Please Stop These Car Mods

Welcome back to the Martini Works podcast.

I'm here with Gels and special guest, Lars.

Lars Beck on the podcast.

Always a good time when Lars joins us.

So we're excited.

And I think we should just hop right into it.

Let's do it.

I'm pumped.

Yeah.

What are some cars that shouldn't be good but are?

OK.

Just let her rip.

Yeah.

Fiat 500 Abarth.

You're speaking my language.

Dude, I love those things.

There's a couple that rip around Appleton here

that every time I see how I just get so hyped.

There was one that showed up to Early Birds.

He actually bought some works from us.

Looks incredible on there.

There's actually one that's right across the way here.

They work in one of the buildings over here.

It's like, they sound so angry.

They sound so good.

And they're just a little roller skate.

It shouldn't be good because it looks like a smart car.

The rest of the kids don't say.

It's a pissed-off smart car is what it is.

And I love them.

They sound like a Dodge Neon SRT-4s.

Surprisingly, I was able to fit in one.

Really?

The guy that came to Early Birds, he let me sit in it.

Really nice guy, by the way.

We did a video on it.

And I feel like I have to own one at some point.

Yeah.

It does seem like one of those bucket list cars.

One of my friends that worked at a BMW dealer,

he drove everything, Porsche, Mercedes, BMWs, and so on.

He also had a fascination with Fiat 500 and Steve Bauer.

So he had one for a couple of years and loved it.

Yeah, I always remember when they were first coming out

and I'd see them, I'm like, God, what the hell are those things?

And then I remember, I think I was in Green Bay at the time.

And I saw one for the first time that was modified

and heard it for the first time.

And I was like, what the fuck is in that thing?

Like Dakota said, it had that SRT-4 just growled to it.

I don't know.

It's so weird.

They sound gnarly.

Yeah, they sound absolutely killer.

I feel like there's a decent aftermarket.

There's got to be, yeah.

It's important for them because they're always modded.

And they can come with Beats by Dre.

What?

Oh, that's right.

I was like a special edition.

They had this for me.

Are you serious?

Yeah, like the one that was here

for earlier were the Beats by Dre speakers in it.

And that's like a trim option or whatever.

That's kind of cool.

That's so weird.

There are some brands out there

that they kill it with the audio game.

I know my mom's trucks.

She's always had ram trucks.

And for some reason, they have always had the best

audio.

They were like partner.

Some of them had Bose, some had Alpine.

There was one with a whole THX system in it.

Herman Cardone.

Yeah, dude, it was crazy.

There was always something that I think would bump.

Get into the dodging and turn it on.

It just does like the THX.

Like they blow it.

Yeah, it blows you out of the frickin' cab.

It's crazy.

I would say, what about the Lexus IS 300?

Yeah, yeah.

They're good.

They're really good.

In reality, you get the 2JZ that's NA boring.

It's a sedan.

They're heavy.

They're big.

Yet you see those being slung around all the time.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, if you can get a manual on which are pretty rare.

It's like I kind of attributed it

to like that is like the closest thing

that we got to like a chaser here in the US.

Like it was like, it was just supposed

to be like a more luxurious sedan.

But it had a 2J under the hood and you can get it manual.

So it was like it kind of hit both of those really well.

And I feel like that's what people fuck with the chaser so much.

It's like, oh, it was meant to be just a normal everyday car.

But then it had like a sports car like hidden underneath it.

They have like that cool aesthetic

because they're totally practical.

And it's a Lexus, you know, it's reliable.

Last forever and stuff.

But just adding a manual transmission

and a decently fun engine.

And it looks properly good.

It's engaged very well too.

You can search for the unicorn too

and you can get the wagon manual.

Ooh, the Sport Cross.

Yeah.

Yeah, those are cool.

Really hard to find but really neat.

I always see people drift in those too.

I think that's really neat.

The gauge clusters on them are so cool.

Yeah, they are.

It looks like a watch.

Uh-huh.

Really?

Yeah, they're really neat.

Oh, yeah, seriously, yeah.

Check out like the, if you ever see an IS 300,

like go look at like the gauge cluster, like Google or something.

It looks super cool.

It's like, it literally looks like a layout

like a really fancy watch or something.

It's pretty much the coolest part of the car.

The rest is pretty standard.

That's awesome.

No, I like those.

Lars, you got any?

Yeah, for me, the new Prius has no business looking the way it does.

Oh, yeah.

I looked it up.

Obviously it's front-wheel drive,

it's whatever, automatic and stuff, but they look incredible.

It's obviously all the benefits of the hybrid and all that stuff.

They look absolutely insane.

I already said that.

But then they're only like 3,000 pounds.

Like this little like sedan hybrid thing,

I thought there would be like 4,000 pounds or something.

No, they're decent.

BMW made it.

Yeah, they look awesome.

I think with the like lower than on wheels,

it's honestly a super good looking car.

Yeah, I think it's one of the best looking cars

that anybody makes right now, short of Lexus

even though we were just talking about them.

It's just a really gorgeous car to look at.

Toyota really flipped it up.

They made like the first gen, second gen,

I can't remember first gen Prius, horribly ugly.

I think it's a horrible looking egg car.

But these new ones, you would never even guess it's a Prius.

That's what we're used to now.

They're just kind of goofy looking.

But the new one's stunning.

I think it looks better than the Corolla even.

And that's a good looking car.

There's a while where like hybrids and EVs and stuff,

like for whatever reason, had to look super ugly

in order to be a hybrid.

But now it's like being normalized

and you can make them look cool.

I got a weird one.

The Buick Regal GS.

So it's kind of like the spin on like the old like GNX,

you know, kind of thing.

Like it was like a modern eyes version of it kind of.

So it's like, it looks pretty basic,

but it is an all-wheel drive, like 3.6 liter V6.

It's like 310 horsepower, like pretty decent, you know,

like for a Buick.

And it, you know, kind of like the commercials

that it means, I don't see a Buick.

Where's the Buick?

You know, it's like, it kind of fits in with that word.

It's like, it looks pretty decent.

It doesn't look like a, like a grandpa car,

but then kind of get down.

Yeah.

I would say another one is the Mazda Speed 3.

Oh yeah.

I may like the first generation more so,

cause the newer, little bit newer ones are,

I don't know, they're nicer,

but the first gen ones kind of look like traffic.

And then you get in the interiors

and they're very basic.

Like it just feels like economy car.

Speed 3 or Mazda Mazda Speed 3?

So cause there's a difference.

The front wheel drive turbo, hot hatch.

So the Mazda Speed 3.

The Mazda, Mazda Speed 3.

It's a one word, it's like Mazda.

And then it's like a one word Mazda Speed 3.

Mazda, Mazda Speed 3.

Yes.

Why would they do that?

That's so stupid.

Cause they still make the, the Speed 3s.

And those are actually really good cars too.

Our friend Mark has one.

And we took it down to,

I've actually ridden with him a couple of times down

to like Tennessee for like car shows and stuff.

And he threw it out.

He has like a set of Gram lights and stuff like that

and lowered and has some like corksport stuff too.

And it's like super nice.

Like the quality is like super nice.

Like it rode good.

It got insane gas mileage.

It's like 42 something miles per gallon.

Right, he was getting, it's crazy.

We were like stopping to like fill up essentially

with everyone else.

And he's like, no, I put like three bucks in.

He's like, I really didn't use any gas.

And we've been going for like three hours.

And it's like, Jesus.

Yeah. On that note.

Yeah.

Oh, sorry.

The diesel BMWs back in the day.

Like, I don't think they make any more

but I had the 328D wagon.

Oh, that's right.

And that was the same thing.

I got 45 miles per gallon or something like that.

The first time I drove it for a home from Milwaukee,

I was like, what did I just get into?

Yeah.

And I would take it on drives like around Wisconsin

with like friends in their sports cars and stuff.

And I could hang with them.

Like obviously it wasn't the fastest thing in the world,

especially, you know, horse power wise,

but it was fast enough to get 45 miles per gallon.

Like it was crazy.

All the luxury stuff on the inside looks the same.

You could never tell it sounds more or less the same.

Diesel cars are underrated.

They're awesome.

I can't get on board with them.

I think they're so weird.

Something about it just weirds me out.

I love them.

But anyways, Mazda Speed 3, it has a lot going against it.

But the actual driving of it is what we'll see.

And it's so fun.

It has like the worst torque steer

of any car I've ever driven.

But that makes it fun because it feels chaotic.

I'm like, you do a pole.

It's like, holy shit, I'm going in the ditch.

Like you are giggling and laughing.

And it feels like it has way more power than it should.

So I think those are slept on a little bit.

People were doing some pretty gnarly builds on those things

to like 6, 800, almost 1,000 horsepower builds on these things.

That's just freaking nuts.

Yeah, I don't know if you can find any more.

I never ever, I feel like I don't see them

and I don't see them for sale ever.

Especially up here because the rust got to them so bad.

The older Mazdas that year, they're so prone to rust.

It's terrible.

And yeah, the Mazda Speed 3s would always

see the rust it out pretty bad.

It is one of the cars I've learned, or the type of cars

I've learned to enjoy more, I think,

or respect more over the years because what you're just

saying about it being chaotic, that is part of the fun.

Like to have a car that feels like it's way

scarier than it actually is.

That's cool if you're not actively trying to race it

or something like that.

That's fun.

You put your buddies in that car,

you let somebody test drive it, and they're like,

holy crap, how do you drive this every day?

I was like, damn, this thing

must be making like 5,100 horsepower.

It's like 250.

That's all in good fun.

Honestly, I'm sad Alex isn't here to hear this,

but the Scion TC, that car shouldn't be good.

That is good because you have Toyota reliability.

Things ain't go for 300 miles, or 300,000 miles, no problem.

It's gonna burn oil, but that's OK.

You can add a little bit of oil when you fill up

with gas, you'll be right.

And dude, I've had my buddy, Neff, had one,

and he drove like an hour and a half

to work every day and back.

So he racked up the miles.

And dude, he has, we bought a big TV for our living room,

and the guy's like, do you have like a truck

or something to haul this?

And I was like, no, my buddy has a TC.

He's like, oh, it's not gonna fit.

There's no way.

There's absolutely no way.

You're gonna have to come pick it up or something.

Hatch bag, baby.

We're like, we're gonna try it.

You open up the hatch.

Dude, it slid right in, fit perfect.

He's fit a Honda Grom back there

in the back of his TC.

So it's like, those are slept on.

They are such a good daily driver.

And honestly, I don't think TC's look that bad.

I think they're decent looking cars for what they are.

As those are the big square ones, they're the little coupes.

I always forget, I mix them up.

The coupes.

So the X.

They also can be square.

Yeah, the third, was it the third gen of them?

Were like the really boxy squared ones.

The XB was like the box.

That's what I was thinking.

That's the car learner.

Honestly, those kind of, those kind of slap too.

I kind of, the first gen XBs I have a soft spot for.

I think they're super cool.

I learned they aged well.

In a Ford Ranger.

Oh.

Did you learn manualing, Joseph?

Ford Escort, wagon.

Oh, so I have the most part of my time.

Ranger's pretty.

I don't know, the wagon was,

they would call it putt-putt,

because it rained on like three or four cylinders

and it was rusted out and non-steelys.

It was pretty flat.

The thing was though,

so we had this Ford Ranger

and the plans were, my dad was gonna give it to me

when I turned 16.

So I was like 14 and a half going on 15.

And so he's like, you gotta learn how to drive this thing.

So we're like out in the field.

We were doing some work.

He's like, get in and drive it.

So I like, I did it and it went good.

It was really easy.

So from that point, I'm like, okay.

I know how to drive stick.

And then when I was like 17,

I had a Mustang GT, automatic though.

And I wanted to trade it.

I wanted a Mark IV 1.8T.

And it was the worst Mark IV

in the history of the world.

And I was a young naive kid

and I wanted to trade my Mustang for this.

So we went and my dad's like,

yeah, you shouldn't trade for this thing.

It's a piece of shit.

I'm like, boost what I want.

Manual.

So sick.

Like it had a big turbo on it,

but it just needed a tune.

The blow off valve wasn't working,

blah, blah, blah.

A million things wrong.

And I'm so like, yep, I want it.

My dad's like, dude, your Mustang's perfect.

What are you doing?

So he's like, all right, let's do it.

So we traded and we start driving it back home.

And he's like, you better drive it.

I'm like, okay, I know manual.

Oh my God, dude.

I was stalling it left and right.

I remember there's one red light we came up to

and it turned green.

I stalled it until it turned red again.

And I had a line of cars behind me.

They're all honking.

Long story short about that too,

that drive from, they lived in the same city,

their house to my house.

We found so many issues.

Oh my God.

We drove back and my dad was like, we're not doing this.

You lied about so much on this car.

Oh shit.

We're not trading it.

He actually signed the title when he shouldn't have to

because his mom was on the title.

Oh.

And he signed it.

So he's like, this ain't even legit, dude.

Like, give us a.

Damn, he threw down it.

I did not get that 1.8 TGTI.

You got lucky.

No, shout out to my dad.

W dad on that one.

That was a favor.

He saved my ass big time.

Big time.

I was so stupid.

Damn it.

Yeah, learning manual.

I love trading shit for 1.8 T's.

I think, yeah, I know, dude, my whole life.

We should have Dale up here for the 20th when you traded that.

He would have still had the wagon.

I could trade for this thing.

He would have talked me out of it.

See, that's what happened when someone wasn't there

to talk me out of it.

But I think the car I really, really learned

sticking was my Cobalt SS.

Sure.

That's the one I actually like drove, drove, you know.

Yeah, it was a, we had that escort

and that's what I learned essentially in.

And it's like that was a good learning curve

because there was no assistance in that thing

and it grinded like every fucking hour

and there was barely any clutch left.

So it was like an on or off switch kind of thing.

And so like when I got my Eclipse up and running,

that was manual, you know, that was like,

oh, this is beautiful, like it felt great.

And then I had my E36, which was manual

and then everything, pretty much everything

that I've ever had has been manual

except for the, the BMW.

Yeah, see for me, it was that XB

and it was at a car show we were hosting

in the Wisconsin Dells.

Oh yeah.

And the day before one of our buddies had an XB

and he was like, dude, you're going to learn today.

I was put in the car and I was like, all right.

Is this during like auto motion?

We had to have been.

During auto motion.

That's when you learned to race?

That's a great time to learn manual.

Yeah, what the fuck.

Long story short, it did not go well.

Like I got it on the block,

but one of the staff,

our contact at the event,

the venue we were staying at,

he got behind me at some point and he was like,

man, it looked like you never drove manual before.

Oh man.

Exactly what happened.

So then I drove,

I drove my buddy's BMW home one time

when he was drinking,

I just drove it home for him.

And then two months later,

I bought my first manual car

and it flew to Ohio to go get it by myself.

I had to drive it home.

That's the best way to learn,

just thrown into it.

So the, I actually had just,

this picture just popped up in my memories

like two hours ago.

I had a picture of the car

because I pulled over after one of the toll boost

because I stalled it.

No, sorry, I didn't start,

I put it in limp mode.

Oh, what?

Because I forgot to lift my foot off the gas

when I put the clutch in.

So it went to like $7 an RPM, went in limp mode.

And I was like, I just broke my car.

800 miles from home,

just handed this guy a check and drove away.

And I was like, it's already broken.

Have you guys ever taught someone manual?

I tried to teach my wife.

Yeah.

How'd it go?

I think she's more nervous about breaking my car

than actually driving it.

But she did a good job.

Okay.

Yeah, I think like I definitely helped my now wife,

you know, at the time she was my girlfriend,

how to drive stick.

And now she has only owned stick.

She's never even owned an auto.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

She was hesitant at first about it.

I was like, no, do it.

Like, I think you like it.

And she's like, no, I don't want to do all that.

And she got an NSRT-4 and learned in that.

And then it's been history ever since.

Now she won't get an auto,

only wants manual.

Nice.

I've shown a few people how to do it.

Me and my wife, I show how.

And she's got the type R now.

And she drives it literally every day.

So she's gotten great at it.

She's proficient at it now.

But I remember I had my E36 and my buddies were visiting

and it was my buddy Luke.

And he's like, I want to learn how to drive manual

or whatever.

So I was like, all right, hop in.

You know, we're like in Wausau or whatever.

And we're like by our college dorm.

And it was like, all right, let's do it.

And I was like, show them through this stuff.

And I don't know, he couldn't get something right.

But I just remember it was like when you're teaching someone

and they obviously like, you know, okay,

when something starts going wrong,

you just put the clutch in, right?

Yep, yep.

They, their instinct is like, okay,

I'm just going to drop everything.

So it's like off the gas, off the clutch,

off everything.

And it's just starts bucking like crazy.

And then you try to hit the brakes

if it just jerks even more.

And they're like, wait, no, I'm going.

So then they smash the gas dude.

It was like you violent.

Like fucking riding like a bucking Bronco.

Dude, I just remember him doing that like three times.

And he's, we're just dying laughing.

Cause I'm like trying to explain it to him.

And he just keeps trying it.

Dude, like the glove box kept flying open.

The fricking like visors were dropping down.

Like shit was flying all over the place.

He's like, I'm not doing this anymore.

It's so funny.

He's like, I give up this shit's too hard.

That's funny because your natural instincts

are the exact opposite of what you should do

in those situations.

So like everything you want to do,

it just makes it worse.

The only thing you do against the right

is just both feet in.

Yeah.

Like after driving manual for so long,

I almost like forget what it was like to not know

what to do and like looking at it

from literally a blank slate.

It's so weird to me that people can't drive manual.

Like it's just a, I'm so used to it.

I've had it since I was like 16, 17 years old.

Yeah, but that's nuts.

It's just so funny.

Cause it's, yeah, it always brings me back too.

It's like to when like teaching someone,

it's like, oh my God, it's like,

like how are you not getting this?

And it's like, I remember it's like,

I was in the same situation

and it's like the muscle memory is just there now.

It's literally what it is.

And it's like,

like you just, you overthink it or you panic.

It is, you 100% overthink it.

You're like, oh my gosh, I need to keep revving it.

Keep it.

It's like, no, just let it out.

It's going to, as long as you don't

just drop the fucking thing.

Like it's more times, you know, going to be,

you just, you think about it too much

and you start over complicating it

and then you start just doing things.

That's what happened when I kept stalling at the light

until it changed cause like people start honking.

I'm like, not even think I just turn it back on stall,

turn it back on stall.

Like just going like a foot forward each time,

like halfway in the intersection.

Oh my God.

Oh, that is terrible.

You know what's not terrible though?

What's that?

Continental tires.

Oh, that's a pretty dang good.

They're the opposite of terrible.

They're my favorite.

Extreme Contacts 4.02s goaded.

If you only have a set, get a set.

And with winter coming up,

might want to check out the Viking Contact 8.

Brand new.

I want to check it out.

I haven't even got to try it yet.

I'm excited to try it though,

because if there's,

I don't even know what they could have improved on

from the Viking Contact 7.

I love those tires, phenomenal winter tires.

Now's a great time to get them

because it's before winter.

When you wait for the first snowfall

and everyone's like, oh wait,

I should go get snow tires.

They're going to be gone.

Yeah, they're gone.

They have a ton of available sizes.

They have awesome warranties.

You can head on over to martiniworks.com,

certain filter by whatever Continental tire you need,

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And if you have any questions,

you can shoot us a message.

We're more than happy to help you pick out a tire

and find what you need.

Maybe it's what size,

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So a huge shout out and thank you to Continental

for being a sponsor of Martini Works Bycast.

We are back.

We are getting near the end of show season of 2025,

believe it or not.

It's coming to a wrap real quick.

And we're going to be heading down

to a slammed enough Severeville

and honestly a couple of weeks,

which is kind of crazy.

And for us, at least here in Wisconsin,

it's kind of like the end of the season

before winter really starts to kick in here.

So 2025, car show season getting wrapped up.

Trends, we like to talk about trends

of what we've seen this year,

what has been going on in the scene

or whether that's in person or on social media,

whatever it might be.

What do you think are some of the most

overhyped car trends right now that we've seen this year?

I got one that just, it won't die.

It won't stop.

It's not new.

I figured by now it would be over

and it isn't Starlight headliners.

Over it, huh?

They just keep going on.

I'm over them.

Cause like the first few were cool.

It was like, oh, it's neat.

Now when like every single overdone car show car has it

and I peer in, I'm sick of it.

You're ruining the headliners.

You got to do, there's so much fiber OPTIQ cable

that gets shoved into these things.

And I don't know.

I'm just over.

I don't, I feel like it is really one of those mods

where it's like, man, I've really kind of done

everything else.

What else can I do to this?

And it's like, I can do the headliner thing.

And they do it.

Have you seen like the people started to do

like the Starlight like fender liners now?

What?

Yeah.

I think it's in some of like the SUVs and like trucks

and kind of things that have like, you know,

you can actually see up in like the fender.

It was a fairy.

Yeah.

So like a lot of the fricking like fender liners

and stuff that you get, like they're like that fabric,

like almost like carpet types of they started to do it.

And I've seen it a couple of times now.

It's like, oh my God.

I have not seen that yet, but yeah.

I love a good interior.

Like I like VIP cars.

I think that's cool.

But yeah, it is getting to be a bit much.

Bring the chandeliers back, dude.

Right.

Bring a chandelier from your damn headliner.

That's why I want to see in a VIP car.

I'm over the Starlight.

Just give it a little while.

Let it cool down.

Everyone stop.

We'll bring it back and it'll be good again.

Yeah.

I know we've talked about it a lot on here

just in kind of in general

because it really blew up this year.

But the whole go get your Alibaba forged wheels

or whatever.

Like I'm so overseeing it, dude.

Like they're not good.

Stop pretending like they're good.

Like congrats that you got a $1,000 wheels

instead of $4,000 wheels, I guess.

But they're just not branded.

Not they're just.

It's gross.

It's just weird.

To me, it still feels like it's like some undercover

TikTok shop thing is what it feels like.

Like I'm just waiting for them to be like,

well, if you want to cheers, go here's a link for it.

And it's like a affiliate link or something shit.

Like it's, I don't know.

It just seems so weird.

Like I get it.

It's supposed to be this whole like play on,

oh, stick it to the big brands and that kind of stuff.

But it's just like, I don't know.

It just feels weird.

The thing for me is like the whole point

is that you're investing your car to make it look cool

and to make it like your own.

And by, I'm all for saving money.

Like I don't mean it to sound like shit.

But when you buy like the cheapest part available,

like what does that say about what you're doing

with your car?

Like how much do you care about what you're doing?

At the end of the day, you're just buying a cheap copy

of some of something else that you did like.

And I don't know, I'm with you.

I think it's ridiculous.

You know, like if it's your, again,

if it's your first car or something like,

like the whole rep conversation sound like,

that's cool, there's a place for that.

But the people who buy like forged wheels

and claim how great they are and stuff,

like you can tell it's not a good wheel

or even if it is a structurally sound wheel,

it doesn't look good.

You know, that's not.

Yeah, there's still something off about it.

It's like AI stuff.

It's like, you know,

it's how there's like just something weird.

It's like, that's how I feel about like these wheels.

It's like, cool, yeah, they might be forged.

They're probably made in like very similar factories

or the blanks are the same.

Like there are a lot of arguments for it

and I totally understand that,

but it's like, you know, it's like, it comes down to it's like,

there's just something off about it and it's weird.

Yeah, absolutely.

And I've seen a video too where I watched

where a guy got him and he like reviewed him

and it seemed like a pretty genuine review

from what I see.

It was a full video.

It wasn't like a chart or whatever.

And yeah, I mean, he's like, he put them on

and he's like, yeah, I mean, they fit.

Even the hub bore was like correct,

but he's like, they claim they were forged

and like looking at the weight of these,

I'm pretty sure these aren't forged.

So formed or something.

Yeah, like they're just cast, whatever.

Yeah, so I think there's a lot of misinformation with them

and we don't know the testing

that's actually been done with them

and the quality control that are on these.

So it's just, it's not a great look.

Yeah.

At the end of the day with all these types of,

like this inherent type of business,

you know, they're selling it for so cheap

because they're cutting every cost imaginable.

So like all this stuff, like the design,

the edges, the finish, the paint,

the durability of the wheel, the packaging,

like they're screwing you on all of that.

Right.

And making it, you know.

Yeah, because essentially what they're doing

is that they may make wheels

for a brand that you know, right?

And they'll literally take that design

but make it just to whatever standard

can get it out the door.

Right.

They're not holding it to the standard

of whatever brand went through that factory

to make that wheel to then get it out the door.

Cause like, even when we worked with

aftermarket wheel factories in the past

when we were doing our own stuff,

it was like, yes, obviously the factory

that we went with, we're making other wheels,

like absolutely a hundred percent,

but we were so adamant on like what we wanted

out of them and like provided so much pressure

to that manufacturer of like,

this wheel needs to be this load rating

and it needs to hit this weight.

Right.

Like no questions asked.

Cause every time they come back to us,

they're like, well, this is what we need to do.

It's like, you can do better than that.

And like we, you know, worked with them

and fought like tooth and nail to like

get that design to where it needed to be

and get the weight where it needed to be,

get the load rating where it needed to be,

get the lip design where it needed to be.

So it was like, yeah, you could easily,

it always down like the branding

is more than just branding.

Like for some, you know, companies out there,

it's like they provide so much input to that

to make it an actual better quality wheel.

So it's at, you might get something made

in the same factory, it might be the same design,

but it's like there's more that goes into it

than that, that really makes that wheel what it is.

And the same thing applies to every wheel brand

you can imagine, you know, even the,

even the lower tier, you know, brands or products,

they all still have that amount of pressure

behind the scenes to those factors that say,

like you're going to do this the way we want it,

right, to weigh our customers.

Or we're going to go somewhere else.

Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.

Because none of these brands would survive

if all their wheels were truly bad or horrible, right?

But these faceless, you know, factories

that just make you a wheel for a thousand bucks

or whatever, they don't give a shit.

Yeah. Yeah.

I don't know. That is what it is.

I guess it was just, it's trying to,

it seems like it's trying to be like marketed,

essentially, as you no longer need to buy these,

these wheels, like you're stupid

if you go buy expensive wheels.

And it's like, I don't know about all that, right?

What about you, Lars, you got any?

For me, especially after dealing with a car

behind us back here over the last year,

it's engine swaps.

Okay. The unnecessary engine swaps.

Oh, wow, that's a hot take.

That we see in so many cars.

And I'm not talking, you know, the car is broken,

I'm going to put an LS in it.

You know, that's honestly my plan

of the E46 ever blows up.

Mm-hmm.

But like, there's so many swaps,

like they get a car running perfectly normal.

And they're like, I'm going to stick something else

in it just because, you know, like for show cars

or whatever.

I just, I don't get it.

Like why would you say a perfectly functioning car

and then do, you know, months worth of work

and you end up with effectively the same thing?

I think sometimes it's to be unique.

It's to make difference, to make your car

even more individualistic.

But I get what you're saying 100%

especially because I've seen so many times

where it like causes catastrophic issues

and problems and it's a money pit

and now, you know, working on it, it's a nightmare

because everything's custom, everything's different,

everything's changed.

But there's a cool factor to it for me too

because I know how much work it takes

to get something to that point.

But I get what you're saying with it being like,

is that work even worth it?

You know, some of these, you're making like

50 horsepower mark and you did that whole engine swap

and your car was running fine beforehand.

I respect all the work that goes

into the good ones, of course.

Those people are craftsmen and they're good at what they do.

It's just from my perspective,

I'm from mostly driving cars being forced to work on my car

now that it's broken.

I can't understand it, it's so odd to me.

What's going on with your car?

Oh man, that's right.

I haven't talked about this yet.

Open the can of worms.

Yeah, so I had good life, we're having a good time.

I knew I was gonna have to swap rotors

and probably pads at some point during the weekend.

I was doing time attack of course

in the M3 and every time we changed something on the car,

it just kept making it worse until Saturday morning,

which is like the full on the go for it day

to get into the qualifying sessions.

Everything was going great.

Saturday morning I had probably my best session ever,

my fastest time in that car ever at Road America

and then around lunchtime they had a grid walk.

So they asked all the time attack drivers

to get their cars, park them in the grid

and have fans or whatever come check them out,

get pictures and so on, talk to the drivers.

And as I'm in line parking, the grid is up a hill

and then it's not perfectly level-y,

so it's on both edges kind of rolls down.

So I come up, wait for my turn,

I have my manual car, we're talking about clutch in,

foot on the brake, the car starts rolling backwards.

Oh man.

I was like, that's not good.

That's weird.

Yeah, so when we finally got the,

I just hit the parking brake when I felt it,

stopped the car, oh, popped the hood

and as people were trying to get pictures of it,

I'm like messing around with the brake fluid,

trying to look at the rotors and pads and stuff,

and everything looked fine.

And long story short, we blew something in the brake system

and I say something because here we are four weeks later

and I still don't know what it is.

Really been chasing it and trying everything essentially,

right?

Yeah, we, well again, I never work on cars very often

at least, so I decided to change the master cylinder

myself, which was a whole ordeal, took a week

because we ordered the wrong part

and getting to it as a pain in the ass

and getting it back in was even worse.

Bleeding the system and so on.

And yeah, put everything back together,

blood the system a bunch of times,

asphalt from literally dozens of people have reached out,

which was super awesome.

And feels exactly the same as the day I parked it.

Oh, there's literally nothing worse

than chasing your tail with the brake system.

It is the most frustrating process in the world

of going through the steps to bleed a system,

especially even if it's up in the air.

It's still such a pain in the ass.

I know you were doing stuff with the ABS module

and you were purging it and had a computer hooked up

to it and doing all this stuff

and it was literally following the steps of Tia

and it was still just not doing it.

That is the worst feeling ever.

And that's 100%, it's a mess and I don't really

know what I'm doing, I'm just following YouTube videos

and there's not any specifically on changing

the master cylinder on an M3 and we're just slightly

different and stuff.

So I was like winging it as I go with the help of

gels or dust and whoever else was around.

And then I had this like tool hooked up

that I thought was working and then

the other parts that could be failing,

everybody kept telling me they fail in one way

and then what's happening with my car

is actually something else.

But now that everything's back together,

they're like, well, it's probably the other thing

all along.

And like having to start this week long process

over again to try if it's another $700 part

or something like that.

I'm not even sure what it is.

So at this point, I'm pretty sure we're just

going to delete the whole system and replace it with-

Break the elite.

It's parking brake everywhere.

And then replace it with a system

that gets rid of the booster completely

and the ABS module at this point.

It'll just go more towards the race car setup, I suppose.

So we're just working on some stuff

to see if we can get a partnership for that

or what that looks like.

So I think overall the car will be better for it

when we're done.

But it sucks because it's middle of summer.

We have, realistically, like a month or so left

of car season.

And I was hoping I could bring it to Gatlinburg

because I didn't really drive it there last year

because I just bought the M5.

And I'm pretty sure none of that's going to happen.

So the car's probably going to be in storage

until spring at this point with some other stuff

we're working on.

Yeah, it's the reality of it.

Sometime, unfortunately.

I'm glad that these issues didn't happen

while you were driving it on track.

Yeah.

Brakes are like one of the scariest things.

The tires, tires and brakes, you need

to have 100% trust in when you're racing on the track.

So for me, I mean, I guess if you delete the whole system,

that's one thing.

And you do a new system, OK.

But even if you were to find and fix the issue,

I feel like it would just be in the back of my head.

Yeah, 100%.

And it is.

And I've been up on the podcast a bunch of times now.

And what I've always taught or preached

is safety and reliability and brakes especially.

So I totally agree with you.

And I'm really glad I decided not to go out.

Because part of me was just go out on the track

and see what happens, right?

Oh my god.

We'll come back.

Yeah, maybe.

But you're absolutely right.

I'm really, really glad I didn't.

Because even just driving, I test drove it

after everything was back together.

And at the very, very bottom of the pedal,

it feels almost normal.

Weird.

At the track, the car gets to 140 miles an hour down

in turn five.

There's a wall at the end.

Yes.

Right.

I don't know what happened.

It's crazy.

It's so crazy.

I'm glad I stuck to what I said.

Like you said, we're six in the back of your mind too.

I remember we did the clutch on the GTT too.

And same thing, we got to bleed the system and everything

like that.

We were running into issues like just chasing an air pocket

or something.

And I was working with Lars on it.

And we're like, does it feel different than before?

Is this normal?

Is this always how it felt?

Are we there yet?

Does it still need to be blood more after bleeding

it for two hours straight and doing the process 30 times?

I'm bleeding, Pete.

No, I think it's still weird.

Yeah.

And that's what was going on with the M3 also.

That's why I decided to go test drive it.

Because as I'm, again, this was over the course of,

I think the car's going to lift six or seven days of just

me working on it every day.

And just testing the brakes, bleeding it, testing them

again, bleeding it, starting the car and so on.

And the big thing that was happening

is when the car is off is a really firm pedal.

And the moment I turned the car on,

it would sink to the floor, same amount of pressure.

There's no resistance behind it.

And then I got in the M5 one morning to drive to work.

And I realized that it does the same thing.

But obviously the M5 brake worked fine.

Everything's great on that car.

So in my head, I started gaslighting myself.

I was like, maybe the M3's been fine this whole time.

Maybe it was something else.

Maybe there was an air bubble or something

was wrong with the ABS module.

Maybe something had to hiccup.

I don't know.

And that's why I went to drive it.

I'm like, maybe it's fine, actually.

Yeah.

And I get out of the lot.

And I'm like, there's no brakes.

There's no brakes to brake on.

No, no, no.

God, I hate brake shit, man.

Not only is it just a pain in the ass to work on.

Brake fluid sucks.

Oh, it's so gross.

It's so filmy.

And it's like, it eats through paint

so you can't really spill it on anything.

Then you're constantly wiping it down.

And it's like, it just gets everywhere.

I hate it.

It's such a clean up, too.

Yeah.

Oh my god, yeah.

It sucks.

Brakes suck.

I hate brakes.

You know what doesn't suck?

The second time you get so away with it.

What's that?

What doesn't suck?

Fortunato, baby.

Yeah, they're good.

Yeah, that's a car trend that can keep on going.

You know what I'm saying?

Fortunato coilovers.

I love them.

500 series are going to be perfect for, I'd say,

probably 90% of you.

And then the other 10% rascals that take it even further,

510s are a great option.

Or maybe I should say 9%.

And then 1%, they got even crazier stuff with them.

Two ways.

Three ways.

Million-way, maybe.

As much as you want, because they build custom coilovers, too.

So if you need a dial-in menu on custom spring rates,

different valving, all that stuff,

Fortunato can do it.

But they also have pre-made ready to go right off

the shelf for your car.

So if you're heading on over to Martini Works

and you look at Fortunato coilovers,

they now make them for a ton of different makes and models.

So there's a good chance they have them for what you drive.

And I personally ran them since I was 19 years old.

And I will continue to run them on my cars

because I love Fortunato coilovers

before they ever twinkle in the podcast eye.

We've been running Fortunato, so I'm just ecstatic

that they've been a partner of our podcast

because that's such a cool thing.

We've all personally ran them.

We've really enjoyed them.

They're phenomenal coilovers.

And they're hand-built in the United States.

They're hand-assembled.

We got to go check that out.

And they do a fantastic job.

There's enthusiasts working there, too.

People that truly care about what they're doing.

So it's just consistent.

You get good stuff.

And there's always people they're

willing to help, too, if anything were to come up.

So if you're interested, go check out

Fortunato coilovers at martiniworks.com.

And we'll be right back.

Have you grumpy old man for a second?

Oh, man.

Not again.

I had a realization of something last night.

Stopped at the old KT quick trip.

Yep, love quick trip.

If you didn't know, me too.

If you didn't know, you can pretty much order anything

for fucking delivery nowadays.

And I saw at the quick trip by my place

that they have a pickup shelf for DoorDash or Uber Eats

or whatever.

People order from quick trip.

It's a gas station, by the way.

First of all, the fact that they even have this

is kind of insane.

But I was like, wow, they have this whole setup

for it now.

And then I looked at it.

And there was one item on this shelf.

And you want to know what it was?

It was a single bottle of Diet Doctor Pepper

that someone must have DoorDashed or did something.

And then I got to thinking, I'm like, man, I always

bitch about how we go out any time of the day,

anywhere nowadays, and it feels like there's just

a million people on the road.

I'm like, what the hell are these people doing?

They're fucking, they're all DoorDash and bottles

of Diet Doctor Pepper to people.

That's exactly what's going on.

Because what in the hell?

That's a $15 bottle of Diet Doctor Pepper all day.

OK, how could you possibly need that bottle that bad?

So I got to ask.

I'd like to get it.

Are you guys guilty of that?

Do you?

I have never DoorDashed a single item ever in my life.

I have DoorDashed food, like dinner or whatever.

Especially when you're sick or something,

maybe it just has it dropped off right at your door.

But then I get re-sick because I look at how much

I paid to have Taco Bell dropped off at my door.

And it's like 50 bucks.

So not often.

I used to get Starbucks delivered to the old office

around Snow Hall.

And then the same thing happened.

I saw a $15 cup of coffee, and I was like, never again.

Yeah, it's insane how more expensive it is.

It's funny, it'll be like the weekend or something

like that.

It'll be like Sunday morning.

And it'll be like, man, McDonald's breakfast

sound pretty good.

But I don't want to go get McDonald's breakfast.

And it's like, OK, if we were to go get it,

it's like 15 bucks for both of us.

If we were to get it delivered, I shit you not.

It's like triple the price.

It's like $40 for the same exact thing.

Yeah, what I do now, and I've been consistently doing it,

whether it's like Starbucks, McDonald's, whatever,

I just order ahead.

Because pretty much any fast food place or drink place

has an app or whatever.

So I order ahead.

And it's all contactless.

It's like the most seamless thing.

I just walk in, grab my shit, and I go,

I don't have talked to anyone.

I don't have to wait in line.

I don't have to do anything.

And that makes it easy.

Plus, we live in town, so anything is within four minutes.

So I just convince myself to go fucking get it.

For me, it's become, if I can't be bothered

to drive the 10, 15 minutes, even across town

to go get Chick-fil-A or something all the way

across town for me, if I'm not willing to invest

15 minutes to go drive over there, I don't need it.

Yeah, that's fair.

I don't want it that bad.

Yeah, I don't know.

Sorry, I just hit a rant about it first.

No, it's fair.

So I was like, dude, that's crazy.

Everyone's going to want to all fucking do it.

I'll just, I won't even have a good reason and I'll do it.

Not a single item.

I've never done it from a gas station.

I didn't even know you could.

Yeah, it's even food in the last like five years now.

Like even pizza, I've gone to pick up pizza now.

I'm proud of you.

Yeah.

Yeah, I saw that and I was like, that is actually insane.

Like you said that was like, that's a $15 bottle of diet.

Dr. Beller, you have to tip the driver.

I swear too, like they upcharge in whatever,

like it's not the normal price of what it is.

It's an additional fee bill.

It's just insane.

It's insanity.

But anyways, speaking of driving and going somewhere yourself,

we're heading over to Final Bout this weekend,

which is a big deal.

Final Bout is a huge deal and it's so crazy

because it's hidden in this little town in Toronto, Wisconsin.

And people come from around the world.

Yeah, we're just spoiled by USA.

Yeah, honestly, yeah, like 40 minute drive

and absolutely insane venue and insane event

going to be going on.

I've actually never been.

That's crazy.

I know.

That's insane.

You literally drift at USA and you haven't gone to Final Bout.

I know, it's crazy.

I'm really looking forward to going up there this weekend.

So this comes out.

It'll be Friday, which is like,

I think people start like kind of rolling in

and stuff on Friday.

For those of people listening right now

that don't know what Final Bout is,

you want to give a quick rundown?

Yeah, it's basically like, imagine like the dopest

looking Japanese like drift cars,

like car show quality, just getting down.

From around the country.

Around the country, yeah.

Yeah, I know.

I remember there's a world actually.

Yeah, the world.

Because we saw the group that hauls our cars to Gallenburg

hauls the cars from the port to Shawnaw.

It's so insane, nutty.

Yeah, so if you guys are on like Instagram

or TikTok or whatever,

you've probably seen some like crazy car haulers

just loaded with like these drift cars.

Yeah, they're coming up to fricking Shawnaw, Wisconsin.

It's in the middle of nowhere.

Yeah.

Like when you pull up to the U.S. air.

It's a foreign land, Wisconsin.

Yeah, there's nothing around it.

And you even got to drive.

You drive like 10 minutes to get into town

and it's a weird hand to town.

And you got like a McDonald's,

culvers, couple gas stations that are off branded.

It's about it.

And it's so crazy to think people come from

all around the world to this event.

And a lot of people really enjoyed it.

They love it.

You know, like Hurt comes up here and Drifts there.

And there's a lot of big names that show up.

And then the, yeah, the quality of cars.

Isn't it?

It's a rolling car show.

So, I mean, we're not like being paid to say this,

but come hang out at Final Bout.

Say hi to us if you see us there.

We'll be filming some content

and hanging out with the people there.

And then we have some friends that drift

and help do the event and everything like that.

Absolutely.

And also if like, if you're like driving this weekend,

you got a car up there or something like that.

We're going to be walking around with cameras

or like Dakota said we'll be doing videos

and stuff like that.

If you want something done on your car, come grab us.

Oh yeah.

We're looking to shoot as much as possible.

Have no shame.

Come pull me aside literally

because like otherwise we're going to walk around

and bug people and literally ask if they want.

So if you have something

or your buddy drives something or whatever,

you know, sometimes we even,

we won't bug the drivers.

We'll go bug the people that are watching

and asking goofy questions and stuff.

So we'll be running around there.

But it really is such a cool show.

And if you've never been to US Air,

it is a neat track.

Yeah.

The roller coaster of love.

It's really crazy.

I've been fortunate enough to do some ride-alongs.

And I guess I've driven my Supra on that.

Not drifting, but just go carting around essentially.

And but the elevation change

and like the blind corners that are in it

are kind of wild.

It's gnarly.

And you get some like just absolutely like crazy

like fricking like trains going on there.

You got like five, six, 10 cars.

It's like, holy shit.

And you're going to see some wall taps.

You're going to see some crazy stuff.

Some crazy cars that just sound so good.

I love it too.

Like I said, I've never actually gone.

But I've followed like the stuff on socials forever.

Like see all the content that comes out of it.

Obviously like you guys have been, Brent's been.

And knowing people that have gone and like drive in it.

Yeah, the caliber of cars is insane.

They do like the, they line them all up on the track.

So you can go walk out there and check them out.

And it's like, dude, these,

the wheels that these people are drifting on.

The kits that these cars have

that are eventually just going to get destroyed.

Like the paint work that's done on them.

Like you'd be terrified to do what they're doing

with these cars.

Like terrified to drive it on the street,

let alone doing what they're doing.

And yeah, it literally is just all about the style

and all about like, yeah, the love of the game.

And it dude, it's something else.

It's a sight to see.

Yeah. And it's just, it's such a cool track.

It's fun.

Last time I was there,

I believe they're running shuttles too.

So you actually like parked in Shawno shirt on a bus

and then the bus would take you back home and people.

I think that's always, always what kind of like,

oh man, there's going to be a ton of people there.

They're crazy.

Yeah. It wasn't bad though.

It was perfectly fine.

It wasn't a big deal.

Yeah.

They usually, they usually turn that farm field.

That's like, again, just farm all around the track.

The one right next to it.

There's a big part of it that gets turned into like a parking

lot and like a grass parking lot.

Sure.

I remember parking the M2 back there one of the years.

It's, it's, it's a little rough.

I would definitely recommend parking in town to the bus.

I'm really looking forward to that.

I think it's going to be super dope.

It's a sick event where I think we're really,

like we forget sometimes,

we're very blessed to have that in our backyard.

We're in such a, like a gem of an area between, you know,

USA or North America.

We have our own drag strip, you know,

10 minutes the other way.

Yeah, WR is really popping.

Yeah.

It's, it's a cool place to be.

We can do anything motor sports we want.

Also, that's an hour away.

Yeah.

If you've never watched drifting,

it's a million times cooler in person than it is on TV.

I promise.

It's such a vibe.

And I think too, if I remember correctly,

they do night drifting.

I believe so.

They did.

I'm pretty sure they did last year.

I can't remember if it was a different event

or it was Final About,

but I remember going there, like all the underglow

and the lights and like, like it's so sick.

Yeah.

I know like, like real dash that they host up there.

Oh, maybe that's what I was like,

is a big one for like the night drifting stuff.

Gotcha. So maybe that's what I, I seen.

I would imagine.

Final About has, they have to do.

Cause they, they have the big lights

that they'll like pull out and put on the track.

Yep.

Yeah.

It's sick.

It's so fun.

I used to, you know what used to be my favorite part

of going to US Air?

What's that?

They sold V8.

The cans of V8 and it was dirt cheap, dude.

Everything there, the snacks, the drinks,

everything was dirt cheap.

Like I was like, where else can I go?

Look at dope cars.

I'm just buy a V8.

Yeah.

But I don't know if they have V8 anymore or so.

No, I don't think they have.

And Michael, if you're listening,

if you want to make Dakota a happy boy,

it doesn't have to be much.

Just, just, just get a case.

Just set it aside.

A spicy hot V8 in the can.

Yeah. It's like the secret menu

at the USA or like Snack Shack.

Yes.

I think I have a photo somewhere.

Well, Maya and I both got one.

We took a picture like, what?

Capably we were cheers in front of a 240.

With V8s.

Oh, it's so funny.

But it's a good time for sure.

I love that trick.

Yeah, it's like, Lars said too,

it's, you know, I think we've, you know,

grown up here, we've, you know,

experienced it so much that it's a kind of forget

sometimes like how special that place is.

And it's like, I specifically remember

going to buy my 240 to learn how to drift in.

Went to Kansas to go buy it.

The guy I was buying it from,

been in the scene a long time.

Like he built that car specifically

in like the early 2000s.

And he's like, oh, yeah.

You don't like first drift car.

They'd be good for you.

That kind of stuff.

He's like, you know, we got a track near you.

And it's like, oh yeah.

We got like USA or like 40 minutes away.

And like, he literally like dropped what he had.

He's like, are you fucking kidding me?

I was like, he's like,

I have been wanting to go up there for decades.

And like is like my dream to drive that.

He's like, I cannot believe that this car,

you're going to be learning how to drift in this car

up at USA.

That's so crazy.

I was like, yeah, it's like right up the road.

I have talked to like influencers and stuff

for like anytime they don't know where Wisconsin is

or anything.

It's like, well, I'm like 40 minutes from US air.

No, you, okay.

And then they know it's like, it's crazy.

It's a little go-kart track.

It's so gnarly.

It's a, the payment there is interesting too.

Yeah, it's not friendly.

It'll really tear your shit up.

Yeah.

It's not easy on tire.

That's for sure.

No, but it's a hood of a time.

And we've been playing it on driving it on a set of Corsa

or is that what we're on?

Yeah.

It's been really thrown down on the, on the sim.

And it's actually a, it's interesting

because our fanatic hydro like went out on us.

So we're handbrake ain't working.

The handbrake wasn't working,

but it's like I still want to.

Real cars don't work.

Fake cars don't work.

I'm fucking over it.

It's like, God damn it.

It's been fun though.

It's been trying to teach me a drift on there

and getting the hang of it.

It's, it's fun.

Yeah. I was going to say, so it's like,

we haven't had it hooked up.

Like the handbrake hooked up.

But Brent's like, fuck it, learn how do you,

learn how to drive all the handbrake.

And it's like, okay.

So honestly, like that has been kind of really eye opening

of like what you can do without a handbrake.

Very lot difficult, very big change up

from what I'm used to, obviously.

But it's been pretty cool.

And it's been a lot of fun.

Yeah. And practicing a lot on, on there since,

yeah, my car.

So if you're listening from afar,

go on a set of Corsa and you can go on US Air

and you can see where we'll be hanging out.

And then maybe you can make the trip up some point

to check out Final Bouter, any other event.

Yeah. If you're around in like the Midwest

and love drifting or motorsport or anything like that,

definitely should be on like your bucket list.

So come check out at least one.

Also within the last two years or so,

they've really amped up US Air and like cleaned it up

and made it really nice.

Yeah. Facilities way improved.

Yeah. They're adding like a lot more like seating

and like a lot just upgrades to the place.

Because it's been there for a long time.

They made it look really frickin' nice.

Yeah. A lot of like the scoring towers

and like buildings have like new roofs and glass put in.

And yeah. It's a really nice area.

Definitely. I'd say one of the coolest events you can go to.

Yeah. I'm looking forward to it for that.

It was a really cool, what was that?

Bruce City Banger. That was a really crazy event too though.

That one really surprised me too.

I wasn't sure what to expect for that one.

And that one turned out to be a lot of fun.

That one was so cool though because this one was as bad

but like it was like almost so sketchy.

Yeah. That it was cool.

It was crazy.

People kept smacking walls over there.

It was really fast.

They were hocking dude.

They were full sending it going fast.

Literally it was like a formula drift like layout essentially

with like the amount of speed and stuff

that was required for that and like the power

that you would have to have.

Because like that layout was no joke dude.

So what they did was, if you guys don't know,

it was the Milwaukee mile, the race track,

which is like a little oval track.

Well I say little, it's a mile long.

And there's an infield section which is a road course

and that's the section that they drifted.

And it was fast.

It's a really fast track car and like a grip car

so even drifting was crazy.

Yeah. It was crazy because like our booth was set up

because we had like a tent there

where we were selling something merch and stuff

and hanging out and doing videos.

It was like kind of like right when they'd enter in

and then they come around this like big long like sweeper

and then it'd like come up right against like this wall

and it was like a sharp like U-turn essentially

and then out to the exit.

And so like everyone's kind of like standing

against this wall that they're like hauling ass at.

And like man they're really moving

because like they shoot out from that side there.

But then we walked up to like where like the start was

and it's like they start on like in front

of like the grandstands and then they come into the infield

and they're moving even quicker, dude.

Like they were hauling ass.

Yeah.

Yeah. It's not really.

If you haven't though like gone

to any motor sports events are doing it.

Like I think a good portion

when I got into cars and stuff

I pretty much just went to car shows, car meets

and stuff like that and never really went

to like drift events or road America or any of that.

Now I've gotten the opportunity to do a bunch of that

and I love it so much.

It's so much fun.

And like too if you can score a ride along

or something too.

Oh my God.

I don't know if they'll be doing my final ball

but they do events all the time.

Head up there, go do it, check it out, do something different.

You don't have to be like a drifter

to go watch drifting or anything like that.

You can go just for the love of it and it's a blast.

And it's cool because especially these again

final ball it's a huge event

but a lot of the events at USA

are relatively small grassroots like like Bruce Lee Banger

you could walk up to any of the cars in the pits

and just start talking to people.

And people are gonna be busy.

Maybe they're fixing something or whatever.

They may not wanna chat but nine times out of 10

they're happy to answer any questions

they have about the cars or how they got started

or any tips they have for you.

It's super common.

Same thing at the road America events we've gone to.

If they're not actively working on the car

usually just chill in the trailer anyway.

Go say hi, ask me if you can check out the car.

Sometimes like I've seen people bring their kids up there

and the kids can sit in the cars and stuff.

That's super common.

You can usually read the room.

You can be like,

they're having a bad time.

We just blew up this car.

I'm not gonna talk to them right now.

Or something like that.

But like most of the time if not 99% of the time

everyone is so excited to talk to you,

talk about their car, what they have done to it.

Everyone's so chill, everyone's so nice.

So you gotta be intimidated at all.

Yeah, it's a great way to make friends.

100% or like two if you're interested

maybe you are thinking about getting into drifting

or something like that.

Those are the people to talk to.

100%, that's really where I got bit by the bug of it.

Of like, I really should just do this.

I've always wanted to do it.

I was like, oh, it'd be really cool to do.

And then it's like I went

and I did a couple of ride-alongs.

I was like, damn, this isn't as intimidating

as I thought it would be and the community is there.

And why the fuck?

I'm just gonna do this.

It's super cool.

100%.

Well, if you need your car to look good

when you're on your way to final bout

or maybe when you pull up,

make sure you have some Melco detailing.

Oh yeah.

The third sponsor of the Martini Works podcast.

We've been using Melco to clean up all of our stuff

and we've had a few track days recently

and the cars have needed Jesus

and Jesus so happened to be Melco

because it saved them.

I swear there's some time, I look at the car

I'm like, no.

Let it come back from that.

I'm not doing it.

And then we're able to get it back

and looks great with Melco.

So we bring it to the track.

We bring it to the shows.

We have it all stocked up here in the shop.

So when we pull in, we wipe our stuff down

and we keep buying white wheels.

I don't know what the hell is wrong with us.

They just look good on the car, man.

I don't know what the hell they are.

They look good when they're clean.

Man, the brake dust.

The brake dust you guys create, I have never seen before.

Holy cow.

The Melco did a great job though.

Like no kidding, the wheel and tire cleaner

gets rid of that brake dust super easy.

The chrome wheels actually look chrome again on the M3.

Yeah, but yours were.

I'm very impressed.

Yeah, it was bad.

I took them off and dumped it out

and the whole pilot dust came out.

Yeah, I needed to film a video with Lars' car.

I was like, god damn.

Their soap is really good.

The cherry flash detailer is phenomenal.

Pretty much every product we've used.

Glass cleaner.

Really, yeah, the glass cleaner is super good as well.

So head on over to Martini Works.

We have packages so you can get a group of products

all set to go.

Or if you need to order them individually,

you can do that as well.

But that's right on our website.

So you can head on over to martiniworks.com.

Check it out.

And a huge thank you to Melco for being a sponsor

of Martini Works podcast.

And Lars, thank you for coming on.

Thanks for having me, guys.

This was fun.

Of course.

Absolutely.

Well, you guys have a great weekend.

If you're in the area, come out and check out FinalBow.

We'll be there.

Yeah, we'll see you there.

Bye.

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