- You know when you have a friend,
and you're in school, and you can just tell that
whatever it is that he's going to do,
he's going to do a lot better than you.
You're there like, sniffing glue in high school or whatever,
and he's actually understanding why
the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.
That is what Motegi is with the Wheel Pros name
and pretty much every other wheel company
when you compare it to.
On this episode of Wheel History,
we're gonna talk none other than the racing--
We're gonna be talking about the guys
that you've probably heard of 10 years ago,
then forgot about, then realized
that they're still doing stuff.
We're gonna talk to you about none other
than the infamous Motegi Racing wheel.
Motegi Racing is a wheel company,
that's pretty difficult to understand,
especially when you consider the fact
that Wheel Pros is a giant umbrella
that also envelopes the Motegi Racing wheel.
Motegi's name is founded in the Japanese prefecture
of Tochigi, which is home of the Twin Ring Motegi,
which was founded by Honda Motorsport,
and pretty much introduces people
to everything automotive related.
So is that where Motegi gets their name from?
Can't call it because we don't know,
but I would assume that if you're gonna be
talking about Motegi Racing wheels,
then the only other definition in the world right now,
is that exact location, and the fact they have
an automotive history related motor sport,
I'd say that our guess is pretty good.
Motegi's racing history is convoluted,
and continues to be until probably,
I'd say the last 10 years or so,
because what they were made for,
and where they came from is relatively new.
Motegi is a brand that was built and created
for enthusiasts of a different pedigree.
They weren't really meant for people like Joe Shmo
to put their wheels on.
It was meant for the high end racing enthusiasts.
Which is a little weird considering what
we really remember Motegi for,
which I would probably say,
is more like the "Fast and the Furious" racing scene,
which really wasn't a racing scene at all.
Motegi's under the racing wheel line of Wheel Pros,
and Wheel Pros is a conglomerate of different companies,
and if you didn't know that, well, the more you know.
Wheel Pros has a lot of different brands under their
umbrella, and they pretty much started by just hustling,
and know they own like, 10 different wheel companies.
So in short, Wheel Pros was kind of like
the rich mother and father,
whereas Motegi racing was like the smart kid
that just wanted to hustle and make things work,
but he also had rich parents behind him,
so he could kind of do whatever he wanted,
and Motegi did just that.
You see, the Motegi racing name
is kind of divided into two sub groups.
You have the people that you bring up,
like your normal mom and pop,
they're gonna be like, "yeah, 'Fast and the Furious'."
And, you bring it up to an avid racing driver,
and they're going to be like,
"yes, Motegi Racing.
Those guys are the bomb dot com."
Motegi racing doesn't have an "About Us", why?
Because they're too busy making the space
for their racing information.
Because that's all they give a damn about,
because that's all that Motegi racing
wants to give a damn about.
I would yell, but then people are gonna say we're like
Donut Media and I just can't yell like he can,
I don't even have the same facial hair as that man,
that guy's got something going on.
24 hour Le Mans, IMSA, FIA World Endurance Championship,
Pirelli World Challenge, Porsche Cup Series,
pretty much everything you can possibly imagine
that has to do with motor sport, they are involved in,
and they do it damn well.
Let me just give you, just a general gist,
of how good they are at what they do.
Formula racing, they sponsor one team and one team only.
That's the Papadakis racing team.
Now, you may be wondering why that matters.
Well, Papadakis is probably
one of the biggest reasons that
the original "Fast and the Furious" series was a thing.
Not only that, but when you look into the Ferrari teams
that Motegi has partnered with, they're one of two companies
to actually be partnered officially with Ferrari.
Which means that nearly every single
Ferrari race car that is out there,
out doing things that are way better
than I could possibly do on a race track,
they're equipped with Motegi wheels.
The only other company that's actually involved
with Ferrari as an official partner,
beside Motegi Racing, is Shell.
If you wanna put that in perspective,
they seem to be doing something right.
These wheels are on everything.
Now, you might be wondering why is the racing scene
so important versus the entry level cast thing?
That is, well, a pretty good question.
But, just like how we would rather enjoy
doing stuff like this than being stuck in a cubicle,
Motegi Racing enjoys being a part of what they think
is the most crucial and just fun part
of, you know, selling wheels,
and that's being involved in the people that really,
really use their wheels.
You can't get any more pure than
a high performance driving event,
or any sort of professional racing event.
That's what Motegi focuses on.
That's what makes Motegi very good at what they do.
It's probably the reason why they're so involved
in so many motor sports.
There's a lot of stuff that Motegi Racing does
with their R&D that allows them to produce wheels
for like people, like you and me.
That's what Motegi has been all about since the beginning.
They just wanted to make wheels that could handle
hard cornering, that could handle the high heat,
that could handle everything that you could possibly
throw at it during a racing event, and survive.
The difference between Advan, and Rays,
and those sort of companies overseas,
is that not a lot of people know that Motegi is involved
at the level that they are.
I think that has a lot to do with the fact that,
well, when it comes down to marketing Motegi wheels,
they just really choose not to get involved in,
and that's just something that some companies choose to do
and some companies don't.
Here's the thing, with Wheel Pros
and the different companies that have acquired,
and passed on, and this, that, and the other thing,
if you really get into the whole paperwork reveal of it,
any time a company gets acquired by another company,
usually the company brand almost loses faith,
it loses brand, either people figure it out,
or people don't like the fact that it was bought out,
or something in between, and a lot of times,
the brand itself kind of just dissolves and dies.
Companies just don't survive a lot of times
with acquisitions and a lot of times
that tech gets passed on to other companies.
With Motegi and their involvement with Wheel Pros,
you never have to worry about that,
because Motegi just kind of does their own thing.
Because of the fact that they're involved as they are,
they just continue to just take pride in what they do,
which is making high end performance racing wheels
for any sort of motor sport you can possibly imagine.
And, Motegi's going to continue to be one of those brands
that you're probably not really gonna hear
a whole lot about, especially if you're
on the side of the fence where you just want some wheels
for daily driving, or maybe tossin' around a track,
but when it comes down to the professional racing scene,
when it comes down to the stuff that they actually dial
in to a T, where they spend 99 percent of their time,
Motegi is doing extremely well.
You'll likely really not hear about them a whole lot
in our eyes because Motegi is just a brand that is,
well, a solid brand, but when it comes down
to you wanting something that's gonna be a high end
application for something you're running around the track,
Motegi's definitely one of those brands that I don't think
is gonna go away any time soon.
You're probably gonna see them come up with
a few more wheels at the end of the year,
because they're trying to get back into the big brand thing.
Motegi's been kind of sitting on the sidelines a little bit,
from what we've heard, not to say that we have connections,
but we have connections, is that they are going
to be coming out with some new stuff for everybody,
because they want to get back into getting
a little bit more limelight,
while still playing a part in the racing scene.
Hopefully we see more of the Motegi Racing line.
We definitely want to see more,
and we'll see what happens with the brand.
Now that we're done with all of that,
it's time for a giveaway.
We are-- I already picked it up,
I already got it right here.
The man, the myth, the legend, the winner
of this last week's video, Michael Midgett.
Michael said that, "Dom is the bomb."
And, he said that Alex thinks that--
He thinks that I can't talk certain humor
and that's the reason that I'm holding back.
I will have you know that you are 125 percent correct.
Congratulations, you won a shirt and valve stem cap.
For this week's winner, all we want you to do is subscribe,
and if you already subscribed, drop a comment saying
that you subscribed, and if you can convince us
in a really well worded way why you should deserve
the next giveaway, we'll just toss it your way.
All you gotta do is, we're gonna give away
a t-shirt this time, so just let us know
what you'd like to get,
but, we wanna see you at least subscribe.
It's pretty simple, I don't even think that's that hard.
But I'm Alex from Fitment Industries,
and I hope you guys enjoyed it, don't forget to subscribe,
and, of course, if you're looking to get
in some Motegi wheels, check out Fitment Industries dot com.
We also have wheels, tires, suspension, all of that stuff.
I'm Alex, we'll see you later.
Peace.