HYPERDRIVE: Behind the Scenes with The Little Speed Shop

HYPERDRIVE: where do we even start?

I guess we’ll go back to the beginning. When the producers contacted us initially we actually thought it was a joke. The first phone call we got was about a noise test ‘in a nearby location’. We were asked if we had some race cars or loud street cars to do a noise test with for a TV show that would be filmed in the area. The catch? it was in December in Rochester, New York. Not a great time for race cars to be driving around and we toyed with the idea of loading a couple cars in the trailer to take, since it wouldn’t be that far, but when the day came the weather was bad and we bailed.

If you came to the premier at Kodak, you heard the story of the drone that day and how they didn’t know where any of the roads in Kodak park were. Silly Californians.

Moving on we didn’t hear anything for probably 6-7 months, leading us to believe they either didn’t do the test that day in December or they got what they needed and moved on. Then the phone rang and the whirlwind started. If you’ve watched any of the contestants ‘behind the scenes’ videos on YouTube you know that no one had solid confirmation that this was an actual show that was happening until about a week and a half before production started. Its insane to think of what the contestants had to do to prepare but what a lot of people don’t know is how much we had on our plate and how little time there was to get it done.

Over a period of about 2 weeks we were building 5? roll cages with two fabricators working around the clock. We were finalizing contracts, signing NDA’s, and learning very limited information about our role and responsibilities before we were let in on the whole concept - which wasn’t until we were on set for a couple days.

Cars were showing up from all over the world that needed to be prepped to the specifications of the shows safety crew, referencing competition rules of about 5-6 different race series. To say there was a lot going on is an enormous understatement. Our crew came back from the Watkins Glen shop with a timely couple weeks off and our service shop stayed open at its regular (busy summer) schedule because we had no idea how much we would be involved in the show and couldn’t talk about any of it.

That first couple days on set we assembled a mobile shop complete with tire equipment, air compressor, Quickjacks, toolboxes, welders, plasma cutters, work stations, the list goes on - all from boxes of sponsor supplied swag in an empty parking lot. By week two we basically moved to Kodak park, renting an RV as a place to sleep and eat when needed because we weren’t leaving much other than to go back to our service shop a few miles away.

Each contestants car came through that mobile shop to be tech’d, get harnesses installed by our friends at RaceQuip, get fuel and fresh tires to start practice. Most ended up back for some kind of adjustment, repair and many, many tires.

Filming was scheduled each night from about 6PM to 6AM and most days by about 3-4PM we had a partial crew on set to help get things rolling for the day. At closing time for our service shop the rest of our crew would head over to Kodak to jump into the mix of what was going on for the day and no two days were the same.

In our humble opinion, we were pretty well suited for the task at hand. We deal with quite the variety of vehicles and repairs here in Rochester and in Watkins Glen, and no two days at the race track are ever the same so we were all like BRING IT. Until about day 12 when we were all like SLEEP PLEASE.

All joking aside, we met some incredible people from all over the world and honestly made a really cool community of car people who were all on this crazy ride together. We still keep in touch with most of the contestants, made easy by social media, and we’re so excited that they still rock ‘The Little Speed Shop’ stickers on their cars.

Stacey May from South Africa happens to be Jill and Kevin’s daughters favorite and they Facetime her and her dad often. We remember meeting Stacey while she blew our minds showing us videos of her hanging out of the drivers window of her E30 while it did donuts. Whoa.

The amazing Graff family from Germany stole our hearts with BMW powered beasts and their ability to make everyone around them smile. Their son helped set up our whole shop, it was super cool that their kids got to join them.

Jordan and the crew from AMS showed up with a beast of an AWD Lambo and it was so awesome getting to know them. Everyone was pleasantly surprised at how well the car did on the course. They were so knowledgeable and helpful.

Karolina Pilarczyk from Poland immediately caught our attention when her wild 240SX rolled off the flatbed at 2AM. We were done with tech for the ‘day’ but we couldn’t resist staying to check it out. She and her husband Mario were always the life of the party and I don’t remember a time without her smiling.

Sara Haro was so sweet to work with and really impressed us with her ability on the course. The first week or so she didn’t have a hand brake and killed it sliding that Mustang around.

Fielding Shredder stole the hearts of everyone around - the kid can drive and looks great doing it. What else can we say? Pretty sure he got permission to drive the tug and we don’t just hand out those privileges.

Brittany Williams was full send the WHOLE time, practice, filming, whatever, girl has serious skill and natural ability in a car. That mic drop moment was epic.

Axle Francois and his girlfriend Lise were next level. They got to set at about 2:30AM after an international flight and Lise was installing harnesses in Axle’s car by 2:45 while Axle met every single person in Kodak park. I’m sure you could tell from the show but to say Axle is a character is a MAJOR understatement. The kid drove his car for almost a full run with no shift knob then came back to the pits to show us what happened and reenact the entire scenario. Never a dull moment, his antics could be a whole separate blog post.

Alexandre Claudin and his girlfriend Julie had so much heart and passion for motorsports and their Dodge Charger. They ended up having some bad luck but persevered by supporting each other endlessly and should be proud of how far they went in competition.

The Brazilians showed UP on this show (as I’m sure you all know.) Joao and Diego both brought amazing Mustangs that we’re prepped top notch. I don’t think Diego needed anything from us but some tools, he and his dad were incredibly knowledgeable and dedicated. We got to spend a day at our service shop with Joao and his crew while they made some repairs that required an actual lift and alignment rack. They respectfully invaded and it was super cool to work alongside them for a day.

Atsushi Taniguchi the ‘drift sensei’ showed everyone up with his old school drift style. Handbrake? What handbrake? We were super stoked to see his RHD Toyota Crown rip around.

We can’t forget about the hosts. I personally met them in an awkward alley where they would enter in and out of set. Obviously nervous, I didn’t want to be in the way or interrupt but when you are standing 5 feet from Lindsay Czarniak, Rutledge Wood, Michael Bisping and Mike Hill - you have to say something. They were incredibly welcoming, friendly and so amazing to work with. Rutledge is one of the coolest, most down to earth guys we’ve ever met and we’re still pretty excited every time he wears our shirt or tags us on Instagram. Like holy cow, Rutldege Wood is rocking TLSS gear and thinks we’re cool.

Unfortunately some contestants who played a major roll behind the scenes didn’t get as much screen time but we’re so thankful to have met them all and gone thought this experience with them. The comradery in the pits was reminiscent of what you would see in the pits of an endurance race or club track event - everyone was willing to pitch in when needed.

It’s actually pretty cool - you create a special bond with people when you work on their race car, its like an extension of themselves and their personalities. We’re so lucky to do just that on a daily basis but to connect with people from all over the world despite cultural and language barriers, with motorsports being the common ground is beyond words.

The big question everyone is asking - WILL THERE BE A SEASON 2? We don’t know! Really. Seeing how this all works behind the scenes we can understand why things are a bit up in the air, until they’re not. We can tell you this, if there is a Season 2 and we’re asked to return, we’ll definitely be on board.

Notable moments:

Kevin successfully chased a deer around Kodak Park while the track was hot so it didn’t run on course - no deer were harmed in the filming of this show.

The tug RAN OUT OF GAS. For the first time in recorded history, we had to fuel the tug. It also got its moment of fame with our announcement of the show - and well deserved we might add.

The kids got to come on set and feel like movies stars for the night. This is a real family affair and we loved being able to share the moment with them.

Everyone on set ate ‘lunch’ together at 12AM every day. Mostly I ate cake/ pie. Hearing a lunch announcement in the middle of the night is weird.

Kevin and Stephen got to live out their life long dream of being tow truck drivers - which resulted in us buying a ramp truck shortly after.

- Shawna & The Little Speed Shop Team