Hooniverse

We're live from the SEMA show floor with a legend in suspension design, John Hotchkis.

Operating on very little sleep this week I sit down with Blake and we discuss the new Mercedes C Class, we admonish BMW for diluting their brand and Blake talks about his time with Bob Lutz and the demise of Pontiac.  In addition I tested about a billion cars with the YouTube /Drive crew as summarised below.

• C7 Corvette
• 911 Carrera S
• Mercedes CLA 45 AMG
• Ford Fiesta ST
• Audi S7
• BMW M5
• Porsche Cayman
• BMW 320

On this episode of the Hooniverse podcast Blake and I discuss our time spent at the Lamborghini Super Trofeo event.  Blake made his way out to the Mercedes press day, where he had the opportunity to spend some quality time with the SLS AMG Black, E63 AMG, C63 AMG 507 and CLA45 AMG. We talk infotainment design and user interfaces. And to round things out we cover the upcoming hypercar wars pitting the McLaren P1, Porsche 918, La Ferrari and the Koenigsegg Agera R against one-another.

Once again Jeff is traveling so that leaves you with Mr. Blake Zapfino Rong and myself (Chris Hayes).  In this episode the tangent filled ramblings of The Smoking Tire Podcast take effect as Blake attempts to put me back on point.  We discuss the BMW 3 & 4 series, Cadillac ELR & CTS, Mercedes CLA, Mazda's new design language, the Alfa Romeo 4C and how the Mustang and Camaro match up in base form.  Additionally we tackle such hard hitting subjects as sex on a motorcycle, the new reality show Revved Up while I find plenty of time to share my disdain for Florida and Chrysler. So download, listen, laugh, cry and maybe shed a tear for episode 31 of the Hooniverse Podcast.

The Hooniverse Podcast just turned 30... that means we have to straighten up, fly right, and act our age.

Jeff Glucker and Blake Z. Rong don't though. They're incapable of doing so, and this episode clearly demonstrates that. The duo are back together after way too much traveling. Blake was doing his famous automotive journalist thing while Jeff was off attempting to be a famous automotive journalist.

Being pack at full strength in the podcast palace means the talk starts with beer, then on to new cars, before we delve into older machines. We talk about the Koenigsegg One:1, the Tesla Model S fire, driving a three-on-the-tree 1954 Ford Ranch Wagon, and how a Jaguar E-Type can change ones perspective on life.

Alex Kierstein (@HanSolex) of Road & Track joins Blake and myself (Chris) while Jeff galavants about the country filming classic cars.  Between the three of us the conversation becomes an esoteric assembly of automotive jargon accented by the occassional and often poorly constructed piece of base humor.  That aside, Alex and Blake both of whom work for major print publications have access to an obscene number of vehicles.  I have nothing funny to follow up with because frankly the list is rather impressive, here's are some of the vehicles we cover.

• Lamborghini Aventador
• Ferrari F12
• The 2013 Porsche Cayman
• C7 Corvette
• McLaren 12c Sypder
• Jaguar F Type
• Linconl MKZ
• SLS Black

This week on Hooniverse, we replace Jeff Glucker with a man-boy who is living the dream: race car driver Kenton Koch. He's 19 year-old engineering student who's as tall as a control tower, but somehow fits into a Mazda Miata cup car, and wins. 

We talk with him about chasing championships, university Formula SAE programs, and how to go fast.

Also, Blake talks if driving many Dodges, and Zack Klapman tells the tale of the Silver State Open Road Challenge and a JCW Mini Cooper.

Blake Z. Rong is absent this episode but have no fear because we've got a guest to take his place. Skip Essma from TRD joins us in the podcast palace. He's the Senior Vehicle Dynamics Engineer so he knows his chassis and suspension setups.

We chat about some new car bits, including the recent news and vehicle reveals out of Frankfurt. Soon though we dive into exactly what Skip does, we talk racing, and we also talk sweet sweet beer.

Podcast producer Chris Hayes also joins in on the fun with some great talking points.

Hosts Jeff Glucker and Blake Z. Rong join forces with guest The Smoking Tire's Matt Farah to bring about podcast pleasure. As usual, it's a discussion of all things automotive that usually delves into bits of random insanity.

Matt points out that Jeff sounds like the guy from Noah's Arcade, and we run off the rails right from the outset. We also invite a new business called King Tire. If you steal it, we'll cut you.

Blake brings good beer for a change, and we delve into new cars before getting to the good stuff like we always do.

We're back at full strength! Jeff Glucker and Blake Z. Rong are both together again after a rigorous month of traveling, staying in luxury hotels, and eating expensive food. Also, we drove some cars.

Our guest is Ezekiel Wheeler, formerly of European Car and about to start a new life at Petrolicious. Wheeler needs to buy an old car now that he works for Petrolicious, and we help him decide. Also, we go into a discussion on design because that's what Ezekial is passionate about.

Blake regales with his Seven and S7 roadtrip, while I discuss how awesome the Jaguar F-Type V8S actually is. On top of all of that, we've heard your compaints and comments about the audio issues and we've vowed to fix them. From now on, it's microphones from here on out so you get the best sound possible.