Garage Heroes (In Training)

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

Guests & Interviews

GHiT 0070: Race Bar – Baby Shark Racing team takeover

We have lost all control

  • Baby Shark at Night
  • Baby Shark
Beware the Baby Shark!

On this week’s episode, we lose all pretenses of control with our guests from the Race Bar/Baby Shark racing team stage a coup of the podcast.  Strap in for one of the most unique episodes that we have ever had with your unofficial hosts for this week James Webb and Jeff Caplan.  Jennifer, Alan, Vicki and Bill were just along for the ride on this one.  With that, here is the Baby Shark episode, just when you thought it was out of your head from NHMS!!!

On this episode, we attempted to cover:

1)  Just who is Ron Mexico and why is Ron Mexico and how is Ron Mexico and a virtual tour of VIR

2)  Bill Breaks the record for horn sound effects needed in one episode to retain our Non-E rated streak

3)  It takes almost 6 minutes to get to our intro, you’ll see why

4)  We did not have the entire team on, but probably couldn’t handle them if we did

5)  The origin of the BMW 7 series race car/bar and our introduction at the last NJMP race

6)  How and why “Baby Shark” came to be and how the “livery” came to be

7)  The differences in Lemons teams and Champ Car teams as well as their response to Race Bar

8)  Our great new race driver Jeff Wright and his NHMS experiences

9)  Deaf Power Racing team impending launch

10)  Alan wants a car stereo upgrade to our cars, yet another bad idea

11)  What PCCA thinks of Race Bar at their HPDE

12)  Their 10-year plan

13)  The GHiT goals and reasons why we are doing this

14)  Several drive by guests came on as well

15)   Vicki explains why we stopped on the way home from NHMS and how the Three Pedal Mafia came to our rescue, again

16)  They share their issues with car growth in their stable as well

17)  Ron Mexico interviews at least twenty people for unknown reasons

18)  The world series even makes a surprise appearance

19)  Story time from the VIR 24 hour race with Ron Mexico and trash can football

20)  Team intervention and exorcism goals for 2020

21)  and we ended with a very entertaining and even useful Good, Bad, and the Ugly

Bill eventually admitted defeat and just went with wherever we wound up

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast and team members in the GHiT 

Our Immature Endurance Racing Team

GHiT 0070: Race Bar – Baby Shark Racing team takeover

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

QuickTrick at the track
QuickTrick being used at the track

On this week’s podcast episode we go over wheel alignment and measurement techniques that can be used at home and at the track by almost everyone with Gil Winingham from QuickTrick Alignment.  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

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GHIT 0061: Chris Egan Special Guest Driver from Futility Motorsport

Chris Egan
It’s always the minor things! Chris is less impressed.

Chris Egan is our special guest driver from the Futility Motorsports endurance racing team.  We last saw Chris at the 24 Hours of Lemons race at Thompson.  We review his lemons racing history as well as the team’s recent over-temp issues at their last race.  Chris started racing with a Shelby Daytona and somehow he is still going (with the Futility Motorsport Saab).  Chris has also raced in several HPDE’s and tried his hand at autocross.  Chris races with his family (father, brother, and sister) and is shooting for a top 20 overall.  Chris covers why the Daytona is no longer the team vehicle and how the 250k mile Saab came to be a race car.

We also talk about the pressures and responsibilities of being a square on the E1R bingo card and the history of the “Young Chris Egan” moniker. 

Chris is a mechanical engineer who has a penchant for following in the steps of Rube Goldberg, so he fits right into the lemons paddock.  A natural born tinkerer in all areas, we also go over the recent intercom system that Chris has been working on and developing.  As expected, Bill had no shame and requested a test model for our upcoming HPDE at Watkins Glenn. 

Futility Motorsports
Its a sleeper

The conversation led to many different areas of discussion, including: 

HPDE vs racing vs autocross comparisons in learning and experience on track driving and improving your ability to read and predict other drivers, both on and off the track. 

Chris recalls several of the wild and crazy things he has seen both on and off the track at a lemons race, including a burning man themed paddock

Vicki and Chris talk about making their own tracks at NHMS by not going up the hill.  Chris seems to have worse luck at NHMS than we do.

Lots of trial by fire and learning what “to do” and what “not to do”. 

Building an old Toronado in Jahn Pagels shop with Spank the night before the Sonoma race. 

We make a challenge for a twin-engine car driven by two stick shifts.  (one single clutch would be acceptable)

We also go through a quick math problem with Alan over the plusses (time) and minuses (laps) of his recent red mist collection of black flags. 

We also go round and round on what we are doing with the El Jeffe race truck brake heating issues and the Capri engine/transmission swap with input from Chris

Chris get subjected to a Good, Bad, and the Ugly review of his racing career/history.

We make a bet between Chris and Alan on who finishes their project car first (getting the engine to fire).  Who do you think will win?  Chris and his E36 or Alan with the 3.8 liter Capri swap. 

Biggest takeaway:  Finish the work on the car as soon as possible, not just in time for the race. 

How many other racing podcasts would also have a Wacky Racers reference in the flow of the conversation?

GHIT 0061 Chris Egan Special Guest Driver from Futility Motorsport

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GHIT 0059 Wendy from Porterfields – Everything About Brakes and More

Everything About Brakes and More

Porterfields

Wendy Charlier has been our primary contact at Porterfield’s since we started our team and has been with the company 20 years.  Wendy has a racing background from her family that goes back many years. 

Also, for those of you that are not familiar with them, Porterfield’s is a private company that services all kinds of performance applications related to the braking your car and heat management, including brake pads, rotors, calipers, fluids, full brake kits etc., as well as other aspects of performance & racing like suspension components, oil coolers, starters, heat protection items, and batteries, and many others items.  So if you need any brake pads for virtually any car or truck, they have them or will make them for you.

Highlights from this episode include:

Brake Pads Selection Factors

  • What tracks
  • What type of racing, historic, endurance autocross, dirt, etc.
  • What use
  • What car
  • What heat/temperature is expected

Rotors

  • Vented vs solid
  • Drilled and/or slotted (Hint don’t cross drill if you are racing)
  • Slotted
  • One piece vs two piece
  • Proper sizing and selection

 Calipers/Pistons

  • The effect of the piston size, piston quantity, and the total piston surface area

 Brake fluids, types, uses, comparisons

 Wendy also recommended several brake pads to choose from depending on your driving needs, autocross, sprints, HPDE/track days, road/endurance racing etc.

  • We also cover the brake pad torque performance and its impact on braking and brake feel
  • A good bit of discussion on our racing pads of choice the Raybestos ST43’s
  • Other brands available include the Porterfield brand, Hawk, Performance Friction, Pagid, and several others from Raybestos
  • How brake calipers can affect brake pad selection, especially with respect to the available pad thickness

 Brake Fluids and Selection

  • Dry boiling point vs wet boiling point
  • DOT 3 4 5 etc. (racing use DOT 4)
  • Frequencies and reasons to change, bleed, etc., like if it boils, bleed it …..
  • Hydroscopic effects on brake fluid and its boiling point depression and why brake fluid is hydroscopic
  • How varying local humidity levels can affect brake fluid performance
  • Brake fluid compressibility and its effect on pedal feel

We also discussed several areas related to Braking, including:

  • Brake lines and selection and advantages of braided stainless steel lines
  • (real) Brake Ducting and cooling solutions (not using pool noodles), both neoprene and silicone, with wire reinforcement
  • Sizing of ducts and positioning tips on both the inlet and outlet sides
  • NACA Ducts and other options
  • Oil coolers
  • We also reviewed a reusable oil filter that we are absolutely dying to try.

Finally, Bill also attempted to talk Wendy off her personal cliff and start her amazing race career.  We will get Wendy out racing soon. 

So please join us for an excellent podcast reviewing all aspects of braking your race car.  And no, brakes don’t just slow you down. 

GHIT 0059: Wendy from Porterfields – Everything About Brakes and More

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GHIT 0057 Peter Krause on Using Data to Improve Your Driving

How to improve your driving without increasing the risk

Peter Krause
Peter Krause at the track, his happy place

We were honored to have internationally renowned racing coach Peter Krause join us for an introductory discussion of data collection and analysis to improve your track driving while minimizing the addition of risk.  The conversation was exceptional and covered a wide range of areas and topics.  Some of the highlight areas we covered include:

  • Data collection systems, options, and comparison
  • What to use, how to use, and several options for how to analyze the data
  • His virtual track walks with Ross Bentley, especially the Road Atlanta Vicki, Alan, and Bill studied prior to our race at Road Atlanta last December
  • We also discussed the use of Video to compliment the data and several ways to get to intelligent video which includes the track video with several displays of the data
  • Several stages of progression in data collection and analysis
  • Predictive lap times and the use and implications in car
  • Keys to breaking through stagnation and plateaus in driving
  • A simple and clear delineation between good and great drivers
  • Several different ways of presenting the data including tabular formats, strip charts, and colored maps which can aide in the use and interpretation of the data collected.
  • Supporting his driver
  • Coaching in action
Coaching his drivers

We also cover several of the more popular commercial systems including:

  • Race Monitor app
  • Harry’s Lap Timer
  • Aim’s Solo, Solo 2, Solo 2 DL, MXM, and MXL
  • GoPro Hero 7
  • VBox Sport
  • Race Render
  • Use of OBD blue tooth dongles
  • Race Chrono
  • Porsche Precision Track App
  • BMW M App

Peter also recommended two books that he finds useful in introducing more detail into the use and the analysis of the data.  We have already ordered our copies.

  1. Making Sense of Squiggly Lines by Chris Brown
  2. Practical Race Car Data Acquisition by Bob Knox

If you ever wondered what the top three key data collection parameters are, Peter shared his views as a driver coach who hopes everyone can use these three metrics to help with their self-learning. 

  1. Engine speed/rpm
  2. Throttle position
  3. Brake Pressure

If you have any more questions or wish to talk with Peter in more depth, he is easily contacted through his website at www.PeterKrause.net  and please pay special attention to his websites area on Track Wisdom. 

Krause & Associates
One of the world’s best coaching resources

Other references we also recommend include:

  • AIM sports YouTube channel
  • Race studio Analysis

And of course, the Virtual track walks Peter made with Ross Bentley that are available on the speed secrets website. 

We can’t wait until we can go into a bit more depth with Peter after we utilize his wisdom in our coming races and HPDE’s.

GHIT 0057 Peter Krause on Using Data to Improve Your Driving

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