- Come on!
- Let it rip.
- And he's off!
- Whoa!
(tires screeching)
- Yeah!
Welcome to Hot Lap,
the show where two of your favorite hosts
take one of your favorite YouTube stars.
We talk to 'em,
we teach 'em how to drive.
- And then we set 'em loose on the track alone.
- Where they compete for the fastest lap
in our beautiful 2018 Mazda Miata RF.
- And, the chance to win what many are calling
the most coveted prize in motor sport,
a $500 Applebee's gift card.
- Appetizers all night, baby!
- Our guest today is cohost of Nerdist's Muskwatch podcast.
Is it a podcast?
And host of Because Science, Kyle Hill.
- This is pop culture's version of super speed.
Oh! (tires screech)
It goes against every instinct in my body.
Tensing up.
- And this,
- [Bart] is Hot Laps. - [James] is Hot Lap.
- Hot Lap.
- You've been working on this show for 25 years.
(electronic action music)
(bell dings)
- So Kyle.
- Yes, whoa, okay.
- When was it you first knew you wanted to do science?
- I've always been a very geeky kid
and my parents have been very supportive of that.
- Was there a moment that you could remember,
you were like, you know what,
I wanna do this.
- Near the end of my college education,
I was doing engineering at the time.
At the end of that,
I decided that I actually like talking
about and trying to explain science, whoa,
more than actually doing the science myself.
- Who do you think is perhaps
the least scientifically plausible superhero?
- Whoa!
I got a problem with the Hulk.
When you get that big,
your volume increases but your mass
would theoretically stay the same.
At some size,
the Hulk would be the density of a beach ball,
just bounce off stuff.
- I now have a problem with the Hulk.
But do you think, kids today,
are getting enough science education?
- In the current landscape of things,
I think we're lacking the same kind
of science programming that we had
when we were kids.
I think that kids and teachers
are going more and more
to the digital space,
more and more to YouTube to get the science education
that they think the kids want.
That was unlike any interview I've ever done.
Thank you. - Alright.
We've got you the best free driving lesson
that money can buy
from our very own professional driver,
- I don't know if that makes sense,
but it sounds awesome.
(playful keyboard music)
- Wow, you know Bart,
it really is inspiring to watch two science men
speak in their native tongue.
I think I speak for the rest of the entire world
when I say,
I didn't understand a single word
you guys were saying. (laughs)
- That's right, James.
As a fellow science man myself,
we're both interested in teaching and learning.
- Ooh!
- So that brings us to,
- [Cohosts] our skill of the day.
(lively techno music)
(bell dings)
- [James] Your car's traction comes entirely
from the four tiny contact patches
between the tires and the road.
Under braking, weight shifts forward
and all your traction is on the front tires.
Accelerating puts it all on the back tires
and turning moves it to one side or the other.
The car is most stable when its weight
is evenly distributed over all four tires.
The more smoothly the car transitions
between braking, turning, and accelerating,
the more balanced it'll be.
And the faster you'll go.
When you're starting out,
that means you probably have to make your inputs
as smooth as possible.
Don't jab the brakes or jerk the wheel!
And you won't upset the car.
If you've watched in-car videos of racing legends
like Ayrton Senna and Sebastian Loeb
and James Pumphrey,
you've seen them making lots of sharp inputs.
At their insanely advanced levels of speed,
they're making fast, tiny corrections
almost constantly to keep the car right
at the limit of grip and balance.
So be smooth.
- Smooth indeed, James, smooth indeed.
- Thanks, Bart.
To put this skill into practice,
let's go down to the track for our pro driver,
Odi Bakchis.
- I think it's Bokcheese,
- Bokchese?
- Bok--
- And just floor this thing.
- I have zero experience racing.
I feel like I'm a pretty fast learner,
pun intended.
- He's a scientist pretty much
so he thinks everything through.
- I don't know if I'm actually
doing physics while I'm out there,
but I'm thinking about it.
- The whole objective is
go smooth.
- Yeah. - 'Cause smooth is fast.
- It feels really, really unnatural
to hard-break into a turn,
and then to accelerate like mad out of a turn.
Every cell in your body is saying,
wow, don't do that.
That's dangerous.
- [Odi] Yup. - Whoa, wow, I--
- Yup, see, go outside.
- Wow, it turns real sharp. - Yeah.
He definitely remembers to keep it smooth.
We'd like to work on that fast part a little more.
He needs to just go out there
and just let that car rip.
- I'm nervous.
I'm taking this pretty seriously.
I would like to do well.
- Wow, training is tough.
Do you remember when I trained for that marathon
all weekend?
- I don't, James. (dramatic music)
- Ope, I just got word from the starting line.
It looks like Kyle is ready to go.
(electronic techno music)
(bell dings)
- [Cohosts] This is Hot Lap.
(intense techno music)
- Just gotta remember what Odi told me.
Hopefully the science gods are on my side.
In all honesty, though, I am pretty nervous.
Keep it together.
- What if we do this in front of a green screen?
At the office?
- Not only do I need to be the fastest today,
I need that Applebee's gift card.
- Let's go to our starting line countdown,
sponsored by Movement Watches.
Three,
two,
one! (horn blares)
And he's off!
I tell ya Bart,
we've done over 1,000 of these
and every time it feels like the first.
One, because of the excitement
and two, because we make so many mistakes.
- [Bart] He's heading on down the middle of the track.
- [James] That's exactly where you wanna be.
(car engine rumbling)
(soft action music)
- Oo, his line is getting a little wide
but he's picking up speed.
- [James] Now Bart, correct me if I'm wrong,
is speed the thing that happens
when you put your right foot down on the gas?
- [Bart] It's all very technical,
but all we need to know is he's getting after it.
- And, he's keeping good pace through turn three.
- Come on!
Don't fail me now, science gods.
(car engine revs)
Big turn,
wide!
Go, keep it
serpentine.
Wide, wide, wide.
Goes against every instinct in my body.
Go wide fast!
- The Mazda Miata is really handling this track.
- Keep going.
- [James] Kyle is eating this track
like the two of us splitting
a big ol' plate of Neighborhood Nachos
- [Cohosts] at Applebee's.
- We've been apex to apex.
- [Bart] Agh! - [James] Cut!
Agh! Cut through the skid pad, - [Bart] Coming around the--
- [James] right now!
- [Bart] Across the line! - [James] Agh!
- [Bart] He's coming down the stretch!
- Control, we're gonna go.
Come on, come on, come on, come on.
Come on!
Do it! - And down the final straight
and across the finish line.
(car engine decelerates)
- It feels like that was one of the most stressful
things I've done in a long time.
- You know, if these laps keep being this exciting,
I don't know how much longer I can do this show.
But let's see how Kyle and Odi feel
down at the finish line.
In our Tic Tac post lap's interview.
(car zooming)
- I don't think that was the best stop possible.
Ugh.
- Kyle, great job, how are you feeling?
- Oh my gosh.
- Here comes Odi, your coach.
He looks happy.
- Thanks for training, man. - Good job, good job.
- You did your hot lap. - Yeah.
- You're feeling confident. - Uh.
- You think it's enough to get you
to the top of the leaderboard
and get that $500 Applebee gift card?
- Oh man, I don't know how well I did.
I did accidentally shift into fourth gear.
- We'll see if it hurt you. - We'll see.
- We're gonna throw it to James Pumphrey
who's waiting for us at the Hot Lab leaderboard.
James!
- [Kyle] Come on.
- Thanks Bart.
What an amazing display.
A true hero's journey.
But was it enough?
To top our Hot Lap leaderboard
and take home that beautiful,
beautiful Applebee's gift card?
- Come on.
- Kyle?
- Yes. - The time to beat is 1:15:95.
- Science gods, don't fail me now!
- Your Hot Lap was
one minute,
21:03, - Blast!
- I'm sorry. - Blast!
- It's not a new record.
- I'm nervous,
I'm taking this pretty seriously.
I would like to do well.
(sad, dramatic music)
Feel good, I feel good about it.
- Well, you came a great showing.
Uh, James?
- Came a great showing indeed. - You heard it here.
(Kyle laughs)
- And that's what life is all about.
Setting goals and achieving them.
- Man that other guy was fast.
(quick techno music)
- Thanks for watching Hot Lap.
Please subscribe so we get to make more cool shows.
Also, thanks to Mazda for providing us
with our Hot Lap car.
If you liked this show,
watch the other episodes.
- Check out Kyle's channel in the link below.
- You wanna see Kyle do more car stuff?
He made a video while he was here,
another one.
You want to watch that?
Check it out right here.
You wanna see someone else on Hot Laps?
Tweet at them until they conform.
Also, tweet at Applebee's 'til they sponsor us.
(slow old-school rock music)