Cars Yeah With Mark Greene

Gautam Sen is acknowledges as India’s leading automotive journalist and writer. He has written several critically acclaimed books on automobiles and his latest is titled Marcello Gandini: Maestro of Design. In 1986 he founded India’s first and subsequently most successful automobile magazine Indian Auto. Based in Paris, Gautam is involved in several projects to design and develop cars for the Indian and international markets, he consulted or India’s leading automotive manufacturers and he led the design and development of India’s first sports car, the San Storm. Since 2015 he has been a Vice President at FIVA (Fédération Internationale de Véhicules Anciens), the international federation for historic vehicles.

Tim Layzell is one of the world’s leading automotive artists. He lives in the United Kingdom where he was raised and in 1995, at the age of 13, he won the British Racing Driver’s Club’s prestigious Young Motoring Artist Award and a career in art was born. Tim has two very distinctive styles with an eye for super realism and super detail while maintaining an element of nostalgia and pop art boldness. His enthusiasm for motor racing encompasses a majority of his work and he’s a regular participant in vintage rallies and trials events. Tim has many clients who commission his paintings and his art has been featured in magazines, on their covers, on posters, concours events, in galleries, and hangs on collector’s walls around the world.

RJ De Vera is the Customer Engagement Leader at Meguiar’s Car Care. Formerly the editor at Street Magazine where he wrote and photographed the youth car culture movement. He was a consultant for the Fast and Furious movie franchise and one of his tuned automobiles was the Honda S2000 driven by the movies villains. He’s judged and hosted a car building competition show on MTV titled Trick It Out and he styled over 30 high profile image vehicles. RJ continues active in the car culture as a marketing and culture leader for Meguiar’s helping to ensure automotive enthusiasts passion for cars continues.

Bob Folkestad is the President of Creative Werks, a company that specializes in electromechanical integration of RF devices in to a variety of applications. Creative Werks is the sole importer for General Cab Group of Asti, Italy, a company that manufactures GC Cooling electronic fans and blowers. He and his talented team focus on growing GC Cooling’s fans by integrating the product line that is used by Mercedes Benz, Volvo, Ferrari, and Maserati in Europe and the OEM market. Bob’s background in applied engineering and product design has allowed him to create more than 50 electrical control systems in the automotive industry. He also holds several patents for tools and firearms and he’s a pilot of small aircraft.

Peter Kumar is the Founder of Gullwing Motor Cars located New York. Born and raised in India, he worked as a young man in an auto parts store where his fascination with cars began. He opened his first car dealership in Miami, Florida and in 1988 he moved it to New York. At Gullwing Motor Cars Peter and his talented team buy and sell the finest collectible motorcars focusing mostly on European marques. Peter travels the world looking for the perfect vehicles for his clients and instead of consigning cars he owns his inventory. As for his company name, Peter was fascinated with the first Gullwing he spotted at a Mercedes dealership when he was young so bought a model that still sits on his desk today, and he purchased his first real Gullwing in 1993.

Jay Howard is the Founder and President of JHE Production, one of the nation’s premier event and corporate meeting production companies. Founded in 1987 JHE Production handles fortune 500 company events for brands including Sprint, Coca-Cola, Bank of America, Ford, Chevrolet, NASCAR, IndyCar, and major sports teams. Jay is also the Director of the Pinehurst Concours d’Elegance that takes place in April each year in North Carolina at the iconic Pinehurst Golf Course. JHE has received numerous awards and distinctions for their business achievements and in 2016 they were acquired by CSM, a global leader in sports and entertainment.

Malcolm Hogan is the publisher of Automotive Addicts and a consulting Internet marketing manager for a large software firm.  Malcolm's passion for cars roots back to childhood. Since then, the passion has grown into a love he shares in his latest work, which can be found in many automotive publications, including his very own AutomotiveAddicts.com website and the Drive section of The Florida Times-Union, Northeast Florida’s highest circulated newspaper. Malcolm is also the founder of the monthly Automotive Addicts Cars and Coffee event in Jacksonville, FL, one of the largest venues of its type on the east coast of the USA.

Alan Johnson is a long time automotive enthusiast who was a high-performance driving instructor, author, racer, and speaker with four SCCA National Championships to his credit. He has class wins in the Sebring 12 hours, a TransAm win and raced in the Daytona 24 Hour. He co-authored the book Driving in Competition, a successful book on road racing and a re-write is coming next year. He was the owner and General Manager at Alan Johnson Porsche Audi and partner at Scottsdale Porsche, Audi, Jaguar, Land Rover. Alan was a board member at the San Diego Automotive Museum and currently serves on the San Diego Air & Space Museum Board. Today he is an Executive Consultant and Associate at MAP, Management Action Programs.

Rob Earle is the Managing Director of Gtechniq in the United Kingdom, a worldwide, ultra-durable line of car care products. As the son of two time Grand Prix winning race car driver, Rob’s mother was a big influence on his life and passion for cars. Gtechniq was founded in 2000 by Rob’s good friend Drew Gil. Drew, a fellow petrolhead, was so dissatisfied with other car care brands he decided to create his own. Armed with a Ph D in Quantum Physics and Applied Mathematics Drew developed a superior line of products and in 2004 Rob purchased the European rights for Gtechniq transforming Drew’s research project in to a well respected, international line of products for automotive enthusiasts who demand perfection. The Gtechniq mantra is Smart Surface Science.

John Rafert has had many jobs over his 70 plus years. A bartender, copy boy, teacher, owned businesses, an X-Ray tech, and worked in a level 1 trauma center, and a professor of radiologic sciences. He’s also been a car guy his whole life. Born and raised in Indianapolis, that’s pretty common. In his retirement, John’s taken up a new challenge. Learning how to create 3D automotive pieces, and automotive related products using Computer Graphics. He started with the demonstration principles of radiography and migrated in to cars and other objects he found interesting. By studying coach builders and styling houses including Pinifarina, and past Cars Yeah guest Raffi Minasian, John takens his passion for cars in a new direction proving you can indeed teach an old dog new skills.

Peter Vincent is an artist, author, and photographer who’s been working with the landscape at the Bonneville Salt Flats for over 20 years, and 40 years of Photographic Art, combining it with the Sub-Culture of Land Speed Racing and the Pop-Culture of the American Hot Rod. He’s a regular on the salt every August for “Speed Week” and never misses this gathering, ever. He’s published numerous books on the automobile and his work has been displayed in museums across the country including many permanent collections. His fourth book, The Bonneville Salt Flats, 20 Years of Photography was released in the fall of 2013. Peter’s fifth book, The Rolling Bones is now available. His images have been published in many magazine including The Rodder’s Journal, Hop Up, Hot Rod and American Rodder. His iconic 7 Coupes photograph, taken in 2002, appeared on the cover of Hop Up magazine. One of Peter’s photographs hangs in my home.

Jim Canova owns and operates Canova Bros. Auto Detailing located in Silicon Valley. He’s been caring for his customer’s vehicles since the early 90s. Several of his clients have shown their vehicles on the lawn at Pebble Beach. Jim’s also an industrial designer who has created several unique detailing products. His latest venture and design is the Bumbee Seat, a Kickstarter Design Project that funded at 141% of its goal and was 100% fulfilled. The BumBee seat is a custom sit-on detailing creeper designed to make your time cleaning a vehicle more comfortable. Jim also sits on the board of two local educational departments.

Anna-Louise Felstead is a fine artist who lives in London. She graduated from the Royal College of Art having received first class honors from Central Saint Martins. She is regarded at a reportage artist as her work is often created on location. While she paints a wide variety of subjects many of her pieces are transportation related including modern racing cars. In 2005 she was commissioned by the Ministry of Defense to paint their aircraft carriers, harrier jump jets, and helicopters. You’ve seen her in the pits at Laguna Seca during the historic races, on the lawn at Pebble Beach, at the Nürburgring, Goodwood, Monza, and Spa.

Keith Maher founded Maher Solutions in 2007 and he is the Co-Founder and CEO of VR Motion. His mission is to help people in various sectors of the automotive industry achieve their goals through simulation. He and his team provide professional level training for racers, teams, and institutions around the globe. Keith is the leading authority in automotive simulation, from programming to podiums. He has a 22 plus year career in high technology and his obsession for motorsports resulted in a convergence of cars and computers to design and build world-class simulators. At VR Motion, you will find past Cars Yeah guest and Indy Car racer Dominic Dobson who is the COO.

Brock Yates Jr. is the son of one of America’s best-known automotive journalists and growing up around cars and racing was his life. He played at Watkins Glen while his father raced, he apprenticed with race car builder Ron Nash and he’s a veteran of the first Cannonball Sea-to-Shining-Sea memorial Trophy Dash as a 14 year old in 1071, his destiny was cast. Brock’s run the one Lap of America, the La Carrera Classico, the Silver State Classic Challenge, and SCCA Showroom Stock, plus numerous other racing adventures. In 2009 he took over the Tire Rack One Lap of America and he teaches for Driving Dynamics, a company that specializes in instructing the pharmaceutical industry drivers to make them safer on the road.

Uwe Mansshardt is a professional stunt driver who lives in Hamberg, Germany. It all started when he was 14 while on a trip to Italy when he witnessed new Ferrari’s being tested and the hook was set. He worked as a stuntman in movies at the German Warner Bros. Movie World. That set the course toward training at Rick Seaman’s Hollywood Stunt Driver’s School in L.A. and from there he earned his FIA racing license at Zackspeed Driving Academy at the Nürburging. Today Uwe drives in commercials for Porsche, Mercedes, McLaren, and he’s even been a stunt driving double for Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard.

John Straub is an automotive photographer from San Diego, California who’s been snapping shots of cars since he was 13 years old. His images have been published in numerous publications including Road and Track and The New York Times. He’s been the official photographer for the Carmel by the Sea Concours and he is a member of the Motor Press Guild and the San Diego Museum of Photographic Arts. His photography has hung in numerous exhibits, automotive enthusiast’s homes and offices, in galleries, and he operates his own blog titled Along For The Ride where you can enjoy his work on a regular basis. John’s raced Porsches for years at local and statewide events.

Steve Schenko is an Art Director, illustrator, and automotive enthusiast from Sydney, Australia. He founded 1-of-1 Bespoke where he creates high-end custom design pieces for automotive enthusiasts who have an eye for design. His custom art prints are of cars and bikes that he draws from scratch, and tailored for his clients. In addition to his creations at 1-of-1 Bespoke Steve is the founder at Custom Creative, an advertising and design firm in Sydney where they fill the gap between ‘big agencies’ and ‘boutique design firms’ and create brand identity, graphic design, marketing, packaging, brochures, retail design, and more.

Both Bill Warne and Tom Cotter are past guests here on Cars Yeah. Bill is the Founder of the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, one of the top events in the world. He’s been a journalist, photographer, racer, and ran a Porsche 911 in the infamous Cannonball run in 1975. Tom Cotter is an author who wrote the icon six-book series on barn finds starting with The Cobra in the Barn. He’s a long time magazine contributor and travels around the country looking for cool cars and writing stories. Bill and Tom have collaborated and created a new book titled Cuba’s Car Culture, Celebrating The Island’s Automotive Love Affair published by our friends at Motorbooks where Zack Miller runs the company, another past Cars Yeah guest.

Craig Watkins grew up in San Francisco and at the age of six started karting around his parents property. That morphed in to dune buggies and Baja Bugs. His college degree and career was in manufacturing engineering. Craig first raced in the SCORE off road racing series throughout the 80s with Greg Aronson winning 8 races in 42 starts in class 10. He club raced his 1973 Porsche 911 and that lead to an engineering position with Porsche 996 GT3 Cup cars and then he joined team Flying Lizard Motorsports where he was the chief engineer. It was there he met Roland Kussmaul, the Porsche factory racing engineer who was in charge of the GT3 product line. This lead to Craig’s first book Kussmaul Chronicles, The Story of Roland Kussmaul’s Contributions To Porsche’s Total Crushing Domination.