Does the Maserati MC20 GT2 Deliver on its Wings?
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Concept
vintage racing event
Vintage racing events are races where people drive old or classic cars. It's a way to enjoy and show off these special cars in a fun competition.
Brand
Maserati
Maserati is a company from Italy that makes fancy and fast cars. They are known for stylish and powerful sports cars.
Car
MC20
The Maserati MC20 GT2 Stradale is a special version of a fast sports car made for racing on tracks. It has extra parts that help it go faster and handle better when driving on race circuits.
Term
grand touring car
A grand touring car is a type of car made to go fast and comfortable on long trips.
Term
wheelbase
Wheelbase means how far apart the front and back wheels are on a car, which changes how smooth or easy it is to drive.
Term
turbo
A turbo is a part that helps a car's engine get more air so it can go faster and be stronger. It uses the car's exhaust to make this happen.
Car
McLaren 750
The McLaren 750 is a very fast and powerful sports car that goes really quickly and sounds exciting. It's a special car made for people who love fast driving.
Car
Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
The Corvette ZR1 is a very fast and strong sports car made by Chevrolet. It can go very fast and is built to handle well on race tracks.
Part
wing
A wing is like a big fin on the back of a car that helps it stick to the road better when going fast.
Part
canards
Canards are little wing-like pieces on the front of a car that help it turn better and stay steady.
Part
air vents
Air vents are openings on a car that let air flow through to keep parts cool or help the car go faster.
Car
Chevrolet Corvette
The Chevrolet Corvette is a famous fast car from America that looks cool and goes really fast. People talk about how it looks and how it compares to other cars because it’s so well known.
Term
forward collision warning
It's a safety alert in cars that warns you if you're about to crash into something in front of you, usually by making a sound or showing a light.
Term
lane change alert
It's a warning in the car that tells you if you're switching lanes without using your turn signal, so you don't accidentally hit another car.
Term
shift lights
Shift lights are little lights on the steering wheel or dashboard that tell you when to change gears while driving fast. They help you know the best time to shift so the car runs smoothly and quickly.
Part
butterfly doors
Butterfly doors are special car doors that open up and out, like a butterfly's wings. They make it easier to get in and out of the car and look cool too.
Part
carbon buckets
Carbon bucket seats are special car seats made from a strong, light material called carbon fiber. They help keep you in place when driving fast and make the car lighter.
Term
track day
A track day is when people bring their cars to a special race track to drive fast and have fun safely.
Term
carbon-tub car
A carbon-tub car means the main part of the car's body is made from a special light and strong material called carbon fiber. This helps the car be faster and handle better.
Car
Pontiac Torrent
The Pontiac Torrent is a medium-sized SUV that families used to drive. It’s not very fancy but works well for everyday trips.
Car
Porsche 911
The Porsche 911 is a famous fast car that looks special and drives really well. There are different versions that are made for either more comfort or more speed, so people often compare them to see which is better.
Car
Porsche Carrera T
The Porsche Carrera GT is a very fast and special car that only a few people have. It’s famous because it looks amazing and drives like a race car.
Concept
crossover
A crossover is a kind of car that looks like a small SUV but drives more like a regular car. Many people like them because they are easy to drive and have more space.
Car
Buick Grand
The Buick Grand National is an old fast car from the 1980s that looks black and cool. People love it because it was very powerful for its time.
Car
Audi S3
The Audi S3 is a small fancy car that is faster and better to drive than regular cars. It has special features that make it fun and safe to drive in different weather.
Car
Chevrolet Camaro
The Chevrolet Camaro is a strong and fast car from America that looks tough and sounds loud. People like to talk about how it sounds different from other cars and how well it drives.
Part
ABS
ABS is a system in cars that stops the wheels from freezing when you brake hard, so you can still steer and not skid.
Term
downforce
Downforce is like a push from the air that helps keep a car stuck to the road when it's going very fast.
Car
Mclaren 570
The McLaren 570S is a very fast and special car from Britain that is made to be light and easy to drive quickly. It’s like a race car you can use on regular roads.
Car
Chevrolet Blazer EV
The Chevrolet Blazer EV is a new SUV that runs only on electricity instead of gas. It’s made to be practical and good for everyday driving without using fuel.
Car
Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross
The Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross is a small SUV that looks sporty and is good for carrying people and stuff. It’s not as famous as some other cars but is useful for everyday driving.
Car
Ford Bronco
The Ford Bronco is a tough SUV that can drive off-road very well. It was made a long time ago, stopped for a while, and then Ford started making it again recently.
Car
Toyota Fj
The Toyota FJ Cruiser is a tough and strong SUV that looks old-fashioned but can drive well on rough roads. People like it because it’s good for adventures and looks different from other cars.
Car
Chevrolet Corvette Stingray
The Corvette Stingray is a fast and stylish sports car made by Chevrolet. It's famous for being powerful and looking cool.
Car
Aston Martin Vanquish
The Aston Martin Vanquish is a fancy, fast car that Aston Martin stopped making for a while but has now started making again. It's known for being both stylish and powerful.
Car
Toyota Supra
The Toyota Supra Mark IV is an older model of a sporty Toyota car that people really like because it's fast and you can make it even faster with modifications.
Term
ADAS
ADAS means special car features that help drivers avoid accidents and drive more safely by using cameras and sensors. They can brake the car or keep it in the lane automatically.
Term
MSRP
MSRP is the price the car maker thinks the car should be sold for. Dealers can sell cars for more or less than this price.
Car
Cadillac Ctsv
The Cadillac CTS-V is a fast and fancy car with a big engine that makes it go really quickly. It’s like a luxury car that can also race.
Car
Toyota GR Corolla
The Toyota GR Corolla is a small car that is made to be very fun and fast to drive. It’s like a sporty version of a regular car you might see every day.
Car
Volkswagen Gtis
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Car
Porsche Cayenne
The Porsche Cayenne is a fancy SUV that is big and comfortable but also drives like a sports car. Some versions use both gas and electric power to save fuel and still go fast.
Term
stability control
Stability control helps keep your car from sliding or spinning out when you turn or drive on slippery roads by helping the car stay steady.
Term
traction control
Traction control helps your car keep grip on the road so the wheels don't spin out when you press the gas, especially on wet or icy roads.
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All right on this episode of the podcast Zach and I are driving back from Willow Springs in the Maserati
GT2 Stradale, we give a thorough review of the car
Plus I did some very very nerdy things this weekend and I start pulling out my pens
If you know what I'm saying plus our ideas for the best way to get into a prestigious
vintage racing event for under
50 G's it's the smoking tire podcast. Let's go
Everybody welcome to road show smoking tire podcast in the car. You see Zach and I
are a master of efficiency
When you are in the gig economy for a long time you must be a master efficiency, so
One of the like door-dash while driving lift so you pick up people it smells delicious
But you're delivering food not to them and while reviewing the car for YouTube. Yeah, you know the whole thing and
Wasn't it Parker who did it and you're sponsored by the clothing you're wearing
Was it Parker who did the driving uber for you? I think but for YouTube. I think he did
Anyway, we're in the Maserati
GT2 Stradale, that's the tracky version of the MC 20
We are driving home from Willow Springs and what I was sort of getting at was that unpaid transit time
Unpaid unproductive transit time is one of the hardest parts of this gig
And so one of the best ways to work with that is by recording shows in the car
So I know it's not as optimized as shows in the studio, but we have exactly an hour and a half
From Willow Springs back to the studio, so why not use that time to do a thing that also takes exactly an hour and a half like
so
So
Should we just start with the Maserati? I guess yeah, let's you just spent the morning driving it on the track
Morning on driving a pretty fun time. You know the track to yourself like a fresh powder day
I drove this car at
Skari in Spain. Was it a year ago? I think it was like about a year ago
Yeah, it was like a bronze one. I drove it on the road also, but the roads are very different there of course from here
So people saw my video, you know my take but I was very curious to see what you think about this thing
I mean we ended up in sort of the same place didn't we? I think the thing about
The regular MC 20 is it's it's a supercar that's great up to like seven eight tenths
Not as good as like Porsche and Ferrari and McLaren when you really start pushing it, but nice to use every day
this car
Has more downforce little more horsepower less sound insulation these stupid bucket seats
Lighter wheels stickier tires better brakes, so it is an upgrade package better cooling
You know, it's an upgrade package that's designed to make the car work better on the track
Yeah, the thing is in my experience this morning. It's sort of mirrored
what
Yours was in a Skari although you're a much more limited because they had they had restrictions for yeah, and I could do it
I wanted yeah
the car is
very competent and
Objectively does things pretty well
except the brakes aren't where they should be given the
Given the the rest of the car honestly
And the fact that this is an upgrade package still the brakes should be better right didn't now
Do they feel like they didn't slow you down as much as they should have for the pedal?
They don't have the initial bite. Yeah, that you get out of almost any other set of ceramic brakes
I mean
They feel kind of like ceramic brakes from like 2008
You know where they're very soft on the tip in whereas if you drive a zero six or ZR one
If you drive, I mean, I recall on the MC 20 launch that with same track two years ago
Whatever it was three years ago. We made the mistake of driving a black wing to the launch
Oh, yeah, we did and we drove the MC 20 and got back in the black wing. We're like holy brakes
Yeah, and then in that review we only did on the road. Yeah, and that as a grand touring car
I think it's a pretty strong thing. Well, I and then we drove the spider one whatever convertible like in the Canyon and
Rides pretty well. It's got it's a long car kind of long wheelbase looks fantastic
I just love the shape of it before they add all the carbon to it
But I think they've changed the character a lot, but they haven't gotten it as far as
Where Porsche gets the you know the 9 11 to the RS or McLaren when you get into like the
I don't know 750 land
And also Maserati's racing version of this engine makes 740 horsepower
This only makes 10 more than the standard one. So yes, it's lighter. It's like 135 pounds lighter
It's a little sharper. It's louder
It's a lot less comfortable because the seats
but it's only like a
Little bit tuned up, you know
And it's a big price jump. You know the only spice that's added is a neat discomfort
You know like yeah during the drivebys the car is not that much louder outside. It's a not a very loud car
It's a very small v6 and it just sounds kind of like a vacuum
Which I have a turbo it doesn't sound like anything in the car either in fact like as you'll see in the video
You know on the track
It's like it's it's not
It's not setting any new standards, right? It's not blowing any minds if you if you're experienced
McLaren 750 or a zr1 or something like that is is much more explosive
And sharper as well
Um, but the real problem is if you're not going to hit those marks
If you're not going to be faster if you're not going to be sharper more explosive
I need I need a little more emotion
And particularly with a helmet on this engine just like doesn't sound like anything like if I go down
four gears from a like
It's
It's generally like pleasant, but it's definitely not exciting. I think it sounds so much
I'm just realizing this it's sound much like a mirror. Yeah, like you've got a v6 right here
That had a little blower wine
But that car costs a hundred thousand dollars, you know
So this car three times as much not three times the sound not even a little bit plus the turbo quiets things down a little bit
It just it just lacks like any of the verve and spice and kind of passion stuff
Where I think the road car is a totally good like art piece to drive around. Yeah, but this tries to be
This extruded like, you know extraverted track thing, but it can't like
It's someone on someone on steroids who can't fight. Yeah, that's what it is. We got wing
We got canards. We got air vents
But it's just like not that quick not that exciting and the regular one is a fast
fun
comfortable usable
daily supercar
And this one takes away a bunch of the usability of it
But it doesn't exchange it for like all that much more fizz, right?
Having let me look it's not not fun
But this car is three and a quarter
Like when when stuff starts when stuff starts talking about
Numbers that start with a three
I need my head blown off. You know what I mean? Like especially now that the zr1 is in the game. Yeah
because the zr1
Delivers the performance that you typically had to spend
400,000 on a 750 to get you can now get that for 220. Yeah
That type of speed and that type of like oh mark, you know like
Wants to tear the tires off the ground kind of thing
And I think like what is a 296 start at base?
Ford of course. Yeah, they're they're they're more expensive and
They're sharper, but that's the thing. Yeah
Yes, it's more expensive, but that is not it's not the 296 track version, right? No, it's a regular one. Yes
It's a regular one, but I think it's got a more exciting sound by a huge margin. Still it's also a small v6
Uh transmission's fantastic steering is sharper. Uh, it's just got like you get more sound in the car
I just think it's a better more exciting thing and it's not even yet the 296 cs
Right now if you yeah, if you're talking about the the speciale or uh, or whatever they're calling it
Yeah, I mean any of the piece to models like those were all turned up a notch. Yes
This is trying to be that but it doesn't it can't even compete with the one that is the entry level car
Yeah, which is like
a shame because
I actually like the car like I think it's very pretty
I think it looks I think at this price point and in this category looks really do matter
And I think it's
Prettier than anything Ferrari is making right now
I think the regular the regular one is this one
It might jump the shark a little bit and maybe
like
I haven't tried to build one
Maybe you could get one with a matching roof or like you could maybe like
But even let's call it e-ray it up a little bit where you where you you know what I mean
You know I'm talking about where you like paint match the stuff
I do right man
Maserati like what a comparison like if you could do make this a little more corvette
You know that would really help the aesthetics and also, you know, I've been spending hours crapping on these seats
And they are actually optional
So you can you can get oh, maybe you can get the gt2 stradale with the regular seats, which actually
might be the move I mean it would be the move because
Nothing about its
GT2 stradaliness makes it worse of a car every day, but the seats that's true. The ride is still pretty good
Yeah, like the marketing says the the press release I read for this. It's like
Barely street legal track car like bro
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Slash tire and now back to the show. I have been
Dailying this thing around la for six days like it's fine
Other than climbing in and out of it with these seats
Out of that you get absolutely daily this car
So I don't know I'm laughing at the you know thing the software
Simple, you know, you don't have to you're not going to get lost in it, which is good
um
And I haven't had anything about it fail
Or or or freeze, but it does take a minute to boot up
You know when you turn it on and get that that disclaimer and that accept button doesn't do anything for 30 45 seconds
That's that's a little slow to boot up
and then also
It makes a couple of beeps and boops
That I I did are not accompanied with any visual
Indicator of any kind and I cannot figure out what they mean
No clue what they mean and and I've turned off all of the eight ass beeps and boops
So it's not that they happen at random times and there's two different
chimes I've heard
Couldn't tell you what they do
No clue. I heard one. Yeah same
I was in the car today and it did a little bing and we looked around and we looked at the gauges and there was no
There was no visual. Nothing. Nothing. Usually the chime is a
Asshole your parking brakes on or so, you know something because there's the horn one
There's the little Italian horn, but that's like the forward collision one, right?
And it does it if you're if you don't have the blinker on to change lanes and you move lanes it kind of alerts you
Uh, but that one we identified, but yeah, there's a lot of other little big box
Boxed in by this. Got no cop holder also. No cup holders is tough
Sorry to say even in my
Even in my quote track day car
I would like a cup holder. I do because I'm having a coffee on the way to the track, right?
Um, how was uh transmission like on the track, you know, you you did a lot more laps than I was allowed to do
Yeah, so how was that upshift downshift speeds? It's fine. It's effectively the same as it is in the corvette. It's the same gearbox
Tremac
DCT and
You know in my opinion that that gearbox does what it's told
The the speed of the shifts and the response time from paddle to gear change is well within my tolerance of
Of not criticizing. It was fine. Uh, if you bang the red line, it stays there
It's got actually I think this
This may be the best implementation of shift lights on the steering wheel. I've seen
They're hidden
They're totally hidden in this carbon fiber top of the steering wheel, but they're just da-da-da-da and they come they're really nice
That's dope because they're just it's not this big. It's not like a screen
In there, right? Well, I mean ferrari has that too
But you can some you still to see the scene where they put the light in the wheel. Yeah, that's gone now now
You can't see you can't see or feel anything. So that's great
um
Yeah, no, there's like there's a good bit about this car to like there really is it's just that
at this price point
You gotta like you gotta wow the shit out of me, you know and at at least a couple of boxes
If there's 10 categories
And you're charging 300 gram
You need three or four those categories to be 10 out of 10, you know what I mean and the rest need to be like sevens
Like you can't you can't have a car that's
A bunch of eights or a bunch of sevens and then charge
That kind of money for it. Well because the competition yeah from mclaren Porsche
That corvette, I mean they're charging either the same money or less
And they're hitting those markers of like the transmission is perfect. The braking response is what you expect and want
You know getting in and out of all those cars is easier
Yeah, well without the roof you when you have butterfly doors and no roof cutouts and then carbon buckets
Uh, you you have a sort of worst-case scenario of having to crunch me and zack look like
So broke they were 70 years old broken ass people getting out of this car hold ourselves in here
Oh, it's not great. It's not as bad as that lotus last week, but it's close. Okay. Yeah, that was that was a smaller car
tough, yeah
So it's who you know, who is this car for?
I mean, I hate to say it because not a good reason, but it's really like someone who is
Unsatisfied with the other mainstream offerings and just sort of wants to be different
Well, if you don't want to wait and line at Ferrari and buy if you don't want to buy their suv's
Before you can get something. Azarotti will happily sell you. He'll happily sell you this. Yeah. Yeah, so
And I think if you you know if you
If you're fortunate enough to be in the kind of social circles where
Other a lot of other people have gt-free's or a lot of other people have
Lambos and
You know in the kind of circles where people drive this stuff like that's possible. Yeah
There is something to be said for being different. Yes
You know is this this this is different
You're going to be the only guy at the track day who's got one. You're going to be the only guy at the cars of coffee who's got one
Maserati does mean something the name
It's a carbon-tub car. I mean it's
It's very much a super car
And if you're not going to be pushing it beyond the limits
You know constantly and you really are honest with yourself. You'd be you're really just going to be driving it around
Then it's cool
I mean you definitely look it looks the part. Yeah, and then if it starts to
Play the part, you know, maybe uh, it's accent falls apart
You know here and there like throughout the scene because it's not perfect on the racetrack
You did some six slides though speaking of going over the limit. So was it talkative? Did you know what that was about to happen?
It's not very talkative on the entry
Uh, the the steering field does not have much the steering does not have much feel
Uh, having said that the chassis itself
Is extremely balanced and so once you get it loose
It's very easy to hold the angle and adjust the angle with the throttle nice
Uh, and it is well behaved on the unwind
For the most part
Um, but on the entry
It's not it you can't really pendulum it because it is very mid-engine. It's not a rear super rear bias
And the steering is it telling you what's going on like a McLaren you can you could
Slide it on the entry because your steering is so great that at this you kind of can't
Um, but it does hold some decent slides on going on the exit
Once you've got it crossed up. It's very easy to hold it there. It appeared so yeah
There's some good tire smoke
Uh, do these cup twos get smoky?
Yes, cool several times
Those are all second gear slides. They were not
Out coming onto the front straight. I banged the rev limiter in second the burnout on the launch
I did into three gears. Whoa. That was a three first one the first one you did late nice 11
Yeah, and I mean these tires don't smoke up like
I don't know third gear held cat like it's not billowing out but it is it is visible wisps
It is it was it I mean anything is fun to slide I will say that when you are when you are
Sliding it. It doesn't have any terrible habits
You just hold hold your throttle position
And gently wind and unwind the wheel and it will it'll stay balanced, which is very nice
Now for me like Maserati
I I love to love them and I want to love them and we drove that last Gran Turismo
And I was really impressed with it as like an eight tenths
Yeah long distance and then take a canyon between highways. Yeah, totally capable fun
Felt really balanced even like everything about it. I was really surprised pleasantly surprised
Despite how similar it was in appearance to the old one and then when we had it on the track for performance car of the year
What you really tried to drive it past the limit of grip and was very unhappy. Gotcha. That was all we'll drive also
So yeah, part of that is why but but it was it was not happy to be doing that stuff same as the
Mercedes
Sl's and gts now the hamg gts. They're fabulous
within
The left within grip. They're awesome. They're fast
very competent comfortable
great in the canyons
But if you start to want to do big slides, they they get very confused
And so but that's that's a very small number of people that are doing that. Oh, definitely
I just think Maserati like they've made such nice art and it's pretty good at looking good going pretty fast
But not just not the fastest. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So this seems like an example
And I'm not trying to disrespect the company constantly if it sounds like it
If they try to turn that volume knob from eight to ten to or to eleven
I don't know if they don't have the development. They don't have the budget for it
I don't know what happens. It's just like they can't or maybe it's just the car
You know the bones are not there to begin with like it's a fantastic gt car, but you can't make it a track car
Yeah, I mean, you know car and driver weighed
The regular mc 20 and even though it was a carbon tub
Without any hybrid stuff in or anything. It was like 3700
Like high 37s. So
They you know, if if they've shaved 135 pounds out of this
This is still over
3600 pounds with a carbon tub and no hybrids like that's a lot. That's heavy like so
It's it even though it's carbon. It's not
As efficient of a of a chassis or setup as it could be
Kind of wonder where the weight comes from because it's we got no cup holders
We got a lot of visible carbon. It's and I'm not trying to like it's a pretty spartan car. Yeah, but
I don't know. Maybe the doors are made of steel or something. Yeah, I mean it's it's uh, it's heavier than a lot of the
cars that it is competing against
So and and the ones that where the weight is the same they've got hybrid systems in them
And the hybrid systems are delivering that sort of special sauce
That make the cars feel just like insanely fast and responsive
You know, on the other hand, like there's people that absolutely do not want to buy a hybrid car
They're not buying a 296. They're not gonna do an artur. They're not doing lambos. They do not want the hybrid
so like
You know, this is like fairly traditional setup. It's got an internal combustion engine and a you know
And a light ish weight body. So
For most people
And truly for most people this would be a very very fast car. Yeah, very true
We're we're in pretty rarefied air in terms of being able to
Critique this thing and go. Well, it's it's eight tenths the vast majority. I scared the shit out of Hannah
On the 90 the other day
Nice, I mean it didn't it and it didn't take much, you know
Yeah, it's fast
When you get into it and like that boost kicks and it really goes. Yeah
We're just we're just we're nitpicking because we can compare it to its competition. Yeah, that's what you have to do
I but I still think that the road car and especially like the spider is
one of the most beautiful
And mid-engine cars made like pretty much of any air
I just think it's a fantastic shape great thing to drive around a great thing that park has tons of presents
fast enough
I wish it sounded like a little more
But maybe there's aftermarket exhaust from somebody although it is a a small v6
So you gotta be careful with that limited options there. You could make it sound terrible
You know what surprised me is
In my head, I went oh you just buy
Just buy the the regular one like used for half price
According to bat
You know, they they have to appreciate it more than some other supercars
But not as much as you think oh if you if you want like a low mile one
You're looking at 200 still wow like the cheapest one that sold was 155
And it was an early coop with like 18,000 miles on it. Not that 18,000 is is all that many but
You know that that was the cheapest one. So
They haven't appreciated in the first couple of years quite as fast as I thought they would so
So that's I mean that's good news. I guess if you own one
Bad news if you expected to buy one at half price so fast, you know, yeah, I thought they were going to drop faster than that
Yeah, me too me too
Um, so that's the the gt gt2 stradale. There will be a video up
Subtract driving some smoky slides and things like that
Uh, you'll that'll be up. I don't know in a couple of weeks because we gotta edit that shit
Uh, so on the way up to the track zack and I were talking about he went he went to a magic the gathering tournament
I did. Oh, yeah, I didn't go to a tournament. It wasn't a tournament
No, it was like a house party that had four or five tables also set up for funsies. Oh, okay
yeah, so so I was imagine the gathering tournament and
And you know, that's that's fairly dorky. No, I'm not hating I used to play magic the gathering that is fairly dorky
But yesterday I went to the california pen show
at the torrance marriott
Which was every bit as dorky as I hoped it could be
By the way, when I told our friends gen and our friends sara about this
They were both like in they couldn't wait. Oh everybody. I was about to ask
What the demographic of men and women was a dependant show?
Because I was curious if the magic the other party I went to it was like 50 50. Okay. No, it was um, this was this was
More women than you would have thought like it wasn't the pens at because also it's like
It's like, you know fountain pens, but also like calligraphy and artistry
pens and then there's the whole
subgenre of like the japanese
pens which are
Just a different like style of panda
Oh, like the kind of stuff you would see it like moji, you know, okay
So there's like those cheap pens which could be anywhere from
two dollars
To 10 or 15 dollars and those are a lot of your japanese pens
Uh and stuff like that and then you have yeah, what was the square footage of this convention?
Oh more than you would think I would say there were probably
Dozens or hundreds
Of booths square feet of square feet. Oh no, dude. There was probably
10,000 square feet
Wow, it was a big ballroom
And then a smaller ballroom at the torrents
marriott
Got it. Okay. There was probably like 100 to 120 vendors
Of pens papers journals
Things like that. What was the most expensive pen there that you know about the most expensive pen I saw
was
Uh
Like a hundred thousand dollars and it was literally like gold and rubies
I mean it was it was jewelry. It was a pen
It was like a fucking it was like it was like a new pen or was it was it from 400 years ago?
No, it was new, but it was it was new, but it was done by like
jake of the scribbler
Jake of the jeweler. Yeah, I know like like it's out
Yes, it was gold. It was like a scepter
That happened to right
Take the scepter shrink it it was put a little it was big and it was thick and it was covered in jewels
Okay, all right. Yeah. Yeah, but that was like that was like pretty unique. There was only
One or two vendors that were selling pens that were like
Actual jewelry and covered in like diamonds and shit everything else
ran the gamut from
Vintage pens, you know real estate
estate sale, you know type vintage pens
to
new pen manufacturers had their head stuff to sell and like independent art like there's like
small independent pen companies like that'll
That'll make pens out of like a resin or wood or different interesting materials and stuff. Okay, and so
The dorkiest people were the were the the vintage pen people these are like
These are the nerdiest people I've ever seen in my life talking about, you know
the the gold nibs from the 40s versus, you know all this and they've got
Just a crazy variety of stuff that is
It's different, but it like looks mostly, you know, it looks mostly the same like how many black and gold pens
Can there be you know, I mean like but they are depends what we are to cars like, you know for sure so they could talk about
The whatever the pen version is of like the brake doesn't engage early enough on the travel for sure, but it's it's with a car
Well, I'll tell you with a pen it's closer to a car than like a watch
Because you don't like you feel how a watch fits on your wrist, but you don't feel the machinery in there moving, you know
You don't work is it? Yeah, whereas how a pen
Physically meets the paper
Can feel a little different, you know and and the ink can flow different
Depending on if you're talking fountain pens like the actual nib or is it a gel or a roller ball or you know, whatever so
So like I like these fountain pens now because I don't have to press down
I just glide it on the page. I don't have to like grip it and press it in and I really like that
I can have such a loose
so
You know, we've talked about it before but it's always been like
I didn't want to just like go hard into this
Stupid collecting stuff
But I've like lose the pen or something. So I started with the
the pack of six
pilot
disposable fountain pens
I said, all right, if I get through these
I'll buy
A 25 dollar right so I got a 25 dollar pen. I liked it. I had it for like a year
And then and now I got like a the metal version of that one was like a 50 dollar pen
The lamby safari. So I've had that
for about a year
Haven't lost it gone through a couple of cartridges
So is this someone just spraying their windshield? Yeah, and uh
So I was like, all right the pen show
You know, if I could maybe I'll now bump up
To something that's like a hundred
All right, you know not like but what I found out is like watches. There's a really big gap
in between 50 and about
275 300
There's almost nothing that's good
In between that wow like for 50 you can get a basic pen
With a decent nib
That will just be one color of something and we'll just kind of look all right
It won't look like anything. It'll just be a pen
But if you want something that looks cool
Whether it's made of resin or wood or metal or like whatever
You're probably spending 250 to 300 and
I was very shocked at the number of people that were there
At the number of pens that were in the thousands
They were in the four figures between 1,000 and 10,000
There's a lot of pens where I picked it up and I went, well, that's a very nice pen
I'd like I'd like how much is that?
$4,500
Whoa
And what so what makes the cost that high is it the material it's made of it's it'll be it'll be like
It'll be made of some really nice material. It'll be made by hand
It'll be it won't just be a resin mold
They'll they'll have made a hundred resin molds and chosen the very best one
You know, it's it's
The little things that make you know, why why is it why is a
Think think 911 Carrera T versus GT3 touring
From 50 feet away. Why is one of these twice the price of the other? It's all it's all those things or a watch
Yeah, why is it Rolex five times the price of a notice canyon?
Well, you need it. You need to be up close and see
Small differences. So but but I I I was a all right. So if I'm gonna actually spend any money at this place
You know, I have to up my budget a little bit
But also there were so many vendors that unless I saw something that really spoke to me
I wasn't I didn't feel forced
So I I ended up buying two pens
And I will show them to you. I have them in my pocket. Oh, I took them out of the manbag before
I put them in my pocket
So, okay pen number one
Wow, it's like in a cigar case in a cigar case
It's from a small company in Philadelphia
And what's hilarious is I fucking forget the name of the company. It's just an attached to cardboard too
So this is an anodized aluminum that's been like color treated in sort of a fun way
This is uh, Sean's
Sean Oson, Sean Oson. Okay, sure
And uh, you unscrew it to take the to take the cap off
But I like that it's metal and I like the color profile
And this one has an extra fine nib on it, which is the very narrowest one
So that when I write in my notebook, it won't bleed through got it. Yeah
So
I haven't I like this pen this pen was uh, was $200 you could change the cartridges, right? Yeah different colors
This one has cartridges, but it also has um
There's a thing there's a thing it's called like an adapter or converter
It's called a converter and you can use it as a the pen that sucks the ink of the nib
Or you can just use interchangeable cartridges. I like interchangeable. So for people listening
It's like two different colors of gray kind of like splotchy paint with then yellow accents that crisscross on it sort of like
It's like uh, like any van Halen's guitar. Yeah pattern. Oh, it's like a lotus roof
Like the lotus it is like hold it up to the camera and then the uh, the nib has like
Some what's it called? Um engraving on it. Yeah, well the engraving says who made it and what kind of nib it is so
Uh, and and then by the way the nibs
They can be made of different stuff. So this company
Offered steel and titanium nibs. The titanium nib was a $200 premium
So this same pen with the titanium nib was four on print, right?
So I did not I elected to not the st
Because then it weighs just a little bit less. I just I wrote with both nibs and and I there was not a huge difference
Now there are some pens that use a gold nib and I really do like gold nibs and they are
Very expensive. They're like $400. Wow old nib
So so that's pen number one. This is the other one and this one is a little more expensive
All right, and a felt case the fit I put it in the case. Okay. It's got like a
bronze clip
Well, when you take it out, you'll know the whole whoa, so this pen is made of punk. It's it's steam punk
Oh, yeah, this is made of resin up your alley, but on the inside of the resin it has a knocked tin
Uh, uh surfacing with interspersed with watch gears
Yeah, so it's this total steam punk vibe
That I really like it's like you're looking at some really old school machinery
That's happening in there. Well, and it looks like it's it looks like there's a bunch of little squares riveted together to make the body of
You know like a torpedo. Yes that you made yourself and then it's got all the uh, the little gears kind of sprinkled about
Yeah, that's cool. So this company had this was called, uh
I believe it's called eagle pen company
Um, and they had some other stuff that was dope too
They had they had a couple of pens that were made of fully disassembled watches including the dial
But this uh, this steam punky guy really spoke to me
So I think this one this one was a little more expensive. This one was 325
Um, but it does have a slightly higher end dib on it
Um, and I I think they're both really cool
So hopefully I won't lose them. I was looking at that. I thought the handle length was different. They're slightly different
Yeah, um, you know and and these are you know, I'm not going to travel with them
I have my travel fountain pens the other pen my 50 dollar pen
That's now my travel fountain pen, right? So these can live on my desk. Yeah, that's cool
And this is a very stupid hobby. I mean it really is but like they kind of all are they're all all our hobbies are pretty stupid
My back. Oh, dude. I've hit the hourly limit of these seas are so dumb
Uh, where's my little felt case there? Oh, yeah
so, I mean
I at least I did it right. I didn't just start by
From going from nothing to going from you did that thing like a parent
Like you started with a goldfish because you wanted a dog and you know if you take care of this
Yes, you know prove that you're really into having a pet and you did that
That's very good. I I feel like I'm about at my because
The idea of spending over a thousand dollars on a pet to me is like a little sickening
You know, even though I like look I
I other people could go but you spent how much on a blank. So like I get it. I'm not throwing stones, but
it would just uh
You know, there's steps with watches too, right? Like you got it. There's jumps in in quality, right?
But with a pen once you get to
Something that feels nice in your hand and has a cool look and a gold nib
You're at the end of the functionality and then it's like jewels and shit
Well, but then you get it the thing the difference is the watch you wear in public
Right other people see it other watch people see it not not necessarily like you want to show off
But other people will recognize what you've purchased and it might be into it also
The pen if you mostly use it at your desk, no one sees it very much for you
So that slippery slope of now i'm getting past the gold nib and i'm just collecting to collect like yeah
That's what pulls people in and they just it's like people that have 50 different knives
Right, it's all the same and I think dudes dudes love to collect stuff
We get into a hobby and we get really like into the minutiae
We get a bunch of the things and then we move to the next one and whatever we all do it
If I I can imagine like
If I was like a lawyer in court, you know and my my pen was like part of my courtroom wardrobe, you know
Match it to my tie or whatever fuck you do that. That's a that's a thing
You know, I think but I think it's cool because it it's something that that makes you happy to use
Even if no one sees it. Yeah, it's dance like no one's watching. Yeah
Yeah, I do that's why I really liked
This the metal one was about supporting a small business from Philly
And the other one was like I I like I'll leave that sitting on my desk and I will enjoy seeing it there
every day
But if you've never ridden with a fountain pen
I really do like that. You just don't have to apply any pressure
To the page
That's really nice. My hands if I if I write a lot
Feel better afterwards. Yeah, because you're not pushing down. Yeah using all those muscles
Uh, do you want it? Were you looking at questions? I'm trying to pull it up. Yeah
Did I have I did have something else in my notebook that I wanted to discuss on this program?
And let's see if I can remember it
Um
What does that say? This thing sounds terrible right now. It's like cylinder. Oh, yeah, when you
It's like here like a little here. There's a clattery
I can't so what is um
It's it's it's pre-check open or closed right now. What did you hear about this? No, I hope this doesn't age poorly in the show
but
Yesterday they announced or two days ago that because of the dhs shutdown that they were closing pre-check in global entry
And then there was a huge backlash, obviously
They said no no no not not pre-check just global entry
Uh, I don't know. Yeah, I don't know either. Oh, right because the shutdown they shut down dhs. Exactly
um, I don't know
and my guess is
That they're not shutting down like the bad things like
Ice raids they're shutting down the things that people find convenient
And they will demand will compromise
In order to have them reopened because they don't want to be a convenience. Yeah because like that's
The political strategy like I think the democrats right now are initiated shutdown because of ice and other stuff
Yeah, but they will you know the other party will try to make them look as bad as possible vice versa
But I've got four flights in the next week including an international
Oh, that's right. I'm going I'm coming back from ice race, and I'm going to spain
Straight turn around to spain. I mean if there's any reassurance the last time I flew in from a different country
I was I landed I went. Oh, I still haven't done the global entry thing
And then I walked up and they had the new eye scanners
And it was faster than the global entry line like I went through so quickly at lax
So all right, well should we get to the people? Yeah, all right patreon.com
Slash the smoking tart podcast if you want to ask questions for the show
Part take in the show when it is live, which is most of the time
When we're not in the car and of course get add free experience get extra show get the show early get
Exclusive access to collabs. Oh, Zach and I have a new
Collab in the works that is going to be very fun
With nick
Oh, yeah, yeah, yes, yes
If that's going to be the shit and for that's going to be something that people did not see coming
It would be a little different. Yeah, so that'll be really cool
in time for the summer and
Yeah, all right, yama habibi says what are our favorite subarus we've driven and why?
It pretty much starts and ends with the rsti swaps
Yeah, I mean that's really it
there's
JDM sti i've never driven a real 22b, but
The JDM 2 liter sti engine i like better than the us 2.5
And a 2.5 rs with a sti powertrain
Is about as good as it gets in the states, you know, yeah
small light
Fast enough. Yeah, I drove that japanese
Legacy that had the sequential turbos
Remember in connecticut we did that for two years
And that was neat a different and weird
If you want it to be neat and different and weird
But that's about it
My back is
Fucking hurting right now from this cot. What if I people listening the
My back is not the only part of my back that's contacting the seat is
From about the middle of my lats
About four inches down in my ribs. That's it nothing above nothing below
No lumbar like no lower part of my back is touching a seat right now. It is like
It's like your back is leading against two
I don't know like half cut watermelons. It's weird. Yeah, it's terrible
um
Uh
Peaches for free says I got a I received an i wc vulvo ocean race edition for a birthday
And I don't know anything about watches. Does this take wear and tear well?
Yes, i wcs are very tough watches
They you could beat the shit out of them
You know, don't get it wet unless you are sure the crown is screwed down
So you don't get water in there, but yes, all i wcs are tough watches particularly what which one they get ocean racing
Something vulvo ocean race edition. I mean
That's going to be a tough watch right ocean race. That's a that's a pretty
elemental thing sturdy. Yeah
um
Deuce alpha omers
Uh, I think it's two how two alpha homies
Do alpha omers says, uh, your man gets you parked next to bajillionaire cars
True, what would we buy to do a vintage rally?
Like the copper state 1000 so if we had 50 grand to spend on a pre 1974 car
Somebody and I want to say it was collin comer at hagerty
wrote a great article
Covering that exact thing. What is the cheapest way I can get into?
a prestigious vintage rally and
prestigious vintage rallies
prioritize
Story and heritage and historical significance over make model, right?
So you shouldn't try and get a shitty Porsche. You should try and get
Some fucking terrible car
that ran
in lemaw
In
1970 32 I think there was like an f-class. Yeah, like like I think in the article there was like
Some triumphs that were like junk
That ran in in there like a launcia full via or something like weird two box stuff that
That there were strange factory teams for
You know weird fiat's and stuff
Um, look up collin comers article, but like what would I what would we buy like I would be looking for
Something like that
You know, maybe there's a
Maybe there's like a corvette somewhere
That was uh, that was like an scca race car or something. That would be rad if I get you know, uh
Like a triumph. Um, the little spitfires are very cool
Uh
Mate, I don't know gg 350 is lame, but I would still want that's what I would want to drive
Is something loud and kind of fast from period
Yeah, but if I need to apply and get something weird and obscure like a bug-eye sprite race car from back in the day
Yeah, that that would be exciting and weird
um
Uh, what do we think about duck tail spoilers on 997 dot twos? I like I'm I'm pro
I think they're pro the existence. I like I like when you balance it out with the gt3 chin splitter though
Uh, I don't like when you when you do the duck tail, but leave the base
And oh, yeah, yeah, you got a balance. Yeah, you need that
Um, michael very simply named michael says why does buick still exist in gm's lineup?
Shouldn't it have gone the way of poniac saturn and voltmobile?
I mean
For a while the answer to that question was china, but I I don't think they're buying any buicks in china anymore
I think they're buying vyd's shit over there now
I don't know. I would have to look up
Uh
Their annual sales here in the globally. I feel like they sell a lot of rental cars
I do see their crossovers around a fair bit
But I don't know if that's enough to sustain them for the next 10 years. I I am also surprised. They still exist
I am too. I I don't know
I mean
What it would what it would take for me to buy a buick
Today, I I'm not really sure but I've never seen it
I mean, I think buick if if gm, you know performance really wanted to
To to try and do something interesting
I think a buick grand national that was like an like an electric drag car
Could be cool
Like if they got the design right and they made it, you know
The Cadillac iq motors or whatever in there like that could be cool
Yeah, I mean
They need something like that to rejuvenate
Yeah, you know the interest of anyone under 60 years old. Yeah, so I don't know
But I don't know if that would then if they have the money to do that to even try
um
Ali Dain Chevar Dain Chevar says do we think bit?
Do we think Mercedes BMW and Audi should keep their light high performance trims like the s3 s4
the 43 and 53 amg's and the blah blah bmw's
Given it seems like bmw is phased to those out on the five in the seven series
I mean, I think yes like the s3 is a good car
It's in they sell a lot of them. They didn't phase them out. They made them electric
Now with bmw, it's the m
Oh, the i5
m60 or whatever it's so they refocus those
And by the way those the ones I've driven the bmw's are not very good
Oh, I think I think the 53 amg is a good car. I think the engine works great smooth fast powerful
I think it's a great midpoint and the performance is enough where I think it justifies that name being on there
That wasn't the case always especially like I don't know 15 years ago
When they were just slapping those into the batches on everything
I don't I don't at all hate, you know
m performance and then m or
The s and then rs like that's fine
What I really don't love is when they do the s line
Which is where you basically get the wheels and the bumpers but with the base engine. Yeah
That I I don't love. I'm not like offended by it, but it seems like you're
Cashing in the equity you built
By building fast cars. Yeah, you're a spectator at at a football game wearing a jersey
You're like, oh, I'm I'm also an s out. You're like, no, you're not you don't have any of the horsepower
Do we actually talked about that already course we did
Uh your poorest patron says what is our take on the current Rolex ad environment?
And where would we buy on the gray market?
Uh
Well, I have heard
That it is easier to buy some watches now
That you know some of that hype balloon burst
Uh, you know people that
The thought that watches were an investment grade thing that would just keep going up
I think they've figured out that that's not the case entirely. So
There is stuff you can get, you know, you still have to do the the bullshit. I mean, you still got to jump through the oops
And my advice if you want to buy a Rolex from an authorized dealer brand new
Is to is has always been the same
pick an occasion
That's like a thing that's happening in your life
And you want to get the watch for that occasion go in there. Tell them about the occasion
Tell them why you want to match that watch whatever and then immediately start asking
You know, could I get this watch in time for this occasion? That's a few months down the road
Immediately start asking about getting the watch engraved
Uh
Because if you're going to get the watch engraved, you're not going to flip it
Nobody engraves a watch to flip it. So
In my opinion and experience that's the best way
To project to these folks
That you're not trying to make money on a flip
Oh
Well bottomed out, right? Yeah, we hit the bump right there
And they takes all the fucking damper out of it and it's actually possible to bottom it out. Wow
Oh my back too. Oh this sucks
Um, okay, so at gray market, I mean, you know bobs crowning caliber european watch
um
You know ebay with their authentication program
um
But uh, yeah, I think I think unless you want a fucking white dial Daytona or something
Or a pepsi gmt
I think you could sell it to an ad and I think you would get the hook up
All right, uh, listen and sometimes watch she says how much more special does a c806 feel compared to the stingray?
Does it feel more special when you're not in the canyon? Yes the engine the powertrain
Feels like a ferrari powertrain
Not like a fucking truck powertrain every time you start it every time you accelerate decelerate downshift
It will not sound like a camaro a truck a corvette like it'll just sound so special
Yeah, it's that the zero six sounds and revs and feels
And gives the vibes that are most commonly associated with the best ferrari's
Not not chevys
Uh, it kills me not to notice says with the epa no longer regulating tailpipe emissions and tax credits for evs gone
Do we think the market for evs will dry up in the united states?
Not entirely, but you know it will shrink. Yeah, but I think a lot of people
That let me let you're an example that have driven evs go. I'm never going back. Yeah, I daily
It's just there's too many benefits
But they've taken a bunch of money out of it. So or sorry a bunch of the financial incentives and that will definitely shrink the market
Um covered that
Let's see I blow horns have we driven high downforce cars where you have to ease off the brake pedal before breaking from high speed
As the downforce bleeds off or do we just let abs sort it out?
So if you're driving high downforce, yeah, I guess when you go to the brakes, do you release gas?
Let diesel kind of work its magic then brake or do you still go directly from gas to break? So go fast to break
I've never driven
I mean, I've driven a couple of slow prototype cars
You know like sub two thousand pound but like 200 horsepower cars where you do have downforce
But it's not like Le Mans grade downforce
And then I just drove the I spent the day with the Mustang GT3 which does have downforce
and
No, I've I've not done the thing that is described there. I go
I'm on my I'm left foot braking and I'm going from full gas to full brake
Pretty pretty hard. I think something they bring up though is if you're driving a really high speed if you're up at
160 70 80 or above you can't just come off the brakes or sorry come off gas and go right to brakes
If you're doing like a top speed event, you kind of want to like eat onto sure if you're going 200 miles
Yeah, yeah
Yeah, if you're going 200 miles an hour
You need to like come off the gas let the car settle then hit the brakes, right? Yeah. Yeah, you can't just go gas brake
uh
Most of the time if you really do have a ton of downforce you might be
More likely to do like when it's sketchy to do that
Is in a car like a McLaren 570 or the early Koenigsegg when you have no rear wing
And you transfer that weight forward without a stabilizing element in the back and the back wiggles all around, right?
That's like the uh the singer v maxed in that shin too
Howdy tt. Yeah, you know the back end getting light. Yeah, very dangerous at high
So I think if you have a balanced downforce package, you should be able to go
from gas to brake
As fast as one can
You know unless you're talking about like literal land speed cars or something
um temple of the unimog
With many cars coming back as flops parentheses like the prelude the eclipse cross blazer ev
What are some name plates that were resurrect resurrected and were better than the original?
That's tough because I feel like a lot of the cars that kept getting better. They they kept around
That's a good point. They just stuck around. They didn't kill them and then bring them back
Like I feel like the sixth gen Camaro is the best Camaro
But they never they never you know, they didn't son. They didn't put it to bed for 10 years
And it looked you know, the things go to bed for two years while they make the new one and then they bring out the next generation
Oh, that's so interesting. Um
But if they brought back a name from the Bronco
Oh, yeah Bronco is the is the obvious one. That's the best answer
Uh
That was gone. You could say Toyota fj
Maybe how about Corvette Stingray?
Just bringing back the names the name Stingray. Yeah
uh
How about have any of the
Oh Aston bringing back the vanquish
Oh, that was a good one. The new vanquish is epic. Yeah
uh
What other who else has got
That's did Toyota has Toyota hasn't brought back any dead names
Well, they the Supra took a long break the Supra. Oh, that's an interesting one that car got better in
Yeah, the the new one is better than I think the mark four
Mark four is the legend. Yeah, you could still get it
But now you can get a ton of power out of the b58 and it also handles way better. Yeah, so that's actually a better driver's car
It just doesn't have all the provenance
All right, good question. That's a good question
We have 15 minutes all right
Um send prelude says you're very vocal about being against adas, but
They can't help but think but for 95 percent of regular drivers
It probably helps prevent fender benders in small accidents
Do we think it is beneficial for the average non-enthusiast of driver?
I mean, I think it definitely is. Yes, I do
But I think if you're an enthusiast the tentative driver
You need to be able to fully disable it and it needs to stay in the settings where you left it
Like my problem with adas isn't that it exists
it's that
It's when it can't be disabled fully or when it if when it had you have to go through this process every time you start the car
and that process is very
obtuse and
and a waste of time and a waste of energy and it's in menus and and
Particularly in a luxury car. It's not a luxurious experience
Um, but yeah, I'm not against the my I I actually I mean rather than having
A quote self-driving car where you zone out and take a nap
I mean, I think we should have cars that you drive yourself, but are basically uncrashable
Um and adas is what's on the way to that
But some of the systems suck and if you can't turn them off every time and you want them off like that sticks
Uh
Steven j 24 k has a 20 29 92.1 career s, but it's pdk
Uh, enjoy it but thinking about swapping it out for a 9 11 with a manual maybe a cab
Something more fun more visceral under 150 grand
What what should they do? What should they buy?
Uh spider
Yeah, if you want convertible manual fun, I'd probably just get a spider
Yeah
But if you want a cab like a 9 11 cab
Dude a karara t cab with a stick would be fire
That's a lovely car. It's true the new one with the six speed
I you're just maybe getting in under 150
For one of those but if you can if you can swing a karara t cab
Light on the options that would be fabulous
Wow quadro folio face says they bought a brand new maserati grikale trofeo for a third off msrp
Nice would we buy an mc 20 for a similar discount?
A third off so that would be a hundred and ten thousand dollars off
So I would so this this would be that two
220 instead of 330
I
Still wouldn't buy this car, but I would buy the regular mc 20 for a third off in a second. Yeah, I would too. Yeah
Um, I love vag
Com or vagcom vagcom
Uh 20 27 purchased they want to spend 40 grand rural drive manual
No track use just a fun thing
I'm sorry. I was passing say that again
If you have if you're spending 40 grand for a fun rear wheel drive manual car that will ever see a track
That corvette, right? Corvette
Or sector gen ctsv or those still uh, sure or like a 996
You know, uh karara 4s
Wow, you usually able to get turbos for that money. That's nuts for 40 grand. Yeah
Uh, you'd get a terrible turbo with an automatic for that. No, you used to be able to I know
I know you still could you if you want an auto you can get one for 40 grand, but yeah
Um, I feel like we've covered that a lot
Thoughts on the mark a gti versus r for daily and occasional spirited road driving
Um, and where would we put the gr corolla in that mix?
If you can afford a golf r it's a better car than a gti
Yeah, I mean it's way faster
The gearbox is tuned better
The suspension is a bit more dialed in
you can't
Sort of oversteer it if you try hard any but even if you don't I you can feel the rear diff like pushing around turns
It just feels different dynamically and the resale is better. Yeah
Um
The gtis are fine though if you're just commuting around like and you don't need the extra performance like a gti is fine
A gr corolla will feel more motor sporty. Yeah
they're much sportier
tuned
than
Gtis or gr corollas are or golf r's are and I think the gr corolla has heavier steering on the golf r
It'll just fill your steering and a faster ratio youthful exciting
um
Do
Do
Have we considered the defender octa as a towing vehicle?
No, I haven't does the defender octa have a good tow rating?
This person uses it for their open brian james trailer to tow stuff to the track. Oh
Um, I think they're really expensive
Yeah, I think they are I think that shit is well out of my price range and there's no such thing as a used one
Uh, yeah, they're all brand new so
Uh, I think I got a bow out on that the leader the the the top of the leaderboard is still like a two-year-old cayenne hybrid
Let's see with all the talk. Oh, this is a tickle your pickle for a trip triple nickel
With all the talk about the new grand tour cast. Do we think it's time for a top gear to come back?
Do we think the original formula should return or should they rework the entire program?
Uh top gear, I mean look if you if you go watch old top gears now, and I don't mean the specials
I mean like the studio shows
Eh
Look, it was great. It was influential. It was it was great, but like
I don't I don't think the that we need to go remake that. I mean
They tried to remake it like four times afterwards
I mean, I thought they did a good job when they had you know, rory chris and matt leblanc
I think they should have let that continue
But I think nowadays you can get so close to the car reviews online from so many channels like
They'd be really hard-pressed to fight for the attention of every guy and so you need the specials
But now you're gonna have the grand tour on amazon doing that stuff too. Yeah, so I don't know if they'd want to try to compete
uh
I also like
I don't I mean look with respect to to thomas and james who I love
Are great and are very good at their jobs like
They're some of the best, you know what I mean? So I'm not jealous or or matt. I'm happy for them
You know, we're getting this gig, right?
but like
To me like an iconic show
Is is so tied to the the cast of that show
That remaking the format with new people
Just doesn't interest me as a viewer like I don't want another top gear
Because top gear to me was those three guys
And like I was happy when chris got the gig. I was like I'm not
I'm not saying that it needs to die because those guys left but like
The reason that I watched that show when I go back and watch old episodes is because of the the chemistry and the writing between those guys
I think is is is unique in the space in the same way that there can't be
another
Bourdain or whatever like it's a it's a very specific it comes from a very specific
Perspective in place and is delivered in a very specific way that I really related to
And that it wasn't that oh you could plug somebody else
Even if they're a good writer into the format of the show
And have a show that's just as good or anywhere close really, you know what I mean?
I would go the other way because like I I watched the new naked gun
Which I think is hilarious and it's very much in a style of comedy that we don't see a lot these days
But I also like the old one so but I think you you have to plug in
You can't just plug people into the format. You need people that are as clever
Have the rapport of the old guy of the past trio. You need all that stuff
Yeah, to try to make something that is
Like I guess as good, you know, it has to be really entertaining funny insightful and witty
And it has to have all that stuff and a little bit of shit talking too
So you can't just say here's three people that are going to go on car adventures
They have to have the glue that was those folks, but I welcome the new entertainment
I mean I like throttle house and they're like
They're two funny dudes that are doing good car stuff and doing things in an entertaining way and yeah, so
Um, I think last one this is the end of our the end of our drive here
Flying monkey says with adas functions becoming more prevalent in the industry and requiring more steps to disable them
Do we think there will be a point where insurance companies will start denying claims if they discover that the driver
turned off adas
No, I
I don't
How I mean no, I mean
It's just I think the the the
The the precedent there
Is traction control or stability control. I mean if you you turn off traction control and you have a crash
I don't I'm pretty sure your insurance company cannot use that as a specific way to deny your claim
Uh, sounds like a train is coming. It's a break. It's a very very dirty
From the track it's squeaky. They need to be hosed off, but I don't
You know I'll have to we have we definitely have at least one listener that's in the insurance business
And if you are in the insurance business and you're out there and you've ever heard
Of claims being denied specifically because adas was turned off or you've even heard rumblings that that could be a thing
Please do let us know
We gotta go now
That is our program folks. We appreciate
Our patrons particularly for asking such good questions today and we will hold over the ones we didn't use for the next show
Uh, although next show i'm actually going to be in montana with mr. West silo. Yeah, so that'll be fun
live from my air bnb and bigsky
And uh, we'll see the rest of y'all after the motherfucking ice race peace
About this episode
Driving the Maserati MC20 GT2 Stradale from Willow Springs, the hosts dive into a detailed review comparing it to the standard MC20 and competitors like the Porsche 911 and Corvette ZR1. They praise its looks and track-focused upgrades but critique the brakes, sound, and overall excitement, feeling it falls short of expectations for a $325k track car. The discussion highlights the car’s lightweight design and improved aerodynamics but laments its lack of emotional engagement and power compared to rivals. They also touch on usability compromises and seat comfort, debating if the GT2 package justifies its price jump.
ABS
ADAS
air vents
butterfly doors
canards
carbon buckets
carbon-tub car
crossover
downforce
forward collision warning
Aston Martin Vanquish
Audi S3
Buick Grand National
Cadillac CTS-V
Chevrolet Blazer EV
Chevrolet Camaro
Chevrolet Corvette
Ford Bronco
Maserati MC20
McLaren 570S
McLaren 750S
Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross
Pontiac Torrent
Porsche 911
Porsche Carrera GT
Porsche Cayenne
Toyota FJ Cruiser
Toyota GR Corolla
Toyota Supra
Volkswagen Golf
Original notes
Matt Farah and Zack Klapman find out if Maserati MC20 GT2 Stradale is the track car it looks to be; Matt goes deeper down the rabbit hole of a new collectible; we ponder why Buick still exists; and Patreon questions include:
Our favorite Subaru ever
Will the U.S. EV market shrink?
Resurrected names that were better than the original.
Is my watch tough?
What would we drive in a 1000-mile vintage race?
Ducktail spoilers: verdict
Should German car companies keep making middling performance cars?
Does a C8 Z06 really feel that different from the regular one?
How to brake in a high-downforce car?
Isn't ADAS good for normal people?
MK7 GTI or Golf R?
And more!
Recorded February 23, 2026
SHOW NOTES
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Chapters:
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The Smoking Tire
Zack Klapman, Matt Farah
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