Racing Life: From Track Dreams to Victory Lane
In Wheel Time Podcast: Your Go-To Automotive Talk Show
Racing Life: From Track Dreams to Victory Lane
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Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast.
This is your place for all things automotive.
The award-winning In Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
Today coming to you from the Spring Tailpipes and Tacos Cruise Inn at the Loopy Tortilla Tex-Mex in Katy, just ahead, we're going to get you involved in some racing through the wares of Mr Jud Holt, who is fresh back and ready to go out again to ply his trade at road courses across America and be successful, like he was in Long Beach with his BMW 4
Series.
Yeah, it's a M4 GT4.
M4 GT4.
M4 GT4.
Well, you're going to explain all that to us A lot of acronyms.
Later.
Jeff has got the racing calendar, Mars has this week in auto history and I'll get you caught up on the stories making automotive news headlines.
Howdy Along with Mike out of this world, Mars.
We always need more.
Jeff Zekin, chief engineer and bottle washer.
David Ainsley, I'm Don Armstrong, Glad you could join us today.
Judd Holt, it's good to see you, my friend, Good to see you guys too, and well, congratulations on Long Beach.
Of all places I'm going, oh my God, he won Long Beach.
Okay, so let's talk about the car, so we can get this all set up.
Is it a new model?
Yeah, it's a fully amalgamated, factory-built race car.
They built them in Germany.
Hell, I didn't even know that they did that.
Yeah, the entire class, the GT4 class, is all factory-built spec race cars.
So you run cars just like yours in this particular division of an event.
Exactly yeah, just like yours in this particular division of an event.
Exactly yeah, and then they're in.
So they're the bmw has a car um the mustang.
That ford has a car um mercedes has a car, so there's.
There are a lot.
There are a multitude of manufacturers okay um, we, we just run the bmw, yeah, and so they take, and should I?
say I'm sorry, or no, no, no, no.
Congratulations, is it?
a straight six.
Uh, it's a turbo six.
It's a turbo six.
It's a six, it's a turbocharged six.
Yeah, yep, uh, 550 horsepower um very, very torquey car automatic uh paddle shifters shift, yeah, paddle shifts.
Yeah, eight speed, we use six and everybody that's in that drives a bmw in that class.
They're, the car is basically the same.
They're identical.
They're identical.
The spec is identical, you can't jack with it.
You cannot change.
I mean, they're down to like there is nothing.
Like you can't adjust the way the door panels fit on the car, they're that specific Can you adjust?
you know the tow in the camber.
Yes, you can adjust suspension setup on the car For the tow in the camber.
Yes, you can, just suspension setup on the car For driver comfort.
Yeah, just track to track.
They're obviously making camber and tow and all the suspension adjustments you can do shock adjustments, so it's a three-way adjustable shock.
But you've got to use the same shock as all of the other drivers in the BMWs?
Yes, the shock is specced for each car.
The shock you have to run, yes, so what it gets down to.
So when you go someplace like Long Beach and you win it's driver against driver, because all the cars are the same, that's the goal.
To me, that's a bigger deal, because if you've got a better car, that can make a difference, but if they're all spec, if they're all the same, that's a big deal.
Yeah, that's definitely the goal of SRO and GT America is to get the cars the same, and you know they have.
Each car has a BOP that says this is the horsepower setting you have to run the car on, this is the torque setting you have to run the car on and this is the weight that has to be on the car.
So you have to go through tech and it changes race to race.
Oh yeah, heavily teched car.
Yeah, they go through it with a fine-tooth comb before the race and then it parked for May.
After the race, drivers get out of the car and they keep the car for an hour or two, hook the computers up and verify that everything was exactly how it was supposed to be.
Fuel too.
Fuel capacity is another thing that the set has to how much fuel you can run.
Do you have to use the same fuel as everybody else?
Yes, everybody uses the same fuel.
We all run vp um is is the required fuel for the race.
Yeah, I'm there.
They're also the race sponsor.
Everybody has to run a pirelli.
The same pirelli zero tire.
Oh boy, um.
So yeah, we're all, we're all, uh, yeah so where, where did you hone these skills?
so I I began about four and a half years ago.
Um, I woke up one morning during covid and said I want, don't want to sit around the house anymore, and so I went out to MSR Houston and drove a spec car.
A buddy of mine loaned me his you know, allowed me to, you know, sit in his car, and I was like immediately like, oh, I got to do this and so I bought a spec car and we raced those for two and a half, three years.
I still race it.
I still have a spec car.
It's a lot of fun, very, very, very competitive.
Some of the best drivers I drive around are in the spec class still.
Anyway, after a couple of three years of doing that, we graduated to an M2 and started running WRL, which is enduro racing in an M2.
And then about a year ago, a little over a year ago, the new M4 G82 came out and you know I was fortunate enough to be.
You said I want one of those yeah.
Well, actually, yeah, it kind of came to find me, I want one of those.
Yeah, well, actually, yeah, it kind of came to find me and you know, they said, hey, would you be interested in, you know, moving up to the next level?
And I said, sure, that sounds like a lot of fun.
Faster is always better.
Faster is always better and you know just the platform.
You know nothing against the M2, but I mean it's a legit, real race car based on the street car.
So really you know awesome Like you know I got in it for the first time.
I'll be honest, it was a little intimidating.
When you first sit in the driver's seat of that, you go wow, this is a lot of car, the fast car.
This is a lot of car.
We took it out at Eagles Canyon in north of Dallas-Fort Worth beautiful racetrack up there that Livio runs and we practiced and we got ready to go racing and we were fortunate there was an SCCA event shortly after.
We got the car kind of dialed in and we got to run that and do a little wheel-to-wheel racing in the car itself.
And then we took it on tour in WRL.
Last year we ran it at Sebring, we ran it at Watkins Glen and then we ran it at COTA kind of the back half of the season, just to get, you know, experience under the belt yeah, some experience under the belt.
And then we began this year's WRL season in the car and we started in Sebring, which is where the series starts.
We put it on the podium one day in second place and then we went to Eagles Canyon and we put it on the podium there and then it was time to start running SRO GT4.
So what does it feel like to stand on the podium?
It's an amazing feeling.
You shake the champagne and spray everybody with it.
Yeah, it's a really cool feeling Because I'm just envisioning this in my mind, going okay, I got a car and the cars are pretty much equal, but really to win the race, it's on me, yeah, and then to win it, or even podium the car, if you want to call it that, it's got to be a great feeling that you probably have never had before, have you?
I've been on the podium in the spec car a couple of times.
But what I'm saying is there's no substitute to having somebody hand you a bottle of champagne and put a Merli hat on your head and go you know, yeah, yeah, I mean, I'm just trying to envision that you know.
It's an exhilarating experience and it's why people race cars to get that opportunity, Because today you are the best.
Yeah, that's literally what it is In that moment, and then it's immediately like, okay, can you back it up?
Yes, now we know about that.
And being on the podium two races in a row was my co know, my co-driver, Dave Ogburn, at Sonoma, and there's two formats for GT4.
I can get into that in a minute, but sometimes I have a co-driver and sometimes I've driven solo.
But yeah, you know, to be on the podium at Sonoma was like mind-blowing, and then to get on it both days at Long Beach was like wow.
This is like living the dream and then to get on both days at Long Beach was like, wow, this is like living the dream.
I can only I'm just envisioning it and, you know, trying to live my life through you at the moment and going, wow, that is just really cool.
It's hard to imagine.
You see it on TV and oh yeah, that's cool, but to be there.
So you've got the whole rig that carries the car around.
Do you have a backup car?
So we run with Fast Track Racing, which is their group out of Eagles Canyon that runs BMWs.
They fully support the car for me.
We basically contract with them.
This is pretty common.
There are several groups out there that run where you can just put your car with them and they handle the maintenance.
They do the turnkey thing.
They haul the car.
I bet it's a hell of a lot cheaper doing it that way than having your own team that you tow it around, and less worry too.
I I don't.
I don't know if it's cheaper, but I wouldn't do it any other way because it's it's certainly more time.
Consuming as a driver.
There are plenty of groups that do that, though.
That run.
They run their, run their own car, or run several cars in different classes with common drivers, so it's not uncommon to run your own car.
Kind of like drag racing and people running stock and super stock.
Exactly exactly.
Yeah, there's a lot of teams that have a GT3 car and a GT4 car.
Did you ever envision yourself doing road racing?
Well, I always wanted to do it.
I mean, it was always something in the back of my mind.
I'm like man.
If I ever got the time and the money to make it happen, I would love to do it.
But I was talking to one of my co-drivers in WRL before we went to Long Beach and I said if somebody had told me four years ago you're going to be going to Long Beach to run GT4, I would have laughed nervously.
I would have been like yeah, right, whatever.
But no, it was.
Yeah, I didn't envision it going as far as it has, as quickly as it has, but it's been a great ride.
It really has.
Who would you say was your mentor in this, in the driving aspect of a road race?
Well, denny Stripling, who is a Spec Racer Ford guy that is very well-known, very accomplished driver in Spec Racer Ford and has done other things, yeah, he was definitely my mentor and definitely kind of the one that pushed me, kept pushing me to like, let's you know, keep going.
Did you ever do a ride-along with him?
No, I never did a ride-along with him, but we've done a lot of coaching.
We've done a lot of lead follow, a lot of track video.
When you do the lead follow thing, are you on a headset with him?
Yes, so you can coordinate the radios and you can communicate, and sometimes I'll follow you and give you pointers as to where to put the car and so forth.
And then a lot of times, it's just sitting in a room reviewing data.
Um, the data, and that you can get out of a race car these days is incredible.
Um, you know, depending on the car, the aim system will allow you to take your video and overlay it with the data and you can see every marker that you hit.
And then in the bmw we get thex system and B-Box, which is tracks you and it shows you you know and you can do.
If you have two cars, they don't line them up next to each other and show you.
This is where this the car was positioned and this is where that car was positioned, where the break is like a simulator um no, it's like a replay but, we also do the simulator.
so, uh yeah, we spend a tremendous amount of time on the simulator, working together, you know, just to fix little problems and it's amazing how far the simulators have come.
We spent a lot of time on iRacing, you know, practicing and getting ready.
Line in line out breaking points.
Yeah, and it was you know, for a track like Long Beach, for example, you know this is not a track you can go drive right.
Right.
It's normally a street, yes, and so the only way you can get your mind around like, okay, what's the cadence of this track?
Yes, and where is the grip and where do you put the car and so forth, is to do it in a simulator, and I'd run other tracks in the simulator, but I don't think I've ever spent as much time in the sim as I did for long beach um getting ready for a race, and it really paid dividends.
Well, not only that, but I mean you also have to worry about shift points.
I mean, I mean there's one way that you listen to it, but you know, if you run over 8,000 RPM you're going to blow it up.
And uh, for me, I know that when I did a corvette event at uh circuit of the americas, they let us out there like fools.
And uh, I'm going, okay.
Well, I ran that corvette of mine all the way up there to the red line.
I'm going.
I really didn't want to go that high with it, but the corner is right there, but only a few more hundred feet and you're over the red line.
So where do you shift it in that particular area of the course?
and I'm thinking, oh my god, I can't even imagine what it would be like not ever having actually been on the track and do long beach yeah, so the the bmw has a does have a rev limiter, so you cannot over rev the car um and you can't downshift with, or what they call a money shift, which is where you inadvertently downshift it, or what they call a money shift, which is where you inadvertently downshift it will not allow you to until it's within the rpm range, that in within the tolerances, um, but there are.
There are corners on on racetracks and it varies based on cars and from car to car.
Where you do, you put it on the limiter simply because there's not time to shift it doesn't, it doesn't pay to shift the car and then downshift the car immediately, yes, right.
And then there's also spots on track where you short shift the car.
Uh, where you go, it pays to be to drop into the torque band because of the way the corner is shaped and you shift a little early or you're a lot.
You don't want to upset the platform got all this stuff going on, yeah, and if you don't do the homework, uh, you know, because when you're out there, everything's going by so fast and happening so fast that it's like how do you manage all of these things in your periphery the track, the car, the revs, where you are on the track, all this stuff is going on, lickety split yeah, and so when you first start driving, your vision is very
, very tight.
Um, you know and I'm still close enough to it, and because my career in driving has been so short that you know your vision is very tight, you're not, you're it's everything you can do to accommodate the speed, the cornering and to put the car.
As you race, more and more your subconscious starts to take care of things Sure yeah.
You know, and everybody drives down the freeway at 80 miles an hour and if you can remember the first time you went 80 miles an hour down the freeway and there's cars left and right of you.
As a young driver, you're like of course and it's a bit like that when you first get on a race course you're like, man, this is a lot to accommodate.
Yeah, you're in your.
You almost can't be mentally prepared in the very beginning when you first get on it.
And then you get on a racetrack with cars left and right of you and you, you start and everybody's trying to get around you and the aggression comes in.
You're like, wow, this is a lot to accommodate you ever scrape any fenders?
uh, oh yeah, I've definitely had some, had some moments where I've where I've where I've done some touching is what I call it.
I I'm like I didn't hit anything, I just touched that.
Well, I've heard that about you.
You're pretty good at touching.
Yeah, at Long Beach we were very clean.
There was one corner where I was the GT3.
We were on track with the GT3 class at the same time, which is they're about eight seconds faster a lap than we are.
So if you think about it're running.
Oh god, we're.
You've got that to worry about, we're running long beach at about 100, about about a minute minute 26, and so they're running at, you know, about 10 seconds, 8 to 10 seconds quicker than we are, um, so they're going to pass us in a 40 minute race twice, um, and so the gt leaders were coming through and I, as I was coming into the one of the tightest turns, where you go from basically a seven-lane road onto a two-lane road and it's the tightest corner.
And you've got all these cars coming up behind you.
And it was clear they were going to catch me right as I came in, and so I had to put the car through the apex and try and get out of their way.
And when I came out of the corner, I looked over to my left mirror, which you don't need a lot in that track, and I could see me on my left mirror, which you don't need a lot in that track, and I could see me, which is never a good sign, Because the mirror had actually hit the wall.
It clipped the wall.
It touched the wall.
It had clipped the wall and it just knocked the mirror back because it doesn't stock mirrors on it.
And it knocked the mirror back and I was like, well, the windows don't come down on the car, they're Lexan, solid Lexan windows.
I'm like that's just the way.
You know, fortunately you don't use the left mirror and in that track very often.
But I was like, well, I guess I'll just have to deal with it.
And this was lap uh, probably 12 out of out of 26.
And so I was like, man, that's a lot, a lot of racing to go.
In the next braking zone, when I hammered the brakes on the car, the rear kicked back open.
There you go.
So the inertial effect of breaking the car was actually enough to pull the mirror back out to where it goes.
So it was only one straightaway man sweating bullets.
Yeah, well, you're always.
It's a very intense experience, there's no doubt, and most people don't realize, like the real intensity of racing is not the getting the car moving, it's the getting the car stopped.
Where the real experience?
You, you know, you go, everybody goes.
Oh yeah, race car driver, that's about going fast.
I'm like, yeah, it's about going fast, but it's about getting that fast thing slowed down and around a corner.
Yeah uh, with consistency and without, without you know, with maintaining the, the grip of the vehicle and keeping the platform connected.
Maintain the yeah so at long beach turn one know you go from 150 miles an hour to 35 miles an hour at the apex of Turn 1, and you do that in 500 feet.
So you know anybody that's ever been on the ABS in their car in an emergency situation they go.
Oh, I know what that feels like.
I know what the you know, you can feel that it's doing everything it can do to get this thing slowed down and stopped.
Well, imagine doing that at every corner for 40 minutes every time abs connected on these cars?
yes, abs is connected, so you are on the abs at a lot, every single corner oh my god, if you're not in the abs, you didn't you.
You didn't drive hard enough.
So, yeah, we're using the abs every time.
It also has traction control, which we run at some tracks, but at Long Beach we did not Getting out of the hairpin, we just found that the car wouldn't.
The traction control was overly intrusive, and so we found that it was a little quicker to run it with the traction control than just throttle balance the car to get it out of that corner.
Well, Judd, we're going to turn the traction control off for you.
You're going to what Was.
We're going to turn the traction control off for you.
You're going to what Was it one of those responses?
No, it was actually.
You have to do it to yourself.
So the steering wheel on the car has two knobs.
One knob allows you to change the brake, the throttle sensitivity, and the other one allows you to adjust the traction control map on the car that's not on it While you're going around the track, while you're going around the track.
yeah, so this car is set up for this.
So he's going around the track like this there's two.
It's a butterfly wheel and there's two knobs where your thumbs can reach up there, and you just click it this way and it'll change you from a wet pedal to a dry pedal, to a linear pedal on the right side, and then the left side will allow you to.
How do you?
learn that you just again as you race more and more of the processing goes into your subconscious and you have time to do the other things.
The car actually has a button where you can just turn the traction control off for a corner.
You just push the button down and it does a 10 count and you can just shut off.
So if you have a corner where you go, I don't want the traction control on for this one corner, you can just kill it for that car, those BMW guys, they just think of everything, don't they yeah they do, yeah, they do To me that goes back to your earlier statement about working with this other company to make sure your car gets maintained and gets it out, Because you don't want to be going into that curve trying to figure out well, do I need to hit the braking deal?
Wait a minute.
Did I change the oil in the car the last time?
What was the last time this thing had?
brakes.
Yeah, you don't want to be doing that.
You definitely don't want to be worried about the car and these guys are great.
I mean, they understand this is what they do, full time and in Fast Track.
Just they're meticulous and we also, you know, we have a car engineer that works just for us, that is in charge of setting up the suspension and how the car is, like the platform is set up, but you have to give him the input saying, hey, you know the car will not turn in this particular corner.
Do you tell him that?
Yes, yeah, we tell him how the car is performing and where we feel like we're giving up time, and also he's a data engineer as well, so he can look at the MoTeC data out of the car and go it appears you're giving up time here.
You're always making tradeoffs, though.
God man, it's so high-tech.
We can make it perform well in turn one, but we're going to give it up in turn six.
Where's the time?
Where do?
you want it.
Where do you want the time?
Because, again, you can set up a car to be loose.
You set up a car to be loose, you can set up a car to have, uh, you know, to be sensitive in a pushing situation.
You know you go.
Well, do you want the car to rotate more?
You want the car to rotate less.
You know, and all of those things, as you, as you adjust the, the, the pitch of the car, will change how fast the car goes on a straightaway.
So you, you've got to dial the car in, kind of on the averages of all the corners that you're going to do.
It sounds to me like you know.
Your next step is IndyCar.
Well, indycar was at Long Beach and I watched those guys race for two hours plus and I go man, I don't know how they do it and then I realize they're 30 years younger than I am.
That's how they do it.
Don't even go there.
Don't even go there.
Don remembers the chariot race.
First chariot race he ever watched, he was getting chased by lions.
That's great, loved every minute of it.
And so where do we follow you on this racing adventure of yours?
Yeah, so we're on Facebook at Loopy Tortilla Motorsports.
Loopy Tortilla Motorsports.
Mars, Sir I can read.
No, I know, but so we need to have a link.
Oh yeah, we can definitely get you a link.
We have tacos Huh.
Tacos, not links.
Not hot links, you know what I'm talking about, but anyway.
So anyway, I've got to take a break.
Oh, go ahead.
You want me to stick around?
Yeah, I'll stick around.
Oh, I'll stick around.
Okay, stick around.
Oh, I'll stick around.
Okay, stick around.
All right, just ahead we're going to push the racing calendar back Mars, we're going to push back your auto history to the next hour and we're going to talk to some Judd.
Okay, so stay with us.
In Real Time Car Talk Show continues right after this.
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Welcome back to the InWheelTime Car Talk Show.
Yeah, hot Rod Tour of Texas starts Thursday and anyway, we're going to be down there and we'll be doing live reports on and off.
And then, of course, next Saturday we'll have our live show at the Spindletap Brewery on the north side of town.
When you get there you're going to go.
How in the world did they find this place?
Because it's off the freeway.
It's a private thing.
I don't know what he does for a living, but instead of having the employees go out and go drinking, he had a brewery built there in his warehouse and it's open to the public.
You can go, so that's where everybody's going to go.
Do we get employee discounts?
Huh.
Get employee discounts.
I don't know how that works, but anyway, it's a pretty cool place actually, all right.
So we're talking with Judd Holt talking about it's not SCCA racing.
No, it's the SRO Motorsports Group, and the class is two.
It's GT America, gt America, which is the single driver race, and then there's GT4 America, whichica, which is the the two driver racing um, so you were gonna.
You teased us about that, so talk about that.
So you, sometimes you have a co-driver and other times you don't.
So what determines that?
um, so a racing body, yeah, the racing body, also the track.
So at long beach they only the only thing we were.
The only thing that was presented for gt4 was gt america, which is the one driver there's two races for and one driver has to run both races.
Typically, what we'll run is what's called gt4 america, which is the two driver, and they're 90, they're sorry, they're one hour and each driver drives for 30 minutes.
So you have a pit stop and a driver change and all and that whole process.
So it's not because the driver gets tired, it's because it's part of that series right, it's part of the competition is to have to do the driver change um, and gt4 america is the more competitive series there, so it has it'll have a 30 or you know 35 so an hour long race.
You don't have to fuel the car, do?
you?
No, you don't, but they also.
Once a year at Circuit of Americas we run a three-hour and then we have to fuel the car, fuel the car.
And then we run 45, two drivers still 45 on 45 off, 45 on 45 off.
So when you fuel the car, how does that work, you?
have a can?
Yes, yeah, they use a.
So you have a special fuel?
Yep, yes, yeah they use a.
So you have a special fuel Yep and we can Fuel the car and we can do a driver change in about 60 seconds, that's pretty good With all the belts and everything else that you've got to go through to get ready.
And we practice that.
We practice getting in and out Of the car and making sure that Our timing is good.
The door is open.
Does it have a roll bar in it?
yes, it has a full.
Yeah, it has a full sfi, so you have to climb over the bar yeah, well, the bar is actually pretty low in the driver entry in our car there are cars where the bar is kind of cross um cross member.
Ours is, ours goes through the driver cockpit in the floor make it a little bit easier for you to get in right we have, right we have more on our roof to create the additional support, but it does make it a little easier to get in and out.
I mean the BMW of all the cars that are out there, it's the biggest of the cars, like just size-wise oh okay.
Yeah, I mean obviously a Supra is a considerably smaller platform, as is a Porsche In your everyday driver.
do you have a BMW somewhere in the fleet?
You know it's funny.
We're waiting on my wife.
I recently asked who's my biggest fan and greatest supporter in racing.
She travels with me for every race.
I am so sorry.
No, she's fantastic when it comes to this crazy hobby, yeah, yeah m4 uh cs convertible coming um, and so it.
It is on somewhere in the atlantic right now making the trip across um and so um.
You know, I've uh.
This will be the first uh bmw I've ever owned.
That wasn't a race car.
Um, I've become a big fan, obviously by driving in the support of bmw let me tell you something.
you know I don't't get very many BMWs anymore to drive to test, but when I did that straight six cylinder that they have oh my god that engine is I am a huge straight six guy.
That's what I grew up on.
That was my first hot rod that I hot rodded.
It was a straight six, a 235, blue flame, six, double carburetor.
I did everything on the thing and it was.
it was crazy fast and built like a like a rock yeah, about the best unbelievable, yeah and uh, it's a great direct, great drive train yeah, and most people don't realize.
that's the super, that's what's in it.
The super of the drive train is a bmw drive train, um, one of our, which we compete with.
Yeah, yeah so if you, that six-cylinder just is an amazing motor.
It is incredible.
When you add the turbo to it, it takes that great drivetrain and turns it into a very sprightly torquey experience A rocket yeah.
Yeah, absolutely, I'm really thrilled.
What did you bring here today?
I brought my Cobra.
Oh darn.
I brought my Cobra.
That's the silver Cobra over there.
Yeah, the silver Cobra yeah.
Is that a real Cobra?
No, it's a Superformance yeah, so a really good driving.
You know reliable Motor is.
It's a 351 Windsor yeah, so it's the Sprite-ier of the two engines and runs a little cooler.
But yeah, it's been yeah.
I've had it for years and it's been really a yeah, it sits in the garage and I try to get it out every time the sun shines.
Yeah, absolutely yeah it's a lot of fun and they're quick.
I mean it can be a handful.
It weighs nothing.
It weighs nothing and it has a tremendous amount of horsepower.
Yeah, and so it's a lot of fun.
The little gentleman that just went by heard you.
He wanted to know if it was an electric car.
An electric car.
Oh, yeah, no yeah.
The electric, the all-electric, cobra.
It has a battery in it.
I don't think.
I think Shelby would return From the grave from the grave if anybody tried?
To put an electric motor in his car we got a hard out.
It's time.
No, no problem, we appreciate you, can I?
give a quick shout out, if you want to come out and watch us race.
We'll be at coda next weekend.
Uh, yeah, we'll be on the hot rod tour of texas next weekend yeah, so oh well, they can listen to you and watch me.
It's going to be perfect.
I like the way he thinks uh yeah, we will be at Circuit of Americas and then Sebring about a month later.
And then we're going to.
Germany, so you'll have to have me back on after we go.
We'll be talking about motorsports.
We need to go do a remote in Germany.
Yeah, you guys can come with me to the.
Nürburgring, we'll do that.
Yeah, we're ready for that.
Awesome.
We appreciate you, john Holt.
We'd love to hear from you.
Shoot us an email at the address info at inwheeltimecom.
Back after this.
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About this episode
Judd Holt shares his exhilarating journey from a casual driver to a competitive racer in the GT4 class, highlighting his recent victory at Long Beach. The discussion covers the intricacies of racing, including car specifications, driver strategies, and the importance of teamwork and data analysis. Judd reflects on his rapid progression in the sport, the challenges of racing against identical vehicles, and the thrill of standing on the podium. Insights into the technical aspects of the BMW M4 GT4 and the racing community add depth to this engaging conversation.
Original notes
From a pandemic hobby to podium finishes at prestigious races, Judd Holt's meteoric rise in the racing world exemplifies what's possible when passion meets persistence.
Judd's story begins just four and a half years ago when, tired of pandemic isolation, he decided to try his hand at motor racing. What started as a curiosity quickly evolved into competitive racing in spec cars, then an M2 for endurance events, and now to professional competition in a factory-built BMW M4 GT4.
The fascinating world of GT4 racing centers on a unique premise - every car must be identical according to strict regulations. With manufacturers like BMW, Mercedes, and Ford all building to the same specifications, there's nowhere to hide behind superior technology. When Judd stood on the podium at Long Beach, it was pure driver skill that put him there. "The car is basically the same," he explains. "They're identical... you can't jack with it."
The physical and mental demands are extraordinary. Imagine hammering the brakes from 150 mph down to 35 mph at nearly every corner, staying on the ABS throughout. While navigating these challenges, drivers simultaneously manage complex car controls, including on-the-fly adjustments to traction control and brake bias. As Judd puts it, "Your vision is very tight... it's everything you can do to accommodate the speed, the cornering, and to put the car where it needs to be."
Preparation is paramount, especially for street circuits like Long Beach where practice on the actual track isn't possible. Judd spends countless hours on racing simulators, working with dedicated engineers to optimize car setup and balance performance. This methodical approach, combined with natural talent, has propelled him to multiple podium finishes in an astonishingly short time.
Ready to experience the thrill of professional racing? Follow Loopy Tortilla Motorsports on Facebook to keep up with Judd's next races at Circuit of the Americas, Sebring, and even Germany's legendary Nürburgring.
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