{"podcast":{"title":"It's Not the Car","slug":"it-s-not-the-car-6747786","podcast_index_feed_id":6747786,"rss_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/f02659d0/podcast/rss","website_url":"https://www.itsnotthecar.com","image_url":"https://d3t3ozftmdmh3i.cloudfront.net/staging/podcast_uploaded_nologo/40190452/40190452-1704583104013-fbbc87158798b.jpg","author":"Sam Smith, Ross Bentley, Jeff Braun","episode_count":109,"summary":"It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts. Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and a world-renowned performance coach. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer with time in NASCAR and IMSA. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist, a club racer, and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. We don’t love motorsport for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the meatbag at the wheel.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/it-s-not-the-car-6747786"},"episode":{"title":"The One Where Ross Explains the Nürburgring","slug":"the-one-where-ross-explains-the-n-rburgring","published_at":"2025-09-30T09:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/it-s-not-the-car-6747786/the-one-where-ross-explains-the-n-rburgring","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/it-s-not-the-car-6747786","url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/its-not-the-car/episodes/The-One-Where-Ross-Explains-the-Nrburgring-e38spdg","audio_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/f02659d0/podcast/play/108995440/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-8-30%2Fd9a86f36-1556-a78f-db94-3ab92a742696.mp3","summary":"More than 150 corners. Twelve point nine miles. History out the wazoo, big fun, big challenge to drive quickly. The Nürburgring Nordschleife is basically the world’s greatest race track. Wanna go? Of course you do! How convenient—Ross just got back from there! In this episode, he and Sam discuss that trip, why Ross takes a small group of clients and friends to the Ring every year, and why Sam has had many opportunities to visit the place for work and kept saying no. (Hint: It may be because Sam is a romantic doofus.) Fun fact: This episode was originally going to be about another topic entirely. Then Ross was like, “Oh man, I drove an Aston Martin DB6 in the Moselle Valley,” and Sam was like, “Flugplates Breidscheid Fridge?” And that sounded like more fun, so we called an audible and made a pivot. This show changes format weekly, because squirrel. This week’s format is an experiment—we call it “INTC TANGENT HOUR.” This episode was produced by Sam Smith. ** Who We Are + Spicy Merch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.ItsNotTheCar.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ** Support It’s Not the Car: Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ** Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think! ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠INTCPod@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ ** Check out Sam's book! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writing, 2003–2023⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ** Where to find us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/intcpod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/j.v.braun/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ** ABOUT THE SHO…","meta_description":"More than 150 corners. Twelve point nine miles. History out the wazoo, big fun, big challenge to drive quickly. The Nürburgring Nordschleife is basically…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3164,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/it-s-not-the-car-6747786/episodes/the-one-where-ross-explains-the-n-rburgring/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/it-s-not-the-car-6747786/the-one-where-ross-explains-the-n-rburgring.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}