Max Maddox, Head of Creative at Donut Media
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[Music]
The Bring a Trailer podcast.
>> Well, hello everybody. Alex coming to
you today not from the Bring a Trailer
headquarters, but instead from the media
center at Laguna Seca, a little bit of a
change of venue, which is exciting for
us. Normally, we're up in our little
office in San Francisco. Joined today by
Max Maddox, head of creative for Donut.
Max, thanks for being here.
>> Happy to be here. Nice to meet you,
Alex.
>> So, you said you are kind of a Laguna
Sacra car week veteran. You've done it a
couple times before.
>> I wouldn't call myself a veteran. I've
been here once for uh car week and that
was last year and I sort of dabbled in
the car week scene. So, I didn't do the
full thing. I didn't go to Pebble Beach.
I didn't go to the Quail, but I kind of
went to some of the ancillary events
that happen around. So, you know, you
get the various houses that the
automakers have. We were here last year
interviewing Horatio Pagani, which is
very incredible. But it's funny actually
just yesterday I was pulling into our
hotel and we're staying at the ranch
over in Carmemell Valley and we were
driving a big Cadillac Vistic which is
their electric SUV and we're kind of
pulling into the valet lot and all of a
sudden this Pagani just zooms in front
of me and I had to slam on the brakes
and who was it but it was Horatio Pagani
himself driving the thing.
>> Amazing. Amazing.
>> Yeah.
>> So you just came back from what sounds
like a rad Corvette drive. You guys are
uh getting to drive some new kind of hot
metal. Is that the stuff that you like
for the most part?
>> Yeah. Yeah, I mean Corvettes and high
power stuff. I don't even know what the
Cadillac is that you just mentioned. I'm
I'm so used to these old cars like this.
>> So, the Cadillac Vistic, it's one size
smaller than an Escalade. It's a three
row electric SUV. Not exactly my primary
interest, I would say, but
>> it's nice. Escalades are sick.
>> It's definitely It was a really comfy
ride up here. Um I'd never driven an
electric car that far, so we had to stop
and charge twice, which gave me a little
bit of anxiety. It felt like we were
kind of on the wire getting here with uh
just a couple miles on the tank, but uh
comfy ride. I will say they're making a
pretty nice vehicle. And
>> is that on the market now or is that
something coming?
>> Yeah, I think you can buy a Vistic right
now if you with a Q. Is that how it is?
>> That's right. Just like the uh what's
the other one?
>> There's a Lyric or something a couple of
those other ones for their electric
cars. A IQ suffix. That's one of the
things we're doing here. So GM is
hosting us and today we also did a
Corvette drive with the new ZR1. So
that's the
>> Excuse me on that car a little bit. This
is the thing that they just kind of
rolled out, right?
>> Yeah. So the C8 Corvette has been in
production for I want to say like five
or so years at this point and so they
started with kind of the base model.
Then you got the Stingray and the Z06.
ZR1 is the one that now has,64
horsepower. Is there electric going into
that or is that all is that turbos on a
It's a quad cam high revving flat plane
motor for That's right. So,
>> and then this is above that.
>> Yeah. So, this is the uh the flat plane
similar to the Z06, but I think they're
calling it the LT7. Okay.
>> Twin turbo and
>> and like 1,000 horsepower,
>> 1,64. And so, no electric assist on this
one. I do have the ZR1X which just set a
Nurburg Ring record uh just a couple
days ago and it's like a sub 7second
Nurburg Green lap.
>> Does is this all-wheel drive or is this
rear wheel drive only?
>> The one I drove is rear wheel but the
electric hybrid one is all wheel. So
yeah, that's amazing.
>> It's a lot to keep track of. A lot of
numbers and honestly a lot of the GM
guys sometimes get jumbled up too cuz I
mean they have so many. They also have
internal code names for all their
course. I can't
>> Have you driven a S8 before?
>> Yeah, I've driven one in the past. So we
drove one right when it came out. It was
the first press car that I ever got to
drive, which was
>> Oh, that's a cool car. Really fun for
me. Took it up the crest and and had
some fun. That was during the pandemic,
too. So, you could get away with like,
you know, not
exactly. And then we drove the -ay a
couple years ago, too, when that came
out, which is all That's the hybrid.
Okay.
>> Somewhere in the middle of the range.
>> Interesting. This notably different.
>> Oh, yeah. The E-Ray is interesting
because you have the V8 behind you, but
you also have the hybrid in the front.
It makes the sound together.
>> Okay. interesting. And I think they do
pump a little bit of the audio in, but
you hear the spooling up of the electric
system that kind of like while you have
the V8. It's a really interesting
feeling. And I I liked it more than I
thought I would.
>> Cool. I've heard that about the third
generation NSX. I've always wanted to
drive one. And I remember there was kind
of press people didn't love the electric
one when it came out, but I've also
heard some people say that, you know,
when those electric motors kind of pull
you out of a corner, it's actually a
pretty cool feeling.
>> Yeah. You don't have any of the lag that
you would normally have with with the
gearing of an internal combustion
engine. And honestly, like I think that
NSX, that third gen, it was ahead of its
time. People complain.
>> Seems like everyone's doing it now,
right?
>> I mean, Porsche is doing it. BMW, I
think Lamborghini has got a hybrid
system now, so it's pretty common place
at this point.
>> Awesome, man. I'm going to get carried
away talking about modern cars. Can you
school us a little bit on Donut itself?
Tell us a little bit. Our community uh
probably familiar with it, but give us
the elevator pitch. Tell us a little bit
about what Donut is or what it is today.
>> Yeah, man. So, Donut Media is uh an
automotive entertainment channel. We
primarily make YouTube videos for uh
younger audience. I would say somewhere
in the 16 to 35 demo is who we generally
make videos for. We've been making
YouTube videos for 10 years now at this
point.
>> That's a pretty significant merch wing
too, don't you?
>> Yeah. Yeah, we a big part of the
business.
>> We also sell clothes. We have a podcast.
Uh we've got a soap now that we sell.
>> Amazing. And uh
>> I was reading about your toys that you
have which was like a Kickstarter or a
crowdfunded thing.
>> Yeah, that's right. So we also did a
it's like a sort of a cartoony model car
and we had done some that were
officially licensed through uh Honda and
Acura and so we had a S2000 as well as
an Integra Type R.
>> Cool.
>> So yeah, we sold those a while ago. We
we launched our Kickstarter. This is
also during the pandemic.
>> It sounds like a pandmic.
>> Oh dude, it was such a pain in the ass.
I know. I wasn't directly working on the
>> stocky is what it's called. I wasn't
directly working on the stocky team, but
man, I just remember all the supply
chain issues that they ran into cuz it
was right around that time and it was
just like
>> horrible to get that off the ground. But
>> what is your background? What brings you
to Donut? Were you like a creative guy?
Always like a media person. Are you a
designer? What's your journey?
>> Yeah, so I've been at Donut for uh six
and a half years now. And I started as
an editor. I've always been really
interested in cars and media
>> and video editing.
>> Video editing. Yeah, exactly. So, I
started a donut as a video editor for
our show, Bumperto Bumper, that first
launched, which is a show that we did
that would do uh features on interesting
vehicles, and it was like very stylized.
We'd pick like really cool cars and we
wouldn't drive them, but we'd talk about
the story, and we, you know, sit in them
and and, you know,
>> talk to the owners, too.
>> Not always. Okay. Yeah. It was more It's
very host driven. So, part of the thing
with Donut is we have five or actually
six main hosts at this point. And we've
had other hosts uh kind of how should I
word this? We've had other hosts
graduate from Donut. We've brought a lot
of new hosts in in the last year or so
and we're very much
>> host to camera for the most part.
>> And are you one of those people or are
you behind the scenes? Are you a mix of
both?
>> Mostly behind the scenes. I've I've done
I
>> You prefer it that way?
>> Yeah. Honestly, I at one point in time I
wanted to be on camera more. I thought I
did at least and I realized it's just I
prefer the art of creating video and
occasionally cameoing and you know I I
was doing our podcast for a little
while.
>> I've listened to you on the pod before.
Yeah. Yeah. And you're obviously a super
knowledgeable and passionate car person.
Do you What does head of creative mean?
Like what does that job entail at Donut?
>> Yeah. So head of creative um in regards
to the YouTube channel, I basically
oversee the creative process from
inception of ideas all the way to the
final product that you see.
>> No kidding. Like even conceptualizing
like yes, we're going to do this show,
no, we're not going to do this.
>> Pretty much.
>> Yeah. So I I work with the people at
Donut to make sure that we're fostering
the best possible ideas and ideas can
come in from anywhere. You know, we have
an open forum for people to pitch ideas.
And um
>> how many people work at the company?
>> I'd say about 30 or so. Yeah.
>> Interesting. And from what the research
I've done, it seems like it's like very
like everyone can pitch an idea, right?
It's a kind of a open market of ideas.
>> Yeah. Exactly. And you know, we really
want to be able to make the videos that
we ourselves want to make at Donut and
from the host, the people on camera to
the directors, which are the folks that
really like move the projects along and
editors and everybody. Like ideas really
do kind of come from everywhere, which
is really cool. But yeah, and you know,
I'm kind of there with every step of the
way to make sure that the videos make
sense for the channel and that they're
just as good as they can possibly be.
>> Yeah. Awesome. Are you guys all in a
room together or you have to do it all
remotely?
>> Uh, it's kind of split. So, we have an
office space in Englewood, California,
right under the LAX flight path. So,
>> no. No kidding. That's like uh
>> Louder or quieter than the race cars
going around right now?
>> A little quieter, actually. This is more
noise than I'm used to, but
>> it's good noises here.
>> I had tuned it out. So, now that you've
mentioned it, I'm more aware of it. Our
CEO Randy is in this run group right now
out in his Mustang. So these are these
are cars that sound good with big high
revs.
>> Man, that's awesome. Yeah, this is my
first time at Laguna Sega, too. It's uh
>> No kidding.
>> Oh man, it's it's really surreal to be
here.
>> Have you gotten to cruise around a
little bit or did you just you just so
we literally finished this Corvette
drive down to Big Su and I'm like
watching the map knowing that I'm
supposed to be here at Luna and I'm
like, "Oh, it's going to take what like
an hour maybe
>> maybe even less depending on how fast we
can drive it. It was like an hour and a
half and we were just stuck in traffic
the whole time and we like showed up at
the gate and I'm already late. I'm like
I don't know where to go. And uh so
>> I feel like we should be walking around
the pits instead of talking here. Are
you a racing guy at all?
>> Uh kind of. Not not not a ton. I mean I
appreciate that motorsport exists, but
it's not something that I follow
religiously.
>> But even if you like cars, it's just so
sick to walk around.
>> It's really cool to see, man. I mean, we
saw some of these race cars just walking
in here, like old Mercedes,
>> the whole history of, you know, there's
a Porsche 804, the only Porsche Grand
Prix car sitting right there. It's like
crazy. 50 feet from where we're sitting,
you know? I've never never seen one
before. So,
>> dude, like walking around Car week or
just being in this environment,
>> you see all like these super cars and
you see, you know, 911s and whatever
driving by 356s, but then
>> you'll just see some like I saw a
British Ford Escort.
>> Oh, yeah. Tell me what are some of the
crazy spots you've had so far? There's a
there's a 356
race car with uh you know like the race
livery. You could tell it was all
patinaed up. Like some guy bought an old
race car and it was just totally slammed
and this dude was cruising it along. I
think that was the first car that we saw
when we drove in. I was just like,
"We're here."
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
>> Um we saw 20 Bugattis drive by today.
I mean, you see stuff you're not going
to see elsewhere. It's amazing. One of
my colleagues just texted me some guys
just cruising around in his F50 using it
as his car, you know.
>> Saw the F50. Great driving. I'm sure
it's the same guy.
>> Top down. Yeah. Amazing. And then you've
got all these jalapes, too. Like you've
got these uh Yes. I don't I don't
>> of Lemons is either today or maybe
happened yesterday. That's an amazing
event. Been through it.
>> All the $500 Well, you know, 500. I
don't know if that's the case anymore,
but
>> What kind of stuff are you into? What
gets you excited?
>> Old Beamers for the most part. I have I
have three old BMWs. So, I grew up with
an E30 as my first car.
>> You're a young man. How old is old for
you?
>> 32 years old. So, uh this would have
been Yeah. 2011 or so. 2010 I think is
when I got my E30 when it was still kind
of like a cheap used car.
>> Six-cylinder car, four-cylinder car.
>> Yeah. Six cylinder. So, it's a 325E. So,
it's the ET. Oh, yeah. And I had that uh
man, my dad bought me that car for $200.
>> Amazing.
>> In 2010.
>> Amazing.
>> Uh it was pretty rough for a while. And
I daily drove it through high school. Uh
after I graduated college, it kind of
finally
>> graduated to project car and I was able
to start messing with it. And so, I've
just done everything under the sun of
that. Yeah. 15 years later, I do I do
still have that car.
>> Is it pretty modified or is it still
>> at this point? Yeah. I mean, it's full
suspension wheels, Euro kit. I like to
collect really rare body kit parts for
it.
>> Oh, interesting.
>> I got this like I got this kind of like
a ground effects kit made by Hela who
companies. No kidding.
>> And as far as all the research I've done
indicates, they only made 20 of them
>> in period. This is like an 80s kit.
>> Yeah.
>> No kidding.
>> Just the front. Yeah. Just the front
part.
>> Look like an Mtech body kit or
>> It's like an MC. It's lower. It's kind
of like a BBS meets an Mtech. So, it's a
little bit lower than honestly anything
I've ever seen. And uh I even I
contacted Hela cuz it has a part number
on it. It's got their logo and a part
number.
>> It's just the ear dam or it's all the
way around. It's skirted and everything.
Okay. All right.
>> They didn't have any record of this part
ever existing. No kidding.
>> They couldn't tell me anything about it.
Amazing.
>> So, I'd love to know more if anybody is
listening and knows about the Hela front
air dam for the early Euro E30. I'm
dying to know more about it. I still
have it, but I I took that off cuz it's
like so rare that
>> Yeah, you don't want you don't want to
be the guy that ruins the one of 20
piece.
>> Totally. There may have been one on BAT.
This is the right community to ask. The
E30s are out in force.
>> Absolutely.
>> Uh your other old BMWs are E30s as well.
>> No. Uh I have an 8 series as well.
>> No kidding.
>> A50i
12speed.
>> No, it's not a six-speed, but what's
interesting is that it's a Japan import.
>> Okay. So,
>> sold new there.
>> Sold new in Japan.
>> Left-hand drive. Still
>> left-hand drive.
>> Yeah, that's interesting. A lot of those
cars when the yen was up like and
they're all coming back now were
left-hand drive but people took them to
Japan
>> which was interesting. I didn't I didn't
realize this. We like JDM cars cuz they
right-hand drive and it's kind of fun
and like quirky that you get to drive on
the wrong side. They thought it was
pretty sick to drive on the left side.
These big baller businessmen in the '90s
when they were in their like you know
bubble era uh you know buying crazy
German cars and that was a flex for them
to be driving the Eurospec one. So I
don't know who owned it. I don't know
anything about it. modified at all?
>> Well, yeah, I I did some wheels, but it
wasn't modified in Japan.
>> No.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah, it's a slick top, too. Factory,
which you don't really see with those,
so it's it's pretty cool. Low miles. Um
>> color
>> silver. Yeah.
>> Fantastic.
>> That's a great car. It's a fun car.
>> I have not driven one of those in a
million years. They're wonderful. They
have kind of a big solid awesome feeling
to them.
>> Yeah. It's one of those cars that I I
think is just visually one of the
coolest looking cars.
>> Beautiful cars. and to I got a really
good opportunity to buy this. Uh,
actually Donut got acquired a couple
years ago and the company that acquired
us just gave us this car. No kidding.
>> And it was already imported.
>> It was already imported and our shop
manager Adam went through the process of
actually getting it California
registered and everything. So, I don't
know how we did it, but it has
California plates on it and it is a it's
a legit drivable car and we didn't have
a purpose for it. And we were like
getting pressure to sell a bunch of cars
cuz we were running out of parking lot
space cuz that is an issue in LA. So I
was like I'll buy it and so I bought it
from Donut.
>> You drive it a fair amount.
>> Not too often. Okay. No, I I don't drive
it too often. And it's one of those car
to bring to Laguna on the five on the
way up here.
>> I think that car would think about
Laguna cars like what's a good car to
drive up to car week and that would be a
fun one.
>> Well, it's pretty cool seeing what all
the you know you got groups of kids now
that are just like filming the cars
drive by. I think that's one that would
probably do well
>> next year.
>> Actually, maybe. It's one of those cars
that every time I drive it, I think
something's going to break. Like I don't
roll the rear windows down at all
because And they work, but I don't want
to find out what happens if they don't.
>> You think you'd have a high tolerance
for that if you're a guy who likes old
BMWs,
>> dude. I've changed too many window
regulators. Window regulators. Totally.
>> It is called trauma.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Does that
mean you've owned an E36 or No.
>> No. But I've changed plenty of those on
E36.
>> No, I Well, I've helped friends change
E36 regulators for sure. Um and then my
other one I have a 540i E39 Touring.
>> Oh, very cool. So, those are fantastic
cars.
>> Yeah. And that has been my daily for the
last 5 years.
>> Well, maybe I think I I heard you
talking about this on a podcast. I think
maybe I heard you also express fear that
something's going to break on that every
time you drive it.
>> I currently have two windows out and the
sunroof doesn't work and the rear hatch
doesn't open.
>> So, it's uh and that's like with me
changing them
>> deferred maintenance. That happened to a
lot of old BMWs, right? For that's why
so many of them were cheap for so long.
>> Well, you know what the problem is, too?
It's like all the window regulators fail
and I just keep throwing rock auto
window regulators in there thinking like
it'll be fine for a little while. It's
not worth it. And this is my message to
you, the listener. Just get the OEM
window regulator. It's worth it.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Fix it once. Buy once,
cry once. Uh do you have other
interests? Uh cars outside of BMWs? What
else? What else gets you excited?
>> I've always liked Porsches.
>> Okay. Were you part of the $850 BAT
Porsche purchase? Was that part of one
of your deals?
>> Oh, I am absolutely I'm absolutely a
part of that. I I'm the one who decided
to bid on that. Okay, great.
>> And uh decided that well honestly so
context $850 911
>> from Dennis Collins, our guy Dennis.
Yeah. I saw it on Bring a Trailer and
I'd been following it and I you know
it's sort of like you know that'll
probably go for like four grand cuz I've
seen 911s of that condition sell for
more than they should frankly.
>> And he did a pretty hilarious
presentation on it too which was
>> Yeah, he did a great job. He made a
really funny like driving video was on
the back of a trailer and you, you know,
you measured the paint depth and
everything and uh I don't know. I was
just following it.
>> There were 5 minutes left and it was
still kind of hovering around that $750
range. So, I'm like, you know what?
Let's do it. $850 and the clock ticked
down and I was like, I've never bid on a
car and bring a trailer before. Um, that
anxiety set in and then it said that I
won and I'm just like, okay, well, now
I've just bought this broken Porsche.
Did you have a plan for it or anything?
This was just in total impulse.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> Um and then once I did that, I called
Nolan Sykes, our editorinchief, and was
like, "Hey man, I just bought this
Porsche. What do you think? You want to
do a video on it?" And he's like, "Yeah,
let's do it." So we went to Texas,
picked it up, and made a little video
about buying the World.
>> Hang out with Dennis a little bit.
>> Yeah. He showed me the He gave me the
tour of the compound and uh walked me
through the legacy of this car, which
has been through it. It's
>> What are you going to do with it? Can
you reveal that? Do you have a plan?
>> Yeah, I mean I so far we haven't done
anything to it and I'm a little bummed.
We just haven't had the bandwidth.
>> Um
>> we publish two
>> You guys are hustlers, man. Watching you
and your colleagues. I couldn't do it.
>> We publish two videos a week on our main
channel in addition to, you know, we've
got a couple of other uh channels that
make content and the podcast, but um
we've been doing a lot of really
buildheavy content. We have a a big road
trip series we've been planning for
that's currently shooting and literally
have not had the bandwidth to do
anything to this car because of the
extent of work it needs. So the state of
it right now we we had um
>> but our ideas
>> cruising around ideas. Here's what I
want to do aesthetically change nothing.
It's like the roof is caved in the
fender's crushed.
>> It's got BBS wheels on it, doesn't it?
>> It's got BBS wheels. Yeah. Like the
epsilon looking wheels. Yeah.
>> Yeah. I want to leave it aesthetically
like that, but I want the frame
straight. Yeah, of course.
>> And basically just bolt on a running
drivetrain and drive it around looking
exactly like that. So, I'm thinking, you
know,
>> a Porsche drivetrain or something else.
>> I think because the nature of how cheap
it is, we kind of we're treating it as
the Porsche for the people.
>> Yeah.
>> Whatever we can do, right? Like if we
stumble across a cheap Porsche
drivetrain, sure. But also, I'm thinking
like other flat sixes that might
>> totally
>> be able to plug in.
>> Uh I think I'm remembering this
correctly. Somebody put a Harley V twin
in a Porsche shell one time for Lemon's
race. There's like weird stuff is cool,
too.
>> Why? A Predator engine from Harbor
Freight. I don't know. Anything. I just
think the idea of And by the way, queen
title.
>> So, totally.
>> Dennis Collins gave us a license plate
for it cuz for whatever reason, because
he's a Texas dealer, he's able to issue
one. So, that it was technically street
legal for about 3 months.
>> CD Jeep. Yeah, those guys are legit,
man.
>> But I just love the idea of driving it
around here. I think it would probably
lemons. It would be perfect, man.
>> Yeah. or even just like, you know, down
the main drag in Monterey where all the
supercars are. I think it would break
some necks for sure.
>> It would be really fun. It would be
really fun. What are you doing? What's
the road trip content? What's that
coming up? What car are you doing that
with?
>> Um I can't reveal too much about it cuz
it's but basically um it's going to be
our flagship series for the year.
>> Okay, cool.
>> For 2025.
>> Yeah. Okay.
>> For this year. So, it's coming out uh Q3
Q4. And it's going to be a teambased
challenge. And I can't say too much more
beyond that, but it's going to be
really, really fun. All of our hosts are
involved in it, too. So, generally
speaking, our videos will be led by one
or two hosts,
>> right? It's one kind of a show theme and
a host, right?
>> Yeah. But, so what this is kind of like
the Avengers of all of them coming
together. So, it's really exciting.
Massive production. They're covering
most of the continental United States.
We're going to be driving coast to
coast. So, it's uh it's a pretty big
deal.
>> Sex.
>> The road tripping is the best.
>> Yes. Which is something we haven't done
a lot of until recently. But, yeah, it's
really fun and something we've wanted to
do for a long time.
>> You guys have done other builds, too.
What are some other highlight builds
over the years?
>> Yeah, we have a build series called Hyo
where we take two identical cars. So,
for example, the first season we did
Nissan 350Z's. One gets modified with
cheap parts and one with expensive
parts. And so, we follow the saga of
each car and we compare the parts along
the way. So, that we've got low car,
which uh you know is the car of the
people that everybody loves, versus high
car, which is built money, no object. Uh
and yeah, we compare the differences
between the parts and we find out if
more expensive is more better.
>> So what are the findings?
>> Generally speaking, that is the case,
but low is always kind of the scrappy
underdog that you want to win. And there
are definitely is always always cases
when uh you can get away with spending
less money is generally the way it
works.
>> Well, that's interesting. That's like a
public service almost that you're doing
there, right? If like where can you
>> save a little bit money and where should
you not save money, right?
>> Exactly. And so, uh, yeah, we've had
some interesting findings. And honestly,
you know, what we find is
>> probably the imaginary midcar would be
the one you'd want to do cuz you don't
need to
>> ball out, but you also don't need to go
bottom of the barrel. But it's it's
pretty fun. And we've done,
>> man, four or five seasons of high low at
this point. So, we've done the Z's, we
did trucks, we just did a Mustang S550s,
uh, we built into drag cars, which was
very cool. Uh, Subaru WRXs as well. So,
yeah, that's a really fun series. Uh,
>> is that your personal favorite? Is that
your favorite thing to work on?
>> I mean, Hy Low is very high production
value. It's very expensive and usually
we have to have a title sponsor to make
it happen
>> cuz you got to buy the expensive parts
too, right?
>> But, uh, we have another build series
that we just did called Unclapped where
our host Tristan
>> he bought the most clapped out Scion F
FRS that he could find. I'm talking like
failed widebody just like peeling paint,
that kind of thing.
>> It's basically an abandoned build. And
the premise of the show was he was going
to unclap the car and redo it, but with
intention doing it the right way. So he
took this car, he actually finally has
just finished it in the last couple
weeks and turned it in from this Derelch
FRS into it's supercharged. He painted
it himself. It's got this beautiful body
kit, but um yeah, it's beautiful now. I
mean, it's like absolutely night and day
before and after. And I really like this
series because Tristan has poured his
heart and soul into doing it. And he's a
new host, too. So, this was kind of the
opportunity for like, hey, this is
Tristan's show we're going to give him.
And he killed it, man. I mean, he's just
absolutely saved this thing.
>> And with the build, you're really kind
of showing you can pour your personality
into it, right? Like the build ends up
showing what kind of stuff you're into
almost what kind of a person you are.
>> He put a GameCube in the trunk.
>> A carbon fiber trunk, by the way. So, we
did a whole thing where we put carbon
fiber stuff on it and then immediately
screws a TV in the bottom of it so that
he can play the GameCube. It's pretty
cool. Uh, I love that car. We also built
a little rider Miata.
>> It's like a retro Pimp My Ride almost.
>> It It is honestly very Pimp My Ride.
It's the closest we've come.
>> Are people nostalgic about Pimp My Ride?
Is that a thing that's happening
already?
>> Y2K nostalgia is here and I think you're
going to see like vintage spinners
hitting the market at pretty high prices
now. Totally. And I think uh in terms of
the used car market,
>> now is the time to invest in that. Like
>> 2000s is our most popular era. Like we
have the most listings from the 2000s on
BAT and it's like where most of the heat
is right now. Yeah, it's interesting.
>> That doesn't surprise me.
>> End of analog era a little bit. It's
like last cars before screens and manual
transmissions. Not everything's
turbocharged yet.
>> I think a good indicator is that the
youth are no longer really shooting
film. They've transitioned over to like
mid2000s digital cameras and that sort
of like post Y2K tech era. And we're,
you know, like the Motorola Razors and
everything. 100%. That is starting to
become the nostalgia right now.
>> There's some phones did crazy things
back then. I lived through that, man.
I'm 42, so I remember all that.
>> Yeah. As you were there. So, I think a
lot of those like Escalade EXT dubs and
>> like the Escalade Ext. You're not
supposed to admit that out loud, but
I've always liked
>> I have a feeling you're going to see
Nissan Morono cross cab relays start
appreciating.
>> Our staff's talking about them.
>> Yeah.
>> You kind of monitor what your staff is
talking about for what's cool? What's
the average age? Are you an old man at
Donut?
>> No. Well, I'd say probably like
>> I think we're we're mostly in our 30s at
this point, but you know, and I think we
were probably in our late 20s on average
5 years ago. So, you know, I should say
we've got some younger people in the
building now, which is interesting.
Like, uh,
>> yeah, drag a 23-year-old in there. What
are they excited about?
>> Pablo, who's over there at the Yeah,
Pablo is in his early mid20s, and it's
so funny cuz his like
>> his perspective is similar, but very
different. Like the way he views an E36
is so much different than the way I
always view an E36, which is that
>> that would be like a 2002 for you or
something, right?
>> Yeah. Honestly, dude, I mean, or
something like that, like an E21, maybe.
I don't know. Some
>> E21s. The unloved 3 series. You ever
thought about messing around with one of
those? Those are cool cars. They were
undervalued for a long time.
>> There was a neighbor that I had growing
up who had one that was just parked
outside and I just always thought about
like knocking on his door and making him
an offer. They need a little help cuz
they've got the big ugly bumpers on.
>> Yeah, you put the Euros on there and I
think you just do an M20 swap and you've
got yourself a very nice sleeper car
that
>> people of them. They're another one of
those cars that got cuz of UE E30 guys,
they got all the Ricaro seats and
gearboxes ripped out of them for many
years, right? So that everyone could
swap them into O2s and into other stuff.
>> The E30 community ruined a lot of very
good cars.
>> Yeah, all the Vaders and S52. I have an
S52 in a lot of E36. Oh, do you really?
Oh, that's sick. That's That's a really
good swap. I think
>> it's I had never driven a swapped E30.
>> I'm not a huge fan of four-cylinders and
E30s, so I actually think that's the
right move.
>> Yeah, I I had only ever driven my E30
with the M20 and then I got uh our old
host James basically gave me his engine
because he got a new one that we did a
video on and
>> an S52.
>> S52. Yeah. So, he upgraded from an S52
to an S54. I got the hand-me-down S52
and uh it was my first time driving a
swap D30. I'm like I hope I like it.
>> Yeah, I liked it.
>> Pro. Yeah, for sure. Awesome. What else
should people know about Donut? You want
to talk about other series? What other
things should our community know about
what you guys are doing?
>> That's such a good question. I like your
roof sweater, by the way. It's amazing.
>> It's legit and authentic and period. Our
listeners can't see that, but I'm
wearing green roof. Green roof sweater.
Yeah, I saw this. This was a I think
High Snob did a collab with them and I
saw it and I liked it. And you know
what's funny about this sweater? I was
wearing it once in public and a woman
came up to me and she said that she
thought this sweater complimented my
complexion very well and it was one of
the first times I've just been
approached by a random stranger. Uh
>> that's great. Well, you are a handsome
man and that sweater does look good on
you. So that's great. Little yellow bird
on there. I love it.
>> Yeah, it's got a little little yellow
bird guy on there, too. So um yeah, I
mean as far as donut goes, I mean you
guys have a tremendous number of YouTube
subscribers. Incredibly jealous. So,
we're over 9 million subscribers now.
And uh it's been a really interesting
year for us. You know, we've had we've
had
>> talk about where you stand. Talk about
your community a little bit, right?
>> That's one of the things BAT and don't
have in common is we got to think about
this audience of all these people that
are looking at what we're doing.
>> So, we had a little bit of an audience
departure a year ago because some of our
hosts left. You know, James, for
example, Zack, Job, and Jeremiah, they
were some of our main hosts and they
left to
>> They go way back. I met them at one of
the very first Radwoods many, many years
ago.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So they left to start
their own channels, which you know, I'm
super stoked for them and we're still
friends, but um you know, a lot of
people were kind of like, you know what,
I want to go watch them instead. So this
last year has been us introducing new
hosts to the channel and kind of
figuring out something new, and I'm
really excited about the stuff we've
been making. I was
>> say, has that been exciting journey for
you?
>> Extremely. Yeah, we've got this uh
Jimmy, who actually worked at Donut for
longer than I have, but he's new on
camera now. Uh he went to Japan earlier
in the year, and he did a ride along
with these um street racing civic
drivers on the Osaka Loop. Wow. And he
just did this whole deep dive into this
crazy subculture in Japan. And it's been
our most successful video in the last
like I want to say two or three years.
It's just uh it's really really struck a
nerve with people.
The utes they're interested in Japan.
>> Yeah. I mean, it's cool. Japan
colleagues are always trying to get over
Japan. They love JDM cars and
>> Yeah. We we did a build series on a
Civic also a while ago. It was a $500
Civic and the premise was we would put
expensive parts on it. And at the end
>> what era Civic?
>> Uh EG EG hatch. And we would put uh
expensive stuff on it like spoon brakes
and like uh we did a K2A swap and ITBs
and you know full interior.
>> Please tell me you didn't end up hitting
that car.
>> No, I love that car. That's one of I
think that's the best car we've ever
built. Like straight up function.
>> The Civic Type R is the original ones
that just became legal here. That's like
a dream car for me.
>> Yeah. No, it wasn't the uh I think like
the what the EK9 or Civic Type R. The
idea was, can we make a better car than
the new Civic Type R by spending the
same amount of money and putting it into
an old car? And our findings were, it's
really hard to make a good car, and the
new cars are very, very good. But our
Civic is sick.
>> As much as I love the old Civics, my dad
had the, you know, classic SI EM1 coupe,
right, that they sold, and I we put
400,000 miles on that car, and I loved
it. Uh, but I have a relatively new
Civic SI as my daily driver. And the old
cars, they're delightful, but they are
kind of tin cans. The new ones are just
really nice cars.
>> I picked my mom uh up from the airport
in this EG before we modified it. So, it
was still a $500 Civic at the time of
stock.
>> It had 400,000 miles, faded paint, and
the reason I was driving it was because
I don't think I had a functional car at
the time, and I'm like, I just borrowed
it from my parking lot,
>> picked her up, and drove her across
town. And it was uh it was pretty
embarrassing, but
>> but I had 400,000 miles on it. They're
tanks, man. They're great cars.
>> That car turned me into a Civic
>> liker.
>> I'd call myself a Civic liker. I don't
want to call myself a Honda boy or
anything like that, but I really gain an
appreciation for those cars and I
understand why they got the reputation
they did. They are sick and they're like
Legos, too.
>> Yeah. You put all the little parts into
them and they're
>> those motors are super fun. Have a lot
of character. So, that's awesome. Uh
what else? What other shows you got?
Anything you want to tease? Anything
coming up that's exciting? When is this
podcast coming out?
>> Uh, next couple weeks.
>> Okay. I think by the time this podcast
comes out, we will have another big show
currently airing, which is one of our
hosts, Justin, travel across the entire
continental United States on back roads.
>> Oh, sick. No interstate. Is that the
idea? It's all is as much off-road as
possible.
>> Oh, off-road.
>> Offroad. Off-road. Back roads
>> in a truck or a modified car?
>> A Subaru SVX.
>> Oh, I love SVXs. He has owned this car
for god knows how long. And um
>> still have an automatic transmission in
it or did you swap?
>> No, it's swapped. Yeah, it's a swapped
car.
>> And he put a lift kit on it. Basically
turned into a safari car.
>> Oh, safari.
>> Safari with metal bumpers, lift kit, big
tires, snorkel, and yeah, it's a
four-part series which uh
>> coast to coast.
>> Coast to coast, east to west, starting
in North Carolina and ending up in uh
>> How was the car? Was it pretty reliable?
>> Uh I mean, Justin has a reputation for
breaking things. And it was not a drama.
>> Had a couple issues with it.
>> Really what it came down to was uh the
car was reliable, but the aftermarket
stuff like the suspension for example,
we broke one of the coilovers and had to
have another one sent in. I think there
were probably some axles that
drive sha. Yeah. A lot of roadside
fixes. So ep absolutely epic journey. Uh
and we we're releasing all four episodes
in the span of one week, which isn't
something we typically do, but we really
think it's like we're going to make an
event out of it. And if that's out by
the time you're listening to this, I
would highly recommend.
>> I'm definitely going to check it out
when it comes out. I'm excited. I love
stuff like that. I think a lot of
YouTube viewers, myself included, I love
Roadkill. I like, you know, people want
to see you guys suffer a little bit,
right?
>> Unfortunately. Yeah. Yeah, the more
miserable our guys are, the the more uh
>> people enjoy the content. But um
something also kind of related to to
watching Roadkill and everything is um
TV viewership is really high right now
for YouTube and we've been making
content with the idea of people watching
it on TV. So it's it's not so much like
the you know like Mr. Beasty type
content you'd watch on your phone or
anything like that. This is basically
>> a television series or a movie even of
of this. you could sit down and spend
two hours watching this whole thing, you
know, over the course of a couple days
all in one staff will be doing so and
we'll be enjoying it. That's rad.
>> It's a really cool series. So, yeah, I
definitely recommend that.
>> Awesome. Well, what else, man? What are
you going to do this week? What do you
want to see?
>> Big week. Yeah. So, um
>> I know you guys are busy as hell.
>> We had the Corvette thing today, which
was very fun. Also a crazy car. I mean,
that ZR1, you know, we're talking about
a 1000 horsepower and a car that cost
>> is rear wheel drive only. Yeah,
>> that's got to is that that's got to be
the highest horsepower for a rear wheel
drive car, street car only, right?
>> Until you get into like
>> cuz most horsepower things are like
four-wheel drive or they're hybrid with
a electric motor on the front.
>> I think I think when you're in hypercar
territory, there might be a couple of
other ones that might eclipse it, but
for the price range and I think these
things retail like just shy of 200 or
something,
>> which is a slamming deal when you think
about it for
>> it's incredible. It shouldn't be that
easy to drive it. And I think what
scares me about a car like that is in
order for it to feel dangerous.
>> You're going like 115 or something. I
mean, it's like
>> I think about that all the time. Even my
freaking Civic, I'm like, I can't
believe they just like send people out
with modern cars. I I grew up driving
really old cars. So, for me, anything
modern that's kind of
performanceoriented is pretty freaking
fast.
>> Uh especially if you get them out on a
back road. And it's amazing that you
don't need any special training or
anything. They'll just toss you the
keys.
>> Same driver's license where you can
drive that 400 thousand mile Civic is a
>> Yep.
>> jump into the jump into the brand new
crazy Corvette.
>> I mean,
>> God bless us. But
>> I know. Yes. Real freedom. I love it.
>> Um, other than that, you know, I am
going to do uh there's a Cadillac reveal
that we're going to tomorrow and just
trying to bop around the quail and soak
it all in.
>> Absolutely. Try to go downtown Carmel if
you can. Just watch the crazy guys with
supercars buffing around themselves.
A lot of the stuff here I find that's
fun is the free stuff where you just
watch people just kind of Oh my god,
that's a crazy car that's going by. So
anyway, I hope you have a little time to
soak it up.
>> Yeah, we're going to definitely have
enough leisure time, I think, to enjoy
the scene. What about you? We got
anything big going on?
>> We're going to go over to the Overcrest
thing tonight, which is uh there are
buddies that are doing a little thing up
in Carmel Valley at a winery. We were
talking about wineries, I think, before
we started recording. Everything's at a
winery here.
>> My colleagues are racing here. I just
told you our CEO Randy is racing a
Mustang. another colleague Howard's
racing a Porsche car. So try to do that.
Usually we have an event here. We've
done one gosh for the last six or seven
years in a row. I would love to have you
guys at one if we do it again here at
Laguna and we bring a bunch of what we
call BAT alumni car. People who bought
cars on the site. We invite them out.
They get trackside parking, free tickets
to the race and we come out, we feed
them.
>> Cool.
>> If you ever gone to race tracks, it's
always hard to find shade, water and
seats. So we try to provide that for
people who bought cars on the site.
>> Yeah. Cool.
>> Bring them out here and hang out. you
don't have that this year. So that means
I actually get to bop around a little
bit and go see some stuff. So
>> enjoy the freedom.
>> Enjoy the freedom. Couple colleagues up.
We're gonna record a couple other pods
and yeah, just enjoy it. Soak it in.
>> That's awesome, dude. Hell yeah.
>> Well, I'm I'm excited to be here and I'm
going be back next year, too. Oh, also,
this is totally unrelated. So, I bought
a new daily driver recently. The wagon
is kind of probably going to get phased
out of my fleet cuz I just bought a
Cayenne diesel which uh is something to
look out for for me uh if you see me on
the road cuz I'll be driving that.
>> Dang, that's cool. What do you think? I
God, I haven't driven a Cayenne forever.
I've been ripping around Macons a little
bit and I love them. But what do you
think about it?
>> Uh well, I bought it for a very good
price.
>> A V6 turbo diesel. Is that what it is?
>> TDI. It's a dieselgate TDI. Okay.
>> And this is a 2013, so it's a second gen
Cayenne, a 958.1.
And I bought it very cheaply because it
does not run. So, I wish I could tell
you how I like it, but the high pressure
>> is that content. Is everything content?
>> No, this one's for This one's for me.
>> But yeah, I need to basically
>> clean and replace the entire fuel system
cuz fuel pressure or the uh I guess the
high pressure fuel pump exploded, which
is a common issue with these. And a
dealer will charge you $25,000 to fix
it. And I think I can do it for 1,500
bucks with the Rock Auto Parts.
>> These have ura injection. Do you have to
have that on these or these run cleaning
up without that?
>> For Sorry, what is that? Uh some of the
late diesels you had to inject a
chemical into the exhaust to keep them
clean.
>> Oh, you're going to do the deaf?
>> Yeah. Are you going to be able to get
this to pass California?
>> Yeah. This one's going to be pretty
stock I think for now and we'll see. You
know, I know there's tunes and
everything, but I'm a little nervous
about messing with it at this point. I'm
not trying to roll coal on anybody, but
I just I've always liked uh Porsche SUVs
in general, and I want a comfy daily
that I can just uh you know,
>> this is going to be a street car, or you
going to do a little off-roading with
it, too?
>> I'm going to do a little lift. I'm going
to do some tires and
>> a lightly modified camping on the roof
like
>> I might turn into that guy. I you know
there's a very high
>> there's a slippery slope I think a
little bit back
>> very high possibility pretty soon you're
going to be a death valley living on the
roof of your Porsche.
>> Absolutely. And my girlfriend has a
lifted Forester that we did a whole
build on and we did like put wheels and
tires and overlanded it out. So yeah,
we'll probably be hitting uh Alabama
Hills pretty soon with that. So
>> love it down there. I grew up in SoCal.
I miss it down there, man. Awesome. Any
parting shots?
>> Parting shots? Um no. Check out Donut.
Follow me on Instagram.
>> What's that?
>> Maxmatics.
>> Great.
>> Um,
>> we can link to all that too in our post.
>> Cool. That's That's all I got.
>> Awesome, dude. Thank you so much for
doing this. I know it was a little bit
of a struggle to get over here. So,
>> no worries, man. Everything's a struggle
in uh around here, but it could be
worse. There are worse places to be
stuck in traffic, so thanks, dude. Of
>> course, man.
>> And thanks everyone for listening, and
we will catch you next time.
[Music]
About this episode
Max Maddox, head of creative at Donut Media, shares insights from his experiences at Laguna Seca during Car Week. He discusses driving the new Corvette ZR1 and the Cadillac Vistic, highlighting the differences between electric and traditional performance cars. The conversation also dives into Donut Media's evolution, including new hosts and popular series like 'Hy Low' and 'Unclapped.' Max reflects on his personal car collection, including old BMWs and a recent impulse buy of a $850 Porsche, while emphasizing the community aspect of automotive culture.
Original notes
Alex sits down with Max Maddox, the new Head of Creative at Donut Media, at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca during Monterey Car Week 2025.
With an aural background of vintage race cars on track and fresh off a test drive of the new 1,064-horsepower C8 Corvette ZR1, Max talks about two run-ins with Horacio Pagani; a brief IQ test; branded soap; Car Week traffic; the mystery Hella air dam on his E30; sage advice regarding BMW window regulators; the Porsche 911 he bought on BaT for $850; a new flagship show for the channel; whether "more expnesive is more better"; a daring take on Y2K-era spinners; the Great Host Departure of 2024; becoming a Civic liker; tailoring Donut for a TV audience; and whether he'll turn into a roof tent guy now that he's got a diesel Cayenne.
Links for things mentioned in this episode:
9:15
Formula 1 at 75 display at Laguna Seca, old and new
15:35
The $850 BaT Porsche purchase
We Bought the World’s Cheapest Porsche 911 Donut on YouTube
Dennis Collins, cbjeep on BaT
33:56
Sportscar Vacationland by Overcrest
36:57
Max Maddox on Instagram
Got suggestions for our next guest from the BaT community or One Year Garage episode? Let us know at [email protected]!
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