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Garage Heroes (In Training)

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GLTC

Adam Jabaay Talks GRIDLIFE

GRIDLIFE Logo
Can You Find the Real Adam Jabaay

GHIT 0289:  Adam Jabaay Returns to Talk All Things GRIDLIFE

GLTC, Sundae Cup, and their HPDE Program

Adam Jabaay returns to talk all things GRIDLIFE.  Adam is the co-founder of the GRIDLIFE event series and the series is designed to be the track events that the GRIDLIFE team would want to attend.  We had a series on last year that covered several of the wheel to wheel GLTC (Grid Life Touring Cup) series.  During this episode, we go over the 2022 series and several of the other events in the series including their time attack (fast lap counts) racing series and the GRIDLIFE HPDE program.  We have a plan to attend our first GRIDLIFE event this year and will be participating in the event at Lime Rock.  If you haven’t heard of GRIDLIFE, it is definitely not a typical track event and in many ways, the track events are only the beginning of the festivities.

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 would be greatly appreciated.  Even better, a podcast review, would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would greatly appreciate it.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, look under shows.  Then click on this podcast.  Here 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.  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 for this episode are:

1)  We introduce our favorite master carpenter and the Norm Abrams of racing.

2)  Bill gives away one of our upcoming 300 episode listener quiz questions.

3)  Adam and Bill share some podcast anecdotes.  There is more post episode if you are in need of curing your insomnia.

4)  Bill is very jealous of Adam’s upcoming Ice Battle racing event.  Where we has been very cold enough but it does not seem to be an option anywhere nearby.  Ice racing remains on our post plague bucket list.

5)  Ever wonder what is GRIDLIFE?  Adam does a great review if you are not already familiar.

6)  We had a chance to talk with ADAM about the history that led to the creation of GRIDLIFE and has allowed them to become a very popular sprint racing series that has live streaming viewer numbers that would make many professional series jealous.

7)  Adam goes into the recent changes to the GLTS series to a 200 treadwear tire series including the thought process that led to the change. 

8)  What did Skip Barber think of GRIDLIFE and what will be going on at the Lime Rock event.

9)  How GRIDLIFE has grown and how you can participate in the event.

10)  How GRIDLIFE organizes their HPDE groups, events, and instructors.

11)  Bill cannot wait anymore and we get into the GRIDLIFE Sundae Cup series.  Our car is being prepped for the Lime Rock event and several HPDE’s this year.

12)  What is coming for GRIDLIFE and how the east and west coast can expect to see events in the 2022 and more in 2023.

13)  Bill launches his appeal for a wheel to wheel Sundae Cup race.  Logistics are always a concern, but we would be there.  Even better for an enduro.

14)  We almost got off without going into RV life, but as expected we did not try terribly hard.

To follow Adam and GRIDLIFE further: 

GRIDLIFE website:  https://www.grid.life/ 

Slip Angle Podcast:  http://www.tracktuned.com/slipangle 

Instagram:  @gridlifeofficial or @slipangleshow

Facebook:  @GRIDLIFEOfficial or @SlipAngleShow

GHIT 0289:  Adam Jabaay Returns to Talk All Things GRIDLIFE

Tom O’Gorman

AKA “TomO” from TOMO Racing and ASM

  • Tom O'Gorman
  • Acura NSX
  • Tom O'Gorman Suiting up
  • Tom O at  Home

GHIT 0230: Tom O’Gorman AKA TomO from TOMO Racing and ASM

Tom O’Gorman is currently racing the Grid Life GLTC series with ASM and has competed and won at some of the highest levels as a professional driver for several teams.  He is also a sought after racing coach for drivers at all levels.   We talk with him about his entire career, remaining goals, as well as his driver coaching.  Far be it from us to not ask him about a few coaching 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. 

If you would like to help the podcast,

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice. This includes the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating. 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. There 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.  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 Tom O’Gorman episode include:

1)  How he has grown as a driver by being able to experience a wide variety of cars quickly from a very young age when he was autocrossing.  This cross training has led to his ability to adapt to cars very quickly and race in all style cars as needed.

2)  We take a moment to ask Tom which car he hasn’t driven in (yet) that he would like to drive a race in at least once.  We think Adam may have to have a driver shuffle event to complement his field invert race, lol.

3)  It is amazing how early and deeply auto racing “drove” within Tom when he discovered some of the early console driving games.

4)  We firmly believe that if Tom wins both autocross events in the NSX, he should be allowed to keep the NSX.  This could be another example of why we have no sponsors, lol.

5)  Tom even shared a great example of how even for a driver at his level that some weekends just don’t go as well as we would wish and how Covid has impacted his racing.  We also go into his GLTC series racing history and how the Grid Life series has grown and continues to grow.  It is like a spec series in the closeness of the racing without a single car design.

6)  We poke Tom for some Mid Ohio rain tips.  He was nice enough to give a few of the things he has learned at his home track.  Vicki is insistent wet Mid Ohio is like lava.  Bill is starting to piece that together.

7)  The potential of the use of a 200 tread wear tire in GLTC and the potential advantages and disadvantages of a potential switch.

8)  Tom also discussed the Grid Life Sundae Cup series.

9)  We also go into coaching drivers at all levels, the use of in car coaching, as well as video, data, and even coach driving demonstration to help every level driver improve.

10)   Pushing limits and breaking though limits comes up again.  Hypothetically, lol.

GHIT 0230: Tom O’Gorman AKA TomO from TOMO Racing and ASM

Scott Robertson from the Track Walking podcast

  • Track Walking Podcast logo
  • On track

GHIT 0218:  Scott Robertson from the Track Walking podcast

(Part 2 of Our GLTC Series)

For this episode, Scott Robertson reviews a variety of topics including his racing in the Grid Life GLTC series, his multiple One Lap of America entries, being a driving instructor, and his Track Walking podcast.  Scott had an ill timed racing incident earlier this year just prior to the 2021 One Lap of America.  He was somehow able to get the car back in running shape in time for the OLOA with the help of a ton of help from the racing community.  His podcast approaches our sport and driving in general from a very different perspective. The podcast is definitely unique among the racing and driving podcasts that are available.  We hope to have his podcast co-host on Seth Lemke on in a coming episode. And we cannot wait to meet his crew chief and co-driver Becky Burton at the track and hopefully our podcast.

Want to help our podcast?

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice. This includes the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating. Even better, a podcast review would be greatly appreciated. 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. There you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

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

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)  How Scott’s racing career began and has continued to progress.

2)  We discover how versatile Scott’s Miata is in its current role, road driven, race car, tow vehicle, and sometimes hotel room and base camp.

3)  Vicki and Scott bond over their Miata love for a bit.  Scott has a super secret spare stash and upgrade kit that we will get out of him someday.  We’d love to get our NB Miata a bit more reliable and sturdy.  (and we all know Bill loves upgrading his checklists, lol)

4)  Details of his difficulties in preparing for this year’s One Lap of America after his on track incident.  It literally took a village (of racing friends) and every last minute to pull off the miracle save.

5)  The intertwining of the 2021 One Lap of America and the current GLTC season have impacted each other and how the season has gone to this point.

6)  Tips, Tricks, and Do’s and Don’ts that experience has taught Scott over the years of instructing new and soon to be drivers on the track at an HPDE.

7)  Prepping for GLTC vs One Lap of America, and especially how to One Lap in a Miata race car

8)  Several things Scott got from Coaching with (hopefully our future guest for our GLTC series) Tom O (Tom O’Gorman) but we can also confirm one item that was not part of Tom’s coaching.

9)  Podcast goals and perspectives on what they are trying to provide to our sport.

To follow Scott Robertson, you can go to:

@TrackWalkingPodcast on Facebook or Instagram

@RobertsonRacing on Instagram

@RobertsonRacingMaita on Facebook

GHIT 0218:  Scott Robertson from the Track Walking podcast (Part 2 of Our GLTC Series)

  • Monster Trailer
  • GridLife
  • At OLOA 2021
The Monster Trailer allows Scott to race at Grid Life and One Lap of America

Team Kelly Racing:

Tiffany Kelly and Justin Kelly

GHIT 0213: Tiffany Kelly and Justin Kelly from Team Kelly Racing – Part 1 of our 4 part Grid Life/GLTC Series

Tiffany Kelly and Justin Kelly are both top drivers in the GLTC series and have competed as Team Kelly Racing.  In addition, they have a racing school to teach other drivers and also race shifter karts to further hone their skills.  During this episode, we go over their racing history, including what is GLTC for our listeners who may not be familiar.  The Kelly’s also have a fantastic YouTube channel where they go over many aspects of their racing lives and help show you how they do what they do.  They were even nice enough to stay on and go through our Fast and Furious Storytime questions.  We wish them both good luck in this weekend’s GLTC race at Pikes Peak.  

We have been following the Grid Life series, especially their GLTC series for the last few years and since our schedules don’t align this year, we thought we would interview several of the drivers, teams, and hosts for the next few episodes.

Team Kelly Racing on Grid

In this issue of Dominating with Dawson,

we start with what may be Bill’s dumbest intro ever and then work our way onto the topic of how to exploit chaos on the track to help you improve on the performance of the car and team.  Ben even has a bunch of examples of what he is referring to and how he routinely uses these areas to gain an advantage or pass a few of his fellow competitors.

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/TeamKellyRacingOnGHIT 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

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.

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 and why did they each choose the cars they are racing.

2)  The reasons behind them not doing a K-swap but doing a J-swap to both their cars last winter.

3)  How they both seem to be at an entirely different level with their knowledge of engine/mechanical part swaps and assembly options.

4)  We all try to talk Vicki off the ledge and finally cut the hood of her Miata to add vents to let out some of the heat.

5)  What is it like racing with your significant other, advantages and disadvantages, along with a few tips that they have learned along the way.

6)  Some of the hurdles that come with starting to get fast when racing on a track, how did to deal with them and gain the confidence to push through that limit.

7)  The story of paddock famous Uni the Unicorn.

To keep up with Team Kelly Racing please

Subscribe to their YouTube channel at:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXf_WtojaK6gYmZGb1EXETw 

Or follow them on Instagram at:  https://www.instagram.com/tiffanykellyracing/ 

Also, Tiffany will be appearing on the Discovery Channel on their new show The Getaway Driver

GHIT 0213: Tiffany Kelly and Justin Kelly from Team Kelly Racing

Team Kelly Racing

GHIT 0159: Andrew Rains About Racing and the Apex Pro

Apex Pro Logo

Andrew Rains joins us for this episode to talk through his racing history and then we went deeply into the Apex Pro telemetry system.  We have used our two Apex Pro’s many times this season and everyone has liked the simple interface while on track and the data analysis capability off track is simple and fast, yet powerful.  We have only scratched the surface to this point, but we wanted to make sure everyone we know was aware of the Apex Pro system and we all learned a great deal more about the system with Andrew.  After this episode, we can understand why he is a sought after coach at the track.

Andrew Rains
Andrew at the track coaching

Meanwhile, on our Dominating with Dawson segment, we thought it was time to discuss the concept of scrubbing speed, what it means and how to avoid it, as well as how it can be used to assist you on track to lower your lap times.

As always, if you have any questions that you would like us to cover with Ben, please let us know in a (5 star?) podcast review or via email at [email protected] or in a comment on our social media.

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

Information about the Apex Pro can be found at:  https://apextrackcoach.com/

Andrew and the team can be contacted at:  [email protected] or at [email protected]

Also, Andrew is competing well at the recent Grid Life GLTC NOLA event even though his #719 BMW is on treaded tires vs everyone else on racing slicks here: 

Race 3:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7olV427w28

Race 4:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PufQoz_a7hA

Highlights from this episode include:

1)  We learn about Andrew’s extensive racing experience, as well as his current E36 M3 WRL and Grid Life GLTC BMW car, past, present, and future.

2)  Vicki thinks she is on mute.  Then she knows she is on mute.  Then it sinks in.  The life of a mom.  Lol.

3)  Andrew really has a great racing philosophy and a way of thinking about being at the track.

4)  We discuss several potential issues that people cite that prevents them from starting and a variety of ways to overcome them, including contacting Andrew or us at any point.  Every driver we know would love to have more people to share the track with.  It is much more fun for everyone.

5)  The discussion on the Apex Pro at 19:50 with one of Bill’s longest intros ever that Vicki jumped in and made even longer, lol.

6)  Andrew provided a great overview of the Apex Pro device and its operation at 23:20

7)  We begin to explain the detail of the actual operation and interpretation of the lights when on track and how the patented Apex Pro algorithms work in the background.  The best news for most of us is that it works even if you can’t even spell algorithm.

8)  Vicki and Jennifer relate how the Apex Pro has helped them on track at their current level of driving.  Those simple little LED lights can provide so much feedback on track and so quickly, it really is amazing.  Especially when a driver may be early on in their learning and can often be overwhelmed with the number and speed of sensory inputs when driving at speed.

9)  We then go into the setup (that is super easy and quick) and beginning use of the data within the app that is collected automatically.

10)  Andrew even answers some of our “how do we” questions with useful tips and tricks, several that we had thought of to this point.

11)  Questions answered include:  Options for multiple drivers and endurance races, approximately how long will the battery last, how to save battery during the day if not powered within the car, how to add tracks, especially for autocross use, can I use the Apex Pro without a phone, how the auto-start and auto-stop features work and interact with the phone screen being on, what does the apex score mean and how to interpret it, some of the potential values and options to utilize the power of the notes section.

12)  How the Apex Pro light display works, what the light colors mean, and how to interpret the lights and probably most importantly, how you can use them to make driving changes on track during the stint.

13)  Andrew also goes into the other data you can get in your car if your phone is visible.  Then we go into the full data capabilities that are available post session using the Apex Pro app.

14)  Our resident engineer has his usual requests for future features.  He just can’t help it.  Please bear with him, we try, every single day.  But it appears that Bill may finally have had a good question.

15)  Andrew then moved into the beginning level of looking at data, almost a 101 review.  Once you have used the unit, or any telemetry unit that offers data, this discussion would form a very good foundation for looking at your data the first time and how to correlate the data to your track feel/impression.  Intro at ~51:20

16)  Simple 101 process outline:  1)  Think about where you did not feel comfortable or where you think you may have left the most opportunity to improve,  2)  Look at those areas on the track map overview screen,   3)  Speed vs distance plot and check if the top of the speed trace is rounded (coast or slow transition) or is it sharp and you moved from full throttle to brake quickly,  4)  Look at your minimum speed in corners and if a fast corner you would like a u-shape and in slow corners, you would like a V-shape (fast is above ~60 mph or 100 kph)

17)  Options for exporting the data to larger visual areas, like an iPad or a computer as well as additional options, like Track Attack, to compare with other drivers who may use other data collection systems.

18)  Bill resumes his friction circle soap box discussion.  Andrew graciously tolerates it.  Is there any foundation to Bill’s theory?  Still tbd.

19)  We even had a chance to go into the Apex Pro Crew View feature and how it can be used.  Bill is getting more and more excited.  And then we started to discuss the ability to add in OBDII data.

20)  Options for integrating into other data systems and video options including Race Render. ~1:13:45

21)  Our team has been working on a comprehensive survey of all the data systems, but we have only completed the systems we have personally tested to this point.  If interested in the results or helping us try some of the missing systems, please let us know.

22)  How best to analyze multiple drivers and/or multiple laps within the Apex Pro system as well as external software systems.

23)  We end our discussion of Apex Pro discussion is at ~1:29 and begin our F&F Storytime questions

GHIT 0159: Andrew Rains About Racing and the Apex Pro

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