The car hit the steets this week, after three months of being on the injured reserve list due to a blown rear end...for the second time. For those who have not followed, the ring and pinion gear were destroyed this time around...and I replaced them with a J's 4.44 final gear set and had the gear set, differential housing, and Comptech bearing caps cryogenically frozen. This was my first weekend back on the streets.

After the S2000 dinner we rolled down to Starbuck's to meet up with some other people, and hang out in the car scene. A girl I know approached me and introduced me to a guy who asked if I was interested in running his friend's Scooby. I accepted. I was hoping it was a turbo swap WRX that would drop me hard...I really like to see other fast cars, but I don't seem to find them as often as I would like.

I didn't ask what the guy had, and we just rolled out and let him follow. We rolled up to a red light and the WRX was rev'ing up getting ready to launch. Obviously, after my second rear end rebuild I didn't want to run a freaking AWD WRX from a light. I already knew what the results would be. I've seen them launch before, and an S2000 rollout can't hang with that. I tried to get Lisa's attention but she was video taping the light, waiting for it to change. So, I figured, "Oh well", and rev'ed the car up some for a light launch.

I rev'ed to 4,500 RPM and probably launched at 5K. Once I slipped the clutch and slammed on the gas the car got into VTEC as the wheels spun a bit. Out of the hole the WRX hammered 3 car-lengths on me before I even shifted into 2nd. He was moving, hard. I jammed into 2nd, thinking the race was over but I started to pull pretty decently. Even though I was pulling, 3 car-lengths isn't that easy to make up. I crammed through my gears inching up through each one. At about 130 (uncorrected speedometer) I pulled out and I was probably 1.5 car-lengths behind. We pulled over after the run and talked.

The guy said he had only installed a larger intercooler (nice FMIC), boost controller, and 3" exhaust. Gotta love the modability of the WRX. I told the guy that I didn't really want to launch the car, and we all rolled out for some more fun.

The next race was after rolling out of a light. I got into 2nd around 50-ish and gave the Subaru a few jams of gas to get him to go. He dropped it and I followed. Before getting out of 2nd I was moving on him. I ran through the gears and pulled out after 4th gear and had 2+ lengths on him. It's always hard to count lengths from the rear view mirror, so I'm guessing it was 2-3 lengths. We did a few more runs from 2nd gear with similar results. There are some gears where my car just seemed to really walk where other times I didn't get too much distance. All in all they were some good, fun, races and that car will probably be much quicker the next time I see it.

After that some ghetto green SHO and some slow GT's tried to buck up and got dropped like you wouldn't believe. I dropped back and let them drive crazy after I realized none of them were on anything with power.

Anyway, I'm back.

 

Welcome back

 

nice write-up

welcome back!!

 

Woohoo!!

It's wes. Watch out.

 

video please

 

Awesome. Glad to hear you are back WES!

(does this mean I have to share street encounters now? )

 

how much was it to freeze the rear end....not a bad idea for strengthening, and if its not to expensive.......

 

That WRX had a turbo swap and fuel uprgade to do that. I've raced many of WRX's, Corvettes, and other LS1's at the track. If you are trapping anywhere near an LS1, you would be 1 car length behind by 70 and blow by him like he was standing still at around 100. Remember, alot of people will not tell you they have a new turbo, especially in a WRX. The WRX comes with a wimpy turbo that is at its best efficiency at 16 PSI. Even then at a reputable drag strip at sea level you will never see a stock turbo WRX trap above 100. I had 1.7 60ft's and couldn't get above 100. My friend who was not as good at launching had a turbo upgrade, exhaust, ECU, fuel, and would trap around 102. That's around stock S2000 traps... And trust me, the S2000 after 1st pulls like a mofo compared to a stock turbo WRX. FMIC's on a stock turbo do nada... Turbo Back exhaust's give a fair amount of HP gain, but the best gain is from an ECU or boost controller.

An S2000 can pull a sub 2.0 60 ft. Compared to the average WRX driver in the 1.9-2.0 60 ft range it should be pretty even. Now get a new turbo on the WRX and its easy to get to the 1.7-1.6 range. That's where a WRX would rape someone off the line. BTW, a TXS stage 4 upgrade will trap around 107 - 109. That's pretty much the standard upgrade people are going with and it is very stock looking. Around 270 WHP.

 

Hey Wes.. What ever happened to your site?

 

It's hosted at the company I was laid off from on Dec. 31. So, it's been up and down with no one really concerned about it since then...I need to find a new home for it.