Donut Media

Donut Media is an American YouTube channel known for their automotive videos. The channel is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.
As of August 2021, Donut Media has 7 weekly shows: Wheelhouse, Bumper 2 Bumper, Money Pit, Up to Speed, D-List, HiLow and the Past Gas podcast (which can be found on their secondary channel, Donut Podcasts).
Their videos are usually uploaded at 8:00 AM Eastern time, which may vary depending on each country's timezone.
==History==
Donut Media was founded in 2015 by Matt Levin, who is previously the former product head at AwesomenessTV, Ben Conrad and Nick Moceri. The channel achieved an early viral success with its 2016 video Two Grannies, One Lamborghini, which for many years was the channel's most-viewed video, until the "HiLow" series was made.
In February 25, 2018, Donut Media tried to re-create the Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster stunt by sending a Hot Wheels car into space using a balloon kit being attracted with a GoPro camera. The balloon flew over 250 miles across the California border to Nevada before falling into ground, hitting the surface, knocking the toy car off.We Tried to Launch a Tesla to Space Too
In May 2018, Donut Media received $800,000 in seed funding in a round led by Techstars Ventures. In November of that year, Donut partnered with NASCAR to offer lighthearted racing-related content.
In January 18, 2019, Donut sponsored with the American automaker Dodge, where Dodge paid James Pumphrey to tattoo himself with the brand's logo over his liver.Dodge PAID ME to Get A Tattoo!
In January 24, 2021, Donut Media released a song called "Pop-Up Up and Down Headlights."Pop-Up Up and Down Headlights (FULL SONG) A shirt based on the song was also released on Donut's online merchandise store, available either with mint or white texts. The song was the full version of a song of the same name that was featured in various Up to Speed episodes talking about cars with pop-up headlights since its first appearance in the Up to Speed episode about the Pontiac Fiero.
In June 3, 2021, Donut Media released a Kickstarter project called Stocky, which is a series of collectable toy cars based on real cars, but the Stocky toys have cartoonish proportions, similar to Hot Wheels' Tooned line of toy cars. Stocky first debuted on Donut's channel on their Up to Speed episode about Honda Type R. The first Stocky ever made was an Acura Integra Type R [DC2].
On November 9, 2021, Donut Media was acquired by Recurrent, a digital media company which also owns The Drive and Car Bibles automotive lifestyle brands.The Drive and Donut Media Are Now Under One Roof
On June 21, 2024, long time hosts Jeremiah Burton and Zach Jobe announced they would leave Donut Media to start their own channel BigTime
It Is Aslo Uknown If The Channel Will Aslo Create Videos Without Jeremiah Burton and Zach Jobe Since They Left To Start There Own Channel
==Content==
===Wheelhouse===
Wheelhouse is hosted by Nolan J. Sykes and it is uploaded every Monday. The show covers various topics that are related to automobiles, and sometimes talks about the recent automotive news. The show's first episode was aired on January 15, 2018.
===Bumper 2 Bumper===
Bumper 2 Bumper (shortened to B2B after host change) is hosted by Jeremiah Burton and it is uploaded every Tuesday. Initially, early Bumper 2 Bumper episodes covered the details of famous and well-known cars and was hosted by multiple hosts in each episodes, mainly James Pumphrey until November 2019 due to medical orders.
But since then, the format has been changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the reformatted show was later transferred to Jeremiah. The reformatted show now goes into detail about the engineering and technology of various cars, as well as other technical automotive topics.
The first episode of the original format of the show was aired on January 30, 2019, covering the Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R, while the reformatted show aired its first episode on April 7, 2020.
===Money Pit===
Money Pit is hosted by Zach Jobe and it was uploaded every Wednesday. The show covers DIY tutorials for working on project cars, as well showing performance statistic differences when the aftermarket part was installed over the stock part that has been removed. It was first aired on February 27, 2020. It can be used as a "Tuning school" for novice people into modding cars.
===Up to Speed===
Up to Speed (sometimes shortened to UTS) is hosted by James Pumphrey and it was uploaded every first Thursday of the month, but originally it had a weekly basis, every Thursday. The show covers the origin of various automotive models and brands with cult followings such as the Nissan Skyline GT-R, Plymouth Barracuda, and Suzuki Samurai, then goes into detail of why they were conceived, how they came to be, and their achievements. Apart from cars, the show also covers other automotive-related origins, such as motorcycles (e.g. Harley Davidson, Ducati, Suzuki Hayabusa), race car drivers (e.g. Richard Petty, Ken Miles, Dale Earnhardt), engines (e.g. Dodge HEMI, Chevrolet LS Series), aftermarket tuning companies (e.g. HKS, Rauh-Welt Begriff [RWB], Spoon Sports) and many more. It was pre-debuted on February 18, 2016, with a video talking about 9 must-know facts about the Nissan 240SX. The show made its first official video debut on July 21, 2017, with the Nissan Skyline being the first car to be covered, and also introducing James as the host of the show.
Up to Speed was a breakout success for the channel, and eventually spawned several running gags, which were later used by the whole channel itself; this includes Pop Up, Up and Down Headlights, Mo Powa Babeh, Lightning, Buff Horses, Ramchargers, #UnknownVariable, etc. According to Matt Levin, Up To Speed marked the moment Donut Media transitioned from dependence on viral one-offs to having a sustainable content model.
Up to Speed had an 8-month hiatus starting on August 20, 2020, where James Pumphrey announced that the show would go for a long hiatus in order for the channel to focus on working on "big episodes" for the other shows, as well James' focus to the other two shows, D-List and Past Gas. This is probably due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.MAZDA RX-7 - Everything You Need To Know (and SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT) | Up To Speed James promised that the show would return one day, at least "in a month". The show later returned on April 1, 2021, with the episode about the Japanese bodykit brand, Rocket Bunny.Donut Media on Instagram: Up to Speed returns Thursday. ⚡️🤷‍♂️🐍💪🐴🍩Donut Media on Twitter: We have been informed that Voltswagen may, in fact, be a joke. But Up to Speed returning on Thursday at 9am PST is not!!Rocket Bunny - Everything You Need to Know | Up to Speed
===D-List===
D-List is hosted by James Pumphrey and it is uploaded every Friday. The show covers certain types of cars and other car-related things in a list-style format. It was first aired on April 3, 2020, and it was originally conceived to be a filler series due the COVID-19 pandemic, but after that, it was used to rank almost anything related to cars from modified cars to "life hacks", and notably, this series had outsider guests.
===Past Gas ===
Past Gas is a podcast that is hosted by Nolan J. Sykes, James Pumphrey, and Joe Weber. The show is uploaded every Sunday on Donut Media's secondary channel, Donut Podcasts. Past Gas episodes are also available to listen for free on podcast websites such as Spotify and Google Podcasts. Past Gas goes into detail about different topics from automotive history. The first two videos of the show were posted in September 22, 2019 and September 29, 2019 respectively on Donut Media's main channel, while the rest of the other podcast videos were later uploaded on Donut's secondary channel starting on December 9, 2019.
===HiLow ===
HiLow was uploaded on every Sunday (alongside the "Past Gas" series on Donut Media's secondary channel), the show's basic premise is where the Donut Media team buys two identical vehicles and modify them with either cheap or expensive parts. Their goal in mind is to build a vehicle that is eligible to be driven daily and can be taken to motorsport-related activities such as race tracks or off-road courses.
Each two vehicles are modified by each of their two teams, who buy parts depending on their worth of money being spent on. The Hi Team (James Pumphrey and Zach Jobe) buys expensive, but both tested and trusted parts, while the Low Team (Nolan Sykes and Aaron Parker) buys cheaper parts, which, although more affordable, do not reach the point of having questionable quality (maybe). The teams then test their vehicles with the new parts installed to see if more expensive means a better product. The first season of the show was aired from July 19th, 2019 to April 15th, 2020 on Facebook, and from December 5, 2019 to September 6, 2020 on Youtube, with Nissan 350Zs as the teams' vehicles. After the first season's conclusion (with High Car almost broken, and with Low Car blowing its engine), the two 350Zs were later displayed at the Petersen Automotive Museum, which is located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile neighborhood of Los Angeles.
The show was proven to be a success for Donut, resulting in a second season which was announced right in the final 350Z series chapter, and was aired from August 1st, 2021 to September 26th, 2021. The second season was off-road focused, with Toyota Tacomas as the teams' vehicles.
Third season was aired during 2022 Summer, trying to get back into life the first season cars, both teams converted their cars from track focused cars into drift cars, focusing into engine and steering swapping, and adding drift brakes.
In November 16th 2022, a fourth (or 3rd depending in how its taken) season started to come live, which now focused into time attack (time trial) cars, covering basically the same things as first season cars, but now switching to 2 Subaru Impreza WRX, that until during the 5th episode filming, "Hi" car was crashed and then changed for another "almost similar" WRX. Notably, this series, up to the writing of this article, has been a complete success and disaster for Donut, by both a great success as any other HiLow series, and because... it has taken 3 cars, and 5 different engines to cover this series.
==Former Content==
===Science Garage===
Science Garage was hosted by Bart Bidlingmeyer (who has since left Donut) from February 2017 to January 2019. Each episode of the show covered a specific automobile part or mechanism in great detail and included the science behind it. The show contributed to Donut Media's early popularity.
===Other Former Content===
*The New Car Show
*The Bestest
* Versus
*Car Wars
*Hot Lap
* Frenemies
*Blackout
* Prestado
*Miracle Whips
* Factory Fresh
*Built to Scale
*The Evolution Series
*WTF Wednesday!
*Field Prep
*Car Boys
*Donut Daze
==Controversy==
===Bias in Versus series===
On April 4, 2020, Donut Media started a short-lived series called Versus, which was uploaded on Saturdays, that compares two cars and see which one is superior. The series received a lot of backlash from fans of the channel, particularly with the Bugatti vs Koenigsegg episode, where fans wrote negative comments, accusing the host of showing bias towards Bugatti, even though Koenigsegg was more innovative compared to Bugatti and should have won. The results caused the video to become the most disliked video on the channel, with over 18,000 dislikes as of November 2020.Versus: Bugatti vs Koenigsegg - Which is the BETTER Hypercar (and WHY) As a result of the backlash, the format of the show was changed so that instead of giving points, the host would compare two cars and let the viewer decide which one is better, taking the advantages and disadvantages into account. The final episode of this series was aired on May 23, 2020.Versus: BMW M3 vs Audi S4 - Which German car is SUPERIOR?
==Membership Program ==
On July 31, 2020, Donut Media launched a membership program called the Donut Underground. Members unlock perks such as access to membership-only videos, badges which members can display next to their name in comments, an exclusive Discord server, and more. The membership fee is $6.99 per month.Donut Underground Membership Program
==Quotes==
=== Main channel quotes ===
*"This is everything you need to know to get Up to Speed on [Insert anything related to automotive or motorsports history]!" (Up to Speed intro)
*"We're going [Sometimes, mentioning the exterior/interior parts of the vehicle first] Bumper 2 Bumper on the [Vehicle make and model]." (Bumper 2 Bumper classic intro)
*"This is the D-D-D-D-D D-List." (D-List intro)
*"[Insert Low Team's price and part] versus [Insert High Team's price and part]. Does mean more expensive, really mean, more better? Let's find out." (HiLow motto)
*"#UnknownVariable" (Used hashtag, mostly on James Pumphrey, when he was about to tell the meaning of the "X" or simply jokingly poking it, which the scenario got interrupted by James himself doing a karate slash as a jumpscare on-screen, shouting "Hi-yah!" and freezes, followed by a Japanese-style ninja music with the hashtag being shown on-screen in red)
*"#HRSPRS" (Used hashtag when the line "Horsepower" is spoken)
*"#BUFFHORSES" (Used hashtag when the line "Buff Horses" is spoken)
*"Stu! Stu! Hey! He'll speed past and he'll go! Watch that turbo, go, go, go! Here to help and bring you joy! Watch out world, it's Spinney Boy!" (Used line when Donut Media was advertising their new "Spinney Boy" shirt)
*"Saddle up, set your spurs on down, Donut's made the sickest hat in towm. Licensed realtree camo on your head. Yeah, that's what I said, sing it! C-A-M-O-H-A-T! Finest hat that you can't see! C-A-M-O-H-A-T! Made for you and me. Woo! [...] Whether you're fixing cars or in the woods, Donut's got you lookin' good in your C-A-M-O-H-A-T. Blend out and stand out in Donut Country." (Used line when Donut Media was advertising their camouflage-themed hat)
*"I hope our cars don't blow up..." "Yo, it was just on fire..." "OH MY GOD..." (HiLow's 1st season turbos video. Possibly the worst aged quote in Donut Media's history)
=== Nolan Sykes===
*"Be kind, I'll see you next time." (Nolan's outro)
*"I would love to build a Dajiban someday. Uh, maybe I should get one soon-... No, nope, stop." (Wheelhouse: Japan's Surprising Obsession with American Cars)
*"Next time, you go down to Chipotle, take a look at their assembly process, that's how Toyotas are made... Kind of." (Wheelhouse: Toyota's Reliability Secrets REVEALED)
*"You ever been in a car where nothing made sense and just wasn't nice to be in? Like 90s Chryslers or old Nissan Versas? I'm looking at you, guys." (Wheelhouse: How This Genius SUV Design Saved Porsche from Going Under)
*"Tape up your hands and buckle up, because this story is gonna float like a butterfly and sting like a... (sighs) I'm not gonna finish that sentence." (Wheelhouse: That Time Muhammad Ali Bought a FAILING Carmaker)
*"Nissans became the default fleet vehicle because they were dirt cheap, turning a once well-respected brand into somewhat of a joke. Sorry, a Juke. (A picture of a Nissan Juke shown on-screen, with a percussive sting and crowd booing sound effects, which causes Nolan laughs at the next scene)" (Wheelhouse: Is Nissan Back?)
*"It's pretty funny for sure but since then, we've seen Toyota deliver on that promise with awesome, awesome cars, like the GR Supra and the GR Yaris, which if they sold it in the States, I would probably make a unwise financial decision and buy one." (Wheelhouse: Is this a good idea?)
*"Dude, want to come back to my Delica after Greta van fleet? We can "toke" one up. Yeah, no, I'm not a cop, what are you talking about?" (Wheelhouse: Why Maine Banned This 4x4 JDM Van)
*"And mind you, I still can't afford any of these vehicles, but it's fun to get lost in the fantasy, isn't it? I'm imagining me, over-landing in that Pathfinder, truly finding some paths of my own." (Wheelhouse: Is Nissan Back?)
*"I guess Hackney couldn't hack it." (Wheelhouse: Why 407 Mail Trucks Have Caught Fire Since 2014)
=== Jeremiah Burton===
*"Till next week. Bye for now." (Jeremiah's outro)
*"Max, pop me on over there." (Bumper 2 Bumper: Mazda FC RX-7)
*"Vroom, vroom, where my 12 o'clock boys at, baby?" (Bumper 2 Bumper: Ducati Panigale V4)
*"Now, the Zero Day Export for a 2001 Passat... IS a 2001 Passat. (laughs) ...Car is strong as s***." (B2B: Busting Fast & Furious Lies with Science)
===Joe Weber===
* "Keep it juiced!"
===James Pumphrey===
*"I love you." (James's outro)
*"Mo powa babeh!" (When he is about to mention a car with a large amount of horsepower, usually on factory performance cars and race cars with some of its road-legal counterparts)
*"LIGHTNING! LIGHTNING! LIGHTNING!" (A running gag where James gestures his arms slashing down, which creates lightning strike effects on-screen)
*"♪ Pop, pop, pop! Pop up, up and down headlights! Pop up, up and down headlights, uh! Pop up, up and down headlights, uh! ♪" (Up to Speed: Pontiac Fiero, snippet version of Pop-Up, Up and Down Headlights song, prior to its full release, used many times when there was a vehicle that had the pop-up headlights feature)
*"R-R-R-Reeemix! ♪ Roll out, up and down headlights! Roll out, up and down headlights, uh! Roll out, up and down headlights, uh! Roll out, up and down headlights, uh! ♪" (Up to Speed: Dodge Charger, remixed version of Pop-Up, Up and Down Headlights)
*"Ramchargers!" (Up to Speed: Dodge Demon and Up to Speed: Dodge HEMI Engine)
*"Dodge F**KING DEMON!" (Up to Speed: Dodge Demon)
*"Hachi-Roku MOTHERF*****!" (Up to Speed: Toyota AE86)
*"It's not an Explorer! It's a Police Interceptor Utility!" (Bumper 2 Bumper: Ford Police Interceptor Utility)
*"Fast wagons are back, baby! So am I!" (Bumper 2 Bumper: 2020 Audi RS6 Avant)
*"When you think of basketball? You think of the Yankees. When you think of Rally? You think Subaru." (Up to Speed: Subaru WRX)
*"When you wanna blow the doors off a Camaro in your turbocharged all-wheel drive sleeper, what do you get?" (Up to Speed: Subaru Forester)
*"Um... I don't know, maybe because they were powered by one of the finest and most durable four-cylinder engines ever? The 4G63T. Sound familiar? It's the same turbocharged four-cylinder engine that powered the frickin' EVO!" (Up to Speed: Mitsubishi Eclipse)
*"Let's say that you're a home chef, nothing crazy but you've got a little game in the kitchen. Every once in a while, you'll pick up something fancy like wagyu and you mess around with it. Now imagine, you're at a party and you're chatting with a stranger about a new recipe that you're excited about. Now imagine, that stranger leaves the party, goes to your house, steals your car and brings it back six months later with a full-size pizza oven in the trunk and a stand mixer where the glove box used to be. It still runs the same, but now it's painted to look like wagyu, SINCE YOU LOVE WAGYU SO MUCH! Insane, right? Well, that weird stranger is MTV." (Up to Speed: West Coast Customs, entitled as "What Really Happened at West Coast Customs")
*"It's late at night on the dragstrip. As you creep to the starting line, a hulking beast... of muscle... pulls up into the lane next to you. You glance over... All that you can see are two glowing red eyes, floating in the darkness... The lights go down the Christmas tree... Green light! With a bellowing howl of the engine and a searing banshee cry... The Challenger lifts its front wheels off the pavement. It's doing... a freaking... wheelie! You try in awe and envious terror as the crimson Dodge disappears INTO THE NIGHT!" (Up to Speed: Dodge Demon)
*"The results is 840 Horsepower! To a car that you can buy, from one of the guys! You know the three guys? Him, him and Chrysler? One of them... (coughing) Why?! What the f**k is going on?!" (Up to Speed: Dodge Demon)
*"History would be ruled by James, the guy in those things we've never seen! That go super fast! And scream like...! I was gonna say fire engines, but I realized they've never heard of fire engines. Add the fire engines... BWAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!" (Up to Speed: Dodge Demon)
*"Hey, brother, nice cut. I see you in Sturgis or was it Daytona? Which chapter are you? Bakersfield, Flagstaff, Cheyenne, Jasper, Oshkosh? What's you riding there, bro? Super Glide, Hydra Glide, Street Glide, Wide Glide, Duo Glide, Electra Glide, Tour Glide, Low Glide, Tri-Glide? Oh, V-Rod? (record scratches) Just kidding, it's been me all along!" (Up to Speed: Harley Davidson)
*"We've never done a motorcycle before, let us know if we're f**ked up!" (Up to Speed: Harley Davidson)
*"This gang of ragtag car tuners, took Hachi-Rokus, dropped 'em on their bellies, slapped on some big 'ol wangs and added so much negative camber that people called 'em "Oni'Kyan", which translate to... DEVIL CAMBER! Summer 2006, you ripped my heart out and you threw it on the ground of the bathroom floor. DEVIL CAMBER! Devil Camber! (screaming) DEVIL CAMBER!" (Up to Speed: Rauh-Welt Begriff [RWB])
*"And when we were at the front of the car, I know that you guys were scared that I forgot my favorite part but I didn't. Trueno means thunder, and you can't have thunder without lightning, and lightning means... (snippet of Pop-Up, Up and Down Headlights song plays) POP UP, UP AND DOWN HEADLIGHTS!" (Bumper 2 Bumper: Toyota AE86)
*"You don't crud with the Usui Pass! Don't crud with it! Take it from me. You can crud with a lot of passes. If you try and crud this specific pass when you're young, you're going to get a crud up the bud. You gonna get your butt all crudded! And you know what you don't want? Get your crud budded when you're too young, that's for adults. Only adults should get their crud budded, and only if they want to, okay?" (Up to Speed: Initial D)
*"Out of control in a good way. Like Nolan when he dances." (Up to Speed: Plymouth Barracuda)
*"Mo cargo babeh!" (Up to Speed: Ford Vans)
*"That's mo traction baby!" (Bumper 2 Bumper: Ford Police Interceptor Utility)
*"Lightning! Bah! Buff Horses! Oh, wow, look at 'em, they're majestic!" (Up to Speed: Ford Vans, when he pokes at fun to the Ford Transit Supervan by having a superhero-like theme song)
*"Look, you guys, there's always a party in my pants, but that's not nearly as good as a Fiesta en Mis Pantalones!" (Up to Speed: Ford Fiesta)
*"Now, these are not attractive tripets, but you buy them for one reason; the same reason those twins bought 'em, to go fast, and they can handle a ton of boost. But the one thing you do have to look out for is a little thing called "Crankwalk". (rapping) ♪ To go fast you up the boost, look out for that crankwalk WOO! WOO! Do that crankwalk, boi! Do that crankwalk, boi! To go fast you up the boost, look out for that crankwalk WOO! WOO! Do that crankwalk, boi! Do that crankwalk, boi! ♪" (The D-List: 7 Perfect Project Cars That AREN’T a Miata)
==Trivia==
*Nolan is part Canadian.Wheelhouse: What Killed All of Canada's Car Brands?
*HiLow 4 has been a complete mess to make, since it started with 2 cars and their engines. Up to chapter 6, it has taken another car (original Hi car was totaled during filming) and 3 other engines (first Hi car engine blew the day after it was bought and it had to be changed in both cars twice, also new Hi car engine had to be swapped)
==Subscriber Milestones==
== Gallery==
YoutoozJames.jpg|James's YouTooz
YoutoozNolan.jpg|Nolan's YouTooz
DonutHQ.JPG|Donut Media's original headquarters in Los Angeles, California. The exact address was avaiable in Google Maps during some time.
==References==
Category:Educational YouTubers
Category:Review YouTubers
Category:Vlogging YouTubers
Category:American YouTubers
Category:Users who joined in 2015
Category:One million subscribers
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