Chris Shenefield Autocross Champion and owner of RedShift Motorsports

This was a fun interview with Chris Shenefield who is SCCA Solo Nationals Champion and owner of RedShift Motorsports.

He is your 2002 STS National Champion in a Civic Si (9 trophies over all).
He has been 2nd four times in ES, STS, STS and STF
Third 2 times in STS and STF

You can reach Chris at his website RedShiftMotorsports.com
Go over and like his facebook page at RedShift Motorsports on Facebook

We cover a lot of topics including something a little different which is talking about running his business including the ups and downs of business.  And he shares his autocross tips and suggestions.

Chris is a Washington DC native who used to be into BMX bikes (think half pipe).

He first raced at Pen State in a 1985 VW GTI.  He then moved to a BMW 328 agains Jason Tipple who had an 89 Civic si, which he bought from him later on and ended up and winning Solo Nationals with.

Chris has a lot of knowledge when it comes to shocks since he has worked on and sold them for many years.  And he has a cool shock dyno that he actually uses to learn.  We covers lots of thoughts on shocks.

He also covers his setup thoughts including having the front wheel drive cars being higher in the front.  As well as lowering tire pressure when you want less grip rather than adding tire pressure.

He credits Sam Strano and Ron Bauer for their advice at an EVO School.

Chris Shenefield STF Autocross Civic
Chris Shenefield STF Autocross Civic

Ross Bentley of Speed Secrets is on the podcast He is a Instructor and racer.

This podcast features Ross Bentley of SpeedSecrets.com and SpeedSecretsWeekly.com.

He is the author of 7 Speed Secrets books.

We cover a lot of topics to help you become a better racer.  He is know for his mental tips and exercises.

What makes super stars super? How they practice!

You can practice Sensory Input Sessions to help focus on learning: auditory, sight or kinetic.  Why? Because better quality input makes a better driver.

Seats are really important (I really really am going to get one I fit in and even add some weight in seat belts to help with feeling the car through the seat).

And we cover left foot braking and how important braking in general is.

Great thoughts on the brake zone. Like how you come off of the brake pedal is more important than how you press it.  And there are 3 ways you can come off of the pedal and you can vary that depending on the turn.

How many of you look at brake pressure traces?

He covers weight transfer in detail (Hearing it several times now I think it is sinking in).

Change of speed is huge to watch since slowing to much can make you think you have more grip than you really do.

Taking notes is important which has me wondering how many of us could benefit from notes on our course maps after each run?

We also cover mental imagery but at a much higher level like John Vitamvas talked about where you add movement as well.

Lets us know what you learned!

 

 

 

Houston Autocross Roundtable with Zack Barnes, Roger H. Johnson, Daniel McCelvey, Jackie Mutschler and Doug Wille 

AutocrosHouston Autocross Roundtable with Zack Barnes, Roger H. Johnson, Daniel McCelvey, Jackie Mutschler and Doug Wille

The First in person Autocross Talk Podcast the Houston Roundtable featuring:

Zack Barnes

(Who coordinated and came up with the idea)  SEB board member and has run  Classes DP, CS, CP, FP, STX

Roger H Johnson Mr Course Designer extraordinaire winner of:

Roger Johnson Spirit of the Sport Award 1998
Solo Nationals Event Chair, 2005, 2006
SCCA Hall of Fame 2015
Solo Cup, the Sport's Highest Award 2003

Daniel McCelvey

2016 National Champion C Street Mazda MX5 Miata
2013 National Champion C Stock  Nissan 370Z
2016 Won the largest class ever, overall - 86 cars in C Street

Jackie Mutschler 2 Time National Champion

1997 FSL National Champion Camaro
2014 FSL National Champion Camaro

Doug Wille

Previous SEB Member

Autocross Topics covered

Autocross Car setup, rotation mid corner using brakes versus lifting, Course walks (for some over doing causes second guessing the game plan), driving in the rain, metal side of racing, using data and video to improve, watching and riding to learn, Instructing thoughts, running local events as a morning and afternoon event and much much more.

Daniel reviews his thoughts of the 2nd days runs at Nationals where he wins the largest class ever in drying conditions.

Knowing where the apex is of each turn so you can look there, so as you can drive there.  Watch the following to see how long Nico looks at the apex.

F1 Video Eye Tracking - Nico Hulkenberg