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
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
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.renegadehybrids.com
Email: xlr82win@yahoo.com
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