americanenduranceracing

GHIT 0327:  John Kolesa on AER (American Endurance Racing)

John Kolesa started American Endurance Racing several years ago and Bill had a great time racing with the series at PittRace, so we had to have him on to officially introduce everyone to the series if you are not already familiar with AER.  Since starting the series in 2014, AER has assumed a position towards the more competitive/higher performance segment of the amateur endurance racing community.  The series was desiring to be more open to different cars and modified cars by having a simpler classing process that uses qualifying times to initially calls cars and then can re-classify cars throughout the weekend if there are drivers with significant range of skills on a team.  The top class is an exhibition class that is based on a power to weight basis.  The technology that AER uses during the race weekend is among the best we have seen in amateur racing.

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

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.

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 amid 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 at https://candelaria-racing.com/

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 from https://apextrackcoach.com/

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)  AER’s history, how the series came to be, and why

2)  We clarify the classification process that AER uses to set the different levels for the weekend including the top exhibition class for cars faster than they

3)  How they try to control costs and the competitive balance by requiring a certain number of pitstops and a minimum stop duration.

4)  The series uses RFID stickers to track the car and the individual driver performance and history.  In addition, the Flagger system was a welcome addition to tour car and helped improve the communication between the series and the individual drivers and cars.

5)  Upcoming changes and additions to the upcoming races.

6)  AER is currently running a special that allows new teams to enter a race weekend and have a reduced cost or even free. 

7)  We address several of the criticisms and concerns about the series and hope you will feel comfortable entering one of their races yourself.

8)  Challenges the series faces with upcoming events and tracks.

9)  We speculate on the effect that modern cars may have on grassroots racing in the future.

 

To get more details about AER, please follow them at:

Website:  http://americanenduranceracing.com/

Instagram:  @americanenduranceracing

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/americanenduranceracing

GHIT 0325:  Race Review – Alex on Our Back to Back Race Weekends at PittRace with AER and Lemons

Alex Levinson drove both weekends for the team from the Skunk Oil Racing/Garage Heroes In Training team and missed our earlier reviews, so he gets to go over both weekends’ trials and tribulations.  At the AER event, the team performed well on Saturday and finished P2 in our class and P4 on Sunday.  The next weekend at PittRace was a 24 Hours of Lemons race and Alex drove with Dave and Jeremy for the weekend.  It all started out well enough, but there were a couple of issues during the Lemons weekend, some minor and some major.  Everyone came out safe and sound though. 

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/2022PittRaceAERandLemons

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.

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 at https://candelaria-racing.com/

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 from https://apextrackcoach.com/

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)  On this episode, Alex compares Bill to Odysseus.  No seriously.  We are still wondering why.

2) 

3) 

4) 

5)  Axle Gate on the BMW and Seat Gate jokes abound

6) 

7) 

8) 

9) 

10) 

GHIT 0324:  Race Review – AER at PittRace Team Review

The team from the Skunk Oil Racing team finally convenes to review our recent AER race at PittRace.  It was many of our teams first ever AER event.  The team performed well on Saturday and finished P2 in our class.  Sunday, we performed similarly but our fellow racers had a bit more good fortune, and we ended the day in P4, almost a two-podium weekend.  This was recorded right after we all returned from the race and the post-race hangover was clear.  Even our internet connection was taken down by a power outage so there is a discussion discontinuity about 20 minutes into the episode.  It was a great weekend with all the teams at the event and we want to thank AER and everyone at PittRace for another great event.  This is a relatively new team and the E36 BMW 3 series that we are still shaking down after our less than stellar start with Lucky Dog about 4-5 weeks ago.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/2022PittRaceAERpart3

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.

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 at https://candelaria-racing.com/

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 from https://apextrackcoach.com/

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)  The prepping of the car for the race after our last one with Lucky Dog at CMP.  What we did well, what we forgot to bring, and a whole lot more.

2)  The team’s impression of AER and how our car fit into the field overall and our class.  We would love to have a few of the teams that normally run in the AER series on the podcast and discuss their experience within the series.

3)  How our pit lane “strategies” diverged from several of the neighboring teams on pit road.  Think Formula 1/Indy car/IMSA levels vs our loving version of the Benny Hill show.

4)  What we are doing to try to do to run the same car the next weekend again at PittRace.

5)  Axle Gate (both the BMW and the enclosed trailer) and Seat Gate jokes abound

6)  Much like the following weekend, it snowed again on Sunday.  We are beginning to think that we did something to the PittRace area.

7)  Vicki has a bad series of defenses of the met half way plan.  The pre-race hangover is apparently a new thing.

8)  While it sounds like we were a total circus all weekend, we actually did fairly well.  Further evidence that “You too can go racing”

9)  Don’t miss Ryan singing.  It is worth the wait.

10)  Don’t worry about the police sirens at about 1hour 15 minutes in, they weren’t for us.  No seriously, not us this time.

GHIT 0321:  Dave Mills Post our AER Race at PittRace

Long sought after guest Dave Mills is finally on the podcast that you may know from his online presence as the Caddy Wrecker.  Dave is a long-time racer, rallyist, and was working with the AER team at our race last weekend at PittRace.  With so many things to talk about, we try to get a review of Dave’s rally and racing exploits as well as how he saw our race from the tower.  We also cover the Flagger system that was in our car that we mistakenly called by another product in our prior race review episode.  Please welcome to the podcast guest family.  Please excuse any of the internet induced noises and Robot Dave that appears sporadically within the beginning of the episode.

Also, a podcast first, help Dave find a new fun daily driver.  Let us know on Instagram, Facebook, or on our email at GarageHeroesInTraining@gmail.com.

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

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.

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)  Swag bribes work.  Looks its Dave!!!

2)  Some great tips about looking at what the better teams are doing and learning what they do and what they don’t do, especially in the pits and paddock areas.  This literally can be the difference between winning a race and being midfield or worse.

3)  Dave has had quite a few unique rally experiences, especially the rally that occurred right as Covid was ramping up early in 2020.  He may hold the record for the longest time spent on a Lemons rally.  We are also not sure if that is something to be proud of or not.

4)  How Dave's professional experience has helped with the Flagger system that is being used by AER and is being reviewed by several other racing organizations.  Hopefully more to follow on this system in an upcoming podcast.

5)  We revisit the internet video where one driver missed a vast series of yellow flags.  If you missed it, the first video was on VinWiki and the actual rebuttal is available separately.

6)  What it is like to be "running" the race vs running in the race.

7)  As Dave is our first guest from AER, we go into a brief discussion of the differences between AER and several of the other series we usually discuss.  Especially the required pit stops system and some of the technology that the AER series employs in this mostly amateur series.

8)  Dave askes for some help in deciding on his next daily driver.  A podcast first and perhaps our first public service announcement.

9)  Dave's experience living off grid.  Its not for everyone, but he gives some tips and tricks that made it better.  

 

For more of Dave's exploits: 

Instagram:  @caddywrecker

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.

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

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

Highlights for this episode include: