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 0118: John Pagel from Evil Genius Racing and the Tech Tyrant from the 24 Hours of Lemons
John Pagel is our guest for this episode. John Pagel is the Tech Tyrant and is the head of tech inspection for the 24 hours of Lemons and has a shop called Evil Genius in Davis, California that serves a wide variety of metal fabrication needs for racing teams. John also teaches how to fabricate roll cages. When he comes east, we will be attending one of these sessions. We thank John for all his efforts and the entire Lemons team for their endless work to keep everyone safe at our races. We did have a few dropped words due to connection issues, but the episode is a must listen. Dominating with Dawson covers some of the aspects of sway bars this week and the potential uses and adjustments they make possible. 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) John explains how he was originally banned for life from racing in Lemons after his team's car hit Jay at an early Lemons race and the unlikely path that this actually led to him being hired as the head of tech inspection. 2) We go into his work with the 24 Hours of Lemons as well as what he does from within his shop at Evil Genius in Davis, California 3) How he got his start racing showroom stock in a Ford Fiesta 4) We recorded the episode a few weeks ago and speculate on when the racing series will resume. 5) John also has custom designed universal seat mounts to better fit seats into all cars, but are especially useful for the smaller cars. We will be ordering at least one set to try to get Bill to fit into his ND Miata with a helmet. 6) Everyone should be very proud of the exemplary safety record of the series so far and what the future improvements may be to continue to improve the safety of Lemons racing. 7) We go into the many common issues new teams (and old teams) will have with passing tech and the very simple ways to avoid issues. 8) John was even kind enough to offer his thoughts on what a new to racing team should do to get their feet wet in racing, providing some of the best tips we have heard. 9) A truly memorable discussion of the "Line" and the unrealistic expectation of using it in a race with 150 cars or more. 10) Some of the car cages that has built in the past are quite impressive like a Lancia Scorpion, Borgward Isabella, or a Humber Super Snipe. 11) How one team painted their cage to look like PVC, complete with barcodes and the purple adhesive at the joints. 12) We will have at least three attendees when John teaches cage building on the east coast. 13) John also went into some welding tips, especially related to the settings of the helmet darkness. 14) The differences between a halo and a down bar style cage. 15) What a back bend is and why they are an issue in roll cages and should be avoided for structural reasons. 16) A general discussion of the advantages of a custom cage vs a kit and also why bolt in cages are not suitable for most track racing (usually bolt in cages are only permitted for drag racing and circle track racing). 17) Typical tech failure areas 18) Bill tries to ask a question about our Splash Gate fuel spill incident but words the intent of the question poorly. This did not go well. 19) What are good expectations to be able to get out of a car if it's on fire (<15 seconds or less) and what to do first after a wreck (Put your hand up in case you are upside down before releasing your harness belts) 20) Some of the most entertaining and surprising Fast and Furious answers we have ever had.
GHIT 0117: Race Bar Returns - A Discussion of How Many Teams are Helping with the COVID 19 Pandemic
Jim "Daddy Earth" Webb, Pat "Richard Freelane" McHugh take over another episode of the podcast (lol), but it was for a great cause and contribution to our society during this COVID 19 pandemic. Jim and Pat have been working with James Ballenger from Ballenger Motorsports to raise funds and to fabricate and distribute face masks, face shields, and all kinds of assorted PPE for the Richmond region and anyone in need across the country. Hopefully, you can add to the relief effort in some small way. To bring it back to racing, we did get into a good discussion on the details and decisions related to converting your car from an OEM fuel system to using a fuel cell. This is a truly inspiring story of what a bunch of race drivers and James Ballenger's team and Ballenger Motorsports were able to accomplish in a short amount of time. As we always say, racers are some of the best and most generous people we have met. This crisis has still not passed, so if you or anyone can help, it could literally be lifesaving and I am also sure we would like to be in a better position if there is ever a bounce back in the infection rate. It took a bit to get the editing done, but the message and need remains the same. Even if you can't be of assistance in fabricating or assembly, there is always something that needs to be done that would assist. The Dominating with Dawson segment deals with what to do and what not to do when going on track for the first time. 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) Working to make a difference in trying to contain and protect people from the COVID 19 virus 2) Some of the unexpected challenges of helping deliver PPE to those in need 3) How even little steps are significant, especially if we compound upon each other 4) Karen makes an appearance for the first time on the podcast, lol. 5) You can learn more at [email protected] or contact them through email 6) The parallels between this program and what happens in an endurance race are amazing. 7) This effort will continue into the future as the economy starts to resume and a larger population of people can use shields and masks. 8) If you want to donate to the effort, you can go to GoFundMe.com under Virginia Needs PPE 9) Bill volunteers to let James and the team pass us during our next race. It is the least we can do, lol. 10) Even the next generation of Race Bar, Oliver, comes in for a brief podcast experience. 11) A short Race Bars race car fleet review and its recent new addition with a super-secret theme 12) Fuel cell discussion on details, locations, options, and aspects of the conversion and installation including some of the best options for venting the fuel cell. 13) Ben is still sorting his nuts and bolts. We hope he finished soon. 14) Jim's latest deep dive is in the area of fuel discriminator valves. Because Race Car. 15) Rob Krider's magnetic towels for catching fuel as you fill gets another shout out. 16) Some good discussion points on the morals of resuming racing events at this point.
GHIT 0116: Car Prep Weekend Progress and the NASA Great Lakes HPDE at Mid-Ohio Wrap UP
Vicki, Jennifer, and Bill tried to talk through the recent work weekend at the garage and then we reviewed the NASA Great Lakes HPDE Bill attended at Mid-Ohio. Everyone was quite tired from the weekend, but we wanted to get this out while it is still fresh in our minds and to fulfill the "fix" of a few listeners who wanted more detail from the HPDE after Bill's "too short" episode from Saturday. If you have any more questions, we will have at least two more NASA Great Lakes Episodes in the coming weeks with other instructors and drivers from the event, so please let us know. We also had two competing tools of the week from Jen and Vicki while they were prepping the cars for their new theming. On this episodes "Dominating with Dawson" segment we go into Pre-Race Thoughts and how we prep for a race weekend and a driving stint, with some of our usual digressions along the way. We hope you enjoy the episode and apologize for being a bit scattered and tired during the recording! 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 start our discussion Live, inside the Hindenburg, or at least it sounds that way. We are sorry but our microphone unplugged as we started recording . 2) Progress on the mechanical and electrical projects that are needed in the BMW E36 race car, including the new passenger seat for HPDE usage 3) Progress on the fuel cell and sway bar projects for the El Jeffe Chevy S10 race truck and the beginnings of the new theme. 4) Our progress tape system we are using to communicate the progress and status of our various projects between all the team members that are working. Hopefully it will help us (and you) to keep track of things and eliminate silly/avoidable errors, like torqueing lug nuts. 5) Two new additions to the team, Randy and Dennis, who are helping us out and Randy may even drive with us in the upcoming races. 6) We review and compare the three types of painting we have used on prior cars. This includes spray cans/rattle cans, Plasti-dip spray cans/spray wrap, and auto paint using a HELP system. 7) If you do use a normal spray can or rattle can, please make sure to use the auxiliary handle to make it much easier to hold the nozzle open. After 40 or more cans, your fingers will be much happier. Details are on our website under the tips and tricks section if you are not familiar with this attachment. Its usually around 5-8 dollars. 8) The demise of our "Bob Ross Penalty" adorned to the side of the El Jeffe/Bad Hombre race truck 9) We then discussed the HPDE at Mid-Ohio and how the changes to the Toyota 86 affected the handling of it on track 10) Bill goes into the preparation process he uses for an HPDE, as well as for a new track. 11) We also go into a few of the bad habits we have developed from our primary racing in endurance racing. 12) The COVID/social distancing related changes and impacts on the event schedule and potentially on upcoming HPDE and racing events 13) Our dogs Zoey Lemons Fischer and Ziggy Stardust Skripchuk made guest appearances throughout the episode in the background. 14) Bill messes up by calling a C ZOO Corvette a Camaro. Boy, he was tired, lol. 15) Bill gets into the track prep and track map notes he makes prior to going to a new track using Mid-Ohio as the example. 16) We describe the four drills that we used in the HPDE 2 run group this weekend. 17) The final two sessions were Bill's favorites of the day, likely due to his being more comfortable with the track and hopefully his improved driving skill. TBD. Everything went well until Bill mixed his lefts and rights in describing the chicane going into the keyhole. 18) Bill's goals going into the HPDE we accomplished, and in some cases too much in the other direction. 19) Best practices and habits for getting the most out of an HPDE event. 20) Bad endurance racing induced habits: Slow to learn a track, no firm fixed points for each turn, too comfortable winging it and adjusting line and speed by visual and by feel, need to tighten up and be more consistent, especially in an open track condition and an HPDE. 21) Goals for Bill's next HPDE session include: 1) better prep, 2) Fixed points on the track for BoB and EoB, Turn in, and Track out. (apex is set) 22) Jen's tool of the week is a grinder with a wire wheel to remove rust and paint because it is so Zen. Vicki's tool of the week is the Power Bleeder for bleeding brake fluid and changing brake fluid. Thank you Randy for letting us borrow it. The tool of the week should have been a pillow. 23) We finally figured out why Bill is here. 24) Vicki wraps it up when she was done, lol.
GHIT 0115: HPDE with NASA Great Lakes at Mid Ohio
A quick episode to cover the highlights of today's HPDE event at Mid Ohio with NASA Great Lakes. We also summarize the changes within the event to account for social distancing and how it impacts the event. We will have another episode later this week to go into greater detail, as well as review Sunday.
GHIT 0114: Time Travel - Our First team race at NJMP
We used our time machine to before we had a podcast and have a post-race review of the first every Garage Heroes In Training team racing event at NJMP. We had a blast! It was so easy that we doubled our team size and started racing two cars at each race. All you need to do is prep the car, race the car, and then drive home. Why was everyone saying this was hard? We didn't understand. Yet. On "Dominating with Dawson" we go over dive bombing, what it is, what it means, and how to avoid it, both from the passing and being passed perspective. We thought we would have a post-race episode; it has been so very, very long. We hope you enjoy the episode! Part 2 with our Thompson race will follow shortly. Hint: It did not go nearly as smoothly. 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 our team came to be and how our first 2 (well really three, oops) cars started 2) Alan fidgets in the background. Must have been shiny. He later goes for a walk in the bird sanctuary? 3) Liam and Cassian's teenage humility, mechanical talent, and dominant driving skills coming into the their first race. The only question was who would get the fastest time of the weekend and who would finish second. The rest of the field was inconsequential relative to their skills. Lol. 4) Chris bashes Liam and Cassian's domination dreams for the weekend at the Friday practice. 5) The rules do not preclude you from looking at a track map, nor looking at racing laps on the track before you go there. 6) We proved yet again the age old adage that it is better to look good than to be good and we looked Marvelous! Just ask Billy Crystal. 7) Our plan for 30-45 minute stints was tremendous (to start our weekend) but we probably should have extended them after the first set for everyone. It is still a great idea to start short on your first stint the first time out on track. 8) A podcast first, Vicki said track out correctly for the first time ever. Training is working!!!!! 9) We talk about our first ever track walk and the value of it. 10) All that we learned along the way. 11) "We found our idiots!" 12) What is a post-race weekend hangover and how to get tiger stripes on your left arm. 13) I think Alan started wither sorting nuts and bolts or washing dishes. Still tbd. 14) We learned so much during our first race. We were such newbies. 15) All newbies can go racing too! 16) A very good discussion of driver stints and optimizing for each driver and their experience level and preferences. 17) Alan proclaims his love (and slight stalker tendencies) towards watching the in car video from Futility Motorsports. Alan would appreciate a hand signal at the next race to say hi, if you could. 18) We go over our bad initial training of Jen with driving an manual transmission.
GHIT: 0113 Erik and Chris from the Lucky Dog Racing Series
Erik Torgeson and Chris Wilhelm joined us to talk about their racing history and the Lucky Dog racing series. Erik is the Director of Operations and runs the Dog Pound penalty area during the races. Chris is the head of vehicle safety and technical inspection as well as usually covering radio control and timing and scoring during the Lucky Dog races. Erik is also known as Bulldog while Chris is the Junk Yard Dog (JYD). In addition, we go into the upcoming race (hopefully) at the Charlotte Roval where Lucky Dog comes to the east coast for the first time. We cannot wait to go to another Lucky Dog race and we found a few items we will need to add to our list to pass tech for Lucky Dog, as well as several of the differences between Lucky Dog and the 24 Hours of Lemons series we traditionally race in on the east coast. You can find Erik and Chris and the entire racing series at www.racelucky.com and say hello for us please if you see them a the races. Apex of Failure on Facebook for the RX-8 project Erik referred to. On Dominating with Dawson, Ben covers several of the racing lines and approaches to circumventing a racetrack in the most expeditious manner. 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) Bill apologizes for his pit lane violation at Laguna Seca by not stopping for his egg timer. 2) Vicki points out that we did not review the rules prior to the last race. This is not best practice. Perhaps her interpretation of the goal of the pit lane timer was a bit off, as well as her not attending tech inspection led to a good discussion of the safety practices for the Lucky Dog Series. 3) Why Lucky Dog has elected to use pit lane timers and why they chose to use window nets, as well as many of the key inspection points prior to a race, along with several of the key differences between the safety requirements of Lucky Dog and several of the other racing series. 4) Alan steals our Lucky Dog branded Hankook RS4 tires for his daily to "test" them, lol. 5) We also go into the importance of the attitude of the Lucky Dog series and how it magnifies the fun of the racing weekend. 6) A lot of the details related to the upcoming race in Charlotte. 7) Our to do list is adding in dash bars into two cars and window nets into one. We are planning on bringing three cars and have an undetermined number of drivers since it is difficult to firmly plan with everything going on currently. 8) Erik and Chris should get Lucky Dog style trophies to represent their Lucky Dog names. 9) Both Erik and Chris have a history of racing that includes autocross as well as their start with working with a series in ChampCar. 10) Chris goes into the excellence of a Ford Fairlane in autocross. 11) Erik sends out a non-controversial message to auto crossers. Please send you comments to [email protected]> and we will forward them to Erik for you. 12) We discuss the upcoming season and the uncertainty still within the system, especially with the different states and tracks involved. 13) How racing is not only tremendously fun but also generates great friendships that can last many lifetimes. 14) Car 196 may yet live on in the upcoming Charlotte Roval! (But in a new form) We also discuss our mutual history with them in Lucky Dogs. It turns out it may not all be our fault after all. But it likely was. 15) Erik sends out a non-controversial message related to Honda-based race cars. Please send you comments to [email protected]> and we will forward them to Erik for you. 16) Vicki sets a new record for the number of edits when going into her Laguna Seca experience. This one will be tough to beat. 17) Bill reminisces about her services of the car at Laguna for Mental. It reminds one of the second autopilot scene from "Airplane". 18) Probably two of the worst, and potentially scariest, "Ugly" story we have heard in a while. Some people can be very scary when under the red midst. Bill couldn't help but make another "entrepreneur" joke from the recent YouTube and Facebook racing kerfuffle with a different, but perhaps related drivers. (THESE "DRIVERS" ARE FAR FAR FAR FROM TYPICAL) 19) Alan gets offended that Erik has the title of "Black Flag Guy" but it is for a totally different reason than he originally thought. Alan's version of the title is still intact. Unfortunately. 20) Some of the key differences and details that are needed for the Charlotte race. 21) Race Invaders gets a shout out. We are long overdue for having you on. 22) Both Erik and Chris agree that ORP (Oregon Raceway Park) is there favorite track. We are adding it to our list. Now, how do we get a car onto the west coast? New project!
GHIT 0112: John Lavin from Safety 3rd Motorsports
John Lavin joined us from the Safety 3rd Motorsports racing team for a great discussion of his racing and team history, including how his background in racing snowmobiles, motorcycles, and snowboarding has led to and helped with his racing cars. His team started with an initial car that was intended for Lemons but ended up being a second gen Supra that was better fitting into an episode of Better Call Saul and ended up in ChampCar and started with the usual issues and tremendous stories as his team grew. The team is currently running in several ChampCar events each year, as well as several other organizations in multiple divisions. We are hoping to talk John into letting us attend one of their upcoming races to learn more, if they will have us. Please follow them on Instagram at Safety3rdMotorsports. In our Dominating with Dawson segment, we go into racing in the rain and while some complain, it's really actually better in many ways for learning and definitely should not be skipped or avoided. 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) Sharing the pain of herding cats as the team manager's primary role. 2) It appears John's path is similar to Bill's, just executed much better. 3) VIR gets another big endorsement, and it wasn't from Ben this time. 4) First race stories for the team, a true 24-hour race at VIR. 5) Why they eventually switched from a Supra to a BMW to the annoyance of all the Fast and Furious fans. 6) Racing is really a situation of management by crisis, we agree and couldn't have said it any better. 7) Several discussions on the differences and benefits of a racing school, as compared to HPDE's and track days. 8) A comparison of ChampCar and the Lemons series, with a bit about AER as well. 9) How the teams racing philosophy has changed as they have become faster and a bit more competitive. 10) A very good discussion on transitioning a team from having run racing a car to racing to compete. A challenge our team is likely approaching. 11) We offer our excellent BBQ rub and BBQ sauce for some of their secret sauce, so far to no avail, lol. 12) Practicing at track days vs learning from an instructor and several other benefits of instruction. 13) A discussion on the various aspects of car control, what it is and several techniques that can be used to improve it. 14) The everlasting rumor of Lime Rock closing has reached Vicki for the first time. 15) John even sneaks in a discussion of the modern style racing line for Lime Rock. 16) Since John's team races an E36, we can't help but discuss some of his thoughts on the E36 setups and even more importantly how to evaluate and develop them for yourself or when using a shop to assist. 17) We even went into more depth around tire temperature and tire pressure and tire selection. 18) A dual team meetup is preliminarily in the works and sounds like it will be great fun! Still working on the Baja road trip invitation though. Lol. 19) Bill tries to talk John into lowering his standards and joining us for a race or for weekend racing fun. Still TBD to see if John is capable of making a decision that bad. 20) John was even gracious in acknowledging our difficulty with the rear hub bearing a few weeks back. We may even be able to replace the control arm Bill broke after our quarantine ends. 21) Towards the end, we even went into team HPDE and team bonding ideology that are helpful to all levels of teams.
GHIT 0111: Amanda Tully from the Mome Rath Racing Team
After months of badgering, we finally weakened Amanda Tully enough to where she agreed to come onto our podcast. After a disappointing 2019 where she finished 2nd, 1st, 1st, and 1st, we couldn't wait to hear what she was going to do to improve this year, LOL. Actually, it was a great pleasure to catch up with her and learn about her racing history and how she and her team came to dominate the east coast races last year. Amanda also discussed with us her recent transition to sim racing and we all shared some of our growing pains, as well as a lot of the fun we are having while home. Vicki was able to put on her Amanda t-shirt and fangirl for the entire episode. It was an unintended coincidence that she appeared in episode 111, but it fit with their results from last season. On this episode of Dominating with Dawson, Ben covers what to do if you have an incident on the track to minimize the effect on your day, and your car. 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) How we first met Amanda and her team at our first ever race at NJMP in 2018. 2) How Vicki and Amanda bonded at NHMS in the 3PM overflowing hot tub last year. 3) How Amanda progressed from full newbie racer with HPDE experience to her current successes in Lemons. It all started with the lure of the fun $500 race car. Her experiences indicate that even we may eventually get good at this, we shall see. 4) Amanda may have helped Bill with the "what spares should we bring" discussions that we always seem to have. Since Amanda said it, Vicki may finally agree. We shall see. 5) We try to dissect the "issues" that led to her low performance of the year at Pittsburgh last year where they "only" finished in second place. But they did win the "I Got Screwed" Award. 6) How HPDE and especially her past motorcycle HPDE track days may have influenced her driving style, as well as her skill. 7) We tried getting some more info related to Amanda's latest car for Lemons. it's still super secret, but we know it is coming. Rumor has it that we may even be able to pass her team once this year. 8) Amanda and Bill try to help Vicki with her nervousness in joining the races. Both shared some of there best/poorest i-Racing performances so far. 9) We also discuss several similarities and differences we are seeing in sim racing and our more normal meat world racing. Peripheral vision, lack/different G force feedback, tire grip/physics, and various software settings seem to not be helping any of us at this point. Still having fun though. 10) Sim racing: It's the same, but it's not. 11) Vicki displays a story about why testing on Fridays should not be optional, especially if it's your first time at a track. 12) Amanda was even kind enough to go into what she would recommend to improve your performance and fun at a race. It is all fairly simple, but very important things that she has learned from others and through personal experience. 13) Brandon and Kelly both get a quick shut out. Kelly, you need to come out on track. 14) We also continue our continuing discussion on in car data and lap timing. Amanda is pretty firm in her position and her opinion isn't going to change any time soon. Pursuit of a fast lap time has hurt her team's performance in the race so many times. It is far more important to get all your laps similar and all your drivers as close as possible. 15) Our mutual friends in the Folgers car get another shout out. 16) Bill bonds with Amanda on spares and tools for the track. Vicki still seems less than enthused. 17) Amanda is not a fan of our RS4 tire use but prefers the Azenis 615's. We think it may be worth a retry at some point. Maybe she will borrow or test ours. Once we find a few more BMW 8.5" * 17" DSII rims (or DS2). 18) We need to see if there are any cars that Amanda likes besides her E36 and E92. There has to be at least one. 19) We even bond over our poor i-Racing seats. 20) We joke around about a recent i-Racing event with the Three Pedal Mafia at the expense of our great friends Jeff and Mental.
GHIT 0110: Blake Field and Ben Dawson with Thoughts on Improving performance at the track, but not necessarily on it
Blake Field and Ben Dawson have raced many times with each other and now are on our podcast together. While it started off as if another Race Bar takeover, we actually did provide several useful pieces of information and tips that will help you and your team at and on the track. That is not to say the episode is without our usual banter and attempts at humor, but there may be a nugget or two in this one. Also, Ben pulls double duty on this episode and we discuss general guidelines for tire alignment for track use on front wheel, four wheel and rear wheel drive cars, including a discussion on tire pressure and temperature measurement and use to refine your car's set up. We hope you enjoy the episode! Webpage is at: Podcast Episode can be found at: 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) Alan can't tell time and Bill blows the intro and Ben has questions for Alan that will go unanswered (for this episode). 2) Blake reveals his predilection for racing in cars that are embarrassing to be passed by. 3) Ben admits that he far outkicked his coverage with his beautiful bride. Bill and Alan both agree with and have followed Ben with this philosophy. 4) Ben endorses i-Racing and sim racing as a path to improve your driving skills, just not in the way he did it. 5) Blake illustrates the advantages of pre-race practice, especially at the track on Friday if possible. 6) John Pagel gets along and enthusiastic shout out for all he has done to help us and everyone with their safety. 7) Blake surprises us with his team racing another Chevy S-10. Vicki's eyes got really, really wide when he mentioned it. Blake also gave a quick run through on several easy and effective upgrades to it. 8) We discuss our plans and how many cars we may bring to the Lucky Dog race on the Charlotte Roval. 9) We finally have a brief discussion on the Bondurant High Performance Driving School. Long overdue. 10) A very good discussion of what you can learn from a large, lemons-type field, with the widely varied driver skill and experience of the field, and how you should approach each passing opportunity. Each field and each series, and even each race, has a different set of challenges, each of which can help you grow as a driver. 11) Blake and Ben discuss some of the off-track actions, including before going to the track, that can really help improve your performance on the track. It sounds much less impactful than it really turns out to be, so please don't disregard these activities. 12) We go over some of the ideas and checklists that we use. The link to our updated checklist if below if you want to review or use or better, incorporate into your own. 13) Candle Wax dripping? Check. Covered it. Lol. 14) Mark Blundell's qualifying effort at Le Mans. Video link below 15) We continue to plan our Lucky Dog Series race at the Charlotte Roval. Two cars are in, three is possible. TBD. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lMItc4cy8U
GHIT 0109: Brent Picasso on TireX (Special Bonus Episode)
Brent Picasso from Autosports Lab and fellow racing driver joined us to discuss a very exciting addition to their system called TireX. TireX allows the driver and the paddock to real time monitor the tire temperature across the tread continuously while the car is on track. This can help in a multitude of ways including monitoring tire performance, set up effects, and driver induced effects. In addition to being real time, it also was designed to use a graphical display that can monitor tire temperature and distribution in an easily digestible manner. If you drive a car where the tires contact the road, the TireX system may prove to be invaluable to you and your team. If you drive a time travelling DeLorean, it may not be as helpful. In Ben's Dominating with Dawson segment, we discussed driving styles and potential ways to use YouTube and other video to learn a track or to improve your driving. We hope you enjoy the episode! Our Podcast is available from Apples Podcast App, or on Android at all the typical podcast sites like Google Music, Stitcher, and iHeart Radio etc. Links: Podcast iOS: Podcast Google Music: Podcast Stitcher: Podcast iHeart Radio: Autosport Lab and TireX: https://www.autosportlabs.com/ Brent, can we order one with the plug and play harness? Pretty please? 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) Brent and Bill catch up on what Brent and his team have been up to, including a very successful Indiegogo campaign. 2) How TireX came to be and what its capabilities are, as well as some of the very important questions it can answer for your car and driver performance, especially if there is a team aspect to the race. 3) We talk about squiggly lines and graphical interfaces and how they can be helpful to different types of people and their individual ways of digesting information. 4) Advantages of real time live data vs post session traditional tire temperature measurements, especially in specific turns or across the car from left to right or front to back. 5) The amount of time saved can easily pay for the system itself by allowing the team to dial in a car set up much more rapidly. 6) Bill simply cannot avoid making a predator comment. Get to the Choppa!!! 7) Brent even discusses the typical peak performance window for your tires. 8) We discussed how the TireX works, its capabilities, size, and installation options as well as various display options for the data collected. 9) Ways to use the data to communicate to the driver if they ae driving too aggressively or too conservatively in a specific turn etc. 10) Use of he TireX system in rainy conditions. 11) Bill had several usage and capability related questions for TireX and its integration with the other RaceCapture and Podium systems. Hint, there is still a lot of capacity left in the system even with 4 channels per tire in use. 12) Mounting options and a discussion of some of the advantages and disadvantages of specific orientations, especially for the front wheels due to their steering. 13) A quick review of the RaceCapture Track and RaceCapture/Pro systems 14) Bill also goes into mounting the GPS antennae in a daily driver Miata, for a friend, lol. 15) Track days are seeming to start opening up and we may be able to go back soon. We miss it. Badly. 16) Bill pleads to his favorite HPDE group at NASA Great Lakes for the upcoming Mid-Ohio event. He is going whether he gets off the waiting list or not.
GHIT 0108: Randy Bish from the League of Legitimate Nigerian Businessman racing team is our Guest
Randy Bish is a relatively new lemons racer for the League of Legitimate Nigerian Businessmen racing team that is off to a spectacularly good start by making all the best bad decisions possible, including racing their 1972 Ford Pinto. On this episode, we go over his racing experiences so far and cover the topic that no one ever thought they wanted to know: what is the best way to race a Pinto in endurance racing. Jennifer and Vicki particularly enjoyed this since their first car was also a 1972 Pinto. Randy may be new to Lemons, but he seems to have found his tribe. On Dominating with Dawson, Ben covers being on track for the first time, what to do, and what not to do. It can be intimidating at first thought, but hopefully, this will assuage some of your potential concerns and give a brief guideline if you are going to a track for the first time and what the other drivers would like for you to do. Short summary, stay on line, stay safe, and be predictable. They also expect you to be off pace, so don't worry about them or the F1 and Indy Car scouts in the grandstands. To follow Randy and his team, you can find their team on Instagram or Facebook as the League of Legitimate Nigerian Businessmen with their official pace car of mediocrity. We hope you enjoy the episode! The episode you never asked for. 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) Design discussion of why the flames go in reverse from the back of his Pinto. Our more seasoned listeners likely already know. 2) How he learned all the details of his grandfather while his grandpa was behind the while as Randy was a boy. 3) A summary of his two races last year at Pitt Race and Gingerman with the 24 Hours of Lemons. 4) Randy's very novel and very lemons charity fund raising method on the 24 Hours of Lemons i-Racing events, how this horribly awesome idea came to be and how much money he was able to generate for charity at the cost of some of his liver. Maybe someday he will remember the race, but we doubt it. 5) We may actually have convinced Vicki to race this Thursday. Tune in this Thursday and we shall see. 6) Matt Ferenchak and Florida Man Donnie get a few mentions, some even complimentary, lol. 7) Randy Bish tries out for being a spokesmen for the Michelin Ice-X tire for amateur endurance racing. 8) How a water pump can become a spinning end mill of death. 9) How the initial "success" at Pitt Race led to his team going all in and winning the Heroic Fix at their next race at Gingerman. 10) We find out the Randy Bish has a car obsession with big, Detroit luxury boats, the floatier the better. But that does not seem to explain his having owned 3 SVX's. 11) Their team's experience as the unintentional role as the unofficial Yellow Flag "Pace Car" at Pitt Race. 12) Randy actually was able to use the term provenance and Pinto in the same sentence. Admirable. 13) We go deeper than anyone ever thought possible into the advantages of a racing Pinto. 14) "Tires are evil and must be punished". Words to live by. And Jen's train agrees. 15) Bill gets an honorary place on Randy's list of favorite drivers. But it turns out to be kind of like winning the Heroic Fix award in Lemons. 16) The El Jeffe makes a surprise appearance in being a desirable race car to swap into, but then again, Randy is used to driving a Pinto race car so….
GHIT 0107: Phil Wurz from Bimmerworld
Phil Wurz, fellow racing driver and the short straw drawing team member at BimmerWorld was kind enough to join us for a discussion on his racing history and add to our Usual Suspects discussion related to racing BMW, especially E36's and E46's, including a good amount about Spec E46. Phil has been with BimmerWorld since 2007 and conducted this interview from in front of his E30 race car, one of the best backgrounds we have had during our podcast. BimmerWorld supplies a very wide variety of parts and also prepares cars for racing in two national GT4 series. During this episode we learn a bit about Phil and his driving history as well as his thoughts on racing BMW's across may types of racing and what can be done to improve performance, handling, and reliability. To follow along with Phil and the team at BimmerWorld, please like their Facebook page or email them from the website where everyone's company email is available. On Dominating with Dawson, Ben discusses all of the wide variety of types of racing apexes, and how best to think about approaching a turn and what considerations can affect the desired approach for each turn. 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) His philosophy on replacing and upgrading as you grow and learn with your car 2) Vicki shockingly brings up the E36 rear wheel bearing removal and then won't let anyone ask any questions for a bit. Well, really, much more than a bit. 3) Alan "compliments" Bill on his skills with using the press on the rear bearing and finally admits his running away from the operation once the slide hammer came into the picture. 4) Bill impersonates the sound of the control arm breaking in the press. 5) Alan calls Bill an Axle, by mistake/mispronunciation. 6) Alan admits to adding a bit more wear and tear, since he is the mechanic. 7) Alan gets very excited over Phil's tow vehicle and that leads into the area of an upcoming flat nose school bus "ramp truck", potentially with a rear airbag suspension. 8) Our first podcast that is interrupted with the sounds of freedom. Mental likely scheduled it to mess with us. 9) We then walk through where the current sweet spot is for BMW's in terms of value, performance, and parts availability. We even compare the E36 vs the E46 which seem to be swarming the endurance racing fields. Yes, we are guilty. 10) Stunningly, and fir the first time, Alan hears that it's not necessary to drive at 10 tenths all the time. We shall see if it helps. 11) Vicki learns what a money shift is without costing us an engine. And Alan breaks out the FNG acronym in honor of the Three Pedal Mafia trip to Laguna Seca. 12) A good review of the growing Spec E46 series and other uses for these cars, as well as some of the advantages of spec classes, especially for people relatively new to racing and setting up of a race car. 13) Vicki requests a spare Spec E46 car for the team. Bill is currently searching on Autotempest. 14) Bill was bored and added some new questions to the Fast and The Furious questions 15) We are still looking for a good LSD solution for our M240i and Bill Begs for a spare E36 rear control arm, for a friend of course. 16) In the after credits B roll, Phil mentions a tool to remove the rear wheel bearing from an E36. Where was that when we needed it. Well, actually, we still need it. And Bill begs for some spare E36 rear control arms. For a friend. We hope to see Phil at the Charlotte Roval with Lucky Dog on the weekend of August 14-16.
GHIT 0106: Cathy McCause Fuss discusses the 2020 Lucky Dog racing series and a whole lot more
Cathy McCause Fuss of the Lucky Dog racing series returns for the 8th or 9th time. Unfortunately, only one episode has ever been published due to connection errors and other computer issues. Why she puts up with us, we don't know, perhaps it's because she is one of the best people we have met since we started racing. During this episode, we go over a lot of the Cathy's history and her perspective of racing from the Series perspective. We also get into her thoughts of how racing and endurance racing are progressing and helping to grow our sport. On this episode's Dominating with Dawson, Ben goes over what is an "Arrive and Drive" and the details of racing in that situation. We go over a lot of the options, concerns, and advantages of being an arrive and drive driver, as well as being the team renting to the arrive and driver. 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) Bill felt like he was going down the hill into turn 12 at Road Atlanta when Cathy's connection went robot a few seconds in. 2) What the impact of the COVID 19 has been so far and speculative hopes and expectations for the rest of the season. 3) the Lucky Dog i-Racing league and it sponsored, you can even win race entries, and other racing supplies from the Lucky Dog sponsors 4) We develop the exchange rate between Clairol hair color and Hankook RS4's. 5) We go into the process of working with the tracks, rescheduling, and the potential impact of the current COVID 19 related impact and issues on the tracks and the series, and the drivers, as well as some of the amazing steps Cathy and Lucky Dog have done to help the overall racing population, including paying 2021 track rental fees. 6) Bill shamelessly plugs the upcoming Lucky Dog race at Charlotte in mid-August. 7) Cathy threatens us with bringing the 196 car out to the race for us. We much rather like her alternative bonfire idea. 8) How several members of the Lucky Dog racing community, and the overall low cost endurance racing community, have helped in dealing with the COVID 19 pandemic. 9) We brainstorm a bit, well really a mild drizzle, on what options we can come up with to help save the 2020 racing season 10) Bill apologizes for his black flag digression earlier this year at the Lucky Dog race at Laguna Seca in January 11) Cathy even was kind enough to go through our "Usual Suspects" but this time from a race series perspective and how her series has progressed through Miatas, into BMWs, and recently into Hondas and several Fords. 12) Self ejecting starters as a way to save weight 13) Speed creep and its concern as we progress to including more modern cars where horsepower increases seem easier and easier, especially with all the recent time people may have had with the stay at home orders. 14) Cathy's strategy for classing cars in Lucky Dog and addressing the variability in car and even individual driver capability. 15) As expected, we eventually reviewed or last race at Laguna Seca and our other Lucky Dog race in Portland. 16) Brakes and brake pads were a big discussion point. One way to get to a faster lap is to be able to slow down even faster. Hopefully, we have an upcoming guest from Hawk on the show. 17) Hilarity ensued when we started talking about the spares being brought to the track. 18) Rally Dogs? And yes, we had an East coast rally dog volunteer. 19) Also, a rookie time attack challenge option came into being. 20) How Lucky Dog is working to partner with the local Club racing, especially for the HPDE and learning aspects, hopefully raising the tide for all. 21) How our team has been invaded by two of the drivers we know from Lucky Dog 22) Opportunities for arrive and drives at the Charlotte race abound with teams and drivers looking to come east for the race. 23) How the Lucky Dog racing series came to be. 24) Cathy fears answering what car she would love to start with as a race car. 25) How Lucky Dog's i-Racing league is helping racers scratch their itch. 26) She is still looking for the known unknown E46 Greg has hidden. Somewhere. 27) There seems to be a potential for an east coast west coast race car exchange program. Greg, Call us!
GHIT 0105: Julian Cordle is our Special Guest Driver to help us celebrate Blursday
Julian Cordle is our guest for this episode and celebrate Blursday! Julian races with the Snow Speeder Pilots Association racing team that races on the west coast, one of the original Lemons teams from the inaugural Altamont race. The episode starts off with all of our usual professionalism and then, well really, who are we kidding. The alphabet is apparently still a challenge for us. Julian started with Lemons in 2012 after he first heard about the 24 Hours of Lemons on Jalopnik. He met his team on his driveway and immediately left for his first race two states away. We reminisce about his early days, setting Guinness Book of World Records records, and through to his latest Chrysler 300 race car build. Dominating with Dawson covers what happens when you have a mistake on track and how to minimize the potential outcome. Ben also cites taking a peak at the professional racing driver Sandro Espinosa as a potential reference for how someone preemptively catches a car pre-slipping to avoid an issue. Also, Danica Patrick on how to prepare for a big hit when you can no longer avoid it. Sample links discussed: Sandro Espinosa at Road Atlanta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd1QnaUq3kc Danica Patrick Crash Prep: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya3bE8CT1Kk We really 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 include: 1) His battery powered recliner that is faster than some of our race cars 2) How a man from Alaska grew into a low-cost endurance racer 3) Our first XR4TI makes an appearance on our podcast 4) Jen chimes in with her opinion on our teaching her how to drive a stick. Julian tops to with learning with a vehicle that "offered" electrical shock incentives. 5) How the 25 Hour at Thunderhill led into Race Cast 6) How he helped with organizing the world record that was set at a Lemons event in Thunderhill 7) What the overall process is of setting and getting recognized as a world record 8) Vicki starts off with "since you seem to be a person", lol. 9) Several tips and tricks to help teams and drivers compete at the track, besides behind the wheel 10) White boards for at the track organization and how to use them to plan your race strategy 11) A BIG shout out to Randall Pinney and we all hope you are feeling better 12) Sonoma Raceway makes an appearance in the Good, Bad, and the Ugly segment. 13) 1989 Camero, 'Nuff Said 14) We develop a new Lemons penalty, well sort of.
GHIT 0104: Liam Fischer's Hot Ones Style Tribute Interview
On this episode, we finally talked Liam into coming on the podcast by making it in the style of one of his favorite shows on YouTube, Hot Ones. Since Bill has almost zero tolerance for spicy food, Vicki tagged in to assist with the interview and we also took advantage of the opportunity and covered several aspects of teenage driving, driver training, and racing. If you prefer, there is a live video recording on our YouTube channel, creatively named Garage Heroes In Training. B.R.A.K.E.S. website: https://putonthebrakes.org/ Our Dominating with Dawson segment for this episode add Heel-toe Downshifting to our jargon repertoire. We hope you enjoy it. The episode is still going for Liam and Vicki, lol. Also, we would like to the thank the team over at Hot Ones for their great YouTube episodes and wish them the best of luck. They can be found on their channel at "First We Feast" or by searching for "Hot Ones" on YouTube. 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 this episode include: 1) Liam's history of learning how to drive and eventually race cars, he is still relatively young at 19 years old. 2) Some thoughts and suggestions on training a young driver in general and how it has been helped by racing and race training events 3) We go into a fair bit of detail related to one of the best training events Liam has gone to with the B.R.A.K.E.S. program. 4) Vicki breaks out into her "its like trying to nail jello to a wall" when talking about racing with teens on our team. 5) Angry Goat Peppers "Hippy Dippy Green" sauce was very well received. Two Thumbs Up. 6) Why Bill gets father of the year a few years back 7) We try to provide help and suggestions to new racers or soon to be racers throughout the episode. Please remember to ask before hopping into the hot tub. 8) Liam tries to compare the 2017 Toyota 86 to a stock ND2 Miata and a Stage 2 Flyin' Miata turbo NB Miata, however the wings inhibited some of his brain processing capability and the virtues of learning to drive and daily driving a +/- 200 HP car. 9) Vicki tries to come up with three good things about her first car. And fails. 3 bad things were way easier. 10) You start to see the affect of the hot sauces about 25-30 minutes into the episode 11) Liam takes a walk about at 40 minutes in and can barely think to answer from then on. 12) What car or cars got away for each of us. 13) Liam reveals his love for the SpiderStang and Capri 14) Da Bomb hot sauce lives up to its reputation 15) "I feel like I met the devil" and "Why is it the tongue" 16) Liam can't speak and tries to use sign language, not the best for an audio podcast 17) Liam wants a shot at the Datsun Z and Vicki surprises Bill with saying she wants to drive Black Betty 18) The hot sauces apparently make Liam delirious when he comes up with his dream car to build into a race car. 19) Vicki and Liam's favorite and least favorite tracks so far. NJMP makes both lists for Vicki. 20) Liam calls Brad out for a round 2. Silly boy. 21) Liam's brain left the building, several times during this episode 22) Mental sort of gets a shout out, not really, but it was funny 23) An endorphin infused discussion on endurance race craft approaches and ways to compete successfully, especially with longer stints. 24) We end with Bill attempting to herd the two cats for a final question and then a delirious ranking of the sauces.
GHIT 102: Sam Smith Auto Journalist, Driver, Racer, and Enthusiast
Sam Smith, Editor At Large for Road and Track and Co-host of the NBC Sports Proving Grounds television show joins us for this episode. We try to cover Sam's impressive history with the automotive and mainstream media, as well as his driving and racing history, but we only seem to have scratched the surface of Sam's great stories. You can quickly see his gift for storytelling and ability to recall details and intricacies, as well as his optimism and enviable modesty. It is quickly apparent that Sam truly loves cars and especially those that he finds to be immersive and involving. Also Ben reviews two videos pertaining to the driving style of the legendary Ayrton Senna on this Dominating with Dawson segment. Links to the videos: Senna Throttle Technique is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4kcLyYhThE Senna Footwork (with accurate audio) is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzLjZWrpzmQ&feature=youtu.be If you want to contact Sam Smith, he recommends DM'ing him on Twitter or Instagram @ThatSamSmith. Or you can read his articles on Road & Track and don't forget to watch for him on NBC Sports Proving Grounds. 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 for this episode include: 1) How his current Caterham 7 project car progresses from a box to a functioning car 2) His automotive past and how he worked his way through the tangled web of automotive journalism to have a successful professional career in a very tough business area 3) An overall discussion on driving being a skill and a sport, but definitely learnable by many is not all 4) Now Nigel Mansell confirms we are not going to be a pro racing driver anytime soon 5) Sam's racing history is pretty incredible and has some absolutely spectacular cars including a McLaren F1 and F1 GTR, an actual Formula 1 car, and a few great stories of his racing (with Mental) at the 2019 NASA 25 Hours at Thunderhill in the rain and the ever so lovely mud. 6) Bill valiantly tries to sell a Citroen SM, for a friend. Still available for a good home. We know a guy. 7) Bill digs a hole on a comment that will likely lead to issues from some of our friends and soon to be friends who are Porsche fans. 8) How his schedule has been impacted by our current social distancing due to the Covid 19 virus 9) When car technology and societal sanity intersected, perhaps for the worse. 10) Sam's experience with racing the RX-7 Black Betty (rambutan) when it was still set up as a time trial car. He misses the old, scary setup. 11) His thoughts on modern cars in general, are they too fast, too intrusive, and are there any good drivers' cars still available and the potential impact it may have on racing in the future. 12) Sam also lists several of the current cars that are highlights within the available assortment at your local dealer for both on and off-road driving fun. 13) Electric cars and electric car motorsports/racing, and the varying degrees of success for each. 14) Thoughts on autopilot and potential impending issues in the transition to full autonomy (SAE Level 5) 15) His experience with test driving a true Formula 1 car and how he grew to acknowledge the difference between his level and those gifted individuals driving at the level of Formula 1, as well as the actual level of performance of the car itself. The tip of the spear is very, very pointy indeed. 16) Breaking News for one of the first times: Sam's "Ugly" story is one for the books! It involves another one of our original bucket list guests to be (hopefully) Jason Camissa and a Ford GT, but we will go no further.
Social Distancing Request: GHIT 0074: Scott Barton and Sim Racing
With everyone quarantined or at least social distancing, we have had several requests to re-publish this episode on Sim Racing. On this episode, we had Scott Barton as our guest. Scott is a very accomplished racing driver and very knowledgeable in the area of Sim Racing. We thought we'd learn more about both on this episode. Sim racing can be great way to get cheap track time, especially in the off season or during the work week when you aren't near a track. As with most aspects of racing, you can go as deep as your interest and bank account will allow. We hope you enjoy the episode. Highlights from this episode include: 1) Scott's racing history and progression to where he is currently racing mostly in the AER series (American Endurance Racing) where he has recorded a very impressive series of results since originally learning at HPDE's in 1999 and racing in 2009. 2) Scott's latest goal is try to round out his collection of first overall wins in Lucky Dog and WRL to complete his already stellar collection of 24 Hours of Lemons, Champ Car, and AER wins and have recorded overall wins in every major street tire endurance racing series in the US. 3) Scott is also a driving coach and is involved with many teams, students, and racing series and organizations. 4) We then began to cover various software and hardware choices available, make some recommendations (links below) as well as describe some of the many systems and options that are available for a wide range of budgets. 5) The three basic systems we reviewed started with a single monitor, a three-monitor system and a VR based system with a good set of steering wheels and pedals. A sim vibe/butt kicker would be a very nice addition is budget allows. 6) More advanced options mentioned include motion/ full motions simulators, spring loaded harnesses, 7) Computer requirements in general, such as a 4-core processor, i5 or newer, with a video card capable of running a VR headset at 1080p and 90 fps (or better) should be sufficient for your system. 8) We also cover how to deal with motion sickness in VR if that happens to you in the beginning. 9) Scott was even kind enough to entertain us with our traditional Good, Bad, and the Ugly series. Also, Scott can assist you with defining your system if needed at his website below. Items and Links discussed within this episode include: Steering wheel and Pedals: Logitech G29, G920: https://www.logitechg.com/en-us/products/driving/driving-force-racing-wheel.html AccuForce Steering wheels Fanatec Wheel and Pedals: https://fanatec.com/us-en e.g. v3 inverted pedal set, Clubsport base/mount Heusinkveld: https://heusinkveld.com/products/sim-rigs/sim-rig-gt/?q=%2Fproducts%2Fsim-rigs%2Fsim-rig-gt%2F&v=7516fd43adaa VR: Samsung Odyssey Plus Headset: https://heusinkveld.com Oculus Rift: https://www.oculus.com/rift-s/ Optional Accessories/Upgrades: Butt Kickers: https://thebuttkicker.com/ Full Motion simulators – Various sources RaceDepartment.com for cars and tracks Realteus force feel seat pad: www.Realteus.com Chassis movers: various sources Sim Racing choices: iRacing: https://www.iracing.com/ Assetto Corsa: https://www.assettocorsa.net/home-ac/ R Factor: https://store.steampowered.com/app/365960/rFactor_2/ Project Cars: https://www.projectcarsgame.com/explore/?lang=en-us Please feel free to contact Scott at: Website: https://www.facebook.com/ProFormanceCoachingcom Facebook Group: Sim Racing Deals at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SimRacingDeals/ Thank you again. Best regards, Bill, Vicki, and Alan Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racing Team
GHIT 0101: Rob Krider from the 4X National Champion Double Nickel Nine racing team
Rob Krider who is a driver and managing partner of the Double Nickel Nine Motorsports racing team joins us on this episode. Rob has a problem in that he and his team won't let anyone else win, lol. His team is the reigning 4-time national champion in NASA's Honda Challenge series, while also having both team cars on the podium each year. Our discussion covers not only their team history but what they have learned since starting in the 24 Hours of LeMons series and progressing through other racing series and classes. Within this episode, there is useful information that can be applied to any racing series and any racing team can improve your results with little, if any, expense. To see a lot of Rob's team in action folks can watch the documentary film "Double Down" about racing in the 25 Hours of Thunderhill where his team took an ex-24 Hours of LeMons car and beat the factory Mazda racing team. Link to the video at www.team559.com. In addition, Rob was kind enough to guide us through the latest in our series covering the Usual Suspects of racing car platforms and went into a deep dive about racing Hondas and Acuras, especially in endurance racing. Finally, Ben covers both Understeer and Oversteer in the latest Dominating with Dawson series. We just couldn't cover them separately, so we went for a double shot. We hope you enjoy this episode. It will make you faster! PS If you are interested in watching or reading more of Rob and his teams exploits, please go to: KriderRacing on Instagram www.RobKrider.com www.Team559.com www.DoubleNickelNineMotorsports.com And don't forget to get a copy of Rob's book "Cadet Blues", a humorous look at one of his most fun driving training events at www.cadetblues.com 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) Some of his team's best learnings since starting in LeMons several years ago 2) Rob and Bill commiserate about putting together team communication emails and texts that are summarily ignored 3) How Double Nickel Nine Racing team has "added" to the various series rule books through creative race car engineering 4) Jennifer asks the dirtiest of the dirty question that you can ask a race car driver 5) The value of a spare/donor parts car and Vicki tells Bill to go buy another car. He left the podcast to search CraigsList 6) Team structure and organization techniques to maximize performance across all levels of racing, even a two-car team of 60 people for the NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill 7) Their scouting trip preparation for national races 8) What is the Double Nickel Nine garage involved in 9) A comparison of large LeMons fields to some smaller or shorter or higher performance fields 10) How they communicate within their team, especially on track with their spotters 11) Storytime of Alan's stint at Thompson last year where he would not come in for a driver change. Rob fully approves. 12) Rob gives the advantages "keys to success" in Honda and Acura racing 13) Diapers win races, well they used to anyway 14) Rob shared some endurance racing wisdom, like pit stops practice and it's not about top lap times but it is about endurance 15) What is a Honda Taco and how it is to drive one 16) We finally find a way to compare ourselves to Roger Penske 17) We go over several tips and tricks from several of Rob's helpful articles, many are linked below 18) Be a Racing team or Beer racing team? Correct answer is: Yes 19) You can hear an alert for every time Bill's computer went blue screen of death if you listen closely. It happened often 20) Bleed brakes after every endurance session 21) Rob and Alan bond over tire balancing. In the end, it comes down to the preparation done before coming to the track 22) Get things done as soon as possible. Don't start when you have just enough time left to get it done. 23) Internal competition for fastest lap is detrimental to team performance and overall team success. 24) Rob's team has learned that for endurance races, lap timers are not allowed within the car. 25) EJ2 Track Rat has a fashion suggestion for next year's nationals 26) How to choose an engine machine shop to work with 27) Rob's documentary film about endurance racing, titled "Double Down" is available free on YouTube, 1 hour 15 minute run time on the Krider Racing YouTube channel. 28) Tactical Ops Brewing's Double Nickel Nine IPA named after the race team with an image of their Honda Challenge car on the bottle. This stuff is high test at 10.9% ABV! And here are some of our favorite articles that we discussed on this episode: How to Create A White Board Track Map How To Design and Build RaceDeck Flooring For the Paddock Portable Tool Cart Jack Stand Stripes Documentary Film "Double Down" Available Free on YouTube Vehicle Scales, Level Garages and Corner Weighting Five Pro Tips For Effective Brake Bleeding For Reliable Track Use Tire Preparation Basics Tablet Dashboard Balancing Marriage and Racing Vehicle Scales, Level Garages and Corner Weighting The No-Flex, No-Nonsense Advantage of Spherical Bearings Get The Flex Out: How Spherical Bearings Improve Handling & Speed Simple Ways to Clean Up and Protect Your Racecar's Wiring Strength and Lightness: Installing ARP Studs and Skunk2 Racing Lugs Nothing To Fear: Simple Steps To Replacing A CV Boot Easy, Accurate, Inexpensive, Do-It-Yourself Vehicle Alignment
GHIT 0103: Keith Tanner from Flyin' Miata
Keith Tanner who has literally written the book on improving the performance of a Miata, actually three books, and works with the team at Flyin' Miata joined us for this episode to discuss his driving history and he was also willing to add to our recent series on the "Usual Suspects" and addresses many aspects of the use and optimization of all four generations of Miata's/MX-5's. Since we have two MX-5's on our team already and we are routinely passed by them at every race and HPDE event we have been to, we could not have this series without going over them. The MX-5/Miata is one of the more flexible racing vehicles available and with little modification, it can be competitive in many types of racing, as well as being a perfect choice for HPDE and track days. Additionally, the cost for wear and maintenance is quite low in terms of both cost and frequency, due to its light weight and the wide availability of parts. Our Dominating with Dawson segment goes over the term Trail Braking, what it is and how it can be used on a track as you increase your skill and experience. We hope you enjoy this episode. Please subscribe to our podcast on iOS most use the Podcast app or Android users may use the Android App, Google Play, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Stitcher etc. We have also added this to our YouTube channel, especially useful with subtitles if you are hearing impaired, as several of our drivers are. If you could leave a review, that would help us greatly and you can also add any questions or topics you may want us to cover. Thank you again and 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 include: 1) How to choose which version of Miata depending on what your interests are and/or how your personal geometry needs may require, including potential to LS swap 2) History of the Miata, how it came to be and how its racing pedigree arose and developed throughout the 30 plus years of production 3) We mention Long Road Racing during the episode, but they have been recently replaced by Flis Performance for ND prepped cars for the Global MX-5 Cup Series 4) How did Keith originally get into Miatas, including his gateway drug called Autocross and how he has expanded his interests and testing though the years 5) How Flyin' Miata develops and designs its parts internally and with its suppliers to serve a wide variety of needs and performance interests 6) Can you say LS Swap? Flyin' Miata can!!! And it fits into a Miata as well, lol. 7) Bill reviews how he came to have and lose the NB Miata to Vicki in a single day 8) Overall advantages are lightweight, relatively cheap to operate and maintain, great driver feel, excellent handling and grip in turns, a great car to learn and develop your driving skill, and relatively bullet proof. Disadvantages are relatively low power and acceleration (true momentum cars) and straight-line speed. 9) NC Miatas (2006-2015) are in a sweet spot for depreciation and a bit larger than the other models. It is also a bit difficult to install a full cage. 10) NA and NB Miatas are a bit smaller, lighter, and "fun" to drive. Downsides, they are getting pretty old. 11) ND Miatas are smaller and lighter than NC, similar to the NA/NB's and the power is increased above the others, especially the NA's and NB's. Also it has the only adjustable steering wheel in the Miata family. Weaknesses may be in the transmission area and you may want to augment the cooling. 12) Recommends looking at used spec Miata for value, especially the 1.6-liter versions that are not as competitive in the series as the 1.8-liter cars. 13) How to inspect and maintain your Miata, especially as the NA and NB's are getting close to 30 years old or more. Hint look at your cooling systems effectiveness, including the transmission and differential. 14) Pluses and minuses of our Flyin' Miata Stage II NB Miata, cooling and transmission etc. 15) Advantages and disadvantages of the 5-speed vs the 6-speed transmission in the older Miatas 16) Keith's thoughts on gauges vs ECU control and how to tell if there is an issue without additional gauges and which gauges may be helpful in general 17) Some of the potential issues involved with a LS Swapped Miata and some of the many issue that had to be addressed during their development to be able to have a system they could offer to their clients. 18) We even get into the new ND and ND.2 models 19) Keith discussed some stories about his past experiences in the Targa Newfoundland 20) Bill and Keith compare stories when they both lost a wheel while driving and other lessons Keith learned while racing and testing over the years 21) In the end, Keith even tolerated some of our more off the wall inquiries and concerns 22) Alan valiantly tries to help a listeners with what gear to use when doing burnouts in a turbo NB Miata.
GHIT 0100: Ross Bentley - The Ultimate "In Training" Guest
Ross Bentley was kind enough to come on as our guest and help celebrate our 100th episode. Ross is known throughout the racing world as a great driver, author, and coach about high performance driving and racing, where his racing experience at the highest levels is augmented by his passion for learning and sharing to help raise the knowledge base as a whole for the good of our sport. This discussion was aimed at learning more about Ross and his history, but when you have a chance to ask him a question about racing, you take advantage. We are hoping we can get him on again in the future. Maybe every 100 episodes, but we would hate to have to wait that long. PS We rarely request anything, but during our discussion, Ross seemed to be unaware of the impact his books have had. If you have a moment, please post a picture of you with his book/books on Instagram with the hashtag #ThankYouRoss to show him the impact he has had. Thank you. On this week's Dominating With Dawson, we go into the first of an ongoing series where ewe get into some of the jargon involved with racing. This week we review Rotation, what it means, and how to use and control it. 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 This episode's highlights include: * How Ross fascination in cars and racing started and his history in racing * His thoughts on the impacts of current amateur and amateur endurance racing on our sport * With racing, what is not enough. Go for the Why! * Skid pad use and discussion * Alan admits to an issue with Turn 1, all of them * Tire grip and how to control/manage the grip on individual tires while on track * Why and how at the limit driving can be different for different drivers, even in the same car * The equal, if not even more, importance of knowing what you do "right" as well as what you did "wrong" and by how filling your lap with doing things right will remove the time to do something wrong, leading to improvement. * Areas where drivers typically could improve at various levels in their learning career processes and various habits and processes to build upon * How to improve you driving through cross training * His prescription for moving from a novice driver to a very successfully, advanced amateur racing driver * He clarifies the difference between driver training, driver education, and driver training. * Vicki picks Ross's brain on front wheel drive vs rear wheel drive to absolutely no one's surprise * The best description of the importance of how you release the brake we have ever heard, and BOB vs EOB based drivers * It looks like Ross's podcast is coming back and we cannot wait!
GHIT 0099: Chrissy Mittura, Racing Driver and Host of the Everyone Racers podcast
For our 99th Episode, Chrissy Mittura from the Three Pedal Mafia and the co-host of the Everyone Racers podcast was our guest for this week. Chrissy was one of the key influences that helped us to start our team, so we thank her all the time and blame her some of the time, lol. Chrissy is not only and excellent driver that we are passed by routinely but has also helped our team immeasurably not only at the track but preparing for the track and our various HPDE events. With Chrissy finally being able to come on our podcast, we now have a complete set (four of a kind?) of the Everyone Racers podcast hosts. Now we have to work our way through the remaining Three Pedal Mafia team. You, our listeners, have been warned, lol. Chris may even learn something during this episode. On this week's Dominating with Dawson segment we go over racing a "new to you" car, what to look for, what to look out for, and how to begin to get comfortable safely to reduce your lap times. Highlights from this episode include: * Chrissy is in a new position with being able to talk and not being interrupted * Kate's recent dream about Chrissy * Vicki reviews a video of her driving at her first ever race at NJMP * Alan claims the title of "Cone Clearer" while driving the El Jeffe race truck, unfortunately, not a joke * Vicki gets all philosophical with Chrissy over here approach to racing in Lemons and racing in general * A full review of the Trucklet * We are the second to break some new car news and pick at the gaping wound of the Citroen paperwork one last time * We come up with a potential solution to the current podcast curse in the Lucky Dog racing series and racing on a Sunday (3 strikes and counting) * Kate is looking for Chris to help with getting Alan towards any form of clean * Kate picks Chrissy's brain for her upcoming season (we hope) where Kate is taking over as Crew Chief at our races * The Grill Guys of 3PM get a shout out * Great tips on pit stop coordination and paddock optimization * A discussion on passing in high traffic Lemons fields and potential sad face aspects of racing * Many tips and tricks from Chrissy's many years of racing in Lemons * Potential herding strategies and a reluctant admission of the impossibility of herding shiny squirrels and the upcoming potential sainthood for Kate * Pitt Race HPDE with NASA Great Lakes gets a full endorsement from Chrissy, as well as Bill * Chrissy calls her shot for our upcoming Thompson race in August * CMP vs Lemans, two things you never thought would be in the same sentence * What it's like to race with and learn from your significant other, we may or may not have asked for ourselves, but it is sure to help you as well * What to do when the cars are running well and there is down time available. We almost never have that as an issue. * We discuss the merits of singing while driving with a new demo tape * Alan breaks news about our upcoming Pitt Race event during our Good, Bad and the Ugly. Everyone takes it well, well sort of. Kate takes a very, very glass half full reaction. * Alan: Domination? Chrissy: Have you seen me? Best retort ever * The Save The Tatas team and car gets several shout outs during the episode We hope you enjoyed the episode as much as we did. 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 0098: Ben Liaw from Rogue Engineering on racing BMW's
Ben Liaw from Rogue Engineering was kind enough to come on this week's podcast. Ben races and also supports his racing clients at Rogue Engineering in Upper Saddle River, NJ, where they not only assist with race car prep and on track support but design and manufacture many parts improvements for many BMW models. Also, on this week's Dominating with Dawson, we went over driving a new to you race car and what you should do prior to driving and how best to acclimate to the new vehicle. Highlights from this week's episode include: 1) Stories of how his business grew from designing and manufacturing to mechanical and racing assistance 2) Some thoughts on car prep for racing 3) A great discussion of various BMW models that are used in racing, including strengths and areas where you may want to augment the stock parts and systems. Most 3 series models were discussed including the E30, E36, E46, E92 as well as the more modern F series models, as well as a few 1 and 2 series models and Mini's, including relative strengths and weaknesses between them. 4) Our first real discussion about the AER endurance racing series 5) Potential upgrades for racing our M240i 6) Spec E46 race cars and priority the addition of upgrades, including the subframe issue 7) Bill gets into a discussion while Vicki has computer issues 8) Alan picks Ben's brain throughout while he also goes shopping while we are recording "for Vicki" lol 9) Bill put Ben in an unfair spot to compare BMW's to other typical cars, like Boxsters/Caymans and Miata/MX-5's etc. Ben, you have our apologies. 10) Vicki wanted to appeal to Ben for any assistance with her latest E36 rear wheel hub and bearing replacement project/debacle. Ben offered his typical preventive maintenance program for hubs and bearings for his AER endurance racing. 11) We even go into critical spares and critical spare philosophy and the potential tradeoff vs pre-race prep 12) Several Dante references and a new level called "Wheel Bearing Hell". Vicki views this as the hidden 8th level. 13) Rogue Engineering's incredibly smart wheel studs with a hex end on both ends in case of a sheared stud 14) Bill finds a brand of power tools where he is fully qualified, and even Alan agrees To contact Ben and his team or follow along with their various exploits, you can go to their website at https://www.rogueengineering.com/ or follow them on Instagram at Rogue Engineering. Thank you for listening to our podcast. Please subscribe to our podcast your favorite podcast source. If you have any questions or topics you would like for us to cover, please feel free to let us know at: www.GarageHeroesInTraining.com or via email at: [email protected] and you can follow us on Instagram at Garage Heroes In Training or on Facebook at GarageHeroesIT or Join our Friends of GHiT group. If you really would like to help us out, please leave a rating and review on your Podcast App of choice, Apples Podcast app, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, or whatever podcast app you use and we will address any questions that you leave on the review. We hope to see you out there racing with us. Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racing Team
GHIT 0097: Nathan and Mike Howe from the Lemons New Zealand racing team Hooncorp
Nathan Howe and Mike Howe, who talked with us all the way from New Zealand, are part of the Hooncorp racing team and our guests for this week's episode. We had to learn about the racing, the tracks, and the amazing roads in New Zealand from some locals. New Zealand has been on our bucket list and has moved up several spots after this discussion. The team has been racing longer than many of our team has been alive, so there a several pearls of wisdom in here along with our usual off tangent banter. We hope you enjoy the episode. Highlights from this episode include: An introduction to Nathan, Mike, their team and racing in New Zealand Tracks and notable roads in the area and quick track impressions and reviews Thoughts on how their team has done so far, including our traditional Good, Bad, and the Ugly Holden Commodore VN Nissan Pulsar Nissan Lucino The Muttstang Holden Commodore VK Suzuki Ignus Their cars and several we don't usually find here in the US including: Jen has geographical issues between New Zealand and Australia, luckily she doesn't follow rugby Their team history of over 30 years and counting A great quote "There is no point being the fastest car in the pits" We had several other "people" chime in during the episode Several of the teams and themes in there New Zealand racing series SpeedyCop's great impression on the New Zealand racers Several local Lemons penalties A rather embarrassing story about Liam's friend driving a "stick" Nathan has a Nissan issue; it appears to have centered on the GT-R area of his brain We make a trade for seats in their Commodore for seats in our Capri. I guess we have to finish the Capri now. On this week's Dominating with Dawson segment, Ben covers the optimal seating position and driver positioning in high performance driving and racing to improve your comfort, performance and safety. If you want to follow the Hooncorp Team, please follow them on: Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Hooncorp/ or on Instagram at HooncorpNZ or on GT Planet or on a great video at https://youtu.be/H-WJqni76rY Thank you for listening to our podcast. Please subscribe to our podcast your favorite podcast source. If you have any questions or topics you would like for us to cover, please feel free to let us know at: www.GarageHeroesInTraining.com or via email at: [email protected] and you can follow us on Instagram at Garage Heroes In Training or on Facebook at GarageHeroesIT or Join our Friends of GHiT group. And if you really would like to help us out, please leave a rating and review on your Podcast App of choice, Apples Podcast app, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, or whatever podcast app you use and we will address any questions that you leave on the review. We hope to see you out there racing with us. Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racing Team
GHiT 0096: Eric Rood On the 2020 Lemons Rally Schedule
GHiT 0096: Eric Rood is our Special Guest Eric Rood from the 24 Hours of Lemons racing series reviews his history and the upcoming Lemons series, especially the rally events. Eric Rood is our guest on this episode where we review his car history, the upcoming 2020 Lemons races and especially the Rally events. We first met Eric when he was judging one of our races. Alan quickly knew all about him after he visited him 4 times. In addition to being an awesome judge, he has written for several automotive sites and currently helps steer the direction of the 24 Hours of Lemons series, especially their social media presence and the Lemons rallies. If you see Eric, please ask him about touring with Ozzy! (Details are in the first three minutes of our show) If you would be so kind, please Rate, Review, and Subscribe to our podcast on your favorite listening platform. We would greatly appreciate it. Highlights for this episode include: 1) Our best introduction to an episode, EVER 2) Vicki is vying for our lead master mechanic position/opening 3) We break news of an upcoming Lemons YouTube video on the latest Lemons Rally 4) Bill shamelessly begs for reviews and ratings of the podcast 5) What does the title of Everything Bagel exactly mean in the Lemon's org chart 6) Eric's writing and racing history and how he first started with racing in a Lemons event 7) What does being a catalog copy editor entail and how much you can know about office folders 8) Overview of the Lemons Rally events and describes the "process" of competing 9) Eric discusses some of the most forgotten cars we have ever discussed on the podcast, some thankfully forgotten 10) Rally stories abound including the Asheville Pinball Museum 11) Alan makes his debut as our sound board 12) Eric discusses a long list of cars he has had and would like to see in Lemons 13) An amazing (and backward) Good, Bad, and the Ugly with the best "Good" we have ever had 14) Our trials and tribulations related to getting our E36 BMW race car prepared for our upcoming race 15) Alan may actually have an apprentice "In Training" 16) We are now looking for a "Hub Tamer" Does anyone know anything about them? 17) We have a high level discussion about our telemetry system and electrical system upgrades. More details will come in an upcoming episode. This week's Dominating with Dawson segment reviews proper hand position while racing and how that can impact your driving performance and control of the car. To keep up to speed with Eric and the 24 hours of Lemons team, they are on all the social medias as the 24 Hours of Lemons or via his email at [email protected] 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 0095: Nick Pon of the 24 Hours of Lemons team returns to kick off the 2020 season
GHIT 0095: Nick Pon of the 24 Hours of Lemons team returns to kick off the 2020 season Nick Pon returns to our podcast to discuss the current 2020 season for the 24 Hours of Lemons series and the various new aspects of the series for 2020. As usual, we digress several times and wander around our subject, but Nick very kindly tolerates us for unknown reasons. We eventually go into what the series is about and how welcoming it can be to everyone who has an interest in racing and how to get started within the series. There is even a new driver bonus program for 2020. If you would be so kind, please Rate, Review, and Subscribe to our podcast on your favorite listening platform. We would greatly appreciate it. Some of the highlights for this episode include: 1) We cover the first two races of the year at Barber and Inde in Arizona and the first rally from Moscow to Paris 2) What to do if a plane lands on the track 3) The return of the Scrotium race at Road Atlanta and the usual snowy race to end the season 4) Any upcoming things, themes, cars, and tracks 5) Novel ways of staying outside the black flag area 6) The two 24 hours races and why we may never get one in the north east, but we do get the Hooptiecon at NJMP again this year 7) Cars, themes, and theming requests for current and future teams 8) We begin a program to get Lemons into VIR 9) An intro to Lemons in case you aren't familiar with the series and its welcoming climate 10) What car does Nick want to race in from the series 11) We explain to our younger listeners how cars were bought using a thing called the "paper" 12) Our podcast tradition of picking on Alan has its latest installment or three 13) Nick new moniker as "The Place Setter" and helps us with our travel race schedule 14) Nick gets subjected to several of our newer questions related to his car proclivities 15) We go a bit out of our normal order on this episode but following the rules isn't really our strong suit 16) A semi-subtle shout out to our friend Erling 17) We go into our never-ending battle with our BMW E36 rear hub and bearing 18) Vicki leads a discussion of tool drawer organizing techniques, strategies, and options. We will be putting several posts on our website if you are interested. 19) Vicki steals Alan's section and gives her first ever Batcave Tool of the Week 20) Alan shows the importance of following the process and the order of the operations 21) We then go into a long discussion of some of the issues we have been having with removing the rear hubs from the E36 race car In our Dominating with Dawson segment, Ben goes into a discussion of the black flag penalty box, what happens, and how to handle it properly. 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