Track Car in the Making: Tommy’s WRX

“Race car” is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot these days. Most people start with the motor and then ask the questions later of why they went off course while understeering through a turn. It’s not always about power. Case in point is some of our past feature cars that race regularly and aren’t surpassing 600whp or even 300whp. But the right combination of parts can make a worthy contender.

Tommy brought his Bugeye home one day with the sole intention of making it a streetable race car. It needed to take him to and from the track, but allow him to have fun once he got there. If you couldn’t tell from the first paragraph, he’s largely left the motor alone to make it reliable. Even his future plans are simple and comprised mostly of OEM parts. The only additional power-adders are an HKS Hi-Power Exhaust and custom catted down pipe. Most of the attention was turned to aerodynamics and suspension.

Now if you ask what Tommy’s favorite part of the car is, he’ll be torn between the broadway mirror(to see those he just passed) or the Voltex rear wing. This was something he was looking forward to for some time. It stands tall to get some clean air as he heads into the high-speed sweepers at Miller Motorsports Park. Helping with the downforce up front is a set of FUNKtion Aero canards and front splitter underneath a Prodrive front lip. Clearing the air from underneath the car is a Voltex-replica rear diffuser. As the car gets forced down, it sticks to the line with a set of Enkei RPF1 17″ wheels wrapped in sticky Toyo Proxes R1R tires. Tires are part of the equation, but the suspension is handled by BC Racing BR coilovers and seemingly pointing at the Whiteline catalog and saying “I’ll take all of it”. This was actually planned out more thoroughly than that as his main sponsor Nip N’Tuck Performance went over what he needed. This includes a set of Whiteline Sway Bars front and rear, Whiteline Anti-Lift Race kit, and Whiteline endlinks. The interior is kept functional with a Momo steering wheel, Sparco Pro2000 seat and Takata harness, Autopower 6-point roll cage, and stripped out rear seats and sound deadening. Stopping is currently relegated to Hawk HPS brake pads, but will soon be upgraded. Putting together this car has made it solid on the few shakedown runs he’s made with the car. It will really be tested this upcoming month as he begins his NASA High Performance Driving Events to get a race license. Look for this car in our track coverage soon.

Tommy would like to thank:

Dustin for the friendship, sponsorship, and work on the car.

Jason for the long-term friendship, helpful tips and suggestions.

Adam for the advice and recommendations on suspension setup.

Words and Photos by Trent Bray

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