Driver Education

GHIT 0074: Scott Barton and Sim Racing

Early ideas for the upcoming gift season

Sim Racing Rig — Advanced Sim Racing setup

On this week’s episode we have Scott Barton as our guest. Scott is a very accomplished racing driver and very knowledgeable in the area of Sim Racing. We thought we’d learn more about both on this episode, just in time for Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. Sim racing can be great way to get cheap track time, especially in the off season or during the work week when you aren’t near a track. As with most aspects of racing, you can go as deep as your interest and bank account will allow. We hope you enjoy the episode.

Highlights from this episode include:

1) Scott’s racing history and progression to where he is currently racing mostly in the AER series (American Endurance Racing) where he has recorded a very impressive series of results since originally learning at HPDE’s in 1999 and racing in 2009.

2) Scott’s latest goal is try to round out his collection of first overall wins in Lucky Dog and WRL to complete his already stellar collection of 24 Hours of Lemons, Champ Car, and AER wins and have recorded overall wins in every major street tire endurance racing series in the US.

3) Scott is also a driving coach and is involved with many teams, students, and racing series and organizations.

4) We then began to cover various software and hardware choices available, make some recommendations (links below) as well as describe some of the many systems and options that are available for a wide range of budgets.

5) The three basic systems we reviewed started with a single monitor, a three-monitor system and a VR based system with a good set of steering wheels and pedals. A sim vibe/butt kicker would be a very nice addition is budget allows.

4 Screen Sim Racing Rig — Go as far as you wish

6) More advanced options mentioned include motion/ full motions simulators, spring loaded harnesses,

7) Computer requirements in general, such as a 4-core processor, i5 or newer, with a video card capable of running a VR headset at 1080p and 90 fps (or better) should be sufficient for your system.

8) We also cover how to deal with motion sickness in VR if that happens to you in the beginning.

Sim Rig — They can even go to the track with you

9) Scott was even kind enough to entertain us with our traditional Good, Bad, and the Ugly series.

Also, Scott can assist you with defining your system if needed at his website below.

Items and Links discussed within this episode include:

Steering wheel and Pedals:

Logitech G29, G920: https://www.logitechg.com/en-us/products/driving/driving-force-racing-wheel.html

AccuForce Steering wheels

Fanatec Wheel and Pedals: https://fanatec.com/us-en e.g. v3 inverted pedal set, Clubsport base/mount

Heusinkveld: https://heusinkveld.com/products/sim-rigs/sim-rig-gt/?q=%2Fproducts%2Fsim-rigs%2Fsim-rig-gt%2F&v=7516fd43adaa

VR:

Samsung Odyssey Plus Headset: https://heusinkveld.com

Oculus Rift: https://www.oculus.com/rift-s/

Optional Accessories/Upgrades:

Butt Kickers: https://thebuttkicker.com/

Full Motion simulators – Various sources

RaceDepartment.com for cars and tracks

Realteus force feel seat pad: www.Realteus.com

Chassis movers: various sources

Sim Racing choices:

iRacing: https://www.iracing.com/

Assetto Corsa: https://www.assettocorsa.net/home-ac/

R Factor: https://store.steampowered.com/app/365960/rFactor_2/

Project Cars: https://www.projectcarsgame.com/explore/?lang=en-us

Please feel free to contact Scott at:

Website: https://www.facebook.com/ProFormanceCoachingcom

Facebook Group: Sim Racing Deals at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SimRacingDeals/

Thank you again.

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 0074: Scott Barton and Sim Racing

GHIT 0073: RaceCapture and Podium with Brent Picasso

Podium Pit Setup — You want data that you can use?

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.

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 events, and racing events at all types of venues and tracks, including impromptu tracks and non-traditional racing areas common with Autocross events etc.

We are placing our order for several of these systems next week and 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

Several links mentioned within the podcast:

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 0072: Race Bar Invasion – Part Deux

This week’s guests are once again from Race Bar, repeat offender, James Webb/The Jandy Man is now joined by Patrick McHugh/Richard Freelane, and Ben Dawson/Awesome Dawson, formerly of Winsome Racing and Race Bar pseudonym apparently still under construction, lol. You can blame us for trying to wrangle another episode from the Race Bar team. Instead of a visual guide of VIR, today we get a tour of a boat and the harbor by Richard Freelane.

We did manage to get a bit more of their team history and race car history and a few hints of things to come. If you have or know of any crab related lemons vehicles interested in helping this crazy team, they are looking for you. The stories varied in area, as we have come to expect from Race Bar, but they are always entertaining.

We even managed to have some actual race related information that could allow you to improve. We knew it was in there, we just had to keep digging to find it. Lol.

1) We talk through an introduction to Race Capture and a bit about Mega Squirt, what it is useful for and how to use it, especially important when you have a racing team with varied skill and experience levels. We also look at the importance of lap times with respect to endurance racing and endurance racing teams.

2) Special contacts to look for at VIR and Road Atlanta when your car needs a little extra TLC or repair, especially if you are looking for BMW or Miata parts.

3) HPDE and how to get better at racing, both faster and more consistent.

4) Somehow we had a quick review of both teams’ cars and their history.

5) Brief tire and brake pad selection discussions for endurance racing.

6) A comparison of the progress that can be made at HPDE’s and iRacing.

and finally, Bill picks Ben’s brain a bit about becoming a driving instructor in the future.

GHIT 0072: Race Bar Invasion – Part Deux

GHIT 0067: Watkins Glen HPDE Review

Welcome to our latest podcast episode where we review our weekend HPDE with NASA North East at the world famous Watkins Glen International 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.

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

Cars we prepped included:

BMW E36 1998 race car
1. Roll bar prep and Passenger racing seat installation
2. Issue: Won’t 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 aren’t acceptable so hot swap at Watkins Glen to install two new 6-point harness sets
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
2019 Mazda MX-5
1. Mostly no issue, except cleaning
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
2013 Dodge Dart
1. Did not have time to change to race seats, nor brake pads and fluid, nor tires from standard OEM
2017 BMW M240i
1. No issues since Chris and Chrissy are always prepared, unlike us.
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:

Track vision
Racing lines in general
Braking points and braking pressure and the proper application and removal of the braking pressure
Turn in Points
Input sequencing
Several drills, including vision and non-shifting the entire lap or session
Car control
Learning and feeling what is correct and what isn’t with immediate feedback
Late apexing vs early apexing and turn in
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

GHIT: Physical Fitness for Faster and Safer Racing

Special Guest Trey Shannon of Performance Podium Fitness

Racing is both physically and mentally challenging, even at the beginner and intermediate levels. For this week’s episode, we were very proud to have Trey Shannon as a guest. Trey is located near Charlotte NC and is helping many high level drivers and teams with their off track preparation both physically and mentally. The discussion will go over many areas that you can focus on and improve not only your best lap time, but also improve your consistency over many laps. The degradation due to fatigue can lead to not only slower laps, but also the demands can lead to loss of focus and increase the likelihood of driver errors and potential damage to the car and driver(s).

During this episode we discuss:

Physical preparation
1. Anaerobic and Aerobics
Mental Preparation and acuity
Cardiovascular fitness
1. Diaphragm vs chest/shoulder breathing
Breathing exercises and breathe control
On track relaxation strategies and techniques
Neck, Shoulders, Hands and Core Stability
Eye exercises and hand eye coordination
Sleep
Diet and Nutrition, especially on race day and race weekend
Hydration
Off season preparation, Pre-race, at the race, during the race, and post-race options
Training periodization and improving well rounded fitness for all aspects of life
Cramping and cramp prevention
Heat and Cold management strategies
Outdoor training ideas and options
Improving proprioception and other driver “feel” capabilities during the race
Pre-race warmup techniques to get you in the zone in the first few seconds behind the wheel
Cognitive ability degradation with fatigue is easily quantifiable and very significant

This is critical when you are looking to compete in an endurance type of racing where the ability to be at or near your fastest consistently could dramatically improve your overall performance by many TEN’s (10’s) of seconds, not just the usual TENTH’s (0.1’s) everyone pursues. It not only affects your overall speed, but the quality of the decisions and skills on the track, especially over time.

If you are interested in improving in this area of your driving, please feel free to contact Trey at:

Podium Performance Fitness in Cornelius North Carolina (near Charlotte) or on the website at PodiumPerformanceFitness.com and follow them on Instagram and Twitter.

GHIT: Physical Fitness for Faster and Safer Racing