Dialing In

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.

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 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:

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.

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.

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, 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

The Team From LDRL at CMP March 2022

GHIT 307: Race Weekend Recap: The Entire Team From Lucky Dog Racing at CMP March 2022

You have only heard a few of the stories from our Lucky Dog race at Carolina Motorsports Park a few weeks ago. Now we unveil the entire team that went to the race. Car owner David as well as the rest of the team including Alex, Ryan, and Matt. We think we have determined the root cause of the problem we had at the race and a path forward. As always, we all had a great time at the Lucky Dog CMP March 2022 event and cannot wait to return. There was a bit of feedback initially that sounds like a duck quacking but it ends fairly quickly and we are blaming Alex, lol.

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 would be greatly appreciated. Even better, a podcast review, would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would greatly appreciate it.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very 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 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 of our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2 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 for this episode include:

Lara and Randy — **Our Winning Friends Lara Vernon and Randy Pobst**

1) We start with the important stuff: who wins the snoring award for the Lucky Dog CMP March 2022 weekend?

2) What we did, what we brought, what happened, and how we ended up.

3) What it is like to assemble a new team from several other teams and how the weekend went, what we learned and what we can learn from this weekend.

4) Our individual thoughts on how the “new to us” car behaved on its maiden voyage to endurance racing and what we each thought of the E36 BMW. Ryan and Alex are long time endurance racers, primarily in the Miata platform. Bill has driven the E36 platform many times but had not been to the CMP track until this weekend. David had also not been on CMP as well.

5) We spend way more time discussing the teams qualifying session than the session actually took. This is called foreshadowing.

6) We then have a recovery/repair plan and get started the race Saturday. Then we go into detail of the entire 8 hour race Saturday.

7) Now the fun begins, as well as the work project for the weekend. Ryan got a ton of really solid shoulder work welding above his head. The post incident CSI that we conduct and summarize also takes more time than our racing laps did in total. Perhaps the first reference of a brake caliper making sweet, sweet love to the rear suspension.

8) We did allow him to rest a bit by welding a friends team shifter that had failed (again). It should be problem solved from here.

9) The details of our parts search and repair program to get the car back on track for Sunday.

10) We also have a short example of Podcast In Training that couldn’t be edited out for your personal enjoyment.

And more

11) Even with a combination of team members with decades of racing experience, there is growing pains in coming together.

12) With everything going on at a race weekend, we each learned several details of how the race weekend went

13) After a brief trip off the rails, we eventually get to “Oh God, it sings”. We eventually get back to our story. Herding kittens.

14) We have the beginnings of a recovery plan and then cover our roles within the team. The importance of roles and areas of responsibilities is key to the performance of a racing team and cannot be overstated.

15) Apparently there will be a Cubano vs Meatball cook off. Book your spots early if you want to be a judge. Spots are limited.

16) Ryan shares his parts transport system and Vicki is dumbfounded. Bill has a new project.

17) An accounting of what we did vs what we should have done and what we will do at the next race.

Special thanks again to Kyle Lockrow and Giggles for their help in making the results of this debacle a bit better.

GHIT 307: Race Weekend Recap: The Entire Team From Lucky Dog Racing at CMP

Thank You Three Pedal Mafia

GHIT 0285: Thank You Three Pedal Mafia

We have four members of the Three Pedal Mafia come up to help Vicki and Bill work on the two Honda project cars for this winter. We had originally planned a full cage party work weekend but had postponed it until February or until the COVID spike recedes. What we were able to accomplish with their skills in such a short time was amazing. They came, they saw, and they fixed. Some day we hope to be able to perform at that level and repay them in some way.

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 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.

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 for this episode are:

1) Details of the work plan for the invasion by the Three Pedal Mafia visit this past weekend including a surprise visit by Jim.

2) Shut up we are having fun, lol.

3) Driving skill review and training was an unexpected addition to the agenda for Miss Vicki.

4) It was so very cold (for Pennsylvania) that we had to create a micro climate heating area for Miss Chrissy’s feet.

5) Why we had to replace the exhaust on the 1993 Honda Civic since we will be endurance racing the car this season. Mental led the festivities on the exhaust project while we set up several of the other projects.

6) Bill’s planning failure. And yes, this bothers him greatly.

7) How the work went on the Honda Civic radiator and oil cooler installation and required fabrication.

8) While Vicki and I were distracted, the Three Pedal Mafia assaulted the rusting carcass of the Honda Fit that we are looking to race in Grid Life’s Sundae Cup at Lime Rock this year. The Fit has yet to fully grow into the warm spot in Vicki’s heart.

9) We try to describe the depth of the love that Mental has for rust, but may not have fully achieved a full description.

10) As always, Vicki loves to provide wonderful food and drinks as a thank you. We “bribe” everyone who comes over and this weekends was no exception. Bill added in some of the new thermal barrier coating for increasing the heat control of header and exhaust wraps. The coating also creates a protective layer to protect the system from abrasion and water/chemical attack.

11) Bill’s engine disassembly is nearly complete for a replacement engine after being guided by Chris, Our Mr. Honda. Now if anyone knows of any good machine shops in north east Pennsylvania, please let us know. Either by Instagram or via our email at [email protected].

12) Vicki had a bit of a heel toe down shifting discussion with Chris and Chrissy. This should help her with her down shifting, especially at the end of the long straights. Hopefully, she will get to drive and ride with an instructor this season, hopefully with Chris. She also has some practice that she can start with ahead of that while driving on the street.

13) Obviously much more to follow in coming weeks. We need a few parts, some tools, and some machining assistance, but we will keep you posted as we learn.

GHIT 0285: Thank You Three Pedal Mafia

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