Tired of the same old "we drove this and it was great" automotive podcasts? Listen to interviews with the top movers and shakers of the auto industry. Former Road & Track Intl. editor and award winning author Sam Mitani, GTChannel Executive Producer Taro Koki and James Mckeone from NoBraking reveal secrets that the car companies don't want you to know just yet! At PODSPEED, we dig up exclusive SCOOPs on all your favorite cars!
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 r...
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 ca...
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 calle...
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...
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+ magni...
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 R3...
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 GT...
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 ...
Arisa Mizuhara is a Cusco works driver that competes in both drifting and rallying in Japan. She recently blew up with her video of the 800+HP Toyota GR Yaris drift car on GTChannel. She did not grow up in motorsports but discovered drifting when her brother showed her Fast & Furious Tokyo Drift. Since then she got hooked, bought a car and started on her journey of becoming a professional drift driver. As it's the last Podspeed episode of the year, we will also list our favorite moments and ...
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...
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 wi...
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...
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 drif...
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 Mi...
Rutledge Wood is one of the coolest car guys on TV today. Rutledge is a motorsports analysts for NASCAR, former host of Top Gear USA and has hosted hit shows Hyper Drive and Floor is Lava on Netflix. This guy is a real car nerd! We talk about his favorite episodes on Top Gear USA, how he got the reporter gig for NASCAR, why drifting is so awesome and we surprise him with a update from Toprank on his personal Nissan R33 GT-R he hasn't even driven yet!Sam reports on a Aston Martin Victor, a one-of...
What's my car worth? The question everyone has asked themselves. Roger Williams made a TV show out of this idea. What's My Car Worth? aired on the Velocity and Motor Trend Network and is now available on Curiosity Stream. We asked Roger to give us a list of some of his favorite domestic, Euro, Japanese, classic and used cars. You don't want to miss this one. We are still in the times of Covid-19 but James has bravely set on an adventure around the South West States of the US in a Lexus RX450h. W...
We are delighted to have Jennifer Nicole as our guest on Podspeed. Not only does Jennifer run the Porsche Experience Center Los Angeles. she's an avid car enthusiast as well. We get into the history of PECLA and what they have going on now under the covid restrictions. Same reviews the Tesla Roadster and Mercedes-Benz Vision AVTR. James gives us his motorsports roundup and reports on the Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport which he drove for a week. Taro introduces the new gtchannel.com website that ju...
Podspeed welcomes 80-90's enthusiast event Radwood's Art Cervantes. Art also co-hosts the Driving While Awesome podcast. We talk about Radwood's inception, criteria to get your car in the show and also Art's personal top cars. Sam continues to get more renderings on the Nissan 400Z from his minions in Japan and also reviews the Lexus UX 250h F-Sport. Ok a hybrid SUV with an F-Sport badge really? Sam gives it a thumbs up or down? Taro introduces the latest GTChannel video which covers OG JDM drif...
We welcome Jann Mardenborough who was the youngest GT Academy winner in 2011 and now races at the highest level of racing in Super GT as a NISMO driver for Kondo Racing. What was it like to go from sim racing to driving real cars? Competition among GT Academy drivers at the pro level? His favorite car from the Nissan Heritage Garage? What was it like to drive for Nissan GT-R legend Kazuyoshi Hoshino? Track he wants to visit is Ebisu circuit!? In our review section James reviews the 2021 Kia Selt...
Jordan Greer is the founder of gtplanet, a major website in the eRacing world and especially famous for covering and creating an online community for Sony/Polyphony Digital's Gran Turismo franchise for over 20 years. Jordan has also been a commentator for live Gran Turismo events in the past. We asked him how he got started and even some of his favorite cars in the game. His story on the first time he met the creator of Gran Turismo, Kazunori Yamauchi is definitely not to be missed. Sam reports ...
The Podspeed team interviews Megan Leatham, executive director of The Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hillclimb Presented by Gran Turismo. The good news is the race is still scheduled to happen this August. The bad news is the race will happen unfortunately without spectators. Megan explains in more detail about this decision and what's to come in the future from the 2nd oldest race in the United States. James reviews the Lexus LC coupe. Sam reports on a new rendering of a 2021 Toyota 86....
-Our guest today Stephan Papadakis drove the fastest front wheel drive drag racing car back when import drag racing was taking off in the late 90's and early 2000's. His 9 and 8 second Civics are legendary and even displayed at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. In the mid 2000's he transitioned to drifting and became a team owner and builder with Papadakis Racing. His team has won two Formula Drift championships with Tanner Foust behind the wheel and one championship with Fredric Aa...
We welcome Lexus Communications Sr.Manager and friend of GTChannel, Mr.Moe Durand to our 19th episode of Podspeed. Sam also breaks the news on a potential new Nissan Silvia S16. James reviews the Kia Forte GT and Kia Niro EV. Taro shares the "PaperDrift" YouTube video from Stephan Papadakis, a new show on GTChannel called "Finally Legal" hosted by Justin Kaehler that reviews 25 year old cars eligible for importation to the US. Our first episode was on a 1995 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo II. GTChannel a...
Another lockdown edition via Zoom, we are joined by Ben Hsu co-founder of Japanese Nostalgic Car. Sam reports scoops on a Nissan Skyline sedan from Japan and a Yaris Crossover. James reviews the VW Golf and some drama on e-sports as Taro shares a few YouTube videos from the Honda Collection Hall and a Toyota + Japan McDonalds video featuring drift champions Nob Taniguchi and Daigo Saito.
