Serious speed, explained from the shop floor.
Tuned In brings High Performance Academy’s workshop-minded eye to performance cars, race builds, and motorsport engineering. Andre talks with builders and specialists about what actually works, from 8HP swaps and suspension kinematics to carbon-fiber layups and extreme time attack cars.
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Tuned In is a performance automotive interview show from High Performance Academy, centered on the engineering choices behind fast, unusual, and highly modified cars. Andre hosts with a practical, technician’s curiosity. The show is not built around hype alone. It lingers on the mechanisms that make a build work, fail, or become expensive. In the 8HP transmission discussion, the appeal is not just that the gearbox is popular; it is the clutch-pack layout, torque capacity, shift behavior, converter launch characteristics, and surprising durability under abuse. The vehicle dynamics conversations go just as deep. Roll-center height, lateral movement, understeer, oversteer, low-speed rotation, and high-speed balance are treated as variables a builder can understand rather than mysterious race-car vocabulary. The World Time Attack material brings scale and consequence. A Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 is redeveloped beyond its original category, and the conversation moves through aero, power, downforce, GT3 componentry, homologation limits, and the hard reality of chasing competitiveness with extreme horsepower. Tuned In also enjoys inventive builds. A CBR1000-swapped Miata is presented as more than a novelty, with attention paid to weight, engine character, sequential transmission advantages, reverse-gear complications, cost, and reliability questions. The composites episode shows the same editorial instinct in a different material world. Carbon fiber, fiberglass, wet layup, resin infusion, vacuum bagging, pre-preg, and mold making are explained through their tradeoffs, especially for enthusiasts working below the top tier of professional motorsport. Across these episodes, the show’s strength is its balance of access and depth. It can welcome the home builder while still respecting advanced race engineering. The language is direct and shop-aware, with enough component detail to reward people who already know the field. It is best for listeners who care about why a setup works, how a part survives, and what gets compromised when a project moves from idea to track.
Made for: Tuned In is for performance-car builders, tuners, racers, motorsport fabricators, and technically minded enthusiasts. It especially suits listeners who want detailed reasoning behind swaps, setup choices, materials, and race-car development.
What sets it apart: The show pairs ambitious builds with unusually specific engineering discussion. Instead of stopping at horsepower, track results, or novelty, it follows the mechanical tradeoffs that decide whether a car actually works.
High Performance Academy Presents: Tuned In. A podcast interviewing influential people from around the world at the top of their respected fields. Covering topics such as Tuning, CAD, Performance Engine Building, Automotive/Motorsport Wiring, Data Analysis, Driver Coaching/Training, Motorsport Fabrication and Car Setup.
A Ford truck V10 meets a four-valve plan, and your garage brain starts doing dangerous math.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
The 8HP earns its reputation through dyno numbers, dragy gains, and one unlikely drift-car save.
Andre's conversation with Andrew Astley makes the 8HP look like a convincing choice for performance swapping. The mainline hub dyno comparison is the clearest proof, with the 8-speed landing close to a sequential, while the dragy result has it four tenths ahead of a ZF6.
Roll center theory made practical for anyone chasing better handling.
Tuned In revisits episode 100 with Bruno Finco from Optimum G, and the conversation stays focused on the mechanics of making a race car handle better.
Corrosion industry conversations from inside AMPP.
Invention explained from ideas to impact.
Ceramic and glass careers, told one person at a time.
The episode opens with a 650-horsepower JZ drift car that missed a fifth-to-third shift, went to seventh, and still only bogged the tires, which is the strongest proof point for the 8HP's torque handling.
Interview with Russell Cameron about his background in kart racing and Indy car, and his custom-built 1973 Pontiac Trans Am with 1400 horsepower.
Tuned In revisits episode 100 with Bruno Finco from Optimum G, where Andre frames the conversation around vehicle dynamics, suspension kinematics, and the claim that you do not need a PhD to use the tools.
Josh tuned an Autronic SMC from a family computer while the car sat in a garden bed.
Tuned In examines Reid Stormzand's CBR1000 engine swap into a Mazda MX-5 Miata, including the 1,521-pound finished weight and missing reverse gear.
Tuned In examines Jack and Diogo's attempt to turn a cheap Ford two-valve truck V10 into a high-revving, naturally aspirated four-valve engine.
An interview with Keith Redden about composites in motorsport, covering materials, techniques, and mold making for enthusiasts.