A group drive is an organized route where multiple cars travel together, often with a planned pace and meeting points. In Porsche communities, these drives are common for casual fun and for seeing cars in motion on scenic roads.
The Ford GT40 is a famous race car from the 1960s. It was built for long-distance racing and is known for its distinctive shape. If someone says a car “looked like a GT40,” they mean it had that recognizable race-car style.
A 24-hour race is a long endurance event where cars keep running for an entire day. Teams switch drivers and focus on lasting the whole time, not just going fast for a few laps.
When a car “goes sideways,” it means the tires lost grip and the car started to slide instead of turning smoothly. Hitting a crest can make the tires feel lighter for a moment, so it’s easier to lose traction.
Suspension is what connects the car to the road and controls how it rides and handles. Upgrading it helps the tires stay planted, especially when you’re driving fast or taking corners.
“Built the motor” means they didn’t just leave the engine alone—they rebuilt or upgraded it. On a turbo car, that usually helps the engine handle boost better.
“Stock body turbo” means the car still looks mostly like it did from the factory. But underneath, the engine and suspension have been worked on to make it drive better.
They’re saying this happened on a regular freeway, not a track. That’s important because real roads have traffic and hazards that a race track doesn’t.
They’re describing a two-lane road, meaning there’s less space to correct mistakes. At very high speeds, that makes the situation more stressful and risky.
Callaway is a company that specializes in performance upgrades. When you hear “Callaway” with a car, it usually means the car got aftermarket tuning or parts to boost performance.
Can-Am (Canadian-American Challenge Cup) was a major North American sports-car racing series known for powerful, purpose-built race cars. It’s often associated with big horsepower and intense competition, which helps explain why Porsche’s success in that era mattered.
They’re describing how intense race weekends are—so much work before and after the track time. It’s not just driving; the team spends a lot of hours preparing and maintaining the cars.
The speaker is framing the stories around track driving, where mechanical failures are more likely due to sustained high loads, heat, and repeated hard acceleration/braking. Track incidents often require rapid troubleshooting and repairs to get back on track.
The axle is the part that sends power from the drivetrain to the wheel. If it breaks, the wheel can lose drive and the car may not be able to keep going.
An “impact” in a garage/pit context usually means an impact wrench or similar tool used to quickly remove or install fasteners. It’s commonly used for race repairs because it saves time compared with hand tools.
The “first lap” is often the most chaotic part of a race because cars are bunched up, speeds are ramping, and drivers are jockeying for position. Many incidents happen early due to limited space and aggressive moves.
“Destroying the whole front end” usually implies significant damage to the front structure and components such as the bumper, radiator support, suspension arms, and steering geometry. In racing, front-end damage can make the car unsafe or uncompetitive even if it still moves.
If the bumpers are “screwed up,” they’re bent or damaged from impact. That can affect how the car looks, but in a race it can also interfere with airflow and safety.
When they say “aligning it,” they mean adjusting how the wheels sit relative to the car and the road. That helps the tires contact the track the right way for better grip and steering feel.
Qualifying laps are the timed laps that decide where the car starts for the race. Teams try to make the car feel right for speed during those laps, since it affects your starting spot.
Tire chains are traction devices installed on tires for deep snow or icy conditions. They can dramatically improve grip when winter tires aren’t enough, but they also require correct fitment and careful driving. The speaker mentions going through chains as part of their “ski car” winter routine.
They’re talking about how many cars Porsche will build—like a small batch. If the company changes the plan, people who already wanted one can feel surprised or upset.
Pebble Beach is a big, prestigious car show in California. If you’re going there, it usually means you’re into high-end cars and want to show them off at a top event.
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Okay, let's get to it.
Rob King, part three.
Alright, I should be on a drive today.
They were doing a drive with some people that I've done real real well, but I've never been on a drive with them.
At least not outside like PCA.
This was just, you know, for fun.
And they were starting in like East East Stockton and going up through some places I've never been to way above Sacramento.
I was so excited, but then this interview came up.
Not the interview that I'm about to post.
This is old.
This is old old that was done with like a cell phone.
But I mean, like an interview that I had scheduled for the podcast coming up.
They were going on the drive because I guess they're closing this.
I don't know.
Maybe it's historic, but it's this bridge that's like one lane and they're going to close it.
So they were driving up to it to cross it with a bunch of Porsches.
Actually, it was limited.
So I got in and then couldn't go.
Had to back out.
The audio in this one is like I said, my friend kind of cleaned it up.
So we didn't have to redo it.
But you could this one seems to be worse than the other ones as far as like it doesn't cut his words off.
But some of his words sound a little bit weird.
Like it sounds weird when he talks in certain spots.
So it is what it is.
So in one of the other episodes, he talks about his VW adventure and how it looked like a GT 40.
I went and looked it up.
And for like a kick car type of thing, it is pretty cool looking car.
And this one he talks about another Volkswagen I had not heard of.
But yeah, Rob's a wild guy.
I remember when I first met him, he invited me to this like every Christmas he like has musicians or someone like a concert.
He has like a band come to his shop and, you know, they rock out.
He's into like rock and roll music.
So I think the one year that I was going to go was like a cover band for like an 80s hair metal band or something.
And he invited me, but I didn't really know anybody.
This was a while ago.
And so I was like, yeah, there's no way I'm going.
I'm not showing up to this party, not knowing anybody.
I'm too shy to without knowing anybody.
I mean, I knew him, but, you know, it's his show.
So you can't expect him to to hold your hand.
All right.
And this one he kind of talks about some of his favorite driving routes.
He's got a good story about the fastest he's ever driven.
He has a story about Sebring.
He also talks about some of these races.
He's like, oh, 12 hours is no big deal.
But, you know, 24 hour races.
It's not just the 24 hours that the race is going on.
I mean, you're sleeping for like, or you're, you're going without sleep for like days,
which doesn't sound like much fun to me.
I mean, I was younger.
I like to like go out with my friends and be out all night.
But I mean, that wasn't just going to.
Actually, I guess I would just wake up and go to work.
Oh, great.
My neighbor's making noise with this car.
It's loud.
You could tell it's loud.
It's like a 60, I don't know if it's 67 or 69 or 68, but it's a Camaro.
It's nice.
And it must be loud because I'm in pretty soundproof in here.
But anyway, this is the final Rob King.
So here's Rob King part three.
Favorite driving routes.
Used to do a lot of cool drives.
Marshall Road going out to Highway 1, out to Dixcove.
Marshall Road's pretty rough though, but we just did one when we did the article on a Rich Coughlin's two cars.
I led in the red twin turbo.
Tyson was with me.
You can ask Tyson about that ride.
He said he was happy he paid his life insurance.
You guys seem to just always scare the hell out of him.
He's got stories with Rich all the time.
Like he says he was in the GT2 one time and they came over a crest and it started going sideways.
And he said, he scared the hell out of me.
The song you want to play while driving.
Always ACDs.
I wear the hell.
Best drive you've ever had.
Actually, some of the best drives I've ever had.
Going to Clearlake, the Calistog away.
Over the windies.
Great drives for Calistog up on.
Awesome.
Fastest you ever driven.
Where at, what car, why?
201 miles an hour.
The 202.
And a roof.
86 turbo.
And I built the motor and did the suspension.
Basically a stock body turbo.
So was it the CTR or what kind of roof was it?
Yeah.
And the car at 185 miles an hour was pretty steady.
But it was crazy at 200.
So on the track though, right?
Oh no.
On the freeway.
You had 200 miles an hour on the freeway.
Highway 318, Silver State.
That was the race.
Elie, Nevada.
Oh, I think I've heard of that.
There's a two-lane road.
Look it up.
They do that race twice a year.
I don't know if I'd want to do it again at that speed.
But I had no fear of that.
How young were you?
I think I did it in 1990.
I was about 33.
Since I'm 63 now.
Okay.
33 when I opened those for a go.
The color was the roof.
What color was the car?
The roof, yeah.
I have Silver State?
Yeah.
White.
That's pretty cool.
Favorite auto publication?
I mean, I read them all.
It's hard to favor when you read them all.
Yeah.
Do you have triple zero?
I mean triple zero.
Heats.
Oh yes.
Yeah, pizza?
Yeah.
He's a good friend of mine.
He had a Capri I used to work on.
Years ago.
I call it a crappy.
When I started at NASA, it was the Capripo.
And then they changed it to NASA.
So have you had any apprehensions or fears on your business owning life?
He's just went all in.
Went all in.
It's always been fun.
If you could have one wish, what would it be?
Win a lot of.
I don't play.
I didn't want something to ever play.
If you got a redo in life, what would it be?
If you got no regrets.
If you could change anything about yourself, what would it be?
Be younger.
What do you fear?
One of the last days going to come.
Like everybody.
If you could go back in time, what time period would you go to?
Oh my God.
Definitely in my 20s.
That made me in my 20s.
No, I mean like what, like 1924, 1965.
Oh.
No, I don't think I would have went back.
Hardest thing you have ever done?
Own a business.
What is your prized possession?
My family.
What gets you excited?
Drive it on the racetrack.
That's me, that's the car.
Is that hanging on your wallet up there?
My buddy that drove with me.
No, I don't have any pictures in my shop of it.
Which one's you?
The one with the awesome shades?
I'm the guy with the long hair.
How old are you?
Oh, you're like 33 right there?
Yeah.
Here's a picture.
That's what happened with the Tire D Laminator.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
That's no bueno.
On the side we're at a silver stake.
Oh dear.
So it starts like up by...
Ealy, Nevada.
Is there anything that starts at...
What the hell is that?
Wendover?
Because I was at Wendover, you know, I'm from Utah.
So we'd go over and like gamble in Wendover.
And there was one time where there was a bunch of crazy cars.
It's like a roof was there.
There was like Callaway Corvettes.
There's all sorts of bigger cars there.
So I figured they were doing something like that.
Possible.
Do you have any mentors?
As in like...
People?
Yeah.
Got a lot of old race car drivers and stuff.
Lots.
My dad just took me all the...
All the Emsa races at Sue's Point.
Brutus Seca.
Little Can-Am races.
Porsche dominated.
I've always watched racing my whole life.
I remember listening to Indianapolis Five Lover on the radio when I was young.
And I knew every drop.
If you could interview or talk to anybody, who would it be?
Talked to a lot of people in my life.
A lot of famous people and stuff.
Well, I was at Daytona with Paul Newman.
I talked to him.
In the pits.
Because we were running the car the same time he was.
So I interviewed Bob Garrettson.
So obviously he was there during 79.
And a friend of mine, his name is Bill Patton.
His job was...
His sole job in 79 was to just watch Paul Newman.
So he had to like, you know, with the opera scene and everything.
That was his job.
Paul Newman is a hell of a driver.
He won the 44 hours with Roush.
Roush Mustangs.
I was there for that.
What's the coolest race you've ever been to?
That was 24 hours of Daytona.
I haven't been to La Mancha.
That was a hell of a race.
What year?
I believe we were there in...
97, 98, 99.
Maybe 96.
We raced the three or four times with Butcher.
And the 12 hours of Zebra.
12 hours of Zebra was an easy race.
24 hours of Daytona.
You're up for 45 hours strict.
Working on the cars.
Then you go out and party.
You go out with a whole team.
And a big dinner.
Then we go to the clubs.
Until like three in the morning.
It was a lot of fun.
And then what, sleep for two days?
No.
You get up the next morning.
You get on a plane to go home.
Never been so tired of my life.
Yeah, I can imagine that.
Especially in its stress, stress makes you tired too.
You are working the whole time.
So I used to drink mountain beer.
Tell the driver he's got to have gloves for me.
And a mountain dip.
But I'm fine.
I've been out and doing it for about 20 years now.
You cut it out?
2,000.
When I stopped going outside,
I stopped drinking mountain beer.
You just didn't want any more?
You were like, okay, I've had enough of this.
I just don't drink soda.
Why did you decide to stop drinking soda?
I don't know why it just happened.
I might have one or two sodas a year.
It's kind of what happened to me.
I just kind of drank soda like six months ago.
I don't drink water or cranberry juice.
Any other crazy or exciting stories you've not told me yet?
I got about a thousand crazy stories.
A lot of them were shit that happens with the racetrack.
We're doing Taitana's sea brain.
We had what?
45 minutes to go at sea range.
Driver calls in.
Transmission broke.
That's enough of that.
I built it.
I said, is the car still driving?
Yeah.
You're still in your power.
All the gears shift, yeah?
You're broken axle.
So there we are.
Gets in the pits.
My buddy gets on top.
I get on the bottom with an impact.
Undoing the fricking axle.
CV's blown up.
These hot balls are going all over me.
I'm two inches away from the exhaust.
So I'm thinking, what am I doing?
Laying under the car that we couldn't eat jack up high enough.
Changed the axle and we lost.
We lost one and a half laps.
Still finished on the podium in our class.
And if that axle didn't break,
we won one of our class.
You don't care.
What happened at the beginning of the race,
the driver, probably too much coffee or whatever,
was Kevin Buckler.
Tried to win the left race on the first lap.
Ran over another car.
Destroyed the whole front end of the car.
Dent the rear axle.
So it came in.
One flat tire.
First lap, sea brain.
One flat tire.
The bumpers all screwed up.
I cut the car up.
And I noticed the right rear was like that.
This is after we spent five hours,
four guys aligning it, making it perfect for the race.
So I'm like, okay.
Guys, they're ready to go.
And I'm like, no.
Give me some wrenches.
Start pulling everything apart.
I grabbed a sledgehammer with the drivers inside.
Then I started pounding on this fricking rear suspension.
So I lined it back up to where the old marks were.
Tightened it all back up.
Send them back out there.
And he's doing qualifying laps.
Rob, how did you get that so close?
Buckler's out there turning qualifying times.
Pay attention.
That was a good story.
What would you like people to know about you?
Just a regular guy, man.
Love what I do.
Okay.
That's it.
Who should I interview next?
Do you have anybody that might be good to interview?
You've thought, oh, this guy's an interesting fella.
Car guys?
Yeah.
I don't have access to both.
You've talked to a lot of my buddies.
Which coffin?
Tyson.
Which coffin's got some interesting stories?
You used to out-across the Volkswagen Spirago.
My first car was the Volkswagen Spirago.
87, 16,000.
There you go.
I had a Volkswagen diesel dasher.
A diesel what?
Diesel dasher.
What the hell is that?
It's a Volkswagen.
Two-door.
It was my ski car.
It's a front-wheel drive.
I put mud and snow in front of there on it.
Go through the chains and say, yeah, it's all wheel drive.
Hey, go ahead.
You ski?
God.
I started skiing when I was 28.
All my friends started when they were young.
I got as good as all my friends the last of the year.
They said, the reason you're good at this, Rob,
is your bit shape and you're crazy.
You have no fear.
I said, well, straight is the fastest way down the hill, isn't it?
Buddy of mine talked me in the red and the cabin.
I went up every single weekend for four months.
Oh, bro?
Well, yes.
Every single week I was there.
I just loved this one.
When I opened that, I couldn't have time for it.
Yeah, I grew up in Utah.
Two of my friends are professors at snowboarders.
Or were.
I mean, I'm getting older now.
I used to go to the boat drags a lot.
A lot of my buddies were into that.
That was a lot of fun, but just about every other event somebody died.
Yeah, boats look pretty insane.
Three people died at the tracks.
Which is a lot.
I've been doing a track a lot of times.
Yeah.
One guy wants to shoot Thunder Hill.
Older guy, did his race, came in.
Wasn't feeling good.
Sat in his trailer.
That was it.
Ten of hearts.
They found him later in the afterners.
What do you think?
It showed up to a nice race.
What's your check on?
It was cool a couple of years ago.
We got a monitor every year.
We got a little quail.
Two years ago.
I saw you at the track.
Got the roof.
We had dinner with Elvis Roo.
There's wife, son, daughter, every night.
We went to the roof for you and sat there.
It was awesome.
That's the way it appears.
The new yellow bird.
That is a bitching car.
Yeah.
I didn't mind having one of those.
Yeah.
It's a really evolved car.
It's cool how much it looks like the original.
It's definitely modern.
It's old.
50 of them, I think.
Customers wanted to make more.
I think he's going to.
I think he might.
I read an article where he called all the people to bought it
because he didn't want them to get mad.
We told you we were only going to make this much.
Well, they were only going to make further.
Maybe that's where they settled.
And now they're going to make 50.
That's what I read, I guess.
One of my customers has zero, zero, zero, zero.
And it was two, zero, zero, zero.
The new one?
The anniversary one?
The brand new yellow bird.
Oh, don't.
I worked on the original fellow bird.
There he is.
It was in my shop.
Pete Stow brought it.
He was doing an article.
Yeah.
They let him have it for three months.
Yeah.
He brought it by the shop.
We worked on it.
I wrote in it.
I didn't get to drive it.
Man, that was Phil Hill driving it back at 87
when they won the manufacturers contest.
They beat the 9.59.
They beat Ferrari.
They beat everything.
Lamborghini.
They killed him.
Yeah.
I heard it was steady as a rock.
Yeah.
I asked Pete about it and he says, yeah, it's like,
he thought, well, it's just going to be a turbo.
Then, you know, he, but he says like it just drove like.
Incredible.
He drove it.
It was basically for when it was built.
He first out in 87.
That's when we G50 tried to finish your car.
Well, I think he had a six speed now.
He's well connected.
Yeah.
He's nice.
Very, very knowledgeable guy, very, very nice guy.
This son was at my shop about three or four months ago.
They needed, he did the tester.
So, come on then.
They had lunch.
I got some pretty well then.
It's a lot of fun hanging out with them.
Yeah.
You're doing the Pebble Beach together.
Mark Hortz and the elegance.
Go out together.
Grim Sport reunion together.
You
About this episode
Rob King returns for part three of his conversation with Porsche Patter, mixing favorite local routes, track and endurance memories, and a few wild “shop life” stories. He recalls driving highlights like clearing 200 mph on a Nevada freeway in an 86 Turbo he built, plus Sebring and 24-hour Daytona experiences where sleep and stress blur together. The talk also covers his racing mentors, memorable encounters (including Paul Newman), and his offbeat interests from Volkswagen projects to skiing and boats—plus reflections on aging, fear, and what keeps him excited: driving hard with the right people.
Rob King is the owner and founder of S-Car-Go Racing, a well-known Porsche shop and tuning specialist. His company has built several notable cars that have been featured in various automotive publications. Before starting his own shop, he worked as a factory-authorize Porsche mechanic for 18 years.
In this episode we talk about: -Fastest he has ever driven. -24 hour races. -12 hour Sebring race he crewed for. -Ruf.
