Garage Heroes (In Training)

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

Dialing In

GHIT 0112: John Lavin from Safety 3rd Motorsports

Safety Third Motorpsorts
John Lavin points the way for the Safety 3rd Motorsports team

John Lavin joined us from the Safety 3rd Motorsports racing team for a great discussion of his racing and team history, including how his background in racing snowmobiles, motorcycles, and snowboarding has led to and helped with his racing cars.  His team started with an initial car that was intended for Lemons but ended up being a second gen Supra that was better fitting into an episode of “Better Call Saul” and ended up in ChampCar and started with the usual issues and tremendous stories as his team grew.  The team is currently running in several ChampCar events each year, as well as several other organizations in multiple divisions. 

Safety Third Motorsports

We are hoping to talk John into letting us attend one of their upcoming races to learn more, if they will have us.  Please follow them on Instagram at Safety3rdMotorsports. 

Safety Third Motorsports

In our Dominating with Dawson segment, we go into racing in the rain and while some complain, it’s really actually better in many ways for learning and definitely should not be skipped or avoided.

Safety Third Motorsports E36 Racecar
Safety 3rd Motorsports E36 Racecar

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

Highlights from the episode include:
1)  Sharing the pain of herding cats as the team manager’s primary role.

2)  It appears John’s path is similar to Bill’s, just executed much better.

3)  VIR gets another big endorsement, and it wasn’t from Ben this time.

4)  First race stories for the team, a true 24-hour race at VIR.

5)  Why they eventually switched from a Supra to a BMW to the annoyance of all the Fast and Furious fans.

6)  Racing is really a situation of management by crisis, we agree and couldn’t have said it any better.

7)  Several discussions on the differences and benefits of a racing school, as compared to HPDE’s and track days.

8)  A comparison of ChampCar and the Lemons series, with a bit about AER as well.

9)  How the teams racing philosophy has changed as they have become faster and a bit more competitive.

10)  A very good discussion on transitioning a team from having run racing a car to racing to compete.  A challenge our team is likely approaching.

11)  We offer our excellent BBQ rub and BBQ sauce for some of their secret sauce, so far to no avail, lol.

12)  Practicing at track days vs learning from an instructor and several other benefits of instruction.

13)  A discussion on the various aspects of car control, what it is and several techniques that can be used to improve it.

14)  The everlasting rumor of Lime Rock closing has reached Vicki for the first time.

15)  John even sneaks in a discussion of the modern style racing line for Lime Rock.

16)  Since John’s team races an E36, we can’t help but discuss some of his thoughts on the E36 setups and even more importantly how to evaluate and develop them for yourself or when using a shop to assist.

17)  We even went into more depth around tire temperature and tire pressure and tire selection.

18)  A dual team meetup is preliminarily in the works and sounds like it will be great fun!  Still working on the Baja road trip invitation though.  Lol.

19)  Bill tries to talk John into lowering his standards and joining us for a race or for weekend racing fun.  Still TBD to see if John is capable of making a decision that bad.

20)   John was even gracious in acknowledging our difficulty with the rear hub bearing a few weeks back.  We may even be able to replace the control arm Bill broke after our quarantine ends.

21)  Towards the end, we even went into team HPDE and team bonding ideology that are helpful to all levels of teams.

GHIT 0112: John Lavin from Safety 3rd Motorsports

GHIT 0109: Brent Picasso on TireX (Special Bonus Episode)

TireX
TireX Allows for Anyone to Monitor their Tire Temperature in Real Time

Brent Picasso from Autosports Lab and fellow racing driver joined us to discuss a very exciting addition to their system called TireX.  TireX allows the driver and the paddock to real time monitor the tire temperature across the tread continuously while the car is on track.  This can help in a multitude of ways including monitoring tire performance, set up effects, and driver induced effects.  In addition to being real time, it also was designed to use a graphical display that can monitor tire temperature and distribution in an easily digestible manner.  If you drive a car where the tires contact the road, the TireX system may prove to be invaluable to you and your team.  If you drive a time travelling DeLorean, it may not be as helpful.

In Ben’s Dominating with Dawson segment, we discussed driving styles and potential ways to use YouTube and other video to learn a track or to improve your driving.

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Our Podcast is available from Apples Podcast App, or on Android at all the typical podcast sites like Google Music, Stitcher, and iHeart Radio etc.

Brent, can we order one with the plug and play harness?  Pretty please?

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)  Brent and Bill catch up on what Brent and his team have been up to, including a very successful Indiegogo campaign.
2)  How TireX came to be and what its capabilities are, as well as some of the very important questions it can answer for your car and driver performance, especially if there is a team aspect to the race.
3)  We talk about squiggly lines and graphical interfaces and how they can be helpful to different types of people and their individual ways of digesting information.
4)  Advantages of real time live data vs post session traditional tire temperature measurements, especially in specific turns or across the car from left to right or front to back.
5)  The amount of time saved can easily pay for the system itself by allowing the team to dial in a car set up much more rapidly.
6)  Bill simply cannot avoid making a predator comment.  Get to the Choppa!!!
7)  Brent even discusses the typical peak performance window for your tires.
8)  We discussed how the TireX works, its capabilities, size, and installation options as well as various display options for the data collected.
9)  Ways to use the data to communicate to the driver if they are driving too aggressively or too conservatively in a specific turn etc.
10)  Use of the TireX system in rainy conditions.
11)  Bill had several usage and capability related questions for TireX and its integration with the other RaceCapture and Podium systems.  Hint, there is still a lot of capacity left in the system even with 4 channels per tire in use.
12)  Mounting options and a discussion of some of the advantages and disadvantages of specific orientations, especially for the front wheels due to their steering.
13)  A quick review of the RaceCapture Track and RaceCapture/Pro systems
14)  Bill also goes into mounting the GPS antennae in a daily driver Miata, for a friend, lol.
15)  Track days are seeming to start opening up and we may be able to go back soon.  We miss it.  Badly.
16)  Bill pleads to his favorite HPDE group at NASA Great Lakes for the upcoming Mid-Ohio event.  He is going whether he gets off the waiting list or not.

GHIT 0109: Brent Picasso on TireX (Special Bonus Episode)

GHIT 0108: Randy Bish is our Guest from the League of Legitimate Nigerian Businessman racing team

Randy Bish and The League
Randy Bish and The League at Their First race.

Randy Bish is a relatively new lemons racer for the League of Legitimate Nigerian Businessmen racing team that is off to a spectacularly good start by making all the best bad decisions possible, including racing their 1972 Ford Pinto.  On this episode, we go over his racing experiences so far and cover the topic that no one ever thought they wanted to know:  what is the best way to race a Pinto in endurance racing.  Jennifer and Vicki particularly enjoyed this since their first car was also a 1972 Pinto.  Randy may be new to Lemons, but he seems to have found his tribe. 

  • Randy et. al.
  • I race a Pinto
First Race, How Hard Can it Be? Lol.

On Dominating with Dawson, Ben covers being on track for the first time, what to do, and what not to do.  It can be intimidating at first thought, but hopefully, this will assuage some of your potential concerns and give a brief guideline if you are going to a track for the first time and what the other drivers would like for you to do.  Short summary, stay on line, stay safe, and be predictable.  They also expect you to be off pace, so don’t worry about them or the F1 and Indy Car scouts in the grandstands. 

We hope you enjoy the episode!  The episode you never asked for.

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)  Design discussion of why the flames go in reverse from the back of his Pinto.  Our more seasoned listeners likely already know.

2)  How he learned all the details of his grandfather while his grandpa was behind the while as Randy was a boy.

3)  A summary of his two races last year at Pitt Race and Gingerman with the 24 Hours of Lemons.

4)  Randy’s very novel and very lemons charity fund raising method on the 24 Hours of Lemons i-Racing events, how this horribly awesome idea came to be and how much money he was able to generate for charity at the cost of some of his liver.  Maybe someday he will remember the race, but we doubt it.

5)  We may actually have convinced Vicki to race this Thursday.  Tune in this Thursday and we shall see.

6)  Matt Ferenchak and Florida Man Donnie get a few mentions, some even complimentary, lol.

7)  Randy Bish tries out for being a spokesmen for the Michelin Ice-X tire for amateur endurance racing.

8)  How a water pump can become a spinning end mill of death.

9)  How the initial “success” at Pitt Race led to his team going all in and winning the Heroic Fix at their next race at Gingerman.

10)  We find out the Randy Bish has a car obsession with big, Detroit luxury boats, the floatier the better.  But that does not seem to explain his having owned 3 SVX’s.

11)  Their team’s experience as the unintentional role as the unofficial Yellow Flag “Pace Car” at Pitt Race.

12)  Randy actually was able to use the term provenance and Pinto in the same sentence.  Admirable.

13)  We go deeper than anyone ever thought possible into the advantages of a racing Pinto. 

14)  “Tires are evil and must be punished”.  Words to live by.  And Jen’s train agrees.

15)  Bill gets an honorary place on Randy’s list of favorite drivers.  But it turns out to be kind of like winning the Heroic Fix award in Lemons.

16)  The El Jeffe makes a surprise appearance in being a desirable race car to swap into, but then again, Randy is used to driving a Pinto race car so….

To follow Randy and his team, you can find their team on Instagram or Facebook as the League of Legitimate Nigerian Businessmen with their official pace car of mediocrity.

GHIT 0108: Randy Bish is our Guest from the League of Legitimate Nigerian Businessman racing team

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

Phil Wurz
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.

BimmerWorld

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.

Racing at Daytona

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 Racing
Keith Tanner

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 Targa Newfoundland
  • Keith Tanner two of his babies
Keith Tanner, Author, Racer, and Car Entusiast

GHIT 0103: Keith Tanner from Flyin’ Miata