Philip Grabow won the TT-Unlimited class setting the fastest outright time in the Whelen USTTC at New Jersey. © www.dwphotoworks.com

Subaru has been added to the list of manufacturers to win the country’s newest national time-trial series, the Whelen USTTC.

Philip Grabow convincingly won both days of competition in the TT-Unlimited class at New Jersey Motorsports Park (Millville, NJ), which saw record entries in the Whelen US TimeTrial Championship.

His Element Tuning prepared 670 horsepower 2006 Subaru STi, running Hoosier Tires, set the overall fastest time Saturday and Sunday. Grabow’s times of 1:26.072 and 1:26.333 were a staggering three seconds clear of his nearest rival, Steve Katz (Viper ACR), in the TT-Unlimited class.

Philip Grabow proved once again you don't need a Viper to win in the Whelen USTTC. © www.dwphotoworks.com

Commenting on the win, Grabow said:

“I really enjoyed running with NARRA. It was really nice for a change to run against some really fast cars [such as Viper ACR-Xs]. We took our very different Subaru, [which] somewhat seemed out of place initially but once the lap times kind of settled out clearly it was a car that belonged there.

It didn’t go perfectly for us. We did win, but the goal was really to set the fastest time of the weekend, period. But we had some electrical issues so it didn’t look like we’d be able to touch some of those Viper Cup car times.

This was a really well run, well organized event. The [class] rating was fair, the competition was good. The whole package was a top-notch event. It felt good to be a part of something bigger.

I’m definitely looking forward to running the next event at VIR [Virginia International Raceway].”

George MacDonald (Viper Competition Coupe) and James Booth (Viper ACR) shared the wins in TT-1, while Tim Jelle (Viper GTS) won both days in TT-2, giving Dodge the top step of the podium in every class apart from TT-Unlimited.

George MacDonald finished on top in Saturday's TT-1 competition. © www.dwphotoworks.com

TT-Unlimited championship points leader Carl Kafarowski, who won the class at both Chuckwalla and Sebring, could only manage fourth fastest both days.

The Canadian suffered from brake issues throughout friday’s free practice, and by his own account felt he was a day behind the competition, which he conceded was the strongest he had faced in the Championship since the inaugural round at Road Atlanta.

Kafarowski set his fastest time on Saturday and couldn’t match his effort on Sunday. Both days he was trumped by Steve Katz and Michael Von Quilich (Viper ACR-X).

Von Quilich was on ‘double-duty’. The North American Road Racing sanctioned event also featured the Dodge Viper Cup presented by Pennzoil, in which Von Quilich was also driving, along with the US Performance Driver Education program and the US GT Championship.

The biggest field of cars was in the TT-1 class. On Saturday a close, ‘david and goliath’ styled, battle played out between championship points leader Doug Wind’s four cylinder SRT-4 and George MacDonald’s 10 cylinder Viper.

MacDonald and his green “Lolly Girl” Dodge Viper Competition Coupe managed to take the win by just over a tenth of second, setting a time of 1:33:543 to Wind’s 1:33.647.

John Weigel (Viper ACR-X) completed Saturday’s top three in TT-1.

On Sunday James Booth (Viper ACR) stepped up to take the TT-1 class win, while John Weigel stepped up to out pace the Modern Performance sponsored Dodge SRT-4 of Doug Wind, who finished third.

Doug Wind finished second in Saturday's TT-1 class. © www.dwphotoworks.com

Tim Jelle topped TT-2 timesheet both days. On Saturday Scott Barton was second fastest followed by Canadian Michel Prevost. Sunday saw Edward Werry take second place in TT-2.

Tim Jelle won both days in TT-2. © www.dwphotoworks.com

Winners in each category are eligible for contingency prizes from Hoosier Tire and Cool Shirt®.

All the Action from the Whelen US TimeTrial Championship at New Jersey was captured using GoPro cameras by the Internal Production Group and will be broadcast later this year on GoRacingTV.com, hosted by motorsport television personality Tom Hnatiw.

Event results, images and news can be found at facebook.com/NARRAonline .

The next rounds of the Whelen USTTC will take place next month at Virginia International Raceway, July 8-10.

New graphics from Speedesign look great. We wanted to do something new and different but keep that mean look the car had in all black. We couldn’t finish completely as the vinyl wouldn’t stick to the unfinished bumpers so we need to get those painted before the whole look is put together.

Rota DPT from WheelDude.com in 18×10 Matte Black hold the Hoosier 285s on very nicely!

New Sparco Circuit Pro Seats, Belts, and Steering wheel from OG Racing and Sparco USA keeping me safe.

One of the single largest and most critical improvements on the car is the Fulcrum Aero wing. John went above and beyond building us a reinforced with with improved double lap joint mounts.

Notice the heim joints for reduced stress on the mounts. The wing is also very easy to adjust because of this mount.

The final race of the NASA Mid Atlantic Championships was this past weekend at Summit Point Raceway. We updated our Element Tuning custom BC ER Series Coilovers with new valving and Swift Springs to increase front roll stiffness on the car in attempt to settle the rear end down under acceleration. We tested this at VIR warming up and ran a 1:59 which would have been good enough for 4th in the UTTC race so things were looking good.

On day one we set FTD breaking the old TTU lap record of 1:16.07 with a 1:15.4 lap but the cold track made it tough to get the heat I needed in my Hoosiers. On day two we tweaked the Fulcrum rear wing for about +45 lbs more downforce with only a 6 hp penalty in drag, dropped tire pressure on the driver’s side, and we adjusted the front and rear clickers on the BC coilovers. With the track temp coming up we were able to set a new TTU track record at 1:14.439!

Enjoy the video, From a 148 MPH Crash To A New Track Record:

Thanks,
Phil Grabow

The 2006 STI owned by Element Tuning customer James “MULE” Mulherin Jr. has a short feature in the September 2010 issue of Maxx Tuning Magazine.  You can view the article by clicking on the image above, or by downloading the 9.1MB PDF here.  This is just a preview feature though, so stay tuned for the full feature with dyno numbers once his car is retuned by Phil!

by Scott Lear From the April 2010 issue

When it comes to our no-holds-barred Ultimate Track Car Challenge, the more cylinders, the better. Out of the 55 track-prepared beasts that entered the most recent competition, the top five finishers all had big V8 power. The next two spots went to six-cylinder racers—one with a turbo, the other with lots of revs and an exceedingly low curb weight. Squarely in eighth place overall, however, was a comparatively diminutive 2.5-liter four-banger.

The boxer engine in the nose of Phil Grabow’s 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STI had less than a third of the displacement of some of the other cars. However, that didn’t prevent the Subaru from running at the sharp end of the pack with a 2:00.197 fast lap around Virginia International Raceway. A big turbo certainly helped, but power isn’t the only answer in the search for a quick time on track. In fact, due to heat issues, Phil’s Subaru was running in limp mode when it beat every other four-cylinder turbo at the event—as well as two Dodge Vipers and a full-race Ferrari F430 Challenge.

Tonight’s Card

Phil is the owner of Element Tuning, a performance shop based in Gaithersburg, Md. He started out on two muddy wheels, racing motocross for 10 years and achieving the Expert rank in that discipline before heading off to college.

Motocross was a bit rough on Phil, who owes a broken back, facial reconstructive surgery and seriously blown knees to his first passion. “To this day, I still miss that sport, but I haven’t ridden in 10 years,” he admits. “After graduating from George Mason University with a degree in marketing, I rode the dot-com boom into the ground,” he laughs. Armed with some money and a newly discovered love of cars, Phil decided to turn the passion into his job. “I worked with TurboXS for about three years helping to develop performance products and engine management solutions.”

In 2005 he struck out on his own and founded Element Tuning, a performance and racing parts company that focuses primarily on Subarus. Since the WRX’s stateside debut for 2002, a raft of enthusiasts have flocked to the brand’s six-star badge. The result has been plenty of tuner demand for go-fast goodies. Phil must have been paying attention when he got that marketing degree, because one of his first steps was to select a venue to showcase his new company’s talents with the Subaru platform. He decided that time attack was the way to go.

Footwork Drills

A race car is only as good as the driver at the wheel, so for their debut outing Element Tuning hired the services of professional driver Gary Sheehan. Element campaigned a 2002 Impreza WRX at the very first Super Lap Battle event in the U.S., held at California’s Buttonwillow Raceway.

“We finished a solid second place,” Phil recalls, “but realized that horsepower wasn’t everything. Gary was able to find 8 seconds a lap in the car by helping us dial in the chassis. At that point I knew how to make a powerful and reliable engine, but clearly no amount of power would match the gains we would see from developing the chassis. I could throw 100 horsepower at this thing and not pick up 4 seconds,” he explains. The time attack event also delivered the speed and competitive thrill that Phil once got from motocross. Rather than continue to let a hired gun have all the fun, Phil decided to secure his own time trial license. He figured there was no better way to learn the ropes of chassis development and test his company’s parts than to become a test pilot.

“My past racing experience with motorcycles accelerated my ability to drive fast,” reasons Phil, who qualified for his time trial license after just a few events. Better still, the Element Tuning team and sponsors realized that Phil was downright quick at the wheel of the Subaru. “There aren’t many company owners who not only tune their own engines but also personally race their cars, so I’m proud of this,” he admits. Before long, Phil’s lap times dropped below those of hired guns. He humbly attributes this to his familiarity with his Subaru. Whatever the case, in a competition format where the only thing that matters is the fastest lap, Phil was the man for the job.

Strapping on the Gloves

The 2002 WRX had done well at the Redline event, but soon Phil realized that the car had some shortcomings for unlimited-prep track use, particularly in the transmission and differential departments. “It had a dog box that we were breaking,” Phil recalls.

They wanted to install the six-speed gearbox and variable center differential from the STI. Rather than swap those components into the 2002, however, they decided to simply upgrade to a different car. A 2006 Impreza WRX STI fit the bill perfectly.

“The reason I didn’t do a 2007,” explains Phil, “was that they switched to a different ECU and taller gearing. We wanted the shorter gearing and the older ECU because we had a Hydra EMS [engine controller] for it.” Within 30 days of acquiring the STI, Phil had his new WRX at its first event, GT Live. The car was still wearing its temp tags.

The Lego-like interchangeability of Subaru components worked to their advantage, as Phil and his team simply transplanted the suspension and wheels from the old WRX. The engine, at the time sporting only an upgraded turbo, Hydra engine management, and some basic intake and exhaust bolt-ons, made a reliable 450 horsepower.

Come Fly with Us

“We eventually upgraded to a bigger turbo,” Phil says. “We raced on the stock engine for an entire year at 500 horsepower just to prove the point that these engines aren’t fragile—with the right engine management system and tuning, as long as it’s not detonating. Other shops were betting that we would blow up. We beat the big guys, and the engine never blew.”

Still, Phil knew that they were giving up horsepower to their time trial competition, so it was time to take the block apart—Element Tuning is a tuning shop that specializes in engines, after all. Their Big Valve head package, custom piston coatings, forged H-beam connecting rods and cooling upgrades were complemented by Cosworth cams and aftermarket pistons. Master tech Steve Simpson assembled all of these components.

Phil tuned the engine for a peak of about 620 horsepower. It’ll spin to 8500 rpm reliably, and the meat of the power is above 4200 revs. On hotter days, however, cooling issues require the wick to be dialed back a bit. (By the way, Element sells entire engines built to the same Pro Comp specification starting at $6457, while more streetable engines go for less.)

Naturally, power is only half of the power-to-weight equation. Phil also put the Subaru on a serious diet. Replacing the four doors with Seibon carbon fiber pieces was a big help; Phil reckons he saved 200 pounds between the doors and their glass. The hood and trunk are also Seibon carbon fiber pieces, and Phil replaced the heavy stock rear wing with an adjustable APR unit. The steel subframe was replaced with a lighter aluminum piece.

Having extra weight up top doesn’t help performance, and the stock STI had a surprising chunk of mass there. “On the ’06 cars, they have this weird little spoiler on the top of the rear window. That thing is made of steel; it was very heavy,” Phil laughs. “Frankly, everything else we do is adding weight—the brakes, bigger sway bars, the cage. You’re kind of fighting with that,” he says. Even with all the heavier race prep stuff, the Subaru now clocks just 2800 pounds on the scales.

Mental Conditioning

The realization that chassis tuning was the key to speed inspired Phil to learn more about the art of suspension setup. At first he was taking tire temps and checking tread wear, but he admits that he was still flying by the seat of his pants, pushing the car until he found a weakness.

“In motocross we’d revalve our own suspension,” he explains. “You had a lot more control than you have on these street-type performance suspensions.”

Phil went to JIC Magic—his sponsor at the time—and admitted that he needed some help. “He asked me for the corner weights, wrote down a bunch of gibberish, and said, ‘These are the rates we want.’” Phil decided to learn how to set up his own suspension, studying how travel, sag and pre-load impact performance. BC Racing came on board as his suspension sponsor—Phil is particularly pleased with their strut replacement program—and the lap times continued to come down. “We haven’t changed power in a long time,” Phil explains. Instead, he’s been finding speed in the car through improved grip and aerodynamics.

Because the Element Tuning Subaru is a time trial weapon, the setup is somewhat radical by road racing standards. It’s more like a high-stakes qualifying setup.

“With time attack, you don’t worry about the temperatures or the wear,” Phil explains. “You’re looking for maximum grip, the greatest contact patch.”

He started by increasing negative camber; “Burn up the insides to get your best time,” he says. “We’ve run three-quarters of an inch of toe-out, kind of a temporary fix,” he explains. “Guys in [Daytona] Prototypes told me they run an inch of toe-out for qualifying. Of course, it won’t last very long.”

However, he has learned that sometimes conventional wisdom isn’t the best answer: “In the search for the fastest possible lap times, you’ve got to be open to things that don’t make sense on paper.”

Heat Drills

If the Element Tuning Subaru has a weak spot, it’s heat. Time trial events usually consist of just a few flying laps, but in a powerful, grippy, turbocharged, all-wheel-drive car like Phil’s tuned STI, intense heat is always lurking around the corner. The more they turn up the boost and power, the quicker temperatures can enter the red zone and put the head gaskets in danger.

They’ve upgraded the obvious stuff, including a Koyo radiator filled with straight water and Red Line WaterWetter. Fortunately, time trial events give them a real-world way to test different solutions.

“One thing that’s really detrimental on Subarus is the hood scoop,” Phil says. “On one race we cut a big hole on the back of the scoop; we couldn’t believe how much it lowered the temps.”

As Phil explains, the scoop crams air into the engine bay and won’t let it out. “I think the next step is to do an actual duct system that goes in [the front] and then up and out the hood, so the whole radiator is ducted,” he adds.

Element Tuning tried a few aftermarket head gaskets but found that the OEM Subaru parts work best, as do the OEM crank and block. A sleeved engine, Phil says, will overheat badly. He also says that while the stock pistons aren’t unreliable, they won’t tolerate detonation over 400 horsepower. “You can make some mistakes with forged pistons,” he states.

Another heat problem area for the team car was the brakes. They’d been turning the gold-painted OEM Brembo calipers black, going through pads in a weekend. However, an interesting solution has yielded surprisingly effective results. To cram more air into the cooling ducts, Phil stole an idea used on Gary Sheehan’s US Touring Car Subaru: Use Cool Shirt electric blower motors to force more air through the system. “I was like, ‘That’s kind of silly,’” Phil laughs.

With nothing to lose, Phil decided to order a set of the small blowers and give them a try. “They seem like a super joke—3-inch in, 3-inch out—but they flow some serious velocity,” Phil says.

Turns out the little blowers were no laughing matter. “They were enough to knock me down a temperature range in the brake pads,” he exclaims. “I wish I had temperature data to back it up.”

Get Your Subaru on Track

Phil Grabow of Element Tuning knows how to make a Subaru go fast, both in the shop and behind the wheel. For evidence, take his top-10 finish at our 2009 Ultimate Track Car Challenge. He turned a 2:00.197 lap at Virginia International Raceway even though his engine was stuck in limp mode. Phil has some tips for others seeking to extract max on-track performance from their Subarus.

• Brakes: With the weight and power, it’s easy to overheat the brakes. Get proper race pads—think Hawk DTC60 or 70 or, my favorite, the HT14. Use one temperature range lower in the rear to keep things balanced. Add 3-inch brake ducts and blower motors if you can. I also like to use titanium backing plates to help keep the heat out of the calipers. If your Brembos have turned from gold to maroon or black, it’s time to upgrade.
• Tires: STIs are heavy, have all-wheel drive, and pack lots of power. These factors can cause the front tires to overheat, and most true street tires will chunk. Get real R-compound tires or a street-class race tire like the Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec.
• Handling: Give your car as much camber as you can! The softer the suspension, the more you need. Upgrading the rear differential is what gets the car to rotate—we use a Cusco 1.5-way.
• Engine: Proper engine management and tuning for the track is mandatory for engine reliability. We’ve run an OEM engine with Hydra EMS at 500 wheel horsepower for an entire season. It can be done. Fuel starvation is a big issue on Subarus—even half a tank can starve. We have to run a surge tank. It’s mostly a right-hand issue.
• Oil: Don’t skimp here. A high-quality synthetic oil in a higher weight, like 15W50—or even a racing oil like Red Line 50W—is a great choice. As engine temps increase—we’ve seen them rise above 260 degrees—the oil thins out, reducing oil pressure. High-horsepower Subaru engines can fail when oil pressure drops below 70 psi at high rpm.
• Aerodynamics: That big wing really helps at high speed, so don’t take it off. You need downforce when breaking track records with your Subaru. If it looks ridiculous, it’s probably just right! Lower-horsepower Subarus will benefit from downforce aids that don’t create too much drag, like splitters and underbody paneling.

There is just more excitement in the air! You can watch Time Attack, Mazda Formula Atlantic, Star Mazda, Playboy MX5 Cup, and even IMSA Lights. If you ever get a chance you should race one of these time attacks.

For the second year in a row, Element Tuning’s Mod class STi took the overall and Mod class win shaving almost 2 seconds off last year’s time running our new custom BC Racing ER series coilovers, GT Spec braces, and some new aero work.

I was really happy to pull the win off given we had transmission problems. Something happened in practice on day two and the transmission wouldn’t select 1st or 2nd gear, which really isn’t a big deal, but whatever caused that would sometimes prevent the transmission from shifting at all. I simply had to coast through a few corners with the clutch in until I could grab a gear.

Having already managed a 1:29 on R888 tires in “Mod” class I was comfortable the time would hold for the win. With a new front splitter installed and some under aero work this year I decided to try to reduce some drag on day 2 by removing the front canards and reducing the angle on the rear wing. Reducing the angle on the rear wing didn’t have any major drawbacks (it was looser but not hard to control) but removing the front canards removed front bite in the slower corners. The car felt slower to me but due to traffic in practice I couldn’t determine the real lap time.

With a transmission acting up and nothing to loose I asked if I could put some “Unlimited” tires on for an exhibition pass. I haven’t run these tires all year long as I just didn’t have enough seat time in the car to feel the need. Once I hit the front straight braking zone and then the first turn I couldn’t believe how much more grip I had and was going way too slow. LOL! Unfortunately the transmission was really acting up but I was able to muster up a 1:27.123. Even with the problems I really under drove the car to that time. I know 1:25s should be possible.

At the last minute on Sunday, 2008 Volkwagen TDI Cup driver John Shim had an interest in racing the Element Tuning 2008 WRX “Street” class car. Having set great qualifying results for NJ I knew he didn’t need to learn the track and could just focus on driving. Using up practice session one bedding in the brakes he was only able to get about 20 minutes in the car before the main event. Before the race John said he thought he could run the last turn flat out. I said, “I don’t think so. There’s no downforce on this car.” He didn’t listen and on the first time lap spun entering the front straight. LOL! Basically loosing a fast lap for both time lap one and timed lap 2 he only had one lap to put it together. Like Danny Sullivan at the Indy 500 John spun and won! He was able to muster a 1:39 taking the AWD “Street” class.

Unfortunately this transmission failure took me out being able to run the Redline Autobahn event but I’ll be ready for the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge at VIR in July.

You can find a many more pictures and news here:

http://urbanracer.com/articles/anmviewer.asp?a=3847&z=1

For the chassis I have the Element Tuning custom BC Racing Coilovers setup really well, GT Spec chassis braces, 6 Gun Ball Joints and bump steer kit, front and rear sway bars, Brembo STi front calipers, Dunlop 245/45-18 Z star Spec tires, and rear camber adjustment kit. All I can say is this car’s lap time are a reflection of it’s grip and not the power. The new chassis is impressively stiff and has so much more grip than the previous chassis.

http://www.elementtuning.com/Videos/Element08WRXSummitRecord1.wmv

Power Mods:

Stock Engine
Element Hydra EMS 2.6
Element Hydramist
Element Header
Element Uppipe
Element GT52
Element Downpipe with 3″ High Flow Cat
06 STi intake manifold
06 STi TMIC
Modified Stock Injectors
TurboSmart BOV

Chassis:

Suspesion: Element Tuning Custom BC Racing
Braces: GT Spec
Ball Joint: 6 Gun Racing
Bump Steer: 6 Gun Racing
Wheels and Tires: TR Motorsport 18×8.5 Dunlop Z Star Spec 245/45-18
Brakes: Front STi Brembo, Pagid Yellow. Rear: OEM
Sway Bars: Front and rear still testing
Camber: Rear camper bushings

We limited the power on this car to 350-375 whp on pump gas and Hydramist and 375-400 whp on 100 octane and Hydramist since it does have a stock WRX 5 speed and clutch. No doubt the car is heavy since the only weight saving mods it has involved removing the junk in the trunk. LOL!

I now need to work on the brakes a little more along with more front aero work. I want to keep this a true street car so I’m limiting myself to what I’m willing to do but I think I can shave another second off the car without resorting to unbearable suspension or more power.

Simple effective mods!

Spirits were high going into this event but we knew there would be tough competition ahead of us with the Topspeed team, Robispec, DTM, and Forged.

James keeping the sponsors happy and setting tire pressures.

Element Tuning had one of those close calls. The story of the weekend was to either run the “jump” or to run the chicane. After the street and mod classes refused to run the chicane the unlimited guys decided that we would run the jump to ensure that the overall win stayed in the “unlimited” class. I was braking before the jump in the practice sessions to simulate running the chicane and not jumping the car but in one session I jumped it. I must have landed on one wheel because I bent the tie rod and broke the tie rod end link. Luckily I maintained control around the carousel which took out a number of cars.

Lucky for us our number one competitor Topspeed gave us a set of tie rod ends from a Whiteline kit and salvaged our weekend. You’ve heard this story time and time again and really we all try to help each other get to the main event. Thanks, Doug! Eddie and James from the Element crew went to work on replacing the tie rod ends and set the alignment the best week could. The bump steer corrections were off with this kit which made for a different feel but I managed well enough. What we failed to notice was that the wiring harness going to the ABS had rubbed the tire during the accident and tripped the ABS fault. Having very little experience racing without ABS I locked them up through the tricky 11-13 section and ran off into the grass. The track was certainly taking its toll on us and the other competitors.

At the end of day one we were lucky enough to slice our way through traffic to run a 1:32 in practice setting the fastest time of the day. On race day I elected to not even run this car in practice for fear that the track was still out to get me. LOL! I instead to the time to get some practice in our “Street” class 2008 WRX.

We didn’t have much time to get this car setup but it has an assortment of Element Tuning goodies: Hydra 2.6 EMS, GT52, Hydramist, Uppipe, Header, Downpipe, 950cc injectors, and has an STi intake manifold so I can run an STi TMIC. I’m currently running a set of off the shelf BC coilovers with some custom spring rates we were able to source at the last minute while we wait on the custom valved set. This car was raced at 19 psi on pump gas with the Hydramist using Dunlop Z Star Spec tires. As you can see we’ve fitted a 2008 Sti front bumper and fenders to the 4 door WRX. As soon as we can get some fiberglass side skirts we’ll have them molded in for a clean look.

After practice the OEM rear brake pads were gone and we were again scrambling for parts. To the rescue were some AutoZone Duralast brake pads that didn’t fit. LOL! Eddie was off to Chris Rado’s rig to grind them into shape. After that and some hand filing I had a car to race.

Doing double duty by racing two cars had me sweating but for the first competition this car did well and I was just edged out by a 10th or two by the Robi Spec EVO for 3rd place. Only being 2 seconds out of first place (1:40 to winning 1:38) I see no problems putting this car into the winning form. This is my true daily driver, baby seat and all. LOL!

For the Unlimited class and overall win, it was going to be an all Subaru show with TopSpeed running a 1:33 in there first time session to our 1:31. Both of us were sandbagging a little saving the cars for the main event but the goal was to break into the 1:20s. As we set out for the last time session it was obvious the track was in really bad shape (debris and fluid every where and the outside lines full of marbles) and the extra power added proved to be difficult to hook up. Having escaped disaster twice in one weekend I really wasn’t able to drive the car to its full potential and like Doug has mentioned, this track requires restraint. You’ll see in the video as I exit turn one where I lost the race to Luke Russell who posted a lap time 4/10ths quicker than our 1:30.xxx.

http://www.elementtuning.com/Videos/Redline%20Time%20Attack%20Shenandoah%202008%20web2.wmv

We put up a good effort and despite the setbacks came out with a strong finish, 2nd overall and only 4/10ths out of an overall victory. With our car at 2880 lbs it’s time to get serious if we want to win the overall so the car could stand to loose 200-400 lbs to run with the winning teams’ weights. Congratulations to all the winning teams and we’ll see you next time.

06 STi Mods:

Element Tuning Hydra EMS
Element Tuning Hydramist water injection
Element Tuning Time Attack Engine
Element Tuning Big Valve Heads
Element Tuning GT65 Turbo Kit
Element Tuning Fuel Surge Tank
Element Tuning 3″ SS Exhaust
1000cc Fuel Injectors, rails, regulator
TurboSmart E-Boost 2
TurboSmart Megasonic BOV
TurboSmart Ultragate
JIC Custom FLT Suspension
JIC Rear Lateral Links
JIC Rear Trailing Arms
Seibon Carbon Doors, Hood, and Trunk
Clutch Master’s Clutch, Element Tuning spec
Prodrive GC010 and GC050 18×9.5 Wheels
Hankook SC91 and SC71 275/35-18 Tires
StopTech 355mm brakes
Cusco rear diff
6 Gun Ball Joint Extenders
Swaybars (various)

08 WRX:

Element Tuning Hydra EMS
Element Tuning Hydramist
Element Tuning 3″ SS Exhaust
BC Coilovers (custom spring rates)
TurboSmart Dual Port BOV
TurboSmart Boost Tee
Whiteline Sway Bars
TR Motosports Wheels 18×8
Dunlop Z Star Spec 245/40-18
Brembo Sti front brakes
STi TMIC
STi Intake Manifold
Modded Stock injectors

Heading into the event and looking at the schedule we felt we had an advantage knowing this track pretty well. The problem however was that test sessions early in the year were cursed with rain and locked up wheel bearings. Regardless I knew we had a fast car, I knew the track layout, and I was confident the AMS EVO lap record would fall.

As we set out for practice on Saturday we cruised around the track trying to keep heat in the tires on the cold and damp track. With a 1 hour practice session we didn’t fuel the car up enough and it started fuel cutting and I also ran it out of water (for the water injection). The good news was that with the cool temps and the low boost I was able to turn 14 laps without any overheating issues. Lolly gagging around the track in low boost resulted in a great time of 2.00.38 good enough to set the fast time for both Friday and Saturday’s practice. Knowing we had 100 hp left on the table we were very confident the win was within reach.

With the car fueled up and water tank filled we lined up for Time Attack 1. As I came onto the front straight the car was laying over at 6k rpm. I realized that when I ran the Hydramist out of water I forgot to prime the system and purge the air out of the line. I thought the fail safe was cutting in and my non-water injection map was too rich so I cruised around and finished out the session. Overall the times did not change much and Topspeed, Crawford, and Element were all hovering in the 2:00-2:02 range. The BC/Cwest S2000 continued to have mechanical issues resulting in misfires. Since they were lean on supplies making the trip from California we gave them all the tools and duct tape they needed.

With only two sessions each day there really wasn’t much option to test so we purged the water injection lines, adjusted our tire pressures, performed the regular maintenance and called it a day.

For Sunday’s 7 am practice session we decided to pull the rear sway bar to try to fight the rear wheel hop we’ve been experiencing at the last few events this year. The bottom line is that it didn’t fix the issue enough and it slowed down the car’s transition response sending me a little off course at 140 mph through the uphill esses. Worse was that the car was still shutting down at 6k rpm. As I rounded the last few turns I see that James Elterman has stuffed the Takata Sti into the tire barrier hard at the end of the back straight. This would have to be the worse place to loose it at speeds can approach 180 mph. Luckily I saw him out of the car and I knew he wasn’t hurt.

I called into the pits and we pulled the car off the track to find the real issue. With 30 minutes before the race I hooked my laptop up to data log the Hydra to see what was going on. I noticed two things, one it was running lean on top and the other was the DBW throttle was closing after 6k rpm. The lean out was likely due to me running out of gas on the last lap of the first practice session. The Aermotive A1000 pumps are really sensitive to this and the cavitation can destroy the impeller wheel. Luckily the fuel pressure wasn’t dropping enough that I couldn’t just bump up the fueling in the map to offset this. Knowing we had some sort of DBW failure but only 5 minutes left until race time we quickly inspected, and uplugged wiring in hopes something came loose.

It was time for the final Time Attack and the times leading up to this were Topspeed with Luke Russell behing the wheel in the 2:00, Crawford STi with Tarzan at 2:01, and BC/Cwest S2000 with Tyler McQuarrie at 2:04 and Element Tuning at 2:00. I knew the times would fall by at least two seconds and if our problem wasn’t solved it would be a long shot to beat even our practice time. To make matters worse we hear the DSG 240SX blew a motor before our session laying oil down from turn 1 through 4 sending an S2000 into the wall hard.

Also off in a separate incident was another Honda that contacted the tire wall.

As I headed out on my warm up lap I let the Element STi rip and unfortunately the car was shutting down at 6k rpm. With only a 1k rpm powerband and being limited to 6K rpm I knew there was little chance at a win or even 2nd place for that matter but I wasn’t about to give up. As I come around for lap 1 I get a call over the radio, 2:04, and as I coming around for the second lap I see Luke pulled over at oak tree (they blew and IC pipe), then I pass the Tarzan in the Crawford car putting down the back straight (I heard he missed a shift and 9800 rpm later the engine was hurt), and I hear, “2:02 go faster over the radio, so I knew I had to push it! Here is the final lap video: (sorry same music as last time..under the weather and lazy  )

http://www.elementtuning.com/GT%20Live%202008/Element%20GT%20Live%202008.wmv

I pushed it as hard as I could and blew a couple turns trying. With such a short powerband, water splashing onto the window since the overflow tank cap popped off, and the car laying over at 6k rpm it was so difficult to drive but I managed a 2:01 on my last lap. A far cry from a likely sub 1:58 lap if the car was healthy.

Congratulations to Topspeed and Luke Russell for taking the overall with a 1:58 and to BC/CWest and Tyler McQuarrie for taking the championship with a last turn pass after Luke’s manifold cracked.

Also I have to thank Jim and John for all their help and hard work this weekend on the Element Tuning STi. With the exception to the mechanical failure things went incredibly smoothly given how little time was available to setup the car. Also a big thanks to Mark at GT Spec for getting us the chassis braces with such little notice.

With only “Modified” and “Street” classes allowed we took our 2008 Subaru WRX sedan for “Street AWD” and we swapped the tires on our STi to R888 and put the passenger rear windows back in for “Modified AWD” and headed to the event.

We were surprised to hear that there were no separate run groups so I had to give up sessions so I could get time in both cars. The Thunderbolt circuit was really hard to master and it actually never happened as the carnage continued as it had a few weeks earlier at Summit Point. As I entered the carousel with Witt Staples driving the Altantic Motosports’ EVO in front of me I could see at the end there was a car off in the mud. I’m not sure what happened but Witt lost it at the end of the decreasing radius turn, went off, and hit the EVO X that was sitting waiting to re-enter the track.

Interestingly there were three flag stations within view of the first car off the track and I saw no yellow flags. It’s a new track and I don’t think the corner workers are up to pace yet. Even during one of my races they yellow flagged two laps instead of just the warm up. I’m sure they will get them up to pace soon but the performance for this event was unacceptable. This session was black flagged and the driver and passenger were sent off to the hospital. Luckily 3 cracked ribs and a sore neck was the extent of the injuries so we were all happy to hear they would be fine.

With one hot lap in practice session one, we learned nothing about the new tires or the track layout. As we headed out for practice session two a car blew its engine and drove around the track on line. OMG give me a break! With only 2 hot laps off the track we came for a 45 minute clean up before the Formula Atlantic race. I don’t think they were too happy about that. LOL!

Because of the shortened schedule due to delays they only ran the top 15 cars so our 2008 WRX was not allowed to run the final timed session on day one. In the end the track was so covered in dirt from the Formula Atlantic guys it really was tough to ring the cars out so we cruised around to a 1:33 which was good enough to keep us in 1st place overall with James Elterman following closely in 2nd place overall. At this point I was still not comfortable with the track layout or the car.

For day two things looked a lot better on track as the track crews were sweeping dirt off between sessions. Since all the delays and surprises on day one Redline decided that all sessions would be timed and counted for overall. With no time in our 2008 WRX we ran the first session with that car setting the pace for the “Street” class finishing with a 1:39 for 2nd overall in “Street” to an SRT4.

The 2008 WRX felt fantastic and was so easy to drive. We are running an Element Hydra 2.6 EMS, ET Hydramist, ET GT52 turbo, modified stock injectors, STi TMIC and intake manifold, header, ET FEW Uppipe, ET 3” DP with 3” high flow cat for power mods. The suspension is fitted with Element Tuning spec BC Racing Coilovers, front and rear sway bars, 6 Gun Ball Joint Extenders and Tie Rod Ends, and a camber adjustment kit in the rear. We are running STi Brembo brakes up front and Dunlop Z Star Spec tires.

We are running the STi bumper and front fenders also.

With the 08 WRX handling great there was no need for more time in that car so we ran the STi Time Attack car for session 2. We lined up based on qualifying time and I made hay while the sun was still shining and let her rip to a 1:30 lap while catching traffic.

Here is the video: FormulaX Element Tuning Fast Lap

The car was still pushing badly which you can hear in the video so we made some tire pressure adjustments to improve things. I felt like based on this run I could go another 2 seconds quicker without the traffic in full time attack mode.

For the final timed session it was double duty running the 08 WRX and then the Time Attack STi. As I headed out I pushed on the very first timed lap but as I came around the carousel the yellow flags were being waved so I slowed down only to cross the finish line with the green flag out. Ok, so I picked up the pace for the next lap and the car felt good but I knew I could go faster and then I caught traffic on the next lap. OMG, LOL! I pull into the hot pits and it was right into the STi.

As soon as I started for my first timed lap I knew something wasn’t right. The car was pushing horribly in the front. On my last session the rear of my car felt really good with only 34 psi of pressure so I dropped the front down to the same but this was the wrong way to go. I think the R888s needed the low pressure in the rear to build heat but in the front when I dropped the pressure the sidewalls were folding over and the tires were overheating. I normally run a Hankook C71 or C91 tire that can handle really low pressures due to the stiff sidewall so it appeared to be the right thing to do. Luckily for me I was able to slightly improve my time by a 1/10th of a second running a 1:30.83 lap.

Luckily for me one lap was all I needed in our 2008 WRX running a 1:39.092 good enough for 1st overall in “Street” taking home the $1000 purse. In Modified we held on to the win over James Elterman in our STi to take the overall win and the “Grand Champion” check for $1500.

This was one of those tracks that is not easily mastered so I’m looking forward to future events here and also the move back to a more familiar setup in the “Unlimited” class. $2500 goes a long way to making this event worthwhile and I hope Formula X continues with this type of event piggy backing off of other professional motorsports.

The weekend started out with lots of last minute changes unfortunately. With SEMA so close there wasn’t enough time to get our new suspension prior to heading to CA but Jon at JIC Suspension graciously worked on Sunday to get us the custom suspension we so desperately needed. All I can say is that Jon really knows his stuff and we analyzed our currently setup, discussed its shortcomings, and came up with revised settings.

With new dampers and springs rates I was skeptical but how can you question a team with so many “Ulimited” class Time Attack Wins? I went with it and we also installed a set of JIC rear trailing arms and lateral links to provide stiffness, response, and to allow for more adjustability in the future.

Some new front brake pads for the StopTechs and some fresh fluid had our brakes optimized.

Front JIC coilovers installed and new camber settings completed up front. A huge thank you goes to Dan at Prodrive America for working on the car and allowing Element Tuning to utilize their facility.

With the work completed we headed off to Button Willow Raceway. The 2007 Toyota Tundra is just an absolutely awesome truck and ran flawlessly the entire 6000 mile trip. The quote of the weekend was, “I can honestly say I have never pulled anyone over for doing 85 mph in the Carpool lane towing a car.” LOL! I guess that’s not allowed in CA.

With Hankook’s tire mounting machine malfunctioning we were left high and dry without tires to run practice. It was all up to me to wing it on a track configuration I had never driven nor seen on video. At least I was able to get 6 laps in the configuration run for Super Lap with my old Hoosiers to get used to the new setup. Since I hadn’t run that configuration either and we managed a 1.52.88 with 60 whp more available we were in high spirits for the next day’s race.

With no practice I lined up behind Russ War as I knew I can learn from his lines and pace off of him as long as possible for the 5 lap Unlimited battle. It wasn’t meant to be for Russ as he broke down on lap two black flagging the race. They gathered us back into the pits and it was up to Element Tuning to carry the banner for Subaru against the Works and RobieSpec EVOs.

With the Works EVO the entire front straight away ahead of us I set out to close the gap knowing if I did I would have the win. As the laps unfolded I could see I was closing the gap. With such a long time attack and another event to run the next day I was only running 23-24 psi leaving 100 whp on the table but since it didn’t appear I needed it I just kept knocking out the laps on low boost.

As every lap passed I started to learn the track and push harder. I was still however struggling in a couple of the fast and blind sections where I knew I should be going much faster. As the checkered flag waived we were within a couple car lengths of the Works EVO and I knew we had it in the bag….or did we?

I think we did more driving for this photoshoot than we did racing.

Chatting during the looooooonnnnggggg photoshoot:

Oh well missed another practice session for Super Lap. LOL!

Did Element Tuning win it for Subaru? No……hmmmm this will go down in history as the most creatively scored 5 lap race in history. They didn’t count my last two fastest laps but instead included my warm up lap and the black flag lap?????

Watch the video and you be the judge:

http://elementtuning.com/Videos/Hankook%20WRX%20vs.%20EVO%20Time%20Attack%20Web.wmv

All in all I was happy to be invited and the Hankook tires are absolutely awesome. No doubt about it they are a very fast tire. A big special thanks has to go out to Armin Ausejo from World One Performance who captured the event with his incredible photos, Garret Alpers from World One Performance for his support of Element Tuning’s Time Attack Car, Dan at Prodrive America for all his hard work to make sure our car always made it out to race, and to Jon at JIC Suspension for all his incredible suspension knowledge and for taking time out of his Sunday to help Element Tuning.