Cars, Mostly ours

Jaime Garcia from the Race FF Pod

GHIT 0239: Jaime Garcia from the Race FF Pod

Jaime Garcia started the Race FF Podcast to share with everyone his racing and building progress and to help everyone get started in racing by showing them that it can be done. Since we have essentially the same goals, it was natural to have him on the podcast. As his podcast title indicates, Jaime races a Front engine Front wheel drive in both HPDE, time trials, and wheel to wheel. His current target is competing in Honda Challenge in southern California. Further parallels between the podcasts is that his fiancé has recently begun sharing the car and working towards her racing goals. This episode was recorded live from the road on his recent trip back from having his car caged in Washington.

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.

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 confirm that both podcasts will be racing very similar 1993 Honda Civic’s next year but Bill doesn’t know as much as he should about ours. Glad Jaime was here to help us know our own car, lol.

2) A surprise guest bird flew into his window during the episode, actually our second guest bird. It must be something to do with Honda Challenge racing that we aren’t familiar with. We will need to talk to podcast guest and friend EJ2 Track Rat or more details.

3) Jaime discusses one of the often overlooked benefits of instructing drivers in that it helps the instructor as a driver as well, often in very different ways than when they are driving.

4) Jaime also discusses his transition from HPDE student, to time trial racer and instructor, to wheel to wheel racer into his upcoming Honda Challenge debut.

5) We also discuss several ways to minimize the expenses related in getting started, even if you have no car and almost zero money.

6) Jaime helps Jennifer with potential options for her HPDE and learning to wrench and daily driver car hunting. Any guesses? Who knows, maybe Jennifer will actually listen to this episode. Lol.

GHIT 0239: Jaime Garcia from the Race FF Pod

A Man's gotta eat — **Please feel free to eat up this episode**

Thompson 2021 Prep

For Our All Ladies Race Team

The Ladies at Thompson 2021 — **Elizabeth, Vicki, Jennifer, and Audra**

GHIT 0221 Our All Female 24 Hours of Lemons Racing Team for Thompson 2021 Prep

We are planning for our first ever All Ladies 24 Hours of Lemons racing entry at the upcoming Thompson event. Vicki and Jennifer will be racing in the 2003 Chevy S-10/Isuzu Hombre race truck. They will be joined by past podcast guests Elizabeth and Audra, for her first wheel to wheel racing event. Alan will be racing in the 1984 Mustang GT Turbo with his sons Bennett and Quinn. Quinn is joining us for his first race, and Elazar with Bill as a backup.

We go through our Thompson 2021 prep of the drivers and cars. Next, we also discuss our team and personal goals going into the event. We started our team with a goal of eventually having an all female team entry. Now we are finally able to do so at this event. Elizabeth has raced in Lemons several times before. But this will be Audra’s first ever wheel to wheel race, although she has tons of experience in autocross. The race is coming up this weekend. We will try to keep you posted.

GHIT 0221 Our All Female 24 Hours of Lemons Racing Team for Thompson 2021

2021 PittRace HPDE with NASA GL

GHIT 0218: Our 2021 PittRace HPDE with NASA Great Lakes

Our season highlight is the NASA Great Lakes HPDE event at PittRace and this year was no exception. Our team attendees consisted of Jennifer, Vicki, and Liam in the HPDE 2 sessions, and Bill was in the HPDE 4 group, as well as auditing several of the HPDE 1 and 2 classrooms and track sessions. As always, we were joined by our Three Pedal Mafia/Everyone racers podcast friend Chris, Chrissy, Jeff, and Jim. In total, we had 8 drivers in our paddock area in the HPDE classes and 6 cars for this event.

In addition, our next gen trainees were all over the go karting track there and even raced a friend from the Penn State Formula SAE team from our Lemons races in NJMP and PittRace this year, Eric Junker. As a super special addition to the event, Ross Bentley was also an attendee and was helping out in all areas and levels of the event. We are very sure he is tired from this weekend, but it was great to finally meet him in person.

PS Sorry for Bill’s audio, apparently his microphone did not work during this episode.

PittRace Paddock — Paddock with friends makes this even better

Looking 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. Then you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/PittRaceHPDE2021

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Morning meeting with Ross — **ROSS BENTLEY in Person!!!!!**

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

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

GHIT 0218: Our 2021 PittRace HPDE with NASA Great Lakes

HPDE at NJMP Lightning with NASA NE

GHIT Podcast 0203: Our Latest HPDE with NASA Northeast in May 2021 at NJMP Lightning

We review our latest high performance driving education (HPDE) event at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP) in Millville, New Jersey. We had four drivers at the event from our team. Jennifer, Vicki, and Liam were in the HPDE 2 run group for this weekend. Bill was in the HPDE 3-4 group. We each learned quite a bit a this event and we are all better drivers after these two days on NJMP Lightning.

On this episode’s Dominating with Dawson, Ben goes into the acronym OSB. OSB is sometimes used to describe someone in a learning environment where it stands for “Other Sports Beckon”. We believe that anyone can learn how to drive at a track or an autocross event. While there are differences in everyone at the rate that they learn, or their initial skill/experience level, literally everyone can get to a very proficient level. But they take need to be open to learning and be willing to put in the effort to improve. We then move into how different teaching approaches are better able to match with different student personalities and how the needs of the student may change as their experience and skill level progresses.

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. This 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/NJMPHPDEMay2021

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, we have a 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) Car reviews: Jennifer was in a 2019 ND.2 Mazda Miata with the stock OEM Continental tires and brakes. Liam was in his 2017 Toyota 86 TRD with Hankook RS4 tires and Raybestos ST-43 racing pads. Vicki was in her 1999 NB Miata with a Flyin’ Miata Turbo, Hankook RS4 tires and ST-43 racing pads. Bill was in his 2004 BMW E46 M3 with yellow Pagid brake pads and Michelin Pilot SuperSport 4 tires.

2) Telemetry we used for this event: Apex Pro and Garmin Catalysts.

3) How we owe our friends Jeff and Jim from the Three Pedal Mafia for saving our weekend by letting us use their family’s RV. Let’s just summarize by saying our prep for the vent did not go as planned. Situation normal.

4) Vicki’s prep to her turbo NB Miata did not go as planned before the event and at the event, but we did a few adjustments and all went well. It should be back up and running for our HPDE at Mid Ohio this coming weekend. Pro tip, do not try to adjust your wiring harness while the car is running.

5) Vicki and Jennifer’s thoughts on being in HPDE 2 vs HPDE 1. It was Vicki’s second time in HPDE 2 and Jennifer and Liam’s first time in HPDE 2. We also go into some of the differences in the HPDE’s between this event and some of the other organizations we have attended.

6) Let’s talk about point by’s at every post stint debrief, lol.

7) Vicki’s impressions of driving the E46 M3 on track for the first time.

8) We go over our goals going into the event and how we did during the event and what we learned over this weekend. We also go into some of the challenges we each face as we progress and grow as drivers on the track.

9) Liam pops in for a quick summary towards the end with his thoughts on the weekend. He also had a great time at the event and finally had a chance to be on track with the Garmin Catalyst.

GHIT 0203: HPDE at NJMP Lightning with NASA North East

GHIT 0192: Our Recent Autocross and Skid Pad Event at Lime Rock Park with the SCDA

Our 2021 season started off with another skid pad and autocross event at Lime Rock Park. This time the event was held by the SCDA. We go into our goals for the event, how we did, and hopefully a long list of what we learned. The weather was great and more than we could have asked for this early in the season. In addition to a great event with tons of track time, we also met Elizabeth Jolly and her new to her E30 BMW 3 series race car. Actually, it was for the second time, as we had met at our teams second ever race in 2018 at the 24 Hours of Lemons race in Thompson Connecticut. Both Vicki and Jennifer were finally able to feel the pause in the CPR “Correct, Pause, and Recover” process of catching a car.

Vicki in her turbo NB Miata

On this episode’s Dominating with Dawson, we

go into the speed at which you will use your hands. Typically, karters and autocross drivers are trained to move their hands much more quickly than a track driver, but there are times where fast hands are preferred. There is a good discussion of the times where you need to move your hands more quickly and times when a more slow and predictable hand movement is optimal. We also digress into a gumball machine discussion for a bit. It was a late night of recording, 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/SCDASkidPad

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Elizabeth in her new E30 race car

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

Jennifer is her ND Miata

Highlights from this episode include:

1) We start with a summary of the team’s goals going into the event and a summary of what the event would entail.

2) The cars that we brought with us were a 1999 NB Miata with a Flyin’ Miata turbo for Vicki. Jennifer was driving in a stock 2019 ND Miata with DOT 4 brake fluid, but otherwise stock. Bill drove a similarly prepped 2017 Toyota 86. Both Vicki and Bill were on our endurance racing tires of choice the Hankook RS4’s.

3) It was too early in the season for Lime Rock to open the sprinkler system for the skid pad so most of the day we drove on a dry skid pad. Jennifer and Vicki were able to get a few sessions on the skid pad with it wet.

4) We go into how we met Elizabeth and then proceeded to switch her into our race group and spent most of the day talking and driving with her. Her new to her E30 race car was awesome and she loved it from her first time behind the wheel on the skid pad, as everyone could tell on our Instagram interview with her, lol.

5) Jennifer’s stomach has an issue with the LRP autocross course, but it was obvious she had improved from our last visit in October.

6) We discuss our first time driving on a dry skid pad and how it went with a partially wet/partially dry surface.

7) How we did versus our goals and what we learned. We could tell you here, but what fun would that be.

8) Vicki wins this weekend’s GHiT award for being the most consistent on the autocross course as her best times differed by only 0.01 seconds.

9) To quote Vicki “I didn’t give two squats about the line”. Bill’s response “I could tell”, lol.

10) Bill was actually faster in the ND Miata that he was in the Toyota 86 while on the stock OEM continental tires. Bill also set his personal best ever Apex Score for several of the laps.

11) We ended our visit with a drive by stop at Don Pepe’s pizza. Its “on the way” home and a great stop if you are in the area.

End of the HPDE — **The end of another great HPDE track day**

GHIT 0192: Our Recent Autocross and Skid Pad Event at Lime Rock Park with the SCDA

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