Dialing In

GHIT 0107: Phil Wurz from BimmerWorld discusses cars, driving, racing, and how to best use your BMW

Phil Ready To Go Racing

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

**Winning team at the VIR 24 Hour Race with Champ Car**

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 0107: Phil Wurz from Bimmerworld discusses cars, driving, racing, and how to best use your BMW

GHIT 0103: Keith Tanner from Flyin’ Miata

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

Keith Tanner R&D — **Keith Tanner often instructs on the Flyin’ Miata YouTube channel**

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.

Keith Tanner Books on Miatas — **Keith Tanner, Author, Racer, and Car Entusiast**

Keith Tanner Targa Newfoundland — **Keith Tanner, Author, Racer, and Car Entusiast**

GHIT 0103: Keith Tanner from Flyin’ Miata

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

Rob Krider - Hands On Racing Driver — **Rob Krider from the Double Nickel Nine Racing Team**

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.

**Double Down – A Great Documentary on Endurance Racing**

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 0101: Rob Krider from the 4X National Champion Double Nickel Nine racing team

GHIT 0098: Ben Liaw from Rogue Engineering on racing BMW’s

Ben Liaw from Rogue Engineering was kind enough to come on this week’s podcast. Ben races and also supports his racing clients at Rogue Engineering in Upper Saddle River, NJ, where they not only assist with race car prep and on track support but design and manufacture many parts improvements for many BMW models.

Also, on this week’s Dominating with Dawson, we went over driving a new to you race car and what you should do prior to driving and how best to acclimate to the new vehicle.

Highlights from this week’s episode include:

1) Stories of how his business grew from designing and manufacturing to mechanical and racing assistance
2) Some thoughts on car prep for racing
3) A great discussion of various BMW models that are used in racing, including strengths and areas where you may want to augment the stock parts and systems. Most 3 series models were discussed including the E30, E36, E46, E92 as well as the more modern F series models, as well as a few 1 and 2 series models and Mini’s, including relative strengths and weaknesses between them.
4) Our first real discussion about the AER endurance racing series
5) Potential upgrades for racing our M240i
6) Spec E46 race cars and priority the addition of upgrades, including the subframe issue
7) Bill gets into a discussion while Vicki has computer issues
8) Alan picks Ben’s brain throughout while he also goes shopping while we are recording “for Vicki” lol
9) Bill put Ben in an unfair spot to compare BMW’s to other typical cars, like Boxsters/Caymans and Miata/MX-5’s etc. Ben, you have our apologies.
10) Vicki wanted to appeal to Ben for any assistance with her latest E36 rear wheel hub and bearing replacement project/debacle. Ben offered his typical preventive maintenance program for hubs and bearings for his AER endurance racing.
11) We even go into critical spares and critical spare philosophy and the potential tradeoff vs pre-race prep
12) Several Dante references and a new level called “Wheel Bearing Hell”. Vicki views this as the hidden 8th level.
13) Rogue Engineering’s incredibly smart wheel studs with a hex end on both ends in case of a sheared stud
14) Bill finds a brand of power tools where he is fully qualified, and even Alan agrees

To contact Ben and his team or follow along with their various exploits, you can go to their website at https://www.rogueengineering.com/ or follow them on Instagram at Rogue Engineering.

Thank you for listening to our podcast. Please subscribe to our podcast your favorite podcast source. If you have any questions or topics you would like for us to cover, please feel free to let us know at:

www.GarageHeroesInTraining.com
or via email at: [email protected]

and you can follow us on Instagram at Garage Heroes In Training
or on Facebook at GarageHeroesIT or Join our Friends of GHiT group.

And if you really would like to help us out, please leave a rating and review on your Podcast App of choice, Apples Podcast app, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, or whatever podcast app you use and we will address any questions that you leave on the review.

We hope to see you out there racing with us.

Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan

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

GHIT 0098: Ben Liaw from Rogue Engineering on racing BMW’s

GHIT 0092: Dion von Moltke from Racers360 and Professional Racing Driver is our Special Guest

Winner of the Rolex at Daytona 24 and multiple Sebring 12 Hours

Dion von Moltke is our special guest for this week’s podcast. He is a professional racing driver who has won several major races including the Rolex at Daytona 24 Hours and the Sebring 12 Hour among many others. Dion is currently focused on an excellent online coaching website with several other professional drivers/coaches at Racers360. Racers360 provides many types of coaching to improve any level driver including track guides, technique improvement, webinars, as well as personalized driving reviews of your individual video or data. The costs are very reasonable at $100 per year for a Drivers Lounge membership that has access to all the universal videos and webinars and the individual data and video reviews are $99 per lap. If our results are typical, the improvements can be quite substantial and the value cannot be beaten.

For this episode, we cover a variety of topics including:
1) Dion’s racing history
2) An overview of Racers360 and its various offerings
3) Coaching is available in many areas of racing including wheel to wheel, autocross, karting, and motorcycle racing
4) How the coaches are curated and how they tailor their coaching to each individual driver
5) The tiers of the Racers360 personalized coaching: One Lap analysis for an +/- 15 minute review of your lap for $99 thru the full race analysis to review your skills and race craft
6) Many, many race craft tips and techniques to improve your driving and several common areas where you can improve
7) Comparison of professional vs amateur racing strategy and techniques
8) The best modifications to improve your lap times: HINT IT IS NOT ON YOUR CAR
9) What is BOP
10) When is the best time to start looking for assistance from the Racers360 coaches
11) Potential car set up opportunities available at Racers360
12) Dion recommends we get more cars. Bill agrees very quickly.
13) What lap video should you submit
14) The importance of hitting the apex, as well as car angle at the apex
15) We bond over our shared GTI history
16) What is his favorite shape steering wheel
17) Alan refers to El Jeffe as a trophy truck

Winning — **You too may eventually be able to waste good champagne!!!**

In addition, we begin our weekly series with Ben Dawson where we go into various topics related to racing and help you to understand and improve your driving skill and knowledge. This week’s topic is “Smooth is Fast” Part 1. If you have any questions or topics for us to discuss, please let us know at [email protected].

You can find Dion and his team at: www.racers360.com or using his email at [email protected] or [email protected]. We really love the team and the help that they have offered.

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 0092: Dion von Moltke from Racers360 and Professional Racing Driver is our Special Guest