I'm Matt Miller and I'm Hannah Elliott, and this is Hot Pursuit.
First of all, I need to shout out the email because I always forget at the top of the show, and we got a couple of really good emails this week, so I was really happy. Shout out to Peter, Shout out to Steve. Anyone who wants to shoot us an email. Our email address is.
Hot Pursuit at Bloomberg dot net. And we do love hearing from you.
We do.
One of the things I hear from people a lot is that they really like it when we don't have a guest.
Oh you've heard that.
I haven't heard that, But I mean I enjoy when it's just us girls.
Yeah you know, yeah, yeah, me too. But we have such a good guest. Well today, we have a great guest.
Next week, we have a great guest the follow So we have a line We have a lineup of incredible guests. But ever since I watched the five hundred, which I was so excited about, and then Monaco, which left me just questioning the entire league, I've really wanted to talk to Zach Brown, so we got him.
I love talking to Zach Brown.
Because he is articulate and he is not so media trained that he's really boring.
He is.
I think he's just honest.
Yeah, he just speaks in straight lines, there's no bs. He answers questions directly. It's a dream and he's a real Yeah, he's a real person.
Yes, exactly.
And so and obviously we watched Drive to Survive. You see this like battle of this like Axis of Evil or whatever. The it's like Darth Vader versus Darth Vader when you have Toto and Christian. But I know, Toto in real life is a nice guy. You've got Gunter. You had Gunter who was like, you know, the crazy guy, a.
Great personality, and it was a it was a breath of fres share of time.
I would see Zach because he was like down to earth, honest dude. Plus he is like a young American, So it's nice to see that, you know, in Formula one.
But anyways, crazy.
It is crazy though, how chill he comes off when you consider everything he's running and operating, Yes, schedule mus be nuts.
It's insane.
It's he's I mean, did you know that McLaren is the only company to win the Indy five hundred twenty four hour Lament and Monico.
I did not know that, but I know they've been having an awesome time of it lately. Yeah, because they came in second in the Indie. They were second at Monaco, they were second before that, they were first. Obviously Lando won at Miami, so.
They're on an upswing for sure.
Let's get over to Zach Brown, CEO of McLaren without any further ado. So my main question is around the differences that we watched when Monaco and Indy were happening. Like, India was one of the best races I've ever seen. I know it was painful for you guys because Paedo came in second again and it was a last minute passed, but it was so dramatic and it was so emotional right, and Monica was like the most boring race I've ever
seen in my entire life. So the juxtaposition of that, I think is I just like to hear your take on it.
I mean, Indy was unbelievable.
I read it was only the fourth time in the history of the Indy five hundred that the lead was exchanged on the last lap, which I thought I'd seen it more than that, but I read that unless it's inaccurate data, but I don't think that's the case.
It was amazing.
I mean, we ran so strong all day, Kyle Larson, Pato, Alex Rossi, so I thought I thought we had it there for a second, but I've been around Indy long enough to know that, especially with the drafting, that it's kind of dangerous the lead the last lap.
So that was mass exciting. The team did a wonderful job.
I think Kyle, had he not had his his penalty in pit lane, you know, I think we had three cars there would have had three cars there right at the end. Callum myloc did a great job finishing. I think it was eleventh. So that was a massively exciting race, and as Monaco interesting, when you're in the race as we were, it's never dull, even though of course I
understand exactly what you're saying, and it wasn't. It was no passing, but I think Formula One it was so close and you're just waiting for that driver to make a mistake that even though you kind of look at it.
Now and go, that was boring. There was no passes. You're kind of always on your edge.
Of the seat because if Leclaire locked the brake, touched the wall, oscars winning the race. So to me it was kind of how many ever laps it was, you know, edge of your seat going, is it gonna make a mistake, is it gonna make it?
Just never made a mistake. So I found them both exciting, but for different reasons.
But I think when you're in the game and you're running second and fourth in the race in both you know your it's edge of your seat stuff, and you know, Charles did a great job. Just never made a mistake. But two different types of racing, two different types of circuits. One that has no passing, you know, Monica unique in that sense, and one that has lots of passing on a big two and a half mile over.
You know, McLaren is the only team that competes in Formula one, IndyCar, Formula E, You've got Extreme E, you've got esports. My big question for you is how do you get it all done? Can you give us some best practices for how this is sustainable for you? I know you just renewed your contract until I think twenty thirty. How are you finding your life sustainable? And even joyful.
I follow you on Instagram of course, and you've got you seem very well at ease and like you're enjoying things, but I know you're probably paddling furiously underneath everything.
It's all the above. First of all, I love my job. I love McLaren. Always have my favorite team growing up, and it's a privilege to work for McLaren. So it's a pretty pretty cool job. That's a great place to start from. The travels brutal. I think the secret to success, if you'd like, is having a great leadership team around me, and each racing team is self sufficient, so the IndyCar team isn't dependent upon the F one team is in
dependent upon the formerly team. There's a whole lot of commercial centergies, opportunities for our employees, senergy, so there's a lot of synergies. But they you know, the Formula one team here in Montreal doesn't need anything from the IndyCar team and the IndyCar teams racing in Road America this weekend and it doesn't need anything from the team Formula one, so they can all run independently. The benefit is when you put them all together for our commercial partners, for
employee opportunity. I'm kind of the only fool that flies around the world trying to be in all places at one time.
But I love it. It's what I've been doing my whole whole life.
It certainly has its days where you know, you can just get tired, but I'm never tired of it. I just sometimes lack sleep, but you know, I love being around these racing teams. Fortunately, in the digital world we live in. If I'm in the Indy five hundred, I've got my double triple top secret Dell laptop like I am on pit walls, so I feel like I'm very connected to the Formula One team even if I'm not there.
I'll do the same this weekend here in Montreal. I'll be watching the Road America race and be dialed into Gavin. He's running that team, so big organization, but we're in the racing business and it's all running pretty smoothly. It was great to in the same weekend finish second in China and a formerly race second at the eighty five hundred, second in Monica. Bittersweet that they weren't three wins, but pretty cool, but I think that shows how well each
team operates. Independently, and I had no sleep that entire weekend, and.
The win in Miami was incredible.
I got to saw that too.
That must have felt like such a triumph for you guys and most awesome in the US.
I think, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, it was.
I think it was awesome for the sport. I think it was awesome for McLaren and Orlando is such a huge popular win. Obviously, everyone wants to see a little bit less dominance. Everyone loves Lando. I've never met someone who's not a Orlando fan. McLaren's obviously a team with rich history that I think we have awesome fans, So I think it was a very popular win at the
right time. I think Lando, while he would never admit it, be in the driver with the most podiums ever without a win is a bittersweet statistic that now that's behind him, I think more wins are coming. And since then we've had two second places, so a lot of racing left to go in the season, and we're pushing hard to make sure that that was our first win of the year and not our last win of the year.
I like that, and I like that you said the less dominance turn of phrase that you had in there. I have to imagine that next year, you know, with Lewis changing teams and Adrian Newey changing teams, we could expect a bit of a shuffle and who makes the podium? Is that?
And with McLaren's resurgence this year, I mean.
Sure, of course, yeah, of course you guys are on a rise.
Yeah, I think you know, if I look at the teams on the grid, First of all, the grid's never been sure, so I think it would be a big mistake to discount any.
Of the teams.
But if we look at our most current petition, if you'd like, I think we've got a tremendous amount of stability, energy momentum. I think we've got the best driver lineup on the grid of a combination of experience and youth and longevity.
So I think in any sport.
Stability, visibility, camaraderie, teamwork is critically important. I think we've got that going on. I think Ferrari has that going on. Obviously they've got a driver change that they need to work through, but guiding for the sport, I think their team principal is doing an excellent job. So I look at Ferrari and go They're going to be pretty dangerous. I think Mercedes is impossible to count out, but I
think they are going through some transition. They don't yet know their driver lineup for next year, so I think they have a little bit of uncertainty, which an unbelievable team, but that uncertainty I think makes it a little bit difficult. And then Red Bull is a pretty toxic environment, you know, with everything that's been going on there.
It sort of seems like blown over.
Yeah, I think there's more to come.
Uh.
You know, Adrian Newie leaving is a big deal because there's a lot of people that are probably there that wanted to work alongside Adrian Newey and I made the comment there's some cvs flying around, there are and there's always CBS flying around, but you can see a higher level of discomfort there. I think it's harder for them in the in the future with what's kind of gone on, uh, with with kind of the situation for sponsors, you know, I think, you know, sponsors they kind of look at
who they're associated with, what if they stand. I think that's a tricky situation. And then you know, the whole for stopping drama. Willie stay Willy go he's got a contract. You know, you've seen his father be very outspoken. So I think that's unbelievably a great racing team, but a pretty destabilized environment. And I think you're seeing that with Adrian Leeds, so I think again, how could you ever
count them out? It's an unbelievable team, But that's a team that my mind isn't on strong footing right now to where they have been in the past. Ashton's not far behind, you know, they've they've fallen back a little bit here this year, but we're really strong last year. So I think you got to take them all seriously, of course, but I kind of look at who has the clearest path of visibility and momentum and it kind of feels like it's Ferrari and McLaren at the moment.
But things can change pretty quick, so we got to keep our feet on the ground.
Does McLaren have some empty job positions available for any anyone who may be jumping ship at at any any other organization potentially?
I'm I couldn't be happier with our racing team, but things are always moving fast and evolving, and you know, anytime someone with a great skill set comes on the market if you like, you know, you'd be silly not to have conversations. But I love what Andrea Stella has done and leading our team the momentum we have, it's clearly working. So anything we can do to turbo charge that we're always open for you, always trying to go faster.
But I like the race car that our team's putting on the racetrack right now.
By the way, you have been at the Helm not only for the resurgence of your team, but really for the resurgence of the sport and racing. I mean, I read a comment you were talking about the fact that Williams was sold for one hundred and fifty million a few years back and now it's worth at least ten x And I just think, you know, the popularity of this already incredibly popular sport has grown so much in the last few years. Is that all down to drive to survive or to what do you attribute that?
I don't think it's all down to drive and survive, but I think it's definitely played a big role. I think what it's all down to is liberty and when they acquired the sport, the way they've reshaped the sport, focus on the fan, get the teams to kind of show that the fans behind the curtain, you know, how the sport works, which I think Netflix has played a big role there. So I think where the credits do is due to Liberty. Netflix has certainly had its role
within that. But look at what's happened in North America. We've gone from one race to three races and new television partner Netflix. We've got Brad Pitt movie coming, which you know, who isn't going to watch the next Brad Pitt movie and going to be Brad Pitt Formula One driver. So we've brought in women to the sport, We've brought a youth to the sport. We've really made great strides and sustainability. So I think you've got to look at what Liberty has done for the sport as a whole
and all the participants in it. The way we've embraced it. And it took a little bit of time. You know, when Netflix came out year one, Mercedes and Ferrari didn't participate, which was a bit of an old school thinking, you know, we don't want to show what's behind the scenes or the money's not great enough. And I think what the sport has woken up to and has embraced is let's focus on the fan and then everything else will fall into place. And that's exactly what we've done.
And we have more.
Fans than we've ever had, more Grand Prix than we've ever had, ten unbelievably healthy racing teams, so it's like everything is just green, green, green, go go go right now.
In Form one.
And to me, what's really exciting is I don't see that trajectory going anywhere other than North because the racing's getting even better and the teams are healthier, and we have demand for more Grand Prix than ever, so I think in many ways we're just getting started.
Can there ever be too many Grand Prix in North America? I mean at five and there's there always seems to be rumbling that there could be one in Chicago or New York. You know, is there a critical mass, so to speak?
I think there is, and I think we're there now, and I'll break that down for you. I think twenty four races is the maximum we can do. It's it's it's a brutal number. I'm put aside the fact that I would go race fifty two times a year. I wouldn't be very popular with my racing team if I was a proponent of that. So but I'm a little bit a petrol in my bloodnut that others don't. So twenty four, I think is the max I think we need to. I'd be an advocate of like twenty fixed races,
an eight that rotate every other year. So you maintain the twenty four race schedule, but you continue to grow the reach in the markets because the demand is there. Then of course, who are those that get it every other year? I think we're maximum capacity in America's you know three in North three in the States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil. That's awesome, I don't think While I think the sport would embrace more, I think that would come to the detriment of other parts of the world. I'd love to
see another race or two in Asia. I'd love to see us in South Africa, you know, et cetera. So I think the sport and the fans would embrace more races. But I think we're a global championship and we have some other pockets of the world we need to work on. So I think The only way you could bring in another North American race is if that became part of a rotation, because again, I'd love to see us in Korea.
I'd love to see us in Thailand. We almost got into Vietnam.
I'd love South South Africa, some of these other territories, and to make sure that we continue to expand our our global footprint, India would be a great market to be in. So so I think we're in a good, good place in America.
Can you bail on Monica?
I was just gonna ask that that's what we mean.
I mean, honestly, Zach, can't they just do qualifying and then go to a cocktail party?
Because could we bail on Monaco? We could?
You know, I think the sport is so strong and we have so many awesome races.
You know, could we we could? Should we will? We?
I don't think we should and I don't think we will, but could we?
Yes?
I think alternating years.
I mean, you know, certainly that could could fall into that camp if you'd like. Uh, you know, the spectacle is still amazing, the TV ratings are still very strong.
Of course, it isn't a you know, it's a pure race.
It has the least amount of passing, always has, always will. I think, you know, the sport is commercially so strong that you know, it's always kind of had one of the more favorable UH.
Terms and conditions.
I think they need to get caught up there because you know, we are in a commercial sport, and one could argue, wait a minute, some of these other venues are driving similar TV ratings, you know, great racing and contributing a lot more to the growth of the sport fiscally. You know, you've got the Miamis, the Vegas Is, the Singapore's. I mean, these are all awesome races.
So I'd be surprised if it didn't stay on the calendar.
But if it were in a way, would it create a lot of noise and the short term yes, would people move on and Formula one to be as strong as ever?
I think it.
Do you get more recognition in the US by far for F one because Indy has been so exciting the last few years, and when I was a kid in the middle of America, people packed up RVs and went to Indianapolis like it was the greatest spectacle in racing. But it just seems like F one has eclipsed every other league by far.
Formala one has done an amazing job.
I think there is a lot IndyCar could learn from Formula One. I think there's a lot Formula One can learn from IndyCar. We can all learn from each other's sport, but Formal One's done an unbelievable job. Yes, you know, I do get a lot more commentary if you'd like, when I'm in North America about Formula One than IndyCar. I think there's a tremendous amount of untapped potential in IndyCar,
but we need to pick up the pace. I think there's a lot of opportunity, some of which were seizing and other areas that we need to catch up on and we need to kind of throw.
It up a gear or two, and I'm confident we will.
But there's a lot of opportunity, and I think we need to pick up the pace because it was long ago Formula one had no profile in North America, and now you know, we do have to ask ourselves with our Indie Car had on put aside Indy five hundred television ratings, why does Formula one have greater television ratings than IndyCar?
In our home.
Market in awkward time zones where we only race a few times a year, And I think that's a bit of a wake up call. Is too we can be and should be doing a better job because the racing and the product is great. So we have to ask ourselves, why is Miami and Monaco when, to your point, wasn't the most exciting racing. Why is Monaco getting a bigger television rating in our home market than all of our other race is outside of the Indy five hundred. So I think it's a bit of a wake up call.
Are you saying that Indie needs a rebrand, a complete my brand?
I think they're I woudn't necessarily rebranded.
I think we need to continue to really focus on the consumer. I think there's a lot of room for improvement around our digital experience or our outreach to the fans. I think we could use a refresh, excuse me of the product. Our racing cars have been around for quite some time. I think the calendar has room for improvement. So I think there's lots of opportunity. We just need to seize it. I'm confident we will. There's a lot of conversations going on around, you know, freshening up the products.
I don't think it necessarily needs a rebrand, but I need to. I think it needs a refreshing. I mean, I think we have to be real when looking at the data and the statistics and go, you know what, why do is Formula one come into our home market and not long ago had lesser television ratings and now has greater television ratings. So I think that uh, you know, you know, but I think the good news is I think the product is right.
We just need to do a better job.
Roger Penske needs to call John alone.
I'll leave that Roger and.
John, Well, I'm curious.
You know, it is ironic that an American company, Liberty Media, is the is, like you said, sort of the catalyst to launching Formula one in the US and really making it acceptable to American consumers. That just seems ironic. Does it take an American sensibility to translate some of these at least European style?
Raising?
Obviously glad they bought MotoGP yeah, which is already amazing.
I think they're gonna do great with Moto GP. I think the you know, you never want to kind of stereotype region. Sure, I think we've got to give a lot of credit to Austin Coda. They did a fantastic job during and Formula one back, and then it's just built on itself, and you know, you need date equity.
People need to get familiar with the drivers.
And I think what Netflix did, especially in North America's kind of lift the cover off of how does the sport work, and the personalities and the drama and the politics, and I think, you know, the American fan really likes to get personal with their sport, and I think formerly One, historically pre Liberty, been a little bit of a look but don't touch type of sport, and now it's a let us get to know these twenty awesome racing drivers and the team bosses, and I think fans around the world,
and I think the reason why it's had such a big impact in America's I think it's always been big in Europe and understood, but it was.
Kind of like a.
Fresh sport to America and Netflix helped kind of put that front and center, and people have responded and it's been great. I get more commentary now from people in America that go and it'll be a guy, a father, a husband, and I can't tell you often he goes my daughter loves Forem and my daughter loves Lando Norris or my wife won't stop watching it. And what it's done is it's taken, which is I think been the most amazing part. It's taking people from having no awareness
to avid fan overnight. I hear so often I won't miss a Grand Prix now versus I'm aware and I kind of like it. They're like diehard fans. So it's been amazing and we just need to continue to build on that.
Does it make a difference to your sales, Zach, I mean, especially as you guys have started on a winning run lately, are you is it possible to sell more McLaren's.
Went on Sunday?
Yeah, definitely, Yeah, exactly a good old phrase. It doesn't quite work that easily. We don't see necessarily big spikes on Monday, but you can see North America is our biggest market for our automotive business and continues to grow, and you can see how many McLaren automotive fans or fans of the Formula One team and vice versa. So we're fortunate, like a few others in the sport where we've got these two awesome brands in the world to collide and and we help scratch each other's back.
If you like, what do you drive?
Yeah? What do you What do you like to drive?
Well, my my daily driver is a bit more of a range rover because it's not the easiest place in the world to navigate. Of course, I've got my McLaren's in the garage. But I'm a I'm a car junkie. So if your name is sports car, I've got one of those.
So can you collect too, right? Memorabilia? Sports memorabilia.
Yeah, I'm a big baseball fan, ice hockey fan as far as collecting collectible documents, so I've got a uh, pretty awesome collection. It's all my childhood uh dreams, and I wanted to be a baseball player an ice hockey player.
Didn't quite work out. But I'm fortunate now.
A lot of baseball players, hockey players, golfers I just came back from the memorial or fans of the sport. So it's a it's a privilege being in the position I'm in to be able to meet a lot of my heroes and idols growing up. I don't think they quite realize it, because I think they're equally as excited
to kind of come to a Formula One race. But it's pretty cool having Albert PUOs and Paul Goldschmidt and Timo Solani, and as I mentioned, I'm when I have dinner with Mark Messier, who I've not met through a mutual friend, which I'm very excited because I grew up watching Mark. He's an awesome player, and so excited to meet him. It makes me feel like I'm thirteen fourteen again, even though they probably don't appreciate that.
Dating them now, I want.
To ask, I see you drinking something out of a tea cup. I imagine it's tea. How has it been as an American living in the UK.
You know, do you find.
Yourself adjusting to quirky British lifestyles?
Yeah, one hundred percent.
But you know, back when I was racing, I lived in England, so I live there from ninety one to ninety four. I've been there now, it's about twelve years. I love Europe, love England. I love traveling, always been a fan of it. I definitely think I've picked up some of the the the quirks if you'd like to call them that, But I haven't left my American ones behind it all, so I'm a bit of a mutt.
Now.
No one can quite figure out my accent or but it still kind of sounds the same to me.
By the way, when I'm looking through bring a trailer, which is like an addiction for me. It annoys me when I see a right hand drive car that I want because it's just it's just wrong.
Do you buy right hand drive cars? I mean, for your car, I got.
A bit of everything.
I mean, if I have a choice, then I'm buying a left hand drive, but I have both in the in the collection.
It kind of depends.
If it's a British car, you're gonna end up with a right hand drive, you know, as it should be by plenty of left hand drive.
I'd say I'm probably three corps.
When you want a car, do you know what you want and find it or do you look around and something strikes you're fancy and you're like, oh, i'd like that.
It kind of depends if it's a roadcar, if it's a race car. If it's a roadcar, I know what I want. I kind of know where to go. I've got a few dealer friends if you like, that will sort me out. If it's a race car, you can either kind of react. So one that i'd been chasing for years was Nigel Mantle's in the championship car from nineteen ninety three, never had any success, and then Newman Hass put it up for auction and I was all
over that. So the race cars, you kind of know what you want, but they're not necessarily always for sales, So sometimes it's reacting when you see something that comes on the market.
Do you think the price goes up when people realize who they're selling to, or do you try to keep it a little anonymous if you're interested.
It kind of depends who it is and what it is. You know, you mentioned to bring a trailer. That was one where I I hid, you know, handle it. No, I had a friend do it for me, a buddy named Alan. Where McLaren's motor home from nineteen seventy two. And I bought this a few years ago, and I think at one auction story of the the year where it was McLaren's nineteen seventy two motor home. It was awesome, a Ford Condor, and I was like, I definitely have to have this, but I don't want anyone to know
who's bidding for it. And the owner had had it for quite some time, so I had my buddy bid. He won it, and then everyone it was quite a little bit of a bidding war, and then my buddy said, well, you're never going to outbid the CEO of McLaren And then everyone just went nuts, including the owner, who had a bit of a tiary moment because he had it for quite some time. He wanted to go to the right home and you know, one new and that then became quite a cool story. And I love sharing the
history of the sport with everyone. I'm happy to share that I'm the biggest fan of motorsports and the history of the sports, so I feel like it's part of my role. I remember what an impression when I went to the Long Beach Grand Prix in nineteen eighty one. It made on me as a ten year old, and so I feel part of my role at McLaren is to share how cool this sport is with the fans. So I'm always stopping and talking to them, happy to share these stories. And when you get into the car
collection and things of that nature. You know, while I have them in my racing facility, we get them out. I like to share them, like to tell people the stories because I know what an impression it made on me, and I hope that someone, you know, ten twenty thirty years from now goes. I remember meeting Zach and it was cool. He let me look at the car, introduce me to Lando. We stop and talk to me, because that's what our sport is about. It's about the fans.
By the way, on that note, do you and you mentioned bring more women in the sport?
And Hannah and I talk a lot about the.
Academy and trying to get more women to drive. How do you groom young talent? Do you have specific programs for that? When you're talking to little girls and boys, do you say, hey, you guys should try doing some laps in the go cart? I mean, how does that work?
Yeah? You know.
One, it's about creating awareness so people you want to get involved in motorsports. Obviously the driving is the most famous part, but you know, it's important to us to get young boys and girls involved in all aspects of the sport, whether they want to be engineers or marketeers.
Or racing drivers, whatever the case may be. So a lot of it is about just creating awareness so there's excitement to participate, and then it's about creating opportunity, so we have we just announced a program called sixty Scholars. Last year was our sixty year birthday and it was sixty opportunities for young women ages eighteen to twenty three to get involved with McLaren around STEM. So we're just
trying to create awareness opportunity. It's why we got involved in extremely where you have a male and female racing driver. So we had, for the first ever time a couple of years ago, announced first ever female McLaren racing driver. We've extended that to the F one Academy, which is an all female racing series. So we're doing everything we can to create awareness, to create opportunity, to have a more diverse workforce and fan base, and it's exciting.
So that was Zach Brown, and Wow, what a treat to have him. He always says something that is new or interesting or just sort of changes how I understand racing and American car culture.
I really he's great.
Yeah.
I mean, for example, the fact that F one could possibly go without Monaco He made me kind of understand that in a way that I haven't been thinking about the last few weeks. Like not that they don't want to and he doesn't think they will, but they could survive because they're strong enough that they don't need it.
I mean, I think that's probably the voice of reason, like, yes, everyone will freak out, and then everyone will get on with their life and you know, they'll move on.
It's interesting also to think about IndyCar just doesn't do enough to promote itself and I don't know, they're obviously not as big and global, but Liberty has really worked some magic with F one. They're gonna be able to do that easily with Moto GP, which is on the rise in an amazing series anyway, But imagine if that touch could come over to it to Indy.
That would honestly be awesome. Yeah, that'd be really cool.
So we have a couple of other great guests in the next few weeks.
Yeah, I think it's safe to tease Jim Farley of Ford and get his take. He's a huge racing fan as well. They're now involved with F one as well. He has a I think at least a couple but maybe a collection of old racing cars that he likes. I saw him out on a in a nineteen seventy two Lola once set.
A track in Dearborne.
So yeah, he's another one that's like just a dude, Like he's a big boss. He's he's very powerful, but then when you talk to him.
He's like a dude.
Yeah, you know.
It's really interesting.
With also a great podcast.
I've learned a lot about Farley through the podcast, but I'm looking forward to that. And then in a couple of weeks from that, we're going to talk to Tom Wagner in his role as the head of Nighthead Capital singer Revology Yota, a racing team that does WC World Endurance Racing, so they do Lamont and they even own like a British soccer team.
I'm really curious to talk to him. I've never met him.
Have you met him think cycling?
I have in like not in a car guy sense, but in a business sense, just in my role as an anchor here over the last couple of years on Bloomer Television, I've interviewed him, but I've never I never realized that he was the head of this giant car sports conglomerate.
So I'm excited to uh to touch base with him.
This is an example of someone who's not famous and not really a name outside of certain circles, but who actually controls a lot and who has their hands in a lot of different facets that affect a lot of different people.
Right, he's pretty famous because they unhurts. Also, Okay, fine, what do you what are you driving this week? What have you got going on in the car space?
I received the Mercedes Ban's e q E five hundred in emerald green metallic.
This so not suv EQE Is it SUV?
It's a yeah, it's an SUV.
It's indistinguishable from the other eq E.
They don't make a great distinction between these products, with the with the with the alpha numeric naming thing, it's.
Difficult to remember which is which, and when all of the names and numbers are very similar, and then they all look extremely similar, it starts to feel a little like alphabet soup.
Doesn't even look like an SUV. It's like a crossover.
Well, it looks like a crossover.
But this is where Cadillac went with their latest Optic too, where I truly did ask them. I said, this could kind of be a wagon. It has hatchback, it's low, it's long, and they're like, yeah, we're calling it an suv. But but the lines are very blurred these days. I mean it's tomato tomato almost.
It looks slick. I mean.
Indicial driving impressions are low. Let me put it that, really, this is not a vehicle you will want to purchase if you at all enjoy the act of driving.
Let me put it that.
Interesting because I like to eqs, which is, you know, the bigger version.
Yeah, no, this don't. Don't get this one.
Then if you want, if you want to feel like you're driving fast or fun.
But I imagine it's still very comfy, packed with leather and no.
No, I think I can't give it a full take yet because I really have only had it for twenty four hours or thirty six hours.
But we'll circle back.
Yeah, we need to circle back on it. The jury is definitely still out. It certainly is not the high end luxury experience that you might find in other Mercedes Benz vehicles.
I haven't gotten.
I'm hoping for a slew of amazing vehicles later on this summer. I really want to drive this right, the Mustang dark Horse. I really want to drive the Corvette E Ray after that. Have you seen the Jason Comissa the Haggerdy video. I don't know why people do drag races all the time, because I don't care about a drag race. But he nails it with this video of drag race. He does the E Ray versus a Lamborghini Hurricane. A Ferrari is an F eight I think it's an F eight and a and a Corvette Z six OK.
And interestingly, the E Ray clabbers them all, and but it's a It's a more interesting video than just the drag race. So I'm really excited to drive that. All will drive plus a little a one point nine kilo watt, which seems to be the sweet spot for hybrids because that's what the size of the Porsche battery is too.
So that's interesting. But right now I'm driving the Kia Sorrento.
Why is that?
You would think that's lame, But I'll tell you so when when when I get a press car, A lot of times i'll get a press car that, as I've said, isn't that exciting?
And I'd rather drive my Challenger.
Sure, big HEMI more fun, I feel like exactly. So this week I was driving the Challenger in and it was raining a lot. I did some hydroplaning and I knocked off some of the NVH material on the bottom of the car. It was really scary, but I was okay and the vehicle was pretty much okay. And then so this morning I thought, it's raining again, let me take the Kia.
And it was really good.
Is your wife's car?
No, the it's a press car.
It's okay.
The brand new Kia Sorrento.
It looks very cool, just like the tail ride looks very cool. But I was never impressed with the taellur ride motor. And okay, the motor's not the sweet spot for the Kia Sorrento either, but it's just a really nicely done package. The interior is intuitive, easy to use. They have that cool tech where when you put on a turn signal you see the camera view out that side in your dash.
And what's the starting price?
I will google that for you.
Yeah, I'm seeing them for low forties, high thirties.
Does that seem fair based on what you're saying?
For sure?
Yeah, especially in today's market. Yeah, I think it looks pretty cool. I got it in a very good color. It's like a gray, brownish gray. That's a nice that doesn't sound good, brownish gray, but it looks really cool. Even the parking lot attendant was like, Oh, I like the color.
You know, at least it's not white, it's a generic white.
Yeah.
So, I mean, I'm a fan of this brand and Hyundai and Genesis.
It's a smart they're doing really smart stuff.
Yeah. So if the price is fair for what you get, what more can you ask for?
True?
True, You're not gonna get down to BYD prices, you know, eleven thousand dollars for the seagull.
In any case, all right, I guess that's all we have for today.
I'm Matt Miller and I'm Hannah Elliott, and this is Hot Pursuit