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00:00Well, we're here at HSR Daytona 24, and it's never an HSR event without Guy Cosma, right?
00:08I mean, like, I mean, how can you not have Guy Cosma here?
00:11Guy, it's so good to see you.
00:12We're actually, I think, in the same hall that we did our last interview last year,
00:15if I'm not mistaken.
00:16Oh, yeah.
00:17So, good to see you again, my friend.
00:19And you, you've had some exciting, an exciting 2024 season.
00:22You've acquired, Hudson Historics has acquired a couple new cars, and you guys have some
00:27new toys to play with.
00:28But, so, it's a pretty exciting weekend for you guys here at HSR.
00:31Yeah, we're having a blast, you know.
00:33I mean, the best way to describe it is, like, vintage racing is evolving.
00:38Yeah.
00:39You know, there's still people that are very committed and dedicated to running the old
00:42cars and keeping that history alive, and, and HSR is the place for it.
00:48But there are so many modern cars that are phasing out of pro competition and are now
00:54eligible for the modern groups in historic racing that, you know, that's kind of an area
00:59where I've just happened to have a lot of activity.
01:02So, you know, it started with, you know, the Daytona prototypes, and then we started to
01:07get GT3 cars, and now it's LMP3s, and all of a sudden we've got some Acura DPIs.
01:13And it's been a wild process, all the way from, like, acquiring the cars and developing
01:21a relationship with HRC and Honda Racing and Acura, and trying to learn the cars and acquire
01:28all of the proper setup equipment for them, and it's been, like, this colossal project.
01:35And the Hudson Historic Guide's been amazing.
01:37I mean, they're spearheading, you know, all the technical side.
01:41Of course, with a car like this, you can imagine we've had a lot of hurdles, you know, like
01:46a lot of ups and downs.
01:48Originally, like, when we first started running the car, we had such violent porpoising.
01:52The car was undriveable.
01:54It took us quite a while to realize, you know, we just had some discrepancies in measurements
01:58and setup fixtures and things.
02:00So, but, you know, we have two Meijer Schenck cars, including the 2022 Daytona winner, Petit
02:10winner, Mosport winner, and that's the car that won the overall championship.
02:14We have the spare car from Schenck, which we believe doesn't have any race history,
02:20and then we have the 2021 Daytona winner from Wayne Taylor Racing.
02:24So, we have three of these babies, one of which came, like, ready to run, and the next
02:31car we're building up to get ready to be on track is that Wayne Taylor car.
02:36Yeah.
02:37And then, you know, we'll slowly start, you know, it takes an awful lot of time and resources
02:41to get these cars together, but it's been a really cool project, and it's all been spearheaded
02:45by Bob Neufeld, who I'm coaching and co-driving with, and we're having a blast, you know?
02:50Like, I keep telling everybody, he says, well, what are you doing?
02:54And I'm so used to the pro racing world where it's wrong of me to say that my first response
03:01is, well, I'm not pro racing, but, you know?
03:05Yeah.
03:06But I'm racing an Acura DPI.
03:10So, does it matter if it's pro racing or if it's historic racing?
03:14I mean, I'm driving the coolest race car I've ever been able to get my hands on, and I'm
03:19having a blast.
03:20Yeah, for people who are listening to this, just know, Guy Cosmo's smile is, like, glowing
03:26right now for how excited he is.
03:28I mean, the DPI car is something completely different than probably anything you've driven
03:33in your career.
03:34I mean, what has been that experience, like, learning the car, getting to race it out on
03:37track?
03:38I mean, that's got to be definitely a different feel.
03:41I know you're a few races into it, driving it, but what has kind of been that experience,
03:44like, getting to learn the car and understanding the ins and outs of it?
03:48Yeah, you know, I mean, part of it is, like, it's a completely different beast, you know?
03:53It's like a UFO.
03:56But at the same time, it's just a car.
03:58And it's got four wheels, steering wheel, and some pedals, and it does all of the same
04:03things that any other car does.
04:05It just does it better, and it does it faster.
04:07So, you know, the closest I got to experience with this thing is when I was racing LMP2
04:14in the American Le Mans Series and then in the Asian Le Mans Series.
04:17But these were, you know, these were cars that were three generations ago from the current
04:23cars, and the performance has increased significantly from when I was racing P2 cars.
04:29So, but it's all still relative, you know?
04:32It's just a matter of getting used to it.
04:34Now, we're flip-flopping between racing the LMP3 in the HSR Prototype Challenge.
04:40And it's super fun, and it's been a great training tool for Bob to really understand
04:45how to learn to drive a prototype.
04:47But, like, literally every other session, we're flopping between the P3 and the DPI.
04:51P3, DPI.
04:52And it's a massive difference.
04:55Like, the rate of acceleration and the increase of horsepower from the P3 to the DPI is so
05:03tremendous that, you know, after a weekend of having all this fun, I keep looking at
05:08Bob and saying, you know, we did the P3 thing this year.
05:13We got him prepped and ready.
05:14He's driving great in the DPI.
05:16You know, it might be time that we try to focus on just getting really good in one car.
05:22Because the, you know, they look the same from the outside, but they're like a whole
05:28different world.
05:29So it's been great.
05:30You know, the challenge for me is just you want to perform, but we're in an environment
05:37where we're here to have a good time.
05:40Absolutely.
05:41And I cannot damage this car.
05:44No one wants to damage this car, right?
05:46No, no.
05:47So it's an intense process because the more pro-level the race car is, sure, it handles
05:54great, but it could take the tiniest thing to make it go wrong.
05:58Yeah.
05:59And then it's going wrong at 170 or 190 miles an hour, and then that's a big problem.
06:05So, you know, we're creeping up on our learning process and our level of comfort and level
06:10of aggression and playing it safe.
06:15HSR Prototype Challenge.
06:16First year, you mentioned a little bit about it.
06:18You obviously are running the LMP3 Riley car that won the championship.
06:22First off, how special is it to run the car?
06:25Obviously, it's got so much history within IMSA.
06:27And then also, even with Bob Riley's passing recently, too, I mean, that car just takes
06:32up so much more significance.
06:33You're running the Riley name as well.
06:35So, I mean, what is that like to be able to represent Riley Motorsports, if you will,
06:39even at the HSR level and get a chance to run that car in the HSR Prototype Challenge?
06:43It's been a very exciting series this year.
06:45Yeah, it's been really nice.
06:46I mean, obviously, it's such sad news to hear about his passing and, you know, our condolences
06:52to Bill and their whole family.
06:56It's, you know, they're just such great people.
07:00You know, Bill Riley's always been so nice to me.
07:02Bob, you know, I'd never had much of an opportunity to develop a relationship with him, but we've
07:07met a few times and he was just a wonderful man and I've heard nothing but incredible
07:11stories about him.
07:14So it's nice to, you know, have a piece of that legacy and continue on.
07:20And, you know, there's zero shame in keeping that name on the car and leaving it as a significant
07:29historic mark in the industry, you know?
07:31What is it like to see the modern cars still get love from the fans and still be recognized
07:38as, like, especially for me, like the Acura.
07:40I remember I was, where I was, watching Meyershein Racing win the Rolex 24.
07:46I was here at the track for that live.
07:48It's how gratifying is it to see fans appreciate even the modern stuff, even if it's only a
07:54couple years old, it still keeps a special place in their heart for some fans, especially
07:59if they have a tie to the team or a favorite driver that may have raced in that car.
08:02How special is that to see the fans react to seeing your DPI and the LMP3s and the other
08:07cars that you guys have?
08:08It's really fun, you know?
08:10It's nice to see that it could, you know, because there's a lot of people that come
08:13by and say, wow, this is historic racing?
08:17Yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:18And I'm like, I mean, there's a modern category and, you know, it's the 2017 homologation,
08:23which is what this is, you know?
08:25It's what the rules stipulate.
08:27But there's so many people that want to race these things.
08:29So when you find somebody that thinks it's really cool because only a few years ago they
08:34were here at the track watching it win that race, you know, it's really neat.
08:38It's really meaningful and it makes it fun.
08:40And it also makes it fun too when you have five other DPIs out on track as well.
08:44It makes it for a really competitive weekend.
08:46The racing is wicked.
08:47I mean, so all the gentleman drivers just did the second sprint race of the weekend
08:53and they had the battle of their lives.
08:56It was one of the most thrilling and exciting things I've witnessed in a long time.
09:02And this is exactly why these guys are here, right?
09:06They're here to have that camaraderie.
09:07They're here to actually have some good, clean, hard racing.
09:13And they're doing it with, like, the F-16 fighter jet of race cars, you know?
09:19They're doing it with the coolest thing you could strap yourself into.
09:23So, you know, we're dealing with a group of guys that want to have that extreme,
09:28like, high-level experience.
09:30Absolutely.
09:31And they're just out there, you know?
09:34They're not banging wheels, but they're, you know, they're really dicing it up
09:37and having the time of their lives.
09:38And it's like, this is exactly what we came for.
09:41Absolutely.
09:42You posted on Facebook recently that you got, or Instagram, social media,
09:46whatever the case may be, that you got some exciting stuff coming up here in 2025.
09:50I don't know how much you can let go, if you will, but share some of that.
09:53It seems like you got a really busy schedule coming up here next season.
09:57Yeah, you know, I need to get back to weather tech.
10:02I still want to race at Le Mans.
10:04Like, I'm faster than I've ever been.
10:08I'm more experienced than I've ever been.
10:10And, you know, okay, I'm not in my 20s, but by no means is my career over
10:16because I haven't been racing in that environment for the past number of years.
10:21And I learned lately that it's easy to mistake how active I keep in the industry
10:27and how I'm at a racetrack every weekend, and I'm at the events,
10:30and I'm coaching in Lambo, I'm coaching in Mustang Challenge,
10:32I'm coaching in SRO, I'm doing all of the test driving
10:36and coaching and setup development when we go testing with those programs.
10:41And, you know, I'm behind the wheel and I'm doing my duties as a current race car driver all the time.
10:47But I recognize that for the teams and people that see what I consider the top,
10:55which is IMSA and weather tech, that I've been absent from that environment for too long
11:01just because I've been so busy and my schedule has taken me elsewhere
11:05that it's kind of like out of sight, out of mind.
11:08So I'm making a massive push to get myself back into the weather tech paddock.
11:13And I need help.
11:15I'm going to need, I have a lot of good opportunities available to me
11:19if I can pull them together in time.
11:23And if I can't get anything together during this off season, which is very short,
11:28you know, I'm just going to continue to work on it for 2026.
11:31But there's some really cool opportunities ahead of me.
11:35But it takes support.
11:37And, you know, I've been a driver that's made a great living as a hired driver my entire life.
11:44I mean, we're talking, I'm over 20 years in of solely making a living from being at the racetrack.
11:53And I'm really proud of that.
11:55And, yeah, sure, I haven't won every major endurance race
11:59and never made it to IndyCars and whatever.
12:02I've had an amazing life and I've had a great career
12:05and I've done well for myself amongst my peers to accomplish what I've done so far
12:10and to be a paid professional for it.
12:12But I've never had to find sponsorship.
12:15And I've never had to piece the deals together to race
12:18like almost every other race car driver had to do.
12:21And it's still doing.
12:23So I'm finally making that effort where I'm opening up the opportunity
12:27for people to come and join me in the adventure that I'm coming back.
12:32And there's an opportunity to come back with me
12:35and provide access to the industry, provide all of the excitement,
12:41provide behind-the-scenes access and be a partner with me.
12:45And then, obviously, all of the typical ROI that our awesome sport offers
12:49and all the business-to-business and the networking and the entertainment at the races
12:53and the live television and all of this stuff.
12:57Access to all of IMSS's partners and everything.
13:00So I'm open for business.
13:03And I'm open for partnerships and sponsorships.
13:05And I'm open for people to dive in and enjoy the journey that I can take them on with me.
13:12Listen, if people are listening to this podcast, jump on board with Guy Cosmo
13:17because not only does he bring that, he also brings CosmoCam, too.
13:21That's right.
13:22Priceless endeavor.
13:24You cannot put a price tag on the value of CosmoCam.
13:28CosmoCam is one of the best things ever created, I have to say.
13:31One of my favorite things.
13:33High five.
13:36Listen, you gave me inspiration with CosmoCam, and I probably owe you some royalties for that.
13:42So I got you covered.
13:44Just take it and run with it. It's all good.
13:47You know, one thing you kind of mentioned, obviously, with trying to get back into IMSS,
13:51one thing with HSR that's so amazing is so many teams here are actually preparing to go race in IMSS.
13:57And that's one of the great things about HSR is you really can get valuable data
14:01and valuable information from these HSR races to prepare you to go into IMSS.
14:05Can you talk about that a little bit and how that transition is?
14:08You know, there's a big shift in what's happening in the pro racing industry.
14:14And there's some groups like David Murray and Apex Driving Events
14:18that have now kind of consolidated a proper testing opportunity
14:23that's very strategically timed in advance of the race weekends within the rules for that series
14:30so that teams can now organize a more public, private test
14:35and not have to go and rent racetracks themselves and spend a ton of money that they don't really have.
14:40It's been this really nice collaborative effort between these groups and the race teams.
14:46Now, at the same time, sometimes people need more than two days of track time.
14:52Sometimes people need a little bit more race experience and whatnot.
14:56So we've seen a lot of IMSS-level teams come to HSR, utilize it for the track time.
15:02They're at the same racetracks. They're going to race there later in the season.
15:06They've got to get their drivers some experience, and they need to test and tune and do all the stuff they're doing.
15:11So it's for all different levels, and LMP3 especially.
15:15We had our race in Atlanta a few weeks ago, and there were a couple of VP Challenge teams that showed up
15:20to join our Prototype Challenge event and prepare for their upcoming races.
15:25So we're seeing a lot of that with GT guys, Prototype guys all over the place.
15:29It's good racing. It's good track time.
15:33And it's really growing. I mean, it's a great event. HSR is doing a great job.
15:38So the fact that it's called historic sports car racing, it could be misleading to some.
15:46But what's important to remember is any race car that had significant history in pro racing,
15:52or even a little bit of history in pro racing, there's a home for it here.
15:57And it doesn't mean that there are cars from the 50s and 60s.
16:00We've got all cars, and we've got the 2022 Championship WeatherTech winner, and it's here as well.
16:07So it's a great opportunity for people to come out and get it done.
16:11Yeah, you know it's legit, especially when you see John Doonan walking around the paddock
16:15and making his rounds as well. It's pretty impressive to see how this event has grown.
16:20Well, Guy, I want to close out on this. Appreciate the time again. Always good seeing you.
16:24Definitely.
16:252024 wrapping up here. You've got Sebring coming up here in a few weeks for the Props and Pistons event.
16:29And next year, 2025, you obviously mentioned about how you want to get back to the WeatherTech grid.
16:33HSR is going to be roaring up with all their events. It seems like it's going to be a really exciting year.
16:38Just talk about what's next for you and how excited you are for what's left here in 2024 and upcoming in 2025.
16:44Yeah, you know, I'll be committed to the HSR schedule for next season.
16:49And, you know, everything else is wide open at the moment.
16:53One of my drivers I'll be coaching again in the Mustang Challenge Series.
16:58And it's a lot of conversations about other activity.
17:02You know, I might be doing some club endurance races with some guys trying to develop and cultivate some drivers
17:07that are looking to move up and do more.
17:10Some opportunities for Europe.
17:13And that could be between like the European Le Mans Series.
17:16I'm working hard to get back to Le Mans, even if it's to start with the Road to Le Mans as part of the Michelin Le Mans Cup Series.
17:24Asian Le Mans has always been high on my list.
17:26I did it four years in a row.
17:28I loved racing in that championship.
17:30I love to travel like that.
17:32So I've been working hard on seeing if we can, you know, put some deals together for Asia.
17:36And, you know, and then obviously North America.
17:39I'm working hard, you know, to sell and develop partnerships to go back to IMSA
17:45and to do everything else I have yet to accomplish.
17:49I love it.
17:50Well, everybody, let's start a hashtag.
17:53Give Cosmo a seat.
17:54Give him a seat at IMSA.
17:56Guy, always a pleasure.
17:57My friend, congrats on everything.
17:59Obviously exciting to see what you guys have in store this weekend.
18:02And hopefully you can bring home some hardware as well.
18:03You already did last night in the Asian Star Project Challenge.
18:05Yeah, we got some.
18:06So bring some more hardware here this weekend.
18:08Really appreciate it, Dylan.
18:09Thanks.