Garage Heroes In Training

Latest Episodes:

GHIT 0108: Randy Bish from the League of Legitimate Nigerian Businessman racing team is our Guest Apr 29, 2020

Show notes

Randy Bish is a relatively new lemons racer for the League of Legitimate Nigerian Businessmen racing team that is off to a spectacularly good start by making all the best bad decisions possible, including racing their 1972 Ford Pinto. On this episode, we go over his racing experiences so far and cover the topic that no one ever thought they wanted to know: what is the best way to race a Pinto in endurance racing. Jennifer and Vicki particularly enjoyed this since their first car was also a 1972 Pinto. Randy may be new to Lemons, but he seems to have found his tribe.

On Dominating with Dawson, Ben covers being on track for the first time, what to do, and what not to do. It can be intimidating at first thought, but hopefully, this will assuage some of your potential concerns and give a brief guideline if you are going to a track for the first time and what the other drivers would like for you to do. Short summary, stay on line, stay safe, and be predictable. They also expect you to be off pace, so don't worry about them or the F1 and Indy Car scouts in the grandstands.

To follow Randy and his team, you can find their team on Instagram or Facebook as the League of Legitimate Nigerian Businessmen with their official pace car of mediocrity.

We hope you enjoy the episode! The episode you never asked for.

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT

Immature Endurance Racing Team

Highlights from the episode include:

1) Design discussion of why the flames go in reverse from the back of his Pinto. Our more seasoned listeners likely already know.

2) How he learned all the details of his grandfather while his grandpa was behind the while as Randy was a boy.

3) A summary of his two races last year at Pitt Race and Gingerman with the 24 Hours of Lemons.

4) Randy's very novel and very lemons charity fund raising method on the 24 Hours of Lemons i-Racing events, how this horribly awesome idea came to be and how much money he was able to generate for charity at the cost of some of his liver. Maybe someday he will remember the race, but we doubt it.

5) We may actually have convinced Vicki to race this Thursday. Tune in this Thursday and we shall see.

6) Matt Ferenchak and Florida Man Donnie get a few mentions, some even complimentary, lol.

7) Randy Bish tries out for being a spokesmen for the Michelin Ice-X tire for amateur endurance racing.

8) How a water pump can become a spinning end mill of death.

9) How the initial "success" at Pitt Race led to his team going all in and winning the Heroic Fix at their next race at Gingerman.

10) We find out the Randy Bish has a car obsession with big, Detroit luxury boats, the floatier the better. But that does not seem to explain his having owned 3 SVX's.

11) Their team's experience as the unintentional role as the unofficial Yellow Flag "Pace Car" at Pitt Race.

12) Randy actually was able to use the term provenance and Pinto in the same sentence. Admirable.

13) We go deeper than anyone ever thought possible into the advantages of a racing Pinto.

14) "Tires are evil and must be punished". Words to live by. And Jen's train agrees.

15) Bill gets an honorary place on Randy's list of favorite drivers. But it turns out to be kind of like winning the Heroic Fix award in Lemons.

16) The El Jeffe makes a surprise appearance in being a desirable race car to swap into, but then again, Randy is used to driving a Pinto race car so….

GHIT 0107: Phil Wurz from Bimmerworld Apr 28, 2020

Show notes

Phil Wurz, fellow racing driver and the short straw drawing team member at BimmerWorld was kind enough to join us for a discussion on his racing history and add to our Usual Suspects discussion related to racing BMW, especially E36's and E46's, including a good amount about Spec E46. Phil has been with BimmerWorld since 2007 and conducted this interview from in front of his E30 race car, one of the best backgrounds we have had during our podcast. BimmerWorld supplies a very wide variety of parts and also prepares cars for racing in two national GT4 series. During this episode we learn a bit about Phil and his driving history as well as his thoughts on racing BMW's across may types of racing and what can be done to improve performance, handling, and reliability.

To follow along with Phil and the team at BimmerWorld, please like their Facebook page or email them from the website where everyone's company email is available.

On Dominating with Dawson, Ben discusses all of the wide variety of types of racing apexes, and how best to think about approaching a turn and what considerations can affect the desired approach for each turn.

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT

Immature Endurance Racing Team

Highlights from the episode include:

1) His philosophy on replacing and upgrading as you grow and learn with your car

2) Vicki shockingly brings up the E36 rear wheel bearing removal and then won't let anyone ask any questions for a bit. Well, really, much more than a bit.

3) Alan "compliments" Bill on his skills with using the press on the rear bearing and finally admits his running away from the operation once the slide hammer came into the picture.

4) Bill impersonates the sound of the control arm breaking in the press.

5) Alan calls Bill an Axle, by mistake/mispronunciation.

6) Alan admits to adding a bit more wear and tear, since he is the mechanic.

7) Alan gets very excited over Phil's tow vehicle and that leads into the area of an upcoming flat nose school bus "ramp truck", potentially with a rear airbag suspension.

8) Our first podcast that is interrupted with the sounds of freedom. Mental likely scheduled it to mess with us.

9) We then walk through where the current sweet spot is for BMW's in terms of value, performance, and parts availability. We even compare the E36 vs the E46 which seem to be swarming the endurance racing fields. Yes, we are guilty.

10) Stunningly, and fir the first time, Alan hears that it's not necessary to drive at 10 tenths all the time. We shall see if it helps.

11) Vicki learns what a money shift is without costing us an engine. And Alan breaks out the FNG acronym in honor of the Three Pedal Mafia trip to Laguna Seca.

12) A good review of the growing Spec E46 series and other uses for these cars, as well as some of the advantages of spec classes, especially for people relatively new to racing and setting up of a race car.

13) Vicki requests a spare Spec E46 car for the team. Bill is currently searching on Autotempest.

14) Bill was bored and added some new questions to the Fast and The Furious questions

15) We are still looking for a good LSD solution for our M240i and Bill Begs for a spare E36 rear control arm, for a friend of course.

16) In the after credits B roll, Phil mentions a tool to remove the rear wheel bearing from an E36. Where was that when we needed it. Well, actually, we still need it. And Bill begs for some spare E36 rear control arms. For a friend.

We hope to see Phil at the Charlotte Roval with Lucky Dog on the weekend of August 14-16.

GHIT 0106: Cathy McCause Fuss discusses the 2020 Lucky Dog racing series and a whole lot more Apr 21, 2020

Show notes

Cathy McCause Fuss of the Lucky Dog racing series returns for the 8th or 9th time. Unfortunately, only one episode has ever been published due to connection errors and other computer issues. Why she puts up with us, we don't know, perhaps it's because she is one of the best people we have met since we started racing. During this episode, we go over a lot of the Cathy's history and her perspective of racing from the Series perspective. We also get into her thoughts of how racing and endurance racing are progressing and helping to grow our sport.

On this episode's Dominating with Dawson, Ben goes over what is an "Arrive and Drive" and the details of racing in that situation. We go over a lot of the options, concerns, and advantages of being an arrive and drive driver, as well as being the team renting to the arrive and driver.

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan

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

Highlights from the episode include:

1) Bill felt like he was going down the hill into turn 12 at Road Atlanta when Cathy's connection went robot a few seconds in.

2) What the impact of the COVID 19 has been so far and speculative hopes and expectations for the rest of the season.

3) the Lucky Dog i-Racing league and it sponsored, you can even win race entries, and other racing supplies from the Lucky Dog sponsors

4) We develop the exchange rate between Clairol hair color and Hankook RS4's.

5) We go into the process of working with the tracks, rescheduling, and the potential impact of the current COVID 19 related impact and issues on the tracks and the series, and the drivers, as well as some of the amazing steps Cathy and Lucky Dog have done to help the overall racing population, including paying 2021 track rental fees.

6) Bill shamelessly plugs the upcoming Lucky Dog race at Charlotte in mid-August.

7) Cathy threatens us with bringing the 196 car out to the race for us. We much rather like her alternative bonfire idea.

8) How several members of the Lucky Dog racing community, and the overall low cost endurance racing community, have helped in dealing with the COVID 19 pandemic.

9) We brainstorm a bit, well really a mild drizzle, on what options we can come up with to help save the 2020 racing season

10) Bill apologizes for his black flag digression earlier this year at the Lucky Dog race at Laguna Seca in January

11) Cathy even was kind enough to go through our "Usual Suspects" but this time from a race series perspective and how her series has progressed through Miatas, into BMWs, and recently into Hondas and several Fords.

12) Self ejecting starters as a way to save weight

13) Speed creep and its concern as we progress to including more modern cars where horsepower increases seem easier and easier, especially with all the recent time people may have had with the stay at home orders.

14) Cathy's strategy for classing cars in Lucky Dog and addressing the variability in car and even individual driver capability.

15) As expected, we eventually reviewed or last race at Laguna Seca and our other Lucky Dog race in Portland.

16) Brakes and brake pads were a big discussion point. One way to get to a faster lap is to be able to slow down even faster. Hopefully, we have an upcoming guest from Hawk on the show.

17) Hilarity ensued when we started talking about the spares being brought to the track.

18) Rally Dogs? And yes, we had an East coast rally dog volunteer.

19) Also, a rookie time attack challenge option came into being.

20) How Lucky Dog is working to partner with the local Club racing, especially for the HPDE and learning aspects, hopefully raising the tide for all.

21) How our team has been invaded by two of the drivers we know from Lucky Dog

22) Opportunities for arrive and drives at the Charlotte race abound with teams and drivers looking to come east for the race.

23) How the Lucky Dog racing series came to be.

24) Cathy fears answering what car she would love to start with as a race car.

25) How Lucky Dog's i-Racing league is helping racers scratch their itch.

26) She is still looking for the known unknown E46 Greg has hidden. Somewhere.

27) There seems to be a potential for an east coast west coast race car exchange program. Greg, Call us!

GHIT 0105: Julian Cordle is our Special Guest Driver to help us celebrate Blursday Apr 17, 2020

Show notes

Julian Cordle is our guest for this episode and celebrate Blursday! Julian races with the Snow Speeder Pilots Association racing team that races on the west coast, one of the original Lemons teams from the inaugural Altamont race. The episode starts off with all of our usual professionalism and then, well really, who are we kidding. The alphabet is apparently still a challenge for us. Julian started with Lemons in 2012 after he first heard about the 24 Hours of Lemons on Jalopnik. He met his team on his driveway and immediately left for his first race two states away. We reminisce about his early days, setting Guinness Book of World Records records, and through to his latest Chrysler 300 race car build. Dominating with Dawson covers what happens when you have a mistake on track and how to minimize the potential outcome. Ben also cites taking a peak at the professional racing driver Sandro Espinosa as a potential reference for how someone preemptively catches a car pre-slipping to avoid an issue. Also, Danica Patrick on how to prepare for a big hit when you can no longer avoid it.

Sample links discussed:

Sandro Espinosa at Road Atlanta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd1QnaUq3kc

Danica Patrick Crash Prep: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya3bE8CT1Kk

We really hope you enjoy the episode.

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan

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

Highlights include:

1) His battery powered recliner that is faster than some of our race cars 2) How a man from Alaska grew into a low-cost endurance racer 3) Our first XR4TI makes an appearance on our podcast 4) Jen chimes in with her opinion on our teaching her how to drive a stick. Julian tops to with learning with a vehicle that "offered" electrical shock incentives. 5) How the 25 Hour at Thunderhill led into Race Cast 6) How he helped with organizing the world record that was set at a Lemons event in Thunderhill 7) What the overall process is of setting and getting recognized as a world record 8) Vicki starts off with "since you seem to be a person", lol. 9) Several tips and tricks to help teams and drivers compete at the track, besides behind the wheel 10) White boards for at the track organization and how to use them to plan your race strategy 11) A BIG shout out to Randall Pinney and we all hope you are feeling better 12) Sonoma Raceway makes an appearance in the Good, Bad, and the Ugly segment. 13) 1989 Camero, 'Nuff Said 14) We develop a new Lemons penalty, well sort of.

GHIT 0104: Liam Fischer's Hot Ones Style Tribute Interview Apr 12, 2020

Show notes

On this episode, we finally talked Liam into coming on the podcast by making it in the style of one of his favorite shows on YouTube, Hot Ones. Since Bill has almost zero tolerance for spicy food, Vicki tagged in to assist with the interview and we also took advantage of the opportunity and covered several aspects of teenage driving, driver training, and racing. If you prefer, there is a live video recording on our YouTube channel, creatively named Garage Heroes In Training.

B.R.A.K.E.S. website: https://putonthebrakes.org/

Our Dominating with Dawson segment for this episode add Heel-toe Downshifting to our jargon repertoire.

We hope you enjoy it. The episode is still going for Liam and Vicki, lol.

Also, we would like to the thank the team over at Hot Ones for their great YouTube episodes and wish them the best of luck. They can be found on their channel at "First We Feast" or by searching for "Hot Ones" on YouTube.

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racing Team

Highlights from this episode include:

1) Liam's history of learning how to drive and eventually race cars, he is still relatively young at 19 years old. 2) Some thoughts and suggestions on training a young driver in general and how it has been helped by racing and race training events 3) We go into a fair bit of detail related to one of the best training events Liam has gone to with the B.R.A.K.E.S. program. 4) Vicki breaks out into her "its like trying to nail jello to a wall" when talking about racing with teens on our team. 5) Angry Goat Peppers "Hippy Dippy Green" sauce was very well received. Two Thumbs Up. 6) Why Bill gets father of the year a few years back 7) We try to provide help and suggestions to new racers or soon to be racers throughout the episode. Please remember to ask before hopping into the hot tub. 8) Liam tries to compare the 2017 Toyota 86 to a stock ND2 Miata and a Stage 2 Flyin' Miata turbo NB Miata, however the wings inhibited some of his brain processing capability and the virtues of learning to drive and daily driving a +/- 200 HP car. 9) Vicki tries to come up with three good things about her first car. And fails. 3 bad things were way easier. 10) You start to see the affect of the hot sauces about 25-30 minutes into the episode 11) Liam takes a walk about at 40 minutes in and can barely think to answer from then on. 12) What car or cars got away for each of us. 13) Liam reveals his love for the SpiderStang and Capri 14) Da Bomb hot sauce lives up to its reputation 15) "I feel like I met the devil" and "Why is it the tongue" 16) Liam can't speak and tries to use sign language, not the best for an audio podcast 17) Liam wants a shot at the Datsun Z and Vicki surprises Bill with saying she wants to drive Black Betty 18) The hot sauces apparently make Liam delirious when he comes up with his dream car to build into a race car. 19) Vicki and Liam's favorite and least favorite tracks so far. NJMP makes both lists for Vicki. 20) Liam calls Brad out for a round 2. Silly boy. 21) Liam's brain left the building, several times during this episode 22) Mental sort of gets a shout out, not really, but it was funny 23) An endorphin infused discussion on endurance race craft approaches and ways to compete successfully, especially with longer stints. 24) We end with Bill attempting to herd the two cats for a final question and then a delirious ranking of the sauces.

GHIT 102: Sam Smith Auto Journalist, Driver, Racer, and Enthusiast Apr 06, 2020

Show notes

Sam Smith, Editor At Large for Road and Track and Co-host of the NBC Sports Proving Grounds television show joins us for this episode. We try to cover Sam's impressive history with the automotive and mainstream media, as well as his driving and racing history, but we only seem to have scratched the surface of Sam's great stories. You can quickly see his gift for storytelling and ability to recall details and intricacies, as well as his optimism and enviable modesty. It is quickly apparent that Sam truly loves cars and especially those that he finds to be immersive and involving.

Also Ben reviews two videos pertaining to the driving style of the legendary Ayrton Senna on this Dominating with Dawson segment.

Links to the videos:

Senna Throttle Technique is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4kcLyYhThE

Senna Footwork (with accurate audio) is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzLjZWrpzmQ&feature=youtu.be

If you want to contact Sam Smith, he recommends DM'ing him on Twitter or Instagram @ThatSamSmith. Or you can read his articles on Road & Track and don't forget to watch for him on NBC Sports Proving Grounds.

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan

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

Highlights for this episode include:

1) How his current Caterham 7 project car progresses from a box to a functioning car 2) His automotive past and how he worked his way through the tangled web of automotive journalism to have a successful professional career in a very tough business area 3) An overall discussion on driving being a skill and a sport, but definitely learnable by many is not all 4) Now Nigel Mansell confirms we are not going to be a pro racing driver anytime soon 5) Sam's racing history is pretty incredible and has some absolutely spectacular cars including a McLaren F1 and F1 GTR, an actual Formula 1 car, and a few great stories of his racing (with Mental) at the 2019 NASA 25 Hours at Thunderhill in the rain and the ever so lovely mud. 6) Bill valiantly tries to sell a Citroen SM, for a friend. Still available for a good home. We know a guy. 7) Bill digs a hole on a comment that will likely lead to issues from some of our friends and soon to be friends who are Porsche fans. 8) How his schedule has been impacted by our current social distancing due to the Covid 19 virus 9) When car technology and societal sanity intersected, perhaps for the worse. 10) Sam's experience with racing the RX-7 Black Betty (rambutan) when it was still set up as a time trial car. He misses the old, scary setup. 11) His thoughts on modern cars in general, are they too fast, too intrusive, and are there any good drivers' cars still available and the potential impact it may have on racing in the future. 12) Sam also lists several of the current cars that are highlights within the available assortment at your local dealer for both on and off-road driving fun. 13) Electric cars and electric car motorsports/racing, and the varying degrees of success for each. 14) Thoughts on autopilot and potential impending issues in the transition to full autonomy (SAE Level 5) 15) His experience with test driving a true Formula 1 car and how he grew to acknowledge the difference between his level and those gifted individuals driving at the level of Formula 1, as well as the actual level of performance of the car itself. The tip of the spear is very, very pointy indeed. 16) Breaking News for one of the first times: Sam's "Ugly" story is one for the books! It involves another one of our original bucket list guests to be (hopefully) Jason Camissa and a Ford GT, but we will go no further.

Social Distancing Request: GHIT 0074: Scott Barton and Sim Racing Apr 02, 2020

Show notes

With everyone quarantined or at least social distancing, we have had several requests to re-publish this episode on Sim Racing.

On this episode, we had Scott Barton as our guest. Scott is a very accomplished racing driver and very knowledgeable in the area of Sim Racing. We thought we'd learn more about both on this episode. Sim racing can be great way to get cheap track time, especially in the off season or during the work week when you aren't near a track. As with most aspects of racing, you can go as deep as your interest and bank account will allow. We hope you enjoy the episode.

Highlights from this episode include:

1) Scott's racing history and progression to where he is currently racing mostly in the AER series (American Endurance Racing) where he has recorded a very impressive series of results since originally learning at HPDE's in 1999 and racing in 2009.

2) Scott's latest goal is try to round out his collection of first overall wins in Lucky Dog and WRL to complete his already stellar collection of 24 Hours of Lemons, Champ Car, and AER wins and have recorded overall wins in every major street tire endurance racing series in the US.

3) Scott is also a driving coach and is involved with many teams, students, and racing series and organizations.

4) We then began to cover various software and hardware choices available, make some recommendations (links below) as well as describe some of the many systems and options that are available for a wide range of budgets.

5) The three basic systems we reviewed started with a single monitor, a three-monitor system and a VR based system with a good set of steering wheels and pedals. A sim vibe/butt kicker would be a very nice addition is budget allows.

6) More advanced options mentioned include motion/ full motions simulators, spring loaded harnesses,

7) Computer requirements in general, such as a 4-core processor, i5 or newer, with a video card capable of running a VR headset at 1080p and 90 fps (or better) should be sufficient for your system.

8) We also cover how to deal with motion sickness in VR if that happens to you in the beginning.

9) Scott was even kind enough to entertain us with our traditional Good, Bad, and the Ugly series.

Also, Scott can assist you with defining your system if needed at his website below.

Items and Links discussed within this episode include:

Steering wheel and Pedals:

Logitech G29, G920: https://www.logitechg.com/en-us/products/driving/driving-force-racing-wheel.html

AccuForce Steering wheels

Fanatec Wheel and Pedals: https://fanatec.com/us-en e.g. v3 inverted pedal set, Clubsport base/mount

Heusinkveld: https://heusinkveld.com/products/sim-rigs/sim-rig-gt/?q=%2Fproducts%2Fsim-rigs%2Fsim-rig-gt%2F&v=7516fd43adaa

VR:

Samsung Odyssey Plus Headset: https://heusinkveld.com

Oculus Rift: https://www.oculus.com/rift-s/

Optional Accessories/Upgrades:

Butt Kickers: https://thebuttkicker.com/

Full Motion simulators – Various sources

RaceDepartment.com for cars and tracks

Realteus force feel seat pad: www.Realteus.com

Chassis movers: various sources

Sim Racing choices:

iRacing: https://www.iracing.com/

Assetto Corsa: https://www.assettocorsa.net/home-ac/

R Factor: https://store.steampowered.com/app/365960/rFactor_2/

Project Cars: https://www.projectcarsgame.com/explore/?lang=en-us

Please feel free to contact Scott at:

Website: https://www.facebook.com/ProFormanceCoachingcom

Facebook Group: Sim Racing Deals at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SimRacingDeals/

Thank you again.

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racing Team

GHIT 0101: Rob Krider from the 4X National Champion Double Nickel Nine racing team Apr 02, 2020

Show notes

Rob Krider who is a driver and managing partner of the Double Nickel Nine Motorsports racing team joins us on this episode. Rob has a problem in that he and his team won't let anyone else win, lol. His team is the reigning 4-time national champion in NASA's Honda Challenge series, while also having both team cars on the podium each year. Our discussion covers not only their team history but what they have learned since starting in the 24 Hours of LeMons series and progressing through other racing series and classes. Within this episode, there is useful information that can be applied to any racing series and any racing team can improve your results with little, if any, expense. To see a lot of Rob's team in action folks can watch the documentary film "Double Down" about racing in the 25 Hours of Thunderhill where his team took an ex-24 Hours of LeMons car and beat the factory Mazda racing team. Link to the video at www.team559.com.

In addition, Rob was kind enough to guide us through the latest in our series covering the Usual Suspects of racing car platforms and went into a deep dive about racing Hondas and Acuras, especially in endurance racing.

Finally, Ben covers both Understeer and Oversteer in the latest Dominating with Dawson series. We just couldn't cover them separately, so we went for a double shot.

We hope you enjoy this episode. It will make you faster!

PS If you are interested in watching or reading more of Rob and his teams exploits, please go to:

KriderRacing on Instagram

www.RobKrider.com

www.Team559.com

www.DoubleNickelNineMotorsports.com

And don't forget to get a copy of Rob's book "Cadet Blues", a humorous look at one of his most fun driving training events at www.cadetblues.com

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racing Team

Highlights from the episode include:

1) Some of his team's best learnings since starting in LeMons several years ago 2) Rob and Bill commiserate about putting together team communication emails and texts that are summarily ignored 3) How Double Nickel Nine Racing team has "added" to the various series rule books through creative race car engineering 4) Jennifer asks the dirtiest of the dirty question that you can ask a race car driver 5) The value of a spare/donor parts car and Vicki tells Bill to go buy another car. He left the podcast to search CraigsList 6) Team structure and organization techniques to maximize performance across all levels of racing, even a two-car team of 60 people for the NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill 7) Their scouting trip preparation for national races 8) What is the Double Nickel Nine garage involved in 9) A comparison of large LeMons fields to some smaller or shorter or higher performance fields 10) How they communicate within their team, especially on track with their spotters 11) Storytime of Alan's stint at Thompson last year where he would not come in for a driver change. Rob fully approves. 12) Rob gives the advantages "keys to success" in Honda and Acura racing 13) Diapers win races, well they used to anyway 14) Rob shared some endurance racing wisdom, like pit stops practice and it's not about top lap times but it is about endurance 15) What is a Honda Taco and how it is to drive one 16) We finally find a way to compare ourselves to Roger Penske 17) We go over several tips and tricks from several of Rob's helpful articles, many are linked below 18) Be a Racing team or Beer racing team? Correct answer is: Yes 19) You can hear an alert for every time Bill's computer went blue screen of death if you listen closely. It happened often 20) Bleed brakes after every endurance session 21) Rob and Alan bond over tire balancing. In the end, it comes down to the preparation done before coming to the track 22) Get things done as soon as possible. Don't start when you have just enough time left to get it done. 23) Internal competition for fastest lap is detrimental to team performance and overall team success. 24) Rob's team has learned that for endurance races, lap timers are not allowed within the car. 25) EJ2 Track Rat has a fashion suggestion for next year's nationals 26) How to choose an engine machine shop to work with 27) Rob's documentary film about endurance racing, titled "Double Down" is available free on YouTube, 1 hour 15 minute run time on the Krider Racing YouTube channel. 28) Tactical Ops Brewing's Double Nickel Nine IPA named after the race team with an image of their Honda Challenge car on the bottle. This stuff is high test at 10.9% ABV!

And here are some of our favorite articles that we discussed on this episode:

GHIT 0103: Keith Tanner from Flyin' Miata Apr 02, 2020

Show notes

Keith Tanner who has literally written the book on improving the performance of a Miata, actually three books, and works with the team at Flyin' Miata joined us for this episode to discuss his driving history and he was also willing to add to our recent series on the "Usual Suspects" and addresses many aspects of the use and optimization of all four generations of Miata's/MX-5's. Since we have two MX-5's on our team already and we are routinely passed by them at every race and HPDE event we have been to, we could not have this series without going over them. The MX-5/Miata is one of the more flexible racing vehicles available and with little modification, it can be competitive in many types of racing, as well as being a perfect choice for HPDE and track days. Additionally, the cost for wear and maintenance is quite low in terms of both cost and frequency, due to its light weight and the wide availability of parts.

Our Dominating with Dawson segment goes over the term Trail Braking, what it is and how it can be used on a track as you increase your skill and experience.

We hope you enjoy this episode.

Please subscribe to our podcast on iOS most use the Podcast app or Android users may use the Android App, Google Play, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Stitcher etc. We have also added this to our YouTube channel, especially useful with subtitles if you are hearing impaired, as several of our drivers are.

If you could leave a review, that would help us greatly and you can also add any questions or topics you may want us to cover.

Thank you again and best regards,

Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racing Team

Highlights include:

1) How to choose which version of Miata depending on what your interests are and/or how your personal geometry needs may require, including potential to LS swap

2) History of the Miata, how it came to be and how its racing pedigree arose and developed throughout the 30 plus years of production

3) We mention Long Road Racing during the episode, but they have been recently replaced by Flis Performance for ND prepped cars for the Global MX-5 Cup Series

4) How did Keith originally get into Miatas, including his gateway drug called Autocross and how he has expanded his interests and testing though the years

5) How Flyin' Miata develops and designs its parts internally and with its suppliers to serve a wide variety of needs and performance interests

6) Can you say LS Swap? Flyin' Miata can!!! And it fits into a Miata as well, lol.

7) Bill reviews how he came to have and lose the NB Miata to Vicki in a single day

8) Overall advantages are lightweight, relatively cheap to operate and maintain, great driver feel, excellent handling and grip in turns, a great car to learn and develop your driving skill, and relatively bullet proof. Disadvantages are relatively low power and acceleration (true momentum cars) and straight-line speed.

9) NC Miatas (2006-2015) are in a sweet spot for depreciation and a bit larger than the other models. It is also a bit difficult to install a full cage.

10) NA and NB Miatas are a bit smaller, lighter, and "fun" to drive. Downsides, they are getting pretty old.

11) ND Miatas are smaller and lighter than NC, similar to the NA/NB's and the power is increased above the others, especially the NA's and NB's. Also it has the only adjustable steering wheel in the Miata family. Weaknesses may be in the transmission area and you may want to augment the cooling.

12) Recommends looking at used spec Miata for value, especially the 1.6-liter versions that are not as competitive in the series as the 1.8-liter cars.

13) How to inspect and maintain your Miata, especially as the NA and NB's are getting close to 30 years old or more. Hint look at your cooling systems effectiveness, including the transmission and differential.

14) Pluses and minuses of our Flyin' Miata Stage II NB Miata, cooling and transmission etc.

15) Advantages and disadvantages of the 5-speed vs the 6-speed transmission in the older Miatas

16) Keith's thoughts on gauges vs ECU control and how to tell if there is an issue without additional gauges and which gauges may be helpful in general

17) Some of the potential issues involved with a LS Swapped Miata and some of the many issue that had to be addressed during their development to be able to have a system they could offer to their clients.

18) We even get into the new ND and ND.2 models

19) Keith discussed some stories about his past experiences in the Targa Newfoundland

20) Bill and Keith compare stories when they both lost a wheel while driving and other lessons Keith learned while racing and testing over the years

21) In the end, Keith even tolerated some of our more off the wall inquiries and concerns

22) Alan valiantly tries to help a listeners with what gear to use when doing burnouts in a turbo NB Miata.

GHIT 0100: Ross Bentley - The Ultimate "In Training" Guest Mar 30, 2020

Show notes

Ross Bentley was kind enough to come on as our guest and help celebrate our 100th episode. Ross is known throughout the racing world as a great driver, author, and coach about high performance driving and racing, where his racing experience at the highest levels is augmented by his passion for learning and sharing to help raise the knowledge base as a whole for the good of our sport. This discussion was aimed at learning more about Ross and his history, but when you have a chance to ask him a question about racing, you take advantage. We are hoping we can get him on again in the future. Maybe every 100 episodes, but we would hate to have to wait that long.

PS We rarely request anything, but during our discussion, Ross seemed to be unaware of the impact his books have had. If you have a moment, please post a picture of you with his book/books on Instagram with the hashtag #ThankYouRoss to show him the impact he has had. Thank you.

On this week's Dominating With Dawson, we go into the first of an ongoing series where ewe get into some of the jargon involved with racing. This week we review Rotation, what it means, and how to use and control it.

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT

Immature Endurance Racing Team

This episode's highlights include:

* How Ross fascination in cars and racing started and his history in racing

* His thoughts on the impacts of current amateur and amateur endurance racing on our sport

* With racing, what is not enough. Go for the Why!

* Skid pad use and discussion

* Alan admits to an issue with Turn 1, all of them

* Tire grip and how to control/manage the grip on individual tires while on track

* Why and how at the limit driving can be different for different drivers, even in the same car

* The equal, if not even more, importance of knowing what you do "right" as well as what you did "wrong" and by how filling your lap with doing things right will remove the time to do something wrong, leading to improvement.

* Areas where drivers typically could improve at various levels in their learning career processes and various habits and processes to build upon

* How to improve you driving through cross training

* His prescription for moving from a novice driver to a very successfully, advanced amateur racing driver

* He clarifies the difference between driver training, driver education, and driver training.

* Vicki picks Ross's brain on front wheel drive vs rear wheel drive to absolutely no one's surprise

* The best description of the importance of how you release the brake we have ever heard, and BOB vs EOB based drivers

* It looks like Ross's podcast is coming back and we cannot wait!

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