The Smoking Tire

Matt tells the stories from Monterey Car Week: leading McLarens North; telling adults how to be cool; shirts with Gordon Murray; oddball favorites of the show; what Quail has become; special supercar standouts; the NSX is back from Evasive; and more.   Plus questions about: the best American super sedan ever; solar watches; why turbos are good; our favorite strange car; and what we think about re-...

Nicolas Brown is the President of McLaren Automotive for the Americas. On this show Matt sits with him to discuss: How McLaren can survive making only sports cars How McLaren can survive forced electrification Nic's car history and how he got an awesome job What his personal dream 3 car garage would be How McLaren deals with their reputation for poor reliability Recorded August 20, 2023 Tune in to...

When Gas is Better then electricity; ICON Bronco Explained; which car we would re-body; the BEST Mod for your sports car (no matter who made it), and more!  Recorded August 14, 2023   Tune in to the regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, August 26th at 7:00PM Eastern on NBC.   Use Off The Record! and ALWAYS fight your tickets! Enter code TST10 for a 10% discount on yo...

How long would it take you to rebuild a McLaren engine? What if you wanted to upgrade from a 3.8L to a 4.0L? AND it needed to be ready for Jay Leno to safely drive? An easy process? Hardly. Freddy "Tavarish" Hernandez and Arne Toman share the stressful tale. Recorded August 14, 2023 https://www.instagram.com/therealtavarish/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvAhDxNNUDhi78tMXVGBUaQ https://www.cann...

Betim Berisha owns BBI Autosport, one of the premier Porsche tuners in North America. From mild to truly wild, they do it all. On this episode we talk about building race cars; the changing oil change; tolerances; Hoonipigasus; and more.   Recorded August 10, 2023   https://bbiautosport.com/   It’s time to bring your wallet into the 21st century. Head to GrooveLife.com/TIRE for 20% off ALL Groove...

The Lamborghini has new problems; we explain the one problem with the Lotus Emira Turbo; and Matt goes deeper on the Spyder RS.   Then we answer Patreon questions including: Rat rod vs Pao Press access that wowed us When it's time to buy a track car Sell, Fix, or Pray The definition of "light" these days Which practical SUV we'd buy for $50k And more   Recorded August 9, 2023     Head to factormea...

Actor Joey Lawrence may be famous for his role in sitcom hit, "Blossom", or the Brotherly Love Podcast, but he a car enthusiast through and through. On this episode we learn about the first car he drove; the cool af first car he ever bought; his taste in turbocharged Japanese cars; what he changed about his Viper; the Mercedes-AMG he dreamt about as a kid; which ones he ended up buying; his Ferrar...

We discuss our time with the Bentley Continental GT Speed; Nissan's odd choices with the new Z Nismo; Porsche reveals its newest version of the GT3, the 911 ST; Australia has a new license requirement for owners of fast cars; and some old classifieds to make you cry.   Then we answer Patreon questions including: should I take the summer tires off my SUV; defining "motoring" vs "driving"; what watc...

While Matt was in Germany to drive the new Spyder RS, Porsche brought out a bunch of their museum cars! A 959; 964 Clubsport Prototype Study (1 of 1), 1985 3.2 Clubsport Prototype (not built until 1987 and with significant changes) and a few more.   Then we talk about why our roads get repaired as poorly as they do!   Use Off The Record! and ALWAYS fight your tickets! Enter code TST10 for a 10% di...

It's James Engelsman and Thomas Holland of Throttle House! On this episode we talk about: Mercedes' new, flawed C63 AMG; their tire budget; how to treat a press car; the new Aston Martin DB12; conflicting opinions of the Aston Martin Valour; what Thomas did as a private detective; confusing gas stations; why having a fast car is sometimes a safety issue; and more! Recorded July 19, 2023   It’s tim...

On this episode Matt and I are driving TO the Lotus factory IN a Lotus Emira. We give our take on the cars, events, and cost of Goodwood. Then we discuss the pros and alarming cons of the hale bale safety system.   Then, roundabouts versus stop signs, and a somewhat scientific breakdown of our personal difficulties driving from the right-hand seat.   Lastly we answer Patreon questions regarding: w...

This show was recorded in front of a live audience at Caffeine and Machine, a permanent cars & coffee / pub / hotel located in Ettington, UK. Our guest was the founder of C&M, Phil McGovern. Topics include: car names that went extremely wrong; driving in the UK vs U.S.; how C&M started; conflicting feelings on the Singer Turbo DLS; the best era of car design; the maniacal McMurtry; why supercars d...

Jenson Button on racing a NASCAR at Le Mans; driving old F1 cars; the Radford campaign at Pikes Peak (and why he didn't drive); his strange decision with seats; his old Jag; street circuits; bumps; and more. Recorded July 15, 2023   @jensonbutton   Use Off The Record! and ALWAYS fight your tickets! Enter code TST10 for a 10% discount on your first case on the Off The Record app, or go to  http://w...

Chris Harris sat down with us in the Lotus booth! Topics include: why driving up the hill is a fool's errand; his thoughts on EVs with manual transmissions; the Rimac; how he feels about Lotus' new direction; and more.  Recorded July 14, 2023 Note: The audio is a little odd because we were recording off of the stage PA system. We had a cable from the board into our gear but for some reason there's...

Henry Grabar is the author of the fascinating book, "Paved Paradise: How Parking Changed the World". He's going to fill us in on how building cities for cars has influenced the design of homes, buildings, and parking, and how all of it influences how we live.   He also enlightens us on why free parking isn't always the best idea; one reason why rent is so high; how losing parking in front of resta...

Matt reviews the new Aston Martin DB12; Mercedes maybe getting rid of steering wheels; how we feel about drive-by-wire steering; clarifying the Audi Q8 e-tron's braking; and more. Patreon topics include: The best motorcycle-powered car Matt's driven; how to cheat on your 2-car garage; is it better to turn a luxury car into a sports car or vice versa?; military spending correction; and the future o...

Twitter is broken; Matt's NSX suddenly increased in value; we discuss the problems and opportunities for the NCAS charging standard (and make some corrections); a mystery leak from the Ferrari; our upcoming Goodwood trip; and the C6 parts list.   Questions we answer include: what irresponsible car to buy; our favorite-sounding cars from cylinders 4-12; why HREs cost more than VOLKS; cars that were...

Matt is tells us about getting lost in Monaco; Zack describes the good and bad about his time in the brutally fast S63 AMG; the inflation of sports car prices (it's not what you think); the Audi Q8 e-tron; we talk about Tesla becoming the charging standard; Robert Downey Jr's new car show. Then we answer questions about exciting automatic cars; what to replace a Fiesta ST with; what to do when you...

Matt and Zack discuss the Acura Type S (and Civic Type R); the nervous tale of removing Matt's Lamborghini engine; a strange off-roader that left us nervous; and Patreon questions about watches, the best 2-car garage (is it Maserati?), and more. Recorded June 21, 2023   Get 20% OFF exclusively at calderalab.com/TIRE to unlock your youthful glow and be ready for summer with Caldera + Lab! #teamcald...

Matt reviews the confusing Lamborghini Urus Performante; Zack talks about his time in the Audi S7; a secret hypermile activity that wasn't boring; comparing air suspensions. Then we answer Patreon questions about: improving Corvettes, whether it's better to buy a GT500 or Shelby Super Snake; how to keep an engine alive for 300,000 miles; high-mileage Lambos; and what it would take for us to choose...

Tony Quiroga is the Editor-in-Chief of Car and Driver Magazine. We talk about Tony's plan for help everyone got 200MPH; the kind of cars he's never owned; what the "weighted bat" theory is during track testing; why the Mille Miglia is the greatest car experience he's ever had; when it's OK to wear driving gloves, and more!  https://www.caranddriver.com/   Recorded June 12, 2023   Go to https://www...

Speedy Cop has built the weirdest and most creative race cars you've ever seen. There's the airplane, or the tipped-over hippy bus, an amphibious helicopter that can drive on a highway or on a pond, or maybe you remember seeing photos of an UPSIDE DOWN Camaro racing around a track. All of those were built by Speedy Cop.   Today we find out why the world was gifted such weird and amazing racing mac...

Matt Farah and Zack Klapman talk about driving the new Maserati Grecale Trofeo (and how it compares against the competition from BMW and Porsche); why some car companies have removed start/stop buttons; whether or not Rivian's stock price matters; why Washington got rid of emissions testing; how to buy an old Ferrari; whether or not writing a book is a good idea; and more!   Recorded June 2, 2023...

Want to understand cars better? This is the show. David Twohig is an automotive engineer, journalist, and author. He was an engineering lead for the Nissan Qashqai, Alpine A110, Renault Zoe,  and BYTON. On this episode he explains why cars are so hard to build; why focusing on weight isn't the priority of most OEMs; how expensive it is to change a button; the rising popularity of '90s Japanese car...

Mike Spagnola is the president of SEMA. Naturally we'll be talking about the EPA, the rise of EVs, and what the future of modded cars looks like.   He's also built some seriously fast toys of his own, raced in open wheel, the Mint 400, and tracks an Ariel Atom. He's one of us.   This conversation was fascinating. We talk about modified car trends; over-fenders; the overlanding explosion; what the...