PODSPEED

The Podspeed cast is joined by guest Roger Yasukawa former Indy car racer who was second to future series champion Dan Wheldon in the rookie-of-the-year competition in 2003. After retiring from racing, Roger spotted for Takuma Sato's first win at the Indy 500 and now manages Alex Palou's Indy racing career. 

Sam Mitani reports on rumors of a Toyota Corolla GRMN and a Lexus LC F in the works according to his ninja otakus in Japan. James reports on the Mazda6 and Taro introduces a new video from GTChannel that features a reimagined Spoon Sports EK9 Civic Type R. 

The Podspeed team start by reporting on the cars which were released for the Tokyo Auto Salon. Then joined by Jim Liaw, president & co-founder of the professional drifting series Formula Drift. Jim talked about the challenges and accomplishments of the 2020 season which incredibly happened under the Covid pandemic. Drift machines, now and then and their new 2021 schedule which was just announced a few days ago. 

In order to create an authentic enthusiast car movie, Universal hired Craig Lieberman for the first two Fast & Furious pictures, The Fast and the Furious and 2Fast2Furious. Craig shares with the Podspeed team on how he was hired for the ride of his life, meeting Paul Walker, Vin Diesel and the cast and behind the scenes stories on vehicle selection. Craig has been a consultant and marketing head for numerous automotive brands and currently runs a YouTube channel dedicated to the cars of the Fast & Furious franchise. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNlI4oCO9ue81NZbsdohNFg

Sam reports on renderings of a new Honda/Acura NSX and a $3M new EV performance car coming out of Japan. James reviews the the Singer 911 off-road racer that broke the internet this week and Taro reports on a 11-year old Japanese drift phenom. Don't miss the first Podspeed episode of 2021!

This man needs no introduction, Matt Farah from The Smoking Tire is our guest! Matt walks us through his new Westside Collector Car Storage facility. Talks about his new Ferrari 328 GTS and Lamborghini Countach. Why he doesn't wrench. On his new series with Rob Ferretti and Tanner Foust, Sorted. He also gave us his frank thoughts on Sam's report about rumors on a new Nissan Silvia (S16). Don't miss this one!

James reports on Formula One as always and Taro introduces two new videos from GTChannel. A video on Daikoku-futo and a Heyman Robbie's episode on Arisa Mizuhara's 900hp GR Yaris drift car. Arisa is our next guest in a few weeks. 

During college Kenji Sumino walked into GReddy USA in the mid 90's and was hired on the spot to join the R&D department. They immediately sent him to Japan to train at HQ in Chiba. Upon returning he has spearheaded the US operations and lead GReddy into an aftermarket powerhouse for the last two decades. Unlike typical Japanese companies, GReddy has collaborated with other parts brands and in recent years embraced social media to expand its presence in the digital world. The FuguZ project with Fast & Furious star Sung Kang was originally born from Instagram. Sung Kang also pops in during our interview with Kenji to discuss the new Nissan Z Proto we have recently covered on Podspeed. 

Sam reports on rumors of a next generation R36 Nissan GT-R. James reviews his ride-of-the-week the 2021 Toyota Rav4. 

Rob Ferretti, aka Superspeedersrob, is the outspoken and very opinionated automotive YouTuber. He definitely did not fail to give us his opinions on the new Z proto and the controversial recent events of the SSC Tuatara reaching 316mph. We also touch on his new show "Sorted" which stars himself, Matt Farrah, Emelia Hartford and Tanner Foust. Don't miss this episode!

Taro reports on the new Z proto he got to see in person, Sam reports on flying cars (yeah, really!) and James updates us on another victory by Lewis Hamilton. What else is new?

Sung Kang, the actor who plays fan favorite Han in Fast & Furious and car enthusiast is our guest. Sung talks about the filming of Tokyo Drift and getting back with the cast for Fast & Furious 9. The various car projects he is working on now from a Safari themed 240Z called DocZ to Porsche 914 restorations. Don't miss this episode. 

Sam reports on the new Nissan Z Prototype and James reports on the Nissan 370Z 50th Anniversary edition he has in his garage this week. 

Fredric Aasbø, aka the Norwegian Hammer is the most winningest professional driver in Formula Drift history with 14 wins and the series champ in 2015. He currently drives the Rockstar Energy Toyota GR Supra for Papadakis Racing. Apart from professional competition, he  also the host of Top Gear Norway in his home country. He talks about his upbringing and how he was inspired by his grand-mother's e-brake technique on the snow covered road as a child. Fredric also tells us how he financed his drifting career before he made it to the big leagues and how he is now helping young drivers follow his path. 

Podspeed is hosted by Sam Mitani, James Mckeone and Taro Koki. 

Larry Chen is the busiest auto photographer in the business. When he's not shooting as the official photographer for Formula D and Pikes Peak, he's travelling around the world for clients and publications, all while creating videos for his successful YouTube channel Autofocus. We talk about drifting, motorsports events during Covid, back story of Dai Yoshihara's victory at Pikes Peak, his favorite shoot, his least favorite car, the new Z prototype and much much more. 

Podspeed is hosted by Sam Mitani, James Mckeone and Taro Koki.