Garage Heroes (In Training)

HPDE at Mid Ohio – Lap 2 for 2021

GHIT 0205: Our HPDE at Mid Ohio – Lap 2 for 2021 – With NASA Great Lakes

We went back to Mid Ohio for a second lap in 2021 with Vicki, Jennifer, and Bill attending the May NASA Great Lakes event. It started out as a wet track and at Mid Ohio and that is always especially entertaining. We raced a turbo 1999 Mazda Miata (NB), a 2019 Mazda Miata, and a 2004 BMW M3 (E46) all were on street tires and racing brake pads and fluid. We go over the event where Vicki and Jen were in the HPDE 2 run group and Bill was in the HPDE 3 group. It all started out innocently enough. Then the weather went from warm and sunny to ridiculously cold and wet for Saturday and gradually warm and sunny on Sunday. The event was fantastic as always and the goals going in were designed for success. How did we do? We shall discover together within this episode. Special thanks to all the NASA Great Lakes team and the staff at Mid Ohio for a great weekend.

In this episode of Dominating with Dawson, we go over a variety of methods that can be used to improve your preparation for a “new to you” track and help you learn the track ahead of time and maximize your driving comfort on your first laps.

Any Guesses?

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/2021MidOhioLap2

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 this episode include:

1) We go into the details of the HPDE group 2 and compare it to the HPDE 1 and HPDE 3 groups. We also try to summarize the various drills that we did during the weekend.

2) Jennifer (and Vicki) have a difficult time prepping for a new track and since this was Jennifer’s first time at Mid Ohio, we worked our way through it, but we need to work on a better plan. Bill has ideas. Stay tuned.

3) Vicki tries to break a very bad habit that is really holding her back. She has a difficult time staying at full throttle until the brake zone, especially in high speed areas. There are some aspects of racing that require a great deal of commitment and even a bit of courage to work through. Her resolve to break through did lead to a quality 720 at the end of the big straight leading into China Beach.

4) How did Bill earn a steak dinner that somehow turned into Crack Barrel Meat Loaf.

GHIT 0205: Our HPDE at Mid Ohio – Lap 2 for 2021 – With NASA Great Lakes

Peter Hopelain and the Thunderhill 25

GHIT 0204: Peter Hopelain from the Technik Podcast about Racing and the 25 Hours of Thunderhill

Our second ever non-PG podcast, but it was so worth it.

Peter Hopelain joins us to discuss Bill’s bucket list goal of racing in the Thunderhill 25 endurance race. Peter has raced in the Thunderhill 25 nearly every year and recently won his team’s class. We had a great discussion of the background of the race and how to prepare and compete. Peter was also kind enough to stay on with us to discuss racing in general, his non-profit racing team, as well as some of his goals going forward. We are so appreciative of Peter taking his time out from his incredibly busy schedule and giving us so much of his time. He even put up with some of our Fast and Furious Storytime Questions. We would love to have him on again and cannot wait to go into more details of his driving history and exploits.

In this episode of Dominating with Dawson,

Vicki eventually asks Ben a question (after perhaps the longest intro of all time, lol) and we start to cover some of the adjustments that are available to your car. Each of these can help to dial in a car’s handling on track. We cover some of the basic changes and the effect that they will have on the way the car feels and handles. If you ever had a car that you wanted to adjust but were unsure how, this episode may be very helpful to you. Adjustment areas we reviewed included: Sway bar/anti roll bars, tire pressures, wheel alignment, etc. This is the likely the first of a many part series.

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/PeterHopelain

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 to 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 0204: Peter Hopelain from the Technik Podcast about Racing and the 25 Hours of Thunderhill

HPDE at NJMP Lightning with NASA NE

GHIT Podcast 0203: Our Latest HPDE with NASA Northeast in May 2021 at NJMP Lightning

We review our latest high performance driving education (HPDE) event at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP) in Millville, New Jersey. We had four drivers at the event from our team. Jennifer, Vicki, and Liam were in the HPDE 2 run group for this weekend. Bill was in the HPDE 3-4 group. We each learned quite a bit a this event and we are all better drivers after these two days on NJMP Lightning.

On this episode’s Dominating with Dawson, Ben goes into the acronym OSB. OSB is sometimes used to describe someone in a learning environment where it stands for “Other Sports Beckon”. We believe that anyone can learn how to drive at a track or an autocross event. While there are differences in everyone at the rate that they learn, or their initial skill/experience level, literally everyone can get to a very proficient level. But they take need to be open to learning and be willing to put in the effort to improve. We then move into how different teaching approaches are better able to match with different student personalities and how the needs of the student may change as their experience and skill level progresses.

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. This 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/NJMPHPDEMay2021

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, we have a 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 this episode include:

1) Car reviews: Jennifer was in a 2019 ND.2 Mazda Miata with the stock OEM Continental tires and brakes. Liam was in his 2017 Toyota 86 TRD with Hankook RS4 tires and Raybestos ST-43 racing pads. Vicki was in her 1999 NB Miata with a Flyin’ Miata Turbo, Hankook RS4 tires and ST-43 racing pads. Bill was in his 2004 BMW E46 M3 with yellow Pagid brake pads and Michelin Pilot SuperSport 4 tires.

2) Telemetry we used for this event: Apex Pro and Garmin Catalysts.

3) How we owe our friends Jeff and Jim from the Three Pedal Mafia for saving our weekend by letting us use their family’s RV. Let’s just summarize by saying our prep for the vent did not go as planned. Situation normal.

4) Vicki’s prep to her turbo NB Miata did not go as planned before the event and at the event, but we did a few adjustments and all went well. It should be back up and running for our HPDE at Mid Ohio this coming weekend. Pro tip, do not try to adjust your wiring harness while the car is running.

5) Vicki and Jennifer’s thoughts on being in HPDE 2 vs HPDE 1. It was Vicki’s second time in HPDE 2 and Jennifer and Liam’s first time in HPDE 2. We also go into some of the differences in the HPDE’s between this event and some of the other organizations we have attended.

6) Let’s talk about point by’s at every post stint debrief, lol.

7) Vicki’s impressions of driving the E46 M3 on track for the first time.

8) We go over our goals going into the event and how we did during the event and what we learned over this weekend. We also go into some of the challenges we each face as we progress and grow as drivers on the track.

9) Liam pops in for a quick summary towards the end with his thoughts on the weekend. He also had a great time at the event and finally had a chance to be on track with the Garmin Catalyst.

GHIT 0203: HPDE at NJMP Lightning with NASA North East

Andrews Rains on the 2nd Gen Apex Pro

GHIT 0202: Andrews Rains Returns to Discuss the Second Generation of Apex Pro

Andrew Rains returned to discuss the new second generation Apex Pro and the new release of the App. This episode was recorded a few weeks ago, but we go into the latest changes to the Apex Pro hardware and the Apex Pro software/app and some of Andrew’s recent racing with Grid Life in the GLTC series at National Corvette Museum Motorsports track (NCM) a very challenging track with lots of turns and a wide variety of turns and use it as a basis for showing some of the information that can be gained from using the data and comparing it to another driver.

On this episode’s Dominating with Dawson, Ben, Vicki, and Bill go into the factors of VIR that make it the legendary track that it is and why Ben always refers to it as a benchmark for so many different types of turns. If you haven’t already noticed, it is Ben’s favorite, lol. We probably have started to plan another race weekend to our season. Anyone coming with us or have a suggested upcoming event/weekend?

The Pocono video we discussed is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1RohRau9Hg at around 2.5 minutes in and no, this is not a normal occurrence.

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/ApexProGen2

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) How the data from the Apex Pro showed Andrew what he was doing well and where he had opportunities to improve at NCM. Andrew also diagnosed how he could have changed his approach to the weekend and potentially improved his overall performance at a new and very complex/technical track like NCM.

2) We then move into the subject of the new Apex Pro hardware and Apex Pro app that was released recently. Luckily our discount code (above) works on this new generation hardware.

3) The app has also been improved to help new users acclimate to the app and especially related to the Crew View aspect of the app that lets you view the live data being shared by any friend or teammate at the track or even if you are away from the track.

4) We provide a review of how we use the Apex Pro on and at the track and how you can use it to improve during each stint and between sessions.

5) How everyone can use the system and due to its simplicity, even those of us who aren’t big data people can get a lot out of the Apex Pro, as well as the updated app.

6) There is even an upgrade program if you have first generation units and would like the new second generation unit.

NEEDED Links:

Andrew’s Video on the 5 minute data review.

Mid Ohio Track Walk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYsm3R-CzYs

GHIT 0202: Andrews Rains Returns to Discuss the Second Generation of Apex Pro

For even more from Andrew, here is his earlier appearance. GHIT 0159: Andrew Rains

Shawn Sampson of Sampson Racing Communications

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!

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

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