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 0069: NHMS Race Weekend Review
Our podcast this week focuses on our race weekend at NHMS with the 24 Hours of Lemons teams. We had a bit of a struggle getting ready, but the cars eventually cooperated and raced well, at least for a bit. In the end, we had a great time and caught up with a lot of friends and made several new ones this weekend. On this episode, Alan, Jennifer, Kate, Vicki and Bill are still recuperating from the race weekend hangover, but did manage to discuss: Vicki learns the alphabet, finally. Pre-race prep and race car struggles. We broke the first rule of racing and brought an non-prepped car to the track El Jeffe/The Bad Hombre/The Trophy Truck/Race Truck was finished literally hours before the race. The E36 BMW struggle did not complete until midday Friday afternoon when our great friend Bruce figured out a simple electrical issue that we could not find on our own We had to pick up a windshield, which was in Canada Bill learns to not joke with the border police Normal race induced issues led to a lot of on track repairs and replacement for the race truck, especially related to our steering, power steering, and steering rack. SpiderStang was almost brought into race trim since we had all hands on deck and needed two cars We rolled the dice and brought the E36 to the track and hoped we could fix it with the aide of our friends in the paddock area Friday testing went well with El Jeffe and we were able to get almost all of our new to NHMS drivers Jennifer clears all prior NHMS demons from last year Kate enjoys her first time on this track and then promptly has internet issues in mid story Jennifer is very excited and saw many benefits of the Watkins Glen HPDE we sent to two weeks ago. We may finally have solved our braking issue with the El Jeffe race truck Bill creates a new word for the dictionary Bruce saved our team having to get another engine and perform and engine swap by solving our issue and getting the engine in the E36 to fire. Bill confirms that by fire, they meant to get it running and not that it had caught on fire. Special thanks to the Thunder for Days team in their Folgers E36 BMW for all their assistance as well. Apparently, they travel with an entire parts tore worth of spare parts to each race. Thankfully. And Wisely. We owe you all. Our one time only Guitar Heroes In Training Theme for this race Vicki confuses AC/DC and Kiss somehow Mia tormented Craggier as the Plague Doctor all weekend Several other teams were theming hard this weekend including appearances by the Three Pedal Mafia's Ambiguously Gay Duo themed new Pontiac Solstice and the entire gang that represented Baby Shark. Jennifer's costume was very helpful in getting our cars to have no penalty laps Harley Quinn and the harlequin GTI were also a big hit, ad it was quite fast on the track. We had a run on power steering pumps for the race truck this weekend, using three total, and we also lost the steering rack/box We then run through the race for the race truck and then for the E36 race car NHMS this year was the most aggressive race we have been in and there were many incidents, especially Saturday We also had a Guest driver this weekend, Jeff Wright, who we met at our Lucky Dog race in Portland this summer. We hope he had a great time. His smiles Our wheel spacers led to tire tracking issues in the El Jeffe race truck We eventually (think) we lost the steering rack and had some steering difficulty that eventually led to the race truck parking for the last half of Sunday Jennifer gets here first black flag in the race truck Bill ran first in the E36 on Saturday and raced with several of our friends on the track for long periods of time We peaked at 5th place overall, our highest position ever. Now we need to figure out how to stay there for the whole weekend. We learn that there are two different style safety harnesses/safety belts Saturday night dinner and post-race festivities Vicki finally meets her girl crush, Amanda Tully, in full costume, in the Three Pedal Mafia's hot tub, built for 4, but somehow managed to squeeze in 9 that evening. Hopefully, we will have her on as a future guest. The festivities went long into the night. Alan eventually gets into a on race CSI investigation that gets edited out a bit. Vicki proves that numbers are hard We end up talking all over each other during the review of Alan's Sunday stint The Egan's new car modifications led to a lot of fun but also a lot more gas usage We ended our day in the BMW E36 when we lost either a wheel bearing and/or a hub Team improvements for next year were abundant Radios for each team member if possible Earlier starting prep on race day morning with more people Training matrix will be developed and monitor our progress towards overall team knowledge and skill improvement for next year and the future New Pit Crew Chief election for 2010 season is very likely Spares parts for the BMW for next season On site car alignment verification capability within our team We begin planning our off season and our 2020 season, including re-theming several cars for the 2020 Thank you to all our friends, we cant wait to see you again next season!
GHIT 0068: NHMS 2019 Prep Week
Please vote for Vicki A https://www.intechtrailers.com/max-the-tach# NHMS race weekend prep status. One race, two cars, neither working. The rest is good though. On one hand we have the BMW E36 3 series from 1998. Issues, yes. It won't start. It seems to not be getting power to the computer system and won't turn over. We found one wiring issue and are tracking down any others, slowly. One good thing is that the prior owners live very close to our race, so as a last resort, we may ask for some assistance. El Jeffe/The Bad Hombre: Braking issues abound. Still. The caliper/pads do not fully release from the rotors, which may be the issue we have been battling this entire season. On this episode: Alan breaks up into a game of boggle with things like DME, EWS2, etc. Vicki breaks back in and tries to get us to explain what is going on Bill breaks down the entire battle we have been having with the brakes on the race truck El Jeffe brake theories, plan, and a review of the current status An El Jeffe Transit story for the books Alan talks about flashing ECU's and seeking additional help to get the E36 running well again. Alan does his best weatherman impression and forecasts clear skies for the E36 Kate even makes a quick guest appearance towards the end It seems to be a standard week before the race. Now will this turn out? Tune in tomorrow, same bat channel, same bat time. Or actually when we record at the track this weekend.
GHIT 0067: Watkins Glen HPDE Review
Welcome to our latest podcast episode where we review our weekend HPDE with NASA North East at the world famous Watkins Glen International racetrack. We had a great weekend with 5 of our team showing up and two other friends from the Everyone Racers Podcast and The Three Pedal Mafia racing team, Chris and Chrissy. We summarize the prepping of the many cars we brought and the debacle it became for almost every car we brought. Cars we prepped included: BMW E36 1998 race car Roll bar prep and Passenger racing seat installation Issue: Won't start as we were prepping to leave. Issue still TBD Roll bar padding and switch to racing seats and racing harness from OEM Issue: 4-point belts aren't acceptable so hot swap at Watkins Glen to install two new 6-point harness sets 1999 Mazda MX-5 Turbo Miata with Flyin' Miata Turbo Installed new roll bar Issue: did not finish roll bar installation and did not remember to reconnect the battery before giving it to Jennifer 2019 Mazda MX-5 Mostly no issue, except cleaning 2017 Toyota GT TRD Bad Lug bolts and Missing Lug bolts Waited until day before to get parts, ended up with bad hub threads and missing bolts, and doesn't know how to click the pay button after registering for the HPDE Cue the sad trombone please 2013 Dodge Dart Did not have time to change to race seats, nor brake pads and fluid, nor tires from standard OEM 2017 BMW M240i No issues since Chris and Chrissy are always prepared, unlike us. Race Prepped Honda Civic Brad was an excellent test passenger for three different cars on the track. He reviews his first ever race laps in the Turbo NB MX-5 versus the race prepped Honda Civic vs a new Acura NSX. Vicki, Jennifer, and Bill covered our in car instructors and areas we worked on and improved over the weekend. These areas included: Track vision Racing lines in general Braking points and braking pressure and the proper application and removal of the braking pressure Turn in Points Input sequencing Several drills, including vision and non-shifting the entire lap or session Car control Learning and feeling what is correct and what isn't with immediate feedback Late apexing vs early apexing and turn in Prep is key to racing In addition, we also reviewed our thoughts of the track and the NASA North East HPDE event in general. We also reviewed the relative performance of the Turbo 1999 NB MX-5 to the newly updated 2019 MX-5 ND.
GHIT 0066: Physical Fitness for Faster and Safer Racing
Racing is both physically and mentally challenging, even at the beginner and intermediate levels. For this week's episode, we were very proud to have Trey Shannon as a guest. Trey is located near Charlotte NC and is helping many high level drivers and teams with their off track preparation both physically and mentally. The discussion will go over many areas that you can focus on and improve not only your best lap time, but also improve your consistency over many laps. The degradation due to fatigue can lead to not only slower laps, but also the demands can lead to loss of focus and increase the likelihood of driver errors and potential damage to the car and driver(s). During this episode we discuss: Physical preparation Anaerobic and Aerobics Mental Preparation and acuity Cardiovascular fitness Diaphragm vs chest/shoulder breathing Breathing exercises and breathe control On track relaxation strategies and techniques Neck, Shoulders, Hands and Core Stability Eye exercises and hand eye coordination Sleep Diet and Nutrition, especially on race day and race weekend Hydration Off season preparation, Pre-race, at the race, during the race, and post-race options Training periodization and improving well rounded fitness for all aspects of life Cramping and cramp prevention Heat and Cold management strategies Outdoor training ideas and options Improving proprioception and other driver "feel" capabilities during the race Pre-race warmup techniques to get you in the zone in the first few seconds behind the wheel Cognitive ability degradation with fatigue is easily quantifiable and very significant This is critical when you are looking to compete in an endurance type of racing where the ability to be at or near your fastest consistently could dramatically improve your overall performance by many TEN's (10's) of seconds, not just the usual TENTH's (0.1's) everyone pursues. It not only affects your overall speed, but the quality of the decisions and skills on the track, especially over time. If you are interested in improving in this area of your driving, please feel free to contact Trey at: Podium Performance Fitness in Cornelius North Carolina (near Charlotte) or on the website at PodiumPerformanceFitness.com and follow them on Instagram and Twitter.
GHIT 0065: Track Day Food and Drink Preparation
On this week's (delayed) podcast we go over how to plan and prepare for a race weekend nutritionally. We will usually have a 3-4 day weekend with 12-40 drivers and crew to feed, so we know what works well for us and what doesn't. It really does affect how well the weekend goes and can seriously Impact your driver's and team performance in a significant way. Some of our top tips include: Prep before leaving for the track and when to start cooking Meal planning and prep thoughts and techniques Some of our best recipes Hydration, beyond suds Our typical schedule and communication strategy, also known as divide and conquer and start cooking in bulk the Monday or Tuesday before race weekend. Crock pots and crock pot liners are your friends (Including the use of Insta-Pot) What is a Wartburger and why you want one Storage, utensils, and serving needs On track/last minute pickups, including ice, water, fruit, etc. Do not put pickles into the ice tubs, especially if the lid is open/loose 5 gallon drink coolers filled with ice water and Gatorade or lemonade Minimize prep and cleanup at the track as much as possible Clear totes are very helpful for organizing and finding at the track If possible, have a separate set of things from your normal kitchen during the season to make pre-race packing as easy and quick as possible Scheduling meals and responsibilities on track day Snacks, drinks, open platters etc. for in between meal grazing Advantages of Camp Sharing with other friends and teams, preferably both Cleaning wipes and other techniques to deal with potentially limited water supplies at some track infields and pit areas Favorite gadgets and prep tools Smokers, Crock Pots, Sous Vide, Turkey Fryers, etc. Favorite meals and meals that are difficult/require "too much" prep for at track preparation Other food and drink related thoughts Variety of the menu from race to race is also something to consider We will be producing many of the best recipes we use on our website shortly after this episode (once Bill finished prepping the 6 cars we need to end our season) We end with a much anticipated (by Bill) Hella Sweet or But Terrible that went over like a Led Balloon. Please let us know if you or your team have any suggestions and recipes if possible and we can share them with everyone with either an email to [email protected] or even better within a 5 star review from wherever you downloaded our podcast.
GHiT 0064: Wheel Alignment and Measurement with Gil from QuickTrick Alignment
On this week's podcast episode we go over wheel alignment and measurement techniques that can be used at home and at the track by almost everyone with Gil Winingham from QuickTrick Alignment. Having a minor change to the alignment can lead to very significant effects, increasing speed, decreasing lap times, and easier/safer driving and handling. Please contact Gil at: https://www.quicktrickalignment.com/
GHIT 0063: Car to Race Car Conversion Priorities
Our team now has a new race car build about to begin. Long Roof for Life: Project Codename: Godzuki!!! It is a "new to us" Honda Civic that we will be converting into an endurance race car after this season. Since we know "Mr Honda" we will have backup knowledge to assist us as we go. Our plan is to build this car as a demonstration project for our listeners. If you have any ideas or thoughts, and suggestions on what we should do, please let us know within a podcast review or on our email at [email protected]. On this GHiT Team focused episode this week, we covered what we have been up to in the garage this past week or so. Lots of HPDE and NHMS race weekend prepping on all counts. Vicki has been obsessed with car detailing for the past two weeks on her 1999 NB MX-5 with a Flyin' Miata turbo. Inside, outside, in the engine bay, adding decals, etc. Alan avoids the Capri with everything else that could possibly be worked on and Bill is working on the 4 HPDE cars for Watkins Glen and two additional race cars this week (The cheap Boxster is trying its best to avoid remaining cheap). We also get into the Race Truck brake issue and our path forward; still not sure we have a plan. Vicki makes her point that we could use an additional team member with mechanical skills, but we still don't know how to find our missing skillset. We cover how to go about converting a streetcar into an endurance racing car and in what sequence. Our general priority is to first make sure it is safe by stripping it down and making sure what is structural is sound and repair as needed. After this, we add in safety features like the roll cage, racing seats, racing harness, and fire suppression systems etc. Do not forget to address the brakes and braking system with good racing pads and racing fluid, and likely improved brake rotors and calipers. Please review our episode #59 with Wendy from Porterfield's if you would like much more detail in this area. Tires and brakes are probably the biggest performance bang for the buck improvements you can do. The next priority we like to follow is to improve our driver skill and the durability of the car towards the abuse it is about to receive. This would include better grades of the various fluids, better suspensions, oil coolers, radiator improvements, transmission coolers, differential coolers, etc. Potentially adding a better clutch etc. as they fail during racing. As far as driver improvements, we really like HPDE events for the type of racing you will be doing, for instance NASA HPDE for road racing, EVO School for Autocross, etc. Really any type of coaching will usually lead to significant improvement, especially if early in your racing career. Don't forget to use your daily driving time to help practice and improve several aspects of your driving skills, like heel and toe, hand positioning and movements, and long range vision etc. At this point you have a good solid foundation and you can work to dial in the car further and continually improve. Once solid, we start looking at better clutches, improved drivetrains by adding in an LSD or a Torsen or even a locked/mini spool type etc. and avoid the open differentials where you only drive one of the wheels. The costs of these improvements tend to be a bit higher than the earlier steps. Nice/Next level additions to have at some point would include: Telemetry and video analysis to allow you to compare driver styles and performance via the data collected. Engine power increases can be a very expensive path unless you swap out the engine Suspension improvements like lowering the car, improving handling with springs, sway bars, coil overs, etc. Lightening the vehicle. Aero is also another great path to improve performance at a reasonable cost. Don't forget alignment is a great bang for the buck potential improvement, especially a good alignment and then a racing camber and toe adjustment. We ended with Vicki's Tool of the week for use with vinyl decals, stripes etc.: It is called Knifeless Tape and it allows you to cut any designs and shapes needed into any vinyl to make your desired edge designs. And finally, Vicki volunteered to list several of our cars for the "we" of our team. "We" shall see. Again any questions, suggestions, movie references, and/or car purchases, please contact us at our email at [email protected] and or even better within a podcast review.
WOOT 0062: D23 2019: Our Review and Impressions
Another new intro bumper starts off our summary of Disney's D23 expo with most of the highlights. We cover most of the announcements and also give our opinion on most and background in many cases if you are not familiar with the different properties. We also highlighted two additions to the Disney park areas. We cover a wide variety of the recent announcements including: Moon Knight She Hulk Ms. Marvel: Kamala Khan version Black Panther 2: May 6, 2022, title still TBD The Eternals: November 2020, added Gemma Chan as Sersi (no longer playing Dr Minerva?) and Barry Keoghan and Kit Harrington (as Black Knight) (Bill makes two feeble joke at Mr. Harrington's expense, but Bill knows nothing!)(and Benny doesn't get either) Black Widow: Footage was shown, not released, yet Star Wars 9: Rise of Skywalker: Trailer #2 shown, and internet predictions abound Kingsman 3 We woot our woot episode by talking about The Matrix and Bill's top movies of all-time list Artemis Fowl Star Wars: The Mandalorian Raya and the last Dragon: with Awkwafina and Cassie Steel 11/2020 Spiderman and His Amazing Friends: on Disney Junior – Animated Lizzie McGuire: Hillary Duff starring on Disney+ show The Muppets: Short form TV show on Disney+ Obi Wan Kenobi: Series Disney+ starring Ewan McGregor Star Wars Galactic Cruiser Hotel: Specifically for Jeffe, announced for Disney World Mulan: Showed some of the live action footage Frozen 2 Avatar: Logo for revealed Maleficent: Mistress of Evil: Poster shown Cruella Deville: Emma Stone starring as Soul: Disney Pixar movie Noelle: Disney+ movie starring Anna Kendrick and Bill Hader Clone Wars: animated series returning Monsters at Work: Disney+ TV series Avengers Campus: Announced for Disney Land Tom Holland presented for Disney/Pixar movie Onward, …… "I love you 3000", seemed quite sad during talk Spiderman Sony/Disney Talk here Krypton Soapbox Time again Top 5 Most Wasted villain list (attached) Our open invitation to Kevin Feige remains! We won't try for spoilers but would love to review the MCU and his career to date.
GHIT 0061 Chris Egan Special Guest Driver from Futility Motorsport
Chris Egan is our special guest driver from the Futility Motorsports endurance racing team. We last saw Chris at the 24 Hours of Lemons race at Thompson. We review his lemons racing history as well as the team's recent over-temp issues at their last race. Chris started racing with a Shelby Daytona and somehow he is still going (with the Futility Motorsport Saab). Chris has also raced in several HPDE's and tried his hand at autocross. Chris races with his family (father, brother, and sister) and is shooting for a top 20 overall. Chris covers why the Daytona is no longer the team vehicle and how the 250k mile Saab came to be a race car. We also talk about the pressures and responsibilities of being a square on the E1R bingo card and the history of the "Young Chris Egan" moniker. Chris is a mechanical engineer who has a penchant for following in the steps of Rube Goldberg, so he fits right into the lemons paddock. A natural born tinkerer in all areas, we also go over the recent intercom system that Chris has been working on and developing. As expected, Bill had no shame and requested a test model for our upcoming HPDE at Watkins Glenn. The conversation led to many different areas of discussion, including: HPDE vs racing vs autocross comparisons in learning and experience on track driving and improving your ability to read and predict other drivers, both on and off the track. Chris recalls several of the wild and crazy things he has seen both on and off the track at a lemons race, including a burning man themed paddock Vicki and Chris talk about making their own tracks at NHMS by not going up the hill. Chris seems to have worse luck at NHMS than we do. Lots of trial by fire and learning what "to do" and what "not to do". Building an old Toronado in Jahn Pagels shop with Spank the night before the Sonoma race. We make a challenge for a twin-engine car driven by two stick shifts. (one single clutch would be acceptable) We also go through a quick math problem with Alan over the plusses (time) and minuses (laps) of his recent red mist collection of black flags. We also go round and round on what we are doing with the El Jeffe race truck brake heating issues and the Capri engine/transmission swap with input from Chris Chris get subjected to a Good, Bad, and the Ugly review of his racing career/history. We make a bet between Chris and Alan on who finishes their project car first (getting the engine to fire). Who do you think will win? Chris and his E36 or Alan with the 3.8 liter Capri swap. Biggest takeaway: Finish the work on the car as soon as possible, not just in time for the race. How many other racing podcasts would also have a Wacky Racers reference in the flow of the conversation?
WOOT 0060 Our Review of SDCC 2019
We (Finally) cover the recent San Diego Comic Convention (SDCC). We cover the entire event with what we found of interest. Marvel dominated most of the announcements, but we tried to cover everything. Including: Krypton, several times The Witcher and Henry Cavil Top Gun Maverick Trailer Jay and Silent Bob Reboot movie and all of Kevin Smith's movies Terminator: Dark Fate The Cats Trailer It 2 Picard trailer The Orville The Watchmen TV series Pennyworth Akira (delay) The Boys on Amazon Bill is back into buying comic books! Especially the recent Hickman X Men series reboot Marvel TV news: Agents of Shield final panel, and ABC's new show speculation, Cloak and Dagger, The Runaways All the CW DC shows, The Flash, Arrow, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning and the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event this coming year Doom Patrol series renewed The animated Harley Quinn tv series Marvel Phase 4 announcements Black Widow in May 2020 The Eternals November 2020 The Falcon and the Winter Soldier tv series in Fall 2020 Shang Chi and the Legends of the Ten Rings Starring Simu Liu in February 2021 Bill bets Benny a Slurpee that Benny likes the movie and it will break One Billion Dollars Wanda Vision TV show in the spring of 2021 Dr Strange and the Multiverse of Madness May 2021 Loki TV Series speculation coming in 2021 The Hawkeye TV series in the Fall 2021 with both Clint Barton/Jeremey Renner and Kate Bishop Thor Love and Thunder in November 2021 West Coast Avengers and Young Avengers speculation/discussion MCU Phase 4 and Phase 5 speculation Also announced movies like: Guardians of the Galaxy 3 Captain Marvel 2 Black Panther 2 Fantastic Four "Mutants" What If animated series with Jeffery Wright Blade in Phase 5 Sony-Marvel Crossover potential speculation on Venom 2 and Mobius movie tie ins Howard the Duck animated series D23 Speculation Bill gets on a soapbox, twice, this episode including: Krypton is a must watch show Why the short season/few episode season is a bunch of OOOGAAA horn Vicki has homework to watch Akira and listen to The Sessions Podcast with Bob /Marley Thoughts about the recent new Corvette C8 reveal since our last episode And we wrap up with our most looking forward to picks and a big shout out to: Christian James Hand and his podcast called "The Session" where he breaks down popular songs track by track in a most entertaining manner. We can't wait to see him live when he comes to the east coast. We will follow up with a D23 review as soon as possible, hopefully with some Marvel Phase 5 information.
GHIT 0059 Wendy from Porterfields - Everything About Brakes and More
Wendy Charlier has been our primary contact at Porterfield's since we started our team and has been with the company 20 years. Wendy has a racing background from her family that goes back many years. Also, for those of you that are not familiar with them, Porterfield's is a private company that services all kinds of performance applications related to the braking your car and heat management, including brake pads, rotors, calipers, fluids, full brake kits etc., as well as other aspects of performance & racing like suspension components, oil coolers, starters, heat protection items, and batteries, and many others items. So if you need any brake pads for virtually any car or truck, they have them or will make them for you. Highlights from this episode include: Brake Pads Selection Factors What tracks What type of racing, historic, endurance autocross, dirt, etc. What use What car What heat/temperature is expected Rotors Vented vs solid Drilled and/or slotted (Hint don't cross drill if you are racing) Slotted One piece vs two piece Proper sizing and selection Calipers/Pistons The effect of the piston size, piston quantity, and the total piston surface area Brake fluids, types, uses, comparisons Wendy also recommended several brake pads to choose from depending on your driving needs, autocross, sprints, HPDE/track days, road/endurance racing etc. We also cover the brake pad torque performance and its impact on braking and brake feel A good bit of discussion on our racing pads of choice the Raybestos ST43's Other brands available include the Porterfield brand, Hawk, Performance Friction, Pagid, and several others from Raybestos How brake calipers can affect brake pad selection, especially with respect to the available pad thickness Brake Fluids selection Dry boiling point vs wet boiling point DOT 3 4 5 etc. (racing use DOT 4) Frequencies and reasons to change, bleed, etc., like if it boils, bleed it ….. Hydroscopic effects on brake fluid and its boiling point depression and why brake fluid is hydroscopic How varying local humidity levels can affect brake fluid performance Brake fluid compressibility and its effect on pedal feel Brake lines and selection and advantages of braided stainless steel lines (real) Brake Ducting and cooling solutions (not using pool noodles), both neoprene and silicone, with wire reinforcement Sizing of ducts and positioning tips on both the inlet and outlet sides NACA Ducts and other options Oil coolers We also reviewed a reusable oil filter that we are absolutely dying to try. Finally, Bill also attempted to talk Wendy off her personal cliff and start her amazing race career. We will get Wendy out racing soon. So please join us for an excellent podcast reviewing all aspects of braking your race car. And no, brakes don't just slow you down.
GHIT 0058 Thompson 2019 Race Wrap-Up
This episode is dedicated to our friend Aaron Leinemann. He has had some unexpected bad medical news and a GoFundMe page has been started to assist. Please share whatever you can to assist Aaron and his amazing family. Link at the end. On this episode, our team reviews the 2019 24 Hours of Lemons race GP du Lac Chargoggagogg(etcetera) AT Thompson Speedway in Northeastern Connecticut. We entered our Race Truck "El Jeffe" a 2004 Chevy S-10 with many Isuzu Hombre body panels and our new to us 1998 BMW E36 3-series car for our first race with it after buying it about two weeks prior. El Jeffe was updated from the former Stan Lee livery to and Avengers Endgame livery and the E36 was quickly themed in the paddock to be a Captain America car. We review Friday practice and spend most of the episode covering the race on Saturday and Sunday. Highlights include: New Drivers, several first timers at Thompson Thompson track walk and review Saturday and Sunday within El Jeffe Saturday and Sunday in the BMW E36 El Jeffe brake issues and a potential fix and path forward to alleviate this ongoing problem. Our 4 black flag debacle and how it impacted our position in the race (HINT not well) Bill got to make two signs with Connor to slow the cars in the pits A minor incident where a car came across the bow of the El Jeffe and removed moist of the front end facia Saturday night's Potluck Dinner hosted by the Three Pedal Mafia team for Stuntin' and Explodin' fest We show our exceptional math skills several times this episode Team awards for the weekend Hella Sweet or Butt Terrible idea of the week To do's and improvements for our next race Radio and Helmet communication issues Then things devolved from there Aaron's Go Fund me link: https://www.gofundme.com/calling-all-racers-support-a-teammate-in-need?pc=tw_dn_cpgntopnavlarge_r&rcid=r01-156579899205-2044fc655aa44466&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=tw_dn_cpgn
GHIT 0057 Peter Krause on Using Data to Improve Your Driving
We were honored to have internationally renowned racing coach Peter Krause join us for an introductory discussion of data collection and analysis to improve your track driving while minimizing the addition of risk. The conversation was exceptional and covered a wide range of areas and topics. Some of the highlight areas we covered include: Data collection systems, options, and comparison What to use, how to use, and several options for how to analyze the data His virtual track walks with Ross Bentley, especially the Road Atlanta Vicki, Alan, and Bill studied prior to our race at Road Atlanta last December We also discussed the use of Video to compliment the data and several ways to get to intelligent video which includes the track video with several displays of the data Several stages of progression in data collection and analysis Predictive lap times and the use and implications in car Keys to breaking through stagnation and plateaus in driving A simple and clear delineation between good and great drivers Several different ways of presenting the data including tabular formats, strip charts, and colored maps which can aide in the use and interpretation of the data collected. We also cover several of the more popular commercial systems including: Race Monitor app Harry's Lap Timer Aim's Solo, Solo 2, Solo 2 DL, MXM, and MXL GoPro Hero 7 VBox Sport Race Render Use of OBD blue tooth dongles Race Chrono Porsche Precision Track App BMW M App Peter also recommended two books that he finds useful in introducing more detail into the use and the analysis of the data. We have already ordered our copies. Making Sense of Squiggly Lines by Chris Brown Practical Race Car Data Acquisition by Bob Knox If you ever wondered what the top three key data collection parameters are, Peter shared his views as a driver coach who hopes everyone can use these three metrics to help with their self-learning. Engine speed/rpm Throttle position Brake Pressure If you have any more questions or wish to talk with Peter in more depth, he is easily contacted through his website at www.PeterKrause.net and please pay special attention to his websites area on Track Wisdom. Other references we also recommend include: AIM sports YouTube channel Race studio Analysis And of course, the Virtual track walks Peter made with Ross Bentley that are available on the speed secrets website. We can't wait until we can go into a bit more depth with Peter after we utilize his wisdom in our coming races and HPDE's.
GHIT 0056 John Santiago of NASA Great Lakes - Guest Driver and Instructor
On this episode, we were happy to have the lead instructor of the NASA HPDE group that Bill attended a few weeks ago. We tried to cover John's background, NASA Great Lakes teaching philosophy and approach. We think this is one of our best episodes yet and hope it serves to get at least one of you to go out and try performance driving. We would love to see you at the track. Please make sure to say hello
GHIT 0055: Capri Project and Post NASA HPDE Review
For our main topics, Alan, Vicki, and Bill go over where we are with the Capri resuscitation progress and Bill's recent NASA HPDE event at Pitt Race. Additionally, we talk about a how Alan's Yankee ingenuity has "helped" in mocking up the Capri build, his "free" source of "new to us" metal, wheel spacers. We also have a detailed explanation in how to alleviate the potential pressure involved with having a racing hobby and any potential friction that may cause with your significant other. And, yes, we may need an intervention to get the Capri to Thompson. Anyone free and/or bored want to meet in CT? We are trying new software so please let us know what you think, etc, especially nice would be to leave a podcast review from wherever you subscribed. Thanks again.
GHIT 0054: NASA HPDE Day 1 in Review
Bill reviews how his first day with NASA Great Lakes went at Pitt Race. It was hot, but the instruction in the car and in the classroom was excellent. Chris was able to be his instructor. The day ended with another few laps on the kart track. An excellent day one. Really looking forward to day 2.
GHIT 0053: The Night Before NASA Pitt Race HPDE
Bill is going solo this weekend but going to cover what he is expecting at the HPDE event with NASA Great Lakes at Pitt Race. Having raced here earlier this year, it may have helped, but we shall see. Hopefully the brakes will not catch on fire this time. Bill is driving a 2017 Toyota 86 TRD this weekend for the third time ever on a track. And hopefully home after Sunday, lol.
WOOT 0052: Spiderman Far From Home Review Plus some
On this episode, Benny and Bill review the most recent Superhero movie Spiderman Far From Home. We also cover the entire Spiderman movie history including the three Spiderman movies, the two Amazing Spiderman movies, the most recent two Spiderman "Home" movies, as well as Venom and Into the Spiderverse. Our discussion also includes a deep dive into both end credit scenes and their implications moving forward.
GHIT 0051 Randy Pobst - Special Guest Racing Driver
Randy Pobst is a well known professional racing driver for many series, organizations, and manufacturers including the testing driver for Motor Trend on the endlessly entertaining "Head to Head series" for many years. During this interview, we cover a good amount of Randy's extensive racing history as well as many other topics including our Lucky Dog Honda race car and front wheel drive car setups in general. Unfortunately, we missed a great discussion on the importance of tires due to a microphone failure. Tires are the first thing Randy recommends toward improving your track performance, followed by brakes, then reliability improvements. We also took this opportunity to discuss with Randy what he would recommend in terms of driver improvement, including key driving skills, weight transfer, and controlling the weight management. He offered many insights during our talk, but one we had not applied yet was to "Think power out of a corner, brake into a corner and then roll onto the power to go fast". We were in the pit area with a lot of background noises, as well as one microphone failure until about 24 minutes in, when we were able to fix one of the microphones so please bear with us, some of this information is incredibly valuable. We apologize for the higher background/hiss than we would have liked. We hope you enjoy the episode. Randy is a great driver, but an even better person. We would love to have him on again at any point.
GHIT 0050: Our Lucky Dog Race and Portland International Raceway - 2019
Alan, Jennifer, Vicki, and Bill with a few drop ins cover our race weekend with the Lucky Dog Series at Portland International Raceway. It starts with a review of practice Saturday morning, then our 7-hour endurance race Saturday and our work to get back out late Sunday. We compare Lucky Dog to our home series the 24 Hours of Lemons. While similar, there are differences, pluses and minuses for each, so we compare the two in the continual pursuit of the perfect low budget amateur endurance car racing. There were a ton of great teams there, most of which passed us on Saturday as we were towards the slower end of the field. We recorded this shortly after we completed Sunday so there is a bit of echo since we were in the pit. However, we did manage to give out our team awards for the weekend. Racing Results for those who are keeping track at home: Saturday: We were in 37th place when our engine went away Saturday and ended up at 41st for the day. We did not get to participate in the 2 Saturday endures due to the engine issue. Our fastest lap was 1:38.664 by our guest driver Randy Pobst, but we managed to 1:45.870 as our internal team best. (Randy was able to get to 48th fastest lap of the day and Alan's time would have placed us as the second slowest car in the 60 car field that ran a lap Saturday ) Sunday: We ended up getting on track after a long day of engine swapping and rebuilding and finished 3 laps and ended up finishing around 48th out of the 64 cars this weekend and 48th fastest of the 48 cars that ran on Sunday. Fastest lap of the race weekend was 1:29.932 by Blue Bayou for reference to the relative performance to the field. We came, we saw, we were conquered.
GHIT 0049: Lucky Dog Portland - Saturday Night Review
Here is how our day and night have gone. Its got a good, bad, and ugly, but what would you expect from us after all. Its live and unedited from the paddock, so sound quality may be less than stellar. Any questions, please let us know on our Instagram. We will try to cover them tomorrow or tomorrow night if we finish fixing the car. Thanks again.
GHIT 0048 Pre-Race Prep for Lucky Dog race in Portland OR (PIR)
Well this episode started out as a quick update and we intended to show you some of the planning that goes into a race weekend when you have to travel a significant distance. What we ended up with was a bit of what we intended plus a whole lot more. We go over a training session using go carts, new ear plugs for racing and a variety of other things. Technical issues in the background abound as well, but they will hopefully be entertaining.
WOOT 0047 X-Men Movies - Our Review
With the Dark Phoenix movie released, we took this opportunity to review the entire Fox X-Men movie series, in depth and SPOILERS aplenty. We cover each movie, as well as the three animated series and the two current X-Men related television shows (Legion and The Gifted). As usual, we digress and wander around the subject matter and related areas. We hope you enjoy this latest episode of our Woot series where we go way off our usual racing topic.
GHIT 0046 Our Race Wrap Up from NJMP 2019
Our 2019 NJMP Lightning Race Review with the 24 Hours of Lemons series includes: Quick review of the Lightning track Review Alan's many visits to the Black flag area this weekend Some flagging issues we saw We had a few self-induced incidents and a few outside influences during the race It was Kate's first race Podcast Reviews finally, Thank you. Arrival with two not fully working cars set us back for the weekend and we really never caught back up Shout out once or twice to Judge Craigers We had a few issues with the Cars, mostly because we came with not fully finished cars Jennifer was in a tunnel during the episode Car highlights included Speedy Cop's new Aquarium via 2 AMC Pacers, the Big Bad Caddy and "Wurst Shifter" pit vehicle, Race Bar Car, Godzilla, the new Three Pedal Mafia race car, Matt's new Surfin' Bird T-Bird, Mom Rocket team for keeping that grassy spot very clean all weekend, The racing Hudson, and the Sunbeam. Many shout outs to all the teams there, we only mentioned a few of them, but everyone was great. We were passed by many if not all of you who were there, Track was easier but aggression What should be our team penalty for getting black flags? Any suggestions welcomed. Please leave a comment. We end with our traditional Good, Bad, and the Ugly, as well as what did we learn from this event. Kate kept up with Black Betty for 5 laps! It would have been slightly more impressive if they weren't yellow flag laps, lol. We all also learned how to fill a hot tub with a pickup truck Our results from NJMP were that El Jeffe/The Hombre/The Race Truck finished 60th overall out of 133 and 25th in B out of 68 cars with a fastest lap of 1:29.082. The Spider-Stang finished 105th overall and 49th in B with a fastest lap 1:36.75 by our guest driver Matt
WOOT 0045 Game of Thrones Series Review
On this episode, the whole gang reviews the recently ended HBO series Game Of Thrones. We hope you enjoy the episode. Benny, Alex, Vicki, and Bill get into the various characters, highs, and lows of the series and books.