The Smoking Tire

It's a double episode! Dir. of Photography Thad Brown, and a chef with almost as many Mercedes as he has restaurants, Sang Yoon!  In the first part of this episode our own Dir. of Photography, Thaddeus Brown, returns from Dubai! He has McLaren F1 stories, Pagani stories, and talks about the cars he can and can't get there.  In the second half we are joined by the man that invented the gastropub as...

TJ Fry is a pro-am drifter, multi-discipline driving instructor, and longtime friend of TST. He's taught in the dirt, snow, rocks, and on tarmac.  TJ is in town as a demo driver for the Mercedes' G Wagen sideshow, and brought fellow instructor (and Baja enthusiast) Jeff White along with him.  Topics covered include approach angles, off-roading, why you don't need a G63 AMG to climb metal, driving...

Mike Spinelli is an O.G. in the world of online automotive journalism. He worked at 0-60 Magazine with Brian Scotto (of the Hoonigan Empire), and was the first writer at Jalopnik.  He currently hosts "After/DRIVE",  does video reviews for TheDRIVE.com, and is one of the hosts of "/DRIVE on NBC Sports".   This show is available as a video! https://youtu.be/EztsRTwhM_w Mike on IG: https://www.instag...

Aaron Gold -one of our funniest and most frequent guests- returns, and he brought a friend, automotive YouTuber Brian Makse.  V12 vs V8s, spool valves, crashing, forbidden cars; this episode has it all.    Aaron has been in this business for decades, and always has an interesting take on a car, a few strange interests (usually featuring diesel) and a bevy of odd voices to help paint a picture. Bri...

After leaving radio to work in the middle of Australia, Manuel Carrillo III found a job around hs favorite thing: cars. He writes for a large number of websites, films and photograhs, but his focus right now is restoring the Porsche 911 he was driven home in after he was born. Yanked from cluttered garage, he dragged it to SEMA in its current state; a car that was honest about where it had been. H...

Anthony Lahner started his career painting wheels in alleys, but now he runs a company that can restore or perfect the look of any car. We interview him in the second half of the show, after Matt and Zack talk about drifting and bad car movies. He brought Matt's R32 GT-R back to factory-fresh and upholstered the interior of his Mustang, but he's done far more than that, from cutting his teeth work...

We are back from SEMA and there's a new 1987 Porsche 911 sitting in the parking lot. Matt has picked up his car for a Leh Keen Safari project, and spent 1,000 miles getting to know it. Zack also gives his perspective on the car and its unique driving habits. We also discuss the new top speed record, SEMA truck trends, the 6-wheeled Raptor, and a lot more.  Want your question answered? Want to watc...

Recorded live from the show floor at SEMA, this episode covers a lot of ground. The first half of the show features Brad, Rick, Lane, and Art. founders of the Radwood car show, coming to Los Angeles on December 2nd, and featuring 80's and 90's cars. Then, in the second half, we bring on old friends of the show Rob Ferretti, Tommy Farrell (aka Tommy FYeah), Mike Musto, and Larry Kosilla, plus an ap...

In this podcast we have Jonny Lieberman and Jethro Bovingdon, the hosts of Motor Trend's hit shows "Head-2-Head" and "IGNITION". Jonny has been on these shows for years, but Jethro is a new import from England, with the accent and drifting skills we've come to expect from writers across the pond. They're in town shooting a McLaren 720S, so we talk about that. We argue about the Acura NSX, Jonny de...

In this episode, recorded on location, Matt visits O.G. Luxury Tuner and customizer Matt Figliola, founder of AI Design in Tuckahoe, NY. Matt and his band of genius craftsmen have been building tricked out luxury vehicles since 1992, and have set several industry standards for incredible, stealth design. Matt Figliola is also credited with popularizing Matte Black paint in 2005, upon revealing a t...

Triple guest podcast! Chris Cantle of Motorcyclist magazine, and Raphael Orlove and Michael Balaban, hosts of Jalopnik's new TV show, "Car vs America."  Chris has written for nearly everybody. Road & Track, The /DRIVE, Popular Mechanics, and surely more. He's now the Editor in Chief of "Motorcyclist", a print/web magazine that's been around since the early 1900s.  And Raph and Mike of Jalopnik may...

ICON 4X4 founder Jonathan Ward joins us again with much to discuss! He's brought an epic 1958 Rolls Royce with a 500 HP LS7, and he's got his new "Duesey" Watch, which he designed himself after teaching himself CAD. We discuss yacht design, sailing the Mediterranean, robotic kitchens, wind tunnels, and old cars of all kinds.  Learn more about ICON cars, trucks and now watches at: http://www.icon4x...

Segment 1: VortexRadar Arlei Bravy is the founder of VortexRadar.com; we discuss "countermeasures," radar and laser detectors, laser jammers, and common sense on the road, how to avoid getting tickets while covering ground on the highways, and dash cam suggestions. http://www.vortexradar.com https://www.instagram.com/vortexradar/ Roger Donaldson is a renowned  film director and producer, known mai...

Aaron Robinson has been an Automotive journalist for over 20 years, most recently as a senior editor and columnist at Car and Driver Magazine. Now settling into his new gig at the all-new HAGERTY magazine, Aaron stops by the show to get into some nerdy details as always. Aaron is a pilot, so we discuss Matt's first flying lesson and the hobby of aviation, revisit the famous "Lamborghini Log" video...

Tony Quiroga is a Senior Editor at Car and Driver magazine, and secret funny person. He and his team at C/D just published their "Lightning Lap" comparison, where they take some of this years best driver's cars to Virginia International Raceway to see how they compare, regardless of price. Other topics include bad traffic, Matt's SL500 Mercedes, recent road trips,    This show is available as a vi...

This podcast is about bad cars, weird cars, and LS-swapped 911s. Our guest is Tyler Hoover, an automotive journalist who has made a name for himself by acquiring a vast collection of...odd cars, or "hoopties", as he calls them. He's a man with eccentric taste, truly adhering to the idea, "Variety is the spice of life."      This show is available as a video! https://youtu.be/iAcWPGh8KO8 You can fi...

In this episode we are joined by automotive journalist Ryan ZumMallen, staff writer at Trucks.com, as well as a contributor for Road &Track, Car and Driver, and Autobytel. Ryan and Matt talk about the new, 700 HP Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, the Honda Civic Type R, and the legend that is the Lexus LFA. We also get into collectible sneakers, Ryan's personal vice, talk about how to test ski and bi...

Magnus Walker, everyone's favorite Porsche enthusiast stops by The Smoking Tire studio on the tail end of his world tour to promote his new book, "Dirt Don't Slow you Down," available on Amazon. We talk Porsche (obviously) but also racing, car culture all over the world, and Pebble Beach. Plus, Magnus talks Ferrari vs. Lamborghini.  We are also joined by Bloomberg Autos columnist Hannah Elliot, a...

Legendary tuner John Hennessey has been in the horsepower business for over 25 years. From humble beginnings modifying the Mitsubishi 3000GT to making himself known with the world's fastest street Vipers, and now the 273 MPH Hennessey Venom GT, John's business Hennessey Performance is one of the world's largest and most successful tuning outfits. He joins us to talk about his newest projects like...

Larry Kosilla is one of Matt's oldest friends; they grew up together in Westchester, NY, and went to middle school and high school together. They began the car industry together, founding the New York Motor Club in 2005, which is where Matt got started making videos. Now, Larry is one of the world's best car detailers, employed by corporations, celebrities, and titans of industries to keep fleets...

In this episode we are joined by Joey Seely, formerly of BBI Autosport and founder of E-Motion Engineering, a boutique Porsche build shop here in SoCal. Joey is a motorsport engineer, builder of the LuftAuto rally cars, and a master of setup. Also joined by Patrick Stevenson of the Motor Affair podcast, who tells tales of all his broken project cars.  This show is available as a video!  https://yo...

In this episode of the podcast, Matt and Jonathon Klein discuss Jon's recent adventures driving short-track dirt sprint cars, his broken Volkswagen Golf R, off-roading Model T's, strategies for getting out of a ticket, and what it's like to ride Keanu Reeves's Arch Motorcycle. This show is available as a video!  https://youtu.be/9dztJIMTkcY Want your question answered? Want to watch the live strea...

In this episode of The Smoking Tire podcast, Matt has his first go at a solo show, channeling his inner Bill Burr and talking about behind the scenes in production, his take on various trends around the industry, answers your questions, and is joined by his girlfriend Hanna who answers your questions about Matt's worst habits. Also, it's lit like an interrogation.  This show is available as a vide...

Rob Ferretti is a great character in that he has actual opinions, which he can defend. He has owned no fewer than a dozen exotic sports cars personally, and has been the proprietor of Gotham Dream Cars exotic car rental company fronm 2004 until 2017. His YouTube channel, SuperSpeedersRob features insights into the exotic car lifestyle for better or worse, crap car challenges, and collaborations wi...

Matt Farah and Zack Klapman are on their own on this one, and talk about cars, driving knowledge, answering lots of listener questions, ranting about Fast and Furious movies, and more.  Want your question answered? Want to watch the live stream, get ad-free podcasts, or exclusive podcasts? Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thesmokingtirepodcast   Use Off The Record! and ALWAYS fight y...