Garage Heroes (In Training)

Learning as we go. Come along with us and Enjoy the Ride!

Our Team

Our 2022 Lemons PittRace Event

Finish Line
Pitt Race 2022

GHIT 0322:  Race Review of our 2022 Lemons PittRace Event

Tim, Vicki, and Bill are excited to review our latest race at PittRace with the 24 Hours of Lemons series.  It was a great weekend and we were joined by Ben after a bit of intro discussion.  This was Tim’s first Lemons experience but he is an accomplished driver, racer and instructor of instructors.  We talked about Tim’s thoughts and critiques of the Lemons series and the field of cars and drivers at PittRace.  This was our initial shakedown trial for our new to us 1993 Honda Civic race car.

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 would be a podcast review. This 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)  Tim’s response to the three primary (false) criticisms of racing in the 24 Hours of Lemons series:  safety culture, driver skill, and the quality of cars.  The cars are usually criticized for both being junk and for being too racey, a difficult thing to do at the same time, lol.

2)  The weather was a series of just about everything except hot.  Tim was also exposed to 110 cars on track Saturday during a snowstorm, sleet, rain, muddy track, etc.  A true trial by fire in all the best ways.

3)  Vicki was out for a quick Friday practice to acclimate to the front wheel drive car and shake off some winter cobwebs.  Mother nature thought she was doing so well that she decided to bequeath unto Vicki almost an inch of sloppy snow/hail during her lap.  Vicki returned the favor and trimmed some of the grass for her as well.

4)  Tim was also able to cross off almost every type of weather during his Saturday stint.  However, we still give him a little good natured ribbing about his two black flags.

5)  The rest of the weekend was something you needed to be there to truly understand.

PS  Tim is desperately looking for a recipe from the pot luck

GHIT 0322:  Race Review of our 2022 Lemons PittRace Event

Our First AER Race at PittRace

AKA Bill’s Worst Race Weekend Driving – Ever

Skunk Oil E36
Bill's Head

GHiT 0319: Race Recap: Our First AER Race at PittRace – Part 1 – AKA Bill’s Worst Race Weekend Driving – Ever

In the first part of at least three parts of a series, Bill goes over his first ever race with AER (American Endurance Racing) at PittRace last weekend.  AER is a series that targets more serious racing and the cars on track were quite impressive.  However, the team did well and we actually came in second in class on Saturday. 

Bill on the other hand had his first ever bad track day and probably drove more in his head than on track.  We thought it would be useful to do a quick race recap covering what happened on track and in his head, as well as what we are going to do and change going forward.

This episode deals only with Bill’s perspective and his internal issues.  While he is still processing the weekend, 

Also, Ben calls in for an emergency DwD episode to talk Bill off the cliff.

On an upcoming Part 2, we have another episode coming that will cover the race from the perspective of a friend who was working with AER this weekend.

On an upcoming Part 3, we will have the entire team from the weekend if schedules allow.

We also look forward to a future AER specific episode as well.

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.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is amazingly 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  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 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.  They are a great system and invaluable to safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross, etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

GHiT 0319: Race Recap: Our First AER Race at PittRace – Part 1 – AKA Bill’s Worst Race Weekend Driving – Ever

Our HPDE with NASA Northeast at NJMP

Off-Track Images

GHIT 0313:  Track Day Recap from our HPDE Event with NASA Northeast at NJMP’s Lightning Track

Jennifer and Vicki had their first trip the track this year at the NASA Northeast HPDE event at NJMP’s Lightning track.  Our event prep had a few issues with our Honda Civic inaugural shake down.  The issue is still TBD at this point.  Jennifer was in the HPDE 2 group and Vicki was in the HPDE3/4 group.  Bill was primarily concerned with instructing two students this weekend, both we on a track for their maiden voyage. 

The weekend was a mix of highs and lows, many highs and really only one low.  We go over our NASA Northeast at NJMP weekend and how everyone progressed.  Both Jennifer and Vicki improved significantly over the winter off season, and we go into several of their accomplishments and the details.  The post race weekend hangover is real, and we all tried to stay focused and coherent with varied results, lol.  Our next event is later this month at Lime Rock Park and then our back-to-back racing weekends at PittRace with AER and then the 24 Hours of Lemons.  We also cover some of the trickier aspects of growing as a driver and some of the precautions to be aware of, especially if you have a significant improvement on your speed.

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. This includes 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. We would appreciate it.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is amazingly 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 NASA Northeast at NJMP HPDE review 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“. This will save you 10% 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. Use it and 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 invaluable to safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross, etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

GHIT 0313:  Track Day Recap from our HPDE Event with NASA Northeast at NJMP’s Lightning Track

Our 300th Episode Trivia Quiz – Review

300 quiz

GHIT 0310: Our 300th Episode Trivia Quiz – Review

After three hundred episodes, we wanted to give our resolute listeners a chance to show off with a Top 10 list of trivia questions about the podcast.  In our time honored tradition, we thought part of the fun would involve bribing/awarding prizes to those that answered the call.  At this time of release, we have not determined who had answered the questions and scored the most points.  However, here are the answers along with a bit of nostalgia from the hosts about where we have grown into as drivers, mechanics, and racers. 

It has been a long and windy road that we need to thank way to many people, but each and every one of you know what you have helped us with and contributed to the team and the podcast.  So, before we get all weepy, here is our episode and a sincere thank you to all of you who have listened to our podcast from the beginning, as well as those who have only listened to one or two episodes.  As with the rest of our driving and racing, our podcast will always be “In Training”

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.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is amazingly 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  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.  They are a great system and invaluable to safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross, etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system.

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)  Answers to our Top 10 Quiz questions with a ton of unsuccessful herding of the cats.

2)  Every host answers what our biggest Ah Hah moment so far since we started

3)  What are the 3 biggest surprises we learned about driving or racing to this point.

4)  We grade ourselves for initial driving skill and current. 

5)  Super secret surprise question:  what are three great things about you co-hosts

GHIT 0310: Our 300th Episode Trivia Quiz – Review

The Team From LDRL at CMP March 2022

the team

GHIT 307:  Race Weekend Recap:  The Entire Team From Lucky Dog Racing at CMP March 2022

You have only heard a few of the stories from our Lucky Dog race at Carolina Motorsports Park a few weeks ago.  Now we unveil the entire team that went to the race.  Car owner David as well as the rest of the team including Alex, Ryan, and Matt.  We think we have determined the root cause of the problem we had at the race and a path forward.  As always, we all had a great time at the Lucky Dog CMP March 2022 event and cannot wait to return.  There was a bit of feedback initially that sounds like a duck quacking but it ends fairly quickly and we are blaming Alex, lol.

Our Slow Leak

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  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 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 include:

Lara and Randy
Our Winning Friends Lara Vernon and Randy Pobst

1)  We start with the important stuff:  who wins the snoring award for the Lucky Dog CMP March 2022 weekend?

2)  What we did, what we brought, what happened, and how we ended up.

3)  What it is like to assemble a new team from several other teams and how the weekend went, what we learned and what we can learn from this weekend.

4)  Our individual thoughts on how the “new to us” car behaved on its maiden voyage to endurance racing and what we each thought of the E36 BMW.  Ryan and Alex are long time endurance racers, primarily in the Miata platform.  Bill has driven the E36 platform many times but had not been to the CMP track until this weekend.  David had also not been on CMP as well.

5)  We spend way more time discussing the teams qualifying session than the session actually took.  This is called foreshadowing.

6)  We then have a recovery/repair plan and get started the race Saturday.  Then we go into detail of the entire 8 hour race Saturday.  

7)  Now the fun begins, as well as the work project for the weekend.  Ryan got a ton of really solid shoulder work welding above his head.  The post incident CSI that we conduct and summarize also takes more time than our racing laps did in total.  Perhaps the first reference of a brake caliper making sweet, sweet love to the rear suspension.

8)  We did allow him to rest a bit by welding a friends team shifter that had failed (again).  It should be problem solved from here. 

9)  The details of our parts search and repair program to get the car back on track for Sunday.

10)  We also have a short example of Podcast In Training that couldn’t be edited out for your personal enjoyment.

And more

11)  Even with a combination of team members with decades of racing experience, there is growing pains in coming together.

12)  With everything going on at a race weekend, we each learned several details of how the race weekend went 

13)  After a brief trip off the rails, we eventually get to “Oh God, it sings”. We eventually get back to our story.  Herding kittens.

14)  We have the beginnings of a recovery plan and then cover our roles within the team.  The importance of roles and areas of responsibilities is key to the performance of a racing team and cannot be overstated.

15)  Apparently there will be a Cubano vs Meatball cook off.  Book your spots early if you want to be a judge.  Spots are limited.

16)  Ryan shares his parts transport system and Vicki is dumbfounded.  Bill has a new project.

17)  An accounting of what we did vs what we should have done and what we will do at the next race.

Special thanks again to Kyle Lockrow and Giggles for their help in making the results of this debacle a bit better.   

GHIT 307:  Race Weekend Recap:  The Entire Team From Lucky Dog Racing at CMP