Tyler Epp on F1 Miami Grand Prix; G-Wagon vs Urus Hybrid

Hannah Elliott and Matt Miller talk about the launch of the electric Mercedes-Benz G Wagon in LA and Lamborghini's new Urus Hybrid SUV. Plus, Tyler Epp, the head of the F1 Miami Grand Prix, joins to share the best ways to see and experience the race in May, and his take on auto racing in America. And Matt comes to tears over the Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
I'm Matt Miller and I'm Hannah Elliott, and this is
Hot Pursuit.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
All right, we have a very cool episode for you today.
We're going to talk with Tyler f who is. He's
running basically the F one event, the whole thing in Miami, right.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, big, He's the guy at the top. He's the
guy you want to call if you want to have
a helicopter drop you in the middle.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Awesome, Kim, Yeah, although I think that would be expensive,
not that no one will do it, but also you
went to a really cool event, a g Wagon event yesterday,
and we're both admittedly fans of at least the ic
version of the g Wagon.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yes, And I have to say, though this electric version
is getting so much hate online. It's brutal out there.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
It's corona. I have to say, the hate makes me
want to like it even more.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
So we'll get to that great contrarian.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
And we'll talk about Lamborghini, because, speaking of electrification, they're
introducing did they show it last night or did they
is it just leaking Beijing in Beijing? So an Urus
which Ibrid is my least favorite Lamborghini hybrid, which I
think is good. So maybe I'll like the new Ors
better than I like the old Ors.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
But maybe.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
And you had a Lamborghini in a drive day.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
Oh and I spent four precious days driving a Lamborghini
Hurcon s Dorado. I will say it is the most
fun I've had in a car in recent memory. Like
I drove the evented door on the F one track
in Barcelona. That was awesome, but it was like almost
ten years ago, so I don't remember it.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
You know, I don't remember things from a year ago.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
Let's talk first about so you're you're in LA and
you go to this Mercedes event launch the G Wagon.
Just tell us about, like where it was and what
it was like, because I saw that you had Willow
with you.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yes, okay, so Mercedes.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
And Willow is your dog? Just yes.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Mercedes had a big day yesterday for press that involved
multiple round tables with all of their top people, and
then in the evening a big party to celebrate the
launch of the electric G Wagon. It's called the G
five eighty with EQ Technology, which is the most awkward

(02:23):
and terrible name, but that is the actual name. But
we're just going to call it the Electric G.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
Well, you can also just call it the G five eighty,
and that I think makes more sense because they use
the five eighty power train already in the S class,
and in there's a GLS five eighty.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Basically the power rating is like yes, horsepower, Yeah, it's
like five seventy nine, but basically yes. So they have
an awkward name. We'll call it the G five eighty
for for our purposes. And they throw it in this
huge park off of them all Holland called Franklin Canyon Park.
It's technically in Beverly Hills. It's sort of wear Cold

(03:00):
Water Canyon and W'llholland meet and there's a big reservoir.
It's an amazing park and it's amazing. It's got amazing
trails and dog runs and everything. Yeah. I went to
the round tables during the day. I go home, I
changed clothes, I put on a warm coat and a hat,
and you know, bring the dog because it's a it's
an outdoor, big dog park and it ends up being

(03:24):
basically a Travis Scott concert.

Speaker 4 (03:27):
What.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yeah, in the park they first of all, Bradley Cooper
was there, Trevor Noah was there, Tracy Ellis Ross Evan Ross,
like George Russell. It's like a la party and they
bring out the g wagon they built. They've built a
bridge on the reservoir. They first wanted to make it
so that the g would roll out under like two

(03:50):
inches of water, but I guess the logistics for that
didn't work, so they built a bridge and the g
rolls out finally after you like an hour of swirling, sham,
pain and everything. And of course Willa loved it. She's
a German dog at a German car launch, so she
loved it. But they finally bring it out and it's
like there's all this smoke on the water and Travis

(04:12):
Scott gets out and starts like doing a full on
Coachella style performance. I mean, they might as well have
just launched this thing at Coachella, because that's at this point,
that's the direction.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
We were going and is now right?

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah yeah, last weekend he's standing on the card like
it's quite loud. So we actually didn't stay very long because, honestly,
for Willow's ears, I was a little concerned. She wasn't
it was past her bedtime and she wasn't in the
right frame of mind for a Travis Scott concert that is.
But it was a big bash and I think, honestly

(04:47):
it reminded me of in twenty eighteen when they unveiled
the new generation of the G Wagon in this huge
old theater in Detroit and they had pyrotechnics and Arnold
Schwarzenegger was there, and that was the single best car
line I've ever been to in my life. It was
so cool, and I think that they were like going
for that effect with this one too. I'm not sure

(05:09):
it was quite on the same level, but it was
a spectacle. It was quite something.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
It's so they're they're definitely doing nothing to get away
from the kind of rapper Kardashian and like dry G classes.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
In the US.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
In the US, well in Germany too. I had the
G five hundred, was here's the G five fifty And
by the way, those are the same car, so it's
I don't understand why they have different monikers. But anyway
out there, everybody who drives one, you're basically either mobbed
up or like you're a rapper.

Speaker 4 (05:40):
Right.

Speaker 1 (05:41):
It's the same kind of image that I guess it
has in la which is unfortunate because it's such a
cool utilitarian vehicle, but it's so expensive that it's you know,
you've got a mortgage your house and sell a kidney
to afford one.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
You know what I always used to say, and this
is just a side but even you know, for years
I would say, I love Porsche. It's too bad about
the people who own Porschas, and it's not fair that
this amazing machine has been co opted by like people
you don't want to hang out with, because it's a
really cool car and you shouldn't judge the car based

(06:14):
on the people who buy it. And I think this
might also apply for the G as well, because it's
a total killer machine and yet it has a certain
reputation in certain enclaves. But that's not going to stop
me from recognizing that it's amazing.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
Well, I will say, first of all, people like Magnets
have changed that for Porscha, and there hasn't been anyone
like that to change it for the G class.

Speaker 3 (06:39):
You know.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yeah, I mean it'll be really interesting to see, so
see how the electric G does.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
Yeah, let's get by the way, let's get to the specs,
because I think it's there's been so much hate, as
you pointed out, but when I look through the specs,
it looks really cool. There's a different motor for every wheel.
There's four ediffs, so there's only three locking diffs on
the gas g Wagon. So and it can like spin
around on a dime.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
Yes, it is actually more capable off road than the
conventional engine G Wagon. I drove it last year. I
will lay down that bragging right. I've already I drove
the pre production prototype. I drove it in Austria. It
is wildly capable. There's nothing to laugh about this is
this is a very extremely capable machine. The question really

(07:30):
is whether people want it. I mean it doesn't. First
of all, the vast majority of people who buy a
G wagon are not going to be taking it off
road anyway. So the fact that it's slightly more capable
than the combustion engine G wagon is a nice bragging right,
But practically speaking, I'm not convinced that a lot of
G Wagon owners will care about that. The big question

(07:51):
for me with Mercedes is how flexible are you guys
going to be if six months from now you realize
nobody wants this thing? Right, We've seen the electric hummer
and the electric F one fifty make big splashes when
they debut, and then they sort of quietly fade to
black because nobody's buying them. I'm not convinced that in

(08:16):
a year from now we may sort of see the
electric g fade. This is maybe a prediction. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
I think it fords more water than the gas g wagon.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
Like, yeah, it's very capable.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
I think it's fascinating. But obviously you make a great
point that people who buy them typically aren't taking them
off road because they're so expensive you don't want to
dent it.

Speaker 2 (08:38):
Rather no, and you know, Mercedes is saying, well, this
is a great application for hunters because it's very quiet
and you can take it out take the G wagon hunting,
which I understand in Germany and Germany and Austria there
may be a lot of G wagon owners who are
taking their g hunting, But I you know, Beverly Hills
specifically is the biggest gew wagon market in the biggest

(09:00):
G wagon state, in the biggest G wagon country in
the world, and I'm I don't hear a lot of
G wagon owners saying they're taking it hunting.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
Well, I guess yeah, it's going to be soccer moms
and soccer dads who are extremely wealthy, and this way
they can signal two things to their neighbors. A. I
have a lot of money, and B I care about
the environment because I bought an EV So yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
It's and let's say the starting price is around one
hundred and fifty two thousand. I think you know there
are AMG version, Night package versions, exclusive manufacturer versions that
will be even more costly. So this is an expensive
machine already. If you take out the my box in
the Mercedes lineup, the G Wagon is their most expensive

(09:47):
offering already. There's a lot of profit that Mercedes make
us off of this vehicle. They say that they expect
that they will be making profit also off the electric version,
but they also ever executive I spoke with yesterday was
very careful to say, we're listening to our customers. We're
maintaining flexibility. The g is made on the same line

(10:09):
and the same factory as the electric one and the
conventionally powered one. They're all on the same line, so
they can sort of easily move it on or off
the line as needed. And I think that's by signed.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
One hundred and fifty two grand to start isn't as
shocking as it would have been pre pandemic, considering the
insane amount of car price inflation we've seen. The base Carrera,
which doesn't even come with a limited slip differential, is
one hundred and fifteen grand before you add Obviously you
have to add options. That's the way Porsche works, so
you don't get to build a base that's drivable until

(10:43):
it's like one forty. The Kara Tea, which is supposed
to be the affordable version, is one twenty five before
you've added anything.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
So that's a lot of money.

Speaker 1 (10:51):
It's I mean, so one fifty two doesn't sound quite
as bad as it once would have. By the way,
I drove a car that offends everybody in the neighborhood
and costs way more to start, the Lamborghini Hurrican Sterrato
I had for the last week. You've driven this, I'm
pretty sure I read your piece on it like a

(11:11):
year or two ago. Yes, it's like supposed to be
the off road version of the Hurrican which is really
their most track focused vehicle, so it's like the off
road version of their race car.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
I don't think I would agree with the fact that
the Hurricanus is the most track focused. I think that
could be maybe the event to door I would argue,
I would say the Hurrican is actually the one that
you drive when you want to stay in town.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
I don't. I mean, I've spent a lot of time
at numerous driving schools in both, and the eventa Door
is very big with clunky agricultural transmission like a tractor.
To hustle that thing around the track is a lot
more difficult than the Hurrican. I think the Sto is
probably the one that they would tell you Hurrican STO

(11:59):
if you're going to go to the track, But they're
both amazing. This car I think was the most fun,
the most exhilarating driving experience I have ever had in
my life.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
How can you say that with a car that has
cladding on it?

Speaker 1 (12:15):
And I'll tell you why. And by the way I
first brought it to my driveway, it was it's bright yellow,
which I don't know who buys a yellow car to
begin with, But plus it's got this plastic cladding drilled
onto it that looks like, you know, somebody picked it
up at the AutoZone and bolted on, you know, the
driving lights himself. And then it's got a tire rack

(12:36):
on top, which kind of looks cool, but when you're driving,
it makes a lot of noise, and it's like.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
It might look better with a different color than yellow.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
Definitely would look better than a different cars than yellow.
But I'm just saying, like my first text message to
you from driving into Pickleball was I would rather have
a regular Hurrican. I don't know why they did this,
but the sentence.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
Driving the Lamborghini to Pickleball.

Speaker 1 (12:58):
Alone is problematic, very fast. But I will tell you,
after a few days with it, I realized the benefit
of the off road Lambeau. And it's not really for
off road. In fact, the loan agreement said I was
not allowed to take it off road.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
Did you actually read the agreement or they physical.

Speaker 1 (13:15):
That was highlighted That part was highlighted in yellow.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
Oh.

Speaker 1 (13:20):
The point of the it's got an extra one point
seven inches of travel and it's got beefier suspension. And
what it does is it makes the car really usable
in the Northeast, where you know, our roads are infrastructure
over this country are decaying, and this is the kind
of like post apocalyptic supercar that you need. Because I

(13:42):
was not worried about potholes. I was like aiming for them.
I took it to the oldest unpaved road in America.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
How is that?

Speaker 1 (13:49):
It was awesome. It's this like Revolutionary War era road
in Phillipstown. It's like seven miles long, and you might
as well be off road frankly, but it is a
legal road, so I felt like I was sticking to
the letter of the law.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
Now was it dirt? It's dirt or it's gravel or
what's the.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
Actually it depends which stretch you're on. It's dirt and gravel, okay,
And it was really cool. I recommend that everybody who's
around here take a chance to visit. It's called the
Old Albany Post Road up in Phillipstown, New York. Anyway,
I realized that this car is like normally when you're
in a supercar, right, you're in a more than I am.

(14:30):
You're kind of worried about am I going to break this?
The suspension is very taut, and this was not that.
I was very happily throwing it through this gravel road.
And then when I was driving it on the highway,
as I say, not worried about the potholes. The cool
thing about the off road tires is they lose traction

(14:51):
more quickly than typical road tires, So you could throw
it around corners and kick out the back end. You
can put it in a special rally mode setting which
makes the rear end a little bit more slippery, and
it's just an amazing experience to have five point two
leaders of V ten behind you. It's so loud and raucous,

(15:13):
it's so brutal. It's exactly what a Lamborghini should be
in my opinion.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah, I like it because you have the Lamborghini performance,
but you get to drive it like you drive something
that was a lot less expensive and a lot just rough.

Speaker 3 (15:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:27):
So it's like it is a really fun combination. If
I got one, I would not have the rack on it,
and I get one in like a green, like a
dark green or a gray or something army green is
what you want completely, yeah, and I would just really
then you could actually say that it's a daily driver
because you could drive that in the city.

Speaker 1 (15:48):
I was thinking, so I was thinking, this is the
perfect daily driver. Yeah, and I even did drive it
into the city for a lunch here. Now the problems
start to arise when you try and deal with the connectivity. Well,
first of all, I should say the rear view mirror,
because you cannot see out the back since they raised
the air scoop like a snorkel and it covers completely
the back window. Now, when other car companies put out

(16:11):
a vehicle where the rear window is closed, like Chevy
does with their trucks, for example, they install a rear
view camera in the mirror. Right, Lamborghini said, we won't
bother right, We're only going to charge three hundred thousand,
so why would we spend the money to put a
rearview camera in the mirror. The other thing is the connectivity.
It took me like maybe fifteen minutes to finally hook

(16:32):
my phone up. Not that it matters, right, but if
you're daily driving it, it kind of does. Because on
the way back from lunch in the city, I was
stuck in bumper to bumper traffic and I thought, all right,
let me listen to this dead show that I have
on my phone. It took me forever to figure out
how to hook it up. When I finally did, the
Bluetooth crapped out. Because I don't if they know that
everyone is going to buy this vehicle no matter how

(16:53):
much it costs. Then they maybe aren't bothering to put
in the effort in terms of quality control on the
tech side. But wouldn't that be sign wouldn't it be
easy for them since they're owned by Audi?

Speaker 2 (17:03):
Yeah? I mean, bottom line, I don't care what the
actual vehicle is. If you are charging that much money
for it, it has to be really good all throughout
the fit and finish, the infotainment, the software, it all
has to be good. And this is the problem I've
had with McLaren too, where it's like you can't just say, oh,

(17:24):
it's sort of a track car, and well, we don't
really that's not our thing. You know, you just give
them stuff that isn't is kind of crappy.

Speaker 1 (17:32):
Yeah, I agree that. I would say it's unacceptable for
a three hundred thousand dollars car, which you're not going
to get for less than four because after you add
options and the dealers charge the eight m and you
know there are those are already sold out because they're
limited to fifteen hundred models. But the problem is people
are going to buy it anyway because it's such an
exhilarating and really like life changing experience.

Speaker 2 (17:54):
Yeah, it is really fun.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
All right, Let's ask our listeners, which would you rather
have the Lamborghini uricon Strado the off road Lambeau or
the Portia nine to eleven de Car the off road
nine to eleven. They can email us with their answer at.

Speaker 2 (18:09):
Email at hot Pursuit at Bloomberg dot net. That's hot
Pursuit at Bloomberg dot net. Let us know. Now, I'm
very curious to know what you think about this hybrid Urus,
because I know you love hybrids. But I also know
that Rus is not necessarily your favorite Lamborghini.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
So Lamborghini should be overkilled, it should be brutal, you know,
at least have you driven the cylinders. I've driven the
Ours a number of times. I drove it in Modena
when I was there for the Motor Valley Week, which
I also highly recommend.

Speaker 3 (18:43):
What an awesome experience that is.

Speaker 1 (18:45):
And I drove it here in New York as well,
and it's great. Right, I'd rather have an Urus.

Speaker 2 (18:51):
It's so good, the best suv out there. Yeah, I
think it's the actual best suv out there right.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
Now, you maybe, I mean, I feel like the Cayenne
is also very good, but.

Speaker 2 (19:01):
It's very good. But it's not a Lamborghini.

Speaker 1 (19:03):
Right, Well, I don't think the ors is a Lamborghini. Well,
where's that order from. It's an Audi group motor. It's
not the kind of motor that makes people angry with you.

Speaker 2 (19:13):
You know, I'll give you that. It's not. It's not
a Hurricon or an evented door. But I will stick
to my gun saying that in terms of driving performance
and thrill, it's the best Lamberge. It's the best suv
on the market right now. If you want an suv,
it's the best of the bunch.

Speaker 1 (19:31):
You're probably right. It looks cool, it's so good, it's
super functional. The tech in it, unlike the Oricon. The
tech works.

Speaker 2 (19:39):
Yeah, it hauls too. It's so fast. And I'm not
like you. I don't get hung up on who makes
an engine. Well, it's a good engine. It's a good engine, true.

Speaker 1 (19:47):
But the thing is the Oorus. I can drive my
parents in it to the airport and it'll be fun
for them, but not shocking. Right with the Ordicon and
the eventa door, I'm getting goosebumps some times, tearing up
like it is an incredibly visceral experience that has the.

Speaker 2 (20:07):
Are the tears of joy or.

Speaker 4 (20:09):
Yes, fear?

Speaker 1 (20:10):
I mean, it's just that I feel like I've gone
through a transformation. It's just like changed my mental state.
And that doesn't happen with what's the engine in the orus?
Like a four liter VA with twin turbochargers.

Speaker 2 (20:24):
Come on, does the same thing happen for you in
a Ferrari? Don't get emotional in a Ferrari.

Speaker 1 (20:31):
You know, I haven't really driven many Ferraris. I've only
driven the FF, which I loved, and yeah, it made
me pretty emotional, But I don't remember this kind of feeling.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
I mean to hear about tears.

Speaker 1 (20:44):
And the La Ferrari I drove like around a parking lot.
But I haven't spent much time in Ferrari, so I
don't feel qualified to say but I don't. I don't
know if they would evoke the same kind of like
hair raising experience that the Lamborghini that the brutal Lambo
motors do.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
I understand, I understand, I mean back to the hybrid.
I think the real interesting thing talking about engines and
combustion is that Lamborghini has been really unapologetic about saying
we don't actually want to go electric. We'll give you
a hybrid, but we're gonna basically stall as long as
we can toward going fully electric. I asked them yesterday,

(21:22):
are you still making that all electric Lanzidor, and they said, yes,
you know, they're still on board with that. But I
just think bottom line is Lamborghini it's the exact opposite
of Mercedes, which is going all in all electric. They're
going to electrify everything, even their jewel, the g Wagon,
and Lamborghini's like, no way, We're holding on to our

(21:44):
engines as long as possible. We'll give you a hybrid.
But and they're doing they're doing. They're saying, we're doing great,
we don't need an electric vehicle.

Speaker 1 (21:51):
I mean, I appreciate that, but it's like Sergio MARCIONI
used to say, there is no way in hell that
Ferrari is ever going to.

Speaker 3 (21:59):
Make an su you know, yeh.

Speaker 1 (22:01):
I used to say that, and they eventually did, of course.
And I think Lamborghini could go the same way. We'll
have the benefit of asking the CEO of Lamborghini.

Speaker 2 (22:09):
Oh, yes, on our next good one.

Speaker 3 (22:11):
So Stephen Winklman joins us.

Speaker 1 (22:12):
But let me ask you finally, one more question on
the Stererrado do you think And this is the question
I got asked the most by people looking at this car,
and by the way, everybody looked at everybody's taking pictures
of it, people asking me questions, But the main question
I got from people who know things about cars was
would you rather have this than the decr the nine
to eleven de car.

Speaker 2 (22:33):
Oh, that's a good question. Yeah, I would just to
be contrarian. It's it's less expected. As a woman, I want.
I want the thing that's like more of a punch
in the face.

Speaker 1 (22:44):
Totally agree to me. It's so silly to compare a
three liter flat six with turbo chargers to a naturally
aspirated five point two liters V ten.

Speaker 3 (22:52):
I mean, it is definitely U.

Speaker 2 (22:55):
It's a wilder beast. It's on every angle. It's a
wilder East. It's more bossy, it's more everything, and I
want all of it.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
Yeah, I will never forget the first the first time
I went to Formula one in Austin, I was on
a press junket and so I got to be with
the Red Bull team and Christian Horner said, I wish
we were back. We would go back to the V
tens because that is the kind of engine that he
would prefer to race with. And speaking of that, we
should get to our guest, Tyler. Thank you so much

(23:26):
for coming. Great to have you here, and we're looking
very much forward to the race. I've been cramming watching
every season of Drive to Survive and I'm almost at
the end of six, so I still haven't started with
this season in Handah, you've been following along, so why
don't you.

Speaker 3 (23:41):
Kick it off?

Speaker 2 (23:42):
Well, I have to say I met Tyler a few
months ago in Miami during Mode of Miami, a car
show that's there, and I was really excited to talk
to him because Tyler, I know you come from a
sports background, but then before that also a car background,
and it was so great to talk with someone who
I think has a really good sense of specifically what

(24:05):
Americans want out of their car racing slash sporting events.
And I kind of just to kick it off, would
love to hear about how are you doing two weeks
before the race. You don't seem stressed, but tell me
a little bit about what's going on right now in
your in your life.

Speaker 4 (24:24):
Yeah, Look, thank you for the time.

Speaker 5 (24:25):
Great to be with you both. I'm not stressed. I'm excited.
We've got a great team of people here, and as
strange as it sounds, I think we've learned a lot
in the first two years. And so you know, I
was I was laughing with a friend of mine the
other day. Going into year one, we didn't we didn't know,
we didn't know what to expect, we didn't know what
we were to be scared of, and so we were

(24:47):
just kind of going into it. And last year we
knew a little better, so it was a little more nervous,
and we had some things to fix, and I would
tell you we've One of the things I love about
this team here is that when something doesn't go right,
we're not scared or to attack it right. And if
it's something on track or it's something off track, we
make it front and center and we attack it with
everything we have.

Speaker 4 (25:06):
And we believe in our people and believe in our resources.
And so when you have a.

Speaker 5 (25:09):
Team like that and you have a culture like that,
there's nothing to be nervous about. We're more just excited
to put on a great show for the entire f
WIN community and showcase, showcase what Miami has to offer,
So we're excited.

Speaker 4 (25:20):
It's busy, it's crazy.

Speaker 5 (25:22):
I mean, look, we build up this entire campus and
it goes all down and you know, you're talking you know,
three hundred plus tens and you know, tens of thousands
of miles of cable, and it truly is amazing to
see it all come together. But it's it's much more
exciting than is nerve wracking.

Speaker 2 (25:37):
Hannah, are you approaching this like a sporting event or
like a show? You use that word sh Yeah, it's
a great question. Interesting.

Speaker 5 (25:44):
I think you know, my background is all sporting personally,
so I always think of it, I think like a
sporting event. But I will tell you that the way
that we try to attack our business from a customer
centric point of view, it's much more like a show.
It's much more like an artist. I think we do
believe in the creat activity of what you know. Tom
Garfinkl and Stephen Ross have led us from the very
beginning on. They pushed us to be creative and to

(26:05):
create a feeling and create a thing. We want our
fans that when they come here, we want them to
feel like they are in Miami, that that it should
be an authentic experience. It should be that one of
one experience where they feel like it was curated and
cultivated specifically for them. So, yeah, it's a good question.
I've ever thought of it necessarily that way about show
versus sporting. It's in our world, it's all meshed together.

Speaker 2 (26:25):
Yeah, very Miami maybe.

Speaker 4 (26:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (26:28):
And everything we do here between you know, super Bowls
and World Cups and Dolphins football and stadium shows and festivals,
it's everything from our sports entertainment lens is really intermingled.

Speaker 4 (26:38):
Anyway.

Speaker 1 (26:39):
You've got to create the show right because the sport,
the sporting event's going to happen whether you do a
good job or not. Tyler, Right, there's going to be
a winner and a loser regardless. But when spectators come
and pay big bucks to watch, they want to have
the whole experience be there for them. Tell us some
of the superlatives you mentioned three hundred tents, what else,
like how many people do you have working for you?

(27:01):
How much do you put into this, how much does
this event make?

Speaker 4 (27:04):
Yeah, that's great, great question, Matt.

Speaker 5 (27:05):
So look, I think the best way to think about
it is we'll do We'll have over ten thousand people
on staff on race weekend. We have less than one
hundred and fifty dedicated to the race annually, so our
staff grows massively leading into the race. Now we also
get support from kind of our sister businesses here with
the dolphins and everything, and that internal staff balloons to
around five hundred. You know, we just walked out of

(27:27):
a staff our final staff meeting this morning, and it's
about five hundred people. But our event staff and the
people who really make this business go. They're the ones
who are getting people into the entries and making sure
they find the right food and beverage, and making sure
they don't trip on that step right there and all
those pieces. I mean, that's a ten thousand person staff,
and I would tell you it's one of the benefits, Matt,
is that you know, those are almost all local people.

(27:49):
You know, we've driven almost a billion dollars into this
community over the last two years, and we are continuing
to surge forward, right, So it's not only bringing tourists
in and driving you know, tourism dollars, it's also creating
experiences and growth for the people who live here at
opportunity for them to earn wages.

Speaker 4 (28:07):
One of the things we're really.

Speaker 5 (28:08):
Proud about just from a community perspective, is you know,
we've got a dozen community based food trucks brought on
site to create really unique experiences for our fan base
that are locally based, right, So these are food trucks
that operate right here in Miami Gardens and we have
the opportunity to showcase them. So yeah, Look, it's thousands
and thousands of man hours leading into the race. There's

(28:29):
a lot of late nights, a lot of early mornings.
As much as we try to get ahead, I would
tell you the last couple of weeks are always a thrash.
You know, it's just no matter how far we try
and how let's get ahead of this one and get
this up, and it feels like the last ten days
are always just a unique time.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
Tyler. Something we talked about in Miami the last time
we spoke is this idea that Formula one is extremely
elitist and very exclusive. And I don't think that's an
unfair reputation really, But you spoke about to draw. Yeah,
that's that's part of the draw. Once you're in, you
feel like you're inside. But you spoke about wanting Miami

(29:06):
to be a race that really feels inclusive for families
or people who may not be bawling out on like
a hotel suite. Can you talk a little bit about that.
I mean, is that actually a realistic thing for you guys,
and how are you approaching it?

Speaker 5 (29:21):
I mean, we've seen that to be true, Hannah. I mean,
I can't tell you what the other Grand Prixs do.
And I think Matt's right in the sense that it
is part of the brand of F one. I mean,
I think Bernie Ecklestone and his team, dating back now
into the seventies, you know, really created this incredible kind
of environment. And look, I think you know, Greg mcfay
and Stefano Demnocology are still cultivating that. However, I do

(29:43):
think as we push into new markets, we have the opportunity.
I've got neighbors who love coming to the race, and
they buy campus passes and they come out and they
spend one hundred and fifty dollars a day, And we
push a ton of value into those amenities, and we
put risers in and we have shade structures and we
have water stations, try to make it comfortable for them.
We open up our three hundred level of our stadium

(30:03):
with a view into the actual paddock.

Speaker 4 (30:05):
There are things that we do.

Speaker 5 (30:06):
Or we're trying to do that really offer what we
would consider to be a more general fan the opportunity
to come and experience what F one has to offer
as a sport and entertainment property.

Speaker 4 (30:15):
I mean, look, we think about it.

Speaker 5 (30:17):
As you know, there's ninety nine percent of the F
one fans may not ever come to see us, right,
so we have to showcase that on TV. But for
that group that does come and we have the opportunity
to host, gosh, we want to nail that experience for
them in a really unique way. And I think that
goes everybody from the billionaire kind of eleak group that
has kind of come to be commonplace with F one,

(30:38):
but it's all the way down to you know, the
people that live down the street from me who bring
their kids because they love cars and they really enjoyed
getting to know fun through Drive Us Survive.

Speaker 1 (30:46):
I mean, the first time I went to F one
in Austin at CODA, I had never thought about Austin before,
but because of that experience, I started going back to
Austin again in the game, even when it wasn't for it. Well,
I mean I had heard of Austin, but it was not,
you know, on my radar. Obviously Miami is going to
be on everybody's radar. But it must be the same way,

(31:06):
right If somebody comes down to Miami for the first
time to see F one and they have an amazing time,
they're going to keep coming back to Miami for other
events not racing related totally.

Speaker 5 (31:15):
And I think that's I mean, we felt the support
of the community these past couple of years. I mean
not only just Miami Gardens, but our friends in Miami,
our friends of Fort Lauderdale, and you get to Hollywood
up to West Palm like this is a dynamic part
of the world, and part of our job is to
bring people in. It's interesting because we do see a
significant especially Latin population coming in, you know, especially from

(31:36):
Latin America, from Mexico. We do see some European and
it's very heavy domestic too, you know, we draw from everywhere.
We talked to our friends in Vegas about this all
the time. That they draw from the East coast, we
draw from the West coast. It's not necessarily geographical. It's
much more about what markets a certain person wants to
go visit. But obviously the I ninety five corridor is
healthy for us, right like the New York draw. There's
a lot of New Yorkers down here, so it's a

(31:57):
comfortable place, and it's become such a mass some brand
the city itself where we benefit from that.

Speaker 2 (32:03):
You mentioned Las Vegas. Is there a bit of a
healthy competition between Vegas and Miami Grand Prixs?

Speaker 4 (32:10):
I can ask this all the time.

Speaker 5 (32:12):
I don't feel that way. I mean I talked to it.
I probably don't talk to a promoter more that maybe Mexico.
But other than Mexico, I probably don't talk to a
promoter more than we talked to the people in Vegas.

Speaker 4 (32:21):
You knowwm IS does such a good job.

Speaker 5 (32:24):
You know, Greg mfayt obviously leads out from liberty media perspective,
and look we've got we're very friendly with Austin as well.
They were very good to us early on. They taught us,
you know, things we never would have known about getting
into year one, and I do think there's some good
camaraderie between the three of us. We all create totally
different experiences. They're very, very different and unique, each in
their own right.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
How is Miami different from Vegas?

Speaker 5 (32:45):
Would you say, I just think we're about Miami. I mean,
I think we're about the art, and we're about the culture.
We're about the food, or about the experience. We're about
palm trees and really curated experience for the different product.
I think there are certainly pieces of that, and I
think we get branded together around our of our high
end hospitality, and I think Vegas had a wonderful job
of many things, including that last year. I think we

(33:06):
can benefit from that because they're all, you know, all
boats benefit of the rising tide, and.

Speaker 4 (33:10):
That's how we look at it.

Speaker 5 (33:11):
But I do think we have really you know, and
again Thomas Steve set this forth from the very beginning
that we want to be about Miami and we want
to represent everything that's a great this great city and
community has to all.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
Let's talk a little bit about the sport. You must
be a fan, because so this is a podcast without
a video component, and that means our listeners don't see
the helmets behind you. You've got Nicki Lauda, you've got
James Hunt, you've got Senna. I don't see Shoomy, but
he's probably out of the picture. You've got the greatest
drivers in F one. Ever, how do you feel about

(33:48):
F one? Where's your heart when it comes to the competition.

Speaker 5 (33:51):
Yeah, Like as I told Hannah, you know when we
were together in Miami, you know, I kind of my
first ten years of my professional career.

Speaker 4 (33:58):
We're all cars in all motorsport.

Speaker 5 (34:00):
And so that's kind of where I cut my teeth
in this business's and it's still like a deep passion
for me. So I believe in great racing. I believe
in the quality of the teams and the drivers, and
it's certainly something I tune into across all series on
a regular basis. Look, I think what we have to
think about we are truly seeing, you know, what's a
very special situation with you know, what red Bull's doing

(34:22):
and what obviously Max is doing. Is it necessarily the
most competitive environment we've ever seen. I think it's hard
to argue that. I tend to as more of a
purest really appreciate what's being done. I think it's the
best car with the best driver, and it's on a unique.

Speaker 4 (34:34):
Situation right now.

Speaker 5 (34:36):
So we are great partners of F one, and we're
all for the growing business and I think there are
things that we'll work together with all the rest of
the promoters and Formula One in general to continue to
keep it interesting. We have a great appreciation for what's
happening on the track.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
Rundes, It does it hurt the business if Mac keeps
winning every race?

Speaker 4 (34:51):
I don't know that. I can't predict that.

Speaker 5 (34:53):
I can tell you that our business is really healthy,
and I think that I look at I see the
business somewhat through my nine year old son's eyes, who
only wear Flatville hats, and he's a Red Bull fan
because of that, right, and so that's his angle. I
see it through his eyes, and I haven't seen his
interest Wayanne. Now, look, I think the casual fan is
it is it harder for them to stay tuned in

(35:14):
when you have a dominant situation on track. I think
that's a fair criticism and we've got to continue as
an industry to keep working at that. But that shouldn't
have anything to do with like disparaging the tremendous accomplishments
that Max and the rest of the Red Bull Racing.

Speaker 1 (35:28):
True, Hannah, what do you think about it? Because I
mean Max is awesome and the Red Bull team has
been so sweet to Fallow over the past ten years. Yeah,
you can't begrudge them the success, right.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
No, I'm looking forward to when Lewis Hamilton goes to Ferrari.
I think that'll be a really interesting thing. I mean,
I love a shakeup, and you know, people love a winner,
but people also love rooting for underdogs, and personally, I
would be excited if Lewis finally got that last championship.
You know, I'm rooting for him. I also saw George

(36:03):
Russell last night at Mercedes g Wagon launched, so I
would like to see some other people on the top
of the podium for sure. I think that's healthy. It's
good for the business. I want to see a fight,
and yes, Verstappen is a very talented driver, but like
I would love to see I think it's healthy to
get some other people in there for sure, and a fight.

Speaker 4 (36:23):
At the front.

Speaker 5 (36:23):
I mean, yeah, yeah, that's an important note, right because
I think, yes, the midfield battle right now is outstanding,
you know, and if if you're a fan of the
sport and you see the competition that's occurring between McLaren
and Mercedes and Ferrari.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
And even Martin, I'm serious yeah.

Speaker 5 (36:38):
So I think the midfield competition is fantastic. I saw
my life sent me a mean the other day. Then
it was somebody showing like the running order and somebody
going over and just putting a black piece of tape.

Speaker 4 (36:50):
Over Max like and starting to clap right, because.

Speaker 5 (36:53):
When you look at you know, second through seventh, it's
actually fantastic. It's fantastic competition.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
It's really interesting because I remember talking to Sergio Perez
at the first Austin Grand Prix like ten, ten years ago,
eleven years ago, twelve years ago, and he was not
I mean, people from Mexico knew him, but he was
not as well known as he is today. And so
it's just been really fun to see people advance from

(37:22):
way deep into the pack to the front.

Speaker 1 (37:25):
By the way, I think that's what Drive to Survive
has done so well, because I have been watching Moto
GP religiously for over a decade, and I feel like
I know everything about the sport, but I never know
who's in the midfield battles because I'm watching the podium
or the top five or six. And even though I'm
watching every I'm watching free practice qualifying in the races.

(37:48):
The cool thing about Drive to Survive is you get
a break from the top and they focus in on
the midfield and that makes it just a much more
holistic experience. How much has that helped Tyler you think
your business Drive to Serve?

Speaker 5 (38:00):
Yeah, it's hard to put a number on it, right,
but I don't think you can argue the impact right,
tremendous impact the storytelling and taking what's actually happening inside
the paddock and storytelling about it and actually putting guys
in situations, and you know, and talking with some of
the team principles now hearing them talk about their reluctance
at the beginning and now how comfortable they are with it.
Like listening to Zach talk about it, it's fantastic, like

(38:22):
it is. It has changed, like his entire brand personally.
We spent a bunch of time with going through over
the past month, and you know, we've hired him to
help us and kind of make sure he's so authentic,
he's so real and and he comes at it not
from I've won all these championships. He comes at it

(38:43):
from like I am grinding, my sleeves are rolled up,
let me tell you about this business. And I think
it's it's so it's back to the question about the
elitist like it's for everybody.

Speaker 4 (38:53):
There is a place for everybody in the sport.

Speaker 2 (38:55):
Where do you see the biggest growth potential for for
your business?

Speaker 4 (39:00):
So I think I'd answer it two ways.

Speaker 5 (39:02):
First and foremost, continuing to lean into this young F
one fan base. And that doesn't mean that there aren't
long term F one fans here.

Speaker 4 (39:09):
There are. There are fans have been watching F one
for decades.

Speaker 5 (39:12):
But I do think when we think about the drive
to survive and the social media pieces, I think that
fan base tends to be a bit younger or at least.

Speaker 4 (39:18):
Newer to the sport.

Speaker 5 (39:20):
That's probably our number one opportunity is to make our
event sticky with the growth of F one. Right, Let's
make Miami something special for that group of people.

Speaker 2 (39:30):
What they want to do every year.

Speaker 5 (39:33):
Yeah, they want to put it on their bucket list
and say, we love F one, we love Miami.

Speaker 4 (39:38):
We are doing this every year.

Speaker 5 (39:39):
We're circling the date as soon as the schedule comes out,
and we're going to go down and get our friends
together and do this thing.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
Right.

Speaker 5 (39:45):
So, I think that's the first opportunity the second opportunity
is a lot more what we talked about when we
were at Motor Together, which is there is a wonderful
like auto car culture down here in South Florida, but
it's a bit bifurcated. There's not really a place where
everybody comes to together. And I think we have the
opportunity over the next couple of years as a circuit
it's kind of Miami International Auto Drone, which nobody knows

(40:07):
nor should they, But it's to be an actual thing.
It's to be a place where people come and they
can they can express their cars with their bikes or
whatever it may be. That it's a motor racing you know,
epicenter and really base it around it.

Speaker 4 (40:20):
One of the most dynamic communities and cities in the world.

Speaker 1 (40:22):
So what is the culture of the car culture like
in Miami. I've only been on a motorcycle down there.
I imagine there's some big supercars. You say it's bifur
kate to tell us about it.

Speaker 5 (40:31):
I'll give the best example I can give you is
you'll roll down to get ice cream with your kids
on Friday night and you'll pull into a parking lot
on like a side of a strip malk because we're
in Florida and there's just like a mini car convention
going on. And then you go down the street and
there's like another one in a little group of people
park together with their corvettes, and then there's another down
the street that it's like a little bit of a
bike rally, and it's very community based. It's not necessarily

(40:56):
mass market, but it's very brand driven, brand specific. But
there are groups of car enthusiasts who are getting together,
who are driving, and who are passionate about their cars.
I just think we're not necessarily overtly tapping into that.

Speaker 2 (41:08):
The thing that I find about Miami with car culture
is it's a little bit more hidden. Like there's not
great driving in Miami. Of course you can drive over
the bridges and tell me if you disagree, but I
don't find amazing driving roads. But like, if you're looped
into whatever car tribe you love, you kind of just

(41:29):
hear word of mouth. Hey we're meeting here, Hey we're
going to drive here. Hey we're going to do this
Saturday morning or Friday night. You just have to keep
your ear to the ground. It's not obvious, but once
you get tapped in it's everywhere.

Speaker 5 (41:41):
Yeah, I think that is accurate, Hannah, and I do
think we have the opportunity to get in the middle
of that, right, I mean, if we could ever get
this create a situation where we are a place where
you can come and drive, you are a place where
we could open up portions of our circuit to give
it that place where you can come and get an
experience in in your car that is different from what
you're get on your daily drive.

Speaker 4 (42:00):
I think it's an opportunity for us. That's that certainly
how we see it.

Speaker 1 (42:03):
By the way, to just digress a little, Hannah, you
spend so much time in New York, so much time
in la you spend a lot of time in Miami
as well. Do you see very different car cultures in
different regions of this country?

Speaker 2 (42:16):
Definitely? Yeah, yeah, Yeah. New York is actually I would
say the most die hard because New York is such
a difficult place to have a special car, whether it's
an old car or a new car. If it's a
special car, it's really difficult. It's expensive, the weather's horrible there.
You don't want to bring it in the city really,
but then maybe you want to. I mean there are

(42:38):
a lot of logistical issues. It's tough for finding mechanics,
it's tough for finding parts, the whole thing. So like
New York is really die hard. Those are people who
are going to suffer for the love of cars. In
southern California, it's really easy, like you can pick up
any old car. It's almost like too much, like you

(42:58):
find yourself coming in contact with old stuff and cool stuff.
It's like too easy to acquire cars. Space is not
an issue whether it's good. There are mechanics on every corner.
Like it's just so easy and lazy. But it's also
the center of the car world. I mean, Mercedes just
had their biggest launch in a couple of years here
last night. And then Miami and Tyler tell me what

(43:21):
you think. But I since a really exciting and cool
South American contingent that keep cars in Miami. Like when
I've been Argentina and Mexico City and other places in Mexico,
the wealthy collectors that I've spoken with all keep cars

(43:43):
in Miami. Maybe they don't live in Miami full time,
but they keep a lot of things in Miami. The
vibe is just extremely international, way more international than La feels,
which I love about my I love how international and
in tune with the world's car culture that Miami feels
to me. Big Porsche community in Miami like massive. I

(44:06):
was just at DRT and then there's a big Porscha
thing at Mode of Miami too, So.

Speaker 5 (44:11):
That's a huge Porsche contingent, huge Ferrari contingent, you know,
I was. I was fortunate enough to have dinner last
week with John Hennessy and I had such an interesting
conversation with him about where his customers are and where
his customers are growing. And he has a huge number
of customers in South Florida and then up and down
the Florida coast. So and I think when you start

(44:32):
to get the Hennessy collector and the Bugatti collector mixed
in with the Ferrari collector, mixed in with the Porsche ficionado, like,
that's so Miami. And you're exactly right, that Latin American
influence is so real. And there are some amazing private
collections here, yes, that you would never know you drive
it right by, you know, you drive on too Scaying
Boulevard and there's you know, here's some office building. No, no,

(44:53):
there's one hundred million dollars with the car set in
that building super interesting.

Speaker 2 (44:56):
Yeah, I love it, and it does feel like it's
like storage portion itself is not flashy or showy. You're
exactly right. You can drive past like just strip mall
looking things and it's wild what's hidden behind. And I
do think like people like curated John Tamaran, John Hennessy
who we just had on as well. You're right, like

(45:19):
the appetite also for not just classic Porsches and stuff,
but like obviously Ferrari's supercars is obviously that's Miami too.

Speaker 1 (45:27):
In terms of Porsche, I'll tell people who aren't dedicated
to the brand. DRT stands for dus Rentreffin, which is
the German the race meeting are.

Speaker 2 (45:36):
You're a resident German translator.

Speaker 1 (45:38):
I also had to look that up because you said
DRT and I was like, what's that, Tyler? What do
you think the chances are of an American team doing
well or or an American team like Andretti and Dretti
makes so much sense to me. And I don't really
know why they weren't allowed to get a team now,
but hopefully they will down the road. I mean, I
feel like that would do more for F one in

(46:00):
this country than anything else, or an American driver as well.

Speaker 5 (46:03):
Yeah, look, I mean I think first and foremost we
have one, right, we do have, you know, an American
owned team with has I think the difference isn't a
base here, they don't operate necessarily of the states, but
going through and be quickly quick to correct you in
the sense that there is an American.

Speaker 1 (46:16):
Well, I mean an American team with a German name.
Their headquarters are in England, their drivers and totally fair.

Speaker 5 (46:23):
Totally fairly, and we do have you know, we do
have a local boy, right, I mean logan sergeant, you know,
carrying the flag for the state United States right now
on the grid. And I know it's been a struggle
a bit, you know, last year and then even earlier
this year. But he's a Fort Lauderdale kid. I mean,
he's he's from twenty five minutes from our circuit. So
we kind of root for him and have got a great,

(46:43):
great relationship with him and his family. But look, I
can't deny that the opportunity for continued American influence, both
in ownership and behind the wheel. I think there's multiple
examples in other sports of having that strong American presence.
But I would say this, I think just having an
American own team or an American behind the wheel doesn't

(47:04):
also ensure growth in America, right. I think we have
an obligation as a stakeholder in the sport to continue
to cultivate the experience at the racetrack. Make sure the
broadcast is fantastic and interesting, to make sure that the
racing is fantastic, to make sure the storytelling around what's
actually happening inside the paddock is broadcasting the way that
people can absorb.

Speaker 4 (47:25):
So look, we're always.

Speaker 5 (47:26):
For growth, We're always for continued opportunity, and certainly we
care a lot about the USF one fan. I'm just
not sure it's quite that simple. You know, if the
Andreds were to get a team all of a sudden,
our business spikes immediately. Certainly we're supportive of Mariy, Michael
and Dan Towers and everybody on that team, but I
wish it was that linear.

Speaker 4 (47:44):
I'm just not sure it is.

Speaker 2 (47:45):
Tyler. I'm curious do you have any best practices or
hacks that you can share with people in terms of
going to Formula one races? I mean you see, it's
how it is from the inside out. And as someone
who has been to races and of them, I also
hate and dread the logistics of it. It's like always
painful parking and walking and trying to find where to.

Speaker 1 (48:08):
Go, like trying to find a good help.

Speaker 2 (48:10):
Us, Yeah, just help us, like tell us how to
hack a Formula one race or Miami specifically, so it's
not so painful.

Speaker 5 (48:18):
The first hack is to not be what we are
traditionally as impatient customers, right, like, embrace the fact that
this isn't a two hour thing. You're not getting in
and out, this isn't a hockey game, You're going to
have a day of it, right, and and embrace.

Speaker 2 (48:32):
That embrace recalibrate, Yeah, you have.

Speaker 4 (48:35):
To almost recalibrate exactly what's real there. Right, So that's
the first thing.

Speaker 5 (48:40):
And again we've we've now had the fourth opportunity to
go all over the world and do this, right, So
I think there's no hack.

Speaker 4 (48:47):
The only hack is.

Speaker 2 (48:48):
A helicopter because the promoter.

Speaker 5 (48:51):
Knows you and can get you in a different way.
And there's a couple of hacks in the Middle East,
but those guys can take care of you really well, But.

Speaker 1 (48:59):
Well, Tyler, what about if you were going to the
race and you you didn't run it, and you didn't
know anybody involved, where would you sit to see? Yeah,
with the best for the best goal of the action,
because you can always only see like one or two
corners right, and that's always my problem. I end up
wanting to get up and move around, and then I
miss the whole race. So where would you sit?

Speaker 5 (49:17):
I'm going to give you two answers, but they're connected.
So I would sit on the far west end of
the start finished grandstand, in the highest corner I could get,
because in our grand stand you can look over the
backside or around the corner. You can see the cars
going into seventeen around eighteen into nineteen. The finish line
is right in front of you, and right to your
left is a starting grid, so you get a good

(49:37):
chunk of the racetrack. You also get pit in. You
also get pit lane, and I think it's it's just
a beautiful area of the racetrack. So it's shaded and
to be my favorite spot. But I wouldn't sit there
the whole time. I'm like you, like, I would wander
our campus, right, I would get to see the different spots.
There are viewing decks all over our race circuit, and
this is something that we're trying to get people to do.

Speaker 4 (50:00):
But like, go up inside the stadium.

Speaker 5 (50:02):
Both the south helixes are open, go up to the
top and get a view from up there because you
see both different ends of the racetrack from there.

Speaker 4 (50:09):
The only thing you really can't see from those.

Speaker 5 (50:12):
Two ends of the front stretch, which is where I'd
be sitting on the start finished grandstand, and I can't
see all the way to the beach, right. But other
than that, I'm going to go get four or five
different locations every day to see the car is handling
differently nice well.

Speaker 1 (50:25):
Getting into the pits or getting a tour of pit lane.
Is that possible for a regular person or.

Speaker 5 (50:31):
Pits are harder? I mean, pit lane and the powder
are controlled by f one. You know, It's funny because
you know my early days in NASCAR, pit lane's open,
you know, or at least it is for a portion
of the day.

Speaker 4 (50:41):
I mean, I remember one of.

Speaker 5 (50:43):
The first years I went to Daytona, there were people
like running around on the racetrack and I'm like, fans,
what spectators fans running around the racetrack and I'm like,
what is happening And it turns out like this is
something that they do, like they that's how they get
to their seats. It's an open pit lane. I mean,
it's amazing and look good. Good for them. That unfortunately

(51:03):
is not necessarily the crystal relevance of a Formula one
in this particular case. So but I will say that
we really work hard to try to make sure that
we are one of the only circuits that offer your
general admission campus pass.

Speaker 4 (51:16):
Buy or a view of the paddock.

Speaker 5 (51:17):
You have a view of kind of getting into the
garage is a little bit and seeing what those team
hospitalities look like.

Speaker 4 (51:22):
We had a group sitting in in the three.

Speaker 5 (51:24):
Hundred levels of stadium under a shaded area that was
camped out there last year, and every time a Ferrari
driver would walk by, they would start cheering. And it
got to the place where every time Leclaria of Saints
would walk anywhere, they'd look up and they'd wave, and
so I mean, it's they're cool little moments that I
think people connect to. But you're doing it from a
bit away before, You're not getting into the paddock Campus

(51:46):
pass ticket.

Speaker 1 (51:47):
All right, so the weather I imagine will be fine. Right,
it's not going to be beautiful. Cult what tires do
you think everyone's going to choose? Do you have that
kind of inside knowledge?

Speaker 4 (51:56):
I mean, I don't think we know yet.

Speaker 5 (51:57):
One of the pieces of feedback we did last year
and again, and Steve and Tom were super supportive and
letting us kind of resurface the top lift of the
racetrack last year because you weren't happy with.

Speaker 4 (52:05):
How it performed.

Speaker 5 (52:06):
And then we came back with a brand new slick
racetrack going into year two. So we basically had a
brand new racetrack in year one, a brand new racetrack
again on the top lifting year too, and some of
the complaints we got, what were you know, you have
to give us some rubber, like, lay.

Speaker 4 (52:20):
Some rubber down for us.

Speaker 5 (52:21):
So as part of the reason why we added extra
support series this year. So we have F one Academy coming.
We also have Poors Career Cup cars back and they're
running before F one hits the racetrack on Friday. So
we're gonna lay some rubber down and see if we
can try to improve some of the way that the
race cars are handling. My gut tells me it's still
a newer racetrack, So I think it'll race even better
than it did last year when we were happy with

(52:42):
that race last year. But I think you'll have the
opportunity to see some more competitive on track action. Look,
the softer tires are probably always going to a lot better.
My guess is the mediums will be the tire choice
for everybody here.

Speaker 3 (52:54):
I could lay down some rubber there.

Speaker 2 (52:55):
My challenge as a surface yeah, just you know it's
your good.

Speaker 4 (52:59):
Just you know it's unity service man. You appreciate exactly.

Speaker 2 (53:03):
What are you doing for traffic control? You know in
some of the areas around the track. I know that
was an issue in previous years with the residents being
concerned about traffic control.

Speaker 5 (53:13):
Yeah, so the residents have really been I mean, look, rightfully,
so they were concerned about it heading into the race,
and we've never done it before. We're closing off a
turnpike access road and an actual turnpike exit in order
to pull this off, so it rightfully be worried about it.
We've tried to be very cooperative. Generally, We've had fantastic
support within the community. I think there are a couple
of things that we've learned. Number one is we're used

(53:34):
to running big time sixty five thousand person stadium events.
At hard Rock Stadium, right, we have thousands of spaces
on site. We park most of the people on site.
They come, they park their car, they go to the stadium,
they get in the car, and they leave. We're different,
right where from an F one perspective, where all those
people are parking for F one, we have hospitality areas
and grandstand spaces, right, so we have actually fairly limited

(53:56):
parking actually on site.

Speaker 4 (53:58):
What we found though, is is the.

Speaker 5 (54:00):
Opportunity for us to like really focus on creating really
good access to bussing has been a huge win for us.

Speaker 4 (54:08):
Right.

Speaker 5 (54:08):
So we put a lot of time, a lot of
effort into our bussing systems, and we've got a full
on bus depot on the east side of our campus.

Speaker 4 (54:16):
It's easy and easy out.

Speaker 5 (54:17):
We've got a good friend of mine took the bus
route the first year. He hates buses, hates the concept
of them, doesn't want to get out of his own car.
He's like, you know, but I said you should take
a look at it. He wanted to be a part
of the beach. So we went down there, got a ticket,
jumped on the bus after the race. He was home
in like thirty eight minutes.

Speaker 2 (54:36):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (54:36):
After the race, he left right after the race, was
home in thirty eight minutes.

Speaker 5 (54:40):
And part of it, I think was just because we
put so much effort into like a system that pushed
the cars away from the racetrack right the more cars
you have shoving into the area right outside where people
are trying to leave, that's where the congestion comes from.
So we've worked really hard to keep the lots that
are close by easy and walkable and a safe opportunity
for our fans to get home. Anything that's you know,
more than a mile away, you hop on a bus

(55:01):
and you get there. And that's honestly been one of
our most successful, you know, traffic mitigation efforts.

Speaker 1 (55:07):
So being a part of the beach makes me think
about the other things to do down there. What are
the parties or the restaurants or the events that you
would tell people to go to other than just the
race when they're coming down for the weekend. Can do
you have like a top two or three I think one.

Speaker 5 (55:21):
Of the best events of the weekend is Carbone Beach.
You know what major food group does to put on
It's a four day, four night almost's really almost a festival,
and it is fantastic food, fantastic entertainment. I would highlight
that I think a lot of the activations that the
teams do. Red Bull always does a really good job
can Spot each year and they come in and put
together really really great activations. But I would tell you

(55:43):
that almost everything beach side there's something going on almost everywhere.
Hollywood does a big beach festival, Miami Beach does a big,
big beach festival. There is action all up and down
the beach side, so you can't miss heading east.

Speaker 2 (55:58):
I know Ferrari's going to have some debuts too.

Speaker 5 (56:01):
As far as you got big news, yeah, I watch
on Thursday night, I believe, and the cavalcades coming from
Nashville and so there'll be a big, big contingent for
our contingent here. And we become very close with a
lot of their key people, so they've been a great
partner and looking forward to doing more with them down
the road.

Speaker 1 (56:16):
Awesome, well, I'm looking forward to watching the race. Tyler.
Thank you so much for joining us. And I know
you're going to be the busiest beaver that there ever was,
So I wish you good luck to getting through it
and hope you can relax a little after.

Speaker 5 (56:28):
Yeah, thanks for the time, Mount and Hannah. Great to
be with you and appreciate all your support. We'll hopefully
have a great weekend.

Speaker 2 (56:34):
What are you doing this weekend? Matt?

Speaker 3 (56:35):
I don't have any plans this weekend.

Speaker 2 (56:37):
Actually you're not driving? No cars?

Speaker 1 (56:39):
No, Actually I have a break from there's no press cars,
so I'm ripping it up in my Dodge Challenger RT
scat pack whatever and it's it's a blast to drive base.

Speaker 2 (56:51):
You know, just ground yourself. You need to come off
that high that you had this emotional roller coaster.

Speaker 1 (56:57):
It really took me like a solid twenty four hours
to get over that. It was incredible. But yeah, I
don't have any plans this weekend. What about you?

Speaker 2 (57:03):
Okay, I'm going to Spain to drive that Acid Martin Vantage.
What Yeah, that'll so that'll be fun.

Speaker 1 (57:10):
Seville, Oh my god is it?

Speaker 2 (57:13):
Where's mary U's people from?

Speaker 1 (57:15):
Well, she's from Pamplona and her people are in bill
Bao and Valencia. But we love Sevilla or as the
Americans call it correctly, Seville. We absolutely love it there.
You can see some amazing flamenco performances while you're there. Yes,
oh I want to do that and I bet you will.
And the other thing is it's a great place to

(57:36):
start a trip to Spain because you can go from
there to Cordoba, to Granada, to Ronda. Just some of
the most amazing places for me in Spain.

Speaker 3 (57:46):
And I'm so jealous.

Speaker 2 (57:48):
So this is really good to know because I've got
another car invite in June that's a pretty exciting one
that's also in Spain, and I want to take a
few extra days after that to just have some holiday.
So I'm going to ask you for your recommendations.

Speaker 1 (58:04):
Oh yeah, I have a lotch it's one of my
favorite places to go. Well, that's awesome. The Asin Martin Vantage,
that's the new one, and I think it's gorgeous.

Speaker 2 (58:11):
Yeah, I mean, we'll see. They kind of like Asin
Martin needs to get some profitability under its belt. The
cars are really expensive and they're not living up to
the pricing. Very interesting to see if this one actually
helps sort of get some momentum going in the right direction.

Speaker 1 (58:26):
All right, Well, I'm looking forward to hearing about the
trip and the car, so I guess you can tell
us about that on our next episode, same time, same place.
That does it.

Speaker 3 (58:35):
For today.

Speaker 2 (58:35):
I'm Matt Miller and I'm Hannah Elliott, and this is
Bluebird