Garage Heroes In Training (Garage Heroes In Training)

GHiT 0580:  Bryan Lanham from the Adrenaline Chunkies

Bryan Lanham hasn’t been racing with the 24 Hours of Lemons for a long time, but he and his team have had quite a lot happen in a relatively short time.  Once we saw the latest theme, we knew we had to have him on.  If you are thinking of racing Lemons, you can learn a lot from this team.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/NinjaTurtleMiata

If you would like to help grow high-performance driving and racing and maybe even our podcast, lol:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate very much.  Even better, a podcast review would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Audra, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes in Training Podcast and Garage Heroes in Training racing team drivers

Money saving tips:

1)  Enter code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/ for a Sentinel system to capture and broadcast live video and telemetry.

2)  Enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order and Apex Pro system from https://apextrackcoach.com/ and you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

3)  Need a fix of some Garage Heroes in Training swag for unknown reasons:  https://garage-heroes-in-training.myspreadshop.com/ 

Nate Tennis from DirtFish Rally school joins us on this episode to discuss rally driving, racing, and training.  Nate reviews his background (since essentially his birth) and how his school approaches teaching the principles of rally driving to their students.  His extensive background in rally and off road racing for over two decades and counting helps tremendously in teaching their students since 2010.  DirtFish's original vision was to become the premier rally school in the United States.  Moreover, DirtFish has evolved into one of the most prestigious professional rally school in all of North America, and earning a reputation in all forms of performance driving, specialized training, education and all-out commitment to rally.

Beyond rally, DirtFish is a great frontier to learn about handling, speed, agility, and car control skills, with a profound enthusiasm for the dirt and gravel driving derived car control from its rallying roots.  If your car control skills could use some sharpening and especially if you are not 100% comfortable with you car getting unstable or sliding in a turn, this may be the best investment in improving your driving skills.

You can follow Nate and the adventures at DirtFish Rally School at:

@Nate_Tennis on Instagram

Or at www.dirtfish.com

Or to email Nate use:  nate@dirtfish.com

Dominating with Dawson Factors that affect a turn and how your car will behave

Make sure to mention "Garage Heroes In Training" to get your coveted zero dollar discount when you register for a class at DirtFish.

You can follow Nate and the adventures at DirtFish Rally School at:

@Nate_Tennis on Instagram

 Or at www.dirtfish.com

Or to email Nate use:  nate@dirtfish.com

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training immature endurance racing team drivers

Highlights from this episode include:

1)  Bill gets pronunciation help with eh town name where DirtFish is located in the Cascade Mountains area of Washington (Snoqualmie, its actually a bit easier than it first appeared, its all about where the syllables break)

2)  Special hello to Nate's parents, our two newest listeners, lol.

3)  An intro to what rally is and how it works, just in case you may not be fully fluent in it.

4)  How accessible the rally cars and drivers are if you attend an event.

5)  Types of rallies include sprints and range up to several hundred miles over multiple days and how the transits work.  PS It is not necessarily a Ford van.

6)  Types of cars, types of tracks, types of surfaces, safety equipment requirements, and how to begin to set up a car for rallying, as well as where to find a rally event across North America.

7)  What DirtFish is and what they specialize in at the school and how the school curriculum is structured for the different class sessions that range from a few hours to several days to account for almost any budget and schedule.

8)  How the driver and navigator work together and communicate prior and during the rally stages.

9)  Bill proposes a tremendous plan for rally events when Nate is racing against the Subaru factory team.

10)  Nate walks us through what the differences and commonalities between rally and track racing and how the skills of rally can augment and improve your track driving.

11)  DirtFish may be able to help us with our ice racing goal for the weekend, provided the ability to travel and race remains possible.

12)  Vicki misinterprets what "BYOS" means as related to our ice racing future.

13)  We workshop a new T-Shirt design for the DirtFish school.

14)  We have found a way for anyone to learn how to controllably slide their car, even Vicki.

15)  Bill has a terribly awesome idea for a cross platform race where part is rally is on the track at the Ridge.  Cathy/Lucky Dogs, are you in?  We would love to help if we can.

16)  Rally training may also be a tremendous way to help any new driver from avoiding an accident by greatly improved car control and situational awareness.

17)  How to get comfortable with the instability of driving at the limit.

18)  How the principles of rally driving can compliment any f your driving kills you may have already learned on track or autocross'ing etc.

19)  Zoe Lemons Fischer, our Bernese Mountain dog, makes another appearance during the podcast.

20)  What happens if you lose track of what page of the trail notes you are on and how to give feedback from the drivers position.

For all your rally driving learning or to find a race in any area, please go to www.dirtfish.com> on their events calendar which covers any event that they are aware of at:  https://dirtfish.com/calendar.

Or alternatively at the America Rally Association at:  https://www.americanrallyassociation.org/

GHiT 0557:  Scott Robertson on Racing Car Setups and Optimized Data Interpretation

Scott Robertson is the co-host of the Track Walking podcast and team member of Robertson Racing.  With Scott hosting an upcoming webinar on data interpretation, we couldn’t pass up the chance to talk with him ahead of time.  While we hate to impose on fellow podcasters to come on our podcast, every time we talk with Scott he sheds a light on a new aspect of racing and especially race car setups.  This episode is no exception.  This discussion offers a sneak peak of some of the topics that will be covered during the seminar this week, in spite of our meandering questions and discussion.

For the full webinar, please go to:  https://robertson-racing.com/products/circuit-sense-time-crunch-seminar

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/RobertsonRacingCanSetYouUp

If you would like to help grow high-performance driving and racing and maybe even our podcast, lol:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate very much.  Even better, a podcast review would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Audra, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes in Training Podcast and Garage Heroes in Training racing team drivers

Money saving tips:

1)  Enter code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/ for a Sentinel system to capture and broadcast live video and telemetry.

2)  Enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order and Apex Pro system from https://apextrackcoach.com/ and you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

For this episode, we wanted to look back on our team's first year racing Lemons and what we did, what we did well, what we did poorly, and begin to refine our plan for the coming year.  Alan also covers his recomended tool of the week.  

 DwD 0501:  Pit Stops Tips

As we all know, Ben is obsessed with saving time on track.  Equally important though is the ability to save time in the pits.  We talk through several things that we have found to save time and remain safe in the pit area.  In several series, this can easily be the key to victory. 

Do you have any other ideas to save time during pit stops or to help avoid errors?

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/PitStopTips

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

Awesome choice #1:  Subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice and every episode will show up. 

Even Better:  If you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating

Mostest Bestest:  if you would leave a podcast review.

We really appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Are you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with video?  Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are in the midst of installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT".  This will give a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2  If you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems.  Please enter the code “ghitlikesapex!”.  You will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

PS3  Do you collect data and never use it or have time to use it?  Is data analysis almost another job at the track?  Fire Laps may be what you need.  Quick collection & automatic analysis.  Enter “GHiT” and you will get a free 3-months onto your annual membership.  Firelaps.com

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts and Drivers for the Garage Heroes in Training team

GHIT 0329:  Lemons Rally Wrap Up of the Recent Four Corners Rally with Jeff Stobbs

Rally Master Jeff Stobbs returns to summarize the recent Four Corners Rally.  We missed the daily updates for this one due to a whole buffet of reasons, including multiple times zones, work travel, food sickness, etc.  So instead of our nightly updates, we thought we would try a summary of the entire event.  We will return to our previously scheduled daily updates on the next rally.  Or at least we will try.  It sounds like we missed a good rally and some bad food.  Oh, and Bill forgot his microphone cord so he decided to speak through a paper towel roll, as is tradition on endurance racing podcasts across the country.  And the world.

Plus we have one entrant request and make two car entry requests for a future rally.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/FourCornersRally2022

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate that very much.  Even better, a podcast review, would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  If you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with you video, Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are amid installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/

PS2  Please do not forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order from https://apextrackcoach.com/

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

The Semi Sentient Centenarians are a relatively new endurance racing team that are in the midst of an engine swap for their 1996 front wheel drive Buick Century A-body.  Their team started much like every other team, including ours, and in their case they can blame Matthew, lol.  They are a great bunch of guys learning as they go and trying to come up with the magical plan to dominate the C division of an upcoming race.  They are another example of a group of people who were interested in racing but never thought it was possible or knew how to get started so they just jumped in and tried it and the hook was set.  While we discussed their planned engine swap, we also had the opportunity to check back in the next week to see how the plan went.  This is one team we can't wait to check back in with at the end of a full race season.  So we didn't wait and added an update on the engine swap progress and project prognosis.

On this episode’s Dominating with Dawson, we go into the topic of what is a money shift and then once we define what a money shift is, we then go into several different types of shifting and shifting issues that you may encounter with a manual transmission.  If you aren't driving a manual transmission, at least the segment should be entertaining.

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. 

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/SemiSentCent

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  We have two systems for our team and Bill is looking to add a third for this season, pending CFO approval from Vicki.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights from this episode include:

1)  We learn how their team started, developed, and became the team and drivers that they are today.  One thing that they did well was to talk to other Lemons and experienced endurance racing teams to accelerate their teams learning.

2)  The team's racing philosophy is very simple:  Podium/Top 3.  So far, so good in the one race to date.  Lol.

3)  The stories of what they did and what they learned at their first race is tremendous.  It sounds like they truly jumped in the deep end of the pool with their first race being a ture 24 hour race at CMP.  It sounds like some of the Racing 101 series would have helped them.  It looks like we were only one year too late.  However, they did win the IOE at their first race so who are we to say anything?

4)  We walk through the logic of their upcoming engine swap and whether this is a good plan.  It sounded great, and then the turbo plan kicked in.  Luckily they have a full five weeks to get this done before their race at Sebring.  How hard could it be?

5)  Bill even resorted to math, but the +40 HP plan seems to be set in stone.

6)  We then check back in after the weekend to get an update on the progress and the prognosis.

GHIT 0321:  Dave Mills Post our AER Race at PittRace

Long sought after guest Dave Mills is finally on the podcast that you may know from his online presence as the Caddy Wrecker.  Dave is a long-time racer, rallyist, and was working with the AER team at our race last weekend at PittRace.  With so many things to talk about, we try to get a review of Dave’s rally and racing exploits as well as how he saw our race from the tower.  We also cover the Flagger system that was in our car that we mistakenly called by another product in our prior race review episode.  Please welcome to the podcast guest family.  Please excuse any of the internet induced noises and Robot Dave that appears sporadically within the beginning of the episode.

Also, a podcast first, help Dave find a new fun daily driver.  Let us know on Instagram, Facebook, or on our email at GarageHeroesInTraining@gmail.com.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/DaveMills

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate that very much.  Even better, a podcast review, would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  If you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with you video, Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are in the midst of installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all of our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2  Please do not forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights for this episode include:

1)  Swag bribes work.  Looks its Dave!!!

2)  Some great tips about looking at what the better teams are doing and learning what they do and what they don’t do, especially in the pits and paddock areas.  This literally can be the difference between winning a race and being midfield or worse.

3)  Dave has had quite a few unique rally experiences, especially the rally that occurred right as Covid was ramping up early in 2020.  He may hold the record for the longest time spent on a Lemons rally.  We are also not sure if that is something to be proud of or not.

4)  How Dave's professional experience has helped with the Flagger system that is being used by AER and is being reviewed by several other racing organizations.  Hopefully more to follow on this system in an upcoming podcast.

5)  We revisit the internet video where one driver missed a vast series of yellow flags.  If you missed it, the first video was on VinWiki and the actual rebuttal is available separately.

6)  What it is like to be "running" the race vs running in the race.

7)  As Dave is our first guest from AER, we go into a brief discussion of the differences between AER and several of the other series we usually discuss.  Especially the required pit stops system and some of the technology that the AER series employs in this mostly amateur series.

8)  Dave askes for some help in deciding on his next daily driver.  A podcast first and perhaps our first public service announcement.

9)  Dave's experience living off grid.  Its not for everyone, but he gives some tips and tricks that made it better.  

For more of Dave's exploits: 

Instagram:  @caddywrecker

DwD 0297:  Track Driving - With Nanny's or Without

On this issue of Dominating with Dawson, we go into another listener submitted question from Ron Mexico related to driving on track with the car's driver nanny's on.  First we cover from a high level what a driving nanny is and then we go into our thoughts on driving on track with the nanny's "assisting" you and when/if there is ever a good time to use the nanny's.  

So what do you do with the driver assistance aides on track?  Do you leave them on or do you turn them off?  What factors would influence the use of them, like weather and student driving level/experience etc.?

If you would be interested in helping grow our sport of high performance driving and our podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/TrackDrivingWithNanny

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

GHiT 0447:  Tiffany and Justin Kelly Return for a Second Lap

We catch up with Justin and Tiffany Kelly and learn all about what they have been up to since we last spoke.  Their current focus is on shifter karts and instruction.  We had never covered shifter karts to this point on the podcast and the performance of a shifter kart almost demands that you grow as a driver quickly.  So if you are looking to improve your driving and get into a vehicle that is close to the performance of an Indy car or F1 car at a reasonable price, shifter karts may be for you.  And us.  Bill is already shopping.

Keep up with Tiffany's growth at e karting news:  https://ekartingnews.com/2023/02/14/supernats-time-tiffany-kelly-takes-on-las-vegas/ 

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/TheKellysOnShifterKarting

If you would like to help grow our podcast and high-performance driving and racing:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate that very much.  Even better, a podcast review, would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Are you looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with you video?  Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are amid installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/

PS2  Please do not forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order from https://apextrackcoach.com/

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Samir Abid has been a vehicle dynamics engineer for road and racing car suspensions for over ten years.  He then created a sports engineering business to help pro and Olympic teams and athletes to optimize their performance through analytical techniques.  In addition, Samir is also competing himself in club level racing and understands the needs and dynamics of racing at all levels.  In an effort to help fellow amateur drivers, Samir created his podcast “Your Data Driven” and website to help share what he has learned on the top levels of sports.  His focus is on improving your race car setup, collection, interpretation, and use of data, and your driving skills and approach.  There is a ton of great information on each episode of the podcast and Samir also shares away a ton of useful tools on the Your Data Driven website, many for free.  Some of our favorites are the “Complete Beginners Guide to Motorsports Data Analysis and his Ultimate Tire Guide.  Samir is constantly generating new content and you can keep up with his work on his free weekly(ish) newsletter. 

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/SamirAbidPart1  

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights from this episode include:

1)  We cover a bit of his work on the team trying to break the 2 hour barrier in the marathon and how the treadmill can be used to eject most runners when set to this pace.  A great video (with over 17 million views) on trying to keep the record marathon pace is at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRYtn0j5ccAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRYtn0j5ccA  

2)  Samir's experiences when first going to race on track.  As always his "natural driving ability" was in for a shock once he competed with other racing drivers.

3)  What information is fundamental to having good quality information including video and what data to review at the track between sessions when time is usually limited. 

4)  Setting goals vs analyzing results in racing and defining what a win is for each event you enter.

5)  We go into the differences between our local (US) resources to learn at an HPDE vs the race training resources more common in the UK.

6)  Samir is surprised at the concentration of cars that can be involved with budget endurance racing in many of the series in the US.  Who knows, once the pandemic is behind us, Samir may be racing with us at an event.  We hope.

7)  Bill has a great question about racing car setup priorities but fails to actually ask it in a way that any human would understand.  (Although Samir does provide an excellent answer to a horribly worded question) We will try again when we have Samir back on.  lol.

8)  The complexities involved with sharing a single car in our endurance racing series.

9)  Several of the highlights and great information that Samir has had within his podcast to this point and several of the other resources he has available on his website.

Handy Links:

https://www.yourdatadriven.com - For the newsletter

https://www.yourdatadriven.com/the-complete-beginners-guide-to-motorsports-data-analysis/ - For the course

https://www.yourdatadriven.com/the-motorsports-playbook/ - For the book

https://www.yourdatadriven.com/your-data-driven-podcast/ - For the podcast

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:

1. Physical preparation
2. 1. Anaerobic and Aerobics
3. Mental Preparation and acuity
4. Cardiovascular fitness
   1. Diaphragm vs chest/shoulder breathing
5. Breathing exercises and breathe control
6. On track relaxation strategies and techniques
7. Neck, Shoulders, Hands and Core Stability
8. Eye exercises and hand eye coordination
9. Sleep
10. Diet and Nutrition, especially on race day and race weekend
11. Hydration
12. Off season preparation, Pre-race, at the race, during the race, and post-race options
13. Training periodization and improving well rounded fitness for all aspects of life
14. Cramping and cramp prevention
15. Heat and Cold management strategies
16. Outdoor training ideas and options
17. Improving proprioception and other driver “feel” capabilities during the race
18. Pre-race warmup techniques to get you in the zone in the first few seconds behind the wheel
19. 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.

We are getting back to our podcast roots and wanted to start a special series Vicki calls “So You Wanna Racecar” that Bill can’t seem to say correctly.  This is part 1 of the series (of ~10) where we go over where we started and how things went at our first events.  We then move on to how to build your first race car.  In case it isn't clear, Vicki strongly feels its better to purchase a car that already races in the series you wish to enter.  So, if you need to build your first race car or only if you need to make sure your race car is ready for your first race, this episode goes into the various steps and areas that should be your primary concerns.  As with most areas, especially safety related, if you aren't already familiar with the specific area, please seek help from us or someone with experience, or the racing series technical representatives.  This should be considered a starting point to work from and not an exhaustive, detailed plan.  We have already talked through many of these areas in prior episodes and will continue to cover each of these areas in future episodes.  Always In Training.

The outline for the series is:

Part 1:  Building Your First Racecar (and options to not)

Part 2:  Safety and Safety Related Equipment Needed

Part 3:  Best Entry Points To Start Performance Driving

Part 4:  Buying and Selling Cars (With Special Guest Lara Vernon)

Part 5:  Expectations between Going To and From The Event/Track 

Part 6:  Paddock and Pit – Best Practices

Part 7:  Perspective of a New Driver (With Guest Adam Owens)

Part 8:  Tools, Spares, Supplies Needed for a Race Weekend

Part 9:  Common Issues All Drivers Will/May Experience in When On Track For the First Time

Part 10:  Miscellaneous Topics (& Things We Forget to Mention Earlier)

Continuing with our racing 101 Series within our Dominating with Dawson segment, we go into many of the ways to enjoy racing at the track.  Especially when you are just getting started, racing is not only about winning the race, but there are also hundreds of “wins” each time we are at the track, many of which occur when you are not even driving on the track.  Just going and trying is a victory.  Winning isn’t everything and it definitely is far from the only thing.

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. 

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  We have two systems for our team and Bill is looking to add a third for this season, pending CFO approval from Vicki.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights from this episode include:

1)  We start off with a quick summary of our first racing events.

2)  The car preparation required varies widely, depending on what you are trying to do. 

3)  At first, we cover what is required for an HPDE event or an autocross event.  There you need very little besides a helmet, but we do cover a few potential upgrades like brake fluid and better brake pads.

4)  We then go into the preparation needed if you want to go on track with a particular target series or type of racing.  The first step is deciding (or guessing) where you want to learn, race, and compete.  Then you need to look at the rules for that series.  Everything is there, but it is at varying levels of difficulty in reading and understanding the rules and their implications.

5)  One additional factor that you should take into consideration when looking to buy or build or fix your first car is making sure it is fairly easy to get parts, support, and work on.  Ideally you should choose to use an already proven type of car that is widely used and raced, ideally with a low cost of consumable items, i.e., brake pads, rotors, tires etc.

6)  The first step would be having patience and waiting for the right car to start with.  The less issues to start with, the easier this whole process will be to complete.  Once you have the car selected and in your work area, you should likely look to clean the car up (inside, out, underneath, and within the engine bay) and during this time, perform a thorough inspection and generate a list of to do items that you will find.

7)  If it a dedicated race car, you will likely be taking the entire interior out of the car so that you can install your roll bar and/or full cage.  In general, you will remove anything heavy, anything flammable, and anything not required to race the car.  We prefer to leave the defroster for the windshield.  It’s up to you but be careful of the electrical systems and the ground connections.  If you damage any one of these, they can be very difficult to trouble shoot.  Also, in some series, you will need to remove the lock from the steering wheel.

8)  The next area to address is installing a roll bar or a full roll cage.  A roll bar is a project that you may want to try even if you are new to racing.  However, a full roll cage is likely one of the most difficult projects required in racing.  It is not a great beginner project and we would recommend working with an experienced cage builder or racing team in your area.  This is not an area where you should risk a mistake.  Besides the skills required, the design of a cage is not a trivial endeavor, both for safety reasons and fitting within the rules of the series.

9)  Vicki is very subtle in her preference towards buying your first race car and learning from there.  This is by far the easiest method to get started and reduces the hurdles/excuses to not getting started TODAY.

10)  Once the cage or roll bar is installed, you will want to paint the cleaned interior of the car and the bars for two reasons.  The first is to protect the bare metal.  The second is it is easier to keep clean and inspect the interior for part, tools, debris, before going out on track.  The key to a good project is prepping and protecting surfaces that you don’t want painted like glass, electronics, wiring, etc.

11)  This is an opportune time to review the rules again to make sure you are planning to conform to the series.  It is much easier now, than redoing or undoing.  It is also often way cheaper.  We also provided several tips for generating a to do list and ways that we have found to work for our team that can have as many as 20 or more people working on the cars at a time.

12)  At this point, it is a great time to reset your car and do a full inspection including changing/replacing all fluids and wear items like brake pads and rotors, and any rubber bits within the suspension etc.  (Essentially try to look at and at least inspect anything on the car that goes round and round or up and down)  In many cases, you will not know the history and current status of the car and this is a great time to make it yours and bring everything up to date and current.  To the surprise of absolutely no one, Bill has a long list, and it is available on our website.

13) Vicki mentions No Money Motorsports blog where he tries to show how to save a bit of money and still enjoy your racing hobby. 

14)  Next is safety.  Don’t ever try to skimp on this area and make doubly sure to meet any and all safety standards.  You can replace your car but your drivers, not so much.

15)  It is at this point that you should even consider working on the process of making your car pretty and things involved with the livery of your race car.  There are a few different ways to add numbers and a multitude of ways to change design/color.

16)  Bill misspeaks HVLP as High Volume, Low Pressure as high velocity.  Sometimes the brain doesn’t engage fully with the mouth.

After a very long delay in editing, here is the episode we recorded several weeks ago (pre-Christmas) as a farewell wish to Jandy before he went on a long-term deployment.  We did not expect to take as long editing, but we easily had triple the number of guests we have ever had and that made things a bit complicated.  This is a fun episode with a good bit of Storytime from past racing events.  Good luck to Jim on your deployment.  We hope to see you back soon.  And thank you so much for your service!

In this episode of Dominating with Dawson, we give and introduction to the basic braking techniques and when you should use them on a track.  The typical braking technique that you use nearly every time on a public road is never the proper technique when you are driving on a track and concerned about your lap time.  But here we describe the main types of braking that you will work to use on track as your experience grows.  We even go into a few techniques that you may not want to use initially, but we think you should be aware of, even on day 1.  The main technique that you will want to use at first is threshold braking.  Then there will also be a few turns where you only want to brush brake or even just lift off the gas pedal or throttle.  In addition, we introduce the concept of trail braking.  We do not recommend working on trail braking on day one for most drivers, but at the same time, we also don’t feel it is beneficial to be closed minded on only braking in a straight line.  Especially if you have a more well developed braking proactive where you apply trail braking naturally.  The key aspects to remember is to apply pressure quickly but not just stomp on the pedal to avoid upsetting the car or locking up the tires.  Just as important is the concept of gradually releasing the brake pedal to help keep the car stable throughout the turn.  Stomping on or popping off the brake pedal, as well as any of the pedals, is to be avoided. 

As always, if you have any questions that you would like us to cover with Ben, please let us know in a (5 star?) podcast review or via email at GarageHeroesInTraining@gmail.com or in a comment on our social media.

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. 

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving.  For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

A link to the episode is:  https://tinyurl.com/FarewellToJandy 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  We have two systems for our team and Bill is looking to add a third for this season, pending CFO approval from Vicki.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights from this episode include:

1)  It took almost 15 minutes just to herd the cats, so we put that as a “bonus” after the credits rolled

2)  Guest roll:  Jeff Caplan/Ron Mexico, Ann Moran/Giggles, Ruth Bates/Master Bates, Patrick Mchugh/Richard “Dick” Freelane, two secret commando guests who will go by Pat and Chris, Matty/Opah, Taylor Purcell/The Droner Boner, Estaban/El Banos, Lara Vernon, and our guest of honor Jim Andy Jandy Webb.

3)  Story time upon story time ensues.  Most are examples of what not to do, so we aren't sure this episode will make you faster but it should make you laugh a few times.  

DwD 0356:  Why Do We Want You to Come Race With Us?

One of our goals for the podcast is to get everyone out to a track or autocross etc. and enjoy high performance driving or racing with us, but we are often asked why.  So we take this Dominating With Dawson episode as an opportunity to explain some of the many reasons why we hope that you will try out this great and challenging sport.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/ComeRaceWithUs 

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

Awesome choice #1:  Subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice and every episode will show up. 

Even Better:  If you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating

Mostest Bestest:  if you would leave a podcast review

We really appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Are you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with video? Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are in the midst of installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT". This will give 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2  If you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems.  Please enter the code “ghitlikesapex!”. You will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts and Drivers for the Garage Heroes In Training team

GHIT 0353:  Chris Haase Racer, Lemons Judge, and Cookie Stealer

Chris Haase has been racing with the 24 Hours of Lemons for more than a decade and began judging a few years ago.  All was going so well until he stole a Cookie.  Lol.  We had been looking to have Chris on the podcast for a while but after last Month’s race at NJMP Thunderbolt, we had to bring him on and interrogate him a bit.  During this episode, we talk about a wide variety of cars that he has driven and raced, judging, Lemons tech tips, and how to race for a 4 hour stint (why????).  Bonus info:  Many early Lemons racing stories including long ago practice known as “The Curse”.  Vicki is beside herself.  This episode is a bit shorter than that and probably part one of many.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/CookieStealer352

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

Awesome choice #1:  Subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice and every episode will show up.  

Even Better:  If you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating

Mostest Bestest:  if you would leave a podcast review

We really appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Are you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with video? Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are in the midst of installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT". This will give 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2  If you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems.  Please enter the code “ghitlikesapex!”. You will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts and Drivers for the Garage Heroes In Training team

GHiT 0597:  Waka Motorsports Finishes the Races

One of the teams that has had some terrible luck has been Waka Motorsports.  However, at the recent NJMP race, things changed a bit and they had some issues, but conquered them all and finished the race.  A great accomplishment for any endurance race and well earned.  Hear all about it in this episode. 

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/WakaFinishes

If you would like to help grow high-performance driving and racing and maybe even our podcast, lol:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate very much.  Even better, a podcast review would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Audra, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes in Training Podcast and Garage Heroes in Training racing team drivers

Money saving tips:

1)  Enter code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/ for a Sentinel system to capture and broadcast live video and telemetry.

2)  Enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order and Apex Pro system from https://apextrackcoach.com/ and you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

3)  Need a fix of some Garage Heroes in Training swag for unknown reasons:  https://garage-heroes-in-training.myspreadshop.com/

WakaFinishes

GHIT 0344:  Race Recap:  GHIT’s Ladies Team Raced In our 1993 Honda Civic

Our first ever race was at NJMP’s Thunderbolt track with 24 Hours of Lemons and seems to be a lifetime ago.  We started out knowing nothing and that was probably being kind.  At this year’s event, we entered our 1993 Honda Civic with its full theme to thank the Everyone Racers podcast for all their help getting us started and helping us ever since.  Vicki and Jennifer raced with two of the hosts from the Shifting Points podcast at this event.  Audra had raced once with us last year and this was Jess’s first ever wheel to wheel racing event.  How did the event go?  Did the ladies Dominate?  Was the theme a bit overdone? 

This year we did it all for the Cookie.  Until it was stolen.  More details to follow soon.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/AllForTheCookies

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate that very much.  Even better, a podcast review, would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  If you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with you video, Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are amid installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT" for a 10% discount during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/

PS2  Please do not forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order from https://apextrackcoach.com/

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Jeremy, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

GHiT 0490:  Lemons Judge Series – Judge Shelly McKee

The Lemons Judge series continues with Judge Shelly.  She is a racer and a judge and is also involved with the SCCA so we go into that as well during this episode.  If you want to follow along with Shelly and her progress, her Instagram is a must follow @shellieshouseofspeed

Please welcome Judge Shelly to the podcast.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/JudgeShelly

If you would like to help grow our podcast and high-performance driving and racing:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate very much.  Even better, a podcast review, would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Are you looking to stream or integrate your telemetry/racing data with video?  Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/

PS2  Please do not forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order from https://apextrackcoach.com/

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes in Training Podcast and Garage Heroes in Training racing team drivers

DwD 0467:  How to Recover after Missing a Corner on Track

We try to get Ben to imagine what he would do if he ever missed a corner on track.  There are ways to minimize the impact and there are definitely ways to compound the mistake and lose more time or the race, or even your car.  There are a ton of factors within the race that will also affect how you should recover or even if you can recover.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/BlowingACorner

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

Awesome choice #1:  Subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice and every episode will show up. 

Even Better:  If you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating

Mostest Bestest:  if you would leave a podcast review.

We really appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Are you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with video?  Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are in the midst of installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT".  This will give a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2  If you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems.  Please enter the code “ghitlikesapex!”.  You will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

PS3  Do you collect data and never use it or have time to use it?  Is data analysis almost another job at the track?  Fire Laps may be what you need.  Quick collection & automatic analysis.  Enter “GHiT” and you will get a free 3-months onto your annual membership.  Firelaps.com

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts and Drivers for the Garage Heroes In Training team

GHiT 0554:  Waka Motorsports with Rich Russo

We were instant fans of the Waka Motorsports YouTube channel and first met Rich Russo and teammates at NJMP and then Thompson on their initial scouting trips to Lemons racing.  They race an almost identical car to our Honda Civic and have had quite a few stories in such a short time.  We also talk about the upcoming karting contest between our two teams.  So if you have ever wondered what a Waka is, its detailed in here and we bet you didn’t guess it correctly.  

In this episode we go over what it was like to start a racing team and how things have gone after their first few races.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/WakaMotorsports

If you would like to help grow high-performance driving and racing and maybe even our podcast, lol:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate very much.  Even better, a podcast review would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Audra, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes in Training Podcast and Garage Heroes in Training racing team drivers

Money saving tips:

1)  Enter code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/ for a Sentinel system to capture and broadcast live video and telemetry.

2)  Enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order and Apex Pro system from https://apextrackcoach.com/ and you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

GHiT 0512:  Rich Hromin – 2023 SCCA National B Spec Champion

Rich Hromin recently won the SCCA national championship at VIR.  In this episode we learn about his progression towards achieving this goal.  He is a great driver and a great person.  Too bad for him that he lives so close to us, lol.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/RichHromin

His Youtube channel is:  https://www.youtube.com/@romin312

If you would like to help grow our podcast and high-performance driving and racing:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate very much.  Even better, a podcast review would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes in Training Podcast and Garage Heroes in Training racing team drivers

Money saving tips:

1)  Enter code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/ for a Sentinel system to capture and broadcast live video and telemetry.

2)  Enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order and Apex Pro system from https://apextrackcoach.com/ and you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

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 0272:  Tim Bagnall - Starting a New Endurance Racing Team

Tim Bagnall recently contacted us looking for getting started in endurance racing.  We thought this could be a great episode and an informal 11th episode in our how to get started series that we had earlier this year (2021).  Tim did most of the heavy lifting and asked us a ton of great questions and we answered as best we can at this point in our racing career.  We hope this episode can answer some of your questions if you are starting out and may help you with a second opinion if you are already racing.  It appears that we have come first circle since we were an early guest asking many of the same types of questions on the Everyone Racers podcast.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/TimBagnall

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library and look under "Shows".  Then click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Bill Updated his ridiculous series of checklists at the following links:  

• Tools for a Race weekend or and HPDE
• Paddock/Camp
• Car Checklist (Generic)

https://garageheroesintraining.com/racing-checklists/ 

GHIT 0411:  Adam Owens Rejoins Us For Another Lap

Adam Owens is a friend we met a while back and he came on as a relatively newbie racer in our World Famous Racing 101 series two years ago.  We catch up with how his racing has been going since then and especially how 2022 has progressed into at least Racing 201 or probably more.  Adam has been consistently renting seats in endurance racing with the Boston Whiners and has been getting faster at every race.  While most of his racing seat time is in wheel-to-wheel racing, he has also been to several high performance driving events to further refine his driving skill.  During this episode, we talk about what he has found to work for him and several of the skills he sees as having helped him on track and several that could be further improved.  We also compare some of the differences between the different racing organizations and tracks that we have attended.

Some great discussion and great tips to improve everyone's on track performance.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/AdamOwens2022

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate that very much.  Even better, a podcast review, would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  If you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with you video, Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are amid installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/

PS2  Please do not forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order from https://apextrackcoach.com/

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

We are getting back to our podcast roots and wanted to start a special series Vicki calls “So You Wanna Racecar” that Bill can’t seem to say correctly.  This is part 2 of the series (of ~10). On this episode of Bill is a Piñata, we go into the various safety related items that may be required to get on track or by the racing series.  There are a large number of items and many different options and features to take into consideration.  We try to summarize each item and area and provide a high level introduction that should help everyone to get started.  We have covered several of these areas in detail in prior episodes, but we wanted to review them here for someone  new to racing or new to high performance driving.  Please let us know if we missed anything that you may want discussed in a future episode of our Racing 101 Series. 

The outline for the series is:

Part 1:  Building Your First Racecar (and options to not)

Part 2:  Safety and Safety Related Equipment Needed

Part 3:  Best Entry Points To Start Performance Driving

Part 4:  Buying and Selling Cars (With Special Guest Lara Vernon)

Part 5:  Going To and From The Event/Track – What To Expect

Part 6:  Paddock and Pit – Best Practices

Part 7:  Perspective of a New Driver (With Guest Adam Owens)

Part 8:  Tools, Spares, Supplies Needed for a Race Weekend

Part 9:  Common Issues All Drivers Will/May Experience in When On Track For the First Time

Part 10:  Miscellaneous Topics (& Things We Forget to Mention Earlier)

On this episode’s Dominating with Dawson, we go into several Starting Grid and Paddock related tips:  One of the potentially intimidating things is arriving at the track for the first time and not knowing what to do.  I this episode, we cover what to do to get on the track for the first time including generic gridding and paddock setup and best practices to have a great time and keep everyone safe.  After this we hope you will feel like you’ve been there already even if it is your first event.

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. 

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  We have two systems for our team and Bill is looking to add a third for this season, pending CFO approval from Vicki.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights from this episode include:

1)  Apparently Vicki and Jennifer were not familiar with the term “Luxury Mammal” which we first heard from Randy Bish.

2)  We start off with a section covering racing seats and the use of seat inserts.  We did have a full episode with Joe Marko from HMS Motorsports on episode #149.

3)  Our Preference is to use a halo type seat with FIA certification and seat inserts to make a secure fit.  Ideally without sliders but if needed, please use double rail secure sliders from either Sparco or from a Jeep TJ.

4)  Mounting is critical for both comfort and safety, as well as getting into and out of the car, especially when using a halo seat or in smaller cars like a Miata etc.

5)  Bill reminds Jennifer and Vicki of the broomstick test as an example of how much gap there should be above your helmet and the roll bar/cage.

6)  Jennifer comes up with potential alternatives to help with fitting several different size drivers in a car.  She has a future on “Top Chef”.

7)  Our next discussion area is the racing helmet.  It protects your melon.  If it is a certified helmet, the only thing that really matters is that it fits you properly.  If you can try it on before you buy, please do so.  (Any movement is not good, and very tight areas can be a problem, especially in endurance racing.  Puffy cheeks as a good sign)  Also, if someone has a “Simpson head”, that does not imply the way they look.  At the time of this recording, 2010 helmets are cycled out, 2015 helmets should be “on sale” and 2020 is what you should be looking for.

8)  We discuss Greek desserts and the use of a balaclava with your helmet.

9)  Racing suits, different types, and options, as well as underlayers and a few tips and things to do or look out for and several resources to find potential deals.  As with the Helmets and seats, it is best to try them on before buying.

10)  We finally found a reason to listen to our podcast.  Don’t miss it.  Lol.

11)  We also cover several different types and brands of head and neck restraining devices to help protect you neck in case of an accident.  There as several different types and additional complications when racing as a team and sharing H&N restraint devices.  Simpson offers a hybrid system that can be used with 3-point belts that are in stock/OEM cars.

12)  Flame resistant gloves and racing shoes are another item that may be required in most series and are a good addition to your driver bag.  Gloves and shoes see a lot of wear and tear so expect to replace them more often than the above items.  Also, conserve the wear of your fire resistant racing shoes by not wearing them around the race track and paddock, as well as not drying them in a dryer.  Don’t ask how we know. 

13)  Also, most series will require fire retardant socks within your shoes.  They disappear in the laundry just as well as normal socks, so be prepared. 

14)  One items that is often not thought about is underwear etc.  Please stick with natural fibers like cotton.  Most synthetic materials like nylons, spandex, etc. will melt and fuse with your skin if exposed to the heat of a fire.  

15)  Jennifer brings up the use of glasses and contact lenses in a race car.  Bill has strong opinions related to his laboratory background in this area.  Perhaps they may change your mind/opinion.

16)  The use of ear protection, in car/helmet radios and helmet speakers etc.

17)  There are several types of rear view mirrors available and we try to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each type, as well as our team preferences.

18)  Fire extinguishers and Fire Suppression systems are often required and a great addition to your car and team.  There are a few types and options that have distinct advantages.

19)  Other items discussed include the emergency stop switch, auxiliary lighting, and brake light systems, cages and roll bars, and safety harnesses/seat belts and the various options and features available along with a few of the tips and tricks we have learned so far.  Still in training.

20)  Also, at some races or series you will be using the hot pit or potentially setting up a home base/camp area on the pit.  Each of these require different setups and equipment, as well as team member behavior and movement.  We try to summarize the two most common pit area behaviors, but each series and track may have different rules or requirements.  Always check prior to the race to make sure your entire team is familiar with the rules of the series and track.

21)  Rob Krider is Called Brilliant.  Not the first time.

22)  Vicki wants to be clear that you should likely buy your first race car, just in case it wasn't clear after the last episode.

23)  Start now.  It is so much fun!

Used Racing Suits:  Race Image:  https://www.raceimage.com/

Rob Krider’s Magnetic Towels to prevent fuel spills:  https://nasaspeed.news/toolshed-engineer/magnetic-fuel-spill-towel/

Our podcast is trying to encourage people to try high performance driving and racing, so Vicki wanted to start a special series she calls “So You Wanna Racecar”.  On this episode, we have Adam Owens on to talk about his first track events he had last summer.  Adam has a lot of fresh memories from these events and is a good friend of our team (and potentially future team GHiT member).  In talking with Adam, it is even more apparent that the biggest thing stopping anyone from trying to drive at an autocross or a track event is just saying “yes” and doing it.  

Please let us know if we missed anything that you may want discussed in a future episode of our Racing 101 Series. 

The outline for the series is:

Part 1:  Building Your First Race Car (and options to not)

Part 2:  Safety and Safety Related Equipment Needed

Part 3:  Best Entry Points To Start Performance Driving

Part 4:  Buying and Selling Cars (With Special Guest Lara Vernon)

Part 5:  Going To and From The Event/Track – What To Expect

Part 6:  Paddock and Pit – Best Practices

Part 7:  Perspective of a New Driver (With Guest Adam Owens)

Part 8:  Tools, Spares, Supplies Needed for a Race Weekend

Part 9:  Common Issues All Drivers Will/May Experience in When On Track For the First Time

Part 10:  Miscellaneous Topics (& Things We Forget to Mention Earlier)

In this episode, we cover the differences between driving at an HPDE or a track day where you are more or less driving as singular cars on track vs driving on track and racing wheel to wheel vs other drivers and cars.  Neither is better or worse, but they are different, and both offer different challenges.  Largely the key difference is increasing the number of factors you need to keep track of and this increase proportionately to the number of cars on the track and the length of the track (overall car density).  In addition, there are often car specific details and peculiarities that will need to be considered.   Ben puts it best don’t worry, “if you are on the track, you are already a winner”.  Start slow with zero pressure, keep to shorter stints until you are comfortable with going longer while maintaining focus.  We are looking for any great stories from your first-time racing on track.  Please let us know for a great future episode.

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. 

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/Racing101Part7

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  We have two systems for our team and Bill is looking to add a third for this season, pending CFO approval from Vicki.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights from this episode include:

1)  Adam has done 1 day at a racing school, 1 HPDE, and 1 race to this point and is an enthusiastic racing driver in training.  For his day job he is the host of the local radio morning show and we have significant audio quality envy of his audio quality.  Post Covid, we will be reviewing our techniques with him.

2)  Without any prompting, Adam says one of the issues he had in starting was how and where to get started.  We are a bit biased, but we know of at least one podcast that is specifically aimed at this. 

3)  Adam’s bucket list goal was to drive a car on the race track.  Now he just wants to do it again! And again.  And again.

4)  We discuss with Adam the impacts of Covid on the past racing seasons and the upcoming 2021 season.

5)  How Adam first went on track at NJMP.  It was really as simple as a google search.

6)  We also go into how Adam and Bill first “met” and how small a world it is in that one of the teams Adam has been on track with our good friends at Safety Third Motorsports.

7)  Adam goes into how it felt to be on the track for the first time at an HPDE event and then his first time on track in a wheel to wheel race at a Champ car event.  As always, it was a bit different than he expected.

8)  Adams pro tip to this point:  No Coffee before a stint.

9)  We go into the advantages and disadvantages of renting/arrive and driving a car at the track.  It's not only a fiscal transaction but also a chief concern is the safety aspects.

Additional Information and Links:

Rental Safety Suits:  http://www.racesuitrental.com/

Lucky Dog Seat Rental:  https://tinyurl.com/LuckyMatch 

24 Hours of Lemons Seat Rental:  https://tinyurl.com/LemonsMatch 

ChampCar Seat Rentals:  https://tinyurl.com/ChampMatch 

Colton (aka Train) and Steve (aka Woodchuck) are two of the four hosts of the “B Squad Hotrod” Podcast on to discuss how they have learned and continue to learn to work on their hotrod projects, cars and other related projects, like building a huge garage from scratch.  We also get into some of the current and upcoming projects and goals for the coming few months.  A great podcast hosted by two sets of brothers, in 4 states, and three time zones, they work together towards finishing the project and learning a ton along the way.  Since they are B Squad, they came on our podcast, because A Squad would be a guest on a big time TV show.

Ben joins us on our Dominating With Dawson segment to talk about how to buy a car for a project or to become a race car.  It is the first of a many part discussion and we will be having at least one returning guest to go over this area more fully in the future.  Usually, it I said that you make your money when you buy a stock, or a house, or a car, but in our case it is more like you are only starting to lose your money once you buy the car, lol.

As you would expect, we try to bring them over to the dark side and build a car for a race.  We will see how successful we are.  We offered to help and race with them.  That may not have increased the likelihood of their racing, lol. 

Please send in your projects so we can share with the B Squad to help show them what we are doing and drag them into racing.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights from this episode include:

1)  What are the projects of B Squad and some of their background and learnings along the way.  With their guidance, we may work our way up to the B squad at some point.

2)  The logistics of being located in 4 states and 3 different time zones between the four hosts and their individual projects.

3)  Everyone is jealous of Woodchuck’s projects:  huge garage with a lift, a Humvee, 1967 fastback Mustang for the family CFO.  Progress continues despite working full time in the public health arena of Wyoming.  

4)  Train’s projects are equally distracted by his (over) full time firefighting/paramedic and when time allows him to work on his 1941-46 Chevy Pickup with an S10 frame swap and full engine swap resto mod. 

5)  The way that B Squad works out the mechanics of working together with each other remotely.  It involves a lot of calls, photos, video calls, and infrequent in person trips when possible.

6)  It seems that all of their interests can be traced back to one of their father’s Corvette.

7)  Train being in south Texas battles the heat most of the year and Woodchuck in Wyoming battles the cold winters.

8)  Suggested first projects to begin learning to work on your own car or project and what to grow into eventually and then where you may want to bring in some professional help.

9)  Why you may not want to let Train work on your electrical issue, especially if it is perhaps a 200 dollar 1974 Impala.  Take home:  shot gun shells are not functional fuse replacements.

10)  Vicki somehow make an analogy between learning to work on a car and learning a new video game that actually works pretty well even though it initially sounded a bit weird.  If only there was a cheat code with the joystick.

11)  The El Jeffe tire story comes back to life to help Train feel a bit better about his Impala.

12)  Ever wonder how Woodchuck got his nick name, its covered here.  And we finally get to ask the question that has pondered the world forever.

13)  Some discussion on how to deal with your tool storage when you need portability and mobility to work outside the home garage.  Also, a discussion of several alternatives for how to layout a home garage.

14)  Train is not a big fan on body work.  He would probably be very open to help if you happen to enjoy it. 

15)  Train is introduced to cars-parts.com.  We are sure it will help, especially with some of the later model car projects.   B Squad was the source where we learned of the project Farm YouTube channel which has been helpful.    

16)  Woodchuck makes a great suggestion of trying to find a mentor to learn from/with. 

17)  If you notice, there seems to be a truck them with most of Train’s answers and interests.  Perhaps we could get him into our race truck one day.

 GHiT 0561:  Recap of our Car Control Clinic at CMP

At long last, Vicki’s Christmas training gift was here.  We attended a Car Control Clinic at CMP’s skid pad with Johan Schwartz.  Vicki and Bill both grew as drivers and improved their car control, car recovery, and even a bit of drifting was had. A great event that we try to summarize for you.  If you can attend one of Johan’s events, you definitely should, and it will benefit all levels of drivers.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/CarControlAtCMP

If you would like to help grow high-performance driving and racing and maybe even our podcast, lol:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate very much.  Even better, a podcast review would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Audra, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes in Training Podcast and Garage Heroes in Training racing team drivers

Money saving tips:

1)  Enter code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/ for a Sentinel system to capture and broadcast live video and telemetry.

2)  Enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order and Apex Pro system from https://apextrackcoach.com/ and you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

3)  Need a fix of some Garage Heroes in Training swag for unknown reasons:  https://garage-heroes-in-training.myspreadshop.com/

The fundamental basis for our podcast has always been to help drivers at all levels improve and while we still have a fun on every episode, we are always trying to improve and help others improve.  One of the best received additions to our podcast has been the Dominating with Dawson topics that Ben Dawson was kind enough to help us with.  Here is the first annual episode that compiles all of the segments for this year.  

If you could let us know what your favorite topic was, we would love to know.  Also, if you have a topic for us to discuss, please let us know and we will make sure it comes out as soon as possible.

On this episode DwD covers:

1)  Car Control and more on rotation

2)  Coasting (at the end of straights)

3)  Crabbing or cheating a turn

4)  Accidents and Mistakes - What to do and what not to do

5) Alignment General Discussion and tire temperature and pressure

6)  Apex discussion - part 2

GHiT 0573:  Race Recap – PittRace 2024 – Part 3 Pedal Mafia

Our race season has begun with our kickoff race at PittRace with the 24 Hours of Lemons.  We were joined by several members of the National Championship winning racing team, the Three Pedal Mafia.  You all know them, they are the team we always refer to as our sister team and they refer to us as “Who”. 

Jeff, Jim, and Eric drove with us in our 1993 Honda Civic (EG for the home gamers) and shared in the hilarity of our Over the Top Gun Theme.  Also, Gayle is on the podcast and attended her first ever Lemons race. 

How did it go?  Will she ever admit she came to the race?  Will she ever come again?  All this and more.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/PittRace2024Part3

If you would like to help grow high-performance driving and racing and maybe even our podcast, lol:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate very much.  Even better, a podcast review would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Audra, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes in Training Podcast and Garage Heroes in Training racing team drivers

Money saving tips:

1)  Enter code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/ for a Sentinel system to capture and broadcast live video and telemetry.

2)  Enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order and Apex Pro system from https://apextrackcoach.com/ and you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

3)  Need a fix of some Garage Heroes in Training swag for unknown reasons:  https://garage-heroes-in-training.myspreadshop.com/

A bit late on this episode, but we cover a ton of the various factors that can improve driver comfort.  This will help with speed, lessen fatigue, and improve safety.  We hope you enjoy this episode.  Topics include:

Pre-race preparation

• Seat position and size halo/containment seats
• Seat angle and seat size
• Seat Height and helmet height
• Seat range and angle of sliders
• • Additional padding, Foam pads/risers and Expanding foam 
• Air ducts, and helmet inlets
• Exhaust flow and no leaks
• • Sound and noise reduction and ear plugs, if needed
  • Signs and labels within the car
• Radios and Pit-to-car communication
• Dead pedal
• Surgical tubing for Harness release
• • Verify harness is fitting for biggest and smallest drivers
  • Verify everyone knows how to assist with tightening harnesses for drivers
  • • Several styles of harness

• • Hook/Latch Link vs Cam Lock
  • Pull down vs Pull up vs Ratcheting
• Steering wheel position, tilt, and removeable
• Mirror choices, rear view and side mirrors
• Ability to reach all controls, switches, pedals, etc. easily
• Racing Suit sizing

Pre-Stint

• Water/fluids, and Minerals especially potassium and magnesium
• Ginger pills and/or Dramamine for motion sickness and queasiness
• Rest/Sleep
• Food
• Camelback or Water bottle
• Silk Glove liners if cold
• Cool shirt and coolers if warm

Stints

• Driver Order and its potential effect on harness and seat changing time
• Windshield clean and methods to keep fog free
• Helmet shield cleaned and not foggy
• Eyeglasses
• • Stints:  Start short, we used 30 min at our first race and work up per driver.  Some teams and drivers can go as long as 4+ hours
• Drink as needed, stay ahead, once behind it is too late
• • Critical if doing more than one stint per race weekend 
• When you think you are losing concentration, you already have been and its been too long

Hopefully, this will help you, your team, and your car preparation.

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT

Immature Endurance Racing Team

Ross Bentley, world class racing coach and author, was kind enough to join us to help celebrate our 150th episode!  Since Ross has literally written THE book on racing and high performance driving, we always look forward to talking with him any chance we get.  Our team has improved in the almost year since Ross came on episode 100, but have our questions?  You will have to be the judge of that.  As always, Ross is able to answer everything we are curious about and even provide some insight into the area that we had not even thought of to this point.  If you want an episode that will help you drive faster, Ross is the perfect guest.  We have already started our new list of questions in case we can talk him into episode 200.  If you have any, please let us know.  Also, Ross has resumed his weekly podcast and if anything, it is better than ever.  You can subscribe to it on any of the podcasting platform of your choice.  Also, his book Speed Secrets is the most essential resource we know of to learn to be a better driver and race driver.  The great thing about Ross is he can answer every single question we can think of.  The bad thing about Ross is he makes you think about it in another way.  This ends up with many more questions and usually Bill goes off and overthinks it, again.  Vicki missed a really good one this time (she was fixing her broken MX5 suspension in the hotel parking lot.

How to get better at the turns is the (potentially) surprising subject of this Dominating with Dawson, but we attempt to discuss how to approach a fast corner and a slow corner.  Depending in the specific track, one or two of the turns will be most critical to a fast lap time and it can often be one of these two types of corners.  This will be the first part of this area that we discuss as there is a lot of detail and discussion to be had in this area.  We did use several specific turns at Road Atlanta, Laguna Seca, Monte Carlo, and Mid-Ohio to describe these types of turns explicitly.  We are also sure, Ben slipped in a VIR reference at least once or twice.  For this discussion, the term fast is usually referring to a turn with a minimum speed of over ~60 mph or ~100 kph.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and

Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights from this episode include:

1)  Ross quickly gives away why he is back on the podcast with us.  Lol.

2)  We talk with Ross about our (then) upcoming skid pad event at Lime Rock Park and he was kind enough to go into what we could do to maximize the learning at the skid pad.  It turned out that this was almost exactly what our friends at Safety Third Motorsports had already arranged for the event.  Even after the event, we still have a long way to go to be able to catch up to Ross’s friend Johan Schwartz who was able to hold a drift for 232.5 miles, with live refueling while drifting.

3)  Ross goes on to explain a way to have a car turn more when understeering by reducing the steering input you are asking from the car.  Its counterintuitive but exceedingly helpful. 

4)  How does practicing on a skid pad help your street driving, as well as your driving on a track.

5)  When to use slow hands and when to use quick hands.

6)  Bill even asked the questions that he is over thinking, again.  Things like is there a relationship between the apex and the resumption of throttle during a turn.  Bill’s pursuit of foundational axioms continues, lol.  And why is he talking about thermodynamics on a podcast about racing?

7)  A great discussion of what sometimes can fool you on track.  For instance, sometimes as lap of a turn may have felt “good” but ended up slower.

8)  Ben comes up with a truly new question to Ross!  Nicely done.

9)  The importance of focusing on what to do and not solely on what not to do, especially in racing.

10)  Jennifer asks a great question:  what can she do to improve during the off season?

11)  Ross goes in depth on mental imagery techniques and actually gives Jennifer (and everyone) an exercise program that has shown to significantly improve your driving outside of being on track.  Summary: Relax body and slow breathing to slow your mind down

11a)  Monday night:  entering and setting up to drive the track at speed, and push pace a bit with actually mimicking the physical movements.  Focus on the technique of driving Pitt race.  Refresh the same for 10-15 minutes the following morning.  Mantra:  Pitt Race etc.

11b)  Tuesday night:  Close eyes and focus on personal driving confidence improvements and then drive the track again. Follow with a Wednesday morning refresh.  Mantra:  Confidence or I’m here etc. (in driving)

11c)  Wednesday night:  focus on ultra-sensory perception and expansion of details.  Follow up Thursday morning.  Mantra:  Sensitive

11d)  Thursday night:  Focus on race craft and starting scenarios and racing scenarios and try to envision ways to gain position.  Repeat refresh next morning.  Mantra:  I’m ready or I’m going to the front

11e)  Friday night:  Focus on adaptability of dealing with a car that isn’t quite correct.  i.e. left turns aren't same as right, you lost a gear, brakes are an issue, shock going away, etc. etc.  Mantra:  Adapt

11f)  Saturday:  Focus on a specific driving technique you are working on, like brake pedal release etc.  Mantra:  on the technique

11g)  Sunday night:  Focus on the thrill of driving at the limit and just driving without conscious thought.  Mantra:  TBD by you

12)  Ross and his students have all found the value of the using mental imagery and seen large benefits, especially when expanding the practice beyond the physical driving as we described above.

13)  We also went over several other off season, off track practice topics that anyone can do while in the off season.

14)  Bill also brought up the relatively recent release of the Garmin Catalyst, how it works, and how it can help most if not all drivers at the track.  It does not replace a coach, but can definitely help anyone to be faster and try new techniques on the track by looking at what you are doing and helping you to optimize from what you are doing to a better approach.  Most of us would be surprised by how it can help you break a plateau.  (We are still working to get a guest on the show to diver deeper into the Catalyst.  We have not given up.)  Ross coincidentally has helped in the development of the Catalyst and it really shows.  The Catalyst even helped Ross improve his personal lap times and we are sure it will help you as well.

15)  Ross covers what areas are typically key to focus on at various driving levels of proficiency.  Several of the habits are similar across the driving levels, sometimes even to the highest professional ranks.

16)  We go into the relative importance of driving at the limit vs driving the perfect line.  It looks likes Robin for NASA Great Lakes was correct with his tip to Bill at Autobahn CC this summer.

17)  A few brake light stories that Ross has “heard” about, as well as a great story about Ross driving the most “evil” car he ever drove at Nazareth.

18)  Ross was even willing to entertain us with the fast and furious story time questions that we haven’t asked him already.  Some will surprise you, but all were very entertaining.  We were especially looking forward to Ross’s answers to his favorite corner of a track.

GHIT 0317:  Race Bar Wins at Lucky Dog's Spring Race at CMP

Our review of the Lucky Dog race at CMP continues with our friends at Race Bar.  The tranquilizer dart was apparently very effective and we almost kept control of the podcast, lol.  This was the first ever class win for Race Bar and it was great to share it with them.  Enjoy this episode with Jandy and Richard Freelane. 

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/RaceBarWins

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate that very much.  Even better, a podcast review, would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is amazingly easy.  If you go to your podcast library, look under shows.  Then click on this podcast.  Here you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  If you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with you video, Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are in the midst of installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all of our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2  Please do not forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and invaluable to safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross, etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights for this episode include:

1)  A traditional Race Bar opening.

2)  We cover the detailed prep that led to the Race Bar victory.

3)  Dandy brings his own Top Ten list outline for the episode.  A podcast first for us.

4)  How it is to drive with a professional driver as part of the team  and why professional drivers would want to drive with our  amateur field of drivers.

5)  How treating the maintenance of a car like an airplane can help reduce the issues that you may have at the track, even n a 1980's BMW race car.

6)  Ryan Susca gets a big thank you for all the help and his contributions to the Sunday victory.

7)  Some of the greatest words to live by courtesy of our friends at the Track Walking podcast!!!

8)  Who knew, we even go into some driving approaches to improve your times around the CMP track.

9)  An example of classic Race Bar priorities in car repair.  There is wisdom in there somewhere.

10)  The response that you can get in Virginia when driving a Race Bar car home after a race.  Some lessons of things to do and several things not to do.

11)  We end with a bonus discussion of the intellectual property and team of skilled drivers contained by the Race Bar empire.

On this issue of Dominating with Dawson, Alex joins us to help define what the rain line is on a track and how to find it on a track, especially when it is our first time at a track.  The discussion wanders a bit, but all of it should help you in determining the rain line and allow you to optimize it to that specific day's track conditions and your car.

If you would be interested in helping grow our sport of high performance driving and our podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/WhatToDoInATurn

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

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?

Alex Levinson has a ton or racing and wrenching experience, especially with Miatas of all vintages.  So when he "volunteered" to come over for a work weekend, we quickly lined up everything we could think of to finish up several projects on each of the team's 3 Miatas.  However, our best laid plans did not come together as we had hoped.  New car lift?  Worked great and a game changer!  Bribe/food prep was as always on point.  Listen and learn about what can happen on a work weekend, especially early on in your wrenching career.

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/GaragingWithAlex

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

GHIT 0347:  Jeremy Hall from Monkey House Racing

Over the past few years, we had met Jeremy at many events, but it was more in passing.  Jeremy usually races with his team called Monkey House Racing, but for the Pittsburgh event he was racing with the Skunk Oil Racing team and our team in a 1999 BMW 3 series, an E36 for all the cool dudes.  Unfortunately, the event did not go well with two incidents, one Saturday and another Sunday, both at turn 2 of PittRace.  Jeremy was driving for the second event and the car may not be repairable.  During the episode, we talk about the event, make several blatant attempts to draft Jeremy and his team onto ours.  We think he is weakening.  This episode was recorded several weeks ago just after our PittRace endurance race with the 24 Hours of Lemons series.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/TheJeremyHall

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate that very much.  Even better, a podcast review, would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  If you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with you video, Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are amid installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT" for a 10% discount during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/

PS2  Please do not forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order from https://apextrackcoach.com/

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Jeremy, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights for this episode include:

1)  We talk about the event at PittRace and Jeremy’s history in motorsports and instructing for a wide variety of organizations.

2)  Jeremy’s philosophy for endurance racing and how it applies to being a successful team, as well as the difference in racing in the first hours versus the last few.

3)  How endurance racing is a team event and how the team involves more than the group you are racing with in the same car.

4)  What happened at PittRace when Jeremy was driving and what we all can learn from it.

5)  Jeremy’s team plans for the rest of the season.  Little did we know what would actually come to fruition.

6)  We also go over what it was like for Jeremy at his first Lemons race.

To follow Jeremy, you can go to:

His team is found at: 

@MonkeyHouseRacing3 on Instagram or Monkeys House Racing on Face Book

or

@JeremyHall2 on Instagram

DwD 0351:  What is rotation – Part 4 or maybe more?

We are going to take advantage of this week’s Judge Jeremy covering for Ben and go into car rotation for at least the fourth time.  We try to discuss what people are talking about when they refer to a car having good or bad rotation or how they were able to get the car to rotate through a turn.  The last time we looked, there are several potential axes of rotation, and many/most can result in a poor or expensive outcome.  Once again, this is a topic that we may need to revisit in a future episode, lol, but we give it another good try and did a lot better than some of our previous discussions.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/RotationAgain4 

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice. This includes the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate that very much.  Even better, a podcast review, would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving. We would really appreciate it.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is amazingly easy.  If you go to your podcast library, look under shows.  Then click on this podcast.  Here you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Are you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with video? Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are in the midst of installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT". This will give 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2  If you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems.  Please enter the code “ghitlikesapex!”. You will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts and Drivers for the Garage Heroes In Training team

DwD 0394:  How to Capitalize on Uphill and Downhill Areas of a Track

In past Dominating with Dawsons, we have talked about the affect that camber has on track driving.  During this episode, we go into the effect that uphill and downhill sections can have going into and coming out of turns.  We also go into how to know when you are at the limit and what Vicki is concerned about when pushing toward the limit in various section on a track.  I think we may have reached a new breakthrough for her and hopefully you!

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/TheUpsandDownsofHills 

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

Awesome choice #1:  Subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice and every episode will show up. 

Even Better:  If you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating

Mostest Bestest:  if you would leave a podcast review

We really appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Are you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with video? Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are in the midst of installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT". This will give 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2  If you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems.  Please enter the code “ghitlikesapex!”. You will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts and Drivers for the Garage Heroes In Training team

We finally broke Aaron down and he agreed to come onto the podcast with the rest of the Saabs of Anarchy team that we race with in many of our endurance races.  They started racing in Lemons many years ago and each have had several Saabs for street use and for some reason they all thought it would be a good vehicle to endurance race.  Stephen and Ryan recently started a podcast called The Autoholic Podcast.  They are a great group of guys who enjoy racing and seeing what they can make a Saab survive (an impressive 8,000 racing miles and still counting).  They also theme pretty hard.  The team consists of the brothers Aaron and Stephen Diamond, Josh Tamarkin, Ryan Abranovic, and Don “The Saab Wizard” Rowe. 

The podcast and blog can be found at:   https://www.the-autoholic.com/

On this episode of Dominating with Dawson, we discuss the concept of leaving escape routes which is useful on the track and possibly even more so on public roads.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and

Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights from this episode include:

1)  We cover how the team originated and how they came to race Saabs and continue to add to the race car fleet, all still Saabs.

2)  In this episode, you also get a peak behind the counter on how we “make the sausage” when Vicki reads a note on the Google Doc as a question to our guests.  Yes, it is official, we are still in training, lol.

3)  How the team developed the “Saabs of Anarchy” moniker (without ever watching the show) and how their themes have continued to develop over the intervening years.

4)  Vicki exercises her inner bulldozer, again.

5)  Some great stories from their teams first race and several other notable races, including a recent true 24-hour race in Houston with Travis Pastrana in the field.

6)  A 1993 car is referred to as a vintage car.  We are officially old.  Lol.

7)  Prepare to be besieged by the various Saab models through the years.  Your Google Fu may need to be put to the test in this episode if you aren't already indoctrinated into the  Saab family of vehicles.

8)  We can't help but pick on The Autoholic podcast for not being on iTunes Podcast network, but it is now so you can subscribe at almost everywhere podcasts are available. 

We try to give answers to questions our listeners want to know, usually to help them progress as drivers, but sometimes we get requests to answer questions that are not going to help you drive any better, ever.  This is one of those times and one of those episodes.  Several of you have asked us these questions at the track or via the inter webs, so here they are, as requested.

Throttle steering is the subject for our Dominating with Dawson segment this episode.  This is one of the ways that you can make a car turn without using your steering wheel.

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racing Team

Highlights from the episode include:

1)  Somehow we combined the Fast and Furious questions with the Newlywed Game during this episode.

2)  Who has driven the fastest on our team.  Any guesses?  Unfortunately, not all have hit triple digits, yet.  New team goal for our next HPDE!

3)  Alan wanders off during the podcast with his wireless microphone.  Can't even herd cats on the podcast.

4)  Jennifer stretches the limits of what a car sound is, just a bit.

5)  What were some of our team members "Ahhh Hahhh" moments.

GHIT 0237:  Breaking News With Eric Rood - On the Saving Saturn Protest and Other Lemons Rally News

As part of our journalistic responsibility, we caught up with Eric Rood from the 24 Hours of Lemons to discuss the recent protest at General Motors HQ that was aimed at resurrecting the legendary Saturn brand.  The rally was respectful but filled with lots of deep, deep emotion.  We also took the time to cover some of the other news from the recent rally.  You are welcome.   

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/SavingSaturn 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

The Jalopnik articles is found at:  https://jalopnik.com/sign-toting-evangelists-show-up-to-gm-headquarters-dema-1847357485 

GHIT 0377:  Gary McCormick From Tweed Motorsports

After racing, well almost racing with us, at our last race at Thompson, Gary is now a guest on the podcast and welcomed back at any event we attend in the future.  We talk with Gary about his experience with rugby and his transition from traditional ball and stick sports into what is now his racing team - Tweed Motorsports.  Having raced in many disciplines and with many series in a rapid succession, Gary provides his perspective on endurance racing vs sprint racing, as well as his experience getting his racing license from an open wheel racing school.  We also go through how Gary felt at his first ever Lemons event with us and how it may have differed versus his expectations.  The code phrase for this episode is:  Hunting For Space.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/GaryMcCormick

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

Awesome help option #1:  Subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice and every episode will show up. 

Even Better:  If you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating

Mostest Bestest:  if you would leave a podcast review

We really appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Are you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with video?  Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are in the midst of installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT".  This will give 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2  If you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems.  Please enter the code “ghitlikesapex!.” You will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts and Drivers for the Garage Heroes In Training racing team

DwD 0479:  Double Sucking

What is a DwD without Ben, well we try again here with guests Mental and Jeremy standing in for Ben.  One area we wanted to cover is that there are multiple factors that can affect your absolute and relative performance on track, especially as you progress.  One of the hardest areas we have seen is trying to determine the relative contributions of what part is driver induced and what fraction can be attributed to the car, car setup, and track conditions.  Sometimes it may not be “you”, but even then “you” can often work around as best you can when the car you are in is all you have.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/DoubleSuckingOnTrack

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

Awesome choice #1:  Subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice and every episode will show up. 

Even Better:  If you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating

Mostest Bestest:  if you would leave a podcast review.

We really appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Are you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with video?  Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are in the midst of installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT".  This will give a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2  If you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems.  Please enter the code “ghitlikesapex!”.  You will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

PS3  Do you collect data and never use it or have time to use it?  Is data analysis almost another job at the track?  Fire Laps may be what you need.  Quick collection & automatic analysis.  Enter “GHiT” and you will get a free 3-months onto your annual membership.  Firelaps.com

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts and Drivers for the Garage Heroes In Training team

We first noticed Annika Carter on Instagram where her moniker is Not.My.Boyfriends.Car and that is the best Instagram name that we know of ever.  We then noticed she was going to be racing with us at Road Atlanta for our last Lemons race of our 2018 calendar season.  She has quickly worked her way up and races as much as she possibly can.  She has already earned her racing license through NASA and we know she can drive as she passed us many, many times during our weekend together.  Alan, Vicki, and Bill discuss how things have been going as well as her upcoming plans and goals.  Please welcome Annika to our podcast as this week's special guest.   

We also added in a brief discussion on the upgrades to our Capri/Camaro transplant oil system, going over oil cooling and the differences between a wet and dry sump system. 

Finally, we also discussed whether or not to start a third project race car where we get a low dollar daily driver and convert it into a race car for use on multiple racing series that we are interested in.  We’d like to hear from you if you would be interested in us starting this project and giving updates and progress summaries along the way on our website and of course the podcast. 

Thanks again for listening and please leave a rating and review on whatever your podcast application of choice is along with any questions or requests for guests, questions, or topics you may have.  

We are all suffering from a serious sleep deprived, post-race weekend hangover, and we are all calling in from across the US with varying internet speed and connections.  It starts with the somewhat normal Race Bar takeover and then we go into the race.  For this event, our drivers consisted of Vicki, Alan, and Jennifer and our two adopted teammates Aaron Diamond from the Saabs of Anarchy racing team and Elazar Mann from Race Bar.  It was a great weekend with many, many highs, and a few notable lows.  It was almost back to normal, well as normal as a Lemons race can be, and it was great to see everyone again.

In this issue of Dominating with Dawson, we start off with our latest GHIT swag t-shirt that we made for the Dominating with Dawson and how we surprised Ben with it a few weeks back.  We then try to get back into our topic for this episode where we go into several things that you can practice on the public roads and during your normal driving that will improve your track driving or refine skills that you may want to start to employ on the track.  It is a great time to practice driving with left foot braking, heel-toe downshifting, as well as other less obvious areas of high performance driving.  Luckily for Bill, Vicki missed his joke, so he did not have to sleep in the tub after this episode, leaving a bit more room for Bill, lol.

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/LemonsNJMP2021 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights from this episode include:

1)  The Trophy truck/El Jeffe/Bad Hombre/Loki truck made its way to the track a bit late, but the theming of the truck and our drivers was a big hit in the paddock and with several of the young fans at the track.

2)  The race weekend started off with some small issues with the El Jeffe that we worked through the entire weekend.  Then we had a few other issues as the weekend progressed.  In other words, a normal endurance racing weekend.

3)  Aaron does his best robot impressions, but the connection improves after a few minutes.

4)  We had an issue with the engine losing power and having difficulty starting.  Unfortunately, we were not able to diagnose and fix the issue at the track, but let us know if you have any suggestions.

5)  Our two guest drivers describe the glory involved with driving the El Jeffe Trophy truck.  Since Aaron usually races a front wheel drive (Saab) and Elazar is usually in a mid engine car (Toyota MR-2), the truck is a bit different.  It is not what anyone expects.  We think Aaron and Elazar are both hooked.  

6)  In addition to our power/electrical issue, we also had a continuing issue with our new exhaust design.  We fixed it Lemons style to keep racing and then we made a plan to fix it permanently, of course this was after sending Jennifer out for her stint.

7)  Bill makes a terrible American Pie joke.  He says he was really tired.

8)  Aaron has raced in Lemons for almost 5+ years and had only two black flags in the entire endurance racing career.  However, in true GHiT fashion, he managed to get two more in a single stint on Saturday.  As Mars Blackman said, "Its got to be the shoes."

9)  Elazar describes how he dealt with a total brake failure going into the high speed turn 1, truly an example of dealing with a brake issue in one of the best ways possible.  To add a bit to the weekend, Elazar was again subjected to a loss of the mounting bolt on the upper front control arm on the passenger side.

10)  Alan goes for donuts, well just one donut, on our door.  He may also have to adjust the HANS device or seek another design.

11)  So in the end, we missed the checkered flag on Saturday by about twenty minutes and we missed it by again by about the same amount.  Cue the sad trombone.

We had a great time, we learned some more, and we were able to spend some time with our old friends, our new friends and our soon to be friends. 

A special shout out to our sister Jennifer who came to her first ever Lemons race and saw how much fun this can be.  We hope you come back again soon.

DwD 0264:  Improving Your Sense of Speed on Track 

On this issue of Dominating with Dawson, we talk about ways to improve your sense of speed on a track.  This includes the commonly referred to “butt dyno”, but can also include several other ways and several other senses that the driver can use to determine their relative speed as well as their absolute speed.  We are sure we left out a few, but please let us know if you use something else, especially as your primary feedback. 

If you would be interested in helping grow our sport of high performance driving and our podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/SenseOfSpeed

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

DwD 0326:  Driving What You Got On Track - Two Ways

On this episode of Dominating with Dawson, we go over two aspects of driving on track with the “car” you have.  This was originally intended to address the aspect of driving the car you have and adapting your driving to the car as it is during a weekend or a stint.  Most of us are not fortunate enough to have the ability to dial in a car on the fly while on track and most times you have to make the best of it.  The discussion also went into going to a track event with almost every one of your daily drivers in the current condition and not waiting until you install a blank or add a new blank.  In the end, the more seat time you have and the more car behaviors you learn to drive and adapt to, the better your skills will be and the faster you will be in a different car or track or weather or tires etc. in the future.  Just get started and make the best of any time that you are blessed and able to have on track.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/YouGotWhatYouGot

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate that very much.  Even better, a podcast review, would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is amazingly easy.  If you go to your podcast library, look under shows.  Then click on this podcast.  Here you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  If you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with you video, Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are in the midst of installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2  Please do not forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems.  If you enter the code “ghitlikesapex!”, you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, and Bill

DwD 0613:  Endurance Racing vs Sprint Racing

One of the more popular discussions in the paddock is the difference in racing intensity, usually measured by “tenths”.  We almost avoid the use of the tenths reference but we do go into the differences between racing in an endurance race and a sprint race and why there can/should be differences in the approach depending on the racing situation.

Agree?  Disagree?  Did we miss something?  Please let us know at GarageHeroesInTraining@gmail.com 

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/EnduranceVsSprintRacing

We hope you enjoy this episode!

If you would like to help grow our podcast and high-performance driving and racing:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate very much.  Even better, a podcast review would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes in Training Podcast and Garage Heroes in Training racing team drivers

Money saving tips:

1)  Enter code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/ for a Sentinel system to capture and broadcast live video and telemetry.

2)  Enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order and Apex Pro system from https://apextrackcoach.com/ and you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

3)  Need a fix of some Garage Heroes in Training swag for unknown reasons:  https://garage-heroes-in-training.myspreadshop.com/

DwD 0451:  Hand Signals for the Track

On this Dominating with Dawson, we talk about several of the more common hand signals that are used on track.  While hand signals are much more common, and usually required, at HPDE events, they can be used while racing to the advantage of both cars and drivers.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/HandSignalsOnTrack

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

Awesome choice #1:  Subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice and every episode will show up. 

Even Better:  If you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating

Mostest Bestest:  if you would leave a podcast review

We really appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Are you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with video?  Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are in the midst of installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT".  This will give 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2  If you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems.  Please enter the code “ghitlikesapex!”.  You will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts and Drivers for the Garage Heroes In Training team

This was  a very quickly done episode by a bunch of very tired hosts and is recorded and unedited live from Laguna Seca after our first day of racing.  Recording levels varied a bit more than normal but we all ended up with one of our sillier episodes.  Hopefully, you will enjoy it as much as we did.    

'Nuff Said

With Vicki, Bill and special guest Mental Ward

 GHiT 0564:  Johan Schwartz – All About Racing and Car Control

We loved our car control clinic at CMP a few weeks ago and Johan Schwartz was kind enough to come onto the podcast this week.  During the episode, we talk about a lot of Johan’s past and how he has progressed to this point in his racing career.  We also talk about his car control clinic which was very helpful to us and well worth the trip.  Johan also indulges us in going through each of his three World Records in drifting and we have a looooong way to go to catch him.  Lol.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/JohanDriftsOntoThePodcast

To contact Johan:  https://johanschwartz.com/

If you would like to help grow high-performance driving and racing and maybe even our podcast, lol:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate very much.  Even better, a podcast review would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Audra, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes in Training Podcast and Garage Heroes in Training racing team drivers

Money saving tips:

1)  Enter code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/ for a Sentinel system to capture and broadcast live video and telemetry.

2)  Enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order and Apex Pro system from https://apextrackcoach.com/ and you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

3)  Need a fix of some Garage Heroes in Training swag for unknown reasons:  https://garage-heroes-in-training.myspreadshop.com/

Did you ever wonder what a driving coach does for their driver?  We were always curious.  Ross Bentley was kind enough to show us the start of the process.

  Ross Bentley was kind enough to continue our tradition of having him on as a guest to help us celebrate every 50 episode anniversary.  And as long as he keeps saying yes, we will keep asking him, lol.  For this episode, Ross was kind enough to offer to help coach Vicki and Jennifer.  While the exact recommendations may vary between the two ladies, the process that Ross follows could be applied to your own racing/driving and the suggestions Ross makes may be able to help you specifically as well.  One thing that we learned during this episode was that we really want to work with Ross as a coach even more now after seeing what he is able to do in this short period of time.  We cannot remember a time where Jennifer and Vicki were more excited to get back to the track and try out Ross’s suggestions.  As always, when we have Ross Bentley on, this is a good one and we are adding it to our can’t miss episode collection.

If you would like to help grow the sport of high performance racing and our podcast,

you can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/RossBentley250  

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights from this episode include:

1)  Ross starts off with what tracks do we like and why.  We end up talking a good bit of this episode about Mid Ohio, especially in the wet.

2)  What are the first three questions that Ross asks nearly every student he works with?

3)  Ross comes up with some great practice techniques that Jennifer and Vicki (and you) can do while driving to break some bad habits and train preferred habits away from the track to improve your on track performance.

4)  We learn the importance of even minor improvements and how then can multiply over a lap or a stint and create some very large improvements in the lap time results.

5)  Looking for alternatives to braking later or harder?

6)  Ross also works with Vicki on several ways to help her (and you) stop over slowing for a turn

7)  We also go over goals and ways of handling pressure and using pressure to improve.

8)  How being too polite on a track can actually become unsafe

9)  Ross also works with what the biggest ahh hah moments were for Jennifer and Vicki this year.

10)  We love drills to try, especially at an HPDE or an open track day.  Ross gave us some new ones to try.  And we will at our next event.  We will report back after or NJMP event in early November.

11)  After the last podcast with Ross, we missed one of the listener questions related to breaking down a turn backwards.  Sorry for the delay.

To find even more of Ross Bentley’s wisdom and information, several of our favorites are available at:

1)  The Speed Secrets website:  https://speedsecrets.com/

2) His Podcast:  Speed Secrets is available at all the podcast platforms that we know  https://speedsecrets.com/speedsecrets-podcast/ 

3)  His Virtual Track Walks:  https://speedsecrets.com/virtual-track-walks/ 

4) The weekly newsletter can be subscribed to at:  

https://speedsecrets.com/speedsecretsweekly/ 

5)  Free Track Maps:  https://speedsecrets.com/trackmaps/ 

6)  Free Driving tips:  https://speedsecrets.com/driving-tips-2/ 

7)  Free or nearly free eBooks:  https://speedsecrets.com/ebooks/ 

DwD 0567:  Gripping your Steering Wheel

We discuss the best way to grip a steering wheel and hand position with a bit more related topics.  This may be one of the few times where more is not better. 

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/HulkNoSmash

We hope you enjoy this episode!

If you would like to help grow our podcast and high-performance driving and racing:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate very much.  Even better, a podcast review would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes in Training Podcast and Garage Heroes in Training racing team drivers

Money saving tips:

1)  Enter code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/ for a Sentinel system to capture and broadcast live video and telemetry.

2)  Enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order and Apex Pro system from https://apextrackcoach.com/ and you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

DwD 0544:  Listener Goals for 2024

We love goals and apparently it is rubbing off on our listeners.  We had several write in with their 2024 goals.  We congratulate everyone on their goals and add a few suggestions to help with each of the goals mentioned.  If you have goals for this season, please let us know.  Hopefully this is part one of many.

BEST OF LUCK MARY!!!!  We are rooting for you every day!

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/2024ListenerGoals

We hope you enjoy this episode!

If you would like to help grow our podcast and high-performance driving and racing:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate very much.  Even better, a podcast review would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes in Training Podcast and Garage Heroes in Training racing team drivers

Money saving tips:

1)  Enter code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/ for a Sentinel system to capture and broadcast live video and telemetry.

2)  Enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order and Apex Pro system from https://apextrackcoach.com/ and you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

Danny van Dongen is an accomplished racing driver and has started several businesses in Europe and the US, including a racing school, a racing series, as well as successfully starting up Hankook Motorsports that offers tires for racing in the US to nearly all forms of both amateur and professional racing series.  We would like to thank Danny and the team for their RS4's our tire of choice for endurance racing and the official tire of both Lucky Dog and WRL endurance racing series.  We try to summarize some of Danny's racing career initially and then we move into the area of tires, their construction, and their proper use in racing.  This is hoped to be a good introduction to tire technology, hopefully we can have Danny back for a 201 level discussion.

On this Dominating with Dawson episode, we talk about the monster under the bed that many do not acknowledge, fear as a factor in going fast and going faster.  Fear is literally a totally natural thing and affects everyone at some point.  We talk about it, where it may arise, and several ways of dealing with it.  This may be a first of several parts in this area.

You can follow Danny on Instagram at @DannyvanDongen

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights from this episode include:

1)  How his racing experience has helped with both car testing and development as well as tire testing, also complimenting his business development in both areas.

2)  How his race at the 25 Hours at Thunderhill went last year and the pleasure of a mostly night race on a very muddy track.  His skid school training was really pushed to the limit.

3)  How the different Hankook Motorsports tires are designed and manufactured to be longer lasting and more stable, perfect for endurance racing.

4)  A discussion of the benefits and challenges in designing a tire, both slicks/racing tires as well as the 180 tread wear tires we race.

5)  The basics of tire designations and understanding the letters and numbers typically on a tire such as 245/40 ZR17 vs 225/50 VR16 etc.

6)  Tips on tire and rim selection and the importance of the interaction of the rim width and the tire tread width.

7)  Important considerations like rim width to tire width, tire profile, tire loading, tire circumference interaction with the car gearing, etc.

8)  How the mass of a tire affects the heating up of the tire and affects the endurance/stability of the tires.

9)  Whether you need to break in a tire, how to break it in, and why the cars are always swerving back and forth at the beginning of a race.

10)  How best to pre-heat your tires on pace laps.  Also, please avoid the marbles, nothing good can come from them.

11)  Heat cycling, proper tire break in, and storage of tires for racing slicks and possibly RS4's.  Sunlight is not your tire's friend.

12)  Optimum tire temperatures and hot tire pressures for the RS4's and similar tires.

13)  Whether heat cycles are an issue on RS4's, as well as racing tires and slicks.

14)  Bill reminisces about his bad Armor All experience when he was much younger.

15)  The importance of tire temperature and pressure and general windows for the Hankook tires.  Including how to measure and interpret the tire temperatures when testing at the track, as well as suggested car or tire changes to respond to tire temperature variation across a tire or from side to side and/or front to back.

16)  Temperature ranges and pressure ranges for slicks and R comps tires and how it varies by the compound you select.

17)  Autocross users may need to look at using tire warmers to alleviate the problem of thermal transients and never reaching a true steady state temperature or pressure.

18)  Jason from Lucky Dog has been keeping a secret from us related to using RS4's in the rain on a track.  We will have to talk with him at Charlotte, lol.

19)  A good discussion of filling the tires with air vs nitrogen vs carbon dioxide.  The key is keeping the water out so that it wont boil in the tire affecting the stability of the air pressure during a race.

20)  What is involved in keeping tire records and how to actually use the information.  Sounds like Bill will be making another excel spreadsheet immediately.

21)  We tried to get some breaking news on the new RS5's but we did find two new size additions that are coming soon.  All NDA's stayed intact during the episode.

22)  Vicki brings up the time when Bill lost a tire, again.  She just can't help it whenever an opportunity arises.

23)  Vicki is jealous of the Lucky Dog RS4 tires having a Lucky Dog sticker and is trying to figure out how to do it with our logo.  Still tbd but she is all over it.

DwD 0531:  Options to Balance Risk vs Lap Time

When on track, there is always a certain degree of risk.  During this episode, we cover some of the aspects where the initial assumption would be that faster lap times increase the associated risk.  However, this may or may not be the case and also there are ways to take small risks and still push the limits towards going significantly faster.  We also go into areas where you can take a small risk with little consequence vs taking a risk with larger potential consequences.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/ManagingRiskOnTrack

Ross Chastain's move

We hope you enjoy this episode!

If you would like to help grow our podcast and high-performance driving and racing:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate very much.  Even better, a podcast review would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes in Training Podcast and Garage Heroes in Training racing team drivers

Money saving tips:

1)  Enter code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/ for a Sentinel system to capture and broadcast live video and telemetry.

2)  Enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order and Apex Pro system from https://apextrackcoach.com/ and you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

GHIT 0437:  Dion von Moltke Returns and We Talk All Things Racing

Dion von Moltke has raced professionally at some of the highest levels and has started an online coaching and education coaching business that includes some of the best racing (and other) coaches across the globe.  We have been subscribers since day one and never fail to see improvements after every session and know of nothing that can compare in value for the dollar and minute.  During this episode Dion discusses topics including:

1)     What separates a good racer from a still learning racer?

2)    What are the things that we will never stop working on?

3)    Why should we work on a corner backwards?

4)    What is the top priority of a particular corner and how to determine it

5)    Feel references vs visual references (or both) and how to get better at references

6)    How to most quickly learn a track or a new car

7)    Why should I wait until I have perfected my driving and car to get a coach?  (100% facetiously worded)

8)    How do you prioritize what to work on with your personal driving or with students, and even more advanced students

9)    Hitting target spots vs hitting target spots with correct car angle and weight loading

10)If I get oversteer or understeer does that mean I just blew the corner?

11)How to drive around understeer

12)Why is the slow point of a corner so important

13)Proper footwork through a turn (with a manual transmission)

14)The 5 types of braking zones (and why they matter)

BONUS TIP:  Dion provides several tips on what to look at when trying to improve by looking at your own video and data.

If you want even more information from Dion and his team, please go to:  https://blayze.io/car-racing and try out their trail subscription special for $29 for one month access. 

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/BlayzeCoaching

If you would like to help grow our podcast and high-performance driving and racing:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, YouTube etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate that very much.  Even better, a podcast review, would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Are you looking to stream or integrate your telemetry/racing data with video?  Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/

PS2  Please do not forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order from https://apextrackcoach.com/

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

DwD 0378:  Racing 101:  Jargon – What is Brake Pad Walk Back or Knock Back

On our racing 101 series, we often go over jargon that can confuse you at the track.  In this episode, we start to talk about brake pad walk back or knock back.  This can occur on many cars and be caused by several sources.  We try to talk about what it would feel like on your car and what you can do to minimize its effect while on track.  We also speculate on what can be the sources in your braking system that can lead to having this condition.  Please fee free to expand upon our discussion, as we have rarely experienced this phenomenon on track.  As a bonus, we also discuss a few other brake pedal related feelings that you may encounter on track and what the cause of them are.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/BrakePadKnockback

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

Awesome choice #1:  Subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice and every episode will show up. 

Even Better:  If you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating

Mostest Bestest:  if you would leave a podcast review

We really appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Are you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with video? Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are in the midst of installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT". This will give 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2  If you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems.  Please enter the code “ghitlikesapex!”. You will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts and Drivers for the Garage Heroes In Training team

Tom Suddard is the Director of Marketing and Digital Assets at GRM.  Tom’s first visit to our podcast was with zero notice and was at the invitation of Nine Live Racing’s Johnny C on episode #209 when we had our first episode on Aero.  In spite of this, Tom decided to put up with us again in what we hope will be a long list of bad decisions in the future.  What do you ask of a prolific supplier of articles and videos aimed at helping grass roots racers and drivers improve?  Well, we choose to go into a great article that Tom wrote about “10 Ways to Keep Your Racing Effort Disciplined” which is a great article and will help almost everyone to improve a bit easier and more cheaply.  We also covered a few other areas and will provide a bunch of links at the end of these notes for even more information.  We have a ton more questions for Tom and hope to have him on again, as many times as he will tolerate us.  Tom gave so many great tips during this episode, Bill is still taking notes.

Please subscribe to GRM to learn a ton and support the grassroots racing community.  It is the best money we have spent in racing.

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/TomSuddard 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

To find even more from Tom, please go to:

1)  Grassroots Motorsports:  https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/ 

2) GRM Youtube Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/c/Grassrootsmotorsports 

Articles we referred to for this episode:

1)  10 Ways to Keep Your Racing Effort Disciplined:  

 https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/10-lessons-to-keep-your-race-e/162737/page1/ 

2) How to Wrap Your Race Car:  

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/project-cars/LS-Swapped-2003-Nissan-350z/how-wrap-your-race-car-home-project-350z/ 

3)  Trimming down Your Racing Car’s Harness:  

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/project-cars/LS-Swapped-2003-Nissan-350z/getting-ready-trim-down-wiring-harness-project-ls-/ 

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.

DwD 0653:  Heel Toe – Part 2

In our first ever two part Dominating with Dawson, we go further into the topic of downshifting and the discussion in the “You Suck at Racing” blog by Ian Korf.  If you ever pondered or even argued about downshifting on track, this may be an episode that makes you happy or sad or angry, lol. 

Base Article:  https://yousuckatracing.com/2024/12/04/heel-toe-is-for-suckers/

And if we left anything out, please let us know at GarageHeroesInTraining@gmail.com 

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/HeelToeOrNoPart2

We hope you enjoy this episode!

If you would like to help grow our podcast and high-performance driving and racing:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate very much.  Even better, a podcast review would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes in Training Podcast and Garage Heroes in Training racing team drivers

Money saving tips:

1)  Enter code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/ for a Sentinel system to capture and broadcast live video and telemetry.

2)  Enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order and Apex Pro system from https://apextrackcoach.com/ and you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

3)  Need a fix of some Garage Heroes in Training swag for unknown reasons:  https://garage-heroes-in-training.myspreadshop.com/

DwD 0330:  CPR and Racing – Correct, Pause, and Recover)

CPR is typically referred to in a medical emergency.  But in racing, CPR is in reference to Correct, Pause, and Recover when you are out of sorts on the track.  The thought behind the acronym is that when your car gets out of shape or out of control on a track, one of the things that should be taken into consideration is that this can often require a procedure where you not only correct for the issue/error, but you must wait an appropriate amount of time for the correction to take effect on the car.  This allows the change to be transferred to the car through the vehicle through the suspension and then after seeing the car respond, the driver will then have to finish the process with a recovery to continue along the desired pathway on track.  This is because the correction will often lead to a change of course that requires a further input to track properly.  The unique aspect of this process is being relaxed enough to wait and feel the pause before applying the recovery before the correction has taken place.  Without the pause, a driver can often get caught up in greater and greater oscillations and get “behind” the vehicle and end up in a worse condition than the original issue would have caused.  This is likely part one of several episodes.    

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/CPRandRacing

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc.  Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate that very much.  Even better, a podcast review, would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is amazingly easy.  If you go to your podcast library, look under shows.  Then click on this podcast.  Here you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  If you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with you video, Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are in the midst of installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2  Please do not forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and invaluable to safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross, etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, and Bill

Hosts and Drivers for the Garage Heroes In Training team

GHiT 0316:  Kyle Lockrow's Second Lap with GHiT - On Winning the Lucky Dog Sunday Race, His Coaching, and a Big Sponsor Reveal Announcement

We raced with Kyle Lockrow at the recent Lucky Dog event at Carolina Motorsports Park.  Kyle helped our team get the BMW E36 back on track Sunday by doing an overnight parts run for us and also helped his teammates at Race Bar collect the victory in the race Sunday, a true racer.  We went over the race and how Kyle approaches racing in the rain or on a wet track and the tremendous benefits of driving on a wet track.  We also go into some depth of our upcoming coaching with Kyle later this season.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/KyleLockrowLap2

For more of Kyle, please listen to GHiT episode 265 at the following link:  https://tinyurl.com/KyleLockrow 

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate that very much.  Even better, a podcast review, would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is amazingly easy.  If you go to your podcast library, look under shows.  Then click on this podcast.  Here you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  If you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with you video, Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are in the midst of installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2  Please do not forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and invaluable to safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross, etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

For further information or to contact Kyle for coaching etc.:

Kyle's Website:  https://kylelockrow.com/

Instagram:  @Kyle_Lockrow

Facebook:  KLockrow5590

Kyle's YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7RUSH8RZ0WQ-8wm7tkfgjg 

Tune into the ChampCar Live Stream:  https://www.youtube.com/c/ChampCarEnduranceSeries 

Moore's Automotive Sales and Recycling:  https://www.facebook.com/MooresAutoParts/ 

DwD 0315:  Driving in the Spring and Cold

In an effort to be timely, driving in the early seasons can often be tricky since the temperature can often be lower than desired.  We start off covering what to do to account for the decreased temperatures and then we wander off into other areas that are affected by the temperature and humidity.  We start to cover taking care of your hands in the cold and then move into the preparation of the windshield surfaces and the potential ways to prepare the helmet visor and drivers glasses for potential fogging and streaks.  We cover our best techniques for the windshield, but we are still working on the helmet visor and drivers eye glass lens.  If you have any other ideas, please let us know.  It will save Bill a lot of time in the lab.  Lol. 

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/ColdDriving

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate that very much.  Even better, a podcast review, would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is amazingly easy.  If you go to your podcast library, look under shows.  Then click on this podcast.  Here you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  If you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with you video, Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are in the midst of installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2  Please do not forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and invaluable to safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross, etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Benny and Bill discuss their impressions of the Spiderman:  Into the Spiderverse movie and also cover the super hero movies of 2018.  Our audio went out on one channel.  It is now fixed.  

DwD 0341:  The difference between building a car and developing a car

Race Weekend Shuffle in place:  We have talked a lot about building a race car and prepping a car for the track.  But that Is only the beginning and just when you thought it was over, it has only begun.  The best way to think about it is that you now have a ticket to enter the event and part of your future will be developing the car and improving it.  There are things that will always need to be done.  Some of these areas are to increase the performance of the car.  Many of these areas are to improve the durability and reliability of the car.  There is also a set related to optimizing the car by dialing in the various settings and options within the car that you will be using to improve the performance on a given track or day or weather or.  Undoubtedly this is the first part of a multipart series.  On this episode Ben was joined by guest judge Jeremy Hall, Vicki, and Bill.

If we missed a factor or something wasn’t covered to a satisfactory level, please let us know at GarageHeroesInTraining@gmail.com or on our Instagram @GarageHeroesInTraining

 A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/RaceCarNeverDone 

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc.  Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate that very much.  Even better, a podcast review, would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is amazingly easy.  If you go to your podcast library, look under shows.  Then click on this podcast.  Here you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  If you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with you video, Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are during installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2  Please do not forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and invaluable to safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross, etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Jeremy, Alan, and Bill

Hosts and Drivers for the Garage Heroes In Training team

DwD 0332:  Pit Stops – Practicing and Some Best Practices

Once you start to progress as drivers and as a team, one of the more important aspects of racing and one of the most overlooked and potentially ignored aspects of endurance racing is minimizing you time lost on track during the pit stops.  As always, the over-riding most important aspects is to maintain focused on the safety of you, your team, your cars, and the fellow teams in the pit lane.  We also offer a few of the lessons we have learned along the way during our journey.  Ben and Bill have apparently taken a silly pill during this episode and digress down a few different paths of humor(?).  Tips on harnesses, cam locks, radios and radio connections, pit entry prep by the driver, driver order optimization, pit organization tips/5S/Kaizen boards, detachable steering wheels, etc.  

If you have any further hints that you’d like to share, please let us know in a podcast review, on our social media, or send us an email at GarageHeroesInTraining@gmail.com and we can share it in an upcoming Dominating With Dawson.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/PenelopePitStopTips

GHiT 0648:  Peter Granberg

Peter Granberg joins us this week with Vicki leading the way and Bill calling in from the road to repairing our E46 BMW race car.  Peter has been racing and recently focused on competing in GridLife's Club TR time attack series.  He has also begun to work with friends of the podcast at Robertson Racing and the coaching and hard work has paid off.  Peter finished on the podium for the 2024 season and missed the top spot by only 0.003 seconds at the last event.  How did he get here?  How did the season go?  Why coaching is so important?  What are the plans for next season?  Plus a few F&F Storytime questions.  Its all in here.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/PeterGranberg

If you would like to help grow high-performance driving and racing and maybe even our podcast, lol:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate very much.  Even better, a podcast review would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Audra, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes in Training Podcast and Garage Heroes in Training racing team drivers

Money saving tips:

1)  Enter code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/ for a Sentinel system to capture and broadcast live video and telemetry.

2)  Enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order and Apex Pro system from https://apextrackcoach.com/ and you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

3)  Need a fix of some Garage Heroes in Training swag for unknown reasons:  https://garage-heroes-in-training.myspreadshop.com/

We are very happy to welcome the Hydrocephalus Racing Team to our podcast this week.  They are a great team of friends and family that we first initially met at their first ever Lemons race in Thompson CT.  Unfortunately, Vicki and Bill apparently recorded in the Tube of Mockery we borrowed from Mental, so it sounds like we are huddled up in a cave somewhere. 

 If you are interested in supporting research in the area of Hydrocephalus, please go to their website to learn more about it and what we can do to support their efforts at:  http://hydrocephalusracingteam.com/ for all kinds of information and links. 

• When and how to use the term “Scrutineer”
• How (and Why) to race a prepped minivan in Lemons
• The art of “subtle” racing in a minivan
• How not to prep for your first time racing
• We begin to hatch a plan to get their team CFO onto the track
• Vicki can’t keep a secret to save her life (about the GHiT posters)
• How to learn about cars when growing up and working in a local junkyard
• Our Race Truck Progress – Its ready for Pitt Race
• Math and racing sometimes don’t apply to radiator leaks
• Two or three potential lemons car stashes in the upper Midwest and Alaska, one with hang time experience
• Effectiveness of our roll cages and safety equipment in an accident
• Fog is not your friend on the track, especially on your windshield
• Gentlemen driver documentary on Netflix right now
• and eventually listen to them ponder why they can't hear through their microphone, hint, it’s not a speaker, lol.  

We hope you enjoy the episode and please subscribe to our podcast using your podcast network provider of choice, iTunes, Stitcher, Google Music, etc. 

GHIT 0313:  Track Day Recap from our HPDE Event with NASA Northeast at NJMP’s Lightning Track

Jennifer and Vicki had their first trip the track this year at the NASA Northeast HPDE event at NJMP’s Lightning track.  Our event prep had a few issues with our Honda Civic inaugural shake down.  The issue is still TBD at this point.  Jennifer was in the HPDE 2 group and Vicki was in the HPDE3/4 group.  Bill was primarily concerned with instructing two students this weekend, both we on a track for their maiden voyage.  The weekend was a mix of highs and lows, many highs and really only one low.  We go over our weekend and how everyone progressed.  Both Jennifer and Vicki improved significantly over the winter off season, and we go into several of their accomplishments and the details.  The post race weekend hangover is real, and we all tried to stay focused and coherent with varied results, lol.  Our next event is later this month at Lime Rock Park and then our back-to-back racing weekends at PittRace with AER and then the 24 Hours of Lemons.  We also cover some of the trickier aspects of growing as a driver and some of the precautions to be aware of, especially if you have a significant improvement on your speed.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/OurTiredHPDEReview

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate that very much.  Even better, a podcast review, would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is amazingly easy.  If you go to your podcast library, look under shows.  Then click on this podcast.  Here you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  If you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with you video, Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are in the midst of installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all of our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2  Please do not forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and invaluable to safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross, etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

GHIT 0359  GridLife's NJMP 2022 Event with E1R’s Chris and Chrissy

We were finally able to go to our first GridLife event this year at NJMP and to make it even better we were there with our friends from the Everyone Racers podcast Chris and Chrissy.  Since we were all together, we decided to do a podcast mashup.  We were split up among the intermediate and advanced HPDE groups for this weekend.  Chris was looking to test and tune their latest K swapped 1993 Honda Civic.  Chrissy wanted to gain overall speed and confidence.  Jennifer was there to get a bit more time and comfort driving our front wheel drive Civic.  Vicki was going to drive our 2019 Mazda Miata on track for the first time and Bill was looking to help anyone he could at this event.  In addition, we were finally going to meet our friends at GridLife, as well as Ross Bentley and Peter Krause.  What could be better.  Oh, that’s right, the weather turned us into baked potatoes as this was the hottest track event that we have ever attended.

A link to the episode is: 

https://tinyurl.com/GHiT359  

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

Awesome choice #1:  Subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice and every episode will show up. 

Even Better:  If you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating

Mostest Bestest:  if you would leave a podcast review

We really appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Are you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with video? Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are in the midst of installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT". This will give 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2  If you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems.  Please enter the code “ghitlikesapex!”. You will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts and Drivers for the Garage Heroes In Training team

Alan and Bill cover what their goals are for the 2019 racing season to improve on 2018.

GHiT 0566:  Elizabeth Jolly – Lap 3, Plus a New Plan for Vicki

It had been too long since we had Elizabeth Jolly on the podcast.  She was at our first ever All Ladies team endurance race at Thompson and has learned a considerable amount as a driver, a racer, and as a mechanic for her race cars.  She has progressed her driving to securing her SCCA racing license and competes in her Spec E30 BMW.  We talk about how things have been going and then make a new decision and plan that affects Vicki’s season in a great way!

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/ElizabethJollyLap3

If you would like to help grow high-performance driving and racing and maybe even our podcast, lol:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate very much.  Even better, a podcast review would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Audra, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes in Training Podcast and Garage Heroes in Training racing team drivers

Money saving tips:

1)  Enter code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/ for a Sentinel system to capture and broadcast live video and telemetry.

2)  Enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order and Apex Pro system from https://apextrackcoach.com/ and you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

3)  Need a fix of some Garage Heroes in Training swag for unknown reasons:  https://garage-heroes-in-training.myspreadshop.com/

In this issue of Dominating with Dawson, we discuss when your track car has an antilock braking system.  We also discuss the other driver aides like stability control etc. being used on track. 

If you would like to help the podcast, you can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice. This includes the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating. Even better, a podcast review. We would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast. There you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

If it may help you, here is link to the episode: https://tinyurl.com/ABSvsNonABS

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  The Apex Pro is a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

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 0646:  Gift Ideas for the Racer and Driver 

Looking for gift ideas for a driver/racer in your life?  We have thoughts and try to avoid the things that we really don't want or won't use.  Things that took a little thought and care or at least appear to.  We try to save you some time during the hectic season and this year, we even got it our before the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. 

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/GiftsForRacers

If you would like to help grow high-performance driving and racing and maybe even our podcast, lol:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate very much.  Even better, a podcast review would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Audra, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes in Training Podcast and Garage Heroes in Training racing team drivers

Money saving tips:

1)  Enter code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/ for a Sentinel system to capture and broadcast live video and telemetry.

2)  Enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order and Apex Pro system from https://apextrackcoach.com/ and you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

3)  Need a fix of some Garage Heroes in Training swag for unknown reasons:  https://garage-heroes-in-training.myspreadshop.com/

GHiT 0634:  Tires Age and Feel Like What

We had a recent podcast related to tires and maintaining the tires, but upon further review, we did not go into how the tires can degrade and what that can feel like.  So we did.  

What did we miss?

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/TireDeg

If you would like to help grow high-performance driving and racing and maybe even our podcast, lol:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate very much.  Even better, a podcast review would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Audra, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes in Training Podcast and Garage Heroes in Training racing team drivers

Money saving tips:

1)  Enter code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/ for a Sentinel system to capture and broadcast live video and telemetry.

2)  Enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order and Apex Pro system from https://apextrackcoach.com/ and you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

3)  Need a fix of some Garage Heroes in Training swag for unknown reasons:  https://garage-heroes-in-training.myspreadshop.com/

GHiT 0631:  Scott McMichael and Bill Drive Pineview Run in an Integra Type S

When Scott asked if we could come to watch a race, we said why don’t you come up and we can go race ourselves.  An easy ask for a friend who is one of the webmasters of the Unofficial 24 Hours of Lemons page in the book of faces.  Scott and Bill took to the track in a 2024 Acura Integra Type S and we review the stock car and the track.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/PineViewRunIntegraTypeS

If you would like to help grow high-performance driving and racing and maybe even our podcast, lol:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate very much.  Even better, a podcast review would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Audra, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes in Training Podcast and Garage Heroes in Training racing team drivers

Money saving tips:

1)  Enter code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/ for a Sentinel system to capture and broadcast live video and telemetry.

2)  Enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order and Apex Pro system from https://apextrackcoach.com/ and you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

3)  Need a fix of some Garage Heroes in Training swag for unknown reasons:  https://garage-heroes-in-training.myspreadshop.com/

GHIT 0261:  Our NJMP HPDE Event - Part Deux

We had a large group of drivers at the recent NASA Northeast HPDE event at NJMP’s Lightning course.  Since schedules did not fully coincide last week, we broke our group up into two different episodes.  We start off with our usual goals for the weekend and cover how the event went.  For this episode, we had Audra on who had never been to this track and was driving her 2017 BMW M2 for the weekend.  Adam came to the event and was going to use Bill’s M3 but due to mechanical issues, he had to use Vicki’s 1999 turbo NB Miata for one of his stints.  Elizabeth was trying her new to her SpecE30 on the track.  Lisa returns for a second visit on this event and drove Audra’s M2 at the event in the Hyperdrive session

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/NJMP2021Part2 

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights from this episode include:

1)  We start off with our personal goals for the event.  Each event we try to make sure we each have at least one goal, but no more than 3 for the weekend.

2)  Elizabeth had a bit of motion sickness after going out with Bill as a passenger.  We may have found a cure for this, hopefully it will prevent motion sickness as well.  We will test this again at our next few events.

3)  Each level of the HPDE has a download session and some of the levels have classrooms during the weekend.  We discuss the benefits of each and offer some suggestions for further improvement.

4)  Highlights from the weekend and our traditional Good, Bad, and the Ugly

5)  Adam advanced from HPDE 1 to HPDE 2.

6)  Audra advanced from HPDE 1 to HPDE 2.

7)  Vicki advanced from HPDE 2 to HPDE 3.

8)  Elizabeth advanced from to HPDE 2.

9)  We also shared a ton of Ahh Hah moments we had at this event.  Its awesome to hear how everyone of us progressed.

10)  Adam gave a good review of driving the E46 M3 vs the turbo NB Miata.

11)  

Trey Shannon returns to discuss several options to get in better shape for racing and life that can be done with or without a gym.  We talk through a wide variety of ways to shave pounds off each car you drive by carrying fewer (extra) pounds in the driver seat.  Trey usually works with several pro level drivers and many with professional aspirations.  Podium Performance not only deals with physical preparation, but mental, visual, and many other related areas that can impact your driving performance, especially in long races or races with challenging conditions like heat etc.  If you happen to live in the Charlotte NC area, Trey is local to you and he works out of Podium Performance Fitness at www.podiumperformancefitness.com or 540-815-2737.

We discuss the relative importance of driving perfect lines versus driving with full commitment on our Dominating with Dawson.  This philosophy was brought up to Bill at a recent HPDE last summer and had a dramatic improvement on his lap times at the event.  Maybe Bill was too smooth (for the first time in his life).

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights from this episode include:

1)  The podcast starts with a reference that won’t make sense unless you listen to the post credits.  Is it worth it to make it all that way?  TBD, but we hope so.

2)  What would a good starting point program look like to get into shape or back into shape.

3)  Trey also offers many suggestions for activities that can be done with body weight only or minimal equipment that you may have at home already.

4)  Leopard crawls:  what Bill usually has to do to get a new race car.

5)  RPPWFB.  Familiar?  Its an oldie, but a goodie around here.

6)  How often to work out and how long can be very dependent on your starting condition, but something is always better than zero.

7)  Remember, getting into better shape does not mean becoming a better circle or more round.

8)  How has exercise and people’s dietary habits been affected by the COVID induced isolation?   Trey also goes into several online options to look for guidance at home, many of which are available for free on YouTube etc.

9)  Trey also goes into the additional intensity that tempo can offer if you have limited weight at home.  Bill dates himself with a Billy Squire reference.  Trey being much cooler (and much younger) makes Flower by Moby reference.  Both are tremendously effective ways to raise your pulse and intensity, even with light or very light weights.

10)  Basic, fundamental diet discussion that leads to portion size control as a great place to start and work from, as well as the benefits of establishing an eating schedule.

11)  Trey expands upon the one key principle that everyone needs to keep in mind, you cannot out work a bad diet, but you can easily out eat any workout program.

12)  Vicki finds that the Noom app is very helpful for her to help control her diet and food consumption.

13)  If you are very interested in the aspects of nutrition and diet, please look to working with a nutritionist to determine your exact needs and perhaps any food allergies etc.  Even Trey’s team works with a nutritionist with several of his clients. 

14)  Why does it always come back to Slurpee’s with Bill?  Trey tolerates it a bit and then they come up with a potential plan for controlling the craving for something while retaining control of your dietary inputs.

15)  How to start with small steps and changes to begin a path towards huge results.  Trey also goes into a planning approach to be ready for next season.

16)  Slurpee substitute smoothie is included below.

17)  Several gift tips for holiday gifts to help get in shape this year.

18)  Vicki looks for tips from Trey on how to ease into a fitness and diet program, while secretly just trying to control Bill.

19)  Hard Hog makes its first appearance in the fitness lexicon.  We shall see if it catches on.  Also, this proves that Vicki doesn’t just make up terms in racing.

20)  Approaches for working with and around any prior injuries, pain, or joint issues.

Some of the online or at home programs we discussed include:  Tone It Up, several Beach Body programs, The Mirror, Peloton, among a near limitless number of potential alternatives.

Bill makes a commitment to Trey that the next time he is on there with be 25 pounds less of Bill.  We really hope we see Trey again.  Lol. 

Anyone interested in joining Bill in the contest, please let us know.  We all know he loves a competition and is more than willing to bet many stickers etc.

And Trey’s smoothie recipe is as follows:  you can put in pretty much whatever you want, but I usually make mine two at a time, and I include the below ingredients.

• 1 Banana
• 1 Cup Strawberries
• 1/2 Cup Blueberries
• 1/2 Avocado
• 1/2 Cup Spinach
• 1 Multivitamin
• Dash of Cinnamon
• Dash of Turmeric
• 1/2 Serving BCAA Powder (Amino Acids - this is where the Slurpee flavor comes from)
• 1/2 Serving Protein Powder - Vanilla
• Water (maybe a little bit of nut milk in there too)

For the strawberries and blueberries, I buy frozen bags. This makes things much easier, plus fruit that has been picked and almost immediately frozen tends to be slightly more nutrient rich than the "fresh" counterpart. I'll freeze my own bananas, as I have yet to find pre-frozen bags of those.

#hardhog #garageheroesintraining #garageheroesintrainingpodcast #treyshannon #podiumperformancefitness

DwD 0360:  Optimal Mirror Positioning Tips

One of the fundamental aspects of racing that everyone agrees upon is the importance of your vision and constantly working to improve it.  Unfortunately, when you are starting out, this is even more important since it is very likely that your relative speed is lower than some of the other more experience drivers on a track and it is demanding both in front of you and behind you.  On this episode, we look at several options for selecting and installing the mirrors, as well as the mirror positioning to help improve your overall vision.

https://tinyurl.com/GHiT360 

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

Awesome choice #1:  Subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice and every episode will show up. 

Even Better:  If you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating

Mostest Bestest:  if you would leave a podcast review

We really appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Are you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with video? Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are in the midst of installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT". This will give 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2  If you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems.  Please enter the code “ghitlikesapex!”. You will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts and Drivers for the Garage Heroes In Training team

WhereToPutYourMirrors

GHiT 0618:  Justin Okamoto's Recap of GridLife Lime Rock

In part 4 of our review from GridLife's festival event at Lime Rock, we catch up with Justin Okamoto.  It was a wild weekend for Justin who was racing Time Attack in the Club TR division in his E36 BMW.  Also, Justin was working the event with GridLife so his weekend was quite full, as always.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/JustinAtLimeRock2024

If you would like to help grow high-performance driving and racing and maybe even our podcast, lol:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate very much.  Even better, a podcast review would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Audra, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes in Training Podcast and Garage Heroes in Training racing team drivers

Money saving tips:

1)  Enter code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/ for a Sentinel system to capture and broadcast live video and telemetry.

2)  Enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order and Apex Pro system from https://apextrackcoach.com/ and you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

3)  Need a fix of some Garage Heroes in Training swag for unknown reasons:  https://garage-heroes-in-training.myspreadshop.com/ 

GHiT 0633:  Matt Romanowski on Data 101(+)

A long overdue podcast dealing with data and data interpretation.  We are joined by Matt Romanowski and discuss the first few steps in data when driving on track.  The focus is on what you can get the maximum benefit from with minimum amount of time, effort, money, and difficulty.  This is part one of an almost endless subject and we hope to have Matt on again soon, ideally before the holiday shopping season and before our racing program plans for next season are finalized.  

If you have any questions in the i area, please let us know at GarageHeroesInTraining@gmail.com or on the Insta of the Book of Faces.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/TBMikeOnData101

If you would like to help grow high-performance driving and racing and maybe even our podcast, lol:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate very much.  Even better, a podcast review would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Audra, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes in Training Podcast and Garage Heroes in Training racing team drivers

Money saving tips:

1)  Enter code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/ for a Sentinel system to capture and broadcast live video and telemetry.

2)  Enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order and Apex Pro system from https://apextrackcoach.com/ and you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

3)  Need a fix of some Garage Heroes in Training swag for unknown reasons:  https://garage-heroes-in-training.myspreadshop.com/

GHiT 0550:  Celebration with Ross Bentley Helping Our Team Drivers Improve - Santa Style

Ross Bentley returns to help celebrate our 550^th episode.  Ross indulges us in helping refine Vicki’s racing improvement plan for the upcoming season and then helps each of our drivers refine their driver goals and plans for 2024.  Since each of our drivers is at a different point in their driving/racing journey, these can be examples of what everyone can take into account to self-assess and then develop your individual improvement plan.  It all starts with the weirdest Christmas gift ever for Vicki.

Bonus tips for the upcoming One Lap of America towards the end of this episode.

Don't miss Ross's new podcast with Jeff Braun and Sam Smith entitled "Its Not The Car"

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/RossBentleyPlaysSanta

GHiT F1 Fantasy League:  

https://gridrival.app.link/R3HcHlnGaHb 

If you would like to help grow high-performance driving and racing and maybe even our podcast, lol:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate very much.  Even better, a podcast review would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Audra, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes in Training Podcast and Garage Heroes in Training racing team drivers

Money saving tips:

1)  Enter code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/ for a Sentinel system to capture and broadcast live video and telemetry.

2)  Enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order and Apex Pro system from https://apextrackcoach.com/ and you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

GHIT 0388:  Phil Wurz From Bimmerworld Returns For a Second Lap

Phil Wurz is the Sales and Operations Manager for Bimmerworld and also races with the Bimmerworld team at track across the nation.  We catch up with Phil on what has been going on with the Bimmerworld team's racing team this season.  We also go into the SpecE46 series and the cars involved with them.  Phil and the team at Bimmerworld had put together a list with several levels of builds for the SpecE46 series that are budget and performance based.  One of the great things is that the SpecE46 racing series is number of entries are usually large enough that there are several races within the race that allow for close competition among the different packs of cars.  We also go into things to look out for when purchasing and car and the typical maintenance and inspection items for the E46 race cars and donors.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/PhilsSecondLap

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate that very much.  Even better, a podcast review, would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  If you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with you video, Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are amid installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/

PS2  Please do not forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order from https://apextrackcoach.com/

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Spec E46 Build Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/14AhC_aKSC8rLYTSSSikt3tS7Is1T5PolHp3CxU4cx3c/htmlview

Other links coming soon

The fundamental basis for our podcast has always been to help drivers at all levels improve and while we still have a fun on every episode, we are always trying to improve and help others improve.  One of the best received additions to our podcast has been the Dominating with Dawson topics that Ben Dawson was kind enough to help us with.  Here is the first annual episode that compiles all of the segments for this year.  

If you could let us know what your favorite topic was, we would love to know.  Also, if you have a topic for us to discuss, please let us know and we will make sure it comes out as soon as possible.

On this episode DwD covers:

1) Speed through a turn

2)  Sway bar

3)  Talent vs learning

PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  We have two systems for our team and Bill is looking to add a third for this season, pending CFO approval from Vicki.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.

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.

Our ladies team came to Thompson and even though the entire prep week blew up in our face, the weekend as a whole went fantastically.  Vicki and Jen go over some of the highs and lows of the race on this episode.  We are hopeful for a part 2 with Audra and Elizabeth, and perhaps even Alan, to go over their thoughts on the weekend.  The El Jeffe race truck stumbled a bit at the beginning of the weekend, but we were able to work through the problem eventually with a bit of help from our friends in the paddock and we may have solved the intermittent electrical problems that have popped up over this entire season.  More to follow next week.

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/ThompsonPart1  

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights from this episode include:

1)  We started with several of the prep debacles, for once they did not involve prepping the car, but unfortunately it involved just about everything else.  

2)  Since it was Audra’s first time racing wheel to wheel and Elizabeth’s first time in the truck, they thought it would be a good idea to get acclimated on the Friday practice.

3)  Thankfully, this allowed us to start to work on the engine bogging issue.  We go through the symptoms and what we tried to solve the issue.  We may actually have found the true problem and we also ended up with a lot of spare parts.

4)  Our generator issue continues and we aren’t sure if it is us or the rental RV’s.  Do electrical problems only occur to teams that aren't electrically literate?  Asking for a friend.

5)  We try to cover how the SpiderStang team of Alan, Bennet, Quinn, and Elazar went, but left a lot of the details out for a future episode with them.

6)  Thoughts on the track walk and the track in general.  The data shows that both Vicki and Jennifer made great strides during the race, each setting personal bests by several seconds.  Jennifer may have even conquered her issues on the long straights.  We will confirm at our next event.

7)  Any guesses on how many black flags for the ladies?

Jennifer, Vicki, and Bill are going to be attending the NASA Great Lakes HPDE at GingerMan, a new track for our team.  This is a short episode where we cover our preparation for the HPDE and our goals and areas of focus going into the HPDE event.  In addition, we cover coasting on a race track (Hint:  Don’t) and how to avoid it in this episode’s Dominating with Dawson segment. 

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT

Immature Endurance Racing Team

At our recent Lucky Dog race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, we were lucky enough to be in the paddock next to Race Bar.  Yes, they are back.  Jeff/Ron even took a stint in our race truck.  On this episode we go over the entire event from their perspective and how Race Bar helped us throughout the weekend.  As we covered in our earlier race review episode, the entire event was a blast and Race Bar was a large part of the fun.  Jeff Caplan/Ron Mexico, Jandy/Daddy, Patrick McHugh/Richard "Dick" Freelane, and Kaitlyn "Pineapples" Morgan joined us for this episode.  We were greatly outnumbered.

We deal with hydration at track days, races and on the track in our Dominating with Dawson segment for this episode.  We cover various options and what we have found to be effective at the track and in some of the highest temperature and humidity days we have seen both at the track, in the paddock and especially in the car which is usually much hotter than the local environment, especially when dressed in your safety and fire rated gear.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights from this episode include:

1)  Apparently, we have been abducted by Race Bar.  Who knew.

2)  It took less than four minutes for us to absolutely lose control of the episode.  Did we ever get it back.  Still tbd.

3)  Was Charlotte Intimidating?  Nope.  Was racing on a big oval intimidating?  Nope.  Was racing with Lucky Dog intimidating?  Nope.  Was Race Bar being next to us in the paddock intimidating?  Oh yes, yes it was.

4)  We had a great time hanging with Race Bar but, we really had to tag out around 10 or 11 in order to function.  Not sure how they do it.

5)  Race Bar strongly endorses the Lucky Dog series and it balance of good racing and lots of fun.  This was the best race ever for Race Bar.  Ever.

6)  We talk about the great highs and lows of endurance racing, sometimes at the same event in the same hour.

7)  The pleasures of being serenaded over the radio by Dick Freelane as he drove around the high banks at Charlotte during the race.  Ron Mexico has a book recommendation that you may choose to ignore.

8)  I think we made an impression on Race Bar with our track food skills.  It made their top list.  Twice.  We may be drafted to be on site food services.  we know Jeff will bring his own fork if needed.  Lol.

9)  We talk a bit about how our team tries to deal with issues and our occasional setbacks.  The priority should always be the driver and the team.  We can build more cars.

10)  There appears to be a plan for the race truck/The Bad Hombre/El Jeffe.  Not sure we know what it is or if we have a vote.  I think we lost all voting rights once Ron Mexico got into the race truck and drove it around the Roval.

11)  We cover our race team theory and philosophy at the current point in our learning curve.

12)  Race Bar has a list of he top 47 highlights from the race.  It is quite a list.  Quite the list indeed.

13)  Tips for ways to help and get started at a race if you are ever interested.

14)  Why track security woke Cathy up in her Hello Kitty PJ's around 2 AM one evening.  What happens at Race Bar, stays at Race Bar.

15)  Why you should always say no to a story that starts with "Do you want to see a man in a van by a river..."

16)  Confirmation of who took the "L" off of our "Mr. Pool" E36.  Unfortunately, it does fit the car, even more now.

17)  Stories of driving the Citrus Race Truck without power steering trying to catch another Race Bar vehicle.

18)  Slap cup drinking games and rule interpretation seemed to vary and why Lonnie may have had a slow start one morning.

19)  How Deaf Power Racing came to race with us at Charlotte.  There are certain advantages to not being able to hear "Baby Shark" all weekend.  Potential options for adopting them into a Race Bar west.

20)  Apparently there is a plan.  We are now aware that there is a plan.  We still don't know the plan, but we think we probably should at some point.

21)  We reveal the story of the arrival and unloading of El Jeffe at the garage when we returned.  I'm not mentioning any names since I don't want to have to sleep in the bathtub.  Worth a listen.  And thank you to the listener who suggested we change our name to "Garage Heroes In Traction".  Thank you Blake.

22)  We may have plans for a Summit Point track event.

23)  We attempt to CSI the potential reasons behind our Chevy S10 keeps eating Steering Pumps like Seymour from "The Little Shop of Horrors"

24)  How the Oooga Booga method for fixing the Fuel Pump worked and gave us a few more hours on the track before we needed to replace it the next morning.

25)  How the speaker flew off during the race and how much of a fan some of the corner workers were of their music selections during the race.  Also, we go into the joys of having a 120 dB stereo system in your race car that is remote controlled by people that are several hundred miles away from the track.

26)  A Good, the Bad, and the Ugly to be remembered.

27)  Ah Hah moments we all learned from the Charlotte race.

28)  A good discussion of Jennifer's accident and how it feels after a bit o reflection.  A good thing for all potential racers and racing teams to hear.

29)  Potential next steps for our team to grow.

30)  VIR sweeps the best track ever for Race Bar.  And we get a bit of history of how VIR came to be.

GHiT 0545:  Randy Bish Returns for His Second Lap

Randy Bish has been a friend for many years, even after his rally car broke down at the starting line near our home and he stayed to “fix” it for longer than the rest of the rally.  On this episode, we catch up with how things have been going, what the team The League of Legitimate Nigerian Businessmen have been up to and why he, well so many items always start with “why” with Randy.  If you listen, you will understand. 

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/OhYesTheyCallHimTheBish

If you would like to help grow high-performance driving and racing and maybe even our podcast, lol:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate very much.  Even better, a podcast review would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Audra, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes in Training Podcast and Garage Heroes in Training racing team drivers

Money saving tips:

1)  Enter code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/ for a Sentinel system to capture and broadcast live video and telemetry.

2)  Enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order and Apex Pro system from https://apextrackcoach.com/ and you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

Shawn Sampson of Sampson Racing Communications essentially started the use of in-car radio system use for amateur racing about 30 years ago.  Since then, he has been working with all types of racing and racing organizations including NASCAR, NASA, and SCCA, as well as the US Coast Guard.  During the episode, we go into the different types of radios, their use and capabilities, as well as various installation tips of what to do, and in our case a several things we should not have done.  Our team has historically had a difficult time communicating within a race, but after this episode, we know what to do and how to test our systems so that at our next race we will have crystal clear two way communication across the entire track area.  And some great news is that you may not need to buy anything else for your system.  It could be a simple matter of improving your installation and eliminating several ways that commonly impact many/most radio installations.  Now if we could only get a mute button for Alan, lol.

On this episode’s Dominating with Dawson, Ben, Vicki, and Bill go into the typical ways that you will get off and on a track for the first time to help minimize any stress related to starting out at your first track day or HPDE.  Each track may have individual idiosyncrasies that vary, but the fundamentals are usually very similar.  We also go into tips on hand signals and procedures that everyone has messed up early on in their high performance driving career at a track.  This includes getting onto the grid and track, getting off the track, and within the paddock area.  It is very easy to make simple errors and hopefully this will minimize yours and help you feel more comfortable coming out onto the track.  Communication is the key, both before and especially during a track session.  You cannot overdo your communication to your fellow drivers.

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. 

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/RacingRadios

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  We have two systems for our team and Bill is looking to add a third for this season, pending CFO approval from Vicki.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights from this episode include:

1) Do you have any questions related to your car radio? How the use of radios originally started with amateur racing and some of the advantages of having radios beyond improving your race performance.

2)  Is your radio system doing everything you would like?  Is your radio system crystal clear across the track?

3)  If not, this could be the podcast to solve all your issues.

4)  Do you want a Digital or an Analog system?  Covered.

5)  What about a 5-Watt vs a 25-Watt system?  Does it matter?  Is the price difference worth it/worth anything?

6)  What about mounting issues?  How to make it a clean installation of both the radio and the antenna?   

7)  Does the roof material/mounting surface impact performance?  How can this impact your antenna selection and the mounting method for best signal?

8)  What are the +/- 5 things that are impacting your current system?

9)  Can the antenna that came with your radio be better than the roof mounted antenna?  If so, why and what can you do to fix that and improve your system overall?

10)  How your antenna cable can turn into an inductive coil and strangle almost all the potential signal and range.

11)  Also, the importance of the helmet microphone type and placement.  Also, your push to talk button is a common issue.

12)  How to adequately test your system BEFORE you get to the track and have no time, tools, or parts available.

13)  Picture of our radio gun case and Shawn’s multiple charging systems and soft packing solutions (crew wall bag)

14)  IMSA vs NASCAR:  What is the difference and what are the pluses and minuses of each. 

15)  Shawn helps solve our team internal squabbles on where to position our push to talk button. 

16)  UHF vs VHF systems.  It matters, especially if not at an enclosed circle or oval type track etc. 

17)  What is the latest and best solution for in-car communication between the seats for an instructor at an HPDE?  Is anything good?  Chris Egan, please take note.  Lol.

18)  How does the location of your pit crew at the track impact the signal, especially within a metal garage, near a fence, etc.

19)  Installation tips and tricks for putting the radios, microphones, and earpieces into the helmet.

20)  How to keep the helmet installation from stressing during driver changes and especially during endurance racing.

21)  Speakers or earbuds?

22)  5-Watt systems vs 20- or 25-watt systems?  Is bigger better?

23)  Do you need an FCC license for amateur endurance racing?

24)  Bluetooth vs a wired system?  Is it worth the price distance?  What is the range?  How is Bluetooth usually used in racing?

25)  Can I tie in the radio system into my cell phone?  Should I?

26)  What can Sampson Racing Communication assist you and your team with?

27)  What are the differences between the different antennas available?

28) And probably most important, on what and where should you spend your money to maximize your communication performance and minimize your expenditure?

29)  Can I tie in my in-car communication into my in-car video system?  What do I use?

30)  What should you know about the Thunderhill 25 race? 

Shawn Sampson on YouTube:  https://tinyurl.com/ShawnsPersoanal

Sampson Racing Communication on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/SRCsYoutube

GHIT 0246:  Our Autobahn Country Club HPDE 2021

Vicki and Bill attended the recent NASA Great Lakes HPDE at the Autobahn Country Club.  It was the first time Vicki was on this track and she was in the HPDE 2 run group.  Bill was in HPDE 4 and instructed a HPDE 1 student Saturday and Sunday.  Bill also completed his MSF Level 2 instructor in car training on Friday and had a great time with the drills and the mentors.

We cover a lot of the Autobahn South track and here is a track map if you need it:  https://autobahncc.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2019-south_circuit.pdf  

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

A link to the episode is:  https://tinyurl.com/AutobahnHPDE2021 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights from this episode include:

1)  Right off the bat, Bill mis-speaks during his joke, Herb vs Abe, my apologies.

2)  Vicki goes over her track prep since this was her first time at this track.  Luckily, the track is relatively flat and fairly easy to learn.  Vicki’s favorite section was the 8-9-10 turn complex.

3)  We both shared the 2019 Mazda Miata (ND2) and Vicki was able to settle into the new track car.  We also go over her impressions of the Garmin Catalyst which is especially useful at Autobahn since the track is relatively short and you get a lot of laps in each session.

4)  Our car prep issues with the 2004 BMW M3 (E46) were quite a story.  We thought we had our prep processes under control but found something else we can do wrong.  And then it snowballed, lol.

5)  Lifting on the long straightaways?  Vicki had that problem.  Emphasis on “had”.

6)  How did the MSF Level 2 evaluation go for Bill?

7)  What trailer does Vicki envy?  ALOT.

8)  Vicki was unintentionally “that guy”.  Or was she?  You can be the judge.

9)  We also cover how Vicki's Instructor (Brandon) did vs the Garmin Catalyst?  (Quite well)

10)  Vicki (and Bill) had some major accomplishments during the weekend.  Any guesses?

11)  Some of the issues Bill had instructing at the event.

12)  TREC Racing.  Ever heard of it?  We discuss it and we finally have a plan for this next season.

GHiT 0319: Race Recap: Our First AER Race at PittRace - Part 1

AKA Bill's Worst Race Weekend Driving - Ever

In the first part of at least three parts of a series, Bill goes over his first ever race with AER (American Endurance Racing) at PittRace last weekend.  AER is a series that targets more serious racing and the cars on track were quite impressive.  However, the team did well and we actually came in second in class on Saturday. 

Bill on the other hand had his first ever bad track day and probably drove more in his head than on track.  We thought it would be useful to do a quick race recap covering what happened on track and in his head, as well as what we are going to do and change going forward.

This episode deals only with Bill's perspective and his internal issues.  While he is still processing the weekend, 

Also, Ben calls in for an emergency DwD episode to talk Bill off the cliff.

On an upcoming Part 2, we have another episode coming that will cover the race from the perspective of a friend who was working with AER this weekend.

On an upcoming Part 3, we will have the entire team from the weekend if schedules allow.

We also look forward to a future AER specific episode as well.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/GHiTatAER 

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate that very much.  Even better, a podcast review, would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is amazingly easy.  If you go to your podcast library, look under shows.  Then click on this podcast.  Here you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  If you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with you video, Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are in the midst of installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2  Please do not forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and invaluable to safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross, etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights for this episode include:

WOOT Stands for Way Off Our (normal) Topic so this is NOT a driving or racing episode

What began as a simple review of James Gunn's new movie The Suicide Squad quickly became a debate of the DC Extended Universe and the MCU from Marvel.  Benny and Alex return to their WOOT origin and feel Bill is biased against the DCEU.  So we rank all the DCEU and the MCU movies to date and discuss the upcoming movies in both series.  We also had a short discussion of the first three Marvel tv shows on Disney+.

A link to this episode of the podcast is:  https://tinyurl.com/DCEUvMCU 

GHiT 0588:  Race Recap – NJMP Thunderbolt 2024 – Part 1

Our race season continues with a huge field at the newly resurfaced NJMP Thunderbolt track with the 24 Hours of Lemons.  Our team had 4 cars at this event and on this podcast we review the 1993 Civic (EG for the home gamers) that was driven by Vicki, Jennifer, and Bill (with a pinch hit stint from Jeremy on Saturday).  We had hurt the car a bit at PittRace, but how did it go for this event?  Really well!

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/NJMP2024Part1

If you would like to help grow high-performance driving and racing and maybe even our podcast, lol:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that we would appreciate very much.  Even better, a podcast review would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Audra, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes in Training Podcast and Garage Heroes in Training racing team drivers

Money saving tips:

1)  Enter code "GHIT" for a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/ for a Sentinel system to capture and broadcast live video and telemetry.

2)  Enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order and Apex Pro system from https://apextrackcoach.com/ and you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

3)  Need a fix of some Garage Heroes in Training swag for unknown reasons:  https://garage-heroes-in-training.myspreadshop.com/

DwD 0427:  Top 5 Tracks that are Fun to Drive

With the upcoming 2023 One lap of America coming up, Ben, Vicki, Jennifer, and Bill decided to have a lighter DwD episode and go over what are their Top 5 tracks that are fun to drive.  We also go into some of the details of the track that make them so much fun.  We then end with a review of some of our favorite turns we have driven so far.

So what is your Top 5 favorite tracks, so far?

Did we ever cover our 5?  Tune in to find out.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/Top5RaceTracks

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

Awesome choice #1:  Subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice and every episode will show up. 

Even Better:  If you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating

Mostest Bestest:  if you would leave a podcast review

We really appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Are you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with video?  Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are in the midst of installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code "GHIT".  This will give 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2  If you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems.  Please enter the code “ghitlikesapex!”.  You will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts and Drivers for the Garage Heroes In Training team

Ian Korf was our guest for this podcast.  Ian is an amateur racer and driving instructor when at the track, as well as the author of the book “You Suck At Racing” that is aimed at helping newer drivers progress, as well as his similarly titled blog.  Ian and Ben have raced together for several years on the west coast and obviously have had more than a few stories to share.  In spite of Ian have a well thought out and logical approach, he still enjoys racing as much as anyone we have met.

Since Ben was on, we took this opportunity to have a live Dominating with Dawson with Ian as a special guest.  For this Dominating with Dawson segment, we went into

You can find Ian’s book at: 

https://www.amazon.com/You-Suck-Racing-course-novice/dp/153318562X/

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and

Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights from this episode include:

1)  Vicki and Ian may have already met online gaming.  Still TBD.

2)  How his interest in driving started and how his blog progressed from examining racetrack incidents and eventually transitioned and led to the book.  It was that lure of the $500 race car.

3)  Ian went into his low-cost racing Yaris and how he has managed to find a way to actually make racing relatively inexpensive.  Does anyone have or know of a lower cost option?  We would love to know.

4)  Plywood splitters?  Absolutely.  This is almost low budget racing OEM equipment.

5)  Ian may have accomplished two things that we have been searching far.  His Yaris may be the car that races everywhere and more surprisingly, he may have more spreadsheets about racing than Bill.  Still TBD at this point, lol.

6)  We then discuss how to get people started in driving, both those that have interest and those who don’t.  The track is so much more fun and a way safer way to enjoy your car.

7)  The difference in helping novice drivers grow within our sport and how it is different, sometimes vastly different for intermediate drivers.

8)  Apparently Ian has zero black flags in his entire career.  I am 100% sure that none of us can say the same.

9)  Ian also goes into several ways to gain skills while off track, at least in meat space.  How virtual racing can assist in your driving.

10)  Breaking news related to an update of the book and potential expansion to intermediate drivers, including data.

11)  Why poker is a game of imperfect information and how racing is a game of imperfect amount of practice.

12)  Ian has a series of drills and we weren’t smart enough to ask what they area.  We will have to get together again.  One we did get was to drive the track without using the brakes at all.  Zero braking.  Hopefully, we can get a section on the next book.

13)  Bill sucks up to Ian and asks to help with the book.