Garage Heroes In Training

The Semi Sentient Centenarians

Racing Team

GHIT Podcast Episode #193 with our guests The Semi Sentient Centenarians Racing Team

The Semi Sentient Centenarians are a relatively new endurance racing team that are in the midst of an engine swap for their 1996 front wheel drive Buick Century A-body. Their team started much like every other team, including ours, and in their case they can blame Matthew, lol. They are a great bunch of guys learning as they go and trying to come up with the magical plan to dominate the C division of an upcoming race. They are another example of a group of people who were interested in racing but never thought it was possible or knew how to get started so they just jumped in and tried it and the hook was set. While we discussed their planned engine swap, we also had the opportunity to check back in the next week to see how the plan went. This is one team we can’t wait to check back in with at the end of a full race season. So we didn’t wait and added an update on the engine swap progress and project prognosis.

On this episode’s Dominating with Dawson, we

go into the topic of what is a money shift and then once we define what a money shift is, we then go into several different types of shifting and shifting issues that you may encounter with a manual transmission. If you aren’t driving a manual transmission, at least the segment should be entertaining.

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/SemiSentCent

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) We learn how their team started, developed, and became the team and drivers that they are today. One thing that they did well was to talk to other Lemons and experienced endurance racing teams to accelerate their teams learning.

2) The team’s racing philosophy is very simple: Podium/Top 3. So far, so good in the one race to date. Lol.

3) The stories of what they did and what they learned at their first race is tremendous. It sounds like they truly jumped in the deep end of the pool with their first race being a ture 24 hour race at CMP. It sounds like some of the Racing 101 series would have helped them. It looks like we were only one year too late. However, they did win the IOE at their first race so who are we to say anything?

4) We walk through the logic of their upcoming engine swap and whether this is a good plan. It sounded great, and then the turbo plan kicked in. Luckily they have a full five weeks to get this done before their race at Sebring. How hard could it be?

5) Bill even resorted to math, but the +40 HP plan seems to be set in stone.

6) We then check back in after the weekend to get an update on the progress and the prognosis.

GHIT 0193: The Semi Sentient Centenarians Racing Team

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.

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/SCDASkidPad

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Elizabeth in her new E30 race car

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

Mike Skeen is our Guest

On GHIT Podcast #0190: Mike Skeen is our Guest

Yes, That Mike Skeen

We were honored to have Mike Skeen join our podcast as a guest. He is an amazing driver and has seemingly competed in every type of driving we can think of and it seems he usually wins. We go over a bit about how he progressed and what he is currently racing, as well as a great discussion on the skills and abilities that can separate a great driver from a typical amateur driver. He has a talent for explaining racing that rivals his driving skills. I think Vicki and Jen have now added working with Mike as a coach at a track. Bill was already on board that train long before the episode. We are pretty sure Ben may even look to join us for that.

On this episode of Dominating with Dawson, we

have our first ever series of story time questions with Ben, Vicki, and Jennifer where we try out two new fast and furious story time questions.

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/MikeSkeenwithGHiT

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) It all starts off with a bit where Vicki does a bit of a time delay/selective deafness to whatever Bill says. In other words, a normal day and episode. lol.

2) We learn a bit about how Mike worked his way up through various racing series and progressed to where he is currently competing as a professional driver.

3) Mike goes into the benefits of the different forms of racing he has done, how each helps him, and the benefits and excitement of cross training as a driver.

4) Bill dug deep and finally found something Mike hasn’t tried racing, yet.

5) Mike does a great breakdown on the typical skill differences that separate a good professional driver from an amateur driver in a way that not only helps us to understand but really clarified what we need to look for and work on. ~31:00 in.

6) It was also great to hear that even Mike Skeen is still working on his driving and learning things from his recent driving and coaching in some prototype cars. Once again proving that we are all always “In Training”.

GHIT 0190: Mike Skeen is our Guest

GHIT 0175: Talking NaZCAR

with Jacob Simonsen

Jacob Simonsen joined us to talk all things NaZCAR which is leading the way in New Zealand for opening up racing to everyone with their entry-level low-cost endurance racing series and he is also starting a series to graduate to for the more serious and faster cars and drivers called NaZCAR Pro. NaZCAR was formerly the New Zealand affiliate of the 24 Hours of Lemons. Recently. it has split off to form its own brand, two racing series, and a licensing/sanctioning body for racing in New Zealand. We would love to get to a race, or two, or three, with their series and hopefully we can put this together for 2022, but we aren’t sure exactly the route for our race car and trailer at this point, but we have time to make a plan. We would love to help grow their series, it sounds like a blast.

NAZCAR where the cones strike back — Revenge of the Cones

On this episodeâs Dominating with Dawson, we go over one of the techniques that can be used to catch your car if things are getting out of control. The technique involves inputting the correcting input, pausing for the brief time to where the car accepts the input and is near neutral and balanced and being ready to recover as soon as that point is reached. It is sometimes called CPR or Correct, Pause, and Recover.

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.

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:

During the podcast Jacob is sitting in a beautiful area of the country, the sun is shining brightly, he is tan and warm. And the New Zealand race season is just starting up while we are in the midst of a big snowstorm. We are so jealous.
Jacob and his team are committed to making sure that there is a place for entry level, low-cost endurance racing. They also giving people a place to move to if they are faster, more serious, and possibly a bit higher/more midrange budget that has recently become a sanctioned National Championship Series.
We go into the challenges and opportunities of racing in an area that is somewhat a remote “island”. A lot of ingenuity can be required to make and keep a race car running well, especially for endurance racing.
Jacob shared a ton of great stories from past races in the New Zealand series. Now we really have to get to one of their races.
A great history of how racing in New Zealand has developed over the years and some of the things Jacob is looking at doing to help grow the sport by increasing inclusivity.
The advantages of also being a licensing agency for racing in New Zealand.
How the two-racing series will interact and complement each other.
Jacob covers several of the tracks and events that they hold within the two series. Somehow Bill asks about the logistics of racing so far away. What could he be planning?
We go through some of the highlight cars from the series and few wishes for future car entries. Time to start building.
Perhaps the best solution is to do an arrive and drive swap. Now if we can only get a sister team in New Zealand. Oh, and it would be helpful to be allowed to travel again. Hopefully, they won’t expect us to drive like the Speedy Cop team.
Vicki goes into the logistics of staying at or near the track. And also, how to set up the paddock for a race in NZ.
Bill goes car shopping for cars to race in NaZCAR or to bring back and race in the US.Â And no one is surprised.

If you want to follow the series

Facebook at NaZCAR

Website is Nazcar.nz

GHIT 0175: Talking NaZCAR with Jacob Simonsen

We had an earlier epsidoe with a team from the series here:

GHIT 0097: Nathan and Mike Howe from the Lemons New Zealand racing team Hooncorp

GHIT 0139: Team Progress and Update

This episode of our podcast is a listeners request, Jennifer, Vicki, and Bill go over what we have been up to and begin to look at where we are going for next year. Lots of changes, lots of cars gone, still a few to go, and lots of new cars added, most need some TLC. We think we are on a good path, but you can be the judge of that. Also, on this episodeâs Dominating with Dawson, we get into a discussion of driving skill vs driving talent. Lots of opinions, lots of thoughts, probably the first of several discussions related to this. In the end, there are very few people, I any, who if they are interested in our sport and apply themselves, cannot get to a competitive level and become a very good driver and racer. At least thatâs what we think.

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) Our upcoming skid pad & autocross car control event at Lime Rock with Safety Third Motorsports. Jennifer and Vicki as so excited it is hard to explain, even for them.

2) How the 2.75 Porsche 944âs and 1.0 Boxsters have found new homes and Bradâs starting to prep his E46 330 for his move to Colorado. Maybe we have the beginnings of a Midwest/Mountain time zone team. 4.75 cars in one weekend.

3) The plan for the SpiderStang Mustang and the black Honda Civic are still tbd at this point, but may be available.

4) Bill has located a HPDE car that is undergoing some upgrade and preventative maintenance with the help of John Lavin from Safety Third Motorsports. It is a E46 that is changing from a SMG transmission to a manual transmission because that is just so much more fun and engaging.

5) An E46 330 shell magically appeared and is the long-term project car for Billâs goal of running the NASA Thunderhill 25 by 2025. So far, we have 3.5 drivers who are interested and now need only one more driver and Bill to get some more skill.

6) What are we doing with 1974 Capri. We have plans, but not enough skill at this point.

7) Should we build two Civic race cars, we donât know for sure at this point. Still TBD.

8) Our 2017 Ford F150 black cap is also looking for a new home

9) Mechanical status for each car and the progress to be accomplished over the off season this winter.

10) Bill is apparently stuck in bad joke/dad joke mode throughout this episode. We apologize.

11) We talk about what the plan is for modifying the cage in the yellow Honda Civic and the two smaller jobs of fixing the engine and adding new/better seat mounts.

12) Vicki is reminded of the winter project that was set for last winter. Perhaps we will have better luck this year. TBD. Maybe someday the ND Miata may actually have an interior again.

13) Bill tries to get some planning on the upcoming themes. Vicki and Jen donât want to get into it at all. Bill thinks its all a coverup for no plan. We shall see.

14) Vicki learns about the most romantic anniversary gifts ever. Why does Vicki put up with this? How did Bill ever get so lucky?

15) We are all three going to complete some car related courses this winter. Eventually, we will be competent mechanically and electrically. (These had better be good courses if they are to get us there, lol.)

16) New/recent garage tools and capabilities that will aide us this winter, with a quick review of each.

17) We reverse the âwhat does someone know about you that no one knowsâ question on each other. Bill stuffs a big foot into his mouth during this one. He will be sleeping in the bathtub for a long, long time.

18) Vicki learns that Thunderhill is located in California.

Any ideas for Guests?

Any ideas for upcoming topics?

Please let us know at [email protected] or on our Instagram at @GarageHeroesInTraining

GHIT 0139: Team Progress and Update

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