Welcome to our third weekly recap! By now we’re thinking that you were so busy last week spending that sweet, sweet stimulus check on new car parts that you probably missed a few things! No judgement from us!

If you’re just joining us, we have started to recap some of the coolest stories from the past week so that people who may have missed them can get caught up.

Are you one of those peeps? Then you’re in the right place! Alright now that we know why we’re all here, let's get you all caught up on some of the stories that you missed last week!

2022 Lexus IS 500 Officially Launched At Sebring

By the time you read this the 2021 12 Hours of Sebring race will be over. However, before the race and festivities kicked off, Lexus decided to use the iconic race track to launch their new IS 500 and IS 500 F Sport. The F Sport in particular comes standard with a 5.0 liter V8 engine guaranteed to stir the hearts of American audiences who still crave a throaty exhaust note and gobs of torque. The Podspeed crew actually discussed the new Lexus IS 500 F Sport on the show recently. You can check out that micro moment by clicking here. You can also watch the official Lexus launch video here.

The EPA wants to make it illegal to turn a street car into a race car

We wouldn’t exactly consider this bit of news “cool” but it is definitely important. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is getting bullish on language in recent legislation that would effectively make it illegal to make any modifications to the emissions system of a car originally made for road use. Even if that car would only be used on a race track after the modifications are made. That covers intakes, exhausts, even ECU modifications. Not only would it be illegal to do those modifications, it would also be illegal to make and sell the parts that allow for those mods. This would pretty much kill the performance aftermarket industry. SEMA has launched their own legislation called the "RPM Act" as a counter to the EPA’s guidelines. It is more than we can get into here but you can learn more from MotorworldHype.com’s story on it.

The Mighty Car Mods take on an unfinished Honda Civic EK project car

If you’ve never watched the Mighty Car Mods on YouTube then we would strongly recommend you check them out. Who are the Mighty Car Mods? Honestly, they’re just two “blokes” from Australia that love to find interesting cars and modify them. Sometimes they’ll each modify their own cars separately and challenge each other and other times they work together. Their latest group project is a bright orange EK Honda Civic that they bought sight unseen. Apparently the previous owner didn’t have the fortitude to finish the project so when the Mighty Car Mods got it, the engine wasn’t even in the car! They’ve decided they’re going to redeem this Civic and finish the project themselves. Only, they aren’t great at working on Hondas. Watch the video here to see what we mean.

Abimelec Arellano renders Toyota GR Yaris widebody with old school TRD livery

In past recaps we’ve shown you some incredible automotive renderings from the likes of Jon Sibal. However, Jon is not the only super talented automotive artist on instagram. That being said, we wanted to highlight the work of Abimelec Arellano of Abimelec Design. Arellano has over 50k Instagram followers due to his incredible 3D rendering work. Last week he reimagined the Toyota GR Yaris as a crazy widebody GT car complete with the old school white, orange, and red TRD livery. Abimelec said this rendering was inspired by the IMSA Toyota Celica race car from the 90s and it definitely shows. You should definitely follow his Instagram page if you aren’t already!

Between those four stories you should be very much caught up with all of the happenings in car culture and industry from the last week. Which one of these stories stuck out to you the most? Are you excited about the Lexus IS 500 F Sport? Are you worried about the EPA possibly killing off the aftermarket performance industry? Let us know your thoughts on Twitter. Find us at @GTChannel. Until then, we’ll see you next week for another recap!

The Best Car Stories You Didn't See (Week Of March 15th, 2021)