Fastest Car (2018) s02e05 Episode Script
Saved by Speed
[T-Mark.]
Today, we're gonna run four-wide, and the winner of this race will go on to the championship round.
[man 1.]
I'm doin' this race for my kids.
I just wanna win bad.
[man 2.]
This car represents me because it's as budget as you can get.
Sometimes you gotta eat Top Ramen if you wanna go fast, you know? [man 3.]
Um, if this car right here was to beat a supercar, that's something I'mma take with me to the grave.
We're gonna look very bad if we lose to a supercar.
- Nah, I ain't gonna lose.
- For sure - [laughing.]
- You can't lose.
[man 4.]
I think a lot of people might say, if I lose, "How could you spend that much money on a car to be beaten by something that cost so much less?" [man 4.]
We gotta win this one.
[car engines revving.]
- [man 1.]
There he is.
Sick.
- [man 2.]
Brah! - Q! - What's up, Q? [laughter.]
- Oh, I just - Marcos.
What's up, man? What's going on? - Bitch-ass! - What y'all got goin'? What are we doing, then? We'll go get her ready for the race.
- You wanna turn it up? - Yeah.
- Sounds like you're scared right now.
- [tsks.]
Scared? The fuck? - You better win.
- You can't lose.
- If you lose, we're gon' jump you.
- Yeah, we For sure [laughter.]
My name is Qurann Lottie.
Age 30.
Growin' up in Compton was kinda rough.
[distant police siren wailing.]
A lot of gangbanging, shootings When I was younger, a couple of my buddies got killed.
Most of them are in jail now for robberies and killings.
Lotta trouble in Compton, so getting into cars kept me from out the jailhouse.
[Qurann.]
I live with my mother at the moment.
Livin' with my moms is pretty good.
I mean, I can't complain.
I was spoiled, only because I'm the baby.
My first memory with cars was my granddad used to always "Go hand me a socket, hand me a wrench, hand me this size," you know? So, that's how I picked it up.
From there, I just was like, "This is what I like right here, cars.
" The first car I ever built was a 1967 El Camino.
I kept begging my mom to buy that car, 'cause the car used to always burn rubber, it looked pretty fast.
So I'm like, "I want that car.
I want that car, you know.
It runs.
" I don't know how he talked me into gettin' that car.
He just told me that this guy had a car for sale, and he begged me to get it, and I guess I just went on and got that car for him.
You know, it was just somethin' to be excited about.
My first car And from that point on, just keep on building cars.
Blow motors out, transmission, the whole nine yards, - and just build 'em again.
- [chuckling.]
That's what it's about.
[Qurann.]
This is pretty much my first, actually, race car kinda build.
This is a 1989 Ford Mustang.
I got it in, uh I wanna say, like, 2011, roughly.
I purchased it for about $900.
Since then, I have about $15,000 in the car with all the modifications I've done to it.
It's a Chevy motor that's in it, an LS1.
Pretty much conventional old-school transmission.
TH350 And I got nitrous to make it go fast.
[engine roars.]
I like how it looks.
Like, my buddies always tell me, "Man, get your car painted," or "Do this.
" As long as the car run good and it can go fast, that's all I care about.
[man.]
Woo! Alameda Boyz! [Qurann.]
I run with the Alameda Boyz.
That's my crew.
Been with them for, like, five years.
We're pretty well known in the streets.
Um, when we come out and our our game's on point, it's pretty much hard to beat, 'cause we're actually real deal street racers.
Fuck these bitches up! 5-3 for the win! I pull up to a street race, my main concern is just, pretty much, just worrying about the cops.
[radio chatter.]
When I first kind of came out, I used to race at least once, twice a week.
I've kinda slowed down because of the police now, but we still try to get out there and to race once in a while, you know, trying to have a little bit of fun.
You know, when you're trying to race one person by yourself, there's so much you've gotta do to go over the whole car.
So with a crew, you know, you have a couple of people that can help you out.
We have our ups and downs, fightin' and just talkin' shit in general, but, um it's like a family.
[laughter.]
Do I think Quarann's Mustang has a chance versus a supercar? I don't think so.
Our possibilities are small.
[Miguel.]
We call the car Zip Tie, 'cause all it was was self-tapped screws and zip ties.
You hit the fender hard enough, it's gonna fall off, man, - so we gotta we gotta tape all that up.
- [laughing.]
Remember when he tested it last time? It was falling apart! [laughter.]
It was! The whole rim was about to fall off this motherfucker, man! [Miguel.]
When he's driving, he's pretty good.
He's focused, he turns into a different person.
Just his attitude, you know? You think he's like, "Oh, yeah" People might think, "We're gonna get in his head.
" There's no way you get in that man's head.
Fuck no.
[Qurann.]
If this car right here was to beat a supercar, that's just somethin' I'mma take with me to the grave, you know, like You know Something you can't ever forget.
Like, "Wow, you know, this little cheap-ass Fox Body took down a supercar," you know? [man.]
Supercars are something I've loved my entire life.
And to me, cars like this are almost like works of art.
There's something about how beautiful it is, the way it drives, and there's so many millions of dollars of research and development put into the car.
It truly is a special experience behind the wheel.
But I just love supercars.
My name is Parker Nirenstein.
I'm 24 years old.
Currently, I've got three cars in my fleet, but the most special car I have, that I'm bringing to the race, is my 2015 Ferrari 458 Speciale Aperta.
They only made 499 of these, so it's extremely limited.
Current market value of Apertas is between $650,000 and $700,000.
A lot of people think it's ridiculous to spend, uh, this much money on a car, but if you're into something, you don't make rational decisions.
This isn't a purchase that you can go, "Yeah, that makes sense.
" It's It's an emotional purchase.
While I've only had this car for about three months, I have instantly fallen in love.
It's the connection to the road and the super razor-sharp steering.
It's lightweight, it's fast, it's loud.
It sounds so dang good.
[revving engine.]
- [accelerating.]
- [laughs.]
Owning a car like this, to me, is honestly the realization of a dream.
That dream led me to kinda go crazy over cars.
[laughing.]
Whoa! That was [laughs.]
That was sick.
[man.]
It's a little Volkswagen.
Wave! [chuckles.]
[Parker.]
Growing up in Marin County around a lot of wealthy people who had kind of paved their own path was a big inspiration for me.
I wanted to create something that could create the life that I want.
[Parker.]
The first memory I have of being into cars, I was, like, three and a half years old, and I liked building stuff with Tinkertoys and blue tape.
I built this kind of Top Fuel dragster that I was sitting in that I was super excited about.
When I was ten years old, the 2004 Lamborghini Gallardo came out, and I became obsessed with it.
I just needed that car so bad.
I didn't know exactly how I would get it, but that desire for that car is really what led to today.
Now I've got a bunch of supercars.
I think people's first impression, when they see a young kid in a Ferrari is, "Their parents must have bought the car for them," and honestly, it's awesome proving them wrong.
But I've put tens of thousands of hours into my business to be able to afford a car like this.
I think it'd be really awesome to win, especially because this specific car is meant more to be fast around the track than it is in a straight line.
But, of course, there's some bragging rights, uh winning a four-lane drag race and going on to the finals.
I'd be down.
[man.]
I got tamales right now.
- Eat up.
- [woman.]
Okay.
[man.]
Hurry up.
- [girl 1.]
Mm.
Mm? - [girl 2.]
Yeah.
- You want juice, too, or - Yeah.
[man.]
What do you guys want? I have corn and pork.
[girl 2.]
Uh, pork.
Papa, how's the race gonna be? [man.]
It's supposed to be two other sleepers and a supercar.
[girl 2.]
Do you know who you're gonna race? - I do not.
- Like, regular? - [man.]
They have not said.
- Do you think you're gonna win? I don't know.
I don't know.
It's all It's in the air.
What do you think, Jenny? - I think he's gonna win.
- Yes? - Yeah.
- You're gonna have to put money on that.
- Oh! - [man.]
What the [laughter.]
My name is Jim Ramirez.
I drive a 1973 Chevy Vega wagon.
I've purchased it for $3,000, and I'm probably no more than $5,000 into it.
[Jim.]
This car represents me because it's as budget as you can get.
Yeah, I'm proud of it.
I mean, it symbolizes me.
I'm budget.
I mean, I wear raggedy clothes Well, you know, I do everything, I You know, sometimes you gotta eat Top Ramen if you wanna go fast, you know? When I race, people think, "What is that piece of junk doing here?" [laughs.]
Once they see it hit the track and hit a a solid number, they wanna know what secret I have in it.
I grew up in East LA, California, mid '70s.
It was a tough upbringing.
My mom was the the backbone of the family.
My dad, he was a drunk, an abusive father, you know.
Um Just Just a bad person, to be honest with you.
And my mom left him and saved us.
Honestly, I don't think I'd be alive here today.
Uh, that's how bad the beating was.
My Uncle Eddie came to the rescue.
He saved, pretty much, me and my mom.
He taught me the ways of how to be a better person.
He was not just my uncle, he was like my best friend.
My uncle got me into cars the first time I took a ride in this truck.
It was a 1958 Ford truck, and I still have it today.
We did our first burnout.
[sound of tires squealing.]
That was just amazing, the the feel of lighting up a tire and taking off, and it was just a a rush, you know? I was maybe eight, nine years old when that happened, and I just had a grin from ear to ear, you know, I just It was the best thing.
And that day It's just, you know that's what you wanna do.
My Uncle Eddie just recently died.
He had, uh pancreatic cancer.
Uh, yeah, I do.
I miss him a lot.
People ask me, why would I wanna do this race? It would mean a lot to to my Uncle Eddie.
You know, just to have him see me do good, you know? Yeah, I think he'd be ecstatic.
[man.]
To build a fast car it's like a whole 'nother level of, like, perseverance, determination, commitment It tests your resolve on a whole 'nother level.
People that do it totally get it.
People that don't do it are like, "Why the fuck do you do that?" My name is Frankie Trutanic, and I drive a 1986 Buick Regal T-Type.
[Frankie.]
I'm a racing junkie.
I love going fast.
The car has costed me over $150,000.
Everything's pretty much modified or totally changed.
All MoTeC electronics.
Literally spared no expense on every part.
First memory of cars was actually the I think it was a Disney movie called Love Bug.
A Volkswagen Bug, his name was Herbie.
And he was, like, the underdog.
He was like the pile of shit Bug.
I just remember vividly, like, Herbie would do this crazy shit to win races.
But that, like, really fueled my fire for cars.
My childhood was fairly happy.
Somewhere in the pre-teen years is where my parents' relationship got more turbulent, a lot more fighting.
And then my parents decided to get divorced.
Developing, like, coping skills at that point in my life was very difficult.
I was drinking and smoking weed at the time, you know partying, like doing coke, and I was pretty dependent on meth.
I dropped out of two colleges.
I remember getting very sick.
Like, my body was just shutting down.
And I went to a hospital, and the doctor just looked at me straight in the face.
He's like, "Look, you have the liver of a 50-year-old, and you're 18.
Like, you're you're not gonna live long if you keep doin' this.
" I remember just, like, that feeling of, like, "Fuck, I'm lost.
I have zero direction in my life.
" It was a rock-bottom moment.
I just felt like a complete loser.
I remember being high on meth, you know, three in the morning, watching TV and seeing this infomercial for Universal Technical Institute.
They were talking about this hot rod U, like, "You could go to this program that teaches you how to work on hot rods.
" [announcer.]
If you're looking for a career that combines high-tech skills and creativity, then UTI is the place for you.
[Frankie.]
It was like I found my calling.
I was very decisive on, like, "This is it.
This is where I'm goin'.
I'm doin' this.
" So when I went to UTI, I just felt like I was around, like, a bunch of like-minded people.
I remember just being, like, "This feels like home.
This is what I've always wanted to do.
" I remember just being, like, very determined to sober up and not fuck up.
And then, I remember the day I graduated, you know, I walk back to where my dad is, and he pats me on the back and he says, "Congratulations, you can, uh, work at Jiffy Lube now.
" He never wanted me to be a mechanic.
He couldn't be proud of me building cars, and I remember I was pissed, and I remember that just propelling me.
I'm like, "You know what? I'm gonna fuckin' be successful.
" [laughter.]
[man.]
Aaaah! Hey, so What the fuck are we racing? Um, a 2015 Ferrari 458 Speciale.
- [man.]
Aperta? - Yeah, Speciale Aperta.
- I think so.
- I think we got it right here.
Yeah, it is clean.
[man 2.]
You'll probably get fucked up with that shit.
- [man 2.]
Not that It's not that slow.
- [Qurann.]
It ain't that fast, either.
[laughter.]
You gotta take it all.
There ain't no fuckin' around.
I don't care what other fucking street car is out there, sleeper or whatever the fuck they are, we gotta put our name out there.
- That's all we gotta do.
- All right.
[Qurann.]
I'm taking off the fitting for the nitrous I to put a bigger jet in it.
That's, like, roughly a 250 shot.
[Miguel.]
It didn't hit too crazy, but the car ran good.
But now with the 250, it it'll turn into a different animal now.
[Qurann.]
We over here risking blowin' up the motor by adding more nitrous to make a little bit more power.
I know we don't really do a lot of maintenance on this car, but [Qurann laughs.]
- [Miguel.]
it'll survive, right? - Um [laughter.]
Usually when it's a nitrous backfire, big-ass flames and shit shoot off through the carburetor, and sometime, you know, you can blow your motor, or hurt a gang of parts.
Part of the nitrous game.
Mike, I'm about to connect the bottle right now, so we can check to make sure we have no leaks.
- All right, I'm about to open it, Mike.
- [Mike.]
Go ahead.
[gas hissing.]
[Miguel.]
We really wanna win this race, fuck everybody up.
And the supercar, too.
Make him Make him feel bad that a $1,500 car just fucked his ass up.
Oh, my God! Oh, my God! [Parker.]
I would definitely consider myself an influencer.
I've built up a reputation over a long time.
[Parker.]
My senior year of high school, I was always, uh, the car nerd, reading magazines, watching TV shows about cars, so people would ask me questions about what car they should get.
So I started helping people one-on-one, and then decided I could probably help more than one person at a time.
And that's when I created Vehicle Virgins, my YouTube channel.
I've been posting five to seven videos a week, and slowly growing an organic user base over time.
Most people didn't actually believe it would work, and it wasn't until my junior year of college when I was able to buy my first supercar, a 2004 Lamborghini Gallardo, that everyone went, "Oh.
" Now finally realizing my dream, I was so ecstatic that I would wake up in the middle of the night and go down and check to make sure the car was still there.
The channel averages around 20 to 30 million views a month, which is more than Top Gear and MotorTrend and a lot of other large YouTube channels.
My channel has made me a millionaire, which is pretty awesome.
[engine revving.]
My most popular video of all time is when I picked people up in my Lamborghini as an Uber.
- This is an Uber? I've never - This is an Uber.
You've never been in an Uber.
Well, hop in.
- I have to Uber more often.
- [laughs.]
Holy crap.
It got 23 million views in the last year and a half.
- Am I being honked at? - Oh, shit.
- [laughs.]
- Oh, my God.
[woman.]
It's a supercar! - [revving engine.]
- [yelling.]
Oh, my God! I think, as an automotive YouTuber, I've got a lot of pressure not to mess up.
I'm the guy who's supposed to know exactly how to do it.
So, if I do have a bad race, I think it'll be embarrassing.
[Frankie.]
458 Speciale Aperta - [man.]
Ooh.
- [Frankie.]
Whatever that is.
- Fancy! - I don't even know how to spell that shit.
[chuckles.]
There we go.
4.
5 liter V8.
- What? Look at this! - [man.]
597.
- We make almost double that.
- Double that.
Look at the foot-pounds of torque.
That's nothing.
- Torque, we make, like, five times that.
- And it's a V12? - I mean, it looks cool.
- Yeah, it's cool looking.
I think what we gotta do is just - change those rear springs - Yeah.
And go super aggressive, get this thing to squat.
[Frankie.]
Putting lighter springs in the rear of the car will give it better traction at the launch so it'll take off quicker.
[Tyler.]
Lighter spring on's definitely going to help the weight transfer.
It'll bring the weight of the car down.
[Rob.]
There it is.
[Tyler.]
Yeah, buddy.
[Tyler.]
I think it looks cool.
[chuckles.]
No, I think it's gonna hook hard.
- [Tyler.]
Hell yeah.
- [Frankie.]
It's gonna be fun.
I think next we just gotta get that launch strategy down.
Get it hooked up to the MoTeC, start playing with that.
- Want to meet Daddy's friend? - No! [Frankie.]
Cars are my passion, but I'm a dad first.
- Hi.
- Right there.
How you doin'? I have two daughters with my ex.
Charli's 19 and Stevie's four.
- Wanna see the steering wheel? - No.
Okay.
I want to jump in the muddy puddle.
You wanna jump in the muddy puddles? Okay.
[Frankie.]
In spite of how my father felt about it, I have been a very successful mechanic.
I just don't wanna do the same shit to my daughters.
Whatever they wanna do.
If they wanna be an astronaut, I'll be like, "Cool.
Let's get you in a space shuttle.
Let's figure that out.
" I'm not livin' this life right now for, like specifically for me, like this is about, like, my two kids.
And, like, I gotta show up for myself too and, like, have fun, but it's really about them.
They've never see me race.
I wanna have these bonds with my daughters.
It's just a memory no one will ever be able to take away from 'em.
From us.
[Jim.]
I'm looking for my other parts, my spare parts for for my car.
My Uncle Eddie was a guy that would tell you all the time, "Why are you gonna go buy it when you can just make it?" We built something out of nothin', pretty much all junkyard parts.
And the only reason it's Frankenstein-ish like that is pretty much 'cause of him.
I got it.
There we go.
I got it.
[sighs.]
I found it.
Put it there, on the frame rail.
[Jim.]
Dane's like my road dog on the side.
We've known each other for a couple years.
He goes to the track with me.
It's really important to have somebody, just because you can't do it all by yourself.
- A little bit more? - [Jim.]
Right there.
Perfect.
- You good? - Yeah, bring her down.
So, we're gonna increase the spring pressure on the wastegate, instead of changing bigger things or going bigger turbo, or whatever.
You don't have to spend a lot of money to do it.
It's the little things that change up the car and the combination of the vehicle.
So, uh, more boost, more pressure, more horsepower.
- Let's hit this.
- [Dane.]
That's a That is a vision.
- This is the one you cut? - Yeah.
There you go.
Voilà .
[Jim.]
Hoping to get another 60 to 70 horsepower more just by adding a spring.
- [Dane.]
You good? - [Jim.]
Yeah.
- Is it all the way out? - Yeah, we're good.
[Jim.]
You wanna add a little cheap, fast horsepower, do something as simple as this.
Let me put it all the way down.
- You got that one, I'll do this one.
- Yes.
- We good? - All the way through? What do you think the guy that drives the supercar is doing right now - while we do this? - Listening to classical music.
Good mornin', ladies and gentlemen.
I hope you are having a fantastic day.
If you're new to the channel, my name is Parker Nirenstein, and this is Vehicle Virgins.
Today, we are taking out the Speciale Aperta and mastering launch control.
I've got a crazy opportunity to participate in a race, and I wanna make sure that I'm doing the best launches possible so that we can win.
- [beeping.]
- [engine starts.]
Make sure the car is in race mode, then we're gonna click the button labeled "PS.
" We're going to put our left foot firmly on the brake, right foot firmly on the gas, floor it, and off you go.
And there you go, zero to 60 in 3.
5 seconds.
The technology in the traction control and the launch control make it almost impossible to mess up the launch.
The sleeper car guys have more at stake, because they've been working on their cars tirelessly, and come race day, it's possible their car is gonna have a problem.
I just have to perform well in terms of doing launch control, but, really, it's not all that difficult to do.
[man.]
Yeah, I think we should stick to the plan, maybe at least put a 250 in it and be able to just progress it in real slow.
- I'll heat up the bottom.
- Maybe we can do two passes.
We can do one, and then, um We have to do one to go from there - to see anything else, you know? - Okay.
Okay.
We've gotta check bottle pressure, we've gotta make sure you're getting fuel, and that's in when they turn it on, and that's it, right? - That's it.
- [all.]
All right.
We'll heat up the nitrous to build pressure in the bottle.
That way it'll exit the bottle faster, maintain certain pressure that we need.
Purge it.
[revs engine.]
Woo-hoo! [revs engine.]
[engine roars.]
[engine slows.]
How much did it make? It's It's fat, though, no? [Qurann.]
Horizontal pull, we did pretty good.
We made 617 rear-wheel horsepower, even though we had a little problem we ran into.
I got off of it because the timing went back to, like, 30-something degrees.
- No shit.
- What's What's it doing? - The timing - It seems like it retarded the timing then added it back up.
I'mma do it another way.
Check the bottle pressure again.
For some reason, the timer started creeping back up and the air-fuel ratios was all off.
[Miguel.]
The timing spiked back up.
It caused it to have more nitrous than fuel, and that would have caused a big boom.
It could have blown up, but my tuner, Kike Fab, you know, he caught it just in time.
[engine roaring.]
So we only got a little bit more time to try to get this car dialed in, check everything, and hopefully we get it ready in time.
[car engine idling.]
Earlier today, what we did is we changed the wastegate spring.
We're gonna test run it to see what more power we increase.
You're about 14 ish.
[engine starts.]
[Jim.]
But if you put too much into it, you can break something.
[man.]
A little bit of wheel hop on that one, but it was just one tire, so we gotta maybe make an adjustment on air pressure.
You, uh, hopped on the right rear tire.
Yeah, I I felt it.
I think we just keep working' the tire pressure a little bit - and see how we go.
- Yeah.
[Jim.]
We put the seven-pound spring in, and it really changed the whole car right now.
I mean, it is pushing a lot harder than what I expected.
We good? Holy throttle.
- We good? - [Jim.]
Holy shit, man.
She's ready to eat.
- You think it's ready? - Woo! Let me tell you, it it felt good right now.
Let me tell you.
[Frankie.]
The MoTeC is just, like, this fuckin' unreal computer system that controls everything on your car.
It manages the engine, transmission, fuel Like, the cool thing about this computer is, like, you can literally spend as much time as you want tuning it.
The supercars, you can't do all this shit.
[Frankie.]
The sleeper cars, I highly doubt if anyone has this kind of technology in their cars, you know? That's our ace in the hole.
[engine starts.]
My biggest fear with this car is just leaving.
The first 60 feet of this car is, like, make it or break it.
I just wanna win.
[Parker.]
One of the craziest things about being a YouTuber is the comments can be absolutely brutal.
I know if I lose, I'm gonna get a lot of hate online.
[Qurann.]
This is very important.
Put us Alameda Boyz on the map.
When the light come on, hit the gas and just pray for the best that I'll come out on top.
[Jim.]
I think Uncle Eddie would be really excited and proud.
This is for him.
Hoping I can follow through with it.
[Jim.]
Excited to see the competition, for sure.
- How you doing? Jim.
- Jim.
[Jim.]
See what I'm up against.
Uh, what we'll do is, uh, wait for the rest of the cars to get here.
[Dane.]
This is where we're racing.
That's the starting line.
Oh, but you're starting in asphalt though.
Here we go.
I like that car, dude.
I mean, it looks beautiful.
[Dane.]
That thing's got turbo in it.
It's a nine-or eight-second car.
Yeah, that's that's a badass looking ride.
Wow.
What's goin' on? How you doing? Jim.
I love the chiller.
It's sick.
Yeah.
[Frankie.]
I've always liked Vegas.
Something about, like, a fast wagon and getting beat by a fast wagon, it's, like, a little demoralizing.
It's so cool.
[Frankie.]
Jim's old school.
He doesn't say too much.
[Dane.]
Can we see your car? It was originally a road race car.
What are you pushing boost-wise? [Frankie.]
Um, right now, 16.
- [whistles.]
- Sequential trans.
- [Dane.]
Here comes another one.
- Oh, wow.
- [Dane.]
Those guys are Alameda Boyz? - [Jim.]
Mm-hmm.
Those Compton dudes? [Jim.]
Yep.
- Wow, they're street racers, then.
- Mm-hmm.
- Mike.
Nice to meet you.
- Hi.
- How's it going? - How you doing, man? - Qurann.
Yo.
- Frankie.
[Dane.]
Jim said it was, like, Alameda Boyz? Some great stuff.
Looks like it's got a carburetor.
Yeah.
Nitrous.
Lift it on up.
[Qurann.]
Yeah, this is my first race ever that's not on the street.
It's actually different because I don't gotta, you know, be worrying about the cops or looking over my back.
With no cops around, I could pretty much concentrate on the race, and just try to get down there in first place.
[Dane.]
It's ugly but if that car works, in my opinion, that's the only car that's gonna be an issue.
- Yeah.
- Other than, obviously, the supercar - 'cause they have traction, but, um - Mm-hmm.
- I don't know.
- We'll see.
[Frankie.]
Obviously, we all are competitive.
You know, like, I can tell Jim, that guy's a beast.
You know, he's staying in his mindset and I respect that.
Same with Qurann.
That part of it, there's gamesmanship in it.
The end of the day, these guys are only gonna let on what they wanna let on.
Damn, look.
Look at the badass car coming up the lane.
- How's it goin'? - [Parker.]
How's it goin'? - T-Mark Jones.
- Parker, nice to meet you.
- And you.
- Does it come like that without a top? - [Dane.]
I guess.
- It's like this? Oh.
I know him.
- You know the guy? - Yeah.
Parker, he's got a YouTube channel.
[Dane.]
Oh, he looks familiar.
It's kinda, from what I understand, how he's, like, made his money.
- Yep.
[laughs.]
- Wow.
- That's his graduation present, right? - [laughs.]
- What's goin' on, guys? - What's up, bro? - Parker.
- Qurann.
- Nice to meet you.
- A little meet and greet? Shit, I'm right here.
I'm posted up on my spot.
All right.
I had the nicest for about a half hour.
- [man.]
For half an hour.
- [laughs.]
I'm super excited today.
[Qurann.]
You know, once-in-a-lifetime thing.
A little, you know, $20,000 budget build car, we get to race a supercar, so The color's crazy.
That rotor cost what your car cost, Qurann.
[Parker.]
The Mustang, I asked him how much nitrous they were using, and they answered with, like, a 200 shot of nitrous, which is a ridiculous amount.
The Vega, I think, has a truck turbo charger in a normal car, so could be making some serious power.
I'm thinkin' the Buick might give me the best competition.
I think on the surface it doesn't look like it has a whole bunch, but looking under the hood you could tell it's got some serious stuff goin' on.
- [Frankie.]
Sweet car.
- Which is yours? [Frankie.]
The Buick.
It's quick.
All computerized.
- No lift-shifting after first gear.
- [Parker.]
Nice.
[Frankie.]
Yeah.
[Parker.]
If he's got some extra electronics, that's definitely gonna give him an advantage.
The Buick also has launch control, so that's a pretty big deal.
I am way more nervous than before.
Teams and drivers in, please.
[T-Mark.]
This is a quarter-mile race today.
The amber light does not come on, so it'll be red, green, go on green.
If you leave your assigned lane, you will be disqualified.
Stay in your lane.
Any questions on that? All right.
It's build versus bought.
Good luck to each of you guys.
All right? [Frankie.]
Once you get that itch for racing, like, it doesn't go away.
This is the fastest car.
I wanna win this fuckin' thing.
[man speaking indistinctly.]
[Parker.]
I really want to win, because having the most expensive car, it would be embarrassing to go home with a loss.
[Frankie.]
I'm doing this race for my kids that are here watching.
I just wanna win bad.
[Jim.]
My Uncle Eddie was a big support to me.
I think he would feel ecstatic if I were to win.
All my family, my two daughters as well.
[Qurann.]
Winning this race will be, for sure, more street credit for me and the Alameda Boyz.
I mean, we came to win.
[alarm chiming.]
[man.]
Fuckin' go! - [tires squeal.]
- Oh! - [Qurann.]
Hell yeah! Hell yeah! - [cheering.]
[man on radio.]
Qurann with the Mustang took it.
- [cheering.]
- Alameda Boyz! P2, Buick, Frankie.
P3, Jim, in the Vega.
Parker, in the Ferrari.
They got some fast-ass cars.
Damn.
[applause.]
[Qurann.]
Hell yeah! [cheering.]
- [Jim.]
Drag racin', baby.
- [man 2.]
Number three! Well, that was annihilation.
[laughs.]
- Line! - Whew.
- Dude, get out.
- I said I would.
- Hey, get that line, bro! - [laughter.]
- [Qurann.]
Yeah.
Fuck them shits up! - You were smokin' today! - Nice race, dude.
- Good race.
- Good race, man.
- Yeah.
Let me see, if I can hear a honk - I'll I'll catch you.
- [Jim.]
Yeah.
[Jim.]
The race was exciting.
I was pedaling, pedaling, pedaling, and then I started going sideways.
Your plan is to go straight, not seeing the back wheels come right here beside you, you know what I'm sayin'? So, yeah, it was, uh it was scary.
[laughs.]
Tense like a boxing match, you know? Yeah.
You get the first two punches and it just jars your head a little bit.
Then you get back in and try to focus even more.
[T-Mark.]
Look at those marks.
I mean, that's drivin'.
I know you said it was gnarly, but you kept it in the space.
You drove it, you managed the situation.
Good job.
Good job.
I left the line a little bit late because the time between the red and the green was long enough to where my launch control failed halfway through, and then I had to go into launch control again.
So I left a little late, but the cars were definitely faster.
So, it definitely gives me, uh some inspiration for building a car.
I think that would be a fun project.
I got smoked.
[laughs.]
Um [Frankie.]
It was all in the launch.
I knew my race was gonna be won or lost on the launch, and both of those guys just got far out ahead of me.
Jim got fucking crazy sideways.
That was cool to see.
[Frankie.]
Driving by my kids and seeing them smiling At the end of the day, it's like, "Okay, we accomplished what we wanted, we had fun.
And this whole journey has been fuckin' fun.
The Ferrari got last.
Yeah.
Bad.
I came here with intentions, you know, to fuck up all the cars, like I said.
We all had a good experience, and we came out on top.
It's like, "Man, I actually won.
" You see a win from the beginnin'.
I mean, you're a winner, you know what I mean? Well, I don't know, brother.
We stay winnin', though.
You know? [laughter.]
[T-Mark.]
In P4, we have Parker.
P3, we have Jim.
In P2, we have Frankie.
Our champion, in first place is Qurann.
Outstanding.
Very nice.
Very nice.
You will return for a six-wide race in the championship.
So you'll be racin' against five other champions - to see who is the Fastest Car.
- All right.
[Frankie.]
Just racing is fucking cool.
Like If you race, you just know what it's about.
And, like, everyone is happy.
I don't see any, like, long faces.
It's just cool to see everyone come together, 'cause that's what it's about.
The whole team.
We all won as a team.
'Cause if it wasn't for them, I mean, I'd probably be at home right now.
[man.]
You gettin' emotional? - Oh, no! No, no.
- No.
You shed a little tear, right? - No! - [all.]
Aww! [laughter.]
Today, we're gonna run four-wide, and the winner of this race will go on to the championship round.
[man 1.]
I'm doin' this race for my kids.
I just wanna win bad.
[man 2.]
This car represents me because it's as budget as you can get.
Sometimes you gotta eat Top Ramen if you wanna go fast, you know? [man 3.]
Um, if this car right here was to beat a supercar, that's something I'mma take with me to the grave.
We're gonna look very bad if we lose to a supercar.
- Nah, I ain't gonna lose.
- For sure - [laughing.]
- You can't lose.
[man 4.]
I think a lot of people might say, if I lose, "How could you spend that much money on a car to be beaten by something that cost so much less?" [man 4.]
We gotta win this one.
[car engines revving.]
- [man 1.]
There he is.
Sick.
- [man 2.]
Brah! - Q! - What's up, Q? [laughter.]
- Oh, I just - Marcos.
What's up, man? What's going on? - Bitch-ass! - What y'all got goin'? What are we doing, then? We'll go get her ready for the race.
- You wanna turn it up? - Yeah.
- Sounds like you're scared right now.
- [tsks.]
Scared? The fuck? - You better win.
- You can't lose.
- If you lose, we're gon' jump you.
- Yeah, we For sure [laughter.]
My name is Qurann Lottie.
Age 30.
Growin' up in Compton was kinda rough.
[distant police siren wailing.]
A lot of gangbanging, shootings When I was younger, a couple of my buddies got killed.
Most of them are in jail now for robberies and killings.
Lotta trouble in Compton, so getting into cars kept me from out the jailhouse.
[Qurann.]
I live with my mother at the moment.
Livin' with my moms is pretty good.
I mean, I can't complain.
I was spoiled, only because I'm the baby.
My first memory with cars was my granddad used to always "Go hand me a socket, hand me a wrench, hand me this size," you know? So, that's how I picked it up.
From there, I just was like, "This is what I like right here, cars.
" The first car I ever built was a 1967 El Camino.
I kept begging my mom to buy that car, 'cause the car used to always burn rubber, it looked pretty fast.
So I'm like, "I want that car.
I want that car, you know.
It runs.
" I don't know how he talked me into gettin' that car.
He just told me that this guy had a car for sale, and he begged me to get it, and I guess I just went on and got that car for him.
You know, it was just somethin' to be excited about.
My first car And from that point on, just keep on building cars.
Blow motors out, transmission, the whole nine yards, - and just build 'em again.
- [chuckling.]
That's what it's about.
[Qurann.]
This is pretty much my first, actually, race car kinda build.
This is a 1989 Ford Mustang.
I got it in, uh I wanna say, like, 2011, roughly.
I purchased it for about $900.
Since then, I have about $15,000 in the car with all the modifications I've done to it.
It's a Chevy motor that's in it, an LS1.
Pretty much conventional old-school transmission.
TH350 And I got nitrous to make it go fast.
[engine roars.]
I like how it looks.
Like, my buddies always tell me, "Man, get your car painted," or "Do this.
" As long as the car run good and it can go fast, that's all I care about.
[man.]
Woo! Alameda Boyz! [Qurann.]
I run with the Alameda Boyz.
That's my crew.
Been with them for, like, five years.
We're pretty well known in the streets.
Um, when we come out and our our game's on point, it's pretty much hard to beat, 'cause we're actually real deal street racers.
Fuck these bitches up! 5-3 for the win! I pull up to a street race, my main concern is just, pretty much, just worrying about the cops.
[radio chatter.]
When I first kind of came out, I used to race at least once, twice a week.
I've kinda slowed down because of the police now, but we still try to get out there and to race once in a while, you know, trying to have a little bit of fun.
You know, when you're trying to race one person by yourself, there's so much you've gotta do to go over the whole car.
So with a crew, you know, you have a couple of people that can help you out.
We have our ups and downs, fightin' and just talkin' shit in general, but, um it's like a family.
[laughter.]
Do I think Quarann's Mustang has a chance versus a supercar? I don't think so.
Our possibilities are small.
[Miguel.]
We call the car Zip Tie, 'cause all it was was self-tapped screws and zip ties.
You hit the fender hard enough, it's gonna fall off, man, - so we gotta we gotta tape all that up.
- [laughing.]
Remember when he tested it last time? It was falling apart! [laughter.]
It was! The whole rim was about to fall off this motherfucker, man! [Miguel.]
When he's driving, he's pretty good.
He's focused, he turns into a different person.
Just his attitude, you know? You think he's like, "Oh, yeah" People might think, "We're gonna get in his head.
" There's no way you get in that man's head.
Fuck no.
[Qurann.]
If this car right here was to beat a supercar, that's just somethin' I'mma take with me to the grave, you know, like You know Something you can't ever forget.
Like, "Wow, you know, this little cheap-ass Fox Body took down a supercar," you know? [man.]
Supercars are something I've loved my entire life.
And to me, cars like this are almost like works of art.
There's something about how beautiful it is, the way it drives, and there's so many millions of dollars of research and development put into the car.
It truly is a special experience behind the wheel.
But I just love supercars.
My name is Parker Nirenstein.
I'm 24 years old.
Currently, I've got three cars in my fleet, but the most special car I have, that I'm bringing to the race, is my 2015 Ferrari 458 Speciale Aperta.
They only made 499 of these, so it's extremely limited.
Current market value of Apertas is between $650,000 and $700,000.
A lot of people think it's ridiculous to spend, uh, this much money on a car, but if you're into something, you don't make rational decisions.
This isn't a purchase that you can go, "Yeah, that makes sense.
" It's It's an emotional purchase.
While I've only had this car for about three months, I have instantly fallen in love.
It's the connection to the road and the super razor-sharp steering.
It's lightweight, it's fast, it's loud.
It sounds so dang good.
[revving engine.]
- [accelerating.]
- [laughs.]
Owning a car like this, to me, is honestly the realization of a dream.
That dream led me to kinda go crazy over cars.
[laughing.]
Whoa! That was [laughs.]
That was sick.
[man.]
It's a little Volkswagen.
Wave! [chuckles.]
[Parker.]
Growing up in Marin County around a lot of wealthy people who had kind of paved their own path was a big inspiration for me.
I wanted to create something that could create the life that I want.
[Parker.]
The first memory I have of being into cars, I was, like, three and a half years old, and I liked building stuff with Tinkertoys and blue tape.
I built this kind of Top Fuel dragster that I was sitting in that I was super excited about.
When I was ten years old, the 2004 Lamborghini Gallardo came out, and I became obsessed with it.
I just needed that car so bad.
I didn't know exactly how I would get it, but that desire for that car is really what led to today.
Now I've got a bunch of supercars.
I think people's first impression, when they see a young kid in a Ferrari is, "Their parents must have bought the car for them," and honestly, it's awesome proving them wrong.
But I've put tens of thousands of hours into my business to be able to afford a car like this.
I think it'd be really awesome to win, especially because this specific car is meant more to be fast around the track than it is in a straight line.
But, of course, there's some bragging rights, uh winning a four-lane drag race and going on to the finals.
I'd be down.
[man.]
I got tamales right now.
- Eat up.
- [woman.]
Okay.
[man.]
Hurry up.
- [girl 1.]
Mm.
Mm? - [girl 2.]
Yeah.
- You want juice, too, or - Yeah.
[man.]
What do you guys want? I have corn and pork.
[girl 2.]
Uh, pork.
Papa, how's the race gonna be? [man.]
It's supposed to be two other sleepers and a supercar.
[girl 2.]
Do you know who you're gonna race? - I do not.
- Like, regular? - [man.]
They have not said.
- Do you think you're gonna win? I don't know.
I don't know.
It's all It's in the air.
What do you think, Jenny? - I think he's gonna win.
- Yes? - Yeah.
- You're gonna have to put money on that.
- Oh! - [man.]
What the [laughter.]
My name is Jim Ramirez.
I drive a 1973 Chevy Vega wagon.
I've purchased it for $3,000, and I'm probably no more than $5,000 into it.
[Jim.]
This car represents me because it's as budget as you can get.
Yeah, I'm proud of it.
I mean, it symbolizes me.
I'm budget.
I mean, I wear raggedy clothes Well, you know, I do everything, I You know, sometimes you gotta eat Top Ramen if you wanna go fast, you know? When I race, people think, "What is that piece of junk doing here?" [laughs.]
Once they see it hit the track and hit a a solid number, they wanna know what secret I have in it.
I grew up in East LA, California, mid '70s.
It was a tough upbringing.
My mom was the the backbone of the family.
My dad, he was a drunk, an abusive father, you know.
Um Just Just a bad person, to be honest with you.
And my mom left him and saved us.
Honestly, I don't think I'd be alive here today.
Uh, that's how bad the beating was.
My Uncle Eddie came to the rescue.
He saved, pretty much, me and my mom.
He taught me the ways of how to be a better person.
He was not just my uncle, he was like my best friend.
My uncle got me into cars the first time I took a ride in this truck.
It was a 1958 Ford truck, and I still have it today.
We did our first burnout.
[sound of tires squealing.]
That was just amazing, the the feel of lighting up a tire and taking off, and it was just a a rush, you know? I was maybe eight, nine years old when that happened, and I just had a grin from ear to ear, you know, I just It was the best thing.
And that day It's just, you know that's what you wanna do.
My Uncle Eddie just recently died.
He had, uh pancreatic cancer.
Uh, yeah, I do.
I miss him a lot.
People ask me, why would I wanna do this race? It would mean a lot to to my Uncle Eddie.
You know, just to have him see me do good, you know? Yeah, I think he'd be ecstatic.
[man.]
To build a fast car it's like a whole 'nother level of, like, perseverance, determination, commitment It tests your resolve on a whole 'nother level.
People that do it totally get it.
People that don't do it are like, "Why the fuck do you do that?" My name is Frankie Trutanic, and I drive a 1986 Buick Regal T-Type.
[Frankie.]
I'm a racing junkie.
I love going fast.
The car has costed me over $150,000.
Everything's pretty much modified or totally changed.
All MoTeC electronics.
Literally spared no expense on every part.
First memory of cars was actually the I think it was a Disney movie called Love Bug.
A Volkswagen Bug, his name was Herbie.
And he was, like, the underdog.
He was like the pile of shit Bug.
I just remember vividly, like, Herbie would do this crazy shit to win races.
But that, like, really fueled my fire for cars.
My childhood was fairly happy.
Somewhere in the pre-teen years is where my parents' relationship got more turbulent, a lot more fighting.
And then my parents decided to get divorced.
Developing, like, coping skills at that point in my life was very difficult.
I was drinking and smoking weed at the time, you know partying, like doing coke, and I was pretty dependent on meth.
I dropped out of two colleges.
I remember getting very sick.
Like, my body was just shutting down.
And I went to a hospital, and the doctor just looked at me straight in the face.
He's like, "Look, you have the liver of a 50-year-old, and you're 18.
Like, you're you're not gonna live long if you keep doin' this.
" I remember just, like, that feeling of, like, "Fuck, I'm lost.
I have zero direction in my life.
" It was a rock-bottom moment.
I just felt like a complete loser.
I remember being high on meth, you know, three in the morning, watching TV and seeing this infomercial for Universal Technical Institute.
They were talking about this hot rod U, like, "You could go to this program that teaches you how to work on hot rods.
" [announcer.]
If you're looking for a career that combines high-tech skills and creativity, then UTI is the place for you.
[Frankie.]
It was like I found my calling.
I was very decisive on, like, "This is it.
This is where I'm goin'.
I'm doin' this.
" So when I went to UTI, I just felt like I was around, like, a bunch of like-minded people.
I remember just being, like, "This feels like home.
This is what I've always wanted to do.
" I remember just being, like, very determined to sober up and not fuck up.
And then, I remember the day I graduated, you know, I walk back to where my dad is, and he pats me on the back and he says, "Congratulations, you can, uh, work at Jiffy Lube now.
" He never wanted me to be a mechanic.
He couldn't be proud of me building cars, and I remember I was pissed, and I remember that just propelling me.
I'm like, "You know what? I'm gonna fuckin' be successful.
" [laughter.]
[man.]
Aaaah! Hey, so What the fuck are we racing? Um, a 2015 Ferrari 458 Speciale.
- [man.]
Aperta? - Yeah, Speciale Aperta.
- I think so.
- I think we got it right here.
Yeah, it is clean.
[man 2.]
You'll probably get fucked up with that shit.
- [man 2.]
Not that It's not that slow.
- [Qurann.]
It ain't that fast, either.
[laughter.]
You gotta take it all.
There ain't no fuckin' around.
I don't care what other fucking street car is out there, sleeper or whatever the fuck they are, we gotta put our name out there.
- That's all we gotta do.
- All right.
[Qurann.]
I'm taking off the fitting for the nitrous I to put a bigger jet in it.
That's, like, roughly a 250 shot.
[Miguel.]
It didn't hit too crazy, but the car ran good.
But now with the 250, it it'll turn into a different animal now.
[Qurann.]
We over here risking blowin' up the motor by adding more nitrous to make a little bit more power.
I know we don't really do a lot of maintenance on this car, but [Qurann laughs.]
- [Miguel.]
it'll survive, right? - Um [laughter.]
Usually when it's a nitrous backfire, big-ass flames and shit shoot off through the carburetor, and sometime, you know, you can blow your motor, or hurt a gang of parts.
Part of the nitrous game.
Mike, I'm about to connect the bottle right now, so we can check to make sure we have no leaks.
- All right, I'm about to open it, Mike.
- [Mike.]
Go ahead.
[gas hissing.]
[Miguel.]
We really wanna win this race, fuck everybody up.
And the supercar, too.
Make him Make him feel bad that a $1,500 car just fucked his ass up.
Oh, my God! Oh, my God! [Parker.]
I would definitely consider myself an influencer.
I've built up a reputation over a long time.
[Parker.]
My senior year of high school, I was always, uh, the car nerd, reading magazines, watching TV shows about cars, so people would ask me questions about what car they should get.
So I started helping people one-on-one, and then decided I could probably help more than one person at a time.
And that's when I created Vehicle Virgins, my YouTube channel.
I've been posting five to seven videos a week, and slowly growing an organic user base over time.
Most people didn't actually believe it would work, and it wasn't until my junior year of college when I was able to buy my first supercar, a 2004 Lamborghini Gallardo, that everyone went, "Oh.
" Now finally realizing my dream, I was so ecstatic that I would wake up in the middle of the night and go down and check to make sure the car was still there.
The channel averages around 20 to 30 million views a month, which is more than Top Gear and MotorTrend and a lot of other large YouTube channels.
My channel has made me a millionaire, which is pretty awesome.
[engine revving.]
My most popular video of all time is when I picked people up in my Lamborghini as an Uber.
- This is an Uber? I've never - This is an Uber.
You've never been in an Uber.
Well, hop in.
- I have to Uber more often.
- [laughs.]
Holy crap.
It got 23 million views in the last year and a half.
- Am I being honked at? - Oh, shit.
- [laughs.]
- Oh, my God.
[woman.]
It's a supercar! - [revving engine.]
- [yelling.]
Oh, my God! I think, as an automotive YouTuber, I've got a lot of pressure not to mess up.
I'm the guy who's supposed to know exactly how to do it.
So, if I do have a bad race, I think it'll be embarrassing.
[Frankie.]
458 Speciale Aperta - [man.]
Ooh.
- [Frankie.]
Whatever that is.
- Fancy! - I don't even know how to spell that shit.
[chuckles.]
There we go.
4.
5 liter V8.
- What? Look at this! - [man.]
597.
- We make almost double that.
- Double that.
Look at the foot-pounds of torque.
That's nothing.
- Torque, we make, like, five times that.
- And it's a V12? - I mean, it looks cool.
- Yeah, it's cool looking.
I think what we gotta do is just - change those rear springs - Yeah.
And go super aggressive, get this thing to squat.
[Frankie.]
Putting lighter springs in the rear of the car will give it better traction at the launch so it'll take off quicker.
[Tyler.]
Lighter spring on's definitely going to help the weight transfer.
It'll bring the weight of the car down.
[Rob.]
There it is.
[Tyler.]
Yeah, buddy.
[Tyler.]
I think it looks cool.
[chuckles.]
No, I think it's gonna hook hard.
- [Tyler.]
Hell yeah.
- [Frankie.]
It's gonna be fun.
I think next we just gotta get that launch strategy down.
Get it hooked up to the MoTeC, start playing with that.
- Want to meet Daddy's friend? - No! [Frankie.]
Cars are my passion, but I'm a dad first.
- Hi.
- Right there.
How you doin'? I have two daughters with my ex.
Charli's 19 and Stevie's four.
- Wanna see the steering wheel? - No.
Okay.
I want to jump in the muddy puddle.
You wanna jump in the muddy puddles? Okay.
[Frankie.]
In spite of how my father felt about it, I have been a very successful mechanic.
I just don't wanna do the same shit to my daughters.
Whatever they wanna do.
If they wanna be an astronaut, I'll be like, "Cool.
Let's get you in a space shuttle.
Let's figure that out.
" I'm not livin' this life right now for, like specifically for me, like this is about, like, my two kids.
And, like, I gotta show up for myself too and, like, have fun, but it's really about them.
They've never see me race.
I wanna have these bonds with my daughters.
It's just a memory no one will ever be able to take away from 'em.
From us.
[Jim.]
I'm looking for my other parts, my spare parts for for my car.
My Uncle Eddie was a guy that would tell you all the time, "Why are you gonna go buy it when you can just make it?" We built something out of nothin', pretty much all junkyard parts.
And the only reason it's Frankenstein-ish like that is pretty much 'cause of him.
I got it.
There we go.
I got it.
[sighs.]
I found it.
Put it there, on the frame rail.
[Jim.]
Dane's like my road dog on the side.
We've known each other for a couple years.
He goes to the track with me.
It's really important to have somebody, just because you can't do it all by yourself.
- A little bit more? - [Jim.]
Right there.
Perfect.
- You good? - Yeah, bring her down.
So, we're gonna increase the spring pressure on the wastegate, instead of changing bigger things or going bigger turbo, or whatever.
You don't have to spend a lot of money to do it.
It's the little things that change up the car and the combination of the vehicle.
So, uh, more boost, more pressure, more horsepower.
- Let's hit this.
- [Dane.]
That's a That is a vision.
- This is the one you cut? - Yeah.
There you go.
Voilà .
[Jim.]
Hoping to get another 60 to 70 horsepower more just by adding a spring.
- [Dane.]
You good? - [Jim.]
Yeah.
- Is it all the way out? - Yeah, we're good.
[Jim.]
You wanna add a little cheap, fast horsepower, do something as simple as this.
Let me put it all the way down.
- You got that one, I'll do this one.
- Yes.
- We good? - All the way through? What do you think the guy that drives the supercar is doing right now - while we do this? - Listening to classical music.
Good mornin', ladies and gentlemen.
I hope you are having a fantastic day.
If you're new to the channel, my name is Parker Nirenstein, and this is Vehicle Virgins.
Today, we are taking out the Speciale Aperta and mastering launch control.
I've got a crazy opportunity to participate in a race, and I wanna make sure that I'm doing the best launches possible so that we can win.
- [beeping.]
- [engine starts.]
Make sure the car is in race mode, then we're gonna click the button labeled "PS.
" We're going to put our left foot firmly on the brake, right foot firmly on the gas, floor it, and off you go.
And there you go, zero to 60 in 3.
5 seconds.
The technology in the traction control and the launch control make it almost impossible to mess up the launch.
The sleeper car guys have more at stake, because they've been working on their cars tirelessly, and come race day, it's possible their car is gonna have a problem.
I just have to perform well in terms of doing launch control, but, really, it's not all that difficult to do.
[man.]
Yeah, I think we should stick to the plan, maybe at least put a 250 in it and be able to just progress it in real slow.
- I'll heat up the bottom.
- Maybe we can do two passes.
We can do one, and then, um We have to do one to go from there - to see anything else, you know? - Okay.
Okay.
We've gotta check bottle pressure, we've gotta make sure you're getting fuel, and that's in when they turn it on, and that's it, right? - That's it.
- [all.]
All right.
We'll heat up the nitrous to build pressure in the bottle.
That way it'll exit the bottle faster, maintain certain pressure that we need.
Purge it.
[revs engine.]
Woo-hoo! [revs engine.]
[engine roars.]
[engine slows.]
How much did it make? It's It's fat, though, no? [Qurann.]
Horizontal pull, we did pretty good.
We made 617 rear-wheel horsepower, even though we had a little problem we ran into.
I got off of it because the timing went back to, like, 30-something degrees.
- No shit.
- What's What's it doing? - The timing - It seems like it retarded the timing then added it back up.
I'mma do it another way.
Check the bottle pressure again.
For some reason, the timer started creeping back up and the air-fuel ratios was all off.
[Miguel.]
The timing spiked back up.
It caused it to have more nitrous than fuel, and that would have caused a big boom.
It could have blown up, but my tuner, Kike Fab, you know, he caught it just in time.
[engine roaring.]
So we only got a little bit more time to try to get this car dialed in, check everything, and hopefully we get it ready in time.
[car engine idling.]
Earlier today, what we did is we changed the wastegate spring.
We're gonna test run it to see what more power we increase.
You're about 14 ish.
[engine starts.]
[Jim.]
But if you put too much into it, you can break something.
[man.]
A little bit of wheel hop on that one, but it was just one tire, so we gotta maybe make an adjustment on air pressure.
You, uh, hopped on the right rear tire.
Yeah, I I felt it.
I think we just keep working' the tire pressure a little bit - and see how we go.
- Yeah.
[Jim.]
We put the seven-pound spring in, and it really changed the whole car right now.
I mean, it is pushing a lot harder than what I expected.
We good? Holy throttle.
- We good? - [Jim.]
Holy shit, man.
She's ready to eat.
- You think it's ready? - Woo! Let me tell you, it it felt good right now.
Let me tell you.
[Frankie.]
The MoTeC is just, like, this fuckin' unreal computer system that controls everything on your car.
It manages the engine, transmission, fuel Like, the cool thing about this computer is, like, you can literally spend as much time as you want tuning it.
The supercars, you can't do all this shit.
[Frankie.]
The sleeper cars, I highly doubt if anyone has this kind of technology in their cars, you know? That's our ace in the hole.
[engine starts.]
My biggest fear with this car is just leaving.
The first 60 feet of this car is, like, make it or break it.
I just wanna win.
[Parker.]
One of the craziest things about being a YouTuber is the comments can be absolutely brutal.
I know if I lose, I'm gonna get a lot of hate online.
[Qurann.]
This is very important.
Put us Alameda Boyz on the map.
When the light come on, hit the gas and just pray for the best that I'll come out on top.
[Jim.]
I think Uncle Eddie would be really excited and proud.
This is for him.
Hoping I can follow through with it.
[Jim.]
Excited to see the competition, for sure.
- How you doing? Jim.
- Jim.
[Jim.]
See what I'm up against.
Uh, what we'll do is, uh, wait for the rest of the cars to get here.
[Dane.]
This is where we're racing.
That's the starting line.
Oh, but you're starting in asphalt though.
Here we go.
I like that car, dude.
I mean, it looks beautiful.
[Dane.]
That thing's got turbo in it.
It's a nine-or eight-second car.
Yeah, that's that's a badass looking ride.
Wow.
What's goin' on? How you doing? Jim.
I love the chiller.
It's sick.
Yeah.
[Frankie.]
I've always liked Vegas.
Something about, like, a fast wagon and getting beat by a fast wagon, it's, like, a little demoralizing.
It's so cool.
[Frankie.]
Jim's old school.
He doesn't say too much.
[Dane.]
Can we see your car? It was originally a road race car.
What are you pushing boost-wise? [Frankie.]
Um, right now, 16.
- [whistles.]
- Sequential trans.
- [Dane.]
Here comes another one.
- Oh, wow.
- [Dane.]
Those guys are Alameda Boyz? - [Jim.]
Mm-hmm.
Those Compton dudes? [Jim.]
Yep.
- Wow, they're street racers, then.
- Mm-hmm.
- Mike.
Nice to meet you.
- Hi.
- How's it going? - How you doing, man? - Qurann.
Yo.
- Frankie.
[Dane.]
Jim said it was, like, Alameda Boyz? Some great stuff.
Looks like it's got a carburetor.
Yeah.
Nitrous.
Lift it on up.
[Qurann.]
Yeah, this is my first race ever that's not on the street.
It's actually different because I don't gotta, you know, be worrying about the cops or looking over my back.
With no cops around, I could pretty much concentrate on the race, and just try to get down there in first place.
[Dane.]
It's ugly but if that car works, in my opinion, that's the only car that's gonna be an issue.
- Yeah.
- Other than, obviously, the supercar - 'cause they have traction, but, um - Mm-hmm.
- I don't know.
- We'll see.
[Frankie.]
Obviously, we all are competitive.
You know, like, I can tell Jim, that guy's a beast.
You know, he's staying in his mindset and I respect that.
Same with Qurann.
That part of it, there's gamesmanship in it.
The end of the day, these guys are only gonna let on what they wanna let on.
Damn, look.
Look at the badass car coming up the lane.
- How's it goin'? - [Parker.]
How's it goin'? - T-Mark Jones.
- Parker, nice to meet you.
- And you.
- Does it come like that without a top? - [Dane.]
I guess.
- It's like this? Oh.
I know him.
- You know the guy? - Yeah.
Parker, he's got a YouTube channel.
[Dane.]
Oh, he looks familiar.
It's kinda, from what I understand, how he's, like, made his money.
- Yep.
[laughs.]
- Wow.
- That's his graduation present, right? - [laughs.]
- What's goin' on, guys? - What's up, bro? - Parker.
- Qurann.
- Nice to meet you.
- A little meet and greet? Shit, I'm right here.
I'm posted up on my spot.
All right.
I had the nicest for about a half hour.
- [man.]
For half an hour.
- [laughs.]
I'm super excited today.
[Qurann.]
You know, once-in-a-lifetime thing.
A little, you know, $20,000 budget build car, we get to race a supercar, so The color's crazy.
That rotor cost what your car cost, Qurann.
[Parker.]
The Mustang, I asked him how much nitrous they were using, and they answered with, like, a 200 shot of nitrous, which is a ridiculous amount.
The Vega, I think, has a truck turbo charger in a normal car, so could be making some serious power.
I'm thinkin' the Buick might give me the best competition.
I think on the surface it doesn't look like it has a whole bunch, but looking under the hood you could tell it's got some serious stuff goin' on.
- [Frankie.]
Sweet car.
- Which is yours? [Frankie.]
The Buick.
It's quick.
All computerized.
- No lift-shifting after first gear.
- [Parker.]
Nice.
[Frankie.]
Yeah.
[Parker.]
If he's got some extra electronics, that's definitely gonna give him an advantage.
The Buick also has launch control, so that's a pretty big deal.
I am way more nervous than before.
Teams and drivers in, please.
[T-Mark.]
This is a quarter-mile race today.
The amber light does not come on, so it'll be red, green, go on green.
If you leave your assigned lane, you will be disqualified.
Stay in your lane.
Any questions on that? All right.
It's build versus bought.
Good luck to each of you guys.
All right? [Frankie.]
Once you get that itch for racing, like, it doesn't go away.
This is the fastest car.
I wanna win this fuckin' thing.
[man speaking indistinctly.]
[Parker.]
I really want to win, because having the most expensive car, it would be embarrassing to go home with a loss.
[Frankie.]
I'm doing this race for my kids that are here watching.
I just wanna win bad.
[Jim.]
My Uncle Eddie was a big support to me.
I think he would feel ecstatic if I were to win.
All my family, my two daughters as well.
[Qurann.]
Winning this race will be, for sure, more street credit for me and the Alameda Boyz.
I mean, we came to win.
[alarm chiming.]
[man.]
Fuckin' go! - [tires squeal.]
- Oh! - [Qurann.]
Hell yeah! Hell yeah! - [cheering.]
[man on radio.]
Qurann with the Mustang took it.
- [cheering.]
- Alameda Boyz! P2, Buick, Frankie.
P3, Jim, in the Vega.
Parker, in the Ferrari.
They got some fast-ass cars.
Damn.
[applause.]
[Qurann.]
Hell yeah! [cheering.]
- [Jim.]
Drag racin', baby.
- [man 2.]
Number three! Well, that was annihilation.
[laughs.]
- Line! - Whew.
- Dude, get out.
- I said I would.
- Hey, get that line, bro! - [laughter.]
- [Qurann.]
Yeah.
Fuck them shits up! - You were smokin' today! - Nice race, dude.
- Good race.
- Good race, man.
- Yeah.
Let me see, if I can hear a honk - I'll I'll catch you.
- [Jim.]
Yeah.
[Jim.]
The race was exciting.
I was pedaling, pedaling, pedaling, and then I started going sideways.
Your plan is to go straight, not seeing the back wheels come right here beside you, you know what I'm sayin'? So, yeah, it was, uh it was scary.
[laughs.]
Tense like a boxing match, you know? Yeah.
You get the first two punches and it just jars your head a little bit.
Then you get back in and try to focus even more.
[T-Mark.]
Look at those marks.
I mean, that's drivin'.
I know you said it was gnarly, but you kept it in the space.
You drove it, you managed the situation.
Good job.
Good job.
I left the line a little bit late because the time between the red and the green was long enough to where my launch control failed halfway through, and then I had to go into launch control again.
So I left a little late, but the cars were definitely faster.
So, it definitely gives me, uh some inspiration for building a car.
I think that would be a fun project.
I got smoked.
[laughs.]
Um [Frankie.]
It was all in the launch.
I knew my race was gonna be won or lost on the launch, and both of those guys just got far out ahead of me.
Jim got fucking crazy sideways.
That was cool to see.
[Frankie.]
Driving by my kids and seeing them smiling At the end of the day, it's like, "Okay, we accomplished what we wanted, we had fun.
And this whole journey has been fuckin' fun.
The Ferrari got last.
Yeah.
Bad.
I came here with intentions, you know, to fuck up all the cars, like I said.
We all had a good experience, and we came out on top.
It's like, "Man, I actually won.
" You see a win from the beginnin'.
I mean, you're a winner, you know what I mean? Well, I don't know, brother.
We stay winnin', though.
You know? [laughter.]
[T-Mark.]
In P4, we have Parker.
P3, we have Jim.
In P2, we have Frankie.
Our champion, in first place is Qurann.
Outstanding.
Very nice.
Very nice.
You will return for a six-wide race in the championship.
So you'll be racin' against five other champions - to see who is the Fastest Car.
- All right.
[Frankie.]
Just racing is fucking cool.
Like If you race, you just know what it's about.
And, like, everyone is happy.
I don't see any, like, long faces.
It's just cool to see everyone come together, 'cause that's what it's about.
The whole team.
We all won as a team.
'Cause if it wasn't for them, I mean, I'd probably be at home right now.
[man.]
You gettin' emotional? - Oh, no! No, no.
- No.
You shed a little tear, right? - No! - [all.]
Aww! [laughter.]