For episode #28 of the Flatirons Syndicate Motorsports Podcast, we have Victor, Blake, and Kelsey from the DM Rally Team as our guests with Tasso from OTC Racing.

A few weeks ago, the SCCA Clifton Hillclimb was held in Clifton Arizona, and Victor was there running his JDM GC STI rally car, and Blake and Kelsey were running their N/A Subaru GC Rally car as well. We had not been to this event, so the first inspiration for this episode was to get everyone on to talk about what the Clifton Hillclimb was like. This sounds like a very fun event, and it is another one of the rare hillclimbs here in the US that takes place on paved roads (the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb being the other one of note).

But since we had Victor, Blake, and Kelsey on, we wanted to talk to them about a hillclimb that they all were able to participate in a couple of years ago that was part of the Brig Hillclimb Series in Japan!

Being able to travel to Japan to take part in one of the races in their Hillclimb series was truly a once in a lifetime experience for them, and we definitely wanted to hear as much of the story as we possibly could.

But what really stands out is how similar both of these events are even being half a world apart. We hope you enjoy the episode and thanks for listening!

Through 2020, Jeanette (Red Queen Racing) had started to work at Pikes Peak International Raceway, and one of the things that she organized there were some Women's driving clinics and track days in addition to the other events that were put on.  There was a great response from these, and we wanted to bring Jeanette on to talk about what she was doing at PPIR, and about these events.In talking with Jeanette, we decided that we wanted to talk about them under the broader topic of the culture of Women in Motorsports.To help us with the discussion, Jeanette brought in Kaitlin and Alice who she has been driving with at some of her events, and we brought in Lea Croteau who has been an instructor in many driving clinics and the Bridgestone Winter Driving School, as well as co-driven with us at Rally Colorado, and the Pikes Peak Hill Climb.

We had a great conversation and we may well have to have these guests back to talk about this part of driving and Motorsport again.Thanks for listening and Stay Tuned!

Through 2020, Jeanette (Red Queen Racing) had started to work at Pikes Peak International Raceway, and one of the things that she organized there were some Women's driving clinics and track days in addition to the other events that were put on.  There was a great response from these, and we wanted to bring Jeanette on to talk about what she was doing at PPIR, and about these events.In talking with Jeanette, we decided that we wanted to talk about them under the broader topic of the culture of Women in Motorsports.To help us with the discussion, Jeanette brought in Kaitlin and Alice who she has been driving with at some of her events, and we brought in Lea Croteau who has been an instructor in many driving clinics and the Bridgestone Winter Driving School, as well as co-driven with us at Rally Colorado, and the Pikes Peak Hill Climb.

We had a great conversation and we may well have to have these guests back to talk about this part of driving and Motorsport again.Thanks for listening and Stay Tuned!

For Episode #26 of the Flatirons Syndicate Motorsports Podcast, we sit down with Olly Clark from Roger Clark Motorsports to talk about all things Roger Clark. We start off by getting a sense where Olly and his brother Matt got started with racing and Subaru's, and how that turned into what Roger Clark Motorsports is today. We also get some great insight about where the first Gobstopper race car came from, and how that has now turned into 3 Gobstopper race cars. The first 2 of which have had huge success and become icons in their own right, and it looks like Gobstopper III might have the biggest impact of them all.

A huge thanks goes out to Olly Clark for joining us on the Podcast.

This is a great conversation and I hope that you enjoy it!

For Episode #26 of the Flatirons Syndicate Motorsports Podcast, we sit down with Olly Clark from Roger Clark Motorsports to talk about all things Roger Clark. We start off by getting a sense where Olly and his brother Matt got started with racing and Subaru's, and how that turned into what Roger Clark Motorsports is today. We also get some great insight about where the first Gobstopper race car came from, and how that has now turned into 3 Gobstopper race cars. The first 2 of which have had huge success and become icons in their own right, and it looks like Gobstopper III might have the biggest impact of them all.

A huge thanks goes out to Olly Clark for joining us on the Podcast.

This is a great conversation and I hope that you enjoy it!

For Episode 25 of the Flatirons Syndicate Motorsports Podcast, we start off talking with Ryan from DSX Motorsports and Jeanette from Red Queen Racing about driving in the Global Time Attack event at The Ridge in Washington State. From there we open up a topic that has come up around the shop here a few times. Do you have to be humble as a driver to improve and get faster? Getting faster and being a better driver is pretty much a goal for all of us, but we have taken different paths to get there. One thing that we have been wondering is does your mindset have a big roll to play in how you develop? We decided to have a discussion about this and we hope you enjoy the conversation, and that it is helpful. Thanks for listening and Stay Tuned!

For Episode 25 of the Flatirons Syndicate Motorsports Podcast, we start off talking with Ryan from DSX Motorsports and Jeanette from Red Queen Racing about driving in the Global Time Attack event at The Ridge in Washington State. From there we open up a topic that has come up around the shop here a few times. Do you have to be humble as a driver to improve and get faster? Getting faster and being a better driver is pretty much a goal for all of us, but we have taken different paths to get there. One thing that we have been wondering is does your mindset have a big roll to play in how you develop? We decided to have a discussion about this and we hope you enjoy the conversation, and that it is helpful. Thanks for listening and Stay Tuned!

For Episode 24 of the Flatirons Syndicate Podcast, I had the chance to sit down with Dave from Rallispec and pick his brain about pretty much every aspect of the Subaru drivetrain.

Dave founded Rallispec over 20 years ago, and he has a wealth of experience building pretty much every type of Subaru from modified street cars, Rally Cars, and track cars. He has more experience with just about any kind of Subaru transmission than anyone and I wanted to get his perspective on what works, and what doesn't and especially about options for the STI 6-speed. One of the topics that I particularly wanted to ask him about is dog-box gear sets, and sequential gear sets for the STI 6-speed because of the amount of experience that Rallispec has with those types of transmissions. We spent some time talking about this and Dave answered all of the questions that I had or could think of on these topics, and I think that this podcast is a great source of information if you are looking to up-grade your Subaru transmission. Thank you for listening, and Stay Tuned with Flatirons Tuning.

For Episode 24 of the Flatirons Syndicate Podcast, I had the chance to sit down with Dave from Rallispec and pick his brain about pretty much every aspect of the Subaru drivetrain.

Dave founded Rallispec over 20 years ago, and he has a wealth of experience building pretty much every type of Subaru from modified street cars, Rally Cars, and track cars. He has more experience with just about any kind of Subaru transmission than anyone and I wanted to get his perspective on what works, and what doesn't and especially about options for the STI 6-speed. One of the topics that I particularly wanted to ask him about is dog-box gear sets, and sequential gear sets for the STI 6-speed because of the amount of experience that Rallispec has with those types of transmissions. We spent some time talking about this and Dave answered all of the questions that I had or could think of on these topics, and I think that this podcast is a great source of information if you are looking to up-grade your Subaru transmission. Thank you for listening, and Stay Tuned with Flatirons Tuning.

The RPM Act has been stuck in Congress for a few years now, but with recent developments, it is more important now than ever. The main reason for this is that there is now a court case in Arizona Between Gear Box Z and the EPA that could set the precedent that you cannot convert a production vehicle into a vehicle built for race use.

 

The RPM Act would make it permanently clear that you are allowed to convert a production vehicle into a race vehicle and still be compliant with the Clean Air Act. That clarity goes a long way in helping to ensure that amateur motorsport events can still go on largely as they have for decades now.

 

Since the recording of this podcast, the case between Gearbox Z and the EPA has been closed, and in that case, the judge ruled that there wasn't enough evidence that the parts produced by Gearbox Z were used for race only vehicles, so the court declined to make a ruling in this regard.

 

Even though this case is now closed, and no ruling was made, the RPM Act is still very significant because it would clarify this issue going forward. At a minimum, we would recommend that you follow some of the links below and get more information about the RPM Act, and possibly contact your Congress Person to let them know that you support the RPM Act and what it does.

 

Here are some helpful links that are a good starting point if you would like to learn more about this issue:

 

https://www.sema.org/epa-news

 

https://www.sema.org/news-media/enews/2021/12/keep-pressure-congress-pass-rpm-act

 

https://www.sema.org/news-media/enews/2021/10/sema-continues-fight-protect-motorsports-parts-businesses-and-racers

 

https://www.sema.org/news-media/enews/2021/12/update-semas-legal-fight-against-epa-overreach

 

Thanks for listening and Stay Tuned!