round, sorry, I cut you off there.
I'm Clark.
Welcome, Clark.
How are you doing?
I'm well.
How are you?
Good.
How's the weather in Tokyo?
I feel like we have to start with some like, you know, little weather banter maybe.
It's location specific.
Yeah.
It's hot here.
It's been unseasonably cool this previous month, which is to say hot, but not aggressively
so.
And now it's becoming like aggressively hot.
Oh, and what do you guys do to get out of the heat?
We ride the, ride the subway is a, is like that.
You go underground?
And we go underground.
Yeah.
Last night I was going off to meet a friend and I, and I was like sweating like crazy and
I went down the subway and I got this crazy, these, these air conditioned vents on this,
on the platform itself.
And they're just, they're putting so much air down onto the platform that if you stand
in front of the vent, it's like, this is a ways of, of, of cool.
That seems like a good, let me ask you this.
So some of these fancy neighborhoods in Tokyo have like, you know, a lot of kind of crazy
tech and stuff.
Have they gone to the length of air conditioning, the sidewalks like they do in Qatar and Abu
Dhabi and stuff like that?
I mean, aside from people having some, some, some doors being open and air conditioning
flowing out the front door, there's no, as far as I know, there's no side of air con,
but there are a lot of portable units that are, you know, there are like a little thing
on wheels the size of a mini fridge and it has a, a flex hose that comes out the top.
Totally.
And so they'll have those next to like parking attendants or staff folks who have to be outside
all day at the heat.
And you can just walk by and put that tube right up your shorts.
You'd have to probably get a dirty look from whoever's supposed to be getting a tube.
Yeah, you could.
You do a really deep bow and then you slide that right up your shorts and then see what
happens, you know?
I mean, the next time you visit, you should give this a try.
Let us know.
No, no.
Yeah, I've tried to avoid the hot months, but I like, I like this.
Yeah. Well, it's been a while since you've been on the podcast, right?
When, when was the last time?
We were probably in person.
Was it in August of last year when I was in town for Monterey?
So, are we?
Monterey.
I always love how Clark says Monterey.
This is back to a portion of mine.
44.
Yes.
Or Taco Bell.
Taco Bell.
My, my in-laws say CD, CDs instead of, you know, it was on CD, CD player, CD player.
CD player.
Yeah. Monterey.
Yes.
Wait, Monterey.
I think it was for Monterey.
Monterey.
Well, I mean, I'm curious how you say, I mean, Monterey car week last year.
We didn't even say that you didn't even say the T, you just say Monterey.
Oh, I was really screwed.
It's for car week.
That's good.
See, I would say something like, do you pronounce the T in Vermont, for example,
or is this Vermont?
I think everybody in the world pronounces the T, except maybe the French.
It's not silent like Monet or what's going on.
In America.
OK, so Monterey.
Yeah, you are you coming back out for that?
No, probably not.
It's, it's so soon.
Oh, you are.
Yep.
Dude, I've got on the calendar.
You're going to do a little shindig, a little
Clark pad.
Well, hey, how are you doing?
A roundcat pad?
Well, so we're not going to do the pad this year.
I'm coming in on Thursday, a flying in on Thursday.
So I'm going to basically arrive, go to the quail and then
probably go to Laguna Seca to check out racing on Saturday.
And then I mean, that's that's as much as I have planned.
And so Rich Chen, who is who is showing a car at the quail
and I have a little, I don't know,
surprise activation around that.
So we're going to make it.
We're going to make a few fun little merches to to sort of celebrate
his his SVX being at the quail.
And this is a jujaro thing, the situation is how the SVX got in.
I think it got in because it's
a distinctive Japanese touring car.
I don't actually know
so like what the criteria for for evaluation was.
But so I don't know, it
it pleases me that that along with all this of the high dollar
GTRs, there's going to be something, you know, funky with certification.
No, I appreciate that for sure.
I think this is a good time to mention that we're basically a month out
from car week, which is terrifying and driving will awesome.
The DWA tour is going to be taking place once again, Thursday of car week.
It'll be open to Patreon members first and maybe only
but a really good Thursday morning hang to see car week
from Insider's view. Can I say that, Lane?
You can say that. OK, thanks.
I'll let you thank you.
Yeah, so I look for some some registration,
some information and such on Patreon for driving awesome car week stuff.
That's a quick trip, though, Clark,
you're not even going to be able to come to our our rally movie premiere,
which is happening the weekend prior.
No, I was I was kind of dragging my feet about coming at all because
it's, you know, it's a it's a long flight.
And and so we were trying to decide, do we do car week?
Do we go somewhere else?
I mean, I hear that that Ali is not going at all, that he's going to Detroit this year.
And so we were, you know, Detroit,
Monorail, Pebble Beach, I don't know.
OK, that's a place.
And so we decided to do it.
And then by the time we looked into it,
the sort of the flights that matched our schedule were pretty limited.
So we're coming out Thursday.
Gotcha. And then we're we're visiting my wife's family
like the week like at some point during the week after.
So we'll be in the US for a little bit longer than we'll be in California.
OK, before we get any further, for those of.
That don't know, can we introduce?
We should probably like introduce who Clark is, I think.
Yeah, I think that's a good call.
Right, you know, who is Clark, the real roundcat racing?
Is that what you go by now, Clark?
Yeah, perhaps. Yeah, yeah.
So I'm I'm I've a company called Roundcat that
I I founded in in Santa Cruz with these guys, you know,
in proximity to the DWA guys and then move to Tokyo about four years ago
and brought the brought the company and brand with me.
So we still have a little outpost
on the west side in the building that Beeline is in.
And then the the roundcat roundcat headquarters that I'm sitting in
is in in central Tokyo.
And we're a production studio and touring club.
And we we we have three pillars of business.
We produce events.
We support business that sort of international business,
foreign companies that want to be working in Japan, Japanese companies
that want to be working abroad.
And we have a touring club where we sort of support the active driving
internationally. So we we we look after we maintain.
We support cars for American owners inside Japan
and and help Japanese drivers do sort of the same in the US.
Sweet.
I can't believe it's been four years since you moved it.
I don't know, I can't believe it, but it also feels like it just happened recently
and you're still new to that area.
But it's been a long time.
I mean, you're you're a full on Tokyo resident.
Yeah, it's been the first few years we're back and forth so often
because we had so many loose ends in California that that
mean time flew, I guess, because it was just so hectic.
I was back every two months or so.
Yeah.
And then for the last two years, we've been
settled in and living in Tokyo and it's become harder and harder
to travel internationally because it just feels like it doesn't feel like
we're going home.
It feels like we're going somewhere else.
Yeah, we're leaving home.
Yeah. And I mean, you it should be mentioned that you had a child,
which obviously makes travel more difficult than wanting to stay closer to home.
Yeah. Yeah.
We brought him.
He's he's he's now a year and nine months or so.
And we brought him to Italy a month or two ago for Como Car Week.
And now is our first big travel with him as a mobile toddler,
which is super fun because he loved the car stuff.
He he really, really enjoyed Como Car Week.
He loved riding around in the boat.
I bet.
But it was it was a really it was much more exhausting
kind of travel than in previously.
Yeah, we took Andrew to Germany and Europe when he was the exact same age.
And, you know, the pros are it's a free plane ticket,
but they have to sit on your lap.
So you try to make some effort to go on a trip like that.
But then when you're there, especially the mobile toddler situation is
is crazy because they will run and jump off things that, you know,
they have the ability to do that, but you have to keep an eye on them the whole time.
So but it's cool. That's fun.
Well, the the event we did in Italy was was was perfect for Max, my son,
because we one of our customers generously provided this
is amazing villa on the like right on the lake on Lake Como
and had this amazing garden that was before we got there.
I thought just had a seawall down into the lake, but when we got there,
there was actually a fence and the entire garden was was properly fenced off.
So we just sort of turned Max loose in the garden.
Oh, nice.
He just like all day long, he just run around and we had
I think we had five cars out there on the five or six cars in the garden.
And he'd go over and inspect all the cars every morning and touch the tires
and have to get in and out of them.
And that's awesome. That's awesome.
That's so cool.
So how was that? How was that event?
So you guys held a you guys stayed in the house on the lake, right?
We didn't end up staying in the house.
The house was the house had been purchased about 10 months before
this event, you know, by our by our customer and friend and good friend.
And he was he did like a huge renovation to it.
So the renovation was was basically finishing the days we arrived in Italy.
So we ended up we got an Airbnb just sort of, you know, 10 minutes away.
And and for we spent a few days setting up the event
and the contractors like wound down their their contractors.
So it was it was definitely a busy time in the house.
And then so Como Car Week for for those who who don't know,
which I didn't actually really know much about it, you know, before I went
a few years ago is is becoming sort of the Monterey Car Week of Europe.
But it's at a much smaller scale because historically,
it's just been the concor at Villadest, which is a singular concor
at a singular hotel, and you would go to the hotel, you'd spend a long weekend.
And that was what you did.
And maybe five or six years ago,
a new event was created sort of alongside the the Villadest concor.
And then that brought in corporate sponsorship.
And that sort of turned this quiet singular event
into a bustling sort of long weekend that has a bit of Monterey energy.
And so
our, you know, our our customer got this house right in the middle of all this activity, not
for this purpose, but it worked out quite well, you know, for for us that it was right,
like literally across the street from from this new larger concor called Foray Concorso.
And so we wanted to create a
sort of a place to relax away from all of the the hustle and bustle of these shows for our friends.
So on the on the lawn of this house, we
we showed a collection of small Italian cars that sort of have round cat sensibility.
And we had some refreshments and we just sort of all day long,
just hung out on the grass. And we'd go across the street to the other shows,
we'd jump in a boat and cruise down the lake. But we created a
the the oasis of coffee and champagne for folks who wanted to escape to others.
These words are great. I love oasis. refreshments. That's a fun word. I love
round cat sensibilities. That's a nice one. You're kind of, you know, tangentially just saying,
you know, it's just sort of a round cat vibe really is what's happening. What does that mean?
We create a round cat vibe.
Don't worry about what that means. You know, we're talking about refreshments.
We're talking about oasis, some chill. We're talking about the good design feeling.
That's right. That's right. Good design feeling, man. Industry pros. Yeah, I love all this stuff.
That's a nice situation to find yourself in though, with a buddy with a house on the lake
next to this new, that's not new, but that whole scene that's growing and kind of cool. Do you
think that's far less approachable than car week? I mean, there's no like dirt bagging that scene
in Como, right? Well, there is actually plenty of dirt bagging. I was the last year we were chatting
with a bunch of young Italian like car spotters who were like, we are snuck into the event,
you know, we borrow the wrist bands, you know, we speak over the fence.
And so there's still all this energy. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah.
And so there's also plenty of car spotting on the street, just like in Monterey car week,
if you just walk around, it's just the whole thing is a car show. And there's really one,
there's that one road between the two main anchor events of, of, of Como car work along the lake.
And so every traffic has to go along this one road. So it turns into a very slow parade of
really funny cars. I was going to say, how many cars are at the main event or the events? I've
heard it's very small. It is. I mean, I think maybe 50 cars. Okay. So yeah. And then the
for a concorso is on a much more expansive garden that's sort of up this hillside,
but they probably don't have more than,
more than a hot, it's probably less than 100.
Wow. But then there's, there's, you know, BMW has a big activation and there's another hotel in
the lakes or in between the two events that, that, that is Chimera does a
Peresto mod pop up sort of thingy there. And people just bring cars. So it's,
it's much smaller than, than Monterey car week, but it's in some ways that makes it more approachable
because if you just show up and you're there on, on Saturday and Sunday, everything sort of unfolds
in front of you. Right. There's only one place to be, right? Yeah. And I found, I mean, I went,
I went for the first time last year with some friends from UK and met up with a bunch of
other friends there. And we just sort of sat and drank coffee in various cafes and hotel
like lobbies. And it was just, it was like Monterey car week minus the running around
between venues minus the traffic. We could basically walk everywhere. There are taxi boats
that you can, you know, you can take around the lake. It's, it had a really pleasant kind of energy.
So that's why we really wanted to come back. And we, this, this, this activation we did this
year came out of us sitting on a, you know, on a hotel restaurant patio saying, you know,
what'd be really great is if we had a little bit bigger place on our own coffee machine,
because this restaurant is so slow to bring us the coffee, you know, if we had our own garden
with our own friends, um, just hang out here. And then like a month or two later, you know,
this, this, this guy who had, who has the house called me up and was like, Hey, Clark, I just bought
a house. That's awesome. So rad. Let's do something. Yeah. Is there room for it to expand to become
kind of like a car week where it's going to be like a hustle and bustle kind of like
turn into something like that in the future? Cause it already has gone from one show to two.
And then to you guys having a little thing and, you know, it's already, you know, kind of expanded,
but, you know, not to even close the extent of car week, but is there like room to expand
to multiple days? And it could go longer. I don't, I don't know if
I don't know if parties at night and all that. No, I mean, that's the thing.
Like you could argue that car weeks definitely not better than when it was just the concourse
to elegance and the races, right? Cause then now it's like, like we always argue that, um, seeing
like 10 Pagani's is worse than saying one. Um, you know, that's argument. You know, it's like,
because you're bored with 10, but if you see one, you're like super stoked. If you see 10,
you're kind of like, ah, fuck it. Stupid Pagani's, you know? Um, and I think that's the way car week
is. It's like, because it's so big, it's like nothing's important, right? Like because there's
so much stuff going on. It's just like, Oh, let's go see this. Listen, you're, you're just kind of
like, you're inundated. You're, yeah, it's hard to stand out and you're inundated with just
amazing stuff, which means nothing's amazing. And, um, this sounds like, you know, if you're
saying you're, you're basically saying there's only 150 cars to see, that means you're going to
see all 150 cars and you're going to set eyes on them. And then you're probably going to look at
every car that drives by too. And you're going to really look at them and you know, you're going to
really soak everything in that you see. Um, but yeah, I was just wondering if there's room for it
to turn into a shit show. Basically is what I was asking, you know, kind of, I think, I think that
in some ways it's geographically limited because the, there's only one road through,
through this, this, these little villages that, that there's not
beyond a whole bunch of really amazing hotels along the lake, but each one is kind of spread out by
these through, you know, small towns that the road sometimes choked down to sort of one car,
one and a half car width. So practically speaking, I think it's difficult to link together
sort of the best locations into a bigger event without it becoming an absolute traffic jam.
So I mean, I hope that it doesn't become too much bigger. I mean, I understand that we're
sort of contributing to it by, by hosting something, but what we're, I mean, we're hosting a small
party for people that we want to be spending time with. Um, we're not with five cars,
but also it's an Oasis with refreshments. It's hardly a inconvenience.
Yes. And I think if more people created Oasis is their own Oasis of their own taste,
I would love that. to be able to walk sort of from Villa to Villa and express
and sort of see the expression of people's, you know, how they quick, a quick coffee, right? Yep.
Something like that. I'd rather see a couple cars, you know, I think we were, our garden was,
was quite long and thin. So we were able to sort of line up, uh, what was it, three cars,
three or four cars, um, on the main garden. And then we had these, a pair of these really cute
electric, um, 70s city cars by Zagato on back to back inside our old, a rose garden that the
rose bed that's currently not planted. Um, so I think that, I mean, we could have done it,
we could have done the activation with two cars. You know, I think that going to somebody's house
and seeing a car presented really beautifully, like you're saying Lane, like 10 Pagani's is,
is, is less interesting than seeing a singular car in a, in a really beautiful setting and being
able to, to sort of take it in fully. Yeah. Yeah. Um, well, I mean, I wanted to ask you,
I mean, I know you're planning the round cat rally right now, the next round cat rally.
So I feel like we should probably talk a little bit about that. Um, and kind of like talk about
kind of the, a little bit of the details of that and what, what, what you're like, let everyone
know about what the round cat rally is. Um, it's been a while since we've talked about that. I know
it's a little, it's a lot, it's different than, you know, we talk about our rally a lot, the DWA
rally, which is kind of like a, you know, our rally is, uh, um, people get their own hotels.
They, you know, they, uh, we give them a map and stuff like that and choose their own adventure
a little bit. We give a map and, you know, we tell them, here's the place to go and here's
a goodie bag. Yours are definitely, you know, a little more, uh, um, yeah, curated, I would say.
I mean ours are curated, but yeah, if you want to kind of explain what your rallies are and what
this next rally entails or give you the floor. All right. So every year we, every year we hold
the, uh, the round cat rally, which is our, our, our signature event and it's, it's sort of a,
an expression of the personal travel that, that my wife Jen and I have been doing in Japan and we,
we distill, you know, multiple trips and we distill our, all of our, our leisure travel
into a, into a, sort of a singular event that brings people from either Tokyo people who
perhaps haven't explored that area or I think at this point mostly, um, inbound folks from the U.S.
and Europe into, into Japan, into rural Japan and lets them experience rural Japan,
sort of through our eyes and from our point of view, which the intent is to sort of eliminate
the frictions, eliminate the anxieties and the stresses of traveling outside of the usual tourist
areas. So we, uh, we, as, as part of the, the rally package, we provide all of the hotels, um,
most of the food, you know, breakfast and, uh, and dinners. We eat some lunches together as a group,
but we, we, we try to keep, keep a balance where there is an itinerary, there is a route, there
are sort of a list of stops along the way, but we try to provide more stops than you could actually
do during like feasibly do during the day so that there is some element of choose your own
adventure. And for folks who are comfortable being on their own in the, in the Japanese countryside
and that we turn them loose to, to, to do their thing. And for folks who want to drive as a group
and sort of have a bit more of a, um, guided experience, they come along with us. And, and so
either, you know, they drive in a group with myself or with some of our, our other team members
who stop with them and do a little bit of tour guiding. And so this year we're going into the
central mountainous regions of the Japanese Alps, which is the ridgeline that sort of slices the
main island of Japan in half, uh, like a belt. And this year we're starting on the western side of,
of, um, of the island in this ancient Riyakon town that is known for, uh, wooden lacquerware
turned bowls and hot springs. And it's one of the, the top three hidden oncent towns. It's a,
it's an oncent town that has been, you know, I think it's 1300 years of, of sort of
as a hospitality destination for originally, I think merchant sailors sailing, uh,
between, uh, Korea and China from the west side of Japan. And then has, has become a destination for
people who are looking for more off the beaten path and say Hakone or one of the easy to access
from Tokyo, uh, destinations. And so we've, we've, we've, we're staying at this really cool Riyakon
that's a contemporary design taste take on for traditional Japanese hospitality. So the, um,
the decor is, is clearly of the traditional hotel type, but is done in a contemporary way.
And then we have you, have you been there before you've stayed there?
I haven't, I haven't been to this particular property, um, but I've stayed in this town before.
And it's, it's, it's the town itself is great because it's a little bit more walkable than
a lot of the, the, it has, it has like a proper main street. It has a bunch of cute shops. It's
when you get really far into like, especially northern Japan and where it's known for
sort of the onset and the Riyakon experience, you're properly in the forest. And a lot of
these Riyakons are, are not walkable. They're in little town centers that are pretty dead. Um,
they're definitely hanging on and, and this town has it is in a regional Japan that has a longer
history of, of sort of prosperity and has sort of maintained more of a sort of vibrant destination.
So there's, there's a handful of like really high end, um, properties up there. And there's
a bunch of just like accessible hotels that, that, um, sort of the usual, um, kind of resort
town feel like those other towns are, the other towns are basically just,
once you're at the hotel or a Riyakon, you don't leave, right? The idea is you're just chilling.
You're eating all your meals with them. You have a hot spring.
You're, you're in a robe and, uh, that's, that's why you're there.
And this is, you can do the same thing at this, at this, in this town and property. But I think
one of the reasons I like it is you can walk down the main street and there's like a,
there's like a liquor store that has a bunch of very nice sake and there's an amazing little bar
that we'll go to and there's, there's, you know, shops selling these lacquer ware,
these wooden lacquer ware bowls that sort of the town is known for, the region is known for.
And then there's a central public, uh, bath that's, it's gender segregated. Um, but you just,
you know, you pay a few, few hundred yen and you, you can go soak in the, in like the public,
the public bath. It's like right in the middle of the town square.
That's, that's cool. And then if you walk like up the valley,
then there's, there's like this wing of the town that is abandoned. It was clearly like
happening during the bubble era that, that has, you know, as the town constricted into the center.
So it's, it's kind of this wild, like, like you're in this like cute, like,
not, not upscale is the wrong word, but just like nice little town. And then you go around the
corner and this is crazy ghost town. Right. Right. And how many, uh, how long is the rally
and how many cars do you typically get? Um, so this year it's, we're doing 15, um,
sort of like guest cars and then two or three or four, sort of team cars. So I think we're,
we're saying 17 cars is like plus, plus like a luggage, a luggage van is the, is the target.
And it's going to be six days plus a zero day. So the zero days is, is arrived. And then
sure we'll, we'll do, um, basically five days of, of, of the rally. And then there's like a,
you know, going away day. We start in the west. We start in the far west side of,
of, of Japan to on the coast and we make our way through the mountainous center. We spent a few,
we spent a few days, uh, 33 nights in one location in the center where we do some
mountain backs and then we make our way toward Tokyo. And so we end up the, the, the final,
like goodbye morning is up just a couple hours away from Tokyo. Cool. That sounds super fun. Um,
I figured we'd knock out some questions here from Instagram and then maybe we'll get back to
some more rally talk if that's all right with you. Let's go. Um, SF production Gabe
is asking what's your take on the manually actuated DCT transmission and the new Ferrari
12-cylindry, um, manual manual, any opinions on the new Porsche e-shift thingy fitted to the
new take in? Are we getting closer to a mass market simulated manual EV? Are you guys aware of
this new Ferrari transmission? Have you seen? Yeah, yeah, I kind of know about the Ferrari. Yeah,
I didn't know about the Porsche though. I didn't either. I watched Harry's garage had a YouTube
video explaining the inner workings of the Ferrari system. Um, it is exactly that, right? It's a
gated shifter that is telling the automatic, which gear to select. And there's a clutch
pedal associated with it with some sort of synthetic clutch actuation. I mean, that's
basically it, right? And it's a special model of their 12 cylinder car that they've gone full
circle now. They left clutch pedals and manual transmissions and now they've brought it back,
but it's still a DCT thoughts. Clark, any, any thoughts on this? I think if the, if the pedal
feel is very good and the, you're actually actuating like modulating the friction point of the DCT
transmission, it, it would be functionally no different than driving a mechanical or
cable actuated clutch. It's just, it's, it's, it's like steer by wire or throttle by wire. If it's
done well, you don't notice and you get the exact same driving experience. Um, if it's done poorly,
then it becomes super annoying every time you use it. Yeah, I think that's well said. I did,
some of the way that you go from manual to automatic mode is strange. There's like buttons and
it can take over if you forget to shift and things like that. Of course, also the gated portion is
six speeds. The automatic is eight speeds because you're just in highway cruising mode at that point
and you don't need to be in a manual mode. I guess that makes sense. You only use the bottom,
like six gears or whatever. Right. Yeah. Of course, this will be super limited and I do,
I think it's encouraging though, from a perspective of it'll trickle down and I'm guessing at some
point, like this will just be something that they figure out and can produce. If they're really
afraid of getting back to just regular manual cars, but that's my only hope is that at least it
gives an option for an enthusiast to maybe have the best of both worlds, right? Or at least some
option. Yeah, I think it's a step, right? So like any step towards that is good. Didn't
Koenigsegg do this a couple of years ago? I mean, and supposedly I remember here,
like it seemed to be like he seemed to do a pretty good job of it from what people said.
Like the engagement felt real and you could actually stall the car,
which was pretty incredible. So the clutch engagement was, you know, good enough or,
you know, there was enough of that like friction point where you had to nail the friction point
that you could actually stall the car, which is cool. So yeah, I think it's a step.
I don't know. I'm all for it. I mean, it's better than not having it,
right? That's where I'm at. It's better than where we were at. So it's like adding engagement
to a car. I'm all for, I'm all for adding engagement. I agree. I think that a lot of the,
a lot of what we all love about driving old cars and new classic cars is that is the
imperfection of the car. And so the idiosyncrasies, idiosyncrasies, it doesn't come out of my
mouth properly. The quirks and the features of the, of the, uh,
yes. And so, um, I think that if, if the actual, if the feel is super nuanced and the feel ends up,
you know, conveying the character of the, the friction point and the, and then, I mean, this is
all theoretically digitally tunable. So, um, I think it could feel really good to drive.
It would be a different kind of experience than, than like getting to know
the, the old cars, mechanical quirks, because it would be a, like it would be a digital quirk
in some way. But, um, if you're driving a modern car, it's a different driving experience anyway,
like completely. And so I don't, I don't think it's necessarily an issue that it's,
that it's like this. It's just sort of a different, a different kind of experience.
Yep. I agree. Um, and I don't know anything about the Porsche E-Shift thingy, uh, either.
So I have to look further, further into that. But yeah, better than, better than not having it.
Um, side note, uh, Pagani, uh, is talking about a car they're going to debut at Goodwood and it's,
um, a Huayra with a gated shifted manual. It's the ugliest car I've ever seen probably, but, uh,
it does have a real manual transmission. So I believe Pagani has a manual right now.
They have a car with a manual. I just, I watched that. Remember, I told you I watched them like
best, best performance car video or something. And, uh, the Pagani, I believe was a manual
transmission. And, uh, in the past, Pagani's were always automatics. Well, the, you know, whatever
the Zondas were manuals, which were great. Those, but post like wire as wire rows were always this
like antiquated old, like kind of shitty automatic, you know? Um, yeah. And, uh, this car was the
sixth, you know, a manual transition, I believe that's back. Uh, pedal commute says, what do you
all think of that new fiat? He's talking about the topolino. Is this the new Santa Cruz electric
cargo bike replacement? So for the, for the listeners, this is an electric fiat with, uh,
ropes for a door and 19 mile an hour top speed and two seats and oh, two seats. Right.
It is a little, it's very cute. This is right up your Oasis and Lake Como vibes. Clark, uh,
if you're not aware, I'm super stoked about these. I've seen them in person. We had one at
Greenwich. It's like a year ago or I don't know where I was, but, um, they've been around
and they're really cool looking in person. I mean, they're very well done and, and great
proportions and colors and they're doing it right. I think it was at Detroit actually
that they showed a prototype in Detroit, 14 grand or something. They're climbing in 15.
It's the cheapest car in the U S now at $15,000. $14,985 is the new current cheapest vehicle you
can buy in the U S. And is it a neighborhood electric vehicle or is it a full like, even
though it's not a big range or anything, is it, can you, are you limited to how you use it on the
street? I think it's a totally legal car, but it only goes 19 miles an hour. So it's no highway.
Yeah, that's neighborhood. Neighborhood. I think there's a difference though. If you,
if you get a regular plate, even if the car is limited to 19, if the neighborhood electric
vehicles have, I feel like have some additional limitations, like you can't take them on certain
roads, like you wouldn't be able to take it out on, on highway one through Santa Cruz,
even if traffic is slow. Closer to a golf cart than a real car, 46 miles of range.
Hey, dude, it feels like, isn't this should feel like it should be illegal, dude. You can't
like 19 is not the speed limit. It's basically a golf cart says it's technically isn't street
legal. It's classified as a quadro cycle, but that said, Fiat will offer a street legal kit
beginning later this year, which adds a, which ups the top speed to 25 miles per hour, allowing
it to meet the classification of a low speed vehicle able to be driven on roads with speed
limits of 25 miles an hour. So it's basically worthless. Well, it's like a loophole because
it says that it's, it's no extra cost. So you buy it and it's, it's basically like buying
one of those golf carts, which somehow people drive on the streets. Also we've seen around Santa
Cruz just randomly. I know somebody who has like a really nice car. Are they legal in Santa Cruz
right now? The golf carts? Yeah, I guess. I mean, I've seen several and they drive them around
like cars and then they only go, you know, probably the same top speed as this thing.
But this is saying like, there's like a loophole here where you can then convert it to a 25 mile an
hour thing that is legal. I don't know, but that's interesting. So yeah, I'm not paying $15,000 for
a golf cart unless I lived in a golf community or maybe Lake Como. I don't know.
I'm much more interested at 25 miles an hour than 18. But I mean, if you can do the conversion,
you know, then just do that. But I think that having one of these things in Santa Cruz or,
you know, Tokyo for that matter would be would be super fun because
a lot of the running around I do in Santa Cruz is just like going to the coffee shop or, you know,
going somewhere that's longer than I want to walk and perhaps not a good destination for cycling.
Yeah. Yeah. This would cover that. It's basically like Petal Commute saying is like
cargo bike replacement. And I think yes. Yes. Not a car replacement.
Renvolks Garage says, would a Honda Beat be a commutable car on Highway 17?
Yes. From a like from a car perspective, it would I think it would keep up with I think
it would keep up with traffic. It would it would be fun to drive from an ownership perspective.
It would be difficult because to put that many miles, especially like
performance driving on 17 miles on a car of that age with parts that are sometimes difficult to
find, which is a totally separate like side of the topic.
Yeah. I don't even my mind doesn't even go to maintenance. It goes to
NVH and safety commuter cars should be somewhere that you want to like sit and be comfortable
in traffic amongst other large cars. And I just think you would it depends on your situation.
That's a much better car to like commute Highway 9 in or like going up the coast or something. But
Highway 17 like as a commuter car, it's not safe at all. Like there's a lot to be seen.
Yeah. There's a lot of accidents on that road and there's a lot of traffic. So for those two
reasons I'm out, but otherwise it can do it. Yeah. I mean, I probably wouldn't choose to do it,
but I think it can. And I think safety, I mean, safety is such a difficult thing to talk about
because people ride motorcycles all the time. And those are horrible. No, but it's a bad choice.
People commute on motorcycles. But that's a terrible choice. That's like even
Highway 17 is like the most dangerous place to ride a motorcycle to. Yeah. Yeah. So I think that
yeah. So if we could separate safety from it and just and sort of address it as
is the car capable of making the commute. Yeah. I think it would be a fun car to drive on on 17.
They make enough power. You're not going to be going super fast, but
it the car matches the road well. Yeah. I think you would have fun. I could see it as a once a
week or once a month commute option as your fun, you know, Friday. Like Lane, you were kind of
doing that with the 9 11 once in a while. You'd take that over. I did. I did. But I stopped doing
it because I felt like people did not see one see my car. Yeah. And then the other thing was you
come around blind turns and all of a sudden traffic is just dead stopped and having a car without
modern ABS brakes and stuff like that where you can't just like lay on the brakes. It's kind of
actually. Yeah. And then not having like create like good, you know, like modern brake lights and
all this kind of stuff. Like just being seen is a big deal. I think on highway 17 in those
situations where people come around and you're dead stopped where they come around a turn.
It just feels kind of sketchy on that road. You know, like I had a I've told the story before,
but my brother's friend was killed because he was just sitting there in his Toyota pickup truck.
And I'm in a cement truck or I think it was cement truck just like ran into him and killed him
because he was just stopped in traffic. You know, yeah. Yeah. And it just plowed into him.
And, and you know, I did it in the 9 11 where I came around a turn traffic was stopped. I just
like slammed on the brakes. I'm sliding towards a car in front of me. Luckily I didn't, you know,
I was able to stop, but if I was in like the Polestar, I would have been just like, you know,
ABS would have kicked in. It probably breaks like from 60, like 40 feet shorter than the 9 11 or
50 feet shorter and no drama. It would have been like, you know, totally fine. Well, the other
thing is that even if the beat was safer than any modern car or as safe, just being that low and
kind of a raw experience day after day, I've done it. I mean, I've commuted on that on that road in
my GTI, which was very raw and the E 30 old car. And I think just like as a commuter, that's not
the best use of a Honda beat like that. You're just going to agree. Yeah. Yeah. I just think you
could do better. And then, but if you have the option to do it as like a once in a while commute,
like our friend Mark, he takes his 9 11 over really fun roads, like every Friday or whatever,
like every couple Fridays. But the rest of the time, I'm pretty sure he's just driving a whatever
car. It is nice to save those cars for like fun stuff and not waste them on daily chores.
The grind will kind of ruin the car a little bit on just for its fun factor. It's like,
you know, just a very low raw experience, low raw, low raw. You don't want to get too low or too
raw. Big fat flip says, which of the modern K cars would you import 25 years from now?
This is a Clark question because I don't know what sets apart these cars, but you famously
have two cool cars. Well, I don't know if the K truck, the last of the Honda
trucks you bought and have in Tokyo, right? Yeah, I have a 2019 Honda Acti, which was the
final year of production for Honda's truck series. I think if I was going to put together the
like the time capsule collection, I would probably start with the Jimny. This is a Jimny
because it's super iconic as a vehicle, as a K car, and they're great cars. They fit,
you know, like large size adults, they drive nicely. They mean they're not faster, they're
not powerful, but it's the power is somehow suited to the experience nicely. So that would be
sort of like the off-road one for a street use. The Honda N1 RS that I have is a fantastic car,
and I think that it has a lot of the character of the older, like the neoclassic hot hatches that
we like, but sort of as a modern vehicle. So I think that would be a K car that you could
commute over the hill and I mean, it's safer than a beat. It's more comfortable than a beat.
I think that I would put into the collection one of the modern trucks. I love the Hondas.
They've been discontinuing now for whatever, six years, and so the new Daihatsu trucks are
fantastic and super capable and have an enormous aftermarket. So that would be the truck option,
and then for sort of the sports car option, it's currently available. There really isn't a lot
because Honda discontinued the S660, which is the little one-third scale NSX.
But assuming that I threw out modern, he said new K cars, but I was just saying like modern,
which the S660 would fall into that. Is there something better than the S660 that you would
want more? If you're taller than 5'10", then the S660 is kind of a problem.
If you're taller than 5'10", all of the little sports cars are kind of a problem.
No, I think my personal philosophy on K cars is they're at their best when there's a crossover
between utility and sense of occasion. So the trucks, the hatchbacks, I think that's
that's where they shine from usability standpoint, but also conceptually that's what I love. I love
a vehicle that is super fun to drive and super engaging, but also has practicality because
that's kind of a novel experience on its own when most sports cars are indexed fully toward
sports or most utility vehicles are indexed fully toward utility. That sort of balance
between the two is really appealing to me. So let's get into K cars for a second.
Recently, I shared a post with Clark about a scissor lift K truck. Was it an Acti? I can't remember.
Let's say it was a Honda Acti with a flat bed truck or whatever. Like a dump body.
A dump body, but it had a full scissor lift up and down. So you could lift the whole bed up
like eight feet and then like hang out up there and talk about refreshing Oasis.
Coastal, sunset vibes. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Who needs a rooftop tent when you can raise the
back of your truck up? And then you bring it down when you want to take a leak and you just
top out and you raise it back up. I mean, yeah, this is really something.
I think that's the perfect base as a little too. Sunset. Sunset. Happy hour.
Freshman Oasis. Yeah, that was something. And then the other thing is why are you so anti-van?
Let's get into it. I think it's not that I'm anti-van. It's that I'm just pro-K truck.
I know, but you've had opportunities to own many K truck and you've never owned said van.
I've test drove several vans that I've passed on because the condition wasn't to my standards.
The van is kind of like, you know, when you live somewhere beautiful, but you don't ever go there
because like, I'll just go there tomorrow. It's like, you don't go to the tourist spots in your
own town, even though they're beautiful. The van is kind of like this. Like, oh, I can always get a
van. And then because it's always right there. I never do. I think you're kind of like the N1
does the, the N1 kind of does the things a van would do, but it's kind of sportier and
I could, I could see angles there. I know, but I think you could get really creative with a van
and do some cool stuff that you can't do with a truck or the N1. I agree. And I think that the
van, because you could fit four people, um, legally K cars are limited to four seats. You
could technically fit more people. Um, but you could, could have, I think you'd
have sort of the, the sensibility of the truck, but with being able to bring two more of your
buddies with you. Yeah. Or the camping options too, like the convertibility of all that stuff
inside and, you know, the, we should also say that you've dabbled in like cool camping conversion
stuff for K trucks and even big, you know, uh, Fuso things. Yeah. So I think, yeah, anyways,
I'm going to encourage you just don't, don't give up on the vans. They're out there, you know,
something might come up, even a high ace. I mean, a high ace could be cool. Just a,
a temporary ownership experience. There's so many cool high aces.
A cool van pulled into the parking lot next to me when I was out and about yesterday.
It was just a pretty normal, probably like late nineties, early 2000s
van, but it had a little lift kit and some, some, like it wasn't fully all-terrain tires,
but it was like a little bit more knobby tires and had to stick around the back and said lift
up style. Did it have like flares on it? Fender flares? I mean, no, this one, it wasn't that far.
There's guys in Tokyo that are full and I mean, you know better than anybody, but when I was there,
I saw quite a few of those vans were like, dude, that is rad. Like it's kind of retro
and it's not a K-truck or a K-van. This is a real, a real boy.
Yeah. There's a couple of companies that, that make these, these face conversions and sort of
fender kits for like the full-size family van that give them sort of a retro look. It puts a sort
of a brown headlight sort of feeling on it. This, this van I saw yesterday was great because it was
sort of, it was, it had the round cat sensibility. It had the, it had the duality of being,
it was, it was sort of a street style build that had capability off-road. And so it was,
it was sort of the perfect sort of pre-runner, back roads, dirt roads, still probably had
pretty good manners on, on the highway. Totally. What do you think Lane's doing right now? Do you
think he's writing something or? I am. Yeah. You're just doing a little task.
A complaint to the customer service of a coffee company.
Yeah. Exactly, dude. You know, hey, you know me too well, dude.
That's so immense. Oh, sorry. You want to finish that thought?
To finish up the van conversation. So, so when you come for the rally, Warren, you should drive a van.
I know. Well, I'm heartbroken to say that the rally is exactly when Radwood will be happening and I
can't come. Oh my gosh, you can't. I made this realization. Lane and I were talking about dates
and it sounded like it was after Radwood and it is the exact same time. So it's, it's horrible,
but I'll be looking at the following, the following rally will be on my radar. So I know
you're probably already feverishly working away on something, but, or maybe a relaxing Lake Como
refreshment, perhaps, or a get you back out for a drive in the awesome rally, something,
we'll figure it out. But yes, van is high on my list. I look at high aces out of Thailand,
I believe, because they're left-hand drive and it'd be a horrible decision no matter what,
but I had some time in a few high aces, especially in Africa and they, they're very endearing and I
think they're cool. So I would, I would welcome the, the opportunity that would be the highest
or the master race. Well, see, that's what I would love to make that decision. It's like,
you know, if you, if you get down to it, it's like, do you go surf? Do you go non-surf?
Surf's pretty dope. Yeah. Yeah. There's like, what else was there? Chamonix? No, that's, well,
now you're getting into Mitsubishi. Okay. Right. Yeah. Let's, let's stay on high ace for now. But
yeah, Delicas and there's also another one, like the Excelsior or something. There's some other
package that's like the luxury version, like the surf and those other ones are like clearly for
camping and like getting out. The other one is more luxurious and I love that stuff. And I also
love all those fancy ass Lexus minivans in Tokyo are amazing. And I mean, they're so expensive,
I know. I mean, I don't even, I'm not even in a position to think about how expensive they are,
they are, but I really love them. They're so cool. So have you seen guys do that here where
they take like a modern Sienna and try to put all those, the front end, like grills and headlights
and all the stuff. And it's like, well, kind of doing it. Something. It's not bad. All right.
Moving on. That's so mint. Max says, hi friends, checking in from a cross country road trip
in a newly acquired Rad vehicle made me wonder what some of the longest road trips you guys have
been on regale us with some anecdotes. I was thinking about this question and I haven't,
I've never done a cross country road trip. So I bet Clark has Clark.
I have. You're from Vermont, right? The first cross country road trip we did was when we moved
from Los Angeles to Vermont. Oh, when I was in between the summer between kindergarten and first
grade. So we, we stuffed my, my family stuffed ourselves into our 1987 Toyota Corolla. And
and we, my sister and I, my sister was three years younger than me, so she was, she was fairly young.
And we'd like rammed all like the pillows and all of our stuff into the back and we had some
what was this? Like the kind of drawing tablets where there's like a metallic,
it's not an edge sketch, but you have like a magnet pen. Oh, yeah. The magnet ones. It's
got a pen that you can like write on and then you can clear it. Yeah. Yeah. Those are cool. We're
giving a couple of those and we set off across the country. Nice. That's pretty cool. And so,
but since then you lived in Vermont and then did you do a trip back to the West coast?
I've never driven that direction in college. I, I ferried a car from Colorado Springs
to Providence Island where I was going to school. We did, we did that over, over, I don't know,
four days maybe. Okay. And and that was, we didn't really, that was more of just like kind of get
there. We stopped, we did a day and um, and somewhere that I can't, it's one of like some
Midwestern city that I can't remember the name of that I've never been back to since. But most of
it was just sort of like a grind on the highway. I think one of the things that I remember was
pulling into one of the uh, the Midwestern towns that has like the grain or the corn like depot
and it was just like a railroad track with enormous silos and then like four houses and a
like a way station. Yeah. Yeah. And then just, just like just fields as far as I could see. And I
think that was, that was striking for me because as a, as a coastal, you know, person, I'd read
about this, but I didn't really sort of, I hadn't internalized that it still existed or this was
like a relic of like the steam, the steam locomotive era. Yeah. Exactly. No, uh, Ryokans to speak
of there at that town probably. No, I think we stayed at a super eight and not even in that
town. I mean, there's no, there's no town, right? No hotel within 100 miles of that place.
Yeah. I was thinking about all my road trips and they're all basically west of the Rockies,
which, um, but a lot of like, uh, going, you know, all the way up to the Canadian Rockies,
from Santa Cruz, I'm getting some crazy feedback or something. Um, and then, uh, I've been down to
Mexico, like our family rented a Volkswagen bus and drove all the way down to, um, like Puerto
Vallarta and then central Mexico. This is when I was really young, but the one trip I was thinking
about, that's sort of like what you're talking about, Clark was my buddy had just gotten his
license and his family moved to New Mexico and he was getting, he got his grandma's Toyota Camry.
It's like an inheritance and he was 16. I was 15 and, and one other buddy, we drove from Santa Cruz
to Santa Fe and slept in the car along the way, which was like the worst, uh, worst experience
ever. Um, rest stop, uh, middle of the night, trying to sleep with like parking lot lights
and people coming and going and just terrible. We went to the Grand Canyon. That's kind of all
I remember about the trip. So, um, that was fun. Like an 86 Toyota Camry. Pretty cool. Oh, and
he, uh, he, uh, he crashed into somebody, uh, on the highway, like a traffic stopped and he, uh,
had like a fender bender. Um, luckily the car wasn't ruined, but I mean, just such a classic
like kid move, you know, like first, first time you have a car, we were in traffic in California
and, uh, everything came to a stop and he like slammed on the brakes and bam. So that was cool.
It was pretty fun. It's awesome. Good times. How about you, Lane? Nice. I did. I haven't,
dude, I've never explored like the Midwest or anything. I've always wanted to go across country,
but, um, I've kind of only done the coast. I've done like Boston to Vermont. That's not even
that far, right? Clark? No, it's like two hours. I just survived that trip. Yeah. It felt like,
but I went through like three states, right? Yeah. You go through the handshirt on the way. Maybe,
maybe it takes you for, if you go up to the top and you go like, yeah, I think so. Yeah. Yeah.
Um, I've definitely done like, I mean, I've done like West coast, you know, up to Washington and
stuff. Um, I've had California road trips that feel like long road trips down to San Diego and
stuff where you're spending a night in your car on the way down there, or, you know, staying in
Santa Barbara in the back, you know, in the Idaho wagon, we stayed like in Montecito in the back of
our car, um, sleeping in the Volvo wagon. Um, oh, that was for lemons. We rented a, uh, we, we,
we drove down to San Diego to pick up a roll cage for the 944 lemons car.
We put it in my Volvo wagon. It was gnarly to fit it in there, dude. You would think you're
like, Oh, it'll fit. So no, like, like it's a full roll cage, dude. It's like, how do you fit it in?
It was like sticking out the sunroof or something. It was like, it did not really fit. And then we,
like, we're so dirt poor and we're like on the way home, we stopped in Santa Barbara and we slept,
we, you know, we parked in Montecito and we slept in the back of the car. Like one of us slept in
the driver's seat, one's up in the passenger seat, one's up in the back. It's the worst sleep you
could ever get. Oh, worst. You probably got like two hours sleep at the most. You think like, I
could sleep sitting up. Sure. No problem. It's just horrible. No, you're just waiting for it to
kind of be an acceptable time to like, yeah, like wake up, I guess. Um, yeah, that's like,
I guess those are, you know, those are our road trip adventures. Um, yeah, we used to do these
road trips to sell flowers, um, for graduations. Those were kind of fun road trips, um, up and down
the coast of California for those are good. Um, I've done some. Yeah, no. Yeah, yeah. You've
gone on the round cat rally. That's a good road trip. Yeah, that's a road trip. I mean,
that's really my longest road trips are like really rallies, you know, dwa rallies and round
cat rallies. Those are, those are long road trips. Yeah, I've done some long like stints to
where like San Francisco to central Utah and one shot. Um, just recently I did, uh,
what did we do? We did Yellowstone, Yellowstone to Reno. This is just like two years ago. Um,
yeah, like long, long stints of driving. If you were to do, let's say you did 12 hours and 10,
10, 12 hours and one go, say with two drivers, you switch off, nobody sleeps. It's just like,
it's, is that a road trip? Yeah. If you did the same, if you did the same journey, if you did
the same journey over three days and you took your time, does that make it more of a road trip?
Yes. That's a road trip. And if you can, and then you can like get off the beaten path and
really like maybe not even take the main roads, like you're taking all back roads or,
you know, stopping for that, uh, pie, uh, at the diner that you've heard about and stuff. That's
great. But like a road trip is still a road trip. You got music and beef jerky and you're, you're
seeing, seeing the world, you're living, you're really living out there, you know?
Well, yeah, by that definition, my, my wife and I used to, when we were living in, in Connecticut,
we'd go down and visit her family in Tennessee for holidays and we'd do the drive from Connecticut
to Tennessee and I think just over 10 hours of just straight driving. So we did that like every
year that we were living there. And I never really considered a road trip because it was,
it was like a mission to get to the destination. And so I hear what you're saying,
but you're still, you're still out there on the highways. You're, uh, you know, you're eastbound
and down. We were definitely experiencing beef jerky and, and, and, and like the highway experience.
And you're looking at all the, all the roads. I realized that as life goes on, all I do is just
say the road signs and business names out loud as I drive. That's really a road trip.
You just keep saying, oh, look at that. It's a burritos, pizza. That's interesting.
Colinga. And you just keep going. You go, oh, horrible,
Hearst gas. What is this place? All right. Keep going. Just go to the next sign.
But I do think the road trip thing is like, like I did the road trip last summer and my
family up to, uh, Oregon, up to Bend, Oregon. And it's like, it is that whole like staying overnight
in a weird town you've never been to. And then it's like just stopping at a random diner. Hey,
look, there's a lookout right there. I have to go pee, like stop there and then, oh, let's go on
this random hike. Like there's a trail right there. Let's like hike around there for 20 minutes,
kind of thing. Like, but that feels like a, that's like a good road trip. Right? Absolutely.
I mean, I think the best road trip is like, you're probably driving two hours or three hours or
less between good stops, right? Yes. Whether it's, it's usually like breakfast, then you drive for
a while and you have lunch and you do something and you drive for a while, then you get to your
place and have dinner and that's a good random town, get some ice cream. Hey, ice cream.
I always feel like I'm up against the clock. That's why if I'm trying to get somewhere,
it's like, ah, just, let's just get there. You know, I'd rather get to the hotel at three and
chill than like stop somewhere for lunch for a really long time and then get there at six or
something. You know, like that's sort of where I'm at, but it depends on the trip, right? And how
much time you have, but yeah, a lot of times on these, like on that road trip I'm talking about,
like there's kind of no reason to get to the hotel, like in band in Oregon or whatever. It's
like, what am I going to do when we get to band and have dinner? Like if we get there at three,
you know what? We're going to check out the gift shops for four hours rather than two hours.
So yeah, might as well extend that road trip a little longer, right? There you go.
This is how we build out the sort of the plans for the Rock Out rallies because they come out of
my wife and I road tripping in Japan because we super love just finding some point of interest
in the middle of nowhere and just using that as a destination. And as our friend Todd says,
the dumb goal and gets us out of the house and sort of into the area. And then
it's like what we find along the way is the magic of the trip. And so when we build out the rally
schedule, it's like you guys are saying 23 hours of driving would be sort of the ideal,
you'd say three hours of driving per day, but giving the time to stop at these
little road stations and funky little points of interest in like the Wasabi farm.
And yeah,
a tour of the largest ball of twine or whatever it might be. Yes. Yes. And I think it's like those,
in some ways, those like wacky touristy stuff are, I feel like a key part of the road trip,
even though it's like you, if it was in your town, you would never go there and you'd talk a
lot of shit about it. But it's like, if you're on the road trip, then it's great. It kind of
makes sense. I think, I think you rarely regret going to that weird castle or going to that
stupid twine place, right? You might regret not going to it. Yeah, it's always a fun whole part
of the fun memory. I love a road trip though. And I know Max is, what did he buy? It was a
T-Bird. I don't know. No, you had it on Instagram. What did you buy? I got a left hand. Oh,
you did? It's Radwitter. He said. Yeah, it's a, it's a, uh, Trans-Am,
Pontiac Firebird formula, like an, uh, it's a square, a third gen? Sure. Whatever that is.
Like at the Squarish ones? 1990. Yeah. Five speed of the 305.
Yeah. Driving it out. A real shit box.
It looks like a clean car. My buddy had one of these in high school. His was a V6. It was
kind of sad, but also cool. Um, cyber poser, I don't know who this is, says,
maybe someone can tell Clark to stop saying dude. Whoa.
Is this because, is he saying this live? Like, is he listening to us live? And I've said it
too much today already. No, no, that's not live, dude.
It's supposed to, I don't know if this is, this could be a total, um, a bot.
That seems really. And so, so Lane just said, dude, is it, is it a problem that we're all
saying dude? Is it a problem that I'm saying, dude? I don't know. Do you know who cyber,
do you know who cyber poser is? No. All right. Moving on. It looks like a weird account anyway.
J pod 999. Last question. I live in a smallish town in western Connecticut. There's someone
in town that has a convertible Murano. No question. Just thought you'd be interested
to hear that Nissan sold one. Well, we see them from time to time. California. There's,
there's a few that float around and not a lot, but I've seen a handful in my time.
Did that exist in, uh, Japan? Probably not. That's gotta be an American thing.
Is this, this is a crossover SUV thing. Yeah.
Cross cab that, that weird, it's a two door Murano convertible, which he built it for his
whoever, I forget whatever his name is going, right? Yeah. Carlos because his wife,
it was like for his wife, essentially. Yeah. Um, and then they sold absolutely none of them.
And then they discounted them crazy. And it was like, it was like 80% of them were bought,
were purchased by employees of Nissan, basically like originally because they couldn't sell any
of them. Um, where was I? Remember I mentioned all the podcasts. I think I was in some town and I
saw two within a like three minute span of time or something. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I forget where that
was. Dude, that was a crazy time. It'd be a great car week car because you'd get a ton of attention,
but it's only like, if you know, you know, type of thing. So, um, and it's very like
Pope Mobile up high roof down. It's a ghetto G wagon convertible is what we're dealing with here.
I always enjoy seeing them when I see them on the road because it's such an
unexpected kind of thing. Yeah. You have to take a photo, right? Like if you see it's like, Oh my
God. Um, it's like seeing a nice and it's just such a weird shape to have a convertible like
it's not good. It's this big jellybean thing with a yeah, so weird. I know those poor people,
those poor engineers that had to like figure out how to make that thing a two door convertible.
It was like, but also it's kind of, I, I mean, I wouldn't kick one out of bed right now. You
know, that's what I'm saying. Yeah. Pretty sweet. All right. That's it for questions. Um,
check it right in the trivia. I mean, we can, I mean, unless Clark has some other
like, I mean, Clark, let's, uh, let's, uh, let's hype up this rally a little more, dude. When is
the next rally, dude? The rally is October 19th through 25th and you can check out more info
and more details at www.roundcat.jp slash rally or you can, you can check out some, some photos on,
on Instagram at round cat racing.
Oh, but this is not a race. It's a touring rally. It's a, it's a road trip.
Yes. The, the, the, the racing part of the round cat racing Instagram handle is, is sort of a,
is a bit of a, it was a bit of a joke because the K cars aren't really considered race vehicles.
So it was, it was a bit of sort of a, a cheeky, you know, the
sort of playing off the idea of the, so in my mind, the K car is basically our cats, you know,
they're, they're these, these, these cute creatures that live in the city that like scoot
around, that are sort of charming and they can be, they can be docile, sharp,
they can, they have this, this versatility. And so the, the, the cat, the idea of the cat,
like scooting around or the K car, you know, zipping around has this, this playful racing
kind of energy that isn't very serious and, and can't really be taken seriously. And so that
was where that, that, that name came from. Yeah. And then if I, if I could describe
the round cat rally, I would kind of say that, you know, our rallies are all about, I mean,
they're about all about driving amazing roads with your amazing vehicle. And then they're about,
like these friendships and these bonds. The round cat rallies, they, you drive on amazing roads,
but they're more so about like seeing this part of Japan that you would never be able to see,
which ours are too, you know, seeing California, but they are more so about seeing these parts
of Japan that you would never see or, you know, really kind of, I think be able to see without
being able, you know, being on like a tour like this. And then also having a bond and having
these cool friendships like formed through this small intimate group of people of really cool
people. And, but it's, you know, and you're driving these not so serious cars. So it's like,
it is more about like stopping and going to these museums, you know, like on the last one I went to,
we went to a Casio factory and, you know, there was one, we went to a castle and there was an
option to go to a whiskey factory. And there's a lot of stuff like that and just a lot more,
and just seeing, staying in these like amazing places and like on this one, on this next one,
like these three nights in the middle, staying in this awesome town, which I've stayed in before,
in these really cool houses, in this ski village that will not, you know, it's off season, but
it's like really awesome town. And having like this, you guys will, I know you told me you'll
have these like chefs come and like, like last time we had, you know, this was two times ago that
I did it, but we had like a guy come and make pizzas and salad and stuff like that. And then
there'll be other, you know, people come and make food for everyone and people will be drinking whiskey
and, you know, it's just having this like really cool experience with a very intimate group of people.
So it's just a really cool way to see these parts of Japan that you would never, you know,
never see. And if you did see it, it would be, it would be you kind of finding your way through
there. And I think you, you would just, you wouldn't be able to find these like, this is like
curated, right? You're finding the best parts and you would maybe like, you would kind of like
hidden this kind of like, so this is like, this all hits, right? Yeah, this is, is a
collection of the, the, our greatest hits, spots and adventures from a bunch of, a bunch of spending
a bunch of time in this part of the, in this part of the world, you know, meeting people, checking
stuff out, you know, going through the list of, of like, this looks interesting. That actually
wasn't that interesting. This thing that we didn't expect. There's a, you know, for example, there's
this, there's a super cool bouldering gym out in the, the middle of countryside
that we met because the woman who runs it, runs it part-time, she bought this old Japanese farmhouse,
this traditional timber frame farmhouse and basically gutted half of it down to the timber frame and
then built rock climbing walls, like in and around the timber frame of the house. And, and when she's,
she's not like running it, she went in between customers, she's like out gardening. It's like
next to a river. So people come and they'll camp out behind there. They'll do, you know,
rock climbing and, and barbecuing. And we were able to meet her because we're
visiting another cafe that we'd visited repeatedly on different trips. And I've,
and we were sort of chatting with the, you know, the owner who'd gotten to know. And they were
like, Oh yeah, you should check out this thing. We think you'd like it. And so it was like a
recommendation from somebody through sort of building a relationship by spending time that
we would have never found otherwise. And so for us, the rally is about sharing these kind of
relationships and these kinds of experiences with our friends from out of town. And then
one of the reasons we do it by K-Car is because I find K-Car super charming, but sort of the other
reason is it creates an immersive experience in a way that most people wouldn't experience otherwise.
You know, if we, if we could sort of like magic your 911 and your M3 to Japan, you'd have a,
you'd have an experience that wasn't as different to your California driving experience.
It'd be a more familiar experience. So by doing K-Car, it's, it's like a,
a complete idea. You're driving on these roads that the K-Car was designed and optimized for.
You're, you're, and by taking some of the seriousness out of it, it's, it's, they're not,
I mean, K-Cars aren't serious cars and sort of the, either the collectible sense or the power sense.
You're not as focused on, on the car and you're more focused on the journey.
And that's very immersive. It's an immersive whole, the whole thing from car to the curation of
your destinations. And it's also you're eliminating an intimidation factor that is
present for people that want to explore Japan. And you're basically saying,
let me show you how to do it. Like I'll, I'll take you along and, and show you all the best stuff.
So it's very cool. And everyone that's willing and able should go check it out. So round,
roundcat.jp slash rally, correct? Yes. Yes. And we've got a, we have a really great group of
people who are signed up already. We have a few more slots available and it's the, the
participants are basically, we say it's, it's my friends and their friends. And so you guys
are, you know, are my friends, your audience are your friends. And so that's sort of the,
we, we don't accept everybody who comes in, it's, it's no assholes, no, you know, no folks who are
going to sort of, you know, try to be provocative for whatever reason. We're looking for people who
will, will want us, we want to spend time with because we're going with these people.
And like the DWA rallies, I've met some like super awesome people on the roundcat rallies that
like I still, you know, the idea I'm with and talk to and, and that like I hope come on next
rallies and stuff like that. So yeah, super cool. It's very cool. Yeah. It's a group of,
of creatives of artists, of designers, of entrepreneurs. I think most people who come
on the rally are entrepreneurial in some way, whether or not they, they have a, you know,
a day job that they're, they're up to something. They're creating something in the world or,
or have a point of view that, that is interesting to hear.
Oh, Clark, here's a funny one. A couple of weeks ago, I was at a Porsche car show
or at Porsche Los Gatos and a guy and his son came up to me and I forget his name,
sorry. He's a podcast listener and he said, dude, I've been listening to podcasts forever
and I just wanted to introduce myself. He said, I'm a, you know, listen to the podcast. I love
the show and he introduced me to his son. His son's probably like 18 years old and he said,
he's a huge fan, listen to the show all the time. And he said, and we have mutual friends.
And I said, Oh, who's that? And he said, Chris Mitchell.
And he said, and, uh, and he goes, yeah, you, uh, we're on a rally in Japan with him.
So Chris Mitchell is Clark's friend from New York.
He's like, so this is how random and how small the world is, right?
Chris Mitchell is a guy that I was on a roundcat rally with in Japan that is from New York
and this guy does, has done chili cookoffs with Chris Mitchell.
That's hilarious.
Classic connection.
Classic, right?
Good times. So you're just bringing the world together, Clark. We appreciate you very much.
With that, I'm going to move to trivia here.
Da, do, do.
It's trivia time.
I have in front of me the sales results of vehicle sales for June and one figure stood out to me.
Um, so far in 2026 up till June, Fiat has sold how many vehicles?
Oh, I'll let, I'll let Lane go first.
Yeah. Is this, is this global?
No, I think this is us.
Oh, well, do they, oh man, because they're a huge company globally.
Yeah. This is in us.
Let me start off by saying they have one model, the 500 E electric run, run about.
This does not include the new Topolino Topolino, which isn't out yet.
So, uh, in 2026, Fiat has sold how many?
Oh man. Is that only a California car?
Um, I'm guessing this is fricking so small, dude.
And they're probably like phasing that thing out or something.
You have to be asking me this thing because it's like, uh, 15 cars.
I think it's a little bit higher.
I'm thinking like in the 300.
So I'll say 380.
Uh, you guys, uh, Lane's is ridiculous.
Like 15 cars.
I don't know dude.
15.
I thought maybe they stopped making them in 2025 and they were like leftovers.
The numbers are staggering here.
In June, they sold 81 up till, up till June in 2026.
They've sold 228 vehicles total.
Fiat everybody.
Fiat.
Yeah.
I mean, they're down 75% from last year.
Oh, wow.
That's that's doubt.
Okay.
So they were killing it last year.
Well, they discontinued the Fiat 500 Fiat 500 X, which was, uh, I guess.
Pillar poop.
All right.
That's it.
So anyways, I've heard some crazy stories about 500 E leases that were available,
but I guess it was like, you know, one dealership in Texas had one car or something,
but it was literally like $20 a month or something.
I can't remember.
Those are supposed to be good, right?
They say the E was always like the best one.
I think it's, I think it's totally fine for a little city runabout.
My friend's mom has one.
She likes it.
Yeah, I've heard everyone that drives those.
So they were pretty good.
And they, I remember California had like crazy deals on those.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
One of my colleagues had one when I was in California and he, I think, yeah,
it was a $99 lease deal zero down.
He charged it at work and, and he had a, I think, and he and his wife had like one
normal car and the Fiat 500 E and he loved the, he drove it all over.
I mean, we had smart cars at my old shop and similar idea, electric smart cars.
And they're pretty great.
Like just for zipping around town, it wouldn't be the only car you couldn't get
away with just that, but it was kind of cool.
All right.
Last question.
Oh, go for it, Lane.
Oh, I was just saying, I had a, one of my daughter's friends, her dad drove a smart car
commuted in it every day over the hill.
I saw a Brabus, a Brabus smart car came up for sale on bring a trailer and
it was really night, like really low mileage, nice example, and it went for
pretty decent money.
I think it was like 15 grand or something, which seemed like a lot, but
that would be kind of a fun car.
They made a convertible too, you know, like as like the dual exhaust outlets,
funky, they had the leather and stuff.
Remember the acid Martins?
Well, yeah, that's a whole different thing.
Crazy.
Yeah.
That's crazy.
All right.
Last, last trivia question.
What U.S. state is closest to Africa?
Oh, shit.
Clark is Alaska.
Alaska?
Explain, explain your answer, Lane.
I don't know.
It's like up in the left and somewhere and like around.
I don't know, dude.
I like it.
No, no, I was asking.
I thought it's Puerto Rico.
Not technically a state, but it doesn't count.
Clark is very.
Oh, it might be Maine because it's the eastern most.
Well, I mean, I guess technically Alaska is the eastern most.
You nailed it?
If you go around.
No, Clark, you nailed it.
Maine is the answer.
Good job.
Maine is the eastern most.
Now, would my mind went to Florida as just closest to an ocean.
That's why I went for the tip, dude.
The tip.
But you're correct.
It is Maine.
Maine is the closest state.
Wait, why is this a question?
It's because I asked it.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
Had a question mark at the end of the sentence and that's why it's a question.
It's an honor of our New England friend here, Vermont, New England.
Okay.
Yeah, they're connected somehow.
They're close to each other.
I've never been to Maine.
I've never been to Vermont either.
So, oh, you should check those out, dude.
They're both great places.
I'd love to go.
Yeah.
I just don't find myself over there.
And apparently it's just a hop, skip, and a jump to Africa from there.
So it's a big deal.
Huckberry did a good little fun little video on Maine, I believe.
That was kind of good.
Who did?
Check it out.
Huckberry.
Oh, Huckberry.
Have you seen those videos?
Those like, those like, those, um...
Isn't that like a gear brand or something?
They're clothing.
Clothing?
It's like clothing brand.
But they do those like, YouTube videos like Dirt.
It's a Dirt series.
It's the old, it's like an X snowboarder guy narrates them.
They're very Anthony Bourdain style.
They're like hour long, very much like about food and culture.
And then at the end, they all like, they go to all these food places and then they
gather together and they have one big meal at the end.
But it was Maine and it was, it was a very good one.
I like it.
Check it out.
All right.
That's a podcast.
Clark, thanks for joining us.
Anything else you'd like to plug or say to your friends listening?
I don't know.
Anything?
Oh, it's going to give a shout out to Ben Rogan for making a comment about his
appreciation for me.
So I love you too, Ben.
Oh, yeah, I didn't, I didn't get to that one.
Sorry, Ben.
Ben loves you.
Yes, everyone.
Thank you so much.
All right.
We'll see you next time.
Thanks for listening.
Thanks for having me.
See ya.
Bye.
The real round cat.
About this episode
Clark Sopper returns to Driving While Awesome, kicking things off with Tokyo heat and how people cool off (including subway air blasts and portable AC units). They pivot to Clark’s Roundcat background—running events, supporting international business, and maintaining cars for owners—plus life in Tokyo with a toddler who loves car culture. Clark shares details from Como Car Week and why a fenced garden made it perfect for his son. The crew also looks ahead to Car Week, including the Round Cat Rally (DWA tour) and Clark’s plans to hit Quail and Laguna Seca.
