Races

GHiT Garage, Podcast, and Team Update

GHIT 0235: GHiT Garage, Podcast, and Team Update

The Garage Heroes In Training team has had quite a summer on the track so far and with our racing season beginning to wind down, but far from done on the track, we thought we would bring everyone up to speed with where we are with the podcast, how our driving and racing is progressing, and what our car related projects are going into the fall and winter repair and build programs. This is a quick update episode, but we have so many moving balls (people and cars) it may appear random or confusing at points. However, there is a plan, and as always a spreadsheet or two.

In case you missed it, our podcast format has changed recently due to popular demand. Monday is our normal podcast release day for the week. On Tuesday our Dominating with Dawson segment for the week will be released as its own stand alone episode. Wednesday may or may not have a bonus episode as needed. This could be a Way Off Our Topic episode (WOOT), a race review from the weekend, team updates, garage updates etc. We hope you enjoy the new release format. Thanks again. Special thanks to Chris and Chrissie from the Everyone Racers podcast and Three Pedal Mafia for stopping by last weekend to advise us on the 1993 Honda build and our path forward for the next few months.

Vicki is looking into what she could/should do with her currently turbo’ed 1999 NB Miata. Any suggestions?

If you would like to help the 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. Even better, a podcast review. We would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy. If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast. There you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/ThompsonPart1

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t 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 truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc. The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

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

GHIT 0235: GHiT Garage, Podcast, and Team Update

Race Review of the Thompson 2021

Part Duex

GHIT 0227: Our Race Review of the Thompson 2021 – Part Deux

We finally have the whole El Jeffe team together to discuss the Race Review Thompson 2021 with all the ladies drivers. Elizabeth and Audra joined Jennifer and Vicki to talk about the race, how things went over the weekend and if/when the ladies will be returning to the track together. The results of the race were exceptional. The only issues we had that were racing related were due to the initial issue we fixed on Saturday. Considering that this was Audra’s first ever wheel to wheel race and Elizabeth had only entered two prior events, we are viewing this as a great win for the team. Hear all the details, even some of the super secret ones. All in all, each of them grew as drivers and learned a ton this weekend!

Still waiting for Alan’s SpiderStang update but there was something shiny near his house so, …….

Still Shiny Squirrel Free Unfortunately

PS If you can’t tell, Vicki was very excited to have the team back together to discuss the race.

If you would like to help the podcast,

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy. If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast. There you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review.

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 from this Race Review Thompson 2021 episode include:

1) Some of the shocking differences that Audra experienced in her first wheel to wheel race.

2) Elizabeth and the team discuss some of the unforeseen benefits of having the seat adjusted for their size and not making due.

3) Audra goes over our race strategy for her first stint on Saturday, as well as getting to practice on Friday before the event started with a much lower car count on the track.

4) Elizabeth (and everyone) also found the practice helpful but really got a lot out of the (amazing) track walk with our friends at the Three Pedal Mafia.

5) Find out if we have grabbed Audra from autocross? We hope not. We love both.

6) The ladies discuss how important vision and spatial awareness is, especially as the speed increases or the traffic increases.

7) We also address how each driver is a member of the team and how each car is really also part of the team and (usually) work together on track.

8) The entire team began to see the benefits of having spotters on the track for each other, as well as the race craft.

9) Audra tries to convey the chaos of a race weekend. We have done so many events that we don’t even notice anymore.

10) The team discusses several ways of managing traffic, as well as passing and being passed on a fairly crowded track.

11) How the ladies did in the paddock and garage prep by the team. We were a bit out of our normal groove with all the unintended changes to our team pre-race, but everything went really well even though we had 3-4 different issues this weekend, one was for the last 5 or so races.

12) Audra and Elizabeth also pointed out hat we missed a few opportunities to refine our tire pressures through the weekend. Added to our list. Along with a few other items we learned or noticed this race.

13) Pit Stops. We did a few, lol. Black flags, not so much.

14) Apparently, Audra is also part of the Connecticut tourism board and they were having a meeting in our paddock. Who knew?

15) It looks like Bill is going to have to find someone to drive with him (if the ladies have anything to say about it).

Don’t forget that you can follow Audra and her co-hosts on the Shifting Points Podcast.

GHIT 0227: Our Race Review of the Thompson 2021 – Part Deux

Our Race Review of Thompson 2021

Part 1

GHIT 0224: Our Race Review of Thompson 2021 – Part 1

Our ladies team came to Thompson and even though the entire prep week blew up in our face, the weekend as a whole went fantastically. Vicki and Jen go over some of the highs and lows of the race on this episode. We are hopeful for a part 2 with Audra and Elizabeth, and perhaps even Alan, to go over their thoughts on the weekend. The El Jeffe race truck stumbled a bit at the beginning of the weekend, but we were able to work through the problem eventually with a bit of help from our friends in the paddock and we may have solved the intermittent electrical problems that have popped up over this entire season. More to follow next week.

If you would like to help the podcast,

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy. If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast. There you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/ThompsonPart1

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 from Thompson 2021 Episode include:

1) We started with several of the prep debacles, for once they did not involve prepping the car, but unfortunately it involved just about everything else.

2) Since it was Audra’s first time racing wheel to wheel and Elizabeth’s first time in the truck, they thought it would be a good idea to get acclimated on the Friday practice.

3) Thankfully, this allowed us to start to work on the engine bogging issue. We go through the symptoms and what we tried to solve the issue. We may actually have found the true problem and we also ended up with a lot of spare parts.

4) Our generator issue continues and we aren’t sure if it is us or the rental RV’s. Do electrical problems only occur to teams that aren’t electrically literate? Asking for a friend.

5) We try to cover how the SpiderStang team of Alan, Bennet, Quinn, and Elazar went, but left a lot of the details out for a future episode with them.

6) Thoughts on the track walk and the track in general. The data shows that both Vicki and Jennifer made great strides during the race, each setting personal bests by several seconds. Jennifer may have even conquered her issues on the long straights. We will confirm at our next event.

7) Any guesses on how many black flags for the ladies?

GHIT 0224: Our Race Review of Thompson 2021 – Part 1

Thompson 2021 Prep

For Our All Ladies Race Team

The Ladies at Thompson 2021 — **Elizabeth, Vicki, Jennifer, and Audra**

GHIT 0221 Our All Female 24 Hours of Lemons Racing Team for Thompson 2021 Prep

We are planning for our first ever All Ladies 24 Hours of Lemons racing entry at the upcoming Thompson event. Vicki and Jennifer will be racing in the 2003 Chevy S-10/Isuzu Hombre race truck. They will be joined by past podcast guests Elizabeth and Audra, for her first wheel to wheel racing event. Alan will be racing in the 1984 Mustang GT Turbo with his sons Bennett and Quinn. Quinn is joining us for his first race, and Elazar with Bill as a backup.

We go through our Thompson 2021 prep of the drivers and cars. Next, we also discuss our team and personal goals going into the event. We started our team with a goal of eventually having an all female team entry. Now we are finally able to do so at this event. Elizabeth has raced in Lemons several times before. But this will be Audra’s first ever wheel to wheel race, although she has tons of experience in autocross. The race is coming up this weekend. We will try to keep you posted.

GHIT 0221 Our All Female 24 Hours of Lemons Racing Team for Thompson 2021

PGR Racing: An EV in the 2021 OLOA

GHIT 0208: PGR Racing – Racing In an EV in the 2021 One Lap of America EV Race Car: Ready or Not

“Tony Stark” was the obvious lead in to this episode with PGR Racing and their EV racing car that recently competed in the 2021 One Lap of America. On this episode, Andrew DeKoning and Chad Martin go into the pluses and minuses of racing an electric vehicle in the One Lap of America and racing an EV in general. We really had no reference to racing an EV, except for those unfounded rumors on several golf courses. Bill was stuck late at work so he sounds a bit “tinny” for most of this episode. We learned a ton during the episode about racing EV’s and we even know what PGR stands for now.

In this episode of Dominating with Dawson,

we go over what a contact patch is and how it is the key to driving and racing. The contact patch is the portion of a tire that is in contact with the track surface, and the contact patch is influenced by the weight transfer during the driving. The control of the contact patch through the control of the weight transfer is the key to maximizing your traction and use of traction during driving and is a direct measure of the potential speed and track time that you can achieve. And we may have ended up planning a race with Ben Dawson.

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 or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy. If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/PGRRacing

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS

Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t 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 truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc. The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

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

Highlights from the PGR Racing episode include:

1) We have never driven an EV on track so Andrew and Chad review some of the differences that they feel, hear, and the driving changes that are required related to changing from an internal combustion engine (ICE) when transitioning to an electric vehicle (EV). Regenerative braking is also another significant difference between the two, along with the weight associated with the batteries.

2) Where an EV excels currently and where there are still limitations and challenges to racing EV’s.

3) What PGR Racing modified on their Tesla Model 3 to help with the challenges of the One Lap of America and why they chose the Model 3 vs the other available EV options.

4) Details on the upcoming test of autocross’ing a Tesla in Autopilot. No back seat driving though, thankfully, lol.

5) Bill fights not to make the Tesla model name joke. He may even have succeeded. (Hint: the model names are S, 3, X, and Y)

6) A recent market change is the availability of several options for making the car suitable for track use and there are several more expected to be coming in the future.

7) The downside of changing tires right before the start of the first event on the One Lap of America. Key word: mold release.

8) Everything you ever wanted to know about charging for the transits and at the track.

9) Did the Tesla have any mechanical issues and what the PGR team did to prepare the car for the event.

10) Tips that they have learned from their One Lap of America experiences in an EV.

GHIT 0208: PGR Racing – Racing In an EV in the One Lap of America EV Race Car: Ready or Not