Road To Success with Benedict Fowler Oct 6, 2025

Vin Tra: The Ex Hoonigan REVEALS The Full Story Behind His Hoonigan Exit

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Term

twin turbo

Twin turbo means using two turbochargers instead of one. This helps the engine produce more power and respond faster when you press the gas pedal.

Car

360

The Ferrari 360 is a sports car made by Ferrari, known for being fast and stylish. It was produced in the early 2000s and is loved by car fans.

Concept

DDE

DDE is a YouTube channel that features exotic cars and fun car-related videos. They have a lot of followers and create exciting content about cars.

Concept

Adam LZ

Adam LZ is a popular YouTuber who makes videos about cars, especially about building and drifting them. He has a large audience and is known for his fun content.

Brand

Volkswagen

Volkswagen is a car company from Germany that makes many popular cars like the Beetle and Golf. They are known for making reliable and well-engineered vehicles.

Term

air ride

Air ride is a special kind of suspension that uses air to make the car ride smoother and change how high or low it sits. It's different from regular springs that most cars have.

Part

coilovers

Coilovers are a special kind of car suspension that lets you change how high or low your car sits. They help improve handling and can be adjusted for a smoother ride or better performance.

Company

Hoonigan

Hoonigan is a company that creates fun videos and content about cars and racing, started by a famous driver named Ken Block.

Car

Chevrolet C10

The Chevrolet C10 is an older model of pickup truck that many people like to fix up and customize. It's known for being reliable and having a lot of potential for modifications.

Car

BMW M3

The BMW E36 M3 is a sporty car from the 1990s that many people love for its great performance and handling. It's part of the 3 Series lineup and is known for being fun to drive.

Car

Chevrolet Nova

The Chevrolet Nova is a small car made by Chevrolet. It was popular in the 1960s and 70s and is often restored by car fans because it's easy to work on and has a classic look.

Car

Mazda RX-7

The Mazda RX-7 is a sporty car known for its unique engine that spins instead of using pistons. It's lightweight and fun to drive, making it a favorite among car lovers.

Car

Chevrolet Chevelle

The Chevrolet Chevelle is a classic car that was made by Chevrolet. It was popular in the 1960s and 70s and is known for its powerful versions that many car enthusiasts love today.

Car

Chevrolet Lumina Z34

The Chevrolet Lumina Z34 is a faster version of a family car made by Chevrolet. It was designed to be more fun to drive than the regular Lumina.

Car

Chevrolet Beretta

The Chevrolet Beretta GTZ is a sportier version of a compact car made by Chevrolet. It was designed to look cool and be fun to drive.

Car

Chevrolet Camaros

The Chevrolet Camaro is a sporty car that many people love for its speed and cool looks. It's been around for a long time and is often compared to other popular cars like the Ford Mustang.

Car

Chevrolet Corvettes

The Chevrolet Corvette is a fast and stylish sports car that has been around since the 1950s. It's famous for being powerful and is often seen as a symbol of American car culture.

Car

Ford Escort Mark II

The Ford Escort Mark II is a small car made by Ford in the 1970s. It was famous for being fun to drive and was often used in racing events.

Term

horsepower

Horsepower is a way to measure how strong an engine is. The higher the horsepower, the more powerful the engine is.

Term

four-cylinder

A four-cylinder engine is a type of engine that has four parts called cylinders where fuel burns to make the car go. It's often used because it's efficient and not too heavy.

Term

rev

To 'rev' an engine means to make it spin faster. When you rev an engine, it makes more power, but you have to be careful not to do it too much because it can wear the engine out.

Car

Ferrari F40

The Ferrari F40 is a famous sports car from the late 1980s that is known for being very fast and having a unique look, making it a favorite among car enthusiasts.

Car

The BMW 3 Series is a small luxury car that many people enjoy for its smooth ride and nice features. It's known for being fun to drive and is popular among those who want a stylish and comfortable vehicle.

Car

Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS

The Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS is a special version of the Cayman sports car that is built for speed and performance, especially on racetracks. It has a powerful engine and better handling than regular models.

Car

Opel Manta

The Opel Manta is an older sporty car that was made in Germany and is loved by fans of classic cars. It's known for its cool design and is often sought after by collectors.

Brand

Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce is a brand that makes very expensive and luxurious cars. They are known for their high-quality materials and attention to detail, making them some of the most prestigious cars in the world.

Car

Toyota JZX90

The Toyota JZX90 is a type of car that is known for being fun to drive and is often modified for better performance. It's popular among people who like to customize their vehicles.

Car

Toyota Tundra

The Toyota Tundra is a big truck that's great for carrying heavy loads and going off-road. Many people modify it to make it even better for their needs.

Car

Ferrari

Ferrari is a famous car brand from Italy that makes fast and expensive sports cars. They are known for their performance and racing heritage.

Concept

SEMA

SEMA is a big car show in Las Vegas where companies display custom cars and parts. It's a place for car lovers to see new products and trends in the automotive world.

Concept

World Time Attack

World Time Attack is a racing event where drivers try to complete laps as quickly as possible. It's popular for showcasing fast cars and exciting racing.

Term

Hans device

A Hans device is a special piece of equipment that helps keep a driver's head and neck safe in a car crash. It stops your head from moving too much, which can help prevent serious injuries.

Car

Ford Mustang

The Ford Mustang is a classic American car known for being fast and having a cool look. It's been around since the 1960s and is loved by many car fans for its performance and style.

Car

Porsche Panamera

The Porsche Panamera is a fancy car that has four doors and is designed to be both fast and comfortable. It's great for people who want a luxury car that can also perform like a sports car.

Car

Porsche 911S

The Porsche 911 is a famous sports car that many people admire for its speed and unique shape. It's been around for a long time and is known for being really fun to drive.

Car

Toyota Ae86

The Toyota Corolla is a small car that many people choose because it's reliable and gets good gas mileage. It's a great option for anyone looking for a simple and affordable way to get around.

Car

Acura NSX

The Acura NSX is a sports car made by Acura, which is Honda's luxury brand. It's famous for being fast and having a unique design that was ahead of its time when it was first released.

Car

Nissan GT-R

The Nissan GT-R is a fast sports car that is famous for its speed and technology. It's designed for people who want a thrilling driving experience.

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If Ken was still around and him at Unigam was still what it was, do you still think that you would be there?

Hmm.

I'm Vinanatra. I make videos on the internet about cars.

This is actually the least dangerous road we're going to be driving today.

I'm too embarrassed to fail because like Hoonigan's trajectory was just plummeting into the ground.

They took something I loved and ruined it.

We were once like the kings. We were at the top.

We were signed up to be there till the end of time.

Hoonigan was stronger than ever after Ken passed because we all felt like we owed it to Ken to make it work.

I hate to ask you, but how did you find out that that had happened?

We were all about to get in an Uber to go to Australia when we heard the news.

The thing about Ken that made his passing shocking was...

Vin, ten years ago, you jumped to the opportunity to work a seemingly just maybe a t-shirt brand.

And yet you're now recognized by millions of faces across the globe in an industry that you are super passionate about.

But in your own words, who are you and what do you do?

I'm Vinanatra and I make videos on the internet about cars.

Now you've always made videos on the internet about cars.

We've always seen your face since you began in cars, since you began at that t-shirt brand.

But now you make them on a channel that's actually named after yourself.

Now to get there, where did that begin?

Was it the moment that you joined that seemingly just a t-shirt brand which ended up being here again?

Or was it far beyond there, far back into your past that started?

I would say it's actually the exact opposite of what you just mentioned because when I worked at Hoonigan,

I never thought that I would have went on to go do my own thing.

So for me, I remember I had this crossroads in my life and it was either I go do my job.

Like I had a big behind the scenes job at Hoonigan and I was also a face of the brand on the content.

So I either like be a personality on the channel or do my desk job.

And I was like, it's going to be way more successful to do my desk job.

So I'm going to do that.

So I never actually planned to be like a personality, be someone on the internet more than just kind of like a face at Hoonigan.

And then the reason why I made that one video was because optically people didn't understand that we had desk jobs

and Hoonigan was this big thing that was actually like 80 employees and owned by a private equity company like this big piece.

Right.

They just saw us on the internet and I didn't want people to think that we were just trashing this company

because like Hoonigan's trajectory was just like plummeting into the ground.

And we were once like the kings.

We were at the top and it was just crumbling and I felt we all did all the hosts, all the people who were on camera were like,

man, we don't want to be associated with like the downfall of the brand.

So I went out and I was like, you know what?

I'm going to quit my job.

I want to get the hell out of here.

And I just want to let all the fans know like all the Hoonigan fans know like what I'm doing, why I'm leaving,

like what's going on, being really amicable about it.

But like just kind of like put my message out there of like, I'm leaving the brand.

Here's why I don't know what the hell I'm going to do next.

And I got like 60,000 subs off of that video and it did like two, like a million and a half views.

And I was like, huh, maybe I'll make some YouTube video.

Because in that video, you said you really didn't know what was going on,

that you're about to take your first vacation in ages, going out to Japan to figure out what was going on.

Was it that video?

Did that blow up while you were kind of on that trip in Japan?

You were like, oh, this kind of answers my question a little bit.

Yeah, it was kind of like it gained a lot of traction.

And I was like, wow, this is this is crazy.

And I still hadn't really considered it.

I actually left Hoonigan and took a job at Haggerty,

doing what I did at my previous job at Hoonigan, which was like business development.

So doing partnerships, you know, that's where I made a lot of money.

I learned how to do this very well.

And I took another job.

So my thing was like, I'm going to do this job.

I'm going to do some like side jobs and like consulting kind of figure out what I want to do.

And then like, I mean, not that you could really make a great living off like 60,000 subs.

But I was like, yeah, maybe there's something here, you know,

and when I got back from my vacation, I was like, I'm gonna make some videos.

I've read a lot about your story and followed a lot of the videos

and watched that very video that you're telling me about.

And something that kind of came through to me was some of us are like,

on the corner of the street selling stuff in the age of five,

all the kids that sell sweets out of their backpack at school.

And like, they have this entrepreneurial flair from like a super young age in them.

Would you say that because you're running the channel,

which is running a business, running your own brands and everything now,

have you kind of been forced into being a business owner and solo content creator

through the choices that you've made and the jobs that you've taken?

Or do you think it was always in there to kind of have your own thing?

I think it was always in there to have my own thing

because I was always like a hustler, you know, like as a kid,

I always wanted cool bikes and then cool cars and I ever made a lot of money.

So I was always like kind of figuring out my way how to like wheel and deal

and sell things and do whatever to make extra money.

And I was kind of used to it.

But, you know, over the last decade, I grew accustomed to like working

in this big company with like a big team of talented people

who, you know, you work alongside of to do something great.

And yeah, you know, doing your YouTube thing is like for me,

I think you could do it a lot of ways, right?

You can start a YouTube channel and you just make videos

and do and get ad rev and be broke because ad rev pays nothing.

Sorry guys.

Then there's like, you know, you could do some ads,

you could do some merch, whatever.

But, you know, coming from a big brand that literally like

exploded when we did our YouTube channel, I was like,

well, I know all the pieces of how to do a YouTube channel

and make it successful.

So I'm just kind of kind of attack it like that,

but like super scaled down.

I mean, it's me and Jolly, my media guy.

That's it.

It's just two of us.

And then my fiance Amy helps us out on the back end doing like

just helping out, right?

Like doing all like the back end stuff.

So it's like we're super small teams.

I can't compare myself to doing like what we do on a Hoonigan level.

But yeah, I kind of like looked at it was like,

I know this is a big undertaking from a business perspective,

but there's a lot of fruit in there.

If you want to get it and do it right at Hoonigan,

it sounded like throughout the journey,

you wore so many different hats,

even though it was a big organization.

It's basically like doing the same thing now though, right?

Because you've got to wear so many hats to do what you're

doing now, but it's just a smaller issue.

You know, so when I worked there, I it was very different,

very different time.

Like we were doing YouTube in 2016, like, you know,

the amount of content creators, especially in the automotive

space was like probably one millionth as there is today,

right?

So it was like just a different space and we, you know,

we all had different jobs in there.

So I never made a thumbnail before.

I never had the title of video before.

I Hoonigan never scripted videos.

We never really did anything beyond a concept.

Like we would come up with concepts and then just like

run with it.

And now I'm like, oh shit, I have to come up with like full

blown like episodes and make a make sense and have a storyline

and like do the whole thing.

So figure out how many episodes you need to do to make

the project work.

Make it.

Yeah.

It's it's a lot.

So it it's a huge undertaking to do it well.

And I can't say I'm doing it like great.

I think I'm making it work and it's been relatively

successful.

So the only thing I think that really holds me back

from doing like what we did at Hoonigan for, you know,

bigger viewership is like, I don't really want to do

crap.

I don't want to do and I don't want to really make like

clickbaity content, you know, I like pretty boring

subtle builds.

Like I have no desire to put like a twin turbo K-series

in my 360.

Which is not what you hear usually Americans saying

from a Brits perspective for argument.

So we will think that every single American, the second

that they get anything like that wants to make it

3 billion or what's power.

Yeah.

And and I think that to explode your channel, you really

have to do some like really wild stuff to get notoriety

and get people looking.

And I've had a pretty decent trajectory of sub growth

and my viewership on the channel is actually really

strong for the amount of subs I have not really doing

that outlandish stuff that I don't think has like a ton

of value for my life.

Like I want to buy cars.

I want to build cars I can drive.

I want to build stuff I can use.

I have no desire of building like YouTube cars.

I really don't and like as a one man show, it's like I

don't have the capacity to build the car, get it done,

make it work and do all that stuff and like have any

sort of like meaningful story behind it.

So I'm like, you know, I'm holding myself back a

little bit in some spaces, but I think that like

it's really important to do what you want to do

because the job is I mean, I work more now than I worked

before, you know, like I work easily 50, 60 hours a week

like casually.

Did you think it was going to be like that?

Um, you know, I only make one episode on YouTube a week

and I thought that would be pretty relaxed.

That's not, but I do think that like we make, we don't

really make like casual vlogs.

So it takes a little bit more effort in everything

we're doing and stuff and I don't think that's the

greatest business model in terms of like YouTube

success, but I think that the YouTube landscape has

changed so much in the last like seven years that

no one's going to sign up to watch another dude do a

vlog when you can watch all the heroes already killing

it, right?

Like how am I going to compare to like DDE or

Adam LZ or any of these guys who have like this

empire of like money and resources and sick cars and

whatever, then it's like,

Are you all competing?

And then you want me to do like a daily vlog of doing

like whatever, like I just don't think it'll work.

I mean, maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see it.

When we got in this van, you played down everything.

You were like, oh, but I'm not sure that I'm like

successful like in the way that you're saying and

like all this stuff.

But if you wound the clock right back to the day

you first joined Hoonigan, who were you back

then and what would you think of where you are now?

Man, so my story for that like real quick was like,

I was doing nothing.

I mean, I was like 25.

I lived at home.

My parents and I was like working other jobs and

stuff and didn't really have like a career, you know,

like I had like a desk job where I did data analytics

and I hated it and then I quit my job and I

got a job at like a body shop doing like writing

estimates and stuff for like crashed cars and

stuff. So like kind of went from like white collar

back to like no collar work type thing.

And why were you there though?

Because it sounds like maybe you're a little bit

lost like, oh, yeah.

I was just lost.

Yeah.

Um, so when I was younger, me and my brother used to

do air ride installs on cars, Volkswagen specifically.

So, you know, putting airbags on cars

and like slamming them and we were really good

at it and this was before they made kits.

So like they weren't doing like, you know,

order a management system and valve bodies and all

stuff and putting them on.

It was literally like you're taking coilovers.

You're putting universal bags on top of them.

You're going to a plumbing supply and you're getting

all these brass fittings and you're like making valve

manifolds and wiring them up and we were actually

really good at this and we knew how to make the cars

low.

We knew the stuff you had to cut.

We knew all the things you had to notch and, you

know, maneuver to make them like lay frame on the

ground and stuff.

So we started doing that and we were like, okay,

about time to like go to college, whatever.

Let's go and take like business classes so we could

open up a shop and probably like two years into

that, my brother was like, I'm going to get a real

job and he switched his major like accounting and

got like a job and like accounting and finance

and stuff.

So I was like, shit, well, I guess I should just

like go the normal route and like get like a

normal job, get a nine to five, do the standard

thing, you know, and like at the time I was

a younger dude in my friend group and everyone

was kind of like going through college, getting

jobs and like doing the thing, right?

So I kind of felt like a failure in a lot of

ways because I'm like, I was going to say, did

that internally deflate you?

Yeah, I was like thinking that you were going

to have to go down that path.

No, I actually was more deflated because I

felt like I was behind everyone.

So like all my friends were a bit older and

like getting situated.

And I was like still like figuring it out and

I was kind of like nowhere.

And I did this desk job.

I didn't really like it.

It kind of felt like soul sucking to me.

I also had no passion in it.

So I was like, whatever.

So I got an opportunity to run a body shop and

I was like, okay, at least I got back into cars.

This kind of puts me like a little bit back

towards my path like of, you know, owning

like a shop one day or something like that.

So I did that for maybe a year and and then

yeah, I got like, I was kind of sick of it.

It wasn't really going anywhere.

And then I got the text from Scott.

And he was like, he had started Hoonigan with

Ken and I like adjacently knew him.

Like we had met each other maybe once or twice,

but we were like had mutual friends through

Volkswagen's and I used to bug these guys

all the time because they worked for

Ken Block and I think, yo, give me a job of

Ken, give me a job of Ken.

I'll do whatever.

And and then one day Scott, I was just

like, hey man, job opening a Hoonigan,

marketing coordinator or something.

It was like 40 grand a year.

And I just like was like, dude, I'm down.

I like sent him my all my resume and stuff.

He never read it.

I did like cruelty.

Never.

I did like a trial like interview thing at

E-town with like, you know, Turk and

Forsberg and Hurt and all these guys.

And I don't know what it was probably just

to amplify the other wreck equity stakeholders.

And then we just like, yeah, he made me

like offered me the job, moved out to

California and just started doing the

thing, just learning on the fly.

It does seem that you have said yes to

pretty much every opportunity then that

was landed in front of your feet.

Yeah.

Throughout that, like, and just seeing

where it goes.

Yeah, pretty much.

Because I always think of life a little

bit like a freeway or a motorway.

Yeah, you're going down and then

there's blocks of traffic and then

there's a little bit of more like open

freedom.

But at some point, like something

happens, maybe there's a crash.

Maybe there's a faster route available

and you choose to come off and then

that's going to be the exit that

you like.

Do you think for you that

message from Scott was a really

significant point where you percent

yeah, because I wanted to like leave

New York where I was and I didn't really

know why and I didn't know how to leave

without having something lined up.

So it was like the perfect opportunity.

I did say no to one opportunity

though.

My dad's friend owned like a window

company in New York City and they

offered me a job at some like

astronomical amount of money to install

windows on high rise buildings.

Have you got fair fire?

Hell yeah.

I didn't even consider it for a moment.

They were like it was dude.

I I mean when I was younger,

I think it was like hundred bucks

an hour or something to install

windows and I like remember sitting

to a I remember sitting with the

dude who owned the company and I

was like, so you do it from the

inside or the outside?

They're like, yeah, no outside like

scaffolding hundred floors up.

I was like, no chance.

There's some huge up there on the

YouTube is near me called Stella

scaffolding rather the same engine.

I see them.

They're like actually hanging on a

pole over over the edge of a building

and it's just like one cord.

I'm just like guys, whatever you even

pay yourselves is not enough.

No, I didn't even consider it like

I love money and I've always

wanted money and that was not.

But when you put me up high,

I'll take a bit less.

Yeah, I'm like I'll do something

more ground level for sure.

So getting into the beginnings

at who you're going because people

will probably if they think of you

and they think of him again,

they'll probably think of all the

times that they've seen you through

a screen, massive smiles, probably

involving smoke like loads of fun

like those moments that make us

absolutely fall in love with

television and video and especially

real video because it's as you said

like videos weren't scripted.

They kind of had an idea of what

you wanted to do and then they'd

go and create themselves.

But there was so much more to

like your whole experience there

in the background of the things

that you did than would probably

meet the viewer's eyes.

So what was like the first year or

two like within the business?

Well, we didn't do YouTube in the

first year or two.

We were just doing we were just

a merch brand that was like did

like Instagram and Facebook content.

So yeah, just like honestly

learning it's crazy.

I look back on my photos and stuff

and like within the first year

is like already building a C 10

pickup to go on hot rod power

tour and like all this stuff

like it's crazy.

It all moved so fast.

But I was just kind of learning

the industry and learning how to

do a lot of this stuff.

Like I got brought on as like a

marketing coordinator athlete

manager like product guy, you

know, and that kind of just morphed

over time and it just was like

we were I think I was employee

number like 11.

So it was like a small team.

So it was just like whatever we

have to do just like do it,

you know, whatever you're good

at, you'll kind of like fill in

that gap and that'll be like

another responsibility you earn.

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This is a guy where multiple hats.

Yeah, I was a jack of all trades

for sure.

Like when I was my big strength.

When did like you mentioned

like doing the truck

and going on the trip was like

a significant moment.

But when was one of the first

moments that you fell in love

with being inside?

Oh, I love the right off the rib.

I mean, getting like we had this

shitty warehouse

and downtown Long Beach

and, you know,

I had shipped out a Dakar

yellow E 36 M3.

What car I had when I lived

in New York

and I shipped that out

and, you know, that was already

here when I had driven

out across country in a

daily and, you know,

you're getting you're sitting

at your desk at work

with like cool car shit

around and then like my E 36

and like Brian's Nova

and Hertz arc seven

and like all the stuff is just

like sitting right there.

I was like, yeah, this is sick.

Like I love this.

And why though?

Because I'm going to like

take it back again for a second.

What was the moment in your

earliest years

years that formed that love

for cars that made the doing

what you were doing then

feels so special.

The Chevelle back there.

The car told you about my dad's

car.

So he didn't own that

because we didn't grow up

like well off.

We grew up in Queens

and a pretty like lower

middle class family area

and my dad loved cars

but never was able to have

his own fun car.

So all I heard

about my entire life

was how he wanted a 70 Chevelle.

All he wanted

and that's why I'm building it

for him now.

So I'm building him like

his dream car

that I've heard about since I was a kid.

But that like my dad's

like desire for cars

and us to always like

look at them

and like, you know, brochures

and looking for them

in newspapers and things like that

just made me always love cars.

So was that stuff going around

like the outskirts of Queens

and New York

when you were kind of growing up

was there like

was there lots of cars around?

I don't remember any really nothing

because now like our world

is so full of pictures

and videos

and everything is there

our fingertips

for us to kind of

we almost get immersed

in thinking everything's everywhere.

I went in my week

and there was literally cars everywhere.

So I'm sure I did

but we get how far away

some people's journeys

they're involved in that

actually start.

No, we didn't.

There's no cars around me.

My dad worked for a dealership

same dealership.

He works at today.

You know, all these years later

and he got demo cars.

So which basically means

when they got a new car,

he would get a new car

for like six months

and then give it back.

So he always had like new cars

and none of them were really that sick

but he'd get like,

you know, LUMIDA Z34s

and like Beretta GTZs

and like whatever, right?

Never Camaros

never Corvette's

nothing like that

but like

so he always used to get these cars

and we would think they were cool

and we'd like flip through

all the books

and stuff about them

or whatever.

So we just kind of like

geeked on cars

but we didn't have any like

exposure to cars.

You're talking about

the earliest years there

your memory of cars was in books

like your media for them

was in magazines or books.

That's literally

how you absorb them.

Yeah.

If we fast forward to you

sat in that position at Hoonington

you were one of the key people

that grew like the social account

from like zero

to like over a million.

So actually I took over Hoonington

social at like 600

and then grew it to like

over a million

and then we like hired

social people and whatever.

And that was funny

because before like

I think I had like 70

followers on Instagram.

Like I never used social media

before that

and I just kind of got like

did you crash course in it?

Think that was it

from what you'd learn there

or were you just like naturally

good at understanding

how to do that?

I think I'm like

I'm just like allergic to

or like I'm too embarrassed to fail.

So like I just want to do

I'm like a dog

like I just want to like

do good for my owner

you know.

So like I got a job

and they were like

OK like post on Instagram

and we would have a group chat

and it was like

five people in the group chat

and like clearly

I was the bottom rank

and was like

no one's going to contribute

except you.

So you're going to do all of the

like come up with a post

so I'd like send a photo

and then the copy

and someone

one of the other five people

would like

adjust the copy to have like

brand tone

and that's how that worked

and then after a little bit

couple weeks

months however long

I don't remember

they just stopped responding

and I just kept posting

you know

and it was like

at one point it was like

do five a day

do five posts a day

and I was like

do three organic

through two product posts

like all this crap

and like you just kind of like

learn.

So for me

I was just like

I moved cross country

to do this job

this is the coolest job

I've ever had in my life

I'm going to do a good job.

Many of you might not know

this but away from the

recordings that I do

in my van studios

I've actually got a digital

marketing agency

now we specialize

in a lot of automotive

clients but we cover everything

really

our team is made up of

PPC specialists

SEO specialists

and the most talented designers

I've ever seen

which have done work

like the Starnagloss website

the TWR website

and many more

we've actually just built

icon box

for the auto Alex crew

as well

meaning that people

that watch their channel

can buy their favorite

merch

seamlessly

and in style

so if you're interested

in starting a project

and you'd love to speak

to us

just tap the link below

and let's hop on a call

what was the first time

that you actually appeared

in the Instagram post

rather than behind

so we used to do like

you know

because we'd always like

try to post around the shop

because like the whole thing

was like

you know

we want to show that

we have like cool cars

and the brand is the people

whatever

so like

we'd post my car

whatever like

you know

it was

seven of those like

of the 11 people

it was like seven dudes

under

you know

30 years old

so it was like

let's

you know

we have to be in some

of the photos

for products

and stuff

so it's all kind of like

it sort of happens

slowly

you know

and then you kind of

are like scared

and awkward at first

and then you stop caring

what was your first memory

of meeting

Ken

along that journey

first time I met

Ken

we were testing

his

probably my

one of my favorite cars

Ken cars

which was the

Mark II Escort

Kazi

you know

70s

Escort

with the

checker

of the

American flag hood

like dude

with the

what was it

a Millington Diamond engine

300 horsepower

four cylinder

that revved

the 9000

so sick

yeah

I sound amazing

so I met him

we went out

to Apple Valley Speedway

to go do some

stuff with him

and Ryan Turk

and

yeah

I was like

so nervous

to me

Ken

because I was like

damn

this guy's

he's the boss

he's like

super famous

like whatever

and he

is just super cool

we like

drove

and then

sat in RV

and talked for a bit

and then we went to Chipotle

at the end of the day

it's those moments

that we mentioned

mentioned though

that like

the most memorable

in some people's

journey

it can literally

be something

like as simple

as a text message

from a meal

at a restaurant

yeah

they're so

significant

when you look back

on them

but at the time

it's almost

so insignificant

yeah

I remember

the first time

Ken Block

called my cellphone

I remember

the day

I remember

the conversation

I remember

where I spoke to him

that was a

he called

about some

business stuff

and

do some things

that he needed

to be done

which was like

cool

cause I didn't really

know like

Ken even

remembered my name

you know

I was like

I don't even know

if this guy

knows who I am

and like

he called me

and I remember

I was in my apartment

in Long Beach

and I was just like

sitting on my

back patio

and I was just like

whoa

fucking

Ken Block

called me

this is crazy

you know

and yeah

it's

just things like that

you know

really stick out

in your head

because it was like

it felt like

such a monumental

moment

like that was like

the most like

notable person

I've ever met

in my life

at that point

you know

but if we were to

fast forward

and show

that guy

sat in Chipotle

and sat on the

step

after that phone call

his own Ferrari

in the shop

behind us

and like

the channel

and the fact

that you

literally

did gain

60,000 subs

in your first

video

and now

an all to 300

what would he

think of that?

dude I

I feel like

I'm getting

older now

and

of like

life is

kind of

crazy

right

and like

step back

and think about

how much

I have

not

how much

want

or how

much other

people

have

because like

being an

L.A.

is crazy

you know

we're joking

about it

before

about like

you come out

here

and everyone's

got a

GT3

everyone's

you see

an F 40

on the street

like everyone's

so rich

out here

and then

you take

another layer

into that

and you're like

my YouTube

friends

or my

media

friends

and you're like

Amelia

you know

Amelia Hartford's

a friend of mine

Damon Fryer

is a friend of mine

like all these people

I'm like

friends with

and they're like

majorly successful

so like

it's hard for you

to look at like

my small shop

here

and think like

all I'm doing

great

when your friends

are like

doing

20 times better

right

so just

literally

yesterday morning

I'm like

walking my dog

and

I was just like

looking at houses

on my walk

and stuff

and I was like

damn remember

a couple years ago

I could only

dream about

and my

E46

and like

now somehow

that's not enough

now I'm like

you know

I want a house

with a shop

on the property

I want

you know

this shop's

not even big enough

because I'm already

out of space

and like

you know

I have

the GT3 RS

and a Ferrari

and a

you know

whatever

and you're like

that's crazy

being in LA

surrounded by that

though

is it kind of

hard to humble yourself

when it's like

when stuff starts

to take off

like that

what do you mean

like how so

well what you've described

is the friendship group

that you currently

have around you

with the guys

that you've said

that how everybody

has these cars

so I get what you mean

we're literally

on the way here

and we're actually

passed by a

GT4 RS

Manta

then a Rolls Royce

goes

and this was like

but that's the stuff

we're picking out

it's amongst

a lot of other cars

thousands of other

cars that are around

do you still

surround yourself

or do you just

still know

some of the guys

that you like

grew up with

because it can be

really hard

when you go on

different parts

yeah

what's going on

with the guys

you grew up with

yeah

and honestly

so my friend

group in New York

is still like

my best friends

in the world

I haven't lived

there in 10 years

actually like

last week

was my 10 year

anniversary

living in

California

and they're still

it's like

I never left

like those are

my closest friends

ever

and they

they give me

some shit

for like

being

a internet guy

you know

because

none of them

are on the internet

they're on the internet

but none of them

are like

any form

are connected to

social media

like they use it

just to like

like normal people

you know

so it's

it's

it's funny

because like

yeah

to them

it's like

you have all these

frigging cars

and doing

all this

nonsense

right

in your

but in your head

which is

what I was

getting out

when you compare it

to the guys

that are like

doing the same

kind of stuff

for you

are you

constantly

still beating

yourself up

I think

it's just like

you got to

you got to find

the balance

right

because it's like

yeah

and some

some ways

I'm like

I always

say this to people

even like

Jolly

my media guy

and friend

always like

say stuff

and I'm like

you're always

rich to some people

and poor

dollar people

it's it

no matter

what

you're always

going to have people

to look

that are doing

better than you

and then

there's always

going to be tons

of people

who are

and look

at you

you look

at those people

and like

that's at

all levels

of life

you know

because he'll like

it's expensive

out here

right

so he'll complain

sometimes

about like

how expensive

it is

and stuff

and I'm like

yeah

but

you've got a

JZX

that's like

you got a tundra

that's modified

you live in

L.A.

you know

to some people

that is

an incredible amount

of well

you know

so I think

that there's

just like

there's levels

to it

and you

have to

I always

aspire up

I don't

ever want to

drag myself

down

but you also

have to

appreciate

and like

understand

where you're at

have you

always been

content

I don't

think I'm content

at all

really

I don't

think I'm content

at all

I think I'm like

trying to

to be

but I think I'm always

what's next

are you a

goal setter

I want half a million

subs

I want a million

subs

do you look at

it for sure

that way

yeah

do you beat yourself

up if you don't

get there

in a certain

timeframe

yeah

I do

but like

I also

I don't

write any of my

goals

downs

we don't

kind of

forget to give

yourself some

buffer zone

but

I set

goals

and I just

I think it's important

to set

goals like

you got to

want to get

places

you know

I mean

loose goals

don't be so

rigid with it

I don't

I won't care

if I don't

hit certain

things

but like

I know

I'm always like

I want to get

I want to do

X Y and Z

but

the North Star

that

I feel like

I've like

fucked up with

the past little

bit is like

I've been chasing

like money

and

then I've realized

that

the like

doesn't always go

in the same direction

so recently

I've been trying to be like

okay

how do I

find more happiness

how do I

find a balance in life

that lets me like

enjoy life

because like

I do

great shit for work

like this is incredible

I got to work on my

Ferrari all day today

like that's amazing

but

it's kind of empty

at the end of the day

because it's like

I work by myself

like if Jolly's

not filming

I'm like

alone

you know

I don't really

have like

a crew

like I did

at Hoonigan

there's life outside

of it all

so it's like

how do you

you know

how do you

blend all those things

not to be like

a downer

but

I think that's like

the reality

and a lot of people

don't

ever expect that

because they just think

you get to do

fun shit for work

like it must be awesome

and you're like

it is

many times

really difficult

because the people

that you

also speak about

they're also in this

game

and doing the

videos

that they're

putting out

and creating

the content

some people do

not understand

how dogged

these people

are like

they work

I feel like

so many people

that are on their journey

up or

a style

something new

have moved away

from something

you can feel guilty

so quickly

every minute

that you're not

actually working

on a car

and finding

their balance

and like

finding that balance

of not working

and being

okay with it

can actually be

like a really

difficult thing

yeah

and I mean similarly

to what you're

doing

you know

it's Friday

night

you're dragged

your girlfriend here

it's

it's an

all consuming

career

whereas like

all my friends

back in New York

who chose the

nine to five life

go to work

go home

but that life

doesn't give you

occasionally

these moments

where

you're

with your mates

everyone's smiling

the smoke

pouring off a car

yeah

there's cameras

capturing the moments

that one day

you can show

your kids

and you can go home

and show

your dad

and your family

and you sit down

you can watch

piece of content

of something

that you just

got paid to do

and that right

there

is what I like

to call

a top gear moment

it's insane

yeah

I always trip on that

just

like the fact

that some things

I do

are work

what was

one of the first

especially

if you could

tie it

to a video

of like

experiences

of you

of that

exactly

what I've just

kind of described

the major

I mean

probably all

what

what the hell

is this

yeah

I probably

the daily

transmission

stuff

hated making

that show

it's so funny

because people

the whole goal

of that show

was to create

a facade

a brand

that didn't exist

so like

and what I mean by that is

the goal of daily

transmission

was to create

a world

where

all we did

was

fuck off

and have

fun

and that made

people

like the brand

because they're like

I want to work

for this company

where

all these guys

do is

fuck off

and have

a good time

and do

burnouts

but the reality is

we shot

that show

we shot

five episodes

Thursday afternoon

two

to 7 p.m.

roughly

and

any other time

we had to film

they would be like

I'm on my computer

write emails

or like

in meetings

and shit

and then they'd be like

fuck I gotta go outside

and

film

and be like

I gotta go

and like

close my computer

like walk outside

and be like

alright burn out time

let's go

so like

it was

such a wild world

that no one

knew

really existed

what was your dad

think about that

looking in

can surely hear a lot

of the stuff

that he would see

would be through the videos

that you're filming

Ryan

imagining that

they were watching the content

putting out and thinking like

what the hell

he's been doing

no way

my parents are

super supportive

and they

are just like

my mom

just didn't want me to move

because she didn't want me to move

but

she also is like

is it a real job

do they have health insurance

and I lied and told her

yes

they didn't

I'm sorry mom

I lied

but we eventually got health insurance

but

yeah

like my parents

were just fucking stoked

like my dad came out

here

helped me work on this car now

and he just kept telling me like

how proud of me he is

and like how

awesome it is

you know

because like

to him

it's like

they don't understand it

they live in a

in a world

where you get a normal job

and you go to work

and then you go home

and that's it

that's what you do

so like my

they saw all that shit

and they're like

oh you look like

you're having a good time

and then they come out

and they're like

oh you have a nice house

you all these cars

you have

stuff

and

you do this crap

like this is crazy

like this is an amazing thing

like so to them

it's like

mind blowing

that this life exists

you know

to all my loyal listeners

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guests soon

you talk about the days

vividly

when you joined

Hoonigan

at the beginning

that story

like 11 people

remembering your first phone call

from Ken

etc

Hoonigan became

such an enormous

global brand

such a movement

such a thing

that you can't really even

describe

it's merch

it was brand deals

it was green

like it was everywhere

what for you

on that journey

were like the hey days

of that brand

like what was the times

that you thought

they're like

you were unbeatable

unbreakable

that there was nothing

that could possibly

like go wrong

never once

really

the age old saying

is I don't remember

because my brain sucks

but it's like

the age old saying

oh shit

it's like

you never

like you never know

the good old days

when you're in

them or some shit

right

what is it

something

that

it's that

it's like

you never know

the good old days

when you're living them

only thing you look back on

and Hoonigan was that a lot

a lot of times

were the good old days

but in the moment

we were always like

thrashing for something else

so whether it's like

growth

or a new project

or just like busy

or like

we fucked something up

and we're trying to fix it

like it

always felt like a

constant

running away from the moment

so we

when you get a sense of the scale of it

when you went to like

some of the crazy events

SEMA

things like that

I mean

go to

we went to world time attack

in Australia

and like

went down there

and people were like

losing their mind

that we were there

I was like

holy shit

we're in Australia

life for you

when people started losing their mind

for you though

because you're in those

daily transmission videos

we've got

millions of views

and then like

honestly insane

what was that like

for someone

on their journey up

was probably never

imagining that that was going to be

part of their life

I think like

all things in life

it happens pretty slow

so like

you get a couple like

kids

noticing you

you know

while you're out at the beach

or ride your bike

or whatever

you know

and like

it kind of happens

a little bit

and you're like

okay

I think it's just car kids

you know

like small world

stuff

and then it keeps happening

and happening

and you're like

oh wow

this is crazy

yeah

it's

what makes it more polarizing

I remember

my mom

and my sister-in-law

were out here

I don't remember why

it was just them too

but

we went to

get food

before one of their flights out

and

we were like

getting lunch

and some kid

just like came up

and was like

geeked

and my sister-in-law

was like

you know that kid

I was like

she was like

wait

what the fuck

and I just remember

like thinking

people who aren't in this world

when stuff like that happens

it's like

insane

it actually just had

me and

Amy went up to

Gernsville

which is like

no where is

ville

above San Francisco

three hours

north of San Francisco

and it's like

Little River town

and worth all of her friends

who are like

super smart people

lawyers

doctors

they're all like

I don't belong there

and we

were walking down the street

and some dude was like

hey man, love your videos

blah blah

was like

talk to me

and they were all like

what the hell is that

and I was like

but I was just so

embarrassing to explain

all I make videos

on YouTube

in times like that though

which is almost like

times where you have

a massive grin on your face

because you can't quite

believe what's going on

did you ever

think that

that it will come

to an end

with Hoonigan?

hmm

I didn't think about it

I didn't think it would

come to an end

it felt like

it was going to be forever

we all thought

we were like

lifers

we were signed up

to be there

till the end of time

ride or die

shit

no one left

if you were in the crew

and you

worked

and you

did the thing

you were never going to leave

just

life

was literally like

the family from

Fast and Furious

yeah

straight up

and it wasn't like

we've all made

you know

early days

made shit money

worked a ton of hours

had no life

no friends

like just like

we were the crew

that was it

you know

and uh

yeah

no one would have

thought about leaving

you just like

that was it

so what was the first

thought for you

was it

Ken's past then?

actually

after everyone

thinks that

most common

thing people think

Hoonigan died

after Ken passed

not true

Hoonigan was stronger

than ever

after Ken passed

because we all felt

like we

owed it to

Ken to make it work

and I saw that

movements

be found

and all the stuff

that was going out

yeah

we were all like

super hyped

everyone was like

fuck yeah

let's do this stuff

we're like

super into it

but we were

owned by a

private equity

company

at the time

and like

the thing is

is like

it's really

hard to say

but you

can't

quantify

growth

with

money

directly in a

lot of ways

what I mean by that

is like

media

and like

brands built

like to build

an audience

you have to do things

that don't

make financial

sense to

grow the brand

that makes

literally

no sense to business

people

what do you mean

grow the

brand

if it's not

making money

you're like

you need to

build sentiment

while

losing money

but to them

it's like

that's

not real

you need to

make money

build sentiment

sell product

convert people

to the product

and you're like

no no

cause like

telling someone

to buy a t-shirt

doesn't make them

want to buy a t-shirt

doing burnouts

in a cop car

with a sticker

on the side of it

that says

Hoonigan

makes you

want to buy

the t-shirt

you know what I mean

there's such a different

level of

thinking

and

the

the suits

of the company

never really trusted

the kids

which are like

all of us

you know

so I was like

that was

always really tough

do you think

it did then

make it hard

after Ken

passed

because there wasn't

also this

great big voice

of trust

that those members

maybe had

yeah

I think it was really like

Brian

fought for the company

a lot

like Brian

fought

the CEOs

and the board

and stuff

for the crap

we wanted to do

at Hoonigan

and then

when he lost

Ken

it was like

losing someone

on your side

you know

so he kind of got

overran

a lot more

and then

yeah

kind of like

crumbled from there

I hate to ask you

but like

what was

your

how did you find out

that that had happened

and like

from someone

that you become

so close to

and you

so vividly remember even

your first moment

of a phone call

from the guy

like he was so talented

like the last person

I had

in this van

on this trip

was

Larry Chen

and I've actually

got his new book

over there

there was this

two-page

photo

that Larry has taken

and it is

Ken drifting

Pike's peak

and it is just

the most

incredible

you don't even

need to

like see

who was behind

the wheel

to know straight away

who it was

and appreciate

how

big

his nuts

must have been

I had to be able to do

stuff like

I've always

how much talent

it was

but like

to you guys

he was more than that

because it was someone

you spent time

so like

how hard did that

hit you

lot

while I was more worried

about

like Brian

and Ron

because they were

way tighter with

Ken

like I had a good

business relationship

with Ken

we were friends

but like

I wasn't

super super

close with him

you know like

I joined

who and again

we were in Long Beach

he was in Utah

so we'd like

work together

and see each other

but like Brian

and Ron

traveled the world

with Ken

because they were

on his rally

team

for so long

so like those

guys

and like Brian

obviously

started the company

with him

so when I found out

I really

was more worried

about my friends

and like

how they were doing

we were all about

pretty much

about to get in

in Uber

to go to Australia

when we

heard the news

and then it was like

Hurt

was at the airport

I think

he had already

went through security

we were like

dude

don't get on the plane

he was like

holy fuck

what did we do?

Yeah

yeah

we were like

no one expected

that

because like

the thing about

Ken

that

made

his passing

shocking

was

Ken never got hurt

so like

we work with

Travis

was strong

a lot

Travis

gets hurt

all the time

Travis

is broken

like every bone

in his body

he is like

destroyed

his body

is destroyed

because he's so extreme

but he does

he does

get hurt

often

Ken

was like

the opposite

because Ken would

Ken was like

I don't even like

jumping cars

he's like

it's like

like doing big jumps

like stupid

he's like

I don't want to do any of that

I'd rather do

precision driving

Ken never got hurt

for him to like

go out that way

was like

a big shock to people

because he was very like

not practical

but he was very like

you know

calculated

in what he was doing

yeah

it's insane

when you see

a picture

like that

to describe somebody

as a calculated

risk

it's there

with age

comes a cage thing

he felt

like cars were safe

because

cars have roll cages

you have

a Hans device

you have harnesses

you have

seats

you know

you have a way bigger

chance of surviving

like a crazy car crash

I mean that

that corner

if you don't know much

about Pike's Peak

that's called

EVO corner

because the crash there

was

the EVO going off the cliff

and rolled like

100 times

like I got out

like walked away

I think

he didn't

just stroll off

but he like

was in

horribly injured

yeah

the same aura as Travis

yeah

Ken

was still around

and

Hoonigan

was still

what it was

when he kind of

described those moments

drifting EVO corner

do you still think

that you would be there?

this next one's

for all you car

max shoppers

who just want to

buy a car

your way

wanna check some cars

out in person

uh-huh

wanna look some more

from your house

okay

wanna pretend you

know about engines?

nah

I'll just chat

with car max

online instead

wanna get pre-qualified

from your couch

whoo

wanna get that car

hey S.A.P

you wanna do it

your way

wanna drive?

car max

hmm

maybe

Hoonigan

wheel pros like

bought up a whole lot of

businesses and stuff

throttle

being one of them

throttle like

builds cars

they

have three million

subscribers on YouTube

they

got out

and got

sold to another company

and then they're like

doing well again

I think

if Ken

and Brian

stuck it out

maybe

we would have eventually

broke out a

wheel pros

and went somewhere else

like a more

fitting company

and then maybe

it could have like

restored

but

it felt like

a lot of damage

had been done

and like

the more things

that go wrong

you're kind of

you get sour

everyone

gets sour

and was the

things going

wrong the most

just like

the restraint

on the team

being allowed

to do

what the team

had always done

to make it work

but honestly

it's kind of

movies stuff

like it's

where you'd see

like a

TV show

everyone just

started to hate

each other

the

big business politics

were like

you know

people pitting

people against each other

because they wanted to

break up friendships

and stuff

because they didn't

like that

we were this

click

that was a small

business

that got

bought

and then like

they didn't like

that

we all like

operated together

you know

so like

they were trying to

make us all

hate each other

and like

it was all just

it turned into

this like

place

where used to go

and be with these

people

who you loved

and had a great time

to like

you just had

like resentment

for everyone there

because like

everything was a

plotline for

this like

greater business thing

I don't know

I feel like

maybe

maybe it wouldn't

have like

came back

it felt like

we got so damaged

and like

we all left

and then like

all of us became

better friends

again

you know

because the thing

that really resonates

from like

what you've said

about that story

the fact that

after

Ken's passing

there was this

momentum

to kind of

make him proud

make it

even stronger

even better

I like

I think that's

really key

that you said

like most people

think it was

the Ken thing

that triggered

to leave

but in reality

it wasn't that talk

so we were all actually

really positive

so you guys were like

positive about

what it could become

but it just

become too much

in the end

well no

so we

we were like

okay

it's a perfect time

we're going to do

Jim Conagrid

Ken blocks

Jim Conagrid

which is like

it's like

racing

it's like

timed

head-to-head

drifting

but it's really

specific

how it has to get done

to be interesting

and

it's an expensive thing

to do

and we really wanted to do it

and

as you know

doing things like that

it would be like

probably a year or two

of like

breaking even

in the red

maybe in the black

and

they just kept

putting it off

and then

just like

canceled it

and we were all like

hmm

like this is it

you know

like if we can't

do this one thing

that we're all

passionate about

that we think

will bring the brand

to the next level

which would be like

starting a

motorsport series

then like

it's

it's all dead dust

we don't want to keep

doing

this first

that drag racing shows

we've done

200 of them already

if you guys

just want to keep

doing the cheap stuff

that gets the views

that's a ticking time bomb

had other people

like peeled off

before you

triggered yourself

to go as well

hurt left first

had an opportunity

to be on a

Hot Wheels show

and

at the same time

had like

got a partnership

with T pain

to do some

to do some stuff

so he had

an exit

so he left

like a month

before me

but we kind of

hurt

had like a

soft to leave

because of the TV show

then he came back

for a little bit

and then he left

and then

yeah

and then I left

then Brian left

then Ron left

then

what was the time

Zach

Queen

like you actually

leaving

and kind of

putting that chapter

to bed

and thinking right

I'm going to go

do someone else

that and you

put in that video

live

which essentially

sparked

the whole of this

new journey

that you're now

that limbo period

before going around

that whole

central

what did that

feel like to you

I put that video

while I was still

like going into work

and

I didn't even tell

the CMO

at the time

he was like

probably one of the main

reasons

why

who need

getting crumbled

he was like

saw your video

I was like

yeah

still pretty good

huh

okay so it was that bad

so you do

put that video

live

before you actually

handed your

notice

then

I put my notice

I was like

under the year

I'll bet

you were still

working

like your garden

even stuff

I told them

that end

of the year

was like

I was leaving

in January

and I

put that video

up like

December

something

and I was like

awkward

I didn't care

because at that point

I mean like

I was going

into the office

for like

three hours a day

they had closed

down

tire slayer studios

without telling

the audience

we had this

remote

corporate office

somewhere

and I just

never used to go in

because I'm like

this place is

dead

this is over

I'm

I got a plan

my exit

and I'm like

which I wasn't

doing

I was really

just like

taking time

off to

fuck off

but

I would straight up

go into the office

at 11

and leave it

I'm like

going for

one meeting

and I'll just be like

go to lunch

and never come back

I'm like

this player

you know

because I was like

this is this

this is over

like this isn't working

you know

in your video

you were like

super amicable

about the whole

thing

you try

super respectful

in reality

now

I care less

going back

would you

have put some extra

stuff in there

that you said

today

about like

why

because a lot

of people

I liked

work there

still

and

I didn't

feel like

it needed to

be like

aired out

you know

I'm

I was like

you know what

I'm going to make this

as like

PG is possible

no one needs

to know

all the dirt

you know

then as time goes

and like

things get worse

and worse

and they fire

all the people

that I know

and care about

I'm like

I don't really

give a shit

anymore

you know

they

they screwed

the whole thing

I'm sour

about it

they took something

I loved

and ruined it

you know

so let's

get on to

your own journey

your own cars

then

because

again

a misconception

that I think

a lot of us

Brits have

is that

every American

just love stuff

with a million

horsepower

that goes in

a straight line

they really

care about

call his

unless

he's drifted

yeah

and I really

I've met someone

that I think

has so many

similarities

with me

and the cars

that I love

because

you

have a

GT3

you literally

have a

Ferrari

and

they are

two of my

favorite car

brand

nice

in a well

portion

Ferrari

what gets

your gears

to confine

your

GT3

how insane

was that

for you

Oh dude

that

yeah

that was like

nuts

I bought

walls

on a conference

call

Hoonigan

on Brick

trailer

and

and then

I traded that

for

the

GT3

which

I never

thought

I would

own

you

have that

that car

is just

my absolute

halo

car

the fact

that I have that

now

yeah

it's like

insane

will you

ever

sound like

if someone

was to pay

me like

exorbit

amount of

money

I might

I've

been

thinking about

more recently

just because

has

my like

the outside of

the city

where I live

sucks

I haven't

I don't

drive the

GT3

or S

so much

because

it's like

I just

live in a

traffic

grid

area

with

fun

road

I'm like

that car

to me

is so

special

and so

fun

to drive

and I'm like

that goes

out

when

I'm going

to go

driving

you

know

I'll

drive

into like

the store

or like

to go

get

coffee

or something

and I'm just

this isn't

what

this is for

what got you into

that style

of cars

cause like

I see you

out of the ring

recently

as well

with me

shows

for the

channel

hitting up the ring

in all

the crazy cars

and 9

11's

obviously

the thing

there's

like a

GT3

or S

every movement

of your

eyeballs

at the

yeah

what got you

into that

stuff

rather

than just

the crazy Mustang

with the million

horsepower engine

I was

into

Volkswagen's

as a

kid

we were into like

show cars

and straight line

performance

so we build

they ran like

12's

so that was really

what we were

into

and then

once we got out of

the whole

stance

thing

I got into

more like

grip

performance

evos

STI's

M3's

things like

that

and just

really enjoyed

yeah

grip driving

I always thought

drifting was cool

but never could

afford it

which is funny

cause like

you would think

like having a

you know

like a

track car

would ever be

more expensive

than a drift car

we're like

drifting

is such a

consumable

hobbies

so I couldn't afford it

when I was younger

so I just

like didn't do it

and

yeah

and that's kind of

what built my love

for it

and then

obviously

Porsche

was always

the top of it

you know

I never really

cared about

Ferrari's

that much

like it

always seemed

like too

bougie

too pretentious

for me

I love the way

they sounded

but I was just

like not

for me

but then

Porsche

always felt

the less pretentious

sports car

you know

but

the thing

with Porsche

and I mentioned this

with

this is quite like

a really cool

detail

in Brown from

the UK

and we spoke

about this

the other day

it's like

I feel like

BMW

has always been

cool

the M3

has always been

cool

no matter

kind of

what iteration

there's something

cool

about them

and we

said

like we

sat here

when did

Porsche

become

cool

2020

2014

it did

because it suddenly

happened

because

well I think

that's

the early

top gears

of like them

taking the

mick out

of Hammond

and May

like Clarkson

used to about

like the

dull specs

that they have

on there

be like a

Panamera

champagne

with

inch

wheels

it's just

I don't

when did

all the like

22 year

I'll start

choosing

Porsche

on time

so I

I went

to the

first

two

loft

decals

2014

2015

and I was like

wow

this is like

pretty cool

and I always

thought

Porsche's were

cool

but not

didn't

really care

that much

about them

going to

autocross

there's a

dude at the

white

nine

and seven

GT three

with a trailer

he's like trailer

his tires there

that shit was

sick

and I was like

that's cool

and then

I kind of

saw the progression

of like

air cooled

9-11's

get crazy

and I always

love the

997

991

generation

GT three

RS's

but

I eventually

bought an

air cooled

car

built like

excuse me

built like

an RSR

I rock

style

air cooled

9-11

it was fun

but it's

kind of like

slow

it's between like

AE86

and like

you know

like a

GTI

or something

it just wasn't

just

yeah

it wasn't

it just wasn't

really

super exciting

for me

and then

I had bought

A1 NSX

at the time

and I was like

I like the

NSX

better

so I sold the

yeah

so I sold the

the 9-11

and then

I bought the

GT three

because I was like

the car

I always had

been looking

for and I would

follow the

market on

those things

and I remember

just seeing

one cell

had like

80,000 miles

on it

sold for like

over a hundred

grand

and I was like

that's it

never getting one

they got too

expensive

this is it

and

and then

yeah

when I was like

making good

money at

Hoonigan

I was like

you know

fuck it

I'm gonna buy it

this is like

I work a

miserable job

where I make

a lot of money

I'm getting

my dream car

which is

insane

because you bought

that car

while in

Hoonigan

there's a

bit almost

amplifies

how big of a

decision

that was

to hand in

you notice

leave

without really

knowing exactly

what you were

doing

before

do you know

I like

six

eight

months

before

this is what

I'm saying

you're in a

position

then

to be able

to do

that stuff

yet

you had to

make the

decision

to kind of

stop

that income

is free

yeah

start

from scratch

again

dude

I made

scary

I made

more money

Hoonigan

than I

ever could have

imagined

making

in my life

my annual

salary

was

because I made

I did

commission

and stuff

I made

a ton of

of money

more than

I thought

I'd ever

make

then

when

I was

going to

leave

that

I was

only

fuck

but

because

I made

commission

off of

partnership

deals

and

About this episode

Vin Tra shares his journey from Hoonigan to becoming a successful YouTuber, revealing the challenges and triumphs along the way. He discusses the impact of Ken Block's passing on Hoonigan and the subsequent changes that led to his departure. Vin reflects on his early days in the automotive industry, his love for cars, and how he built his personal brand. The conversation dives into the complexities of content creation, the pressure of success, and the importance of staying true to one's passion in a competitive landscape.

Adam LZ air ride coilovers DDE four cylinder Hans device Hoonigan horsepower rev Rolls Royce

Original notes

Check out Tweak: https://www.tweakuk.com/From running from police in LA to building a multi-million pound business, this is the wild and brutally honest story of Vin — the man behind the viral videos, the risk-taking, and the relentless drive for success.Vin opens up about growing up with nothing, building from the streets up, the pain of betrayal, and what success really costs.Don’t forget to subscribe to our channel for more exciting content about your favourite shows and celebrities. Hit the bell icon to stay updated on all our latest episodes👍 Like, Comment, and Share this episode. Join our discussion in the comments sectionCheck out Tweak: https://www.tweakuk.com/🔗 Follow Us:Instagram: @Roadtosuccessofficialpodcast@benedictfowlerContact: [email protected]

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