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Supercar & EV Car Rally? RS Xperience owner Andy Papa stops by
164 Plays3 years ago
In this episode we sit down with Andy Papa, the founder of RS Xperience. Andy has developed his own spirited driving rally to bring automobile enthusiasts in a safe, fun, and well curated road trip. Be sure to check out his site, and socials for more on the unique RS Xperience.
www.rsxperience.com
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/c/RSXperience
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/rs.xperience/
Be sure to follow PIFM on our various social media platforms, for more exciting content on EV’s
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pifm_podcast/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PIFMPodcast
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqXpv3fnOcv-robjLbDINFQ/featured
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Transcript
Introduction to Plug In For More Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to Plug In For More, brought to you by evuniverse.com. EV Universe is your one-stop shop for all things related to the electric vehicle. Here on this podcast, our goal is to educate, inspire, and hopefully make your transition into the electric vehicle marketplace a lot less intimidating. And now, here are your hosts, Mike, Tom, and Bryant.
Meet Andy Papa and RS Experience
00:00:28
Speaker
We're joined here today with Andy Papa, who is the owner of RS Experience. He's going to be here to talk to us a little bit about his business and what he's doing and how that's going to equate out to the EV driving population and what he's seeing as transitions. It's pretty excited to have him here for that. Andy, welcome. No, thank you for having me. I'm excited to talk with you guys today.
00:00:51
Speaker
Good. So what exactly is RS Experience? Can you catch us up on that? Yeah, sure. So RS Experience is kind of a fully curated, all inclusive, two or three day driving experience for performance car owners. So think of this where you come to an event, bring your own car, and we do a lead follow format. Folks, follow me as we wind through some of these amazing mountain roads currently
00:01:20
Speaker
primarily taking place in the Smoky Mountains. We also bring along a photographer. I have a husband and wife photographers that come along and do both video, photo, and drone. So at the end of our event, we typically put together a sizzle reel video, if you will, of the event. And then all of the photography and video are provided
00:01:44
Speaker
to the participants. So that's all included in the price of the event.
The Essence of RS Experience
00:01:49
Speaker
One of the things where RS experience may differ from some other rally types of experience is I spend time
00:01:59
Speaker
teaching and coaching on car control techniques. I've been doing high performance driver's education for a number of years and have been a Porsche Club of America instructor also for a number of years. So there are some techniques that we teach and instruct on track that also apply to the road.
00:02:22
Speaker
public roads. So that's a part that we spend some time with to get people with the intent of getting folks comfortable and confident with their cars, and then also for them to have fun and be safe during our trip. So that's one thing we do. And then lastly, we stay at a full service lakefront lodge.
Challenges of Launching RS Experience
00:02:44
Speaker
that we typically have all to ourselves. So it's really nice for gatherings, camaraderie, dinner in the evening, come back, talk about your stories of the day's drives while we hang out over some refreshment and good food. Very cool. And how long have you been doing this for?
00:03:02
Speaker
Um, about 18 months, a little over 18 months now. Um, of course, you know, nothing like a brilliant idea of starting something in the middle of COVID. That's what I did. And so yeah, it's been a little slow getting that thing off the ground. Sure. But it's, uh, it's a really cool idea. And I like it, especially, you know, combining the educational component with it, but like,
00:03:25
Speaker
Where did this idea come from? How'd you come up with the plan to do this? Yeah. I've always been into sports cars and racing and driving and whatnot. I spent time, gosh, probably about seven years, over seven years, doing rallies and drives in the mountains, mainly with friends.
00:03:48
Speaker
And, you know, at some point you go, you know, I really have a passion for cars. I really enjoy the driving. And then I enjoy seeing others. I get a big charge out of other people having a good time that like motivates and feeds me. And I was like, I wonder if there's others out there who would like to participate and do something like this, but it may be a smaller
00:04:13
Speaker
You know a more intimate setting as opposed to doing these big rallies, right? I mean there's rallies out there, you know authority 30 40 50 heck I've been on them with a hundred and fifty cars And they can become overwhelming for some people if they don't like that type of environment. So this is a little more intimate
EVs in RS Experience Events
00:04:28
Speaker
We're obviously here, our big focus is on electric vehicles and in the future then how it's going to look. How do you see electric vehicles melding into the type of driving that you're doing on these tours? Well, I haven't had any EV participants as of yet. I do welcome, obviously, the EVs that would want to come along and experience
00:04:49
Speaker
driving their car in the mountains. So, as you can imagine, right, as the infrastructure builds out, there's some challenge with regard to charging. Now, there is a lodge in the mountains down there that I've stayed at several times that do have a couple of the Tesla chargers on site. So, I know there's a way to accommodate that. So, yeah, I would...
00:05:16
Speaker
welcome those.
Vehicle Preparation for EVs vs Gasoline Cars
00:05:18
Speaker
There would obviously be some things that we would want to discuss with the owners of the cars with regard to preparation of their car for an event. Similar I do with folks who bring a gasoline-powered car. It doesn't hurt to do a little bit of an inspection, whether yourself or at a
00:05:40
Speaker
at a dealership or, you know, your independent repair shop to ensure that your brakes, you know, rotors are typically in good shape, but doesn't hurt to check pads mainly. And then the other piece would be brake fluid, right? We use the brakes a lot in the mountains, you know, on these twisty roads and some of the, you know,
00:06:02
Speaker
uh, and whatnot. And so, you know, um, do folks need to go to a racing flu, like modal or something like that? You know, maybe, uh, but I've had some heavier cars come along in the past. I've had a BMW, um, what was it an M eight 50 I, uh, come along as like what 4,600 pounds. And that guy was really cooking his brakes to where they got super spongy. So that would be something I probably would recommend they do.
00:06:28
Speaker
Anyway when we're looking at certain EVs, let's say we're looking at the new Tesla Plaid. I could see that being one or Porsche Taycan being out on an event like yours. Some of those might actually, we're talking about pads, but would you actually recommend new rotors for something that heavy? Because it's a lot more than even that BMW just mentioned.
00:06:51
Speaker
Yeah, no, I know that they can get quite high. What I would look at, Mike, is really understanding what rotors are currently on the car. I imagine they're all iron rotors for the most part. I'm not recommending people go out and get ceramic rotors for their car, but it's just a matter of if they want to spend... It's a big expense to upgrade, even if you do a Brembo
00:07:13
Speaker
big brake kit, I mean, it may cost you up to $4,000. And for me, I would really concentrate on looking at, you know, what are the different types of pad material and pads that could be used on the car. And then as I said earlier, you know, with the
00:07:29
Speaker
Brake fluid is going to do. It's going to raise the boiling point, right? Erasing fluid and that will prevent your pedal from going kind of mushy and spongy on you. And that was what was happening to that BMW. I don't think he totally cooked his rotors or anything like that. His brake fluid just got really hot. So he was losing some of that brake pressure and some of that feel.
00:07:50
Speaker
That makes sense. I think that's really helpful because I think the people I talk to when they're talking about high-performance driving with a Tesla Plaid or not necessarily a Taycan, but they're looking at, hey, do I need to get ceramic brakes? That's $10,000 to $20,000. Obviously, that's a big expense. I think for a lot of people, it scares them off from doing a high-performance driving event. Absolutely. You have to remember on the track, if you think about
00:08:17
Speaker
One of the main differences, you know, driving on a track and on a street for the most part is on the track, it is pretty much you're either on the gas or you're on the brake. There's none of this in between, right? There's no coasting, right? Today, when we're driving on the street, oh, we're coming up to a stop sign. We lift off the gas. We kind of coast a little. We slowly, gently, right? The track, we don't drive like that. So you definitely use much more brake.
00:08:40
Speaker
on the track. We're in the mountains where we're going to use a lot of brake because, you know, a lot of the roads run, you know, take tail of the dragon, right? I mean, it's a kind of a famous road, 11 miles, and it has 318 turns. And there's a lot of switchbacks and there's a lot of sharp turns where you're going to use some braking.
00:08:58
Speaker
Now the difference there is you're going to use a lot, but the speeds aren't that significant, right? You're just going to be on them a bunch, but you're not going from 150 to 80 so that you can take this turn kind of thing. That makes a lot of sense. That's really helpful, I think.
00:09:16
Speaker
Andy, a couple questions for you around this because there's like a different type of road rally that you're talking about. And then on the racetrack, what kind of experience do people usually need to go on something like this?
Accommodating Driving Experience Levels
00:09:28
Speaker
Do they need to have a lot of experience? Talk about that. Yeah, no, that's a great question. So one of the things I did initially early on was I'd like to talk to the people on the phone prior to an event.
00:09:43
Speaker
to understand their driving background and their comfort with their car, how long they've had their car, have they done any events. And over time, feedback from some of the participants and non-participants that I spoke to was talking to me felt a little intimidating in that there was going to be a high-pressure sales tactic. I was going to be like, oh, you have to come. And I was going to come up with every reason why they needed to come.
00:10:09
Speaker
So I pulled away from that, but yet during the registration process, we do ask them to fill in information about their driving experience. And we've had people with none, no other prior experience. We've had people who have participated in track and also autocross. There's another piece there where folks do autocross. So when they come to the event, if I know they don't have that experience, then I have to manage.
00:10:39
Speaker
those expectations for that individual, as well as the person who came who has that track experience. So that's one of the things that I manage. I have someone who comes along with me. This person's done Porsche Club Racing. His instructor's been doing it for a lot longer than I have. And what we'll do sometimes is put them in the right seat of that person's car. And just like you would do on track, they just drive with them, ride with them on the street, and then give them some
00:11:08
Speaker
You know, we'll spend an hour or whatever part of the day in the car with them to give them some tips and techniques. And in the part that's very rewarding is when you see someone who first comes to the event and maybe they're a little tentative. And typically what it is is people don't understand what their car is capable of. There's a confidence thing, obviously, but that's because I don't know what my car is capable of.
00:11:32
Speaker
once we help them understand the capabilities of the car, but then also how to control and manage that, manage the weight. It's all about weight transfer. It's all about managing the balance of the car, if you will. It's really neat seeing them on the second or third day. You see their confidence build, and then it's like they're really getting the hang of it. Again, we're still doing this safely, but you just see them like, oh, wow, I didn't realize my car can do that, or I feel really good now about what I'm capable of doing with the car.
00:12:02
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's great insight. I think I've done quite a few of these rallies, would you say the ones I typically go on are the spirited driving ones that those are the ones I like to do? So would you say because then there's a Sunday Drive ones where, you know, you're not going above like 40 miles an hour, would you say yours is definitely more like if you want to have a spirited fun drive that category?
00:12:21
Speaker
We're probably lean more that side. And I always tell folks, you know, always drive within the limits that you're comfortable with, right? I mean, I would never ask somebody to drive in a way that they're not comfortable. And if a group, you know, these typically our groups will run, you know, maybe
00:12:41
Speaker
eight, 10 cars. If a group gets a little bit further ahead, then my job is to, a few miles ahead, we pull over, whatever we wait for the other group to come up. Because the idea is to be together, not like you guys are separate from these guys type of thing. But again, as I said earlier, that managing the expectation of both types of individuals, because I want them to have a good time.
00:13:07
Speaker
A person was like, hey, I'm not there yet. You know, I just, well, that's okay. I want to, you know, ensure that they enjoy themselves in what they feel is safe for them. And then the folks who, as you said, you know, who want to drive more spirited, well, then, you know, we'll, we'll, you know, we'll drive. And, you know, you have to do that again, you know, just smartly, you know, like, you know, there's places where, you know, there's no other, you know, cross streets or there's, you know, no houses, residents. You just got to be smart about it.
00:13:37
Speaker
Yeah, that makes sense.
Dynamics of Driving EVs
00:13:39
Speaker
A specific question I have around maybe driving techniques on electric cars is they have the one pedal driving, which engages the brake with no coasting really. It doesn't really engage a brake, but it's regeneration. So have you had any experience talking about that and how that translates to the racetrack?
00:13:57
Speaker
This is so new, and even for me, I've had some experience driving, being a Porsche fanboy, driving the Porsche Taycan 4S, even the Turbo S, and really getting a feel and an understanding for how that works.
00:14:14
Speaker
But out on these roads, no, that would be a part where I would even like to get out there in a car for a while and learn myself so then I can help those folks who have EV vehicles and understand how to do that. Like you say, when to come off like coast, let the car break for itself a little bit.
00:14:35
Speaker
No, I mean, it's new. And we're trying to, you know, have a have the generation that's moving into electric vehicles feel more comfortable. And it's kind of like reminds me of a story I was on a rally out west and I was in a rear engine 911. And I was used to driving front engine cars, you know, growing up the 80s 90s, it's all front engine. I remember going around the corner.
00:14:55
Speaker
And I was hesitating to lift a little bit like you just described in my passenger is a super experienced Porsche driver. He pushed down my foot and he grabbed my thigh and push it down. He's like, do not lift or we're going to go off this edge. You want to accelerate into this corner. So like the back is pushed down and you get traction around the corner. And so to your point, it's kind of like when the rear engine went to front engine, that was different. Now we're moving to electric and it's even different. So it's just a new, new category. So.
00:15:22
Speaker
It is, it is. Absolutely. And it's really understanding how that weight, right? Like you said, you know, how, how to manage the weight and understanding how fast it happens, right? How, how quickly that regeneration, what does that feel like? When do I need to apply break? And maybe I only need to apply a little bit of break.
00:15:39
Speaker
So Mike, back to your earlier question when you were talking about, you know, do I need rotors? Do I need pads? You know, this regeneration probably plays into that a little bit, I would imagine. You know, if you're not having to be on the brakes as much on some of the more gentler turns, you know, where that regen by just kind of coming off the pedal may help you a little bit. Maybe you wouldn't use as much brake.
00:16:03
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that's what I've noticed just around town driving. Some of the spirited driving that I'll do from time to time is that instead of being full on the, well, full on the brake, you can sometimes just be not touching anything. You just really let off. And so it's more just, for me, it's a continuum and where you are on the continuum versus a gas versus electric car because that regeneration.
00:16:28
Speaker
From what I've seen is it does settle the car obviously, but it's just really where you make that transition in what pedal you're on and how far you're going to be pressing.
00:16:40
Speaker
My guess, and I'm just, this is a bet here, is when you get into an EV on one of your events at some point here, hope sooner than later. But when that does happen, that it's very easy transition because I feel like you'll probably get it within a few miles is my guess, just with your experience overall.
00:16:59
Speaker
especially some of the speeds that we're driving again, it's not going too crazy to be able to really feel that and then manage it. Yeah, I would love to experience that, Mike. Well, maybe we'll figure something out there. I was going to say, that sounds like an invite.
RS Experience Pricing and Value
00:17:38
Speaker
Andy, as far as different things that I guess people will ask, and I know if I was going to join one of your rallies, which I plan to in the near future, what's the cost? I mean, I think that's probably one of the first things that comes out. I mean, it is very based on the event and where you're going, the type of lodging. Can you kind of walk us through what the cost would typically be? I mean, I'm not going to nail you down on an exact price because obviously inflation is hitting everyone right now, but just in general kind of what people could expect.
00:17:40
Speaker
I think so. I think we need to sell some here.
00:18:08
Speaker
Sure. So we kind of break our pricing into kind of three buckets, if you will. So one is I'll call a single. We're all familiar with the term, you know, single doubles and stuff. So a single in our world is one person, one car, one room, right? A double would be two persons, one car.
00:18:28
Speaker
One room and then we have a multi that is two persons, two cars, one room. So say friends are coming along and they're like, you know, Hey, let's share as opposed to getting two singles. Do you want to share a room? Um, so there's a little bit of savings there. If they go the, the, the multi route.
00:18:47
Speaker
Now, most of the lodges we stay at typically have lodges in the mountains made for couples and whatnot. So you have a lot of king-size beds, queen-size beds, but we do have some rollaway beds that we can put in some of the rooms. And one of the lodges we stay at does have two. One has one room with two twins and another one has two rooms with two doubles.
00:19:08
Speaker
So first, that's one breakdown that we have in the pricing. And then the pricing would also depend on, is it a two-day drive or a three-day drive? So we have a three-day driving event where folks, we come in on a Thursday, we typically have a welcome reception gathering. So folks get to meet one another before we actually go out and start driving.
00:19:31
Speaker
and whatnot. And then that one would drive, we would drive Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So we get a little bit of, get one weekday in there on a Friday and then drive Saturday, Sunday with a checkout on Monday. And then a two-day event is very similar, but we would check out on Sunday as opposed to Monday because some folks, you know, they got to get back to work. They have to do things, can't take off that extra day. And then we do two full days of driving Friday and Saturday.
00:19:57
Speaker
Makes sense. A single would start out for two-day events starts just under $2,000. But again, this includes lodging, meals,
00:20:13
Speaker
drinks, photography, pretty much all you have to do, launches, all you have to do is put gas in your car. Sounds great to me. I was going to say, compared to some of the other rallies and events I've been on, I think it's a fabulous price, Andy. What's really been wonderful is about 40% of the people who have come have come again. And I've had five people that have come four times.
00:20:42
Speaker
And it's like they just love it. It's like their little club because they call one another and, hey, are you going to go? I'm going to go. Yeah, I think I'm going to go too. And I think it's great. But I think they like that smaller setting. And then they get to meet up with friends. And you build trust too, right? If you're on track, you know this, right?
00:21:05
Speaker
When you're driving on track and you get in a certain group, you know the other people on the track and you know what they're going to do, what they're not going to do. And I think for some of these guys, it's a similar thing, right? Is they know that other groups say they're the spirited drivers, right? They know the other guys there and they're like, oh yeah, this will be fun. Let's all go.
00:21:22
Speaker
Do you see a lot of husband and wife's going? Is it mostly just single guys going? And I've seen a lot of women getting involved in this. So what kind of demographics are you seeing?
Participant Demographics
00:21:33
Speaker
Mainly, it's been a lot of single guys. We've had one, two, three, four.
00:21:40
Speaker
And maybe about four couples that have come along. In cases, the wives, in this case, their partner was their wife, they're just as much into it as the husbands are. I mean, they really get out there and really enjoy it.
00:21:56
Speaker
would love to see more of the women kind of come because they're out there. In fact, I have an event coming up in June where most of all the spots we sold so far are all doubles.
00:22:13
Speaker
And one of them is there's a woman I know here, you know, just from the local, you know, cars and coffee and whatnot. She just bought herself a 2017 Stingray Corvette Stingray. So she's excited to get the car out on the road. So I'm really happy to have her come along. That's awesome. Yeah, I hope so.
00:22:32
Speaker
So I spent a fair amount of time delving into your YouTube channel and following some of the highlights and looking at the reviews of different things, which I think is all, it's really cool.
Suitable Cars for RS Experience
00:22:41
Speaker
I look at some of the cars you've got on there that are super impressive. We can come back to your new McLaren and limit, but if I've got a vehicle and I want to show up, is there a
00:22:50
Speaker
A type of car that typically is allowed to come to your events or do you allow all cars or how do you? Yeah, this is one. It's a question I get asked a lot. And so we use this term, we say performance car owners and people are like,
00:23:06
Speaker
Well, what's a performance car, right? And you start getting very subjective. For me, it's about power to weight ratio. It's what's the horsepower of the car. I really don't care what you bring. It just has to kind of match or be fit in with why I had somebody who wants to come with an MR2. And it's like, OK, you can bring an MR2, but I have to manage it if a guy wants to come along and he's got a GT3 RS.
00:23:33
Speaker
or something like that. But I've seen guys, and I'm sure, Brian, you have too. I've seen guys on track in meadas just beat the pants off of anything out there. So again, I don't know how well you drive or how you can drive, but I have to be careful just because you have a car that may seem underpowered. That doesn't mean you can't drive the heck out of that car.
00:23:55
Speaker
Andy, your analogy brings you back to I was on the racetrack and I was in a 911 with a friend and in front of us was a Miata and it was another buddy of ours and you're right, we're going into a corner and my friend in the 911 is like, this is where I take over DJ's was his name and
00:24:13
Speaker
Nope, nope. DJ was a much better driver in his Miata and absolutely smoked the 911, which shouldn't be even in the same comparison class, but you're right. It was the lines he took in the track, driving experience, just because you have a better car does not man on the racetrack that you're going to be the better, faster driver.
00:24:32
Speaker
Yeah, they're always amazing. They're kind of like, when we're on the track and sometimes there's a bunch of them out there, they're kind of like the little bees that are buzzing around because of their weight. And it's really, they're so light. These guys, I think they have an expression. They're like, never lift. They don't even have to break in turns and stuff. They just may lift a little bit and you see them sliding around and they just
00:24:55
Speaker
you know, buzz along. Now, when you get to a straight away, right, the higher power 911 or some portion might pull away. But if you're not good in the turns, you're going to look in your rear view mirror, and they're going to be like right there on the back of your car. So yeah, there's a lot of good Miata drivers out there. Yeah, you nailed it. Yeah, the straight BMW too.
00:25:15
Speaker
BMW, Miata. Yeah, E36, E46, like the E36 seems to be real popular. I see a lot of guys pick up an older E36 and, you know, kind of strip it out, maybe put a roll cage in, do stuff. And those guys are really quick in those cars around the track.
00:25:33
Speaker
Speaking of track, Andy, so I spent a fair amount of time on tracks as well, not as much as you, and probably not as much as Brian.
EVs on the Track: Future Integration
00:25:42
Speaker
But as far as EVs are concerned, where do you see where they're at today, where they can be in the next year to two years, and then maybe long-term? I mean, they're sort of taking over the general car. Yeah, I would have to think that,
00:26:02
Speaker
the track owners, right? I mean, typically they're renting their tracks out to different clubs that put on driving events there. I would have to think that those owners are starting to think about and look at how do I start putting in that infrastructure? Because I think as younger folks and folks get into these EVs and they become more prolific, I think you're going to see more of them show up at track. And then that's also going to require from
00:26:29
Speaker
the instructing, the teaching part that I think those folks are going to, like myself, right, are going to have to learn how do I manage, you know, these, right, these cars weigh, what, between 10 and 30% more than a gasoline powered car. So I think there's, there's, the track has a piece, build out the infrastructure, accommodate it. I think these driving organizations that have instructors are going to have to find, like, how do we get,
00:26:58
Speaker
training for these folks. I mean, some of the things weight management is going to be the same. It's probably going to be more about how much do I need to apply the brake, you know, and the weight of the vehicle. I think things like the breaking we talked about earlier is going to play a huge part on that track event, you know, where maybe maybe you do have to upgrade your rotors. Maybe there are some things you're going to need to do. I definitely think it's an evolution that is going to change over, say, the next, what, 10, 15 years. I'm excited for it.
00:27:27
Speaker
It will be very interesting because the track experience is very visceral. You hear all these cars going down and people know by sound what that is. That's going down the track and the smells of the exhaust or tires and brakes will be brake smell, but it'll be an interesting experience when EVs start becoming more prolific in that environment.
00:27:55
Speaker
Yeah. A lot of tires wheel. Yeah, maybe so. Right. Exactly.
00:28:00
Speaker
Well, yeah, I think a lot of even performance cars, now they're not EVs. It's pretty hard to take them on the roads like we're describing and fully experience the power that's available. You have to be on a racetrack to fully take it to the edge. And then you bring in EVs that are running, you know, 1.9 seconds, zero to 60. It's just absolutely insane the performance that's out there on those. And so, yeah, this would be really interesting to see, you know.
00:28:26
Speaker
Yeah, I had an event. We had a, what was it? A Panamera, one of those sport Turismo, the wagon thing, and it was the hybrid. The thing was putting out over 800 horsepower, and I was in the RS, and that guy, he was working really hard, and he was doing a pretty good job.
00:28:45
Speaker
keeping up with me because where he, I could get him going into the turn because I could get in there quicker into the turn. But when I came out of the turn, my Porsches aren't known as a high torque or high horsepower car. Well, he could get back on it, right? And he had all that torque. So then coming out of the turn like he would just like come right up on me, come at the turn. And he's like hauling around a lot of weight. And I was I was really amazed that
00:29:12
Speaker
how well he was doing in that big, heavy car. He was working it to keep up with me though, but it was still fun. From a performance driving vehicle that's an EV, what are you most looking forward to that will be coming out in the next year to two years?
Excitement for Future EV Models
00:29:32
Speaker
On some of those, I
00:29:35
Speaker
get enamored with the like the high end, like some of the hyper cars. Like what is that one that's coming or it's already out that Rimmack or whatever the heck it is, you know, that crazy car that some of those look really, really cool.
00:29:52
Speaker
And then there's a, like, I know Porsche has some things in the works. And even though, you know, the Cayman platform probably in what, 25, 26, I think they're gonna introduce an EV on that. So I'm really curious to see what Porsche is gonna do there.
00:30:09
Speaker
more from a standpoint of, you know, they're all known about the engineering and the performance and handling, right? Their cars are all about handling. So I'm really curious to see what they're going to do in that space there. Some other things I've been following, Mike, maybe not necessarily cars, but even looking in the
00:30:27
Speaker
the truck space from the pickups, both Chevrolet and Ford introducing the EVs. And then, what is it? Rivian? The one truck that's coming out that looks pretty cool. Even the tech on the inside and whatnot looks really neat. I think there's a lot of interesting
00:30:47
Speaker
new players on the market there. But being still kind of a gasoline-powered guy, the other piece that's very interesting is the hybridization. I'll call it that transition, where we go from pure gas
00:31:07
Speaker
to gas hybrid and then full on into the EV and just watching that transition happen. And I think Porsche, even in their GT car division, I wouldn't be surprised if the
00:31:22
Speaker
this 992.2 generation is going to introduce a hybrid. Maybe it starts out in that Turbo S. I wouldn't be surprised if we even saw it in a GT3 RS on a .2 putting in some 48 volt infrastructure to help with that torque. Because that's what Porsche kind of, I've got that power, I've got that high end, but how do I
00:31:47
Speaker
come out of that turn and really feel that power coming out of a turn. That part, I'm really kind of excited to see what happens. Fantastic. Second question, last question I've got for you.
Origin of RS Experience Name
00:31:59
Speaker
So the name of the company, RS Experience, you are now a McLaren owner.
00:32:04
Speaker
What are you going to do? Yeah, that one has, um, well, you know, since rent sport, right within the Porsche, you know, racing sports. So you could call it racing sport. You could call it rally sport. You know, you can call it whatever, whatever you want that RS to what it means for you. Uh, yeah, that was, um, I love cars, right? And I've been a Porsche guy since what, 2009. I don't go back, like some guys, you know, all the way back to the seventies or eighties. Um,
00:32:31
Speaker
And i was just interested in trying something else i had driven a friend six hundred lt spider which is probably a mistake i'm i've driven seven twenty s's before and what not but the cars just like they're like almost too fast and the six hundred lt gave me the feeling of like.
00:32:48
Speaker
driving a kind of more of a track focused car. And I was really impressed with its handling. I was really impressed with the front end grip of the car. The GT3 RS, the 991.2 that I had was fantastic. I mean, absolutely amazing. And the 600 LT is just as competent. The hydraulic steering is amazing.
00:33:13
Speaker
The turn-in is amazing, that weight distribution, more mid-engine than the full-on rear engine. I've been really impressed so far with that car. Those cars, I think, get a little bit of a bad rap because of reliability, some of the gremlins. And then also, I know depreciation had been a real challenge. But I think they're a little bit of a diamond in the rough.
00:33:38
Speaker
meaning that people are steering away from them because of some of those issues, but they're they're missing out on a really amazing car. That's just my opinion in 60 days of ownership. It's been a fast 60 days. I'm sure I've put like 2700 miles on the car. I think I drive my cars. They're not, you know, I like keeping them clean and all that good stuff, but they get driven. Yeah.
00:34:05
Speaker
That RS had over 21,000 miles on it. Yes, sort of back up for listeners out there that you had a Porsche GT3 RS, which hence came out RS experience, and then now you're in McLaren. So again, just let's, we can call it whatever we want, but that's sort of the genesis. Maybe potentially. Correct. Yeah.
00:34:32
Speaker
Yep, you have it.
Where to Find More about RS Experience
00:34:34
Speaker
And Andy, we'll make sure to put a link to your channels and your website in the description of this. Awesome. So that'll be there posted, but can you tell people where to go to find more information?
00:34:47
Speaker
Sure, yeah. Our website is www.rs and then the letter X, period. So it's experience without the E, so rsexperience.com. And then our website, you also have access to our Instagram, which is basically rs.experience with the X. And it's the same for Facebook. And we're recently on Twitter at rs.
00:35:14
Speaker
experience on Twitter as well. Awesome. Great. We appreciate you taking the time to talk with us today and it was great to meet you. Thank you. Mike, I'm looking forward to getting you out there on one of these rallies. I'll be there, no doubt. I'll be there sooner than later. Yeah, that'll be awesome.
00:35:32
Speaker
Yeah, that'll be awesome. First EV on the trip, I'm sure. Yeah, that's good. We'll make a deal of that too. Absolutely. I'd like to get a video of that and whatnot as well to talk about what that's like, the EV in the mountains.
00:35:48
Speaker
I like it. Let me know when you're up in the Michigan way. We'll do a, we'll do a rally up here too. Yeah. You know, Andy's grandiose, you know, five year plan is, you know, start doing these in some other locations, um, around the U S. I mean, the Smokies is just very familiar with, you know, I, I probably got, I don't know, 12, 15,000 miles driving in the Smoky mountains. Um, I do a lot of scouting typically in the spring. Um, I'll do scouting for a few days and, you know, find
00:36:18
Speaker
uh, new roads and put some routes together. So people always want to do the famous stuff, you know, tail the dragon. There's a cherry halo sky where that's absolutely amazing. It's beautiful. But there's a lot of, I call them hidden gems, but there's a lot of roads that people just don't know about. Uh, and they're the less traveled, less trafficked, um, et cetera. And that's the stuff that I like showing people and they get out there and they're just like, Oh my God. You know, it's like, okay, be prepared. Your, your hands, your wrists are going to get tired on this one. Yeah.
00:36:46
Speaker
But it's a lot of fun. Yeah, cool. Yeah, absolutely. Northern Michigan, where Tom and I are, have tons of good driving roads, and I have a lot of routes. So if I can help out, let me know. Oh, yeah, I would love to get up there. I'd love to get up there. Thank you for listening to plug in for more. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes. In the meantime, check out the one stop EV Marketplace, evuniverse.com. Until next time.