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Speed Secrets Podcast

The Speed Secrets Podcast is all about high performance and race driving. In it, Ross Bentley has conversations with guests, resulting in tips, advice and inspiration you can take to the track. Digging into topics such as trail braking, cornering lines, race track specific advice, data acquisition and video analysis, upshifting and downshifting, handling and car setup, steering techniques, and the skill of using the throttle - all while driving on track - the goal is to not just entertain you, but also help you learn. Along the way, these conversations will get into why we drive on race tracks, igniting your passion for the sport. Each episode (posted weekly on Thursdays) is about 45 minutes in length – just right for listening to while on your way to work, to the track, or while you're working out.
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Now displaying: 2018
Jun 21, 2018

Colin & Melissa Braun, as well as Sean Rayhall join me as I drive a Kia Ceed to the Le Mans circuit, and then from there to Paris after the race. We share stories about our not-so-beautiful chateau in the French countryside (cold showers, cats, flea bites), our best and worst air travel experiences, how to pass on the outside of a corner, what it takes to make a career in racing, and what to do with the brake and gas pedal!

Follow Colin and Sean:

@colinbraun on Twitter and Instagram

@seanrayhall on Twitter and Instagram

Jun 14, 2018

Mark Lutes, Scott Refert, and Ron Gale join me to talk about driving simulators, from different perspectives: a sim chassis builder, a race car engineer, and a sim racer. Of course, I throw in my own thoughts from a driver training viewpoint. We talk about the importance of the types of controls, VR glasses, and how big the sim racing community is.

Mark Lutes is the man behind Fast Track Sims in Canton, Georgia, and has been building high-end sim units for seven years. Scott Refert has been engineering race cars for decades, but he’s also a sim racer himself. And Ron Gale, my oldest best friend (was with me when I drove my first race forty years ago), is an active sim racer.

Fast Track Sims: www.fasttracksims.com

www.Facebook.com/fasttracksims

@fasttracksims on Instagram

Jun 7, 2018

Jordan Taylor joins me to talk about the driving styles of the best drivers, but before we do we also talk about nature vs. nurture. In other words, did he inherit his driving abilities from his dad, Wayne, or was it something he learned. And then… we have a surprise cameo appearance from Rodney Sandstorm!

Jordan’s Speed Secret is: “Keep your eyes and ears open – keep learning.” And no, we didn’t plan him saying that, even though I’ve been preaching that for years!

Jordan Taylor has done a lot in his young racing career: won the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Sebring 12-hour, Le Mans, and the Grand-Am, IMSA and Pirelli World Challenge Championships. His perspective on driving style is interesting, since he’s co-driven with his dad Wayne Taylor, brother Ricky Taylor, Max Angelelli, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Renger van der Zande, and the Corvette Racing team with Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, Jan Magnussen, and Antonio Garcia. Oh, and even Jeff Gordon.

Follow Jordan @jordan10taylor on Twitter and Instagram; and @rodneysandstorm on Instragram for the funny stuff!

May 31, 2018

Danna Van Noy joins me to talk about how to get your spouse involved and be supportive of your driving addiction! Part marital advice, part motivator, it’s a fun conversation about a “tricky” topic. We also talk about why so many drivers are also entrepreneurs, adrenaline sports, expanding your comfort zone, and how to protect your car’s finish when on track.

Danna and her husband Brian have recently launched a very cool product called Protect N Peel. It’s a simple product that you paint on your car before going to the track, and then peel it off afterward – and it’s protected the paint in the meantime. They developed the product out of necessity, having started tracking their Porsches a few years ago, primarily with the PCA.

Danna is offering a 50% discount off of an order of Protect n Peel. Go to www.ProtectnPeel.com, and use the code “speedsecrets” to get the discount.

May 24, 2018

Jack Baruth joins me to talk about whatever is bugging him. Amongst other things, we talk about funding to help young drivers make a career in racing, the mental game of driving, track day safety, HPDE instruction, and how to make the most of a race start.

Jack’s Speed Secret #1: “At the start of spring races, push hard until there’s no reason to – for at least the first few laps.” Speed Secret #2: “Ask yourself what people around you know that you don’t.”

Jack is one of the most prolific automotive journalists, but more importantly, he’s a brilliant writer who digs deeper into every subject he tackles than most. He writes for Road & Track, both in the print magazine and online. Follow him at:

jackbaruth.com

https://www.roadandtrack.com/author/2556/jack-baruth/

For more information about the 5 Ways to Drive Faster webinar that I’m doing on June 5th, go to SpeedSecrets.com/5-Ways-Drive-Faster.

May 17, 2018

Chris Wehrheimjoins me to talk about karting, and how you can use it to improve your driving, no matter what you drive. We also talk about why some young drivers make it, and some don’t, but mostly discuss ways you can use a kart to make you a better driver.

Chris has won a lot in racing (see below), but it’s what he’s done outside of the car/kart that I think is most impressive. From coaching and managing drivers, to creating driving gloves, the same drive that made him win on the track is helping him be successful off the track (a common trait amongst other drivers, as we discuss in this episode).

  • 1999 Formula Jr. North American Karting Champion
  • 2000 WKA Yamaha Jr. Super Can Grand National Champion
  • 2005 Skip Barber Scholarship Winner
  • 2006 Skip Barber National Race Winner VIR
  • 2006 WKA Yamaha Lite Grand National Champion
  • 2007 WKA TaG Sr. Grand National Champion
  • 2007 Stars of Karting ICA Race Winner
  • 2010 SKUSA SuperNationals 5th Place TaG Sr.

Instragram:@cwehrheim and @minus_273

And for information about my upcoming 5 Ways to Drive Faster webinar, go to SpeedSecrets.com/5-Ways-Drive-Faster

May 10, 2018

Cameron Norsworthy joins me to talk about flow, or getting into the zone. There are many factors that contribute to triggering a “flow performance,” and we talk about the most important ones. What’s very cool in this episode is that he actually takes a few minutes to lead listeners through a short visualization session, and helps you identify what will help you get into the zone more often.

Cameron is the founder and Performance Director for The Flow Centre, and is an athlete, author, entrepreneur, ICF coach, sports psychologist in training, and speaker surrounding topics on flow, performance, creativity, decision-making and innovation. He’s coached numerous World Champions, executives, entrepreneurs, and high profile military personnel. He is passionate about disseminating information on flow and coaching people to find their flow.

Go tohttp://theflowcentre.com for more information about flow, and what Cameron and his team are doing at The Flow Centre. There are some great resources there, too.

And be sure to check out Learn.SpeedSecrets.com for the Inner Speed Secrets 201 eCourse.

May 3, 2018

Jamie Stiehr joins me to talk about vintage and club racing, how to grow participation in our sport, how to help charities through racing, and the Race Against Kids’ Cancer (RAKC). Many individuals and teams have used motorsport as a platform for raising funds for a good cause, and the RAKC, which supports the Morgan Adams Foundation is a great example. The event has been successful in raising over three-quarters of a million dollars, and has now branched out into a separate event in Texas.

Jamie has raced with the Rocky Mountain Vintage Racing club for years, as well as in the SCCA – both in Formula Ford. He also races a BMW 2002 in vintage racing, and has served as the club’s chief instructor for their annual driving school.

Learn more about the Race Against Kids’ Cancer by going to www.raceagainstkidscancer.org

If you’d like to contact Jamie for more information, he can be reached at jstiehr@gmail.com

Apr 26, 2018

Marshall Pruettjoins me to talk about what the best drivers do, and don’t do, that make them the best. His insights on Scott Dixon, Alexander Rossi, Simon Pagenaud, Sebastian Bourdais, Robert Wickens, Josef Newgarden, and others are fascinating – and educational. And the stories he uses to illustrate these insights are hugely fun!

Marshall is best known these days for his Marshall Pruett Podcast and his writing for Racer magazine and Racer.com, Road & Track, and elsewhere. But what makes his perspective so interesting is that he spent many years as a mechanic in all levels of racing, he’s engineered cars, been team manager, driven, and coached drivers. Marshall has seen drivers and what they do from more angles than most!

Listen to the Marshall Pruett Podcast on any of the podcast platforms, or by going to MarshallPruett.com.

Follow Marshall on social media:

 Or email him at marshall@marshallpruett.com

Apr 19, 2018

Dave Pratte joins me to talk about, well… mistakes. Okay, and some things that are not mistakes, too, but Dave and I talk about how valuable mistakes are from a learning perspective. We have fun discussing the judgment one needs when passing, and how ego can make a difference; the most common mistakes drivers make with their cars; the differences between autocross and time attack, and road racing; and what one learns from testing tons of different cars.

Dave and his business partner Peter Tarach run Speed Academy, a performance tuning and car-building shop in Hamilton, Ontario – but they do business online, too. And they have some very cool and helpful videos on their YouTube channel – be sure to check them out. Dave has also been an automotive journalist for AutoGuide.com and Modified magazine, where he’s had the opportunity to trash… err, test hundreds of cars.

Learn more about Dave and Speed Academy at www.Speed.Academy, and follow them at:

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/gofastwithclass

Instagram:@speedacademy

YouTube:www.youtube.com/user/spdacademy

Apr 12, 2018

Scott Mann joins me to talk about High Performance Driver Education (HPDE) instructing, and particularly what are the traits that the best instructor have. We share stories and thoughts about the importance of an open/growth mindset, dealing with Type A personalities, how to practice instructing, and what the best focus on.

Scott is the Chief Driving Instructor for the Las Vegas Region of the Porsche Club of America (PCA), the Zone 8 Chief Instructor for PCA, and one of the PCA’s national instructor trainers. When asked to choose between driving and instructing, his response is “Instructing!” In other words, he’s passionate about the art and science of helping other people how to drive better.

The websites that Scott mentioned in the show are:

http://www.zone8.org

http://lvs.pca.org

http://www.renegadehybrids.com

Email: xlr82win@yahoo.com

Apr 5, 2018

Jeff Braun joins me to talk about what makes the best engineers, and what the best drivers do differently. Of course, Jeff can’t resist sharing what he knows about tuning a car’s handling, so he does that in this episode, too. Most important, by listening to Jeff, you get an insight into the process, or approach, to tuning a car’s performance.

No doubt, Jeff is one of the very best race car engineers in the world. He’s engineered cars at every level, and every type: NASCAR, karts, club racing cars, Indy, GT and Prototypes, and even Top Fuel dragsters. But what sets Jeff apart from many engineers is how he can explain what he’s doing, what a car is doing, and even how the best think.

To register for the Tune Your Car’s Handling webinar that we are doing on April 23-24, 2018, go to https://SpeedSecrets.com/Tune-Your-Handling.

And you can follow Jeff at:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/AutoRacingTechTips/

Twitter: @jvbraun

Instagram: @jvbraun

Mar 29, 2018

Ed Potkanowicz joins me to talk about the work he does with Wayne Taylor Racing drivers, Jordan Taylor, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Renger van der Zande regarding core body temperature, heart rate and stress to help them improve their performance. What he’s learned from working with elite-level pro drivers, and shares in this podcast will help you drive better and safer.

Ed is an Associate Professor of Exercise Physiology at Ohio Northern University where he focuses on “driver science” – the objective and scientific examination of the driver’s physiological response to the cockpit from which data-based recommendations can be made to improve driver safety, tolerance and performance. He’s also a member of the International Council of Motorsport Sciences, American College of Sport Medicine Member, and the Motorsport Health and Safety Taskforce.

Follow Ed on Twitter @epotkanowicz, and his website at www2.onu.edu/~e-potkanowicz.

Mar 22, 2018

Colin Braun joins me again (he was on episode #7 over a year ago) to talk about his approach to learning a track he’s never been to before, what it takes to get to throttle sooner, how to use the brakes, being smooth with the steering, and what “rotating” a car really means. Basically, he shares with you what he does to be so bloody fast! We recorded this episode while driving from the Lisbon airport to Portimao in Portugal, so we also share a couple of funny travel stories (since Colin’s luggage had gotten lost on his flight and would be in the same clothes for the next 4 days…)!

Colin has won races and championships in sports cars, NASCAR and open-wheel cars. He’s the youngest driver to have ever stood on the podium at Le Mans, won the IMSA Prototype Challenge championship five times, and won NASCAR Trucks series races.

Follow Colin at colinbraun.com, www.facebook.com/ColinBraun, @colinbraun on Twitter, and @colinbraun on Instagram.

I mentioned being able to download my past webinars – go to SpeedSecrets.com/Webinars to do so.

Mar 15, 2018

Lyn St. James joins me to talk about her career, and more importantly, what she learned about driving that’ll make you a better driver – how precision is more important than bravery, understanding car set up leads to being more sensitive to the limit of the car, who the best drivers she ever raced against are, and why we have a need for speed.

Lyn really doesn’t need any introduction, but the highlights are her being the 1992 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year, winning the Daytona 24-Hour race twice and Sebring 12-Hour race once, racing at Le Mans, in Trans-Am and the IMSA GTO series. The list of accomplishments is long, so check out her website at www.lynstjames.com for more info – and to learn about what she’s doing these days.

Mar 8, 2018

Gama Aguilar-Gamez allows me to record a coaching session I do with him. We talk about identifying strengths and weaknesses, and then what he needs to do to improve. We use data to confirm some things that we felt were things he should work on, and talk about the approach he should take to make these improvements. Oh, and we talk about the difference between him and Fernando Alonso.

Gama races in the PRO3 (Spec E30) series in the Pacific Northwest, as well as being a founder of the Track Attack application – a tool that helps you compare data from different systems, and provides a secure storage system.

For more information about Track Attack, go to www.TrackAttack.io; and follow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @TrackAttackApp.

Mar 1, 2018

Heyward Wagner joins me to talk about what the Sports Car Club of America is up to, and why. We talk about how the club’s focus is on converting car and driving enthusiasts into participants (I love this!), and they’re all about having fun with cars. Specifically, we dive into SCCA road racing, autocross, Track Night In America, and the new focus on Time Trials.

Heyward is the Director of Marketing and Experiential Programs for the SCCA. The son of parents involved in the SCCA, he’s lived and breathed autocross, corner marshaling, rally and rallycross, and club road racing his entire life. But it’s what he learned being a summer camp counselor that has had the biggest impact on how he contributes to the many positive changes the SCCA has seen in the past few years.

 Check out:

Feb 22, 2018

Elivan Goulart joins me to talk about the Sports Car Driving Association (SCDA), and then what makes him so fast, and why he wins so many races. We talk about self-coaching, whether you need to crash to learn the limits, how it’s important to take time before driving to mentally prepare – and how, how to learn to read other drivers, and the strategy behind racecraft.

Elivan started in Karts at the age of 12, then moved into cars in Formula 500 (2001 and 2002 SCCA National Runoff Champion), then moved up to the new Formula SCCA in the Cooper Tires Championship and won Championship in 2004. In 2011 he won the SCCA National Championship in Spec Miata, and was the SCCA Presidents Cup winner that year.  In 2013 Elivan won the SCCA STU National Championship, and has also won the 2016 Pirelli World Challenge TCA Championship. In fact, Elivan has won over 45% of all career races entered since the beginning.

Sports Car Driving Association

Web: www.SCDA1.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sportscardrivingassociation

Elivan’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Elivan-Goulart-Racing

Feb 15, 2018

Ann Morey joins me to talk about how to get in the zone, what gets in the way of doing so, the voices we all have in our heads when driving, self-critique versus self-awareness, experimenting to learn, and the journey she’s on to win Spec Miata races.

Ann writes a great blog about her racing and driving experience at GentleWomanRacer.com. She started doing Driver Education track events about 5 years ago, got addicted to the sport, and now races a Spec Miata in the Southeast.

Blog: www.gentlewomanracer.com

Instagram: @the_ann_m

Twitter: @The_Ann_M

And if you’re interested in the Virtual Track Walk videos I mentioned, check out www.SpeedSecrets.com/Virtual-Track-Walks.

Feb 8, 2018

Steve Stepanian joins me to talk about what the best drivers do, what they don’t do, what his Aha! moments were, and how you can be an even better driver.

Steve has an amazing passion for the sport of performance and race driving, which is why he jokes that he doesn’t need a therapist! His enthusiasm comes through in this podcast, as well as his experience and advice that you can use. When he’s not racing Spec E30 or instructing, Steve is the Chairman of the Driving Events Committee of the BMW CCA, the Pacific Region DEC Rep, and license director for the Southwest region of NASA.

Check out the links to:

BMW CCA: https://www.bmwcca.org

BMW Club Racing: http://www.bmwccaclubracing.com

NASA Pro Racing: https://nasaproracing.com

Feb 1, 2018

Dale Sievwright joins me to talk about electric cars, being an engineer at Tesla, racing gas-powered cars, autonomous vehicles, and the future of driving.

When Dale isn’t working to make Teslas quiet as an NVH engineering techician, he’s either spending time with his wife and son, or racing. Dale drove a BMW Touring Car for Rotek Racing in the VLN series at the Nurburgring and will be returning this year. Dale is also a 3-time class winner at the 25 Hours of Thunderhill, driving for El Diablo Motorsports/Bimmerworld, and has had multiple podiums in the United States Touring Car Championship.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dale.sievwright.3

Instagram: @thedalesievwright

Jan 25, 2018

Erin Vogel joins me to talk about self-coaching, instructing at HPDE events, visualization (especially after focusing on sensory input), fear, and how to find that little bit more speed. We have this very cool conversation about what one learns from instructing, and how racing makes you a faster track day driver.

Erin has been track driving since 2009, and racing since 2014. She races a Spec Boxter in Porsche Owners Club and Porsche Club of America events, and instructs primarily with the Audi Club.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erin.vogel.98

Instagram: @erynn.vo

Blog: http://www.gearsgunsandglitter.com

Jan 18, 2018

David Vodden joins me to talk about why some race tracks are more successful than others, why some car clubs and event organizers do a better job than others, whether our sport is growing or not, and what the real secret is to being faster around Thunderhill.

David is the President and CEO of Thunderhill Raceways. He’s been with the facility since before it was even built, being a part of the initial planning and development process. And before that he managed an oval track.

Web: https://www.thunderhill.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thunderhill-raceway

Twitter: @ThunderhillPark

Jan 11, 2018

Andrew Rains joins me to talk about how to use – and train – your peripheral vision to improve your driving, as well as the APEX Pro device, and using data to coach yourself. We wrap up the show with Andrew’s insight into what he wishes he knew when he first started track driving.

Andrew has been going to the track since he was five years old, has raced in Pirelli World Challenge and club racing, coaches at Barber Motorsport Park (and other places!), and is the Marketing Director for APEX Pro.

To learn more, following the links below:

And feel free to email Andrew at Andrew@apextrackcoach.com for information on the APEX Pro.

Jan 4, 2018

Danny Kok joins me to talk about the AMG Driving Academy he runs in Canada, the ice driving programs he puts on, and about his plans to go racing in 2018. Danny, an accomplished racer and great driver coach, hasn’t raced much in the past few years, so he shares his plans to get ready, as well as how he’s training his co-driver for his first season of racing.

Danny, my former business partner, runs the Canadian AMG Driving Academy, which conducts driver training programs on race tracks and in the snow and ice of Gimli, Manitoba. Be sure to check out www.AMGDrivingAcademy.ca for information about the programs he and his team conducts. And follow Danny’s 2018 racing on Instagram @Shinning_Star_Motorsports, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Shining-Star-Motorsports-156852091722973/

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