Garage Heroes (In Training)

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

Mechanical

Chris Egan from Futility Motorsport

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

GHIT 0061: Chris Egan Special Guest Driver from Futility Motorsport

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).  He has also raced in several HPDEs and tried his hand at autocross.  Chris races with his family (father, brother, and sister) and is shooting for a top 20 overall.  He also 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

GHIT 0059 Wendy from Porterfield – Everything About Brakes and More

Porterfields

GHIT 0059 Wendy from Porterfield – Everything About Brakes and More

Wendy Charlier has been our primary contact at Porterfield 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 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
  • The type of racing, historic, endurance autocross, dirt, etc.
  • What use
  • Car weight and horsepower etc.
  • What heat/temperature is expected

Rotors

  • Vented vs solid
  • Drilled and/or slotted (Hint not cross drilled 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 do not just slow you down. 

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

GHIT 0050: Our Lucky Dog Race and Portland International Raceway – 2019

We came, we saw, we were conquered.

Engine Swap at the PIR
Engine Swap at the PIR

Alan, Jennifer, Vicki, and Bill with a few drop ins cover our race weekend with the Lucky Dog Series at Portland International Raceway.  It starts with a review of practice Saturday morning, then our 7-hour endurance race Saturday and our work to get back out late Sunday. 

Proof we raced
Proof we raced

We compare Lucky Dog to our home series the 24 Hours of Lemons.  While similar, there are differences, pluses and minuses for each, so we compare the two in the continual pursuit of the perfect low budget amateur endurance car racing.

Lucky Dog
Lucky Dog Racing League

There were a ton of great teams there, most of which passed us on Saturday as we were towards the slower end of the field. 

Some of the Field at PIR
Some of the Field at PIR

We recorded this shortly after we completed Sunday so there is a bit of echo since we were in the pit. However, we did manage to give out our team awards for the weekend.  

Lucky Dog Awards
Lucky Dog Awards

Racing Results for those who are keeping track at home: 

Saturday:  We were in 37th place when our engine went away Saturday and ended up at 41st for the day.  We did not get to participate in the 2 Saturday enduros due to the engine issue.  Our fastest lap was 1:38.664 by our guest driver Randy Pobst, but we managed to 1:45.870 as our internal team best.  (Randy was able to get to 48th fastest lap of the day and Alan’s time would have placed us as the second slowest car in the 60 car field that ran a lap Saturday )

Sunday:  We ended up getting on track after a long day of engine swapping and rebuilding and finished 3 laps and ended up finishing around 48th out of the 64 cars this weekend and 48th fastest of the 48 cars that ran on Sunday. 

Fastest lap of the race weekend was 1:29.932 by Blue Bayou for reference to the relative performance to the field.

We came, we saw, we were conquered.
We came, we saw, we were conquered.

We came, we saw, we were conquered.

GHIT 0050: Our Lucky Dog Race and Portland International Raceway – 2019

Lucky Dog Portland – Saturday Night Review

An interesting day

Randy Pobst with Jennifer and Vicki at Lucky Dog Portland
Randy Pobst with Two New Friends

Here is how our day and night have gone at Lucky Dog Portland.  Its got a good, bad, and ugly, but what would you expect from us after all.  Its live and unedited from the paddock, so sound quality may be less than stellar.

We had a bit of work to do....
“We” pulled off our first engine swap at a race, barely.

Any questions, please let us know on our Instagram.  We will try to cover them tomorrow or tomorrow night if we finish fixing the car.  

Thanks again.

GHIT 0049: Lucky Dog Portland – Saturday Night Review

Jeff Wakeman from E1R and 3PM

Our Friend from the Everyone Racers Podcast and the Three Pedal Mafia

Jeff with Bill at NHMS 2018
Jeff and Bill at NHMS

Jeff Wakeman from the Three Pedal Mafia racing team and the Everyone Racers Podcast joins us for this week’s episode.  We had a wide ranging discussion covering many topics including:  

  • Jeff’s first car
  • Some of Jeff and the Three Pedal Mafia early history
  • The Wartburg vs the Trabant
  • Some of the past few seasons results, and challenges
  • Building two new cars for this season
  • Three Pedal Mafia team goals for 2019
  • How Summit Point led to no stunting and ‘splodin rule
  • Track Discussion of the NJMP Lightning track for our upcoming race
  • Bill makes the same bad joke and Jeff shows he actually listens

We also tried to be helpful, and we cover in between races maintenance practices

  • Fix any broken parts
  • Full nut and bolt check
    • All suspension bits, end links suspension bolts, shocks, struts
    • Oil change every race
    • Brake pad check
    • Wheel bearing check (12-6 and 3-9, every day)
    • Shocks and struts
    • Rim check
    • Brake Rotor check
    • Calipers
    • All lugs and lug nuts
    • Fire system
    • Electrical system
    • Clean up and Vacuum
    • Brake fluid every season, unless overheated then change immediately
    • Tires for flat spots, cuts, bubbles etc.
    • Fuel cell foam every season, unless fuel filter clogging etc.
    • Exhaust inspection, will rattle apart
    • Transmission fluid every few seasons unless issues
    • Read tire tread after every day
    • Wheel bearing check at 12-6 and 3-9 every day
  • What exactly is involved with Dialing In a new car
  • What is the exact definition of Mental Extrapolation and an itemized correction list/rant
  • Race Car Development guides
  • Vicki gets excited about power steering for the SpiderStang
  • Street and Normal mechanics vs endurance racing mechanical needs
  • Alan takes a few shots to the bow, in a very good natured way
  • Vicki has two tickets, Bill only knew about one, until now.
  • Jeff is oddly collecting tickets from every state
  • Bill makes bad decisions about towing with the new rental truck
    • However, Jeff presents his quick summary of what to do and what not to do to related to speeding to avoid speeding tickets book review
  • Keep your eyes up
  • Speeding ticket story time
  • We end with a discussion of Avengers Endgame and many other hero
  • Game of Thrones discussion, or how to end a story via Cliff Notes
  • Upcoming theories and desires
  • Ranking of many marvel movie favorites
  • The upcoming Watchman series on HBO
  • Monoculture in modern entertainment, is it ever possible again with streaming and bingeing becoming more and more popular
  • How Lemons could be the solution to this and everything else
  • Upcoming ace at NJMP with Hooptiecon and Radwood as well
  • Star Wars discussion and predictions
  • Jeff Does a Road Warrior impression
Jeff Riding Hard After Winning the National Championship
That’s the “El Jeffe” riding “El Jeffe”

We apologize for being helpful to your racing this time.  We will resume our normal uselessness next week, lol.

GHIT 0043: Jeff Wakeman is Our Special Guest