Garage Heroes In Training

Zack Klapman is a car guy through and through and was our guest for this week's episode. You may know him from the Smoking Tire podcast and YouTube channel or from seeing him on air on the NBC /Drive show or as a producer for /Drive as well as several other television shows like "Proving Grounds". We were able to talk with Zack quite a bit about his overall car interests and how he began working in the area. As usual, he was a decade long in the making overnight success who made it through perseverance and constant hustle.

On this episode we covered:

1) How the recent NASA 25 Hours at Thunderhill race weekend went in their Spec E46 with all the rain and then the mud

2) Zack's background and what he is involved with currently, both as on-air talent, as a writer, and as a producer.

3) How YouTube videos and channels have changed since The Smoking Tire originated

4) How did cars get into Zack's blood and what his interests are at this point and in the future. Hint: He does not seem picky, lol.

5) His first Lemons race and the fun of passing a slot machine race car

6) His goals include racing in virtually all endurance racing series including AER, Lemons, Lucky Dog, Champ Car, WRL, etc. and a whole host of tracks across the US and around the world

7) We discuss his (hopefully) upcoming appearance on the "Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee" show. We think it would be perfect for him.

8) Crazy stories from his past TV and video work, such as his very hot lap with Chris Harris at the Nürburgring that involved some of Chris's serious driving skills being on full display

9) Driving through Morocco while filming with a relatively small tv crew.

10) His initial learning on how to wrench on a car in a pre-YouTube era without ChrisFix

11) A very entertaining and funny Good, Bad and the Ugly segment that included some cars you never expected to hear on our podcast

12) Several audience questions

13) His upcoming driving lessons with Kevin Madsen

We ended with a few basic outlines of our team and how we started and a few tips that Zack wasn't aware of yet as a relatively new to racing driver that may help you as well.

To follow Zack, please use his social media accounts or catch the following series:

Twitter @ ZackKlapman

Instagram: FakeZackKlapman

The Smoking Tire Podcast

/Drive on NBC Sports and iTunes

Proving Grounds on NBC Sports

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT

Immature Endurance Racing Team

#GarageHeroesInTraining

#GarageHeroesInTrainingPodcast

#ZackKlapman

#NASA

#NASANorCal

#25HoursatThunderhill

#TheSmokingTire

#SmokingTire

#SpecE46

#SamSmith

#roadandtrack

#ChrisHarris

#Nürburgring

#KevinMadsen

Zack Klapman was our guest for this week’s episode.  You may know him from the Smoking Tire podcast & YouTube channel or from seeing him on air on the NBC /Drive show or as a producer for /Drive as well as several other television shows like “Proving Grounds”.  We were able to talk with Zack quite a bit about his overall car interests and how he began working in the area.  As usual, he was a decade long in the making overnight success who made it through perseverance and constant hustle.

On this episode we started out with one show idea and quickly flexed into another when Judge Phil Greden from the 24 Hours of Lemons was able to join us after some scheduling issues. Judge Phil is also an automotive journalist and often uses the pen name of Murilee Martin and writes for a variety of venues including Autoblog, Autoweek, Jalopnik, Truth About Cars, Car and Driver, Roadkill, and the 24 Hours of Lemons. We had been hoping to have Phil on as one of our original bucket list guests and we were not disappointed and we really hope we can get him on again, soon. His stories are priceless and seemingly endless.

Highlights and discussion topics of the episode include:

1) New installation of the permanent 240V line for the welder is complete

2) Alan tries to blame Chrissy for his mess and no one buys it, ever

3) Alan defines what's a bucket load of shims and then decides we aren't going to use them

4) We may have a plan for our long-awaited female only race car entry

5) Tips for working in the cold temps/potential items for Christmas gifting. Hint layers

6) Phil's latest junkyard finds and exploits and several tips for finding things of interest

7) Phil's Lemons history and how he came to be a judge at over 160 races so far

8) Tips for how to improve at lemons, as if that matters, lol.

9) Where Murilee Martin originated, the full story is at his website below

10) How the Lemons series has progressed and the culture came around to the present day

11) Our next Miata with a HT4100 engine

12) Lemons hopeful entries in the coming years, especially several late model Detroit offerings

13) Tips for finding cars particularly suited to Lemons racing

14) Theories on what makes certain car surprisingly good or surprisingly bad in endurance racing

15) The difference between the $500 limit rule as written vs as interpreted in Lemons

16) Various fruitless paths to "domination" that have been shown to be lacking

17) Which of the automotive journalists are really good drivers off the top of Judge Phil's head

18) Should GHiT be interested in a Lada, Phil knows a guy….

19) Potential leads and guidance on our 1974 Capri never-ending build

20) How lucky we were to start our racing team with assistance from the Three Pedal Mafia

21) Parts selling on the internet stories from over the years

22) Crazy Lemons racing stories including lightning strikes and tornado chases

23) How the post-race hangover is real, even if you aren't racing

24) The internet famous Lemons Wrap-up videos and what goes into them

25) How the driver fields differ across the US

26) Splash Gate makes a come back

27) Our traditional Good, Bad, and the Ugly per Judge Phil

28) How to get started in endurance racing and resources that are available

29) The relative importance of team/pit organization vs driving skill

We will put out another short episode to discuss the AIM Data Acquisition and Analysis seminar Bill attended last weekend that we started.

Now if only we could get a weekly segment of "Story Time with Judge Phil". Maybe we can bribe with a seat at our races? Please let Phil know if you'd be interested.

[email protected]

http://www.murileemartin.com/

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT

Immature Endurance Racing Team

We had been hoping to have Judge Phil Greden on as one of our original bucket list guests and we were not disappointed and we really hope we can get him on again, soon. His stories are priceless and seemingly endless. We started out with one show idea and flexed into another when Judge Phil Greden from the 24 Hours of Lemons was able to join us. Judge Phil is also an automotive journalist as Murilee Martin and writes for many venues including Autoblog, Autoweek, and for the 24 Hours of Lemons series.

Alan, Zombie Vicki, and Bill go over our recent Friendsgiving Work Weekend with special guest from the Everyone Racers Podcast hosts, Chris and Chrissy who came up to guide, instruct, and assist us with several of our cars that, as always, need repair and improvements. Highlights to the discussion include:

1) Our two and a half Porsche 944's that are available and soon to be posted for sale for HPDE or racing use.

2) Capri update and our updated plans going forward

3) Winter is here in Northeast PA and when the sun goes down, the temperature leaves the garage in a hurry

4) How we organize our garage for both parts and cars and how Chris helped Vicki determine what is good to keep and how to identify the unknown items we have collected since our race team started.

5) What parts are worth keeping and what parts have donated all they have to give

6) Alan's hamster powered internet shows up again

7) Our plans for the new Honda race car project code name Godzuki

8) The difference between parts replacement projects and part fabrication projects

9) Our repair update of the race truck/El Chrissy/The Bad Hombre steering issues and exhaust leak and the potential for a power steering line cooler to be added

10) Our repair update of the BMW E36 race car

11) How many ignore the potential for their race car to be their own planetarium

12) Alan bonds with several local FLAPS in our area

13) We need a bunch of camber shims to fix our S-10

14) We have renamed our race truck due to this week.

15) Alan gives a visual description of suspension geometry

16) A discussion of our hubs and bearings for the E36 and transferring the brake cooling ducts to our other race cars

17) Vicki and Bill plan to go to a local race shop to see what is available for our use

18) Alan's fall led to a broken jaw, so does disagreeing with Kate. You can choose which is the cover story and which is real.

19) Alan impersonates a BMW E36 while Chris was investigating our electrical wiring issues

20) Spare parts and supply at the track discussion

21) Vicki, pre-Zombie, and Bill received a welding lesson on our Miller 211 MIG welder and began the learning process in earnest

22) Vicki relates welding to her art background

23) Chris and Chrissy had a spare moment to test our Mazda MX-5 on the test track for a good shakedown run

24) Skid pad event discussion and planning for this winter/spring at Lime Rock

25) Car show Fails on YouTube, a worthwhile time waster

26) The best way to say thank you/bribe people to help you (Hint: Food, drink, and beer)

Special thanks, as always to Chris and Chrissy for coming up and helping. We learned a ton and accomplished quite a bit. We hope our bribes of food, drink, and racing were sufficient to lure you up again, hopefully soon.

If anyone wants a garage tour, we could put up a video (excuse the mess) on our YouTube channel. Just let us know.

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT

Immature Endurance Racing Team

For part ID and a great source for auto parts: www.rockauto.com

Our Miller 211 Welder: https://www.millerwelds.com/equipment/welders/mig-gmaw/millermatic-211-mig-welder-m30024

Welding related YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqq70AnPkj4-UApS_m_6mPw

Everyone Racers Podcast: http://shoutengine.com/EveryoneRacers/

Alan, Zombie Vicki, and Bill go over our recent Friendsgiving Work Weekend with special guest from the Everyone Racers Podcast, Chris and Chrissy who came up to guide, instruct, and assist us with several of our cars that, as always, need repair and improvement.

Special thanks, as always to Chris and Chrissy for coming up and helping. We learned a ton and accomplished quite a bit. We hope our bribes of food, drink, and racing were sufficient to lure you up again, hopefully soon.

SPOILER FILLED. We had a chance to finally review the new Disney+ star Wars related series the Mandalorian. After the first three episodes, we are all impressed and looking forward to seeing where we go from here. Our hosts were joined by our friend Jeff from the Everyone Racers podcast, a long time Star Wars fan and pop culture in general. In this episode, we gave a brief synopsis of all three episodes so far.

Thoughts, Theories, and Discussions included:

1) Show timeline and summary of what we know about the series as a whole

2) Is Mando a good fighter or does he always need saving by outside forces

3) Favorite moments

4) Weekly releases yeah or nay

5) Favorite characters and then quickly Favorite Character not including "baby yoda"

6) Things we are hoping for or looking forward to

7) Several of the popular "baby yoda" theories and their potential impact

8) Thoughts on Disney plus and the various content

9) Episode 9 theories and desires:

Somehow we even managed to make several auto and racing realaed references in this episode. I doubt there are any other Mandorlorain review podcasts that made those connections, lol.

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT

Immature Endurance Racing Team

SPOILER FILLED.  We had a chance to finally review the new Disney+ star Wars related series the Mandalorian.  After the first three episodes, we are all impressed and looking forward to seeing where we go from here.  Our hosts were joined by our friend Jeff from the Everyone Racers podcast, a long time Star Wars fan and pop culture in general.  In this episode, we gave a brief synopsis of all three episodes so far.

On this week's podcast, we finally "met" with Dillon Brennan also known as EJ2 Track Rat after missing each other multiple times at the last Watkins Glen HPDE event. While he is an accomplished driver and instructor, he started EJ2 Track Rat to help raise awareness to everyone that they can also get out on track and enjoy our great sport with a low budget. You can follow him on his Instagram account and his blog, and soon on his YouTube channel.

Highlights include:

1) Dillon's driving history within autocross, HPDE, and wheel to wheel racing (so far)

2) We interview a parrot for the first time

3) Honda engine codes and chassis codes aplenty, so if you are playing scrabble or battleship, feel free to try to use these random letters and numbers

4) How he has found ways to get onto the track and learn with a small budget (one less excuse for everyone). Things like working events for future credits, SCCA Track Night of America, etc. and the beginning of their "Lobuk" initiative

5) One way not to get a college test delayed for a track day

6) What is Honda Challenge series and how much fun can be had in this form of wheel to wheel racing

7) Bill shows off his Honda engine code prowess, or lack thereof, several times.

8) We compare notes on potential ways to paint and theme your car's livery, including a new one to us, Sharpie paint pens

9) What is EJ2 Track Rat and what they are involved in currently and future goals

10) The importance of a support group of friends and family towards making this a successful and very achievable activity for nearly everyone

11) We review all of our favorite tracks and also get a brief walkthrough of Lime Rock from Dillon

12) Vicki complains about the deer, again.

We end with a plea for help with our Porsche Boxster and its ability to break every slave cylinder we can find. Any thoughts or options are greatly appreciated.

If you want to follow along with Dillon and the EJ2 Track Rat's, you can follow them at:

EJ2_Track_Rat on Instagram.

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT

Immature Endurance Racing Team

On this week’s podcast, we finally “met” with Dillon Brennan also known as EJ2 Track Rat after missing each other multiple times at the last Watkins Glen HPDE event.  While he is an accomplished driver and instructor, he started EJ2 Track Rat to help raise awareness to everyone that they can also get out on track and enjoy our great sport with a low budget. 

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racin