Garage Heroes (In Training)

Learning as we go. Come along with us and Enjoy the Ride!

Bill Fischer

GHIT 0046: Our Race Wrap Up from NJMP 2019

Our review of our 24 Hours of Lemons Race at NJMP’s Lightning Track

Our NJMP 2019 Highlight
Our NJMP 2019 Race Highlight, yep.

Our 2019 NJMP Lightning Race Review with the 24 Hours of Lemons series includes: 

  • Quick review of the Lightning track Review
  • Alan’s many visits to the Black flag area this weekend
  • We had a few self-induced incidents and a few outside influences during the race
  • It was Kate’s first race
  • Kate Before Her First Stint
    Kate Before Her First Stint
  • Kate After Her First Stint
    Kate After Her First Stint
  • Podcast Reviews finally, Thank you. 
  • Arrival with two not fully working cars set us back for the weekend and we really never caught back up
  • Shout out once or twice to Judge Craigers
  • We had a few issues with the Cars, mostly because we came with not fully finished cars
  • Jennifer was in a tunnel during the episode
Our weekend in a nutshell.

Car highlights included Speedy Cop’s new Aquarium via 2 AMC Pacers, the Big Bad Caddy and “Wurst Shifter” pit vehicle, Race Bar Car, Godzilla, the new Three Pedal Mafia race car, Matt’s new Surfin’ Bird T-Bird, Mom Rocket team for keeping that grassy spot very clean all weekend, The racing Hudson, and the Sunbeam. 

  • Everyone was there, even Godzilla Made an Appearance
    Everyone was there, even Godzilla Made an Appearance
  • Speedy Cop's Latest Creation
    Speedy Cop’s Latest Creation
  • Three Pedal Mafia's Godzilla
    Three Pedal Mafia’s Godzilla
  • Many shout outs to all the teams there, we only mentioned a few of them, but everyone was great. 
  • We were passed by many if not all of you who were there,
  • Track was easier but aggression was higher
  • What should be our team penalty for getting black flags?  Any suggestions welcomed.  Please leave a comment. 
  • We end with our traditional Good, Bad, and the Ugly, as well as what did we learn from this event.
  • Kate kept up with Black Betty for 5 laps!  It would have been slightly more impressive if they weren’t yellow flag laps, lol. 
  • We all also learned how to fill a hot tub with a pickup truck

Our results from NJMP were that El Jeffe/The Hombre/The Race Truck finished 60th overall out of 133 and 25th in B out of 68 cars with a fastest lap of 1:29.082.  The SpiderStang finished 105th overall and 49th in B with a fastest lap 1:36.75 by our guest driver Matt who does not want to drive it any more, lol.

Did we have fun, always!
Did we have fun, always!
We will be Back
We will be Back

GHIT 0046: Our Race Wrap Up from NJMP 2019

WOOT 0045: Game of Thrones Series Review

Our overall thoughts on Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones
Why fight so hard over an uncomfortable chair?

On this episode, the whole gang reviews the recently ended HBO series Game Of Thrones.  We hope you enjoy the episode.  Benny, Alex, Vicki, and Bill get into the various characters, highs, and lows of the series and books.  

We watched them all, did you?
We watched them all, did you?

WOOT 0045: Game of Thrones Series Review

GHiT 0044: Nick Pon – Our Special Guest

Nick Pon from the 24 Hours of Lemons HQ

Nick Pon from Lemons HQ
Nick Pon from Lemons HQ

On this episode, we were joined by Nick Pon from the 24 Hours of Lemons HQ.  Nick is a car enthusiast for the vast majority of his life and worked with the Lemons team since the inception.  During this interview, we were able to go over Nick’s history, both with Lemons and personally. 

Highlights included:  

  1.  Thoughts on how you Lemons has gone so far, the Good, The Bad and The Ugly
  2. What is planned for NJMP next weekend with Race, Radwood, Hooptiecon and everything else on site

Also please check out Nick’s latest article at Autoweek related to a 24 Hours of Lemons race car that turned into much more.  (and no, that is definitely not our Capri)  

Podcast Episode GHiT 0043: Nick Pon from the 24 Hours of Lemons HQ

Jeff Wakeman from E1R and 3PM

Our Friend from the Everyone Racers Podcast and the Three Pedal Mafia

Jeff with Bill at NHMS 2018
Jeff and Bill at NHMS

Jeff Wakeman from the Three Pedal Mafia racing team and the Everyone Racers Podcast joins us for this week’s episode.  We had a wide ranging discussion covering many topics including:  

  • Jeff’s first car
  • Some of Jeff and the Three Pedal Mafia early history
  • The Wartburg vs the Trabant
  • Some of the past few seasons results, and challenges
  • Building two new cars for this season
  • Three Pedal Mafia team goals for 2019
  • How Summit Point led to no stunting and ‘splodin rule
  • Track Discussion of the NJMP Lightning track for our upcoming race
  • Bill makes the same bad joke and Jeff shows he actually listens

We also tried to be helpful, and we cover in between races maintenance practices

  • Fix any broken parts
  • Full nut and bolt check
    • All suspension bits, end links suspension bolts, shocks, struts
    • Oil change every race
    • Brake pad check
    • Wheel bearing check (12-6 and 3-9, every day)
    • Shocks and struts
    • Rim check
    • Brake Rotor check
    • Calipers
    • All lugs and lug nuts
    • Fire system
    • Electrical system
    • Clean up and Vacuum
    • Brake fluid every season, unless overheated then change immediately
    • Tires for flat spots, cuts, bubbles etc.
    • Fuel cell foam every season, unless fuel filter clogging etc.
    • Exhaust inspection, will rattle apart
    • Transmission fluid every few seasons unless issues
    • Read tire tread after every day
    • Wheel bearing check at 12-6 and 3-9 every day
  • What exactly is involved with Dialing In a new car
  • What is the exact definition of Mental Extrapolation and an itemized correction list/rant
  • Race Car Development guides
  • Vicki gets excited about power steering for the SpiderStang
  • Street and Normal mechanics vs endurance racing mechanical needs
  • Alan takes a few shots to the bow, in a very good natured way
  • Vicki has two tickets, Bill only knew about one, until now.
  • Jeff is oddly collecting tickets from every state
  • Bill makes bad decisions about towing with the new rental truck
    • However, Jeff presents his quick summary of what to do and what not to do to related to speeding to avoid speeding tickets book review
  • Keep your eyes up
  • Speeding ticket story time
  • We end with a discussion of Avengers Endgame and many other hero
  • Game of Thrones discussion, or how to end a story via Cliff Notes
  • Upcoming theories and desires
  • Ranking of many marvel movie favorites
  • The upcoming Watchman series on HBO
  • Monoculture in modern entertainment, is it ever possible again with streaming and bingeing becoming more and more popular
  • How Lemons could be the solution to this and everything else
  • Upcoming ace at NJMP with Hooptiecon and Radwood as well
  • Star Wars discussion and predictions
  • Jeff Does a Road Warrior impression
Jeff Riding Hard After Winning the National Championship
That’s the “El Jeffe” riding “El Jeffe”

We apologize for being helpful to your racing this time.  We will resume our normal uselessness next week, lol.

GHIT 0043: Jeff Wakeman is Our Special Guest

Our First GHiT Year In Review

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. So this episode is our first GHiT Year In Review.

AT Thompson 2018
Our endurance racing team at the 2018 Lemons race in Thompson CT

Alan also covers his recommended tool of the week.

GHIT

GHiT Podcast 00424: Year in Review