A humble titan of the Australian automotive scene. Mal Wood shares tales of 50 years building, designing and developing automotive solutions from his workshop in Warwick.

A long way from the strawberry farm where he made his first paycheque to get that dragster push bike, Mal found ways to build solutions for the challenges he faced.

Expanding to the USA, I first met the team in person at SEMA in Las Vegas back in 2024. Their under dash hydraulic clutch assembly took out SEMA Best New Product that year, no small feat.

A wonderful chat with a man who needs no introduction, but so happy to give this one as we share another record breaking 3+ hours of the All Red Everything Podcast.

I hope you enjoy this wide ranging conversation as much as I did.

Links:

https://www.facebook.com/malwoodautomotive

https://malwoodauto.com.au/

https://www.malwoodusa.com/

Artist I believe is the best way to introduce the one and only Ally Mayhem.

Her creative talents are most obvious working as a tattoo artist, where her discipline to her craft shines. What blew me away is that she only started four years ago.

We met though drifting, where Ally and Grant Grinter have built their own series drift outlaws.

Ally shares the story of how she would drive to QR learning to drift, when she was working as an apprentice mechanic. Feeling out of place and uncomfortable, a guy came up to her window and said she was doing great. That guy was Levi Clarke. Forever a gentleman.

Remembering the awkwardness of learning, Ally launched Sakura Drift Days. A friendly and supportive way for women to come and learn to drift.

Ally has so much to her story and so much more to come. I hope you enjoy this chat as much as I did.

https://www.instagram.com/ally_mayhem/

Dane Wilkinson hails from NZ, where he first learnt his craft. From backyard resprays for mates, to a pumping custom shop on the Gold Coast.

His mix of Cali Lowrider and love of drifting takes his custom shop to another level. Part of the reason his paint and panel business has such a list of stunning cars coming through the shop.

Raising a family, building a business and finding ways of building and expressing through automotive art are what set apart Dane and his shop LowCo Customs.

A privilege to chat with the main man and also learn about his deep love of offshore fishing! You can learn more and follow their work on the links below.

https://lowco.au/

https://www.facebook.com/LowCoCustoms/

https://www.instagram.com/lowcocustoms/

In this episode we sit down with Daniel from Garrett Turbo and Woody from The Skid Factory. We dive into turbo technology, the future of boost, and the stories behind some of the biggest projects these two have worked on. Daniel shares insights from inside Garrett and what goes into designing world class turbochargers, while Woody brings his real world experience from the workshop and the builds that push limits.

It is a relaxed but informative chat filled with knowledge, humour and plenty of car culture energy. If you love performance engines, fabrication, tuning and hearing from the people who make it all happen, this episode is one to tune into.

In this episode, we sit down with AK Racing, the well-known performance workshop based in Virginia, Queensland. Known for their high end work on Evos, GTRs, GR models and a wide range of performance platforms, AK Racing has built a reputation in Australia for precision tuning, reliable power and a genuine passion for car culture. We dive into how the team started, the challenges they’ve faced in the Brisbane automotive scene, and what goes into running a workshop that handles everything from servicing and diagnostics to full performance builds and in house dyno tuning. The conversation also pulls back the curtain on their work ethic, their community, and the mindset that keeps them pushing for better results on and off the track. Whether you’re into high performance cars, tuning culture or just love hearing from people who live and breathe the automotive world, this episode brings an authentic and engaging look into one of Queensland’s standout workshops.

In this episode, we sit down with Ben Nothling Motorsport High Performance Sport Scientist, Performance Brake Specialist, and former Conditioning Coach for Brisbane Roar. Ben brings a rare blend of elite-sport performance knowledge and motorsport engineering expertise, breaking down what it really takes to optimise both the athlete and the machine.

We’re also joined by Turbo Yoda, bringing his trademark mechanical wisdom, no BS insights and stories from deep inside Australia’s car culture.

From high performance braking systems to athlete conditioning, race prep, data, and real-world lessons from the workshop and the pitch this episode delivers knowledge, laughs, and a behind the scenes look at the minds pushing performance to the edge.

Jason Ferron, the man behind Keep It Reet, jumps on to talk about building one of Australia’s biggest grassroots drift communities, the chaos behind running events, and what it really takes to keep the Barra wagon on the track.

We’re also joined by Jarrod Deanda, the iconic voice of Formula Drift and one of the most recognisable commentators in global motorsport. He breaks down life behind the mic, wild moments from FD, and gives us an intimate look at the culture from the front row.

After catching the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka coming in just over 2.5 hours, the next part of the journey was getting to the home in Japan purchased by the owners of Drift Japan, Benkei Bruin and Ben Odgers.

We made it to to the town of Ao where the guys picked us up in their van. I've spent the last few years telling my boy to never get in a van with strangers, but here we are!

The traditional home is massive. 8 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 sheds and and views of the rice fields.

Dinner was Japanese BBQ, with Chef Benkei on the tongs and enough meat to give you gout.

Waking up to see the sights for the first time, we check out the sheds, the cars and chat to the team. We have no idea what's happening, just that we are on a massive adventure with these guys as they share their home and their local knowledge with us.

We're still spinning out a little bit, this whole thing is wild!

https://driftjapan.com.au/