Grant, Ben and Randall return to Amelia Island Airport to compete in a unique day AND night Autocross event. This time we follow Grant and see how his day and night runs compare with some amazing site footage and time-lapse. See who comes out on top at this unique event!
Team White car. Towed Ben's STI to minimize tire wear.
[BLOG] Going from a Mustang to a Subaru in Autocross
Once a year the Central Florida Autocross Region hosts an event at Daytona International Speedway. Though this year instead of being on the tiny gokart track it was in the gigantic guest parking lot.
My competitor and good friend Ben had just bought a very nice set of adjustable coil over suspension. One of the best ways to dial it in is to simply get more seat time in the car.
Holding on tight in this bumpy course
Some background. I have only driven one all wheel drive car before. a 2007 Subaru Forester converted to STI specs. Though I did do one run in Ben's car in December of 2015 but back when he was on Pirelli Super-Sport tires. I have about ~4 years of competitive driving experience.
The car is now on 265/35/18 Bridgestone RE-71R tires, with full bolt ons, a turbo swap, and a MCS coilover suspension (more detail below).
This car was just stupid amounts of fun to drive. Ben says its putting down around 340(wheel HP) and 360 (wheel TQ). We were running the car on a lower boost tune due to the excessive heat that day and to be honest it still felt more powerful than my Mustang which makes about the same to the wheels. The power just SURGES on with minimal turbo lag. I still had to slightly change the way in which i drive. Was a bit strange going into a turn and putting my foot to the floor in order to spool up the turbo for the exit. In the Mustang this would be very bad and result in massive amounts of over-steer (running into crowds of people). My strategy seemed to work pretty well and I became very attuned to the car quickly. I placed 1st out of 6 competitors that day, and a ~20th raw time out of 120.
Back to the suspension and the whole reason I was co-driving. Ben's new adjustable suspension was made out of some kind of dark unicorn-magic. The course at Daytona was very bumpy and I actually managed to slightly sprain my arm that day from the ultra death grip i put on the steering wheel when I drive. After that first run though we dialed down the stiffness and the bumps just went away. Really goes to show you that a very expensive suspension system won't necessarily make you faster but can make you more consistent. This particular suspension was a Motion Control System (MCS). They usually run in the upper 4k-5K ranges and are very high quality.
We managed to each bring down our times and clean up our runs by the end of the day. Mission success and I hope I helped out Ben by showing him a different driving style and giving him more runs to dial in the suspension! See Ben's build page on our site and follow us on YouTube to see how the competition goes this year against him!
Grant - Spectro Racing Staff
Scott's Forester XT
[Car4Sale] Scott's Fozzy 4 Sale!
Scott's Fozzy is World Rally Blue XT with 4EAT and has just under 90,000 miles (and will go up). He bought this car a little over 3 years ago, and to this day he is still upgrading it, one piece at a time.
He autocrosses this car about once a month, and has done one track day. For being a "grocery getter" it does a fine job at keeping up with, or beating, cars that should be much faster, and certainly more expensive. However, you pay for the insurance of a Subaru Forester. Wheel horsepower is in the 310-320 range, which is plenty for a relatively light weight vehicle. 0-60 and drag strip times are nothing spectacular because you can't launch with the automatic, but once your moving this thing hauls major booty.
All the mods have been carefully thought out to make this car a capable performer in all applications, while still providing a way to transport the dog (Scott bought this car because he has a 100 lb German Shepherd), and to get the cold groceries home in record time. Never let your ice cream melt again!!!
List of mods includes:
Performance/Exterior
- VF39 Turbo from STI
- Boost controller
- Grimmspeed Topmount Intercooler
- STI hood scoop (taller for more air)
- BC BR Coilovers, Forester specific
- Legacy GT, Spec B calipers with upgraded rotors & pads
- Whiteline 24mm adjustable swaybars, F&R
- Whiteline ALK kit
- Rota Tarmac II wheels, 18x7.5
- EL headers
- Invidia highflow cat downpipe
- Blitz Nur Spec exhaust, custom fit to Forester
- STI steering rack (huge improvement over stock)
- Stainless braided brake lines
Interior
- STI front seats
- Pioneer AppRadio 3
- Polk Audio speakers in front and rear doors
- JL subwoofer, 10 inch
- Two amps (speakers and sub)
- Sound deadening material installed in doors, floor, and rear hatch
For more details on this vehicle check out the CraigsList post here: Forester XT
For Videos about this Forester check out our channel: Spectro Racing Channel
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Heavily Modified 2011 Subaru WRX STI
Scott drives Ben's highly modified 2011 Subaru WRX STI. Making well over 340WHP. The sound this thing makes is just awesome. We will be following up with Ben at an Autocross event early next year!
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2015 Florida State Autocross Championships
The Spectro Racing Mustang takes on Japan at the FIRM in Starke Florida. Placed 3rd in a tight top 4 field out of 12. Check out a quick overview of the other cars including their experience level and tires. Then we jump on board the SR Mustang with on-board telemetry and great sound with a remote mic.