Hooniverse

I've been a bad podcast producer. This episode is almost two weeks late. I have many excuses but none are worth hearing. This is episode 293, and in it I'm sitting alone in my garage. More specifically, I'm sitting in my still-unsold Mercedes-Benz. I talk about that a little bit, some Bring A Trailer news, the recent Audi E-Tron drive, and the fact that I'm running in a LeMons race this weekend.

Click play and listen up!

Chris and I are in the studio and we kick it off with a bit of news. Aston Martin is dishing out a manual-gearbox equipped Vantage. Hennessey is making a Velociraptor Ranger. The Challenger is outselling the Camaro. And the C8 Corvette will be unveiled in Orange County, CA. After that we dive into some questions, talk about our own vehicles, and more.

I'm in a McLaren 600LT on the way back from driving a Honda concept vehicle. Josh Ostrander joins me as we chat about the Honda Rugged Open Air Concept I just drove (and he shot). We also talk about the 600LT, which is not great for a long drive. Josh updates us on his Volkswagen Golf Alltrack progress and I provide some updates on my Montero.

Returning to Hooniverse; Jonathon Klein (now of The /Drive) fills in for Jeff this week.  We cover Jon's time in the new Rolls Cullinan, the Ducati Panagale V4 S, the madness of the McLaren 720s and we touch on a bit of C8 news.

Josh Ostrander joins me to chat about the Formula Drift season opener. Long Beach played host to the skid racers, and the field was stacked. It's going to be a great season.

We also dive into a bit of news. Jeep knows its Hellcat engine fits in the Gladiator and Wrangler, but won't put it in there... and for good reason. Hyundai has snagged the former Chief Engineer of the Ford Focus RS. And a Dodge Demon owner has taken his straight-line monster machine up to 211 miles per hour.

After chugging through that, and then some listener questions, we give a few project car updates and talk about upcoming press cars posted on the calendar.

This is a solo episode. In it, I'm driving my 1991 Mitsubishi Montero as I talk about project cars. The unexpected costs associated with an inexpensive machine, quickly turn it into something you'd consider the opposite. Additionally, I talk about the 2019 Acura NSX, McLaren 600LT, my 1974 Mercedes-Benz, and more.

In the finale of our SEMA 2018 coverage I sit down with our booth-neighbors Essex Parts.  Essex are the exclusive supplier of AP Racing braking components in the United States and focus on ultra-high-performance street and track brake systems.  With over 30 years of experience racing; Essex became a key partner for NASCAR when the decided to started implementing road-coarse features and have gained notoriety among track-rats for powerful and reliable braking. In addition to covering the Essex product offerings myths regarding drilled rotors are debunked, arguments are made for why one should upgrade brake lines and the benefits of moving to steel rotors from factory carbon rotors are shared.

Josh Ostrander joins us in Casa de Chris Hayes... where we immediately make fun of the amount of chocolate he puts into his craw. From there we talk about the issues facing the upcoming C8 Corvette, 2JZ engines being shoved into the new Supra, and the Mint 400.

After that it's a bit of chatter about our various machines; Chris officially sold his Fiesta, Josh is putting KO2 tires on his Golf Alltrack, and I made some changes to my Montero.

Joining me this week is Kevin Kastner of Amsoil and one of my good friend's from the LA automotive community Ezekiel Wheeler.

Wrapping up our SEMA 2018 interviews I sit down with Gray Fredrick of Advanced Fuel Dynamics.  AFD are responsible for some of the most innovative Flex fuel sensos and tuning solutions on the market.  Based out of Temple Texas AFD is nestled square in the middle of the Texas tuner community and works tirelessly helping race teams and aftermarket manufacturers cope with the widely varying quality of E85 fuels and conventional gasoline.