The Apex – Details, episodes & analysis

Hootie Rashidifard launched the popular Instagram page @valveandpiston in 2016, growing it into a community of over 370,000 car enthusiasts. Known for curating some of the coolest automotive content on the internet, Hootie has forged strong connections with a global audience while also building an impressive personal car collection, including a heavily modified 1973 BMW 2002 Touring. Recently, he expanded his ventures by founding the 24 Hours of Montauk, a Long Island rally that brings together influential figures from different domains, all uniting over their love of cars. Past participants have included visionary artist Daniel Arsham, the Oilstainlab twins, and renowned US collector, Jas Dhillon. Thanks for tuning in! Chapters: (0:00) Intro (01:21) Hootie's Land Rover Recovery Vehicle (03:50) Inspiration behind BMW 2002 & Porsche 993 (09:06) Intention behind Valve & Piston (11:45) How quickly did the account grow? (14:45) Tapping into Nostalgia (17:21) Impact of social media on car culture (21:30) How would you set up Valve & piston today? (27:05) The Montauk Rally (32:53) Online vs Offline (34:22) Automotive trends (37:25) Quick Fire Q's (41:36) Outro @valveandpiston www.custodian.club @custodian.club https://bit.ly/custodiancarinsurance

This week on The Apex we sat down for a conversation with Martin Popilka, CEO of P1 Fuels. They are a company leading the development of 100% fossil free fuel, and are the official fuel supplier for the World Rally Championship.

Their mission is to change the fuel, not the car, and their work extends beyond motorsport and into the world of classic and everyday vehicles.

Sebastian Vettel is also a regular customer, and uses their fuel to run his classic F1 cars! It was an insightful, eye opening conversation that left us feeling optimistic about the future of the internal combustion engine.

Thank you for listening!

Chapters:

0:00 Intro

0:44 Martin's Background

2:13 What does P1 Fuels do?

3:00 The Manufacturing Process

4:00 P1 Fuel vs Normal Fossil Fuel

6:42 Involvement in Motorsport & the WRC

12:11 Pricing

13:09 Common Misconceptions

16:00 EV vs Hydrogen vs Synthetic

17:55 Politics

20:17 Buying P1 Fuel for Classic & Everyday Cars

22:18 When will it be at the pump?

22:51 Quick Fire

24:11 Outro

www.p1fuels.com

@p1fuels

www.custodian.club

@custodian.club

https://bit.ly/custodiancarinsurance

For more than thirty years, Patrick Peter has been a driving force behind classic and contemporary motorsport events. During the 1990s, alongside Stéphane Ratel and Jürgen Barth, he played a pivotal role in revitalising endurance sports car racing through the creation of the widely acclaimed BPR Global GT Series.

His company, Peter Auto, is famous for organising some of the greatest historic racing events globally, and he's also one of the key figures behind the Le Mans Classic, a crowning jewel in the motorsport calendar. Patrick kindly joined us on the Apex this week, and shared with us some incredible insights about his career, the future of historic motorsport, and what it takes to organise events of such magnitude.

Few cars in recent memory have garnered as much attention and admiration as Porsche's prototype 'Half 11'. It's the creation of Nikita and Iliya Bridan, Canadian twins who dropped out of high school at 13 to study car design in Italy. We had the pleasure of chatting to Nikita about the Half 11, modern car design, and what's next for the brothers and their creative playground 'Oil Stain Lab'. 

Our guest this week is Walter Heale, founder of Historic Motor Car Workshops; a firm that specialises in the restoration and race preparation of pre and post war cars, with a leaning towards French and Italian marques of that period.

In our interview, Walter shares the stories behind some of the incredible cars he has worked on, including a rare Lancia Dilambda that raced in Italian Eritrea, the current landscape of the pre war community, and how sustainable fuels can have a positive impact on pre war racing. 

On this week's episode of the Apex, I am joined by Ryan Goodyear. Ryan is a connoisseur when it comes to pre-war motoring and vintage men's fashion. His Instagram page, Suits and Cylinders, has attracted over 58,000 followers, and he represents a source of inspiration for pre-war petrol heads and fashionistas alike.

On this week's episode of the Apex, we are joined by four times Masters Historic Formula 1 champion and Goodwood lap record holder, Nick Padmore. Nick climbed the ranks of single seater racing and excelled as a Works driver in Radicals, before becoming more involved in historic racing. 

Alongside his impressive resume, Nick is also one of the world's leading driver coaches, and holds the unique ability to transfer his knowledge and experience to other drivers. He joins us today to discuss his career highlights, that iconic Goodwood lap record, and to share some of his coaching insights.

On this week's episode of the Apex, we are joined by the legendary Tiff Needell. Tiff has competed at Le Mans 14 times, climbed the single-seater ladder all the way to F1, and competed in touring cars, British Rallycross and the 24 Hours of Daytona. He also commentated alongside Murray Walker and entertained the nation with his work on Top Gear and Fifth Gear.

He joins us today to talk about his life in cars, the ins and outs of competing at events like Le Mans, and what it was like to race in such an incredible era of motor sport.

On this week's episode of The Apex, we have the pleasure of welcoming a seasoned racing driver, coach, stunt driver and commentator. Having competed at the top level of the junior formulas, Oliver Webb has gone on to win the European Le Mans Series, the Dubai 24 hours and the Gulf Historic Grand Prix in James Hunt's race winning Hesketh.

He joins us today to talk about his career highlights, his involvement in historic racing, and what it was like being a stunt driver for the Mission Impossible movies.

After a hiatus of almost two years, we are relaunching the Apex podcast! Our guest for this week is Karun Chandhok. He's competed at the highest levels of motorsport, racing in Formula 1, at Le Mans and in Formula E. Karun is also a renowned commentator, analyst, writer and historic racer.

He joins us to talk about his journey into the world of racing, life in Formula 1, and what it’s like to race a 250 GTO at Goodwood.