Autocross

GHIT 0192: Our Recent Autocross and Skid Pad Event at Lime Rock Park with the SCDA

Our 2021 season started off with another skid pad and autocross event at Lime Rock Park. This time the event was held by the SCDA. We go into our goals for the event, how we did, and hopefully a long list of what we learned. The weather was great and more than we could have asked for this early in the season. In addition to a great event with tons of track time, we also met Elizabeth Jolly and her new to her E30 BMW 3 series race car. Actually, it was for the second time, as we had met at our teams second ever race in 2018 at the 24 Hours of Lemons race in Thompson Connecticut. Both Vicki and Jennifer were finally able to feel the pause in the CPR “Correct, Pause, and Recover” process of catching a car.

Vicki in her turbo NB Miata

On this episode’s Dominating with Dawson, we

go into the speed at which you will use your hands. Typically, karters and autocross drivers are trained to move their hands much more quickly than a track driver, but there are times where fast hands are preferred. There is a good discussion of the times where you need to move your hands more quickly and times when a more slow and predictable hand movement is optimal. We also digress into a gumball machine discussion for a bit. It was a late night of recording, lol.

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

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Elizabeth in her new E30 race car

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

Jennifer is her ND Miata

Highlights from this episode include:

1) We start with a summary of the team’s goals going into the event and a summary of what the event would entail.

2) The cars that we brought with us were a 1999 NB Miata with a Flyin’ Miata turbo for Vicki. Jennifer was driving in a stock 2019 ND Miata with DOT 4 brake fluid, but otherwise stock. Bill drove a similarly prepped 2017 Toyota 86. Both Vicki and Bill were on our endurance racing tires of choice the Hankook RS4’s.

3) It was too early in the season for Lime Rock to open the sprinkler system for the skid pad so most of the day we drove on a dry skid pad. Jennifer and Vicki were able to get a few sessions on the skid pad with it wet.

4) We go into how we met Elizabeth and then proceeded to switch her into our race group and spent most of the day talking and driving with her. Her new to her E30 race car was awesome and she loved it from her first time behind the wheel on the skid pad, as everyone could tell on our Instagram interview with her, lol.

5) Jennifer’s stomach has an issue with the LRP autocross course, but it was obvious she had improved from our last visit in October.

6) We discuss our first time driving on a dry skid pad and how it went with a partially wet/partially dry surface.

7) How we did versus our goals and what we learned. We could tell you here, but what fun would that be.

8) Vicki wins this weekend’s GHiT award for being the most consistent on the autocross course as her best times differed by only 0.01 seconds.

9) To quote Vicki “I didn’t give two squats about the line”. Bill’s response “I could tell”, lol.

10) Bill was actually faster in the ND Miata that he was in the Toyota 86 while on the stock OEM continental tires. Bill also set his personal best ever Apex Score for several of the laps.

11) We ended our visit with a drive by stop at Don Pepe’s pizza. Its “on the way” home and a great stop if you are in the area.

End of the HPDE — **The end of another great HPDE track day**

GHIT 0192: Our Recent Autocross and Skid Pad Event at Lime Rock Park with the SCDA

GHIT 0145: Our Skid Pad and Autocross Event at Lime Rock Park

Jennifer in the 2019 Mazda MX5 — **Just a bit of splashing around**

We have finally gotten to our long postponed skid pad event. Our original event in March was cancelled due to COVID 19 and when John from Safety Third Motorsports was kind enough to offer an invitation to an event at Lime Rock Park using the skid pad and autocross track, we gladly said thank you! Was it everything we had hoped for? Should you go to a skid pad? Did it help us? Would it help you? Why do our cars always break the night before we leave? All this and more will be answered in this episode.

A seemingly simple subject for our Dominating with Dawson segment, but very important. How to position your mirrors and the importance of a good seating position on performance driving.

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) Goals for the event going in

2) How the event was organized. It included a brief 1-hour classroom meeting, followed by several sessions and drills on the skid pad and ending with several sessions on an autocross course.

3) Jennifer drove in the stock 2019 Mazda Miata MX-5 ND2. Bill drove in the mostly stock 2017 Toyota 86 and Vicki drove her 1999 turbo NB Miata MX-5.

4) Keeping with tradition, we had an issue with one of our cars and this time it was Vickiâs NB Miata that had two blown struts in the rear. Parts were unavailable, but Alex Levinson came to the rescue with some struts that he had.

5) How to change the suspension of your NB Miata twice in the parking lot of a hotel the night before, and morning of the event.

6) A brief review of the classroom session, with a few quiz questions to Jennifer and Vicki. We may need another session. Lol.

7) Skid pad drills and what we learned. There were three drills we tried: speed testing, inducing understeer, and inducing oversteer.

8) Vicki had some struggles (again) with in car instruction and we try to get to the bottom of it and how we can look to improve that issue going forward.

9) A comparison of how our three drivers and our three cars compared during the skid pad event.

10) How the autocross course was laid out and what drills we used.

11) How Alex âThe Unintended Gigoloâ faired in his attempt to use all three cars on the skid pad and the autocross course.

12) Jennifer and Vicki learned heel toe downshifting and did quite well. Bill, not so much.

13) Bill goes into the autocross part of the event and had some issues with the traction of the course or his over driving, or even more likely, lack of skill.

14) Jennifer improved so much that she actually got motion sickness for the first time while driving at the event. And sheâd do it again!

15) How both Vicki and Jennifer learned to get comfortable with the car getting loose and even looking forward to it. Still so much more to learn and get comfortable with, but a great first step.

16)Â We cover the final part of the autocross event where we were timed.Â On the GHIT team, Alex was fastest, Vicki was second, Jennifer (on an empty stomach) came in third but was by far our most consistent driver at the event.Â Bill prefers to remain unquantifiable by hitting a cone and posting a DNF.

17) We try to cover the event with our traditional âGood, Bad, and the Uglyâ but Vicki and Jennifer had so much fun that there really wasn’t an ugly.

18) Vicki is planning on some additional skid pad practice in an upcoming snowy parking lot.

19) Bill is committed to incorporating heel toe down shifting into his track driving.

20) Ben will be very happy with the latest version of couples therapy, lol.

Special thanks to John Lavin and John Murphy for hosting and leading the event. Hopefully, we did well enough to get another invite in the future.

GHIT 0145: Our Skid Pad and Autocross Event at Lime Rock Park

GHIT 0120: Christina Lam is our special guest driver

Christina Lam is a racing driver for several series, is an instructor for Skip Barber and NASA, as well as a frequent contributor to GrassRoots Motorsports magazine.Â We first started following her as her âAfter A Crashâ 9-part series started a few months back and became instant fans of her approach and her dedication to racing, education, and giving back to the racing community.Â On this episode, we go over how she started to be involved from a point of little knowledge and car/racing influences to where she is not only competing at national events, podium’ing many times, and instructing others to improve their skills.Â It is a fantastic and quite rapid journey from newbie to racing veteran and her latest challenge last season will inspire you and hopefully get you to reach further towards ever higher goals.Â

On our Dominating with Dawson, Ben goes over the difference in driving approaches for endurance racing, autocross, as well as various types of sprint racing.

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT

Immature Endurance Racing Team

Highlights from the episode include:

1) We have had a long, long work week in the garage, so long that Vicki blanked on her name for a moment and Bill canât spell SCCA, lol.

2) How she started off racing in Autocross one weekend and then had the opportunity of a lifetime drop in her lap a short time later (driving on a little place known as The âRing).

3) Christinaâs first time on track was her first time driving a stick. This may be a good rival for what we ended up doing to Jennifer at her first race at Thompson Speedway. Not our best plan, but we did learn from it.

4) We share post-race hangover stories and several great ideas for further race cross training. Rally, V8 supercars, Ice racing, so much fun to be had, so little time.

5) What is involved with being a one-person team and how she accomplishes all that is required for a race weekend. The big key is prep. Second rule, prep. If you need a third rule, be prepped early.

6)Â We go into her accident last year and how she recovered, both physically and mentally, as well as her new race car.

A slightly used E46 — A “Lightly Used” E46 BMW Race Car

Wheel took quite a hit — A “Lightly Used” E46 BMW Race Car

7) What is involved with an SCCA protest

8) How Christina found her #46 M3 shell to start her new build

9) How much sleep she lost while working to prep for new car the upcoming 2019 national SCCA Runoffs in 60 days.

10) Christina goes into the plusses and minuses of an E46 M3 vs E46 330âs etc

11) Christina shares some of her nerves and almost PTSD after the wreck, what she had to work through and getting back into the car on track at VIR

12) What it is like being a female in a predominantly male sport at the track.

13) How Christinaâs first car quickly turned into a second car.

Honorable mentions and sponsors that have helped Christina along the way:

Drive Gear Racing: for arrive and drive ice racing. Seems like a terribly great idea.

Hugh Stewart from High Speed Motorsports: http://www.hispeedmotorsports.com/

Katherine Legge @ www.KatherineLegge.com

Simona De Silvestro @ www.Simonadesilvestro.com

TC Designs @ www.tcdesignfab.com

Hoosier Tire @ www.hoosiertire.com

Epic Motorsports @ www.epicmotorsports.com

Racing Harness Technologies (856() 912-1237

Skip Barber Racing @ www.skipbarber.com

GHIT 0120: Christina Lam is our special guest driver