Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / Just Track It! (Nabil Abusharr)

Transcript

Just Track It! (Nabil Abusharr) · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

0:00
Break Fix podcast is all about capturing the living history of people from all
0:05
over the autos sphere, from wrench, turners, and racers to artists, authors,
0:09
designers, and everything in between.
0:11
Our goal is to inspire a new generation of Petrolhead that wonder, a.
0:16
How did they get that job or become that person?
0:19
The Road to Success is paved by all of us because everyone has a story.
0:27
Just Track.
0:28
It was founded in 2013 to bring affordable track days to car
0:31
enthusiasts around the Southeastern us.
0:34
Their mission is to get you on track in your car for the lowest possible
0:37
price, allowing you to safely enjoy your car at its performance limits.
0:41
That's right and just track its open track.
0:43
Events feature, extensive track time for all drivers of varying types of levels.
0:48
From first timers to season racers.
0:50
They provide instruction to novice drivers in the form of in-car coaching
0:55
and classroom chalk talk sessions.
0:57
And with us tonight is Nabi Buchar, president of Just Track It to
1:01
explain how their program works.
1:03
And as always, I'm your host Brad.
1:05
And I'm Eric.
1:06
So let's roll.
1:07
Welcome to Break Fix, Nabeel.
1:09
Oh, thank you very much.
1:10
Appreciate you having me.
1:11
I love the name.
1:12
Just track it.
1:13
It kind of lines up with some of the things we say around the paddock.
1:16
Just send it.
1:16
Just send it.
1:17
So it's like, just track it.
1:18
I love that.
1:19
So where did that come from?
1:20
You know, tell us all about it.
1:22
Well, I, I wish I could claim the marketing genius of coming up with
1:27
that name, but my good friend Brian, who started just track it with me.
1:32
He's the one who came up with the name and, you know, the thing is, is.
1:36
There's so many good names for H P D organizations and they're all taken,
1:42
so trying to find something that's available that you can actually get
1:47
a website domain kind of difficult.
1:50
Yeah, no doubt.
1:51
They said just track it, and we said That's it.
1:54
2013, you guys got started.
1:56
What made you get started in the H P D E world?
1:59
Actually it started before that, I'd been doing track events
2:03
since 2004, a few years into it.
2:06
2006 I was, I had a Mazda R X a and that was my first car that actually was, I
2:13
felt suitable for a track event and I couldn't wait to get it out on track.
2:17
Hooked up with a group of people on the RX eight club internet forum.
2:23
There were a bunch of people in the Southeast that also were very similar
2:27
to me, kind of in the same age group, also just bought one of those cars.
2:32
I said, you know what?
2:33
Let us get together and take our cars out to the track.
2:37
And so we signed up and did an event at Road Atlanta.
2:41
At the time, it was.
2:43
Panels racing school.
2:45
That was, oh wow.
2:45
Like the onsite school, that road Atlanta.
2:48
And they did open track days.
2:49
So I started doing that, of course, got hopelessly addicted, started
2:54
doing as many events as I could.
2:56
And then this group of friends, we started renting out a little racetrack,
3:01
about an hour and a half outside of Atlanta, called Little Talladega.
3:05
Or Talladega Grand Prix, we'd do that.
3:08
We'd, uh, get a group of 12 or 13 of us and you know, everybody would
3:12
throw in 150 bucks or so, and we'd have this racetrack for the day.
3:17
We continued doing that for a while.
3:19
I met my friend who became my business partner, Brian, and he would bring
3:24
his friends over to the track day.
3:26
I'd bring my friends over, and we just did that like three or four times a year.
3:32
Leading up to 2013, he said, you know what?
3:35
Why don't we try to go to a bigger track?
3:38
Let's go and get one of the big tracks and do this with our friends there.
3:42
Nice.
3:43
So Nabeel, you talked about starting out with an RX eight.
3:46
What are you driving now still in the Mazda family?
3:49
I have an NC MX five.
3:52
Oh man.
3:52
Is that a downgrade from an RX eight or did you move up in the world?
3:55
You know, it's, NC is basically an RX eight suspension.
4:00
With, uh, a non rotary motor and a little bit smaller, uh,
4:05
vehicle, I mean mean an apple.
4:06
An apple is basically a pear, but you know, you're right, they're both fruit.
4:13
Yeah.
4:13
Right.
4:14
Um, I don't think it was a downgrade.
4:16
My RX eight was just a full street car and I was crazy.
4:20
I mean, I used to do NASA time trials in that.
4:24
And I'll just put it on the ragged engine, then drive it to work on the next day with
4:29
the leather seats and the bow sound system and the air conditioning and everything.
4:34
My car now is a former Skip Barber school car.
4:39
Oh, so.
4:40
It's gutted enc caged.
4:42
It's been crashed heavily also, but fixed, whereas the RX
4:47
eight had never been crashed.
4:48
Uh, so yeah, my, my NC Miata is an, is an upgrade from the RX eight.
4:54
In terms of a track cards, it's pretty awesome.
4:57
It's got Penske shops and full cage and good seats.
5:01
I, I'd like you to show me one Miata that hasn't been crashed yet, but you know,
5:04
hey, that's a story for another day.
5:07
I wanna know if he was the reason it was crashed or if it was someone else.
5:11
Oh yeah.
5:12
Well that's a good question.
5:13
So the car started out as its life as a Skip Barber school car,
5:18
and a lot of those Skip crashed.
5:21
Skip Barber filed bankruptcy.
5:24
They had a big school at Road Atlanta.
5:26
They had a boneyard full of these crashed cars, and this was one of the last ones
5:32
that was sold by the liquidation company.
5:36
And my friend bought it 'cause he was going to fix it up for his son.
5:39
Well, his son saw that, said, I'm not interested in that.
5:43
And he said, Nabil, you wanted, it's got $2,000 worth of shocks on it.
5:47
The cage is fine.
5:48
The worst thing you do is make money just taking out the
5:51
cages and selling the shocks.
5:53
But I bought it from him at the price he paid.
5:56
Friend of mine who runs a a Miata repair shop, he fixed it up.
6:00
We took it to a body shop, straightened it out parts from various
6:04
cars, and it became my track car.
6:06
And then I let one of my champ car racing friends drive it and he put
6:12
it into the tires and turned three.
6:19
You know, little Talladega is kind of a small place.
6:22
You kind of felt really safe there, where we weren't really afraid of any
6:26
liabilities or anything like that.
6:28
But going to a big track, it was a different story.
6:31
We decided, well, the best way to do this is to start up an L L C,
6:35
continue to do kind of the same field, the same flavor of events, and so
6:41
in 2013, We started just track it.
6:44
We did our very first event as just track it at a brand new track at
6:49
the time, Atlanta Motorsports Park.
6:52
Okay.
6:52
A M P A M P in Dawsonville, Georgia.
6:54
So that's how we started, basically me and a friend and our groups of, in our
7:00
group of friends that, uh, we took through the racetrack and grew it from there.
7:05
So would you say that a m p is your home track or is there something
7:09
else that you guys call home nowadays, so many years later?
7:12
That's a tough question.
7:13
We're Atlanta based.
7:15
Actually, Brian moved on his day job, took him to Salt Lake
7:19
City, so he couldn't continue on.
7:22
So it's just me now.
7:24
I live in the Atlanta area, so we like to consider the Atlanta
7:29
tracks, our home tracks road.
7:31
Atlanta was the first track I ever drove.
7:33
I think it's the most exciting.
7:35
Track in the area.
7:36
So I absolutely love it.
7:38
And I think we have five events there this year.
7:41
Pretty much a primary track for us.
7:44
A M P was our first track, and we do several weekends a year there as well.
7:49
So that's a home track.
7:52
And then not too far away is Barbara Motorsports Bar.
7:56
We do four weekends a year there now.
7:58
I've called that a home track as well, and definitely love the people
8:03
at all these tracks and you know, have really good connections there.
8:07
So I would say our home tracks are a M P Road Atlanta and Barber
8:13
Motorsports Park High class problem.
8:16
So, Nabeel, you mentioned a lot of tracks that you would consider home tracks.
8:20
Mm-hmm.
8:21
But what's your personal favorite track?
8:24
Of all the ones you've been to over the years, it's gotta be Road Atlanta.
8:27
And what's a bucket list track for you?
8:29
Wains Lane.
8:30
Well, yeah, you're from the south for us.
8:32
It's like in our backyard, so we don't think about it.
8:33
Yeah.
8:33
Road America's another.
8:35
That's on my list as well.
8:36
Yeah.
8:37
So being situated in the Southeast, do you find yourself also going into
8:40
the Carolinas as well as Florida?
8:42
So we've been down to Florida, actually.
8:45
We just got back, we were at the firm.
8:48
Which is the Florida International Rally in Motorsports Park in
8:52
Stark, Florida, not far from Gainesville and Jacksonville area.
8:57
We've done events at Daytona.
9:00
Daytona's, not on our calendar right now, but our winter home would be
9:05
February in Florida at the firm.
9:08
We've done events at Carolina Motorsports Park, and we are
9:12
returning to C M P this summer.
9:15
So, We do Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Florida, because you're in the
9:21
warmer area of the United States, I guess your schedule is a lot bigger than a lot
9:26
of other organizations that we're used to.
9:28
So are you running February to November?
9:30
Are you running January to December?
9:32
And what's the schedule look like?
9:33
I'm happy to say January through December.
9:36
Very cool.
9:37
That's a, that's a terrible thing to have as a problem.
9:39
We're, we're lucky.
9:40
I mean, yes, it gets cold here, even though it's the south, it does get
9:45
cold, but there are some really nice days in January, believe it or not.
9:49
So, except if you live in Texas, but you know, hey, whatever.
9:54
So would you say Carolina Motorsports Park and like the
9:57
Carolinas is as far north as you go?
9:59
No, we've gone up to the National Corvette Museum Track N C M, but
10:05
we haven't in a couple of years.
10:06
We've done a couple of events there in the past.
10:09
Really, our footprint, I would say is roughly Atlanta as the center go four
10:15
hours in any direction, give or take.
10:19
That is our footprint.
10:20
The firm is about five and a half hours away, so a little bit out of that circle,
10:27
but well worth the drive in February to get out of the cold and into the sun.
10:32
In Florida, there's a different set of competitors down in the Southeast
10:36
and we're used to, and there's some names that overlap, obviously.
10:39
What's the big key differentiators that makes just track it that much better
10:44
or cut a cut above everybody else?
10:46
Well, of course we'd like to think we're the best.
10:49
And I mean, I, I kind of can say that with a lot of confidence.
10:54
And the reason for that is, like I mentioned, I started
10:58
doing H P D events in 2004.
11:01
I.
11:01
I have driven with practically every organization that puts
11:06
on events in the southeast.
11:08
I, I don't think I'm that smart a person, but you know, to be fully original
11:14
and come up with everything myself.
11:16
So what we have at just track it, we put together what I felt was the
11:20
very best of every organization that I've driven with and tried to come up
11:25
with the formula that matches what.
11:29
I think of as the ideal ultimate track day, and I think because I shamelessly
11:36
take ideas from other people and put them into our formula, we end up
11:42
with a pretty winning combination.
11:44
So that's a great segue into talking about what your DE program is like.
11:48
So let's talk about all of these pieces.
11:51
What are some of the expectations?
11:52
Someone new to just track it would have coming to an event for the first time,
11:56
new to just track it versus new to.
11:59
Actually doing HPDs both.
12:02
We'll talk about your teaching program as well.
12:04
But first of all, I think we try to keep it simple.
12:08
We've always said we have rules that make sense, not rules for the
12:13
sake of having rules, and that goes through practically every aspect of
12:18
joining and participating in an event.
12:21
Take for example, getting your car teched prior to an event.
12:25
There are organizations out there that make you line your car up
12:29
and you go through tech and they really don't check anything.
12:34
Honestly, if you brought your car into a tech line and said, Hey, Nabeel,
12:39
is my car fit for being on track?
12:42
I couldn't stay for sure.
12:44
I mean, I'd have to put it up on lift nut and bolt it, check all
12:48
the fluids, check everything.
12:49
I can't do that.
12:50
So starting off with tech, we allow self tech, but we encourage people
12:55
to take their car to a shop they trust, and they're responsible
13:00
for their car being on track.
13:03
All aspects of it.
13:05
So you come into driver, check-in with your completed tech form.
13:09
We go through that tech form with you.
13:12
We look at everything.
13:13
Make sure that you checked everything.
13:15
We've got all the contact information.
13:17
I.
13:18
That we need, and you're checked in for your event.
13:22
We have four run groups, typically based on driver experience rather than how fast
13:28
your car is from novice through advanced.
13:32
And we have some guidelines in terms of where would you slot in while
13:38
we allow you, when you register.
13:40
To pick the appropriate group that you think is, uh, right for you.
13:45
We do ask you to list all your prior experience, and I review all that
13:51
prior to accepting a registration.
13:53
So I get people that sign up for advanced and they've done, you
13:58
know, 10 track night in Americas.
14:01
Not naming names, but I mean that's a pretty common intro to H P D E.
14:07
Just because you were in advanced in, that does not make you advanced with us.
14:12
We're looking for 25 plus weekends, not, you know, I.
14:17
Single half day events.
14:20
You know, we have our guidelines and we review every registration
14:24
so that we classify the driver appropriately, and then throughout
14:28
the event we kind of monitor the run groups and see how things are going.
14:32
And if somebody needs to be bumped down or bumped up, we're happy to do that.
14:37
I am much more comfortable bumping somebody up.
14:40
Than having to have the conversation of moving them down or on groups.
14:45
I think it's an easy conversation to have with somebody brand new to us
14:50
to say, Hey, look, let's start you in the Intermediate one Run group.
14:54
I know you've done 15.
14:56
Events, let's see how it works, and then maybe do a check ride
15:00
and up to the next run group.
15:03
At the events, we have classroom training for novices.
15:08
We have in-car instruction for novices.
15:11
I know in the c o age there are some clubs that have gone to lead follow.
15:17
Instruction.
15:18
Right.
15:19
I don't fault anybody for that.
15:20
I just don't think it's very effective.
15:22
So we don't do that.
15:24
And I also understand somebody may not be comfortable.
15:28
I I understand that as well.
15:30
So for those people that do not want to have an in-car instructor because.
15:35
A fear of covid.
15:37
Sometimes we can work around that and do a lead follow type scenario.
15:41
It it's on a case by case basis, but for the most part, no.
15:44
The instruction is in car.
15:46
It's in classroom.
15:48
For covid, we require masks and social distancing and all the smart things
15:52
to be socially responsible ourselves.
15:56
So it sounds like your owner operator and CI there a little bit.
16:00
Let's get a little deeper into the DE program.
16:03
What's the classroom curricula like?
16:05
What are you guys teaching?
16:06
What are you going over?
16:07
What should a first time student expect when they go to a just tracking event?
16:11
I'm really pleased to say that I no longer have to wear the
16:15
hat of chief driving instructor.
16:17
I've got an awesome person to do that right now.
16:21
The classroom curriculum was developed by me, again, borrowing on stuff
16:26
that I have seen going through various organizations over the years.
16:31
When we don't do classroom for advanced drivers, it's just.
16:34
The novice, it's gonna start off with high level introduction to H P D E
16:42
from, Hey, when you get in your car, here's how you position your seat.
16:46
Here's where you wanna be in relation to your steering wheel.
16:49
It's in relation to your pedals, what you should be able to see when you glance
16:54
left and right in the mirror to what are the various flags, what do they mean?
17:00
Then through basic.
17:02
D technique, terminology, turn in apex.
17:09
Where your vision is, what an early apex is, late apex, where you break,
17:15
where you downshift, where you accelerate, where you're looking as
17:19
you're setting up for the next corner.
17:21
Some of the things that we would expect or ways that we would want you to
17:26
approach a track, for example, before you can really worry about corner exit
17:32
speed, first thing you have to do is.
17:34
Learn the line and be able to know where you wanna place your car.
17:38
And when you're able to do that, then you start working on getting on the gas a
17:43
little sooner and coming out of a corner better and lengthening the straight.
17:48
And then once you're able to do that, then you start working on,
17:51
well, you can maybe break a little bit deeper and you know, carry more
17:55
speed into and through a corner.
17:57
So we break the progression down that way.
18:00
Unfortunately that only happens in the novice run group and somebody who
18:04
stays in novice for maybe five or six events, and then they're on their own.
18:09
So no instructor, no classroom, and people plateau and you can't figure out,
18:16
Hey, you know, I, I got a lot better.
18:20
But all of a sudden I'm stuck.
18:22
And so this year we started to offer just a limited number
18:27
of advanced coaching slots.
18:29
So somebody that's an intermediate level driver, they want a experienced senior
18:34
instructor to jump in the car with them and help them find that elusive.
18:40
One, two or three seconds, or just figure out why do I seem to
18:45
be going backwards right in my progression rather than forwards?
18:49
And it's easy.
18:50
I mean, I, it happens to me and I've got a lot of experience, but
18:53
sometimes you need somebody to jump in with you and say, Hey, Nabil.
18:58
Stop turning in from the middle of the track, use the full width.
19:02
I didn't realize I was doing that.
19:03
Excited that we're able to do that now with our in-house team of instructors.
19:08
Yeah.
19:08
That, that guy for me is Eric.
19:12
He's my, he's my barometer.
19:14
If I, if I'm doing something well, and usually if I need to.
19:18
Improve a skill or, or, or whatever.
19:20
I ask him for his brutally honest, constructive criticism.
19:24
And if I'm in the right seat, I'm usually telling him, send it.
19:26
Just Just send it.
19:28
Yeah.
19:28
He's the one who fixes the car anyway, so a good friend of mine
19:33
would ask me to jump in the car.
19:35
With him to recalibrate his shitter.
19:41
The good old, we call it the butt Dino.
19:42
Yeah.
19:42
Yeah, the sphincter.
19:44
That's another, yeah.
19:46
People move up from beginner to intermediate.
19:49
And then you see we're saying they kind of stuck in limbo.
19:52
So with this new feature that you are offering, is this gonna be a
19:55
way to not only help them advance their skills, but also you're gonna
19:59
use it as like checkout rides to move them up into advance and then.
20:02
Are you also using this as a funnel for finding the future
20:07
instructors, uh, for your group?
20:09
Yeah.
20:09
It's not necessarily our method of progression.
20:15
It's really that advanced coaching is simply to help those people that you
20:20
know, wanna do more than just have fun or they have fun by actually getting
20:25
better and fine tuning their skills.
20:28
Not everybody seeks it out for those that want it.
20:31
We're able to offer it and not everybody wants it, and that's fine.
20:35
We do check rides to move somebody up and sometimes, you know, it's a
20:40
regular driver that may have been driving with us for several years and
20:45
I see that they're registered always.
20:47
Intermediate one and I, I think that they're ready to
20:51
move up to the next run group.
20:52
You know, I might encourage them to say, Hey, let's jump in the car with you and
20:56
see if we can move you up, or let's move you up at the end of the event and see
21:00
how you feel in that higher run group.
21:02
We have four run groups, so we go novice, intermediate one, intermediate two.
21:10
Advanced intermediate.
21:11
One is for somebody from six to 12 to 15 prior events or weekends,
21:18
intermediate, two 15 to 25 ish.
21:21
Weekends and advanced more than that, and everybody has a different learning speed.
21:27
You know, some people will take a little bit longer and others seem to
21:31
just take to it very naturally and are quick, you know, right off the bat.
21:36
Absolutely.
21:37
So that makes me wonder then, are the coaches running in advance or are they
21:41
allowed to run wherever they like?
21:43
How does that work?
21:44
So our instructors, they get a special wristband, an instructor wristband,
21:48
an instructor sticker on their car.
21:51
They are allowed to go out in any run group at any time they want.
21:55
So how many students on track and what is the student to instructor
21:59
ratio generally one to one, instructor to student, every instructor.
22:04
Gets one student and the number of students on track, let's say in
22:08
beginner, is it a limited size, like maybe capped at like 10 or 15 or ba?
22:12
Is it based on a ratio of cars per mile on the track?
22:16
It's a little bit of a ratio that I stole from somebody else, but it's
22:24
adjusted based on the track itself.
22:27
The number is 17 cars per mile.
22:30
Okay as a basis, but in the novice run group where there isn't as much
22:36
passing or there are fewer passing zones and depending on the track as to
22:42
how many passing zones there are, we're going to adjust that number downwards.
22:47
So for example, a track like Road Atlanta, we might have 28 people in that novice
22:54
run group while attract like barber.
22:58
Where there are five separate passing zones, the track is very wide everywhere.
23:03
It's really easy to get people by.
23:06
The passing zones are relatively long as well as plentiful.
23:11
You know, we can up that up to, you know, 36 people and it doesn't feel crowded.
23:16
So, It varies by track.
23:19
So since we touched on coaching a little bit, and Brad and I are both
23:21
coaches, so we're always interested in this side of the equation too.
23:24
Let's talk about, just track its coaching system and, and the model and,
23:28
and let's talk about the expectations there as a coach coming to A J T I event
23:33
for the first time, if you've never coached with us, the first thing that
23:37
we're looking for is a certification.
23:40
That certification can be B M W C C A has a good program.
23:44
The Porsche b C A clubs have a good program.
23:48
NASA has a decent program as well, so we'll accept a coaching
23:53
certification from other organizations that we know are committed.
23:59
To H P D E and the instruction have that focus as as part of their mantra as well.
24:07
So does that include M S F?
24:09
Yeah, so it does include M Ss F level two.
24:14
Level one is a nice to have, but by itself it doesn't really mean much.
24:18
Level two is definitely, you know, a, a certification that holds water
24:24
aside from a certification because we are starting to see in the past
24:29
year a trend where some organizations are pretty quick to certify people as
24:36
instructors, and this is because it's tough to find good quality instructors.
24:41
We're seeing people that are getting certified that really are not ready.
24:45
They don't have the seat time, they don't have the experience.
24:49
I've added another qualifier in there besides the certification.
24:52
We'd like to see an appropriate level of experience as an advanced driver,
24:57
whether that be autocross, whether that be club racing time, trials de whatever.
25:02
And then it's It's your full resume, right?
25:05
Or does that have to be specifically tracked?
25:07
Not so much autocross just because, I mean, it's, it's
25:10
a different set of skills.
25:11
Yes, absolutely.
25:12
Um, but club racing, track days, et cetera, we just wanna see that you
25:18
have enough seat time where you are attuned to what the car is doing under
25:24
you are able to feel it, anticipate it, and keep your student out of
25:29
danger if you don't have the seat time.
25:31
A, you don't have awareness of what's going on around you, corner stations,
25:36
other cars, traffic management, as well as what's gonna happen the
25:41
next time we go through this corner.
25:42
If we do this again, if you're an experienced coach, you kind
25:46
of see things before they happen.
25:48
You know that we got away with that one, or if we continue doing this
25:53
and taking it to the next level, we're going off and it could be bad.
25:58
So you need seat time for that.
26:00
So that's an important qualifier.
26:02
Absolutely.
26:02
Also, what we're looking for in a coach is somebody who's enthusiastic
26:06
and positive and can represent this hobby to somebody who's brand new.
26:11
People are afraid to take their car to the track, so you need somebody
26:15
that's not all crotchety yelling it.
26:18
People, but it's encouraging and supportive and friendly and can
26:23
communicate, uh, with their students.
26:26
Nabeel, you talked about MSF two and, and you alluded to the fact
26:29
that there's an instructor training program within just track it.
26:32
So do you wanna expand upon that a little bit?
26:34
Oh yeah.
26:35
I'd love to.
26:36
Like a lot of other organizations, initially we struggled
26:41
finding quality instructors.
26:43
There just weren't very many and those that existed, well, they could
26:49
choose pretty much any organization they wanted to and instruct with them.
26:53
So if you're the new guy coming up, they don't know you.
26:56
It's hard to get good quality instructors.
26:58
I never wanted to compromise.
27:01
So while I saw other groups taking experienced drivers, Putting them
27:08
as instructors in novice cars.
27:11
I never wanted to do that.
27:12
I wanted to make sure there was a certified trained person.
27:16
When we couldn't find enough, I said, well, we'll grow our own.
27:20
And so put together an instructor training program that was.
27:24
A two day program to take somebody that was sufficiently experienced and put them
27:30
through the program and show them how to communicate with a student and help them
27:34
progress through being a novice safely.
27:37
Last year or year before MSF started becoming a little bit more well-known,
27:42
and they started off with the MSF one.
27:45
Certification, which is pretty easy to get.
27:47
You really don't have to be an experienced driver to pass
27:50
that certification in any way.
27:52
But then MSF two came along and it just so happened my chief driving instructor was
27:59
in touch with the folks at the Motorsports Safety Foundation, and he submitted
28:06
our curriculum to them for review.
28:08
They loved it.
28:10
So we went through several iterations of back and forth of
28:14
them asking questions, and we got.
28:16
Approved to be a MSF two certification center back in January.
28:23
We did a class at Barbara.
28:25
It was, I think our third MSF two class.
28:28
The first two we did last year.
28:31
We went through our.
28:32
Core instructor team and offered them the opportunity to get
28:36
that MSF two certification.
28:38
Tried to cover our charity, starting at home type, uh, approach and try to
28:44
cover our people and give them priority.
28:46
And then in January we opened it up.
28:48
We actually had people come from other regions to attend our class and we also
28:53
had representatives Eric Mayer from.
28:57
Motorsports Safety Foundation came actually a sat in on the program and
29:02
participated it and actually brought some of his instructors to be certified
29:08
by us, which is pretty awesome.
29:09
We really are proud that we have MSF two certification.
29:15
We plan on doing two more certifications this year.
29:18
One will be at Road Atlanta in July, and then the third one, I forget
29:22
when we're setting it, it might be, uh, Roebling Road in November.
29:27
Yeah, we've got a fantastic instructor program.
29:31
It's been rated and, uh, we've had some really excellent reviews by,
29:36
uh, Eric Mayer and Motorsports Safety Foundation folks, as well as people that
29:41
have gone through other certification programs in the past and wanted to
29:46
get their M S F two and said it's the best program they've ever been in.
29:49
So I'm proud of my chief driving instructor, Levi Barnes.
29:53
For getting us there.
29:54
How does someone register for a J T I event?
29:57
Where do we find you, you know, where do we figure out where you're
30:01
going and, and, uh, how to sign up?
30:03
There are several places.
30:04
First is, of course, just track it.net, our website and our,
30:08
our calendar page there, we use club registration.net as our.
30:13
Platform for managing registration, you'd find us there.
30:17
And then of course, if there's a particular track that you're interested
30:21
in, whether it's Barber or Road Atlanta, you can always go to their website
30:24
and see what events are coming up.
30:27
Uh, so you talked about you've got four run groups.
30:29
Uh, so how does that break down to.
30:32
Amount of track time, you're getting session length and stuff like that.
30:36
I think the standard we've seen is usually 20 to 25 minutes, depending
30:40
on the amount of run groups.
30:42
Uh, why don't you talk a little bit about the, what you're getting for your
30:45
dollar with just track it in general.
30:47
You can count on about two hours worth of seat time per day.
30:52
And that works out to be 5 25 minute sessions.
30:55
That's our typical schedule for every run group.
30:59
So that's a pretty good amount of time.
31:01
When we first started out, we didn't have as many participants and so
31:05
we used to have three run groups.
31:07
What I used to see is that people would pack up at two o'clock and leave 'cause
31:10
they, that was about all they had.
31:12
Brake sport tires for mental energy for, and it felt like such a waste.
31:18
I'd be going around the paddock saying, guys, it's your run group.
31:22
Get out on track.
31:23
What's wrong with you?
31:25
So having four run groups really does a couple of things for us.
31:30
One, I would say most important because of my experience as an instructor, it
31:36
gives you the ability to set up your run groups so that you have novice.
31:41
Break instructor, break novice again so that you have time to
31:46
get into your student's car.
31:49
Brief them before the session.
31:51
End the session, debrief, discuss, not rush, be able to go and get
31:56
into your car and do your session.
31:58
In the meantime, the other intermediate run groups are on
32:01
either side of the novice and, uh, advanced instructors run in advanced.
32:07
It gives a lot more time and it's a lot more relaxed.
32:12
It also is nice when you actually have.
32:15
You know, an hours breather in between your next session.
32:19
And how many classroom sessions do the beginners have?
32:22
Typically four classroom sessions over the course of the weekend,
32:25
so two on Saturday, two on Sunday.
32:28
Sometimes it might just end up being one on Sunday.
32:31
I.
32:31
And that's all included in the price.
32:33
And obviously we all kind of understand at this point that the tracks
32:37
really dictate the cost to go play.
32:40
But what's the average weekend cost look like for a just track event?
32:44
Uh, it depends on the track.
32:46
So least expensive weekend is 2 99, most expensive is five 50.
32:52
That's actually really good.
32:54
Yeah.
32:54
I mean, you know.
32:56
We want to be a high value.
32:58
We want to be competitively priced and by competitively, I mean I want to be no more
33:04
than anybody else, but less than most.
33:07
I.
33:08
Without sacrificing amount of runtime, the quality of the event, the quality of the
33:13
staff, you know, our standards are gonna be maintained at the same high level.
33:19
Yeah, we started doing this for fund.
33:21
We didn't do this to pay a mortgage.
33:23
We have a very lean organization, so I don't have a lot of staff.
33:28
Keep it simple.
33:30
We do the things that we are good at and avoid the things we're not good at.
33:35
So we talked about a lot of things in the last, you know, 30 minutes or so.
33:39
We've talked about, you know, tech, we've talked about the classroom,
33:42
we've talked about the run sessions, the price, things like that.
33:45
But you know, the number one thing, At the back of everybody's mind, and you
33:49
actually hit on it earlier, is safety.
33:52
So let's kind of touch on that a little bit.
33:54
Maybe some of the things that you guys do to ensure safety, but also let's
33:59
delve into the conversation around track insurance, kind of your feelings on that.
34:04
Do you recommend it?
34:05
Do you have a recommended partner?
34:07
Is it part of your registration process to supply track insurance?
34:10
Things like that.
34:11
So safety, I mean, it's all funny games until someone loses an eye, isn't it?
34:17
It's the old saying, right?
34:18
Yeah.
34:19
Safety.
34:20
I, I like to start off a driver's meeting.
34:22
Say, look, you know, we have two main goals.
34:25
One, have fun and two, be safe.
34:28
That's why we're here.
34:29
With regards to safety.
34:31
We do not skimp on the number of corner workers, so we make
34:36
sure every corner is staffed.
34:38
We just emphasize it all over the place.
34:42
The quality of our instructors, the classification of drivers
34:45
into the right run groups, those are all factors of safety.
34:50
What vehicles are allowed and not allowed.
34:53
Those lead to safety as well in terms of convertible rules and so on.
34:57
You know, we're, we're doing all the things that make sense in terms of trying
35:02
to provide as safe and environment as possible when it comes to track insurance.
35:07
While that doesn't really do much to enhance the safety of anything, it
35:12
does help in the unfortunate case where you have an off track excursion that
35:18
ends in impact with a tire barrier or.
35:21
Concrete or armco?
35:23
It depends.
35:24
I don't tell people that they need to do it or that they should do it.
35:29
I think everybody needs to just take stock of what vehicle are
35:33
they bringing to the track?
35:35
Is it something that you can walk away from and not feel too devastated
35:41
financially because you crashed your car?
35:44
And if that's not the case, then by all means buy track insurance.
35:50
The first.
35:50
People that we talked to about getting listed was Lockton.
35:55
So, you know, Lockton is, uh, somebody that I always refer people to is if you
36:01
want to buy track insurance, they're a serious player in that market.
36:05
Haggerty has started to do that, and there are a few other sources.
36:10
In fact when you register for an event with club registration, they have a
36:16
insurance company that they, you have to be careful with insurance 'cause
36:20
you can't rebate or anything like that.
36:23
But they have like some banner ads for a provider of track to insurance that
36:29
you know, does a good job as well.
36:31
So, I encourage people to shop around at call and get a quote, and if you are
36:36
interested in doing a lot of events, the best value is to buy a multi-event
36:42
policy because it's like going to the grocery store and getting the family
36:47
pack of ground beef instead of, you know.
36:50
One pound at a time.
36:52
Exactly.
36:53
So definitely go large.
36:56
Do you see a lot of newbies at just track events with electric cars yet?
37:00
And what do you think of the electric car revolution that's coming?
37:03
Not a lot.
37:04
I don't see a lot of electric cars.
37:06
We've seen a few Teslas.
37:08
That's about it.
37:09
The only thing that they're missing is the sound.
37:13
You know, I want to hear the car, but I guess we'll get used to that.
37:17
I mean, the performance of an electric car can be astounding.
37:20
You know, it's coming, we'll see it, but what I'm afraid of is missing the auditory
37:27
excitement that we get from an uncorked.
37:31
Four cylinder Mazda Miata.
37:35
Do you think some of the hesitance of, of these, uh, electric cars showing up
37:38
more and more at the track is because there's no charging infrastructure
37:41
there yet for those types of vehicles?
37:43
Yeah, well, there are some tracks that we go to that there's charging
37:47
nearby, like Robing Road in Savannah.
37:50
The Savannah airport is 10 50 minutes from the track and they
37:53
have Tesla supercharger there.
37:55
I think one of the things right now from what I've seen is that
37:59
the electric cars will not run a full session in full power mode.
38:05
So, you know, they go out there, they run two laps, and then it's
38:08
like a time attack car that's got.
38:11
Not enough cooling and too much performance and therefore can stay out
38:15
there and, uh, finish out a session.
38:18
So we're seeing that.
38:19
And then of course, the range aspect.
38:21
There isn't a quick charger near Road Atlanta or Barber, for example.
38:26
So, so let me ask you this, you know, looking back over your 20 plus
38:29
years in the de world, what's some advice you would give to a first
38:33
timer or somebody that's just still thinking about coming out to an event?
38:37
First thing, if you've never been to one, Come out and check it out.
38:41
You don't have to register.
38:43
Just come out and stop by the registration table.
38:46
Introduce yourself.
38:48
Maybe get a ride on track to check it out.
38:51
Talk to us in person if you can make it out to an event.
38:55
Hey, here's my number.
38:56
Call me and, uh, you know, I'll answer your questions.
38:59
We'll help you get the answers that you're looking for about this hobby.
39:04
The second thing I would say is, You don't need a special car, don't need
39:09
to have a nine 11 g T three, or, um, you know, a sports car, if you will.
39:16
You can bring almost anything out, I would say.
39:20
I don't want to see SUVs and pickup trucks.
39:23
The track just because, you know, most of them are so heavy that while
39:27
they can go fast, stopping is a problem after a couple of laps or
39:31
maybe even after a couple of corners.
39:33
And I don't like to see big, heavy vehicles on track with
39:36
lightweight, smaller vehicles like, you know, MX fives and and so on.
39:42
So you don't need a special car, but it needs to be in good mechanical condition.
39:46
No leaks, no freight belts, no worn tires.
39:50
New brakes, new brake fluids, you know, track quality brake pads,
39:54
all the safety stuff, uh, should be working properly as well.
39:58
And then finally, the only other thing you need is in current SA rated helmet.
40:04
And if you don't have one, we have 'em available for rent at every event too.
40:08
So if you're just trying it out, maybe you don't wanna buy a helmet, just rent one.
40:13
And then you say, okay, I see myself doing this.
40:16
Lemme go ahead and invest and get a good helmet.
40:18
So earlier we talked about the NC Miata that you have and things like that,
40:23
and I, it made me wonder, What was your biggest learning moment on the track?
40:28
Something you could, again, bestow to a newcomer to the de world.
40:32
You know, maybe that biggest oops moment where you really, it was a turning point
40:35
for you, having a hard time thinking of what one singular thing would've been.
40:41
There's that many, is that what you're saying?
40:43
Well, yes, I have found the edge.
40:48
I've gone over the edge and I'm still here.
40:50
So I've come back from beyond the edge, but every time I go over the edge I
40:55
learn something new and I've been over that edge so many times that it, it
41:00
doesn't really happen too much anymore.
41:02
I think it's important to just to remember, you know,
41:06
we're doing this for fun.
41:08
Stay within the limits.
41:09
There's really nothing to prove.
41:11
The biggest notoriety you're going to get is by spectacularly wiping out.
41:18
That's not the notoriety you want.
41:21
Absolutely.
41:21
Nobody cares how good you are or how fast you are.
41:24
We're not gonna get any kind of driving contract, so just have fun and be
41:30
careful and do it again next week, next month, or however often you're able to.
41:36
That's right.
41:37
Listeners.
41:37
H B D E is not as cool as autocross because we don't
41:41
get $5 trophies at the end.
41:43
So, you know, keep that in mind.
41:44
Right, exactly.
41:46
No trophies.
41:47
What other things about just track it, do we not know about that are maybe
41:52
special to you guys that you wanna share?
41:54
You know, one of the things that I'm really proud of is that we are friendly,
41:58
we're welcoming, we're inclusive.
42:01
You see a lot of.
42:03
Husband, wife, father, son, whole families that come out
42:09
and whether they're all driving.
42:11
We're just hanging out with each other at the track.
42:14
It's a very inclusive family type atmosphere, and my team is super friendly
42:21
and welcoming, and we've just had some fantastic relationships with the people
42:26
that drive with us on a regular basis and those that are new to us that we
42:31
just wanna welcome them in and introduce them to this hobby and make them feel
42:36
like they're a part of this family.
42:37
It's not standoffish, it's not clickish, it's not, well,
42:43
you don't have X, Y, Z card.
42:45
Therefore, I'm not interested in talking to you and I will not
42:48
give you a point buy on the track.
42:51
I think that flavor is something that I'm really happy about and I love to see.
42:57
Last weekend, one of our regular drivers, he's been coming with his
43:01
son for the past couple of years while his 16 year old daughter.
43:06
Did her first track event in her mom's B M W X one.
43:12
Nice.
43:12
At the firm, and it was so cool to see her gain speed through the
43:17
weekend, coming through the turn 10 and turn one complex at the firm.
43:23
And it was just like, that is so awesome.
43:25
You know, she's gonna go and.
43:27
Talk to her friends at school about what an incredible weekend she had
43:32
and her dad today signed her up for three more events that are upcoming.
43:36
Well, there you go.
43:37
It's just, it's awesome.
43:39
Well, since we're giving shout outs and telling stories, is there
43:41
anybody that you wanna thank or any sponsors or anybody you wanna mention?
43:45
I.
43:45
Oh yeah, absolutely.
43:46
We have phenomenal sponsors at Just Track It.
43:49
A lot of them.
43:50
In fact, our three primary sponsors are Course Accrue.
43:54
Course Accrue is based out of Birmingham, and they show up
43:58
at all of our track events.
43:59
And what's cool about them is if it's track site service,
44:04
your brakes start fading.
44:06
You need your brakes, blood, or your patch changed, or your tires rotated
44:10
or anything like that, they're there.
44:12
So your weekend does not end.
44:14
They also have a couple of arrive and drive cars, like some
44:17
Cayman GTSs and a Mini Cooper.
44:20
They can save your weekend and they're on site for other groups as well, but
44:25
they're a sponsor of just track it.
44:27
Another sponsor is gas Trailers.
44:30
Or Gilreath Auto Sales.
44:31
They're out of Tennessee area and they're a trailer dealer.
44:35
So if you want a Hallmark trailer or you know, other name brand, not the,
44:40
the cheap South Georgia trailers.
44:43
I don't know if you guys are familiar with South Georgia trailer companies.
44:47
They're notorious where, you know, you take a look underneath and where something
44:51
should have gone through a cross member.
44:54
Uh, the, the bolt is just into the air.
44:58
So they, they deal with quality trailers and their deal is 10% off of dealer cost.
45:04
You can customize a trailer and they, they're one of our sponsors.
45:08
And then the third sponsor, E three storage.
45:11
It's like a car storage place slash d i y.
45:16
Club, you can store your car there, your trailer there.
45:20
They have some lifts that you can work on your car.
45:22
There it is the home of just track it and the just track it trailer.
45:27
They have locations in Alpharetta, Georgia, Marietta, Georgia, Tucker,
45:31
Georgia, Charlotte, North Carolina, coming soon to potentially Hilton
45:36
Head area, South Carolina and other cities as they continue to grow.
45:42
So those are our main sponsors.
45:45
Our photography company, Motorsport Media, run by a really, really
45:50
talented photographer that covers a lot of the SSA teams, photograph all
45:55
sorts of professional motorsports.
45:57
And then finally, track Day Tire, uh, is a source for
46:00
Hoosier and uh, Toyo Race tires.
46:04
Through their program and you can find the discount code on just track it.net.
46:09
Under track day Tire.
46:10
You can get discounts.
46:12
I think it's like 10% off of uh, Hoosier Tires.
46:16
And if you know Hoosier, they're not discounted anywhere.
46:19
So it's the absolute best price you're gonna find on a Hoosier Tire, like a a
46:24
seven or R seven race compound or Toyo rr.
46:28
And you can save money plus flat rate chipping.
46:31
The best place to get that, uh, you know, the top tires for, for your track car.
46:37
The purple crack as the S C C A guys car.
46:39
Purple crack.
46:39
Yeah.
46:40
Yeah.
46:40
I didn't wanna say that.
46:42
It's all good.
46:44
They're addictive.
46:45
So, Nabeel, I can't thank you enough for coming on the show.
46:48
This has actually been really informative.
46:49
It's good to get to know an organization outside of our
46:52
normal area here in the D M V.
46:54
So learning more about the Southeast and our neighbors in the warmer
46:58
climate has been fantastic.
46:59
So, For those of you listening, if you want more details on the,
47:03
just track it and their program, as Nabeel said, visit, just track
47:07
it.net or follow them on Facebook and Instagram at Just track it, llc.
47:12
Or use their online Contact US forum to get in touch with Nabeel directly.
47:16
So again, thank you so much for coming on the show.
47:17
This has been awesome.
47:19
Thank you.
47:19
It's been fun.
47:25
That's right, listeners, if you enjoyed this episode, be sure to check out our
47:29
Patreon for a follow on pitstop Mini.
47:33
So check that out on www.patreon.com/gt motorsports and get access to
47:40
all sorts of behind the scenes content from this episode and more.
47:45
If you like what you've heard and want to learn more about G T M, be sure to
47:49
check us out on www.gt motorsports.org.
47:53
You can also find us on Instagram at Grand Tour Motorsports.
47:56
Also, if you want to get involved or have suggestions for future shows, you can call
48:00
or text us at (202) 630-1770 or send us an email at Crew chief@gtmotorsports.org.
48:08
We'd love to hear from you.
48:10
Hey everybody, crew Chief Eric here.
48:13
We really hope you enjoyed this episode of Break Fix, and we wanted
48:16
to remind you that G T M remains a no annual fees organization, and our goal
48:21
is to continue to bring you quality episodes like this one at no charge.
48:26
As a loyal listener, please consider subscribing to our Patreon for
48:30
bonus and behind the scenes content, extra goodies and G T M swag.
48:35
For as little as $2 and 50 cents a month, you can keep our developers,
48:38
writers, editors, casters, and other volunteers fed on their strict diet of
48:43
fig Newton's, gummy bears, and monster.
48:46
Consider signing up for Patreon today at www.patreon.com/gt motorsports.
48:53
And remember, without fans, supporters, and members like you,
48:58
none of this would be possible.