autobahncountryclub

Kim Coffey has been a car girl from a very young age and has recently discovered her passion for driving her car at the limit.  It all started with a Supra Sunday with NASA and once the hook was set, she was off.  She loves and drives her 2020 Toyota Supra for HPDE events, autocrosses and has even started Sim racing.  If that wasn’t enough, she often takes her lunch at a local go kart track.  We thought we would go over where she is this early in her driving journey and we are looking forward to seeing where she goes and what she decides to pursue in her high performance driving future.

There were some storm induced connection issues during the middle few minutes but most were easily editable and it resolved pretty quickly.  

If you would like to help grow our sport and the 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 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/KimCoffey  

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)  We wanted to make sure to satisfy our listener requests, so just for Jeff, Chris, Chrissy, and Mental from the Everyone Racers podcast we introduce Kim Coffey to the high performance driving community.

2)  How did she approach entering the new to her sport and how things have progressed to this point.

3)  Kim eventually found our recent guest Dave Peters' HPDE Junkie website to locate her future track days.

4)  A lot of people question the use of a classroom for HPDE.  Kim provides some insightful comment on what she was able to learn from the classroom downloads at ACC.

5)  Kim gives some great tips for someone going to their first HPDE to maximize their learning and improving their driving as quickly as possible.

GHIT 0246:  Our Autobahn Country Club HPDE 2021

Vicki and Bill attended the recent NASA Great Lakes HPDE at the Autobahn Country Club.  It was the first time Vicki was on this track and she was in the HPDE 2 run group.  Bill was in HPDE 4 and instructed a HPDE 1 student Saturday and Sunday.  Bill also completed his MSF Level 2 instructor in car training on Friday and had a great time with the drills and the mentors.

We cover a lot of the Autobahn South track and here is a track map if you need it:  https://autobahncc.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2019-south_circuit.pdf  

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/AutobahnHPDE2021 

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)  Right off the bat, Bill mis-speaks during his joke, Herb vs Abe, my apologies.

2)  Vicki goes over her track prep since this was her first time at this track.  Luckily, the track is relatively flat and fairly easy to learn.  Vicki’s favorite section was the 8-9-10 turn complex.

3)  We both shared the 2019 Mazda Miata (ND2) and Vicki was able to settle into the new track car.  We also go over her impressions of the Garmin Catalyst which is especially useful at Autobahn since the track is relatively short and you get a lot of laps in each session.

4)  Our car prep issues with the 2004 BMW M3 (E46) were quite a story.  We thought we had our prep processes under control but found something else we can do wrong.  And then it snowballed, lol.

5)  Lifting on the long straightaways?  Vicki had that problem.  Emphasis on “had”.

6)  How did the MSF Level 2 evaluation go for Bill?

7)  What trailer does Vicki envy?  ALOT.

8)  Vicki was unintentionally “that guy”.  Or was she?  You can be the judge.

9)  We also cover how Vicki's Instructor (Brandon) did vs the Garmin Catalyst?  (Quite well)

10)  Vicki (and Bill) had some major accomplishments during the weekend.  Any guesses?

11)  Some of the issues Bill had instructing at the event.

12)  TREC Racing.  Ever heard of it?  We discuss it and we finally have a plan for this next season.

We cover Bill’s first HPDE 3 with NASA Great Lakes at the Autobahn Country Club South Course layout that is near Chicago.  It was our teams first HPDE 3 and it was fantastic.  NASA Great Lakes really shines with their HPDE curriculum.  In addition, we had the opportunity to try the teams new Garmin Catalyst on track for the first time and we were very impressed.  Several notable driving improvements were during the event and perhaps even a few Ahh Hah Moments.  In addition, we discuss the “perfect” race car in the Dominating with Dawson segment for this episode.

 

We hope you enjoy this episode half as much as Bill enjoyed the NASA Great Lakes event!

Special thanks again to the entire Great Lakes team for running another top notch event, as always.

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)  A short track review of the South track at Autobahn.  In addition, it was our first time on track with electronic flags.

2)  We compare the relative costs of a track day weekend vs a divorce etc.

3)  Differences between NASA Great Lakes HPDE 1, 2, and 3.

4)  We cover some of the tremendous drills that start of most of the track sessions.  They are very valuable to improve your driving skills and racing experience in a controlled and safe manner.

5)  How NASA GL has altered the different HPDE levels and improved as they learn to account for COVID induced changes and still improve the quality of the instruction for each of their students in a very quick reaction, demonstrating their ability to respond nimbly to their students feedback.

6)  Garmin Catalyst first impressions and review after using it to review our track driving for the first time this weekend.  The in-car coaching was a very good addition to the weekend while we were in the car without an instructor.  We hope to have a full episode with a guest in the next few weeks.  We posted a few videos on our YouTube channel that has some of the Garmin instructions included if you are curious. 

7)  Bill is a big fan of the opportunities options that prioritize areas for potential improvement/low hanging fruit along with the potential quantified time improvement potential.

8)  Jen asks the question Bill never wants to discuss with Vicki in earshot:  How much is it?  Vicki, close he webpage, just close the page.

9)  Just remember, these are only $500 cars………

10)  Why does Bill always confuse Buddy Rich and Buddy Guy.  No idea, but the model/example still applies. 

11)  Mork from Ork shows up for a small guest slot, some of you will see it.

12)  Bad news on two of our GoPro’s.  They may not be useful for our in-car video due to the dynamic range of brightness or contrast from within the car vs the outside. 

13)  The anniversary that never seems to end. 

14)  A very good discussion of focus and being fresh on track, as well as a probably wise decision to use good discretion and skip the last session at the end of Saturday.

15)  Bill’s prep for a new track is getting better and almost where we would like it to be.  The process we use during an HPDE is really getting dialed in and allowing us to get the most out of each stint and maximize the benefit for each HPDE we attend.

16)  We cover some of the most significant improvements and a few Ahh Hah’s from the event.

17)  The goal of HPDE 3 to push beyond your comfort level and look for more speed was very good and appropriate after the training received in HPDE 1 and 2 with NASA GL.

18)  The go kart track looked amazing, although we did not have a chance to try.

19)  Bill makes a play at adding another HPDE/track day for NJMP.  Schedule tbd.  Details to follow.  He would really love to get Jennifer and Vicki out once more with the Catalyst.  It should help them both greatly.  Some planning details still to be resolved. 

20)  What is left to get Brad safely out the door and what is left to start the process of GHIT Colorado.  Look for us to come out to High Plains raceway and other tracks in the area as soon as Brad is set up and ready for us.  Also one last chance for Bill to pick on Brad for signing up for several HPDE’s and not