Dialing In

Building a car vs developing a car

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 [email protected] or on our Instagram @GarageHeroesInTraining

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

Dashes, Switches, and Control Panels

DwD 0337: Dashes, Switches, and Control Panels

Vicki has been hard at work upgrading our dashboard and controls in our Honda Civic race car. She also has a favorite past time at a track by looking into each car and trailer set up to see what others have done and ideas that would improve our cars (and trailers). We thought it might be a good thing to discuss our thoughts on control panels and provide a list of things that we like to see on a car and have found to be helpful in maintaining the car or preventing the car from having bigger issues. On this episode Ben was again joined by guest judge Jeremy, Vicki, and Bill.

If you would like to comment on a favorite gauge, switch, dash, etc. that we may have overlooked, please send it to us at [email protected] or on our Instagram @GarageHeroesInTraining.

Even better send in a photo of a favorite dashboard, or a least favorite dashboard you may have or “seen”, lol.

For a link to some of Jeremy’s favorite switches:

https://www.painlessperformance.com/

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 would be a podcast review. This helps 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, and Bill

Hosts and Drivers for the Garage Heroes In Training team

DwD 0337: Dashes, Switches, and Control Panels

How to Test Your Race Car

at the Track with Scott Robertson

GHIT 0334: How to Test Your Car at the Track with Scott Robertson

We often hear how important it is to test your car prior to racing. While listening to Scott’s Track Walking podcast (a can’t miss podcast), Scott was discussing how he and Becky were able to conduct a full track test and tune evaluation of their vehicle during a recent HPDE. Since Scott is a respected coach and offers a service to help a driver to dial in their car at the track, we thought he would be a perfect guest to discuss how to best conduct a test and tune day most effectively and efficiently. We start the discussion with what a test day means and work our way up from there. This was recorded several weeks ago prior to the 2022 One Lap of America where Scott and Becky entered the OLoA in their Mazda 2 Sundae Cup car lovingly called Mooncake. If we could go back in time, we would have asked how that car was able to come in second overall on the skid pad event versus some very capable and sometimes expensively prep’ed vehicles.

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 would be a podcast review. This helps 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/

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, 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 start off with pre-event processes such as planning what you will test. This includes aspects of what tools you have, what you are capable/willing to change at the track.

2) Some examples of the testing order and priority. Things to do and things not to do.

3) One of the key aspects is to determine what you are trying to get from the process, i.e., driver experience/education or car optimization etc.

4) We also cover some of the key changes that you would like to change, as well as what tools you need to have for some of the key areas you will likely test. Hint: you will need a good tire pressure gauge and ideally a tire thermocouple or equivalent.

5) The best aspects of seeking an outside perspective or even better an experiences coach or F1 engineer, or even somewhere in between.

6) Ideas of things that you would like to test, including front sway bar (full hard to disconnected), rear sway bar (same), shock sweeps (full hard to full soft), rake adjustment, alignment, aero, tire pressure, etc.

7) Tips on how the impact of driver adaptation can affect the tests.

8) The importance of testing documentation and how it can help you going forward. A partial list of the items to summarize include the weather, track conditions, alignment, tires and condition, driver etc. This will eventually lead towards secondary goal of building you set up database for the car and the tracks

9) We go into last year’s One Lap of America and the (at that time) upcoming 2022 which since been completed.

10) Scott and Becky finished first in class and 54th out of 84 entries for the entire event and stunned the world on the skid pad with a 2nd place overall.

To follow Scott, you can go to:

@TrackWalkingPodcast on Facebook or Instagram

@RobertsonRacing on Instagram

@RobertsonRacingMiata on Facebook

Or you can email Scott about coaching etc. at: [email protected]

GHIT 0334: How to Test Your Car at the Track with Scott Robertson

Our HPDE with NASA Northeast at NJMP

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 NASA Northeast at NJMP 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.

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 appreciate it.

We hope you enjoy this NASA Northeast at NJMP HPDE review 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“. This will save you 10% 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. Use it and 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 0313: Track Day Recap from our HPDE Event with NASA Northeast at NJMP’s Lightning Track

Mirror Positioning and Our Philosophy

DwD 0309: Mirror Positioning and Our Philosophy

On this episode of Dominating with Dawson, we go back to a fundamental of driving on track and the street. Where to position your side mirror and rearview mirrors for optimal vision, information, and safety. We also go into several mirror options and our preferred placement of our rearview mirror within our race car. It is a bit unconventional but offers significant benefits to the normal center of the window position. Towards the and we also go with a drill and practice suitable to the street to improve your driving proficiency if the mirrors aren’t adjusted properly or are “adjusted” on track by another car. This may sound trivial, but we are quite confident that everyone can learn at least one thing on this episode that will help them on street and on track.

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

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.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

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

DwD 0309: Mirror Positioning and Philosophy

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