Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Fast Track. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Scott Benjamin, and this is an all new show and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to do something right off the bat
Speaker 1: that I haven't had to do for a very long
Speaker 1: time since I've worked here. I've I've been at at
Speaker 1: this company for a long time, producing podcast since about
Speaker 1: two thousand eight. And I've run another show called Car
Speaker 1: Stuff with with my co host Ben Bowling and recently
Speaker 1: been doing that one on my own as well. And uh,
Speaker 1: this is another brand new one. So I have a
Speaker 1: feeling that we're gonna have a lot of new listeners
Speaker 1: to this show and even some return listeners from Car Stuff,
Speaker 1: And I kind of wanted to describe exactly what's going
Speaker 1: on and talk a little bit, just a little bit
Speaker 1: about myself and who I am, and you know why
Speaker 1: I'm doing this, and give you a better understanding of
Speaker 1: why we're creating this show, this this new fast Track podcast.
Speaker 1: I guess I've been here at I Heeart Media for
Speaker 1: a long time. I think you'll find that, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, um, I've been fascinated with speed for a
Speaker 1: long long time. As as Car Stuff listeners will remember, Um,
Speaker 1: we've talked about you know, racing in the past and
Speaker 1: people that race, and and components and engines and technology
Speaker 1: and all of that. And it's it's always been fun
Speaker 1: topics and we've always really seemed to enjoy talking about them.
Speaker 1: And I've always been intrigued by you know, fast cars,
Speaker 1: fast trucks, bikes, boats, anything that really you know, it
Speaker 1: is just quick. I guess I've I've enjoyed that top speed,
Speaker 1: just you know, short speed. You know we're talking about
Speaker 1: like drag racing or something like that, Um, anything like that.
Speaker 1: I've I've just loved racing forever and uh um, you know,
Speaker 1: making machines kind of reach their their limits. That's what
Speaker 1: I've really enjoyed and I want to talk about that
Speaker 1: specifically in this podcast. And we're gonna kind of have
Speaker 1: a more narrow focus on this show. The fast Track
Speaker 1: is going to kind of highlight anything and everything that
Speaker 1: allows us to go fast. So we're talking about you know,
Speaker 1: the past, the present, the future, racing um, including the
Speaker 1: machines and you know, the racers themselves, you know, the
Speaker 1: people that that make them go fast, that drive them
Speaker 1: all of that. The technology, you know, like the cutting
Speaker 1: edge engines and the engineering that's used both on and
Speaker 1: off the tracks. So we're not only going to talk about,
Speaker 1: you know, race racing cars that you know are on
Speaker 1: the track. We're going to talk about cars that you
Speaker 1: know you'll see on the road as well. In fact,
Speaker 1: we're gonna start with one of those today when we
Speaker 1: get to it. But, um, we just want to find
Speaker 1: out exactly, you know, what is this thing with speed?
Speaker 1: Why are we all enticed by speed? And you know
Speaker 1: what makes cars go faster? Who drives them? Why did
Speaker 1: they do it? Why do they create these vehicles? Um?
Speaker 1: And why do we like watching them? Really? I mean,
Speaker 1: I think there's some pretty simple answers to a lot
Speaker 1: of that, you know, the adrenaline or whatever. But we
Speaker 1: are going to dig into that type of stuff and
Speaker 1: that's going to be kind of the more narrow focus
Speaker 1: of this show versus car stuff. So if that's your question, uh,
Speaker 1: that is that's what we're gonna do. And uh, you know, today,
Speaker 1: as I promise, we're gonna talk about something that that
Speaker 1: is fast and uh, it is a vehicle, it's it's
Speaker 1: actually it's an auto cycle. Um, it's called it's called
Speaker 1: a vander Hall. And the vander Hall is actually a
Speaker 1: whole line of vehicles that we will discuss. There's there's
Speaker 1: several models. Um essentially what they are, they're there three
Speaker 1: wheeled auto cycles, and um, you know the competition in
Speaker 1: the field right now, there's a there's a couple of
Speaker 1: these already on the road. There's you know, the Polaris
Speaker 1: sling Shot, there's the Morgan three wheeler. Probably a couple
Speaker 1: others I'm forgetting, I think, uh, just there's a there's
Speaker 1: a bunch of three wheelers out there already. Of course
Speaker 1: classic cars that were three wheelers, and not so many
Speaker 1: new ones, but but a few out there. These vander
Speaker 1: hallt vehicles that we're gonna talk about are technically federally
Speaker 1: classified as a motorcycle. So I guess in some states
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to wear a helmet, but if you know,
Speaker 1: you have to look into that on your own to
Speaker 1: see if see if you're one of the states to
Speaker 1: do that. This is a vehicle to go zero to
Speaker 1: sixty in less than five seconds. And what makes it
Speaker 1: kind of unique is that it's a it's a front engine,
Speaker 1: front wheel drive three wheeler, which is kind of rare.
Speaker 1: Usually it's the rear wheel that's being powered, not in
Speaker 1: every case, but um, typically you'll find that it's the
Speaker 1: rear wheel that's being powered in these vehicles. And you know,
Speaker 1: we're gonna get to the description of it in just
Speaker 1: a moment and everything all about it, and you know,
Speaker 1: I'll let you in on the on the inside scoop
Speaker 1: on all this. But there has been a lot of
Speaker 1: press about these vehicles since about two thousand fifteen or so,
Speaker 1: and that's when they came out. There's of course some
Speaker 1: new models that we want to talk about, and that's
Speaker 1: why we're bringing it up today. Uh. There've been articles
Speaker 1: in the rob Report or in uh Petrolicious, if you're
Speaker 1: you know reading if you read online Road and Track,
Speaker 1: Motor Trend, Autoblog, Forbes, you know, all over the place
Speaker 1: there there are more places than that even and uh,
Speaker 1: if you really want to check it out and get
Speaker 1: kind of a decent review of these things and and
Speaker 1: kind of have some fun along the way. There was
Speaker 1: an appearance on j Lenos garage of the vander Hall Venice,
Speaker 1: which is a model that we're going to talk about,
Speaker 1: which happens sometime around uh I think it was in
Speaker 1: August of two thousand and seventeen is when that that
Speaker 1: edition came out, and it's it's definitely worth watching. It's
Speaker 1: it's it's fun. It's got the founder of the company
Speaker 1: that we're gonna discuss in just a minute. UM. But
Speaker 1: these things they have, they have a really fun look.
Speaker 1: They look fast, they are fast. There quick vehicle. UM.
Speaker 1: I'm sure they're thrilled to drive. It seems like it's
Speaker 1: kind of like one of those vehicles that when you
Speaker 1: get in or you even see it in your garage,
Speaker 1: it would make you smile every time you see it.
Speaker 1: It's it's that type of vehicle. UM. Sounds like a
Speaker 1: small sports card and not like a motorcycle. And I'll
Speaker 1: tell you why. UM as we get to that UM shifting.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about shifting. I guess two as we go
Speaker 1: along here. But UM, it does have kind of a
Speaker 1: sequential shifter a lot like a motorcycle would. UM. But gosh,
Speaker 1: I think we're already getting a little bit ahead of
Speaker 1: ourselves because I want to UM give you a little
Speaker 1: bit of the company info, some of the background on
Speaker 1: this thing, and uh and let you know what it's
Speaker 1: all about. UM, if you haven't already looked it up,
Speaker 1: if you haven't already checked out, UM, you know vander
Speaker 1: hallt Motor Works, maybe you should do. So. You can
Speaker 1: go to vander hallt USA dot com and you can
Speaker 1: find just about anything and everything that you want there
Speaker 1: as far as information goes on these auto cycle vehicles. UM,
Speaker 1: auto cycles, I should say, you'll find a course of gallery.
Speaker 1: You know, it has lots of lots of photos and videos.
Speaker 1: You'll find UM an inventory of vehicles if you want
Speaker 1: to buy one. You'll find owners manuals, their model specs.
Speaker 1: You'll find dealer contacts. You know, just about everything that
Speaker 1: you could expect to find on a website you'll find there. UM.
Speaker 1: The company itself, vander Hall All Motor Works. It was
Speaker 1: founded in two thousand and ten, but they didn't really
Speaker 1: produce a vehicle until that two thousand and fifteen. And
Speaker 1: I'll tell you why in just a moment. But it
Speaker 1: is an American vehicle manufacturer that's based in of all places, Provo, Utah.
Speaker 1: Now I say of all places because I believe and
Speaker 1: this is according to uh, you know Jay Leno and
Speaker 1: the and the founder talking on on Jay Leno's garage. UH,
Speaker 1: this is apparently the only car that has ever been
Speaker 1: manufactured in Utah. Now I find that hard to believe
Speaker 1: because there were so many US auto manufacturers at the
Speaker 1: turn of the century. Um, I just can't believe that
Speaker 1: that none of them were out of Utah. But I
Speaker 1: guess this is the first and only car ever manufactured
Speaker 1: in Utah. The founder's name is Steve Hall. He's the CEO.
Speaker 1: And Steve was he happened to be a CAD designer
Speaker 1: at a company called Novotech now, um Novotech. He just
Speaker 1: so you know what Novotech is. It was Russia's or
Speaker 1: it is Russia's second largest natural gas producer, and it's
Speaker 1: based in Western Side area with it does have a
Speaker 1: sales office in Moscow. But I guess, Uh, Steve was
Speaker 1: designing or working on, um, you know, some designs for
Speaker 1: his vehicle at that time. And uh it again. It
Speaker 1: took him about five years from the founding of the company,
Speaker 1: uh the idea in two thousand ten up until about
Speaker 1: two thousand fifteen when he developed a vehicle called the
Speaker 1: vander Hall Laguna. And the Laguna is an interesting vehicle
Speaker 1: and it is one that essentially the rest of the
Speaker 1: line kind of follows the lagunas looks. It's it seems
Speaker 1: like they're a little bit more refined as we as
Speaker 1: we get, you know, a little bit later into production.
Speaker 1: And I think that the Laguna is actually a two
Speaker 1: thousand sixteen model year vehicle. But it was produced in
Speaker 1: two thousand and fifteen, or at least that was when
Speaker 1: it was it was developed. Um. You know again this
Speaker 1: this initial model of course as a three wheel roadster,
Speaker 1: and it again classified as a motorcycle. Um. But that
Speaker 1: is when it finally passed the testing for um, you know,
Speaker 1: the n h T s A and e p A
Speaker 1: certifications in around and they actually came up with three
Speaker 1: different models of the Laguna, And there was just the
Speaker 1: standard Laguna, and then there was also the Laguna Sport Premium,
Speaker 1: and then there was something called the Laguna Bespoke Motoring Experience.
Speaker 1: Now I can imagine that that one had just about
Speaker 1: all the bells and whistles they could possibly want on it. Um.
Speaker 1: Each one of these things featured a one point four
Speaker 1: leader two horsepower GM based four cylinder turbocharged engine and
Speaker 1: had a GM six ft automatic transmission. Now, remember when
Speaker 1: I said just a moment ago that um, you know,
Speaker 1: this is a this is a an auto cycle that
Speaker 1: does not sound like a motorcycle. It sounds more like
Speaker 1: a small sports car. The reason is, of course, because
Speaker 1: it does have this GM four cylinder engine which sits
Speaker 1: up front. And uh and these are these are front
Speaker 1: wheel drive cars, which is again kind of strange in
Speaker 1: the world of three wheel vehicles, but um, not completely
Speaker 1: unheard of. So just kind of an interesting turn there,
Speaker 1: I guess with that. Um, Now, the specs on this
Speaker 1: and and I'll i'll kind of described this vehicle to
Speaker 1: you as we get to because it is it is
Speaker 1: the first one, um you know, from Vanderhal motor Works,
Speaker 1: and they've developed these quite a bit as we as
Speaker 1: we start to look at the newer models. But um,
Speaker 1: the base price on these now and I'll tell you
Speaker 1: why it gets kind of expensive in just a moment.
Speaker 1: But the base price on this for the Laguna again,
Speaker 1: two thousand sixteen was the model year. The base price
Speaker 1: was forty nine thousand, nine d and fifty dollars, So
Speaker 1: we're talking about a fifty thousand dollar if you want
Speaker 1: to call it that. It's an essential. It's essentially a toy. Um,
Speaker 1: it's kind of a weekend car. It's definitely not not
Speaker 1: a a daily driver or a grocery getter or whatever
Speaker 1: you wanna call it. UM. The price as tested, according
Speaker 1: to Automobile magazine, This is back in July of the
Speaker 1: price as tested was seventies seven thousand dollars. So they
Speaker 1: must have had one of the higher end models, one
Speaker 1: of those Ringer cars that you often hear of the
Speaker 1: you know they hand out to the press to drive,
Speaker 1: you know, make sure that they're they're absolutely running perfect,
Speaker 1: they have every option available. UM. The engine, as we said,
Speaker 1: it was one point four leader turbo charged dual over
Speaker 1: a Camp sixteen valve in line four. It had two
Speaker 1: hundred horse power, and of course that two hundred horse
Speaker 1: powers coming from only PM. Now, I know that's sort
Speaker 1: of high, but it's not anywhere near what it would
Speaker 1: be if it was a motorcycle engine, you know, when
Speaker 1: we were talking about revs. Uh, you know, ten thousand
Speaker 1: or more, twelve thousand, fourteen thousands, something like that. UM
Speaker 1: two hundred two hundre pound feet of torque, which is
Speaker 1: decent for a small little vehicle like that. So I'm
Speaker 1: sure it was a quick car. UM. You know a
Speaker 1: lot of places, as we said, you know, we'll say
Speaker 1: it goes zero to sixty and less than five seconds,
Speaker 1: So um, you know, again pretty pretty snappy, pretty pretty
Speaker 1: quick car. This one in particular, it was it had
Speaker 1: two doors, which is not the case across the model
Speaker 1: line up now as we'll tell you in just a
Speaker 1: little while or towards the end of the podcast. UM
Speaker 1: two passengers also not the case with every one of
Speaker 1: these UH front engine, front wheel drive roadster. Of course
Speaker 1: we we talked about that mileage was decent, not not fantastic,
Speaker 1: but decent um at twenty four city and thirty two
Speaker 1: miles per gallon on the highway. Although I don't think
Speaker 1: you really care what the mileage is that you're getting
Speaker 1: out of one of these. It's just a fun vehicle
Speaker 1: to drive around. Very lightweight. Now this is where the
Speaker 1: base price UM is probably coming from. It why it's
Speaker 1: so expensive. And I know that these are you know,
Speaker 1: kind of custom built vehicles and uh um not all
Speaker 1: custom but more like more like boutique vehicles as as
Speaker 1: we'll discuss in just a second, but um a very
Speaker 1: lightweight and the reason is because UH Laguna had a
Speaker 1: hand laid carbon fiber body. Now that's something that they
Speaker 1: have stopped doing for the current model. Lineup. But again,
Speaker 1: a hand laid carbon fiber body is something that that
Speaker 1: makes vehicles pretty expensive because it is very time consuming
Speaker 1: to do something like this. It's it's an expensive process. Um,
Speaker 1: it's a labor intensive process. And manufacturers are starting to
Speaker 1: try to um to simplify this whole process so that
Speaker 1: you know, it becomes cheaper to create fiber body panels
Speaker 1: for whatever vehicle they're producing. You know, lightweight equals um
Speaker 1: you know, better, better performance, better miles per gallon all that.
Speaker 1: So a lot of manufacturers right now are searching for
Speaker 1: kind of the silver bullet on that and figuring out
Speaker 1: the best way to do it. Some have gotten very
Speaker 1: close to getting the cost down to exactly where they
Speaker 1: want it so that they can um, you know, produce
Speaker 1: and manufacturer these cars are much cheaper with you know,
Speaker 1: the performance and the and the mileage and all that
Speaker 1: that they need. Especially when you're talking about cafe restrictions
Speaker 1: coming in place and stuff, you're gonna need lighter weight vehicles,
Speaker 1: and aluminum doesn't always do the trick. Now, I just
Speaker 1: mentioned for a sect just over a second, I said
Speaker 1: something about boutique vehicles, and uh, I would guess that
Speaker 1: Vander holl does count as a boutique manufacturer. And if
Speaker 1: you want to think about other boutique manufacturers or you
Speaker 1: want something similar just to kind of compare it, you're
Speaker 1: talking about manufacturers like Hennessey or Icon or Shelby American
Speaker 1: or something like that, very low production numbers. But the
Speaker 1: vehicles are something special. There's something that are typically handbuilt. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, there's no assembly line production usually um, and
Speaker 1: they are you know, very well, very well appointed. I
Speaker 1: guess maybe that's the best way to put it. They
Speaker 1: have a lot of features and functions and personal touches
Speaker 1: that a lot of you know, your standard cars that
Speaker 1: are manufactured in mass on assembly lines just simply don't
Speaker 1: have because um, you know, of time, or or because
Speaker 1: of money concerns or gearing, what have you. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of reasons that that's something like that might might happen.
Speaker 1: And you know what we're gonna let I want to
Speaker 1: talk a little bit more about, um, these vehicles because
Speaker 1: we're getting to the point now where there are uh
Speaker 1: four or five Um schuffle a lot of paper here,
Speaker 1: so I hope you can't hear that, but uh, there
Speaker 1: are four or five models that that Vander Hall Motor
Speaker 1: Works is actually producing and or will be producing in
Speaker 1: the very very near future. Um. So they've got the
Speaker 1: they've got the vander Holl Laguna, which was in the
Speaker 1: Venice and teen. Then they had the Edison Squared which
Speaker 1: came out in teen. I bet you'll hear people refer
Speaker 1: to that as a Edison too. Um. There's a reason
Speaker 1: we'll talk about that and a bit. Uh. Then there's
Speaker 1: the Venice Speedster which came out ineen. And then there's
Speaker 1: something called the vander Hall Carmel uh that's coming out
Speaker 1: in twenty nine or has come out in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1: It I think it still says coming soon on the website,
Speaker 1: so maybe not quite yet. But you know, I do
Speaker 1: want to talk about the family of engines that are
Speaker 1: being used in these because there's some interesting stuff here
Speaker 1: as well. And I think we'll do that. But let's
Speaker 1: let's take a word from our sponsor first. And we're
Speaker 1: back and you're listening to the fast Track, and I'm
Speaker 1: your host, Scott Benjamin, and we were just talking about
Speaker 1: maybe discussing, uh, you know, the family of engines that
Speaker 1: that are that are fitted underneath the uh the bonnet.
Speaker 1: I guess if you want to call it that. Of
Speaker 1: the of these vehicles, these these specialty vehicles, and you know,
Speaker 1: it's funny, I haven't even really described them yet. UM,
Speaker 1: maybe I should do that. And they look they have
Speaker 1: like sort of like a mo we're gonna three wheeler
Speaker 1: look without the the engine up front, you know, the
Speaker 1: exposed engine up front. UM. I said that their front
Speaker 1: wheel drive. And they do have some fenders up front,
Speaker 1: which is sometimes unique in these vehicles. UM, They're not
Speaker 1: always covered like that, and it's kind of nice that
Speaker 1: they are just for you know, road debris, rocks, that
Speaker 1: type of stuff to get flipped back up on you. UM.
Speaker 1: A couple of them have doors, a couple of them
Speaker 1: don't have doors, and we'll discuss those when we get
Speaker 1: to the models. UM, I believe it or not, that's
Speaker 1: a luxury feature in these vehicles, and the door is
Speaker 1: a luxury feature. In fact, a second seat is kind
Speaker 1: of a luxury feature in some of these. It depending
Speaker 1: on how you look at it. And I'd kind of
Speaker 1: like to leave that as a question for the end
Speaker 1: of this whole podcast them, so we'll definitely get to
Speaker 1: it and discuss that. But UM, let's first, let's let's
Speaker 1: talk about these engines. The engine that is being used,
Speaker 1: it's actually a whole family, the one that UM is
Speaker 1: being used in this one. I believe it has a
Speaker 1: designation LUV, and I've seen that described as as Love
Speaker 1: in the past, but I don't know if people actually
Speaker 1: say love. It's probably just LUV. And then there's another
Speaker 1: questionable thing here, and I'll tell you why I question
Speaker 1: what this is. It says the GM Family zero engine,
Speaker 1: which I don't know if it's zero or if it's
Speaker 1: actually OH, because the family if I say Family Oh,
Speaker 1: the Family OH is a family of inline piston engines
Speaker 1: that was developed by the company Opal when they at
Speaker 1: the time when they were a subsidiary General Motors, which
Speaker 1: is up until just very recently. I want to say,
Speaker 1: it was like, um, just off the top of my head,
Speaker 1: like somewhere in there when Opal was still owned by
Speaker 1: General Motors. And it's all it is, really is. It's
Speaker 1: a low displacement engine that's used on entry level subcon
Speaker 1: subcompact cars from Opal and Vauxhall and they've developed that
Speaker 1: engine for use on these on these vander Hall speedsters
Speaker 1: or vander Hall vehicles. I should say, and um, you
Speaker 1: know all the auto cycles. Um. Can we pause here
Speaker 1: just for a second so I can tell you about
Speaker 1: a UM just kind of a side note, I guess
Speaker 1: my dad had an Opal Manta when I was growing up,
Speaker 1: and it was actually Amanta A if you want to
Speaker 1: be specific about it. And I'm not sure exactly wight year.
Speaker 1: It was in nineteen seventy nineteen seventy five. That's all
Speaker 1: I know, because it was definitely the Manta A. And
Speaker 1: if you want to look them up online, they're they're
Speaker 1: kind of a cool looking old vehicle. Now, it was
Speaker 1: a German car. UM it was. It was orange, had
Speaker 1: a black top on it, kind of a it was
Speaker 1: a hard top, but it had a black um. I
Speaker 1: I don't know he's called leather or whatever that is
Speaker 1: on top, the swede or whatever they put on there.
Speaker 1: But that's the car that I learned to shift in.
Speaker 1: So there's kind of a special place, uh special place
Speaker 1: you know, in in my mind for that vehicle and
Speaker 1: some good memories in that car. Was very small, had
Speaker 1: a back seat, but it was very very small, two door,
Speaker 1: and it was just kind of a cool looking vehicle.
Speaker 1: And uh again, learning to shift from the passenger seat
Speaker 1: was kind of fun. You know, I found out, you know,
Speaker 1: found kind of the rhythm of shifting and and we
Speaker 1: had some good times in that car. It was it
Speaker 1: was not a very expensive car, obviously, it was kind
Speaker 1: of a cheaply made car. Really. Uh you know the
Speaker 1: cold cold winters, those vinyl seats would good crack and
Speaker 1: splinter and you know you had to put seat covers
Speaker 1: on in the summertime, just seat and cut yourself on that.
Speaker 1: But um or stick to them. Really that was another problem.
Speaker 1: Um when you're wearing shorts as a terrible problem with
Speaker 1: final seats. Um and leather too, I guess. But it
Speaker 1: was just a fun vehicle. And uh, I know it's
Speaker 1: a side note that's not meant for everybody, but if
Speaker 1: you ever get a chance to look up in the
Speaker 1: opal man to do it, because um, I just think
Speaker 1: it's a it's an interesting vehicle with a lot of
Speaker 1: people don't have a whole lot of knowledge about now
Speaker 1: and uh um it's kind of a fun thing to
Speaker 1: just check out, you know, looking back. But these engines,
Speaker 1: getting back to them, they're they're a gasoline engine. They're
Speaker 1: not a diesel engine. And the cool thing about this
Speaker 1: is they're they're cast iron block, which you might think, okay,
Speaker 1: cast iron, it's gonna be heavy, but they say it's
Speaker 1: a lightweight cast iron block. UM. I don't know exactly
Speaker 1: how you can call a lightweight a cast iron block lightweight,
Speaker 1: but I suppose because it's only a four cylinder, it's
Speaker 1: relatively small. It does, however, have an aluminum cylinder head,
Speaker 1: and and that's really good. It has a dual leverhead camshafts,
Speaker 1: of course, as you would expect by now and UH
Speaker 1: and four valves per cylinder. Not a whole lot more
Speaker 1: to to say in general all about this car, other than,
Speaker 1: you know, when we get into some of the generations,
Speaker 1: with some going to UM, there's some specifics that we
Speaker 1: need to talk about, you know, later versions of this engine,
Speaker 1: which we'll talk about in in a moment when we
Speaker 1: get to generation three, because there were three total or
Speaker 1: there have been three total. UH. Later generations have a
Speaker 1: variable length intake manifold and also variable valve timing. So
Speaker 1: that's some some modern features that they put in these
Speaker 1: UH these older engines, I suppose, because they did come
Speaker 1: out around n and I think the first vehicle, the
Speaker 1: first one, first generation of the family O Engine. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna keep calling it, oh because I think that's the
Speaker 1: right way. Um came out in a nine Opal Coursa
Speaker 1: and it was available Eiser either as a three cylinder engine,
Speaker 1: which was a one Leader straight three engine, or as
Speaker 1: a four cylinder engine, which was a one point two
Speaker 1: leaders straight four. UM. Now, this was Opal's first three
Speaker 1: cylinder engine two, which makes it kind of unique. So
Speaker 1: that was kind of interesting, I guess in the Family
Speaker 1: O engine history. From there it was it was I
Speaker 1: don't know, several years up until about two thousand two
Speaker 1: when they launched the generation to family Oh uh, Family
Speaker 1: O engine and this one this wasn't of course, it
Speaker 1: was an updated engine that featured something called twin ports technology.
Speaker 1: Now that twin it was actually twin intake ports with
Speaker 1: a choke closing one of the ports at low rpm,
Speaker 1: which gave it a kind of like a strong air
Speaker 1: swirl pattern for higher torque levels and better fuel economy.
Speaker 1: So it had a couple of decent benefits and uh um,
Speaker 1: of course you know it's also later, I guess the
Speaker 1: crankshaft and oil galleries were redesigned to um um kind
Speaker 1: of lower the power loss that was resulting from that,
Speaker 1: and of course again increased fuel economy. It was all
Speaker 1: about increasing fuel economy and still is really uh, they're
Speaker 1: still trying to do that, but you know, these are
Speaker 1: these are just like small little additions to these engines
Speaker 1: as we as we grow or as they grow. Here. Um,
Speaker 1: the next one is called the Eco Flex engine and
Speaker 1: that's Generation three and this was introduced in two thousand eight,
Speaker 1: and I believe that that is the one that is
Speaker 1: in the current vander Hall vander Hall Speedster. It's version
Speaker 1: of the twin Port which has been tuned for better
Speaker 1: fuel economy and even lower emissions. And it was introduced
Speaker 1: again in two thousand and eight as a and there
Speaker 1: was a one leader engine in two thousand ten, but
Speaker 1: for model year two thousand twelve, the Equo Flex engines
Speaker 1: were updated with double cam phasing in this Gen three
Speaker 1: block and of course, you know, again better fuel economy,
Speaker 1: lower emissions, that was the goal there. These were used
Speaker 1: and I guess you can probably you can probably picture
Speaker 1: some of the cars that these engines were used in
Speaker 1: or the types of engines. Uh. They were used in
Speaker 1: what GM called its Delta two platform, and this was
Speaker 1: like the Cavalier the Vault, the Cruise UM in the
Speaker 1: opal line I believe is the opal Astra, and there
Speaker 1: were others as along the way as well. But these
Speaker 1: were a turbo charged version of the one point four
Speaker 1: Leader engine. And these are the ones I believe that
Speaker 1: are used again in the vent of Speedster and probably
Speaker 1: models going forward for a while. UM. But they were
Speaker 1: UM or they do they are I should say, uh,
Speaker 1: double variable cam phasing engines. And again I believe the
Speaker 1: speeds are uses one of these turbo charged engines. So
Speaker 1: that is one of the benefits of this. Now, if
Speaker 1: you want to look up information about the Family Zero
Speaker 1: as they call it, or Family oh Uh, you can
Speaker 1: do a simple keyword search and find out all the uh,
Speaker 1: all the information about these the cast iron block, you know,
Speaker 1: the the aluminum head material. You can find out all
Speaker 1: the displacements that they had along the way, you know,
Speaker 1: the the changes throughout there. That's just kind of a
Speaker 1: brief history, and you know, I think that might be
Speaker 1: all I really have to say about the engines other
Speaker 1: than you know, maybe we'll mention them here when we
Speaker 1: get to some of the Vanderholt models. And and I
Speaker 1: want to describe to you several of these models, you know,
Speaker 1: the pricing and uh, just you know some of what
Speaker 1: makes them unique and interesting and and we'll do that
Speaker 1: after we take another word from our sponsor, and we're
Speaker 1: back and you're listening to the fast Track, and I'm
Speaker 1: your host, Scott Benjamin, and I think that just before
Speaker 1: the break, we were saying that we wanted to talk
Speaker 1: about the models and uh, and that's what I'd love
Speaker 1: to do. Now we've kind of discussed the Laguna a
Speaker 1: little more at length, uh than I thought we would
Speaker 1: buy this by this point in episode. But I do
Speaker 1: wanted to. I do want to bring back the idea
Speaker 1: that the Laguna was kind of this this flagship model.
Speaker 1: It was released in two thousands sixteen again and I
Speaker 1: did have this hand laid carbon fiber body and it
Speaker 1: had other patented components to which included a non welded
Speaker 1: cross hatch front grill and something called a tabin slot
Speaker 1: aluminum monocoque chassis. Now that's pretty interesting. I think they
Speaker 1: I want to say that they stuck with that monocoque
Speaker 1: chassis uh throughout the lineup, but it doesn't specifically call
Speaker 1: that out yet, so UM, I'll have to take a
Speaker 1: look through the vehicle specs on the website and and
Speaker 1: check that out for you. But um again, they started
Speaker 1: to release new vehicles as as time progress. Of course,
Speaker 1: as most manufacturers would, in these boutique manufacturers, they have
Speaker 1: to kind of keep up with what people want, and
Speaker 1: in they came up with something called the vander Hall Venice.
Speaker 1: Now that the Venice is a little bit different. There
Speaker 1: are no doors on the Venice. It's a like a
Speaker 1: step over belt line vehicle. So you can understand how
Speaker 1: low these cars are to the ground. They're they're extremely low. Um,
Speaker 1: even if you're not a very all person, they still
Speaker 1: seem pretty low. You're able to get in and out
Speaker 1: of them pretty easy from what I understand. Um. Again,
Speaker 1: it has this uh, this GM UH four cylinder engine.
Speaker 1: This is where they discussed the the Love engine and
Speaker 1: the LUV version of the engine and uh, you know
Speaker 1: that's GM's family of one point four leader turbo charged engines. Uh.
Speaker 1: It's a hundred and eighty horsepower version of that of that,
Speaker 1: and again made it to a GM six ft automatic transmission.
Speaker 1: And it does have um something that I don't know
Speaker 1: if we've even discussed this other than just mentioning briefly
Speaker 1: at the beginning. UM, it does have this optional sequential
Speaker 1: manual shifting option that you can you can add on
Speaker 1: and I believe that is uh that's a left handed
Speaker 1: operated thing. And it's up kind of on the sill
Speaker 1: of the vehicle, like where you would step over to
Speaker 1: get into the car. And it's just kind of a
Speaker 1: bump shifter. It's an up down almost like uh gosh,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to think of the uh, the brand names
Speaker 1: of these things, but you know, like the the the
Speaker 1: bump shift, the UM auto stick or whatever you want
Speaker 1: to call it, where you just you push you know,
Speaker 1: forward for you know, up shift and backward for down shift. UM.
Speaker 1: It's kind of a sequential thing. But it's not exactly
Speaker 1: that way. Uh, not not like you'd find on a
Speaker 1: like a on on a motorcycle, but but very close
Speaker 1: something similar. Uh. The next line, Our next vehicle that
Speaker 1: they came out with was something called the Edison Squared
Speaker 1: or Edison two vehicle. And uh, the Edison two or
Speaker 1: Edison Squared came out in two thousands seventeen, and they
Speaker 1: previewed this one at the Long Beach International Motorcycle Show,
Speaker 1: which makes sense because it is an autocycle, and there
Speaker 1: were a lot of fans of motorcycles that are interested
Speaker 1: in autocycles as well. But they also brought it to
Speaker 1: the Consumer Electronics Show where CS that was happening out
Speaker 1: in Las Vegas. So if you happen to go to
Speaker 1: that show, you might be familiar with the Edison too.
Speaker 1: And what makes this model different, this model year Edison
Speaker 1: two different is that it has the equivalent of a
Speaker 1: hundred night total horsepower, but it doesn't. It doesn't essentially
Speaker 1: have a hundred eighty horsepow. I'll tell you why. You
Speaker 1: might have already guessed this. It has twin electric motors,
Speaker 1: so this is an all electric version. It was matched
Speaker 1: with a thirty killer wat our battery, which gave it
Speaker 1: a two hundred mile range, which is actually not bad. Uh,
Speaker 1: that's a pretty decent range for any electric vehicle. I mean,
Speaker 1: some of the the upper end Tesla models are getting
Speaker 1: like three and fifty miles or three miles depending on
Speaker 1: you know which version you get um and I know
Speaker 1: that they're always extending that, so maybe even farther at
Speaker 1: this point, but two hundred mile range out of something
Speaker 1: like this, I think is is pretty decent. Pretty good.
Speaker 1: And then in two thousand and seventeen this is this
Speaker 1: is where I kind of kind of came in contact
Speaker 1: with us for the first time. I hadn't really heard
Speaker 1: of it in all the way through about eighteen when
Speaker 1: they developed something called the Venice Speedster, and that is
Speaker 1: ah um, I believe that's where I saw it um
Speaker 1: on the j Lenos, the jay Lenos garage, and I
Speaker 1: think that's the that's the one this actually came out in.
Speaker 1: Uh says, I don't know if it's a ten or
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen model. I think it's a twenty nineteen model year.
Speaker 1: But they announced this back in August at the Surgis Rally,
Speaker 1: which was happening in South Dakota. Of course we all
Speaker 1: know when Sturgis happens at the motorcycle Rally. But the
Speaker 1: Venice Speedster is kind of like a a minimalist version
Speaker 1: of the Venice from seventeen. So think about think about
Speaker 1: taking even what you know about the Venice with you know,
Speaker 1: the car with no doors and uh, you know, very
Speaker 1: very pared down vehicle already they've even made it less
Speaker 1: than that. And and by less in some cases I
Speaker 1: mean more, because to me, this is one of the
Speaker 1: cooler things. Um. Okay, first of all, it shares that
Speaker 1: at one point four leader D eight horsepower engine and
Speaker 1: the six speed automatic. However, it's a single seat sports car.
Speaker 1: And I love this about this vehicle. The Speedster is
Speaker 1: a single seat car, and it has kind of a
Speaker 1: hard cover over where the passenger would normally sit, and
Speaker 1: that becomes a um, a cargo area, like just a
Speaker 1: little cabin area that you can store stuff. You know,
Speaker 1: you can even I think you can even put They
Speaker 1: always say this, but you can put a golf bag
Speaker 1: in there if you want to. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: don't know if any people are really carrying their golf
Speaker 1: bag in there, but maybe so. Anyways, you can use
Speaker 1: it for groceries or whatever whatever you want. Uh. You
Speaker 1: could even tuck a small person in there, I suppose,
Speaker 1: but probably not not legal. I just love there's something
Speaker 1: I love about single seat sports cars, single seat race
Speaker 1: cars even and um just just on a quick side note,
Speaker 1: and I won't make much of this because I think
Speaker 1: a lot of returning car stuff listeners already know this,
Speaker 1: but I owned a nineteen sixty six MG. It was
Speaker 1: an arcly bodied MG. It was kind of like a
Speaker 1: midget and it had a tunnel cover a lot like this.
Speaker 1: This is a hardcover, though, but mine was a soft
Speaker 1: cover and you could uncover or you could cover, i
Speaker 1: should say, the convertible part of the whole car if
Speaker 1: you wanted to, for protection from the elements or just uh,
Speaker 1: you know, prying eyes or whatever. You could also just
Speaker 1: unzipped the area around the driver so you could have
Speaker 1: kind of just a driver single cockpit area that you know,
Speaker 1: you could kind of operate underneath this cover. And it
Speaker 1: was really really cool. I just love driving around like that.
Speaker 1: It was just there was something about it. There was
Speaker 1: so much fun. Uh that you know, everybody knew there
Speaker 1: was another seat under there, but it sure looked like
Speaker 1: a one seater, you know to me, and it felt
Speaker 1: like a one seater and I thought it was. It
Speaker 1: was pretty cool. Um. Anyway, let's move on to the
Speaker 1: next one. And uh, and I'm not gonna mispronounce this.
Speaker 1: This is that this is a model called the Caramel
Speaker 1: and it's c A R M E L. It's caramel.
Speaker 1: It's not caramel like the like the candy. And I
Speaker 1: did look this up because I was curious about this.
Speaker 1: So just for those of you that are curious, as
Speaker 1: I was caramel. Um, if you know, if you spell
Speaker 1: it that way with an A in the middle, that
Speaker 1: is for food or colors only. It's if it's caramel
Speaker 1: with no A in the middle, it's c A R
Speaker 1: M E L. Like this car is. Um, it's only
Speaker 1: misspelled if you use it for food and colors. But
Speaker 1: it's also correct. It's spelled correctly if you use it
Speaker 1: for people or places. And UM, I would guess things
Speaker 1: this this vehicle is a thing, and uh, it's it's
Speaker 1: definitely a caramel and the caramel has more luxury, more
Speaker 1: convenience features added to it. So if you're looking for
Speaker 1: a kind of the top end vander Holt model, this
Speaker 1: is supposedly coming out in twenty nineteen. I don't know
Speaker 1: if it already ha as or not. Again, the website
Speaker 1: is saying coming soon, I believe, or actually you know what,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, it's already been updated. Um, it is already
Speaker 1: out there. So I had misspoken before, but no worries. UM,
Speaker 1: check out the website and you'll see it there. Um.
Speaker 1: It has things like you know, wider it what has
Speaker 1: front entry doors, It has a wider cabin um it
Speaker 1: has provisions to accommodate removable canvas top like you know,
Speaker 1: for a sunshade if you want, which is something kind
Speaker 1: of unique. I believe the Laguna had something similar to
Speaker 1: that as well back in uh when that was launched.
Speaker 1: But again this one has just a little bit more
Speaker 1: to it, and with that you can also get a
Speaker 1: different engine. This one has a two horsepower GM one
Speaker 1: point five leader turbo charged engine. Again a four cylinder engine,
Speaker 1: six ft automatic transmission and uh, you know all that.
Speaker 1: I I think I want to say that this is
Speaker 1: the the GM SGE Engines, which stands for of all
Speaker 1: things SGE Small gasolene Engine. I don't know why they
Speaker 1: couldn't get more creative with their engine naming than that,
Speaker 1: but um it's the SGE family of engines, and I
Speaker 1: believe it was um developed by several companies including um
Speaker 1: OPAL and MG and Shanghai GM, and just there's a
Speaker 1: whole grouping of people that are companies rather that got
Speaker 1: together to create the s G E and I think
Speaker 1: that's the one. Again, it's a two horsepower versions. So
Speaker 1: if you're looking for a little bit more power and
Speaker 1: more luxury options, if you want to put it that way. UM,
Speaker 1: the Caramel is your vehicle when you're looking at the
Speaker 1: vander Hall lineup, and UM, I do have a copy
Speaker 1: here in front of me, and I promise we're almost done, folks.
Speaker 1: But I really think the best way for you to
Speaker 1: get an understanding of what these things look like, UM,
Speaker 1: if you really want to, UM, you know, check them
Speaker 1: out and get some more I don't know, I guess
Speaker 1: some more detail on on what you're beginning for your money.
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you about the money right now. UM.
Speaker 1: Check out the website and go to the models tab
Speaker 1: and you can find out exactly what they're all about.
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you which ones are the least expensive
Speaker 1: options on this list and the and the most expensive
Speaker 1: as we get to them. But they have they offer
Speaker 1: a full line of UM Venice vehicles. I don't believe
Speaker 1: they're still offering the Laguna model. I think that is
Speaker 1: sold out. That's kind of done. That's a concluded model.
Speaker 1: But they've moved on to the Venice. And in the
Speaker 1: Venice you can get the standard Venice, which, uh, here's
Speaker 1: the bad news. The prices start from about twenty nine thousand,
Speaker 1: nine fifty dollars, so that's about a thirty thousand dollar toy,
Speaker 1: do you want to put it that way. The least
Speaker 1: expensive vehicle on the lineup is actually the the Venice
Speaker 1: Speedster that's single seater that we talked about just a
Speaker 1: moment ago, and that one is is based starting at fifties,
Speaker 1: so around twenty seven thousand dollars if you want to
Speaker 1: get into the Venice Speedster, and personally right now, out
Speaker 1: of all the vehicles in that lineup, just my two cents,
Speaker 1: the Venice Speedster is probably one of the coolest looking
Speaker 1: ones there at this point. Um. Then there's a couple, actually,
Speaker 1: there's a couple there that might be more interesting in
Speaker 1: the near future though, because there is going to be
Speaker 1: the Venice R and the Venice Speedster R which are
Speaker 1: coming out soon. Of course, are racing. We're talking about that,
Speaker 1: and that's coming in according to the website. The Edison Edison,
Speaker 1: i should say, is the one that we told you about,
Speaker 1: the Edison too, and that one is already out there,
Speaker 1: and that it's a little bit more expensive as as
Speaker 1: we'll find in with a lot of electric vehicles, you know,
Speaker 1: as we talk about some of these faster vehicles that
Speaker 1: are there electric powered um. That one starts the base
Speaker 1: price starts at thirty four nine fifties, so we're talking
Speaker 1: just under just a thirty five thousand dollars if you
Speaker 1: want to get an electric version of the of the
Speaker 1: vander Hall. Uh. There's something called the Edison four coming up. Now,
Speaker 1: that's why I've been saying Edison too instead of Edison squared. Uh.
Speaker 1: The Edison four is coming out and that should be
Speaker 1: in as well, and I would guess another little price
Speaker 1: bump for that one, if I if I had to
Speaker 1: guess now to date, as we just discussed, the Caramel,
Speaker 1: as you can imagine, is the the most expensive option
Speaker 1: on the on the model's list here, and that one
Speaker 1: begins the prices start around thirty So you're talking about
Speaker 1: again a forty thou dollar car um for something that
Speaker 1: wouldn't necessarily be good for commuting, but it might be
Speaker 1: a heck of a lot of fun for you to own.
Speaker 1: And Uh, I would really I would really love to
Speaker 1: just get some seat time in one of these, just
Speaker 1: to see what they're all about. You know, I'll tell you, Um,
Speaker 1: I don't know, if I have a whole lot of
Speaker 1: more information, I do want to conclude with a couple
Speaker 1: of questions here at the end. But first I want
Speaker 1: to let you know how you can contact us or
Speaker 1: how you can you know, reach us and kind of
Speaker 1: keep in touch with what we're doing here or even
Speaker 1: give us a little bit of feedback. We are on
Speaker 1: Twitter we are the fast Track Pod, and on Facebook
Speaker 1: and on Instagram we are the Fast Track Show. Very
Speaker 1: soon we'll have a lot of stuff there for you
Speaker 1: to check out. And uh, I mentioned, you know, just
Speaker 1: in passing that I would like to kind of wrap
Speaker 1: this whole thing up with a question for you. And
Speaker 1: my question is this. You know, UM, I've seen it
Speaker 1: written a lot of places that I've read a lot
Speaker 1: of these reports about this vehicle. And and when we
Speaker 1: get to talking about the the Venice Speedster, some places
Speaker 1: have said that the Venice Speedster has a problem. And
Speaker 1: that problem is that you know, there's only one seat.
Speaker 1: You know that you can't take anybody with you. You
Speaker 1: can't you know, for your money, you're you're getting just
Speaker 1: transportation for one instead of transportation for potentially to um
Speaker 1: no more than two, because there's just no way you can.
Speaker 1: You'll you'll understand when you see the vehicle, UM, but
Speaker 1: I want to know, like, what do you think. I mean,
Speaker 1: do you think that it's a problem that the venice
Speaker 1: speeds there is a single seater or do you do
Speaker 1: you like that? Because I don't think it's a problem.
Speaker 1: I think it's actually a benefit. If you want that car. Uh,
Speaker 1: if you want that that type of vehicle, I should say,
Speaker 1: by that type of vehicle, if you want a single seater,
Speaker 1: I mean you have to have some some foresight and
Speaker 1: you know, understanding. You know, Okay, maybe I don't want
Speaker 1: to have somebody with me all the time, or I
Speaker 1: want to take this thing to the racetrack and and
Speaker 1: use it, you know, in in club events or you
Speaker 1: know whatever. Um, I don't see this as a problem, really,
Speaker 1: I see it it kind of as a as a
Speaker 1: benefit in some way. Some of the other models have
Speaker 1: some benefits of as well, and some some downsides I think. So, Um,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from anybody out there that has
Speaker 1: an opinion on that, and uh and also just kind
Speaker 1: of you know, right to me and and let me
Speaker 1: know what you think of the show so far. I
Speaker 1: know that it's a lot like car stuff, but we're
Speaker 1: gonna have a much more narrowed focus in that we're
Speaker 1: gonna try to stick to fast things and fast cars
Speaker 1: and fast people and you know, all the technology and
Speaker 1: engineering and all that fun stuff that that makes us
Speaker 1: go fast, rather than you know, having the broad scope
Speaker 1: of car stuff. So if you like that idea, let
Speaker 1: me know. I'd like to hear that as well. And
Speaker 1: um gosh, I just want to say thanks to everybody
Speaker 1: who is a car stuff listener, that is has transitioning
Speaker 1: over to listening to this as well or instead, I
Speaker 1: don't know. Um, and anybody's a brand new listener, I
Speaker 1: just want to welcome you to and uh and again
Speaker 1: I just want to say thanks for listening.