PODSPEED

Alex Palou is the hottest driver in the IndyCar series now. He finished 2nd at the 2021 Indy 500 just behind Helio Castroneves and is coming off his second victory of the season at Road America just this past weekend. We talk about his 2 years in Japan, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda and his favorite food fried chicken!

Ken Gushi became a professional drift driver at the age of 16 and has become one of the OG veterans of Formula Drift competing in every event since the inaugural event in 2004. In 2021 he campaigns the Toyota GR Supra as his competition machine and runs his own team. We talked with Ken about his upbringing in Southern California and influences from his father who he competed together with at the Pikespeak International Hill Climb.

Sam reports on Honda's potential movement to go sporty EVs with rumors of a Honda e Type R from the Ninja Otakus.

James reviews the all new Toyota Venza and Taro reports on a Mugen RR covered on GTChannel.com.

Many of our listeners may know Justin Bell these day for his TV hosting and announcing than his racing career but our guest today is big time. From the FIA GT2 Championship, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans GT2 class in 1998 and second-place finishes in Le Mans and Daytona, and a pair of SCCA Trans-Am wins. Justin also raced for the factory GM Corvette Racing team, finishing second in the Daytona 24 Hours, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Petit Le Mans. Of course he is the son of the legendary race car driver Derek Bell but, Justin has definitely made a name for himself on and off the track and we are honored to have him on this episode of Podspeed. 

Sam reports on rumors of a new Mitsubishi Evo. The Toyota Landcruiser GR Sport is about the hit the streets in Japan. James reviews the new Toyota GR Supra 2.0.

Jen Horsey was the first female motorsports color commentator for ESPN when she moved up into the booth for the Redbull Global Rallycross series. She is a former rally driver and still co-drives every once in a while between her motorsports communication gig with Papadakis Racing for Formula Drift. She also recently started hosting a podcast for RACER Magazine.

Sam reports on his Ninja Otakus scoop on rumors of a new Toyota Celica in the works. Subaru has also announced an all electric SUV called the Solterra.

James reviews the 250hp, 2.5L turbo, Mazda3.

Taro reveals that Mitsubishi just announced the resurrection of the Ralliart brand although details are still yet to come.

Jarod DeAnda claims he has seen every single battle in Formula Drift history. These days he sees more than just drift from the Hot Wheels Legends Tour to promotional clips from Snap On Tools, the guy is everywhere. We ask how he ended up being the go-to-guy for drifting and many other action motorsports.

Sam reports on a rumors of a Toyota Corolla GR and his Top 50 Japanese Performance Cars list. James reviews the Lexus RC F Fuji Speedway Edition.

Dino Dalle Carbonare Editor-in-Chief of Speedhunters.com is our guest today. Dino talks about how he ended up in Japan, how Speedhunters started and the Japanese tuner brands like RWB, Rocketbunny and Liberty Walk when they were still unknown. We also had Dino stick around to give us his take on the newly announced Nissan GT-R NISMO.

Jon Sibal is an automotive artist & comic book artist for DC ,Marvel and Image Comics. Jon started his career as an inker at Imagine Comics and later got into automotive renderings by accident because he wanted to show the auto shop his idea for his own car. Friends started asking him for drawings and that lead to working with multiple aftermarket car brands. You can check out Jon's work on Instagram at @jonsibal.

Sam continues with his list of his top 50 Japanese performance cars from No.45 to 50. He also reports on the LF Z full electric car. James reviews the 2021 Toyota Landcruiser and the start of the new F1 season.

You can watch the video version on https://www.gtchannel.com

No racecar driver racing is definitely a new concept for us OG race fans. How does it even work? The Podspeed cast catch up with Roborace's Chief Champion Officer, Chip Pankow. Chip explains to us what exactly is Roborace and how each team competes with their AI software. Chip used to run Formula BMW, the Jim Russell program at Infineon Raceway and co-founded the Redbull Global Rallycross which became the fastest growing motorsport in N America. Visit http://www.gtchannel.com for more content!

Tanner Foust truly needs no introduction as we all know him from his various TV appearances including Top Gear USA, Hot Wheel stunts and on the podium at various drifting and rallycross events around the world. 

Sam reports on rumors of a new Subaru WRX STI and the newly announced Lexus IS 500 F Sport. James drove the 4Runner Trail Version around Hollywood and Taro Koki promotes a crowd-funding project for the famous Ebisu drift circuit in Fukushima Japan which was heavily damaged by the 7+ magnitude earthquake just last week on February 25th. 

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Two kids from San Diego, Matt Martelli and his brother Josh, who got into skating and off road racing, founded Mad Media. They were there when X Games decided to include rally racing. Mad Media also produced the first three Gymkhana videos with motorsport marketing genius Ken Block. Then they bought the most famous desert race in America, the Mint 400 because they didn't like how the old guys were running it. Mad Media also owns OffRoadRacer.com and UTVUnderground.com. 

We've heard rumors of a R36 Nissan GT-R but not so fast. Sam Mitani reports that before an all new model GT-R, there could be a Final Edition R35 GT-R according our Ninja Otakus in Japan. 

James Mckeone reports on the VW Atlas and McLaren Artura. 

Taro reports on more flying cars that are trending on the internet these day. Article here on GTChannel.