Cold Start

The guys sit down with Daniel Rascher, a sports economist and Professor at the University of San Francisco, and the President of the consulting firm, SportsEconomics. With decades of experience in the sports industry, he has worked with clients such as the NBA, NFL, MLB, NASCAR, Formula 1, IndyCar, ALMS, and many more. Professor Rascher gives his perspective on the economics of the motorsports industry at the moment, and shares his...

Answering the questions no one thinks to ask, Todd and Sylas dive into explaining the Whys of everyday automotive facts we take for granted. Focusing on infrastructure, the guys cover how we have developed the automotive landscape we all use today. From why stop signs are red, to where the left hand drive car came from, delve into the history of the things about cars that most of us don't think twice about. 

Cold Start Hint: O...

A new era is among us! It seems that in the upper end of the automotive industry, the next steps forward are actually going backward, and taking a look at what made cars so enjoyable to drive in past years. This phase of the digital analog car is here, and it means that the newest technologies in the automotive sector are now being used to make cars feel "old". Well, not old as in outdated, but old regarding the way they feel behin...

A name that seems to pop up in many different racing stories and is undoubtably synonymous with motorsports, Sir Sterling Moss is a figure in racing who is worth knowing more about. For those unfamiliar with vintage racing, you may have heard "Sterling Moss" in reference to the Mercedes SLR Sterling Moss edition, a sleek windshieldless roadster hypercar. You would have to be someone quite special to have Mercedes name a car after y...

Monterey Car week is one of the largest gatherings of car enthusiasts in the country. The petrol passionate crowd swarms the usually quiet Monterey Bay Area in California to attend car shows, auctions, and exclusive events. The main appeal for many is the insane exotic sports cars that fill up the streets, and the exclusive access to high end auto manufacturers newest model unveilings. Unfortunately, the popularity of the event has...

A work trip through the Central Valley of California led Sylas to visit a motorsports museum off the beaten path. He took a side quest into the Clovis Flat Track Museum to see what he could learn about the two wheeled motorsport realm. This museum might be the best kept secret in the greater Fresno area, packed with race bikes through the years -- even including a 1970s Pikes Peak motorcycle, all the way to a 1912 Indian board trac...

It may not be the more glamorous side of the automotive industry, but it is the most important in regards to keeping our prides and joys on the road. The guys sit down with a special guest to talk about being a mechanic, what it takes, how to get into the career, and what it looks like in the motorsports space. Joining the podcast in this episode is Mike Whitcraft, a teacher and program developer at a mechanics training institution...

For Americans, diesel powered vehicles usually only correlates to pickup trucks or heavy equipment. With curiosity about the "other" internal combustion powered vehicles, the guys dive deeper into the world of diesel powered cars, sharing their pros and cons, why they gained popularity in Europe, and even examples of their usage in motorsports. Take a listen and gain a new perspective on those vehicles that run off those green pump...

Another automotive enthusiast rant about how the electric vehicle is killing car culture as we know it. Well, maybe not exactly. Todd and Sylas dig into the interesting new automotive trend from manufacturers creating electric performance vehicles, a concept that seems to make no sense. They also make the shocking revelation that the introduction of EV's into the general market does not have to be at the detriment of the cars enthu...

Have you ever been curious about where some automotive terminology comes from or what that obscure term even means? Well, the guys dive into the stories behind some common car terms and even go deeper into some of the more obscure and the interesting origins of them. It may be surprising how many things in the automotive realm we take for granted and not think about why they are called that and if there is even a reason behind the ...

In our Multiclass Racing discussion, we hinted that there are some wild and utterly wacky one-off or unique races around the world -- some of which are also multiclass! So now it's time to survey the landscape of odd, interesting, weird, and downright bizarre forms of road racing. Todd and Sylas share their favorite Wacky Races, learning from each other about this unusal corner of motorsports; and then, they speculate on what kind ...

What's better than one race happening on track? Well, two, or maybe three, or even four! This is the main appeal of Multiclass Racing, having multiple races happening simultaneously on track. This not only increases the entertainment level for the fans as they are able to watch more battles but it also increases the complexity for drivers as they need to manage their own race, while managing the out-of-class traffic around them. To...

What started out as an internet meme quickly turned into a sought after, must-have option to be able to properly flex your new BMW M3 to all your haters. "Tartufo Buckets" may not mean anything to the average person but to the BMW fan boys, it's the holy grail interior spec that once was thought to be impossible. The guys dive into the story of Tartufo Buckets and how rare and sought after options for BMW M3s have changed through t...

Who do you love? Who do you really despise? Who are our heroes and villains in motorsports -- and why? Is it completely irrational and arbitrary, or are these opinions rooted in something more substantial and fact-based? What happens when lots of fans start having similar opinions about a driver or team -- and then the prevailing sentiment becomes something else to root for, or against. Sylas and Todd talk about some of their favor...

They're coming, there are more of them than you thought, and they might surprise you with what they can already do: Chinese cars. And they're not just EVs, despite what it seems on first impression. There are serious performance-oriented hypercars coming from China, breaking records at the Nurburgring -- perhaps even coming soon to a motorsports series near you. The rest of the world (outside the US) has been beginning to see the i...

With what seems like everyone having a new Porsche GT3RS at your local Cars & Coffee, and influencers over your Instagram feed, its hard to believe that Porsche as a company is in a terrible financial situation at the moment. The first sign was them cutting their motorsport program this season in WEC, the World Endurance Championship racing series -- and then, not participating at the GTP category level in the 2026 24 Hours of ...

The age old question of whether the better enthusiast engine is boosted or naturally aspirated may be coming to an end, as the NA engine is being phased out of sports cars and normal commuters. In an age of advanced engine technologies and endless pursuit for fuel efficiency, it's easy to see why big naturally aspirated engines are no longer the choice of manufacturers in creating their new cars. Is this something we should be up i...

For modern endurance race fans, Balance of Performance (BoP) is a common topic of discussion -- usually how it's annoying, and ruining motorsports. But what really is BoP? and can it actually be attributed to the growing success of current endurance racing? With growing field numbers and entertaining battles this season in IMSA and WEC, the guys talk about how BoP may be a necessary evil in modern motorsport. But they also can't he...

Mercedes-Benz is no stranger to motorsports with their renowned success in DTM and Formula 1, creating some of the most iconic and dominant race cars of the modern era. However, there is one form of motorsport that the manufacturer seems to be cursed at: endurance racing – specifically the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The largest endurance race in the world has proven to be a place that the Silver Arrows of Mercedes only bring chaos....