A sprint race is a shorter race than a long endurance event. Winning a sprint usually means you were the fastest over that shorter distance.
Concept
invert
An “invert” is when the race organizers shuffle the starting order, often by reversing it. The goal is to make races more exciting by changing who starts up front.
The Maxima is a regular-sized Nissan sedan, meaning it’s meant for daily driving but can still be sporty. In the podcast, they talk about using it successfully in a track session and getting a good qualifying position. That’s why it comes up—its performance on track matters there.
Tire wear is when your tires lose grip as the race goes on. Once that happens, the car feels slower or harder to control, so drivers have to manage pace and driving style.
A rear trailing arm is a metal arm that helps hold the rear wheels in the right position. If it breaks, the rear of the car can steer or move unpredictably, which is why it’s such a serious failure.
An E46 is a BMW 3 Series from a particular generation. The rear trailing arm is part of the rear suspension, and if it breaks, the back of the car can lose control—especially when you hit a hard corner or kink.
Concept
lawn dart lip
A “lawn dart lip” is a dangerous-looking bump or edge on the track that can throw the car off balance. The speaker is saying the car didn’t hit it in a way that would have been much worse.
The apex is the point in a turn where you’re closest to the inside. “Apex speed” just means how fast you go through that point, which affects how quickly you can accelerate out of the corner.
A kink is a quick bend in the track that changes direction fast. If you’re too wide through it, the car can feel unstable for a second, which is why drivers get nervous there.
“Too wide” means you miss the ideal path and end up farther from the inside than you should. It can make the car slower and less stable, especially in quick turns.
When a track is “green,” it means it has relatively low rubber on the racing line and less grip than later in the weekend. As cars run, rubber builds up, improving traction and consistency—so lap times and confidence often improve as the track “comes in.”
They changed the rules so teams can only use tires up to certain sizes. Smaller limits usually reduce how much grip the tires can provide, which helps keep cars more evenly matched.
“275” is the tire width—275 millimeters. A narrower tire usually means less grip available, which can slow the car down and make handling more consistent.
As you go faster, the air pushes back harder. That pushback is called aerodynamic drag, and it can limit top speed and how much power you need.
Concept
asset rule set
It’s a way race organizers try to make cars compete more evenly. Instead of letting the fastest cars run away, they use rules that limit or balance things like power and weight.
Horsepower is how much “pull” the engine can make. If the rules cap horsepower, teams can’t just add more engine power to go faster—they have to work within the limit.
A loophole is a “workaround” in the rules that nobody meant to allow. Teams find it, and it can give them an unfair advantage until the rules get tightened.
The rules limit how wide the tires can be, and that matters because wider tires usually grip the road better. Changing the allowed tire width by weight helps keep lighter cars from getting too much cornering advantage.
It’s basically how heavy the car is compared to how much tire it has. If a lighter car gets too much tire, it can turn much faster than heavier cars, so race organizers try to balance that with the rules.
GLGT is a racing class that’s meant for faster, higher-power cars. The event organizers moved some of the “big power” cars into this class so racing stays closer.
A wider tire usually grips the road better because it has more rubber touching the ground. Racing rules sometimes limit tire width to keep cars closer in speed.
Higher horsepower means the engine makes more power. In racing, that usually makes a car faster, so organizers often separate very powerful cars into different classes.
Topic
TC
TC is a racing category/class at the event. The discussion is about which cars end up in TC versus the newer GLGT/GT classes.
They’re talking about the Chevrolet Corvette. Even when it’s not tuned for maximum power, it can still be quick enough to challenge other cars, and where it races (which class) affects how close the competition is.
Parity means the race is fair—cars have similar speed so the outcome depends more on driving than on one car being way faster. They’re saying the new class structure helps with that.
Traction control helps keep the tires from spinning when you accelerate on slippery or low-grip surfaces. “Tuning” it means changing how quickly and how strongly it steps in, especially depending on how fast you’re going.
Power management is how the car decides how much power to send to the wheels and when. The goal is to keep the car from spinning the tires or feeling unpredictable when you push it.
Concept
lap time improvement (15 to 20 seconds faster)
They’re talking about how much faster one setup or approach is compared to another. In racing, shaving off seconds usually means the car is getting more usable grip and the driver can stay on the throttle more effectively.
Turn one is the first big corner right after the race starts. It’s usually the most stressful part because lots of cars are trying to get position at the same time.
“Checked up” means the car ahead slowed suddenly. When that happens, the cars behind have to react fast, which can mess up their speed and passing plans.
Concept
bought pretty bad
This sounds like they got thrown off their plan—either their speed dropped or their line got disrupted. When the car ahead changes pace suddenly, it can feel like you’re getting pushed around.
They say the race stayed in a certain order until an incident, described as “terminal.” In motorsports, an incident can end a car’s run (damage, spin, or mechanical failure) and drastically change the results.
Topic
HPDA
HPDA is mentioned as something Eriton did when he was younger. It sounds like an early racing program that helps drivers learn and compete.
The Miata is a small two-seat sports car made by Mazda. It’s designed to be light and easy to handle, which is why people often use it for track days and racing. The podcast is saying it’s usually not the very fastest, but it can still do well.
BOP stands for Balance of Performance, a set of rules used in racing to equalize cars with different designs. It can adjust things like weight, engine output, or restrictors so no one car is consistently dominant.
The “middle power category” suggests a performance tiering system where cars are grouped by expected power/pace. Drivers in the middle tier can be disadvantaged when rules favor the top or bottom, so changes that affect grip or tire limits can create new opportunities.
The hosts reference “middle of the weight,” implying weight-based balancing within the racing class. In many series, adding or removing weight is used alongside BOP to influence acceleration and overall pace, helping different cars run closer together.
If passing is “not easy,” it means cars are close enough in speed that you can’t just fly by. You have to time your moves carefully and be precise to avoid mistakes.
“Off season improvements” refers to changes made between race seasons—often setup tweaks, suspension/brake refreshes, or other reliability/handling upgrades. In this context, the host credits these updates for how well their car handles.
Concept
cornering grip (low-speed vs medium-speed vs high-speed)
Tires don’t grip the same way in every kind of turn. Slow corners and fast corners stress the car differently, so a car can feel really good in one speed range and not as good in another. That’s what they mean by “low-speed cornering grip” versus “medium-speed” and “high-speed.”
A splitter is a flat piece under the front of the car that helps push the car down onto the road. If you don’t have one, the car may not stick as well at speed, and it can feel less planted. It can also make the car feel slower on the straights.
Concept
straight-line speed vs cornering speed (passing difficulty)
They’re saying their car is good in turns but not as fast when the track goes straight. That makes it hard to pass because you need enough speed to get alongside and finish the move. Even if you’re close coming out of a corner, the other car can pull away on the straight.
This is basically how the engine feels when you start accelerating out of a turn. If the car “pops” and pulls hard right after the corner, you can make up time there. If it doesn’t, you may lose speed until later.
Term
flat tune
“Flat tune” here likely refers to an engine calibration that keeps power delivery more even across the rev range. The host contrasts this with a “natural power band” car, implying their car makes strong power only in a certain RPM window. That affects how quickly they can accelerate out of corners and how well they carry speed up top.
The Honda S2000 is a two-seat sports car from Honda. It’s known for an engine that revs very high and for feeling responsive when you drive it. The podcast is describing how it performs during races, especially when cars are close together.
“Tires fell off very quickly” means the tires lost grip over the course of the stint, reducing lap time and making the car harder to drive at the limit. When one driver’s tires degrade faster, they can lose the ability to defend or stay close, allowing others to pull away. This is a key race dynamic in endurance-style or multi-race weekends.
The host describes a “train” where multiple cars are close together behind a leader, with others caught behind. In that situation, drivers may lose time due to reduced clean air, altered braking points, and limited passing opportunities. It can also affect tire wear and how quickly you can build a gap or close one.
A decreasing-radius turn gets tighter the farther you drive into it. That means you can’t just enter fast and hope—your speed and steering have to be set up early.
This means the driver is defending like a chess player—thinking ahead and controlling where the other car can go. Instead of just blocking, they manage the gaps so the other driver can’t set up a good pass.
An LS3 V8 is a Chevy V8 engine that’s popular for performance builds. The hosts are saying his car’s engine makes strong power early, which helps it go fast for a lap.
A 275 tire is a wider tire (275 mm) that usually gives more grip. The hosts are connecting tire size to why the car feels great at first but can drop off later.
An 11-inch wheel is the width of the rim. It changes how the tire sits and can affect how the car grips the track.
Concept
one-lap performance vs falling off
They’re saying the car is really fast for a single lap, but it doesn’t stay that way. Something about tires, brakes, or balance changes as the run continues.
“Driving wide” means taking a wider path through the turn. The idea is to use the track better so you can go faster and keep your position when you can’t easily pass.
The apex is the closest point to the inside of a turn. “Next apex” means you’re thinking ahead to the following corner so you don’t slow down or mess up your line.
An LS swap is when someone puts a GM V8 (the “LS” engine family) into a different car. People do it because the engine is powerful and there are lots of parts and tuning options for it.
Horsepower is how much power the engine makes. Higher horsepower usually means faster acceleration, especially when it’s available at the RPMs you use most while driving.
In racing, “margin” is the extra space you leave so you don’t hit someone if things happen faster than you planned. If you don’t leave enough margin, a gap can disappear and lead to a crash.
They’re describing a driver hitting the back of another car. In racing, that kind of hit can knock the cars out of position and cause a much bigger accident.
This is a crash where one car’s tire hits another car’s tire in a way that can act like a ramp. That ramp effect can lift a car off the ground, which is why they say it launched the car in the air.
“Launched in the air” means the car got lifted off the ground. That usually happens when the tires or suspension get caught in a way that suddenly removes stability.
Concept
engine issues this weekend
They’re talking about the car having problems with how the engine was running during the race weekend. In racing, even small issues can ruin your results, so teams try to figure out exactly what failed and prevent it next time.
This is part of the ignition system that helps the engine spark. If a wire comes loose—like from hitting curbs—the engine can start misfiring and feel like it’s running poorly.
A misfire means the engine doesn’t light the fuel in a cylinder the way it should. It can cause shaking, loss of power, and the car may throw a warning code.
Term
Front row lockout
In racing, a “front row lockout” means the front of the grid got taken by the same person or team. It’s a sign they were fast enough to secure the best starting spots.
“Tires going off” means the tires start losing traction. When that happens, the car won’t grip the road as well in corners, so you have to slow down or change how you drive.
This describes a common racing tradeoff: lighter cars often carry speed through corners and are easier to maneuver, while heavier cars with more horsepower may be faster in straight lines but can lose time in slower corners. The speaker’s point is that their strategy depended on exploiting braking and cornering rather than trying to match top-end speed.
A “braking duel” is a race where two cars fight for position right when they slow down for a corner. The goal is to brake later or brake better so you can get ahead before the turn.
A “clean driver” is someone who races hard but avoids dangerous moves and unnecessary contact. It also usually means they defend their position in a controlled, predictable way.
The “outside line” is the wider route, closer to the outside of the track. Drivers use it to try to pass or to set up a better position for the next corner. It can work, but you often have to manage speed and braking carefully.
It means the driver slows down very strongly for the corner. When you brake hard, you have to do it at the right moment so the car turns in cleanly. Too much or too early can make the car unstable or cause skidding.
“Brake very deep” means you wait longer before slowing down for the turn. That can help you keep more speed into the corner and potentially pass. But it’s risky if your tires aren’t ready or if you misjudge the distance.
“Manage the pace” means you don’t always go flat-out. You adjust your speed to what the race needs—like saving tires or staying in control. Near the end, it’s often about finishing strong without making mistakes.
Concept
wide flag
A “wide flag” is a signal that something is going on ahead and you need to be careful. Drivers usually adjust their line and slow down a bit to stay safe. It’s more about avoiding problems than racing for time.
The “white flag” in racing means the final lap has started. It’s a key moment because drivers adjust their strategy—pushing for position, managing traffic, and setting up the last corner/finish-line pass.
They’re talking about a Honda Civic that was painted a bright green color. In racing, people use recognizable cars (and colors) to track who’s where on the track.
A “victory swerve” is the celebratory steering movement drivers do after winning—often a quick, controlled wiggle or arc as they cross the finish. It’s a show of triumph, but it’s still done with care so the car stays stable and doesn’t upset traction or other cars nearby.
“Cornering speed advantage” means one driver can carry more speed through turns than others. That usually comes from better grip, braking/turn-in technique, and setup—so the faster car gains time in every corner and can pass or defend more effectively.
A driving simulator lets you practice driving a track and learning where to brake and turn without using the real car. It’s a way to get better faster when you finally hit the track.
CMP is a racing venue referenced here as the track Nick prepared for using simulator practice and car setup work. For listeners, it’s a shorthand for “track-specific prep,” where you tailor suspension and driving approach to that circuit.
Preload is like the “starting tension” inside the differential. If it’s not set correctly, the rear end won’t transfer power the way it should, and the car may feel less planted.
Valving is the shock’s internal design that controls how much resistance it gives when the suspension moves. Keeping it similar means the car should handle the same way after the rebuild.
Shocks help control the car’s bounce and grip over bumps. Rebuilding them with similar settings keeps the ride and handling behavior close to what you tuned for.
Spherical bearings (often “spherical” or “heim” style) reduce compliance compared to many stock rubber/bushing-style setups. Converting the rear of the car to spherical bearings can improve steering/suspension response and consistency, especially in a race environment.
A trailing arm bearing helps the suspension arm move as intended. If it’s worn, the rear suspension can feel sloppy and alignment can change more than you want.
The BMW E36 M3 is a classic BMW M3 from the 1990s. Here it’s used as an example of a car where rear suspension refresh and upgrades can make the handling more stable.
LIVE
From the great halls of their house, there are assembled three who hope to one day be
the world's greatest driving heroes.
Created from the cosmic legends of the universe, comes our team captain, The Vision Bill Fisher.
And there soon to be Wonder Woman, Vicky Fisher, and our Captain Marvel and head flight
trainee, Jennifer Scriptjunk.
Their mission to fight injustice, share what is right and wrong to get you out of your
house and come out racing with them and serve all mankind.
They are the Garage Heroes in Training Team.
Welcome to the Garage Heroes in Training Podcast, we're back!
And we have a guest, and we have a guest host coming in, but she's running a bit late.
But our guest is one of our faves, he's back again, welcome to the podcast, Nick Barbado!
Woohoo!
Thank you for having me Bill, stoked to be back.
Sounds like, uh, let's see, either we're gonna talk about the deep inner workings of
driving, or, maybe both, or there was a great life event last weekend.
There was, Carolina Motorsports Park, KMP, was that what it was, what it's called, I
think?
Some, some call it KMP, a certain individual in an interview might have referred to it
as KMP, or Coot Hill Motorsports Park.
So, uh, so Nick, when we spoke at the end of last year, you had had a rather spectacular
year, it might not have been the year you wanted, but, you know, swimming with the big
fishes and, you know, you showed that you had some skill, you got your first win, you
uh.
Your first sprint win that wasn't an invert, my second win.
Oh, and I'm sorry, you're talking about last year, you got a win in the board.
You got a win in the books, you got a couple less than lucky dice rolls when they're doing
the inverts, but you had one that came through with you and you said, hey, if I'm in front,
you know, you guys are gonna have to do a little bit to get me, and they did.
So, but, uh, there's been some transpiring in your car, some development stuff, a lot
of hard work in the week and the wintertime.
So hard that you could not ever get on the podcast.
We will let you slide, but, um, some rule changes, some, some, uh, what are we gonna
call it, lineup changes, I guess, would be the way to put it.
So Carolina Motorsports Park, you've been there before.
What did you think?
How did it go?
How was the weather?
Let's do the easy stuff first, then we'll get into the races.
Sure.
Uh, yeah, the high level summary, it was beautiful, Kershaw, South Carolina, love the people,
love the location, beautiful weekend all around, love the track.
It's a real driver's track, uh, and we executed to, to our maxima.
We went, uh, P3 and qualifying, uh, just about two tenths off a pole.
EMAG on a pole, Coutil P2, me less than a tenth off a Coutil P3 and, uh, got a whole
bunch of top fives, uh, finished second race one, got the sprint win race two, passing
for the lead in turn one, and then tires started to go away, held onto some strong
top four, top five finishes, uh, for an overall P2 for the weekend.
So could not be happier.
I was leading the points there through race two.
I think I've had a fresh set of tires.
I probably would have got the overall.
So just, uh, so stoked, so happy, could not be happier.
Uh, and congratulations to Eric Coutil on a great weekend and Eric Magnuson for the
overall win.
All right.
Well, well, that's pretty much it.
You took the whole episode of the two minutes, Nick.
We gotta, we gotta get out a little bit, you know?
Yes, sir.
We're doing the podcast version, not the Instagram version, you know?
Okay.
Uh, so weather's great.
Track is, track is fun.
Tracks a little flat.
I wish there was a little more ups and downs, little, little something,
something there in, uh, the kink is scary.
No matter what speed you're in, no matter what car you're in.
And, uh, actually I had a friend of ours, his, uh, the rear trailing arm broke
out of the pockets in a E 46 at the kink.
Wasn't good.
Did he, did he stay, uh, uh, right side up or did he go out or did he go out?
He did.
He did, he did not do the, uh, lawn dart lip.
So, uh, we were quite happy about that.
So it was not a, not a good, not a, what could have been was not good.
Yeah.
So that court, that, that, that corner, even at GLTC speeds is around a hundred
seventeen, a hundred eighteen mile an hour apex speed on my car.
And, uh, you know, it's, you're, you're turning it's flat, but you have to focus.
You know, you, you can't miss your turning.
Yeah.
No.
And, uh, you know, I raced there one time and, you know, it's a little bit of a
pucker moment when you're too wide going through the kink.
Yes, sir.
No matter what speed you're going through, you know, you better, you better trust
the guy on the inside.
That's all I'm saying.
So, um, so qualifying went pretty well.
It looked like the weather was great all weekend.
Maybe a little chilly, but it looked like it was, you know, at least on the
video, great.
Yeah.
What the, the, the weather was great all weekend.
It was a little bit cooler Thursday for test day on Friday.
It got a little warmer.
Um, Saturday got really hot and then Sunday was a little bit cooler.
Um, but, but the track didn't improve over the weekend.
It was kind of crazy.
I think just because the track was green and there wasn't a lot of, you know,
hard lap rubber going down online.
The Thursday test day was very low grip.
I mean, um, I do not exaggerate when I say it almost felt like you were driving
on a damn track is how low the grip level fell.
But the test day into Friday, I think there's a little bit of like rubbering
going, uh, going in, you know, some rubber getting laid down, getting cleaned up
and just a little bit warmer.
And then the track, track came around, you know, not a, not a particularly
high grip track, but it came into a good overall level, you know, by a midday Friday.
I mean, one of the good things that the drifters do is they're willing
to put down rubber on the track.
One of the bad things that the drifters do is they're willing
to put down rubber on the track.
That's right.
That's right.
Yeah, that's okay.
It's okay.
So, uh, to keep everybody up to speed, in case they missed our last episode, any
major changes to the series that are going to affect the season?
Yeah, so the, the single biggest change was they narrowed the tire with limits.
And, uh, almost unanimously across the whole paddock, uh, the drivers were in
support of this.
So essentially, just to keep it very simple, they narrowed the allowable
tire widths, um, and the high end for highway, they reduced the maximum
tire width to a 275.
What was it last year?
Uh, last year was like 305 or maybe even like 315.
You could run very, very, very, very wide last year.
And that was one of the reasons the really high power, heavy weight cars had an
advantage because they could run heavy and run a bunch of power, punch through
the air at high speed, but you still have all the low speed cornering grip.
So if you couldn't really make the high power flats in, you really were at a
disadvantage last year.
Plus they, their aerodynamic drag is less too.
Exactly.
So what they did, what they did was bring the field lower.
Now we're at a more of an asset rule set to 75 limit.
Um, and some of the power rules up top or tweak to basically strongly
encourage you to run no more than 230 horsepower and no more than a 275.
And then on the flip side, they closed the tire with loophole.
Basically, um, if you were like, you know, under, under 2600 last year, you know,
it didn't matter if you were 2000 pounds, you could run a 245 average with tire.
And so that was like a major loophole that some drivers took advantage of this
year, they closed that loophole.
So now you can't run lower than a, a, a 245 at 2625.
If you go down another 125 pounds, 235 max, et cetera.
And then the smallest tire is a 225 with.
So, so essentially what they did was control the tire to weight ratio better at
the lower weight so that the really low weight cars didn't have a massive cornering
speed advantage because of the tire, tire of weight ratio and damage.
So those, those two loopholes were closed and it worked out great overall this year
at CMP.
So kind of a narrowing of the, the sandbox a little bit of the sandbox.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Yep.
Nothing, nothing like hugely different, but you know, a little narrower.
Okay.
So, and, and probably they took away some of the, the higher horsepower, higher,
wider tire, cause there's now the GLGT series that the, the higher horsepower
cars could go to.
Exactly.
Yeah.
And so even though the vets are still out in, in TC, they were strongly
encouraged to run in GLGT and essentially all the vets have now moved to GLGT.
Uh, still, I think a 230 horsepower, a flat tuned Corvette would still kick
some serious bot in TC.
Um, uh, they are all running in GT right now.
So, uh, that sort of makes it a nice, you know, a nice basis of parody in TC, uh,
at least, at least for the time being.
Well, I wouldn't say all the Corvettes are in GLGT.
There was that one black and gold one that looked pretty beastly out there.
There was, there was.
Yes.
Uh, aside from that one, I was like, wow.
Yep.
I'd be scared to drive that car.
I don't know.
I want to, and I don't want to all at the same time.
Yeah.
They were, they were tuning speed based traction control on that thing, man.
That's, that's, that's some serious power management.
Yeah.
And what was the new record for CMP?
They said it was ridiculous.
I forget, but it was down there.
It was like 120 something, I think it was definitely in the 20s.
Yeah.
I haven't done it on that track hundreds of times.
I've never thought about 120.
Yeah.
Which was forever.
I'm listening.
It's like 15 to 20 seconds faster than TC.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's kind of like, you know, the old, the Willie Nelson joke, you know,
what's par and you know, it's 72, it just depends on which hole I stop at.
Yeah.
For me to do 120, I think I'm on like turn 12.
Yeah.
Maybe 11.
We'll like it.
Crazy.
All right.
So, uh, usual cast of characters minus some Corvette people and, uh, first,
first, uh, race started off, looked a little hairy going into turn one.
Turn one, race one was tough.
So started P3 behind EMAG, Coutil outside Paul and Coutil did a great late
break around EMAG, EMAG checked up, checked up quite a bit and I was kind of
bought pretty bad.
And so that allowed both Eriton Grimm and Brian Hedean to go around the outside.
Really, really nothing I could do.
Grimm, uh, got by me clean.
Hedean kind of, I kind of forced the issue a little bit.
I wasn't too happy with that, but, uh, really ultimately had to concede.
Uh, so yeah, I was essentially, you know, one, two, three, four, fifth going
into turn four, uh, and that kind of was where we stayed for most of the
race until the incident.
Yeah.
That was a, that was terminal one.
Yeah.
I think, uh, you know, Eriton's been, I actually was with him for HPDA.
I wasn't his coach, but we were with HPD's when he first started.
So he's been racing since he was, uh, like 11 or 12, but that's only like
three years ago, so it's not that impressive.
Looks like he's got the right first name for racing.
I'll say that.
That's right.
That's right.
He's a good kid.
I, I, I talked to him a little bit over the weekend.
You know, that was one thing I did notice before, before we went over some
of the, the racing changes, it was, uh, even the Miata's got the play this year.
Usually the Miata's were kind of midfield at best and they even got to have a
little fun.
They did, they, they did.
I think, um, again, you know, the, the tire width rules helped the middle
classified cars because even though our BOP was not affected, now you're allowing
those cars in the middle to compete on a more level playing field with the low
weight and the high weight cars.
So now again, the whole field is brought closer together.
So the cars that were in the middle, the drivers, they have an opportunity to
shine now.
It's a little bit better for them.
So I think, I think really what you're seeing is some of the drivers that were
disadvantaged last year, running in the middle power category, you know, middle
of the weight are now giving, are now being given an opportunity to shine.
I think Eritan was, was one of those guys.
Um, you had a great showing by Blake Corth, you know, in the, in the White
NC Miata, you know, did a, did a, did a great job and a couple other cars as well.
Yeah, yeah, it seems to, uh, I don't think it cut the top off very much, but
it brought the bottom closer.
So the field is really, really tight.
Like usually I think I would have expected more lapped cars.
And I'm pretty sure I didn't see any this weekend.
I, I don't, I don't think I laughed a single person all weekend.
Yep.
Yeah.
Well, I say that all the time, but you don't.
All right.
So race one got through turn one, got a little, got a little pinched.
Then, uh, things settled down.
They spread out a little bit.
Eric kind of checked out.
It looked like it was a KMP from last year all over again.
Mm hmm.
Um, you did some, some dancing and some, you know, some, a little bit of
defense, a little bit of offense, but you know, the, the thing with GLTC is, uh,
the drivers are all great and the cars are pretty close.
So passing's not easy.
Not easy.
So it was actually a quite interesting race in, in race one from a driving
standpoint for, for me anyway.
So my car handles great, especially with the off season improvements.
The balance was great.
The low speed cornering grip, medium speed was killer.
I was just about as fast or as, or faster than anyone in the low to medium
speed corner, high speed corner.
So basically the corner preceding the kink, I was losing a little bit because
I'm not running a splitter, but I basically had the cornering speed
advantage on almost any, almost everybody there around the lap.
But my car is not fast in a straight line, uh, at all.
I'm, I was easily the slowest car in the straight line and probably the top
10, if not more.
Um, and that really is just the, uh, higher RPM pop off the corner.
I can hang in the middle range, but I'm not flat tune.
I'm a natural power band car and my car just runs out of steam up top.
So yeah, a little bit of a, of a Delta.
So even though I was much faster than, for example, um, uh, even EMAG and race
one, and, and definitely faster than, than grim and Hedian in front of me, even
if I got runs on them with them, behind Eric Magnuson, I was not able, uh, to get
by and that was the same thing with the invert race and race four.
So get to later getting runs on Joe Morrison, the S 2000, even getting
side by side with them at exits, he would just walk away and I couldn't overtake.
So kind of got stuck, but, but just going back to race one.
So basically Eric Madison's, his, his tires fell off very quickly.
That allowed Eric to escape away even more, but you sort of had this train
with Ayrton Grimm caught behind him, Brian Hedian on Ayrton Grimm's, but, and
then I was right behind them and that was allowing me to get backed up into Andy
Smedgard.
And so what I ended up having to do is because we would catch this Eric Magnuson,
Ayrton Grimm, Brian Hedian train in through turn one, two, three, four, five,
the little, you know, decreasing radius right hander in the back.
I actually ended up sort of doing like a Carlos signs effect where I had to sort
of actually back up Andy Smedgard in turn one, sort of hold him up to give those
cars a bit of a, of a run into five so that I could then approach them getting
slowed down in turn five so that Andy Smedgard couldn't get underneath me.
So that's the sort of chess level defense that I had to play in race one, just
to not lose my position until, and, you know, let's say while I saw things heating
up, let's say as Hedian began to get a little bit more desperate and desperate
to try to make a move on Grimm.
Yeah, I think during one of the interviews that Eric said that Magnuson
may be the hardest person to pass on the, on the entire grid.
I think that's right.
You know, the commentators avert to his car as a, as a battleship.
So Eric Magnuson has a very great GLTC setup.
So he runs flat tuned 230 horsepower.
He just, for those that don't know, he runs an LS3 V8.
The thing basically makes 230 horsepower from 2500 RPM.
Hi, Vicky.
Ms. Vicky is awesome.
And so with that BOP, he runs at like 3,100 pounds and change and a 275 tire
on an 11 inch wheel.
So his car is killer for one lap, but it will fall off.
And so his car is still a bullet in the straights.
So even if you're behind him, we'll drive a wide car in the corners, but
you're not going to pass them because he is the fastest car in a straight
line now for sure, especially now that the Corvettes are gone.
So all he's got to do is drive clean, drive a hard, a wide car.
And as long as he even has, you know, even if he's side by side with you
exiting the corner, he's going to have a car to buy the next apex.
Yeah, because he's a LS swap too, right?
LS swap.
Yeah, it's a it's an LS3 V8.
Basically, it's a truck motor.
I think it's, you know, a 5.7 or even like a six liter V8, you know.
Yeah, yeah, massive engine.
It literally makes 230 horsepower right from like 2500 RPM to red line.
And like, you know, like 340 pound-feet of torque.
So that's, it's a must.
Wow.
Yeah, that's a.
Imagine if we put that in our Civic.
That would be so much fun.
Heck, yeah.
It was a good race, huh?
Oh, the whole weekend was awesome, Vicky.
Well, you got here just in time, my dear.
So race two.
Oh, wait, no, race one.
We had a little bit of a hiccup.
I think it was turn one.
Was it turn one?
It was five, actually.
Turn five.
OK, turn five.
A little Miata on Miata violence there.
It was an S 2000 on Miata violence.
They were little, you know, almost the same thing.
Yeah, so I had a front row seat to that.
I actually got involved in reviewing some video and stuff after the fact,
you know, long story short, Brian Hedian made an overly optimistic move
to try to go for a gap that very, very quickly closed.
Didn't leave enough margin.
Ran into the back of Erdengrim.
Their tires, you know, contacted rear tire to front tire that launched Brian Hedian's
car in the air.
They both went off the track and I saw that actually coming.
I said, you know, from the type of decision making I saw from Brian,
unfortunately, I thought there was going to be an incident as sure enough there was.
And I went on right by and then proceeded to chase down Eric Magneson.
Yeah, it was it was one of the few times where it almost looked like an open wheel accident.
It did. It did. Yeah, unfortunately, I felt so bad for Erranton.
He was doing a great race.
You know, he was, you know, of course, held up behind Eric.
Erranton was driving clean.
Erranton was doing everything right.
So, you know, felt felt bad for Erranton.
But, you know, does not take a long time.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
He did everything he could.
So, yeah, that's that's one of those deals.
You know, hopefully the driver involved has learned his lesson.
I think he did, especially after talking to him.
So I think we'll see.
I'm confident we won't see that again.
So that's not the kind of thing we ever want to see in TC, right?
No, no way.
Yep. But yeah, so after that, ran down Eric, didn't have enough time.
I'm not sure it would have gotten by him anyway.
But then Eric and Teal had a little his first of two engine issues this weekend
and turned out to be, you know, Max's tired BMW one, two, E-MAG and Barbado
to end the first race.
So you got two pieces, I mean, two places from the accident.
And then Eric had a was a coil or a coil pack wire.
He was hitting curbs and somehow some coil pack lead wire
it became disconnected and was sharing.
So he was getting a misfire.
So that makes it BMW on BMW one, two leading to the next race.
Front row lockout.
That's right.
And Mr.
Cateel's down in like 12 or 13 or 14.
13th place.
13th place.
Since it is KMP, you got to always keep tracking him there.
That's right.
So, Nick, my beautiful bride is here.
Her camera is frozen.
Oh, she's back.
And let's talk about the start to race two.
Shall we?
The start to race two.
So the start to race two was was everything.
Like I said on the interview, I knew I was not going to be able to get by Mr.
Eric Magnuson, fantastic driver, heck of a driver, heck of a car, big power,
big straight line speed, but tires going off did out of the cornering speed.
So it was a classic lightweight maneuver car versus the heavy high power slower
cornering car, but a great driver, great defensive driver as well.
And the only chance I had in my little S 52 in line six cylinder was to have a
braking duel on the brakes.
I started on the outside of turn one.
I knew with the cornering speed, if I could just break a little deeper, Eric is a
clean driver.
He'd give me the outside line.
If I could just sneak through two, three, the outside being preferred into two, I
could maybe be out in front for turn five.
And if I was out in front and turn five, I was going to have a shot of getting in
clean air and taking that win and sure enough, that's what it was hard on the
brakes.
Both of us break very deep.
I break just a tick later, basically had, basically his nose was at my bumper by
turning.
I took a nice wide line, gave him a couple feet.
He gave me room.
I was able to get the power down just a little bit more quickly and basically had
him cleared by the time I exited turn two, made the turn three left hander basically
online.
It got a nice clean run up into four or five and I was two, basically two, two and
a half car lengths ahead, making the run down into six.
And they got a nice clean run there and he got through six well, but I had about two
car lengths into the braking zone past the kink, did a great braking, pulled another
car and it was like three, three car lengths by the final corner.
And at that point it was just, all right, max for staffing, let's put in the laps, no
mistakes, 10, 10, smart decisions, clean air and that was it.
It was just clicking them off 43, I think the pace was low, low 43 to high 42, each
lap within one tenth of a second, pulled the gap.
And then maybe two laps left, I knew we were towards the end.
I started to back it up just a little bit, managed the pace, saw the wide flag.
I've still seen Eric back there.
Maybe it was nine, 10 car lengths.
And then, you know, you know, last lap, white flag and see Eric there.
And then I see that, you know, neon green civic, the star finished line.
He should not be there.
He should not be there, but he was.
And I did my little, you know, victory swerve and brought it home.
And that was just, just a fantastic moment.
So super stoked over the moment.
That was the whole race.
I know it just, just we'll talk about turn one, but.
No, no, no, it's fine.
I just had the, the wonderful thing about having Eric there is if you do get in
front of him, then everybody else is stuck behind him.
You know, if you're going to pick somebody in the field that's like, hey,
if I'm in first place, who do I want in second place?
It might be Eric.
That's right.
Yeah.
From what I saw though, he didn't really hold up.
Eric could deal at all.
He wasn't held up a bunch at all.
You know, he, he still had a significant cornering speed advantage and he went
through traffic very smartly.
He, he killed it.
He did a killer drive.
He's been, he's been on the path a couple of people and he can drive in his
car is pretty dialed in for the rules.
Yes, sir.
So miss Vicki race win.
And you're on mute.
There she goes.
No, I miss baby.
Vicki, you're on mute.
There we go.
Sorry.
No problem.
What amazing race that was.
It was so fun watching you on there.
Right.
Bill kept coming into the room going, it's Nick.
Watch Nick.
Nick, Nick, Nick, Nick's racing.
Not only is Nick racing, but he's leading and he's doing really,
really well.
I kept saying Nick's doing really well.
He kept coming into the kitchen next to him really well.
Oh, thank you so much.
It was a wonderful moment.
Really stoked.
Yeah, I just, you know, it all, it all came together.
You know, there was an opportunity and, and I made the most of it.
You know, that's what you got to do. So.
So was this one of your first raisins,
races of the season for grid life?
Or have you done a couple, but right before it?
No, it was, this was the first race weekend of the whole season.
You were primed. You were ready.
Ready to rock. Yeah.
I did the test day, all the hard work in the garage, all winter, you know,
500 laps in the driving simulator to prepare CMP and E36M3
that I tuned myself on the sim.
I mean, yeah, just ready to go.
Was there any tweaking you end up doing to the car?
Anything nude you added to the car?
Over, over the winter. Yeah.
So that would be a whole other podcast, but really the,
the big things were refreshed, rebuilt diff.
The, the diff was definitely, it had lost preload.
I had it inspected at the rebuild shop.
We were out of spec on the preload.
So it was basically it was too open.
So refresh dip, rebuild shocks, very, very similar valving.
But the whole rear of the car got converted to spherical bearings.
So went from stock style.
Oh yeah.
And then the upper control arm enter as well as the trailing arm bearing
all converted to spherical on that way.
And tell me what spherical is.
I mean, just, just ride the differences.
Wow. Yeah.
Yeah, it's right.
Basically, I imagine I actually never knew they made those.
They do. Yeah.
So, so it allows all the components to swivel and move independently
without putting side load and bind and, and non intended movement.
It allows all of the suspension arms to move on their access,
access independently.
And so you basically just have a more properly functioning.
Suspension that can more adequately control the spring and mass,
you know, it's, it's small margin stuff.
A lot of my stuff was older in the back for an E 36 M3 in particular.
It, it minimizes unintended suspension movement.
So there's some, some weird sort of camber and toe movement that you
don't want. That's not, that's not ideal.
This allows you to have a very stable bump curve and a stable camber curve
and combined with some other tweaks.
I had the whole rear subframe off, you know, expected, you know,
new, new bushings, et cetera, and that too.
But yeah, just, you know, just a nice properly functioning rear
suspension refreshed.
Front of the car was also refreshed.
Similarly lightweight components.
I got like 20 pounds off the nose, 30 pounds off the rear.
Actually have more, more weight reduction to do.
But yeah, just, just, just lots, lots of improvements all around.
Oh, wow. See, I didn't even know they existed. That's amazing.
Oh yeah. Yeah. It's, it's great. And even just a feel, you know,
like, you know, like, if you ever exit a corner and you feel some,
some wheel hop, you know, if you've ever felt that on a front wheel drive
car, a little bit of stutter, that the compliance and the bushings can impact
that it's a great way to eliminate wheel hop.
I was actually getting some inside wheel hop on corners,
even with my diff last year, that is all gone.
So, you know, basically, you know, you, I gained,
I gained a little bit of rear grip,
a particular power down grip by,
by converting all that to a spherical small stuff, you know,
we're not talking seconds, but, you know, 10th year, 10th,
there was a lap, you know, and so that's it.
Yeah, just race ready.
Love that.
Of the hundreds of hours, maybe thousands of hours you spent over the
winter, you looked pretty happy after race to look like it was worth it.
It was worth it. That's what I was thinking, you know, all the hard work
paying off, the balance was awesome.
The car has never, honestly, has never felt better.
I was able to attack and have it be predictable.
Even the braking was improved.
You know, my car runs a stock ABS system, stock calipers.
So, you know, even, even the braking performance was improved.
There was no surprises, you know, the, the, the kink,
even the bump absorption over the kink was quite stable.
It was a little bit hairy last year.
It was foot to the floor this year.
You know, we, we, we made a big step forward in, in, in race car,
in the race car over the winter.
So, so all those changes, you felt the difference when you were in there?
100%, 100% felt the difference.
Oh yeah.
Yep. Yep.
And even you can see the car, I mean, you might have noticed the car was
like rolling a little bit less.
There was less moments, you know, that the car was looking more stable,
less countersteer, you know, less, less hopping under braking,
less, less hopping on the throttle, just, just drivable.
It started looking to me, and you know, this is on a TV.
It started looking to me like it was degrading kind of the end of the
third race, and then the fourth race, you look like you were kind of having
a little bit of a struggle bus.
Holding on for dear life. You're, you're exactly right.
Yeah, but actually the tires kind of started to go.
I could feel it even toward, basically after lap three, race three,
I began to, to, to manage.
And then, you know, with the heat and temperatures, it was so hot,
the tires really, really took a beating.
But no, that made it fun.
Had a great defensive battle against Mr. Smedgaard.
Shout out to Andy, by the way.
He gave me a lot of respect after the race.
He said he's, he's never had more fun in a GLTC race.
He said, I was his favorite guy to battle with.
He, he raced me hard and clean.
Heck of a driver, Andy Smedgaard.
He's on our, he's on our bucket list.
It's just that he's so busy.
I feel like I don't want to bother him.
Yeah, yeah.
Like I'm going to have 15 cars at the race and I'm going to do all the
magic by myself.
And I'm just like, I can't bother the guy, you know.
I got you.
I got you.
But he, he's a cool dude, man.
He was just, you know, like, you know, I can race EMAG.
And no, there's going to be no surprises.
Hard, but fair.
I can race.
It's going to be hard, but fair.
There's other guys, you know, I know you can just race him hard in it.
And, and they're never going to go over the limit.
Andy Smedgaard was one of those guys.
He raced me hard.
We almost touched a couple of times, but it was all in control.
He gave me respect in room.
I gave him respect in room.
You know, we, we respected the rules of engagement, you know, overlap.
You know, he, he, he, they break me on the inside, but I gave him room.
He gave me room.
Me a nice defensive battle.
It was just like a real like pro battle, you know, he's a real pro.
It was cool.
And his car looks like it, it performs quite well too with all the work he's
done, even though he's known for his S 2000s, the 86 looks like it.
Or, or whether it's an 86 or BRZ or whatever the trends, twins or triplets
depending on which way you, you start with, it looks like he's doing a,
he's doing a lot of, a lot of development on that.
And that's starting to pay off.
Yeah.
He's been working his butt off.
I know he's been, been testing a bunch even before CMP.
Yeah.
He has a nice little arrow setup, like a, like a max of the rules,
arrow setup on that car.
He's a super hard worker.
I, I could tell by talking to him focused.
So, um, you know, it's, it's, it's great to have a guy like that in the
series.
Yeah.
For sure.
Yeah.
Really cool.
Not bad.
If you have a mechanical problem that has somebody to ask too.
So, you know,
Right.
What do you think this could be?
Oh, it's a blah, blah, blah with your blah, blah, blah.
Oh, okay.
Thanks.
Yeah.
We could use that in a lemons race, about a hundred different teams,
but you'd be a great guy to bring us as a lemons, uh, you know,
council driver.
He would have so much fun in the lemons race because he just sit there
and walk around the paddock looking at the crazy stuff that they try to
pull off and shake his head and laugh a lot.
But it would be a good time.
Yeah.
He'd be a guy who would build a lemons car and everyone would be,
would get mad.
It'd be so it aren't fast.
He'd get bad.
Kind of.
Probably.
Probably.
All right.
So, so race two went about as well as it could be.
And then they interviewed.
Uh, Eric Catele after your victory.
Oh wait.
No, that was you.
It was either two Catele interviews or two Barbados.
It was amazing how quickly you changed race suits too.
That was.
So, uh, and unfortunately the, your beautiful bride was unable to attend
due to some, uh, illness.
Hopefully it was minor.
It was minor.
Unless she was just lying about the whole thing.
Cause she didn't feel like coming for a 14 hour toe.
You know, maybe, maybe that was.
There's that too.
But yeah, maybe she's not a fan of hush puppies.
I don't know.
I don't think so.
Oh yeah.
Who knows?
No, yeah.
She, she, we want to feel it good.
So that was a late time, late, uh, last minute game time decision.
So yeah, I missed her, but she was checking in.
So, you know, I wanted to make sure I gave a shout out to my bride,
you know, cause, uh, you know, she was checking in.
She, she's the best.
So, you know, wanted to let her know I was thinking over.
We can't do any of this junk without their support.
That's right.
That's right.
Sometimes, sometimes permission.
That's true.
That's true.
Yeah.
You know, uh, you know, good men need good women in their lives.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Never, never, never will, we'll take that for granted for a second.
That's, that's why when you find a good one, you gotta hold on to it.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
That's why you give me, uh, a, uh, Nemo livery Miata after 20.
So that was awesome.
All right.
So, so race two in the books, you are, what were you second and first?
So that's gotta be good for the points.
I was at that time.
I was just leading barely in the points by one point, one little,
one little snippet.
Yep.
So race three is done.
By fastest lap, right?
So, so just cause you won the race, doesn't mean you were first was,
was Eric first?
Correct.
Yeah.
It was Eric teal P one.
I was, uh, P two on the outside.
All right.
Well, it worked for you the first time.
It did.
It did.
So you want to hear what happened race, race three?
Well, I mean, it is the next race.
So we might as well go there.
All right.
So I had another killer star, uh, Mr.
Teal P one, Nicky B P two, E mad P three.
I think, um, might have been grim behind me and fourth might have been
forget who that was.
Oh, I don't think so.
I think, I think he had the mechanical.
Okay.
You're right.
So it might have been Smegard.
Might have been, might have been maybe course in them in the Miata.
Yeah.
I think that sounds about right.
I'm sorry.
Sorry.
We don't have the entire field memorized for all four races.
Yeah.
That's right.
It was close though.
So, um, basically did the same thing and that was a great start cause I,
uh, I did.
I, I'd break the little later than Mr.
Keteal.
And went around the outside and got by him and had a nose on him,
had a nose on him exiting too.
And he was at my door and I gave him room through three and we went
side by side through three all the way up to four and then side by side
into four.
And then I checked my mirror and we were a car length in front of even
the third place person at that point.
So I said right in that moment, I'm not going to be hanging out to Eric
Keteal.
I know my tire is the best thing I can do for my race is to let Mr.
Keteal go.
Let's stop battling.
Let me try to, try to tuck in and hang on.
And so kind of gave him a little, a little bit of a margin,
just a little lift through five and we exited turn five, running down
to the high speed right hand six.
Uh, basically me right behind Keteal on his bumper.
Yep.
And I forget if it was Magnuson or Smedgar behind me.
I think it was Magnuson to begin with, if I remember it.
Yep.
Yep.
It might have been.
And then, uh, look like everything was good.
Eric did as usual, you know, if I don't break my car,
I do pretty good at CMP.
So, uh, he kind of got, got a few car lengths on you.
And then, uh, your car, like I said earlier,
it started looking different.
Like I noticed it about halfway, maybe a little past halfway.
You probably noticed it before that because, you know,
I think your, your butt dyno is a little more accurate than my TV.
Yes, that's right.
That's right.
That's right.
It very quickly became a tire conservation battle,
a tire conservation challenge.
And, uh, I knew I was, I was in trouble.
I was just trying to, uh, basically focus on clean exits.
Um, and also, um, Mr. EMAG, uh, he put on,
I think at least one, maybe two fresh sticker tires.
I left my tires the same.
So EMAG having now fresh tires and also wicked up the power just a
little bit.
Um, it was going to be tough to keep him behind.
So, uh, there might have been a driver too that,
that was challenging him as well,
but basically held off Magnuson, um, until right to the very end.
And, uh, uh, my tire started to go away.
He pulled back a little bit, a little bit.
Um, closing the gap on the final lap.
He got a nice clean run exiting six.
We run down to the king together.
He's got the speed.
He's tucked in behind me.
And, uh, he was able to get net.
Basically almost next to me before we went for breaking into seven past
the kink or I guess that's turn eight past the kink.
And, uh, he actually break next to me and we entered turn, uh, eight.
The low speed left hander side by side.
Yep.
Side by side through a clean side by side, almost touching.
Side by side to make down the right hander nine and he fell back.
And I had maybe a half a car on him. It was maybe at my nose.
And here he comes, you know, but he, he, I, I never fully cleared him.
Right.
So here he comes back now roaring back with that big VA power into the final
corner.
We go into the final corner side by side on the brakes.
He leaves me room on the inside.
I leave the room on the outside.
I exit the corner a full car like the head.
Maybe he was a half a car lane behind me.
I got a clean run hit for gear, but now here comes Eric Madison,
right down the straight, creeping, creeping, creeping, coming by just gets
it just clears me by a nose at the start, finish line to take second
or third place.
Yeah.
I think it looked like on the TV, he got a better exit on that final
turn than you did.
Even though you probably hit it as bad as well as you could.
I think his line might have been a little more conducive to him getting
on just that smidge earlier.
Yep.
I also think that was a factor because, you know, wider angle, you know,
if you take the wider line there, basically the radius is a little bit
bigger. So that, that was also a factor.
So yeah, those two factors, big old, big old,
little flat tune VA, you know, America in your ear, side pipe in my air,
you know,
I mean, if you're going to get beat by it, it might as well be a big old VA,
right?
100%. And look, look, you know, I got, I got so much respect for Eric
Madison.
I'm so happy for him.
I mean, obviously I don't want to get past, but I, I, it was, it was like,
I wasn't even mad.
It was such a great race, such a great move.
You know, Eric, Eric did an awesome job.
So, you know, my, my hat's off to him, but actually I was kind of pissed
because the live stream didn't show it.
Like I was so well in that battle would get showcased the last few
years to show how he did it.
It was, it was a fantastic move.
So yeah.
It reminds me of the, what I always say is I don't mind getting beat,
but I hate losing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, if you beat me, cool.
If I like fumble, stumble, stumble, rumble and just give it to you.
Oh.
Yeah.
Yep.
You know, I get it.
No, I've, you know, that was the maximum that it had and Eric,
Eric made the right calls.
Did what he had to do and it was fantastically executed by my,
I can't be, I can't be madder upset about that at all.
No.
He deserved it.
No.
Thank you.
So, uh, leaves us one more race for the weekend.
That is the random invert with the dice and Mr.
Gatiel rolled the dice and what did we get?
I think it was an eight.
I think it was an eight invert.
Eight or nine.
Yeah.
It was eight.
It wasn't seven cause I always think seven cause you know, seven's kind of
too nice.
What it should be.
Yeah.
Um, and luckily you're independently wealthy billionaire and had
another set of fresh stickers.
So you were good to go for this race.
Oh Lord.
No, no.
No, it was the same darn dyers.
Oh, yeah.
Uh, learn that lesson.
Yeah.
We're going to be bringing multiples sets of diaries.
Yeah.
It's not the Maxis tires.
Uh, great, great.
Yeah.
We have a relationship with them this year. They're great.
So.
We need Mr. Maxis.
Mr. Maxis, please.
Yeah.
I think I would have made a big difference in that third.
Yeah.
I would have made a difference in the third race.
Might have made it even bigger difference in the fourth race, but.
I agree completely. Yeah.
Well, we'll talk about the fourth race and then I'll give you my final
thoughts on that.
Live and learn though, you know.
Hey, I went into the weekend saying if I could just get an overall
podium, I would be over the moon.
I believe you accomplished that.
I believe we strongly accomplished that.
Yes.
I believe that was in the bag.
Pretty, pretty.
Let's see.
So you had second, first, fourth, third.
Yeah.
Third or fourth in the third race.
I forget.
Might have been third.
I'm not sure.
I think it was second, first, third, but it might be important.
Yeah.
So you knew after race three, your tires were.
Shall we say not pristine?
No, sir.
Stickers were long gone.
You're starting off in P six.
Five.
It was five.
Yeah.
P five.
And you know, your tires aren't what you want.
What you really, really want as the, you know, those,
those poetic spice girls used to say.
Um, so what was your plan going into four?
Cause you knew you weren't.
You weren't optimum.
My plan was get a hundred percent out of the car.
Make, make smart decisions.
Um, try to get through turn one clean.
Um, you know.
All, all you can ever do in a race car is get a hundred percent
out of the platform that you have.
And that was it.
Um, you know, I, I wasn't sure how far back I was going to fall
back. Um, but you know, I'm not going to ruin my weekend over that.
I, I said, Hey, maybe even if Andy gets me, it's still an overall
podium.
Yeah.
Just, just do the best you can.
No mistakes, calculated risks.
Um, and that was it and it all, it all worked out great.
Well, the limit is the limit.
Even if your car's impaired, if you can drive it to the limit.
That's right.
At the end of the day, I mean, besides racecraft induced stuff,
but if you drove to the limit, that's all you can do.
That's all you can do.
And so what ended up happening was, uh, very, very quickly,
I got bought behind, um, Joe Morrison in the green S 2000.
Yep.
But I actually still, despite my tire condition had a significant
cornering a speed advantage only on him.
Um, and I actually got a couple runs on him exiting.
Maybe five or six corners, but he had some go fast, go straights,
not on that thing.
Yeah.
And even me getting next to him at the exit with runs on him was
not enough to overtake.
And so unfortunately just spent the whole race stuck behind him.
Uh, he did a good job though, defending, you know, all the more power
to him, right?
He's not obligated to let me go.
Nope.
Um, but, um, you know, so that basically set me up.
Eric Magnuson passing with ease.
He actually, yeah.
Eric Magnuson behind me.
Um, I got bought so, so bad in turn five by Joel, uh,
that Eric was able to just get a run on me exiting five and,
and clear me with ease getting into six.
I mean, it was, you know, no, no, no contest there.
Eric sailed off into the distance.
Uh, uh, Eric Tim Graham, um, was there.
He was on the invert.
He, he sailed off into the distance as well.
He left everybody.
Yeah. He, he was gone.
He did end up unfortunately blowing dyno post race.
I don't know by how much, but he ended up getting the SQ,
but still he did a great job.
I heard it.
I heard it was close.
It wasn't, it wasn't like a, uh, you know,
that's what I heard too.
Yep.
Yeah.
It wasn't like 10 horsepower or something like that.
No, it was, it was enough to not be legal, but it wasn't enough to, you know,
it wasn't something you were trying, you know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yep.
Yep. Exactly.
So yeah, it all, all, all, all, all credit to him.
He did a great job.
He, he, he, he drilled that guy out of that thing and.
Ms. Vicki, do you remember Eirton from Great Lakes?
Eric Meyer?
No, try again.
Eirton.
Graham.
Remember the, the young.
He was a young boy at the time.
He's now 16, all of 16.
So he's in GLTC now.
No way.
And rush cars too.
Double dipping.
We'll do a rush race to get out of the car.
Had to drink a water or hops in the GLTC car.
His dad, his dad runs the whole show.
His dad was driving the cars to grid and Eirton would show up at like the five
minute whistle hop in the car.
Yeah.
Nope.
It's a, it's a pretty fun family there.
I think the, the, the commentators Kyle and I forgot who was with Kyle this
time.
They were making jokes about how Eirton doesn't even get to celebrate.
He just has to hop into another car and go race some more.
But when you're 16, you know, probably can't be too many things better.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So you look like you kind of got a little bit of trouble to start with and
you kind of got a little bit of box.
I think you probably were better in some areas, but it was tough to pass.
GLTC is tough to pass period.
So that's the race pretty much.
You got to see a lot of line green if I remember recall.
That was the race.
Yeah.
It was a whole lot.
I asked 2000 in front of me, um, trying to hold off Andy Smedgaard.
Um, that's easy. No problem.
Well, it was funny because, uh, so I'm there.
I was, you know, I forgot which position, you know, fourth, fifth place.
And, uh, I was like, okay, maybe I might be able to hold off Andy.
Andy was on my tail.
I was still actually, cause Andy didn't change tires either.
Thank you, Andy.
So, uh, he was a little bit quicker than me in some corners.
I was a little bit quicker than Andy and some others who were kind of like
rubber banding back and forth behind the Joe Morrison.
He had a couple of decent corners.
So that wasn't like, you know, massively saw,
but I was quite a bit faster than Joel on the, you know, turn two, three,
four or five comp.
Like that's where I was really getting held up, but otherwise not bad.
But Joel, um, as we were getting into traffic,
Erica Teal then had his second issue was a fuel pump issue.
Yeah.
And so we're a couple of exiting six, making a run down to the cake.
And that was where we caught the deal.
And, uh, Andy had been getting runs on me exiting six.
He was running also a front splitter combo.
So that was like the one corner where a little bit of front era was helping.
Right.
So maybe had like a mile an hour or two in that corner,
that one high speed corner where the air was really working.
And so he was right on my butt as usual.
And then I moved over to defend of the inside against the kink.
But then out of nowhere, I see Erica Teal going really slow on the right.
And Andy Smedgaard had already sort of gotten on my bumper.
And I don't know if he had overlap or not.
So, you know, I'm Mr. Clean squeaky clean.
I conceded and let Andy go around the outside of the gig.
Basically.
As I was getting bought by Keteal and then I slotted in behind them.
And I ended up getting by Keteal in the next corner or two,
but that was how Mr. Smedgaard got me.
So yeah.
Blocked by the hybrid racing civic.
One of them deals.
That was basically my race.
So you blocked yourself.
Blocked myself. Yeah.
I picked the wrong lane, you know,
if I had simply stayed on the outside,
then 80 would have got blocked behind Keteal.
And I would have a whole lot of that.
That's what made a difference in the overall, but.
No.
So Eric ends up finishing.
I think Ayrton won the race, but got the Q.
B2.
Yeah.
So you finished two, one, let's say three or four.
And then how'd we do in the last race?
I think five.
I think five.
Yeah.
So two, one, three, five.
That's usually pretty good.
Not too shabby.
Not too shabby.
Solid P2.
Let's get the trophy.
P2.
Oh, we get the, we get hardware.
We got a, we got a, sorry, I'm, I'm in my boxers here.
It sits a Friday.
It's okay.
That's why this is a audio only podcast.
There we go, baby.
Look at that.
We're going to have to get a little picture of that for the posting there.
Oh yes.
Yep.
So really, really stoked about that.
Um, and yeah, and you know, just to, you know, so in reflection,
right?
Coulda woulda shoulda.
The reality is, uh, I came in at a weekend hoping to get a strong podium.
I got a sprint win and a P2.
And the reality is if I had just brought fresh tires, I will say with 95%
certainty would have been able to stay ahead of Mr.
EMAG, um, certainly in race three and then a strong performance in four.
And very, very likely would have been an overall win.
Could have been an overall.
Yeah.
I mean, no.
Yeah.
Just, just over the moon.
Of course.
Knowing you.
It deals issues, but knowing you, you would have been saying, yeah,
but I didn't really cause Eric had issues.
So you still would have been.
Yeah.
Cause that's how you are.
That's right.
That's right.
And, and, and he got to give credit and respect where it's due.
So, yeah.
Absolutely.
The tool, you know, Katia, we, we got lucky with his issues.
He'll be back stronger.
He'll be flying.
I'm sure, uh, at the rest of the season.
So he, you know, he's, uh, he's got to be the favorite for the championship.
You know, we're, uh, we're just going to do the best we can with what we got.
And, uh, you know, keep ourselves in the hunt.
So it's, it's going to be a great season.
I'm looking forward to it.
And, and it's ecstatic with, uh, the weekend result.
Winter.
Well, Spencer, congratulations.
Thank you very much.
It feels that much better, you know, to, you know, it's like days in the garage.
And, you know, there was a couple of days there where it's like, I got up and it,
you know, it was barely even sunlight outside and then I opened the garage door
and I don't even see sunlight all day, you know, kind of thing.
So, you know, just, you know, you're in the garage and, and, you know,
things take longer and you want to do it right.
And you, you, you, you, you go to fix one thing.
You find three things that are broken.
You got to do the maintenance and, uh, so just trying to take my time, you know,
there was aesthetic stuff I did.
I painted the roll cage, you know, clean the interior.
Um, you know, just, just, just really wanted to dig into the car this year.
And, um, so yeah, you know, there's still a lot to do, you know, flares, carbon
fiber hood, livery, polycarbonate windshield, a couple more tweaks that,
uh, you know, maybe we'll, we'll talk about offline, you know,
can't, can't give away the whole ship, but the only fans podcast. Yeah.
That's right. That's right.
Subscribe for only 499 a month.
Got to pay for those fresh tires, you know.
Got to pay for the tires somehow. That's right. That's right.
I've been working out a little bit, you know.
That's right. That's right. You got a pedicure I heard.
That's right. That's right.
Done by Ms. Biggie. Thank you. Thank you.
So no, uh, yeah, just awesome. So, so happy. So pumped, you know, and, um,
you know, I, I'm just, I'm so thankful just to be here and, and doing this.
And you know, uh, you know, uh, how many more years have I got doing this?
I try to stay, you know, I'm, you know, every moment each race,
I'm just, just so thankful and grateful to, to, to be doing this and to still be in
the mix. So it's, I mean, it's not just you. It's you. It's Amy.
It's your sponsors who need some love, Nick. They even love.
Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. Yeah. The first thing Max's tires.
Uh, I've been running their VR too. You know, I'm not just saying this because
I have a little deal with them. Fantastic tire. Very fast. Check it out.
Durable. Um, also shout out to condor speed shop. They sponsored some parts this year.
Garagistic, uh, sponsors of process. She got, got a new bumper from them.
That took a little whack in the third race or the final race.
So I'm going to use that new bumper from them. Um, uh, Randy Mueller at Epic
Motorsports down in Florida does all my tuning. He was very helpful.
We had a little engine issue. He, he cleared that up. Thank you, Randy.
At the rates.
Yep. Heck yeah.
High speed motorsports. You and Milford, they, they helped me out.
Um, Shaft works USA. We're doing all this on a non remote reservoir,
single rebound, adjustable mono two shock built by John Lugat out at Shaft
works. Fantastic shocks. Thank you for them.
And, um, uh, last but not least, um, ST track power parts out in the Netherlands.
We got some cool arrow stuff coming. I can't wait to debut, um, some photos
of their new, uh, rear arrow discs and some other trick arrow stuff.
So thanks to, uh, as you and grouse look at ST track parts and also one last
thankful, um, a nice gentleman named Kelby Hayhoe, who I met last year.
He came out and, and crew for me this weekend. That was a big help.
So thanks to Kelby. He helped out on a lot of things.
So, you know, it really helps when you go from being a, a one man show to
having a guy who could help out in the grid and stuff.
So thank you, Kelby. Uh, you know, he really helped out a lot.
So thanks to all. I think, uh, I think Kyle will be very happy when
you're going to do livery. Oh, it's fair. Yeah.
Yeah. And I know, you know, I actually, I did some aesthetic stuff.
I did some paying, but it's, uh, it's, it's going to look cool.
Um, that, that will come after road Atlanta when we have, uh, a little bit
of a break, but yeah, we're going to, we're going to have some lightning bolts
and some cool bronzey piece stuff going on. There we go.
There we go. So we're Atlanta next time. It's about a month away, right?
No, it's, it's like less than two weeks. It's already turned around.
Yeah. It's crazy. So yeah, I gotta, really, there's going to be no changes
to the car. I'm going to, going to keep it stable and reliable and, uh,
and legal, you know, um, but then, then we're going to up the wick on
some changes and some configuration stuff, uh, you know, flares hood,
more weight reduction, weight distribution, couple optimization things.
And we're, we're, we're going to be at a real hundred percent for Walkins Glenn.
And then my rock is, uh, you know, is the goal. So let's see what you do.
You've done road Atlanta, correct?
Never done road Atlanta. Never done, never, never, never been there before.
And there's no, there's no test day. There's no practice.
So I'm just going to put in 500 laps in the simulator.
I was just doing it before I got on the podcast here. It's all good. Yeah.
The, actually the, the, the, the first session bill and Vicky is a
combined practice qualifying. That is it. There is not even a one practice session.
We're going to toss on the stickers and send it. We'll be good.
We'll be, we'll be, we'll be just fine.
So my road Atlanta story, the first time we went there, um, driving out,
I'm, I'm telling Vicky, Vicky flies out with, uh, one of our teammates, Alan.
Oh, it must be nice to keep rock started.
Well, yeah, you know, well, it was, it was, I had more time to cheat it.
So I drove and, uh, I get to the gate and I'm going to tell you this now.
It is the only time pulling through the gate of a track that I am intimidated by the track
because I'm going downhill and then up the downhill for 12.
And I'm just like, Oh no.
This is not what the Sims, the Sims. This is not that's the Sim is lying.
Yeah. Yeah. No, that's, that's what I hear.
You know, uh, maybe even more so than Watkins Glen or, or in America,
it's a big boy track and we're going to put on our, our big boy pants.
We're going to make smart decisions, but you know, we'll be ready.
You know, um, uh, we'll be the first time I'll be going there.
You know, uh, went to Indie Speedway, never driven the car before SRO,
DC, America in the rain, put it on pole position, put it on Poland,
wrote America in 2017. That was intimidating.
Generator Coupe, you know, um, so, you know, you just, you just train
and you execute and you pick things up and you know, you're, you're smart
and you use all the skills that you've developed over the past 15 years and,
uh, we'll be good. We'll, we'll, we'll, we'll be good.
I think, you know, it's going to be tough for my car because it's a lot of
straights so much where my car suffers, but I think we'll,
your car suffers on the streets.
My car is one of the, one of the, it's probably slower than the top 12 or 13
cars on the, on the straights. Uh, you get them in the, in the technical parts.
You can get a mechanical stuff, but there's a, there's a whole lot of wide open
throttle at Rotolana. Yeah, there is. Yes, there is.
Seven to 10 a is just like, yeah, I'm going to be, they're going to be
taking me to Gableby's there. So if you want to feel
better, we were there with the car that did, did have fists, but didn't have fists. If you know what I mean?
We were, we were at terminal velocity
before the concrete on the right hand side coming out of seven
ended and then we just sat there.
Right there on the limiter. Oh, it's brutal. That's brutal.
It's just like, okay, how many cars are going to pass me on this one?
Yeah, I'm, so I don't usually trim my wing.
I'm going to be doing a little bit of trim on the wing to, you know,
you know, just going to, just going to try to buy myself a little bit more
paced in the straights there because it's, it's going to be tough. Yeah.
Well, that may not be the best track for you, but you know, the
the crew vets aren't there. So that's true. No, that's true. You're right.
It'll be a knife to a knife fight at least. So I think so. I think so.
Or at least maybe a knife to a pistol fight.
Yeah, maybe. Maybe. Well, it's not KMP. So you got to
It's not KMP. That's right. I think
you know, EMAG is going to be favored. He's going to have
I would say, I would say, you know, it'll, it'll be
EMAG and then a battle for, for best of the rest. It's probably going to be EMAG,
and then we'll see whoever ends up B3. If I could
snag P3 by those two guys there, I'd be very happy. Yeah. I mean, because
Andy's going to be tough if he's there. Yeah. Andy is not going to Rotoland
actually. I just got an information there. So, okay.
We'll see. I think I think it'll be another one. Well, we do nothing but
wish you good luck. We wish all of our friends good luck and we will be watching again
and absolutely. I am kind of thankful that grid life is
only six races this year because that's only six weekends. I get nothing done in there.
Yeah. Yeah. No, thank you all the
support. I can feel it. You know, I don't know if I've ever gotten
more messages in my life actually from a race after I won
that sprint. So are you telling me not to do it anymore or are you? No, no.
No, I'm just kidding. No, just to free you guys
sincerely, like all the love and support and anyone else that, you know, listens to this
podcast that did the same thing. Thank you. And it really means a lot from
from the bottom of my heart. It's awesome. So, yeah. Well,
it's great watching everybody and it's always more fun to have friends doing it because then you're not
you're not watching chunks of metal. You're watching people you like. So, good time.
Yes, sir. Well, thank you for continuing your streak
of tolerating us and our stupid questions after. I love it.
Thanks for tolerating me. No worries.
I can't wait to see you at the next race. That's right. Yeah.
Are you going to NASA Northeast
NJMP? Maybe.
I want to make it at least one event. So, okay. Well,
I'll tell you what, if you guys go, I'll meet you there. We're already
signed up. What are you running? What class?
I think he's doing HPD and I'm instructing. I don't know if I'm going to race. Okay.
I might do E46. Heck yeah.
You should bring that back out again. I need to get down there.
Same car, new motor? Fixed.
Thank you to Hugh. Hugh at High Speed Motor Sports.
That's right. So, you were able to salvage the motor
but replace parts? We were able to salvage the
motor, replace parts and then replace the motor. Okay. Okay.
Because then we killed the motor. Oh, copy all. Okay.
So, you got a new motor in there. Yeah. Yeah. Great. Yeah. So, it was
from a, I think it was a 45,000 mile grandmother's grocery
getter. Aren't they all though? Yeah.
But yeah, we figured that out and we figured out the
drive shaft issue. So, that car is gold. Awesome.
Yeah, we got to bring it back out again. Yep.
I want to put a new livery on it. Well, I'm not happy with the livery. I think I'm just going to
go ahead and get some livery stuff for it. Well, you know.
I got all summer. Not that much summer.
It's May. Yeah, this is true. No, it's not quite May
yet. It's not quite May yet. Stop. No, the race is May.
Oh, okay. So, you don't have all summer.
Oh, no, no. I'm not talking about. I'm just going to say I don't need it ready for that.
No. Well, we'll get it. So, Nick, always great fun. Thank you again.
Thanks for tolerating the exceedingly long stupid questions that we come up with.
I love it. Listen, I do have one more
question. He thought he was out. No. No, no, no.
Okay. Do you still
as you're driving the way you're driving? This is a silly
question. Yep. Do you still
hold on for dear life and sometimes say cuss words
as you're driving? No, you're very calm
and comfortable in the seat. I haven't.
I got, so I always have a healthy respect
for the reality of the situation, which is this is dangerous.
Okay. However, you just
what it does and what I advise the people for me, what I advise the people is
let that focus you, but not distract you. Okay.
When you're in the car feeling intimidated like that,
you're not going to be able to execute to your maximum.
Yes. It's not helpful. It's not helpful.
So I'll just be completely honest with you.
When I'm in the car, I'm not thinking about that at all.
It's like going to your local go-kart track
and trying to drive as fast as possible in a six-horsepower go-kart around on-track hardening.
You're trying to be technical, hit your marks, be millimeter
perfect, unwind the wheel, just drive. There's
nothing else going through my mind at all.
There's, you know, the only thing where
I, where my heart rate goes up a little bit is
as the tires start to go away and you're not in other cars sliding around, there's
countersteer. You have to be especially with my stock ABS system
that the tires go away. You're more likely to ice mode. So you got to be
thinking about those things. The
multitasking starts to go to taking care of the car.
So making smart decisions, taking care of the car, not misshifting,
washing the cool and gauge, managing temperature, race craft.
You know, there's a guy behind you. There's a guy in front of me. That's what I said.
In race three, when I was getting backed up, sorry,
yeah, no, race one,
when I was getting backed up into the cars behind me, I had to do this sort of
Carlos signs thing. All that bandwidth that could be
used for, oh shit, this is scary. All that, that goes
into race craft. So yeah, there's no holding on.
You're managing the car. You're controlling the yaw.
He is one with the car. Yeah, yeah, there's no. You have transcended.
Well, you have to.
You're wasting mental energy and making it worse
if you don't. Well, no. That's the simple fact. It's the
economy of your brain.
So by worrying about it, you're just making it worse. Stay in the moment. No, no, no.
Yeah, that's true. Yep. Thank you.
Yeah, but most likely, look, that takes time. That's just an experience thing.
You know, a crew a certain amount of hours and
you realize there's no surprises. There's nothing unexpected here.
You just come to the conclusion like we're just going to
focus on driving this hunk of metal as fast as we can, but
respect the potential destruction and let that
allow you to make smart decisions. I mean, that's like, you know, when I coach people
like the number one thing I say is make smart decisions. I had a sticker
on my car that in the cockpit to tell myself to make smart decisions.
You just have to make smart decisions all the way.
You should get a misfrizzle sticker.
A misfrizzle sticker from the MatterStreetBus. Let's do it.
Yeah. Thank you very much, Nick.
All right. I promise you're allowed to go now, Nick. Thanks.
All right. Until next time,
we see you. Thank you. Heck yeah. Look, oh, I'm already
looking forward to the next one. Yes, I am too.
Marketing is hard.
But I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out.
You're listening to a podcast right now and it's great. You love the host. You seek it out
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About this episode
Nick Barbato breaks down a strong GridLife GLTC weekend at Carolina Motorsports Park, where he qualified near the front, won race two, and finished P2 overall. The conversation digs into how tighter tire-width rules are reshaping class parity, plus the hard-fought wheel-to-wheel racing that included a turn-five incident and a dramatic final-lap duel. He also talks through winter suspension work, simulator prep, and how he’s getting the E46 back together for future events.
GHiT 0756: Nick Barbato - A Great Race Weekend at CMP with GridLife GLTC
The season has started with Gridlife at Carolina Motorsport Park. Nick Barbato was racing in the GLTC series again this year and was kind enough to review the weekend and how it went. Hint: It went pretty #$@^@ well. This is another good one as we peak behind he visor with one of the top amateur racing drivers.
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