# Automotive Journalist, Filmmaker Matt Hardigree Talks Le Mans

An episode of [Bloomberg Hot Pursuit!](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1710787142), 13 Jun 2025, 47 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/4778f66f-5d19-456a-9820-b08f00dfd567/ec77afc0-48cf-4a24-ba05-b2fb00fb4340/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=42336c1a-f7c2-4898-885b-b08f00e0bb66

Hannah and Matt welcome automotive journalist and filmmaker Matt Hardigree to talk about the star drivers, cars, grit and drama of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Also, insider tips for how to get the best out of the race. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:02] Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news.
[0:09] Speaker 2: I'm Matt Miller and I'm Hannah Elliott, and this is
[0:11] Speaker 2: Hot Pursuit.
[0:21] Speaker 3: All right, Hannah, you and I are like literally in
[0:24] Speaker 3: the next couple hours rushing off to the airport to
[0:26] Speaker 3: get our flights to Paris because we're going to Lamar
[0:30] Speaker 3: this weekend.
[0:31] Speaker 2: Lama, my bags are packed. I've got my passport, I've
[0:34] Speaker 2: got my sunscreen, I've got my baseball hat. I'm ready.
[0:37] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[0:37] Speaker 3: We have a twenty four hour race to go to
[0:39] Speaker 3: and we're doing a full day of live broadcast on Friday,
[0:43] Speaker 3: June thirteenth, the day this podcast comes out.
[0:46] Speaker 2: I can't believe the guest lineup we have. We have
[0:49] Speaker 2: people from Forsha Ford, role X, who else?
[0:54] Speaker 3: We have Jensen Button for one thing, Formula One Champion,
[1:00] Speaker 3: have Tom Wagner, He's been on this program before. He
[1:03] Speaker 3: owns Nighthead, he owns Joda, he owns Singer, a number
[1:06] Speaker 3: of other really important company Now at track right, in
[1:09] Speaker 3: a sense, he owns what's that track called that you
[1:12] Speaker 3: like out there? Willow? Yeah?
[1:14] Speaker 2: Is he behind that too? Or is that that's a
[1:17] Speaker 2: capital different one?
[1:19] Speaker 3: He's he's behind that, He's behind that Okay. Behind that,
[1:23] Speaker 3: we have I'll just list. We have Jamie Chadwick, she's
[1:26] Speaker 3: a driver. We have Roger Penske. We're going to talk
[1:29] Speaker 3: about his new car. We have Gil West, he runs Hurts.
[1:34] Speaker 3: Michael Steiner, you mentioned Portia, he's a board member there.
[1:36] Speaker 3: We have Adrian Hallmark, the CEO of Aston Martin. By
[1:39] Speaker 3: the way, quick aside, Quick Tangent, a buddy of mine
[1:42] Speaker 3: went to a party at Billy Zane's house this weekend.
[1:45] Speaker 3: Hey Billy Zaine, he was the bad guy from Titanic. Right.
[1:50] Speaker 3: Apparently he's like an artiste now and you can get
[1:55] Speaker 3: his artwork as an option on your Aston Martin.
[1:59] Speaker 2: Okay, is that not like it's incredibly random?
[2:04] Speaker 3: I don't know, it's so random. Okay. We have Sarah Boviie.
[2:07] Speaker 3: She's a Belgian racing driver. She drives for the Iron
[2:10] Speaker 3: Dames team. We have Florentman Joe the CEO of Michelin,
[2:15] Speaker 3: the CEO of Goodyear, Mark Stewart. We have Rob Dickinson
[2:19] Speaker 3: from Singer. We have the CEO of Rolex. I mean
[2:22] Speaker 3: we're just loaded up with guests.
[2:24] Speaker 2: Most importantly, we need to tell people where and when
[2:27] Speaker 2: they can watch. Do you have that on your document.
[2:30] Speaker 3: Well, you can watch all day long on Bloomberg Television
[2:33] Speaker 3: on Friday if you're so inclined, and you can see
[2:37] Speaker 3: it on Bloomberg dot com.
[2:39] Speaker 2: We're also doing a special July nineteenth, June nineteenth.
[2:42] Speaker 3: June nineteenth, we're doing a well, we're doing a June nineteenth.
[2:45] Speaker 3: We're going to do a Bloomberg Television thing, and then
[2:48] Speaker 3: the following weekend we're going to release a special. So
[2:50] Speaker 3: there's a lot of content coming out.
[2:52] Speaker 2: From us watch Out, watch Out.
[2:54] Speaker 3: But it's not like I don't expect it to be
[2:57] Speaker 3: Matt hardegree level film.
[2:59] Speaker 2: Which is, oh, well, he's a filmmaker, he's I mean,
[3:03] Speaker 2: we're not cinematic.
[3:05] Speaker 3: Definitely was so my old friend Matt Hart agree and
[3:08] Speaker 3: your old friend as well. I first met him when
[3:11] Speaker 3: he was running Jelopnick. I feel like he was the
[3:13] Speaker 3: first important editor of Jelopnick.
[3:17] Speaker 2: Hopefully he's the only editor I know.
[3:20] Speaker 3: And then he went on to make films and work
[3:22] Speaker 3: for another number of entrepreneurial organizations, and now he's running
[3:27] Speaker 3: The Utopian, which is a website, a community really of
[3:30] Speaker 3: car lovers.
[3:31] Speaker 2: Yeah, and I have to say it's a very refreshing
[3:36] Speaker 2: look at the car world, emphasizing what you and I
[3:39] Speaker 2: always believe, which is cars should be fun, but it's smart.
[3:44] Speaker 2: Like I know Matt heart Degree is going to say,
[3:46] Speaker 2: we just like to have fun with cars. But don't
[3:48] Speaker 2: let that fool you.
[3:49] Speaker 3: It's true. He's always coming through the data. He is
[3:52] Speaker 3: into the minutia. He brought up when he came into
[3:55] Speaker 3: the studio a Bank America report, so he's reading all
[3:58] Speaker 3: the Wall Street research.
[3:59] Speaker 2: He's going to try try to make it just sound
[4:01] Speaker 2: like it's fun in games, but there's a lot of
[4:03] Speaker 2: intelligence and history behind it. All.
[4:06] Speaker 3: Right, let's get to Matt Hardegree now he's with us
[4:09] Speaker 3: here in the studio, and I just want to ask
[4:12] Speaker 3: for one quick story before we get into the Lamont coverage.
[4:16] Speaker 3: And that is something I heard you at one point
[4:19] Speaker 3: were there and you've been there many times, and a
[4:22] Speaker 3: team offered you race gas for your rental car. How
[4:26] Speaker 3: did that work out?
[4:27] Speaker 1: I think the statute of limitations on this is past
[4:29] Speaker 1: so basically in France, and it's not a track rule necessarily,
[4:33] Speaker 1: it's a national rule like in most places, like you
[4:35] Speaker 1: can only have so much gasoline just stored in random
[4:37] Speaker 1: containers around for very obvious safety reasons. This team, for
[4:41] Speaker 1: some reason was really obsessed about not having too much
[4:44] Speaker 1: fuel in their tank, and so they did a lot
[4:45] Speaker 1: of fuel tests, which means they're just putting expensive race
[4:47] Speaker 1: fuel in and then letting it come back out and
[4:49] Speaker 1: then draining it. Problem is they realized, oh no, now
[4:52] Speaker 1: we have too much race fuel. So it just happens.
[4:54] Speaker 1: I had rented a cheap card that wasn't the diesel
[4:57] Speaker 1: because so many of the cars were diesels. We had
[4:58] Speaker 1: a big diesel van, and then I had a Opal
[5:01] Speaker 1: and so they were like, hey, come here real quick,
[5:03] Speaker 1: could we do you need fuel? And I was like, actually, yeah,
[5:05] Speaker 1: I was about to go pay way too much money
[5:07] Speaker 1: for like gasoline, and they were like, no, no, we
[5:09] Speaker 1: got you hooked up. And so I got twelve or
[5:12] Speaker 1: thirteen gallons of race fuel in a in a little
[5:15] Speaker 1: Opal manual. Oh my god, that thing was so fast,
[5:18] Speaker 1: like you can actually drive when you drive out of
[5:20] Speaker 1: the track, you drive on part of the race circuit
[5:23] Speaker 1: of the Bugatti circuit, and they have the curbs and
[5:25] Speaker 1: I might have just it was like late, nobody was around,
[5:27] Speaker 1: and I hit it and I felt like I got
[5:28] Speaker 1: an extra fifty horse power and I almost crashed at
[5:32] Speaker 1: Laman in an opal which in the outside the track,
[5:35] Speaker 1: which would have been embarrassing, but it was fun. And
[5:37] Speaker 1: that's you know, that's the magical Laman. You never know
[5:40] Speaker 1: what's going to happen. You might have race fuel in
[5:42] Speaker 1: your crappy little opal.
[5:43] Speaker 3: Here's the deal, right, We're going to Lamon. Me and
[5:46] Speaker 3: Hannah are going to Lamar. We're doing a whole broadcast
[5:49] Speaker 3: special from there on Friday. We're recording a special for
[5:52] Speaker 3: the following weekend. And I mean, she probably is steeped
[5:56] Speaker 3: in this stuff, but I know nothing about it out
[6:00] Speaker 3: racing that's not on two wheels, right, So that's why
[6:04] Speaker 3: I thought it'd be cool to get you in here.
[6:06] Speaker 3: This is obviously an historic race, and I imagine the
[6:12] Speaker 3: original point was to prove that cars could go for
[6:14] Speaker 3: twenty four hours so that they could then sell them
[6:17] Speaker 3: with a good reputation. So is that how it all started?
[6:20] Speaker 1: That is how it all started. Lamon was one of
[6:22] Speaker 1: the original proving grounds for automobiles, along with the Paris
[6:26] Speaker 1: to Peaking race. The problem with the Paris to Peaking
[6:28] Speaker 1: race was that you had to go to peaking first
[6:31] Speaker 1: and then get all the cars back, and it turned
[6:33] Speaker 1: out to be an enormous hassle and so around logistically
[6:36] Speaker 1: it was not very easy. And so someone had the
[6:38] Speaker 1: bright idea that instead of trying to go all the
[6:41] Speaker 1: way across a continent, why don't we just go a
[6:43] Speaker 1: couple hours west of Paris and then just do it
[6:45] Speaker 1: in a circle for twenty four hours. And that was
[6:47] Speaker 1: enough and that was enough, and that along with the
[6:49] Speaker 1: eighty five hundred, are kind of like the original races,
[6:52] Speaker 1: the original proof of concepts of the automobile as something
[6:56] Speaker 1: that's better than a train, better than a horse, and
[6:58] Speaker 1: better than a bike.
[7:00] Speaker 2: And I think we should say too people may know,
[7:02] Speaker 2: you know, Ford versus Ferrari is set at the twenty
[7:05] Speaker 2: four hour of Lamon race. I mean, that's like a
[7:07] Speaker 2: very cultural touch point that if if people might have
[7:10] Speaker 2: heard of that, then it's that race.
[7:13] Speaker 3: Well, and I'll also I think Steve McQueen probably made
[7:16] Speaker 3: Lamon famous for people of my generation right because he
[7:22] Speaker 3: made a drunken, drug fueled movie about it.
[7:26] Speaker 1: He did it is It is a movie. It is
[7:29] Speaker 1: a motorsports movie of all time. It is not the best,
[7:32] Speaker 1: but it is a movie and it's great to put
[7:33] Speaker 1: on in the background. It is probably the best movie
[7:36] Speaker 1: to just put on a wall with sound because there's
[7:39] Speaker 1: very little dialogue in the movie while you do anything
[7:41] Speaker 1: else other than just sit down and watch the movie.
[7:43] Speaker 3: But Ford versus Ferrari, what's your take on that? One?
[7:46] Speaker 1: Great movie? Great movie? They did?
[7:47] Speaker 4: Want it?
[7:48] Speaker 1: What?
[7:50] Speaker 2: Keep going? Keep going? I'm just providing a counterpoint.
[7:53] Speaker 3: I think she said hated it.
[7:54] Speaker 1: You hated it? Okay, they did one Ford executive dirty
[7:57] Speaker 1: and they like they hand waved over so much about
[8:00] Speaker 1: the actual history. Also, they made Carol Shelby kind of
[8:04] Speaker 1: the nicer one and Ken Miles kind of the jerk,
[8:06] Speaker 1: which is maybe historically not always the most accurate. Thing.
[8:10] Speaker 1: They do do a little hint at Carol Shelby's, you know,
[8:13] Speaker 1: very creative business practices. So all of that is yes,
[8:17] Speaker 1: if you actually know the real story and you read
[8:19] Speaker 1: the AJ. But if you want the real story, read
[8:21] Speaker 1: AJ's book and it's great and you'll get the absolute
[8:23] Speaker 1: real story. If you just want the vibes of what
[8:25] Speaker 1: Laman is like and why people care, and the vibes
[8:28] Speaker 1: of what it's like to try to compete against an
[8:30] Speaker 1: Italian automaker. I think it gets that the vibes very
[8:33] Speaker 1: very correct.
[8:34] Speaker 3: Why didn't you like it, Hannah?
[8:36] Speaker 2: For all the reasons that Matt said, You're one hundred
[8:39] Speaker 2: percent right, Matt, and just I think it probably just
[8:42] Speaker 2: brought up how completely white, male dominated everything was at
[8:48] Speaker 2: the time, which is just kind of disgusting to watch unfold.
[8:55] Speaker 2: It Really it did trigger me. I think it was
[8:59] Speaker 2: just it was so unapologetically about these guys. You know,
[9:05] Speaker 2: I can go down down the road there.
[9:08] Speaker 3: But but is that any different now? Isn't it still?
[9:11] Speaker 3: I mean, I'm putting together the rundown for the show.
[9:13] Speaker 1: I'm saying it's perfect, but it's The Iron Dames are
[9:17] Speaker 1: leading the European Lamon Series Championship right now in their class, and.
[9:21] Speaker 3: I got us an interview with one of their drivers,
[9:22] Speaker 3: So I'm excited about that.
[9:23] Speaker 1: They're awesome.
[9:24] Speaker 3: But everybody else that I'm talking to there, that we're
[9:28] Speaker 3: talking to there is a dude, you know.
[9:32] Speaker 2: Yeah, but that's not for lack of trying. I mean, look,
[9:37] Speaker 2: we still have a long way to go, but it's
[9:39] Speaker 2: great when we can at least count that there are
[9:42] Speaker 2: people of color and women making some decisions in the
[9:45] Speaker 2: racing world. I mean, it's not like it's not perfect,
[9:48] Speaker 2: but it's better than it was.
[9:50] Speaker 1: Wait, just to clarify it, one of the most successful
[9:52] Speaker 1: race engineers of all time, Lean Gate was a woman,
[9:56] Speaker 1: like one of the best limp Laman engineers who ran
[9:58] Speaker 1: the AUDI program successfully during Audi's crazy run as a woman.
[10:01] Speaker 1: So I so, actually European sports car racing and sports
[10:04] Speaker 1: car racing in general has a way better. I mean,
[10:07] Speaker 1: you know, representation is in everything, and I'm not trying
[10:09] Speaker 1: to say that it is, and there's still an insane
[10:11] Speaker 1: amount of work. Yeah, but I mean they're they're they're
[10:15] Speaker 1: kicking butt like That's what I'm just saying is that
[10:17] Speaker 1: there's there's a history of Iron Dames is great and
[10:19] Speaker 1: I think they're one of the teams that could win
[10:22] Speaker 1: this that you'll see there. I think that they're extraordinarily competitive.
[10:25] Speaker 1: And I you know, I've been there. I've been to
[10:26] Speaker 1: them on you know a couple of times, and I
[10:28] Speaker 1: followed a team and I did it, made a documentary
[10:30] Speaker 1: about it that no one will overseee And there were
[10:32] Speaker 1: you know, mechanics engineers that the team's uh main engineer
[10:38] Speaker 1: you know, was from Ferrara and was a woman. I mean,
[10:41] Speaker 1: it's it's better. But again, also we're talking a percentage
[10:43] Speaker 1: of game. The percentage of women in the field versus
[10:45] Speaker 1: men in the field is obviously skewed. But it's better
[10:47] Speaker 1: than NASCAR, It's better than It's way better than F one.
[10:50] Speaker 1: Let's just say that.
[10:52] Speaker 3: And I'm going to say better than Moto GP, although
[10:55] Speaker 3: there is a woman who owns Grasini. But listen, we're
[10:58] Speaker 3: getting off track. I think a little bit in terms
[11:00] Speaker 3: of what to expect. Wait, Hannah, have you been to
[11:03] Speaker 3: the race to the twenty four hours at Lamar I.
[11:05] Speaker 2: Have driven on the track, but I haven't been to
[11:07] Speaker 2: the race.
[11:08] Speaker 3: Okay, So, Matt, among the three of us, you're the
[11:10] Speaker 3: only who's been there, and you were making a documentary
[11:14] Speaker 3: at least one of the times you were there. But
[11:17] Speaker 3: tell us about your experience, Like, what is it like?
[11:20] Speaker 3: There must be three hundred thousand people that show up.
[11:23] Speaker 1: Indeed, especially this year, this year will probably you I'm
[11:26] Speaker 1: so jealous. I'm not going this year. This is the
[11:28] Speaker 1: best year to go. This is the absolute best year.
[11:31] Speaker 2: Why do you say that, Matt.
[11:32] Speaker 1: Oh, it's gonna be so good. For very complicated reasons.
[11:36] Speaker 1: We can get into the sport of like, endurance racing
[11:40] Speaker 1: has made a bunch of extraordinarily complex decisions that have
[11:43] Speaker 1: actually made it just very simple for competitors, for automakers,
[11:47] Speaker 1: and for fans. It's never been easier to watch, It's
[11:50] Speaker 1: never been easier to compete in the race. It is
[11:53] Speaker 1: the it is. I mean, I love Daytona, i love
[11:56] Speaker 1: the Nurburgring twenty four and I've been able to go
[11:59] Speaker 1: to a lot of my bucket races, but there's nothing
[12:01] Speaker 1: like Laman, like Selo. It is the best, like it
[12:04] Speaker 1: is absolutely insane. The crowds are remarkable, hundreds of thousands
[12:09] Speaker 1: of people. Like you said, it is a party in
[12:11] Speaker 1: the infield and not like a seabring party. Sea brings
[12:13] Speaker 1: also kind of a party, but it's just people raving
[12:16] Speaker 1: in the middle of the track. You know, there's everyone,
[12:19] Speaker 1: not you, Matt probably obviously, but everyone's got an apparol
[12:22] Speaker 1: or a beer or logger like there hand, I'll have
[12:24] Speaker 1: a good time. It's it's an amazing environment in this here.
[12:28] Speaker 1: There are so many cars. There are so many cars,
[12:30] Speaker 1: and there are so many different cars, and there are
[12:32] Speaker 1: so many brands, and there are so many makes, and
[12:33] Speaker 1: there are so many things to root for It's incredible.
[12:36] Speaker 1: I mean it really. It's people say that the like
[12:39] Speaker 1: eighties nineties group Sierra for race car fans was the
[12:42] Speaker 1: golden era. People are now saying, and I believe this,
[12:45] Speaker 1: many people are saying it is the platinum era of racing.
[12:47] Speaker 1: You're you're going at the absolute best time maybe ever.
[12:51] Speaker 2: Matt, what do you think American car people might be
[12:56] Speaker 2: missing about Laman? Because admittedly it's obscure. Every time I
[13:00] Speaker 2: try to pitch Lamon's stories to my editors, it's I'm
[13:04] Speaker 2: always pushed back. It's too obscure. No one knows about it,
[13:07] Speaker 2: no one cares. And we are admittedly talking about a
[13:09] Speaker 2: very rarefied small group of car enthusiasts. So what do
[13:14] Speaker 2: you think American car lovers in general don't get about Laman?
[13:18] Speaker 2: And what should they understand?
[13:20] Speaker 3: By the way she's addressing you, we're both called Matt.
[13:23] Speaker 3: Oh yeah, if you say Matt to.
[13:26] Speaker 2: Either one can take it.
[13:28] Speaker 1: Cardie, Yeah, okay, I'll take this one. First of all,
[13:30] Speaker 1: are those editors in this building? And can I fight them?
[13:33] Speaker 1: Are they here right now? Can I find them?
[13:35] Speaker 2: No?
[13:35] Speaker 1: I think that's fair. It's it's it's a reasonable thing
[13:39] Speaker 1: to say because in the last few years it's gotten bad.
[13:41] Speaker 1: European sports are racing. Endurance racing got bad, I got
[13:44] Speaker 1: too complicated, there were way fewer teams, and motorsports in
[13:47] Speaker 1: general started to die. And it's been said before, it's
[13:50] Speaker 1: been said before. I think on this podcast we all
[13:51] Speaker 1: know the drive to survive factor has made motorsports more interesting. However,
[13:58] Speaker 1: also Americans care. Americans care about F one, that is
[14:00] Speaker 1: a crazy thing. Americans are starting to care about MOTOJPGP
[14:03] Speaker 1: that is also a crazy thing. And so the difference
[14:06] Speaker 1: is is that there aren't that many American brands and
[14:09] Speaker 1: Mars really in Formula One, and there are not many
[14:12] Speaker 1: American team There's one kind of at the moment, but
[14:15] Speaker 1: more are coming. You know, if you look at it.
[14:17] Speaker 1: F one is not actually really that accessible to an American.
[14:20] Speaker 1: It's just that it had this great thing where it
[14:22] Speaker 1: made the driver stars. The cars aren't the stars. The
[14:25] Speaker 1: drivers are the stars in this series. The cars are
[14:28] Speaker 1: the stars. Still, the drivers aren't quite as interesting. I
[14:30] Speaker 1: think that's the problem, right, The drivers aren't celebrities to Americans.
[14:34] Speaker 1: No one's like maybe some people are like, hey, Nick Tandy, right,
[14:37] Speaker 1: the most famous race card this will make that happy.
[14:39] Speaker 1: The most famous race car driver there is vounting to Rossi,
[14:42] Speaker 1: who is a motorcycle rider. Like like the most famous
[14:45] Speaker 1: person there for motorsports is someone who does not normally
[14:47] Speaker 1: drive until now it's so recently like sports cars, so
[14:50] Speaker 1: that is a thing. But I think that people are
[14:52] Speaker 1: going to see Cadillacs, they're going to see Ford Mustangs,
[14:55] Speaker 1: they're going to see Porschas, they're going to see McLaren's,
[14:58] Speaker 1: they're going to see BMW's corvettes. They're going to I
[15:00] Speaker 1: see freaking corvettes. Like it's going to be a party.
[15:02] Speaker 1: And if you're if you have any amount of patriotism
[15:06] Speaker 1: or any amount of soul, or you even like a car,
[15:08] Speaker 1: and that's why you're listening to this. If you sit
[15:11] Speaker 1: down and watch any hour of the race where it's
[15:12] Speaker 1: not raining or red flagged, you're gonna have an amazing time.
[15:16] Speaker 1: And also they're gonna try to race. I will say
[15:18] Speaker 1: this also about Lamm and you probably have to think,
[15:20] Speaker 1: hany've had experience in Daytona. It rains, sometimes they slow
[15:22] Speaker 1: it down. They have banking at LAMM they're going like
[15:25] Speaker 1: you know, really bad accident, they'll slow it down. Their
[15:27] Speaker 1: goal is to race, race, race, race, race, and so
[15:31] Speaker 1: I just think there's so much there. And I think
[15:32] Speaker 1: as it gets better, as the cars get more famous,
[15:34] Speaker 1: as people start to latch onto it and find it
[15:37] Speaker 1: more accessible in a lot of ways. In Formula One,
[15:39] Speaker 1: I think it's going to get more interesting.
[15:41] Speaker 2: Based on that. Can we talk about how cool it
[15:42] Speaker 2: is that Jim Farley, the head of Ford, is also racing. Yes,
[15:46] Speaker 2: I mean, how many car executives do we know are racing?
[15:50] Speaker 3: Also a little bit behind the scenes, a little bit
[15:52] Speaker 3: of behind the scenes intel. We have an interview with
[15:56] Speaker 3: Jim Farley on Friday morning. I think it's in the
[15:59] Speaker 3: serve valance seven o'clock hour, New York Times, so that
[16:04] Speaker 3: makes it one pm Lamon time. And Dan Barbosa said, dude,
[16:11] Speaker 3: can we make it like one fifteen or even one twenty,
[16:14] Speaker 3: because if Jim wins, he's going to be like coming
[16:18] Speaker 3: to the interview from the podium, So he's still going
[16:21] Speaker 3: to be wearing his fire suit. He's still going to
[16:23] Speaker 3: be like covered in sweat and not no makeup on yet.
[16:26] Speaker 3: This is live TV, right, So I was like, no,
[16:29] Speaker 3: we want him to come in his fire suit full
[16:33] Speaker 3: of sweat and no makeup. It's pretty awesome.
[16:36] Speaker 1: It's it's great. It's so much fun.
[16:38] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[16:38] Speaker 1: So he's in the Mustang Invitational race that's running with
[16:41] Speaker 1: a bunch of Rustlings. The French love Mustangs, the friend
[16:44] Speaker 1: when I'm in Europe, they love Mustang It's true, they do.
[16:46] Speaker 1: You know, everyone loves a Mustang. And seeing a bunch
[16:48] Speaker 1: of them like, it's just it's pride. Like a couple
[16:51] Speaker 1: of years ago, they ran a NASCAR around Lamon, and
[16:53] Speaker 1: I have friends with the team and people who were there,
[16:56] Speaker 1: journalists covering it, and it was just a one off
[16:58] Speaker 1: thing they were doing for fun. It was the favor car.
[17:00] Speaker 1: It was absolutely the frame of car. Everyone loved it.
[17:03] Speaker 1: You know, if we're going to solve world's trade problems,
[17:05] Speaker 1: I think Lamon's a good place to start. I think
[17:07] Speaker 1: let's get beset, let's get everybody there, and let's just say,
[17:09] Speaker 1: let's look at the cars. Maybe shall meee can get
[17:11] Speaker 1: in the race. We'll just toss one in. I think
[17:13] Speaker 1: people would be very excited.
[17:14] Speaker 3: I'm pretty pumped to see. Really, the amateurs are going
[17:18] Speaker 3: to be racing with the pros this time, right, They're
[17:20] Speaker 3: not separating like rich dudes versus hired guns. It's all
[17:26] Speaker 3: one in one go, one class.
[17:28] Speaker 1: Yes, which is so good. I was there the last
[17:31] Speaker 1: year that they did pro and am and non pro,
[17:34] Speaker 1: which is always like it's see this is where again
[17:37] Speaker 1: it's complicated behind the scenes because you have all these
[17:40] Speaker 1: drivers with different rankings and it's been all these complex things.
[17:42] Speaker 1: If you can have a bronze driver, you can't have
[17:43] Speaker 1: a silver driver. None of that matters to you. All
[17:45] Speaker 1: the cars are racing against each other and it's likely
[17:48] Speaker 1: that a pro team is going to win without a
[17:51] Speaker 1: you know, like a bronze or you know, a gentleman
[17:53] Speaker 1: driver as they say, a paid driver. But it's actually
[17:56] Speaker 1: not a guaranteed. Laman is crazy. It's twenty four hours,
[17:59] Speaker 1: like you have to serve vibe twenty three hours to
[18:01] Speaker 1: win the race. You'll just have twenty three hours of
[18:03] Speaker 1: racing of being exhausted to just get to that last hour.
[18:07] Speaker 1: And a bunch of pro teams, a bunch of people
[18:08] Speaker 1: who had spent all this money and all this time
[18:11] Speaker 1: and all they have these dreams of racing at Laman
[18:13] Speaker 1: are going to be out in the first twenty six
[18:15] Speaker 1: minutes first turn. Some years people don't make it past
[18:17] Speaker 1: the first turn, and then it's just some you know,
[18:19] Speaker 1: mix of a professional driver and some amateur, just someone
[18:22] Speaker 1: who just really cares, who just right timing it, rained
[18:25] Speaker 1: at the right moment, and they have a chance because
[18:27] Speaker 1: at twenty three hours they're in it and somebody a
[18:29] Speaker 1: pro can still make a mistake. It's amazing. You don't
[18:31] Speaker 1: get that an amateur is not going to win an.
[18:34] Speaker 3: Ass So separate it out for us, because the thing
[18:36] Speaker 3: that always confuses me is all the different classes have
[18:40] Speaker 3: these acronyms. And I mean Scott eighth or ten used
[18:43] Speaker 3: to always confuse me at IMSA as well. Right, it's
[18:47] Speaker 3: there's the top level is LMP one.
[18:51] Speaker 1: Now it's now it's it's hypercar.
[18:54] Speaker 3: Okay, it's just called hypercar. That's like the best that.
[18:57] Speaker 3: These are the cars that like Hannah test drives in
[19:00] Speaker 3: Los Angeles, right, these are the Matty Reemock's car.
[19:04] Speaker 2: I think this is more like nine six three level.
[19:08] Speaker 1: Yes, this is nine six three. Although actually if you drive,
[19:11] Speaker 1: if you write a Valkyrie, if you do the if
[19:14] Speaker 1: you do the Aston Martin, actually they do have a
[19:16] Speaker 1: version of that. So again complicated behind the scenes. Simple,
[19:19] Speaker 1: all you need to know the fastest cars and they
[19:22] Speaker 1: can race. And this is a new thing. We talked
[19:24] Speaker 1: you talk about Scott aster're talking about INMS. So before
[19:26] Speaker 1: what was the problem is you could watch American prototypes race.
[19:29] Speaker 1: So these are prototypes, the fastest cars they give, like
[19:31] Speaker 1: an F one car with a roof. They couldn't race
[19:33] Speaker 1: at Laman, and then their cars couldn't race here. Now
[19:36] Speaker 1: they said, forget that, that's too complicated. There's one class hypercar.
[19:39] Speaker 1: Maybe it's a European racing LMDh car, maybe it's an
[19:43] Speaker 1: American racing LMH car. It doesn't matter. Their hypercrs. So
[19:46] Speaker 1: the fastest they are, they have a hybrid system. They
[19:49] Speaker 1: might be rear wheel drive, they might be all wheel drive,
[19:51] Speaker 1: they might have a big stung. Here's the thing you're
[19:53] Speaker 1: gonna know the second that Cadillact goes by. This is
[19:55] Speaker 1: what's so much fun about Laman. Go stand at ted Ruz,
[19:57] Speaker 1: Go stand at the Porsha curves. You're gonna close your
[19:59] Speaker 1: eye and you're gonna hear it where we are. Okay,
[20:01] Speaker 1: it's probably a Ferrari. Right, You're gonna hear little buzzy engines.
[20:04] Speaker 1: You're gonna hear all sorts of things. You know, but
[20:06] Speaker 1: then you're gonna hear that Cadillac vight come around the
[20:08] Speaker 1: corner and everyone's gonna know. You're gonna feel it in
[20:10] Speaker 1: your stomach. It's a Cadillac V eight and it's gonna
[20:13] Speaker 1: make boom like it's gonna make an amazing sound, and
[20:15] Speaker 1: you're gonna have that, and then you'll have that. That's
[20:17] Speaker 1: the fastest class.
[20:19] Speaker 3: Then the next fastest class is like everybody can choose
[20:23] Speaker 3: one of the same. Uh, one of the same.
[20:26] Speaker 2: What?
[20:28] Speaker 3: Yeah? So the names chassiss like a yeah.
[20:31] Speaker 1: So there's l m P two, which has kind of
[20:33] Speaker 1: always been l m P two and that stands for
[20:34] Speaker 1: LAMM Prototype two. So they're the slower cars. It's a
[20:37] Speaker 1: mix of amateurs and pros.
[20:39] Speaker 3: All the cars look the same.
[20:40] Speaker 1: All the cars look the same, they have the same
[20:41] Speaker 1: mode of the same gearbox, the same Chassias in Arica,
[20:44] Speaker 1: like it's all Urica, So it's all the same thing.
[20:47] Speaker 1: You can pay attention to that or pay attention to that.
[20:49] Speaker 1: AO racing an American team, which is really exciting, is
[20:52] Speaker 1: gonna be racing there. So I would say pick one,
[20:54] Speaker 1: pick one l m P two team, and then that's it.
[20:57] Speaker 1: That's it. And also that's a great looking car. So
[20:58] Speaker 1: you're gonna pick AO Racing. That's gonna be your team,
[21:01] Speaker 1: you know, or whoever. I don't care who does, but
[21:02] Speaker 1: that's gonna be your team. And then you to Hannah's point,
[21:05] Speaker 1: all all the cars now racing in the GT class,
[21:09] Speaker 1: these are cars that are based on like road cars.
[21:12] Speaker 1: They are all all mixed up pros non pros, and
[21:16] Speaker 1: those are cars theoretically you can go buy. Those are cars.
[21:18] Speaker 1: Both of you get to drive before I get to drive.
[21:20] Speaker 1: By the way, I know, it's like Hannah gets the
[21:21] Speaker 1: car first and the mat gets cut the second. Matt
[21:23] Speaker 1: Hardiger gets the car third. We all know this.
[21:26] Speaker 3: Hannah gets usually like the you know, the Penan Farina Batista,
[21:29] Speaker 3: and I get like the Suberu outback.
[21:32] Speaker 4: You know.
[21:32] Speaker 2: Usually that's fine, that's fine with that breakdown. I'm just
[21:36] Speaker 2: fine with that.
[21:37] Speaker 3: No. Wait, so that's the only three classes. There's hyper cars,
[21:40] Speaker 3: l m P two and then the GT three cars.
[21:42] Speaker 1: Essentially, yes, there are, if you want to be really pedantic,
[21:45] Speaker 1: there are actually within the hypercar class or LMH cars
[21:48] Speaker 1: and LMDh cars, But who cares. They made it simple.
[21:51] Speaker 1: It's three cars. All the cars have different colors on
[21:53] Speaker 1: the numbers. That's all you gotta do. That's what's gonna
[21:56] Speaker 1: make it so much fun, and that's why they're and
[21:57] Speaker 1: it also made they think so much cheaper, which is
[21:59] Speaker 1: why there are so many cars this year, and there
[22:01] Speaker 1: are so many different brands and manufacturers. It was sad
[22:04] Speaker 1: before it was sad.
[22:06] Speaker 2: Can you talk a little bit about who you think
[22:08] Speaker 2: is going to win the outright race? I mean it's
[22:11] Speaker 2: been Ferrari. Can we assume it's gonna be Ferrari again?
[22:14] Speaker 2: I think Farra is leading right now in the championship series.
[22:18] Speaker 1: Yes, so okay, I'm I'm gonna. I was not sure
[22:20] Speaker 1: I was gonna bring this acronym up, but here we go, bop.
[22:23] Speaker 1: Balance of performance. The other reason why this is exciting
[22:26] Speaker 1: is that they are constantly behind the scenes tweaking how
[22:29] Speaker 1: much power you have, how much total power you get
[22:31] Speaker 1: for a lap, and how much weight you have to
[22:33] Speaker 1: try to keep the cars relatively even. Now. Historically some
[22:37] Speaker 1: people have said, no one in this room certainly have
[22:40] Speaker 1: said that maybe Ferrari sandbags throughout the year so that
[22:43] Speaker 1: they can get extra to the top end speed at leman,
[22:45] Speaker 1: so that they can win. No One here can prove
[22:48] Speaker 1: that that has ever happened. I'm looking around for snipers.
[22:50] Speaker 1: Maybe I'm okay, that's that's certainly no one has ever
[22:52] Speaker 1: said that's happened. No one here in this room is saying,
[22:55] Speaker 1: maybe that's happening again. But this year they've actually won
[22:57] Speaker 1: a few races coming in, so perhaps that's not the case.
[23:00] Speaker 1: Do you think Ferrari is the favorite going into this? However,
[23:03] Speaker 1: if you look at the BOP adjustments that were made,
[23:05] Speaker 1: so this is who gets weight and who gets power.
[23:08] Speaker 1: I actually think that, you know, Cadillac does have a
[23:10] Speaker 1: real chance this year. I I my money is on
[23:13] Speaker 1: cadillact this in the hypercar or hypercar. Yeah, that's it Hypercarillac.
[23:17] Speaker 3: Doesn't have a GT three team. They don't raise a
[23:19] Speaker 3: black wing at five.
[23:21] Speaker 1: They don't that would blackwing would be awesome. Bring a sedan, please,
[23:23] Speaker 1: more sedans more?
[23:24] Speaker 2: No?
[23:24] Speaker 1: I so Cadillac I think for the overall is my
[23:27] Speaker 1: sleeper pick. If I had to put all my money
[23:28] Speaker 1: on it, I put it on Ferrari. Ask the Marnate
[23:30] Speaker 1: win in some really terrible things have to happen. They
[23:33] Speaker 1: are new teams.
[23:33] Speaker 3: What about the in the GT three class? The Mustangs.
[23:36] Speaker 1: Are they Mustangs are competitive? Look on numbers you want
[23:39] Speaker 1: to win in the GT class LP two, we don't care.
[23:41] Speaker 1: We're gonna say're gonna say oo racing, God bless them.
[23:43] Speaker 1: I hope they do well in GT three. I personally
[23:47] Speaker 1: do I want the Mustangs to win?
[23:48] Speaker 2: Yes?
[23:48] Speaker 1: I want the must Thanks to win. Do I think
[23:49] Speaker 1: the Proton team is very competitive?
[23:51] Speaker 3: Yes?
[23:51] Speaker 1: I think they're very competitive. Is the smart money always
[23:54] Speaker 1: on a Porsche? Yes, the smart money is always on
[23:56] Speaker 1: a nine to eleven winning Laman if you more times
[23:58] Speaker 1: than not. If you you know, if you make that investment,
[24:02] Speaker 1: you're going to be you're gonna pay off. So you
[24:04] Speaker 1: know if you're if you're a gambling person to do that.
[24:06] Speaker 1: But the Corvett's super competitive, you know.
[24:15] Speaker 2: Side note? What do you think of the nine sixty
[24:18] Speaker 2: three RSP.
[24:20] Speaker 3: So we're back to hypercars now?
[24:22] Speaker 2: Yess? One of one car they made for Roger Pinski
[24:27] Speaker 2: that's based on their race car thoughts?
[24:30] Speaker 1: Why did they only make one? Make make a twenty one?
[24:33] Speaker 1: There are twenty customers for it?
[24:35] Speaker 2: Completely agree? Why make only one? Yeah?
[24:38] Speaker 1: Are you going to get to drive it and think
[24:39] Speaker 1: they'll let you drive it? They're not gonna let me out.
[24:41] Speaker 2: I do. I did see they let a few people
[24:44] Speaker 2: in Europe drive it, a few journalists, so and I
[24:48] Speaker 2: am in touch with them, so I might see if
[24:49] Speaker 2: I can scoot over and get a little a little
[24:52] Speaker 2: even if it's in the parking lot, I'll take it.
[24:54] Speaker 2: I don't care. I would love to drive it.
[24:55] Speaker 4: For me.
[24:56] Speaker 3: That's the most exciting thing. The thing I'm looking forward
[24:59] Speaker 3: to you the most probably is seeing that car.
[25:02] Speaker 2: I will say, I wish they had made it look cooler.
[25:06] Speaker 2: I mean, I understand the concept, but Matt, Matt Miller,
[25:11] Speaker 2: to your point when you texted me about it, like
[25:14] Speaker 2: anything beside the nine seventeen does not look great.
[25:17] Speaker 3: Never did a nine picture taken next to a nine seventeen, Because.
[25:20] Speaker 2: Yes, I just wish we it like, I just wish
[25:24] Speaker 2: it looked like nicer. You know, it's going to be
[25:29] Speaker 2: a road car.
[25:30] Speaker 1: It's a heritage play, right, That is definitely a nostalgia play.
[25:33] Speaker 1: It is not saying we it's like it's less future focused.
[25:37] Speaker 1: I agree, And nine to seventeen is future focused. This
[25:39] Speaker 1: is not future focused. This is very much reaching back
[25:42] Speaker 1: to the past. So that's always the thing with all
[25:44] Speaker 1: of these sports right with F one. To get a
[25:47] Speaker 1: trillion new fans, it had to piss off the thirty
[25:50] Speaker 1: people that really cared so much and are so mad
[25:53] Speaker 1: that like Lenny Kravitz is at the racer, you know whatever,
[25:55] Speaker 1: random celebrity right like that, They're like, ohh is that?
[25:58] Speaker 1: Like you know, like that's the because that's the only
[25:59] Speaker 1: celebrity they recognize, right. They don't know any any K
[26:02] Speaker 1: pop stars, And I think you're gonna probably have a
[26:04] Speaker 1: little bit of that with this. So this is Portia saying, look, people,
[26:08] Speaker 1: we still remember our history and this is still important
[26:10] Speaker 1: to us, assuming that new fans are maybe coming. That's
[26:13] Speaker 1: my read on it. But who cares. It looks cool,
[26:15] Speaker 1: it's super fast.
[26:16] Speaker 2: I agree. This isn't getting new fans. No, this is
[26:19] Speaker 2: getting This is only us talking about.
[26:22] Speaker 3: I mean, because of the looks of these things, and
[26:25] Speaker 3: I'm sure some people like the hyper cars the best.
[26:27] Speaker 3: For me, the GT three cars are the most exciting
[26:30] Speaker 3: because that's a car that I could actually buy. And
[26:33] Speaker 3: actually Barbosa told me the GTD that you can buy
[26:39] Speaker 3: is actually a faster car, maybe a better car than
[26:43] Speaker 3: the GT three Because of the bop thing that you
[26:45] Speaker 3: were talking about right. So that's awesome. I could watch
[26:48] Speaker 3: these Mustangs maybe win at Lament, and then I could
[26:51] Speaker 3: go if I had, however much it is three hundred
[26:54] Speaker 3: fifty thousand dollars and buy one.
[26:56] Speaker 1: Yes, agreed. Also I think the GT honestly, the GT
[27:00] Speaker 1: racing I think is also more exciting. You know, in person,
[27:03] Speaker 1: the cars, the hypercars are more impressive and they sound louder,
[27:06] Speaker 1: but the actual wheel to wheel racing with the GT
[27:10] Speaker 1: three cars. Problem is if you you new cars are
[27:13] Speaker 1: more robust than they used to be. The prototypes are
[27:15] Speaker 1: more robust. But you see you with F one like
[27:17] Speaker 1: you're like that you're having to get out of the
[27:18] Speaker 1: race for that, Like you know, the two cars barely touched,
[27:21] Speaker 1: and all of a sudden they're like there's an angry
[27:23] Speaker 1: like you know, Belgian dude being like I can't do
[27:25] Speaker 1: this anymore, angly German guy. At at Laman, you will
[27:29] Speaker 1: see people mess up cars, especially GT cars. You will
[27:32] Speaker 1: see them. You'll go like that car is never going again,
[27:34] Speaker 1: and then they're gonna limp on three wheels five miles
[27:38] Speaker 1: back to the pits and then a bunch of people
[27:39] Speaker 1: are gonna crush on that top of that car and
[27:42] Speaker 1: then three laps later that car is gonna be out
[27:44] Speaker 1: there again, and it's gonna look like it lost a fight.
[27:45] Speaker 1: It's look at what I'm gonna fight. It looks gonna
[27:47] Speaker 1: look like it really got its butt kicked, but it's
[27:49] Speaker 1: gonna do incredible I do. I'm with you. And also,
[27:52] Speaker 1: there's just so many good cars and so many good
[27:53] Speaker 1: drivers in that class.
[27:54] Speaker 2: This Homer. If it's not Robin, it's not racing, right,
[27:58] Speaker 2: I mean, can we can't we say that? Yes, I'm
[28:01] Speaker 2: still high on the Dale Earnhardt documentary that I'm obsessed with.
[28:05] Speaker 2: Did you see that?
[28:06] Speaker 3: I still haven't watched it. I really want to watch it.
[28:09] Speaker 2: It's heart degree thoughts. Did you see it?
[28:12] Speaker 1: No, I haven't seen it yet, but all my friends
[28:15] Speaker 1: who are in NASCAR are like, you got to watch it.
[28:17] Speaker 1: It's so good. Like the Problems, there's a Netflix NASCAR
[28:20] Speaker 1: series and it's fine, but it's very sanitized. And this
[28:22] Speaker 1: gets back to the point of like, f one you
[28:24] Speaker 1: care about the drivers. They have made them celebrities, which
[28:27] Speaker 1: is amazing because some of them are so weird.
[28:28] Speaker 3: Yea, because it's all about the car, like doesn't matter
[28:31] Speaker 3: as much who the driver is in f one. It's
[28:33] Speaker 3: about the Yeah, it's a Errow package.
[28:35] Speaker 1: Yeah, So like you have, they've created the drama very well,
[28:39] Speaker 1: and they've staged that very well. Nascar. All of the
[28:41] Speaker 1: drama exists, but you have to see it on a delay.
[28:44] Speaker 1: So what I hear from the Dale documentar and you
[28:46] Speaker 1: tell me is that you can see how hard it
[28:48] Speaker 1: is and what's actually going on behind the scenes in
[28:49] Speaker 1: a way that people want to see.
[28:52] Speaker 2: They's it's amazing and we should say this is a
[28:54] Speaker 2: Ron Howard Brian Glazer production, so of course it's really
[28:58] Speaker 2: well done, and it really it's the thing that I've
[29:02] Speaker 2: seen that most made me realize what these guys are
[29:07] Speaker 2: going through when they're in the car. It really is insane,
[29:12] Speaker 2: the edge that they're walking. And of course we all
[29:15] Speaker 2: know how it ends, so we don't have to get
[29:16] Speaker 2: into that, but like you really really see they're on
[29:19] Speaker 2: a tight rope in front of everyone. It's it's pretty incredible.
[29:24] Speaker 3: Har does he never know what to do with his hands?
[29:29] Speaker 2: Did make me want to watch Telladaga Nights again?
[29:32] Speaker 3: I will say his mustache was impressive. But I'm looking
[29:35] Speaker 3: at a picture of Graham Hill right now, and that
[29:38] Speaker 3: is a thing of beauty on his upper lip. This
[29:42] Speaker 3: is apparently the only guy who's ever won the triple crown,
[29:45] Speaker 3: which is I the Grand Prix, Monico Grand Prix, the
[29:50] Speaker 3: DY five hundred that you mentioned, and twenty four hours
[29:54] Speaker 3: of Lamon. We're going to talk to Jensen Button on Friday.
[29:58] Speaker 3: If he wins at Lamar, then he only has five hundred.
[30:03] Speaker 1: He only has the hardest one to go.
[30:05] Speaker 3: Is it the hardest one? Indie?
[30:07] Speaker 1: Yeah, on an individual so on a team level, Laman
[30:10] Speaker 1: is probably harder. But like, if you get in the
[30:13] Speaker 1: right car in F one, you can win. I mean,
[30:15] Speaker 1: you all know how Monico is, right, if you can
[30:16] Speaker 1: get qualified qualif you win the race, probably Indy five
[30:19] Speaker 1: hundred is definitely the hardest on a human being, And
[30:22] Speaker 1: it's also the thing that a person should not do
[30:24] Speaker 1: after probably a certain age. And I love Jets and
[30:26] Speaker 1: Button he's such a nice guy, but he's probably getting
[30:28] Speaker 1: close to the age where I would not strap myself
[30:31] Speaker 1: into an Indy five hundred car, So.
[30:33] Speaker 3: It's unlikely that he will pull off the triple crown.
[30:36] Speaker 3: I can't believe only one person has done it, Like
[30:39] Speaker 3: that's pretty It's pretty wild.
[30:42] Speaker 1: Right, Mario think about it this way. Mario Andretti was
[30:46] Speaker 1: not success. We think of him as like this great
[30:48] Speaker 1: race car driver, which he is and awesome and such
[30:50] Speaker 1: a cool story. He had such a hard time winning
[30:53] Speaker 1: the Indy five hundred, He had such a like even
[30:55] Speaker 1: get like like, think about how hard it was for
[30:57] Speaker 1: Mario Andretti, and think how hard it is for so
[30:59] Speaker 1: many eight drivers throughout history who have tried to win
[31:01] Speaker 1: the Indy five hundred and have not. That's why it's
[31:04] Speaker 1: still I love Laman and Laman is so much fun.
[31:07] Speaker 1: But like Indy five hundred, if you get, if you
[31:08] Speaker 1: can win one thing in your life in motorsports besides
[31:11] Speaker 1: an F one championship, because of all of the money
[31:13] Speaker 1: and then all the things that come with that money,
[31:15] Speaker 1: I would want to get in Indy five undy.
[31:16] Speaker 3: By the way, walk us through how this actually works.
[31:19] Speaker 3: Say that Hannah and I enter a Mustang GT three.
[31:27] Speaker 3: We have to drive it for twenty four hours to driver.
[31:30] Speaker 3: There is there a third driver, yes, driver, three drivers? Okay,
[31:34] Speaker 3: so you me and Hannah? Yeah, and then do we
[31:37] Speaker 3: do like four every four hours or two hours eight hours?
[31:41] Speaker 3: Can we choose?
[31:42] Speaker 1: You can sort of choose. And so this gets into
[31:45] Speaker 1: the complicated thing, the complicated and simple. The complicated answer
[31:48] Speaker 1: is that drivers all have to drive certain minimums so
[31:52] Speaker 1: that if you do have a person who is paying
[31:54] Speaker 1: for this program who is not as fast as professional
[31:56] Speaker 1: drivers for no reason other than they are not professional
[31:59] Speaker 1: race car drivers, then you want them to probably drive
[32:02] Speaker 1: the limited amount of time, the most limited amount of time.
[32:04] Speaker 1: But that means there's a minimum number of stints. They
[32:06] Speaker 1: can't just go out and drive for six hours and
[32:07] Speaker 1: it's like I'm done, Like you know, there have to
[32:09] Speaker 1: be a certain number of stints. They have to run
[32:10] Speaker 1: a certain minimum time. Also, the problem isn't actually minimums there,
[32:14] Speaker 1: it's maximums.
[32:15] Speaker 2: Right.
[32:15] Speaker 1: If someone's on a heater and they're having a great day,
[32:17] Speaker 1: you want to keep them in the car as long
[32:18] Speaker 1: as possible, but for reasons of competitiveness and also so
[32:21] Speaker 1: that somebody doesn't get really tired and fly out of Lasar,
[32:24] Speaker 1: you know, out of the Mulson Straight at two hundred
[32:27] Speaker 1: miles an hour. They also have to take breaks in between,
[32:29] Speaker 1: so we would split it up. We would probably have
[32:34] Speaker 1: let's say I'm the slow driver of the three, I'm
[32:36] Speaker 1: the one who's paying to be there, which is probably
[32:38] Speaker 1: not the case. But let's say I'm the one paying
[32:40] Speaker 1: to be there, you might have me go first. You
[32:42] Speaker 1: know there's a lot of traffic, it's going to be slow.
[32:45] Speaker 1: My whole goal is to just survive and then just
[32:46] Speaker 1: put in lap times the second driver. Then the two
[32:50] Speaker 1: other drivers might switch back and forth. But if it's
[32:52] Speaker 1: a pro team, you might go with a different strategy.
[32:55] Speaker 1: At the end, you do want your fastest driver. You
[32:56] Speaker 1: almost always want your fastest driver at the end of
[32:59] Speaker 1: the race. But you don't know how that's going to happen.
[33:00] Speaker 1: Because if you have your fastest driver in the middle
[33:02] Speaker 1: of the race, there's a wreck and they're just doing
[33:05] Speaker 1: three laps over thirty minutes slow, that time all counts
[33:09] Speaker 1: and so now you have to then adjust. And so
[33:11] Speaker 1: I will say this. You will sleep during the twenty
[33:12] Speaker 1: four hours. The drivers will sleep on the floor, The mechanics,
[33:15] Speaker 1: the people changing the tires, they will sleep. The only
[33:18] Speaker 1: people who will be awake, other than maybe documentarians, are
[33:21] Speaker 1: the people who are the actual race engineers. They will
[33:24] Speaker 1: sit on those pit boxes for twenty four hours because
[33:27] Speaker 1: they have to know what's happening, because they any small
[33:30] Speaker 1: change in air temperature, in weather, in pits will completely
[33:35] Speaker 1: change the strategy, so they're constantly having to just just
[33:37] Speaker 1: move on the fly. So that's the real thing and
[33:40] Speaker 1: the strategy part of it. It's a little harder to understand,
[33:42] Speaker 1: but I will say little pro tip. If you listen
[33:44] Speaker 1: to Radio Laman, Like there's a thing called Radio Lamon
[33:48] Speaker 1: in your ear set, if you get an ear set
[33:49] Speaker 1: there to listen to it, or you listen to the radio,
[33:51] Speaker 1: they actually do a really great job of providing the
[33:53] Speaker 1: context that the TV does an okay job, but the radio,
[33:56] Speaker 1: I actually think does a really good job.
[33:58] Speaker 3: I'm looking at the Iron Dames site. By the way, Hannah,
[34:01] Speaker 3: it says Bronze rated drivers, which is like the zero right,
[34:05] Speaker 3: the rich guy or gal in the group have to
[34:09] Speaker 3: drive for a minimum of six hours across the entire
[34:12] Speaker 3: twenty four hour period, and then no driver is allowed
[34:16] Speaker 3: to be behind the wheel for more than four hours
[34:19] Speaker 3: in any six hour period, or more than fourteen hours total.
[34:23] Speaker 3: So that's pretty that's pretty easy to understand.
[34:27] Speaker 1: Yeah, and easy to do. I mean, we could all
[34:28] Speaker 1: of us could do fourteen hours racing in a car
[34:30] Speaker 1: right now, right, we could just the constant g forces
[34:32] Speaker 1: on your neck, you know, it's funny. They actually have
[34:34] Speaker 1: little little trailers that are kind of off from the paddock,
[34:37] Speaker 1: and they have like a little village of these little campers,
[34:39] Speaker 1: and so the race car drivers will just go back
[34:41] Speaker 1: there and sleep and try it and they'll sleep. It's amazing.
[34:44] Speaker 1: They'll go back and they'll sleep for like two or
[34:45] Speaker 1: three hours and then come back and they'll get a
[34:47] Speaker 1: little pasta with chickens, just like the little pasta with chicken,
[34:50] Speaker 1: get some protein, gets some carbs, and they'll just go
[34:52] Speaker 1: out there. Whereas like even as just a fan, like
[34:54] Speaker 1: at three o'clock in the morning, like you're dead, Which
[34:57] Speaker 1: is also my second piece of advice, besides listening to
[34:59] Speaker 1: Raide Lamon, I was going to ask three o'clock, three
[35:02] Speaker 1: o'clock in the morning, you're getting tired, you got a rally,
[35:04] Speaker 1: don't go to the rave because there is a rave,
[35:06] Speaker 1: an electronic EDM that's happening. Do that early, get that
[35:09] Speaker 1: out of your system early, or do that right at
[35:11] Speaker 1: the end when you're deliriously tired. Go to there's a
[35:15] Speaker 1: little crape place up at tet Rouge, and it's not
[35:17] Speaker 1: hard to get to from like the media center, main
[35:19] Speaker 1: paddock area, wherever you are, and you're just gonna walk
[35:21] Speaker 1: basically kind of walk north, and you're gonna go and
[35:24] Speaker 1: you're gonna sit there and you get a grandmar and
[35:26] Speaker 1: you a cape, crape maybe or any crap, and to
[35:27] Speaker 1: tell a crape, whatever your your flavor of crape is,
[35:30] Speaker 1: and you're just gonna sit there and you're just gonna
[35:32] Speaker 1: eat a crape and you're just gonna see the lights
[35:34] Speaker 1: go by, and you're just gonna hear the cars and
[35:36] Speaker 1: it's gonna be heaven. You're gonna just be rejuvenated. You're
[35:39] Speaker 1: just gonna feel life. And that advice isn't my advice
[35:42] Speaker 1: that originally I did that, but that came from Bill Riley,
[35:44] Speaker 1: who is one of the most successful race car team
[35:46] Speaker 1: managers ever. And he's this big, gruff dude and he
[35:50] Speaker 1: sits on that wall on that pit box all day.
[35:52] Speaker 1: He takes one break and he walks up to go
[35:54] Speaker 1: get a crape and then he comes back. That's in
[35:56] Speaker 1: twenty four hours. It's his only break, and it's enough
[35:58] Speaker 1: plus a lot of coffee to read you himself. And
[36:00] Speaker 1: I did it last time I was there, and it
[36:01] Speaker 1: was it was magical.
[36:03] Speaker 2: I love that now. Hardgre I want to ask you
[36:05] Speaker 2: about the tramway train system in the city, and I'm
[36:10] Speaker 2: thinking about our listeners who may want to end up
[36:12] Speaker 2: going to the race next year or whatever, Like how
[36:15] Speaker 2: is it getting to the track from the city and
[36:18] Speaker 2: do you have any recommendations about how people should do that?
[36:21] Speaker 1: Yeah, camp, My recommendation is camp. So yeah, I would camp.
[36:26] Speaker 1: I would park there. Camping is the absolute best way
[36:28] Speaker 1: to experience Laman. You know, I slept in a van,
[36:30] Speaker 1: like it's it's it's the best way to do it.
[36:33] Speaker 1: You can pop in. Actually it's not as inaccessible as
[36:36] Speaker 1: you would think. You can pop in and pop out.
[36:38] Speaker 1: You can take a tram, you can get a cab
[36:40] Speaker 1: or an uber like, it's not it's not terrible. I
[36:42] Speaker 1: will say, you want to get early enough and you
[36:44] Speaker 1: all should do this as well. So the track is
[36:47] Speaker 1: on city streets for a lot of it, and in
[36:50] Speaker 1: between practices and qualifying it's open and there's like the
[36:54] Speaker 1: curbs and everything, so you can go drive on the
[36:56] Speaker 1: actual racetrack as you know you've been there. You can
[36:58] Speaker 1: drive on the race track when the race track is
[37:00] Speaker 1: an in session, and that's like incredible. So like I
[37:03] Speaker 1: would rent a car buy a cheap from the care
[37:07] Speaker 1: floor or whatever, or a motorcycle, buy a cheap sleeping
[37:09] Speaker 1: bag and then just do it that way. That's what
[37:11] Speaker 1: the Brits all do when they go, and it's it's
[37:13] Speaker 1: the best way to experience it because you want to
[37:15] Speaker 1: be there, like no offense to Lamon. Lamon itself is
[37:18] Speaker 1: like a cute town. If you go early for scrutineering
[37:20] Speaker 1: with a called the Passage, you can like go see
[37:22] Speaker 1: all that fun stuff. But like it's just every other
[37:24] Speaker 1: little European town. There's a church, there's eighteen lingerie shops
[37:27] Speaker 1: and only one toy store for some reason when you
[37:29] Speaker 1: trying to get something for Edith and the kids, like
[37:31] Speaker 1: you know, like there's just you know, like like you know,
[37:33] Speaker 1: it's fun, it's fine, but the track is where you
[37:36] Speaker 1: want to be. Except for Friday, they do a parade
[37:38] Speaker 1: around the city and that's that's what's going to.
[37:40] Speaker 3: We're going to broadcast live at the track during the parade,
[37:43] Speaker 3: so we'll miss that. But luckily we're done with our
[37:47] Speaker 3: work pretty much our work duties by the time the
[37:49] Speaker 3: race starts at four pm on Saturday. Yeah, at we'll
[37:55] Speaker 3: be free but tired.
[37:57] Speaker 2: I'd be doing a lot of Red Bull.
[37:59] Speaker 1: It's a red Bull of it.
[38:00] Speaker 2: I love red Bull. I love myself a red Bull,
[38:04] Speaker 2: I always have.
[38:05] Speaker 3: I don't. I don't like that any of those energy drinks.
[38:08] Speaker 3: They make me feel like I'm on bad, bad drugs,
[38:12] Speaker 3: you know. So I'm not down to clown and I
[38:15] Speaker 3: don't drink anymore. So I'm not going to be hanging
[38:17] Speaker 3: out with the Brits at the camp.
[38:19] Speaker 1: Yeah, oh man. And I will say also, when it
[38:21] Speaker 1: gets hot in the afternoon a little there's like a
[38:23] Speaker 1: whole aparaol tent operol spirits of the afternoon. That's also
[38:26] Speaker 1: a recommendation. You could have a great time.
[38:28] Speaker 2: You can have such good you know Aaron keating at
[38:31] Speaker 2: Cox Automotive.
[38:32] Speaker 3: Of course.
[38:32] Speaker 2: Now Aaron said that she got a fish pedicure in
[38:37] Speaker 2: the Outing tint one year. Do you know about this Matt.
[38:40] Speaker 4: Fish pedicure like p h I s h or f
[38:45] Speaker 4: fish the little gold they eat the calluses like piranhas.
[38:52] Speaker 1: Yes, much much smaller piranhas.
[38:54] Speaker 3: Yes.
[38:54] Speaker 1: And I will say this, you know, like that ain't
[38:56] Speaker 1: happening at Seabring, no offense. I love Sea bring. You
[38:59] Speaker 1: can get an natty light pedicure. You can probably get
[39:01] Speaker 1: a pH fish paddicure pedicure from someone there. Yeah, no,
[39:04] Speaker 1: I mean there's just so many opportunities, and like, let's
[39:07] Speaker 1: be honest, like you either can spend a lot of
[39:09] Speaker 1: money or you can be a schlubby journalist like us,
[39:11] Speaker 1: and as a slubby journalist like us, you get access
[39:13] Speaker 1: to all of that stuff. But even then everyone has
[39:15] Speaker 1: access to the apparaol tent, and the aparaol tent at
[39:18] Speaker 1: like Laguna Seka is not as good as necessarily the
[39:20] Speaker 1: operole tent there. Like like I shouldn't say Alex did
[39:23] Speaker 1: Lgunasak is great at Pocono. Let's say at Pocono you
[39:25] Speaker 1: ain't getting an apparol tent. You ain't getting a operol sprits.
[39:27] Speaker 3: Dude, tell us what you're doing now? Tell us about
[39:31] Speaker 3: the autopian When when you and I first met, you
[39:33] Speaker 3: were running Jelopnik, which was like an amazing time to
[39:39] Speaker 3: be a car lover. And then things kind of went haywire.
[39:44] Speaker 3: You did some documentaries, you did a lot of TV
[39:46] Speaker 3: and film. What do you what are your focus is
[39:49] Speaker 3: right now? Yeah?
[39:50] Speaker 1: That was thank you for I love to be able
[39:52] Speaker 1: to plug the autopian. Yeah, Gelot mcdays were really fun.
[39:54] Speaker 1: I tried to hire Hannah. She took this job instead
[39:57] Speaker 1: and made the right choice. Historically, you've definitely made the
[40:00] Speaker 1: right decision given what happened. Yeah. So the Autopian is,
[40:04] Speaker 1: you know, we've been around for about three years. It
[40:06] Speaker 1: was founded by two Chilopnak writers, David Tracy and Jason Twortinski,
[40:10] Speaker 1: and then Bo Bachman Helliott. I think you know, boh
[40:13] Speaker 1: Elliott says, Elliott there, Hanna.
[40:15] Speaker 2: You know, but everyone calls my real friends call me Elliott.
[40:17] Speaker 1: There you go. Hopefully I'm a real friend.
[40:20] Speaker 3: I bought a car from Bo.
[40:21] Speaker 1: You bought a car, right, and you're an Autopian member
[40:24] Speaker 1: as well, So you're getting all So yeah, I mean
[40:26] Speaker 1: we just we all remember how great websites were like
[40:29] Speaker 1: eight or nine years ago, and because of programmatic advertising,
[40:32] Speaker 1: because of social media, and I don't think it's like
[40:35] Speaker 1: websites have gotten bad. They're not fan hold Cogan and
[40:38] Speaker 1: Hull Cogan. They've gotten harder to read, harder to get to.
[40:41] Speaker 1: Facebook tells you what to read. We were just like,
[40:43] Speaker 1: what if we did a website for people who just
[40:45] Speaker 1: love cars and just want to read about cars and
[40:48] Speaker 1: want to enjoy the company of other car enthusiasts and
[40:51] Speaker 1: want to do it on a site that will actually
[40:53] Speaker 1: load on their phone before like sixteen pop up bads
[40:55] Speaker 1: load up on their phone. And so we're trying it.
[40:57] Speaker 1: So remember supported, we do have advertising, but if you
[40:59] Speaker 1: become a member, there's no advertising anymore. And that's done
[41:02] Speaker 1: really well for us, and you know, it's it's launching
[41:05] Speaker 1: a media company in the twenty twenties sounded like an
[41:08] Speaker 1: insane idea, and it was an insane idea, but you know,
[41:11] Speaker 1: we've hoped proven that you can build a sustainable enterprise
[41:13] Speaker 1: if you put the reader first and you don't try
[41:16] Speaker 1: to like just say like, let's do an SEO garbage
[41:18] Speaker 1: play and make everything an arbitrage for Facebook traffic. Like
[41:22] Speaker 1: if you're just like, what if we wrote good stories
[41:24] Speaker 1: that people like and we wrote about weird cars that
[41:26] Speaker 1: people like, maybe we could be successful. And it's we're
[41:28] Speaker 1: not gonna have four hundred million readers, probably, but I
[41:30] Speaker 1: don't care. The readers we have. I love them, and
[41:32] Speaker 1: they're growing every month, and that's where we want to be.
[41:34] Speaker 3: Did you do like an MBA or something, because you know,
[41:36] Speaker 3: all of these high falutin business terms, and but you're
[41:41] Speaker 3: just a car fanboy at heart.
[41:43] Speaker 1: So there's a large part of me that wishes I
[41:47] Speaker 1: didn't know any of this. The problem is is that
[41:49] Speaker 1: to survive as a journalist these days, you know, unless
[41:52] Speaker 1: you're enormously talented like the two of you, if you're
[41:54] Speaker 1: the rest of us, then you have to understand all
[41:56] Speaker 1: this stuff if you want to survive, because you're otherwise.
[41:58] Speaker 1: If you don't learn this stuff, you're kind of at
[42:00] Speaker 1: the behest and at the whim of everyone else. And
[42:03] Speaker 1: I've been through enough layoffs, I've been through enough terrible
[42:06] Speaker 1: times in media that we basically just decided, let's take
[42:08] Speaker 1: control of it ourselves. So we had to learn all
[42:10] Speaker 1: this stuff, and we made lots of mistakes. We're probably
[42:12] Speaker 1: still doing a lot of stuff wrong, but we just
[42:14] Speaker 1: had to learn it. And so, yeah, no, do I
[42:16] Speaker 1: wish I knew what an RPM CPM do? I wish
[42:19] Speaker 1: I knew what agentic AI was. No, I wish I
[42:22] Speaker 1: knew none of that stuff, But somebody has to. So
[42:24] Speaker 1: it's me cool.
[42:26] Speaker 2: I love it and I respect that completely. And I
[42:28] Speaker 2: also love that you have a piece about Sabrina Carpenter
[42:33] Speaker 2: on the front page of the autopian.
[42:35] Speaker 1: She's so good and also she loves the weird cars
[42:39] Speaker 1: like her and her artistic contribute collaborators. I don't know,
[42:42] Speaker 1: but like she's got an eye for like the very
[42:44] Speaker 1: I mean, you've gotta you gotta see three Corvette, right, yeah, yes,
[42:47] Speaker 1: I do.
[42:48] Speaker 3: You're cool. She has more than one C three Corvette.
[42:50] Speaker 2: Thanks, criminally underrated. I will say it till the day
[42:55] Speaker 2: I A.
[42:56] Speaker 1: I think Blaze is cool again. I mean she's like
[42:58] Speaker 1: the queen of Blaze, like that that whole video. The
[43:00] Speaker 1: new video is Almalay's cars. But actually it makes sense
[43:03] Speaker 1: both from a just time shifts, so not everyone wants
[43:05] Speaker 1: sixties cars anymore and seventies cars are bad. But like,
[43:07] Speaker 1: if you just want to go cruise, do you care
[43:10] Speaker 1: that it has a smog choked V eight? Like does
[43:11] Speaker 1: it matter to you that your C three does not
[43:14] Speaker 1: have five hundred horse power?
[43:15] Speaker 2: No?
[43:15] Speaker 1: It looks awesome, You look awesome in it? Who cares?
[43:18] Speaker 3: Sabrina Carpenter is a pop music person or who is that?
[43:23] Speaker 2: Matt? I'll send you the video.
[43:25] Speaker 3: Is she related to the Carpenters?
[43:28] Speaker 2: I don't think so.
[43:29] Speaker 3: Like the very depressing yeah, seventies.
[43:32] Speaker 2: Bachild Google Sabrina Carpenter Manchild and you'll see a video
[43:37] Speaker 2: with cool cool cars on it.
[43:39] Speaker 3: All right. One other thing, aside from Lament, and aside
[43:42] Speaker 3: from the autopian that I wanted to talk to you about,
[43:45] Speaker 3: was all this crazy autocross stuff that you do. Because
[43:48] Speaker 3: you're always asking me to go up to Limerock, which
[43:50] Speaker 3: is awesome, but you're driving the oddest cars. A lot
[43:54] Speaker 3: of time on track. You were in an M five
[43:57] Speaker 3: station wagon, which is like a luxury sedan made bigger.
[44:01] Speaker 3: And why that? Why choose that car for autocross?
[44:05] Speaker 1: So some of that was just timing. We had the car. Also,
[44:08] Speaker 1: if BMW asks for tire reasons, we barely put it
[44:11] Speaker 1: on the track. It was only for like a hot
[44:12] Speaker 1: minute because we said we would not we would leave
[44:13] Speaker 1: the tires.
[44:14] Speaker 3: Oh should we cut this cart down?
[44:15] Speaker 1: No, No, it's fine, it's fine, and we had a portion.
[44:18] Speaker 2: No.
[44:18] Speaker 1: Actually, I want to bring a minivan next. Look, I
[44:20] Speaker 1: am not going to be at Laman. I am not
[44:22] Speaker 1: a great driver, it is I As you know, these
[44:25] Speaker 1: cars have gotten so fast that finding the limit of
[44:28] Speaker 1: the car now is very scary. That's why a Miata
[44:31] Speaker 1: is so much fun, because you can find the limit
[44:33] Speaker 1: of a Miata really fun. I mean, you're your challenger right,
[44:36] Speaker 1: like you're just there's so much power, you're traction limited.
[44:39] Speaker 1: Like you know where the edge of that car is
[44:40] Speaker 1: because you can find it by just pushing down the
[44:42] Speaker 1: skinny pedal and you're there.
[44:43] Speaker 3: I'm always close to the edge of that car.
[44:46] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[44:46] Speaker 3: No, but it makes it fun at forty five right
[44:49] Speaker 3: right now, I'm driving the Carrera GTS T hybrid, which
[44:53] Speaker 3: is amazing, right, but you have to be triple digits
[44:57] Speaker 3: before it's kind of exciting, and then you're already in trouble.
[45:01] Speaker 1: You know what car's fast at twenty miles an hour
[45:03] Speaker 1: around a racetrack, Yata Toyota, Siena Toyota.
[45:08] Speaker 2: Yeah, there you go.
[45:09] Speaker 1: So that's fun. Like I liked it. I just like
[45:12] Speaker 1: to have fun with cars, and fun with cars is
[45:14] Speaker 1: doing things that are not Like, if you want to
[45:16] Speaker 1: go read about how the latest Corvette does around a
[45:18] Speaker 1: racetrack roadent track, is going to do a better job
[45:20] Speaker 1: than I'm probably gonna do if you want to, but
[45:23] Speaker 1: they're not going to necessarily. Actually they did once. That
[45:24] Speaker 1: sounds surely entirely true, but like it's more fun. It's
[45:27] Speaker 1: just more fun to slow. Car fast is faster than
[45:29] Speaker 1: fast car slow if you are not racing at them
[45:31] Speaker 1: on this weekend. That's just the reality.
[45:34] Speaker 2: That's the headline of this entire conversation.
[45:37] Speaker 3: All right, Hannah, you have to run and catch your flight.
[45:40] Speaker 2: Yes, Matt haartegree. Thank you for joining us. Come back
[45:44] Speaker 2: and talk to us more. This was really great. We
[45:46] Speaker 2: really appreciate it.
[45:47] Speaker 1: Bom voyage. Enjoy, Enjoy a crepe for me, take a picture,
[45:51] Speaker 1: Send me a picture I want to put on Instagram.
[45:53] Speaker 3: Okay, all right, well, Hannah's got to run and catch
[45:56] Speaker 3: her flight. I am going to run and catch my flight.
[45:58] Speaker 3: So I guess we'll end it here, but we will
[46:02] Speaker 3: probably be broadcasting our next episode could be from Lament.
[46:08] Speaker 2: It might be also we have a very big guest
[46:11] Speaker 2: next week that all of my girlfriends are obsessed with.
[46:15] Speaker 3: Oh yeah, the producer. Yes, catch us next time with Total.
[46:21] Speaker 1: It would be such a good episode. You have to
[46:24] Speaker 1: listen to the episode, Michael, it'd be so great.
[46:29] Speaker 3: That's Schwartz and I love. All right, that's it. I'm
[46:32] Speaker 3: Matt Miller and
[46:33] Speaker 2: I'm Hannah Elliott, and this is Bloomberg

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