Latest / Founder Mode / Move Fast & Brake Things with Allen Berg

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Move Fast & Brake Things with Allen Berg · Founder Mode

• 0:00
  I guess I must have been like 7 or 8 years old.
• 0:02
  My dad took me to a drag race and I got an opportunity to sit
• 0:06
  in a AA fuel dragster and you know, that was kind of it.
• 0:11
  You know, back in when I was starting in Calgary, there's two
• 0:15
  channels and we'd be able to watch Wide World of Sports on
• 0:20
  Saturday morning and there would be the occasional 2 minute
• 0:25
  report on Formula One from Europe and it fascinated me.
• 0:44
  All right. Welcome to Founder mode.
• 0:45
  Yeah. We're going to take a little
• 0:47
  different approach today. What are we doing, Kev?
• 0:49
  We're out here at Laguna Seca racing formula cars.
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  Like one of the most famous raceways in the world.
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  Yep, and getting warmed up here. We're just doing some practice
• 0:59
  laps. We're going to get out on the
• 1:00
  track and do some full speed laps after lunch.
• 1:03
  But yeah, just getting ready to go.
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  And then the cool thing we we got to do today is we're going
• 1:07
  to have a conversation with Allen Berg, who is the, the
• 1:10
  founder of Allenburg Racing Schools.
• 1:11
  He's been doing, he's been racing cars for, I don't know,
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  40 plus years, 50. Years for a long time, his whole
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  lot since he was 7. Since he was seven years old,
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  he's racing cars. The funniest thing though that
• 1:21
  they said while we were learning about this is that these cars
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  were designed for for little Italian.
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  Children, children, children. And we are two large American
• 1:30
  men. Yeah, but it works.
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  We fit in there. We've already done our practice
• 1:32
  last. We did our ready to go.
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  Jason, did you stall? Not I did.
• 1:36
  OK, I spun. You spun.
• 1:38
  I stalled, but I only got one note, which is I got to do the
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  clutch, I got to be slower on the clutch.
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  Easy on the clutch. Yeah, the clutch is pretty
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  aggressive on these cars. It's clutch.
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  No power steering, manual brakes, carbon.
• 1:50
  They got to warm up the tires, warm up the brakes feel.
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  Everything. Yeah, it's been good.
• 1:53
  Yeah, I I think what for me, the thing that this like the reason
• 1:57
  why this is founder mode for me is like driving a formula car is
• 2:03
  like running a startup in that it's, it's like all gas, little
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  brakes. So much like you're feeling the
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  road under you, you're going to potentially hit the wall.
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  So like maybe pull off, but you don't want to, you don't want to
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  back off the gas at all. You just want to keep.
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  Yeah, there's this sense of like, you know, a little bit of
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  nervousness of trying to get it to to go right and everything's
• 2:24
  there. But you're also excited when you
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  get in the straightaway. You just pound it.
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  You're go, go, go, go. And then you're regard, how do I
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  control this? And then, you know, if you push
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  it too hard, you lose control. And so it's this finding that
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  sort of barrier of control of like, what is that sort of
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  borderline where you're like, I'm just not yet out of control,
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  but able to keep it in control and keep it going.
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  And then more importantly, keeping that momentum to carry
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  it through all these turns, right?
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  Because that's part of what we've learned in this first one
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  was like, wow, if you really keep that momentum in too late,
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  you're going to lose control and, you know, lose it in one of
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  the corners. Yeah.
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  And if your, if your business is cranking and things are working,
• 2:55
  just keep up that momentum. Yeah, right.
• 2:57
  Should we? Should we go talk to Alan?
• 2:58
  Let's do it. You're like ready to get in the
• 3:10
  car bro, Just relax. We got a little school to do.
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  1st I wanted I wanted to get used to them on my hands.
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  You know how things feel you. Know how it feels you want to.
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  Like I was going to do some like gardening.
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  Yeah, those been doing very much.
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  No, I know gardening. That's no, I know, I know.
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  Yeah, I got these the other day. I like these.
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  These are nice 'cause I get a lot of good feel.
• 3:28
  Yes, for sure, yeah. That's good.
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  The guy who taught me my like stick shift lesson this week was
• 3:32
  like, these are the ones to get. These are great driving shoes.
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  Learn to drive stick. Yeah, this week.
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  Yeah, yes. First time I, he was emailing
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  Alan about it. I was like, hey, do you have
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  anything that's not a stick? He's like, no, yeah, this.
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  Is a race car, Yeah, this isn't like.
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  Yeah, yeah. This guy grew up on a farm, so
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  there's a lot of stick shifts out there.
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  So yeah, you. Know with race cars they're
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  going more more towards the paddle ship yeah these days yeah
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  you know they're always in the basic levels of of racing I
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  understand and even higher levels in vintage cars and then
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  you know like in stock car racing their manual transmission
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  cars it's. It's all so the F1, the like
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  Formula One stuff today is all paddle.
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  It's all paddle with with. Clutch or clutchless?
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  Clutchless, yeah. Clutchless, how long have you
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  been doing this out? I've been doing the racing
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  school at 18 years. Now 18 years.
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  Nice. They're they're you're now
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  legal. It's legal to vote and go to
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  war. The racing school, 18 years.
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  Yeah. I guess exactly right.
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  So yeah. You're always doing this track.
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  Are you guys always? You guys rotate out, it's
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  always. You do other programs but not.
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  But this school is here. This school is here.
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  The school is here. We do corporate safety training
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  programs for manufacturers and other groups.
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  Yeah, fleet fleets. And we do some police training
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  as well. Nice.
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  Like the formula? Car stuff.
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  Yes. And you know, driver accident
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  avoidance. Yeah, Yeah.
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  And the formula car stuff is here.
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  This is the best track in the country to do.
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  This at Yeah, I mean, this might be the best track in the
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  country, period. Yes, yeah.
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  Yeah, I mean, there, there's a few places in the world that are
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  at this level. It's like Nurburgring, which is
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  too long, honestly. And then you've got the couple
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  in Tokyo and you you could close the streets in Monaco, right?
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  There's a couple of places where.
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  It's really just. This is royalty.
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  It's been. Around for 60 years and so, you
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  know, being able to do this sort of experience here is a is a
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  pretty cool thing for people. We have people that come from,
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  you know, across the country. Our group, we've got a guy from
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  North Carolina today. Yeah, yeah.
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  We've had drivers come in from Japan, you know, in the fall he
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  did a Blue Cross to do the program and then went home again
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  and then he came across and did some racing with us.
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  We have a racing team that's based on the East Coast as well
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  too. Where do those guys race out of
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  just all over the East Coast? They travel we we have our team
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  is runs in two national racing championships Open wheel racing
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  champions. So and and what?
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  What like. Where did you mean on the East
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  Coast? Where did you fall in love with
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  cars? When was the moment where you're
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  like, this is all I'm gonna ever do, This isn't this thing?
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  For me, I guess I must have been like 7 or 8 years old.
• 5:57
  My dad took me to a drag race and I got an opportunity to sit
• 6:02
  in a AA fueled dragster and you know, that was kind of it.
• 6:06
  Yeah, you know, back in when I was starting in Calgary, there's
• 6:10
  two channels and we'd be able to watch Wide World of Sports on
• 6:16
  Saturday morning and there would be the occasional 2 minute
• 6:20
  report on Formula One from Europe and fascinated me.
• 6:25
  You're hooked. Yeah, kind of you, you must be
• 6:27
  kind of like floored by the just explosive growth of Formula, you
• 6:31
  know, Netflix drive to survive. All of a sudden, like everyone
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  in the world's a Formula One fan.
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  What what does that do for you guys here and for you like
• 6:37
  you're how do you, how do you how do you feel about all that?
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  It's great. Yeah, because, you know,
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  certainly now there is, you know, just a lot more awareness
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  of what racing is in general, you know, you know, driven, you
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  know, by Formula One. And really, you know, the
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  Internet of course, start, you know, created an awareness of
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  it. And then Drive to Survive really
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  created a much bigger market awareness in the United States.
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  And I think that's been huge. And that's why there are three
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  Formula One races. Yeah.
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  And as that pushed it into your guys score, are you seeing
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  enrollment and interest in the school?
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  Yeah, growing around that? Yeah, yeah.
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  Even before then, our programs, you know, the number of programs
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  that we operate here, they're almost always completely sold
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  out. It's been like that for a few
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  years, but this seriously supplemented it.
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  Yes, Yeah. For sure.
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  Yeah, we're, I mean, we're so excited to be here.
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  I've, you know, I've been a car guy since I was a little kid and
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  like my group in Chicago would go to the Chicago auto show with
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  my dad, my little brother and I every single year.
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  And then, you know, we've always been into cars.
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  My brother has a 458I. I had a Nissan GTR that was the
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  first car ever tracked and like, you know, just, but never driven
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  an open wheel formula car. Like I don't know if if for
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  folks who don't, who've never been inside or been close to 1
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  like describe it like, what's it, what's it like?
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  Well. It's it's very, it's very raw.
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  I don't know it's one way to be able to do it.
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  You know, the cars are purpose built for driving on a race
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  track. There is no traction control or
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  ABS. There's no power steering.
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  You know, the cars are built for for speed and for performance.
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  You know, on a, on a closed, you know, a closed track like this 2
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  1/2 mile racetrack, that's, that's what they're for.
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  And it's, you know, really the, you know, that the true starting
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  point for anyone that wants to get involved with racing and,
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  and going to a racing school is something that to get a racing
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  license. It's the fundable staff in in,
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  in auto sport. So we provide racing licenses
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  for those. That are oh, you get them
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  started, give them the license. And then they, they, they.
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  Move on. Like getting a pilot's license?
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  Yeah, go. Through the steps, right?
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  Yeah. Yeah, that's right.
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  So all starts from Aaron a formula car is the most is the
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  best platform to be able to learn from because of the fact
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  that it is there is no traction. Control.
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  It's just it. You're just you in the car.
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  And the, the correct technique, there's specific technique to
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  driving, yeah, a car that needs to be covered off and what you
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  can learn in our school and formula cars apply to other
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  different types of cars versus if you go to a, a, a driving
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  experience that have Rd. cars that you can run on the track
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  with the traction control. Well, this takes away a lot of
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  the safety, a lot of the like automation.
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  So it forces you to get really, really native with the
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  understanding and form and fundamentals.
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  You learn the correct technique and you learn the correct
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  technique and you're able to apply it to a lot of other.
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  Different. We're going to school today.
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  Yeah. I'm excited.
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  Yeah. I want to.
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  I want to learn. Yeah.
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  Yeah. So look, Alan, we, we kind of
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  just grabbed you and, and, and like kind of forced you into
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  talking to us. But we, we do this, this podcast
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  called Founder Mode and we interview entrepreneurs and
• 9:39
  founders about building their businesses.
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  You know, if you were, if you were to give advice to your
• 9:44
  younger self or somebody else who's like, I want to build a
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  business around racing cars, you know, kind of getting out there
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  and doing this sort of thing. What's your what's your advice
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  to folks out there doing stuff like this?
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  Well, you know, you have to look at the at the big picture and a
• 9:56
  long term to be able to see what you where you really want to
• 10:01
  take you up. Be be realistic in your
• 10:03
  expectations. And just like anything else when
• 10:06
  you are starting a business, you need to make sure you develop a
• 10:09
  market for it. Yeah, that's the most important
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  thing is to make sure there is a market.
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  Seems like there's a pretty good market for this.
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  There's a room full of people in there waiting for you.
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  That's good and. Good.
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  Let's do it. Thank you, Alan.
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  Appreciate you. Nice to meet you well.
• 10:21
  Welcome, great job. Thanks, Nat.
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  Dude this was so fun. I remember putting on my my
• 10:27
  tracksuit being like how I'm going to go to the bathroom in
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  this. Yeah, I actually tried right
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  after and it was actually not that hard.
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  There's like a zipper. Yeah, there's the whole thing.
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  And then they took us out there. They showed us how to like use
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  the cars and do you remember the blip?
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  They're like, oh, when you shift you have to like keep 1 foot on
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  the brake and and blip the gas so that you can Rev match.
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  That was, too. Hard skill, toe shifting and the
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  tricky part there was like what they wanted you to do was just
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  practice like 1 downshift. I actually went for all three
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  and ended up in the gravel, which I was the first you.
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  Were the first one to spin. There's my spin right there.
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  That's awesome. Nice.
• 10:59
  Yeah, I was. I tried to like get myself out.
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  Couldn't do it. They had to raise the.
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  Hand thumbs up for safety like I'm alive.
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  I like it. I lived.
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  I lived to tell the tale. Dude, back on the track, yeah.
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  I mean, this was, this was like a top five life event for sure.
• 11:14
  And I have two I watched. The Corkscrew dude, Epic, epic
• 11:18
  coming through this thing. Yeah, the.
• 11:19
  Corkscrew, amazing. I mean, the other thing we got
• 11:21
  to talk about Laguna Seca, like literally racetrack royalty,
• 11:23
  like one of the best in the world.
• 11:25
  Yeah, pretty amazing. I remember, it's funny, after I
• 11:28
  shared my with my mom, I was going there.
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  She's like, do you remember the time we drove out there and went
• 11:32
  to watch a race? And I was like, damn, as a kid I
• 11:34
  totally remember. And she like took us there to go
• 11:36
  watch a race when we were kids. And I think it was just me and
• 11:39
  her because it was, I was really into like racing as a kid and so
• 11:42
  like to come back now and see it.
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  And honestly, I literally forgot about that moment until she
• 11:45
  reminded me. So I got to go back and try to
• 11:47
  find. Something incredible.
• 11:48
  High fives all around. Best time?
• 11:50
  Yeah, such a fun trip. Dude that was an incredible
• 11:53
  interview and what a wild day. Yeah.
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  And like, I mean, just getting out there on the track and
• 11:58
  feeling that road, feeling those, those curbs and like
• 12:01
  trying not to hit stuff or spin out and hit.
• 12:03
  I hit a couple of cones on those, on those last.
• 12:05
  OK, yeah, it was definitely a day.
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  You looked good out there while you were doing.
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  It same, same, same. You were out there pushing it
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  and it was fun. It definitely was easier
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  actually at speed than it was doing the slow speed in the pits
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  here. It was actually tricky to keep
• 12:15
  these cars. Running, I like to go fast.
• 12:17
  I we have to say a couple of things.
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  One, Allenburg racing schools and Allenburg for joining us 2
• 12:22
  Hampton for this incredible event and for, you know, putting
• 12:25
  this together. I think one of the Hampton
• 12:27
  members was like, hey, I want to do this thing and they're like,
• 12:28
  sure, we're going to go to Laguna Seiko.
• 12:30
  Insane. Yeah, yeah.
• 12:31
  It's been fun. What?
• 12:32
  What's like the big the big thing you're taking away from
• 12:34
  today, Kev? I think the other one that I
• 12:36
  that I took away was the addition.
• 12:37
  We, we did another little thing out there where we were doing
• 12:39
  like kind of skid packs kind of skid.
• 12:42
  We took minivans with skid tires and we got and kind of broke
• 12:44
  them loose and got, you know, drifting and then charted
• 12:47
  recovery. And part of it was interesting
• 12:48
  because like there was this balance between how much you gas
• 12:51
  you put in and and more importantly, it was all about
• 12:53
  control and steering and just look where you need to go.
• 12:55
  And so I think, you know, again, picking it back to business,
• 12:57
  right? It's like look where you need to
• 12:58
  go. Focus on the, you know, prize.
• 13:00
  Don't look behind you, don't look left and right.
• 13:01
  Don't worry about competitors. Don't worry about what else is
• 13:03
  going on in the world, dude. What is focused on your business
• 13:06
  and what are your goals and how are you going to go attach?
• 13:07
  I think that's exactly right. If you enjoyed this episode of
• 13:11
  founder mode and you're into cars and you know some other car
• 13:14
  car guys like us that that that would enjoy this, please, please
• 13:17
  share it with them like subscribe, leave us a comment,
• 13:19
  leave us a review and we will see you next time.
• 13:22
  Who knows where we're going to be that's.
• 13:23
  It for today and remember if you're racing all gas, no
• 13:26
  brakes.