Fastest Car (2018) s02e04 Episode Script
Hell and Back
[man 1.]
My dad was my role model.
I never wanted to disappoint him.
Winning would prove to my dad that I didn't waste ten years of my life.
[woman.]
I remember feeling lost, like I was alone, like I never really fit into any group.
Like, building and racing cars gave me a purpose in life.
[man 2.]
When I win, the supercar driver is gonna look over and say, "I just got whooped by a Mini.
" [man 3.]
One thing about a supercar, you're kind of a prick, because it just says, "I got a million dollars.
" [T-Mark.]
Today, we're gonna have a four-wide quarter-mile race.
[man 1.]
I just have to let the horsepower take over and fuckin' hang on.
[engines revving.]
[car engine revving.]
[man.]
Tell me what you're doin'.
Uh, something very dangerous.
Yeah, yeah! Yeah! [woman.]
I was definitely a troublemaker growing up.
My mom used to call me Daredevil.
[chuckles.]
[woman.]
The feeling I get when I'm drifting is that I'm just purely in the moment.
Drifting was never planned.
It kinda came out of left field, and I turned out to be actually pretty good at it.
- That was a good one, good stuff.
- [laughs.]
Thank you! My name's Emelia Hartford and I drive a 240SX.
This car is a piece of me.
She's very pretty lookin' on the outside, paint's clean, not many chips, haven't crashed into my friends yet.
[chuckles.]
But on the inside, she's gutted.
She's a little ratchet.
She has a V8 swapped into her.
We've both definitely been through hell and back.
[Emelia.]
I was born and kinda raised, California.
My family situation, I'd say, was very cookie-cutter on the outside, but on the inside, that wasn't the case.
My dad had addiction problems.
So as a family we all kind of struggled with that a little bit.
Mind you, none of that really came out until his passing.
My father ended up committing suicide.
And I went to school the next day like nothing happened.
I didn't feel like I was allowed to remorse, I felt like I had to keep you know, looking forward.
And the first time I really actually cried was when someone hit me and totaled my car.
I'd put the energy of my father passing into my first car, and, like, I was so attached to it, I kinda saw the car as my best friend, in a weird way.
Like, I always felt like I could get in my car and drive it and everything would be okay.
It was a pretty bad wreck, but I think emotionally it took me longer to heal than it did physically.
I remember feeling lost, like I was alone.
It took me a while to get comfortable and really just be myself.
[Emelia.]
And then meeting Booch was a huge game changer for me.
I consider him my big brother.
Booch kinda ran B Crew.
B Crew is everyone who had the same passion for cars.
They didn't care about looks, they cared about engine, they cared about how they ran and how fast they were.
Emelia didn't know a whole lot about cars when I met her.
I taught her how to do her first brake job, and now here we are, ten years later, and she welds titanium like a boss.
[Emelia.]
Booch is definitely what inspired the LS 240.
Mind you, the car was a complete pile at the time.
Like, it wasn't running very well, it was spewing black smoke everywhere.
Instead of partying on the weekends, Booch and I were doin' turbo swaps, workin' on engines.
That was partying on its own 'cause it was fun.
I grew up kind of feeling like I never really fit in to any group.
Finding B Crew was the first time I felt a part of something.
Everybody in the club is so proud of her, and she inspires a lot of us to go out and chase our dreams and do what we thought was risky and impossible, but had great reward at the end of the road.
And now more of us are taking those chances, and we do it because we see how far Emelia's come.
[Emelia.]
So I've never drag raced before.
For drifting, I'm trying to break the rear end loose.
When it comes to drag, I'm trying to keep the rear end, like, sturdy on the ground.
Come race time, the car and I, in, like, a cheesy way, we'll have to change together.
I hope they underestimate me because of a smile and a pretty face.
Let's take this one off.
I have spare gloves.
This right here Normally when we used to do this when we were teenagers and we played with RC cars, anything that breaks is normally like 50 bucks, $75 at the most.
Here, if anything breaks, you normally add a zero to that.
$750 is like a minimum.
[laughter.]
But it is fun, it is fun nonetheless.
My name is Neal Patel.
I drive a 2005 Pontiac GTO.
This was actually my first car.
I got it back when I was in high school.
I wanted somethin' that was fun to drive, that was cool, and I stumbled onto GTOs.
I bought it bone stock.
It's far from that now.
It's got Trick Flow heads, twin turbo, and a thousand horsepower.
Whoa, there's the boost! Holy shit! [screams.]
When I drive at full throttle, there's a keen sense of fear, there's a keen sense of "Oh, shit.
Hell yeah, this is awesome.
" And so it's a hodgepodge of everything.
Whoa, fuuuuuuck! I first discovered cars at a very young age.
I would have my father take me to Target specifically just to look at all the toy cars on the shelves.
Back then, I didn't know what the auto show was, so Target toy car aisle was my auto show.
My father to me was always a role model.
He was always someone that I had tremendous respect for.
I wanted to be like him in every sense.
I'm a banker, my brother's an accountant, so we're in the professional white-collar work, for lack of a better word.
And we wanted our sons to follow our footsteps.
But Neal was born with motor oil in his blood.
I have no idea where he got all that from.
[Neal.]
My father in 2008 had bought a BMW M6.
It came with a two day package for the M school.
I had been given an opportunity to go with my father, and so for two days I got to drive the shit out of, you know, BMWs that they gave me that I didn't own.
And I was 15, so I was a raging lunatic.
I had the time of my life.
So when we had finished, I had done so well, one of the racing instructors had come up to us and approached my father and me.
He said that I had a good future in potentially going into motorsport and offered me an opportunity to get into coaching with him.
And I said, "Hell no.
I will not consider that, we're going back home.
Don't you ever call my son again.
" It was just too dangerous.
I only have one son, and I'd like to protect him.
[Neal.]
That hard "Hell no" was a heartbreaker, man.
I still hold a grudge against him because that makes me wonder, "What if?" If he had let me enter that opportunity, I think I would have done fucking awesome.
[Neal.]
But despite, you know, not being able to go do the motorsport, it actually kind of motivated me and it kind of allowed me to hone in on my passion for cars.
I'm fully invested in becoming an auto dealer owner.
Neal's a very good son.
He's very conscientious, very caring.
And Neal ends up following motor oil grease under his fingernails.
Underneath the cars, I'm like, "Son, what the hell are you doing down there? WTF.
You belong in an office with a tie and a suit, driving a Mercedes.
You're never going to get to a Lamborghini and Ferrari in overalls.
" [Neal.]
It is very difficult growing up with a father like my dad who's very stern, very successful, has very high expectations of you.
Disappointing him was the worst thing.
I never wanted to disappoint him.
My father has never watched me race.
But if he's there, I think that'll be pretty cool, and I hope I'd win just for that alone, just so that it would be a sense of fulfillment for myself to be able to show him that I came out on top, I didn't waste ten years of my life.
[man.]
Pull.
Aah! - [gunfire continues.]
- [man groans.]
How are you feelin' about this race? I mean You got all your bad stuff out shooting there, you got anything? No, I was gonna say, I'm feeling bad about the shooting, not the race.
But it always happens to you when we shoot.
- Yeah, that's right.
- I hope I can drive better than I shoot.
[laughing.]
The Super Cooper has a J32 Acura motor in it, making nearly 600 horsepower.
As far as a sleeper car, this is the ultimate.
It's just like a little toy.
I think I'm kind of like a kid at heart, and a Mini is a kid at heart.
When you look at it, it literally has a grin.
[peppy '60s pop music playing.]
The first time I saw Minis on the racetrack, it really caught my eye, 'cause they were racing against some muscle cars.
Just seeing those little Minis, you know, against a Mustang or other cars like that, that was inspiring.
They They hold their own.
You can take a Mini full force, into the craziest corners, and it just stays flat, and it and it has fun.
Something clicked for me.
I had to do something with that stuff.
I had I had to be building one of these, I had to be in it.
[Tyler.]
This is my Mini museum, essentially.
No one can have one Mini.
I would say a good healthy number is 100, but if you have a little more than that, it's okay.
That would be the number that I would say would be a healthy number.
The original Mini came out in 1959 in England, and it had something unique.
It had a front-mounted engine with the transmission up front with it.
That made it so that you could fit a lot more things inside the car.
[Tyler.]
I started my business here building custom Minis.
Each one of these will become a Super Cooper.
[man.]
Tell me about this.
This, um Every part of this car is rusted to shit.
I'm pretty sure they found it at the bottom of a lake, but this is how they start, You know, the Super Cooper started like that.
I'm very creative.
I can see things that a lot of people can't, in my mind.
[Tyler.]
The Mini, for me, was a perfect canvas for my art, essentially.
Today's the first day for a test drive in this insane Mini.
[Tyler.]
The Super Cooper with the 500-plus horsepower engine in the back, that is just scary fast.
It is ridiculous fast.
That's my favorite.
But it took me maybe ten years of building this thing until it actually became something that you get in and go, "Oh, that thing's rad.
" One thing about a supercar owner, no matter what you are, you're you're kind of a prick.
Because it just says, "Look, I got a I got a million dollars," you know? "Look at me.
" I'd like to warn a supercar driver that you're up against a car with near to the power you do, and is half as heavy.
We're gonna punch it and we're gonna feel it, and whip the other cars.
Yeah, I really like the idea of the cream on your against your skin.
Okay.
I think we can do a couple of pictures - in front of that red car too.
- Yeah.
Because all we need to do is move the Fiat and then have it just be brought out front - and then we just - The Alfa? - Yeah.
- [laughs.]
I can change, I think, upstairs, and then Yeah I'll bring everything up after I steam it.
- Okay, so I'm gonna go do hair and makeup.
- Great.
I've always been a super competitive person my whole life.
You know, if it's sports or driving or just being the best at whatever it is that I'm doing, I've always been very competitive.
[woman.]
When I first moved out to California, I actually got hired by a family friend that had a brokerage firm.
I was able to make good money at the time, especially for my age, and I was then able to buy some nice cars.
The first car I bought was a BMW M3.
I thought it was the coolest thing ever.
I was like, "I just got a BMW M3!" [laughs.]
The car chick was born.
Like, officially it was out.
I own probably one of the premier car shops in the country.
Cars are my life.
There's really nothing else I do besides fixing cars, racing cars, going to car shows.
I own a whole bunch of cars, my favorite being the McLaren 675 LT.
When I said I wanted to start an automotive company, people would, like, either laugh it off, or go like, "No, what are you doing? That's such a bad idea.
" [laughs.]
If people walked into my shop and they weren't comfortable speaking to me about their car because I was a female, I'd just be like, "Fine, there's the door.
You don't need to be here, there's other places you can go.
" [Amber.]
I definitely felt like I had to constantly prove myself.
I had to do better than all the guys.
I had to go faster, I had to drive crazier.
I had to do bigger, badder stunts, and I had to work harder, longer hours to be taken seriously.
I'm sure everybody's going to look at me coming in with the nice car and blonde hair and the whole thing and be like, "Oh, my God, she's just got money and she's a bitch.
" Or whatever, like, people think.
And participating in this drag race is kind of definitely bringing up some of those old feelings of being competitive and feeling like I have to prove something, because for me, being a female, it is important for me to win.
So the idea is we're gonna try and turn this drift car into a drag car.
There's gonna be a lot of changes that are gonna need to be made - Right.
- to change it from a drift car - to driving in a straight line.
- Right.
And we're gonna have to add some traction and look at horsepower.
- [Booch.]
Tires, springs, shocks - Yeah.
We We have no baseline for this car right now.
It has never been dragged, only drift.
[Rob.]
So do we know what the cars are? It's a 675 LT.
- Oh shit.
- Oh, God.
- [laughs.]
- How fast are those? - Mid to high six range.
- They're pretty fast.
Hold on, let's write this down.
So the 675 LT is 666 horsepower.
How much does it weigh? [Emelia.]
Uh, put about 3,000.
- What's the quarter mile time? - Ten point three.
Ten point three! [Rob.]
So, your car.
- A high 11.
- Without a drag race package on it.
Right now, I'm talking about what it runs right now.
I would put that bad boy at about 12 flat.
- As she stands.
- 12 flat? So we're gonna go 12 flat.
We got a little bit of work to do, yeah, we do.
I think what we should do is get a baseline.
I think we should readjust the suspension entirely, take it to the track, try and practice launches, and see what we're starting at right now - 'cause we're guessing these numbers.
- Yeah, Yes, let's take her out of drift mode, let's put her in drag mode, head out and make some test hits.
[Booch.]
What Emelia's gonna need to do to her drifting car, soften up the rear suspension, I wanna tighten up the front, making sure that when this car launches all the momentum's going to the rear and planting those rear drive tires to make sure she gets off the line fast and consistently, with minimal wheel hop and minimal tire spin.
I just feel like the launch is going to be huge for me.
- It is.
- Yeah.
It's where it comes down to for the driver.
Your launch will guarantee your 60 foot time.
- And you'll win or lose based on - That could be a full half second.
Based on how I launch.
That half a second's gonna make a big deal when you launch.
- I'll have to work on that.
- Mm-hmm.
Apparently, I'm up against a McLaren 675 LT.
Okay.
Hardly any wheel spin.
No chirp, practically.
You can't even hear a transmission shift.
What is that? Is that the eighth? - That's a quarter.
- That's a quarter, that's 10.
2.
Holy shit.
We need to shave off a couple of hundred pounds.
And get it down to like 1,800 pounds? Possibly.
We can start pulling stuff out.
As far as tires going, we have to pick a special kind of tire.
We're gonna be a little limited on the drag tire just because - the size of the rim.
- Okay.
- As long as the compound's super sticky - Right.
I'm fine with that.
We'll find the best ones out there for sure.
This is basically what we're up against.
[Luke chuckles.]
Yeah! Them? This is us.
[Tyler laughs.]
Us.
So [Tyler.]
Part of our strategy was to lighten it up.
We're gonna be probably about a half a ton lighter than everyone we're up against.
So jumping off the line really quick is something I'm gonna need to do.
Check everything out and then I'm gonna take it out for a spin.
- All right.
- See how it feels.
- Sounds good.
- Good.
- [Neal.]
675 LT.
- I've actually never heard of this - That's a badass car, man.
- Sounds cool.
You also have to take into consideration that car weighs 3,000 pounds, - opposed to - Yeah, 4,000 plus.
- 4,000.
- 4,000 plus, I got - [laughing.]
- Physics ain't on my side.
But for the most part it's not really gonna need too much adjustment.
[Neal.]
We wanna have a proper tire on the car, change the diff fluid, do the engine oil, new spark plugs, stuff like that.
Just make sure everything's gonna be on point.
You're confident you're gonna win? I would like to say I am confident.
Most of the weak links have all been addressed, honestly.
- Damn, that other one's [laughs.]
- [beeping in background.]
[Neal.]
Ah, you know, I have the guys here helping me just to make sure that anything that may be overlooked is taken care of as well.
Just another set of eyes, alternative set of eyes would never hurt.
[Neal.]
At college I got bit by the mod bug pretty hard.
My father, he didn't want me working on cars.
And because of, you know, how close my father and I am, it forced me to be very secretive.
A lot of the modifications I did to my vehicle, I had to make sure that my car wouldn't arise too much suspicion.
But I had been caught working on the car in the process of doing this whole twin turbo build.
My father, my mother had threatened to kick me out, burn my car, you know, crush it.
Every bit of hatred they had for my desire and passion went at this car.
So, I stashed the car at people's houses.
I love my car to death.
That's my baby.
Right now the GTO is probably capable of taking on a supercar.
So I imagine our McLaren driver right now sitting on Tinder.
Probably swiping right on every single female.
And so, hopefully it's providing a lot of benefits other than winning, because he's not gonna win the race, I can tell you that much.
[woman.]
Are you good with red lipstick, or not? - I'll do red.
- Do red? - Yeah.
- We can do that.
- Something fun and - any lipstick, but red will work.
When's the last time you did a drag race? It's been a couple years.
But you're going in a straight line, so, I don't know, what can happen? Hopefully Hopefully I win.
I hope that's what happens.
But when they see a woman pull up they're probably gonna be like, "Yeah, we got this.
" - Little do they know.
- Yeah! [Amber.]
I know people look at me and think life has been, like, easy and everything's been handed to me, but it definitely hasn't.
Everything I've ever gotten, I've had to work really, really hard for.
I grew up between, uh, Minnesota and North Dakota.
And then we moved to New York when I was very young.
My aunt and my mom were doing modeling and my mom kind of did her best, but I think she had other priorities.
She was young.
She was definitely struggling with some addiction issues.
So it wasn't a situation where she was set up to take care of a child.
I had to learn how to kind of fend for myself and take care of myself at a very young age.
Figuring out stuff like just how to eat, how to get food.
Growing up, there was always a lot of chaos, but when I started driving, it just changed my life.
Driving has always represented to me, like, just being able to, like, escape.
It was like kind of a meditation for me and it was a way to kind of take me out of whatever problems or things were going on in my life.
I was probably a very reckless, stupid driver when I was young.
I just wanted to go fast.
When I was 19 I had my son, Luke, which obviously wasn't completely planned, um, but it was the best thing that ever happened to me, 'cause I was going pretty fast in whatever direction I was gonna go into, but that really made me grow up and kind of slow down a little bit.
And then I had my daughter.
I think a lot of my parenting has been how to do things differently than my parents did.
It's tricky to find a balance between being, like, a single parent and running a business.
I've just had to learn how to not sleep a lot.
[laughs.]
You just gotta keep going.
[Amber.]
There's definitely a lot of pressure with this drag race, but I've been tested and challenged so many times.
So far, there's nothing that's been thrown at me that I'm not able to overcome.
For the race, I mean, with my car, there's not much to do.
It's pretty dialed in, it's set up, it's stock.
For me, I've done pretty much every kind of extreme driving.
I've done rally racing, drag races, I've done some track stuff.
So I'm really excited to get going, so I can win this thing.
[Tyler.]
In this drag race, the supercar drivers are gonna sit there and then they'll just go Bing, and bing bing.
"Look at me.
I'm rich.
" What I have to do in my Mini is I have to have the e-brake held in, in the proper gear, revved to the right number.
Watch the light, drop the e-brake, release the clutch, throttle, throw it in gear.
I have to do all that, that fast.
You gotta stay straight the whole time, otherwise you're losin' energy.
[Tyler.]
I have quite a bit of experience on on tracks, I've done a lot of racing schools.
It's all about that instant.
Shift, don't mess up How'd that feel? Fuckin' awesome.
This thing's insane.
- How did it handle? - It's perfect.
- You steady? - Straight line.
I think we could keep launching it on this setup.
Beat the shit out of it and hopefully, it doesn't break.
- So far so good.
- [laughing.]
- If it breaks, we got shit to fix it.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- Well.
But do we have time to fix it? Perhaps the downside of Tyler's overconfidence is gonna be he is willing to break something, and that could really come back to bite us.
Uh, if something goes wrong then that's that's kinda it on race day.
I will be even more proud of what this is when we whoop some freaking supercar's ass.
[Emelia.]
I've never drag raced a car before.
What's going through my head is, "Am I, as a driver, going to be able to really grip up? Am I gonna be too heavy on the throttle, am I not gonna launch properly?" We'll do three on either side of the car as a starting grid.
- Okay.
- And then walk off 60 feet.
Drag races are won and lost within the first 60 feet of the race.
[Booch.]
Emelia's big thing she's gonna have to pay attention to as a driver is her launch.
Making sure she's launching at the correct RPM and giving the car enough power to get off the line aggressively, but not too much power to where she's blowin' the tires off.
I'm gonna move right over there and try and get a visual on your launch.
When I give you the thumbs up, we're all clear and safe, you're ready to run.
- Okay.
- All right, your harness is tight? - Yeah.
- Good? All right.
- Get 'em.
- Thanks.
[Emelia.]
The McLaren's 60 foot is 1.
6 seconds.
That's the number I need to try and beat today.
I'm nervous.
I'm so nervous.
I just wanna do well.
2.
96! That definitely did not feel good.
I felt no bite.
Yeah, you didn't have any.
- Yeah.
Okay.
- You didn't, you just spun through it all.
[Booch.]
All right, ready? - [Booch.]
What we got? - [Rob.]
2.
6.
[Booch.]
She needs to get to her gas earlier.
So you're makin' progress there, I wanna see you give her more throttle.
[Rob.]
That was a good shift.
[Booch.]
Yeah, it wasn't bad.
I think she could have hit it harder.
[Rob.]
Let's go one more time.
[Emelia.]
Fuck.
Get Rob! Get Rob Rob, real quick.
Rob! [engine revs and rattles.]
Shit! [Emelia.]
Listen.
Listen to that valve.
[Rob.]
Let me see.
[engine revs and rattles.]
- Yeah, like - Yep, I hear it.
You don't think we fucked a valve spring, do you? [Emelia.]
That sounds bad.
[Rob.]
Pop the hood.
Just shut it off.
I'm surprised I could hear that ticking.
Oh, fuck.
Everything went fine, I thought that was great, I came back smiling.
I did a J-turn and lined back up, and on that J-turn I heard the valve train just ticking louder than I've ever heard before.
- Yeah.
- The temperatures were good? Temperature's fine, everything's fine.
I'm worried at this point you might've dropped a valve spring.
[Emelia.]
I wonder if we should just upgrade the valve train.
- I say we do it, why not? - It would be a easy way to make power.
- That way we can put a huge cam in here.
- Yeah.
We may as well do a cam, - upgrade the heads.
- And get the springs to match.
I like it when our solution is to throw more power at it.
Yeah, with the race as close [sighs.]
as it is - You know - we're we're really cuttin' it close.
I don't think so.
- [sighs.]
- If you guys are down, I'm down.
- Are you in? - I'm down.
I don't have a choice in the matter.
I'll do it.
I'm down.
[Emelia.]
After what happened, I think we just need to upgrade the valve train, I think we need to go bigger heads.
I think we need a large cam, I think we need to upgrade the power.
- You got it? - Yep, they're all in.
[Emelia.]
You know, there's still a lot to do to the car and the race is, like, so close.
So, I'm just hoping that I'm not putting too much on my shoulders, which I have a tendency to do, and not only that but also you know, my friends' shoulders.
[Amber.]
What's at stake for me is just being able to prove that, as a female, that I'm the best.
[Tyler.]
When I win, the supercar driver is gonna look over and say, "I just got whooped by a Mini.
" I'm gonna be able to just whip on this thing.
McLaren doesn't wanna eat the clutch, it doesn't wanna blow up the engine.
I don't care.
I wanna win.
[Emelia.]
Did not sleep last night, I am exhausted.
I've added another 150 horsepower to my car.
I mean, we've completely redone the suspension.
I upgraded the clutch.
So I feel like I have a better chance at winning than I thought I did.
[Neal.]
Fuck, dude, that shit is looking good, man.
Come race day, the car is gonna be on kill but I'm gonna be nervous as hell.
Winning would be a sense of validation that me and my team know what we're doing.
[engine stops.]
[laughter.]
[alarm beeps.]
[Emelia.]
It was a lot of sleepless nights, but we've done so much work that as long as I have a proper launch, I mean, I full-heartedly believe that there's a shot.
Is that the other car? - [woman.]
Competish! - Ah, fuck.
[Rob.]
Oh, damn, dude.
- [Booch.]
It's not good.
- No, that's not.
- [woman.]
Not good! - [Booch.]
Fuck.
[man.]
Bro, I don't know if that's your competition right there.
[Neal.]
It's a 240 SX.
I see everybody here as competition.
I'm here to try to see if the machine that I built can compete with something that was engineered by a, you know, a hundred million dollar budget in a factory in England.
[Booch.]
Mini Cooper! - Shit, we got that one! - No way! We're good.
Yo.
You got it.
I'm not gonna judge before.
[Booch.]
I was expecting eight people to hop out of that.
[laughter.]
[Tyler.]
Everyone makes fun of you for driving a Mini.
It looks like some toy for a kid.
But I need to be able to show everyone how fast this thing is.
The car kicks ass.
Oh, you've got big meat in there.
- Really cool.
- Thank you.
- Did you work on this? - Yeah.
- That's so cool.
- Thank you.
My dad hates my passion for cars.
- Really? - Absolutely hates it.
- I had to hide everything from - And having the disapproval constantly? - I had Oh, my God - What's he think about it now? He still doesn't approve of it, yeah.
He's supposed to be here later - when we race, but - Really? Yeah, we'll see if he makes it.
He's a very busy guy.
- You know what we're up against, right? - Yeah, McLaren 675 LT.
- So you're gonna bump it, right? - I'm hoping.
- Okay.
- I'm hoping, yeah.
It's just the initial launch is my biggest concern.
Yeah, that's where he's gonna be quick.
Yeah, because he can do he can run a ten flat at 140 on anything.
Those cars trap 140 miles an hour.
That's not a slow car.
Oh, shit.
Yep.
Yup, here it comes, guys.
- [Tyler.]
Ugh.
- [Neal.]
Is it purple? [Tyler.]
It's purple.
- We have to beat this car, it's purple.
- Why is it purple? [Amber.]
Coming here, it was important for me to win.
I wanted to represent women in a positive way.
It's a really big deal to me and my business and kind of everything I do.
Those wheels are worth, like, 12 grand.
- Those are, like, $20,000 wheels.
- Yeah.
- Are they HREs? - Those are HREs.
- [Tyler.]
Jesus.
- [Booch.]
Wheels cost more than a wedding.
Oh, my God, so many people around.
[Emelia.]
It's a girl! It's a girl.
- Cool! - Oh, fuck, yeah.
[Emelia laughs.]
You guys never seen a girl before? - Let's go say hi.
- Hello.
- Tyler.
- Tyler.
I'm gonna be the one you're following in the red.
It's under 2,000 pounds.
Mm-hmm.
And it has a supercharged V6 in the back from an Acura.
So it's a it's a forged, uh, forged 6.
6 liter, 403 cubic inch.
LS 1, 243 ported heads, larger cam.
[Amber.]
I would really hate losing to any of these cars, honestly.
'Cause, I mean, my car is so technologically advanced.
I don't really plan on losing today.
I'm not too concerned about it.
I was surprised to see that 50% of the, uh, the racers were women.
That is very unique.
But, you know, I'm not gonna be cuttin' anybody slack.
What are your thoughts? Well, it's just reaction and - how how nervous - Hell, that's what it'll come down to.
[Tyler.]
You can't really judge a book by its cover.
When she pulled up, I was like, "Ah, I'm gonna win this.
" And then, talking to her, she's driven more supercars than I've ever even seen.
I totally respect the women that I'm up against and I respect their abilities.
McLaren driver and a drift racer are are definitely competition.
All drivers, please.
Get in your cars, please.
We're gonna drive over to the track surface.
[Neal.]
I wouldn't have guessed that we had a spread like this.
There are some cars I'm worried about, some that I'm not too concerned of.
But you never know what's gonna happen.
This is a race, at the end of the day.
Oh, hey.
[chuckles.]
- You made it.
- This is your big day, yeah? Yeah, it's my big day.
I'm visualizing my win.
So, I just have to make sure that I leave on time.
- Have you done this before? - I've done this before, many times.
I just gotta make sure that I can keep up with these guys out of the hole.
I don't think that's your focus.
Your focus should be on you and the car and the road, nothing else.
Get your breathing under control, remain calm.
- Yeah.
- That's the first thing you need to do.
- That's good.
Calm.
- Because if you have fear and adrenaline in your system, you'll make mistakes.
That was very good advice, actually.
[chuckles.]
I was really surprised to see my dad.
I didn't expect to see him here.
I've never seen him in an environment like this.
It's a very unique experience.
[Ash.]
I will accept the risk that we will have to go through nail biting, and cringing and praying.
I don't care if he wins.
Just get him to the finish line safe and sound.
[Tyler.]
This is a very nerve-racking event.
I don't know what's gonna happen.
We are here to beat the supercar.
That's why I'm here.
I wanna win this freaking thing so bad, you have no idea.
[Amber.]
I get super nervous because there's a lot of money at stake.
If there's mistakes made, this car's very expensive.
Any piece of this car is very expensive, so stay in your lanes.
[Rob.]
How you feeling? I'm actually nervous now.
[laughs.]
- Don't be.
You're gonna be fine.
- When you pull up, just straighten out, make sure you're straight.
You got this.
- All right, girl, make us all proud.
- Thank you.
[Emelia.]
Feeling nervous, I'm feeling excited.
Can I launch properly? Am I gonna break something? You know, can I hold it straight? I also, like, have that, like competitive lion come out of me right now, where I just, like, wanna kill it right now.
[Neal.]
Having my father here, I can feel the pressure to win.
I just have to leave as fast as possible, let the horsepower just take over and fuckin' hang on.
Shit.
Fuck! [laughs.]
Woo! Fuck! That was fucking crazy.
[Tyler.]
I beat a McLaren! Yeah! Yeah! [laughing.]
[cheering.]
[man yelling.]
- [man 1.]
Yeah! - [man 2.]
Fuckin' awesome! I'm gonna go shake homie's hand, dude.
That was a close fucking race.
- I don't know if I got you or not, man.
- I think you might - You came around me and I was like - Fuck that thing, oh, man! I was looking over, "There's no McLaren! There's no McLaren!" - There she is.
- I was waiting for the purple blur! - I was like, "No, no!" - Wait, which one of you finished first? I have no idea.
I don't know, he was in front of me but I don't know if I got him before the end of the strip.
All right, everyone bring it over here, please.
The race between second and first place was really close.
I mean, it was really close.
The very good news is we know who won.
So without further ado, in fourth place, we have Emelia.
- Yeah! - Congratulations.
- [cheering.]
- Congratulations! [cheering and laughing.]
[Emelia.]
We came a really long way to be here.
I'm more stoked on how my launch was than what my finish number was.
So horsepower, whatever, they can take it.
But off the line, I felt great.
And in third place we have Amber.
- Woo! - Podium finish.
[T-Mark.]
Very nicely done, nicely done.
[Amber.]
So I got a little bit of a late start, I think.
By the time I left, the cars were already a couple of car lengths ahead of me.
Definitely not happy I didn't win 'cause I think, had I not gotten that late start, I would have for sure won.
[T-Mark.]
So, in second place we have Tyler.
- [cheering.]
- All right.
[Tyler.]
If I had lost to the McLaren, I'd have been pissed.
A thousand horsepower GTO Yeah, you know.
I'll win one day, he'll win another day.
But I beat the McLaren and that's really what I came here to do.
So, Neal, congratulations.
[cheering.]
You've made it to the championship round, where you will race for the title of Fastest Car.
- So, outstanding job.
Congratulations.
- Yeah! [Neal.]
Feels surreal to think that I actually made it on top.
There is a huge sense of accomplishment and a huge sense of fulfillment to see what the car that I've built just did.
To see this today, uh, it's very emotional.
And to see him actually win.
- [Tyler.]
That's sweet.
- All these years.
- Aww! [Neal.]
Having my father here, it definitely puts me and him on another path.
All of the issues he had with the car kind of faded away because it got me to where I am here.
[sighs.]
A very emotional moment.
Uh, Neal won.
After all the years of persevering with the car and my son fully dedicated to the car, uh, the car gave him the victory he's been looking for.
I have a respect for him that he's chosen a passion and he's fought for his passion.
He knows how hard he's had to fight for his passion.
It didn't come easy.
I did not make it easy for him to choose what he's doing right now.
So it's very important for Neal, and me both, to share this moment of victory.
My dad was my role model.
I never wanted to disappoint him.
Winning would prove to my dad that I didn't waste ten years of my life.
[woman.]
I remember feeling lost, like I was alone, like I never really fit into any group.
Like, building and racing cars gave me a purpose in life.
[man 2.]
When I win, the supercar driver is gonna look over and say, "I just got whooped by a Mini.
" [man 3.]
One thing about a supercar, you're kind of a prick, because it just says, "I got a million dollars.
" [T-Mark.]
Today, we're gonna have a four-wide quarter-mile race.
[man 1.]
I just have to let the horsepower take over and fuckin' hang on.
[engines revving.]
[car engine revving.]
[man.]
Tell me what you're doin'.
Uh, something very dangerous.
Yeah, yeah! Yeah! [woman.]
I was definitely a troublemaker growing up.
My mom used to call me Daredevil.
[chuckles.]
[woman.]
The feeling I get when I'm drifting is that I'm just purely in the moment.
Drifting was never planned.
It kinda came out of left field, and I turned out to be actually pretty good at it.
- That was a good one, good stuff.
- [laughs.]
Thank you! My name's Emelia Hartford and I drive a 240SX.
This car is a piece of me.
She's very pretty lookin' on the outside, paint's clean, not many chips, haven't crashed into my friends yet.
[chuckles.]
But on the inside, she's gutted.
She's a little ratchet.
She has a V8 swapped into her.
We've both definitely been through hell and back.
[Emelia.]
I was born and kinda raised, California.
My family situation, I'd say, was very cookie-cutter on the outside, but on the inside, that wasn't the case.
My dad had addiction problems.
So as a family we all kind of struggled with that a little bit.
Mind you, none of that really came out until his passing.
My father ended up committing suicide.
And I went to school the next day like nothing happened.
I didn't feel like I was allowed to remorse, I felt like I had to keep you know, looking forward.
And the first time I really actually cried was when someone hit me and totaled my car.
I'd put the energy of my father passing into my first car, and, like, I was so attached to it, I kinda saw the car as my best friend, in a weird way.
Like, I always felt like I could get in my car and drive it and everything would be okay.
It was a pretty bad wreck, but I think emotionally it took me longer to heal than it did physically.
I remember feeling lost, like I was alone.
It took me a while to get comfortable and really just be myself.
[Emelia.]
And then meeting Booch was a huge game changer for me.
I consider him my big brother.
Booch kinda ran B Crew.
B Crew is everyone who had the same passion for cars.
They didn't care about looks, they cared about engine, they cared about how they ran and how fast they were.
Emelia didn't know a whole lot about cars when I met her.
I taught her how to do her first brake job, and now here we are, ten years later, and she welds titanium like a boss.
[Emelia.]
Booch is definitely what inspired the LS 240.
Mind you, the car was a complete pile at the time.
Like, it wasn't running very well, it was spewing black smoke everywhere.
Instead of partying on the weekends, Booch and I were doin' turbo swaps, workin' on engines.
That was partying on its own 'cause it was fun.
I grew up kind of feeling like I never really fit in to any group.
Finding B Crew was the first time I felt a part of something.
Everybody in the club is so proud of her, and she inspires a lot of us to go out and chase our dreams and do what we thought was risky and impossible, but had great reward at the end of the road.
And now more of us are taking those chances, and we do it because we see how far Emelia's come.
[Emelia.]
So I've never drag raced before.
For drifting, I'm trying to break the rear end loose.
When it comes to drag, I'm trying to keep the rear end, like, sturdy on the ground.
Come race time, the car and I, in, like, a cheesy way, we'll have to change together.
I hope they underestimate me because of a smile and a pretty face.
Let's take this one off.
I have spare gloves.
This right here Normally when we used to do this when we were teenagers and we played with RC cars, anything that breaks is normally like 50 bucks, $75 at the most.
Here, if anything breaks, you normally add a zero to that.
$750 is like a minimum.
[laughter.]
But it is fun, it is fun nonetheless.
My name is Neal Patel.
I drive a 2005 Pontiac GTO.
This was actually my first car.
I got it back when I was in high school.
I wanted somethin' that was fun to drive, that was cool, and I stumbled onto GTOs.
I bought it bone stock.
It's far from that now.
It's got Trick Flow heads, twin turbo, and a thousand horsepower.
Whoa, there's the boost! Holy shit! [screams.]
When I drive at full throttle, there's a keen sense of fear, there's a keen sense of "Oh, shit.
Hell yeah, this is awesome.
" And so it's a hodgepodge of everything.
Whoa, fuuuuuuck! I first discovered cars at a very young age.
I would have my father take me to Target specifically just to look at all the toy cars on the shelves.
Back then, I didn't know what the auto show was, so Target toy car aisle was my auto show.
My father to me was always a role model.
He was always someone that I had tremendous respect for.
I wanted to be like him in every sense.
I'm a banker, my brother's an accountant, so we're in the professional white-collar work, for lack of a better word.
And we wanted our sons to follow our footsteps.
But Neal was born with motor oil in his blood.
I have no idea where he got all that from.
[Neal.]
My father in 2008 had bought a BMW M6.
It came with a two day package for the M school.
I had been given an opportunity to go with my father, and so for two days I got to drive the shit out of, you know, BMWs that they gave me that I didn't own.
And I was 15, so I was a raging lunatic.
I had the time of my life.
So when we had finished, I had done so well, one of the racing instructors had come up to us and approached my father and me.
He said that I had a good future in potentially going into motorsport and offered me an opportunity to get into coaching with him.
And I said, "Hell no.
I will not consider that, we're going back home.
Don't you ever call my son again.
" It was just too dangerous.
I only have one son, and I'd like to protect him.
[Neal.]
That hard "Hell no" was a heartbreaker, man.
I still hold a grudge against him because that makes me wonder, "What if?" If he had let me enter that opportunity, I think I would have done fucking awesome.
[Neal.]
But despite, you know, not being able to go do the motorsport, it actually kind of motivated me and it kind of allowed me to hone in on my passion for cars.
I'm fully invested in becoming an auto dealer owner.
Neal's a very good son.
He's very conscientious, very caring.
And Neal ends up following motor oil grease under his fingernails.
Underneath the cars, I'm like, "Son, what the hell are you doing down there? WTF.
You belong in an office with a tie and a suit, driving a Mercedes.
You're never going to get to a Lamborghini and Ferrari in overalls.
" [Neal.]
It is very difficult growing up with a father like my dad who's very stern, very successful, has very high expectations of you.
Disappointing him was the worst thing.
I never wanted to disappoint him.
My father has never watched me race.
But if he's there, I think that'll be pretty cool, and I hope I'd win just for that alone, just so that it would be a sense of fulfillment for myself to be able to show him that I came out on top, I didn't waste ten years of my life.
[man.]
Pull.
Aah! - [gunfire continues.]
- [man groans.]
How are you feelin' about this race? I mean You got all your bad stuff out shooting there, you got anything? No, I was gonna say, I'm feeling bad about the shooting, not the race.
But it always happens to you when we shoot.
- Yeah, that's right.
- I hope I can drive better than I shoot.
[laughing.]
The Super Cooper has a J32 Acura motor in it, making nearly 600 horsepower.
As far as a sleeper car, this is the ultimate.
It's just like a little toy.
I think I'm kind of like a kid at heart, and a Mini is a kid at heart.
When you look at it, it literally has a grin.
[peppy '60s pop music playing.]
The first time I saw Minis on the racetrack, it really caught my eye, 'cause they were racing against some muscle cars.
Just seeing those little Minis, you know, against a Mustang or other cars like that, that was inspiring.
They They hold their own.
You can take a Mini full force, into the craziest corners, and it just stays flat, and it and it has fun.
Something clicked for me.
I had to do something with that stuff.
I had I had to be building one of these, I had to be in it.
[Tyler.]
This is my Mini museum, essentially.
No one can have one Mini.
I would say a good healthy number is 100, but if you have a little more than that, it's okay.
That would be the number that I would say would be a healthy number.
The original Mini came out in 1959 in England, and it had something unique.
It had a front-mounted engine with the transmission up front with it.
That made it so that you could fit a lot more things inside the car.
[Tyler.]
I started my business here building custom Minis.
Each one of these will become a Super Cooper.
[man.]
Tell me about this.
This, um Every part of this car is rusted to shit.
I'm pretty sure they found it at the bottom of a lake, but this is how they start, You know, the Super Cooper started like that.
I'm very creative.
I can see things that a lot of people can't, in my mind.
[Tyler.]
The Mini, for me, was a perfect canvas for my art, essentially.
Today's the first day for a test drive in this insane Mini.
[Tyler.]
The Super Cooper with the 500-plus horsepower engine in the back, that is just scary fast.
It is ridiculous fast.
That's my favorite.
But it took me maybe ten years of building this thing until it actually became something that you get in and go, "Oh, that thing's rad.
" One thing about a supercar owner, no matter what you are, you're you're kind of a prick.
Because it just says, "Look, I got a I got a million dollars," you know? "Look at me.
" I'd like to warn a supercar driver that you're up against a car with near to the power you do, and is half as heavy.
We're gonna punch it and we're gonna feel it, and whip the other cars.
Yeah, I really like the idea of the cream on your against your skin.
Okay.
I think we can do a couple of pictures - in front of that red car too.
- Yeah.
Because all we need to do is move the Fiat and then have it just be brought out front - and then we just - The Alfa? - Yeah.
- [laughs.]
I can change, I think, upstairs, and then Yeah I'll bring everything up after I steam it.
- Okay, so I'm gonna go do hair and makeup.
- Great.
I've always been a super competitive person my whole life.
You know, if it's sports or driving or just being the best at whatever it is that I'm doing, I've always been very competitive.
[woman.]
When I first moved out to California, I actually got hired by a family friend that had a brokerage firm.
I was able to make good money at the time, especially for my age, and I was then able to buy some nice cars.
The first car I bought was a BMW M3.
I thought it was the coolest thing ever.
I was like, "I just got a BMW M3!" [laughs.]
The car chick was born.
Like, officially it was out.
I own probably one of the premier car shops in the country.
Cars are my life.
There's really nothing else I do besides fixing cars, racing cars, going to car shows.
I own a whole bunch of cars, my favorite being the McLaren 675 LT.
When I said I wanted to start an automotive company, people would, like, either laugh it off, or go like, "No, what are you doing? That's such a bad idea.
" [laughs.]
If people walked into my shop and they weren't comfortable speaking to me about their car because I was a female, I'd just be like, "Fine, there's the door.
You don't need to be here, there's other places you can go.
" [Amber.]
I definitely felt like I had to constantly prove myself.
I had to do better than all the guys.
I had to go faster, I had to drive crazier.
I had to do bigger, badder stunts, and I had to work harder, longer hours to be taken seriously.
I'm sure everybody's going to look at me coming in with the nice car and blonde hair and the whole thing and be like, "Oh, my God, she's just got money and she's a bitch.
" Or whatever, like, people think.
And participating in this drag race is kind of definitely bringing up some of those old feelings of being competitive and feeling like I have to prove something, because for me, being a female, it is important for me to win.
So the idea is we're gonna try and turn this drift car into a drag car.
There's gonna be a lot of changes that are gonna need to be made - Right.
- to change it from a drift car - to driving in a straight line.
- Right.
And we're gonna have to add some traction and look at horsepower.
- [Booch.]
Tires, springs, shocks - Yeah.
We We have no baseline for this car right now.
It has never been dragged, only drift.
[Rob.]
So do we know what the cars are? It's a 675 LT.
- Oh shit.
- Oh, God.
- [laughs.]
- How fast are those? - Mid to high six range.
- They're pretty fast.
Hold on, let's write this down.
So the 675 LT is 666 horsepower.
How much does it weigh? [Emelia.]
Uh, put about 3,000.
- What's the quarter mile time? - Ten point three.
Ten point three! [Rob.]
So, your car.
- A high 11.
- Without a drag race package on it.
Right now, I'm talking about what it runs right now.
I would put that bad boy at about 12 flat.
- As she stands.
- 12 flat? So we're gonna go 12 flat.
We got a little bit of work to do, yeah, we do.
I think what we should do is get a baseline.
I think we should readjust the suspension entirely, take it to the track, try and practice launches, and see what we're starting at right now - 'cause we're guessing these numbers.
- Yeah, Yes, let's take her out of drift mode, let's put her in drag mode, head out and make some test hits.
[Booch.]
What Emelia's gonna need to do to her drifting car, soften up the rear suspension, I wanna tighten up the front, making sure that when this car launches all the momentum's going to the rear and planting those rear drive tires to make sure she gets off the line fast and consistently, with minimal wheel hop and minimal tire spin.
I just feel like the launch is going to be huge for me.
- It is.
- Yeah.
It's where it comes down to for the driver.
Your launch will guarantee your 60 foot time.
- And you'll win or lose based on - That could be a full half second.
Based on how I launch.
That half a second's gonna make a big deal when you launch.
- I'll have to work on that.
- Mm-hmm.
Apparently, I'm up against a McLaren 675 LT.
Okay.
Hardly any wheel spin.
No chirp, practically.
You can't even hear a transmission shift.
What is that? Is that the eighth? - That's a quarter.
- That's a quarter, that's 10.
2.
Holy shit.
We need to shave off a couple of hundred pounds.
And get it down to like 1,800 pounds? Possibly.
We can start pulling stuff out.
As far as tires going, we have to pick a special kind of tire.
We're gonna be a little limited on the drag tire just because - the size of the rim.
- Okay.
- As long as the compound's super sticky - Right.
I'm fine with that.
We'll find the best ones out there for sure.
This is basically what we're up against.
[Luke chuckles.]
Yeah! Them? This is us.
[Tyler laughs.]
Us.
So [Tyler.]
Part of our strategy was to lighten it up.
We're gonna be probably about a half a ton lighter than everyone we're up against.
So jumping off the line really quick is something I'm gonna need to do.
Check everything out and then I'm gonna take it out for a spin.
- All right.
- See how it feels.
- Sounds good.
- Good.
- [Neal.]
675 LT.
- I've actually never heard of this - That's a badass car, man.
- Sounds cool.
You also have to take into consideration that car weighs 3,000 pounds, - opposed to - Yeah, 4,000 plus.
- 4,000.
- 4,000 plus, I got - [laughing.]
- Physics ain't on my side.
But for the most part it's not really gonna need too much adjustment.
[Neal.]
We wanna have a proper tire on the car, change the diff fluid, do the engine oil, new spark plugs, stuff like that.
Just make sure everything's gonna be on point.
You're confident you're gonna win? I would like to say I am confident.
Most of the weak links have all been addressed, honestly.
- Damn, that other one's [laughs.]
- [beeping in background.]
[Neal.]
Ah, you know, I have the guys here helping me just to make sure that anything that may be overlooked is taken care of as well.
Just another set of eyes, alternative set of eyes would never hurt.
[Neal.]
At college I got bit by the mod bug pretty hard.
My father, he didn't want me working on cars.
And because of, you know, how close my father and I am, it forced me to be very secretive.
A lot of the modifications I did to my vehicle, I had to make sure that my car wouldn't arise too much suspicion.
But I had been caught working on the car in the process of doing this whole twin turbo build.
My father, my mother had threatened to kick me out, burn my car, you know, crush it.
Every bit of hatred they had for my desire and passion went at this car.
So, I stashed the car at people's houses.
I love my car to death.
That's my baby.
Right now the GTO is probably capable of taking on a supercar.
So I imagine our McLaren driver right now sitting on Tinder.
Probably swiping right on every single female.
And so, hopefully it's providing a lot of benefits other than winning, because he's not gonna win the race, I can tell you that much.
[woman.]
Are you good with red lipstick, or not? - I'll do red.
- Do red? - Yeah.
- We can do that.
- Something fun and - any lipstick, but red will work.
When's the last time you did a drag race? It's been a couple years.
But you're going in a straight line, so, I don't know, what can happen? Hopefully Hopefully I win.
I hope that's what happens.
But when they see a woman pull up they're probably gonna be like, "Yeah, we got this.
" - Little do they know.
- Yeah! [Amber.]
I know people look at me and think life has been, like, easy and everything's been handed to me, but it definitely hasn't.
Everything I've ever gotten, I've had to work really, really hard for.
I grew up between, uh, Minnesota and North Dakota.
And then we moved to New York when I was very young.
My aunt and my mom were doing modeling and my mom kind of did her best, but I think she had other priorities.
She was young.
She was definitely struggling with some addiction issues.
So it wasn't a situation where she was set up to take care of a child.
I had to learn how to kind of fend for myself and take care of myself at a very young age.
Figuring out stuff like just how to eat, how to get food.
Growing up, there was always a lot of chaos, but when I started driving, it just changed my life.
Driving has always represented to me, like, just being able to, like, escape.
It was like kind of a meditation for me and it was a way to kind of take me out of whatever problems or things were going on in my life.
I was probably a very reckless, stupid driver when I was young.
I just wanted to go fast.
When I was 19 I had my son, Luke, which obviously wasn't completely planned, um, but it was the best thing that ever happened to me, 'cause I was going pretty fast in whatever direction I was gonna go into, but that really made me grow up and kind of slow down a little bit.
And then I had my daughter.
I think a lot of my parenting has been how to do things differently than my parents did.
It's tricky to find a balance between being, like, a single parent and running a business.
I've just had to learn how to not sleep a lot.
[laughs.]
You just gotta keep going.
[Amber.]
There's definitely a lot of pressure with this drag race, but I've been tested and challenged so many times.
So far, there's nothing that's been thrown at me that I'm not able to overcome.
For the race, I mean, with my car, there's not much to do.
It's pretty dialed in, it's set up, it's stock.
For me, I've done pretty much every kind of extreme driving.
I've done rally racing, drag races, I've done some track stuff.
So I'm really excited to get going, so I can win this thing.
[Tyler.]
In this drag race, the supercar drivers are gonna sit there and then they'll just go Bing, and bing bing.
"Look at me.
I'm rich.
" What I have to do in my Mini is I have to have the e-brake held in, in the proper gear, revved to the right number.
Watch the light, drop the e-brake, release the clutch, throttle, throw it in gear.
I have to do all that, that fast.
You gotta stay straight the whole time, otherwise you're losin' energy.
[Tyler.]
I have quite a bit of experience on on tracks, I've done a lot of racing schools.
It's all about that instant.
Shift, don't mess up How'd that feel? Fuckin' awesome.
This thing's insane.
- How did it handle? - It's perfect.
- You steady? - Straight line.
I think we could keep launching it on this setup.
Beat the shit out of it and hopefully, it doesn't break.
- So far so good.
- [laughing.]
- If it breaks, we got shit to fix it.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- Well.
But do we have time to fix it? Perhaps the downside of Tyler's overconfidence is gonna be he is willing to break something, and that could really come back to bite us.
Uh, if something goes wrong then that's that's kinda it on race day.
I will be even more proud of what this is when we whoop some freaking supercar's ass.
[Emelia.]
I've never drag raced a car before.
What's going through my head is, "Am I, as a driver, going to be able to really grip up? Am I gonna be too heavy on the throttle, am I not gonna launch properly?" We'll do three on either side of the car as a starting grid.
- Okay.
- And then walk off 60 feet.
Drag races are won and lost within the first 60 feet of the race.
[Booch.]
Emelia's big thing she's gonna have to pay attention to as a driver is her launch.
Making sure she's launching at the correct RPM and giving the car enough power to get off the line aggressively, but not too much power to where she's blowin' the tires off.
I'm gonna move right over there and try and get a visual on your launch.
When I give you the thumbs up, we're all clear and safe, you're ready to run.
- Okay.
- All right, your harness is tight? - Yeah.
- Good? All right.
- Get 'em.
- Thanks.
[Emelia.]
The McLaren's 60 foot is 1.
6 seconds.
That's the number I need to try and beat today.
I'm nervous.
I'm so nervous.
I just wanna do well.
2.
96! That definitely did not feel good.
I felt no bite.
Yeah, you didn't have any.
- Yeah.
Okay.
- You didn't, you just spun through it all.
[Booch.]
All right, ready? - [Booch.]
What we got? - [Rob.]
2.
6.
[Booch.]
She needs to get to her gas earlier.
So you're makin' progress there, I wanna see you give her more throttle.
[Rob.]
That was a good shift.
[Booch.]
Yeah, it wasn't bad.
I think she could have hit it harder.
[Rob.]
Let's go one more time.
[Emelia.]
Fuck.
Get Rob! Get Rob Rob, real quick.
Rob! [engine revs and rattles.]
Shit! [Emelia.]
Listen.
Listen to that valve.
[Rob.]
Let me see.
[engine revs and rattles.]
- Yeah, like - Yep, I hear it.
You don't think we fucked a valve spring, do you? [Emelia.]
That sounds bad.
[Rob.]
Pop the hood.
Just shut it off.
I'm surprised I could hear that ticking.
Oh, fuck.
Everything went fine, I thought that was great, I came back smiling.
I did a J-turn and lined back up, and on that J-turn I heard the valve train just ticking louder than I've ever heard before.
- Yeah.
- The temperatures were good? Temperature's fine, everything's fine.
I'm worried at this point you might've dropped a valve spring.
[Emelia.]
I wonder if we should just upgrade the valve train.
- I say we do it, why not? - It would be a easy way to make power.
- That way we can put a huge cam in here.
- Yeah.
We may as well do a cam, - upgrade the heads.
- And get the springs to match.
I like it when our solution is to throw more power at it.
Yeah, with the race as close [sighs.]
as it is - You know - we're we're really cuttin' it close.
I don't think so.
- [sighs.]
- If you guys are down, I'm down.
- Are you in? - I'm down.
I don't have a choice in the matter.
I'll do it.
I'm down.
[Emelia.]
After what happened, I think we just need to upgrade the valve train, I think we need to go bigger heads.
I think we need a large cam, I think we need to upgrade the power.
- You got it? - Yep, they're all in.
[Emelia.]
You know, there's still a lot to do to the car and the race is, like, so close.
So, I'm just hoping that I'm not putting too much on my shoulders, which I have a tendency to do, and not only that but also you know, my friends' shoulders.
[Amber.]
What's at stake for me is just being able to prove that, as a female, that I'm the best.
[Tyler.]
When I win, the supercar driver is gonna look over and say, "I just got whooped by a Mini.
" I'm gonna be able to just whip on this thing.
McLaren doesn't wanna eat the clutch, it doesn't wanna blow up the engine.
I don't care.
I wanna win.
[Emelia.]
Did not sleep last night, I am exhausted.
I've added another 150 horsepower to my car.
I mean, we've completely redone the suspension.
I upgraded the clutch.
So I feel like I have a better chance at winning than I thought I did.
[Neal.]
Fuck, dude, that shit is looking good, man.
Come race day, the car is gonna be on kill but I'm gonna be nervous as hell.
Winning would be a sense of validation that me and my team know what we're doing.
[engine stops.]
[laughter.]
[alarm beeps.]
[Emelia.]
It was a lot of sleepless nights, but we've done so much work that as long as I have a proper launch, I mean, I full-heartedly believe that there's a shot.
Is that the other car? - [woman.]
Competish! - Ah, fuck.
[Rob.]
Oh, damn, dude.
- [Booch.]
It's not good.
- No, that's not.
- [woman.]
Not good! - [Booch.]
Fuck.
[man.]
Bro, I don't know if that's your competition right there.
[Neal.]
It's a 240 SX.
I see everybody here as competition.
I'm here to try to see if the machine that I built can compete with something that was engineered by a, you know, a hundred million dollar budget in a factory in England.
[Booch.]
Mini Cooper! - Shit, we got that one! - No way! We're good.
Yo.
You got it.
I'm not gonna judge before.
[Booch.]
I was expecting eight people to hop out of that.
[laughter.]
[Tyler.]
Everyone makes fun of you for driving a Mini.
It looks like some toy for a kid.
But I need to be able to show everyone how fast this thing is.
The car kicks ass.
Oh, you've got big meat in there.
- Really cool.
- Thank you.
- Did you work on this? - Yeah.
- That's so cool.
- Thank you.
My dad hates my passion for cars.
- Really? - Absolutely hates it.
- I had to hide everything from - And having the disapproval constantly? - I had Oh, my God - What's he think about it now? He still doesn't approve of it, yeah.
He's supposed to be here later - when we race, but - Really? Yeah, we'll see if he makes it.
He's a very busy guy.
- You know what we're up against, right? - Yeah, McLaren 675 LT.
- So you're gonna bump it, right? - I'm hoping.
- Okay.
- I'm hoping, yeah.
It's just the initial launch is my biggest concern.
Yeah, that's where he's gonna be quick.
Yeah, because he can do he can run a ten flat at 140 on anything.
Those cars trap 140 miles an hour.
That's not a slow car.
Oh, shit.
Yep.
Yup, here it comes, guys.
- [Tyler.]
Ugh.
- [Neal.]
Is it purple? [Tyler.]
It's purple.
- We have to beat this car, it's purple.
- Why is it purple? [Amber.]
Coming here, it was important for me to win.
I wanted to represent women in a positive way.
It's a really big deal to me and my business and kind of everything I do.
Those wheels are worth, like, 12 grand.
- Those are, like, $20,000 wheels.
- Yeah.
- Are they HREs? - Those are HREs.
- [Tyler.]
Jesus.
- [Booch.]
Wheels cost more than a wedding.
Oh, my God, so many people around.
[Emelia.]
It's a girl! It's a girl.
- Cool! - Oh, fuck, yeah.
[Emelia laughs.]
You guys never seen a girl before? - Let's go say hi.
- Hello.
- Tyler.
- Tyler.
I'm gonna be the one you're following in the red.
It's under 2,000 pounds.
Mm-hmm.
And it has a supercharged V6 in the back from an Acura.
So it's a it's a forged, uh, forged 6.
6 liter, 403 cubic inch.
LS 1, 243 ported heads, larger cam.
[Amber.]
I would really hate losing to any of these cars, honestly.
'Cause, I mean, my car is so technologically advanced.
I don't really plan on losing today.
I'm not too concerned about it.
I was surprised to see that 50% of the, uh, the racers were women.
That is very unique.
But, you know, I'm not gonna be cuttin' anybody slack.
What are your thoughts? Well, it's just reaction and - how how nervous - Hell, that's what it'll come down to.
[Tyler.]
You can't really judge a book by its cover.
When she pulled up, I was like, "Ah, I'm gonna win this.
" And then, talking to her, she's driven more supercars than I've ever even seen.
I totally respect the women that I'm up against and I respect their abilities.
McLaren driver and a drift racer are are definitely competition.
All drivers, please.
Get in your cars, please.
We're gonna drive over to the track surface.
[Neal.]
I wouldn't have guessed that we had a spread like this.
There are some cars I'm worried about, some that I'm not too concerned of.
But you never know what's gonna happen.
This is a race, at the end of the day.
Oh, hey.
[chuckles.]
- You made it.
- This is your big day, yeah? Yeah, it's my big day.
I'm visualizing my win.
So, I just have to make sure that I leave on time.
- Have you done this before? - I've done this before, many times.
I just gotta make sure that I can keep up with these guys out of the hole.
I don't think that's your focus.
Your focus should be on you and the car and the road, nothing else.
Get your breathing under control, remain calm.
- Yeah.
- That's the first thing you need to do.
- That's good.
Calm.
- Because if you have fear and adrenaline in your system, you'll make mistakes.
That was very good advice, actually.
[chuckles.]
I was really surprised to see my dad.
I didn't expect to see him here.
I've never seen him in an environment like this.
It's a very unique experience.
[Ash.]
I will accept the risk that we will have to go through nail biting, and cringing and praying.
I don't care if he wins.
Just get him to the finish line safe and sound.
[Tyler.]
This is a very nerve-racking event.
I don't know what's gonna happen.
We are here to beat the supercar.
That's why I'm here.
I wanna win this freaking thing so bad, you have no idea.
[Amber.]
I get super nervous because there's a lot of money at stake.
If there's mistakes made, this car's very expensive.
Any piece of this car is very expensive, so stay in your lanes.
[Rob.]
How you feeling? I'm actually nervous now.
[laughs.]
- Don't be.
You're gonna be fine.
- When you pull up, just straighten out, make sure you're straight.
You got this.
- All right, girl, make us all proud.
- Thank you.
[Emelia.]
Feeling nervous, I'm feeling excited.
Can I launch properly? Am I gonna break something? You know, can I hold it straight? I also, like, have that, like competitive lion come out of me right now, where I just, like, wanna kill it right now.
[Neal.]
Having my father here, I can feel the pressure to win.
I just have to leave as fast as possible, let the horsepower just take over and fuckin' hang on.
Shit.
Fuck! [laughs.]
Woo! Fuck! That was fucking crazy.
[Tyler.]
I beat a McLaren! Yeah! Yeah! [laughing.]
[cheering.]
[man yelling.]
- [man 1.]
Yeah! - [man 2.]
Fuckin' awesome! I'm gonna go shake homie's hand, dude.
That was a close fucking race.
- I don't know if I got you or not, man.
- I think you might - You came around me and I was like - Fuck that thing, oh, man! I was looking over, "There's no McLaren! There's no McLaren!" - There she is.
- I was waiting for the purple blur! - I was like, "No, no!" - Wait, which one of you finished first? I have no idea.
I don't know, he was in front of me but I don't know if I got him before the end of the strip.
All right, everyone bring it over here, please.
The race between second and first place was really close.
I mean, it was really close.
The very good news is we know who won.
So without further ado, in fourth place, we have Emelia.
- Yeah! - Congratulations.
- [cheering.]
- Congratulations! [cheering and laughing.]
[Emelia.]
We came a really long way to be here.
I'm more stoked on how my launch was than what my finish number was.
So horsepower, whatever, they can take it.
But off the line, I felt great.
And in third place we have Amber.
- Woo! - Podium finish.
[T-Mark.]
Very nicely done, nicely done.
[Amber.]
So I got a little bit of a late start, I think.
By the time I left, the cars were already a couple of car lengths ahead of me.
Definitely not happy I didn't win 'cause I think, had I not gotten that late start, I would have for sure won.
[T-Mark.]
So, in second place we have Tyler.
- [cheering.]
- All right.
[Tyler.]
If I had lost to the McLaren, I'd have been pissed.
A thousand horsepower GTO Yeah, you know.
I'll win one day, he'll win another day.
But I beat the McLaren and that's really what I came here to do.
So, Neal, congratulations.
[cheering.]
You've made it to the championship round, where you will race for the title of Fastest Car.
- So, outstanding job.
Congratulations.
- Yeah! [Neal.]
Feels surreal to think that I actually made it on top.
There is a huge sense of accomplishment and a huge sense of fulfillment to see what the car that I've built just did.
To see this today, uh, it's very emotional.
And to see him actually win.
- [Tyler.]
That's sweet.
- All these years.
- Aww! [Neal.]
Having my father here, it definitely puts me and him on another path.
All of the issues he had with the car kind of faded away because it got me to where I am here.
[sighs.]
A very emotional moment.
Uh, Neal won.
After all the years of persevering with the car and my son fully dedicated to the car, uh, the car gave him the victory he's been looking for.
I have a respect for him that he's chosen a passion and he's fought for his passion.
He knows how hard he's had to fight for his passion.
It didn't come easy.
I did not make it easy for him to choose what he's doing right now.
So it's very important for Neal, and me both, to share this moment of victory.