Well I've been meaning to do a Project Buildup thread on this car for a while, and now that I've got a dyno plot to post, I might as well get it started It does have what I consider "The Ultimate Suspension Ever" setup: We. Have. Found. It. Seriously, the way the car handled today was DRAMATICALLY unlike any Subaru I have ever driven. Setup: KW V3. Standard spring rates. One turn from stiff compression. One and a half rebound. PDE front plates, stock rear top-hats. Whiteline 27-29 front sway, stiff setting Whiteline 22-26 rear sway, middle setting Whiteline ALK Carlab X-Brace in the back, M-1 chromoly subframe brace, no front strut bar. 2.6 degrees front camber, 0.1 degrees front toe-out. 1.6 degrees rear camber, 0.01 degrees rear toe-in. Stoptech 335 BBK PFC-01 Brake pads front, Carbotech XP8 rear Race Comp Engineering Brake Ducts Goodyear GSCS DOT tires. 36 psi hot front 34 psi hot rear. Sparco Pro 2000 Race seat. Kartboy Short shifter I have driven over 400 Subaru’s in the last 3 years. None feels ANYTHING like this car. Every other Subaru I have driven requires a bit of “man-handling” or “making it turn.” This car steers like a Vette, or a Miata. Fingertips guide the front end where to go, throttle easily controls the attitude of the car. I think I need to credit a lot of this to the M-1 front subframe brace. It does make sense that the massive loading of the lower-control-arms into to what appears to be a flexible area could contribute to the comparatively poor steering feel in most Subaru’s. If anybody would like to do this exact setup and have us come out and set it up at any of the tracks that are on the One Lap of America route we will do it for a very low price It also makes a little power on race gas : It should look like this: Power mods: Cobb AccessPort V1 (for now) Perrin GT30R Rotated kit with a bunch of custom piping and a custom CAI Custom Precision Turbo GT30R HKS Super Race Recirc Valve Deatschwerks Injectors Walboro 255 Fuel Pump Magnaflow Ti CBE Defi Gauges (via EDO Performance) Most of a tank of 114 from Roebling Road SS
Well, it's official, the paint scheme is going to be altered a bit as we just picked up Cobb as a sponsor. A lot of what they are giving is going to be expertise and information. Specifically, how to be fast around Miller Motorsports Park in White, '06 STi's That's right, Matt and I will be learning from the pros. Look for a full write-up of an "outsider's perspective" of just how awesome their Time Attack car is. Our One Lap car is setup very similar to their Time Attack car. If you haven't seen it, check out: http://www.cobbtuning.com/info/?id=3144 and http://www.cobbtuning.com/info/?id=3118 They run the FP Red, we have a large compressor, small hotside GT30R (very similar). We are both running KW V3's, big sticky tires, and of course extensive Pro-Tuning on the AccessPorts. For anybody in this area, our car will be at CMP for it's first official Time Attack this weekend. SS
HAHA!!! How about the TTS class win and FTD *AGAIN*!!! I have to say this is an awesome outing for his first Time Trial. Apparently there were a pair of the new Vipers that have been getting FTD at these events. After yesterday's FTD, they bought brand new Hoosiers to run him down. Nothing a little race gas didn't take care of. They picked up a little, and he picked up just OVER 2 SECONDS. FTD AGAIN!!! I think he's got footage. I'm going to give y'all a little insider story about our experiences at the track: For some reason people REALLY don't like getting passed by this big, white, 4-door, 5-seater, with a full interior, often on street tires, with 2 guys in it... People tend to run themselves off the track trying to get away. We were at Roebling a few months back when I first personally experienced it. It was late Sunday, so only the more hardcore guys were still there. There had been just over 150 cars there, and we were clearly in the fastest 5 or so. Including all the gutted and caged, race-tire Porsches. We had been slaughtering Porsches everywhere. That morning the starter motioned us over as we got off the track and said "This car runs like a top, and y'all are obviously fast. But can you turn it down a notch, you're intimidating the other drivers." So we're out in his group, Black (their most advanced HPDE group other than Instructors), and we're catching a Porsche 997 GT3. Near new, GORGEOUS car, big wheels and tires. He gets held up by a turbo Miata and we both take the Miata going into T3. T4 is the tighest corner on the track. It's a tight Right before T5, a long flat, lower speed Left. We run him down a few car lengths under braking, and he gets it turned-in to the right. Then he starts to GET AWAY... This is the first time we have experienced this in that car. Both of us have the same thought, "We are about to LEARN something. We are about to see what a $140,000 Porsche can do. We are going to learn a faster line through T4 and T5." We were very excited. He "gets away" near a foot per second for 2, maybe almost 3 seconds (this is a pretty quick "leave-rate") then I realize; only the back half of the car is getting away, we're catching the front. He's spinning HARD. He parks it on the apex curbing of T4, and we drive disappointedly around him. Then at Barber Motorsports Park a few weeks later I am out in the instructor session showing a friend of Matt and I how cool the road racing is. We're on street tires, and with two large guys in it, the car is fairly heavy. Even still, we're one of the fastest cars of the weekend. This session I'm pushing the car a little bit to show the buddy what it'll do. We catch a NICE C5 Z06 on Hoosiers. He points us by. I don't think much of it, but I realize that I need to push fairly hard to get away from the Vette. My passenger and I are have intercoms in our helmets and I mention that I'll point him by so we can see what he does, he's not faster than us, but he's quite fast for being a C5 Vette. So I point him by on the back straight, follow him through T10-13, and sure enough, he slides right off the track before pit-in. Again, we are mostly disappointed at not getting to try and learn something. Last time at Roebling we are out and there is a FAST 911 racecar. Like full on racecar; gutted, caged, race-tires, race engine, etc. He's FAST. We catch him in traffic and he does NOT want us to pass him (this never ends well for them) We see an IMPRESSIVE display of Porsche control. He slides it through T4. Has smokey inside-front wheel lockup under braking for T5. SLIDES it through T6. We hang-out behind him on the straight to see if he can get away with another round of the tighter back section (we weight 3200 lbs plus two big guys, he's like 1900...). However we are REALLY fast into T1-T2. Sure enough he tries to carry speed onto the straight between T2 and T3, nope. He slides right off the corner in T2. Later that day another C5 Z06 that races in the Vette challenge is running and goes off T6 in front of us... Dinner is ready, more later SS
Nice dyno I see you used my wife's stock sti dyno for reference Best of luck with OLOA! You should try the bigger Strano (Addco) 32mm hollow bar. It made a world of difference on our car, making turn-in a good bit quicker than the Whiteline X3006 bar that it replaced. -- Brian
The strano bar is effectively he same as the whiteline 27/29 set on 29. Not the mention that the strano breaks control arms, makes noise, and doesnt fit well. But unfortunately, due to Scott's limited racing experience....
Good news, I set a Nasa Time Trial Track record for TTS while I was there, which isn't that impressive since its a new class, however I also broke the record for the class above me. We have changed alignment settings again and turn in on the car is crazy, hitting my marks was no problem this weekend. The track was super slick and really really cold, the car was sliding all over the place, the tires I'm running on are really too old, hopefully our sponsorship deal will come through with Yokohoma and we can get some all out race tires for Time Trial. Matt
Thanks guys its nice to have so much support from the locals. It feels good knowing there are people cheering for you. Matt
Nope, you are wrong. I have driven cars back to back with the Addco (strano), and whiteline, and there is a significant difference... if you haven't tried the Addco bar, don't bash it. It does make turn-in significantly quicker, and is the bar to have for autocrossing the STi in the stock class. As for the Addco bar construction, the endlink design is not optimal, but it is adequate. As long as you make sure that the 90 degree brackets are bolted tightly to the control arm tabs, then they shouldn't cause the tabs to tear off. I had a friend tear one off, as one of the bolts came loose and the 90 degree bracket rocked back and forth, causing an indentation in the tab, which caused it to eventually shear. There are always trade offs in a product made for racing, and I feel that this is adequate, for the significant gain in performance. Of the people that I know that have used it and tried the whiteline bar, they agree that it is a significant upgrade over the whiteline bar. My friend tore his control arm tab switched back to the whiteline bar, and now once the new season is about to start, has decided that the Whiteline bar is inadequate and is switching back to the Addco bar. Now, the bar might not be necessary for all setups, where you can change other variables, such as spring rate to not require a larger fsb, but for solo A-stock, there are no such allowances. I just mentioned it, as I feel that it is a great product worth trying if you want to try a stiffer fsb. -- Brian
Great write ups Matt and Scott! Looking forward to more action stories, though hopefully without others spinning off/crashing. After the times @ RA I was afraid Matt couldn't drive... no worries now
Nope, *I* am right since it is *MY* opinion. *YOU* are right since it is *YOUR* opinion. However, everyone's car that I have driven with the strano bar hates the bar personally and *I* personally did not like how the car acted with it. It brinds easily whether installed correctly or not...and yes, it work a ton better with the brackets setup correctly. I've seen them installed all kinds of 'correct' and incorrect ways. Either way, I've only met 1 person that likes it...*points finger at Brian* WJM
I have no need for a bigger front bar, we are switching to a stiffer spring and I will probally end up backing off on the setting for the front bar.
Sounds good. If we had the allowances to be able to modify the car to use higher springs rates and add some more negative camber (only can get -1 for the stock class) to make the car turn better, I would gladly get rid of the Strano bar Best of luck with OLOA. -- Brian
Not until March, I need my sway bar for the national tour next weekend. Best of luck at one lap! That dyno looks crazy next to mine
17x8.5" wheels. For One Lap we'll most likely be on Yokohama Advan Neova AD07's. If we get the APR Widebody as sponsorship, we'll go bigger SS