Advertise on podcast: Flatirons Syndicate Motorsports Podcast

On this episode of the Flatirons Syndicate podcast, Jon sits down with Tasso and Jeremy from Money Shift Rally to talk about all of the lessons that they have learned building a new Rally car/Race car. Both Tasso and Jeremy have been working on building up their cars, and while Tasso is still in the midst of his build, Jeremy has completed the build of his car and run a couple of events, but in doing so has discovered a few things that need attention, or needed to be adjusted. When you are building a race car from scratch, there are ton of things to consider from seating position, how you are going to run lines, electronics, safety systems, etc...  And even once you get everything in place, that is usually just the first iteration of some of those placements, which will need adjustment. Those lessons are the topic of discussion of the podcast today. Be sure to follow Tasso and OTC Racing as well as Money Shift Rally on all of the social platforms! If you want to look at the Bosch sensor that Jeremy mentioned in the podcast, here is a link to it on the Flatirons Tuning website: Thanks for watching and Stay Tuned!

For episode #133 of the Flatirons Podcast, Jon sits down with Harvey from The Boostcreep and Zek from In Boost Performance to talk about Tuning a car and making power Post-Greenspeed. In April of 2022, Cobb Tuning announced that they were making a fundamental change to the way their Tuning software worked with the Cobb AccessPort. Their goal was to move to get CARB E.O.'s for as many parts that they could, but in doing so, they also had to dramatically reduce the access that Tuners had to re-map the ECU when tuning a car. Now that we are nearly a year and a half on from that change, there are almost more questions now about what works and what the Tuning options are now with the AccessPort. The biggest question that most people have is, Can you make Power Post-Greenspeed? The good news is that many options are becoming available again, and Tuners like Harvey from the Boostcreep and shops like In Boost Performance have been working to find those answers, and they give us a lot of good information in the conversation. If you have any other questions that weren't covered here be sure to leave them in the comments below. Thanks for watching and Stay Tuned! Here are links for more information about these guests: https://www.theboostcreepltd.com/ http://mylifeinboost.com/

There is no easy form of Motorsport. They all have their challenges, but one of the most challenging forms is Endurance Racing. There aren't many Subaru's that compete on track for hours at a time, but one is the STI run by James "Gator" Hudson of Colonel Red Racing. And he is building up an impressive history of wins. For episode 132 of the Podcast, Jon talks with James about how he found Endurance Racing, and about all of the aspects of the build of his car from cooling to power to aero to find a winning combination. If you want to follow James and Colonel Red Racing, check out these links below: https://www.youtube.com/@UCmNriut_X_jG6H-tCtCYpqg https://www.facebook.com/people/Colonel-Red-Racing/100066410006837/ And if you want to watch the Radiator Cap video or Turn in Concepts video mentioned in the Podcast, here are links to those: https://youtu.be/HzjBJz1Zdmw?si=GdZAZMkyP3c9eVMw https://youtu.be/Xg9OT397IJU?si=iZ7XAziDWohmJoA5 Thanks for watching and Stay Tuned!

For Episode #131 of the Podcast, Tasso, Mike Pettiford, Dylan, and Jon sit down to talk about the newest racing Sims like Forza Motorsport, Gran Turismo 7, and Assetto Corsa. For a lot of us, the first time we got to experience anything like driving a car on track was in a video game. In the beginning, there was a pretty big gap between driving an actual car and playing these games. But with this newest group of games/simulators and the new technology that is going into wheels and pedals from companies like Fanatec and Logitech, that gap is closer to the real thing than ever before. So how close is it? Have these games become realistic enough that you can use them as a tool just like professional race teams? Or is there still a ways to go even for these newest driving games? We do our best to get to the bottom with Tasso from OTC Racing and Mike Pettiford of Go 4 it Racing (who has won more than 50 SCCA Championships). Be sure to follow Tasso at OTC Racing and Mike Pettiford on Facebook and Instagram. Thanks for listening and Stay Tuned!

For episode #130 Jon chats with Micah from 3MI Racing to talk about what all goes into developing a part, bringing a part to market, and why supporting companies that innovate is so important. If you have ever been looking for a part for your car, planning a build, etc., almost certainly you have come to a point where you have found a few different options for a part that are all made by different manufacturers, but a couple of them look basically the same. Why is that? And how do you pick which part is best? Most importantly for this conversation, does it matter which one that you choose? It turns out that it does, and way more than you might think. If we want to have good options for parts that really work and solve problems and help our cars work better, go faster, etc., we have to support the companies that innovate. Thanks for listening and Stay Tuned!

One of the hot topics around the shop lately is how much the car buying options have changed in the last year or so. And to that end, what car would you buy if you had a budget of $35,000? Would you look at a new car? Get something used? Find a project to turn into a new daily? Jon and the Dylan's talk about what they found looking around the internet, and what the key considerations would be with the current list of options. How much of your budget would you want to spend on the car, and how much would you want to keep in reserve for mods? And what about those JDM imports that are so tempting? Give this episode a listen and be sure to let us know what you think in the comments. Stay Tuned!

This conversation was started/inspired by a question asked on our last podcast. Why didn't we talk about the addition of Subaru's Eye Sight on the WRX TR? Mike Pettiford of Go 4 It Services was in the shop that day, and we talked about what might be going on with the addition of some of the new safety systems on new cars, and then we did some research and discovered some interesting things. Specifically about Automatic Emergency Braking systems, or AEB's. How many safety systems are now required to be on new cars? When are AEB's going to be required to be on all vehicles? Are these safety systems starting to take over? And do they all really work as well as advertised? Jon and Mike dive into all of these topics in this episode. For more about what Mike Pettiford is up to, take a look at: https://www.go4itservices.com/ Thanks for watching and Stay Tuned! If you would like to take a look at some of the pages mentioned in the video, here are some links: https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/automatic-emergency-braking-proposed-rule https://www.nhtsa.gov/technology-innovation/automated-vehicles-safety https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a44067783/automated-emergency-braking-could-be-required-2028/

For episode #127 of the Flatirons Syndicate Podcast, Tasso, Dylan, and Jon sit down to talk about the WRX TR that was just revealed. For 2024, Subaru unveiled the new WRX TR that comes with Brembo 6-Piston/2-Pistons from the previous STI, Recaro Seats, and re-tuned suspensions. But where as the last WRX TR from 06-07 which was the least expensive WRX trim, this will now be the highest trim level for the WRX. The current VB WRX is the best and most capable WRX that Subaru has ever made, and now with these changes to the brakes and interior, the WRX TR is even better. But is it better enough to justify the cost? If this WRX ends up close to $50,000, is it really good enough to justify the cost? And what does this tell us about the direction that Subaru is going in the future? Thanks for watching and definitely let us know what you think in the comments below. Stay Tuned!

For episode #126 of the Flatirons Syndicate Podcast, Tasso and Jon sit down for a conversation about the state of Rally in the USA with none other than Preston Osborn who happens to be the Competition Direction for the ARA. We start off discussing how the rules change for 2023 is going, and what the motivation was to make this change as well. Then we talk about how Subaru's new car might be having an impact on other teams coming to run their Rally2 cars here in the US, and what the future of that class might look like in a couple of years. We also talk about the difference between Regional and National Rallies, and how important Regional events are to the sport of Rally. Thanks for listening and Stay Tuned!

For episode 125 of the Flatirons Syndicate Podcast, Dylan, DP, and Jon talk about the possibility of Subaru returning to the WRC, and whether now is the perfect time to build your dream project car. The last year Subaru competed in the World Rally Championship was 2008, and the rumors about them coming back to the series started just a year or two into their absence. None of those rumors amounted to anything substantial, but there is a new rumor circling that Subaru’s return to the WRC that is without a doubt the most credible yet. That is because this comes from the head of the FIA, Mohammed Ben Sulayem. These discussions are almost certainly actually happening behind the scenes, but the key piece of this story is that Subaru would be using Toyota’s engine and drivetrain from their WRC car because they don’t have anything in production or development that would fit with what is required to race in the WRC. So given that, would it really be a good thing if Subaru did return since they would basically be running a Toyota with a Subaru shell covering it? The other topic that the guys cover is whether or not this is the perfect time to build your dream project car. With new cars costing more than ever before, and with the options for car enthusiasts at nearly an all time low, maybe now is the time to build the car that you have, or that you have always wanted, into your dream project car. Be sure to let us know what you think on both topics in the comments below. Thanks for listening and Stay Tuned! If you want to take a look at the original article about Subaru returning to the WRC, here are the links: https://dirtfish.com/rally/subaru-linked-to-wrc-return/ https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/will-subarus-wrc-return-really-happen/ https://www.autosport.com/wrc/news/why-its-still-too-early-to-get-excited-about-a-potential-subaru-wrc-return/10519444/

For episode #124 of the Flatirons Syndicate Podcast, Jon, D.P. and Dylan answer a question from Mike_44 who asked us to talk about bearing failure. What is it? What causes it? How can you prevent it? Bearing failure is something that comes up a lot related to the Subaru WRX and STI so we do our best to cover all the bases on this topic and as always, if you have any questions at all, please put them in the comments below. Thanks for watching and Stay Tuned!

For episode 123 of the Podcast, Tasso and Jon have a conversation about an article that was published recently by Dirt Fish where they interviewed Lance Smith of Vermont Sports Car where was calling on other teams to join the ARA so that they would have more competition. While more cars running in the top class would certainly be fun to watch, it is a somewhat odd request as VSC has just built a car that is now winning by a significant margin over the competition. What if they would have built a car that was closer to the production WRX so that other competitors could more easily compete with them? They approach this topic from all a few different perspectives, and try to get an idea of what would foster more competition in American Rally in general. Thanks for listening and Stay Tuned! Here is a link to the original article: https://dirtfish.com/rally/ara/subaru-calls-for-more-teams-to-join-ara/#:~:text=Lance%20Smith%2C%20owner%20of%20Vermont,and%20push%20it%20for%20victory.