Garage Heroes (In Training)

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

Races

GHIT 0082: Laguna Seca With Lucky Dog and Mental

Planning and Repairing
Planning and Repairing

Unedited live episode from Laguna Seca after Day 1 of racing with Lucky Dog. We had a long day or racing and repairing. It was our first day ever on the Laguna Seca and Vicki’s first ever day racing a front wheel drive car.

We made a few mistakes, learned a ton, and loved every second. Most importantly, we think we made a whole bunch of new friends and we were able to catch up with many we already knew.

Lucky Dog is a great series, with great people, and some spectacular cars. Some are spectacularly good, some are spectacularly fast, and some are spectacular in their own way.

A tired crew describes our first ever race day at Laguna Seca with our friends at the Lucky Dog racing series, silliness ensues.

With Vicki, Bill and special guest Mental Ward

GHIT 0082: Laguna Seca With Lucky Dog and Mental

GHIT 0069: NHMS Race Weekend Review

NHMS Flag
NHMS 2019 – 24 Hours of Lemons race

Our podcast this week focuses on our race weekend at NHMS with the 24 Hours of Lemons teams.  We had a bit of a struggle getting ready, but the cars eventually cooperated and raced well, at least for a bit.  In the end, we had a great time and caught up with a lot of friends and made several new ones this weekend.+

  • Team at Tech
  • Mia as Death Doctor
  • Brad made it to his first race
  • Passed Tech Inspection
We confused Guitar Heroes with Garage Heroes, oops.

On this episode, Alan, Jennifer, Kate, Vicki and Bill are still recuperating from the race weekend hangover, but did manage to discuss:

  • Vicki learns the alphabet, finally.
  • Pre-race prep and race car struggles.
  • Not going as planned
    Not going as planned
  • Lost but found
    Lost but found
It all started innocently enough
  • We broke the first rule of racing and brought an non-prepped car to the track
  • El Jeffe/The Bad Hombre/The Trophy Truck/Race Truck was finished literally hours before the race.
  • The E36 BMW struggle did not complete until midday Friday afternoon when our great friend Bruce figured out a simple electrical issue that we could not find on our own
  • We had to pick up a windshield, which was in Canada
  • Bill learns to not joke with the border police
  • Normal race induced issues led to a lot of on track repairs and replacement for the race truck, especially related to our steering, power steering, and steering rack.
  • SpiderStang was almost brought into race trim since we had all hands on deck and needed two cars
  • We rolled the dice and brought the E36 to the track and hoped we could fix it with the aide of our friends in the paddock area
  • Friday testing went well with El Jeffe and we were able to get almost all of our new to NHMS drivers
  • Jennifer clears all prior NHMS demons from last year
  • Kate enjoys her first time on this track and then promptly has internet issues in mid story
  • Jennifer is very excited and saw many benefits of the Watkins Glen HPDE we sent to two weeks ago.
  • We may finally have solved our braking issue with the El Jeffe race truck
  • Bill creates a new word for the dictionary
  • Bruce saved our team having to get another engine and perform and engine swap by solving our issue and getting the engine in the E36 to fire.
  • Bill confirms that by fire, they meant to get it running and not that it had caught on fire.
  • Special thanks to the Thunder for Days team in their Folgers E36 BMW for all their assistance as well.  Apparently, they travel with an entire parts store worth of spare parts to each race.  Thankfully.  And Wisely.  We owe you all.
Team Folgers
Thunder for Days saved us
  • Our one time only Guitar Heroes In Training Theme for this race
  • Vicki confuses AC/DC and Kiss somehow
  • Mia tormented Craiggers as the Plague Doctor all weekend
  • Several other teams were theming hard this weekend including appearances by the Three Pedal Mafia’s Ambiguously Gay Duo themed new Pontiac Solstice and the entire gang that represented Baby Shark.
  • Baby Shark
  • New Driver
Baby Shark team and new driver
3PM is not Ambiguous
3PM is not so ambiguous
Solstice NHMS 2019
Their new Solstice race car
  • Jennifer’s costume was very helpful in getting our cars to have no penalty laps
  • Harley Quinn and the harlequin GTI were also a big hit, ad it was quite fast on the track.
  • We had a run on power steering pumps for the race truck this weekend, using three total, and we also lost the steering rack/box
  • We then run through the race for the race truck and then for the E36 race car
  • NHMS this year was the most aggressive race we have been in and there were many incidents, especially Saturday
  • We also had a Guest driver this weekend, Jeff Wright, who we met at our Lucky Dog race in Portland this summer.  We hope he had a great time.
Jeff at Tech
Jeff rocking out awaiting tech inspection
  • Our wheel spacers led to tire tracking issues in the El Jeffe race truck
  • We eventually (think) we lost the steering rack and had some steering difficulty that eventually led to the race truck parking for the last half of Sunday
  • Jennifer gets here first black flag in the race truck
  • Bill ran first in the E36 on Saturday and raced with several of our friends on the track for long periods of time
  • We peaked at 5th place overall, our highest position ever.  Now we need to figure out how to stay there for the whole weekend. 
Proof we can drive
Proof that we can drive a bit (5th overall)
  • We learn that there are two different style safety harnesses/safety belts
  • Saturday night dinner and post-race festivities
  • Vicki finally meets her girl crush, Amanda Tully, in full costume, in the Three Pedal Mafia’s hot tub, built for 4, but somehow managed to squeeze in 9 that evening.  Hopefully, we will have her on as a future guest.
  • The festivities went long into the night.
NHMS at night
NHMS at night
  • Alan eventually gets into a on race CSI investigation that gets edited out a bit.
  • Vicki proves that numbers are hard
  • We end up talking all over each other during the review of Alan’s Sunday stint
  • The Egan’s new car modifications led to a lot of fun but also a lot more gas usage
  • We ended our day in the BMW E36 when we lost either a wheel bearing and/or a hub
  • Team improvements for next year were abundant
  • Radios for each team member if possible
  • Earlier starting prep on race day morning with more people
  • Training matrix will be developed and monitor our progress towards overall team knowledge and skill improvement for next year and the future
  • New Pit Crew Chief election for 2010 season is very likely
  • Spares parts for the BMW for next season
  • On site car alignment verification capability within our team
  • We begin planning our off season and our 2020 season, including re-theming several cars for the 2020
  • NHMS 2019 is Over
    NHMS 2019 and our racing season is over

Thank you to all our friends, we can’t wait to see you again next season!

GHIT 0069: NHMS Race Weekend Review

GHIT 0068: NHMS 2019 Prep Week

Our plans are unravelling
Our preparation plans are unravelling

Our ineptitude continues

NHMS race weekend prep status.

One race, three cars, none working.  The rest is good though.

On one hand we have the BMW E36 3 series from 1998. Issues, yes.  It won’t start.  It seems to not be getting power to the computer system and won’t turn over.  We found one wiring issue and are tracking down any others, slowly.  One good thing is that the prior owners live very close to our race, so as a last resort, we may ask for some assistance.

New to Us BMW E36

El Jeffe/The Bad Hombre:  Braking issues abound.  Still.  The caliper/pads do not fully release from the rotors, which may be the issue we have been battling this entire season.

It is a race truck

On this NHMS Prep episode:

  1. Alan breaks up into a game of boggle with things like DME, EWS2, etc.
  2. Vicki breaks back in and tries to get us to explain what is going on
  3. Bill breaks down the entire battle we have been having with the brakes on the race truck
  4. El Jeffe brake theories, plan, and a review of the current status
  5. An El Jeffe Transit story for the books
  6. Alan talks about flashing ECUs and seeking additional help to get the E36 running well again.
  7. Alan does his best weatherman impression and forecasts clear skies for the E36
  8. Kate even makes a quick guest appearance towards the end

It seems to be a standard week before the race.  Now will this turn out?  Tune in tomorrow, same bat channel, same bat time.

Or actually when we record at the track this weekend. 

GHIT 0068: NHMS 2019 Prep Week

GHIT 0058 Thompson 2019 Race Wrap-Up

New Drivers and a New to Us Car

Alan, Jennifer, and Bill with our “new to us” BMW E36 race car

This Thompson 2019 episode is dedicated to our friend Aaron Leinemann.  He has had some unexpected bad medical news and a GoFundMe page has been started to assist.  Please share whatever you can to assist Aaron and his amazing family.

On this episode, our team reviews the 2019 24 Hours of Lemons race GP du Lac Chargoggagogg(etcetera) at Thompson Speedway in Northeastern Connecticut.  We entered our Race Truck El Jeffe a 2004 Chevy S-10 with many Isuzu Hombre body panels and our new to us 1998 BMW E36 3-series car for our first race with it after buying it about two weeks prior.  El Jeffe was updated from the former Stan Lee livery to and Avengers Endgame livery and the E36 was quickly themed in the paddock to be a Captain America car. 

  • Alan as Spider Man
    Alan as Spidey
  • Bennett Rocketing Deadpool
    Bennett Rocketing Deadpool
  • Connor with a Serious Chin
    Connor with serious chin
Garage Heroes were present and accounted for

We review Friday practice and spend most of the episode covering the race on Saturday and Sunday.

Highlights include:

  • New Drivers, several first timers at Thompson
  • Thompson track walk and review
  • Saturday and Sunday within El Jeffe
  • Saturday and Sunday in the BMW E36
  • El Jeffe brake issues and a potential fix and path forward to alleviate this ongoing problem. 
  • Our 4 black flag debacle and how it impacted our position in the race (HINT not well)
  • Bill got to make two signs with Connor to slow the cars in the pits
  • A minor incident where a car came across the bow of the El Jeffe and removed moist of the front end facia
  • Saturday night’s Potluck Dinner hosted by the Three Pedal Mafia team for Stuntin’ and Explodin’ fest
  • We show our exceptional math skills several times this episode
  • Team awards for the weekend
  • Hella Sweet or Butt Terrible idea of the week
  • To do’s and improvements for our next race
  • Radio and Helmet communication issues
  • Then things devolved from there
  • E36 performed very well
  • El Jeffe was a race truck
Proof we were ahead at least a few times

GHIT 0058: Thompson 2019 Race Wrap-Up

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