Still Driving, honest conversations about the cars, people, and ideas that make driving matter with automotive industry insider Chanu Mapleton and accomplished driver and enthusiast Blair Smith, joined by the people shaping the automotive world. Here are Chanu and Blair. Welcome back to a very special edition of Still Driving. Shinoo, how's it going, buddy? Great, Blair. Great, g- you know, so excited to be here. We have got a exciting, exciting episode, Monterey themed. Yes. That's what makes this one a little bit different, a little more special. This is all things Car Week. I'm excited because I have never been, as I mentioned on the last pod. This is it. So to be able to do this alongside you, hang out at the booth at Works for Union is gonna be awesome as well. It, you know, it's bucket list experience for me, and I have a feeling it's the start of many to come. So, we're, we're gonna keep this very Monterey Car Week specific, aside from maybe what we did in cars this week, and then a little bit of automotive news. We we're also gonna talk about the Monterey auctions. Auction forecasts maybe, or some, some highlights that stood out to us. Mm-hmm. And then, then we've got our formerly known as This or That. We're, we're, we're rebranding that segment to Head to Head. So this one is the Head to Head Monterey activity edition, and then we've got a fun listener question. So to kick it off, though, before we get into any of that agenda, Shinoo, the mystery car segment, Monterey edition. Tell us about it. Okay. I've got a mystery car that debuted during Car Week in Monterey back in 2018, okay? Okay. So this car, okay, it's a 2019 model, you know, US model, okay? It weighs 3,362 pounds, okay? It makes 759 horsepower, okay? It has two seats and two doors, okay? So what is it? We'll, we'll, we'll throw in a couple more clues, but, Well, this is the first one you've got me completely stumped on. A year 2018, 3,300 pounds, 700-plus horse, two-seat, I imagine mid-engine maybe. I have no clue. So yeah, I'm gonna need more hints as we go along. Okay, we'll do that. As I imagine the listeners might as well. We'll, we'll, we'll plug in some, some hints as we go. Well, what I did in cars this week, again, we had kind of a c- abbreviated t- time window since our last pod. We wanted to get this up before Car Week. Right. I've been driving the M3 trying to get clarity. I talked about it last week on the episode. I love that car. It's my third one. I'm kinda just itching for inspiration a little bit. I know there's a number of cars on my wish list, but just trying to marinate in this idea, trying not to be too impulsive with this thing. So Shinoo, that's what I've been doing. I've been enjoying driving the car. But- Well, BMW is celebrating the M3, 40 years of the M3 at Car Week, right? So I think it's appropriate that you're in there g- you know, getting, getting really, you know, back in the saddle, if you will, with, with M3s. And so we'll talk more about, you know, places where the BMWs are gonna be, you know, on display 'cause g- you know, God knows you and I are gonna go to at least one or two of those locations- 'cause we, we, you know, there's a few of those cars that we wanna see, right? So- Exactly. Well, I, on, on that note, I've told myself Don't do anything. I was gonna go, I was gonna make some decisions in advance of this so I could go be inspired about what's next. Yes. But I'm just gonna marinate in this idea that, hey, time to move on. But I have a feeling being at Legends of the Autobahn and the, you know, the BMW displays, it, it, it might make me reconsider. So that's what I've been doing in cars, just dr- driving that M3. Sweet. What about you, Shinu? You've had a couple of fun events and cool stuff. Yeah. You know, we, we had our Baby Racer, you know, preview event at the shop last Saturday, and so had a bunch of people show up. Had a, had a really good time. It's just kind of fun. You know, this buddy of mine, Gustavo, who's, who's got this independent, you know, kind of low-budget movie that he's done about this American racer kid and, and getting caught up with the Yakuza. So it, it's pretty good. It's supposed to stream this fall on Tubi and, and other channels, so it'll be fun. We got to get a little sneak peek and some of the behind-the-scenes stuff, and kinda, you know, as you says, how, how you make the sausage kind of stuff. It just, just, it was, it was pretty cool. It was pretty cool. And one of the- Well, if you don't, if, if people don't follow your InnoKinetic Instagram page, or ch- they should, because you always do a great job posting some of the happenings going on. It was fun to see you guys with your setup out, outside your building. Yeah. It looked like a cool event. It was. It was a lot of fun. We, we, we had a bunch of our cars on display, obviously, and then, then several really cool cars showed up. You know, o- o- one of our, our, our friends and clients, Bill, showed up with his Jimmy Clark Edition Emira, which was- Ooh really, really cool. And for, for, you know, anyone that's familiar, you know, Jimmy Clark was w- you know, one of the greatest Scottish, you know, Formula One and just pure racers that was that, that was alive. And, and his museum, by the way, in Scotland is, is, is fantastic. Small, but really, really good, and- Cool highly recommend it to, to any of our listeners. If you go to Scotland, make sure you carve out a half a day at least to go see the Jimmy Clark Museum. But the other really notable cool car that showed up was my fraternity brother Raj Nair's Ford GT, his 2018. It's a serial number one of that second model year. And because the guy was a executive at Ford, he was able to order the special livery, which was basically matched the, the livery on the Le Mans race cars. So- Raj has agreed to come onto our podcast, you know, so we're gonna have him on board. Great. 'Cause there's quite a few very interesting stories this guy's got. You know, I've known him for over 40 years. He recruited me into the fraternity and, and he's, he's the real deal. And, and I think a lot of Ford cars that you like to rave about were frankly, have his fingerprints on them. And so we'll get him on board here to, to pick his brain a little about, about driver's cars and where he sees things headed and, and we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll have to get a few stories. He's got a great story about how that GT came to be and, and, you know, you know, where it really started from. And I think for any Mustang fangs out- fans out there, they'll wanna hear this story for sure 'cause it's good. Well, I don't care about his experience with Ford GTs. I don't care about his experience with Singer. I wanna know what he thinks about this new four-door Mustang, okay? That we that we- Well- debated about last week. So yeah, that, that's gonna be top of the list question for me is like "Hey, t- tell us your thoughts about this controversial new sedan." Well, I think- Just kidding yeah, no, I think it'll be good. It'll be interesting to see, you know, what his, his thoughts are on that, 'cause he's, he's he's definitely knows y- you know, the history i- you know, he's a scholar of Ford history for sure. And, That's cool yeah, yeah. I can't wait to, to chat with him and meet him. So did he drive the car out? Did he- He did. He did. He, he drives his car, okay? He's, it's not some precious thing that he just polishes and keeps in his garage. He drives it. He lets his, he's let so many friends and colleagues drive the car. Wow. You know, I drove the car. We drove aggressively. He had his '06 and this one, and we were swapping the two, you know, and, and, and we were up the hills above LA, and I knew we were c- coming to a, a pretty difficult se- section. He's a better driver than I am. So I thought, "You know what? I'm gonna g- I'm gonna get him to switch cars with me." So I got into the new So just so I could gap him and get away from him, you know? Because I knew the road was tough and- That is awesome the '06 is manual and it, and it takes real work. It's... Look, the '06 car is good, but it's not, the new one is just in another league, you know? It's like- Okay. Well, a little side note. I mean, this is a cool story. Raj Nayar came to your event the other night in his Ford GT. Like, that's, that's kind of a big deal, Shanu. But Ford GT All supercars just seem to be going berserk value-wise. Right. The second gen Ford GT is kind of an exception. They seem, they seem to hover around 6, 7, 800 grand, which is a lot of money. But compared to the the '05 Ford GT, what, what do you make of that? 'Cause if I, not mistaken, you seem to prefer the second gen Ford GT over the first gen. Yeah. Listen, there's a couple reasons, okay? One, they, they actually raced this, the, the, this, this final version, right? Or not final, this, this current version. Yeah. And they won at Le Mans, okay? The, the, the styling of the car moved the whole language forward without being so derivative. The '05, '06 car, which I love, okay, don't get me wrong, it's straight up retro design, which is easy to do. And you talk to any designer and they'll tell you, "Eh, you know, blase." You know, they're, they're not that excited about when they see a retro design. Consumers, we all love this, okay? 'Cause there's no question. I mean, I like retro design as much as the next person. But if I'm gonna choose a well, you know, done progressive design over a retro, I'll take the well done progressive design. And so they nailed it, you know? And I could tell you some interesting stories. You know, Raj got me a, a tour of their secret studio where they designed the car, you know, without anybody knowing. And there's some really funny stories behind that. But what was incredible is the number of amazing designs that they had that they didn't choose. Wow. Okay? Yeah. And so maybe we'll pick his brain a little bit about that- Yeah too. But we'll- Yeah we'll, we'll get him on. You know, I got Boris Said who's, who's willing to come on. I got Pete Calloway who's willing to come on, and I got a handful of bunch of other industry people that I think every month we, we'll, we'll, we'll tee up somebody- Yep to come in here and add some, some flavor and some spice to, to the Still Driving podcast. Totally. Well, my very quick story about the second gen Ford GT was at a car event once. And, you know, Post Malone is well known to call Salt Lake his home most of the year. Okay. And hi- his dad brings his cars out to a lot of the local car events. And his car- Is he a rapper? What kind of music is, is Post- Yeah, Post Malone's, it's kind of like rap, pop, you know. Okay. Okay. I actually happen to like his stuff. But he his dad, most of his cars are white, but he brought his white Ford GT to an exotics car show downtown Salt Lake once, and it was the first time I ever saw one in person. And I, and you're right, the design of that thing is so striking that y- go stand behind one if you ever get a chance and look at what they did from a design standpoint. It's spectacular. But another maybe less, you know, Monterey-themed episode, we should dig into the difference with how they drive. Because I've always thought I would take a first gen over a second gen any day, in spite of the spectacular design of that second gen. So, but w- we, we, we could spend a bunch of time, you know, digging into that, so we'll do that another time. Well, I've certainly have driven both cars, you know, aggressively, and yeah, they're both, they're, they're both fun in their own ways. But yeah, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll have to pick Raj's brain a little bit further 'cause he's got- Okay obviously a ton of seat time there. So- Sweet. Yeah. So what else did you do? You've got more... You just keeps coming. You know, all the thrashing and getting this 996 RR ready to go, We had a couple of issues and, you know, we, we swapped out the flywheel on the thing. We, we then all of a sudden this fuel transfer pump wasn't working, and it's like, "Oh my God," you know? "This is a pain in the neck." Now the power steering pump, you know, the high pressure line that's leaking. It's like, what in the hell? You know, so anyhow, I think we've got most things resolved here, and come hell or high water, you know, I'm gonna be up there obviously with this car. So- Well, I think we're supposed to be in your booth, you know, Kinetics booth on Friday. At what? But that assumes that you're gonna make it up there, Shanu. It's- You, you know what, man, if the car is broken, I'm sure I can, I can trailer it all the way up there, you know? And, and we'll push it into our booth or something. But no, I, I think, I think we're gonna be okay. I, I, you know- Yeah the only question mark at the moment is how much l- power steering fluid is gonna leak out of the damn thing. So that, that's, that's to TBD. So we'll, we'll, we'll- Well- ask me, you know, if, if those of you who are gonna be in, in Car Week come see us at Works Reunion, which is a free event and, and a great, great event. Whether you love Porsche or not, it's, it's really cool. It's huge. There's 750 cars are registered for that event. Mm. You, you know, that's incredible. And, and so anyways, but, or come to our little meetup Friday night at the Other Brother Beer Brewery in Seaside C- so we'll be there from 6:00 PM 6:00 PM onwards. Yeah. Well, I'm I shouldn't make too much fun, Shanu, 'cause last time I checked, my buddy and I are gonna meet you out there. It's a 12-hour drive in a Lotus Emira, which you would think would be super reliable, but, you know, you might, you might just get the last laugh. But we let, let's hope for very few surprises getting us from our respective, you know, origins and starting places to get to Monterey. So- You know, one, one, one of the fun aspects of this whole Monterey car trip is, is in fact driving there, and the adventures that ensue. So I, you know, I've been going to this for over 20 years. I don't go every year, but usually every other year. And you know, the first time I went was, boy, I think, I wanna say 2005-ish. And we had a, a, a big group of people here in s- SoCal that caravaned up, and a couple of the guys organized just an amazing route. And so we drove through tons of twisty roads to get there. It was just an epic, epic road trip. And, you know, to culminate at Car Week was, was really good. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we're excited. Well, my buddy, we've talked about the 964 RS multiple times on the pod. He owns that car now, and he kinda wanted to take that, but I can confirm now, he said, "No, we're driving the Emira." So I- Good breathed a, a giant sigh of relief that I'll be somewhat comfortable and have AC. Yes. Yeah, you're gonna need AC 'cause it gets hot. But it's also cold. You know, for those of you who have not been and who are coming, make sure you, you you bring some warm clothes, too, 'cause it's cold in the morning and at night. Totally. Yeah, it's, it's Northern California, where it does get cold at night. Well, moving into some of the news, and specific to Monterey The, the headline we didn't talk about last episode, which is perhaps most interesting to me, is any time Gordon Murray says or does something, I think the the balance of the enthusiast sports car world is, is, is at play. And he announced, or they did via their Instagram, that something special is coming, and it seems very, it was, it w- it, it, it was attached to a picture that is very kind of seductive, secretive. So Gordon Murray's gonna be unveiling something, oh, extraordinary, he called it. So, you know, yes, that's marketing. But do you not kind of perk up and listen when Gordon Murray says he's got something extraordinary he's gonna reveal to the car public, Shanu? Well, listen, man, the his F1 is my favorite modern car, right? Yes. And so, how could I not? And then I actually met him, you know, two different times up in Car Week. Two different occasions. The first time, I had a BAC Mono that we were ha- we had on display, and he comes walking up to me and he goes, "Oh, hey, mate. You know, is this the..." I shouldn't, I shouldn't, I shouldn't even attempt the accent. But he said- The South African. He's South African. No, we, we, we, we want the specific South African, you know, Shanu. No, but his, his accent is, 'cause he's been in England for so long, it's this qua- like, I couldn't quite, I, I said- Yeah "Okay, wait." So I'm not even gonna attempt it, okay? But what a nice guy. He says, "Ah, you know," he, he said, "Is this car from Liverpool?" And, and they had just moved to Liverpool at the time. And so, yeah. And so we had a great conversation. W- very gracious, really nice dude. Then a couple years later, maybe it was a, a little further than that, two years later, I had a Ariel Nomad that I was displaying up there. And I brought it up, and I was in Carmel and staying at this little bed, B&B kind of spot, and I'm having my breakfast, looking out the window, and here comes Gordon Murray walking up the street, and he, he sees the Nomad, and I see him kind of making a beeline towards the, the Nomad. So I jumped out and went and said hi to him again. So again, super cool guy. You know, w- what he's doing with these, these new cars, the T.50, T.33, so exciting. And sounds like he's got Dario Franchitti, who's gonna be there to, to kind of help unveil it as well. I met Dario's brother, Marino, who works for, for Singer. You know, last year I had dinner at the Singer house in Monterey, and, and Dar- and, and Marino was my, was, was sitting right next to me. He's, he's a totally cool dude. Yeah. Great, great stories there too. But- Couple of good Scotsmen, you know, those Franchitti brothers. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And, and it, it's so funny, right? They've got this, you know, Italian names, and then you hear the Scottish accent come out, you know? But car guys, straight up car guys and, and totally cool. But no, it's gonna be interesting to see what it is. I'm sure it's just some iteration, my guess, you know, based on those spy shots that I've seen of the T.33, you know, some, you know, whether it's a more hardcore version or a more luxurious version, who knows, you know? But it, it appears to be that form factor. I think it was Hagerty took the, the spy shot and then, and, and then lightened it to, to get a better silhouette of the car, and it appears to be very T.33-esque. Yeah, to- that, that's how I feel. I've w- we've had a friend of mine on the pod. They've got a couple of T.33s on order, so at some point I should have a chance to at least see it in the flesh, ride in it. No promises on driving one of those things, but yeah, it's, it will be interesting. I feel like that's a car that is probably gonna look even better in person than, than in photographs. Kind of a simplistic design. He wanted to kind of harken back to the lightweight Italian, you know, simple you know, sports cars with that, with that concept, as opposed to the T.50. So it'll be fun to see. But Shanu, it's, it's another illustration of A potential shift, at least at the high end of the market, w- w- when it comes to, like, what we talked about with the Blackbird from, from Hennessey. They're coming out with a, a lesser horsepower, more analog manual transmission supercar. You've got what Gordon Murray is doing is pioneering that stuff. Obviously, we've talked at length about Singer. McLaren is rumored to be putting a manual in, which would be wild, 'cause that is not, for a second, synonymous with what McLaren has done historically, other than that F1. But from MP4C, or MP12-4C on, which we talked about as the mystery car a couple episodes ago, that's not been in their DNA really at all. So, you know, B- BMW's talking about that. We've, we've talked about the M3 CS Hans shelter package, which you know, I think BMW's gonna have to on display. It's interesting, we know a guy who's got one of those coming. We also... I was at the gym this morning, and some guy came up to me and said, "Dude, I saw you driving that M3, that's awesome." Well, turns out he's got one in ultraviolet, techno violet coming, you know, w- w- with the manual transmission. It's coming in January, he said, or at least that's the build slot. So- Yep l- at least at the top of the market, I think you, you brought up a great point last episode. The ZR1-X and all these other EVs are just really commoditizing speed. So at that, at this point, what are you gonna do to differentiate instead of just rolling out... I mean, the ZR1-X whooped a Koenigsegg on, on YouTube recently in a drag race. It's like, well, what are you gonna do? So that's, l- l- let's hope it's a sign of You know, a, a sh- a shift in the enthusiast marketplace, or at least conceptually Yeah, I think it is. I think it's absolutely. Again, you know, let's, let's hope these halo cars, these, you know, high-end, you know, hyper, you know, boutique cars are gonna have that trickle-down effect in influencing manufacturers. And, you know, I, I think, again, with BMW saying, "Yeah, look, we're, we're gonna, we're gonna have a, a manual gearbox, and it'll make a little bit less power," you know, as, as more and more of them realize that that, that's perfectly acceptable to, to y- you know, this, this hardcore driving enthusiast group that we belong to, you know? And, and, and hopefully we see more of that. Yeah, that McLaren, I think they're calling it the P50. I mean, that is... Honestly, if you think about it, like yeah, they've not had a manual gearbox in a modern McLaren, so this is great, you know. You know, that'll be exciting to see that. But yeah, no, I mean, I, I... Look as far as news this week, it feels like that is w- really kind of monopolizing the, you know, the news cycle right now e- everything Car Week related. And, and so yeah, I, I, I'm super, super stoked to, to see some of these cars. You know, BMW in particular, you know, celebrating that 40 years with the M3. You know, we're gonna see, We got a couple of our... Yeah, actually, we'll talk about that, I think, a little bit later, where we can actually go see the, the, the Neue Klasse M3s. And so yeah, yeah. Yeah. I'm exci- Exciting stuff I'm excited to do it. Well, moving into the auction segment of our pod, which is something I always like to do. I always like to get your reaction. We're gonna do it a little bit differently this week because that's a big part of Car Week, is it not? All the different organizations from Mecum to Sotheby's to y- y- you know, you, you've got, you've got all the auctions happening. And, you know, Hagerty put out a, an article that was really interesting, talking kind of five themes, if you will, or what to watch for in the car auctions. From number one, the fact that they, they are projecting this to be the highest grossing auction year of all time. Hmm. Reaching n- you know, nearly 500 million in total sales, whi- which would be a record. I mean, we'll see how that shakes out, and it's always good kind of to get a temperature reading on where the market's at a little bit, at least at the high end, 'cause most of this stuff is. You know, th- they also, to that point, said the majority of these auction, there's just more supercars. You know, that, I think, to the dismay of many, you know, supercars continue to be, especially modern more prevalent at Car Week, and it's changing the culture and the dynamic of it. And building on that even further, they say the other point is that there's gonna be more million dollar lots than ever. There will likely be about 177 cars that bring a million plus. The prior record was 158 in 2022. And then interestingly, back to that earlier point I made, the average model year they're expect- or is newer. So y- y- you know, with the, the, the average model year three years ago was 1967, so very much old car. It has not jumped dramatically, but it is seven years newer to 1974. And then la- la- their last point was that the average and median price will diverge even further. So the average continues to go high and high, and the median stays pretty flat, which I think just illustrates the fact that, you know, the high end of the market is just continues to go berserk and really climb in value. A- and, and they're, they're anticipating the average is gonna be n- nearly 600 grand, whereas the median is gonna be 130 or something. So- Sure you know, there, there is something for everybody. Well, not totally. It's like- Well, yeah, I mean, that's a, that's a good point. It means there's gonna be a lot of cars that are, will be sold under 100 grand, you know? Yeah. And they're not all these multi-million dollar or multi-100,000, you know, dollar cars. So that, that still bodes well for, for those of us with, with pocketbooks that can't tolerate million-dollar cars. Totally. And I up behind me, Shanu, I've, I've, I've been teasing this up video-wise, but is one of those cars. So I, I went through a lot of the auctions, and yes, the multi-million dollar stuff is super cool. I wanna highlight one of those. But the car that struck me so much here is this, this car behind me, which is an a- Austin Healey. It's a, it's a 1965 Austin Healey 3000, or Mark 3000 Mark III BJ8 Roadster, in none other than British racing green. Shanu, the pictures of this car are spectacular. I think they're gorgeous. You see the interior of this car, which is like- i- incredibly stunning, and it just has me, again, as I look for inspiration about what, where I want the journey to go, what experiences I wanna have, th- they, they project this car to go for anywhere from 70 to 100 grand. Do you have experience with some of these old British roadsters? A little bit of experience. Y- you know, they're, they're so light, they're so tossable, they're just fun to cruise around in. Y- you know, they're, they're finicky cars mechanically, you know? I mean, the romance of it, you know, certainly y- y- you know, far exceeds the, the, the, the true usability. And so that's just the thing that I always tell people to caution themselves is, is, you know, we've gotten so used to the reliability of modern cars that these older cars become a little bit more problematic, you know, when you have to look at the amount of maintenance. But man, look at how beautiful that thing is. Look how cool it is. You know, don't tell me you cannot have fun driving that car around. I mean, that's y- you know, it's just incredible. What, what, what are they estimating this car is gonna sell for? About 70 to 100. Oh, okay. Okay. And th- these have a 2.9 liter inline six, kind of the classic- Mm-hmm British roadster formula. Yeah. She knew 150 horsepower, which is kind of a lot in my opinion. I mean, r- weighs anywhere, you know, probably 2,400 pounds-ish, 24, 25, so not ultra light. But I talked last, last week about that long hood, 1970 long hood T that I drove, weighed about 2,000 pounds with 125 horse, and it felt downright quick, and light, and playful, and eager. So I would love to give this thing a go with 150 horse. That stood out to me on the lower end, and then obviously the the possibilities are endless, you know, when it comes to what, what... If money were absolutely no object. But the car that I continue to be mesmer- mesmerized by i- is the Ferrari F50. Now, most, most people seem to put the F40 at the top of the food chain when it comes to manual supercar mid-engine Ferraris. Mm-hmm. What, what, what's your take? They estimate this yellow car is gonna bring anywhere from 7 to $10 million. Now, the F50 is obviously a lot rarer than the F40, but I don't know, Shinu. Naturally aspirated V12 compared to a twin turbo V8, I, m- you know, without having driven either of 'em, maybe I would change my mind totally, but F40, F50, what, what does this car say to you? I love it. I, listen, I when the F50 came out, y- you know, I was mesmerized. The, the car shockingly ki- I, I mean, it was criticized. People didn't like the styling. I thought it was fantastic. You know, it was following up on the F40, which was so perfect ico- and it was so iconic and, you know, there's not a bad angle on the F40. This design, actually, it was a Japanese designer who'd, who'd, who designed the F50. And, you know, he, they slagged him off a bit, you know, but I, I, I think they were completely misguided. This car, frankly, you know, it did languish a little bit, you know? And even though the engine is just a, it's a F1-based engine, you know, just a badass engine, and, you know, everything about this car was pretty... I think it has pushrod bellcrank suspension. I mean, it just was really absolutely an insane, insane hypercar. It took that formula to that next step. So I've, I've always been a big fan of the F50. And I kind of showed you my travel, you know, book that, that journal that I, that I started y- up in the mid-'90s. When that car was launched, I had a, I t- took, took a picture of it and pasted it on the cover of my travelogue. That's how much I love that thing. And so, yeah, it, it's, it's gonna sell for some real money 'cause people have finally have come around to realize how special that thing is, and so, you know, I, I'll be, I'll be w- you know, certainly applauding, you know, a, a, a big result for this car, 'cause I think it's sweet. Yeah. Well, there's a lot of really, really cool stuff being auctioned off. You know, there's a McLaren F1 GTR that's valued, projected to be about 35 million. Sure. Lot, lots of old Ferraris, obviously. You know, th- this F50, lo- lots of Cobra authentic Cobras that are gonna go, or Daytona Coupes. So yeah, th- this stuff is super fascinating for the ultrawealthy. I think it's interesting. You know, the, the... And hopefully some of these guys actually get these cars out and drive them Some tells me they won't. Well- But we- you know, that's the problem, is that they're getting so expensive that some people are just struggling with getting out there and driving something so expensive. Y- you know, I mean, y- yeah, I was just talking to a guy the other day, and he was, he's got a Singer, and he was telling me, like, yeah, it's, you know, he's not owned a million dollar car before, so every time he's driving it, he, he's feeling a little conscientious about it. So anyways. Yeah, it gets tougher and tougher to do. Hey, is this, is this a good time for another clue for our mystery car? I think it is. Before we get into the head-to-head portion, Monterey edition- Yes yeah, I- Yes I need help with this thing. So what do you got? Okay, okay. So listen, the mystery car ran a six-minute, 44-second time on the Nordschleife, okay? And that was before they unveiled it at Monterey. So it's, it's, it's a fast car, okay? How many horsepower did you say? It was- S- 759 horsepower from 6.5 liters. I don't know if I mentioned the, the, the s- Oh the, the displacement, but there's another little clue. So we'll, we'll unveil this thing later, right? So on, on to our next segment? Yes. We're, we want to talk a little bit about the, the what to do at Monterey Car Week. So- Yes you know, I put together, and then maybe you can build on this when we're done, a l- a list of- Head-to-head, you want one activity versus the other, Shanu. If it's your time and you can only choose one. Mm-hmm. You know, a lot of these, we're gonna try to hit both maybe. Both Thursday, Friday, Saturday, which is the days that we're gonna be there, and I assume probably the busiest days at Car Week. So let's start with Thursday, Shanu. We, we, we come in that day. Right. Gonna be looking to maximize our time. Yep. Is it more your speed, no pun intended, to to go to a Legends of the Autobahn? Now, this is an exhibit of all the German only, you know, BMW, Mercedes, Audi. They put on their own exhibit. Lot, lots of cool stuff. Versus the Tour d'Elegance. Tell us what the Tour d'Elegance is. I've always been interested in that. Well, Tour d'Elegance is, is a pretty cool thing because all the, you know, the cars that are run that are being displayed or are showing and competing at Pebble they get extra points, okay, if they go on this drive on, you know, 17 Mile Scenic Drive. And it, there's, there's a route that they're planning, which by the way, this year there's some fire, you know, issues that may change up that route for... So for anyone that's going this year pay, pay close attention to what there may be some changes to, to the actual route. But what's neat is- 'Cause it's Pebble Beach down to Big Sur, right, is typically the, the route that they- Yes which is a good 30-minute, 30, 40-minute drive if I recall. Somewhere in there. So y- Well, what's, what's cool is, right, they end up in Carmel, you know, and they park, you know, on, you know, on the street, on the, on the boulevard, and so you can see all these cars for free. You know, instead of spending 550 or 600 bucks for tickets y- you know, to go s- to, to see them on Pebble Beach, which is also spectacular, okay, just 'cause the, the venue, the setting is incredible. But, you know, as there's a lot of ways to go to Car Week and blow a ton of money, but there's also plenty of ways to go and do things for nearly free. Okay, free or nearly free, okay? Yeah. And this is one of those free events. You know, the, there's tons of crowds at this thing now. It, it, it used to be a bit more reasonable in the past, but the last time I went last year was, it was definitely super crowded. But if you love these, you know, pre-war cars, if you love the real old, you know, cars, it's, it's, there's no better place to go and see these things, you know? But now you're, you, you, you asked me a question about, you know, how do I compare that as well to the Legends of the Autobahn, which is also a free event- Yes that is on Thursday. Right? And, and so if you like German vehicles, more modern, you know, post-war, right? That is a great show, okay? It has a variety of everything, right? So every one of the German brands is well, well re- represented. It's, it's a really good show, and it's free, you know? And so how can you beat the code to that? Put on by the BMW Car Club, or B- BMW Club of America, Audi Mercedes Clubs of America. There's judging. Mm-hmm. It's, it's a legit car show, like you said, a little bit more modern skewed. Yeah. So which of those two, if you could only go to one, Chinu, would you go wa- go watch the, the tour, or are you gonna go to the Legends Car Show? What are you doing? So look, I, I'm gonna go to the Legends, okay? Because I'm just more into the modern, more modern cars, post-war cars. So for, for my taste and what I'm into, you know, I'm going to the Legends, okay? So I can geek out on round tail, you know, 2002 TIIs, and dogleg, you know, 911s from the '60s, and, you know, all, all, all the geeky stuff that that we, we, we love to, to, to see, you know, at at, with these modern cars. So that's what, that would be my choice. But anyways, what, what would you choose? Well, well, I envision the tour for me being very frustrating because I can't identify, Cars you know, offhand each of these- Sure old cars. Yeah. I always say, though, I would much rather see a car moving and listen to the thing. Right So this, this is, I'm even though the German car scene is, like, right up my alley, I just much prefer to see a car in motion and to hear it and to- Mm-hmm to, to, you know, listen to it, see it moving down the road. So I, I don't, I mean, incredibly hard for me. I gotta go with hearing the cars, watching them move- Mm-hmm versus just walking around seeing them static with a plaque. Yes. But this is gonna be an eas- easy decision for us, because I think the tour ends, I think, earlier in the day Thursday, so we'll probably miss that by the time we get in. Right. So yeah, I'll, I'll be at Le- Legend of the Autobahn hopefully with you, and I look forward to it. It's, it's a fantastic consolation prize in my book. Yeah, and the truth of the matter is you can do both, okay? Because there really is time to, to see and do both of these events. You know, you're, you're, you're going to you know, it's gonna be a bit hectic, and you're gonna be caught up in traffic quite a bit. But if you're willing to subject yourself to that, there's a lot of things you can jam into every single day. So yeah. Cool. So that's Thursday. What's next? Friday, Works Reunion. Yes. You already talked about it. It's the p- it's the Porsche Club of America Porsche Deep Dive. Yes. You know, all the Porsche you could ever want or handle. InnoKinetic still driving you know, sponsoring and, and having a booth at the Works Reunion, or Do you do that, Shanu, or do you go to The Quail, which is the hoity-toity, very expensive, but a really kind of... It seems from a distance to me like this is the most coveted event to be at, because that's where the Gordon Murrays are there and revealing their new stuff. It's where a- all the big manufacturers now, or the boutique high-end specialty manufacturers, are showing off their stuff, revealing their stuff. If you wanna rub, rub shoulders with the the car famous, that's the place to do it. So let's... What, what, what are you saying? Works Reunion, P- Porsche Smorgasbord, or are you going, you know, highbrow The Quail at the epicenter of supercars and the future? Okay, well, listen, if, if I'm going solo, y- you know, I'm going to, to Works Reunion, okay? 'Cause it's a great show. This year there's 750 cars registered. It's gonna be massive, right? But if my wife is in tow, then The Quail is going to be the more suitable venue and, and event, because she, like me, is also a bit of a foodie. She's drinking less than I am lately, you know, but they have, you know, first-class food and drink at The Quail. Look, it's an expensive event. I, I mean, I actually haven't even gone to it, you know? And, and so I can't even... I went to The Quail Motorcycle Gathering- Oh which is fantastic, okay? That's really cool. But I haven't gone to the Quail during Car Week, and, you know, it has 100% become the kind of car show to unveil lots of exotics. And, and so many of these manufacturers now are starting to use that platform to unveil their coolest and latest. And so, yeah, I mean, they, they've managed to, to kind of, y- you know, corner the market a little bit on the high end. You know, that show is, for, for modern cars. Which actually, by the way, I think Hagerty owns the Quail now, right? Ooh. I believe they, they, that is a show they, they own, among several others throughout the country. So yeah, it's 1,500 bucks or 1,200 bucks a head to get into that show. Of course it's sold out, so, you know- So you said you... So, so which one? Come on. You gotta choose. You gotta choose. I gotta choose? It, it's- Yeah gonna be Works. I'm going to Works. Yeah. I, I agree with you on this one. Yeah. I would love to have the Quail experience one time, but, you know, I love Porsche, especially old Porsche, all the generations. I mean, I'm probably equally as stuffy and snobby in a different way you know- than the Quail. But, but, you know, just 'cause the Porsche crowd is like, but I get geeked out about it, too. So I'm excited to be there. So I agree with you on the Quail. There's a bonus edition, Shanu. Hmm. Friday night after Works Reunion or the Quail, are you going to the Still Driving podcast hosted dinner- at The Other Brother Beer, or are you going to take in an RM Sotheby's auction? Well, I, I think that's a foregone conclusion here, okay? If the host doesn't come to his own damn party, y- you know, th- there's a problem here, okay? There's a real big problem, so. Well, listen- I'm committed. I'm committed. Other Brother Beer in Seaside, you know, from 6:00 PM onwards, Friday night, that's where I'm gonna be. I, I'd love to watch some of this auction stuff, so I, I tell people if you're conflicted at all, come to both. Come see us and then- Yes split, you know? And g- and go, go check some of that or vice versa. But- Ah, that's, that's the way to do it. That's the way to do it the Still Driving podcast dinner, Shinoo, is going- Mm-hmm to be the talked about event of of Monterey Car Week. So yeah, I'm gonna be there. I, I'm telling you, man. It is the, the event. Absolutely. We probably need to get a bodyguard and a velvet rope and everything else, but you know. It's people trying to get close to you can be a little s- scary, you know? Just get, get, get a, get, get their hands on you for a few minutes, but- Okay, s- No, we've got a bunch of people RSVPing already, so it's gonna be a lot of fun. You know, Trevor Wynn from the Pare Pare podcast, he plugged us, you know, in his podcast with Wes Smith, you know, t- today, and so that was kinda cool. So we- we've got a bunch of folks who are, who are queuing up to, to be there, and I think it's gonna be a lot of fun. You know, just again, y- hanging out with like-minded car guys, it's just, how, how, f- you know, it's just so much fun. Plus I'm gonna be slinging invites at the whole Works Reunion booth, you know, all day. Perfect. So we'll, we'll- Yeah, we'll, we'll have some people there for sure a- anyways, okay, Saturday, head-to-head, Shinoo. Exotics on Broadway, and this is a very interesting comparo, versus the Concours d'Lemons. So the lemons- Concourse, or are you going to Exotics on Broadway? G- g- give everybody, if they're not familiar, l- just a quick recap of what or description of what each of those events are. I know you're a huge Exotics on Broadway fan. Oh, my God. So listen, that event, okay, has turned into a shit show, all right? I am not into it, man. There is just every douchebag social media influencer that is just got their hands in the air and posing with, y- you know, I, I, it's not my thing, man. It- Shanu, that's us. Well- We're, we're the, we're, you know, we're the- No, it's not us, okay? Attention seeking. I, I, I will not be painted with that brush, man. No, hell no. And so listen, I, there's gonna be a lot of cool cars there, but the, the bigger issue is that it's overly crowded, you know? And you're just, ah, you know, I, I'm just not into going to, to places that are just overly crowded. And so maybe because I've been going for so long and, and in, in days when it wasn't super crowded, where you could actually walk around without, you know, having to y- you know, just see a portion of the car because there's this huge crowd around the thing and, you know, you gotta e- you know, it's like it, it's So Exotics on Broadway, no. I'm going to the Concours d'Le Mans, you know, because how can I not go to an event that's poking fun at cars too, right? Like, to me, that's what I love is that there's this really serious stuff where people are really hoity-toity, as you said, you know, earlier, pinky in the air, drinking champagne, y- you know, to stuff like this, you know? And there's these other shows much like this, you know, that are really tongue in cheek, and people are just having fun, you know, and they're not taking it overly seriously. And so I think that's what I love, too, is, you know, with this hobby that there, there are these people that organize these kind of events and kinda like that Radwood thing, you know, that, that's been going on where, you know, people are celebrating '80s cars, which are pretty much crap, you know, for the most part. And so they put on yeah, a, a, a show to, to celebrate those crappy cars. But anyways, it's, it's yeah, I'm, I'm going to the Concours d'Le Mans, not, not, not Exotics on Broadway. Well, speak for yourself. I'm a big aspiring you know, social media influencer. Nice. Nice. So, I'm also going to Concours d'Elemo. Okay. And me, you know, I, I agree with you. I wanna see the oddball, I wanna see the mundane, I wanna see the the, the, the terrible cars that show up. And I mean, Exotics on Broadway I think would be interesting to behold once. And, you know, it, it goes back to the same thing of like, well, if the cars are sitting there parked stationary, and then my, my understanding is there's some really exotic stuff at that car event. So, you know, might be interesting to see for sure, more than your standard car show. But like, but when the cars are stationary, I start thinking more about the crowd, I start thinking more about the ambiance, the, the possibilities to have interesting conversations around it. And that I think can be had way more at a Lemons car show, you know, where, where it's about good fun-natured, I wanna see what they bring out. I wanna see... I don't care about the Bugattis as much as I do, you know, the, the, the, the old Pontiacs or, you know, what- what- whatever it is, the old Oldsmo- Oldsmobile Aleros or whatever's gonna show up at this thing. I, I wanna see how they do it and what they bring out. So I think we should be there frankly, and, a- and check it out. But- Well, listen, there, there's, you know, there's a bunch of events that are going on this entire week, and not everything costs money. There are some fun things that you can go do. And, you know, I, I, I'd like to shed some light on that for, for people that have never been. You know, there's some really good things that you can go to that- Okay, Shanu. Yeah. As you get into this, I'll just go ahead and I'll read our listener question. So you can, you can talk about the ca- the, the events- Oh that are free- Yeah, yeah, yeah that people should know about. Let's do that. Let's do that. And then Max wrote in and said, "What is the one can't miss event at Car Week?" So- Okay de- describe your list- Yep and then maybe you can pick one that, hey, what, what's the can't miss? Whether we've already talked about it or whether it's on your free list. En- Well- enlighten us here. Yeah, let me, let me start with, let, let me answer Max's question first because it's not a free event, but it's not an expensive event, okay? This is one that, you know, any of us can, can really save up to, to go see 'cause it's, frankly it's, it's, it's not expensive. But I think that the Can't-miss event for people that love driving is going to Laguna Seca for the Historics. Okay? That you have got to go, you know, Friday or Saturday, you know, you absolutely have to go to Laguna Seca. Number one, absolutely historic racetrack. It's one of the coolest tracks in the country. If you've never dropped into the Corkscrew, it's something that you got to do at some point in your life, right? And what's cool is you can go there, and you can walk up to the Corkscrew, and when you see the elevation change, you're like, "Oh my gosh." But what... You know, you see all these different classes of cars racing throughout the day. It's wonderful. But in the paddock, okay, you have all of these race teams racing all sorts of stuff. I mean, you're gonna see million-dollar cars in the paddock. Okay? Wow. Just insanely cool cars. Several manufacturers have wonderful, wonderful displays. You know, several of them will, will, will rent the garages right in the, in the pit, and they set up fantastic displays. Ford, GM, you know, there, there's... I think this year BMW is supposed to have, you know, a nice big display of the M cars. So yeah, to me, the Laguna Seca event, that's... You've got to... You know, if you're going to Car Week, that's got to be on the bucket list. And it's, it's really, really a, a, a must-do event of, of everything for, for, for a driver. If you could only do one event the entire w- you know, y- on a, on a trip up there, I would say make it, you know, Laguna Seca and the Historics 'cause it's, it's, it's great. It's really good. Well, seeing and hearing cars in motion and very, going very quickly you don't have to sell me too hard on that, so I'm excited to take that in. Yeah, you're gonna love it. It's great. It, it's so good what, what else you got, Shanu, on that list? Look, you know, there's, there's a ton of stuff. Like, we talked about, like, the Legends is free. You know, you can see the, the the Pebble Beach cars for free on Thursday. There's, you know, there's this retro auto, you know, exhibit or, like, show where if you wanna buy garage artwork or, you know, just man cave artwork and other fun kind of tchotchkes for, for car guys, you know, that's a good show to go to and, and stock up on those goodies. You know, there's this event called The Paddock, which I'm not even familiar with. I, I'd been seeing some signs, but I, it, I think it's a relatively new show. But that one's relatively inexpensive at 60 bucks. You know, I, I think that the, you know, what else we have here? The, the, You know, Concorso Italiano is an event that I've gone to many times, and I, and I do like that event a lot. I think it's, it's a lot of fun. But yeah, the, the, That was almost the head-to-head competitor w- that I put with Exotics on Broadway, but I, Did you? Okay swapped in Lemons for the dichotomy a little bit more. But yeah, Concorso Italiano sounds super interesting and fun to see some of that. Yeah, it's, it's, it's a, it's a fun event. Really good, good event. But then, you know, what's incredible, okay, so a lot of the manufacturers as well will rent a house, okay? And then you can kind of, you know, if you get an invite or you can, you can even stop in and, and see their cars on display, and most of the major manufacturers will have homes throughout Carmel and, you know, different places. And, and so those are oftentimes things that you can do. You know, just parked on the street in Monterey, in Carmel, okay, y- you will find all sorts of incredible cars, I mean, multi-million dollar cars just parked in the street. You know, things that were never homologated or imported to the US, you'll see parked on the street some, 'cause some guy brought it in, and now he's got Montana plates on it or whatever, you know? And it's, it's incredible what you'll see. And, and so I think that you know, again, going to some of the auctions and seeing the previews where you can see the cars for free, not necessarily have to pay to get into the auction itself. So l- lots of really good, you know, and fun, fun things that you can do essentially for free. You know, what I will tell you, it is, it is, The traffic can be horrific at times. So when you plan your, your time there, don't tr- have to cross you know, from one side to the other side on a, on a multi- you know, multiple times in a day, you know, 'cause you'll waste a lot of time being bogged down in traffic. But, you know, I think that it's very reasonable to plan a couple of major shows a day, and then have a lot of fun in the evenings just car spotting. You know, there's, there's a lot of car spotting fun to be had, you know, at this at the, during this entire week. Well, that's the one thing I have said I almost most look forward to, is just becoming a car spotter. Mm-hmm. Seeing what, what v- lies ahead and around this corner or that. And I, I'm gonna, I know you're an early riser. Yes. My buddy Tommy we're going with is also. I am an early riser, so, you know, maybe we can get up early, beat the traffic, Shanu. So I'm gonna be curtailing all that nightlife that you'd otherwise be pursuing, you know, late into the evening, and ear- early morning, so that we can get up early and get out there. Perfect. I, I, I'm good with that. But hey, a- another thing that I, that I failed to mention that's free, too, is, is a tour of c- the Canepa Mm workshop. And, like, his workshop, which is a bit of a drive, I mean, it's not that far, you know. I- he's, they're open Monday through, I, I wanna say Saturday, you know, and you can go in there, and he's the distributor for Gordon Murray, so you can see the T.50 and T.33 there. And he's always got cool cars, 959s that he's been federalizing to, you know, other very, very interesting, amazing sports cars. And so that's, that's always a, a, a, a treat to go to, to his workshop, the Canepa Workshop in, I think it's in Scotts Valley. Yeah. Well, I hope to be able to maybe do a quick little update pod, or at least yeah, record something. If we could do it with Trevor the night of our event, that would be cool. But Other Brother Beer Friday evening, works reunion, come see us. We're, we're beyond excited to Take this in and hopefully meet a bunch of existing, prior listeners, existing and future Still Driving listeners. So, you know, Shanu, if there's nothing else that you wanna add to it, s- speak now or forever hold your peace, but this has been fun. And if nothing else, I'm all jacked up, ready to go. Well, we, we, we do need to unveil the, the mystery car of the week. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, well, I- Sorry, we forgot about that for a second I thought GT2 RS, but it couldn't be that. It's too, too much displacement and so I, I don't even wanna take a guess. I don't have it. So let, let, let us know what you got. Okay. Well, this is pretty incredible, right? This, this car, again, had debuted at, at, during Car Week in 2018. In fact, it set a production Nürburgring lap record even before they unveiled it, okay? So this is a car- Was it Black Series? Huh? Is it a Bla- Not a Black Series? No. Okay. No, it's not a Black Series. It's a 2019 Lamborghini Aventador SVJ. SVJ, okay. Yes, the SVJ. So, yeah, incredible, really. I think the AMG GT R Black Series, 'cause it had it for a while, that's probably newer than 2018, 2019 as well. So- I think it is. I think it is, yeah. Yep. Anyways well, the SVJ. I'm, I'm sure- SVJ there will be no shortage of Lamborghinis you know, to, to, to the old guys' dismay, the old purists of Monterey Car Week, of which I might be one. We'll see. I have a feeling I'm gonna like it all, so. Well, 60th anniversary of the Miura, right? Yeah. So they're really going to be pulling out the stops to highlight that. And I think we, we had talked about in the last episode the Revuelto, that they're doing a homage, you know, color schemes of, of the, the Miuras. And so we should see, you know, a bunch of those around, and it should be a, a heck of a lot of fun. So yeah, I think that- Sounds- that, that's the car for you this week. Well, nice choice. Thanks for listening, everybody. We'll be excited to share more on the next episode. Absolutely. Take care. See- Take care, guys