Guests & Interviews

Balancing Min Distance vs Max Speed

DwD 0392: Balancing Min Distance vs Max Speed

On this week’s Dominating with Dawson, we start a discussion on the competing priorities of maximizing speed and minimizing distance. Obviously, balancing these will lead to the fastest lap times, but some areas of a track or sequences of a track will be optimized by sacrificing one or the other in certain areas to reduce lap time. This concept is more often spoken about in autocross but applies to road courses as well. This is especially challenging when you are at a track for the first time.

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We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS Are you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with 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“. This will give 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2 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. Please enter the code “ghitlikesapex!”. You will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, Jeremy, and Bill

Hosts and Drivers for the Garage Heroes In Training team

DwD 0392: Balancing Min Distance vs Max Speed

Phil Wurz From Bimmerworld

GHIT 0388: Phil Wurz From Bimmerworld Returns For a Second Lap

Phil Wurz is the Sales and Operations Manager for Bimmerworld and also races with the Bimmerworld team at track across the nation. We catch up with Phil on what has been going on with the Bimmerworld team’s racing team this season. We also go into the SpecE46 series and the cars involved with them. Phil and the team at Bimmerworld had put together a list with several levels of builds for the SpecE46 series that are budget and performance based. One of the great things is that the SpecE46 racing series is number of entries are usually large enough that there are several races within the race that allow for close competition among the different packs of cars. We also go into things to look out for when purchasing and car and the typical maintenance and inspection items for the E46 race cars and donors.

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 amid 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 our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/

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 from https://apextrackcoach.com/

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Spec E46 Build Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/14AhC_aKSC8rLYTSSSikt3tS7Is1T5PolHp3CxU4cx3c/htmlview

Brandon Wilson –

NASA Great Lakes HPDE 4 Group Leader and Grassroots Racer

GHIT 0386: Brandon Wilson – NASA Great Lakes HPDE 4 Group Leader and Grassroots Racer

Brandon Wilson was one of the first instructors to ride with Bill. He has been with NASA Great Lakes for well over a decade and is now the HPDE 4 Group Leader. During this episode, we talk about how Brandon has worked his way into the driver that he is and where he would like to progress further. We also look he HPDE 4 group with NASA Great Lakes. Brandon goes into a discussion of the HPDE ladder system and Brandon’s vision for an ideal student. We also go into where he would like to move the group forward. We also go into the differences between instructing beginning students vs higher level drivers.

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. This includes 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 would be a podcast review. This 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 amid 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“. It will give you a 10% discount code to all our listeners during the checkout process at https://candelaria-racing.com/

PS2 Please use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems. If you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system. You will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40. Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order from https://apextrackcoach.com/

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Justin Okamoto

– JustinCFC on Instagram

GHIT 0384: Justin Okamoto – JustinCFC on Instagram

One of the highlights of the GridLife event at Lime Rock was finally meeting Justin Okamoto. Justin is relatively new to racing his own vehicles but has been associated with motorsports for well over a decade. He recently graduated from the GridLife HPDE sessions. He has begun racing his BMW E36 3 Series car in their Club TR Time Attack series. Justin has also given back to the series and works in the grid and paddock areas with the GridLife team. In addition to his racing, Justin also started “Cars For The Cure” a 501 C3 nonprofit charity in honor of his mother that is aimed at helping to assist families with dealing with cancer.

For more information on Cars For The Cure: www.CarsForTheCureSC.org

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.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

GHIT 0384: Justin Okamoto – JustinCFC on Instagram

DJ Alessandrini

– Race Driver and Sim Racer

GHIT 0381: DJ Alessandrini – Race Driver and Sim Racer

Bill first saw DJ Alessandrini when he was doing some friendly YouTube stalking of the GLTC series and has been following him ever since. DJ has also started a podcast (Lizard Brains Podcast) of his own with co-host Tom O’Gorman and it has become one of our can’t miss podcasts. We end up talking all things Sundae Cup, podcasting, driving and especially how best to learn and use SIM racing during the off season to improve our driving in the real world. DJ is a great guy and we can’t wait to see him again, hopefully at a track.

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.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Ben, 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) DJ’s driving and racing history and how he got a race car for free.

2) How video games and SIM racing have fed his competitive side when he was growing up (and still) and how autocross gave him another outlet to compete and the thrill of driving in real life. A lifelong passion was born.

3) How he was able to be globally competitive in sim racing seemingly overnight. PS it wasn’t overnight, at all.

4) How transitioning between sim racing and real-world racing can compliment each other. Also, ways that sometimes hamper people from getting the most out of the cross training.

5) Vicki cannot wait to start talking about Sim racing and we end the intro section prematurely, lol. We then dive right into some of our problems with sim racing. DJ provides some great suggestions to help us with the transition, both using monitors and virtual reality headsets.

6) How best to make the transition into sim racing, especially if you are already an experienced race driver. This includes the best ways to practice and learn, as well as the minimum equipment needed and setting.

7) Several great tips on getting acclimated to using a VR headset and one horrible method that did not work.

8) Bill mentions his issues with the Global MX5 cup car on iRacing and DJ’s thoughts on what went wrong.

9) What options there are to personalize the livery on your car in iRacing and other sim racing programs.

10) Shopping tips, priorities, and resources for all the various components needed for a good sim racing experience. Also, what is the sweet spot for the best performance bang for the buck items you need or can upgrade to.

11) Tips for prepping for your first race in the spring after a long off season.

12) Some of the key settings and issues that can help with the transition into sim racing

13) We also cover the benefit of using a coach to help with the racing and sim racing as well.

14) We also go into the Lizard Brains podcast he hosts with former guest Tom O’Gorman

15) How he differentiates between instructing and coaching. And how sim racing offers several advantages that are almost impossible to replicate racing in the real world.

GHIT 0381: DJ Alessandrini – Race Driver and Sim Racer

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