Video: Perfecting a pit stop with Action Express Racing

By Staff Writer
Jan 15, 2025 | Endurance Racing, Sponsored Content


A race can easily be won–or lost–in the pits.

How, then, can every pit stop be ensured to be as efficient as possible? Just like learning to play an instrument or remembering the choreography of a dance, practice makes perfect.

Action Express Racing to see how the team trains for pit stops.

 

Prepping the stockcar and GOING RACING!

466 Motorsport
179 subscribers
2,068 views Jan 7, 2025 #stockcar #speedway #newzealand

Follow some mid week prep before heading to Palmy speedway on the weekend! #stockcar#superstock#speedway#newzealand#racing#falcon#intech#kirkey#aeroflow

 

Riding the wall at STOCKCAR NATIONALS! I can tell it's coming...look at the bumper......

466 Motorsport
179 subscribers
588 views Jan 25, 2025 #stockcar #newzealand #speedway

Finals night at New Zealand Stockcar Nationals held at Wellington Family Speedway!

 

Building the car when it's too cold to race.....

Building Zoomie and update on the Luv truck!

BS Racing
945 subscribers
1.3K views 7 days ago

 

10 speed secrets for the amateur vintage racer

By Carl Heideman
Feb 1, 2025 | Vintage Racing, Speed Secret

[Editor's Note: This article originally ran in the May 2016 issue of Classic Motorsports, but we feel like these speed tips are timeless.]

Not quite ready to dedicate your entire life to your on-track escapades? How about some tips for the rest of us—those who'd just like to fully enjoy our classics, whether it's slicing through Road Atlanta's esses or traversing our favorite mountain pass? Carl Heideman has gotten intimate with just about every form of classic machinery, from '50s Fords to Britain's best. He knows a bit about what makes our classics tick and has some speed secrets to share.

1. Look at Your Ignition

You don’t need the latest and greatest high-tech ignition system in your car, but you do need one that’s strong and dead-nuts consistent. Hold a timing light on your engine while it’s running at 5000 rpm: If it’s not giving you a super-stable reading, your ignition system could use some work. We usually find that a fully rebuilt distributor–again, that’s rebuilt, not just cleaned up–teamed with a Pertronix ignitor solves a lot of woes.

2. Conjunction Junction

Hoses, lines and wires do fail, but problems usually occur at a junction. Are your systems as simple as they can be, or is your fuel pump actually powered by three wires spliced together? On a related note, how are your grounds?

3. Keep It Simple

Going Fast Doesn't do you any good if the car keeps breaking and can’t finish a race or make it over that pass. Constantly check the car for loose wires, stray cables and simple adjustments that have gone out of spec. For example, does your throttle still open all the way? And is the cable going to last the whole weekend, or is it about to pull out of its stop?

4. Know When to Shift

Just buzzing to the redline before shifting isn’t good enough. If you’ve gone to the dyno, you can figure out your best shift points and put them to use. An illuminated shift light can be your friend here, although a piece of red tape stuck on the face of the tachometer works well, too.

5. Measure Stuff

Get a probe pyrometer to make sure your tire pressures and alignments are correct. Tire temperatures should be even across the tread. Get an infrared pyrometer to make sure your brakes are all about the same temperature. Know exactly where your ignition timing is set. The bottom line is that when you measure things and record that data, you can take an informed, diagnostic approach to speeding up.

6. Organize Your Tools

Call us lazy, but we don’t always like going through our entire toolbox before beginning every repair. Hand tools are relatively inexpensive, so we’ll buy some duplicates and keep them bunched together for specific fixes. For example, we’ll keep together everything needed to bleed the brakes. It makes for less stress when time is short.

7. Get Some Feedback

Talk to the guys who are going faster than you and see if they’ll give you some pointers. If they’re good, they’ll know what works and why they’re passing you. If they’re nice, they’ll tell you. When and how you ask can be important here. After their third beer during the evening social is probably better than while sitting on the grid.

8. Common Sense Rules

Everyone has their theories about why they’re faster or better. Listen to them all, but learn to separate the snake oil from the superstition from the silver bullets. If something doesn’t make sense, it probably doesn’t work. Most factors come down to math, physics, and thermal law. A Ph.D. isn’t necessary–if you understand some basic concepts, your common sense will provide the answers you need.

9. Test, Test, Test

There are now so many testing opportunities out there that it’s silly to not take advantage of them. From local autocrosses to noncompetitive track events, there are plenty of opportunities to shake down a car before that big weekend. Not sure your skills are sharp enough? Hire a seasoned driver for the day.

10. Avoid Slop and Bind

We see two common and opposite problems on race cars. Sometimes things are sloppy–like linkages that have too much free play or wear. Sometimes things are in bind, like an anti-roll bar whose geometry doesn’t match the suspension. Too often we see both at the same time, which can be dangerous. An anti-roll bar that is in bind will wear components, causing slop that will eventually lead to catastrophic failure.

 

10 speed secrets for the amateur vintage racer

By Carl Heideman
Feb 1, 2025 | Vintage Racing, Speed Secret

these speed tips are timeless.]

Not quite ready to dedicate your entire life to your on-track escapades? How about some tips for the rest of us—those who'd just like to fully enjoy our classics, whether it's slicing through Road Atlanta's esses or traversing our favorite mountain pass? Carl Heideman has gotten intimate with just about every form of classic machinery, from '50s Fords to Britain's best. He knows a bit about what makes our classics tick and has some speed secrets to share.

1. Look at Your Ignition

You don’t need the latest and greatest high-tech ignition system in your car, but you do need one that’s strong and dead-nuts consistent. Hold a timing light on your engine while it’s running at 5000 rpm: If it’s not giving you a super-stable reading, your ignition system could use some work. We usually find that a fully rebuilt distributor–again, that’s rebuilt, not just cleaned up–teamed with a Pertronix ignitor solves a lot of woes.

2. Conjunction Junction

Hoses, lines and wires do fail, but problems usually occur at a junction. Are your systems as simple as they can be, or is your fuel pump actually powered by three wires spliced together? On a related note, how are your grounds?

3. Keep It Simple

Going Fast Doesn't do you any good if the car keeps breaking and can’t finish a race or make it over that pass. Constantly check the car for loose wires, stray cables and simple adjustments that have gone out of spec. For example, does your throttle still open all the way? And is the cable going to last the whole weekend, or is it about to pull out of its stop?

4. Know When to Shift

Just buzzing to the redline before shifting isn’t good enough. If you’ve gone to the dyno, you can figure out your best shift points and put them to use. An illuminated shift light can be your friend here, although a piece of red tape stuck on the face of the tachometer works well, too.

5. Measure Stuff

Get a probe pyrometer to make sure your tire pressures and alignments are correct. Tire temperatures should be even across the tread. Get an infrared pyrometer to make sure your brakes are all about the same temperature. Know exactly where your ignition timing is set. The bottom line is that when you measure things and record that data, you can take an informed, diagnostic approach to speeding up.

6. Organize Your Tools

Call us lazy, but we don’t always like going through our entire toolbox before beginning every repair. Hand tools are relatively inexpensive, so we’ll buy some duplicates and keep them bunched together for specific fixes. For example, we’ll keep together everything needed to bleed the brakes. It makes for less stress when time is short.

7. Get Some Feedback

Talk to the guys who are going faster than you and see if they’ll give you some pointers. If they’re good, they’ll know what works and why they’re passing you. If they’re nice, they’ll tell you. When and how you ask can be important here. After their third beer during the evening social is probably better than while sitting on the grid.

8. Common Sense Rules

Everyone has their theories about why they’re faster or better. Listen to them all, but learn to separate the snake oil from the superstition from the silver bullets. If something doesn’t make sense, it probably doesn’t work. Most factors come down to math, physics, and thermal law. A Ph.D. isn’t necessary–if you understand some basic concepts, your common sense will provide the answers you need.

9. Test, Test, Test

There are now so many testing opportunities out there that it’s silly to not take advantage of them. From local autocrosses to noncompetitive track events, there are plenty of opportunities to shake down a car before that big weekend. Not sure your skills are sharp enough? Hire a seasoned driver for the day.

10. Avoid Slop and Bind

We see two common and opposite problems on race cars. Sometimes things are sloppy–like linkages that have too much free play or wear. Sometimes things are in bind, like an anti-roll bar whose geometry doesn’t match the suspension. Too often we see both at the same time, which can be dangerous. An anti-roll bar that is in bind will wear components, causing slop that will eventually lead to catastrophic failure.

 

10 lessons all competitive racers wish they knew earlier

By Guest Writer
Jan 17, 2025 | Vintage Racing, Classic Racing, Peter Krause

Story by Peter Krause

Racing can age a person quickly. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but the learning curve at nearly every level is so steep that if you stick with it, you will become a better, smarter and safer driver. This sport tends to self-select, so flakes don’t generally hang around too long.

Racing schools usually have a similar curriculum that follows the basics: How to keep everyone safe while inculcating good practices and acquainting drivers with a glossary that’s like a foreign language if not in words, then in concept and execution.

Contrast this with that first day at an actual race, where the veteran drivers gather around the newbie friend and dispense advice laden with their heroics–like how, for example, they cheated death by this much as they were split by the leaders lapping them for the second time in a session.

If only that hive mind could be transferred to the novice in one fell swoop. But it can: Here are 10 bits of wisdom to help quickly build that foundation.

1. Racing Is Real

No matter what they teach you in school, you are rarely prepared for racing reality before you’re dumped into the general prison population.

School is a cossetted, caring environment, full of hypotheticals and theory. Race weekends do not operate that way. Racing often devolves into everyone for themselves. (It doesn’t have to be that way, but too many people watch sensationalized pro racing and then set out to emulate that.)

Bottom line: Keep your wits about you. Take nothing for granted. Trust no one to do the right thing until they demonstrate that they can do the right thing.

2. No One Else Cares

You’re always going to be racing with the people immediately ahead of you and those immediately behind you. Deal with it.

Remember that great “I was seventh!” YouTube video featuring Ken Zalner? (If not, look it up.) Even though he qualified seventh, for whatever reason Ken was held on grid and let out last; from there, he proceeded to pass nearly the entire field during the pace lap in order to claim the spot that he felt he deserved. It’s epic.

It’s also a supreme example of the fact that no one except you cares where you think you should be. You have to earn your place, not take it or feel entitled to skirt the rules in order to get where you think you ought to be.

3. Keep Your Emotions in Check

You can’t win a race on emotional, visceral responses, though you can surely lose one on them. Again, the dreaded combination of unrealistic expectations and emotions bubbling to the surface can often compromise a good effort. More often they can result in an expensive body shop bill. (Have you priced a Porsche 911 re-tub recently? It can sure punch a hole in even the most robust racing budget.)

Be calm, look at the long game, and balance the risk with the reward. If in doubt, don’t. As the great Skip Barber instructor Bruce MacInnes says, “If it feels good, watch out!”


Photography Credit: Patrick Tremblay

4. Passing Is an Art

Not only is passing a learned art, it’s also one that depends on several planets coming into alignment–and then you have to be close enough to take advantage of the opportunity.

Early on in your racing career, carving through the field like a scalpel generally only happens in your mind. That scalpel is often more like a lead knock-off hammer: crude but effective, with both drivers scrabbling around the corner, breathing hard, and emerging with great relief that they narrowly averted disaster.

When done correctly, passing is beautiful, the synchronized ballet defined by a carefully crafted plan executed with great precision. Strive for that “smart” pass, one that begins at the exit of the previous corner (or even before). Avoid the divebomb, hail Mary lunge that ends in tears for both drivers.

5. Assume Nothing

Two of the most dangerous words in motorsports? “I thought.” How so?

“I thought they saw me.”

“I thought they were going to stay off track, not come back on.”

“I thought they were going to brake later.”

“I thought I could stay ahead, even though my tires were going off.”

Each is an admission of a misjudgment–often a costly one, if not in bodywork, then in the hard-won trust of your competitors.

Don’t be “that guy.” Be trustworthy. Do the right thing. Race with people and accumulate the intelligence needed to trust them before leaving less margin for error.

6. There’s No Such Thing as “Owning a Corner”

More than a few car-to-car incidents have occurred when a driver feels that he or she has beaten the competition to the turn-in point, only to find a surprise: That other car isn’t in their mirrors, but rather directly alongside or, heaven forbid, a nose ahead. The result? Nothing good.

If you’re the passing driver, the best defense against this situation is a good offense. Present your car sooner, placing it right in the other driver’s field of vision. Take away that driver’s ability to claim that they didn’t see you.

The best drivers, when alongside each other, let the corner sort it out: Two abreast and whoever gets back to power first and can corral their steed most effectively on the exit, wins.

Until the next corner.


Photography Credit: Kristina Cilia

7. The Car Is Always More Capable Than You Are

So many control inputs are based on what the driver believes the car can accept, not what the car will accept. Not a few times have I coached drivers who, when suddenly confronted with a spinning car in front of them, engaged in perfect threshold braking, often shocking themselves (and me) with their excellent execution of this fundamental skill. Afterward, it’s easier for them to ask more of the car’s braking system.

If the car doesn’t inspire confidence when tasked, fix it so it does. There is no car that cannot be driven faster by someone else. Think about that.

8. No Place Is Filled With More False and Misleading Information Than the Paddock

The post-session chronicles in Connie’s Pub at VIR can rival some of the biggest fishing stories ever told. These stories are usually not malevolent or designed to deliberately mislead, they’re just the massaged recollection of an imperfect data recorder, the human brain.

We often remember things the way we would have liked them to be, not necessarily as they actually happened. It’s not a bad thing, just something to keep in mind when you hear all of those stories about friends who were flat through this corner or braking at the last marker for that other one. Start easy and add speed gently, because it’s very hard to take it off.

9. Do Your Homework Early

Today, there is no excuse for not using the prodigious resources available online regarding track specifics: What pads or tires work best, the general track culture, whatever. Sure, some of these are subjective valuations, but gathering knowledge about the track you’re going to run is like adding arrows to your quiver. You will profit from it if you do your homework.

10. Be Realistic

Adjust your expectations downward so that you can be pleased when and if you exceed them, especially early on in your track and racing career. I see a lot of the intensity of daily life creep over into this wonderful, calming and pleasantly distracting avocation–and not for the better.

So take a deep breath. You’re only as good as your last performance; build from there. Be aware that every driver often reaches performance plateaus where they’re stuck no matter how hard they try. It’s only when they step back, deconstruct what they’re doing, and improve the quality of every individual on-track decision and execution that they end up driving quicker, easier and with more headroom.

Inevitably, going faster with less effort and less risk is the worthiest goal. Good luck!


Photography Credit: Bill Stoler

 

How to Autocross Faster - Ep 3 - Stay Tight on Key Cones. Shortest Line Wins.

Evolution Autocrosser
5.08K subscribers
19,788 views Jul 14, 2019 #Autocross #Faster #Tips

There's a commonly repeated phrase in autocross, "shortest line wins." Generally this holds true with some exceptions. After all, distance takes time to cover. The less distance you cover, the less time your run will take - even if you're going slower. The primary exception to this rule is if taking a wider arc allows you to exit a turn with more speed and if you're able to carry that speed through the following element.

Otherwise the distance/speed trade off is typically not worth it. In this video, Jeremy Ault shows how to navigate the autocross course to achieve a faster time by staying as close as possible to key cones. Key topics demonstrated include staying tight to the inside of the turns and getting as close to the slalom cones as possible while back siding them.

 

Reduce Subaru Understeer! | Track Suspension Setup

TIRESIDE
29.6K subscribers
32,897 views Sep 13, 2018

This week we are walking through the suspension setup in the Impreza track car build. This setup has greatly reduced the understeer problems that plague Subarus. It also takes comfort and throws it out the window, so it's probably not going to be great for your daily driver.

 

Go Faster for FREE!! Alignment Tips for Your High Performance Car!

MotoIQ
190K subscribers

69,402 views Sep 15, 2023

It's not often you can get more performance from your car for free but as is the case for your car's alignment, it's true... as long as you do it yourself! Guess what? We sell parts and MotoIQ merchandise! Now you can buy all the same aftermarket parts we use on our project cars and features from the brands we trust!