The Lotus 111RS is a special version of a small, fast sports car that is very light and great for driving on tracks. It's built for people who love to drive and want a thrilling experience.
The Ford Explorer is a big family car that can carry a lot of people and their stuff. It's great for road trips and has been around for a long time, making it a familiar option for many drivers.
Camber is how the wheels are tilted when you look at them from the front of the car. If the top of the wheels leans out or in, it can change how the car drives and how the tires wear out.
Eno Kinetic is a company that makes parts and upgrades for certain sports cars, especially Lotus models. They help make these cars faster and more fun to drive.
The Lotus Exige is similar to the Elise but is built to be even faster and more performance-oriented. It's a great car for racing and driving enthusiasts.
A blower is a device that pushes more air into the engine to help it produce more power. It's like giving the engine a boost so it can run better and faster.
An intercooler helps cool the air that goes into the engine, making it more efficient. Cooler air means better performance because the engine can burn more fuel and produce more power.
Endurance racing is a type of car racing where cars compete for a long time, sometimes for hours or even days. The cars need to be very reliable and perform well for a long duration.
Carbon bucket seats are special lightweight seats that help keep you secure while driving fast. They are made from a strong material called carbon fiber.
OEM spec means using parts that are exactly like the ones that came with the car when it was new. This helps keep the car working as it was designed to.
The power band is the range of engine speeds where the car has the most power. If you drive within this range, the car will feel faster and more responsive.
The C8 ZR1 is a super-fast version of the Chevrolet Corvette, which is a sports car. It's built for high performance and is great for racing and driving on the road.
Paddle shifters are buttons or levers on the steering wheel that let you change gears in a car without using a clutch pedal. They make driving feel more exciting and give you more control.
Heel towing is a way to shift gears smoothly in a car with a manual transmission. It involves using your foot to press the brake and gas pedals at the same time, which helps the car shift gears without jerking.
G-forces are the forces you feel when a car speeds up, slows down, or turns. They can make you feel heavier or lighter depending on how fast the car is moving.
A manual steering rack means you have to use your own strength to turn the steering wheel, unlike power steering which makes it easier. It can give you a better feel for the road, but it can also be harder to steer, especially at low speeds.
Focal speakers are a brand of high-quality speakers that make the music sound really good in your car. They're known for their clear sound and are often used in fancy audio setups.
Mid-engine means the car's engine is placed in the middle, which helps it handle better and feel more balanced when you drive. It's a common setup in sports cars.
The Mazda MX-5, or Miata, is a small sports car that's really fun to drive. It's light and quick, making it a great choice for people who love to feel connected to the road.
The BMW M2 CS is a sporty version of the M2 coupe, built for better performance and handling. It's great for driving on a racetrack or enjoying on the road.
The Nissan Skyline is a famous sports car that's loved for its speed and performance. It's popular among car enthusiasts who enjoy modifying and tuning their cars.
The Cadillac Escalade is a big, fancy SUV that's known for being luxurious and comfortable. It's popular among people who want a stylish and spacious vehicle.
The Range Rover is a fancy SUV that can drive off-road and is very comfortable inside. Many people like it for its luxury features and good performance.
The Porsche Cayenne is a fancy SUV that drives like a sports car. It's big enough for families but still has the speed and style that Porsche is known for.
Granny shifting is when you change gears in a car at lower speeds instead of pushing the engine to higher speeds. It's a simpler way to drive but not always the fastest or most efficient.
The Porsche 959 is an old sports car that was very advanced for its time. It was super fast and is still remembered as a special part of Porsche's story.
The Porsche 911 is a classic sports car that's been around for a long time. It's famous for its unique shape and fast performance, making it a dream car for many people.
The Alpine A110 is a small, light sports car that's known for being very nimble and fun to drive. It has a history in racing and is loved for its performance.
The Toyota GR 86 is a small sports car that's fun to drive. It's designed to be light and quick, perfect for people who love a sporty feel on the road.
The Acura NSX is a super-fast sports car that uses both gas and electric power to go really fast. It's known for being high-tech and a lot of fun to drive.
The Lucid Air is a fancy electric car that can go really far on a single charge. It's designed to be luxurious and is part of the growing trend of electric vehicles.
The McLaren 570S is a super-fast sports car that's built to be lightweight and powerful. It's designed for people who want an exciting driving experience.
The Ford Mustang is a classic American car that's known for being fast and stylish. It's a favorite among car lovers and has been around for many years.
The Audi S5 is a stylish car that's both sporty and luxurious. It has a powerful engine and is designed for people who love to drive.
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What up everybody welcome to the smoking tire podcast today's episode is brought to you by off the record
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All right on this episode of the podcast
I did some road and some race track driving at willow springs in the Lotus
111rs a sort of
Resto modded version of a Lotus lease that I think will definitely find an audience
Trump has decided to essentially get rid of environmental regulations entirely
effectively
decimating all
fuel economy standards and
I got a cool watch. Yay
It's the smoking tire podcast. Let's go
No, do you see the watch? Mm-hmm, so oh it arrived. Yeah, great. Oh, that's right. We were waiting for it and then it didn't show
This is genuinely like a really funny. Isn't that awesome, you know
On the one hand I get to say hot tub time machine
It is a hot tub time machine actually. When did you think of that today like yesterday?
That's great, but but also it is it is such like an appropriate commentary
I think not the like I'm such a genius. I also just looked at it went those look like hot tubs, but like
It is a commentary on the fact that I think people
Get on the forums and shit or so like nerdy about timing things with their
Chronographs, and I have like four chronographs, and I never if I need to time something. I'm using my phone. Yeah
Yeah, but like it doesn't mean like but like so
So for those people that is their fountain pen. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, like it's it does remove some of the functionality
For like but but it were the part of it
It's essentially going to remind me that I was never gonna use the fucking chronograph anyway
No, I think it's like I think it's a really rad idea truly because there's some you know like
I enjoy demolition man the movie I would watch it again, but you have the theme bathroom
I wouldn't do that sure that's understandable is really funny. I think this is a great use of circle
It's a great. It's a great use of a guy who is really good at painting small things. Yeah, and circles
Yeah, and and taking a thing that is is one of many just like it and this one is mine and the hands are still in there, right?
Yeah, so I chronograph still works time is going by for them. So the people in the hot tub can keep track
Yeah, and get out when it's alive. Yeah. Oh, you can pull it up on the Instagram. We're talking about I got my finally got
My custom watch back from the dial artist
Oh who I have to invite to collaborate on this post because I forgot
So we had this idea that I thought that sub dials in my white speedmaster looked like hot tubs and
The dial artist who does micro artistry thought that that would be funny and sent me a rendering and
Send the watch just like the fucking Lamborghini engine
Sending your own shit overseas and then getting it back
The customs bullshit is mad stressful because it's like this is yes
This is an expensive watch that comes
You know is of an origin of a country that's fucking tariffed
Although slightly less tariff now because the president of Rolex suck Trump's cock. That's what happened. I sees it
Seen it
You know what about your world Trump coin? No, I know the president of Rolex a president
Well, I came to visit Trump and literally gave him a golden Rolex desk
Oh, yeah, it is now sitting on the fucking resolute desk
Yeah, and the truck the tariffs went from 39 to 15 percent having said that so yeah
This is government by patronage, right?
This is how it works now number of golden gifts that have literally been given to him. It's like didn't I didn't
Give him like a gold. I'll at least it's not Heinz. What do we bring a time?
They know just whatever as long as it's fucking cold who gives a shit
but shipping your own shit and
Then coming back and they go, you know country of origin
Well like Switzerland, but actually I already bought it in America and paid taxes here
And so so when it got held up in customs for eight days, I was like sweating fucking buckets
There's just thought they were gonna fucking jam me up
Saying I just bought it out of Switzerland or something. You know what I mean?
Fortunately it arrived and it arrived covered in blue customs tape. We have opened
They see some record of it going out to UK's like they know it's it's this is not a wonder
One direction. They did not see a record of it. Don't know cuz I just shipped it FedEx
I didn't like and I didn't put a note inside like hi boys this
But on the customs form you I had to fill out a form
I put I did put this package this watch originated in the US
I shipped it to Europe for repair and now it's coming back
Which is exactly what I said for the engine. It was exactly that it's my thing that was going for repair. Yeah, not upgrade
Not customization repair. That's the word
The more I get into like business and there's gonna be someone rolling their fucking eyes out there the
very
specifics of words on
forms
Like well like when I went to the Gardena government trying to get the applications to have cars and coffees at at the store
Or things like that. I said the word events
To a normal person sure cars and coffee would fall under event. No, no, no
No, no, no an event to a city person is like a fucking petting zoo and a marching band
Yeah, yeah
Carnival rides and like traffic is getting obstructed and there needs to be an ambulance on site like all I'm doing is having
As far as our parties now a part the party is different. So hey, it's on the form
You should have written party. Yeah, and then they'd be like a party
Like no one gives a fuck, you know what I mean?
But like you say events and they think like the shit's going down, you know, they think like semis are unloading
You know carnival rides. So anyway, that's that's where we're at same thing with the customs form send it out for repair
It's a little fucking more. You know knowledge for everybody those
But I'm super stoked with this watch. It's fun as hell very cool
And it I think it comes through really nice in the photo, but in the water is very shiny
Reflective has a good a good sheen to it
Man, this shit is so fun and it fucking feels really nice to pay
An artist to make art. I want to give for you and really cool the dial artist
Chris out of the UK
Does micro artistry and on on watches? I mean, you'll probably paint on anything
But he does some really dope shit last year. He painted a satellite view map of Bora Bora on my Rolex Explorer
That's pretty cool. He has some like Jackson Pollocky stuff and some like pattern. Yeah
That's real cool. That's cool. So he like I think sprayed like through these tiny
I mean what a stencils, right? Yeah, they made these tiny tiny stencils and then the middle of the watch says fuck nine to five
That's pretty rad. Yeah, he's super cool
He does some really fun colors and like cartoon characters and stuff
Wow, yeah, I love Chris. He's great if you want if you want to if you want to change up your watch and
Like because sometimes like
There's a watch called I think it's like it's by mr. Jones watches
And I think it's called like another lazy sunday or something and it's like pool floats going around a pool
Mm-hmm. It's a dope watch, but it's like a kind of a novelty watch. It's not like a nice watch and so
There's a fun thing about like turning a nice watch into sort of a novelty watch
Is it called another lazy?
Perfectly useless afternoon, which is a fun watch, but it's like it's a bit of a novelty
Like that's not an everyday watch. Well, this just this looks like the watch was and it was designed to just do this
It is it's like a it's a two-dimensional cartoon drawing essentially of someone sitting in a float
What's the inner tube in a pool? Yeah, it's obvious that it was a
Dress watch whatever and then it had our attitude. Yeah for this the the I think her leg
Points at the hours and the rubber ducky is the minutes cool. I think that's cool, too
Yeah, it's fun. It's fun, but I can't use that to tell time every day. That's crazy. Yeah, that's tough
Welcome to the program brag about my fucking watch. Actually. I just want to excuse the plug Chris
Please send send him ideas and have him paint your watches. It's not that expensive
He should probably be charging more to be honest with you for what he does who else can do that like I know comps
Yeah, it's pretty ready. Yeah, it's like go on Etsy. Let me send you my speedmaster
I just had a nice two-hour transit back from Willow Springs my very first member day
Very exciting
There's like because there's there's member days in terms of like there's 20 days a month
Where I can show up and use the track and like would probably be the only person on it
Wow, including next week when we go with the Maserati. Yeah
Like we'll probably be there's why I was talking to one of the other members today
He was very cool. Shout out to John from Colorado who said he was there yesterday
And he was there for seven hours and it was just him. Yeah
Which is which is fabulous. Yeah, but this was like a day. So there was maybe like
Ten members and some guests Jensen was there. He says hi
He was giving ride-alongs in a 4rs club sport
But they had all the club sports out and they had these genettas
Oh, yeah, those are red two genettas and they had like six or seven club sports out
And you could we just take them like we could just rip them
Club sports on slicks, which was which was very good. They had instructors
I hadn't driven the new track layout yet
I really had fun. Oh, yeah, you hadn't
Yeah, but I drove it at the media day, but at the open house, we were like walking around. Mm-hmm. What'd you think? I?
Really like it for
For purposes of car testing I really
I really think that for evaluating the kind of things that we want to know about a car you and I in our audience
I think it's a fabulous place to test cars. Mm-hmm. It's got tight corners and open corners
And that's sections great on camber off camera. Yeah, and you could get a car nice and loose there
Without, you know, really having a problem, which I'm very much into
So I'm stoked. I think it's gonna be a lot of fun. We use the chicane thing. Yeah, let's do the
But we don't you don't have to but I think when we're running lap times there
We we should I think we should use that one. Sure
So otherwise you just we don't need two straight aways
We're doing testing and then it'll just eat the brakes if we use that second straight out of the
Carousel eat more breaks like a downhill braking section. Yeah. No, it's it's cool
I liked it a lot. I thought it was a fun a fun little track. I think more than
500 horsepower there is probably wasted. Yeah, there's only so fast you can go there. Yeah, which is fine
But the surface is great. It's a lot of fun. This place is a slide
It looks nice. I think and
So I had to go in a 4rs club sport, which was which was fun. I got about
I don't know 10 laps in that I did a 124 which I was I was told was respectable for having never driven that car before
I think so. I mean all I know I know Corey
I think Larry ran around a 127 or six in his time attack car. So yeah, I mean that's that sounds right
I mean, this is a there's a factory fucking 4rs club sport on slicks. So I think that the the guy who
Was showing me around the first time
His first name was shit. It was either Alex or Andrew, but his last name was Edelman. Nice guy
He did a 22 so but we both said we both said if I if I had a whole day with that car I could get to that
But that was a lot of fun and then I went out and pull up the red car
our buddies at
Eno kinetic formerly known as sector 111. They're now called Eno kinetic
They lent me this. This is a this is their
111rs, which is a total package for
the Lotus Elise or exige
The the list of of things that they do is fucking extensive
But it's a it's a full basically you give them an Elise or an exige
and about
Depending on which way you go with it between 60 and 80 thousand dollars on top of the car
Okay, and so it's not a singer thing. It's not like a reimagining
But the goal is to take that car that is a great car, but is now 20 years old and
Make it drive like something that you'd want to drive today
Folks got to take a break because support is coming in from hello fresh
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So the engine is it's still a 2 zz, but it's built by mountain
So it's a fully built engine from 2 zz from mountain with this
This new type of blower that's more efficient than the old kind of blower
So much so that it no longer requires the intercooler. So it's a non intercooler. Wow, so you save weight and complexity
And it doesn't need it and she knew says it who she knew is the owner of set of in a kinetic
He says if you if you're literally running like endurance racing then you would run this blower with an intercooler
But like outside of that like even for a track day, you don't need the intercooler and like my experience
It was like a beautiful day today. It was high 60s low 70s. It was beautiful
Cars did not did not build up any heat at all. It was fine
I mean I did think my longest session in this car was maybe like 18 minutes, but like it didn't move
I don't I don't see what would have changed if I kept going. It was fine
So you get this engine is 275 horsepower
Which is
In the car weighs 2,000 pounds. All right, they've cut like 400 pounds out of the car somehow
It has zero sound insulation. It has carbon bucket seats. It has a very light wheels
Yeah, it's got the the open linkage short shifter
They do a full as full suspension. It's their spec, you know shocks
They they break they rebuild the gearbox, but they also not and bolt the car
So you get all-new monoball bushings. They like they rebuild the steering rack
They have different like they literally restore the whole car
So everything is either upgraded to their spec or
Restored to OEM spec with new rubber or whatever, right?
they have these different links that
May they don't change the actual steering ratio, but they make more angle per
They effectively change the steering ratio, right? They sharpen it up
And I mean look this is a very fast little car
Probably weighs nothing
It weighs like between
2,000 and 2,100 pounds. Yeah, and it makes 275 horsepower. So like it rips
And because it's light
I mean like look it's loud and buzzy is no fucking insulation the weather stripping sucks
You know, you can take the roof off. It's an Elise this one. So the roof would come off
And it's not what I'd call comfortable like that seat is not comfortable straight up. Yeah, I have to wear
Not not just driving shoes, but really narrow driving shoes to drive it. I cannot drive it otherwise and
And it's it's it's pretty aggressive
Having said that because it's so light it actually rides well like it's it's loud and buzzy and brah
But when you if you can tune that out when you hit a bump
It actually takes the bump really well because there's not a lot of mass that it has to resist
So it's actually sprung like
Compared to like a Porsche or something like pretty soft
So you can take curbing on the track and if you hit a bump on the road
It's not like a nightmare and also because it's light. It doesn't need very wide tires
And and so it doesn't like dart around. So actually at like 70 on the highway like pretty relaxed
It's in the city. It is not relaxed. It's idling. You can tell that it's all like hard-mounted because it's like
You know like but once you get it past like 3500 rpm
Even when you're cruising you cruise it like four it's geared short as shit
So even when you're cruising you're cruising up high
The power band is like four to eight
and
And it's smooth at four but at two or idle. It's like terrible
That's lotus life, you know
But it's a you know, I'm thinking about Cheneau said most people who get these have a hundred grand into their cars
And if I think about what a hundred grand gets you
outside of that
This is a pretty fucking fizzy experience for a hundred grand considering you're being handed back
What is effectively a new Lotus, right? I mean this is definitely
This is the lightweight answer to the track performance problem because otherwise you go Porsche
It's gonna wait. It's gonna weigh a lot more than it's not a heavy car
No, but my spider is like a thousand pounds right, so this is this is nothing. Yeah, you know C8 ZR1
Hundred grand gets you a lot of that maybe in zero six, but heavy car. Well, it's a different
It's one isn't better or worse. It's different
No, I'm just thinking of if you want to go to the track and you're gonna spend six figures
You know, there's a lot of cars out there
But it's more than just go to the track this this car is actually I think a better street car than it is a track car
Really? Yeah, I think it is because if you really really want to go as fast as possible at this point
You probably want paddle shifters like you can get a car that will go faster than this for
Maybe not the same amount of money, but like in the ball in the ballpark
You know what I mean? You get a C8 Z06 on the right set of tires and you're going quicker than this around the track
Mm-hmm easy especially on a track is more easier with more straights or longer turns
This what what's great about something this like because in the video. I did make a video with this by the way
I shot in the Angeles forest in the morning and then in the track. So it is a street and track drive with this car
all in the Angeles forest
Or or on on a good road
You're having a really really good time at seven or eight tenths
And it feels like you're going about 25 miles an hour faster than you're actually going mm-hmm, and so
On the road
You're you're ripping you feel everything you're leaning into the corners
You're heel towing the shifters super satisfying
You know you're having this analog experience and you are going fast you're feeling g-forces in all directions proper
But the numbers are not as high as like if I was driving a Bentley speed
Oh, you know what I mean, but I could be going way faster and like feeling nothing and so
You know if your goal is lap times
This isn't the fastest way to spend a hundred G's
But if your goal is to feel some fucking fizz for a couple of hours a week
This is up there. I mean and and
You know it's a it's a it's a simple car because it can be
It doesn't need all the fancy shit because it doesn't have all this weight to manage your seismic right downsides
I
Absolutely hated getting in and out of this car. It was fucking terrible. I did not like it and so consequently as you may see in the
Video each section is just a bunch of mounts sink together
Because I without you or someone I could not possibly get in and out of this car a hundred times this morning
Like it would take to make a video normally
I set up the camera by the way, okay, the case doesn't fit in the trunk
I had to know my racing gear the camera gear
Everything is was shoved into the passenger side of this car. You can't put anything in the back
So yeah, that makes sense. It does have a trunk, but she knew didn't take out his like car cover and stuff
So it was all full of stuff
So like this was really cool. It's just a very
Distilled experience that's like super fizzy in short bursts
And it is it was quick on the track, but it's also like it's work, you know, it's your it's it's a lot of
Lot of shifting the steering is heavy
It's an manual steering rack the small steering wheel
And there's quite a couple of cases at streets of willow particularly coming out of the bowl and coming onto the front straight
Where you have to do that to three shift?
Right at the track out onto the straight
So you're fully loaded up with your left hand and trying to do a gear change
That's a push away gear change at the same time
So so there's a that's a that's a tough bit of motion
And in this steering wheel the horn buttons are on the spokes in the leather
Oh, how many times did you honk the horn the guy at the the guy in the fucking nest at the exit of the bowl
I was like, what's this guy keep fucking giving me the what's up?
Your thumb in there because you're for the leverage
Folks taking one more break because support is coming in hot
Actually more like ice cold in shaken with a g1 because motivation comes and goes
But habits show up even when you don't feel like it and a g1 is the easiest habit
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Because most supplements over complicate things lots of pills weird timing a doctor just told me
I just had to take one of my pills at night instead of in the morning
I said listen doc if you want me to take it at all. It's happening in the morning. I'm not good at taking pills at night
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You know and they've and he's done
He's done some some nice suede work on the dash and the door cards
You can see there's a radio deck delete, but it actually does have a stereo
You just connect to a Bluetooth thing and there's like focale speakers and they sound pretty good actually can you hear them at all?
Yeah, when you're moving. Yeah, I was like blasting rise against in the canyons. It was good. Cool. Yeah
Yeah, it sounded it sounded nice and has air conditioning as well. I think this would be obviously tons of fun
I mean this is like mid-engine Miata answer but with a little bigger budget than a Miata. It sounds red. Yeah, it's very light
It's very responsive and very fizzy, but but also you you know feeling everything means feeling everything
Yeah, and so you get the down and the upsides of that sure on the track, you know at the limit
I found it to be predictable. You'll see in the video. It doesn't have a lot of a lot of vices
There's a there was a couple places where it got a little bit loose, but it was it was very manageable
It does not have trash control or anything
the brakes are great
And in general it was it it was an absolute ride. It was a good time, so it's too uncomfortable for me
I won't be buying one, but if you're like 510 and Finn or 510 and under and and and
Reasonably thin or reasonably limber. These are all right. Yeah, it's fun
The seat is like bare carbon with a piece of ham on it. That's hot like the padding is very thin
Suede but that there was a long drive on the road this morning. Yeah, if it fits you perfectly
Yeah, then it might be all right, but and also it's it takes a while
I think it's a dry sump. It takes a while to get the oil fully warmed up and until it's really
Soaked with heat it is very vibrating and buzzy. Hmm, so it smooths out when it warms up. It's just yeah interesting
Go figure why that is go figure. It's a good time though looks cool
I mean this spec is red little bit a little bit of red like bare aluminum
The Eddie Van Halen roof is a fun tribute. You see that you notice the roof is the is Eddie Van Halen's guitar
Oh, I I didn't know what that was. Okay. Well, that's what it is. Okay. It's a fun
It's a fun vibe. Yeah, that's cool. Why not? I mean it's right people listening. It's bright red. It's got gold wheels
It looks cool. I do like these wheels a lot
That's a that's a nice looking wheel. Yeah, 16 17s in the back. Cool. Yeah, this looks like so much fun
And I didn't I probably would have really enjoyed it with the top off
Although I didn't have anywhere to leave the top so I you know, I had this so anyway, but yeah, it's pretty cool, man
there'll be a video coming and
You know shout out to to you know kinetic and if you if you want one of them, they are building them. They're pretty cool
But yeah, we are we are gonna have us
Quite a lot of fun at this here this here little race track. It's wild. Yeah
I have a I also have approval for the M2 CS to go on track
BMW M2 CS. Yeah after ice race we get it. Whoa awesome. Yep
That's fun
Should we talk about the fact that?
greenhouse emissions
More
We can't I didn't read the details. I know they're trying to get rid of stop-start. Well, yeah, they they basically
threw out the
The Obama era
Finding oh, yeah, that green house gases were a threat to public health and effectively all
Emission standards are based around that including at factories and stuff. Yeah, it's not just limited to cars
It's like so so neighborhoods that are near power plants or other things could also be affected
It's a it is a it is a crazy thing that we are that the rolling back
like
Limits on like like air like air the science of air like the science of air
So this you know the
The
This guy's Elden who's the the the head of the of the EPA
Lee Zeldin is that basically, you know, he's a super super Trumper in his mission
He was he's one of these guys appointed by Trump with the mission of specifically destroying the agency that they are
supposed to be leading and so since
It's like Betsy DeVos, right?
Yeah, yeah exactly exactly exactly so
So let's see the things he's done this guy's done so far
In March 2025 he presented what he described as the largest
deregulatory announcement in US history
whereas he reframed the purpose of the EPA which is environmental protection agency now
It's insured profits always tour. Yeah towards deregulation and energy production in lieu of public health and environmental protections
Announces plans to repeal dozens of major environmental regulations including protections for wetlands limits on pollution from tailpipes and smokestacks and
The leak and the endangerment finding the legal basis for regulation of greenhouse gases. Cool guys
Project 2025 is going really well
Yeah, nice good thing. They didn't know anything about it. Yeah, not at all
You can look at that website called like 20 25 tracker. Yeah, it just shows you how much they've accomplished from
No, no, no, so I got an email this morning
From a person
Whose name I don't need to use but who is the
Head of media and public relations for weather tech Laguna sega. Oh and
They wanted to have a little chat with me and they were very nice
About you know the conversation we had they did not attempt to refute any of our opinions at all
But they said that they have a statement and
Would I mind reading it and I said sure I said I'll read I will absolutely read your statement
And I but I said I like we're gonna like editorialize afterwards like we're gonna we're gonna talk about your statement
Like she's like that's okay
But if you wouldn't mind it's not very long and I will read it sure
Here we go
So there's it's not very long ready and so this is referring by the way if you listen to our last show
We talked about two shows ago, but the one before Johnny
We talked about this this this dude who was at a track day in his in his niece on skyline
And he pulled over in a red flag situation and a front-end loader
went on to the track and
Hit him and from behind while he was stopped and we were talking about that that incident and it's
fucked up actually
so
Well as the if you listen to last show we're pretty firmly on the side of the owner of the car here
Yes, pretty firmly on the side of the other car so but but it is only a fair to
Read the statement from the track and this is to be particular. This is the track specifically
The the PR person did want to make it very clear and you'll hear why in a second
That this was it a track day run by a professional track day company and in
According to according to the PR person when that purse that a company like that rents the track
They they sent effectively assume a hundred a full operations of the track
No, this is what they say and and I'm just repeating what they said exactly
But that's not the statement. That was that was her
Her framing of the thing which she said I could say
By the way, I did not agree to speak with this person off the record
I said like everything we say like I'm gonna say but but there are other that was the end
That was the only interesting bit and and I and I asked I asked did the person driving the
Machine work for the track day company or the track and she goes he both
Yeah, so
Incidents today incident statement an incident involving a track support vehicle and a race car
Occurred at the facility during a privately operated on track event in December the track
Continues to work through the process with diligence and timeliness
end of statement
There's another one though that's current status
Weathertech Raceway Laguna seca continues normal operations and scheduled activities the facility the fist
I don't know if I want to read this
The facility remains focused on delivering safe well-managed events while the review process related to the incident during the privately operated event in
December continues and oh, so it's a statement you're saying
It's being looked into it's being looked into it's nothing. Yeah, I thought that there would be much more of a statement
I was very surprised to see that it was just a sandwich no meat. That's I mean I
Think well especially because now as we as we talked about on two shows ago the owner of the GTR has retained
Legal representative they reached out to the track and the guy also the car owner also published what those lawyers said
Yeah, in their letter to the track, so this seems like the tracks way of saying
We're looking into it with our legal team, and they're probably
They're probably now gonna fight over who has to pay that the you know weathertech
Raceway or the company that was operating the track. Yeah, it'll probably come down to was the company if it was TST promotions
Did we tell the front-loader they could go out or did someone else who works for the track tell them?
They could go out right and how does that all work right? That's a that's messy. That is messy
Yeah, so you know I said I said I would read it and I did and it doesn't tell us anything other than
The track would really like you to know that they were not running the event when this happened
Yeah, and like no fucking shit like the I mean okay, it doesn't
It doesn't surprise me that this was at a track day that was run by a track day company
Oh, but I do I do understand why they're putting that out there because if it's not in the headline if it's not
You know if people don't read deep in the article it might not mention. Hey, this was ran by a track promotions
Sure, and I could see it in the headline is gonna say
Laguna sake of weathertech fighting against blah blah blah
So they'll they they have to kind of specify that well and and and many people maybe don't know that if a track day company rents
The track, you know, they bring their own flaggers. They bring they bring their own personnel largely
the question of someone who's driving heavy machinery now that to me
Just a guy not a lawyer
Seems like if you're driving heavy machinery, you only work at that track. You're not part of a touring circus with
Let's just call him Terry, you know that day Terry is paid by maybe right by the track promotion company
Who's hosting the event, but Terry also was there when IMSA shows up. Yeah, and it's weathertech operating thing
That seems like paper. This is almost like a semantics argument and they're just deciding who is going to have to pay
GTR guy. Yeah, I hope somebody does. I hope somebody does. I don't think there's a way they can't yeah, this was
It's so great. It's car is bright red. Yeah, you cannot let this go to a jury
Yeah, they won't yeah
They'll let it get as close as it needs to be and they'll realize that you know
GTR legal team is not backing down and they'll go
Okay, and they settle it's a bad look. Yep fucking. Yeah, you know, yeah the guy's car
I think they will and I'm sure you know large companies of which I don't run like I'm sure they always have to
They have to look at it because if they just wrote a check the first week
Then people there are shitty people out there who might try to you know
Bait a front loader into hitting them and so they could get paid by Laguna sake also
There are shit bags out there. Yeah, so they just have to like do this investigation, but the optics are bad
Yeah, they're very bad and I feel bad for the guy's cars fucked up
He now he's got and he's got to wait around now and you know this thing is a nice car
It's a really nice. It's like a custom built sequential box
You know red R34 and now the entire you know right rear quarter panel is basically in the wheel well
Yeah, I'm not sure if it's totaled or not, but it's ugly. Yeah. Yeah, it's ugly. So that's a bummer
Um
the
That's really all I got it hasn't been very long since we did our last program sure it hasn't so here
We are we talk about integrity pass or save that we can yeah, we can they still have another
I still don't know a few days with it. We could marinate it a little more. Okay. Yeah, I'll marinate it
Yeah, but it's been 40 minutes. I think we could go we could we could go to the people why not?
There's a lot a lot of people
You can stop sending me your truck requests now your truck recommendations
I just wherever we get a little redundant and it's becoming clear that as time goes on people are actually listening to the nuance of
What I needed less and less
The trucks are getting bigger and more deasily
And older I found and I mean I I applaud I appreciate people saying like this is what works for me
But it was like a 15 or 18 year old suburban. Yeah, I just know you're not gonna get that yeah
Thaddeus Thaddeus was like dude like oh three escalades are so cheap right now. I'm like, what are you kidding me?
What do you think it? Oh three escalates smells like ask a Zach Merton's he bought one for
Domizetti, yeah
You can also get our friend Derek Powell sending me diesel Range Rover's like he has one and towed this car with it
They're like 20 grand on our there for a reason. Yeah
I think you need something newer for taxes and no liability and all those no the leaders are still
It's still nothing. Nothing is even close to the the cayenne as hybrid and the and the
Durango RT nothing is even close to those those are like hit they hit all of the marks
Unless like a great used bed tag because that one might be YouTube interesting
That it will be will it be interesting enough to pay for
Well, some of itself. No, we'll see like how reliable is it?
We'll find out it's probably not like that much less reliable than like a cayenne or something
It's all kind of that's probably true. It's that versus. Wow. This is funny Bentley versus dodge brand new
versus
Seven-year-old Bentley. I honestly don't know where I put my money. I really don't
Wow, we gotta buy both and see what I see the Hemi engine is a known quantity
Yeah, it was a if it was the new inline six. Oh, that would be a question mark. Sure. Yeah question mark
Let's go to the people of course patreon.com slash the smoke entire podcast
That's where you get your questions in when Zach posts up the the show event
You can put them in the comments there people still asking me how to do that, but that's how you do it
You also get the show early you get the show before everybody else
You get and get the show without ads you can get extra show and you can get exclusive access
Early access and sometimes exclusive access to merch collabs and stuff
I was just thinking about we should do another tactile turn pen. Sure
I I've been using one of the ones they sent me as like a demo that I hadn't thought of much of at the time
But I really like it now. It's like a little smaller and like a more portable for like bring it down
Yeah, I just mind every day, but it is kind of thick the thick one. Yeah. Yeah, this one is like a little thinner
It's like the thinness of like it's a like
Somewhere between it's more like maybe like a pilot pen in this of that. Yeah, I like it
So anyway, let's get let's see what these folks have to say
Mixmaster cylinder want to talk about me and Johnny fighting about AI
I think Matt and Johnny both have valid perspectives as a software developer that's been programming
For 28 years and works for a smaller AI company
I can see that my highly paid skill writing code is heading towards having zero value and it fucking sucks on the other hand
The genie is out of the bottle. So if I want a shot of staying in tech
I need to get good at using this and I recommend
Anybody with a white collar job do the same Matt is right that LLMs are coming for your job
But I don't think hating on it is productive
For what it's worth. I don't write code at my job anymore and pretty soon. I won't have to review it either
I can't see how my current salary is justifiable long term. Wow. I appreciate the perspective. I
Disagree with you that hating on it is productive. I do think hating on it is productive
I think I think spreading valid criticism is a of AI to people that may not have thought of it that way is
Incredibly productive, especially when fucking talking is your job
I think the information about it has led to the pushback we've seen in cities and states
Yeah, there's super bowl commercials whereas the shark jumping the pit the hate on all the AI
Super Bowl commercials this year was like pretty fucking heated
But I think like Ron DeSantis who I don't agree with on a lot of things
He he's trying to get them to ban AI data centers in Florida
There's ten states right now that are trying to push back against it
And I think that only happens with a discussion and information being kind of spread to people about
The pros and cons of it. Mm-hmm. Otherwise everyone just goes
Oh, I guess it's fine and then they wake up and their power bill is true power bills
People's electricity bills are doubling and tripling in areas where they've built a super data center like that
And no one got a two-three raise in the last I spoke to somebody from Memphis, and that's where the X AI
Data center is the one that fucking
Gas turbines. Yeah, he says the smell within like a mile of that place is like heinous. Yeah. Yeah
and I mean look I
Don't think AI is coming for everything the way that people say it's going to I mean
It's it's obviously going to be here to stay on some level, but I think it's it's very important that we have
either a regulatory framework to protect
people whether that means their their jobs and unions or whether that means a
fucking
What do you call it?
Universal basic income or you know like the fucking Alaska oil pipeline for instance, right?
The citizens of Alaska get paid from the oil that goes through the Alaska oil pipeline like it comes back through state taxes like
The value that is created out of AI for a very small number of people
That in many cases where individuals or very small groups of people are more powerful than entire
Governments of nations and are accountable to basically nobody like
That's really really bad and they have all of our data right and can fucking do anything with it
Like that's so bad. That's so bad for like
99.9% of all the humans on earth. Yeah, I think to
What was his name?
I think pushing back against it like it's it's it's not too late
and I think we've been fed this thing like it's gonna solve every problem and it may solve some problems because the
Compute speed is really fast, but we shouldn't accept everything because it does some things really well that do help us
and the only way to
Like modulate this a bit is through pushback. Yeah
Aka hating hating. Yeah marching right call your senators. I still can't figure
I might need to get some special pair of glasses just to read the fucking TV are these readers
These are readers. Yeah, so the did the Mac the distance is wrong. Yes. Yeah
Oh
Granny shifting not double clutching like you should can you specify what you enjoy about driving your coontosh?
Is it the raw driving experience the childhood poster effect how it makes you feel the attention at Garner's all of the above all the above
Is it fast compared to modern cars?
No, but it's not slow either. I would say it's it's like
comparable to like a C6 or C7 Corvette in terms of like how fast it will go that's pretty fast
It has a lot of power, but it's also a five-speed with long legs
So it's got like sort of long our bands up top as well right up top. So it's got like kind of long gears. What's the red line?
You're 78 maybe wow, but I mean it's much higher than a C67. So yeah, I know it's four cam V12
It's when you're in it. It's very small and very low and you can't ever for a second
Forget that that's what you are driving you do whatever you're doing. It's I'm in a fucking coontosh right now
Whereas there's a lot of other cars where I can kind of forget
Portion 959 is amazing as it is
But if you were cruising down the highway for an hour and a half you would absolutely forget that you were in a 959
That's probably a good thing because it's very refined and nice
But also like it's kind of why I don't lust over a 959
As cool as it is. This is like all the time. It's like fucking coontosh all the time
And it's not necessarily just the attention because I'm not I don't need to just seek attention
It's it's like the people the number of times that someone tells me that they have never seen one out in the wild
That's it. It's like this is the first one of these I've ever seen that's pretty cool
It's an unforgettable experience, it's just it's it's it's one of a very few like
Overwhelming driving experiences, which is really but also it's very nice. Like it's not doesn't feel like a race car
It's like really comfortable and it rides. Well, it feels very fancy
Yeah, and like old switch gear begin with blah blah blah like you get in you go. This is nice
This is some fancy high-quality shit. Yeah
Pts normal is a 981 base Cayman in stick a good beginner track car. Yes, it is
Yeah, it is. I don't see why not
Not too fast made engine is catchable and usually, you know without too many problems. That's pretty good
Yeah, I mean they they're easy like if you blow the gearbox, you'll total the car
That's the one thing I would worry about like you you could that is a real thing that could happen
Oh, and this person already had weight. I'm tired that he has a Miata
Track car and oh it also has a GT for RS. Oh, well, then yeah, yeah
Yes, I came in and stick. I just drove
One in Miami. I raced that car that thing was like so forgiving and easy and it was nice
I do think it is paper GT3 RS wings. That's a rise against reference. I
Have a good friend that wants to get into track days, but and budget endurance racing
They're excited to get into the hobby of my dilemma is they're not very good at driving
General car control awareness reaction time all leave something to be desired
My question is should I tell them my feelings is an honest friend that maybe this isn't the right way to participate in the hobby
Should I leave it up to track day instructors and licensing programs to make the call?
I'd hate for someone to invest the time and money just to be disappointed later
The funny spot to be in the funny spot to be in I like where you're coming from but two things to consider I
Have seen bad street drivers become good track drivers. Sure. I've seen it
So if this person's not a great street driver does not make them hopeless for track driving
No, not at all. It's a skill that can be learned. Yeah, and anyone like just anyone who has eyesight
Yeah, can be taught and learned to get at least to a really good, you know good level
Yeah, you know semi-pro or you know strong amateur if with dedication depends on how long it's gonna take them to get there
Sure, I mean how long you want them to be competent. I think the real thing is you're sharing costs
You're doing lemons. You're doing champ or something does this person want to put their money in the pool sure and risk of getting crashed
So let's assume
No, let's assume that their friend just wants to do this thing and and this is your friend and you know
You want to go endurance racing got I haven't been invited, but I've been in the car with you and I'm going
You know what I mean in that case don't say shit
Yeah, let this person go to a racing school and have an instructor tell them they suck or make them better
You know have them. You know what I mean do not
You know, I wouldn't I wouldn't off the bat
Maybe pay for a expensive seat and endurance race that they might not fit it or you do but you insist that you drive first
I mean just I hope they get started depends on their budget of course like relatively cheaply to them
I mean the good the thing is if they want to jump into a more expensive series then you have to have a comp license, right?
So they're gonna have to go to school. Yes, but if you do if they do lemons
You just need a driver's license and that's where they'll they'll experience black flags. They'll see I mean
It's a nice bag out there. You you honestly I wouldn't would you recommend someone do lemons without doing at least one racing
No first. I know I'm saying you legally can. Oh, you definitely should not do that
But but for this person if they're not gonna race with them then I as you said they this person
You have to go out and stumble for themselves totally and if they choose to go cheap racing in a series
It doesn't require a racing license of any kind. I
Mean they're just they're gonna have an expensive weekend. Yeah, no, I mean
Look, I here's what here's what you you
the most I would do as a friend is
I would say without saying anything about their driving is like look if you really want to get into a race
You have to do a school first. You're gonna you're gonna have a bad time
Yeah, you don't do it. And so then they'll at least get a baseline, you know, and the instructors will you know, maybe
Humble them a bit and you can frame like it racing school is so fun
Yeah, it is so pitch it to them like that like it's gonna be so fun
You're gonna learn in that way when you buy your race car built your car like you will be faster more competitive
Yeah, and I wouldn't and don't count them out as a driver not hopeless
Um
Travis Pastrana's primary care provider. I have occasionally heard people describe
The 86 is as a mini 9-11. Do you think this is an accurate description? No, no, not at all
The engine's in the front. Do you think a sordid turbo?
86 can match the performance of top trim
9-11's or is there something just inherently better about the Porsche chassis that can't be matched
Well, hang on a second here 11 came came in chassis the night. Oh, just okay. Good night. Love
Here's the thing. There's a couple questions in here
Do people do you think of describing the 86 as a mini 9-11 is an accurate description? No, not at all. I
Don't know where that comes from
I
Mean these are both great handling cars with low centers of gravity
But like the only thing I didn't think of that gets close would be like an Alpine 110
Because the engine especially the original one the engine was technically rear engine. Yeah, but otherwise the Lotus
Maybe kind of maybe that's mid-engine. So like
Where the engine is located?
Absolutely defines how a car feels so the comparison kind of ends right there. Yeah, GRE
I mean, I
Disagree with that assessment. Um, can a sordid turbo charge 86 match the performance of top trim 9-11's? No
Unlikely unlikely. Yeah, top because if you if this person had just written 9-11's
The answers may be but you say top trim taken turbo GT3 any of those things
No, it would have to be a crazy built
500 horsepower GR86 on slick
Yeah, and you could bug it and and the GT the car the Porsche would be a GT3 with with comfort seats and the air conditioning on and the
Dude blasting lead Zeppelin smoking a cigarette
Lapping you just you just drove its streets, and you're in the 124. Yeah, the instructor ran at 122. Yeah, and that was a
Four, you know four hours of 4s right for us club sport for us club
But compared to Larry Chen's time attack built turbo charge stripped was that any six? Yeah
Okay, so fine here you go. He's a couple seconds behind. Yeah, so like so, but I think
Yeah, I mean it you you could get in the ballpark
But it would be unlikely that you're gonna go out there in a in a in a time attack 86 and beat a new GT3 RS
Unlikely I know the internet is definitely gonna send us some links of some crazy time attack cars that are running crazy times
So anything is possible, but I think it's difficult and it would cost a lot of money
I mean and also like if you're talking you're you will have built a race car
You will not have a street car anymore, right that car won't have an interior in it
Basically, it's not gonna have like power seats anymore or a radio or anything, but it'll probably have Lexan windows and shit
Compared to a road car. That's what I'm talking about if you if you then want to compare to the race car
20 your five seconds behind the pro in the GT in the Cayman not even the cup car
You know you talk with a cup car is probably two more seconds
excuse me
Christian says do you prefer the Ferrari 12 cilindry over the 812 GTS the 812 seems like it sounds better
It does it doesn't have the particulate filters. It sounds better. That's an easily solvable problem in the aftermarket
You that so I wouldn't write off the entire car because of that
Having said that I I think they drive similar and I prefer the looks of the 812
Yeah, oh like my brain was dyslexic. I also agree 812 is prettier
Yeah, Travis pastrami on Rye Country Day School when I when I when we moved to Rye
I was like obsessed with it being the name of bread. It was red. No one else seemed to notice
They're like listen fatty. I was like it's called bread. What?
Should Evie's excuse me be required to flash their brake lights when
Decelerating in a heavy regen mode driving behind them sometimes feels like driving behind someone burned out brake bulbs
I've found that Evie's do turn on their brake lights when they're in a high regen mode
I know I can't if I'm behind a car and the brake lights come on
I can't tell if they're braking or if the engine's doing regen. Well, I I the only reason I think I think so is because I
It was in a place where
Like it was on like flat ground and so someone was just like driving badly. They weren't I think I've been in that car before
Yeah, I've been in that uber, but yeah, I mean, I yes the answer is yes
I feel like they should and I I don't know if there's a law for it and
I'm I do think some already do
Tickle your pickle for a triple nickel boy
When doing a comparison test you find that rain
Narrows the gap or widens it in terms of which car is superior dynamically
Does the rain hide a good or bad chassis or does it expose it?
I mean the rain fucking tires get get all over the place in the rain because they normally
Send us tires with the stickiest shit possible. So if it gets if it gets wet out it gets really messy
I hated the ZR1 in the rain
I thought it was a disaster and the Temerario which had much more normal tires was fabulous in the rain
Yeah, and so I was like oh the Temerario is like a much better car and then I drove in the dry
And I was like oh shit the ZR1 is fucking where it's at it was just like on slicks
But I think there's also things where the lower g-load of the rain could hide
But you know things like some cars when they compress the spring all the way you could have bump steer
You could have weird behaviors, and you're not gonna reach that in the rain, right?
You're not gonna push any of the car is hard. So you're not gonna have the lateral grip to find that out. Yeah
The tragic pastrami is there a case to be had for an Integra type R
That's like a hybrid all-wheel drive sort of like a baby NSX in reverse. Oh, so like it had electric motors on the rear axle
Interesting thought
But I don't think that platform was really designed for that and it would put a bunch of weight in the back
Yeah, and it would be kind of weird
I think if there's gonna be an Integra type R it has to be lighter and more raw
Like that's just what that would be like that formula is
Established yeah, but I don't think I'll do I think the Civic type R. Yeah does that job it does
I love I really like the Integra type s. We'll talk about it next next show
Long Beach blue balls should I judge my neighbor who left his C8 uncovered under a pile of snow in his driveway?
You should buy that person a beer
It's it's isn't it great when someone just like doesn't give a fuck
Oh, yeah, I from for some reason my brain was like they just left the roof off also. I think they had a beer
I think that's a boss move. That's a boss move. Yeah, that person doesn't care
Let's see
Let's see
Oh Tom Maranello. I recently acquired a C4 ZR1 now. We're fucking talking
This is that is $25,000 very well spent my friend
I was amazed that after 35 years it still has the distinctive late 80s early 90s GM smell
Boy, do I know it took me back to my mom's 88 Beretta GTU. She had a GTU
Killing it
Are there any makes and errors of cars that you could sit in blindfolded and have a good idea of what you're in just by smell
Oh, yeah, yes, 80s Oldsmobiles and Cadillacs. Yep. That's the at the GM
That's the same. That'll be the same as this GM. Yeah, how about Volkswagen's all
Wagons 90s all BMWs mid aughts for sure
All the Volkswagen smell like crayons. Yeah, I could get into any
G body Porsche and know exactly that smell that I'm sitting in anyone that has like a full interior
90s Mercedes or a Mercedes a Mercedes that has like an MB Tex interior
I could probably get away with and a muscle car vinyl. Oh, yeah, yeah, son off-gassing and
You know un-catted exhaust sure. Yeah. Yeah
Nigero blue balls
What is a corner on a track that's more intimidating than it appears in the sim or photographs? That's a good one a
Corner that sneaks up out of nowhere on a track doesn't look hard turn nine Laguna seca
Turn nine. Yep. Yeah after the course is where it's high speed
It's downhill and the camber changes and there's a wall to the right
Which is where you will go if you really mess it up. That is where the poo came out in the Valkyrie. Yeah, yeah
Also turn 11 at Laguna seca told just the left-hand 90 degrees that everybody overcooks
Yeah, I
Mean honestly eight and nine at Big Willow it doesn't look like much but but
But when you're there all of a sudden it is very strange
I think you're just you're aware of the the lack of runoff and the consequence and the speed can be I don't know
90 to 140 depending on what you're driving. Mm-hmm. It's it's a lot. Oh
Turn three at Laguna or sorry to turn three at Willow until they resurfaced it. It had the bumps in it
Mm-hmm. You know suits you're going pretty fast right hand corner and he's a digook digook digook digook
So the whole time, you know, your chassis is a little unsettled a little unsettled. Yeah
Good question though
There's also a bunch that are less
There's a bunch where the three dimensionality of real life makes things like quite a bit easier
Mm-hmm road Atlanta is hard as shit on a sim, but in real life is like no problem for me
It's weird the dimensionality of it
Hero of extended warranty pretty close
Oh, why do Hugh blows especially the Big Bang gets so much hate in the watch world
They're part of an era
They came up they came up quickly they kind of came out of nowhere in the beginning they were using other movements and
They have sort of a gaudy style that represents sort of a lot about watches from
15 years ago and
when
People started to get more into like vintage and a little more into like smaller cases and stuff like that
These this style of watches which was more like the
Schwarzenegger's Stallone big wrist macho
You know that now
We've gone back, you know at least the last few years to the sort of more like
Slim hipster with his vintage whatever and like these are like not cool
Yeah, I'm sure they'll come back because that's how fast
Their collection is called the Big Bang collection and it is big and a lot of stuff going on. Yeah, so
Yeah, they not a lot and people are not that it having said that they are like they are
Fully like high-quality Swiss product and if if you like how they look like I'm not gonna make fun of you
You see the one that
Nino's dad because of course, he's got a bunch of hue blows blue collar baller from Detroit, right?
War the fucking iced out hue blow to Nino's wedding. Oh really golden ice the whole shit
I was like, did you buy that off like fucking Gucci main? What are you like? What is this thing? It's crazy looking
Okay, wait if you were to buy one car a year and
Only hold it for a year before you sold it. What's the ideal month to buy and
Sell to allow the order of the seasons the greatest enjoyment
Well, I mean if you have it for a whole year you get to enjoy it for all the seasons
It doesn't matter. I mean I suppose the cycle of new car
Excited and then it becomes normal and then it maybe you get over it, right? So I
Would buy middle of summer because then it will feel like I have two summers of driving
You know, I get to drive half of it turns to fall winter
Okay, I'm back around another summer and I would definitely change my answer would change depending on what the car is
You know like this year. I'm buying like an Arctic trucks
You know, I'm right. I would like a maximum winter, please. Yeah interesting thought
God imagine buying and selling a new car every year though fucking headache
like in hyperspore oh
Oh
That's pretty funny is that well like it is like, you know type of
I don't know if it's a fun guy, but like it grows on rocks like a moss hyperspore
It's just you know, it probably spreads by spores like fun guy does so but it's like in hypersport. Oh
Like it. Oh, I miss it. Oh, you just speak it out loud before you get it. Yeah, it's great
Is that is this a joke? I hope this comment is a joke
But like it's pretty funny
So would you mind shouting out my new venture called grill better dot AI and watches you cook a steak and
Randomly shouts you better flip it at unpredictable intervals. It's for guys with no friends who want to grill outside
The site's not live, but you could buy it someone could buy it. That's funny. I'll keep going
Rumors of my
Selects rumors of my selectria sunrise greatly exaggerated
That's a rise against reference also, but I respect it
I sometimes feel isolated as a diesel enthusiast who lives in reality and understands climate change is real
I can see that perspective. Why is the diesel scene so toxic compared to gasoline?
Enthusiasts who can admit exhaust isn't good to breathe while still enjoying cars. I feel like that's a very good
Parallelist question. It's a very loaded question. It is. It's I think it has something to do with generalizations
Do we want to make doesn't have more to do with the fact? I think that most diesels are like trucks and then
most like a
Lot of a lot of
a
Conservative type people are likely to buy those types of vehicles and percentage wise correct
I think it would work in industries that tend to be conservative
I don't think I don't think correlation is causation here
But I but I could see why you've ended up in that position. I do
But I will say that there's plenty of you know
Gasoline enthusiasts or part of the industry that's involved in gasoline cars that also probably high climate change and have donated against it
I think it's just like gas like diesel people can like roll coal like that's like visible
That's them like owning the lips. It's like rolling coal gas like gasoline people don't have that
I mean, I guess they have the burnout
But diesel I mean during that trolling phase of literally rolling cold
Videos of like a truck will pull alongside a Prius and smoke it out
So you you're not just you know doing a burnout over here and someone watches you you're literally like affecting the air that's coming
Yeah, yeah
Yeah, that is fucking such loser shit
Yeah, remember when gale banks was like dude. That's so stupid. Yeah the god of diesel performance was like do not roll coal
You're losing horse power
Laguna sega Genesis our portion nine
914's that bad or undesirable that they haven't gotten as expensive as other porches or were they worth so little that the current cost of entry seems reasonable
The problem with a 914 is it costs as much to run one as it does to run a 9-eleven
You know what I mean like you buy one for twenty five thousand dollars or something and then you find out the annual service is five grand
And you go what the fuckly, you know, it's not like
Beetle or something like you still have to buy Porsche parts
You still have to get you know Porsche service and Porsche this and Porsche that like it's gonna be fucking expensive
And unless it's a 914 6 or some other kind of like super hopped up one the driving experience is not it's not fast
It's not fast. So you're buying a slow car that costs as much to maintain as a fast car
Yeah, and then you have to explain to people is a Porsche that they don't know is a Porsche now
I've driven a couple 914s and like given sufficient power. They're a good time. Yep, you know, but
That's why and the 914 sixes are expensive, correct
Paint the sample Bonnie blue says
I'm looking for the best gas efficient vehicle for my six foot five friend driving a ton
For sales he went from Tahoe's to a Ford Edge limited
I'm thinking Lexus hybrid ES or TX last podcast reminded me of an Acura. I mean
Yeah, Acura's but they're not the most the Lexus hybrids
Yes, is awesome. Yeah, two of Sarah's Sarah's dad had one her mom has one separate cars
Like her mom's car is 12 years old and feels brand new her dad's car was two years old. It is brand new
Yeah, like they have tons of space. They're really comfortable good highway car
The thing about the TX and my dad for some reason doesn't learn this
The seat doesn't go quite far back enough
So if your friend has is six foot five and it's all legs
I would skip Lexus and Toyota SUVs the seats don't they're like an inch short of where they need to be
Rx's and the Tx's all of them and the Highlanders and shit, too
The ES does not have that problem
Toyota I4 skin
Cars and bids recently had a McLaren 570 s cell for 89k and I can't help but think that's a shitload of car for the money
60k miles and there was a lean on it. Wow
That is a shitload of car for the money
60,000 miles is an awful lot. I can see why there's lots of other
McLarens out there that have still like you want some miles on your McLaren, but not that many
And the repair costs and I don't know
What the reliability record is of the 570s, but I know that McLaren has kind of a up and down reliability record
So it is a ton of performance for the money. Wow
That would probably smoke the Lotus around a racetrack, but if something breaks or has a problem now you're paying supercar prices to fix it
Keep going don't have an answer for those. I'm sorry
We sit on front porches and swing life away
That's I think just the lyric of that song, but okay
Dream blunt rotation with people in the automotive industry
Most of these folks don't smoke weed
Or you've smoked blunts with the ones who do I've already
Dreams have been realized
Let's see
Do we do you know is it racing drivers or is it actual? I think designers designer. Yeah, I'd go to Gordon
You know you'd want to have
Gandini probably just for funsies
You'd want to have
Hmm, what's the guy's name that makes
Freeman Freeman Thomas. Yeah, he probably would get down. He yeah. Yeah
Everything's too colorful and awesome. We probably made that happen. The ice race. Yeah, I don't know if he's going but that'd be awesome
and Jamal and
Richard Todd Hill I'll say T-Pain because he's kind of in the automotive industry now
a
Federal investigator what would be a good solution to crack down on distracted driving?
Man, we're hosed
We don't have detention spans anymore and if driving sucks and traffic sucks and police budgets are already high
Like the only we do this is more
Oh, you know if they put cameras up everywhere, which they're going to eventually probably and if the camera could detect you're looking at your phone
Yeah, that's the automated enforcement. Yeah, probably the only way we'll do it
I don't think anyone would ever vote for that
No, but
Yeah, I think we're fucked. I mean, I think we're I think we're fucked in that regard. I I
Haven't I have absolutely no public transit actually you'd get a good number of those people that don't want to be driving in the first place
That's the best answer and the one I want to see done. Yeah. Yeah
Uh-huh Mustang geek is there room in the marketplace for a reimagined Fox body Mustang?
I I would say that there is
based on what I see people paying for
finished product at auction if you if if if someone like if if you and I were to do a Fox body that had a
Coyote motor and a great in an independent suspension and a great chassis and a full interior that worked
It wasn't like super over the top, but there was a great of nicely interior. We could probably sell them for a hundred grand
Probably yeah, could you sell them for
300 grand like doubtful and how many could you sell? I think that's always the question. Yeah, I mean you would be
challenging
But you know people are paying
$40,000 $50,000 for like other people's like home-built versions of this
So if there was a brand that was able to do it, you know with with a level of expertise that was good
I mean, there's some pretty cool shit that you see the thing that rent tech announced their rent tech is doing a
560 sec with a v12 in it. Whoa, you know, all right cool good times
So that'll probably be expensive
But I
Do think you could probably get a hundred grand for a really nicely done Fox body
Coyote motor t56 or voodoo motor, you know gd35 the motor
Six speed gearbox nicely sorted suspension. Yeah, you won't get a million. No
Oh boy, oh, we're on page six at nine. We're not getting through all of them. So
Christy yama Gucci mane
Oh, I want a convertible for under 20k that I can get in and out of for relatively flat money
Is that a nice Miata cheap Boxter and a fairly cheap s2000 or something else?
Convertible fun car for 20k
so I
would say
Get the nicest
BMW
330 ci e46 that you can find hmm not an M
Yeah, 330 ci. That's like a really nice car to drive
That would be in and out of money, but I think that's 2000 that's the safest bet on this list
There's too many Corvettes, I don't know
Yeah, I mean how long you kept it, you know if you one year you might go in and out for flat money
But I feel like three years the Corvette's just gonna go down
But s2000s are still like talked about sought after, you know things you could get a C for
Zr1 Zr1 which has a Targa roof you could do that and that would be about 20k and you could get in and out of it for flat money
I
Sorry, there's a lot of people have nice things to say but
Okay, your boy Pauly 19 and I bought my first collector car a driver grade
Green 1995 Dodge Viper now I have to say green assuming
It's like the the British racing green is a fabulous color for a first-gen Viper
It probably looks it looks I bet it looks great
Yeah, the racing one is awesome. Yeah, other one. Is there another one? What's the other like nuclear waste green?
No, it looks a lot like the I'll pull them up. It looks like that Miata kind of seafoam green
Oh, wait, and it could just be the picture
Well, oh this one so there's that green and maybe it's the same. Oh, this one's more like an adventurine
Huh, I wonder if this is it you think this is the one the guy just bought this is last year
And then there's this one, but I'm not sure if this has been repainted, but it looks oh that looks great
I'm on I think that's the same color just in different light different setting different wheels. All right great color though
Fuck that's awesome. These cruddies these wheels do not help it. Okay, uh, so you say you got it for what bought it for
34k
Is there anything I could have gotten that provides a more special experience for the 34k that I paid?
Well, where do you just where do you say special? I mean because you could certainly buy something that would provide a more
Like a different experience like something has windows. Sure. Yeah. Yeah
I mean you could buy a like a Lotus Elise that that could be a similar a similar experience
But I think this has a presence that beats the Elise. I think this is fun
Probably better to drive in most ways, but this like this has curb appeal presence sound. I don't disagree. It's wild
Yeah, you could probably get some
Weird imported like JDM shit that would probably be really cool
Like a like a what do you call it?
That's not the skyline like a Sylvia, you know, you know, like an s15 maybe or something like that
But honestly for you know for 34 grand you're 19 years old. That's a very interesting first collector card
Don't die. Yeah, be careful. Please make tires new tires
You gotta if you if you just doesn't have new tires on it
You you really need new tires and I'm talking your date codes need to be five years or less
And they need to fucking match your fronts and your rears. Yeah, they need to match bite all four new ps4
Yeah, and that car will then be easy to drive. Yeah
Scion songs of the counterculture now we're talking
I learned about a Porsche from the 60s called the 356 be Carrera Abarth. I think they only made a hundred you have experience
I've never driven one Jerry's got one course. He does
of course he does
Drifting in the name of I like that. Have you ever given your opinion on stance?
Respect all builds or get the fuck out of here with that trash. Do I think they look cool
I don't mind the stance build we see it on the road. I just worry because it's you know the contact patch is tiny
But I don't like a static height stance. I don't mind if you have an air suspension and you drop it hard park
That's fine. That's okay
I like the I think the Japanese VIP style is fun and silly. Yep the pillows and the tea trays and shit
That's great. It's a good time
I do you look I I I respect pretty much all
Styles of car modification and in there in their own way
I just think there's something very aesthetically appealing and it's like but for me
It's like an art piece. It's just parked there extreme angles on the wheels. It reflects a ton of light and sure
Uh
MX five inches
What are your thoughts on the recaro seats in Mustangs compared to the heated and cooled couch seats I
Had a s5 15 the past. I think I don't want another one with recaro's
I'm six foot 235 and I hated the focus RS seats. I'm with you
I would only buy a Mustang with the recaro seats
I don't think the the couch seats are very good, especially if you're talking about holding you in when you're handling
Yeah, it was I would get the recaro's. I think you'll fit
Yeah, and I hated those seats too
Drit drit. Oh wait, hang on. We'll do other
other
people
The art of losing traction
What's the most annoying non-car guy statement you've ever heard?
I was at my dad's with the Super Bowl and one of his buddies was trying to convince me and my dad's other friends
How peppy his dart rally was and it made my skin crawl well might be built
I don't know sure. No, it's maybe musto's dart with the fucking 800 horsepower, right? Um, I
Mean it's gonna be obvious but recently it's the it's the the
The the the wholesale adoption of the self-driving hype
the you know the
The I have I have actual friends. We're not car people who genuinely believe that like
FSD is better than dry at driving than them and
My one friend is such a horrible driver that that might actually be true
But you have to be a really bad driver for that to be true and he is a very bad driver going back 20 years
So like maybe he's the use case. I do think he's untrainable in that regard
But yeah, it's generally when I hear people repeating bullshit about self-driving cars that drive that people
Refer to things as self-driving cars that aren't self-driving cars mainly that drives me fucking bad shit
All right last one and then we're ending this show tack a file says I'm considering lifting my BRZ
I'm wondering about the spectrum of off-road suspension setups and where I should be aiming
There's said there's several off-the-shelf coilover setups designed for rally or rally cross
But I'm not sure that's what I should be looking for. I don't really want something that rides higher
But harsher than stock ideally I want more ground clearance and travel but with a reasonable ride quality and handling
I don't know enough about what's possible or even who to ask good question. Mm-hmm
I do not have specific experience in this regard the BRZ
But rally and rally cross is where you should be looking because mainly because
It's sorted science for those folks and they can set you up
There are those those systems are adjustable
So you can adjust your damping you single adjustable you can you can get triple adjustable if you've got more budget
And and you can say I want this set up soft. I want this set up harsh. Yep with an adjustable suspension. Yeah
It shouldn't be harsher because the lift from from a reputable rally company will be coming from
Like the control arms or the mounting points. It's not gonna be lifted by the spring by a heavier
Do that's what my you know lifted crown Vic was it was lifted by the spring and it rode like shit, right?
But rally cars traditionally I mean you watch the move like they're kind of softly sprung
There's a lot of wheel motion to absorb the bumps and keep you know
The car settled and the tire on the ground. Yeah, that's who you should be talking to yeah
Yeah, and you should I mean if you're genuinely going off-road you should also be investing in skid plates. Yeah, I'm not a bad idea
Thanks everybody. I know there are a lot more questions. We will hold over the the the productive ones until next show
But I appreciate y'all
We we will be back next week, and I'll see you guys later. Bye
About this episode
A thrilling day at Willow Springs in a Lotus 111RS sets the stage for this episode, where the hosts share their experiences on the track and discuss the unique features of the car. The conversation also dives into recent EPA changes affecting fuel economy standards and the impact of politics on the automotive industry. Additionally, a custom watch with a playful design is unveiled, showcasing the intersection of art and automotive culture. The episode is filled with humor and insights, making for an engaging listen.
Matt Farah modified his watch; the EPA will stop paying attention to cars (and a whole lot more); driving a special Inokinetic Lotus Exige at Willow; and....Patreon Questions include:
HELP! My terrible-driving friend wants to go racing
A programmer's opinion on the AI discussion
Base 981 Cayman: Good intro track car?
Is the GR86 a "mini 911"?
Ferrari 812 GTS vs 12Cillindri
Should EVs flash brake lights when using regen?
Would Acura ever make an AWD Integra Type R?
Cars you could identify by smell
Are Hublots cool?
Best month to buy/sell a car?
What's wrong with the diesel crowd?
Why no love for the Porsche 914?
Efficient commuters for TALL people
Is a McLaren 570S a good budget supercar?
How to stop distracted driving
And more!
Recorded February 13, 2026
Show Notes
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