Michele Abbate is one of our favorite driver’s we work with. Michel and her husband Anthony own GRR Racing. Michele talks about how she got involved in racing, the different classes she has raced in. We also tackle more of your tech questions so please keep them coming in!
Episode 6 Show Notes Below
Announcer:
Welcome to Hot Laps, brought to you by Heat Shield Products. Race tested.
Chris:
Welcome back to Hot Laps, lap number seven by Heat Shield products. We are back in the saddle again. Let's do some introductions. I'm Chris.
Steve:
I'm Steve. Go ahead.
Shane:
I'm Shane.
Chris:
And today we've got a special guest joining us from GRRR Racing. She's a professional race car driver in the Trans-Am series, and races in the T2 class, which is a whole lot different then the "want to go fast" guys sitting at this table.
Steve:
Yeah, that's right. I wish I could drive half as good as her, I'd be pretty stoked.
Chris:
She's a great ambassador for Heat Shield and we're stoked to have her on the [crosstalk 00:00:53].
Steve:
And a great person.
Steve:
She and her husband are awesome; we love working with them.
Chris:
So Michelle, what's going on? How are you?
Announcer:
Hot Laps, special guests is on now.
Michele:
Hey guys, I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on the show today. I've been a big fan of you guys since you started it up, so I'm happy to be on it with you.
Steve:
Well, thanks for squeezing us in before work, too.
Chris:
Well, and we know at least we have one fan.
Steve:
That's right! Yeah, at least we have one.
Chris:
We have one. So stoked. But yeah, we're really happy that you're here, and we kind of do an inaugural kickoff question. And this one, I tried to tailor it a little bit to you because I'm sure your numbers are a little higher than ours, but the question is, "What is the fastest you have ever gone in a vehicle?"
Steve:
Oh man, I'm going to be jealous.
Michele:
Am I going first?
Chris:
Yeah, go ahead.
Michele:
Well, did we want [inaudible 00:01:51] ? I mean, she's going to be way better than us and I'll be jealous or her number no matter what it is.
Chris:
That's true. So go ahead, Steve. You go.
Steve:
I think... Vehicle, does it matter?
Chris:
Yeah. Two Wheels... Just not in the air.
Steve:
Yeah. Okay, that's fine. Four wheels would be 140, two wheels would be 160, which is stupid. That was liquid courage and dumb.
Chris:
I hope your mom's not listening.
Steve:
She probably won't. She's not tech savvy, so I have to worry about it.
Chris:
Shane, how about you?
Shane:
Well, I'm not going to say whose car, but it was a Camaro Z 28 and it was 155.
Chris:
155? Were you on a back country road, or...
Shane:
On the freeway at night.
Chris:
The freeway at night. That must be in California.
Steve:
Might've been one of those Vegas trips. We used to do those crazy Vegas trips where we'd go at 11 o'clock at night and come back at four in the morning.
Shane:
Put the cruise control on at three digits...
Steve:
That was before we started doing the SEMA show, which sucks the Vegas life out of you.
Chris:
So mom, I'm sorry cause I know you're listening. In your Buick Regal on the freeway, I did 132. So I'm low number so far in here.
Steve:
That's still fast, dude.
Shane:
Did you have a passenger with you? Did they say, "Is that is Buick?"
Chris:
No they didn't. But yeah, 132 in my mom's Regal, cause I'd never really had a car that would go that fast. So yeah. How about you Michelle?
Michele:
So, there's actually kind of a story behind mine, which is pretty Funny. So pretty much, I was at Thunder Hill testing in the Stock car, so the tube chassis car that ruined my life and made me only want to drive to Jessica [inaudible 00:03:34]. I was on the back stretch. So I don't really look at my Spedometer usually cause I don't really care unless we're figuring out what gear we want to run. I was testing the car, I didn't really know the car too well and I looked down and it said 172. I phoned in on the radio and I'm like, "Hey, I don't think this is working; it's like, 172 or something." And when I came in, [inaudible 00:04:01], and he's like, "No, that's right." I'm like, "Wait, really?"
Michele:
And he's like, "Yeah." And I'm like "Whoa. I went 172?" I was like "Holy crap" I had no idea even though it was like informed right in front of me.
Steve:
Is it because it didn't even feel like it? Cause that car, I mean obviously there... What you're driving is designed to go fast like that. So probably to you, with your skill and your expertise, it probably didn't even feel sketchy. Right? Is that what it was?
Michele:
Yeah, exactly. 100%, I mean, it was like... There was no way. There was no way that was right. I was like, "Oh, the sensor's probably wrong," you know what I mean? I knew I was going fast, but that thing was so wicked fast. But like, it only had four gears, so I don't know. I was really new to the car. I had no idea it could go that fast.
Steve:
Wow. That's awesome. That's so cool. That'd be great. That would just be awesome.
Chris:
That's screaming for sure.
Michele:
Yeah, it was pretty quick. So my T2 car, I think the fastest I've gone so far in it was 160-something.
Steve:
That's awesome man. That's great!
Chris:
Wow, that's still really fast.
Steve:
Dude, that's Haulin'. But see the thing is... Okay, I've done it one time in my life. She does it like, what is it, once a month maybe? You know what I mean? It's like it's... I mean, that was 20 years ago, I think maybe when I had gone that fast. For her, that was like, "That was this afternoon."
Chris:
So let's get into your background a little bit. Quick question, what age did you start racing cars?
Michele:
Well it kind of depends on how you describe racing. I started auto crossing when I was 16, so I got kind of a late start. My brother raced, he's two years older than me, so I was around motor sports since I was like six, but I didn't actually start driving until I had my own car and I kind of did it on my own. So I started auto cross in... Yeah I was 16, and then I moved in like the time attack stuff and the track day stuff; so like the enthusiast level racing. But I didn't start actually like wheel to wheel competitive racing to about 2012, I think it was or '11
Steve:
That's awesome. You got a late start, but that just comes to show your natural ability, right? Because a lot of these guys start when they're... Did you raise go-carts or anything like that?
Michele:
My brother did. I was never really given the opportunity to do that. So I kind of was behind the eight ball a little bit. And I think it kind of hurts me now cause I adapt pretty quick, but I wish I would have developed those skills as a kid cause I just feel like then it's a little bit more natural, you know what I mean?
Steve:
Well, you just gave, as a father to three girls, you just gave a... Five girls, I guess if you include the older girls, right? You gave every dad that has daughters hope that even if they don't start real young, that they can all get out and go racing. That's super cool.
Michele:
Yeah, for sure. I think my dad tried to keep me out of it, really cause it's kind of dangerous or whatever, and not really known in his world as "girl's sport." So it was kind of like when I started auto crossing, he was more of like, " Oh, it's probably just a phase," you know? And I haven't stopped yet. I've been racing since I'd started auto crossing my little car. So yeah, pretty cool. Pretty cool ladder steps that I took to get to where I am.
Steve:
That's awesome. Good for you.
Chris:
So next question, just tell us about the progression in your racing. So, I think you have a few championships, right? And maybe just give us a quick rundown on the cars you drove and any crazy track antics that have gone on since 2012.
Michele:
So, like I mentioned, I kind of started in autocross, which was in my little... It was a Mazda speed protege. They only made like 3000 of them, or something, they only made them for a year. And so it was like little turbo four cylinder. I drove that car for... Man, I think it was probably like eight years. So I started auto crossing in that car and then I started time attack with it. And then yeah, it was probably like 2007 or eight I was really like into the Subarus. That was what I wanted, but I could never afford one. So I was kind of like an honorary member with my little Mazda hanging out with all of the the Subaru guys. But then I started to make a relationship with Crawford performance, which is a great well-known Subaru company, and Crawford kind of gave me my first opportunity to race a Subaru in time attack, and I did pretty well with that.
Michele:
And then that relationship grew into the little Scion racing partnership. And so with them I was racing... Sorry I got a call but I can't split it, so we're good. I kind of missed my train of thought, but we're good. Yeah. So I raced with Scion professionally, we know was [inaudible 00:08:57]. And it did start out in time trials actually, racing for Scion because I didn't have a race license, but they were fully behind our effort, which was really, pretty cool. And I earned my racing license while racing with Scion, and then we went into the MotoIQ road racing challenge, which I won the championship in that. So that was the first championship I won with MotoIQ. And then from there we went into the US touring... I don't remember what it's called. It's kind of like a... I thought it was a professional series, but it ended up being more of just like... They said they were professional series, but it wasn't.
Michele:
So we decided to change direction and go to the FTC and US Majors tour, which is a nationally based series where they have regional events. Right. I did that in 2015 in my Scion FRS. So I jumped from the Scion TC to Scion FRS, won the championship in 2015, which was my debut year, and then went on to win a couple more club championships in SPU. And then in GP1, which is where I ran the stock car that was built for me... That technically wasn't my car, because [inaudible 00:10:09] built it for me so I won the [inaudible] championship, and then I got the opportunity to drive that same car in the FTC national runoffs in 2018, and I got third in the runoffs, which I was the youngest female to ever do that in GT1 because there's only ever been three other females to do it. So that's pretty cool.
Steve:
That's pretty awesome.
Chris:
Yeah, that is awesome.
Michele:
That was probably one of my highest accolades, is the third place at runoffs. And then, like I mentioned earlier, I got into that tube chassis car and I just was like, "Man, this is a race car. Like, this is what I want to race," you know? And so I literally sold everything I had. I sold every built motor I had, I sold the Scions, sets of wheels. I'm still selling stuff, but that's how I was able to buy my G82 car, by selling Scion stuff and just liquidating everything I had.
Chris:
I saw the yesterday on your Instagram, I saw the little character making it rain with hundred dollar bills, or something. And you said, "this is what it's like having a pay for racing."
Michele:
Just kind of... It's funny, I had done an interview a couple of days ago and actually Anthony and I both did it and they asked, "So like, why do you guys race,?" And we're both kind of like, "I don't know." It's kind of not really the smartest thing to do financially, but no, we love it and man... Everything about it. But I feel like you don't know anything about racing, you'll never understand why people spend the money. They do to do it.
Chris:
And just a note, Anthony is not only your husband, but he's your... Would you consider him like your crew chief? Mechanic?
Steve:
MacGyver all in one.
Michele:
Yeah, he's everything, man. He makes my food for me. He tows the truck and trailer for us. I mean, I would not be doing this without Anthony, for sure. And I don't know how I got so lucky to be honest because racing will tear you apart and he's the one on the end when things are really bad, you know what I mean?
Steve:
That's cool. That's super cool to have somebody there for you but not just there. He's your husband as well, so that makes it even better, right? You know, so you knew you always got your rock to go back to you. That's super awesome. Like you said, a lot of times financially creates a strain on a relationship. You guys are both on the same page and that's kind of what makes it work, right? I mean, you guys both get it. You both get the excitement from it and that's why I think people... I was going to go back to what you were saying, Michelle. You know what they say the best way to make a small fortune in racing is, right?
Michele:
I do. I know this one.
Steve:
Start with a large one and work down from there. The problem is for people like myself and you, have to start with that large fortune. So we'll just have to figure out how to do it without that large fortune.
Michele:
Yeah, it's definitely a tough game, you know? And I think it weeds out the weak. You really got to... You've really got to have the passion. You really got to be out there because if you don't, if you don't have that fire inside you, it'll eat you up pretty quick. it gets tough. But yeah, it's been awesome. It's funny actually, too. Sorry, another quick little story. So when we got married in 2017, we had the typical honeymoon to go to [inaudible 00:13:20] or whatever it was. And it was all booked, it was already to go. And then I got this call, this opportunity to go race at Bathurst in Australia and I'm on the phone with the team and I'm like, "Oh man, that's like our honeymoon week!"And I didn't want to be selfish and want to go do that.
Michele:
I told him, "I don't know, I have to ask my husband. We kind of already booked everything and blah, blah, blah." And the moment I asked Anthony, I'm like, "Hey, so I got this call, the like drive in Australia," and he's like, "Oh, we have to go." I'm like, "I know, but it's out honeymoon." He's like, "Who cares?" he's like, "We're just going to cancel it. Let's go to the fricking Australia, that's amazing."It's just like crazy.
Steve:
That's awesome.
Chris:
So moving on from racing, I know you're working on, I think you guys call it the GRR Mero, and just quickly... What's the inspiration behind that? Did you just want a daily that goes obscenely fast, or... What's going on with that?
Michele:
No. The whole story is, we got that car; had a really bad [inaudible 00:14:28] and we just wanted to fix the [inaudible 00:14:30], that was it.
Michele:
And then I opened my big mouth and told all our great partners what was going on, and everybody wanted to help. Everybody was like, "Oh, what kind of build is it? We should do this," and "we should do that," and "we should do a can" "we should do an intake," all this stuff. And it was just... It has literally snowballed in a very good way from that. But no. I even told Anthony when we got the car, I was like, "Okay, we're not... We're not doing anything but maybe wheels, and the exhaust," I wanted the thing to be quiet. I wanted to be like, [crosstalk 00:14:59] and yeah, now we're building this massively ridiculous...
Steve:
Streetcar. So if you're in Vegas and you're listening, [inaudible] black Camaro. Stop. Don't talk. Don't try. Oh man, don't try her.
Chris:
Don't think it's going to...
Chris:
When you're done, do you know what's the finish horse power, or...
Michele:
Yeah. I'm told that he wants to make... Brett, at Insane Power, the one building the car... He wants to make a 750 to the roots.
Shane:
Oh, wow.
Steve:
That's NA, right? Naturally Aspirated?
Michele:
That's all NA. And all the internet warriors, they're all like, "Oh yeah, right," But I know Brett, and he knows his stuff and he wouldn't give me a number if he didn't know he hit it. So we're going to hurt some people's feelings, I guess.
Steve:
Yeah, that's great. Which is cool.
Chris:
Well, definitely a shout out to Brett at an Insane Power, because he allowed Shane and myself and our crew to come in and film right before SEMA with you, and that video is up on YouTube and those guys were just really nice.
Chris:
They just opened up their garage, which was really cool.
Steve:
Late night. Stayed late night.
Chris:
So shout out to those guys at Insane Power.
Steve:
And a cool dog.
Chris:
Yeah, the pet dog is crazy.
Chris:
Well Michelle, thank you for coming on and then... Can you just throw out, you know how people can see you or follow you, and follow that GRR Camaro and...
Steve:
They can buy merch too, right? Just to give them all that info.
Michele:
Yep. Yep. 100%. We're actually relaunching my website I think today, which is just grrracing.com. G - R - R - racing - dot - com. And then pretty much, if you type my name in Google, you'll find all of my social media, but I do use a one as the "I" and my name. So it's like M - 1- C - H - E - L - E, and then my last name, A - B - B - A - T - E that's like my YouTube, my Twitter, my Facebook, my Instagram, all that stuff.
Steve:
Cool.
Chris:
We'll, right on. We'll let you get to work, and we appreciate you coming on.
Steve:
Thank you Michelle.
Michele:
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you guys. Appreciate it.
Steve:
Bye Michelle.
Michele:
Enjoy your show.
Announcer:
It's time to answer those burning questions! It's tech time here on Hot Laps.
Chris:
I want to touch on three things. A hot rod sleeve. Had a question about cutting hot rod sleeve to basically branch off off wires to another harness.
Steve:
Make like a wire, or T-cut it?
Chris:
Yeah, exactly. What's your thought on that?
Steve:
Pretty hard to do without it fraying.
Chris:
Okay.
Steve:
So, you potentially could, if you had some black paint...
Shane:
You could maybe cut just a little slit, and then pop that wire, out trying to get out and then maybe heat shrink there and and then put another piece on that.
Chris:
So if you cut it, is it going to mess with the integrity of the sleeve? Is that kind of what you're saying?
Steve:
Yeah, you just worry about a fraying apart. That's all you're going to worry about... The cool thing about that is what the coding, because I mean, fiberglass in general, just fray, but because of the hot rod sleeve and the coding it...
Shane:
You have time to work with it; it doesn't fray right away. It's pretty strong.
Steve:
I mean, even when you trim it on... Like, when were you make the master roll here and then you trim it down. Even when you cut it, it doesn't fray too bad, so if you were going to do a Y into any one of our sleeves, that's the best one.
Chris:
I mean, the racers tape, I know that won't take as much heat as the sleeve, but is that a possibility? I mean, could you wrap that section if it wasn't going to get too hot there?
Steve:
Sure. Yeah, if you want. As long as it's not right next to an exhaust. But yeah, that would be all right. That'd be okay.
Chris:
Electrical surges. What do you need to watch out for with our product, if you're worried about electrical surges? Somebody asked, do you need to earth any of our products.
Steve:
Yeah. Which would be, I believe in Australian or European term for grounding. Yeah. Just anything that like... Fairly straight forward, like common sense, sticky shield. Any, like the Therma flat cloth, the cold gold, the heat shield mat. Anything that looks like a metal, just make sure all the terminals are insulated. There's no open circuits touching any of those and you're fine. But as far as it like creating electricity, no man. It doesn't create its own with... I mean there'd be nothing there. Maybe the only thing that you got to worry about are those cool canned shields and static electricity cause of the vinyl and the plastic can, but that's why we put a dryer sheet in there to prevent that.
Chris:
Right. DB skin, DB armor. I know the temperature is going to change here pretty quick and it's mainly cold around the U.S. Now, but temperatures are going to change. Is there a range people should be trying to put that in?
Steve:
well no, it'll just take it forever to cure. That's the problem with that. Like the DB skin, if you're putting it on. 60 degrees above, you've got a great shot. If you're putting it on when it's like, 30 below or whatever outside, you're going to have to do one coat one day, go out the next day, see if that first coat is fully dried, and you'll be able to tell, and then put another coat on. So it might be a two day process instead of, "Hey, I can get this like in the summertime," like hey, go in four hours and then cure and then put another coat on and then wait a whole day before you do anything. But,
Chris:
And then with the armor, that's a peel and stick.
Steve:
Peel and stick. Yes. So, any of the adhesive backing, doesn't matter. Just DB armor, like the lava shield, sticky shield, all that, about 60 plus degrees or so is good. You just want to let that adhesive... It's just got to set up once; once it sets up and cures and hardens, you're in good shape. You don't have to worry about it. Like, "Oh God, if I put it on and then it gets below 30 degrees, is it going to fall off?" No, it's just got to do that one time... Kind of curing after you peel the backer off and lock it into place and then you're good to go.
Chris:
All right. Yeah, that's good information. I had some questions about that, especially since it's winter and then we're changing stuff. Product showcase. Sticky Shield. That's kind of my favorite, honestly. I mean, there's... You can do so many things with the sticky shield, but just to enlighten us on a few of your favorites, maybe an idea that why somebody should use it.
Steve:
I think Shane did a great air box, right? A lot of people don't like the Sticky Shield because it's shiny and bright and in your face and they want like a gold, or whatever. Man, the best stuff out there is aluminum. I mean, the best thing for reflectivity is real gold. Like real, real gold. But...
Chris:
You have to have that mountain of cash you were talking about.
Steve:
Yeah, you've got to be a chic or a tech billionaire or something to be able to afford that. So the Aluminum manages. It's great, just ignore it. You know, I'm always a function over form person, anyway. You know, you don't put anything on your car unless it makes you go faster. If you don't need it, don't put it on there.
Shane:
It's not a fashion show.
Steve:
That's exactly right. Yeah, exactly. It's a "go fast" show. That's what we're worried about.
Shane:
Go hit the runway if you want a fashion show.
Steve:
That's it. Amen. Good call, Shane. But Sticky Shield is great. And then putting it on an ear box, it's the simplest, littlest thing you can do and... Lower your air intake temperatures, your air in the little hard to go around the inlet tubes and pipes sometimes, cause it just wants to fight itself flat. But anything with a slight curve or a flat surface... Man, it's awesome.
Chris:
All right, good stuff. Thank you for listening. Please drop us a review or a comment and again, thank you to Michele for spending the time with us.
Steve:
Yeah, it's always awesome.
Chris:
And you know, she's a breath of fresh air to me cause she's just a solid person and the relationship she has with her husband, I mean they pay for everything. That's crazy.
Steve:
They're super cool people and that's the type of person like everybody should get behind and root for because...
Shane:
They're a good team.
Steve:
Good team, good people. Dude, she kicks butt. Like I said, I wish it could drive half as good as her.
Chris:
Right.
Steve:
She crushes it.
Chris:
And Steve, give the listeners how they can get in touch with us...
Steve:
And let's say thanks to Shane for having a birthday this week.
Chris:
Oh Shane, you had a birthday, that's right.
Shane:
Oh, you're welcome. You're welcome.
Steve:
We all got to have cupcakes in honor of his birthday.
Chris:
Pink ones. They were great.
Shane:
And girl scout cookies.
Chris:
Oh, and girl scout cookies.
Steve:
There you go.
Chris:
How can they get in touch with us?
Steve:
heatshieldproducts, or just at Heat Shield products. That's where we are everywhere on social media world. And then just visit the website, heatshieldproducts.com.
Shane:
What's our email?
Chris:
Podcasts?
Steve:
Oh yeah, sorry. You want to send your questions? Thanks, Shane. Thank you, Shane. Yeah, you're welcome. [email protected], to send your questions to.
Chris:
Podcast.
Steve:
Yes.
Chris:
At heat shield products...
Steve:
Not "S." Not podcasts, plural.
Chris:
Not plural.
Steve:
Singular podcast... At heatshieldproducts.com.
Chris:
Right on, guys. Hey, thank you for listening. Talk to you later.
Steve:
See ya.
Announcer:
From everyone at Heat Shield products, we thank you for listening to the Hot Laps. Leave that review, subscribe, tell a friend and most of all stay cool. We'll see you next time. Right here on Hot Laps.
