Garage Heroes (In Training)

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

Dialing In

Our Friendsgiving Work Weekend

Thank you to Chris and Chrissy

Working on the Capri
Working on the Capri

GHIT 0077: Our Friendsgiving Work Weekend

Alan, Zombie Vicki, and Bill go over our recent Friendsgiving Work Weekend with special guest from the Everyone Racers Podcast hosts, Chris and Chrissy who came up to guide, instruct, and assist us with several of our cars that, as always, need repair and improvements. 

Highlights to the discussion include:

1)  Our two and a half Porsche 944s that are available and soon to be posted for sale for HPDE or racing use. 

2)  Capri update and our updated plans going forward

3)  Winter is here in Northeast PA and when the sun goes down, the temperature leaves the garage in a hurry

4)  How we organize our garage for both parts and cars and how Chris helped Vicki determine what is good to keep and how to identify the unknown items we have collected since our race team started. 

5)  What parts are worth keeping and what parts have donated all they have to give

6)  Alan’s hamster powered internet shows up again

7)  Our plans for the new Honda race car project code name Godzuki

8)  The difference between parts replacement projects and part fabrication projects

9)  Our repair update of the race truck/El Chrissy/The Bad Hombre steering issues and exhaust leak and the potential for a power steering line cooler to be added

10)  Our repair update of the BMW E36 race car

11)  How many ignore the potential for their race car to be their own planetarium

12)  Alan bonds with several local FLAPS in our area

13)  We need a bunch of camber shims to fix our S-10

14)  We have renamed our race truck due to this week.

15)  Alan gives a visual description of suspension geometry

16)  A discussion of our hubs and bearings for the E36 and transferring the brake cooling ducts to our other race cars

17)  Vicki and Bill plan to go to a local race shop to see what is available for our use

18)  Alan’s fall led to a broken jaw, so does disagreeing with Kate.  You can choose which is the cover story and which is real. 

19)  Alan impersonates a BMW E36 while Chris was investigating our electrical wiring issues

20)  Spare parts and supply at the track discussion

21)  Vicki, pre-Zombie, and Bill received a welding lesson on our Miller 211 MIG welder and began the learning process in earnest

22)  Vicki relates welding to her art background

23)  Chris and Chrissy had a spare moment to test our Mazda MX-5 on the test track for a good shakedown run

24)  Skid pad event discussion and planning for this winter/spring at Lime Rock

25)  Car show Fails on YouTube, a worthwhile time waster

26)  The best way to say thank you/bribe people to help you (Hint:  Food, drink, and beer)

Bribing Hard
We bribe our guests hard! And that was after we ate.

Special thanks, as always to Chris and Chrissy for coming up and helping.  We learned a ton and accomplished quite a bit.  We hope our bribes of food, drink, and racing were sufficient to lure you up again, hopefully soon. 

If anyone wants a garage tour, we could put up a video (excuse the mess) on our YouTube channel.  Just let us know. 

E1R is Cool
Everyone Racers podcast is way Cool

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT

Immature Endurance Racing Team

Links mentioned

For part ID and a great source for auto parts

Our Miller 211 Welder

Welding related YouTube channel

Everyone Racers Podcast

GHIT 0077: Our Friendsgiving Work Weekend

RaceCapture and Podium with Brent Picasso

Podium Pit Setup
You want data that you can use?

GHIT 0073: RaceCapture and Podium with Brent Picasso

Brent Picasso has been racing since 2009 and has since created a company that provides the RaceCapture and Podium real time telemetry and data capture/display systems.  We cover the development history and capabilities of the system, as well as his racing history.  With what originally began as a self-tweeting race car, they have been able to develop one of the best and most complete systems we have seen to date.

Podium is capable of being used with virtually all data collecting systems and converts the data into many potential formats to aid in understanding and analyzing.  RaceCapture is a separate  system that comes in three levels suitable for once in a blue moon track day participants to full time professional racing teams.

Podium

His initial racing history began at Thunderhill with what was originally intended to be a Peugeot entry. But eventually led to turbo Miata and 1,000 penalty laps and the race to zero laps began.  The initial wheel to wheel racing action set the hook and he hasn’t looked back since.  Since then, in addition to the Peugeot, his conquests included a turbo 3-cylinder Mercur XR4Ti, a Crown Vic, and a second gen V6 MR2. (Bill really wants a piece of that MR2 since he had one in college) 

1)  The development history of both RaceCapture and Podium and how each can be used together or with other data capture systems like AIM, MoTeC etc. 

2)  The use and capabilities of the various systems and how they interact

3)  Data collection capabilities as well as how the data can be followed, used, and displayed, both in real time at the track, remotely, or within the racing car itself.

4)  There are three levels of the RaceCapture system, what they are used for and how they differ

5)  Podium app capabilities, use, and several upcoming features and capabilities

Podium on Cell Phone
Mobile and Remote usage as well

6)  Ability to look at data in real time or as a review, especially with racing coaches and friends.

7)  These systems appear to lower the barrier to look at and use any data you are collecting currently or in the future

8)  Driver data comparison techniques and use

9)  Some of the key improvements of this environment is the lower barrier to using and understanding and improving as a result of the data

10)  The interface is also able to be used as a real time, in car dashboard and/or dashboard replacement

11)  It is also able to be used not only in the car, but also in the garage/paddock at the track, and even remotely, all in real time on a wide variety of hardware including computers, laptops, iPads, phones, etc.

12)  What is predictive lap time, how it is calculated and potentially used on the track

13)  How the system works with driver changes etc., so common in endurance racing

14)  Pit use vs in car use vs post-race review usage and options

15)  Options and thoughts for use with multiple cars/multi car teams

16)  We try to overview the installation process and requirements, as well as how they vary depending on the car being used, its OBD2 capabilities etc.

17)  Options and thoughts regarding additional sensor use for things like brake pad temperature or tire temperatures

18)  What is Canbus and how it can be used with the system to increase the capabilities and data that can be collected and monitored in real time, like differential temperature etc.

19)  Shift X3 capabilities and usage to form alarms and warning systems for the driver of potential car issues such as engine rpm shift lights, oil and water pressure and temperatures etc. 

20)  Advanced customization options are also available for those interested through Lua programming capabilities built into the system

21)  Options and use within dedicated race cars, as well as occasional track/daily driver cars

22)  In car dashboard replacement options with using the system

23)  We are very excited with several of the upcoming additions to the systems and steps to continuously improve the ease (of use and data digestion”) and capabilities of the systems and how they integrate with each other and external data sources like video etc., as well as several advanced pit-to-car communication capabilities

All of this can be used for track days, HPDE’s, and racing events at all types of venues and tracks. This includes impromptu tracks and non-traditional racing areas common with Autocross events etc. 

We are placing our order for several of these systems next week. We will likely have our review in an upcoming episode(s) as we progress. 

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT

Immature Endurance Racing Team

Autosports Lab/RaceCapture:  https://www.autosportlabs.com/

Podium App:  https://podium.live/software

Aim Sportline:  https://www.aim-sportline.com/index.htm

MoTeC:  https://www.motec.com.au/products-currentrange/product-directory/

GHIT 0073: RaceCapture and Podium with Brent Picasso

GHIT 0068: NHMS 2019 Prep Week

Our plans are unravelling
Our preparation plans are unravelling

Our ineptitude continues

NHMS race weekend prep status.

One race, three cars, none working.  The rest is good though.

On one hand we have the BMW E36 3 series from 1998. Issues, yes.  It won’t start.  It seems to not be getting power to the computer system and won’t turn over.  We found one wiring issue and are tracking down any others, slowly.  One good thing is that the prior owners live very close to our race, so as a last resort, we may ask for some assistance.

New to Us BMW E36

El Jeffe/The Bad Hombre:  Braking issues abound.  Still.  The caliper/pads do not fully release from the rotors, which may be the issue we have been battling this entire season.

It is a race truck

On this NHMS Prep episode:

  1. Alan breaks up into a game of boggle with things like DME, EWS2, etc.
  2. Vicki breaks back in and tries to get us to explain what is going on
  3. Bill breaks down the entire battle we have been having with the brakes on the race truck
  4. El Jeffe brake theories, plan, and a review of the current status
  5. An El Jeffe Transit story for the books
  6. Alan talks about flashing ECUs and seeking additional help to get the E36 running well again.
  7. Alan does his best weatherman impression and forecasts clear skies for the E36
  8. Kate even makes a quick guest appearance towards the end

It seems to be a standard week before the race.  Now will this turn out?  Tune in tomorrow, same bat channel, same bat time.

Or actually when we record at the track this weekend. 

GHIT 0068: NHMS 2019 Prep Week

GHIT 0067: Watkins Glen HPDE Review

Watkins Glen International
Watkins Glen International

Welcome to our latest podcast episode where we review our Watkins Glen HPDE with NASA North East at the world famous racetrack.  We had a great weekend with 5 of our team showing up and two other friends from the Everyone Racers Podcast and The Three Pedal Mafia racing team, Chris and Chrissy.

Just some of the cars in attendance

We summarize the prepping of the many cars we brought and the debacle it became for almost every car we brought.

Cars we prepped for the Watkins Glen HPDE included:

  1. BMW E36 1998 race car
    1. Roll bar prep and Passenger racing seat installation
    2. Issue:  Will not start as we were prepping to leave.  Issue still TBD
    1. Roll bar padding and switch to racing seats and racing harness from OEM
    2. Issue:  4-point belts are not acceptable so hot swap at Watkins Glen to install two new 6-point harness sets
  2. 1999 Mazda MX-5 Turbo Miata with Flyin Miata Turbo
    1. Installed new roll bar
    2. Issue:  did not finish roll bar installation and did not remember to reconnect the battery before giving it to Jennifer
  3. 2019 Mazda MX-5
    1. Mostly no issue, except cleaning
  4. 2017 Toyota GT TRD
    1. Bad Lug bolts and Missing Lug bolts
    2. Waited until day before to get parts, ended up with bad hub threads and missing bolts, and doesn’t know how to click the pay button after registering for the HPDE
    3. Cue the sad trombone please
  5. 2013 Dodge Dart
    1. Did not have time to change to race seats, nor brake pads and fluid, nor tires from standard OEM
  6. 2017 BMW M240i
    1. No issues since Chris and Chrissy are always prepared, unlike us.
  7. Race Prepped Honda Civic

Brad was an excellent test passenger for three different cars on the track.  He reviews his first ever race laps in the Turbo NB MX-5 versus the race prepped Honda Civic vs a new Acura NSX. 

Team photo WGI 2019
Our team for the weekend

Vicki, Jennifer, and Bill covered our in car instructors and areas we worked on and improved over the weekend. 

These areas included:

  1. Track vision
  2. Racing lines in general
  3. Braking points and braking pressure and the proper application and removal of the braking pressure
  4. Turn in Points
  5. Input sequencing
  6. Several drills, including vision and non-shifting the entire lap or session
  7. Car control
  8. Learning and feeling what is correct and what isn’t with immediate feedback
  9. Late apexing vs early apexing and turn in
  10. Prep is key to racing

In addition, we also reviewed our thoughts of the track and the NASA North East HPDE event in general. 

We also reviewed the relative performance of the Turbo 1999 NB MX-5 to the newly updated 2019 MX-5 ND.

GHIT 0067: Watkins Glen HPDE Review

At Home Wheel Alignment with QuickTrick

QuickTrick at the track
QuickTrick being used at the track

GHiT 0064: Wheel Alignment and Measurement with Gil from QuickTrick Alignment

Gil Winingham from QuickTrick Alignment reviews several wheel alignment and measurement techniques that can be used at home and at the track by almost everyone.  Having a minor change to the alignment can lead to very significant effects, increasing speed, decreasing lap times, and easier/safer driving and handling.

QuickTrick Alignment
It’s much better to “send it” when aligned

Please contact Gil at:  https://www.quicktrickalignment.com/ 

GHiT 0064: Wheel Alignment and Measurement with Gil from QuickTrick Alignment