[ruski]

The Beginning:
I know how everyone likes good long write-up on projects, especially ones for motorsports cars. Well here is my story.

Just over a year and a half ago I had graduated college and was very interested in acquiring a 2005 STi. With lots of lots of looking and a bit of patience I came across and STi on Nasioc that was being sold for a decent price. The seller informed me that the car had a salvage title, so before purchasing I had the car checked out by a mechanic and nothing appeared wrong. Soon afterwards I had a shiny “new” STi with 8500 miles on it sitting in my driveway.
(picture)
A number of years ago, I was not a “car” guy. I basically thought it was stupid and a waste of time. However I was given a gift certificate to a track day school at Thunderhill Raceway here in California with the SCCA. At the time I had no idea what I was getting into and showed up with my 1991 Isuzu Trooper. Although it was a bit embarrassing showing up with that car at a track day, nonetheless I had a fantastic day. After this outing I was hooked on the world of motorsports. I became an avid rally fan, and the obvious choice for me was the Subaru Impreza WRX STi. Here is a very short clip from that day.
Video of Trooper Track Day - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Soon after having my new car I was able to get it tuned and add sway bars and an anti-lift kit. I decided on getting the car tuned as the gas here in California is bad, and can cause problems with the factory tune. I had Mike Warfield, who is the tuner at GST Motorsports, tune my car. He was able to extract 260whp and 300tq out of my car with a safe tune that would work well both on and off of the track. (For reference a stock STi on his dyno will do around 220whp/220tq, give or take a few, on 91oct.) I will get to this a little more later, but I can’t give Warfield enough credit on the tune. It has been unbelievable, and the engine has held up through over 3000 miles of heavy duty track use with plenty more to come.

Now that I had my tune and a few parts I decided it was time to get back to the track. This would be my first time back in 3 years. I decided to sign up with NASA. While they are slightly more expensive than the other groups I have found they are the most fun, and they provide the best environment for increasing your driving skill. The track day was a blast, but at the end of the first day I had a boost leak on the aftermarket blow-off valve that came with the car. After I got the car home I purchased a stock blow-off valve and new gasket and everything was perfect.

I continued to do track days and purchase suspension parts. I decided to focus on the suspension as in the end it would be better for me as a driver to learn to drive the car, rather than “power though” any of my deficiencies. Through my time at the track, and a mutual friend, I was introduced to the Locks. For those of you who do not know, the Locks are the owners and drivers of GOTO racing. They raced a Subaru WRX in USTCC, and are currently racing a Subaru Legacy GT in the GrandAM Koni Challenge ST series. As I continued going to track events the Locks provided me with advice that supplemented the skills I was learning on the track. However, Chris Lock told me that he would continue to help me, but would no longer ride along in the car after I entered group 3 unless I had a roll bar in the car. He told me that the speeds were just too great, and a mistake could lead to a very serious accident.

I could have progressed very fast through the NASA ranks, but I decided to take my time. In the lower run groups you get instructors for FREE, so I decided to milk that for all it was worth. When I finally arrived in the upper run groups I found that my extra time with instructors was paying off ten fold. After my first event in group three I decided that I did need to get some roll over protection as I didn’t want my hobby coming back and biting me.

Decision to move to a dedicated track car:
The Lock brothers, Brian and Mike, built roll cages and their work was exceptional. I decided on getting a roll bar put into the car. The name of their business is CalculatedRISK: Racing Fabrication. After talking longer to Brian he convinced me that putting in a full cage was a far better decision, especially if I knew I was going to be taking the car to the track as much as I did. At this point in I was really only driving the car on a few weekends; mostly only for track days. I said, “What the hell - build me a full cage.”

The Cage:
They built the cage in two stages. The first stage is what is considered a NASA minimum roll cage without the door bars. I chose not to do the door bars to begin with as I still had stock seats and wanted to keep as much of the interior intact as possible. After I talked more with Brian I also decided to have an extra bar welded in to help with reinforcement and bracing.

A week later I had a cage by CalculatedRISK for my car. The cage was flawless, and everything fit together very well. It was necessary to remove some of the interior, but most of that was in the rear, where no one would be able to sit because of the cage.





After they installed the cage I immediately felt a difference in the stiffness of the car, even on the street. The car felt like it was more stable. Soon afterwards I went to some more track days, and the cage made an even larger difference on the track. You also really do feel safer being surrounded by large metal bars rather than just the car shell. Spending money on my safety is probably the most intelligent investment that I could have made.

I continued doing tracks days and progressing in my driving ability. Earlier this year I decided to turn the car into a 100% dedicated track car and finish the rest of the cage. At this same time the Lock brothers decided to open up a brand new shop in Cameron Park that would specialize in racecar maintenance, installations, fabrication, and aerodynamic design work. The Locks also wanted to sponsor a car at the race track to help promote the new shop, primarily the fabrication portion. Since I was going to the track so much, and the Lock brothers had already worked on the cage in my car, they approached me and asked if I was interested in a sponsorship. The brothers talked with me about reinforcing the cage, adding door bars, and fabricating a diffuser and splitter. In return, after a graphic design was completed, I would put vinyl on the car with their shop logo. I agreed and a date to start the work was set. We decided to do the aerodynamic work first.

I arrived at their shop and was amazed. There wasn’t anything special about the shop, except that it was totally clean. I’ve never been to a shop that looked this clean. Even my basement where I work on my car projects doesn’t look anywhere near as clean, but I digress. We decided that we were going to work on the diffuser first. The diffuser work went slowly, and we kept deciding to go larger and larger. In the end we came up with what is called “The Bat Wing”. Below is shown the progression of the creation of the diffuser.

[ruski]

Next we decided to do the splitter.







Finally the cage was set to be finished. The door bars were to be finished and integrated into the B-pillars. A floor bar was put in and integrated with the tunnel, an integrated rear strut bar, and two diagonal bars in the rear were added as well. At this point the cage is completed and is a sight to behold in person. While the pictures do show a lot it just isn’t quite the same as looking upon this jungle of metal with your own eyes.

[ruski]

Completed Car:





The future:
The aftermath has been incredible. The car no longer gets light during high speed turns and drops. It is absolutely glued to the track. Sponsorship or not, the diffuser and splitter have increased my confidence in the car, feel, and pure outright grip. I can never see driving the car without them again.

I’ve done two NASA weekends since the work has been completed and the car feels fantastic. It still needs some suspension tweaking, but the car is almost set up perfectly. At Infineon raceway Brian Lock and I took turns driving the car. I was in Group 4 and he was running it in Time Trials. I was able to run a 1:55.9 lap and Brian was able to run a 1:52.9 lap, not bad considering the difference in our experience levels. This is also with not all the weight taken out of the car and including a passenger as well. Pulling these lap times with a car weighing nearly 3700lbs is an impressive feat. Brian and I took turns being passengers with each other and frankly, it’s scary as f***. When you get to the point where you can feel everything the car is doing: the slip-angle, the lateral grip, the braking ability, and you know how close the car is to the edge, it becomes a different experience to be a passenger. I now understand why the Locks aren’t always thrilled to come on rides with me anymore. At least I know I am picking up some speed.

For now the car is set up very well. A larger turbo may be in my future, but I still need at least another year to fully master the power that I already have. When I decide to go that route I will be consulting heavily with GST Motorsports to make sure the route I decide on will give my car both strength and reliability.

Later this year I will be running in the Redline TimeAttack series, street class at Laguna Seca. Depending on what I decide next year I may run in the WORKS endurance series racing events here in Northern California. The possibilities are endless and all will be fun.

Brakes:
One thing I have learned with the STi is that its brakes are not all they are cracked up to be, at least if you drive the car to the edge. While the stock Brembos hold up well they can not take the heat generated by R-composition tires and heavy duty racing brake pads. This last event at Thunderhill one of the pistons on the right front caliper partially seized and caused the caliper to get so hot it started to bubble and burn the paint covering it. Mike Warfield, from GST Motorsports was up at Thunderhill helping with the tuning and setup of the GoTo: Racing Legacy. After talk with Brian and Mike, Mike decided to help me out with my brake problems. He recommended a set of Stasis Alcon 4 piston calipers with 340mm rotors. While my fun was over at Thunderhill, within 48hours of leaving the track my car has the new Alcons installed and was ready to go again. A track day on the Wednesday of that week at Thunderhill showed that the Alcons were up to the task of the braking challenges that I am going to send their way.

A huge thanks to all from Calculated Risk whose fabrication keeps my car more stable and my body safe at the track, and a huge thanks to GST Motorsports and Mike Warfield for working with me to get all I can out of my car safely.

www.calc-risk.com

[AndrewSS]

Nice build... whats the future for the car?

[tyler_sti]

Wow super siick custom setup. I would love to also have a bumper like this for the track!!

[spazegun2213]

The car looks hot!

I LOVE race cars and I'd love to see your car racing in ST2 (nasa). You have a great start with the guys at GST and the locks. They are great guys and know what they are doing.

As for the Redline Time attack, I'm 90% sure in street class you have to have the front door panels still installed. If the stars align and all that good stuff i might be out there at laguna.

good luck with the car, and remember to keep it rubber side down.

[ruski]

Originally Posted by AndrewSS

Nice build... whats the future for the car?

Nasa Time trials, and possible endurance racing.

[ruski]

Originally Posted by spazegun2213

The car looks hot!

I LOVE race cars and I'd love to see your car racing in ST2 (nasa). You have a great start with the guys at GST and the locks. They are great guys and know what they are doing.

As for the Redline Time attack, I'm 90% sure in street class you have to have the front door panels still installed. If the stars align and all that good stuff i might be out there at laguna.

good luck with the car, and remember to keep it rubber side down.

I have door bars. In the rules it states that if you have a cage with door bars that necessitate removal of the door panels you may do so. The car is in street class but it is walking a fine line.

[DCH]

Holy moly. That is insane! Very nice project you've got!

[RFFG]

Awesome project!

Keep up the good work!

[ruski]

Originally Posted by tyler_sti

Wow super siick custom setup. I would love to also have a bumper like this for the track!!

You can talk with Calculated Risk about getting one made up. It was designed on my car to be totally removable.

[EMAGDNIM]

Hardcore!!!

[jutes85]

Crazy Russians.

[ruski]

Update:

I had brought the car to the dyno to receive a return for 100oct gas. The car gets setup and starts the initial pulls. We put in some 100oct gas and start the new pulls. Shortly their after Mike Warfield comes out with this stern look on his face, "Turbo is blown"

:yell:

However it wasn't as bad as I had initially thought. While "blown" the turbo wasn't dead. It was not able to hold more than 19psi and it would drop to 13psi at redline. According to Mike the VF39 has a casting design flaw which sometimes will cause cracks at the waste-gate and prevent the turbo from holding boost pressure. The car still runs very strong but doesn't pull hard at all up in the RPM range. With this info in mind I am going to complete the setup of the car and then this winter try and remove the turbo to fix it or just outright replace it.

Evan

[importfanatic17]

Yeah, VF39's are notorious for being cracked. Most of the time the crack does not affect performance, but in your case, it did. That is a bummer bro.
I saw your car at Hammy and I loved the interior/cage. How loud is it stripped out like that?