CAMautoMag

17th Oct2013

Reader’s Ride: Randy Reed’s v7 WRX STi

by MChandler

We’ve known for years that the home markets for certain manufacturers have been getting far cooler things than we get here in the land of freedom and bald eagles and deep fried bacon. But what if you, between pieces of said bacon, decided you wanted one of those not available rides? For a while, you did nothing but deep fry more bacon and be content with what you had. Randy Reed of Greensboro, NC did not do that. He wanted a bug-eye STi, so he made one.

He slapped a JDM v7 front end on, and a front lip as well. The headlights were upgraded with a Morimoto projector HID kit, so as to see better. ChargeSpeed air ducts replaced the fog lights and a pair of carbon fiber STi side markers were popped in. The 4.5″ carbon fiber hood scoop brings in much more air and the occasional bird. Out back a wingless trunk from a 2.5RS was painted matte black, fitted with a STi badge, then installed. Keeping flying debris in check are a set of Rally Armor mudflaps.

Ahead of those mudflaps are a set of 18×10 Rota SVNs wrapped in Nexen rubber. Well, most of the time they’re there. With winter approaching Randy picked up a set of Enkei Evo 6s. Yes, they have winter in North Carolina. Yeah, I was surprised too!

The suspension and brakes on this bug-eye are pretty straightforward: ISC N1 coilovers with camber plates and STi brakes and hubs.

Inside is pretty simple as well. Full USDM STi interior, JDM floor mats, SPT boost gauge and a Blitz turbo timer. He sticker bombed the dash insert around the stereo, and he chucked the OEM head unit for a pop out unit with a 7″ screen. When he’s not changing radio stations, he’s changing gears via the short throw shifter toped by a Blox neochrome shift knob.

And now on to the good stuff! Here is the V7 STi motor, sitting comfortably in it’s natural habitat. For those unfamiliar, it’s a 2 liter motor with forged internals from the factory and a bigger turbo. In this case it’s a VF30 to go with the bigger top mount intercooler. Getting fuel to this home market masterpiece are a set of 750cc injectors. Getting the exhaust gasses away from the motor are a 4″ bellmouth down pipe feeding into a DC Sports exhaust. Sitting almost out of sight is a Grimmspeed 3 port boost solenoid. The car received an open source tune via a Tactrix setup and put down a very healthy 307whp and 300lb/ft.

Making that power useful is the drivetrain, which received its fair share of upgrades. A USDM six speed transmission pulled from a 2005 STi was fitted with the two liter starter and works like a dream. A Clutch Masters stage 2 competition clutch and an Exedy lightweight flywheel were thrown into the mix for added driving pleasure. Because a transmission swap in a Subaru isn’t as straightforward as it seems, the axles have been swapped out for a set from The Driveshaft Shop and a R-180 rear end had to be installed as well.

Randy Reed’s STi sits as a testament to what a motivated man can do when he wants something you can’t just run out and buy.

Want to see your car on here? Send us some decent photos and a list of the modifications and we’ll get something going!

Words by Michael Chandler, Photos by Randy Reed.

*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners.

Category : It Plays

Tags : Blitz, BLOX, Brembo, bug eye, clutch masters, DC Sports, exedy, Grimmspeed, JDM, Rota, STi, Subaru, Swap, WRX

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16th Oct2013

NASA Utah Round 6

by MChandler

Nationals were only a month behind them when the Miller locals returned to the west track for Round 6 of the NASA Utah season. It was also three weeks before the season ending endurance race. That led to some of your favorites taking the weekend off. They still came out to instruct HPDE and hang out, but their chariots were still.

But that doesn’t mean the track was empty. Cole Powelson was out in RaceCo’s new Porsche, Todd Ainsworth was out in his STi in ST2, George Smith hustled his ~~flying banana~~ C5 Corvette to a win in the Super Unlimited class and first place overall in the race, and Park got a few runs in in his Vette as well.

Oh, and Jason Smith raced Roger Miller’s World Challenge Mustang. More on this humbling experience in a later post…

STR1 went to Bob Evans in the Snickers, EA Sports Ford Fusion. He battled with Jason for a good chunk of the race, but he left him behind when they encountered traffic. Passing Jason got him into second overall.

Again the Spec Miata/GTS guys were out with the bigger, faster guys. While Jason and Bob had a good battle going, there was a dog fight happening at the front of the herd of Miatas.

Todd Green and Mike Ferrara were never out of the other’s sight the whole race! They might as well have tied their cars together, thats how close they were. After an epic battle, Mike emerged the victor. They might not be as fast as the open wheel or ST cars, but they fight just as hard if not harder than those other classes.

Speaking of open wheel, the shorter track kept them closer than usual. There weren’t any dirt drops or wheel touching, a la the Japanese GP, but the closeness brought action.

This is Dave Wann. He ran a 1:49.75, and did the best pirouette of the day. Kudos to you Dave, kudos.

I see you race a Z32. I too like to live dangerously. And if I remember right this either placed or won TTC. You don’t see a lot of Z32 300ZX’s out on track days, which is a shame because, as our friend here is demonstrating, they can do some serious work. They’re also such handsome vehicles.

You don’t see too many Z cars out in general, at least out on our little ribbon of tarmac. 370z’s are pricey, and S30s are gorgeous and more people would rather do them up and then take them to shows instead of the track. Hopefully seeing that Datsun go will bring a few more out.

Here are some random photos from the HPDE session. Nothing too crazy to report, just some guys getting in some supervised laps. Anyway, thats what happened in a rather light day. We’ll be out there for the season ending endurance race on the 26th, and we’ll do a photo dump ahead of that. We’ll see you there!

Words and Photos by Michael Chandler.

*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners.

Category : Coverage

Tags : 240z, 300ZX, 302S, 335i, 370Z, 911, 944, Altima, BMW, Boss, C5 Corvette, Chevrolet, Datsun, Ford, FR500S, Fusion, Honda, Mazda, Miata, Miller Motorsports Park, Mustang, NASA, NASA Pro Racing, NASA Utah, Nissan, Open Wheel, Porsche, S2000, S30, Spec Miata, STi, Subaru, WRX, Z32, Z34

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16th Sep2013

NASA National Championships

by MChandler

NASA racers and support crew swarmed Miller Motorsports Park between the 4th and 8th of September for the NASA National Championships. Every class of NASA sanctioned racer were out there, along with your humble reporter/photographer. Well, the teams were there the whole time. I, unfortunately, only made it out on Friday the 6th, but I brought you pictures! And results!

Us Against One Clothing printed up some stickers for the locals to run if they chose to. The locals weren’t going to roll over and make it easy for the out of towners to win.

The American Iron (AI), American Iron Extreme (AIX) and Camaro Mustang Challenge (CMC) guys were taking advantage of the Full Course layout by doing what Camaros and Mustangs do best: go fast in a straight line. There were plenty of straights for them to wring their pony cars out. The AI and AIX classes were dominated by Mustangs that made the trip to Miller Motorsports Park from as far away as Ohio! But it wasn’t all Mustangs (well, the winners were all piloting Mustangs) or out of towners.

Gary Free in his RaceCo prepped, South Towne Storage sponsored FR500S took fourth in AIX, besting two other competitors. Corey Weber and Todd Davis brought out some classic American wheels to compete with. Weber took fourth in AI while Davis took tenth.

TTU, 1, and 2 were dominated by the home team. Kyle Schick ran a blistering 1:55 to take TTU, while Shawn Murphy and his full interior STi took TT1 with a 2:03. Smith-Burke Racing took TT2 by two tenths of a second! Their 2:01.039 was just barely quick enough for the title, while Greg Valdez missed out on the podium by four tenths. He still managed to out run a twin turbo 911 and a 911 GT3 by four and six seconds respectively.

George Smith took the fight to the STR-1 crowd and emerged with the title in the JDP Motorsports/Smith Marketing Services C5 Corvette. Corvettes appeared on the podium in ST2 (won by Smith-Burke Racing), ST3 and SU, with outright wins in ST2 and 3!

SU field was the most exotic. A pair of prototype-esqe cars, a pair of Thunder Roadsters, a Viper, a Honda S2000 and a Corvette all vied for the title, but when the checkered flag dropped the #7 Elan DP02 of Jon Van Canegham emerged victorious.

Also, the Brits were represented.

Spec Miata was arguably the most action packed field. Most of the packs were at least four cars deep, and dueling pairs of Miatas and lone Miatas were more the exception than the rule. Blinkers were left on, doors were smashed, it was one of the more fun groups to see tear it up. When the dust settled Matt Schultz climbed atop the podium. He represents the NASA Northwest region. The best the hometown crew could do was 13th (Chris Bond, 007). Can’t win them all…

If Spec Miata was the most action packed, most fun group to watch; then the GTS group was the prettiest. Porsches and BMWs running hard lap after lap. The sight was glorious, and the noise was epic!

Out of a possible twenty-eight championships, MMP locals took six. Nearly one quarter of your NASA National Champions call Miller Motorsports Park home… Well, not literally, but you get my drift. The number could’ve been more just as easily as less. Brendon Stewart’s Evo was still in pieces, Jason Smith sold his very quick Civic, Travis Williams’s FR500S was still down from the endurance race, and I’m not sure where Dave Dingman disappeared to. Sally McNulty’s WRX was dealing with a bad head gasket, Jordan Priestly was doing support work for some of the drivers. Those are six locals who could’ve competed for, if not taken a championship. And we’ll just gloss over the Snows and John Potter, because we know how well they usually do.

The championship trophies may have been handed out, but the racing isn’t over for the season. The final two events are in October: 4th-6th on the West track and 25th and 26th on the Outer Loop. Still plenty of good times to be had, and for the TT guys, faster laps since it *should* be cooler out.

A full list of winners, placers, show-ers, just missed its and also rans can be found here. BUT since you’re here, I present you with a list of the Champions, their class and their home region:

Alec Udell, American Iron, Texas
John Miksula, American Iron Extreme, Midwest
Aaron McSpadden, Camaro Mustang Challenge, Texas
Matt Schultz, Spec Miata, Northwest
David Schotz, TTB & C, Arizona
Sonny Watanasirisuk, TTD, California-Southern
Jason Kohler, TTE, Great Lakes
George Smith, STR1, Rocky Mountain
Michael von Quilich, Super Touring 1, California-Southern
Team Smith-Burke Racing, Super Touring 2, Utah
Kenneth Smith, Super Touring 3, Great Lakes
Jon Van Caneghem, Super Unlimited, California-Southern
Tyler Palmer, 944 Spec, California-Southern
Dick Hunter, GTS2, Texas
Tony Colicchio, GTS3, California-Northern
Michael McAleenan, GTS4, Northwest
Peter Spencer, GTS5, Utah
David Schotz, PTB, Arizona
Dennis Holloway, PTC, California-Southern
Need Speed Orozco, PTD, California-Southern
Jason Kohler, PTE, Great Lakes
Walter Carlos, PTF, California-Southern
David Dirks, Spec Z, Rocky Mountain
Shawn Murphy, TT1, Utah
Team Smith-Burke Racing, TT2, Utah
Christopher Mayfield, TT3, Rocky Mountain
Kyle Schick, TTU, Utah

And there you have it. See you in a a few weeks, and because I told them this is where to look, here’s a picture of this AIX Mustang:

-Words and Photos by Michael Chandler

*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners.

Category : Coverage

Tags : 911, 944 Spec, AI, AIX, American Iron, American Iron Extreme, Aston Martin, BMW, Buick, Camaro Mustang Challenge, Chevrolet, CMC, Corvette, Dodge, Exige Cup, Ford, FR500S, George Smith, Grand National, Greg Valdez, GTR, James Burke, Kyle Schick, Lotus, M3, Mazda, Miata, Miller Motorsports Park, Mustang, NASA, NASA National Championships, Nissan GTR, Porsche, Pro Touring, Shawn Murphy, Spec Miata, Spec Z, ST, STi, STR, Subaru, Super Touring, Thunder Roadster, TT, Viper, WRX

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10th Sep2013

PHOTOS: Locals Win Big at NASA Nationals

by MChandler

This past weekend Miller Motorsports Park hosted the 2013 NASA National Championships, and the MMP Locals held down the fort against the out of towners!

Kyle Schick: TTU Champ in the RaceCo prepped Nissan GTR

Shawn Murphy: TT1 Champ in the GrimmSpeed/The Boost Creep Limited STi

James Burke: TT2 Champ in the JDP C5 Corvette

And barely missing out on the podium by FOUR TENTHS of a second

Greg Valdez in #lelantos, the Ziptie Dynowerks/GolfTec/DC Spinal Care STi.

More photos are coming down the pipe, but in the meantime enjoy these photos of some of your favorite champions. They might not have all gotten hardware, but they’re definitely winners regardless.

Words and photos by Michael Chandler

*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners.

Category : Photo Post

Tags : C5, Chevrolet, Corvette, Greg Valdez, GTR, James Burke, Kyle Schick, Miller Motorsports Park, NASA, national champion, Nissan, R35, Shawn Murphy, STi, Subaru

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21st Aug2013

NASA Utah Round 5

by MChandler

August 10th was an extremely busy day at Miller Motorsports Park. The Gotham Dream Car Sprint was happening in the Midway, starting at 6pm there was a Western Endurance Racing Championship six hour endurance race, and during the day the NASA locals were joined by some SCCA fellows for some laps! Exciting right? You betcha! However, the arrival of the SCCA guys meant that some of your NASA heroes raced with them instead of in the NASA groups.

This was most apparent with the open wheel guys. It was one of the larger open wheel fields in recent memory. And since this was a SCCA deal, I don’t have the results… Sorry guys, but I do have more pictures!

Looks like you herped when you should’ve derped there Bill.

See? That kinda makes up for the lack of actual information!

I’m not 100% sure what these are, but I think they’re Club Ford cars. Whatever they are, they’re very cool and deserve some time in the spotlight.

I don’t have results for the SCCA groups*, but I do have results for the NASA guys. With the increase in traffic on track, they split the NASA folks in to three groups:

Thunder: GTS 3, 4, 5; American Iron, Camaro Mustang Challenge, Spec Z, STR1, and ST2, 3 and U
Lightning: GTS1, 2, 3; Spec Miata, Spec E30, Spec 944, and PTB, C, E and F
TT: I’m not explaining this one

Let’s start with the TT group.

Despite a momentary lack of traction control, which led to a slight off track excursion, Kyle Shick took top honors for TTU in the RaceCo/Envision Wraps GTR with a 1:59.336. The car is fine, and Kyle was his usual smiling self about the incident at the awards dinner later in the evening.

The TT1 crown was claimed by Steven Streimer in the Lux Performance/Streimer MotorSports/Natalie’s Estate Winery Porsche 911 with a time of 2:03.395

Greg Valdez took #lelantos to the top of the heap in TT2 with a time of 2:09.348. The Ziptie Dynowerks sponsored STi has been getting better over the course of the season. Fun fact: the wing on the car is wider than Greg is tall.

The TT3 title was claimed by this fellow: Steve Nagel in the MarVista BMW M3. His time: 2:09.318. I would say something witty or funny, but I know nothing about him so I shall refrain.

Emilio Cervantes and his 949 Racing sponsored Mazda Miata took the TTB crown with a 2:13.901

Another Miata took TTC. This time it was Sonny Watanasirisuk with a lap time of 2:17.986

AND Jay Kidd took first AND last in TTE by being the only competitor in the field. The Track Speed Engineering Miata put up a 2:20.258.

Moving on to the Lightning group, and more specifically the three Spec classes that were running.

Dan McKeever took Spec Miata in the #10 Falcon Graphics sponsored roadster.

Larry Moore took the Spec E30 win in his wild Bavarian coupe. Quick question: when did red and blue become the official M colors? This came up while out shooting and nobody had a good answer.

And Samuel Kapp was deemed the fastest of the Spec 944s.

The Pro Touring field was pretty deep, featuring privateers and a factory backed effort. Logically the factory team would be the fastest on the day right? Allow me to show you why that isn’t really true.

When you show up in a Fit, you make Miatas look like fire breathing Blancpain series Lamborghinis. That said, it probably had to fill up once the whole weekend. It also took the PTF class.

Andrew Kidd put the #71 Track Speed Miata in the winner’s circle again in the PTE category. See that Porsche he’s chasing?

It’s the PTC class winner driven by Ed Mineau! Eight hundredths of a second separated the fastest laps turned by your E and C class winners.

And speaking of Porsches, Douglas Turnquist took the PTB win in his non-Spec 944.

In GTS they really turned up the wick! Well, sort of. These still are semi-reasonable cars we’re talking about.

Lee Bohning took the #36 Alpine Autohaus M3 to the winners circle in GTS2.

Meanwhile, in GTS3, Stefan Sajic piloted his E46 M3 to victory. In addition to being M3s and winning their classes, these cars have something else in common: red roll cages. I support that 103%.

And now on to the senior circuit: the Thunder group.

Mark Smith piloted the Eagle Marine Boss 302 Mustang to victory in American Iron, beating an F Body with a big wing. However, the General would have his revenge!

And that came in the form of Joe Bogie taking the Camaro Mustang Challenge win!

The Spec Z crown was claimed by David Dirks, seen here chasing down a CMC competitor.

GTS was dominated by Porsches. Gus Stribakos took his physics defying machine to glory in GTS3.

Darrell Troester won GTS4 in his 996 GT3.

And Les Long turned a blistering 1:58.901 on his way to a GTS5 victory! His time was THIRD fastest of the day!

ST3 was loudly won by Daniel Wennerberg in the Pure Performance, high visibility BMW.

Bob beat Skip for the STR1 win. One of my favorite moments from the day was Matt Guiver, at the awards presentation, asking “Hey Bob, where’s Skip?” Not sure why, but I enjoyed it.

And the Davidson Racing team took top honors in SU, the Thunder Group, and on the day. They won their class by 1:07.978, making second place George Smith (and his fastest lap time 1:57.705) look like he was standing still.

After the NASA guys finished up, the SCCA guys got to turn some laps…

And this happened. Spec Miatas might not be the fastest cars on track, but they aren’t afraid to bang! Not entirely sure how, or why, but Tyler Dahl and Glenn Conser were going at it the entirety of the SCCA Small Bore race.

And on a more somber note, this was unfortunately the last NASA Utah event Regional Director Roger Miller attended. The following weekend he traveled to Kansas City for the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. He and co-driver Ian James finished eleventh in the race. Tragically that evening, Roger passed away in his sleep. Roger was a truly great man, and driver. His passion for racing was unparalleled, and he wanted to bring more people into the fold and share that passion with them. He will be missed, but the work he has done with NASA Utah will never be forgotten.

Words and photos by Michael Chandler

*If anyone has the SCCA results, feel free to send them over and we’ll get a post up for them

*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners.

Category : Coverage

Tags : 350z, 911, 944, BMW, Camaro, Chevrolet, Fit, Ford, GTR, Honda, M3, Miller Motorsports Park, Mustang, NASA, NASA Utah, Nissan, Porsche, SCCA, STi, Subaru, WRX

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02nd Oct2012

The Black Pearl

by admin

In the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, the Black Pearl is the fastest ship in the Caribbean and is “nigh uncatchable”. This 1996 Subaru Impreza coupe ruled the unlimited AWD class in Lap Battle, and for a while was battleship gray. The next season it returned in its black and gold trim, and was even quicker. And then it disappeared…

It wasn’t destroyed or taken off to rule other tracks, it just went into Zane’s garage. See, Zane sells cars and to really make a living doing that, you need to be there on Saturdays. Lap Battle happens once a month on a Saturday. Push came to shove, and Zane decided to sling cars, learn his family’s business and generally make a living instead of burn expensive gas and shred expensive tires. During this time the car sat in the garage, battery attached to a trickle charger, waiting to be unleashed.

Pirate ships like the Black Pearl were small ships either bought or captured and then outfitted with arms. This Impreza is no different. The beating heart of the Pearl started with a Rallispec short block stuffed with Cosworth main and rod bearings, and 9.2-1 pistons on Manley H Beam rods. The heads are packed with Cosworth cams (274 intake and 278 exhaust), valves and high RPM springs and retainers.

A built motor like that NEEDS a proper turbo set up and fuel system to truly fly, and the Pearl is no exception. An Ultimate Racing GT3076 rotated turbo kit sits at the center of the setup, with a Tial 44mm wastegate hanging off of the turbo. That big turbo pushes air through a giant TurboXS front mount and into the engine. A Walbro in-tank fuel pump gets the fuel to the 850cc Deatschwerks fuel injectors, but when things get serious, the fuel in the Sard surge tank gets set to those injectors by a 280lph fuel pump.

After hearing that list you might be thinking this whole set up is run by AEM or MoTEC, but it isn’t. A Cobb ACCESSPort v2 runs this, and runs it well.

Backing this setup is a complete 2004 STi 6 speed drivetrain because it is rather stout. Other stout things are the Tein Super Racing coilovers, the Whitline swaybars and lateral links, and the APR extended wheel studs. The Michelin slicks are stout and meaty as are the StopTech 355x32mm ST40 brake kit in the front and the STi Brembos in the back, both of which are filled with Hawk DTC70 pads.

All of that is serious stuff, and you might be thinking the wheels are Volks or Weds Sports, but you’d be wrong. Those gold 18×10 wheels are Rota SVN-Rs. Yes, those cheap wheels you see blasted on forums for being fake and see destroyed in photos are on this 400+ horsepower race car. A car that laps the 3.08 mile outer course at Miller Motorsports Park in two minutes and 4.7 seconds!

The Impreza coupes are the lightest Imprezas ever brought to the U.S. This one has been lightened slightly. EVERYTHING was ripped out, and eight things went back in. A Sparco Circuit seat, harness, and steering wheel went in. An STi dash and cluster replaced the old ones, and DEFI gauges went in the dash. A Beatrush division panel sits where the back seat used to be and an Autopower six point roll cage provides moar safe.

Much like the ship it gets its name from, this car is purpose built for speed. There aren’t any frills outside, unless you consider that huge APR GTC300 wing a frill. The Seibon carbon fiber doors, hood, trunk lid and front lip shed weight. The 22b widebody kit and rear fender flares allow for the fitment of those massive wheels and meaty slicks. The custom front canards and rear diffuser help channel air in the right direction to allow this car to run as fast as possible.

At the end of this week this car shall make its return to competition. It shall rise from the depths of the garages of Miller, but Zane doesn’t need to make a pact with a dead man to do so. All he has to do is open the garage door, fire her up and take her out.

Words by Michael Chandler, Photos by Michael Chandler and Trent Bray, Video filmed and edited by Trent Bray

*Article, photos and video are copyright of CAMautoMag.com and their respective owners. Images and words may not be re-posted, re-distributed, modified or copied without expressed written consent from CAMautoMag.com

Category : Features

Tags : GC, Impreza, STi, Subaru, track car, Track Pirates, WRX, Zane Miller

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13th Sep2012

Semi-Retired 2005 STi

by MChandler

This STi has a history. This car was owned by a guy who tracked it here and there. It had the prerequisite big wing and decals, but now it’s retired. But retired doesn’t mean it left it all at the track. Oh my no, it left nothing at the track…

Staring at you from within the bumper is a massive APS 525 front mount intercooler. That is 314 square inches of intercooler hanging out there! AND it’s good for 525 horsepower, but this car isn’t making 525 horsepower. No, it’s making 340 horsepower at the wheels on 91 octane. E85 in the tank brings that number to 380. Impressive considering this car was rated at 305 crank horsepower seven years ago. Behind that giant intercooler is a big Koyo radiator. Cooling is key everybody.

A Garrett 3076 ball bearing turbo sends hot, pressurized air through that massive intercooler core and into the two and a half liter mill. An AEM 3-Bar MAP sensor monitors the incoming air and dictates how much fuel the massive 1000cc Deatschwerks fuel injectors to spray into the cylinders. Those big injectors are in an Aeromotive fuel rail, and there’s an Aeromotive fuel pressure regulator between the fuel rail and the 255lph Walbro fuel pump. Not all that fuel gets used, but more on that later…

All of the air the turbo pressurizes isn’t used either, so a Tial blow off valve releases the excess air. The car is tuned at 20 lbs of boost, and a Tial wastegate helps keep boost levels stable.

17×9 Enkei NT03′s are sitting at all four corners, as are the Brembo calipers that came bolted to the car. Inside those calipers are Stoptech pads, and Stoptech lines feed Motul brake fluid to those pretty, gold calipers. The rear rotors are OEM, but the fronts are slotted Stoptech pieces.

This thing has some serious suspension pieces, being a former track car. JIC Magic coilovers hang at all four corners, and COBB sway bars are at either end. Also keeping the chassis flex to a minimum are a Cusco strut tower bar in the back and a Fuji Heavy Industries (Subaru’s parent company) strut tower bar in front.

Inside the cabin the US spec seats have been replaced with JDM STi Version 7 seats. Still OEM, and comfier than the stock seats. Thats a win/win situation. Behind those seats is a Sparco harness bar, but no harnesses to speak of at the moment. The old shift knob was taken off, and replaced with that stylish white Beat Rush unit.

This car was a track car, but it left none of its track capabilities behind when it became a street car. A fact that became very apparent when we went out for some rolling shots. Throw some BFG R1′s on this bad boy and it’ll do some work out at Miller.

Words and photos by Michael Chandler.

*Article, Video, and Photos are copyright of CAMautoMag.Com and their respective owners. Images and words may not be re-posted, re-distributed, modified, or copied without expressed written consent from CAMautoMag.Com

Category : Features

Tags : APS, Enkei, STi, Subaru, WRX

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12th Jul2012

Less is More: Track Day STi

by admin

Subaru WRX STi track car feature on CAMautoMag from CAMautoMag on Vimeo.

“Adding power makes you faster on the straights. Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere”

-Sir Colin Chapman

Colin Chapman founded a small car company based around this philosophy. They made street and racing cars following this mantra, and most of the time it worked brilliantly and didn’t kill anyone. People (not necessarily the people who are running his company) still subscribe to his now legendary philosophy. Greg Valdez is one of those people.

Starting with an already modified 2005 STi, Greg did what Sir Chapman would approve of: he proceeded to rip heavy things out of it. All of the doors have been gutted. The glass windows in the rear doors have been replaced by acrylic, and the front windows are non existent. There is a, singular, Prodrive by Sparco racing seat (from his old race car) and a matching red Corbeau 5 point harness. A 353mm black suede Sparco steering wheel replaces the stock unit (and its pesky, heavy airbag), and a Splash short hub adapter and a WORKS Bell quick release make the wheel work. The interior is so spartan the controls for the center differential have been left hanging out next to the Kart Boy short throw shifter.

The car was already fairly modified when Greg bought it. The cage was already in there, the Stoptech ST60 big brake kit was already installed along with the Hawk DTC-70 pads in the front and the Pagid RS 14 pads in the rear. The APR extended wheel studs and Kics lug nuts were there too; however, the massive 18×10.5 Enkei RPF1′s and Pirelli race slicks were additions made by Greg. They fit under the Karlton fender flares rather nicely, and the flares accentuate the Cusco lip.

This car was known for it’s track ready suspension setup. A setup that never saw any real track time. The car has TEIN Super Racing coilovers at all 4 corners, with 16k spring rate springs in the front and 14k in the rear. Theres a GT Spec subframe brace, and a Carbing front strut tower bar and a tow hook up there too. The tow hook doesn’t work too well, so Greg added the pair in the front and another in the rear. There is also a mess of Cusco parts, including: a center brace, T brace, H brace, 22mm front AND rear sway bars, rear subframe brace, trailing arms and lateral links. Kartboy front and rear endlinks replace the OEM units. The roll center adjuster comes from Whiteline as does a racing version of their anti-lift kit. All of this does wonders, but is pushed aside when you notice the 30 POINT WRC SPEC ROLL CAGE. Let me say that again: A 30 POINT WRC SPEC ROLL CAGE. Serious really doesn’t begin to describe the cage. Most of the bushings have been replaced: Kart Boy shifter, transmission, and rear crossmember, TIC rear differential, and Beatrush propeller shaft bushings all occupy the places the old bushings.

The interior is non-existent, and the suspension is beyond serious. The motor has to be some crazy stroked out, big turbo monster right? Nope! Ladies and gentlemen, the very fast white Subaru is powered by what is essentially a COBB stage two tuned motor. It has a full turbo back Turbo XS exhaust, a COBB version 1 Accessport, a SPT short ram intake (with a very clever, homemade NACA duct feeding it), an APS equal length Ti header (that has been wrapped), a Koyo aluminum radiator and a 13 row Mocal oil cooler. This thing runs on 91 octane pump gas for crying out loud!

This combination of weight reduction (the car weighs just over 3000lbs with Greg in it, while a stock ’05 STi weighs just shy of 3300lbs WITHOUT a driver), heavy suspension modification and tuning (courtesy of the guys at Innovative Garage) and light power additions (that idiot kid who ALWAYS wants to race you in his STi? Stage 2 crew) have turned this “could be” track day terror into a car that laps the 2.2 mile East Course at Miller Motorsports Park in the mid 1:40′s. Less truly is more

Words and Photos by Michael Chandler, Video by Trent Bray

*Article, Video, and Photos are copyright of CAMautoMag.Com and their respective owners. Images and words may not be re-posted, re-distributed, modified, or copied without expressed written consent from CAMautoMag.Com

Category : Features

Tags : Lap Battle, Road Racing, STi, Subaru, track car, WRX

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05th Apr2012

The Happy Couple: a pair of Subarus

by admin

Couples do things together. Some buy matching outfits, others try to take an interest in the other’s hobby, and some build a pretty bad ass pair of Subarus. I’d like you to meet Sally and Shawn, and they are the latter.

Sally and Shawn have been coming out to Lap Battle from Wyoming for a little while now, and we’ve been able to see their cars change with each event. Sally drives the hawk-eye, while Shawn drives the blob-eye. While they do race together, they’re technically not in direct competition with each other; because, they’re in different classes. Sally has a legitimate car Shawn has a legitimate race car. Allow me to demonstrate the differences:

Under the hood Sally has a lot of bolt-ons you’d see on cars that never see track time. COBB Tuning intake and SF intake bring fresh air to the bigger VF39 turbocharger. A STi top mount intercooler (fitted with a Forge Motorsport blow off valve) helps cool down the pressurized air, while an Invidia cat-less downpipe channels the spent gasses into a Greddy Ti-C catback exhaust. A COBB Accessport watches over the whole operation, as a Walbro 255lph keeps the two and a half liter mill with all the fuel it needs and a Saikou Michi oil catch can gathers all the gunk and keeps it from screwing things up.

Shawn has gone with a different plan: build it better. He tore into the engine and tossed the OEM pistons, rods and bearings with offerings from Manly and ACL respectively. 1000Cc injectors from Injector Dynamics and a Bosch 044 fuel pump replace the smaller factory units, while the TGVs have been outright deleted. An 83mm KS Tech cold air intake feeds the AMS 900X rotated mount turbo kit. The compressed air flows through an APS front mount intercooler and into a ported and polished throttle body. Keeping the inside of this monstrous motor cool are a Koyo radiator, a custom oil cooler and an AquaMist water-methanol injection system. An Integrated Engineering surge tank ensures that there won’t be a fuel starvation issue, while a Fluidamper makes sure the engine doesn’t shake itself apart.

Harvey Epstein, of TheBoostCreepLTD, tuned both cars. Sally made 267awhp, while Shawn (who did everything except the tune and engine build) made 453awhp. What’s almost 200whp between boyfriend and girlfriend?

Both Shawn and Sally are on coilovers: Shawn with his BC Racing BR’s and Sally with her TEIN Monoflexes. Sally is packing a TEIN front strut tower bar to help stiffen up the front, and a Cusco piece out back to do the same. Kartboy subframe lockdown bolts and a COBB rear sway bar round out the chassis aids Sally has chosen to employ. Shawn is rocking a set of Whiteline swaybars, along with their Anti Lift Kit. Kartboy end links have been installed, and the knuckles have been converted to 05 STi units for good measure. Both cars had their race alignments and corner balancing work done at Innovative Garage

At first glance it would appear that the happy couple are on matching wheels, but if you look closer you’ll see that they’re just on similar sets. Shawn’s are a set of Work Emotion CR-Kais wrapped in Toyo RA-1s, while Sally is on a set of Drag DR-31s shod in Nitto NT-01s. Shawn’s are an inch bigger in diameter so as to fit the StopTech ST-60 big brake kit. A set of Carbotech XP12 pads fill the calipers and Motul 600 fluid runs through the stainless steel lines. Quantum brake ducts keep the massive brakes as cool as they can. Sally’s set up is no slouch: Hawk HPS pads out back are in the OEM calipers, and HP Plus pads are in the Brembo calipers she sourced in the front. Castrol SRF brake fluid provides the hydraulic boost needed to reel the car in.

Both cars have carbon fiber hoods, splitters and big wings; however, while Sally is rocking a STi rear wing, Shawn has a massive Kognition piece. Shawn’s hood is a Kaminari unit without a hood scoop (because of the front mount you see) and Sally’s is a Seibon OEM style piece, complete with big hood scoop (because of the top mount you see). Sally has an APR splitter and FUNKtion canards whereas Shawn has a custom splitter (made from a “Welcome to Wyoming” sign) and no canards.

Both interiors feature Sparco seats (Pro 2000 for Shawn, Evo for Sally) and six point harnesses. A set of Autometer gauges inform Shawn of all that is important, while an Innovative Motorsport vent mounted boost gauge tells Sally about how boost she’s cramming in to her motor.

They say that the couple that plays together, stays together and coming out to the race track once a month definitely counts as playing in my book. We look forward to seeing them at Lap Battle, and where ever else we run into these crazy kids and their pair of Subarus

-Words and Photos by Michael Chandler, Video by Trent Bray

Category : Features

Tags : Impreza, racing, Road Racing, STi, Suabru, WRX

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The Happy Couple: a pair of Subarus

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