Radios and Communication Archives - Garage Heroes (In Training)

Post our AER Race at PittRace

GHIT 0321: Dave Mills Post our AER Race at PittRace

Long sought after guest Dave Mills is finally on the podcast that you may know from his online presence as the Caddy Wrecker. Dave is a long-time racer, rallyist, and was working with the AER team at our race last weekend at PittRace. With so many things to talk about, we try to get a review of Dave’s rally and racing exploits as well as how he saw our race from the tower. We also cover the Flagger system that was in our car that we mistakenly called by another product in our prior race review episode. Please welcome to the podcast guest family. Please excuse any of the internet induced noises and Robot Dave that appears sporadically within the beginning of the episode.

Also, a podcast first, help Dave find a new fun daily driver. Let us know on Instagram, Facebook, or on our email at [email protected].

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 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” for a 10% discount code to all of our listeners during the checkout process.

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.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, 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) Swag bribes work. Looks its Dave!!!

2) Some great tips about looking at what the better teams are doing and learning what they do and what they don’t do, especially in the pits and paddock areas. This literally can be the difference between winning a race and being midfield or worse.

3) Dave has had quite a few unique rally experiences, especially the rally that occurred right as Covid was ramping up early in 2020. He may hold the record for the longest time spent on a Lemons rally. We are also not sure if that is something to be proud of or not.

4) How Dave’s professional experience has helped with the Flagger system that is being used by AER and is being reviewed by several other racing organizations. Hopefully more to follow on this system in an upcoming podcast.

5) We revisit the internet video where one driver missed a vast series of yellow flags. If you missed it, the first video was on VinWiki and the actual rebuttal is available separately.

6) What it is like to be “running” the race vs running in the race.

7) As Dave is our first guest from AER, we go into a brief discussion of the differences between AER and several of the other series we usually discuss. Especially the required pit stops system and some of the technology that the AER series employs in this mostly amateur series.

8) Dave askes for some help in deciding on his next daily driver. A podcast first and perhaps our first public service announcement.

9) Dave’s experience living off grid. Its not for everyone, but he gives some tips and tricks that made it better.

For more of Dave’s exploits:

Instagram: @caddywrecker

GHIT 0321: Dave Mills Post our AER Race at PittRace

GHIT Podcast #0201: Everything you ever wanted to know about racing radios from Sampson Racing Communications

Shawn Sampson of Sampson Racing Communications essentially started the use of in-car radio system use for amateur racing about 30 years ago. Since then, he has been working with all types of racing and racing organizations including NASCAR, NASA, and SCCA, as well as the US Coast Guard. During the episode, we go into the different types of radios, their use and capabilities, as well as various installation tips of what to do, and in our case a several things we should not have done. Our team has historically had a difficult time communicating within a race, but after this episode, we know what to do and how to test our systems so that at our next race we will have crystal clear two way communication across the entire track area. And some great news is that you may not need to buy anything else for your system. It could be a simple matter of improving your installation and eliminating several ways that commonly impact many/most radio installations. Now if we could only get a mute button for Alan, lol.

On this episode’s Dominating with Dawson, Ben, Vicki, and Bill go into the typical ways that you will get off and on a track for the first time to help minimize any stress related to starting out at your first track day or HPDE. Each track may have individual idiosyncrasies that vary, but the fundamentals are usually very similar. We also go into tips on hand signals and procedures that everyone has messed up early on in their high performance driving career at a track. This includes getting onto the grid and track, getting off the track, and within the paddock area. It is very easy to make simple errors and hopefully this will minimize yours and help you feel more comfortable coming out onto the track. Communication is the key, both before and especially during a track session. You cannot overdo your communication to your fellow drivers.

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/RacingRadios

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. We have two systems for our team and Bill is looking to add a third for this season, pending CFO approval from Vicki. They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.

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 episode include:

1) Do you have any questions related to your car radio? How the use of radios originally started with amateur racing and some of the advantages of having radios beyond improving your race performance.

2) Is your radio system doing everything you would like? Is your radio system crystal clear across the track?

3) If not, this could be the podcast to solve all your issues.

4) Do you want a Digital or an Analog system? Covered.

5) What about a 5-Watt vs a 25-Watt system? Does it matter? Is the price difference worth it/worth anything?

6) What about mounting issues? How to make it a clean installation of both the radio and the antenna?

7) Does the roof material/mounting surface impact performance? How can this impact your antenna selection and the mounting method for best signal?

8) What are the +/- 5 things that are impacting your current system?

9) Can the antenna that came with your radio be better than the roof mounted antenna? If so, why and what can you do to fix that and improve your system overall?

10) How your antenna cable can turn into an inductive coil and strangle almost all the potential signal and range.

11) Also, the importance of the helmet microphone type and placement. Also, your push to talk button is a common issue.

12) How to adequately test your system BEFORE you get to the track and have no time, tools, or parts available.

13) Picture of our radio gun case and Shawn’s multiple charging systems and soft packing solutions (crew wall bag)

14) IMSA vs NASCAR: What is the difference and what are the pluses and minuses of each.

15) Shawn helps solve our team internal squabbles on where to position our push to talk button.

16) UHF vs VHF systems. It matters, especially if not at an enclosed circle or oval type track etc.

17) What is the latest and best solution for in-car communication between the seats for an instructor at an HPDE? Is anything good? Chris Egan, please take note. Lol.

18) How does the location of your pit crew at the track impact the signal, especially within a metal garage, near a fence, etc.

19) Installation tips and tricks for putting the radios, microphones, and earpieces into the helmet.

20) How to keep the helmet installation from stressing during driver changes and especially during endurance racing.

21) Speakers or earbuds?

22) 5-Watt systems vs 20- or 25-watt systems? Is bigger better?

23) Do you need an FCC license for amateur endurance racing?

24) Bluetooth vs a wired system? Is it worth the price distance? What is the range? How is Bluetooth usually used in racing?

25) Can I tie in the radio system into my cell phone? Should I?

26) What can Sampson Racing Communications assist you and your team with?

27) What are the differences between the different antennas available?

28) And probably most important, on what and where should you spend your money to maximize your communication performance and minimize your expenditure?

29) Can I tie in my in-car communication into my in-car video system? What do I use?

30) What should you know about the Thunderhill 25 race?

Shawn Sampson on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/ShawnsPersoanal

Sampson Racing Communications on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/SRCsYoutube

GHIT Podcast #0201: Shawn Sampson from Sampson Racing Communications