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Ep.305 – Kamui Kobayashi, Pt 2: Not Racing Stories
Ep.305 – Kamui Kobayashi, Pt 2: Not Racing Stories
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About this episode
Kamui Kobayashi shares a captivating ghost story from his youth, detailing a midnight adventure at an abandoned mental hospital that left him and his friends terrified. The conversation shifts to aliens, relationships, and the unique challenges of managing a racing team. Kobayashi reflects on his journey in motorsports, emphasizing the importance of community and connections over monetary gain. His humorous anecdotes and candid insights into life as a driver make for an engaging listen.
Topics:
Formula One
Cars:
Rolls-Royce Ghost
Kamui Kobayashi is one of the most exciting guests that we had this year. Widely considered one of Japan’s greatest drivers, his career has spanned from Toyota’s Junior program to becoming one of F1’s most insane drivers, to eventually becoming a staple of Toyota Gazoo Racing’s prototype where he’s won Le Mans like 100 times, […]
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Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
Car
Rolls-Royce Ghosts
"Yes. Because I haven't seen ghosts. You've seen ghosts."
The Rolls-Royce Ghost is a very fancy car that is known for being super comfortable and stylish. It’s made by a brand that is famous for creating some of the most luxurious cars in the world, and people often talk about it because it represents wealth and high status.
The Rolls-Royce Ghost is a luxury sedan that represents the pinnacle of automotive craftsmanship and opulence. Launched in 2009, it is known for its powerful V12 engine, exquisite interior materials, and a smooth, whisper-quiet ride, making it a symbol of status and prestige. It might be discussed in the context of luxury vehicles or as a metaphor for something elusive or extraordinary.
Concept
Formula One
"...you've had death-defying passes in Formula One."
Formula One is a type of car racing that features very fast cars and takes place on special tracks. It's one of the most popular racing series in the world, with races happening in different countries.
Formula One is the highest class of single-seater auto racing, governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It features a series of races known as Grands Prix, held on various circuits around the world, and is known for its high speeds, advanced technology, and significant global following.
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Camui Kobayashi, part two.
Meow.
All right, we're going to start in five, four, three, two.
We do a pass-along question from one guest to the next.
We don't know who the next guest is going to be.
You're the last one.
But the question we have from today,
we had lunch with Daniel Morad, Mercedes factory driver.
He would like to know, do you believe in aliens?
Yes.
Because I haven't seen ghosts.
You've seen ghosts.
God bless you, Daniel Morad.
OK, tell me about the ghosts.
So we have a spot that the ghost place is very popular.
This is in the hospital, in the mountain.
Because this hospital, obviously,
who had the mental problem, mental hospital.
So this is in the huge, deep mountain.
And obviously, a long time ago, this hospital is obviously
fire.
Many people died.
And it's a mental hospital.
So this is like an asylum.
Somebody not right, they send them away.
It's very popular in my hometown.
Obviously, we can go by school by taking two hours.
Sure.
It's quite far.
So it's basically, it's popular because it's like a.
Everybody say that you can see it.
And we went there in the middle of the night.
You're going there.
Yeah, how old?
I was like 16, 15, 15, it's quite young.
But that's in the midnight.
So actually in the midnight, you can't say,
I'm going to the out in the midnight.
So it just has nothing to do with the night.
You know, take the bicycle and you're going there.
And obviously you're going there.
And I was shocked.
They said the burned hospital, obviously,
it's empty inside.
But there's everything, the bed, fridge.
When you open the fridge, still like injection.
Oh, like needles and stuff.
Wow.
Wow.
When did the fire happen?
It's like 10, from that time, like 10 years ago.
OK, yeah, right.
And wow, this is special.
I didn't expect that.
Yeah, right.
There's nothing left.
I'm surprised you're in it.
Like they didn't lock it up or anything.
You're going to have the middle forest.
I said, you're still up in the fence.
Yeah.
And then you are walking.
This is like second floor building, right?
It's quite actually weak.
I think at least this size or less.
And you're going to the first floor.
Is there still, you know, entrance, you know,
some doctor chair and everything, you know?
OK, I understand.
You go to the second floor, you have the bed,
and then there's everything still left.
And the last one, you can go to the rooftop on the third floor.
And there was like 20 people there.
You know, it was my friend, right?
You walk on the roof.
Obviously, I find, because when you see the 20 people
in the middle of the night, obviously,
you can see really well, right?
And we didn't bring light, really.
So we were like, try to, with this small phone,
you know, like, yeah, no flashlight, right?
Yeah, which is not how you do it.
But it's clearly from there, like, there.
I can see two couples, two couples.
Yeah.
But, you know, in the night, so I can't really see it,
but I found out, what I mean?
Because this is, we are walking on the roof.
When you look there, fuck.
Are they sitting there?
It's not building there.
It's on the ground.
They're floating, they're floating, yeah.
Yeah, two couples.
And then, actually, here, I had a green light.
And I say, I didn't realize that time.
I say, hey, why you have a green light here?
I was talking to the, you know, the ghost.
There's a green light on their stomach.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Why, what was that?
I was talking.
What are you doing?
And then, after five seconds, I realized,
fuck, it's not building.
And actually, they are flying.
It's impossible.
And I, hey, it's ghost, I say.
And every look, they found, are we fucking,
walk down, all the way.
We are running on a mountain.
And actually, this mountain road
were like 300 meters around, right?
We have three running, all the 20 people, shouting.
Yeah, yeah.
When you look, this hill on the mountain,
this ghost is there, there.
Oh, they're still there.
And man, I can't believe.
And then in the evening, we take, you know, a bicycle.
You come down, you're back to home.
You came back like 4 a.m. in the morning.
Yeah.
And you're in the bed.
You close your eyes.
You can't forget.
It's so ghost, yeah.
And the fuck, I couldn't sleep that night.
Yeah, right, right.
And I call my friend, man, I can't sleep, sorry.
Yeah.
I can't sleep.
Me too.
20 people in my friend couldn't sleep that night.
Maybe you can't believe, but I saw the ghost.
Well, here's why I believe you.
Because you've had bullets go past you.
You've had death-defying passes in Formula One.
None of this you ever react to.
But the ghost story is the first time
I've seen fucking get terrified.
This was really terrible.
Yeah, and you're actually scared of this.
And actually, I saw up until that,
ghost is like just story someone made it, right?
Yeah, I've seen it, yeah.
And your friend saw it too, which makes it great.
It is.
And when you're talking about alien, you know?
Yeah, right.
Coming from a different space, I would say, it has to be.
Sure.
Because we only see us as actually big.
But when you look space.
At the universe.
In the universe.
Team tiny.
This small.
Yeah.
So, which means I think when you consider why in this universe
and this Earth is only something we're able to survive.
I can't believe this.
Yeah, right, yeah, I agree.
Do you think there are aliens just here on Earth with us?
Yeah, somewhere, very far.
It's hard to be, for me.
And I think this is like the end of the day.
I think this is quite normal.
Because I think these are the aliens talking about us as well.
Yeah, right, right, right, right, right, right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I like it.
So we don't know who our next guest is going to be.
Could you come up with a random question for them
about anything?
Because it'll be probably a month or two
before we know who it's going to be.
But any random question you can think of for the next.
And it'll most likely be a driver.
But it'll definitely be somebody in racing.
You have another life.
If you have a hall pass, is that what this is?
You're going to marry with the same wife or not?
Well, that's a tough question.
If you could do it over again, would you?
Yeah, it's quite nice, you know, to be honest.
OK, so how about you?
Me?
Yeah.
How did you meet your wife?
Not at a racetrack, apparently.
No racetrack.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.
Somewhere in the restaurant, and we were like 20,
30 people hanging together in the restaurant
because we had a firewall festival.
So this was in Tokyo?
This was in Tokyo, so she's Japanese.
Yeah, yeah, OK.
And we went there with an old friend, 20, 30 people.
And I think my friend's restaurant,
we just booked all the group, you know,
just changed after this firewall.
And we are drinking, eating, and we are just, you know,
smiling, old friends.
And I saw that I think one of the girls was someone invited.
And you know, I saw that this is my wife,
my wife is like, was someone invited,
and that we were hanging together.
But obviously not.
And somehow, because she was sitting behind me,
but I said, OK, let's go because we went to the next bar
after spending like 20, 30 on this restaurant.
And let's go to the bar all together.
And actually, we thought we are in the same group,
so I said, let's go to the next bar.
Oh, so she's not in your group yet.
Yeah, she was not in our group, but she came somehow.
Because I invited, yeah, yeah, yeah.
She's like, this guy's got confidence.
Yeah, exactly, I really like to know.
This guy's crazy, but it's something fun.
I'm glad to go, yeah, yeah.
And she can drink, actually, alcohol.
She cannot drink alcohol, so obviously, you know,
she's very like, always nice with a soft drink, which is good.
And then, as she said, after a tour or something like that,
she had to come back home, OK.
Anyway, we shared a mobile number.
We shared a number, but still, you know,
I don't know this girl, and nobody knows this girl.
She's not your friend, it just showed up.
And we understand, OK, maybe I was invited
to someone different, completely different group,
but anyway, yeah, good.
And then, after half a year, I didn't really
speak any message, nothing with this girl.
Were you interested in her?
Yeah, she was pretty.
And yeah, I didn't contact at all.
Even maybe one year.
I just knew the contact.
You just didn't contact her?
And at one point, I was checking mobile phone, like.
I had too much number, I had to write a lot of number.
And I started checking, you know.
And at one point, I found, where is this girl?
Oh, yeah, this is coming from firewall.
And OK, at least I should send message,
if this number is still available or not, you know.
That is the longest.
And I just send message.
How are you?
Or something like that.
Right, right, right.
Right.
But she's been waiting all the time.
Connecting.
Yeah.
And at that time, I was in the Formula One already, you know.
Oh, I see, a big star.
I was like, all right, when I come back,
let's go to dinner at some point, you know.
I just send message, so I should say something, you know.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Keep in connect.
Yeah.
Let's say we went dinner.
Here, plant seeds.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And actually, she was quite nice.
And then, OK, let's go next time.
But another maybe two or three months.
Sure.
So we keep in like this for three years.
Three years.
From getting the number to date number three was like years.
Yeah.
Wow.
So you must have liked this girl.
I felt quite good.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And you know what I found?
It's all of my ex-girlfriend is obviously everybody drinking.
Oh, OK.
OK.
Oh, cool.
Yeah, OK.
Is that just to put up with you?
Yeah, including me.
How you meet with a girl in the bar, right?
Sure.
Something when you're drinking, right?
Yeah.
This is like kind of community sport.
Right, social, yeah.
Social sport, right?
And when you meet like this, in the end of the day,
when you become girlfriend, boyfriend,
still you drink, right?
And I was a bit fed up with this, you know, like this
community and communication to drinking.
Because in the end of the day, if you are a little bit
angry, you won't drink because you're pissed off a little bit,
right?
And in the end, you end up because when
you are drinking a little bit, and you are getting more
emotional, you're fighting each other,
and you just fed up with this.
Every time, it's the same story.
So how I can get out of this way?
I found I need to find someone who is not drinking.
Who can hold her temper?
Yeah, honestly, this is my first idea.
And then I remember this girl, she cannot drink.
Maybe I try.
This is how I try.
So your wife material is not an angry drunk?
No.
Yeah, OK.
And then, on the other hand, I found it quite cute.
When you're drinking, quite easy to get through other,
you know, to get to connect.
OK, I got it, yeah.
Lube and the deal, yeah.
You never shy when you get drunk.
You can talk to him, you see.
Liquid courage.
It's nice and you understand.
You pretend to be understand, you know, together.
You pretend to give a shit.
You are not drinking.
It's a pain in the ass.
It's so hard.
So hard to get there.
Agreed.
We are the same.
I start to sing.
OK, this is another challenge.
OK, I try.
I try.
I'll really put it in effort.
I never get, you know, like sport.
That's how you get close to her.
Because you can't, yeah.
Even how you shake hands, you know what I mean?
Yeah, yeah.
Jesus Christ.
OK, but, yeah, but so that a girl not drinking is not fake.
I mean, it's not this is fake, but just try to understand.
Sure.
Because at the end of the day, I mean,
you won't have a good partner, right?
And when you consider if you find a good partner,
you can stay for long, right?
And I think at the end of the day,
I think I had always same story.
And I was a little bit fed up for this.
So I need to change something.
And my strategy was, OK, someone
I need to find someone who not able to drink.
Right, right.
Because we will be not fed up.
Did you recognize that after you had met her the first time?
Because you guys were.
Yeah, yeah, I think when I met, I understand.
OK, that's good.
Yeah, gotcha.
So it takes a lot to get you emotional, right?
Like a bullet goes by, you don't notice.
So the only way to get real personality out of you
is to get you drinking.
Maybe.
That's the way you become honest with the person.
That's how you get emotional is you have to have alcohol.
So if you only get emotional with drinking.
It's not really emotional, but it's fun.
It's fun.
OK, about to say, are you like with the F1 racing
when you would have the tequila?
Were you more fun at the debrief?
Two shots is not enough.
Not enough, OK.
You can hold it.
I need more.
I need more.
OK.
What's your go-to drink?
I think I go a lot of tequila now.
Tequila, really?
Interesting.
Is that because of Perez?
No.
To not get fat.
Oh, yeah, it is what it is.
Yeah, it's like zero carb.
Because I think a couple of years ago I was quite
fat, to be honest.
No.
Yeah, I was a little bit.
I was a bit.
And I was drinking like champagne wine,
you know, something like that.
Champagne's low carb.
Yeah, yeah.
And you kept winning races.
Yeah, I mean, still, it's OK in terms of performance.
But you know, to keep in shape,
it's better to not be fat, to be honest.
Yeah, for sure.
And yeah, I think I need to change something.
And I start to change drinking.
In the beginning, I was drinking like
gin tonic, vodka with soda, or something like that.
But still, what I found is, if you are, you know,
putting like, wok soda or whatever,
you drink a lot of amount, because you can drink a lot.
It's not strong.
When you're drinking tequila, because it's short.
You don't really mix it with something.
Yeah, I mean, you're short.
But obviously, after a couple of shots,
you knew that you are getting drunk.
So you can break.
That's why I feel, this is a way to go.
How often were you drinking?
It depends.
Sometimes in the winter, or sometimes when you are all.
And if you have nothing thereafter.
You're right.
I will go drink.
Yeah, Monday night.
Yeah, I got you.
So, but now how often?
Now, I'm not drinking a lot, to be honest.
Is that because your wife doesn't drink?
No, no, no.
Just don't see the point.
No, it's getting so, so difficult to recover properly.
Yeah.
I said, no, it's OK.
I'm pretty happy with a short drink now.
Sure, yeah, I hear.
Cool.
What country has the best food?
Best food.
Best food.
I think, honestly, I think Japan is really good.
In terms of quality.
But, OK, so best food away from home.
Yeah, but, honestly, I like the Italian.
Well, you spent a lot of time.
Very important question.
Best country to s*** in?
US, terrible.
US has the worst.
When you go restock in the US.
Yeah, worst bathroom.
It's like terrible.
Oh, OK.
I think if you go in Japan.
With the water?
Man, shit is warm.
Right.
The seat is warm.
The seat is warm, at least.
It's impressive.
OK, so Japan does the best.
He's like, check this out.
Right, in the winter, it's very cold.
Yeah, right, yeah, yeah.
It's freezing in the winter.
You sit, you know, this toilet seat.
It's cold.
Man, you're struggling.
How are you going to get it going?
Yeah, I understand.
But in Japan, when you sit, oh, you can stay 20 minutes there.
Enjoy the day.
Yeah.
Yeah, have a nice thought.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
Little meditation.
Right.
Do you have a, have you, how many races
or how many tracks have you been to over here?
Here in the US?
Yeah, yeah.
Like, do you have a favorite US track?
No, there's not much.
Yeah, I'm on one.
Sebring, Austin, here.
And, no, never.
Petey, I go to that track.
Rhode Island.
And Wilkins Graham.
Yeah.
What was your first impression of Sebring, the city?
There's a lot of lakes.
A lot of lakes.
Lakes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Don't go in them.
Yeah, man.
In the lake, there's a lot of crocodile.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's a shock.
Did you, so you didn't know there were alligators?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, terrible.
Yeah, yeah.
How did you finally get to see one in front of you?
Yeah, I mean, when you open the door on the hotel,
there's a lake.
Yeah, it's alligators.
The crocodile looking at me.
Wow.
This is quite rare in Japan.
Yeah, yeah.
And even in Europe, I never see the crocodile.
Yeah, yeah.
I thought this is quite rare and when we talk to the guys
in the United States, we say, oh, that's normal.
Yeah, same all the time.
Yeah, right.
Florida.
Yeah, yeah.
That's shock.
We had to pay for watching the crocodile in our country.
No, like at a zoo or like it's an attraction.
Yeah, right.
Yeah, they're just in your back.
Yeah, it's free.
You hit them with your car.
Yeah, yeah, don't go in the lake.
Exactly, yeah.
What is your tattoo?
Yeah, I put the tattoo when I was drunk.
Oh, what is it?
No joke.
It's just my name.
Yeah, my name.
When I was in Thailand, you know,
when I was like 20 years old,
I was drunk with a friend.
And then, you know, I went there.
I put, can you put my name in Thailand?
And I put on the way back to, you know,
Japan by airplane, the Thai air.
I asked, just try this.
Is that how you call this?
Can we?
Oh, OK, this is my name.
Thank you.
You had to get it confirmed.
So this is Thai, so it's Thai writing.
Yeah, that's right.
So just like white people do,
they get their names in Japan or Japanese or Chinese.
You got Thai.
But I know it was a funny one.
One of the fans came to me.
They put his name on Japanese.
Yeah. Oh, no.
Wait, who did it?
Oh, one of the fans.
Yeah, so they thought it like that.
The autograph session.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Hey, come on.
Can you see?
This is my name.
Japanese.
Is that correct?
Oh, no.
Um, yeah, it's like Mike or something.
I don't know.
Oh, OK.
Right?
Yeah.
Yeah, correct your name.
Yeah, it's good.
I'm not sure.
You know what?
You take a picture from inside the camera, the mobile phone.
So it's going, the letter, going to opposite.
This one, print out directly.
So his language was opposite.
His backwards.
Oh, they were backwards.
Like, yeah, yeah, I can read it, but obviously, yeah,
something wrong with it.
Something wrong, man.
Yeah, I think, yeah.
You print out and you copy or something you made wrong
because the opposite.
You actually said it.
Really?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And he was shocked.
That's amazing.
That's amazing.
What's the management part of the job
that you didn't think you would do?
No, I think the management thing is quite simple
because I think most of the things, most of the biggest
part is just make the direction.
To the team what we need to do.
What is the role or the target we need
for each department.
Was there a surprise?
Like, I can't believe we spend this much on food
or I can't believe we, you know.
No, I think at the end of the day, I think
if you become the management, I think at the end of the day,
it's people, how you handle the people.
I think this is the part of job.
But at the end of the day, this part of job
is most important to how you manage the people.
It's not like something you need the technique
for the management people.
How you decide these people you can trust
and you make the relationship with these people
and you have to loyalty to work each other
and to make the team.
I think this is most important.
Is that easy for you, understanding personalities?
No, it's not.
It's not so easy because all the people
who work for us, it's good people.
I mean, who work in the motorsport,
there's a lot of good people, to be honest.
I used to do like when I was working on time,
I think I had a restaurant in Tokyo a couple of years.
And when you have a restaurant,
I think this is the most challenging
to understand the people.
But at the end of the day, this experience,
it's actually using quite well
because when you're working in the restaurant,
the restaurant is not like high salary, right?
Right, right.
And the people are not really high quality
because people are working for the restaurant
because he needs life money.
Yeah, that's not, yeah.
Car racing is a dream.
But if you're working for the motorsports,
they are dreaming to work in the motorsports.
So already on this filter, it's easy to,
we bring the people to perform well.
But if you are working in the restaurant,
why are you here if you work like this?
Ah, because I need life.
I need money for the life.
Yes.
So we say, okay, yeah.
So if you have find something more salary better
with the restaurant, you go, yes, of course I go.
Yeah, right, right, right.
Yes, so if you're organizing this,
this is more nightmare to handling the company.
So when a fan hits play to listen to this episode,
what in, let's say five years,
where will you be in five years?
Next five years?
Like five years from now when somebody hits play,
what will you be doing?
Me, you.
Still same.
Still same, yeah, yeah.
Kicking ass.
You'll be in your 40s, that's really old.
No, I think 43.
Yeah, yeah.
Still okay.
That's okay.
What's too old?
I think 45 is getting the top.
God damn it.
I think getting top.
Oh, getting top.
Not okay.
I like how you backed it up.
Getting top, but still, I need a challenge.
If someone were to listen to this years down the road,
what would you hope they take away as your legacy?
Like what would you hope they think about you?
I don't know, what do you think?
Like you're a hard worker,
you appreciated what you had.
Hell of a delivery driver.
Yeah, yeah.
Afraid of ghosts.
Yeah.
It's hard for me.
It's okay to not care.
I'm not like a sticky person, you know?
I'm not like presenting something special,
but I'm very happy walking someone.
I'm not kidding anyone, to be honest.
I try to enjoy myself.
I try to walk as much as I could do.
And in the end, if we could success,
I think we had good memory.
And in the end, what I found in the life,
in the motorsports, why I feel
very proud to be here.
In the end, I'm here is not for really money
because I'm here defining that the people connecting.
I think this is in the end of the day.
I am proud being part of the motorsports
because if you're walking in the company somewhere,
for example, if you get the same money right now,
if you have the same cash right now,
but if you're walking in the company,
I'd say less community.
Right, okay.
But because of motorsports, I knew so many people.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, I could connect so many people
and I could speak so many people.
Honestly, I think this is the one
of the most important part of my racing career.
Then I earned the money.
I see what you're saying.
So it's important to you to have this big community
of people that you've gotten to work with
and shared this with versus just...
And a lot of rich people are racing.
Not only United States, even Europe, in Japan somehow.
And who earned the money, who made them rich,
people loved motorsports because they're unreal, you know?
Yeah, right, right.
So we have topics to speak.
As a professional driver,
and one of the top businessmen could connect.
I think this is amazing,
but if you are businessmen to businessmen,
even this is not like you are talking
in the same language as a professional driver
and a businessman.
Because like professional driver,
a businessman want to learn...
From each other.
Yeah, you can track each other.
Businessmen to businessmen, it's fighting.
You know, it's not really...
In the end of the day, it's not like we are in the same language.
I see what you're saying.
Yeah, I like that.
All right, well, on that note,
I'd say Continental's got the check.
Checkmate.
Shum, shum, shum, shum, shum, shum.
I'm finished.
I always find it harder to beat
when you're staying close to me.
It's too much, I can't help myself
I always find it hard to believe
And you're still close to me
It's too much, I can't help myself
It's too much, I can't help myself
It's too much, I can't help myself
It's too much, I can't help myself
It's too much, I can't help myself
It's too much, I can't help myself
It's too much, I can't help myself
I always find it hard to believe
And you're still close to me
It's too much, I can't help myself
I always find it hard to believe
It's too much, I can't help myself
I can't help myself
It's too much, I can't help myself
It's too much, I can't help myself
It's too much, I can't help myself
I always want to be part of the way
You don't have to leave me too much
I do know that you are always going to be part of the way
You don't have to leave me too much
I can't help myself
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