What Japan Car Culture Taught Us + Toyota Confirms New MR2!

Welcome to Martini Works Podcast, ladies and gentlemen, where we talk about car news,

aftermarket mods, what's going on in the culture, and of course, car parts.

So we're happy that you're here.

Happy Friday, or as I like to say, Friday.

And we're going to be spending some time starting out the podcast talking about the Rolex 24

at Daytona, but not before letting you know that if you're looking for car parts like

wheel and tire packages, performance parts, tunes, intakes, things like that, go mod your

car with your friends over at martiniworks.com.

Yeah, do that.

Appreciate it.

That was Gels.

Yeah.

Dakota, make a noise.

I just got done eating some open road jerky beef jerky Chipotle barbecue Fortunato beef

jerky.

Give me that.

Is it good?

Yeah, it is good.

Okay.

Well, rated out of 10.

Okay, so I'm going to put it on the scale of like, you got your like jack links.

What's the other one called, old Trapper, I think it's called or something like that?

I'm going to give it, I'm going to give it an eight.

It's solid.

I like it.

Like I would purchase it myself from a store, I genuinely would.

Yeah, it's pretty good.

It has good flavor.

I don't really do beef jerky.

I like, I like drier beef jerky.

Like some of it, like Jack links is like fucking marinated or something like too much.

It's too commercial at this point.

Oh, I remember.

This is more like homegrown.

I remember when I used to go to Menards with my dad before I get into car stuff.

Yeah.

I used to go to Menards with my dad, of course, right?

My dad did not believe in what was called free time on the weekends.

You know, if there, if there wasn't something to do, he just made up chores.

The worst one ever being, he actually, this is back when I was like, this is all checking

out.

This was like back when I was like 15.

He didn't like that we had our like neutral rose colored rocks in the back garden and

then we had our small pebble rocks in the front garden.

So he wanted to switch them.

Oh, that's got to be fixed.

It's got to be and I remember one time and he, he built this where he needed to build

this like strainer to clean the rock because not only were we moving the rock, he wanted

the rock cleaned.

Oh my goodness.

How this is a real story, Oscar Blake, you know, this is true.

And so one time we went to Menards and for the ridiculousness of the task, my dad finally

decided to reward me with a bag of beef jerky because back then it was really expensive.

It was like six bucks, five, six bucks.

And I remember biting it and I was expecting it to be super good and it wasn't.

And I didn't like it.

I don't know if maybe I just had like a bad batch, but I literally didn't touch beef jerky

for like 25 years, 20 years because you washed all like rocks all day and then God beef jerky

didn't like.

So we got halfway.

I'm sorry.

So I got halfway through this process.

This was a big thing.

Like the whole, you know, like the five gallon pales and stuff, I use that.

And this is when I was starting to develop critical thinking and I realized this entire

chore was stupid.

And we got like halfway through it.

And I remember I didn't like, like I didn't agree with it anymore.

And my dad, I never argued with my dad, like hardly ever.

But then at one point he was like gone for a day.

I can't remember what it was.

It was a Saturday.

I just moved the rock without washing it.

Oh, and I moved on multiple weekend projects.

Oh yeah, this was a big one.

So I didn't use, first off, I didn't use the five gallon pales because I thought that

idea was dumb.

I went and I bought two like tarps and then I just put all the rock on the tarps and then

I just dragged it right to the back and then I just kind of flipped it up, you know, over

time.

Oh, he knew.

Well, my dad knew.

I mean, within a moment's notice, he knew that I did not follow this, that he wanted

and he's like, he goes, Alex, you didn't wash the rock.

And I remember looking at Papa and this was like one of the few times I think we ever

had as when I was a teenager that we've ever had a point where I felt like maybe I was

right, like there is handful, probably less than five.

And I looked at him and I go, Papa, does it really matter if the rock is washed or not?

If we're going to put down the stuff to prevent the weeds and it's going to rain

anyway.

And I was tired and I was dirty and I was sweaty and I must have been out there for

like 10 hours.

My dad goes, OK, Mijo, that's fine.

And that was that was the last that was the last large chore project I ever got

for my dad before I moved out.

Damn, he was just waiting for you to do testing.

Yeah, I'm going to make him do that.

Yeah, I'm straight up.

You know, he said something.

You ask my father, Oscar Blake Martinez, if if he gave us chores just for the sheer

fact that we had free time and he did not want us playing runescape downstairs, he

would say, of course, Mijo needed you needed something to do all the time.

Otherwise, you'd get in trouble.

He'd play runescape all the time.

It's like, what?

I got this dude to wash and move rock.

That reminds me of my time at my first job where I worked at shop.

Go and they had a lawn and garden section in the summer.

So outside they have a bunch of flowers, plants, etc.

And it is fucking downpouring outside.

And my manager comes up to me and says, waters flower today.

Or did you water the flowers?

I was like, no, but it's like, look outside, like it's like storming out.

And he's like, well, you better go out there and water him.

Like, laughing.

He's like, what's funny about that?

I'm like, oh my God, he fucking wants me to water these.

Yeah, he did.

So I went outside while it was pouring out and start watering flowers.

And people are driving past and honking, laughing at me.

Recording you.

Yeah, guy is before that time.

Oh, there was no TikTok.

I rolled down the window.

He's like, what the hell are you doing, man?

I was like, I don't fucking know.

Just keep watering.

That reminds me of washing rocks.

Yeah, we all have those, those things.

Well, with that being said, let's get it back over to cars.

I apologize for the off track there.

That's all right.

But it was last weekend was the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

I had to rehearse that in a mirror multiple times.

Because if you go online, everybody says it differently.

How they say the title of it is different.

They'll call it the 24 hours of Daytona presented by Rolex.

They'll call it the Daytona International Speedway 24 hour Rolex at Daytona or for Daytona.

It's just weird.

It's a long name.

And they like when you say the name, right?

Yeah, yes, which is true, because they probably pay a lot of money.

Yeah, fair enough, fair enough.

Rolex has been a part of it since 1992.

So it makes sense.

How long has that race been going for?

Long time, actually.

I want to say either mid fifties or early sixties.

What I know is that it was essentially started right off the cusp of the concept of not the

concept, but the success of the 24 hour of Le Mans.

And they wanted to bring it to America.

And I want to say fifties, if you're listening, you can correct me if I'm wrong.

But it was like a year after, two years after the 24 hour of Le Mans, because I remember

the track was built and it ran a couple shorter stints and then then it started running the

24 hours, I think in the early sixties.

But overall, super cool track like Daytona International Speedway has a gnarly ton of

history behind it.

Thirty one degrees equivalent of four stories.

What was the temperature outside because I got confused for a second.

Well, in Wisconsin, it was negative 40 during the 24 hour.

Yes, it was.

But in Wisconsin, in Florida, it was 80 and sunny.

Screw you, man.

It was great.

Screw you.

You dodged a bullet.

They wouldn't even let you come back home because it was so cold, right?

I know.

Yeah.

So I got stuck in Orlando for an extra day with Lars at the Orlando International Airport,

which if anybody has actually been there, they have a hotel built into it.

It is the weirdest 80s backroom style thing I've ever participated in.

It is.

It was a cool hotel, but it was so backwards.

Nothing.

I couldn't quite figure out anything like to get into the hotel.

You have to go through a parking ramp on the fourth floor over the departure entry.

Like if you were to get dropped off to go into departures.

Once we were in there, like getting to the hotel was like a five minute walk

straight down a hallway and then the way to go get your key.

And then one of the elevators wasn't working.

And then when you're in the elevators, it's like like the old stranger things

elevators, which are really big and like awkwardly shaped.

Anyway, overall super fun experience.

Did I get it right?

Sixties.

All right.

So sixties.

Yeah.

So yeah.

How was the race?

Was it fun?

Did you have a good time?

What did you do?

It was good.

It was an awesome time.

So we went there, showed up on Thursday, watched some MX-5s go around in circles,

which was super fun.

We ended up watching like the last couple laps of that live here.

Yeah.

It got crazy.

It goes wild.

Dude, that was that was rowdy.

It's crazy to think that those cars, I think at the wheel,

have 170 horsepower and at Daytona, they'll go 148 miles an hour.

They're using every bit of it, everything they got.

The drafting.

Yeah, dude, they're literally on each other.

There's like six cars just lined up bumper to bumper, like literally touching.

Drafting is so much more important than horsepower in that situation.

Well, what's crazy is it's like when you watch it on TV,

you get the concept of like how important drafting is.

But when you watch somebody fall out of draft, like physically you're watching it

and you see that car look like it almost put the brakes on,

you're like, oh my God, they just lost the race.

Like so people will come out and they'll come out of the,

I think it's like turn five, turn, yeah, turn five.

And they'll go out onto the banking right before bus stop.

And it's like if they mess that up and they're just not on that car connected to

like what's in front of them, immediately they create a gap.

And so as the race like kept going, it would be a gap or there'd be like 16 cars,

then 13, then 10, then seven, then four.

And like the four cars at the front just stayed glued to each other until the final turn.

It's like watching go-karts.

So that was really cool.

Got to see some vintage race cars.

So we got to watch a GT2 Dodge Viper race around, which was really cool.

Like they do this HSR IMSA vintage race, which is awesome.

Because it's all pro AM drivers, usually business owners.

Jim Farley was there, the owner or CEO of Ford Motor Company.

And the craziest thing is all these cars are going to break.

Not one of these cars is really going to finish the race.

They're all expensive.

They're all old as hell.

They've got tons of mechanics working on these cars

because these people that are driving these cars are rich.

There was one guy in the vintage race that was driving a Mazda RX8

that has some sort of historical reference to Daytona.

I couldn't figure it out.

There were a million dollar like...

Dude knew somebody.

Celine S7R is next to a 2003 Mazda RX8.

But it was loud and it was a very loud car.

But all these cars, they break immediately.

There's this iconic Ferrari.

I think it's called a 333SP or something like that.

All I wanted to do was hear it because Lars was like,

dude, best sounding Ferrari ever, ever, ever.

This is the car to listen to.

I'm like, all right, bet.

So I'm like, there.

It starts up.

Don't really hear anything.

He's like, no, it has to be under load.

Like it has to be throttle.

Okay.

So we go out, we have our media passes.

We're going out, we're on turn like three, four.

And here it comes.

And there it goes, broken.

Oh my God.

Oh, of course.

Not a sound in the world came from that car,

except the putts of a broken car.

Damn.

So I'm like, well, that sucks.

Then the day before the actual 24 hour race,

which would have been Friday and also Saturday morning,

there was some more racing.

I'm like, hell, I'm gonna go back out there.

I'm gonna wait for vintage to get back out there.

I want to hear this Ferrari.

I shit you not.

Go to the same exact place.

Ferrari comes out, brakes in the same exact spot.

You had to go a turn earlier.

So we never, I never, I never got to hear it.

But I did get to hear, you know,

like Zach Brown was there driving a Jag,

which was super cool.

Then the Viper was like my favorite car.

But there was a Selina 7R,

which I had never seen in person before.

Those are really cool cars.

And then, yeah, we went into the 24 hour race,

which was super fun.

We were there with Mazda Motorsports,

and Rolex, and LiquiMolly, and it was crazy.

Like there's so many great brands and people there

just doing super red stuff.

So it was a fun, fun night.

There was the longest yellow flag in IMSA Daytona history.

Six hours, 33 minutes and 25 seconds.

Six hour yellow flag.

Full course yellow.

How does that happen?

What, I dumb ass was picturing like a really long thing.

Like, hey.

That was so long, dude.

I was so like, that's cool.

It's like 15 feet long.

Back it up, though.

A six hour caution.

What the hell?

Would you guys watch everyone drive at fucking the speed limit?

Yeah, that's what it was pretty much.

All just going in circles.

For a quarter of the race.

Yeah, it was wild.

It was like one of the record-lowest laps

completed, you know, for the race.

But there was fog that came in.

Okay.

And then once it just like came over the hill,

just like sat.

And so you couldn't really see anything.

We left, I think I left at like 12.30 at night

with Lars or 11.30 at night.

12.30, yeah.

And then I was like, I asked to come back early.

Originally I was just going to stay the whole night,

but they didn't want me to.

So I was like, okay, how early can we get there?

And like 5.85 AM, I'm like, great.

So get back to the hotel, charge the cameras.

Grab something to eat, maybe three hours of sleep.

Wake back up.

Can't, I'm delirious.

I can, you know, like smell colors.

And we get in the car and we head back to the track.

And as we're getting closer, our driver's like,

yeah, it's kind of weird.

Like we were there a little bit earlier

and we didn't really like hear the cars.

And I'm like, what do you mean?

I don't know.

I think, I think maybe they're like shut down or something

because of the fog.

And I'm like, no way.

I get no way.

It wouldn't just stop.

It wouldn't just stop it.

And so we get there and we hear him.

We're like, oh, no, we're good.

We're good.

But it was a little quieter.

And we get out into the infield and I look at all the cars

and all the cars that are still alive are just driving

all at like 60 miles an hour.

Nice and slow.

And I'm like, oh my God.

So like you can't like pass anybody.

No.

The only thing you can do is literally just sitting

in traffic at that point.

Yeah.

With a very loud, very non-comfortable car.

My God.

That's so that's when I would work your test.

Yeah.

That's what the drivers can imagine.

You're driving like six hours in a circle.

I feel like the adrenaline and exhilaration

is what like keeps you fucking sharp and awake.

Doing that at just, you know, you can't pass anybody.

You know, you can't do anything.

You have to just say it.

It's like, I would lose my mind for six fucking hours.

Yeah.

It was wild.

So like Turner Motorsports, they were playing soccer in the pits.

I went and hung out with BMWM, WRT team.

And because we were going to do a video,

and we literally just did a video of like what it was like to

even do a pit stop in the fog.

And so they're still moving fast when they have to do the pit stop.

But it was like, you could tell they were just bored.

They were just so damn bored.

Yeah, they were pretty hyped when the flag went up

and they could get on her.

Yeah.

And then we wanted to, I wanted to capture the sunrise

because if you guys and gals haven't gone to a 24 hour race,

the Rolex 24 Daytona is a fantastic race.

Do it.

You'll love it.

It's a fantastic time.

Really personable, really accessible to like just fantastic event.

IMSA does a great job with it.

But I wanted to capture sunrise because sunset,

you can get these gorgeous shots from like turn four

or even all the way out towards the bus stop kind of shooting in

towards the bank.

And so I got those shots and I was really happy.

I'm not really like, I don't do photos anymore.

But I really enjoyed it.

I was like, these are, these are sick.

Sunrise, you can capture obviously in the different direction,

but I wanted to get them over at the bus stop of like the sun

popping up through.

And I couldn't get that.

So everything just looks at six o'clock in the morning,

like Silent Hill of cars, just like driving in the fog.

That's kind of sick though.

But it was a great race.

Outside of the full course, yellow, fantastic race.

Cadillac and BMW were putting up one hell of a fight in GTP

against the Porsches.

There was a really cool moment where it almost looked like a Cadillac

was going to win.

It was like 10 minutes left.

Coming up, up to the start, finish going into turn one.

There is essentially like a blend line that hides over there on the inside,

which people start to very much abuse as they get closer and closer to the end.

And there was one point where the Cadillac was pretty much like almost all the way off the track

trying to pass the Porsche on the inside to force it out into turn two.

Didn't quite get it pulled back off and like that was essentially the win.

But Felipe Nasser got his third win, which was super cool.

And so we got to actually see them take the watches.

So I got to see Luca, the Rolex USA president, he gave the watches out.

And so I got to see what they look like, which is really cool.

Super neat.

Yeah.

I mean, it's like there is always something that I think a lot of people get a little twisted

with certain brands that are very, we'll call it in like that level of how they treat themselves.

But hanging out with that team for the weekend and talking to them about watches and cars and

things like that, it's so perfectly aligned in such polarizing ways.

Rolex cares so much about just making the best watch, but they're so humble about it in how

they kind of showcase that and their partnerships.

So it's like they have a really nice experience.

They have the watch, but they're very, very proud that they get to be a part of this thing.

And so like the box is really just like nice and sleek, but it's not about Rolex.

It's about what the person just achieved.

And that achievement is kind of immortalized with getting this watch, you know?

And they just, it felt so like right as weird as that sounds.

So it was a really cool experience.

The watch is obviously sick, not a huge watch guy, but I got to hang out with some people

that were.

And so the very first watch I picked up because we did a video with a watch collector.

I saw that.

Watch enthusiast.

I was like looking for ones to like spot.

Yeah.

And I looked at this like blue one.

I'm like, man, that's kind of a cool watch.

And the guy looked over and he goes, you like my watch?

And I was like, yeah, he's just here.

And he takes it off and he like gives it to me.

You know, like what car people that kind of have like an exotic view for like a child.

You want to get in it?

Get in it, get in it, get in it.

Start it up, you know?

I was like, sure.

Rev it.

I'm like looking at it and he's like, well, like put it on, you know?

And I'm like, I feel uncomfortable, whatever.

So I put it on.

My friend was with me that I met on the trip and he looks at it and he goes, oh my god,

that's a gorgeous watch.

I'm like, oh, what is it?

He like explains the whole thing.

And he goes, yeah, it's like a $90,000 watch.

That's so insane.

And I'm like, I don't even want to like, I don't even want to scratch it.

Well, it turns out the person that gave me watch was Luca.

He was the CEO of Rolex USA.

Because he was like, he gave it to me.

He's like, yeah, just do whatever you want with it.

And he goes, he's like, I'll be around.

You know, like whatever.

And I'm like, I would be so scared.

Yeah.

I'd just walk around like this, like hit this off.

So no, it was really good.

I couldn't do it.

I don't think I could do it.

It's too much money.

Oh yeah.

I just had the CEO of Rolex's $90,000 watch.

I'll give it back at some point.

No, I couldn't do it.

It was, he was really great.

We got to hang out Jensen Button to watch the start of the race, which is always

really fun because those guys are, they're all testimonials, testimonies of Rolex,

like Tom Christensen is, Jensen Button is, and others.

But they have that persona of them, right?

But they're still race car drivers.

So the start of the race, when stuff is happening, you can see them either get frustrated

or be like, man, I just wouldn't have done that.

So it was really fun to watch the start of the race with one of the best race car drivers of all time

and get to learn some of that.

So yeah, totally worth it.

Super fun.

Definitely enjoyed it.

If you guys haven't been to an IMSA race, you got to.

They are amazing.

2026 is a year that you 100% should get out to one.

So if you have any questions on how to get involved in IMSA racing events

or you have any questions about racing in general, let us know in the comments below.

We'd be happy to answer them as much as we can.

But we do want to take a small break, but not before talking about one of our partners

of the Martini Works podcast, Dakota.

Continental tires.

I love Continental tires.

That's the ad.

No, I'm just playing.

Head on over to Martini Works.

Look at all the models that are available.

We actually have Brent.

He was looking at some Viking contact sevens and he's ripping his Genesis right now

because his winter beaters down.

So he's got to take the Genesis out of storage.

So he's putting some Viking contact seven winter tires on there.

I tell you what, the Rippers had them on my Supra, drove it all winter,

never got stuck, never slipped.

Nothing phenomenal.

He's actually taking an ice racing this weekend.

Yeah.

See how it goes.

It's going to be dope.

This guy's got one broke car.

So he's going to go beat on the other.

This guy's going to go beat it up for some ice racing.

And that's why we love Brent.

Yep.

That's why Brent's a G.

But also too, with all seasons, I had the DWSO6 Plus on my Jetta was phenomenal.

Continental really nails it with the wet performance.

So you can drive with confidence when it's raining or storm and all any of that stuff.

They just do so well.

And then, of course, for your summer performance, the fun tires get some extreme contact sport

O2s.

Tons of sizes available and they look good.

Some people care about how their tires look.

I think a lot of car enthusiasts do.

You want to have a dope wheel set up.

Well, you got to have a good tire on it.

You can have an uggo tire on your dope wheels.

Continental tires actually look really good too.

I like the tread patterns and the ECSO2 logo that they put along the sidewall.

So go check them out at Martini Works and thank you to Continental for sponsoring the podcast.

So we're halfway into, no, we're towards the end of January already.

It's going to be February when this goes up.

Look at that.

No, almost, almost, almost, almost.

Nobody from the Midwest knows what day it is because it's cold and dark and it sucks.

Yeah, it's been negative 30 for a week and a half and I'm over it.

That being said, we have now cumulatively have attended a large domestic racing event.

And we spent some time in Japan, which is good.

And you know, Wisconsin is kind of like Europe, if you really think about it.

So we've actually visited like all three cultures in a month.

Broughts.

Let's talk a little bit about maybe how the Japanese car culture felt to us

now that we've had a few weeks.

Okay, I got something right away about it that I noticed.

It was so insane to go anywhere in that country and every car, like obviously car enthusiast cars,

but any car was just immaculately clean.

Like not only was it in good shape, like no dents, scratches, etc.

It was like detailed clean.

Every damn car on the road, they treat their cars so nice there.

And I think part of it too that we talked about is like,

we actually went to a Suzuki dealership and walked there and got to kind of see, but

they just take so much pride in their work over there.

So it's like, if you bring your car to a shop or a garage and it's getting repaired,

it's going to be like, you're taking it to a dealer that you can't even say that around here.

It's like, they actually care and they're going to fix it properly and make it like better than

it was before.

They take it so seriously.

Yes.

Yeah, it's a sign of pride and every vehicle was just immaculate.

Obviously, there's a couple outliers here and there, but even then,

the worst vehicle I've seen was normal traffic here.

Yeah, it was crazy because you mentioned that.

You're like, dude, have you noticed that like every car is just spotless?

Like look, they just rolled out of a car wash.

And I was like, you're right.

And you're like, where are the car washes?

Where are the gas stations?

They're always like tucked into like the gas stations all the way in the corner.

I think one of the things the first time I ever went that I didn't quite pick on until the second

time was how many individuals are staffed to do like the most basic crowd management of something.

Like you'll be walking and there might be a garage door entry way to like a parking ramp for a building.

There will be like five people staffed outside of that thing and they'll be standing there.

They're not on their phone.

They're not doing anything besides looking into the hole where the car come out and looking ahead

to make sure nobody is in the way.

And the moment that that red light like comes on to signify that a car is coming up,

bro, like 12 more people come out of nowhere to like and then they get the lights,

they got the whole thing, you know, they put their clearing, the whole thing,

they're like checking it out.

You got another person down there like, come on, come on, you know, coming all the way up

and then they go through and they're like, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Then everybody starts walking again.

Like every time I was walking by even like construction because the construction

work in Japan, they have, at least in Tokyo, they have decibel maximums and they'll have

a digital display of how loud that work site is compared to the maximum allowed noise you can have

and then you can report them if they are operating above that sound threshold.

There's like a phone number and all that sort of stuff.

I mean, just like the amount of like trying to not be a burden is insane in that country.

It's so cool.

Also a little underly, I've seen a Volkswagen Cheraco.

Yeah, like a modern one, not a older one.

Yeah.

I don't know if I'll ever see when I get my light.

That was insane.

I know, I, we were literally on a, we were on our way to Shibuya.

I don't, I can't, we were on our way somewhere and we Ubered.

Yeah.

And I was like, dude, I'm pretty sure that was a Cheraco.

And there was like no fucking way and it like kind of like went behind something or I thought

I was like, I think it's gone.

It goes like, fuck, I'm never going to be able to see one of these cars.

And then it like out of nowhere like came back and I was like, holy shit, it is.

And I've just always loved those cars.

I thought they're amazing.

We never got them.

So to see one out in the wild in Japan was really neat.

Yeah.

There's a lot of really cool stories there too.

I think, I think, I don't know if it's why some of these brands have so much support,

but you know, like Top Secret building these insane like engine swapped cars.

They had the Mark IV Supra with the R35, VR38 engine in it.

That dude's put V12 like century twin turbo engines into cars.

He put an RB26 into a Supra.

But like the story of Top Secret where it was like, he worked at trust.

You know, he's a fabricator, he's a mechanic.

Oh, well, fabricator more than anything.

And he used to work on building stuff for like friends on the side.

And then trust found out because it wasn't like very common to have like a side hustle.

Not really accepted back then.

But they let him continue to do it because he was so good at trust.

He was such a good fabricator that they were like, we can't afford to lose you.

Yeah, we used to stay.

We don't want to piss.

We don't really want you to do this.

Old smoky.

And then literally started Top Secret.

You know, that's where the name comes from was that the origins were supposed to be a secret.

And then to go out and you know, start building these cars and do,

you know, illegal street runs at 300 kilometers an hour is just super cool.

Do you open your cards yet?

In Japan, it's not nice to point.

In America it is.

Did you open your cards yet?

I did not.

I can't get.

So yeah, we bought some trading cards at the top secret booth

and they have a chance of being signed by smoking again.

There's like rare ones in their hand.

Got a box.

I think it's four packs, five packs, six packs.

I can't remember.

I haven't opened mine either.

I can't get myself to open it.

I want to open it so bad and I will.

I will.

Yeah.

There's no point in sitting in the box.

You should open them and drive.

But it's like, it's got to be right.

I don't know that moment.

Yeah, it's got to be like the last part of Japan that's untouched.

But I'm just leaving.

I brought back pancakes.

Yeah, did you eat them all?

Oh yeah.

I was so scared to bring back any food

because they're so weird about the airport.

They are, yeah.

I kind of just stuffed mine in the backpack

and took her through TSA.

We had a couple jars of this chili crisp.

You got chili crisp in Japan and brought it back?

Yeah.

I didn't know that.

My wife wanted to bring up a bag.

Maybe found some because she fell in love with chili crisp.

Yeah, chili crisp.

Especially when we make Korean beef bowls and stuff.

Oh yeah, it's good.

And so she found a place that was selling it

and it looked really good.

And she brought two jars and then she threw it in her backpack.

We forgot it was actually in her backpack, backpack.

We get to Chicago, we go through customs,

go through all this stuff,

and then we for some reason have to go out

and then come back in to TSA for some fucking reason.

Even though we've just went through advanced TSA.

Welcome to America.

And then they pull their bags.

Like what the fuck?

And the chili crisp was in there.

I was like, no, they better not take that.

They better not fucking take that.

Did they just want to like look at it to see it or what?

Yeah, because it's like a jar of essentially liquid.

So like, you know, you can't bring liquid through the tea.

It's kind of, yeah.

It turned out to be fine.

They let her keep it and it's so fucking good.

That's awesome.

That's cool.

I know you guys got that.

But yeah, the cars.

Another thing too was that was so cool was when we were

sitting at Shibuya Crossing and kind of car watching

for like an hour, it was just like every build

that came through was so good, dude.

Just the street cars there.

People have such good taste and I feel like part of it,

this is just a, I feel statement,

but I think it's because like there's self expression there.

I feel like it's so muted for the most part.

They're all wearing very similar clothing.

They all wear their suits, like go to work.

There's not like a ton of self expression there.

So when they do use their outlets for self expression,

like that's their thing.

Like they go all out and they do it so well.

And just seeing so many cars that just look so,

it was like every car that had any modification I wanted to

sit and do photos of because it just was awesome.

I was honestly kind of shocked by the amount of like

hydraulic equipped cars.

Yeah, that too.

There was like a good amount of those that I saw.

Like obviously like the van and stuff that we did

was on like actual hydraulics, which kind of made sense.

But then like we were in Shibuya,

and there was like four or five cars that we saw.

And they just, yeah, I'm like, dude, what the fuck?

One of the things I think helps with that,

and we actually in our surprise car

that we haven't dropped yet has this paperwork,

is anytime that you are doing like a modification in Japan,

if you want the car to continue to get registered and like tag,

you essentially have to prove that like one,

the part was installed correctly.

And two, that it still meets like the safety criteria

and the emissions criteria, whatever it is

that that might be in place at that time.

And so a lot of shops will typically provide

that documentation to you.

And a lot of it comes down to like,

here's what I installed, here's photos of it before,

here's photos of what I took off,

here's photos of the new thing put on,

here's what it changed, here's what it does,

here's how it's this, here's how it's that.

And it's like a process.

So essentially you build this like booklet.

But to get that approved,

you have to show all of that historical evidence.

And so I think there is like,

for the people that do it that way,

I think just naturally the builds are a little bit

more put together because they have to be.

When you are reporting your mods to the government, yeah.

Yeah, it has to be a little bit better.

Whereas like here in Wisconsin,

you can kind of do whatever you want.

We try to hide our mods.

The thing is though, they must be like somewhat lax.

It must be really like, is it installed properly?

Okay, it's good because I've seen cars absolutely slammed.

I've seen cars cambered out.

I've seen cars with loud exhaust, big turbo Supras,

all of this stuff.

So like, I feel like it's somewhat.

So many chasers.

Know somebody.

That's true.

That obviously helps.

Kind of like carbon and Cali.

A lot of S15s, a lot of chasers.

That was really cool.

Because those are like the holy grail cars right now.

It seems like.

I think the coolest car I saw when I was there,

I actually got to see.

And this is going to sound really lame,

but I saw a modified C6 Corvette.

When we were in Shinjuku.

That's kind of crazy.

Oh yeah, I went to shit.

And so like I was walking and all I heard was

And I'm like,

That's not Japanese.

My people.

And like I turned around and it was like a muted blue.

Oh.

But it was really cool.

It was really cool.

It's more cool because it just like is out of place.

I feel like Shibuya is like the strip to like go cruise.

100%.

Like we're just going to take a stroll downtown.

Kind of like, we're like, oh, we'll go drive down the Ave.

You know, like a couple trips down.

It's like, now we're going to go through Shibuya.

100%.

What would you guys say if you could have any car

to drive through Shibuya crossing?

What one would you bring?

Like, which one do you think would give the most attention?

Yeah, you could bring anything.

What do you think would be like just the raddest music plan?

You feel like the coolest guy?

This is going to be a little bit corny.

So I'll give two.

I'll give the Veilside RX-7.

Like I feel like that would just be the most baller

shit ever to drive through.

Otherwise, I'd say, hmm, I really, really, really like

this kind of thing.

The FDRX-7 from the top secret booth.

I think that car looks so fucking gangster

and looks so dope.

It's so flashy and so much done to it.

I think that would just be that gold.

You can see it from 10 miles away.

You know what's coming.

Gels?

I'm torn because like obviously like being able to drive

like an actual JDM Japanese car through there

would be fucking life changing.

I think an R34 would be dope.

Like an actual like GTR.

R34 would be incredible.

But at the same time, it's like kind of like why the Corvette

is so cool to be there.

It's like, dude, imagine bringing like a fucking like

just slab of like a Lincoln Continental.

Like just dumped and murdered out and just like

they would love it.

It was and that would be kind of sick.

I think my my go-to would be I would love to bring

like a GT inspired Dodge Viper.

I think that would be like an early 2000s.

I feel like a Viper would fit in so well.

I feel like it would break next.

That's what I'm saying.

Like red with white stripes, big GT2 wing on the back.

You know, some of the some of the like old racing stickers

on the side.

My sprites probably frozen.

Okay.

If you heard that, that was literally an alarm for Sprite.

If you guys don't, if you guys really want to know, you guys

in Friday morning, I know you guys are going to judge me

right now.

But when we're filming this, it's the evening time

and I wanted to make myself a little drink for some

evening work that I have to do at the shop.

And I don't like lukewarm mixers.

So I put a leader of Sprite outside, but it's so cold

that I should probably actually go check really quick.

Okay.

While you do that, I'll explain the drink that Gels and I

came up with.

Oh, yeah.

Um, we had spicy pickle vodka, which is phenomenal,

by the way.

Yeah.

Super good.

Try it before you knock it.

Yeah.

Just drink a tray.

I literally have drinking that shit on the rocks multiple

times.

It's good.

It's also fantastic and Bloody Mary's.

Well, we had some here and it was warm and then we had

Sprite and we combined Sprite and spicy pickle vodka.

Just for the slight chance.

We've all heard of the drink sex on the beach.

So we called it sex on the farm because it tasted

horrible.

It tastes like throw up.

Don't do that.

It's bad.

Spicy pickle vodka.

Good.

Don't makes it a Sprite.

Yeah.

There was a very, very slim chance that could have

worked out and I was hoping for it.

But yeah, yeah.

One of those like it shouldn't work, but it did.

I tried to like it.

I couldn't.

I wanted to.

I had to dump it.

Anyways, Sprite's totally fine.

We're good.

You see, left it out.

Yeah.

Oh, is it?

I want that to be like crispy cold.

Okay.

I'm a risk it.

I like 20.

Get a little frost on it.

Yeah.

If you guys haven't been to Japan, go to Japan.

It's cool.

And I will say, if you really are looking to go,

keep an eye on the the the Expedia's and the discount

like every now and then because like we're our deals before

we were obviously knew we were going.

It's like that was our goal was to get over there within

like the next like year or two.

So it's like we were constantly looking at, you know,

like any sales that were going on any deals that were

going because they pop up every now and then.

Still, it ain't cheap.

It ain't cheap to go, unfortunately, but you can you

can find deals.

Yeah.

I think it's tough, but you can find deals.

And there are some some smart ways to kind of get around it.

I will say that it's, you know, going into 2026,

one of the big things that I think everybody should do

a little bit more if they can is travel.

You don't even need to travel internationally,

but go and try a different like type of automotive event.

Yeah.

You know, like go to a race, go to an IMSA thing,

or go to an SCCA thing, or go to a different car show,

and try something new this year.

See if you can see if you can freshen up on what you would

typically do in March and try to pick a new thing.

Like for me personally, one of the things that I really

regret last year is I did not drive really any fun cars.

Like in the summertime.

Yeah.

I constantly was like battling something or was like,

I just don't really want to get it out.

Or if it was like stuck in between another car.

You got to move something out.

Yeah.

So like I just didn't like take anything.

And now like looking at this, this one specifically.

That one is going to be so fun in the summer.

It's like I just want to cruise more.

That car is going to go so hard downtown.

I know.

I'm so excited.

And that's what I'm really excited for is like,

I didn't drive casually enough last year.

I felt like I was like taking, you know,

the Jeep everywhere, the Mazda everywhere.

And it's like those aren't bad things at all by any means,

but it was just like, I don't know, man,

like you only have like 50 days of summer.

God damn.

Are you going to take the PFM downtown?

Because.

Not officially.

Yeah.

I mean, what would be really cool?

Are you asking?

Are you a cop?

No.

Well, what would be really cool is to unload it nearby

and just like.

Just push it into a spot.

Yeah.

Drive it down one block, put it in front of the Martini Lounge

and then go and drink.

Photos in front of Deja with that would go on.

Photos in front of Deja would be hot.

You got to drive it underneath that bridge.

That would be one of those like, we take a photo of it

and then we go in and we like hang that photo on the wall

without them knowing.

I want to do that McDonald's.

I seen that guy on TikTok or maybe it was older than that.

Do that.

Like he made a photo of him and his friend Black and White

with holding McDonald's and then hung it up there

to see how long before someone would take it.

Then they never did.

They just like, I want to do that.

That's amazing.

That's such a good idea.

Heard Dakota talk about this for years.

Oh my God.

It's such a good idea.

They always have generic ass fucking stock images.

I'll be like, I'll never know.

We kind of talking about like events and stuff.

Is it the last episode?

Episode prior we talked about when we went down to Beaver Dam

and we found that car show.

The organizer of that event actually listened to the podcast

and reached out.

He reached out.

He's like back to him actually.

So that was super cool.

Thank you for reaching out.

Yeah, that was amazing.

And they have their own podcast too.

So they invited us to come on.

Might have to go hop on there.

But they also said, bring out the fleet.

Yes.

Bring everyone.

Go to the show.

So we are going to Beaver Dam.

What was it?

Like a Tuesday?

Yeah.

So we're taking the crew on a field trip.

Yep.

And we're going.

Bring the new car out to a cornfield.

I'm down.

Can I show you guys that move that the Cadillac pulled?

Because it literally just showed up.

OK, you're going to have to put this on the screen.

We're going to put it on the screen.

Immediately send this to me.

So that's the Portion Front Cadillac behind, right?

This was literally 20 minutes left of the 24-hour race.

Watch where this Cadillac goes.

Oh, yeah.

Literally drives the pad.

And it didn't work.

Play it on the plate.

You know how it is.

Definitely recommend.

So if you guys and gals are going somewhere new,

which I just told you that you should,

tell us a place that you want to go to this year

in the comments below, whether it's a car show.

Yes.

Track, event, a race, something.

And we can use it as our new year resolutions,

because we both know that whatever first resolution

you have is probably already not going super well.

Because I already forgot what mine was.

But I did not forget that I am proud to tell you

that Fortunato is a sponsor of the Martini Works podcast.

If you guys are looking for Fortunato coilovers jumping

into springtime season, now is the time, ladies and gentlemen.

You can get Fortunato 500 or 510s.

They're custom built, modular to your vehicle.

They can grow up with you.

Which means if you go into becoming a track demon

and you need something a little bit more,

they can actually, you can ship them out.

They'll rebuild them, send them right back to you,

and throw them right back in the car.

Super cool company.

Absolutely fantastic systems that they build.

And the quality of their coilovers is second to none.

So definitely recommend.

If you guys are looking for a set of coilovers

that can handle both the street and track,

I know you guys have heard us say it before.

Definitely good setup.

A little bit pricier.

Got to be okay with that.

But an absolute fantastic team.

So we want to say thank you to Fortunato

for being a sponsor of the Martini Works podcast.

You know what's weird?

Tokyo Audislan, and in Japan in general,

I've seen so many of the new WRX wagons.

Yeah, yeah.

And STIs.

They're called shit.

What are they called again?

It's like a love.

It is.

Wow.

What is it?

Lavorg.

It's a weird name.

But they were cool.

It made me like the new WRX.

Yeah, you know what else is exciting?

Toyota officially confirmed it.

We're getting another Toyota MR2.

Officially officially official?

So Toyota made an announcement about it?

It might take five years.

So just everybody chill out, but this is breaking news.

No, we've heard about the MR2.

We've actually talked about the MR2 on the podcast,

but if Toyota is now saying stuff then.

After months of trademark-related rumors

and a proper fake out at the Tokyo Audislan in 2026,

Toyota gives you a racing.

Well, because you remember?

Did you ever hear this?

No.

I was there and I didn't hear this.

A lot of people were upset about this.

Toyota teased a mid-engine budget vehicle at the 2026

Tokyo Audislan.

Everyone and their mother, rightfully so,

thought it was going to be the announcement of the Toyota MR2.

It was not.

It was a collaboration with a K-vehicle truck manufacturer.

They made a mid-engine Toyota thingy-majig.

And they viewed it and were really proud of it,

and everybody was angry.

Everyone's pissed.

You suck.

But Toyota Gazoo Racing President Tomoya Takahashi

has officially confirmed that a new mid-engine sports car

is coming to the Toyota lineup.

When?

Long way off.

So you guys can-

I'll be here.

In other news, Whistle and Diesel was arrested again.

Apparently, he got arrested when he came back from his flight

from Dubai.

Arrested me again at the airport instead of even allowing me

to turn myself in.

They did not give me any notice or any opportunity

to pay any tax.

Is it more tax shit?

Yeah.

Bro has no idea how taxes work.

You have a chance to pay taxes when you buy the car.

That's your chance.

It still all feels for content.

Yeah, it's a weird situation.

I'm sure he's like, he's got to be milking it, right?

Oh, right.

Rightfully so.

I don't know.

Does he need to?

All of his videos do fucking amazing.

You think he really needs to fake being arrested multiple times

for the same thing?

I don't know.

It's like one of those things that's like,

how are you going to one up the crazy thing that you just did?

Yeah, I mean, yeah.

He's going to run into that.

It gets to a point where it's like-

It literally gets to a point where it's that.

Could be equally wrong.

Let's see what else is going on in the world.

The DOJ will no longer pursue criminal charges for diesel deletes and tunes.

Wow.

Volkswagen is rejoicing.

That's kind of big.

Wait, that's huge though.

Does that mean that they're not going to be shutting down like shops and-

I don't know.

I don't know if that is really it more.

Let's see what it says.

Federal officials state that they will no longer issue criminal charges

for clean air act violations that involve diesel emissions tampering.

On January 21st, the DOJ announced that they-

Yeah, I'm just repeating what I just said.

Well, no longer pursue criminal charges for removing or altering

emission control devices and diesel trucks.

A practice often referred to as a tune or delete.

Well, that's sick because not that I ever did one of those or anything

because I would never do something illegal like that with my vehicle.

Right.

But I remember at the time when I was just looking at-

Yeah.

They were removing them actively from their sites, like the EGR, DPF deletes.

Because of all of that stuff was happening.

So are they just going to-

Well, it's like, and we've had-

Put it back on the website.

We've had Dustin on here too talk about friends of his that own shops that literally-

Yeah.

They've been-

Are getting sued into oblivion or fined into oblivion because of that.

That's such a weird thing to go back on.

Why are they like, yeah, you know what?

Yeah, all right.

What are those people feeling now?

They're like, what the fuck, dude?

Yeah.

How did the diesels roll?

The Trump administration signal policy changes

prosecution of clean air acts when mechanic Troy Lake Sr.

was pardoned by the White House in November 2025.

So yeah, that's a thing.

Interesting.

I don't know how many cars I'm rolling coal in.

But you know, there's that.

Let's see what else is out there for breaking news.

Plus I go get another TDI.

Hell yeah.

Okay.

That's fantastic news.

Their value just went up.

They're doubled now.

Let's play a game.

All right.

How fast does the Chevy Corvette ZR1X do zero to 60?

Is that like a new one?

Yeah.

Zero to 60?

Yeah.

2.8.

What did you say?

2.8.

There's no fucking way you use it.

I literally was in the process of saying.

2.9.

Oh, come on.

Lower.

Mm-hmm.

2.5.

2.2.

Holy shit.

No way.

That is a shut up.

Zero to 60?

Zero to 60 miles an hour.

1.9.

I have more.

I want to know how it's getting traction.

Yeah.

It's on Michelin tires in case you're wondering.

All right.

0.2 seconds.

Fucking ins and actually snaps your neck literally.

I just didn't want him to say lower again.

I could do the.

1.68.

Holy shit.

It does an 8.675 second quarter mile at 159 miles an hour.

That's one where you put the $100 bill on the passenger seat and let it go,

and it just sticks there in the passenger trailer grab it or whatever.

Or you put it on the dash.

Yeah.

The passenger tries to grab it.

Somebody in the comment section goes,

a rental Ultimo accomplished that feat no more than an hour ago right next to me on the highway.

The fact you can buy this at the same dealership as a Trax is very funny.

That is a crazy thing that Chevy is doing.

I love it.

Production cars have gotten fucking insane.

It's only 0.02 seconds slower than a.

At what point.

Rime neck.

Nevera at a price point 12 times cheaper.

At what point.

Do you need to get like a license or like special training.

Yeah.

On these over 1000 horsepower vehicle that does zero to anyone as long as they have money can drive.

I think it's weird though because I think the value of the zero to 60 as a value prop is actually

losing its.

With the EVs.

Value.

Yeah.

So like I agree.

Like this is absolutely insane.

But at some point it's not going to matter.

You know like what is the next thing.

I've never bought a vehicle.

Also to be clear which is why Chevy Corvette also went on to say that they've ran a trap speed of

156 and 0.675 quarter mile because a lot of times when you can on the EVs it has very

faster to 60 but the quarter mile suck.

Yeah here's here's my my thought process on the whole zero to 60 thing.

1.6 seconds zero dead stop to 60 miles an hour highway speed that's really fucking quick like

one one thought like that.

Yep.

Right.

You got grandpa Tony in the Corvette mistaking the gas pedal for the brake pedal.

Yeah.

It's snapping zero to 60 before he can even comprehend what the fuck is going on in state

lines without even trying.

That's what terrifies me.

I could just like that's OK.

They need to drive faster.

You know what we need if we got a good all I could think about is like if we got a really

good radar system how fast I could get from Appleton to Eau Claire by illegally speeding.

That one's tough because it's such a weird route to get there.

Yeah I just like not that I ever would.

But man I just want to go way faster than the speed limit.

You know I'm tired of going 70 in a 65.

I want to I want to I want to go what I know my car is capable of.

I want to be like one and brother.

No no no not to speed like to be cool.

I just want to get to my end location quicker.

You know what was nice.

I know my car can do 110.

Dude's been on a plane too many times.

Just let me get home and go faster.

Yeah.

In a straight line and then just press the cruise control let the little adaptive steering

will do its thing and like let her eat.

I will say that it was when we're out in or was out in Utah.

The 80 mile an hour road out there.

Yeah.

And that was nice.

It is nice.

Utah drivers some of the worst drivers I've ever ran into in my entire life.

If it slightly sprinkles out the whole highway locks up and I also noticed nobody

there has a fucking license plate and I don't know what the deal is with that.

It's freaking me out.

All right I'm not going back to Utah.

I've gone there multiple times.

It wasn't like oh I was there for a day.

I would go there multiple times for weeks at a time and I just picked up on this.

And I'm like this is fucking weird.

The no license plate thing.

Yeah it was consistent.

So I someone someone comment and tell me what's going on.

First of all with the license plate and then why they're so afraid of rain or

you know what just Utah in general.

What's going on out there.

It is kind of a weird state.

Beautiful though.

Oh my god is it a gorgeous state.

It's so fucking awesome out there.

The mountains.

Oh it's like mini Colorado or not even really mini.

It's just like weird color.

I think I accidentally stumbled upon like an AI news website.

Get off of that.

Get the fuck off of that.

Get the hell off.

He says I'm getting off.

Your algorithm is cooked.

I'm getting off.

So cooked.

All right.

Sorry.

We're back to EV stuff because we're in January.

I can't even believe it.

I don't want to.

We're in the wall.

Yeah.

Let's talk a little bit about the fact that I'm stalling.

Okay.

To find myself an article that isn't about EVs.

It always is when you talk about news.

So I got news.

Yeah.

We're going to at least my first ever ice race this weekend.

Hey yo.

So by the time this goes up we've already gone.

But I'm really excited.

I've always wanted to go check it out and see what it's about.

Going there to make content.

Brent will be driving which will be really cool and Lars I think.

I think we're trying to get Lars's M5 setup for ice racing.

And it looks really dope.

Like they just posted a video to kind of hype everyone up

and get people to sign up.

And it looks fucking killer.

First clip is like a Miata launching and getting air

and then landing back on the ice.

Does Brent know this?

Yeah.

You know.

You know how Brent is.

But really excited to check that out.

I think it's going to be a freaking fantastic time.

We're going to go out there and make some content.

Hopefully interview some drivers and be like what are you doing?

You crazy bastard.

What are you?

Yeah.

What are you running?

Brent said there was some crazy stuff out there last year.

How far away is it from here?

It's an hour.

It's like an hour.

Yeah.

Hour or so.

That sounds super fun.

I can't find any news that's worth talking about.

To be honest.

But what I can talk about here that you guys and gals need to know

is that we're really proud to announce another wheel partner

of the Martini Works podcast, which is Motegi Racing Wheels.

You guys are talking about them one other time.

Maybe twice.

All right.

But if you guys are looking for a different set of wheels

that are really cool, it got some Japanese inspiration

in their style, but they come in sizes, offsets, finishes,

and technology that you just really can't get anywhere else.

Definitely recommend.

They just launched the Battle 6, which is a super cool wheel,

which I think looks absolutely insane.

They've got automotive grade finishes for the actual paint

on their wheels.

So that's why their wheels look really deep.

You can see the green and the red somewhere over yonder here.

Absolutely fantastic looking wheel.

And they're priced really well.

They're a really cool wheel.

They come in very wide sizes, good diameters,

good stuff for the drifters out there,

and also for the car show folks alike.

So definitely recommend snagging a set.

And you can also package that with tires.

Get yourself a nice discount when you package wheels and tires

together over on martiniworks.com.

But we do want to say thank you to Motegi Racing Wheels

for being a sponsor of the Martini Works podcast.

Absolutely.

Gels, anything else you'd like to add?

No, Motegi's cool.

They've been doing some really cool stuff lately,

and I appreciate that.

Hell yeah.

Dakota?

I miss Japanese snacks.

Yeah.

I went to Ichiran Ramen one night, the night before I left,

and I'm like, god damn, these noodles are so good.

The ultra thin ramen noodles are like just gangster.

Anyway, we appreciate you guys.

Love you.

Let us know where you're going this spring.

Some place has to be new for me.

And of course, we will see you guys and Gels next week Friday.

Bye.

See you.

What Japan Car Culture Taught Us + Toyota Confirms New MR2!

About this episode

Ferrari 333 SP

Saleen S7R

Request an Explanation

Want to learn more?

Help improve this episode

More from MartiniWorks Podcast