Garage Heroes In Training
Garage Heroes In Training
Updated 12 days agoAn amateur endurance auto racing team hoping to show everyone that they too can participate in performance driving or racing. We are a relatively new team and learning right along with you. Our assumption is that you know very little to nothing about the sport but are interested in learning to drive better and eventually maybe even race in a local event of interest. We will cover all forms of racing and hope to be entertaining as well as educational.
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Episodes (769)
GHIT 0144: B Squad Hotrod Podcast Hosts Train and Woodchuck
Colton (aka Train) and Steve (aka Woodchuck) are two of the four hosts of the "B Squad Hotrod" Podcast on to discuss how they have learned and continue to learn to work on their hotrod projects, cars and other related projects, like building a huge garage from scratch. We also get into some of the current and upcoming projects and goals for the coming few months. A great podcast hosted by two sets of brothers, in 4 states, and three time zones, they work together towards finishing the project and learning a ton along the way. Since they are B Squad, they came on our podcast, because A Squad would be a guest on a big time TV show. Ben joins us on our Dominating With Dawson segment to talk about how to buy a car for a project or to become a race car. It is the first of a many part discussion and we will be having at least one returning guest to go over this area more fully in the future. Usually, it I said that you make your money when you buy a stock, or a house, or a car, but in our case it is more like you are only starting to lose your money once you buy the car, lol. As you would expect, we try to bring them over to the dark side and build a car for a race. We will see how successful we are. We offered to help and race with them. That may not have increased the likelihood of their racing, lol. Please send in your projects so we can share with the B Squad to help show them what we are doing and drag them into racing. We hope you enjoy this episode! Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers Highlights from this episode include: 1) What are the projects of B Squad and some of their background and learnings along the way. With their guidance, we may work our way up to the B squad at some point. 2) The logistics of being located in 4 states and 3 different time zones between the four hosts and their individual projects. 3) Everyone is jealous of Woodchuck's projects: huge garage with a lift, a Humvee, 1967 fastback Mustang for the family CFO. Progress continues despite working full time in the public health arena of Wyoming. 4) Train's projects are equally distracted by his (over) full time firefighting/paramedic and when time allows him to work on his 1941-46 Chevy Pickup with an S10 frame swap and full engine swap resto mod. 5) The way that B Squad works out the mechanics of working together with each other remotely. It involves a lot of calls, photos, video calls, and infrequent in person trips when possible. 6) It seems that all of their interests can be traced back to one of their father's Corvette. 7) Train being in south Texas battles the heat most of the year and Woodchuck in Wyoming battles the cold winters. 8) Suggested first projects to begin learning to work on your own car or project and what to grow into eventually and then where you may want to bring in some professional help. 9) Why you may not want to let Train work on your electrical issue, especially if it is perhaps a 200 dollar 1974 Impala. Take home: shot gun shells are not functional fuse replacements. 10) Vicki somehow make an analogy between learning to work on a car and learning a new video game that actually works pretty well even though it initially sounded a bit weird. If only there was a cheat code with the joystick. 11) The El Jeffe tire story comes back to life to help Train feel a bit better about his Impala. 12) Ever wonder how Woodchuck got his nick name, its covered here. And we finally get to ask the question that has pondered the world forever. 13) Some discussion on how to deal with your tool storage when you need portability and mobility to work outside the home garage. Also, a discussion of several alternatives for how to layout a home garage. 14) Train is not a big fan on body work. He would probably be very open to help if you happen to enjoy it. 15) Train is introduced to cars-parts.com. We are sure it will help, especially with some of the later model car projects. B Squad was the source where we learned of the project Farm YouTube channel which has been helpful. 16) Woodchuck makes a great suggestion of trying to find a mentor to learn from/with. 17) If you notice, there seems to be a truck them with most of Train's answers and interests. Perhaps we could get him into our race truck one day.
GHIT 0143: Using Video Coaching with Dion von Moltke from Racers360
After a recent HPDE event with NASA Great Lakes at the Autobahn Country Club near Chicago, Bill sent in some video of a representative lap to Racers360 to try their video coaching and see what he could work on to improve. Dion von Moltke, from Racers360 and a podcast guest from episode #92, evaluated one of Bill's laps and who knew, it wasn't all that bad. We thought it would be a great discussion of the use of video and the added benefit of having a professional driver and coach review the video for you. Bill learned a great deal and every driver will. This is especially valuable to the two ends of the learning curve. The newer drivers will start off breaking any bad habits and the higher level drivers will finally have someone qualified, capable, and available who could help them refine the last few items to help shave the final few tenths to get closer to their potential. The cost (~$100) makes this an exceptional value to all drivers looking to improve. Ben and friends discuss the concept of weight transfer during the Dominating with Dawson segment. Whether conscious or subconscious, it is an underlying fundamental to high performance driving and managing this is key to getting the most you can out of a car and reducing lap times. You can email Dion directly at [email protected] And follow him on Instagram at or twitter @Dionvmr We hope you enjoy this episode! Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers Highlights from this episode include: The raw lap video a bit after 11:30 in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Am-epQIjT4&t=758s A 5-minute snippet of Dion's review of Bill's lap can be seen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT2-NzD3o4Y Eric Meyer from NASA Great Lakes also discussed this lap from a data analysis perspective here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMtlsfwbSso 1) We review some of Dion's racing accomplishments including his time as an IMSA driver, winning the 24 hours of Daytona and the 24 hours of Sebring twice and his current work with Racers360 that is aimed at all levels of amateur racing of cars, motorcycles, go karts, etc. 2) A discussion of NJMP's Lightning track and its (obvious) nickname. Just look at the track map. 3) The advantages of personalized coaching and the feedback opportunities it opens up the coach and the driver. 4) Dion asks Bill to self-asses his driving strengths and weaknesses. This discussion was very short and very long, respectively. 5) The coaching consisted of not only the "what", but the "why" as well as an estimate of the potential impact on lap times and safety that area involved. 6) A big discussion of Turn 9 and Turn 10 at Autobahn that applies to several other turn complexes that lead onto long straights where sometimes you sacrifice a turn and sometimes it is not the best choice. It appears that as in life, nothing is 100% all the time. 7) Turn 1 at Autobahn is a high speed right hand turn that Dion went into in general and also used as an example of how best to break down a turn (backwards) to determine what to do for a specific turn, especially if you are unfamiliar with the track or turn. 8) To the surprise of absolutely no one, we also discussed vision and the need to relax and look very "long" and "wide" with good scanning practices. 9) Dion is a fan of trying to work on one or two things at a time and not overwhelming the driver while learning. 10) Bill gives a brief description of the Garmin Catalyst and how it worked for him at Autobahn during his first weekend with the unit. 11) Dion gets (unfairly) put on the spot with looking at Jennifer's crash at the Charlotte Roval. He agreed that is looks like a catch done well and a recovery not quite quick enough. Dion also recalls a time where he was able to catch a similar incident and save the car (with a bit of luck). It can be found at about 40-45 seconds into the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPq5K1giAC8 12) Racers in training weight loss challenge is entered. Please let us know if you want to participate. Dion may even help despite not needing to lose any weight personally. 13) Bill looks to scoop up a few brownie points when the opportunity arises. 14) Some of the takeaways and how they apply to all laps and all tracks. Many are going to be incorporated into his practice session at the track and on the sim. 15) Bill vents his standard color matching issues. Still no traction received. 16) Track Addict may be worth some investigation and if your budget allows perhaps an AIM SmartyCam. 17) Bill drags Dion into his current level of overthinking the geometry of a turn. 18) Another vote for the Senna documentary. Maybe Vicki will finally watch it. It is really fantastic, even if you aren't a race driver. 19) Post credits discussion of Mid-Ohio, with and without the chicane before the keyhole, and some volleyball discussion.
GHIT Podcast Episode 0142: Alex Levinson Orchestrates a Coup D'état with Some Friends
GHIT Podcast Episode 0142: Alex Levinson Orchestrates a Coup D'état with Some Friends We never had control to lose, but we somehow lost it anyway. You have been warned It all started innocently enough, Alex Levinson was coming onto the podcast and we had a plan to talk about racing and go karting. Little did we know there was a devious plot afoot. It began to dawn on us as he was signing in and the Zoom window label came through as Amanda. All was good, he was pretending to be Amanda, we would love to be half the driver and have half the mechanical knowledge and skills she has. Then the video came through and there was Amanda and Alex, but there was more. Off to the side, there was Donnie Petrunak, another well-known racer and a man who adds vowels to the pronunciation of his name without actually taking the time to write them into his name. Inauspicious start, but no worries, yet. Then we asked one question and I'm not sure we spoke again, lol. Strap in for this one, it's quite a ride. On our Dominating with Dawson, we cover one of Ben's favorite racing games, playing with the flags and how the simple act of paying attention can help you during a race. We hope you enjoy this episode! Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers Highlights from this episode include: 1) Comparison of the NASCAR approach to our Lucky Dog approach at the Charlotte Roval 2) An update on Alex's 2000 NB Miata daily driver that was crashed into at Charlotte while parked in the lot. It doesn't even make a good story. 3) A tremendous story about Alex's encounter with Paul Blart Jr. 4) Donnie "the Fist of God" Petrunak gives an update of his latest car battles and it sounds just like a normal day in the life of the Fail Inc Motorsports racing team and Florida Man Racing. Remember, no "i" in Petrunak, but being high maintenance, he wants one pronounced anyway, lol. 5) Apparently running cheaty BMW's runs in Amanda's family, so its really not her fault since its hereditary. 6) Stories and introductions to their three racing teams and cars. Alex takes 10 minutes, Donnie about 3, and Amanda about a minute, just like their lap times. Lol. 7) Donnie has his doctorate but apparently cannot count past 6, since that is the number of cars he "claims" to have. 8) Hospital, hospitable, same, same. Words are hard, maybe as hard as numbers. 9) Alex impersonates one of those old toys where you pull a string and it just keeps talking and talking. 10) Amanda answers the question as to what happened to her E36 BMW at Thompson. That car is usually an anvil and a monster. 11) Donnie has an issue with a certain wall at Daytona. But the walls always seem to win. 12) Alex offers Donnie's services to all the front running cars at NHMS and we warn others about allowing Mental nearby. 13) Several opinions about running a true 24 race from our guests. Still sounds like work to us though. 14) Alex gets a new nickname. Say hi to his new nickname "Grandpa". 15) Jen gets to ask a question. Bet you forgot she was there. I'm pretty sure she did too. 16) We received an update that we are the #4 automotive podcast in all of Indonesia. Thank you to the fans there and please ignore our guests. They were like an alcohol fueled dragster, just without the dragster. They even laughed at a one or two of Bill's jokes. 17) How Donnie learned to drive. This explains a lot. 18) Alex realizes that he is actually a race winning Porsche driver (as is Amanda), but he still can't pronounce Porsche. 19) Donnie has one of the best "car that got away" stories we may ever hear. 20) Alex has an amazing car ultimate road trip path.
GHIT 0141: Rachel Baker and Gina Ma from Driving Forward Together
Rachel Baker and Gina Ma from Driving Forward Together joined us for this episode where we discuss the goals and ambitions for Driving Forward Together and where they would like to be in the coming years. We also get to know Rachel and Gina's driving and racing history as well as getting to know them a bit better. We hope to see them out at a race next year. On Dominating with Dawson, we cover more vision, as in looking through the turn and trying to see as far down the track as possible. Information is power in racing too. You can follow Driving Forward Together at: Instagram and Facebook at Driving Forward Together or on their website. Also, they have some great merch through their Facebook page, some is even free. If you want to follow Gina, her Instagram is amazingly titled @GinaIsCuterThanAnyPanda We hope you enjoy this episode! Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers Highlights from this episode include: 1) What is the history of Driving Forward Together and how the group hopes to improve our racing culture and more. 2) How Gina and Rachel started out with cars and initially started racing 3) Gina and Jennifer bond over the 2 Soul Red ND2 MX5 Miatas. 4) What Driving Forward together is doing to assist ladies in autocross and motorsports 5) How autocross and track days can appeal to different personalities and we all agree that you should try as many forms of driving and racing to find the best fit for you. 6) How to find out about autocross and how easy your first event will be. 7) A great discussion of the various women only events and series. 8) We also go over the Faster Together incentive program that has partnered with EVO School and Beyond Seat Time, we have done both separately and found each to very helpful towards our driving progression. 9) How COVID 19 has affected their season so far and any accommodations that are being institute, as always it seems to be a fluid situation and vary from location to location. 10) They also offer several great interviews of fellow drivers in their Driving Forward Series that can be found on their website. 11) Some solid tops to the new and soon to be new autocross drivers. 12) A tremendous story that illustrates the importance of driving vs the importance of the car. Great driving will usually make up for a great deal of horsepower and dollars spent on the vehicle. 13) The barrier to entry is really very mall to start at your first autocross event. For reference, entry will usually be less than $100 per driver, sometimes often under $50 and all you need is a helmet and shoes. Rental helmets are often offered as well. So, borrow a car or take yours and give it a try. 14) Bill is working to go up to Massachusetts. It sounds like Rachel really has a great set up. 15) A horror story of Gina's first time at an autocross. This almost never happens, everyone is usually nothing but supportive and looking to share the fun. 16) Ziggy wants to let us know his favorite car movie.
GHIT 0140: Autobahn Country Club HPDE With NASA Great Lakes
We cover Bill's first HPDE 3 with NASA Great Lakes at the Autobahn Country Club South Course layout that is near Chicago. It was our teams first HPDE 3 and it was fantastic. NASA Great Lakes really shines with their HPDE curriculum. In addition, we had the opportunity to try the teams new Garmin Catalyst on track for the first time and we were very impressed. Several notable driving improvements were during the event and perhaps even a few Ahh Hah Moments. In addition, we discuss the "perfect" race car in the Dominating with Dawson segment for this episode. We hope you enjoy this episode half as much as Bill enjoyed the NASA Great Lakes event! Special thanks again to the entire Great Lakes team for running another top notch event, as always. Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers Highlights from this episode include: 1) A short track review of the South track at Autobahn. In addition, it was our first time on track with electronic flags. 2) We compare the relative costs of a track day weekend vs a divorce etc. 3) Differences between NASA Great Lakes HPDE 1, 2, and 3. 4) We cover some of the tremendous drills that start of most of the track sessions. They are very valuable to improve your driving skills and racing experience in a controlled and safe manner. 5) How NASA GL has altered the different HPDE levels and improved as they learn to account for COVID induced changes and still improve the quality of the instruction for each of their students in a very quick reaction, demonstrating their ability to respond nimbly to their students feedback. 6) Garmin Catalyst first impressions and review after using it to review our track driving for the first time this weekend. The in-car coaching was a very good addition to the weekend while we were in the car without an instructor. We hope to have a full episode with a guest in the next few weeks. We posted a few videos on our YouTube channel that has some of the Garmin instructions included if you are curious. 7) Bill is a big fan of the opportunities options that prioritize areas for potential improvement/low hanging fruit along with the potential quantified time improvement potential. 8) Jen asks the question Bill never wants to discuss with Vicki in earshot: How much is it? Vicki, close he webpage, just close the page. 9) Just remember, these are only $500 cars……… 10) Why does Bill always confuse Buddy Rich and Buddy Guy. No idea, but the model/example still applies. 11) Mork from Ork shows up for a small guest slot, some of you will see it. 12) Bad news on two of our GoPro's. They may not be useful for our in-car video due to the dynamic range of brightness or contrast from within the car vs the outside. 13) The anniversary that never seems to end. 14) A very good discussion of focus and being fresh on track, as well as a probably wise decision to use good discretion and skip the last session at the end of Saturday. 15) Bill's prep for a new track is getting better and almost where we would like it to be. The process we use during an HPDE is really getting dialed in and allowing us to get the most out of each stint and maximize the benefit for each HPDE we attend. 16) We cover some of the most significant improvements and a few Ahh Hah's from the event. 17) The goal of HPDE 3 to push beyond your comfort level and look for more speed was very good and appropriate after the training received in HPDE 1 and 2 with NASA GL. 18) The go kart track looked amazing, although we did not have a chance to try. 19) Bill makes a play at adding another HPDE/track day for NJMP. Schedule tbd. Details to follow. He would really love to get Jennifer and Vicki out once more with the Catalyst. It should help them both greatly. Some planning details still to be resolved. 20) What is left to get Brad safely out the door and what is left to start the process of GHIT Colorado. Look for us to come out to High Plains raceway and other tracks in the area as soon as Brad is set up and ready for us. Also one last chance for Bill to pick on Brad for signing up for several HPDE's and not
GHIT 0139: Team Progress and Update
This episode of our podcast is a listeners request, Jennifer, Vicki, and Bill go over what we have been up to and begin to look at where we are going for next year. Lots of changes, lots of cars gone, still a few to go, and lots of new cars added, most need some TLC. We think we are on a good path, but you can be the judge of that. Also, on this episode's Dominating with Dawson, we get into a discussion of driving skill vs driving talent. Lots of opinions, lots of thoughts, probably the first of several discussions related to this. In the end, there are very few people, if any, who if they are interested in our sport and apply themselves, cannot get to a competitive level and become a very good driver and racer. At least that's what we think. We hope you enjoy this episode! Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers Highlights from this episode include: 1) Our upcoming skid pad & autocross car control event at Lime Rock with Safety Third Motorsports. Jennifer and Vicki as so excited it is hard to explain, even for them. 2) How the 2.75 Porsche 944's and 1.0 Boxsters have found new homes and Brad's starting to prep his E46 330 for his move to Colorado. Maybe we have the beginnings of a Midwest/Mountain time zone team. 4.75 cars in one weekend. 3) The plan for the SpiderStang Mustang and the black Honda Civic are still tbd at this point, but may be available. 4) Bill has located a HPDE car that is undergoing some upgrade and preventative maintenance with the help of John Lavin from Safety Third Motorsports. It is a E46 that is changing from a SMG transmission to a manual transmission because that is just so much more fun and engaging. 5) An E46 330 shell magically appeared and is the long-term project car for Bill's goal of running the NASA Thunderhill 25 by 2025. So far, we have 3.5 drivers who are interested and now need only one more driver and Bill to get some more skill. 6) What are we doing with 1974 Capri. We have plans, but not enough skill at this point. 7) Should we build two Civic race cars, we don't know for sure at this point. Still TBD. 8) Our 2017 Ford F150 black cap is also looking for a new home 9) Mechanical status for each car and the progress to be accomplished over the off season this winter. 10) Bill is apparently stuck in bad joke/dad joke mode throughout this episode. We apologize. 11) We talk about what the plan is for modifying the cage in the yellow Honda Civic and the two smaller jobs of fixing the engine and adding new/better seat mounts. 12) Vicki is reminded of the winter project that was set for last winter. Perhaps we will have better luck this year. TBD. Maybe someday the ND Miata may actually have an interior again. 13) Bill tries to get some planning on the upcoming themes. Vicki and Jen don't want to get into it at all. Bill thinks its all a coverup for no plan. We shall see. 14) Vicki learns about the most romantic anniversary gifts ever. Why does Vicki put up with this? How did Bill ever get so lucky? 15) We are all three going to complete some car related courses this winter. Eventually, we will be competent mechanically and electrically. (These had better be good courses if they are to get us there, lol.) 16) New/recent garage tools and capabilities that will aide us this winter, with a quick review of each. 17) We reverse the "what does someone know about you that no one knows" question on each other. Bill stuffs a big foot into his mouth during this one. He will be sleeping in the bathtub for a long, long time. 18) Vicki learns that Thunderhill is located in California. Any ideas for Guests? Any ideas for upcoming topics? Please let us know at [email protected] or on our Instagram at @GarageHeroesInTraining
GHIT 0138: Lara Vernon, Friend and Racing Driver
Lara Vernon is our guest for this episode. She is a racing driver that is rapidly moving up the ranks of amateur racing. We have raced alongside her at our last event in Charlotte on the Roval and she just returned from winning the B class event with the true 24 hour race at CMP with the Sorry For Party team, driving in both their Firebird and 944 race cars during the race and posting the fastest laps for the weekend. Lara also owns a boutique exotic car dealership called "Rare Exotic Vehicles" in Asheville, North Carolina, that deals with very cool vintage hot rods and cars from the 1930's to excellent examples suitable for Radwood and other venues. You can Follow Lara's racing exploits at @Lara.is.racing and her @rareexoticvehicles on Instagram or on Facebook. On this episode's Dominating with Dawson, we talk about the importance of hydration at the track and several ways to stay hydrated. No, not that way. At least until after the track goes cold. We hope you enjoy this episode! Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers Highlights from this episode include: 1) Several excellent cars Lara has currently that are looking for a new home. 2) How autocross was (again) the gateway drug towards her wheel to wheel racing. It's not free, but it is very good way to learn car control and is also a low cost way of getting started. (Winning several races and a championship was also a good way to show she was on the right track) and led to Lara getting her SCCA racing license. 3) Vicki confuses the Fiesta ST with the Fiestas that she remembered from years ago. Bill has not done a good job of visiting car dealers with her. This will likely be remedied shortly. 4) How she came to first meet Ron Mexico/Jeff Caplan and then the Race Bar team. How her first race with Race Bar went in late 2019 and then again at the Charlotte Roval a few weeks ago. An excellent companion for getting into the wonderful abyss that is endurance racing. 5) How Lara attempted to challenge Dick Freelane's mustache, quite a noble but usually futile effort. 6) We hear about her experience racing at Road Atlanta in the snow. The track is plenty exciting without having to rely on being snow covered. 7) Lara has pursued and succeeded in amateur racing and has begun to dip her toe into some of the higher level opportunities with teams and sponsors. It is a challenging sport to convert to making a living, or even breaking even. 8) Lot of stories of her racing with Race Bar and some of the shared trials and tribulations both teams had at the Roval with Lucky Dog. 9) How Lara almost met Randy Pobst at the Charlotte Roval, how she almost raced against him, and how her Lobster faired against Randy's Moose. 10) We discuss how to make your own skid pad using cracked corn animal feed. If she pulls it off, we hope we get an invite. 11) She not only wins in "meat space" but also won a 24 hour endurance race in iRacing. 12) The Ayrton Senna miniseries came up again in discussion. We cannot wait for it to come out on Netflix. If you have not seen the Ayrton Senna documentary entitles "Senna", you are missing a great one. 13) Vicki shows off her car skills by confusing a Kia Soul with a Nissan Cube.
GHIT 0137: Danielle Tripp: Instructor and Racing Driver
Danielle Tripp is our guest for this episode with special co-host Ben Dawson coming in as well. Danielle is a member of the Winsome Racing team with Ben and has quickly progressed from starting our as a car girl who went on a racing experience event, started driving in HPDE events to become a racing instructor and raced in her first race in 2019. It was great to catch up with Danielle and see how she progressed and where she wants to go. We have no doubt she will get there, and quickly. As a fellow Spec E46 (to be) racer, we appreciate the time and dedication it takes to build one of these on your own. "Hold On Kids, Mom's Driving!!!" In addition, we also cover how to prepare for driving on a new (to you) racetrack. We each have your own personal methods and present several alternatives that you may want to try. You can follow Danielle on Facebook at: Danielle Tripp or by following Winsome Racing. She is also on Instagram @dtrippnurseracer Finally, in our Dominating with Dawson we go over how to introduce a new driver into racing, or more properly stated a few ways not to do it. Everything can be an example, some are examples of things to do, some are things not to do. We hope you enjoy this episode! Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers Highlights from this episode include: 1) We get into her certifications of bad ass-ery, both local and global. 2) How she started and how she first met Ben at the track and learned to be fast from him. 3) Me first hear about Banana Sandwich Mike. Still looking for him. 4) She drives an E46 BMW called "Peaches" (story included) and a Mustang named "Jesse". How the names came to be is entertaining. 5) How the cheapest of Hot Wheels car has led to the decimation of many family finances on racing cars. 6) How Danielle was the impetus to her husband Jason starting to enjoy racing on track as well as the mechanical aspects of the sport. 7) How the cash flow out for attending a track event may be cheaper than the cost of speed on a public road. 8) Ben foolishly promises to drive with us at the Thunderhill 25 in our Spec E46 if its ever finished. Its recorded for all time. 9) Bill cannot help but make comparison of their Winsome Racing team to our Lose Some racing team. It is really just way too easy. 10) Jennifer and Danielle bond over working on cars and how it compares to working on human bodies. We are even more worried about going to a doctor now, lol, especially since Vicki agreed. 11) Ben does his best impression of Debbie Downer from SNL. Cue the sad trombones. 12) We discuss the potential issues with being a female at a racetrack, which so far has been exacerbated in our experiences. 13) The group discussion on prepping for a new track is helpful in showing several different things that you can do to be ready before you even arrive in the paddock. We also discuss ways to improve once you are on track as well. Many great ways to increase your enjoyment, especially early in the day/weekend. 14) Outdoorsy and RVShare make their usual appearance on the podcast. They should really sponsor us. Or maybe just give a free rental every now and then. 15) Bill over-preps and shares an example below in a link for one track. Please let us know what you do, especially if it is different or better. We are always looking to improve. 16) We do not support nor recommend stealing your parent's car when you are underage, in spite of the fun we had during this episode. 17) Vicki is introduced to left foot braking for the first time. Mind >>> blown. It apparently has never come up so far. Or maybe it has, lol. 18) Bill recommends the recent Top Gear episode segment with the cars going to the golf driving range. One of the best segments ever. 19) Jennifer starts the South Dakota RV story but valiantly tries to get out without the details. Anyone want to hear more? Please let us know. 20) It looks like Reed will be trading cars with Danielle at an upcoming event. 21) Ben makes it very clear his feeling on new car nannies. Not a fan, especially on the track.
GHIT 0136: Roland Hahn or as we prefer "Rolling with Roland"
Roland Hahn is our guest for this episode with Ann Moran occasionally chiming in throughout the episode. Roland has been racing since the 80's and has probably completed more races than we have laps (which is not really that much of an exaggeration). Some fascinating stories and history that will help you and your team in the next race. On this episodes Dominating with Dawson, we go over Racing in the Rain. No, not the book, how to do it and how to enjoy it more. We hope you enjoy this episode! Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers Highlights from this episode include: 1) What Roland has learned at his last 875 or so races in all types of cars and racing. Yes, 875+ races and counting. 2) How he found his "home" in endurance racing and how endurance racing has changed since he first started at Nelson Ledges in 1987. 3) Race prep, racing practices, and safety equipment have apparently changed dramatically (for the better) since the 80's. 4) Some team history about how Roland first met Ann and their current team began about two years ago, as well as how Ann began racing and met Roland. 5) Vicki somehow manages to bring Xena into the podcast. Still puzzled by how that fit into the discussion, twice, but it somehow fit, and led to a discussion of Vicki meeting Roland for the first time when he was in drag at NHMS last year. 6) Things Roland has learned to do and perhaps even more importantly things not to do over his racing career. 7) How Roland and Ann found their current BMW E36 and their thoughts about racing it and E36's in general. 8) Post race "hangovers", even if you don't drink, are real. Especially if you race as often as Roland and Ann did last year. 9) We compare our relative "Hot Mess" levels and performance at the recent Charlotte race with Lucky Dog. 10) Roland does his best Karnac impression over a brake light switch at the Charlotte race. 11) The Dip Stick disaster that was Charlotte Roval and a really good title to a TV show episode. 12) How the two races at Charlotte went for their team. It was a bit of a battle for a long time, but in the end, it seems to have worked out well in the 10-hour race. This illustrates a series of the type of things that an endurance team can run into any weekend. The impossible is not impossible, but merely unlikely. The more laps raced, the more probably it becomes. 13) How Roland employed his experience and knowledge to survive a bit better than most on Sunday. 17 hours of racing at the Charlotte Roval was pretty hard on all the cars that were there, especially with the heavy breaking required for the Roval. 14) Jen does not share Roland's preference for concrete canyon race tracks. Maybe with time, but definitely not at the moment. 15) Roland was very impressed with racing with Lucky Dog and with his level of experience, impressing him is not the easiest thing to do. Especially impressive considering the COVID related conditions and the team not having its full team at the event. More grown up but still playful is a great way to put it. 16) Roland was kind enough to go into some of the race prep areas and philosophy he tries to employ for every race. He may write a book someday. We can't wait. Roland, do you need an editor or a co-writer? We know a guy. 17) ALWAYS learn something at every single race or you aren't really paying attention. 18) Succinctly put, we need a Roland. Every team does. We will be asking questions of him, often. Since he listens to our podcast, we are sure we have caused him to laugh out loud many times. Lol. 19) Tips to improve as a driver abound throughout this episode. 20) Roland provides the definitive answer to the long fought over question that torments the internet on a daily basis. Where do you put the transponder on the car to get the faster lap or to win at the finish line. You are welcome. (and we are sure the arguments will continue long into the future anyway)
GHIT 0135: Ben Dawson Dominates on This Episode (Plus Bill's latest HPDE at Mid-O)
Ben Dawson is our guest for this episode where we go over some of his racing history and a lot of how he has progressed to his current level and what he is looking to get into going forward. It was great to catch up with him and learn a bunch more about him and his driving. It is also the easiest episode ever to put in our Dominating with Dawson segment where we go over several methods for a driver to determine their speed and adjust accordingly on a track. This is especially important when you are learning and improving since your speeds will generally be increasing, as you wish it would, but that does impact your speed going into the subsequent turn or turns. Ben is tremendous driver, but not a hard core car guy and he treats the cars well, but more as a tool to use and get the most out of, as opposed to a piece of art or something to attribute more respect and awe to than deserved. There are definitely a few people we know who could enjoy their cars and driving more if they shifted a bit towards Ben's more pragmatic car philosophy. We hope you enjoy this episode! Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers Highlights from this episode include: 1) Everything you ever/never wanted to know about Ben and Ben's driving history. Driving really does seem to run in the family. 2) Ben is unhappy we aren't familiar with his 1986 Taurus MT-5. We were quite happy not knowing about it, lol. 3) Ben is in the midst on balancing his family and his current Spec E46 track car build. we also go over some of the steps that Ben has progressed through and led to his current racing interest, including getting a bit sideways on the dirt roads in Alabama growing up, competitive karting, autocross, and endurance racing across the US. 4) How Ben's racing philosophy has matured into a very simple mantra, if its not fun, I'm out. 5) We also discover how Ben got DQ'ed from a win at his pine wood derby car but did end up with a large "Bodacious Big Bear" bear (that he still has). I see a T-Shirt in the making, maybe even a Race Bar theme. 6) Tips for getting out there and trying to do some high performance driving or a track day etc. 7) A Good, Bad, and the Ugly for what to do and not do when looking to get started in high performance driving or racing. 8) A great bunch of stories and examples of how a team and a driver progresses through beginning stages and gradually moves towards a more seasoned racing driver. 9) Bill's latest HPDE with NASA Great Lakes at Mid-Ohio last weekend in the Toyota 86. 10) Bill's rather intimidating trip into the Keyhole turn with a McLaren 720S and a Shelby 350R and a race prepped Corvette in the rear view. 11) We also start discussing some of the turns at Mid-Ohio, as well as how to approach decreasing radius turns in general. 12) How much fun it was to take his driving test in the same session as one of the passing drills. 13) We get a question from Chrissy M that became an impromptu review of Mid-Ohio track itself, both the Club and Pro layouts that we ran over the weekend. AND we cannot help but take the opportunity pass on our compliments to their recent episode related to racing and burnout. It was fantastic, as always. 14) Ben says "mecca" and Jennifer and Vicki hear "naked, you can guess how the rest went. 15) A hilarious story about muscle relaxers and eating a tomato before going on track. Don't try this at home. 16) Our first discussion of land speed records and record setting 17) The Cerveza race team makes another appearance. Still need to get them on the podcast. Anyone know them? We would love an intro. Our upcoming schedule is a NASA Great Lakes HPDE at Autobahn (for the first time), a NASA Great Lakes HPDE at Autobahn NCM (for the first time), and a HPDE/Skid Pad/autocross event at Lime Rock. Potentially, we may be going to Summit Point for a skip pad event in October or November. Please let us know if you are coming or stop by anytime if you see us. Links: Mid-Ohio Track Map: https://speedsecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Mid-Ohio.pdf Bill's current track rankings are as follows: Pitt Race Charlotte Roval Gingerman NJMP - Thunderbolt Road Atlanta Watkins Glen Laguna Seca Mid-Ohio Thompson Monticello New Hampshire NJMP - Lightning Pocono
GHIT 0134: Race Bar is Back to talk about the Charlotte Roval Race with Lucky Dog
At our recent Lucky Dog race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, we were lucky enough to be in the paddock next to Race Bar. Yes, they are back. Jeff/Ron even took a stint in our race truck. On this episode we go over the entire event from their perspective and how Race Bar helped us throughout the weekend. As we covered in our earlier race review episode, the entire event was a blast and Race Bar was a large part of the fun. Jeff Caplan/Ron Mexico, Jandy/Daddy, Patrick McHugh/Richard "Dick" Freelane, and Kaitlyn "Pineapples" Morgan joined us for this episode. We were greatly outnumbered. We deal with hydration at track days, races and on the track in our Dominating with Dawson segment for this episode. We cover various options and what we have found to be effective at the track and in some of the highest temperature and humidity days we have seen both at the track, in the paddock and especially in the car which is usually much hotter than the local environment, especially when dressed in your safety and fire rated gear. We hope you enjoy this episode! Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers Highlights from this episode include: 1) Apparently, we have been abducted by Race Bar. Who knew. 2) It took less than four minutes for us to absolutely lose control of the episode. Did we ever get it back. Still tbd. 3) Was Charlotte Intimidating? Nope. Was racing on a big oval intimidating? Nope. Was racing with Lucky Dog intimidating? Nope. Was Race Bar being next to us in the paddock intimidating? Oh yes, yes it was. 4) We had a great time hanging with Race Bar but, we really had to tag out around 10 or 11 in order to function. Not sure how they do it. 5) Race Bar strongly endorses the Lucky Dog series and it balance of good racing and lots of fun. This was the best race ever for Race Bar. Ever. 6) We talk about the great highs and lows of endurance racing, sometimes at the same event in the same hour. 7) The pleasures of being serenaded over the radio by Dick Freelane as he drove around the high banks at Charlotte during the race. Ron Mexico has a book recommendation that you may choose to ignore. 8) I think we made an impression on Race Bar with our track food skills. It made their top list. Twice. We may be drafted to be on site food services. we know Jeff will bring his own fork if needed. Lol. 9) We talk a bit about how our team tries to deal with issues and our occasional setbacks. The priority should always be the driver and the team. We can build more cars. 10) There appears to be a plan for the race truck/The Bad Hombre/El Jeffe. Not sure we know what it is or if we have a vote. I think we lost all voting rights once Ron Mexico got into the race truck and drove it around the Roval. 11) We cover our race team theory and philosophy at the current point in our learning curve. 12) Race Bar has a list of he top 47 highlights from the race. It is quite a list. Quite the list indeed. 13) Tips for ways to help and get started at a race if you are ever interested. 14) Why track security woke Cathy up in her Hello Kitty PJ's around 2 AM one evening. What happens at Race Bar, stays at Race Bar. 15) Why you should always say no to a story that starts with "Do you want to see a man in a van by a river..." 16) Confirmation of who took the "L" off of our "Mr. Pool" E36. Unfortunately, it does fit the car, even more now. 17) Stories of driving the Citrus Race Truck without power steering trying to catch another Race Bar vehicle. 18) Slap cup drinking games and rule interpretation seemed to vary and why Lonnie may have had a slow start one morning. 19) How Deaf Power Racing came to race with us at Charlotte. There are certain advantages to not being able to hear "Baby Shark" all weekend. Potential options for adopting them into a Race Bar west. 20) Apparently there is a plan. We are now aware that there is a plan. We still don't know the plan, but we think we probably should at some point. 21) We reveal the story of the arrival and unloading of El Jeffe at the garage when we returned. I'm not mentioning any names since I don't want to have to sleep in the bathtub. Worth a listen. And thank you to the listener who suggested we change our name to "Garage Heroes In Traction". Thank you Blake. 22) We may have plans for a Summit Point track event. 23) We attempt to CSI the potential reasons behind our Chevy S10 keeps eating Steering Pumps like Seymour from "The Little Shop of Horrors" 24) How the Oooga Booga method for fixing the Fuel Pump worked and gave us a few more hours on the track before we needed to replace it the next morning. 25) How the speaker flew off during the race and how much of a fan some of the corner workers were of their music selections during the race. Also, we go into the joys of having a 120 dB stereo system in your race car that is remote controlled by people that are several hundred miles away from the track. 26) A Good, the Bad, and the Ugly to be remembered. 27) Ah Hah moments we all learned from the Charlotte race. 28) A good discussion of Jennifer's accident and how it feels after a bit o reflection. A good thing for all potential racers and racing teams to hear. 29) Potential next steps for our team to grow. 30) VIR sweeps the best track ever for Race Bar. And we get a bit of history of how VIR came to be.
GHIT 0133: Lucky Dog Reviews Their First Ever East Coast Race at the Charlotte Roval
We were lucky enough to get four of the Lucky Dog team to discuss with us the Lucky Dog series and how their first ever east coast race went at the Charlotte Motor Speedway on the Roval. Jason Miles, Briana Miles, Chris Wilhelm, and Justin Parcher were our guests for this episode. Please snug up your racing harness, this one is pretty fun but actually has some good content to learn from and may improve your team. On this episode of Dominating with Dawson we cover braking speed and how to manage your speed and adjust to different types of brake application and brake capability of different cars and especially when at a new to you track. Vicki and Jen excel at terminology and jargon, as always, lol. Then we get into the way to approach new tracks and turns, as well as a warning to be careful at our then upcoming race at Charlotte. Unfortunately, we ended up proving Ben to be prophetic. We hope you enjoy this episode! Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers Highlights from this episode include: 1) Jason works in the pits for IMSA and was obviously less than impressed with the GHiT team's mechanical skills and performance in the garage. 2) How the Charlotte race went and the impact that the COVID 19 pandemic had on the plans and the race itself. 3) What its like inside the huge Charlotte oval/roval vs the more normal road courses that Lucky Dog typically runs on the west coast and how it was for a Lucky Dog track. 4) Differences between what Lucky Dog typically sees on the west coast vs this east coast event. 5) The tracks impressions of Race Bar and some of their music selections. They are still puzzled by how the car can run for so long with the music at their typical volume. 6) How the Flying Moose sounded going through the pits towards the end of the race. What Randy Pobst and his team were able to do and the speeds they could get out of that car were amazing. 7) Special shout out to all the tow crews at Lucky Dog. It even carried over to the event at Charlotte. 8) Bill makes a joke about finally not having Eric at an event. It's kind of went over a lot like our cars. Maybe we should change our name to "Led Garage Heroes In Training". Maybe not. 9) How our Lucky Dog race coincidentally crashed into the background of the NASCAR race program broadcast in the background. 10) How Jason almost reenacted the lightning scene from Caddyshack at CMP. 11) What works and what doesn't seem to work in a Lucky Dog race. 12) The Deadpool E36 is still not fully regenerated. Fingers crossed. 13) we have a challenge in finding Chris' Nova (and bringing it to a Lucky Dog race) that he had purchased three times, so far. It had Oregon Plate QRL-231 to aid in your search. Let's bring it to a Lucky Dog race so he has to tech inspect it, again. 14) Jason demonstrates why females are often referred to as the smarter half of a relationship. 15) Jason missed out on a Porsche opportunity, perhaps he might want our 2 and three-quarters 944. Still available. Just let us know. 16) If we want to torment Justin, please locate Oregon license plate 910-AFC and get it ready for a Lucky Dog race. Last he saw the car, it was likely halfway towards passing safety inspection. 17) Vicki dropped a Star Trek reference. Perhaps she is a Trekkie or a Trekker or whatever the politically correct term is now. 18) Jason's story got Bill very concerned when he thought Jason said that the fastest he ever drove was on a Ferry. 19) Justin may have the biggest boat for his highest ever speed we have ever heard so far. 20) Vicki and Jen now want to race a taco truck. Don't ask.
GHIT 0132: Our 2020 Races at the Charlotte Roval with Lucky Dog
On this episode, we review the entire race weekend at the Charlotte Roval for our Lucky Dog endurance race. The first race started Friday night and ended Saturday morning. The second race was a 10-hour enduro that started at noon Sunday. It was our first time at Charlotte Motor Speedway, our first time at a big oval track, and our first race of the year. How hard could it be? What could go wrong? We found a few things. Luckily, we had several friends and new friends at the track to help us work through the problems and we all had a great racing weekend. On our Dominating with Dawson segment, we start to discuss the progression of driving skill and driving styles as you improve, moving from the introductory stages where you try to limit your inputs to one at a time and how to progress safely to where you begin to use and work towards mastering multiple inputs and more advanced techniques like trail braking etc. There is a lot to discuss and we are sure to add more to this area in future segments. We hope you enjoy this episode! Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers Highlights from this episode include: 1) The two new car themes/liveries for our E36 "Deadpool" race car and our "'Dat Tang Truck" citrus racing truck. Several pictures will be on our website. 2) Mechanical car prep saga for the race. 3) Vicki and Jen drove the E36 BMW 3 series race car for the first time on track. we cover their first impressions from Friday's practice and the races. 4) Our issues with both cars. In summary, our race truck had issues with the power steering pump and hit a cone that tore off the oil line and also had issue with the mass air flow sensor. Our E36 had an intermittent problem with the fuel pump and then tried to converse with one of the walls ending its weekend. 5) Our thoughts on the Charlotte Roval and driving on the high banked turns, the chicanes, and the infield "mushroom" track of the Roval. 6) Vicki finally experienced her first use of controlled slip angle during her stint as she progressively got faster and more comfortable with the E36 race car Friday night. 7) The Bad Hombre/El Jeffe race truck experienced a brake fade issue, again, and was down on power until the issue with the mass air flow sensor was addressed (on Sunday) 8) How the weekend went for our two guest drivers from the west coast from Deaf Power Racing, Jeff Wright and Lonnie Tanenburg. 9) Jen's accident going into turn 8. We are waiting for Deadpool to regenerate. Video on our YouTube channel and on our website on the post for this episode. 10) How Jen is feeling after her accident and what the prognosis is for the rest of her season. 11) We had a little fun picking on the vultures next to us picking the bones off the E36 carcass. Lol. 12) What we should do about replacing the E36. 13) How we are going to treat the video like the Zapruder film and figure out what happened and what we can learn from the incident. 14) We invent a new drinking game for this episode where you drink once for every time Race Bar is referred to as brilliant and/or somehow helps us get back out onto the track. Try it. Our podcast only gets better with drinking. 15) Jeff Caplan from Race Bar took a run for an hour in our race truck and even with power steering issues and being at less than full power, he seemed to really enjoy the race truck. 16) We came. We saw. We were conquered. 17) Bill is still working on getting all the names straight on the Race Bar team, since each of them seems to have at least three names. Lol. 18) Racing at night and on the high banks, we looked just like NASCAR, just at half speed, lol. 19) Our racing and HPDE plans for the rest of 2020. 20) Our traditional Good, Bad, and the Ugly for the weekend, as well as what we learned and several changes we may need to make going forward to improve. 21) Cue the Kenny Loggins.... 22) Jennifer may have the best and shortest responses to her Bad and Ugly ever. What are our plans going forward to replace the E36? What do you think we should do? Please let us know what you think we should do in a comment or ideally in a podcast review or email us at [email protected]
GHIT 0131: All about tires with Danny van Dongen of Hankook Motorsports
Danny van Dongen is an accomplished racing driver and has started several businesses in Europe and the US, including a racing school, a racing series, as well as successfully starting up Hankook Motorsports that offers tires for racing in the US to nearly all forms of both amateur and professional racing series. We would like to thank Danny and the team for their RS4's our tire of choice for endurance racing and the official tire of both Lucky Dog and WRL endurance racing series. We try to summarize some of Danny's racing career initially and then we move into the area of tires, their construction, and their proper use in racing. This is hoped to be a good introduction to tire technology, hopefully we can have Danny back for a 201 level discussion. On this Dominating with Dawson episode, we talk about the monster under the bed that many do not acknowledge, fear as a factor in going fast and going faster. Fear is literally a totally natural thing and affects everyone at some point. We talk about it, where it may arise, and several ways of dealing with it. This may be a first of several parts in this area. You can follow Danny on Instagram at @DannyvanDongen We hope you enjoy this episode! Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers Highlights from this episode include: 1) How his racing experience has helped with both car testing and development as well as tire testing, also complimenting his business development in both areas. 2) How his race at the 25 Hours at Thunderhill went last year and the pleasure of a mostly night race on a very muddy track. His skid school training was really pushed to the limit. 3) How the different Hankook Motorsports tires are designed and manufactured to be longer lasting and more stable, perfect for endurance racing. 4) A discussion of the benefits and challenges in designing a tire, both slicks/racing tires as well as the 180 tread wear tires we race. 5) The basics of tire designations and understanding the letters and numbers typically on a tire such as 245/40 ZR17 vs 225/50 VR16 etc. 6) Tips on tire and rim selection and the importance of the interaction of the rim width and the tire tread width. 7) Important considerations like rim width to tire width, tire profile, tire loading, tire circumference interaction with the car gearing, etc. 8) How the mass of a tire affects the heating up of the tire and affects the endurance/stability of the tires. 9) Whether you need to break in a tire, how to break it in, and why the cars are always swerving back and forth at the beginning of a race. 10) How best to pre-heat your tires on pace laps. Also, please avoid the marbles, nothing good can come from them. 11) Heat cycling, proper tire break in, and storage of tires for racing slicks and possibly RS4's. Sunlight is not your tire's friend. 12) Optimum tire temperatures and hot tire pressures for the RS4's and similar tires. 13) Whether heat cycles are an issue on RS4's, as well as racing tires and slicks. 14) Bill reminisces about his bad Armor All experience when he was much younger. 15) The importance of tire temperature and pressure and general windows for the Hankook tires. Including how to measure and interpret the tire temperatures when testing at the track, as well as suggested car or tire changes to respond to tire temperature variation across a tire or from side to side and/or front to back. 16) Temperature ranges and pressure ranges for slicks and R comps tires and how it varies by the compound you select. 17) Autocross users may need to look at using tire warmers to alleviate the problem of thermal transients and never reaching a true steady state temperature or pressure. 18) Jason from Lucky Dog has been keeping a secret from us related to using RS4's in the rain on a track. We will have to talk with him at Charlotte, lol. 19) A good discussion of filling the tires with air vs nitrogen vs carbon dioxide. The key is keeping the water out so that it wont boil in the tire affecting the stability of the air pressure during a race. 20) What is involved in keeping tire records and how to actually use the information. Sounds like Bill will be making another excel spreadsheet immediately. 21) We tried to get some breaking news on the new RS5's but we did find two new size additions that are coming soon. All NDA's stayed intact during the episode. 22) Vicki brings up the time when Bill lost a tire, again. She just can't help it whenever an opportunity arises. 23) Vicki is jealous of the Lucky Dog RS4 tires having a Lucky Dog sticker and is trying to figure out how to do it with our logo. Still tbd but she is all over it.
GHIT 0130: Nate Tennis from DirtFish Rally School about all things rally
Nate Tennis from DirtFish Rally school joins us on this episode to discuss rally driving, racing, and training. Nate reviews his background (since essentially his birth) and how his school approaches teaching the principles of rally driving to their students. His extensive background in rally and off road racing for over two decades and counting helps tremendously in teaching their students since 2010. DirtFish's original vision was to become the premier rally school in the United States. Moreover, DirtFish has evolved into one of the most prestigious professional rally school in all of North America, and earning a reputation in all forms of performance driving, specialized training, education and all-out commitment to rally. Beyond rally, DirtFish is a great frontier to learn about handling, speed, agility, and car control skills, with a profound enthusiasm for the dirt and gravel driving derived car control from its rallying roots. If your car control skills could use some sharpening and especially if you are not 100% comfortable with you car getting unstable or sliding in a turn, this may be the best investment in improving your driving skills. You can follow Nate and the adventures at DirtFish Rally School at: @Nate_Tennis on Instagram Or at www.dirtfish.com Or to email Nate use: [email protected] Dominating with Dawson Factors that affect a turn and how your car will behave Make sure to mention "Garage Heroes In Training" to get your coveted zero dollar discount when you register for a class at DirtFish. You can follow Nate and the adventures at DirtFish Rally School at: @Nate_Tennis on Instagram Or at www.dirtfish.com Or to email Nate use: [email protected] We hope you enjoy this episode! Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training immature endurance racing team drivers Highlights from this episode include: 1) Bill gets pronunciation help with eh town name where DirtFish is located in the Cascade Mountains area of Washington (Snoqualmie, its actually a bit easier than it first appeared, its all about where the syllables break) 2) Special hello to Nate's parents, our two newest listeners, lol. 3) An intro to what rally is and how it works, just in case you may not be fully fluent in it. 4) How accessible the rally cars and drivers are if you attend an event. 5) Types of rallies include sprints and range up to several hundred miles over multiple days and how the transits work. PS It is not necessarily a Ford van. 6) Types of cars, types of tracks, types of surfaces, safety equipment requirements, and how to begin to set up a car for rallying, as well as where to find a rally event across North America. 7) What DirtFish is and what they specialize in at the school and how the school curriculum is structured for the different class sessions that range from a few hours to several days to account for almost any budget and schedule. 8) How the driver and navigator work together and communicate prior and during the rally stages. 9) Bill proposes a tremendous plan for rally events when Nate is racing against the Subaru factory team. 10) Nate walks us through what the differences and commonalities between rally and track racing and how the skills of rally can augment and improve your track driving. 11) DirtFish may be able to help us with our ice racing goal for the weekend, provided the ability to travel and race remains possible. 12) Vicki misinterprets what "BYOS" means as related to our ice racing future. 13) We workshop a new T-Shirt design for the DirtFish school. 14) We have found a way for anyone to learn how to controllably slide their car, even Vicki. 15) Bill has a terribly awesome idea for a cross platform race where part is rally is on the track at the Ridge. Cathy/Lucky Dogs, are you in? We would love to help if we can. 16) Rally training may also be a tremendous way to help any new driver from avoiding an accident by greatly improved car control and situational awareness. 17) How to get comfortable with the instability of driving at the limit. 18) How the principles of rally driving can compliment any f your driving kills you may have already learned on track or autocross'ing etc. 19) Zoe Lemons Fischer, our Bernese Mountain dog, makes another appearance during the podcast. 20) What happens if you lose track of what page of the trail notes you are on and how to give feedback from the drivers position. For all your rally driving learning or to find a race in any area, please go to www.dirtfish.com> on their events calendar which covers any event that they are aware of at: https://dirtfish.com/calendar. Or alternatively at the America Rally Association at: https://www.americanrallyassociation.org/
GHIT 0129: Review of Our NASA Great Lakes HPDE at PittRace 2020
Jen, Vicki, and Bill review how the NASA Great Lakes HPDE event at PittRace went last weekend. It is our team's most anticipated HPDE event of the year and we were not disappointed. Jennifer had our friend Chris as her instructor for the entire weekend and it showed as she progressed dramatically through the event in her ND Miata. Vicki was also in HPDE 1 with another friend Jim as her student partner and also learned a ton, especially related to weight transfer in her NB Miata. Bill was in the HPDE 2 group with both Chrissy and Jeff in the E36 race car and the stock Toyota 86 for this weekend. With COVID 19 controls in place, there was no right seat driving instruction option, but NASA Great Lakes is continually learning, adapting, and responding with improvements that allow for a great amount of instruction for every student. The Dominating with Dawson segment for this episode was initially in the area of coasting but we quickly wandered off into proper use and application of the throttle and aspects of controlled or over controlled track driving as opposed to pushing the limit and getting out of a comfort zone. We hope you enjoy the episode! Best regards, Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racing Team Highlights from the episode include: 1) Our group of 7 brought 7 cars with us and Chris did his best Randy Pobst impersonation by driving almost every one of them during the weekend. 2) Our teams struggle with car preparation and timing continued and we agree they must be addressed going forward. 3) Jen, Vicki, and Bill all had goals going into the event, largely as we discussed after our last HPDE at GingerMan several weeks ago. 4) Track learning/prep is very important to allow us to focus on our driving and not be distracted by "learning" the track at the same time for a new to us track 5) We discuss the Saturday event and the Sunday event and how we did not prepare our meals as well as normally because we were way behind. Sorry to our camp sharing friends. 6) Vicki converts Jen's RV sink into a disposal, for a short time. 7) We compare and contrast HPDE 1 and HPDE 2 from this event. 8) We individually cover the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from the event 9) Vicki "surveyed" the track extensively after turn 10 during her spin on Saturday. Vicki did get to wave to Jennifer as she drove by a bit later. 10) Chrissy, Vicki, and Chris encountered a handling issue on the NB Miata that was easily fixed by adjusting the adjustable shocks in the rear. Who knew? PS We are sorry for not listening to you earlier Chrissy. 11) Jen solved her downshifting issue going into a turn that has plagued her to this point. This was solved by slowing down by letting out the clutch, especially on track. The best part is that Jennifer can also practice this on the street during her daily driving. 12) Jennifer failed miserably by not getting her training partner over to our podcast. Lol. 13) We learned a lot from this event both about our prep and our driving. 14) Bill admits we have too many cars and need to downsize significantly. 15) Vicki summarizes our teams learning and progress to this point. 16) Vicki's "ah ha" moment included understanding weight transfer and improving her down shifting/sequencing going into turns. Hopefully, this will help when she races a front wheel drive car again. 17) Jennifer's "ah ha" moment included shifting and especially downshifting and actually her hearing tires "sing" through the turns for the first time ever on track. 18) Bill's "ah ha" moments included 1) Bringing Lemons "skills" and HPDE "skills" together into a complimentary driving style utilizing both, 2) Comparison and E36 race car and the Toyota 86 street car, and 3) How significant the difference between sticker tires and scuffed tires. We won't be sending any of our newer drivers out on track with sticker tires ever. 19) Vicki did not get out onto the track in the E36 BMW race car due to an accident in the prior session closing the track on Sunday prematurely. 20) Some of the advantages of lead follow and some of the difficulties we saw. NASA Great Lakes addressed these by actually switching the lead follow to what is essentially a switch of the cars into a "follow - Lead" where the student is in front of the instructor at several points. 21) Goals for our next HPDE event for each of us.
GHiT 0127: Our Team Answers the Fast and Furious Question - By Request
We try to give answers to questions our listeners want to know, usually to help them progress as drivers, but sometimes we get requests to answer questions that are not going to help you drive any better, ever. This is one of those times and one of those episodes. Several of you have asked us these questions at the track or via the inter webs, so here they are, as requested. Throttle steering is the subject for our Dominating with Dawson segment this episode. This is one of the ways that you can make a car turn without using your steering wheel. We hope you enjoy the episode! Best regards, Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racing Team Highlights from the episode include: 1) Somehow we combined the Fast and Furious questions with the Newlywed Game during this episode. 2) Who has driven the fastest on our team. Any guesses? Unfortunately, not all have hit triple digits, yet. New team goal for our next HPDE! 3) Alan wanders off during the podcast with his wireless microphone. Can't even herd cats on the podcast. 4) Jennifer stretches the limits of what a car sound is, just a bit. 5) What were some of our team members "Ahhh Hahhh" moments.
GHIT 0126: Breaking "Barriers" That Are Keeping You Off Track or From High Performance Driving
Christian "Mental" Ward joins us for a very special episode where we try to break down any barriers that are keeping you from getting started and trying high performance driving or going out to a track or autocrossing etc. As with every Mental episode, we have tons of stories and go very, very long. So strap in for a great episode where we show various ways for you, YES YOU, to start TODAY! PS this will also apply to getting some improved training opportunities for the new drivers in the family. Avoiding an accident is the best safety system. If you enjoy taking the fun way home from work/school, if you enjoy going around exit ramps, but you haven't tried anything further, this episode should show you how to break through any barrier that prevented you from REALLY enjoying your car. "That guy can sure spin a yarn" - Jeff Wakeman Barriers Broken during this episode: 1) I don't have a racing license 2) I don't have a car to race with 3) My car isn't ready 4) It's too far away 5) I am too intimidated by the people or the other cars/may car, or the track 6) I don't know how to get started (Hint you can contact us or E1R etc.) 7) I'm a ______ e.g. Girl, too young, too old, out of shape, the wrong shape etc. etc. etc. 8) I will one I _____ (insert any number of wonderful wish list items) 9) It costs too much 10) I don't have time 11) Ego issues 12) Where can I find where I can ______ Our Dominating with Dawson segment for this episode goes into the often overlooked art involved with downshifting, how and when to do it properly, how to practice during your daily driving, and how it can help your car last quite a bit longer during a race. We hope you enjoy the episode! Best regards, Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racing Team Highlights from the episode include: 1) References to Hamsa and Matt 2) Hot tub rule #1 at the track 3) Details of the Deer Incident/Inside Joke can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TS0Ve1sUL8 4) Your race car is never, ever finished. Ever. 5) Waiting to get your car faster or a faster car will actually impede your learning progress. Counterintuitive but absolutely true. 6) Teen driving training discussion and resources (a few links below) 7) This episode may contain some tough love, but it's all with love. 8) We take advantage of the opportunity and hit Mental with the Fast and Furious questions, finally Descriptions: Autocross: Racing usually in a large area around a temporary course usually composed of orange cones HPDE: High performance driving education - Where you can learn to drive better, usually on a race track Track Night in America: an event held at a local track where you can drive your car around a race track and dip your toe into the pool iRacing: a brand of sim racing on a computer that the focus is on more realistic racing than a traditional racing game. Lots of links: SCCA: https://www.scca.com/ NASA: https://www.nasaproracing.com/ Track Night in America: https://www.tracknightinamerica.com/ Go Carting: Lots, use Google 24 Hours of Lemons: https://24hoursoflemons.com/ Lucky Dog: https://www.racelucky.com/ AER: http://americanenduranceracing.com/ Champ Car: https://champcar.org/ WRL: https://www.worldracingleague.org/ Race Seats for Rent: Lots (Google) including The Dog Pound for Lucky Dog and OK Stupid for Lemons seats and Kingpin Motorsports. Driving Experiences: Lots, use Google Grass Roots Motorsports magazine Link: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/guest-blog-open-letter-lgbtq-car-enthusiasts No Money Motorsports: https://nomoneymotorsports.com/2020/06/09/the-14-most-effective-tips-to-spend-less-on-track-days-and-racing-maximize-your-track-time/ Motorsports Reg: https://www.motorsportreg.com/ Teen driving Training near Atlanta: https://atlantamotorsportspark.com/teen-driving/ B.R.A.K.E.S: https://putonthebrakes.org/ Race Image: http://www.raceimage.com/ Racers Parts Wholesale: https://racerpartswholesale.com/ GHiT Handy Links: https://garageheroesintraining.com/racing-resources/ EVO School: http://evoschool.com/ Team O'Neil Rally School: https://www.teamoneil.com/ Skip Barber Racing School: https://www.skipbarber.com/ DirtFish Rally School: https://dirtfish.com/ Bondurant: https://bondurant.com/ The "Marks" clubs, e.g. BMW CCA: https://www.bmwcca.org/ PCCA: https://www.pca.org/ Audi: https://audiclubna.org/ No Man's Land Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c0dj11dn98 The Wraith Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC1DRl26Guo
GHIT 0125 Lucky Dog Is Coming East to Charlotte with Cathy McCause Fuss
Cathy joins us on the podcast again to talk about the first ever Lucky Dog endurance race on the east coast that will take place in 4 weeks at Charlotte Motor Speedway on their Roval and we will be under the lights! There is no way we would miss this race and it will likely be our teams only wheel to wheel race this season. Cathy discussed how the Lucky Dog season has gone this year and what updates to the race procedures that they adopted to assist with COVID 19 compliance. If you haven't been to Lucky Dog race yet, this may be a great opportunity. There are still a few spots left to enter a car and there may be seats available on their website under the "Dog Pile" area. We simply cannot wait. Dominating with Dawson covers the term throttle steering and helps us to understand what it means and how it can be used on track to add a little more to your driving repertoire. We hope you enjoy the episode! Best regards, Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racing Team Highlights from the episode include: 1) Cathy's history at the Charlotte Motor Speedway 2) How COVID 19 has changes the Lucky Dog paddock procedures and how everything is still very fluid and changes day to day and especially track to track 3) Changes that have been tried so far include no pitting on pit row, requiring a face mask or a racing helmet at all times, limited track access for kids and spectators/visitors. 4) The details of the Charlotte race include over 18 hours of racing, The BBQ event is still a go for Saturday evening, and a 10-hour race Sunday. 5) There is over $10,000 in prizes and awards available during the weekend, not counting the $10,000 in watches from Rebel Watches (We Are Rebels!) and the $3,000 d in tires from Hankook tires, hopefully our much preferred RS-4's. 6) We may be able to debut the new 196 Honda Civic is all goes well with the prep and cage. 7) Attendees will include traditional west coast Lucky Dog entries as well as many east coast and midwest teams. 8) Horse trading seats as a way of trying new tracks and events 9) Potential tracks that may appear on the 2021 Lucky Dog schedule. 10) How Lucky Dog works with a flexible qualifying model to balance competitiveness and still allow for new and experienced drivers in a single event. 11) Randy Pobst will be racing his Volvo at the Charlotte event. He will be much faster than we are. 12) The mystery of the Fuss Fantom E46 continues. 13) Greg and Bill may have similar car buying issues. But on the bright side, Bill may have solved a race car solution for both coasts. Greg, call us. 14) Bill is confused between goats and sheep and everyone is confused with Lucky Dog racing and racing dogs.
GHIT 0124: GHIT Flashback to Thompson 2018 with the 24 Hours of Lemons
On this flashback episode, we cover our team's second ever race at Thompson with the 24 Hours of Lemons series in 2018. How did the race go? Well, it was our first ever two car race. It was the first ever race for half of our team (Alan, Jennifer, Casey, and Pete). It was our first time on track with the SpiderStang and our friends at Prompt Critical showed Liam and Cassian how to "adjust" the boost on the SpiderStang. The Capri died and is still dead to this day. We won the "I Got Screwed" award. Details of our weekend and what we learned shall be provided. PS Never show your new to racing teen age team mates how to adjust the boost. Also, on this episodes Dominating with Dawson, we go over car control and what it means when someone refers to a car "rotating". We hope you enjoy the episode! Best regards, Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racing Team Highlights from the episode include: 1) We quickly gloss over the new raspberry additions that Alan and Bill added to Vicki's garden area. 2) We cover from post-race of our first race at NJMP to the conclusion of our second race at Thompson 3) How our team grew from our first race with 4 drivers to where we had a two-car team with 8 drivers. Our preparation was not quite up to what it should have been. Especially with 4 additional drivers, two of which that had never driven a manual transmission before. 4) The advantages and disadvantages of a teen drivers on a racing team 5) How a perfectly performing a running car from our last race did not stay that way during the trip back from the track, to the great surprise of all involved. Carburetors are not our center of expertise and decided to let us know. 6) How the SpiderStang theme came to be and what we learned in doing it. It ended up looking great, but the process was not one we would recommend. Sometimes you learn what to do and sometimes you learn what not to do. We also mention how we built "Bondo", a PVC and spray foam version of a mannequin to be used as Spiderman on our car. 7) Vicki's trials and tribulations for her first time driving to a race with a race car trailer. It did not go very well. 8) How our first time trying to stay at the track went. In a word: poorly. We have come up with much better sources for renting RV's to stay at the track since then. 9) How our new drivers first time driving went. Quick checklist, panic attack at being strapped in, panic attack about going on a racetrack in the pit lane, first ever racing in the rain and heavy fog, and how to be a rolling chicane on the track. 10) Prompt Critical helped us with our cars but gave away a bit too much information to Liam and Cassian. They now knew how to adjust (read as increase to maximum) the boost of the turbocharger. After all, more is better, lol. 11) How to dial in a brake proportioning valve during testing. 12) Alan's chipmunk powered internet popped up again, a few times. Bill had no idea on how to edit this, but it seems pretty funny. 13) How we became an award-winning racing team at this event. It all started with Jennifer and her license in driver tech inspection. Well on our way to minor internet celebrity status. Still on the way to this day. 14) Things we learned at our first ever rain race and our first ever fog race, all at the same race. 15) The story of the death of the Capri and the birth of El Jeffe, The Bad Hombre. 16) We share the secret concoction to keep fog off your windshield that was shared with us by the Three Pedal Mafia. 17) Alan treats his body like a temple? And we finally found the root cause for why Alan doesn't want to work on the Capri. 18) Bill tries to avoid sleeping in the bathtub even though we won the coveted "I Got Screwed" award. 19) Finally, we go over the post-race awards and the trials and tribulations we went through to get home afterwards.
GHIT 0123: Bill Griffin NASA Racing Driver and Jennifer's HPDE Instructor from GingerMan
Bill Griffin has worked his way up to through the HPDE ranks to where he is a racing driver as well as an instructor, actually Jennifer's instructor from GingerMan a few weeks back. We talk with him about his history and progression from having zero experience in performance driving to where he competes regularly with NASA and Grid Life as well as instructing when he can. Bill grew up liking racing as many people who grew up near Indianapolis did and eventually began driving himself when his work and family life allowed, proving again that it is never too late to start to enjoy performance driving and even racing. He is a very relaxed and knowledgeable driver and Jennifer loved having him as an instructor. We cover how the NASA Great Lake GingerMan HPDE classes went without being able to have in car instruction and offer several options that may be ways to improve the teaching methods without right seat instruction as an option due to COVID 19. The event was awesome, but as with everything else, you can always improve, in everything. You can follow him on Instagram at Bill Griffin. On one of our simplest episodes of Dominating with Dawson we review crabbing or cheating into a corner. We hope you enjoy the episode! Best regards, Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racing Team Highlights from the episode include: 1) We cover Bill's progressions from newbie track driver and not terribly mechanical to a regular racing driver and instructor (who has been to the track 5 weeks straight and counting) (Very jealous) 2) What is a competition (or race) license, as well as several methods and paths towards getting one. 3) Bill seeks guidance to how to schedule a season of racing with the rest of our team. Perhaps an appointment for hearing testing is in order. 4) Bill also goes into a quick review of some of the exotic sports cars he gets to drive with Extreme Experience and their clients. This is especially useful if you are taller, like Bill who is 6' 4". 5) Bill (the other) also goes over the potential limits in size for a driver in a Mazda Miata MX-5. We have seen one with a cage that fits the owner that was 6' 8" and swallowed Bill up quite easily. 6) Bill even goes over why he chooses to remain instructing the HPDE 1 group of students. 7) We cover how the NASA Great Lake GingerMan HPDE classes went without being able to have in car instructional and offer several options that may be ways to improve the teaching methods without right seat instruction as an option due to COVID 19. The event was awesome, but as with everything else, you can always improve, in everything. 8) Suggestions included 1) potentially using in car radios to communicate to the students, 2) lead follow groups of only two students, 3) only using partial lead follow (allowing students to assume lead position and instructor to follow), 4) perhaps grouping the instructors and cars to match performance, 5) using better/more universally defined hand signals, 6) more use of different cones for initial track learning, 7) perhaps adopting an unofficial "HPDE 1.5" level/group within the HPDE 1 population, 8) incorporating the use of in car video, 9) positioning instructors with notebooks around the track to view at significant turns or areas of the track to provide feedback to the classroom or debrief sessions, 10) potential pathways to getting increased options for right seat/in car instruction. 9) The tricks and differences in being an instructor in a lead follow environment versus being in the right seat and the potential for lead follow groups to become longer groups, which can make some of the instruction into a bad game of telephone. 10) Riding a bike vs walking the track during a track walk. 11) Several tips for new to track or high performance drivers. 12) Bill unprompted supports Bill with the prep required before coming to the track as well as using 2-3 max goals and a few comments for each track session, especially during an HPDE event. Now if we could only get the Wilson sisters to agree, lol. 13) How your first few HPDE events can feel like your brain is drinking from a fire hose and how to potentially reduce this effect (like following the ideas from #12 above) 14) Bill F. tries to sneak in a Good, The Bad, and the Ugly segment on how Jennifer did during here HPDE event. Bill G. is much too nice to comply, but we will keep trying. 15) How driving in a lead follow instruction environment make lengthening your vision particularly difficult. 16) Tips for everyone (and us) on their next HPDE event. Ours will be at Pitt Race in late July with NASA Great Lakes. 17) The importance of focusing on consistently hitting your track marks and letting the speed build naturally. Because it will. 18) How teaching and instructing has helped Bill's racing and how Racing has helped him as an instructor. Hopefully, it will help our Bill when he gets there, lol.
GHIT 0122: NASA Great Lakes HPDE at GingerMan - Post HPDE Review
Jennifer, Vicki, and Bill check in to review how the recent HPDE at GingerMan went with NASA Great Lakes. We are not in our usual location and are recording under a roof in a KOA near Traverse City Michigan so there may be a bit more background noise than normal but we wanted to record while everything was still very fresh, even though we were all pretty exhausted. On this week's Dominating with Dawson, we go into a discussion to clarify apexes and Ben's approach and how the point of rotation can apply to your driving, including a discussion of Ken Hill s podcast and how we should approach this during he (at that point) upcoming HPDE at GingerMan. We hope you enjoy the episode! Best regards, Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racing Team Highlights from the episode include: 1) We compare the structure of this HPDE which focuses on drills and with the COVID 19 separation not allowing for in car instruction at this point. 2) The advantages and disadvantages of a lead follow, especially if it was a group of three this became more of an issue. 3) How quickly NASA Great Lakes is responding to the new rules and conditions on track in a rapidly evolving climate and imposed rules by each state and track. 4) What aspects of racing Vicki and Jen learned at this HPDE and what skills they refined during the weekend. 5) How HPDE track days allow for focusing on the correct and repeatable line vs our racing where we rarely use the line and handle traffic while driving both on and offline. 6) The drills we used during the weekend, including running the track in reverse. 7) How a great track walk with a very large group led to great discussion and options for approaching several sections of the track that even some national champion drivers learned more about racing options at GingerMan. 8) Ways to practice on your daily drive to help improve your track driving. 9) Apex everything! 10) The comparative differences between the HPDE 2 and HPDE 1 11) The skid pad - Winter driving event we had scheduled for earlier this year is again one of the negative highlights for our season 12) Vicki and Jen both had issue with getting their vision farther down the track, especially in the lead follow used during their HPDE 1 group. 13) Both Vicki and Jen both felt their speed progressively increased on the track throughout the weekend. It really was almost as if we needed a 1.5 level for these COVID impacted events. 14) In car video issues during the weekend impacted our results but we discuss what we think the video will show of our driving through the weekend. We shall see once we download our videos later this week. 15) There were some pretty spectacular cars at GingerMan this weekend and we could not help but pick a few of our favorites that came to mind in our racing hangover induced state. 16) Bill tries to work through Jennifer's acceleration issues during the weekend and hos hypothesis is that she isn't fully revving 17) Bill inserts his foot fully into his mouth. He will likely be sleeping in the bathtub for the rest of the week. 18) Vicki almost got arrested for stealing as one night by mistake. 19) Somehow, Vicki and Jennifer were introduced to the term Camber during our track walk for the first time. Not sure how we missed it up to this point but apparently we did. 20) We also went through our thoughts on the track and several of our favorite and more difficult turns for each of us. 21) Vicki's favorite track of the weekend was NamregNig (GingerMan backwards) 22) Bill tries to get out of the hole he dug with John Pagel. A few hopefully helpful suggestions for NASA we think are: 1) Groups of two students with each instructor max 2) Group cars and instructors by style, i.e. low HP cars with low HP instructor cars etc. 3) Perhaps a 1.5 level with less lead follow and more with the instructor in the position watching the student from behind.
GHIT 0121: GingerMan HPDE with NASA Great Lakes - Our Goals Going In
Jennifer, Vicki, and Bill are going to be attending the NASA Great Lakes HPDE at GingerMan, a new track for our team. This is a short episode where we cover our preparation for the HPDE and our goals and areas of focus going into the HPDE event. In addition, we cover coasting on a race track (Hint: Don't) and how to avoid it in this episode's Dominating with Dawson segment. We hope you enjoy the episode! Best regards, Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racing Team
GHIT 0120: Christina Lam is our special guest driver
Christina Lam is a racing driver for several series, is an instructor for Skip Barber and NASA, as well as a frequent contributor to Grass Roots Motorsports magazine. We first started following her as her "After A Crash" 9-part series started a few months back and became instant fans of her approach and her dedication to racing, education, and giving back to the racing community. On this episode, we go over how she started to be involved from a point of little knowledge and car/racing influences to where she is not only competing at national events, podiuming many times, and instructing others to improve their skills. It is a fantastic and quite rapid journey from newbie to racing veteran and her latest challenge last season will inspire you and hopefully get you to reach further towards ever higher goals. On our Dominating with Dawson, Ben goes over the difference in driving approaches for endurance racing, autocross, as well as various types of sprint racing. We hope you enjoy the episode! Best regards, Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racing Team Highlights from the episode include: 1) We have had a long, long work week in the garage, so long that Vicki blanked on her name for a moment and Bill can't spell SCCA, lol. 2) How she started off racing in Autocross one weekend and then had the opportunity of a lifetime drop in her lap a short time later (driving on a little place known as The 'Ring). 3) Christina's first time on track was her first time driving a stick. This may be a good rival for what we ended up doing to Jennifer at her first race at Thompson Speedway. Not our best plan, but we did learn from it. 4) We share post-race hangover stories and several great ideas for further race cross training. Rally, V8 supercars, Ice racing, so much fun to be had, so little time. 5) What is involved with being a one-person team and how she accomplishes all that is required for a race weekend. The big key is prep. Second rule, prep. If you need a third rule, be prepped early. 6) We go into her accident last year and how she recovered, both physically and mentally, as well as her new race car. 7) What is involved with an SCCA protest 8) How Christina found her #46 M3 shell to start her new build 9) How much sleep she lost while working to prep for new car the upcoming 2019 national SCCA Runoffs in 60 days. 10) Christina goes into the plusses and minuses of an E46 M3 vs E46 330's etc 11) Christina shares some of her nerves and almost PTSD after the wreck, what she had to work through and getting back into the car on track at VIR 12) What it is like being a female in a predominantly male sport at the track. 13) How Christina's first car quickly turned into a second car. Honorable mentions and sponsors that have helped Christina along the way: Drive Gear Racing: for arrive and drive ice racing. Seems like a terribly great idea. Hugh Stewart from High Speed Motorsports: http://www.hispeedmotorsports.com/ Katherine Legge @ www.KatherineLegge.com Simona De Silvestro @ www.Simonadesilvestro.com TC Designs @ www.tcdesignfab.com Hoosier Tire @ www.hoosiertire.com Epic Motorsports @ www.epicmotorsports.com Racing Harness Technologies (856() 912-1237 Skip Barber Racing @ www.skipbarber.com
GHIT 0019: Eric Meyer - NASA Great Lakes Chief Instructor
Just in time for the upcoming NASA Great Lakes event at GingerMan, Chief Instructor Eric Meyer was kind enough to join us and discuss his past and current association with racing and instructing, as well as the genealogy and philosophy that has led to the current NASA Great Lakes HPDE program curriculum. It is by far the best of the HPDE instruction we have attended across the country and we think highly enough of it that we regularly attend their HPDE events that are sometimes well over a 10 hour drive each way from us. Eric also is another great counterexample of the false age-old adage about "those who can do, and those who can't teach" as he has won a ton of racing trophies in Grand Am, World Challenge, and Touring cars, among others. Our Dominating with Dawson segment goes over the practice of left foot braking, its potential advantages, and how to try to begin to incorporate it into your driving repertoire. We hope you enjoy the episode and we would love to see you at the upcoming NASA Great Lakes event in GingerMan! Best regards, Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racing Team Highlights from the episode include: 1) How he originally started racing at a track and how quickly and deeply the hook was set. 2) Some of the issues that he encountered when first entering the sport and how they shaped his interest in helping others 3) Where he sees opportunities to continue to improve our sport and how he can give back to the racing community. 4) How NASA Great Lakes history has led to their focus on the educational path has led to the current HPDE structure. It is a great balance of driving on the track with the classroom and download education. 5) Eric turns the table on Bill to answer Bill's own question. It was tremendously fun and allowed Bill to brag about the NASA Great Lakes HPDE. 6) A discussion on the priorities of teaching driving skills and situational awareness as foundational aspects of the NASA Great Lakes HPDE. 7) We believe that we may have uncovered Eric is secretly competing in sewing. We may be wrong. 8) Eric also goes into some of the philosophy of what his team is looking for to progress through the levels as well as some of the criteria in transitioning from level one to level two, as an example. 9) We discuss several of the drills that you will do within the various HPDE levels, some of which we have lovingly stolen and use on our track day practice sessions. 10) We even go into some of the educational techniques former podcast guest John Santiago uses in the HPDE 1 classroom and track sessions. Vicki and Jen will be getting the full experience next weekend. Bill is jealous and will attend as many of their classroom sessions as his HPDE schedule permits. 11) How has the COVID related challenges and rules impacted the event and the HPDE sessions specifically, especially the traditional right seat style in car coaching and the various group classroom sessions. It sounds like things may be even better than the prior structure. 12) One of the surprises we may see at GingerMan may have been revealed. 13) Eric says that we need to add Mosport to the track bucket list and Bill is already pondering how to possibly get to the Chin event at Barber in November. 14) Tips and tricks to the upcoming GingerMan event, both on track and off. Jen is thrilled with the runoff areas GingerMan affords to assist with learning with less potential detrimental impact. 15) We have an informal agreement to meet at the local microbrewery. Now we just need to have time and energy. 16) A Pinto makes a podcast appearance again, much to Vicki and Jen's pleasure. 17) We aren't absolutely sure if Eric really liked our Fast and Furious questions but he really faked it well if he didn't. 18) Eric has a weakness, and apparently it is Mazda rotary engines. 19) If you are ever at a bar and need to know how many kegs you can fit into a 1964 Oldsmobile Cutlass, this is the podcast for you! 20) Bill forgets to thank Eric for an earlier long conversation they had related to Bill's goal of becoming a qualified instructor as soon as possible.