Grassroots Motorsports And Classic Motorsports Podcast

You probably know David Wallens as the editor of Grassroots Motorsports magazine and Classic Motorsports magazine, but you may not know he's also the Chairman of the British Motor Trade association.The BMTA is a trade gout for professionals in the field of repairing, restoring and preserving British cars, as well as parts manufacturers serving the scene. Ultimately, the enthusiast derives the most benefit from the organization, as it gives the professionals who keep those cars on the road a tool to better communicate, network, and keep the British sports car scene alive.

BMW Motorsports has a rich and storied tradition, and Jens Marquardt is the latest to helm the division as they take on the rest of the sportscar racing world. We sat down with Jens, and BMW Motorsports PR ace Matt Russell, at a recent intro for the new M235i Racing. We examine BMW's place in racing's history, take an in-depth look at the M235i Racing, and chat with Matt about BMW's relationship to the enthusiasts who own and race the marque.

As one of the namesakes of Riley Technologies, Bill Riley has had a hand in the development and construction of some of the most impressive racing sports cars of the past three decades. And while he loves to see his creations mix it up at Daytona, Sebring, LeMans, and other famous circuits, he also loves trading paint with other weekend warriors in the crapcan racing scene.

Not many 24-year-olds decide to start their own car magazine. Of those that do, we'd say even fewer succeed. But our magazine simply wouldn't exist today if it weren't for a 24-year-old Tim Suddard, his dream, and his determination. On this episode we talk with Tim about some of the early days of the magazine, and what leads to a decision to start a car magazine and, ultimately, define a movement.

Bill Warner took a circuitous path to the Chairmanship of the Amelia Island Concours. A successful businessman, as well as respected photographer and automotive journalist, Bill has always had a love for beautiful machinery, though, and over the past two decades, he's built the Amelia Island show from plucky startup to one of the nation's greatest displays of historically significant automobiles.

It may not seem to make much sense that our humble little sports car podcast is chatting with one of America's foremost heavy metal icons this week. But, we are. After our chat with GWAR frontman Dave Brockie, though, we realized that what he does and what we do really aren't all that different. Sure we don't spray fake blood all over people at Road Atlanta, but the spirit of making the most of your resources and passionately pursuing your craft is one that resonates whether you're an underground metal sensation, or an independent sports car magazine. Even if you're not a GWAR fan, we think you'll see a kindred spirit. PS, this episode contains a few salty words. It's really not gratuitously offensive, though, but we left the conversation as-is because it all flows quite nicely.

On this edition of the podcast, we give you a behind the scenes look at our day-to-day life in the magazine biz in a chat with Editorial Director David Wallens. David tells us a bit about his early days in college, getting the job with us back in 1993, and working his way into the driver's seat of a very exciting sports car magazine. We also chat about how his job has changed because of new technology, and a little about the actual process of building a magazine, from concept to execution. David also tells us about his latest press trip, where he got a chance to drive BMW's all New MINI.

If you autocross, you know who Andy Hollis is. Even if you think you don't, you've doubtlessly been affected by his influence on the sport. In his three-plus decades of competing, he's always been at or near the pinnacle of the sport, constantly competing on a level that makes the rest of us look quite mortal. We chat with him about his approach to preparation, and how—even 30+ years later—he's still excited about putting rubber on asphalt.

In the past decade, eBay has risen from an internet curiosity to a major powerhouse, reshaping the way we purchase and trade all types of items. eBay Motors is now one of the largest repositories of vehicles and parts for sale on the internet. Jessika Lora is one of the folks shaping eBay's future, and she sat down with us at our $2013 Challenge event to talk about what makes their company so unique, and even provided a few insider tips on buying and selling on eBay.

PR guys sometimes get a bad rap, but Dean Case undoes all that ill will. In addition to being in charge of PR for Mazda Motorsports, Dean has the distinction of being a good friend and a cool guy. Maybe it's because he came to the PR game from the engineering side, or maybe it's just that he loves making great connections between people and companies with interesting stories to tell.

Hot Rod magazine is an iconic title in our industry, and the guy in charge of making sure Hot Rod stays awesome is David Freiburger. More than an editor, Freiburger oversees the entire Hot Rod brand, from print magazines, to web media, to video and anything else they can think of to get their message out. We love chats with other folks in the car magazine industry, and we think you'll enjoy riding shotgun as we talk shop with Mr. Freiburger.

What if your only limitation is designing a race car was your imagination? That's a lot like what the designers of the radical Deltawing started with when they were honing their controversial, arrow-shaped design. We sit down with Deltawing's Chief Engineer Simon Marshall to talk about the design and development process of this revolutionary car, and what it's like being the kid on the block with the strange toy nobody understands.

Margie Suddard was kind enough to play guinea pig in one of our first podcast technical tests. This was never intended to be a distributed podcast, but after we listened to it, we realized it was an extremely compelling look at what it takes to survive in the publishing and small business world these days. The audio is a little rough in spots, as we were still working through our recording methods, but we hope you excuse those and enjoy fascinating chat with our office mate.

Chrysler’s SRT division is more like an independent tuning shop than part of a huge corporation. The men and women building cars there are true enthusiasts, but they have the resources of one of the largest car builders in the world at their disposal. We talked with SRT’s head of vehicle dynamics, Eric Heuschele, about the cars they build and the people who build them. Eric has been a friend of GRM for a while, since his days mixing it up behind the wheel of an SSC Neon.