DWA! Morning Motors/The Best C&C on the West Side of Santa Cruz - DWA! Podcast Ep. #929
Driving While Awesome
DWA! Morning Motors/The Best C&C on the West Side of Santa Cruz - DWA! Podcast Ep. #929
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47:24
Term
license plate
Your license plate is like your car’s ID number. If someone covers it, police can’t read it, and that can get you into legal trouble.
Car
Hyundai Santa Cruz
The Hyundai Santa Cruz is a small SUV that also has a bed like a pickup truck. It’s meant for daily driving but can still carry items in the back. The podcast brings it up because they’re talking about driving in light rain.
Concept
cars and coffee
“Cars and coffee” is a meet-up where car people get together, usually early in the morning, to hang out and look at cars. It’s more about the community and conversation than a competition.
Term
Montego blue pearl
“Montego blue pearl” is a particular paint color. The “pearl” part means it has special sparkle that can look different depending on the light.
Car
MGB
They’re talking about the MG MGB, a classic British roadster. It’s a popular car at shows because it’s fun and has a big enthusiast following.
Car
MGB GT
That’s the MG MGB GT, a version of the MGB with a more enclosed body style. People like it because it keeps the classic vibe but feels a bit more usable.
Term
flare fenders
Flare fenders are fenders that stick out wider than stock. They’re often used to fit wider tires and to make the car look more aggressive.
Concept
fake patina
Fake patina is when someone makes a car look older on purpose. It can be done to create a cool, worn-in look, even if the paint isn’t actually that old.
Concept
1999 and older cars
They’re saying the event is only for older cars—1999 and earlier. It helps keep the event centered on a specific generation of cars.
Concept
prototype
A prototype is like an early test car. It may not be a normal production car, but it can still be real and fully functional.
Term
XP4
XP4 is a code name for a particular early McLaren F1 test/prototype car. It matters because it’s tied to the car’s original development history.
Concept
fully functioning car
They’re saying the prototype can actually run and work like a real car, not just sit there as a display piece. That makes it more impressive and more meaningful to see in person.
Concept
NASCAR
NASCAR is a big American racing series, mostly with stock-car style race cars. Sprint cars are a different kind of race car and racing world, even if they’re mentioned in the same conversation.
Part
large wings
The big wing is there to push the car down onto the track. That extra grip helps the car turn faster and stay stable.
Concept
dirt
Dirt tracks behave differently than paved roads because the surface is loose and changes as cars drive on it. That affects how tires grip and how drivers steer.
Term
piano black
“Piano black” refers to glossy, high-sheen black trim commonly used on dashboards and center consoles. It can look premium when new, but it tends to show fingerprints, scratches, and swirl marks more easily than textured finishes.
Brand
Polestar
Polestar is a car brand that makes modern-looking vehicles, especially interiors. They’re saying Volvo’s design feels similar, but the quality of the materials seems worse.
Concept
range
Range means how many miles you can drive before the battery runs low. For EVs, range is a big deal because it determines how convenient the car is day to day.
Concept
front engine, front wheel drive
That means the engine is up front and the front wheels do the driving. It’s a common layout because it’s efficient and works well for normal street driving.
Car
Land Rover Defender 90
The Land Rover Defender 90 is the shorter-wheelbase version of the Defender, known for its utilitarian, off-road-focused design. People often like it for its simple, rugged layout and strong aftermarket support, even if it’s not typically considered a “people’s car.”
Term
pocket screwdriver
A pocket screwdriver is a small tool you can grab fast. It’s great for quick fixes—like tightening something loose—without needing a whole toolbox.
Term
air compressor
An air compressor is a device that blows air under pressure. It’s useful for inflating tires and for running certain tools in the garage.
Company
Streamlight Stinger
The Streamlight Stinger is a tough, bright flashlight. People like it because it’s reliable when you’re working on a car and need good visibility.
Concept
qualifying
Qualifying is the session where teams aim for the fastest possible lap time to determine race starting positions. The speaker argues that energy management (like battery behavior) should matter less in qualifying because it can turn the session into strategy rather than outright speed.
Brand
Red Bull
Red Bull is one of Formula 1’s top teams, known for strong car development and frequent contention for wins. The speaker references a British newspaper ranking that places Red Bull lower than expected, using it as evidence that performance expectations are shifting.
Concept
Chinese Grand Prix
The Chinese Grand Prix is one of the Formula 1 races. They mention it because the streaming option worked there, but not for the latest race.
Concept
F1 TV
F1 TV is the streaming service for Formula 1. They’re talking about how to get the right replay/stream working by syncing it with Apple TV.
Concept
AI
AI is basically smart software. Here, it uses lots of camera images to make it look like a camera is smoothly following something, even if the cameras themselves aren’t moving.
Concept
depth of field
Depth of field is what’s sharp and what’s blurry in the video. When it’s used well, it can make cars feel closer and more “in motion.”
Concept
Formula one
Formula One is the top pro racing series for open-wheel race cars. Teams keep improving their cars every year, so people compare how quickly they’re going from season to season.
Concept
red flags
A “red flag” is when racing is paused because something unsafe happened on the track. When that happens, TV coverage may switch to other footage while they wait to restart.
Brand
Omega
Omega is a watch company. It’s connected to James Bond too, so it’s an easy mix-up when the question asks about a car brand.
Brand
Aston Martin
Aston Martin is a fancy car brand from the UK. A lot of people associate it with James Bond, so it’s a common guess in this trivia question.
Brand
Denza
Denza is a fancy, luxury EV brand. It’s connected to BYD, which is a big Chinese company that makes electric cars and batteries.
LIVE
Where am I? And where are you?
Can you imagine his head being inside his little head?
Egocidal vehiculum.
There's no doubt. Correts are fast.
What about the people that put their fingers over the license plate?
Keiichi Tuchiya.
Those cars have such a cute little face, you know?
It's like a little salamander or something, you know?
I'm riding dirty right now.
Offtherecord.com.
Fight those tickets.
If you don't win, you don't pay.
All you have to do is download the app, snap a photo of your ticket,
answer a few questions, get matched to an experienced lawyer,
and you won't pay for the ticket.
Enter code AWESOME to get a nice discount.
Welcome to Driving While Awesome.
My name's Warren.
I'm Lane.
And I'm Art.
We're back in the room, so to speak.
Yeah, back and back all together.
Sort of sort of ish.
Wonderful rainy day here in Santa Cruz.
Very light rain.
I don't know if it's going to rain anymore, but unexpected.
We've had a lot of great weather.
It's been warm like morning motors, beautiful.
In fact, Lane, we can kind of look at this as like, hey, too hot.
It could have, it could have rained on morning motors,
but it didn't.
It was supposed to, I think we, every time we plan something like that,
it's like, hey, guess what?
It hasn't rained in two months, but just for today, we might rain a little bit.
And you go, what the fuck was great glorious?
You could jump right into it.
If you want, I'm down there.
Let's go.
Let's go.
Springtime, springtime, Santa Cruz, great weather.
It feels like it's been a minute and amazing turnout.
What can we say?
Pretty sick rides.
I saw, yeah, there was like a 2004 runner and like a 2008 Mustang GT.
That's right.
Whoa, dude.
I think there was like a completely stock X five.
Hell yeah, brother.
Silver.
Thanks to the freeze brothers for bringing that out.
Wow.
I was just, I had like sending art pictures from the events of things
that would drive him nuts, you know, it's like, clearly it was a killer turnout.
We've had such good variety lately.
So good, dude.
Yeah.
It's been really strong and it feels like it's not as early of a crowd as it used to be.
I used to try to get there like seven, seven, 30, because I knew it would be
basically blown out by eight.
It feels like people are actually respecting the times better and it's great.
Yeah.
BW guys that were there earlier.
I rolled in after you, I think, which is rare.
Yeah.
And yeah, it was, I don't know, dude.
It was borderline too hot.
I think it was all good.
It was killer, dude.
I felt like it was a nice mellow car.
I like it was really busy.
I mean, it was mellow grinds all around, but it was really busy and like the
block was full, dude, the whole day.
Like it was, it was a, it was like cycling, dude.
There was like, there was like cars would leave and new cars would show up.
It was just like a cycle.
So it was a nice cycle sesh, dude.
And like, I heard people commenting about that.
They're like, oh, let's make another round because there's like new cars
showing up, but I felt like everyone was pretty mellow, dude.
There wasn't a lot.
Like I didn't hear much shenanigans going on.
Yeah.
As much as we put as many signs as we can, there's still going to be the odd,
you know, infinity rips off the line for no reason.
But no, all things, all things considered, it was great.
Good turnout.
Yeah, I think it's, you know, people are, they respect the crest pretty well.
Yeah, dude.
They try slow.
I'd say it's the best cars and coffee on the west side of Santa Cruz.
Oh, for sure, dude, or at least top two, right?
At least within the five block radius at least.
Yeah, I'm going to.
Yeah, I think so.
I think that's it.
Yeah, let's call it nice to see some folks that we don't always see.
People made track, the track from all over the place and they made a little hang
afterwards.
It was good times.
It's great.
Good to see everybody.
Dude, yeah, we went to our local watering hall afterwards.
It's nice.
It was always a good time.
Yeah, that's good.
Any, any highlights?
I mean, I just, I was looking through the pictures right now.
I mean, you know, I'm a fan of an FDR seven, which is a highlight for me, but.
Oh yeah, there was an FDR seven.
I really looked at it.
Dude, it was Montego blue pearl, which is the color to have in my opinion.
There was a green.
It looked green to me.
It's a greenish blue yellow and tigra with a matching yellow rooftop box,
which is kind of a cool look and a moto compo.
Oh yes.
That's right.
A new moto compo, a new moto, which is also yellow.
So it was a nice little collection there.
Yeah, a couple nice RX sevens.
It was a really good turnout of vintage Volkswagen's everything from Beatles to buses and in between.
There was an amazing MGB.
MGB GT.
GT modified like flare fenders fully modified.
I didn't get a great look at it, but and you know, everything's within your own tastes.
Of course you might change some things about it, but the level of work that went into it was crazy.
I mean, it was like a cool color green.
I want to say.
Yeah, it was like a like a foamy green.
Yeah, see foamy and had, you know, it was on on Rams, but no, it looked like someone had gone
all the way with one, which is so rare to see.
You just never see those cars really anymore, but no mention of to an Imola red ZHP with all
I did see Ruben showed up in his GT three and that was kind of fun to see because I had the
most bugs I've ever seen on a car ever.
Nice.
Yeah, he was definitely killing bugs fast, which was nice to see.
Yeah, it was like the only picture I took because it was it was cool.
He was also giving us the rundown on some recent repairs for that car, but save that for another time.
I was like going to say there's something else that came up.
I thought art would enjoy gosh.
Dang it.
I can't remember.
You know, as always, we barely make our way around the show.
Dude, you know, around the holy crap.
You know, you're you're not kidding about these bugs.
Yeah, dude, what he must have gone out to the central valley or something.
Yeah, I think he was driving back from service in L.A. Yeah, and highway five.
Well, that's I mean he did the right thing by pulling in that way.
I mean it's it's it makes it a more interesting totally right because these are at least in our
neck of the woods like pretty common, but to have it be all grimy like this.
I mean this is like it looks like what are those love bugs when they like the swarm in
Florida. It looks like he drove through a swarm of those.
I know you could almost look at like it's a fake patina or something like someone
splattered it to look that way.
But now this is yeah, it was kind of like the most I've seen.
There was a red GT RS, which is kind of a rare sight, right?
A red one.
What was that?
What was that color of the GT three touring?
It was like a yellowish, yellowish.
It was like a yellow pastel yellow green greenish.
Oh yeah, I don't know.
That's the yeah.
That's good old.
All right.
Good times.
Good times.
So yeah, morning motors.
Maybe we did it.
It happened.
Best cars and coffee on the west side of San Cruz.
We're stamping it stamp of approval.
Beautiful day.
Yeah.
So that's cool.
We're a month out from camping.
We'll awesome rally going to send another email out to those folks.
If anyone's listening that's coming on the rally and you have questions,
you can always email us.
Using emails going on yesterday.
God dang, dude.
I was, I don't know what was happening.
Because first of all, I'm not going to put it on blast,
but somebody had said, Hey, I didn't get an email for this.
I'm like, well, I'm pretty sure I sent it to you,
but check with your driver and see if it's around there.
And then we got these series of emails that was like,
what's going on?
And did I get an email?
Yes, you did.
Who's who's going?
So anyways, and then I swear, dude,
Gmail nowadays is like, they give you this like priority thing at the top
and then it like feeds, I don't, I'm, you know,
maybe I'm just too, too damn old Warren.
Oh, that's definitely true.
Another news outlook is way worse.
I can't stand it, dude.
I've searched on outlook for emails that I've sent or,
and I, you have to type like the whole email address.
I can Gmail.
You could just say like LA.
And it's lanes emails that I've sent, but anyways,
right now art is looking at outlook, which is tough for him,
but yeah, it's, it's not fun.
So anyways, have you noticed that priority doesn't go away
once you've like looked at an email on Gmail?
Oh, no, I haven't noticed.
Okay.
But yeah, one month away, dude, we're excited.
We're there, dude.
We're there, dude.
I'm getting excited.
Yeah, it's happening.
We're going to have a little rally to the rally,
both from Southern California and Northern California.
And then we're, we're in there.
It's a great group.
We do still have a few camping spots open.
If someone's like listening to this last minute wants to join,
we might be able to fit you in.
So camping only, but 1999 and older cars,
holler at your boy team at driving, well awesome.com.
You can always hit us up on Instagram too, but that's where you find us
in Radwood news.
We are one week away from the heritage invitational at Charlotte Motor Speedway,
the 10 tenths motor, motor club.
It's going to be awesome.
We have some killer cars.
I mean, I'm just going to say it right now, front and center, McLaren F1.
What first time ever first time ever.
I didn't want to say it until now, but I got an email this morning that
when it's arriving, what?
And I will be driving it.
No, just kidding.
I will do my best to at least sit in it.
But no, it's, it's happening as far as we know.
I can, as far as I know today, it's happening.
Well, Warren, I mean, we also, there's a technicality in here,
but I'm going to just own it.
We're going to call it an F1 because it's, it's an F1,
but it's technically a prototype.
It's XP4, which is one of the original prototypes,
road car prototypes, right?
So it's effectively a fully functioning car, but can you edit this out, Lane?
Tech, can you?
Yeah, I don't like anything that's going on.
No, I think let's let's edit that out.
Nobody will.
It's it's a McLaren F1.
It just happens to be the one of the first ones built.
That's all.
Yes.
Oh my God.
All right.
Arts fired.
So we also also have a killer.
It's called significance, Warren.
This is even more significant than a standard F1 is what I'm saying.
See, this is a, this is one of the OGs even original.
That's not the tone you started with.
Yeah, you were like, you said there's F1 coming, but actually it's not an F1.
I don't want to see how I adjusted my glasses too.
Well, you know, the bearer bad news here, but in fact,
we also have a vintage NASCAR display of all Radwater NASCAR
Sprint cars, buddy.
What's that?
They're Sprint cars.
Why are they Sprint cars?
Is Sprint car not NASCAR?
Yes, but they're, yes, they're called, but these are, they call these Sprint cars
this particular era.
Okay.
What?
So what do they call Sprint cars from the 80s and 90s?
Something else.
I think you're high.
Are you high enough?
Maybe that's the problem.
I'm not.
See, this is what happens when I'm sober.
Yeah.
You're bet poking holes in everything I was saying for no reason.
What the hell?
Yeah, it's because it's, it's, it's just conversation news.
It's just conversation.
It's worse conversation radio talk, dude.
Exactly.
I wanted to, I did want to mention a few of them because we have a tremendous
collection of cars that are coming.
This is, we're talking Earnhardt cars.
We have that Wrangler Pontiac.
People can look this up.
The Wrangler Monte Carlo.
This is the Richard Childress car.
We have, uh, let's see Tim Richman's, the old Milwaukee Pontiac from 1985,
which is badass, uh, Bush Grand National, uh, there's, yeah, the rusty Wallace cars,
Sarah Walter cars, Bobby Allison, the Miller Buick is going to be there.
So it's a really, really solid collection of like, I mean that of this era,
representing this era, I should say, so pretty epic stuff.
We're excited to also the show is on the, the racetrack.
Anything you want to add there art?
It's not actually a racetrack.
It's a motor.
Well, technically it's a club that you have to be a member of that.
Right.
And it's really just a road that technically they don't race on it.
They just have like, like laps.
They don't actually have races and I was even wrong.
They're cup cars.
I call them sprint cars.
It was of course they're cup cars.
Holy hell.
That's what I'm saying.
Yeah.
Sprint cars have large wings.
They're on dirt.
Totally different type of car.
Only dirt.
Is that thing?
Are there asphalt sprint cars?
I don't believe so.
Look at all day.
I don't know.
Yeah, I don't know a thousand horsepower man.
It is getting this again.
Weird dude.
I hope you guys are an alliance later today or tomorrow.
We need an alliance.
I think so, too.
I didn't start this.
I'm just trying to just, you know, you're picking up pieces.
Is where you saying looking for my mentor here.
That's all I can do.
Anyhow, Radwood, Charlotte.
I need you guys to be on the same team here guys.
No, we are.
Radwood, Charlotte, come out.
Please come out and hang out.
This is going to be a pretty epic show because it's we have our cars.
There's the Radwood element, but this is a concor at a really cool venue
and they have some heavy hitters of all eras, not just us, you know,
not just 80s and 90s stuff.
So it's going to be a good time.
A bunch of the who's who's are going to be there from the industry.
I heard that the TST dudes are going to do a live podcast at the event too.
Oh, are they both coming?
Yeah, that's good.
Yeah, that should be fun.
I'm looking forward to it.
See some, some folks say hi to Jeff Gordon.
Oh hell yeah.
He's a huge fan.
No, no, it's great.
Huge and then what else we got?
That's kind of it.
No morning motors date set, but keep an eye on our feeds and we'll,
we'll figure it out.
We've got a couple questions.
Oh, you know what?
I want to do, I want to do another Seabright motors.
So look forward to that.
And then we have some time in the near future.
We're going to be doing one of these.
What do they call midtown Fridays or something?
Yeah, we're going to be doing the,
it looks like we're going to be doing the opening one of that.
So if you're local to Santa Cruz, we will be doing the opening.
Um, yeah, whatever the inaugural one for the year, I like it midtown Friday.
I think is that what it's called midtown Fridays?
That doesn't sound right, dude.
No, it doesn't sound right.
Well, midtown something right midtown Mondays.
No, I don't know.
We'll have to anyways come back.
We'll hit you.
Hey, check your feeds.
Check.
Yeah.
Yeah, check these space.
Check.
We got some, we got some questions here.
Uh, there's two funny questions in there.
I don't know if they were written as, uh, an answer and response kind of thing.
A question response.
Um, JPOD 999 says, is Volvo the only company making attractive cars right now?
And then potential TTT says, how could Volvo fumble the ex 40 so bad?
So I don't know if, uh, those are related, but, uh, the Volvo, the newer Volvo wagons,
I see them on the road and I go, yes, that is a good looking.
The ones we've talked about the, uh, is it the, uh, the 90 or whatever.
But then if you've looked at an interior up close, it's very kind of chintzy plastic,
piano black, doesn't look like it's going to age well.
Do you, have you guys spent any time in one of those?
Even their newer cars, the interiors are just sort of cheap.
Isn't it like Polestar esque?
I think that's sort of very simple.
It feels like the design is Polestar esque, but it feels like the materials
are all going to just fall apart.
It's sort of like what Volvo has been doing for a while now.
Uh, the last of those kind of like classic interiors was that like the v 70 r that I had,
kind of that s 80 era, and then it sort of got a little chints.
I don't know how you feel about that.
Yeah, I don't know.
I haven't seen how they age.
I remember the last like modern Volvo I was in, I would say actually my mom had a,
actually maybe does my mom have a Volvo shoot?
I think she has a new Volvo.
Maybe no, she, no, she has a Tesla.
No, I was in Matt Brown had like a v 90 or something on loan.
And then I think his mom has a, uh, s e v maybe.
Yeah.
Right.
Yep.
Cool.
But I was saying, I was checking it out and it seemed nice as like a new car,
but I never saw it as an aged vehicle.
Say, right.
Yeah.
So I can't speak to that.
But I think his mom still has it and he said it's a really good car still.
So I don't know.
Yeah.
We tested for the next 90 and it was super nice.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All the materials, but also Nick, Nick has a brand new Volvo, but also he's leasing them.
So they're three year old cars.
So I don't know, you know, like,
and you can't judge a car like three year old cars or, you know, that's like, you know,
like my mom had an all track when they were new and as a three year old car, it was great.
You know, as a lease car, those were great.
But the other questions ex 40 is that little boxy electric car, which I think they look fine.
Dude, the 30 is actually the smaller one looks even cooler.
It's a very cool like, yeah, I actually really like the ex 30.
Yeah.
So wait, what's the fumble?
I'm not sure what he's referring to.
Is it maybe the technology?
Is it the range?
Is it the performance?
I don't know.
But let me look at the ex 40 because the ex 30 I really like.
It's got like a, it looks like a hatchback.
It's like my neighbor has one.
They're very, they're totally fine, very Volvo looking, but these seem fine.
I don't know.
I don't know.
There's any fumble.
Yeah.
Ex 40 looks pretty normal to me.
I mean, I think it's got a sort of semi floating sea pillar situation, but outside of that,
it looks pretty, pretty clean.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
I think it's a good design.
I wouldn't go to my way for one, but I've heard that some good lease deals.
Remember our boy Misha was sending us some around lane back in the day that they were
like really inexpensive.
Yeah.
Yeah.
John rise says, what's the coolest people's car ever?
I think is what he's implying.
Beedle such on to CV mini golf civics Corolla's model T.
What's your favorite super basic transportation of any era?
That's a good question, dude.
Super basic transportation of any era.
The coolest dude.
I think the, I think the, I want to say bug, but I do too.
I just hit the bug with such a.
Yeah.
I want to say bug because the bug kind of did it all dude and it was it was just so
easy to maintain.
It was good in all weather conditions.
It had style to where I think I'll the mini is great.
It's from, you know, front engine, front wheel drive.
Obviously that was kind of groundbreaking, but it is very utilitarian.
It's just a box and we've come to like it based on time has been kind to it and it
does have style, but it's not like a beetle.
Beetle is like a whole different thing.
I think it's also not as, I don't think it has the like the reliability chops.
Like, you know, it doesn't have that, that as much like, yeah, it doesn't feel like
it has the ease of ownership like a beetle does and stuff.
Yeah.
Well, also just complexity, right?
Like, if you look at like civics, there was a full range.
You can go like, you know, like pretty fancy engines and suspension and all that.
It's like, whereas like, I feel like if it's going to be your basic people's car,
like the douche of O is like the ultimate example where it's like, it's so rudimentary
and like simple, right?
That like even more so than a beetle, but is that too basic?
I don't know versus, you know, and also I feel the beetle is going to have
yeah, the douche of O feels like you can't even hop those up at all really
where the beetle was cool because if people actually raised them as well
and you could like do stuff to them, you know, well, they did raise douche of O's too,
but I feel like it's also like parts availability and access in the U S for us is very limited.
Whereas like beetles, you have access anywhere in the world, right?
Like you're going to be able to find anything that makes it.
Yeah. And they, they raised them, but they didn't raise them.
Like they raised beetles, you know, like, like people hop up beetles like
so many more like soup them up like MP and all these tuners, right?
Like hopping up beetles is like a true, you know, it's a tradition.
It's like hopping up a Chevy, right?
And there's millions. It's so accessible, right?
That's the thing is the availability of all of it anywhere to anybody at any price point.
Like there's like, yeah, that's hard to beat.
I would say if you could go with the utility version of this,
it's like a Land Rover Defender 90 or just the Defender in general and the old boxy,
you know, just utilitarian, but that's not really like a people's car.
That was a dedicated like, you know, farm, you know, military transport type of thing.
So a little different, but I love the simplicity of those and just,
there's like lack of style that gives it style.
I also think the Volkswagen bug had like great ad campaigns,
which added to the coolness factor.
Yeah. I agree. I agree.
Model T, we don't have any frame of reference, unfortunately.
Yeah. I don't think it's very cool.
Petal Commute says, when is Lane bringing back the DWA photo contest?
Maybe Warren and Art could have their own contest categories,
so they don't feel left out.
And he says, Warren, who has the most outdated registration tag?
What? And Art, who has the best wheels or best light upgrade?
So are we saying that I would be taking pictures of your registration tags?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like it.
And Art, best wheels or best light upgrade?
I like it, dude. Yeah, Lane, Lane, when are you bringing it back?
I like playing these games, dude. And you know what? We should do that.
I'll bring it back. Okay, sounds good. Just for you.
Bobby Ruth, the cars says, what's the one tool that every car enthusiast should
have in their garage, but is overlooked by most?
Pocket screwdriver.
Okay. Even if it's a small air compressor, but an air compressor of some kind.
Yeah, that's a good one. It's so handy.
Lane's thinking? Still thinking? He's actually in his garage as we record.
And yeah, I know, and I look around and I see a crash box.
What do we got here guys? Hat press.
Pretty organized in there. A printer. You're looking pretty organized.
There's a pile of stuff. A printer, maybe a can ladder, a ladder. I don't know.
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know, dude. I said the most couch, a couch.
I'll throw one more thing in there. A good tool.
A good light. Like a good little, whether it be on a, you know,
magnetic one that attaches to your hood or like we're just, I have a really good
shop light that you can hook onto stuff, but it's like just small enough.
It's one of those rectangular snap on ones, but it's LED and it's super bright.
It doesn't get hot, you know, like all that, but a good light is so crucial.
Yeah, I agree. The Streamlight Stinger. I put that on a Christmas list.
I might have been this year, but Streamlight Stinger. Did you get it?
I had had it as I was recommending it to our listeners as a gift.
SF Production Gabe says, hey guys, have you been enjoying the new Formula One
regulations and racing action?
Yes. The Suzuki was weird because it kind of exposed some issues with, you know, the whole
super clipping thing, because once they're going full tilt, if they're, you know,
charging, they slow way down. It takes a ton of power away. And that's why
Bearman had that big shunt because there was shunt. There was like a 30 mile an hour speed
differential or something crazy and like in the fastest turn. So that's problematic.
So I don't know. They're going to have to do something about that. Just maybe like when
they can actually do that or deploy and blah, blah, blah and how they regulate that. But
especially there, I understand where it's like in a turn where you're expecting all the cars to
go as fast as possible. And like that's, that's like the most impressive thing about an F1 car.
When they're just taking, when they're going way slower because they're charging and like,
it's, that's not exciting, but I do like the fact that it overall has provided more exciting
racing and there's, it's, there's so many more variables now to consider. I agree with Leclerc's
commentary about like maybe having a different setup or, or, you know, battery maybe not playing
a role in, in qualifying. Like that doesn't make sense to me, right? Like what, because
like for racing, you can be strategic with that kind of thing, but like for qualifying,
you're just trying to go as fast as possible. Like that's, so that that could be something
they could tweak to. They already fixed, they fixed it a little for this last race by like
putting less battery energy, right? So there was, so they could actually use all the power on the,
but yeah, I think, I think if they get off this 50-50 thing, it'll be better.
Use more engine.
Yeah. But yeah, overall the answer for me though is yeah, I'm enjoying it overall.
Yeah. The racing's been pretty good. I saw a British newspaper posted a
ranking of the teams currently and how they're, they're doing and compared to last year and all
this stuff. And it was a, it was a very telling list. Like Red Bull is, you know, in the bottom
five or something compared to their expectations, you know, like how they should be doing and
um, they had, um, uh, who does Gasly race for again? Alpine? Oh, no, he's in, um,
no, he is Alpine. Yeah. Alpine was, was ranked second and they're like how well they're doing
so far. Well, maybe that's like an indexing thing, right? Because it was totally indexing.
Yeah. Cause he was like, he, he, he did extremely well this race. Like he was killing it. Um, so
like that's, that's, I mean, I don't know. Did he went driving the day? I wasn't sure. I don't
remember. I don't, I don't know actually. Yeah. Cause he held off for stopping, right?
Yeah. I'm more disappointed with the broadcast. Like I feel like they're doing, they're doing
something weird where like there's so much focus on the front and they're, and there's
way more like, if there's action elsewhere, they're not capturing it.
Always. Always. It's so bad. It's really weird. Yeah. So that's, that's unfortunate.
And they did do so. Have you guys been watching the, have you guys been watching the right feed?
Yes. Yeah. I can't find it. I found it at the last race and then this race, I could not find
it. Yeah. You go down. So you go down and then you have to go all the way to the right. Yeah.
It's really annoying. So you go past, you go past all of the, the feeds for every driver.
They hide it all the way far to the right. It's the last feed to the right now.
So I was watching the replay full replay, but I couldn't do that. If you go down,
if you're before clicking into it, you, you click feed. There's a, there's a feed button.
I know. And I did it for China. The Chinese Grand Prix. It worked. And then this last one,
I watched it a day late and I did not see that option. Did you sync up your F1 TV with your Apple
TV? Yeah. It's all on Apple TV. It's all there. But yeah. Anyways, so I'll have to, maybe it's
only available for a certain time or replay or you have to watch it live. I don't know. So it
didn't work for me until I synced up my F1 TV with my Apple TV. So that, that's, and then
that's what Kellen said he did as well. And that's why I did it several people afterwards.
I had to sync it up like right off the bat. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's the other feed always is
lacking something, you know, it's just hard to cover it all. But even their replays and stuff,
I was just, yeah, I don't know, change. Recently, I know you probably don't know this art,
but Major League Baseball had their opening night game broadcast on Netflix live,
which it was a first and they just fumbled so many elements of it. I mean, down to the score,
like the little, I forget what they call that thing, but it's the, the little graphic that
has the scores on it and the, you know, the outs and stuff. They like took it away for
a long periods of time, thinking it would be like more cinematic and everyone's like,
what the fuck? What's the count? Like what's going on here? Yeah, dude, Mona Lisa baseball,
am I right? Yeah. Absolutely. I just, I just hear people say, oh yeah, dude, Mona Lisa baseball.
And then they also had like the graphics that are on a green screen that they can
put any graphic on during the broadcast. Like you don't see it on the field, but
and on TV, it shows up and something happened where like the graphic was way brighter than the
rest of the, this field and it didn't look natural at all. And people are, you know, every little
thing was just completely magnified. Yeah, that's, that's very odd, you know, because you think that
like, obviously you don't want to start from scratch with this sort of thing. You hire people
that have experience and that, that you, that you want to like start from, you have a baseline
and then you supplement, right? Or you tweet, but not to like, because yeah, with the F1 feed,
especially the first race, it was really bad. Like there, there, there were no replays like for a
lot of like significant stuff. And then also just not, just focused only on the front and
nothing else. It was, it was very sad. So the weird thing about that is that with Apple getting
the contract, it was supposed to be that it was going to be way better because they have
all this technology, right? And the F1 movie and they're bringing all these cameras in,
it's going to be a way better feed. I think it'll get better because there's probably just
going to be teething issues and stuff, but hopefully they're going to talk to the right people and
Right. Get some feedback. There's a, there's a new technology. I don't know if you've seen
this, they use it in tennis and it's, they're talking about using a basketball and stuff, but
what it, essentially what it is, it's like a, it looks like a light bar like you'd see on a truck,
but there are a bunch of sensors and cameras. So in tennis, they have it at the baseline.
So behind the player and it's this strip of, of sensors and cameras. And then the AI
makes it look as if a camera is following the player back and forth on the, on the screen,
but there's no camera moving. It's just taking all the images at once and then it can like focus
on what parts of the camera array basically. And then, and then they can like computationally
like grab, you know, different areas. Exactly. So with AI, it's able to create a frame that
follows the player and the, and the ball, which is insane. It looks so good and smooth, but I,
I hear it's kind of like basically the scales are getting easier to implement and stuff. So you
could put it in like, you know, at the starting line, there could be a whole like row of cameras
that it looks like a camera is chasing a car, but it's all just taking all, all the information
and then showing you what it sees. It's kind of cool. I don't know. I don't know how they're
going to use it, but that said, one thing that I did notice, I don't know how they, it's just the
way they shot it. It's hard to tell. Like sometimes it's the focal length and then also how they
pan, but they've managed to capture the speed a lot better this year. Like cause like the last
few seasons, they were just like, you know how like you can pan zoom and then like they just
like it's, you can't tell how fast the cars are going cause they're like the way that they're
focused on the vehicles. And so it really makes it look way slower than it is. And this year,
they've managed to capture it and shoot it in a way that it shows a lot more movement and like
it's, and also the speed of the cars, which I really like cause it's way more exciting, but
yeah, just, I think we noticed that first race art when we were watching it and right. Oh yeah,
they have like this, like the cars coming at the camera and it was able to show that like
depth of field better and like how the cars would like approach. Yeah, it's like they're not. Yeah,
it's, it's how they trace, how they follow the cars and all of the, how they track them, right?
Like that has a lot to do with it. But one thing I've, I was, let's go for it. Sorry. Oh no,
so I was going to go for it. Oh, one thing I've heard is, you know, people were saying these
cars are slow and obviously they're slower than last year cause those cars are so evolved. But
I've heard that like these, this last race, they were faster than the last series of cars was in
the first year of those cars. So that gives, you know, that's kind of saying a lot. And then did
you guys notice like I've always been, it's always been hard with the, you know, formula one feed.
They've always done this thing where they'll be like, you know, Karun will be talking or
something all the way and he'll be like, show this replay and he'll be like, you could see here
and they won't be showing anything on the screen and he's just talking and you're not
you're getting the audio from the wrong feed. You're getting audio from sky, but you're getting
the international footage, which I think they use. They use all like they don't have their own
cameras, right? Sky doesn't have it. They have one feed, but then when it comes to replays,
you're not seeing what they're replaying. Yeah. So that has been obnoxious for like that. It's
been like that for years where you're just like, you never see what they're actually talking. They're
like, you could see here he, you know, both of us does this and you never see what they're talking
about. I remember they would do that during red flags where there's a ton of time to fill and
they'd show like the crowd and stuff. But meanwhile they're like, and look at this replay here
during and it's the whole time they're talking about something you can't see. I hope they could
fix that. I know. I know that'd be nice. I think that's like you have to tune into sky
sports like app. Yeah. And then also why do we not just have, why is the default feed not
Brundle and all that? Come on, come on, like come on. Yeah. I'm also so sick of when they,
any action happens where there's like a pass and they're like, and he's made the move and he's
taken the lead and immediately the guy gets repast and you're like, take it easy on your like
definitive. He did it. Finally. It's like, dude, this is an ongoing process here. Yeah,
exactly. Things happen. I just hate that. That's it. Yeah. That's it, man. Ben roger has a question
here. He's saying, what you listening to? Ooh, why am I going to answer for that? You do? I do.
Run fun. Go dude. Go dude. I've been listening. You guys know that I love me some Japanese city
pop from the 80s. Oh, definitely. Famously. So I'm listening to currently to Tomoko Aran
so specifically the album titled who you cook on, which means floating space
from 1983. And there's a song on there called midnight pretenders. Check it out. It's so
fucking good. It is really, really groovy, really catchy. That is my latest obsession. I love it.
My Muyuko Aran for Yuki Naki and midnight run and Mitsubishi, you know, Mitsubishi
Sayonara. That's cool. I was thinking about your art because there's this new, there's this band
that has been getting a lot of hype for better or worse called and Jean de Patrine. Have you
heard of these guys? Really? Holy shit. algorithms and the things that's so mystifying to me because
it's math rock sick. And it's these dudes that dress up in polka dots and masks and the whole
costume. Oh, wait a minute. That I have seen it. I've seen it and it's like black mask with like
white. Yeah, I have seen it. Yeah, yeah. I haven't heard the music, but it's popped up on my feet
like randomly. It's on it's on Apple music, but they've added frets to their guitar to make it sound
worse. Basically, but it's very captivating visually. They have a whole shtick and they've
been doing a long time. They're French, Canadian and they're playing in San Francisco and I was
like, Oh man, that crowd is going to be special. They're in sufferable. I kind of dig it. It's
way more groovy than like some of those other math rock that hearts played where it's just like
static on top of a crunching noise on top of ping pong balls or whatever. That sounds pretty sick.
That sounds like Cornelius, but yeah. So, um, and Jean de Patrini, I'm like, yeah, so I've seen
this, but I haven't heard the music somehow. I think it's popped up on memes, but it hit on my
Instagram hard. All of a sudden, like it was every other thing was stayed on it for a while.
And I definitely did. I definitely did. And it was a, it would show like someone, the meme was
some guy working on the house by me. He's like, I gotta get sht done around the house. And then
all of a sudden this would come on and he's just like glued to his screen. They can't look away.
Oh, okay. It's captivating. Dude. So I just want to let you know that
they're going to play at the ball, the tele, no, the terra gram, not the telegram,
the terra gram ballroom. I'm not making fun of people. That's what it says. Oh, wow.
That's racist. The terra gram ballroom, August 17th, Los Angeles, California, starting at $350
guys. Just tap that hipster nail on the head. They can charge whatever they want. Dude,
I do love it though. It is so weird and quirky that I'm glad it exists.
I'm going to listen to expensive. You know, now it's like a status thing,
like the fact I know this thing. It's like, these guys can dress up, wear a mask,
dude, I can bring some shitty guitar. Lane, Lane, what have you been listening to dog?
Just bomb that sht. Um, I, I have been listening. Um, I guess, uh, last night I was listening
to a podcast. I was listening to rewatchables. Oh, nice. Um, Bill Simmons podcast, rewatchables.
What movie were they doing? And they were doing LA confidential. Oh man. What a good movie. So
it's a great movie. Right. Russell Crowe guy. Yeah. Guy Pierce directed that. That's a great
question. I forget, but uh, that was when they were, that was when they were kind of like
unknowns, right? Absolutely. Actors. And then Kim Basinger was in it, but
she was known, but the main actors were kind of unknowns. Yeah. Basinger. Do you remember that
from a, from a family guys? Oh, no, I don't. It's like a doctor. I love it's one of my favorite
little skits. It's like a doctor comes out and he's supposed to read the like the results for
some tests to Peter and he's like, I'm not sure quite how to say this.
Kim Bass Basinger, Basinger, Basinger, and he's I love those. I love those. Let's see,
directed by. I think it's the guy who did a hand the rocks the cradle. Curtis Hanson.
Say that again. Curtis Hanson doesn't sound familiar to me, but that was a regular. Let's
see what did he do. Hand the rocks cradle. Is he a handsome brother?
Yes, he did hand the rocks the cradle. Is he from the band Hanson? He did not do the
Hanson band, but he did do the river. Oh, dude, most of and dude, eight mile dog.
Eight mile dog. Have you seen that? That it's like that's another one that popped to my feet.
That's is solid. It's like, I think they're stoned. It's like a girl, a girl and a guy.
They're like super baked and they're watching. What's the one with Denzel Washington training
day? Oh, and it's like commentary and then and then he walks and then it's Denzel Washington
walking up the steps to this house and he's like, yo, it's all good. This is my dog's house.
And so, and then and the girl's like, the dog has his own house.
The guy's like just fucking dying and he had to explain. I don't like it.
All right. Well, I got to go to the airport. So this is it. We're doing trivia.
How do you say that song?
That's it. That's all.
It's trivia time. All right. You got one question.
Daniel Craig, who played James Bond most famously is an ambassador for what automotive brand?
Oh shit. I was going to say Omega and then you threw me with an automotive brand.
That's right. I'm going to say Aston Martin because that does make sense.
That does make sense, but no, that is wrong. That'd be too obvious.
I kind of want to go opposite like, because you know, the Japanese will hire these like tough
guys to do like silly shit like so that he like put them in a tutu and fucking dance around a
Toyota Echo or something.
Yeah, but that's the pitch. We got some silly shit for you to do, but it's going to give you
five million dollars. Like, all right, let's do this.
Huh. Damn, dude. I'm going to go. Have you guys seen the meme? It's like I got
stocked when I was in Japan and it's like the, you know, people posting like Shohei Ohtani
posters, you know, everyone because it's just everywhere. Every brand, he's just
every single brand. By the way, that's why he was able to defer his Dodgers,
three hundred fifty million dollar salary is because he has no need for it. It is insane.
How many like you in the middle of Shibuya and every poster is him and every single
and every vending machine, but every picture of him is the same expression as just like
so. This is Michael Jordan level shit, right? That's why like he's like a once in a lifetime
situation, right? Absolutely. And he deserves it. He's the best. He doesn't. He's
unbelievable. So I'm going to go with Nissan because it's weird and they were they've
been been blowing it, but they're trying to come back and I don't know. It doesn't make
any sense alignment wise, but I don't know. Ben works serve now, so they're not. Oh, right,
dude. Oh, Ben's there. So the big things are coming. That's why they hired him. No,
you're on the right track. It's not Nissan, but it's a brand. I'll just throw this at you. It's
going to be a Chinese brand then. No, it's not B. I. D. He's heard of B. I. D. It's not B.
I. D. It's Denza Denza. Oh yeah, Denza the Shenzhen Denza new energy company limited
okay trading as Denza as an automotive automotive manufacturing company luxury plug in electrical
vehicle brand electric vehicle brand owned by B. I. D. Have you guys pay him for that?
Yeah, I would love to know, but it's just him in his smirky little look
and a car like rendering in the background. Not even a real car. I mean, it's it's probably
real, but it's not like he's standing next to it. I mean, I can't really, but you know,
it's one of these situations. Have you guys heard of great wall? I wonder if they're still around.
That's such a great. I think that was like a SEMA. It was like a SEMA thing we saw
like whoa. Anyways, Den Den Zen Denza. Just want to let you know that great wall still exists.
Okay. Denza Washington get in there. Well, now I want to buy a Denza if it's represented by
if Daniel, if James Bond is buying the Denza, which we all know that he drives one daily,
then I should probably get one formerly. He's the new fate. Oh, wait a minute,
Lane. So our warrant. So it's their luxury line. So BID is luxury line is called Denza.
So it is BID that they've just like their Lexus of Toyota kind of thing. You know,
I went to a BID dealership when I was in Japan. They're pretty nice. They're pretty nice.
I mean, the value proposition is very hard to overlook, but I don't know much more about
them. They look fine. They're designed well. The cars look like they're supposed to be really
good for the bang for the buck. They're they're like 40 percent less than their competitors,
but they also aren't playing on an even field. There you go. The Denza Z 9 GT. Are you guys
excited about the Z 9 GT? It's going to be unveiled at the Paris auto show in April.
I love it. Can't wait. Can't wait. All right. It's podcast. We'll see you at the Paris auto show.
About this episode
Santa Cruz’s Driving While Awesome crew recaps a rainy-but-mellow Morning Motors cars and coffee, praising the variety and generally respectful vibe, plus standout rides like a Montego Blue Pearl RX-7, vintage VWs, and an over-the-top modified MGB GT. They also hype upcoming events: a month-out rally with limited camping spots, and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Heritage Invitational featuring a rare McLaren F1 (XP4) and a big vintage NASCAR display. The rest is Q&A (Volvo interiors, “people’s car” picks, garage tools), plus a long detour into F1 coverage and new tech/AI sports visuals, ending with a fun James Bond brand trivia question.
Original notes
Fresh off another awesome DWA! Morning Motors, the three of us talk about the show, RADwood, the upcoming Camping While Awesome Rally, and more.
Thanks for listening!
Driving While Awesome
Lane Skelton, Warren Madsen, Art Cervantes
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47:24