Guests & Interviews

Dave Mills

Post our AER Race at PittRace

GHIT 0321: Dave Mills Post our AER Race at PittRace

Long sought after guest Dave Mills is finally on the podcast that you may know from his online presence as the Caddy Wrecker. Dave is a long-time racer, rallyist, and was working with the AER team at our race last weekend at PittRace. With so many things to talk about, we try to get a review of Dave’s rally and racing exploits as well as how he saw our race from the tower. We also cover the Flagger system that was in our car that we mistakenly called by another product in our prior race review episode. Please welcome to the podcast guest family. Please excuse any of the internet induced noises and Robot Dave that appears sporadically within the beginning of the episode.

Also, a podcast first, help Dave find a new fun daily driver. Let us know on Instagram, Facebook, or on our email at [email protected]

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 of our listeners during the checkout process.

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:

1) Swag bribes work. Looks its Dave!!!

2) Some great tips about looking at what the better teams are doing and learning what they do and what they don’t do, especially in the pits and paddock areas. This literally can be the difference between winning a race and being midfield or worse.

3) Dave has had quite a few unique rally experiences, especially the rally that occurred right as Covid was ramping up early in 2020. He may hold the record for the longest time spent on a Lemons rally. We are also not sure if that is something to be proud of or not.

4) How Dave’s professional experience has helped with the Flagger system that is being used by AER and is being reviewed by several other racing organizations. Hopefully more to follow on this system in an upcoming podcast.

5) We revisit the internet video where one driver missed a vast series of yellow flags. If you missed it, the first video was on VinWiki and the actual rebuttal is available separately.

6) What it is like to be “running” the race vs running in the race.

7) As Dave is our first guest from AER, we go into a brief discussion of the differences between AER and several of the other series we usually discuss. Especially the required pit stops system and some of the technology that the AER series employs in this mostly amateur series.

8) Dave askes for some help in deciding on his next daily driver. A podcast first and perhaps our first public service announcement.

9) Dave’s experience living off grid. Its not for everyone, but he gives some tips and tricks that made it better.

For more of Dave’s exploits:

Instagram: @caddywrecker

GHIT 0321: Dave Mills Post our AER Race at PittRace

Race Bar Wins (?)

at Lucky Dog’s Spring Race at CMP

GHIT 0317: Race Bar Wins at Lucky Dog’s Spring Race at CMP

Our review of the Lucky Dog race at CMP continues with our friends at Race Bar. The tranquilizer dart was apparently very effective and we almost kept control of the podcast, lol. This was the first ever class win for Race Bar and it was great to share it with them. Enjoy this episode with Jandy and Richard Freelane.

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.

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 episode!

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

Highlights for this episode include:

1) A traditional Race Bar opening.

2) We cover the detailed prep that led to the Race Bar victory.

3) Dandy brings his own Top Ten list outline for the episode. A podcast first for us.

4) How it is to drive with a professional driver as part of the team and why professional drivers would want to drive with our amateur field of drivers.

5) How treating the maintenance of a car like an airplane can help reduce the issues that you may have at the track, even n a 1980’s BMW race car.

6) Ryan Susca gets a big thank you for all the help and his contributions to the Sunday victory.

7) Some of the greatest words to live by courtesy of our friends at the Track Walking podcast!!!

8) Who knew, we even go into some driving approaches to improve your times around the CMP track.

9) An example of classic Race Bar priorities in car repair. There is wisdom in there somewhere.

10) The response that you can get in Virginia when driving a Race Bar car home after a race. Some lessons of things to do and several things not to do.

11) We end with a bonus discussion of the intellectual property and team of skilled drivers contained by the Race Bar empire.

GHIT 0317: Race Bar Wins at Lucky Dog’s Spring Race at CMP

Kyle Lockrow’s Second Lap with GHiT

– On Winning the Lucky Dog Sunday Race, His Coaching, and a Big Sponsor Reveal Announcement

GHiT 0316: Kyle Lockrow’s Second Lap with GHiT – On Winning the Lucky Dog Sunday Race, His Coaching, and a Big Sponsor Reveal Announcement

We raced with Kyle Lockrow at the recent Lucky Dog event at Carolina Motorsports Park. Kyle helped our team get the BMW E36 back on track Sunday by doing an overnight parts run for us and also helped his teammates at Race Bar collect the victory in the race Sunday, a true racer. We went over the race and how Kyle approaches racing in the rain or on a wet track and the tremendous benefits of driving on a wet track. We also go into some depth of our upcoming coaching with Kyle later this season.

For more of Kyle, please listen to GHiT episode 265 at the following link: https://tinyurl.com/KyleLockrow

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

For further information or to contact Kyle Lockrow for coaching etc.:

Kyle’s Website: https://kylelockrow.com/

Instagram: @Kyle_Lockrow

Facebook: KLockrow5590

Kyle’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7RUSH8RZ0WQ-8wm7tkfgjg

Tune into the ChampCar Live Stream: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChampCarEnduranceSeries

Moore’s Automotive Sales and Recycling: https://www.facebook.com/MooresAutoParts/

GHiT 0316: Kyle Lockrow’s Second Lap with GHiT – On Winning the Lucky Dog Sunday Race, His Coaching, and a Big Sponsor Reveal Announcement

Audra Tella on Autocross and a Pre-Intervention

– on Autocross and a Pre-Intervention

GHIT 0314: Audra Tella on Autocross and a Pre-Intervention

It was almost spring, and we were thinking about ways to get out and start having fun with our cars again. We thought it may be great to go autocross’ing, especially to start the season. Since we were thinking autocross, we thought we’d invite Audra back to the podcast to talk all things autocross. Audra Tella is one of the hosts of the Shifting Points podcast and is also one of the leads for the local BMW autocross group near Boston. We talk about what to expect at your first event and what to do and more importantly what not to do to go to your first autocross event. Then we launch our intervention plan. This is part one of the plan. Part two will be revealed in the next episode of the Shifting Points podcast coming out this Wednesday. We started the podcast to get people started having fun with their cars. Audra and her fellow podcast host are already enjoying their cars but, especially after seeing Audra last year at our Thompson race, we hoped we could offer to help them start driving or maybe even tracing on track.

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

We hope you enjoy this episode!

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:

1) What is autocross? What you need to do to prep for the event and what you should NOT do to prep for the event or prevent you from going. Bill goes full facetious for at least 15 minutes.

2) Why are the cones there, what do they do and why does everyone seem to be angry with them.

3) We break down the lingo a bit and show that your first event will be easy to start and learn. Autocross drivers are very welcoming to everyone and would love to share their sport and all the fun.

4) Audra introduces up to the internet. It is a wonderful way to find an event close to you.

5) How autocross is structured to even out the competition or break it down into groups of evenly matched cars. Some even have special classes for novices.

6) We also find out what vent is Audra Tella’s favorite event of the season. We may have to attend. Time to check the season schedule.

7) What is Audra’s schedule for the season? Can we add to the festivities? Or are we just bad influences? Still TBD on that one.

8) Why we all started podcasts?

9) The devious plan is devised and launched? Our planning for the Mini Intervention.

10) Audra makes a prediction of the potential livery theme. Is she correct? Tune into the second part of this episode on Audra’s Shifting Point podcast, coming soon, hopefully this Wednesday if life doesn’t get in the way of editing.

To hear how part two goes, subscribe to the Shifting Points podcast and the episode will be coming shortly.

GHIT 0314: Audra Tella on Autocross and a Pre-Intervention

Part 2 over on the Shifting points podcast is HERE

Your Data Driven’s Samir Abid

Returns for a Second lap

Samir Abid hosts the Your Data Driven podcast returns for his second lap with us. We take advantage of his history in suspension systems and as a vehicle dynamics race engineer by asking the key question related to tracking data of “what should I keep track of” and how best to do this, especially if you are solo for the weekend as many of us are. We also go into how to collect the data and how to analyze the data and ways of saving time and money, while remaining focused and efficient.

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

We hope you enjoy this episode!

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:

1) We begin with a definition of what the “data” is and how it can help you. The importance increases as you progress and improve your driving skills.

2) Initially, we start with nonquantitative data that is free and available to anyone if they can pay attention while driving.

3) Samir offers great insight in what you need to collect by looking at the critical question to bound your problem. He then looks to simplify what can be a daunting subject “what problem are you trying to solve?”. This can not only simplify your data collection, but also save you a lot of time, effort, and money. All that can be applied in other aspects of your driving and racing improvement program.

4) Samir offers a logical sequence of how to break a track up into the most useful number of sectors. This aspect alone can really simplify the analysis and capture the pertinent information that would allow you to improve.

5) How to use the data to be collected and then move to the why before assuming the best plan to improve. This will prevent a potential to ignore the core reason for the information that is being collected.

6) We begin to go over the patterns and basic information that is available from the speed trace. This includes the curves, shapes, and slopes of the speed trace. Next we go over what that can tell you and some of the shapes that are typical for certain basic corners.

7) Things to look for: The slope of the speed trace when accelerating (and the consistency)(and the length of time for your shifts). The same would apply for the braking or deceleration aspects of the speed trace. Other aspects would include the minimum speed of the turn and whether that turn is a gradual change that forms a U or a sharp change in slopes that resembles a V.

8) A high level review of the G sum plot and the friction circle plot, that are often less intuitive than many would desire.

9) Samir shapes his views on the minimum viable data collection systems. Including what they encompass, including several technical aspects like sample rate and other aspects that influences their utility. We then look at several incremental steps up in equipment that are available commercially. With his experience in the highest levels of racing, Samir has a great grasp of virtually all commercially available systems. Including their relative strengths and limitations.

10) We also cover the minimum starting gauges that everyone should bring to the track. We start with a stopwatch and an accurate tire pressure gauge and progress into more advanced measurements and equipment.

11) As always happens, we get into the importance of the tires and how to adjust them to optimize grip and wear on track.

We will be doing a review of many (10+) of these systems that we have tested in an episode coming very soon.

A simple data collection hierarchy could be: Lap Time, Sector Times, Speed Trace (speed vs distance), Lat g vs Long g, then reviewing the G Sum plot, etc.

To keep up with Samir’s latest information:

Handy Links:

The Your Data Driven newsletter: https://www.yourdatadriven.com –

Data analysis intro course: https://www.yourdatadriven.com/the-complete-beginners-guide-to-motorsports-data-analysis/

His Book: https://www.yourdatadriven.com/the-motorsports-playbook/

The Your Data Driven Podcast: https://www.yourdatadriven.com/your-data-driven-podcast

If you want coaching from Samir: https://analysiscoach.com