Latest / In Wheel Time Podcast / Behind the Wheel of Texas’ Big Bend Open Road Race

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Behind the Wheel of Texas’ Big Bend Open Road Race · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast, a 30-minute mini version of the In Wheel Time Car Show that airs live every Saturday morning 8 to 11 am Central.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You've got the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: I'm glad you got it, because we don't Coming up.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: We head out west to talk about the Big Bend Open Road Race.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Jeff will bring us some car culture, of course, and Mr Mars reviews the 2025 Kia Carnival.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: I think they say carnival, carnival Without the clowns.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Howdy Along with Mike out of this world, mars.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: We always need more.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Jeff Zekin, I'm Don Armstrong and our chief engineer, david Ainsley, will be in later on today.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Oh, and our chief engineer, david Ainsley, will be in later on today.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: Oh, he's coming.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: He's sleeping in, he's coming to the house, he's coming to the studio, studio, that's right.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Hello everybody, I'm Don Armstrong, glad you could join us on this Saturday.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: It's chilly and rainy in Texas, but at least it's not zero degrees.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Well, in my book it is.
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: Anything below 40 is zero.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: All right, so now we welcome to the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show, rhonda Palmer.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Rhonda, good morning to you.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Are you there, rhonda?
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: You were there earlier.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: What's?
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: up guys.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: I'm so glad to be back with y'all.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Well, it's good to have you with us yes, I am, and.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Rhonda is with the Big Bend Open Road Race and Rhonda is with the Big Bend Open Road Race and, Rhonda, I'm going to let you describe everybody.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: What is the Open Road Race?
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Okay, just making sure you can hear me now.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: I can.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Yes, okay, good, First, I'm so glad to be back with you all, so thank you for having me back.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: I've really been looking forward to it.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: So the Big Bend Open Road Race is an exciting time on Highway 285.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: They close down the highway and monitor it, of course, but you drive one at a time, about every 30 seconds to one minute apart, and it really is a race against time.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: So you set yourself up in whatever category that you choose to race in, where you think you will be best at your average time, and you head on down there.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: It's 59 miles, 59 curves and 59 elevation changes.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Wow 59 miles Curves.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: I didn't realize it was that long.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: I didn't either, but that'd be like going over to your house Almost From here.
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: Instead of a straight, flat, concrete highway, you'd do something between here and there.
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: Well, yeah bumpity, bump.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: How is the road?
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: Is the road good?
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: Great?
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: So it is from fort stockton, texas, all the way down to sanderson, and we've been doing this now for about 15 years and you can tell when they've had road maintenance because the, you know the safety bumps in the middle sometimes they get a little too high and when you cross over because when you're in this race by yourself you're allowed to use you know both sides of the road, even the, the extra berm sides.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: You know the extra side there, the I don't know what they call it, but the extra past the white line the whole thing, the shoulder and yes, and so you can tell.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: After they've had maintenance, they put those speed bumps on there.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: They paint them.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: The paint gets a little thick and you feel it when you're going 120 miles an hour wow 120.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Is there a speed limit?
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: no, okay.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: So there are people who drive in the unlimited class and they do not have a speed limit, but everyone else picks their category.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: So I'll just give you, for instance the last time my husband and I drove it, we were supposed to average 145 and you're able to get up to 168 to maintain that average.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: And so the best feeling in the world, guys, is when you come up um to a 60 mile an hour marked curve.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: You know, you can see the little yellow warning signs with the arrows telling you which way and you really are taking it at 125.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: How many people wreck?
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, zero.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: I mean very, very seldom does someone wreck.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: There have been a few incidents but, in the 15 years we've done it, one that I can think of.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: That was a major time killer.
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: But other than that, my question is you said they run classes.
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: So within a class, say, there's 10 vehicles in the class, are they all pretty much on the same time and the same speed for that event?
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: Because the thing I'm thinking about is you've got a guy that is a little slower and then he's in front of somebody that's faster.
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: Are they able to pass, since they're like 30 seconds to a minute launch?
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: that's a great question and we teach this in our navigation training and in our driver training.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: Yes, there are people who use different strategies, even though we try to tell them look, stay as close to your average as you can all the way down there, but you know you have to pick up a little bit around curves and that sort of thing.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: And there are people who try to push it all the way to the limit.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: So if you're allowed to go 168, they're pushing 165 as long as they can because it feels good, right To go that fast.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: So we teach them to meet the people in front of and behind them while they're on grid.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: So on grid is what we call.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: You know, before the race, Everybody's lined up.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: You're waiting, they're checking the roads and everything to make sure everything's safe and we tell them introduce yourself before the first leg down there.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: And then when you get down to Sanderson because we have about a 45-minute wait depending on where you are, so all the cars get down there we tell them to talk to those people again and let them know hey, I'm a little bit ahead, I'm going to be going slow.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: If you're coming up behind me, just signal and I'll know you're going to go around me, so we tell them to communicate about that.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: And you are allowed to pass when it's a straight line of road, Definitely not the curves.
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah, wow, okay.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: I'm kind of flabbergasted there.
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I am, and you're also in another world.
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: Well, not only can they communicate and talk about, you know passing and I'm slower, but there's also a little bit of smack talk, I'm sure.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: Hey, yes, there's some smack talk, so I'll just give this quick story.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: So you know, people love their cars.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: You know, depending on what make model, of course they love their cars.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: And because they love their cars, they also like to talk about how they are going to pass someone.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: Um, we just knew there was a guy in a yellow porsche in front of us and I thought it was a beautiful porsche, 1987, nice, classic, beautiful car had been taken very well care of.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: But my husband said I don't care what happens, I don't care if I win or lose, I'm passing that yellow porsche all right, and did he oh?
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: gosh is yes, sir, so we did.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: And just what y'all talked about earlier a guy in front of him was going a little bit slower, so we had to pass not one but two cars.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: So I don't know if you've ever seen Christmas Vacation at the beginning, when the wife starts ducking down.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, trying to hide, but that's what I was doing.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: I was like we passed two cars.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: We to hide, but that's what I was doing.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: I was like we passed two cars.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: We're already a minute ahead, you know.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: So, yes, they're smack talking, but it's all done in fun.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: I will tell just.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: You know, the reason I love talking about cars is number one.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's not too.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: It's becoming more and more frequent, but there's not too many women who do this race or any local races.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: So we like I said we like to go out to the Texas Mile.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: There's a group of about 22 of us ladies out there now, but it started out just like four or five.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: And at the Big Bend Open Road Race there's about seven of us who are drivers, not just navigators, and one of the things that I just like.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: I'm trying to just let women know it's fun.
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: Okay, even if you're a little nervous to drive, just go out there with your husband or your friends, make new friends and experience it.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: I mean, not everybody likes to go fast, I get it, but it's a time to get around different type of people and people who are just happy.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: And when you're going to the races, okay, some people don't leave too happy if something happens to their car.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: But you're excited.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: You've put your time and effort into your car and now you're going to see what it'll do and you're going to challenge yourself.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: Let's talk about your car.
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: You know you sent us some pictures because we were scared of the weather in the driveway.
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: So we're going to run those pictures and stuff, but tell us about your car that you use whenever you go to these events.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: The car.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: We have two cars, so one car is a 2005 C6.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: It's automatic transmission, has the 51 package and it is great.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: We love it.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: That was our very first car.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: We brought it brand new.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: And a quick story.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: I'll just tell you a side action here.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: It was 21 years ago and I had just finally fully recovered and done all my treatments for stage three breast cancer, and so that was our hey, you know, let's go celebrate, celebrate that, yeah, yeah, that's a good celebration.
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: Well, congratulations Thank you, so we loved it.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: You sent some video of the red car and it's backing out and it's got a number 143 on the side.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: Is that your car?
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: Yes, number 143 on the side, is that your car?
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: Yes, so we also, because even though we loved that car and I still do I wanted a manual transmission.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: I love to be in control of how much power I use before I shift, and with that, with my first car being a you know four, four speed, it kind of kind of got me a couple times when I was just about in the power mode and then it was shipped.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: So we got the 0806 and so I think that's the video you see there and it is a blast, and so that's the one that I try to commandeer every time we go to any of the tracks or the big ben race now you mentioned classes.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: That how many?
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: How many classes are there?
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: 10?
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: I think there's 12.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: That goes from 100 all the way to unlimited, and then, right before that, where you're kind of bound, is 155 okay, and they range like let me tell you a little bit about that in those classes.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: So like, if you, if you're in a 100, then you can go up to 124 to maintain that average, and then it goes 105, 110, 115, 120, 125.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: So it's five mile an hour increments for your target speed, but your tech speeds go up from 124 to 145.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: I might be off a little bit on that and then 168.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: And so, even though your target speed is increasing, your tech speed is not.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: So the closer you get to that, the tighter you have to be in your averages.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: Do you have to wear a helmet at this?
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: race.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: Does that make sense?
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, do you have to wear?
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: a helmet.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: Yes, so I have to explain to my mother every year.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: Yes, we have safety gear, everything is checked out.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: We have fireproof clothing, a fire extinguisher, roll cages, gloves, leather shoes, helmets, goggles Everything is completely safe.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: I mean, as far as that goes, you have your arms strapped in everything's six-point harness, nothing.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: You're glued to that seat.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: So, in other words, I can't bring out my C5 and run it because it doesn't have a roll cage in it.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: No, you absolutely could if you were in one of those lower classes which if you start out, you have to start out lower.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: The roll cage is for once you get above 125 or 130.
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so the faster you go the more safe, you've got to have.
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that makes sense.
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: Well, you should take your mom for a ride if she's concerned.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: That is exactly right.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: I know I have taken her for a ride, but it's over there in Bel Air on 610.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: She wasn't really too pleased with that.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: And neither were the Bel Air police, so they're kind of tough on that.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Okay, that's right.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: So you know it's a seven-hour ride from Houston to Fort Stockton.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: I did the math 508 miles, so there's a full day of driving just to get out there.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: And I assume, how many cars do you?
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: typically have registered to do this, about 130 and some do.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry, actually it's about 160, but there are two races.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: So the april there's always about 160, and in october, I don't know why, it's just different.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: Maybe hunting season, people are getting ready for hunting, I don't know, but there's it's a little fewer in october.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: But some people do drive their car all the way out there from wherever we have.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: People from Nebraska, idaho, I mean Colorado, florida, georgia, even some from out of the country come out there.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: They're clearly not driving their cars, but then some, of course, trailer their cars and that's what we do so.
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: I'll tell you another quick story.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: Before we found the Z06 that we loved, that we totally love, but we didn't have it yet.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: But my brother-in-law has a Z.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: It's an 09 ZR1 and it's a standard.
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: And let me tell you, my brother-in-law was up for brother-in-law of the year because he not only let me take that car in the race, he let me borrow his truck and his trailer so I could haul it out there.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: Oh my God.
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well you need to take care of him, yeah yeah, yeah, most definitely All right.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: How much does it cost?
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, most definitely All right.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: How much does it?
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: cost.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: Again, that depends on your classes.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: It goes anywhere from about $600 up to $1,000.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: Okay, and is it a?
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: two-day event.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: Okay, this is what my husband says.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: You can get out there on Monday before the race on Saturday and there's all kinds of things to do and they start checking you and double-check, checking your cars, and all this on tuesday, but the race is on saturday.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: It's a one-day event.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: It's just first leg in the morning, get down there, eat lunch and return when is the texas mile?
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: is that coming?
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: up a car show.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: Did you have a car show and other things like that to for entertainment?
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: It's coming up on April 26th.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: April 26th.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: Okay, and so all of the festivities are in Fort Stockton, I assume.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: For the most part.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: They do have some events down in Sanderson and the good thing about this for both towns it's really a big fundraiser and if you can think of on just a totally smaller scale.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: But like what the Houston Rodeo does for Houston, that's what this race does for those two communities.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: It just brings people in.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: So the hotels and restaurants are full and they have little gatherings, different groups are selling things and all the shops are real friendly and they have different ways to keep people entertained.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: So where do you sign up for this and get more information?
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: you have a website yes, go to big ben open road race or bborrcom, bborrcom okay and um, all the information is there.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: Do you have, uh, member hotels, hotels that you can go and get a discount at in either one of the cities?
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: Yes, in Fort Stockton some of the hotels do give racer discounts and they have events that are catered to the racers.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: They'll have a welcome reception or a special at the bar or something like that.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: But everybody's just trying to be friendly and get your business.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: Sure, I understand and I assume that you know there's got to be some sort of oil-related stuff out there.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: There's a couple vendors that go out there Discounts on the quarts of oil and stuff like that.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: Gasoline, gasoline, I don't know about that?
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: We get all our stuff down here before we go out.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: Sure, of course you do.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Well, it sounds like an absolute hoot to do.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: I don't have enough self-confidence anymore to go for the 150-mile-an-hour class.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: I'm sure that the car would do that.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it probably would.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: It's a six-speed manual transmission with a stock LS1 engine in it and it basically lives on the ground, close to the ground, and so I wouldn't think that it would be anything other than a fast 150 mile an hour trip at 60 miles from fort stockton on down to the finish line.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: And uh, I I mean okay, is that?
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: is that don talking with?
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: us.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: Yes, it is yes okay, you need to do that, sir, you need to do that, and there are so many people who take you under their wing.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: You're going to have to start out at 110.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: Okay, You've done that on I-10 going to work.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: I'm sure you can wear a regular seat belt.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, a regular long-sleeve T-shirt.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: You know you don't have to have a whole bunch of that's how we started out.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: Just leather shoes, gloves See the problem with this is and you've already alluded to the fact that you started off with a $40,000 Corvette and now you've bumped it up to a $70,000 Corvette, all because of one race.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: You've gone from a regular Corvette to a Z06.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I know how this works.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: Believe me, I've been Corvetting a long time.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: You get the bug.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I know.
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: Who's going to get to drive it.
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: He's used to bugs, so if he took his out there the first time, first year, he could do the 110, but he couldn't.
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: He would have to wait another year to move up another class, right, okay?
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: Or six months if he came out True.
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: So you could do it, don, you could go out there, I'm not.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: You know, there was the racer side of the Corvette Club and then there was the show car side.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: I gravitated to the show car side.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: Well, that makes sense.
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: It's a lot cheaper, I promise I have no doubt, but I'm just thinking that it's not really a race race.
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: It's like she said it's against the clock, it's against yourself.
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: You go out there a week ahead of time and you consistently drive that route for the week and then when the race time comes.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: You know all the little idiosyncrasies of the drive and you just accelerate real hard, real fast and hurry ronda, it is great to talk to you.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: Big, big, uh, big bend, open car, open road race.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: Sorry, bborrcom, all the information is there.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: Good luck, and let's talk to you in the fall.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: For the fall race, shall we in the winter circle?
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: Yes sir, yes sir.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: All right, thank you, yes it'll be better weather.
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: I can show you the cars All right.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: Just ahead, mr Mars has his review of the 2025 Kia Carnival, along with Jeff's car culture.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: The In Real Time Car Talk Show is back in just a couple of minutes.
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  Speaker 1: How about a professionally installed radar detector?
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: Gulf Coast Auto Shield does that too.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Get a peek inside the shop and look at the services offered by getting online and heading to gcautoshieldcom.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: Better yet, stop by their facility at 11275 South Sam Houston Tollway, just south of the Southwest Freeway, and get a personal tour.
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: Gulf Coast Auto Shield is your place to go for all things exterior.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Call them today 832-930-5655 or gcautoshieldcom.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: Hey, the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show hits the road literally when we join the Hot Rod Tour of Texas April 26th.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: That's the Saturday.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: Link to the website through inwheeltimecom.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: Thanks for being with us today and we appreciate your participation in our show.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: Thank you, jeff's Car Culture.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: What are we doing today?
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: Hydrogen fuel cells Things to know.
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: Are they the future?
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: Are they from Mars?
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: No, the Honda, toyota?
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: No, I'm not bringing them.
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: Are we doing America?
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: Is America going to do them?
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: America?
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: We'll find out, but there's about 17,000 hydrogen-powered vehicles in the US roads right now.
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: All of them are in California.
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: Meanwhile, the EVs there's millions of them around the country and the world.
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: While electric cars are getting attention, with major manufacturers focusing on them to be dominant by 2030, hydrogen vehicles remain much in the background.
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: Here's why, this year, one new hydrogen vehicle will hit the market.
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: It's the Honda CR-V.
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: It's called the FCEV, which is an adaptation of the popular compact crossover, with not only a hydrogen fuel cell jointly developed by General Motors probably Cadillac or Buick, I might throw that in there but largely a battery that can be plugged in.
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: This provides 29 extra miles of range, adding to the 241 miles of range for the fuel cell.
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: It will only be available in California, it will only be for lease, and the volume is projected to be about 300 vehicles a year, so they're just getting started.
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: A hydrogen fuel cell, or the HFCV for short, uses the same kind of electric motor to turn the wheels as a battery electric car does.
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: But it's not powered by a large heavy battery but by a fuel cell stacked in which pure hydrogen H2, passes through a membrane to combine the oxygen O2, from the air, producing the electricity that turns the wheels.
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: Figure that out.
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: We've got a schematic here coming up.
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: What this means is a fuel cell vehicle is technically a series hybrid, which is why they are sometimes classified as a fuel cell, hydridelectric vehicle or the FCHEV.
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: These vehicles are safe.
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: They're just as safe as any other vehicle, since the high-pressure tanks are designed to survive even the highest speed crashes without leaking or breaching the fuel.
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: While hydrogen skeptics routinely cite the Hindenburg explosion of 1937, the hydrogen tanks, their hardware, would likely survive.
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: Even if the rest of the car was destroyed, the tanks would probably be intact.
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: No injuries or deaths specific to hydrogen components have been recorded to this date.
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: Fueling a hydrogen car comes naturally over time, but aligning the heavy nozzle and sealing it properly to the car, you have to have the communication between the nozzle and the car itself.
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: You have to have the communication between the nozzle and the car itself.
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: So today's stations offer only two of five vehicles before they go offline, before repressurizing.
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: So it's very important to get there.
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: How many miles can you go?
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: About 241, and then, with the electric, you can add about another 25 more miles to it.
• 24:13
  Speaker 4: So if you're in California and you're interested in zero-emission vehicles powered by electric motor, a hydrogen vehicle is one approach, but creating a brand new fuel cell network from scratch hence, electric has proven to be far, far more problematic, expensive and unreliable, and the fuel is much pricier for drivers than a gasoline or electric vehicle.
• 24:34
  Speaker 4: So there you go.
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: Pretty much says it all.
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: You're driving a hybrid when you do that.
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: And there you go, pretty much says it all.
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: You're driving a hybrid when you do that.
• 24:41
  Speaker 4: To each his own.
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: If you want to do that, the future's coming.
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: I'm out.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: I'm good, thank you.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: Time now for this hour's car review.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Mr Mars reviews the Kia.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: I'm calling it the Carnival because it has a little more class to it.
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: We're going to the Carnival because it has a little more class to it.
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: I like Carnival.
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: Hey, we're going to the Carnival.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: We're going to go to the Carnival, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true, true.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: So we're talking about the 2025 Kia Carnival.
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: We like that.
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: And then this is the Hybrid SX Prestige.
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: It comes in four trim levels the LXS, the EX SX and the SX Prestige, which we happen to have the hybrid option on.
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: Now it is with a hybrid.
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: It's new for 2025, but it's basically the same vehicle as the regular gasoline SX Prestige that was available last year.
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: So Kia looks at it like they really don't promote it as a minivan.
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: It's kind of like the un-minivan minivan.
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: It has seven or eight passenger seating.
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: We happen to have the eight.
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: Outside you're going to find a lot of the features you would expect on a family-type vehicle LED lighting with the projector, headlights up front, fog lights, daytime running lights are all LED.
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: Heated side mirrors had dual power sunroofs, had a smart power liftgate.
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: The side doors they will open and close, just like on what you would see on a regular minivan.
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: We were rolling on some 19-inch black alloy wheels, which were the optional wheels, the upgrade, but there's no spare, which I thought was rather strange for a family-oriented vehicle.
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: No-transcript Instead of a spare tire.
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: Wow, Pump Like a pump, yeah, Gotcha.
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: Now inside you're going to see that we had the upgraded leather seating we had, and it's much like a minivan, Whether they don't particularly want to market it as a minivan, it is a minivan.
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: It's got easy in and out, Got a lot of space in it for people and things to put places, storage compartments to put little things.
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: The front seats are heated and ventilated.
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: The second row is kind of a bench-type thing but it's a 40-20-40, and the centerpiece looks kind of like a console but it's actually a separate seat and that's how you get your eight-passenger seating with that seating arrangement.
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: So it folds down like an armrest, yes, and it'll actually slide forward and backwards, just like the seats do.
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: Actually, it comes out.
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: It took it out one day accidentally.
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: It has a 12.3-inch panoramic display up in the dash and this is where you're going to find your nav, your convenience controls and your rear-view camera.
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: Now it also had the interior camera and talk intercom to the rear seat so you can kind of focus in on the passengers in the back and actually have an intercom to make it a little bit easier to talk to them if things are noisy.
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: It has the heads-up display, which is a nice thing to have whenever you've got all this stuff going on Rear passenger video and talk that I just mentioned makes it a little bit easier to talk to them because it does have USB ports on all three rows, so you've got a lot of wireless stuff going on with Android and Apple.
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: It's got the wireless charger, so it could possibly get in there if you got a family full of kids and stuff in there, so it makes it nice.
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: Second row windows shades we had that as an option, which first time when I looked out the window.
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: It was kind of like what, what?
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: I can't see out the window, but I realized there was a shade.
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: They're not used to seeing that.
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: And then we also had the 12 speaker bows audio system.
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: That was really nice, sounded really nice in this vehicle.
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: Now, up under the hood we had the 1.6 liter turbo that was combined with the hybrid powertrain.
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: Now this does produce 242 horsepower, 271 pound-feet of torque, front wheel drive, backed up by a six-speed automatic transmission.
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: Now the EPA says you're looking for 34 in the city, highway 31, combined 33.
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: I got 29.8 across the 455 miles that I drove this vehicle.
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: We had a lot of in-town running around to do.
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: And again it handles like a minivan with manners.
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: To me it's more like a little station wagon.
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: It's easy to drive, the steering's real responsive.
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: It's got a very nice car-like ride to it, got nice acceleration because of the electronic components in it in particular, and basically it's time for a road trip.
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: Get in it and go.
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: And it's got a 10-year 100,000-mile warranty on this battery and the electronic components.
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: So it's really, really nice.
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: Now the base model on this price on this vehicle is $40,800.
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: Now the base model on this price on this vehicle is $40,800.
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: Now the base trim, because we were at the upper level $52,600 to start MSRP as we had, it was $54,490.
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: So it's right there in the market because the Toyota Sienna Hybrid starts at $39,185.
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: The Honda Odyssey Hybrid starts at $41,900.
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: And the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid starts a little bit more at $51,000.
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: So they're all right there in that range at the starting price and then it just kind of depends on how much you want to add to it.
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: But if you're looking for a people mover, a family vehicle, don't worry about it being a minivan, just look at it like it's a station wagon.
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: And this is definitely one you need to look at.
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: And that's my review of the 2025 Kia Carnival Hybrid SX Prestige.
• 29:41
  Speaker 4: Very, very good.
• 29:42
  Speaker 4: Now, that's the same one that did Don have one recently.
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: I believe so.
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: Yes, he did.
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: Now is yours all electric?
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: That was a no, this is a hybrid Hybrid.
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: And it's not a plug-in about stopping to charge it.
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: I like it All right.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: In Real Time.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: Car Talk Show continues right after this.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: Pro-am Auto Accessories has been serving Houston's auto enthusiasts since 1984, providing world-class products for sports cars, european sedans and American muscle.
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: Pro-am is known as the place to go to find exclusive and hard-to-find parts and accessories.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: Pro-am is one of the very first distributors in the USA for brands such as Recaro, redline, momo Corbo and Simpson.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: Located in the heart of Houston's premier retail and service corridor, the Galleria area, pro-am's walk-in storefront includes an 8,000-square-foot warehouse, showroom and installation bays.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: Pro-am not only sells parts and accessories, but also offers installation and service.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Pro-am is now reaching a worldwide audience through Pro-Amcom, taking its local reputation to the rest of the world.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: At Pro-Am Auto, you'll be dealing with a small group of professionals who truly want to help you with your automotive needs.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: If you don't see what you're looking for on the website, call and Pro-Am will lend you a hand.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Pro-am Auto 6125 Richmond at Greenridge in Houston's Galleria area.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: Call them at 713-781-7755.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: It's time for the 47th Annual Corvette Chevy Expo in Galveston.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: Saturday and Sunday, march 15th and 16th, at the Galveston Island Convention Center.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: This premier indoor event features iconic Chevrolets, from classic Camaros to America's sports car Corvette.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: See over 135 displays, automotive vendors and unique finds at the expansive swap meet.
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: You'll also see the all-handmade Galveston Craft Show featuring over 100 local artisans.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: Be part of the Chevy celebration March 15th and 16th.
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: For tickets, visit CorvetteChevyExpocom.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: That's it for this podcast episode of the In Wheel Time Car Show.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: I'm Don Armstrong, inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning on Facebook, youtube Twitch and our InWheelTimecom website.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, spotify Stitcher, iheart Podcast, podcast Addict TuneIn, pandora and Amazon Music.
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: Keep listening and we'll see you soon.