Subaru Drive Performance Magazine

Good Times with a Good Team

Subaru Road Racing Team at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

If you’ve ever met the members of the Subaru Road Racing Team (SRRT), you know what an easy-going, fun group of guys they are. I always look forward to spending time with them at the track.

 

 

 

 

A weekend in California isn’t complete without Cali-style hair. Thanks to team member Steve, SRRT had a new look. Most of the crew tried it on – even team principal Joe Aquilante.

    

 

 

Of course, it’s easy for them to be light-spirited when the #35 WRX STI is running well. That weekend it was strong during all practices. It ran in the top few spots each time out, consistent with the pace the team has been running all season long.

But when it came down to business, the boys were ready for the challenge.

Lead-off driver Bret Spaude qualified the car in 10th. A decent place to start, but with 60 cars between the two classes on the 2-plus-mile course, this would no doubt be an action-packed race.

Contact began before the green flag dropped and continued non-stop until the last lap. Contact was so constant that the majority of the race was run under yellow (11 full-course yellows resulting in 39 of 71 laps under yellow), and few cars escaped with minimal damage, let alone with their bumpers intact.

  

 

 

After a less than perfect pit stop past the mid-way point of the race, Andrew Aquilante did what we does best and worked his way to the front of the pack. An end-of-the-race penalty for the leaders left the #35 WRX STI in 2nd, positioned to fight for the lead.

Heading into the hairpin at the beginning of the white-flag lap, Aquilante made contact with the bumperless lead car. Immediately flames shot from beneath the Subaru, but ever-hopeful Aquilante thought he could finish that last lap.

With fluids spilling and threatening far more damage to the WRX STI, Aquilante pulled to the side after turn 3. Physically unhurt, he emerged from the smoldering vehicle.

 

 

 

As the #35 was flat-bedded back to the garage, adrenaline was still running high with the team. They were so close to another victory. Team spirit and focus then turned to the next event.

Final race of the season is September 29, 2012, at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut. Going into this final race, SRRT sits in 10th place.

Click here to view more images of SRRT in the Continental Tires Sports Car Festival at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

– Melissa Carlson

Do you have images from a 2012 Subaru Road Racing Team event? Submit your photo for an opportunity to be published in Drive Performance magazine. Click here to view complete rules and to enter.

 

SRRT Performance in the 2012 GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Grand Sport Class
Round/Date	Event/Track	Location	Drivers	Qualifying/ Finishing Positions
Round 1 – January 26-27	BMW Performance 200 at Daytona Daytona International Speedway	Daytona Beach, Florida	Andrew Aquilante/ Bret Spaude	7/28 (DNF1)
Round 2 – March 30- April 1	Porsche 250 Barber Motorsports Park	Birmingham, Alabama	Andrew Aquilante/ Bret Spaude	3/23 (DNF2)
Round 3 – April 27-29	Homestead-Miami Speedway	Homestead, Florida	Andrew Aquilante/ Bret Spaude	1/3
Round 4 – May 11-13	New Jersey Motorsports Park	Millville, New Jersey	Andrew Aquilante/ Bret Spaude	1/1
Round 5 – June 8-10	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, Ohio	Andrew Aquilante/ Bret Spaude	4/183
Round 6 – June 22-24	Road America	Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin	Andrew Aquilante/ Bret Spaude	6/21 (DNF1)
Round 7 – June 29-   July 1	Continental Tire 150, Watkins Glen International	Watkins Glen, New York	Andrew Aquilante/ Bret Spaude	12/12
Round 8 – July 27-29	Super Weekend at the Brickyard, Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Indianapolis, Indiana	Andrew Aquilante/ Bret Spaude	16/11
Round 9 – September  7-9	Continental Tire Sports Car Festival Powered by Mazda, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca	Salinas, California	Andrew Aquilante/ Bret Spaude	10/15
Round 10 – September 28-29	Lime Rock Park	Lakeville, Connecticut

¹ Accident, ² Rear differential, ³ Broken suspension

SUBARU ROAD RACING TEAM CHALLENGES TO THE CHECKERS AT THE PENULTIMATE ROUND OF GRAND-AM CONTINENTAL TIRE SPORTS CAR CHALLENGE

Team Press Release

Phoenixville, PA. – Sept. 8, 2012 – It was a mixed race weekend for the Subaru Road Racing Team (SRRT) which showed strong promise after a run up to 2nd place by the last lap but ultimately resulted in a 15th place finish at the race’s end.

The suburban Philadelphia-based team traveled cross-country to the famed Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif., for the season’s next-to-last round of the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge professional road racing series.

The final race results show team drivers Bret Spaude and Andrew “AJ” Aquilante finished 15th in the 26-car Grand Sports Class with their #35 Subaru Impreza WRX STI, one lap down to the eventual winner. But a moment before the final tally was taken and on the final lap, Aquilante had been harrying the race leader for the win, and was right on the rear bumper of the lead car.

"The story of this race will always be about our cool-headed, experienced pit crew as we executed a seamless final pit stop where we topped up on fuel to make a late race charge for the lead,” said Phoenix Performance team owner Joe Aquilante. “On an earlier [pit] stop, we burned precious time as another team’s car inadvertently blocked the entrance to our pit box.”

“The race had 11 full-course-caution flag situations. The safety car was used to control the field for an amazing 39 of the race’s 71 laps. That’s an awful lot of safety car time, and each one of them forces you to constantly recalculate pit stop strategies.”

The Subaru Road Racing Team entry took the green flag from 10th place in qualifying, with Bret Spaude successfully avoiding problems caused by fellow competitors during his 17 laps at the controls of his #35 Subaru Road Racing Team WRX STI.

SRRT teammate AJ Aquilante slotted into the car as Spaude pitted, while circulating in a solid 7th spot. The tactics for the day were dictated when mishaps caused the safety car to lead the field nine of the first 17 laps.

“AJ made some good passes toward the end to move from 10th to second in 10 laps, but then things went awry. There was no reason to believe he couldn’t have passed the race leader, John Edwards, for the win. But by that point in the race, Edwards had already been hit in the rear and his car had lost its rear bumper. Moreover, though, John’s brake lights weren’t operational. Brake lights are a mandatory within GRAND-AM’s safety rules,” added Joe Aquilante.

“With a win in sight, AJ tapped the leader’s car from behind while initiating the pass, but John’s exposed rear bumper structure tore through our car’s radiator, causing both a coolant and oil leak plus perhaps a small oil fire. Half a lap from a potential win, and suddenly we’re 36th overall, 10th in class, and a lap down.”

“Our team made the most from a race fraught with laps run 11 times and 39 of 71 laps under full-course yellow conditions,” added James Han, motorsports marketing manager for Subaru of America, Inc. “We came very close to putting our #35 Subaru WRX STI on the top podium step, and we’re carrying a healthy level of confidence going into the last round of the series at Lime Rock Park in a two weeks.”

The Laguna Seca Raceway event was televised by SPEED TV and will be aired both Sept. 16 at 1:30 p.m. ET, and Sept. 17 at 2:00 a.m. ET.

The season’s final race will be at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, CT, on Sept. 28-29. Practice and qualifying will be Friday the 28th and the race Saturday at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Indy Journal (SRRT at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway)

I'm a huge Indy fan -- of the old school, some would say. My passion for the place and its 500-mile race at the end of May began when I was somewhere between 5 and 9 years old. Every Memorial Day, my family would listen to the race on the radio. The race would be on no matter what we did -- one of my family's rituals.

I was in my early 30s when I first visited the track. It was mid-May, and qualifying was under way for the big race. The cars were out for practice when I drove under the track in the tunnel between turns 1 and 2. One race car passed overhead, and I could smell the fuel. At that time, I had been away from racing for a couple years, and I had assumed that I had outgrown it.

Not so -- by a long shot! That day -- passing under the track with that one car on it -- was a turning point in my life. On that day, I committed to attending every race I could, of every type -- especially open wheel. Since that day, I've gone to all sorts of championship (Indy) car, sprint car, midget car, sports car, NASCAR^(R), etc. races, and, a few years later, I became an automotive writer.

For more than 10 years from the late 1970s into the 1990s, I went to the Indy 500 every year. In the early 2000s, I saw the first two Formula 1^TM races at Indy.

But I haven't been able to return since then -- until July 6. Later in the month, there was a "super" weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS). It included NASCAR and GRAND-AM series races, and Subaru was at the track July 6 and 7 for practice.

Driving into the speedway on July 6, I used the same entrance -- the same tunnel. There were no cars on track, but the same feeling I had more than 30 years ago washed over me. I'm awed by the track's history -- much of which I've followed ardently. I'm awed by its immense size. And I'm awed by the spirits of drivers past that are part of the place.

All of July 6th, I photographed around the infield of the track, which is still new to me, even though it has been there more than 10 years. For the second practice on July 7th, I shot from the pits. Walking onto pit lane and seeing the yard of bricks at the start/finish line took my breath away. Another team member had told me it would.

I'm not alone in my reverence for the speedway. Others among the teams and officials echoed similar sentiments.

Seeing a Subaru speeding from south to north on Indy's front straight seemed completely out of context after hearing and seeing so many open-wheel cars of different types racing the other direction for so many decades.

But I was ecstatic that Subaru Road Racing Team (SRRT) was there for a run at the end of the month.

 

Race Day -- July 28, 2012

I returned to IMS with the team three weeks later for the GRAND-AM Continental Sports Car Challenge -- hoping for cooler weather. It wasn't as hot -- approximately 15 degrees cooler than the practice days. SRRT had a packed day -- a one-hour practice, followed immediately by qualifying, fan walk at noon, and then the two-and-a-half-hour race at 1:00 p.m.

SRRT qualified 16th.

SRRT faced humidity, drivetrain issues caused by heat, close contact racing of the GRAND-AM style, and a lightning storm with heavy rain -- so heavy that GRAND-AM stopped the event until deep water cleared from parts of the track.

Even as the race ended with SRRT in 11th, the team had to deal with another storm rolling through the area.

SRRT Performance in the 2012 GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Grand Sport Class
Round/Date	Event/Track	Location	Drivers	Qualifying/ Finishing Positions
Round 1 – January 26-27	BMW Performance 200 at Daytona Daytona International Speedway	Daytona Beach, Florida	Andrew Aquilante/ Bret Spaude	7/28 (DNF1)
Round 2 – March 30-April 1	Porsche 250 Barber Motorsports Park	Birmingham, Alabama	Andrew Aquilante/ Bret Spaude	3/23 (DNF2)
Round 3 – April 27-29	Homestead-Miami Speedway	Homestead, Florida	Andrew Aquilante/ Bret Spaude	1/3
Round 4 – May 11-13	New Jersey Motorsports Park	Millville, New Jersey	Andrew Aquilante/ Bret Spaude	1/1
Round 5 – June 8-10	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, Ohio	Andrew Aquilante/ Bret Spaude	4/183
Round 6 – June 22-24	Road America	Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin	Andrew Aquilante/ Bret Spaude	6/21 (DNF1)
Round 7 – June 29- July 1	Continental Tire 150, Watkins Glen International	Watkins Glen, New York	Andrew Aquilante/ Bret Spaude	12/12
Round 8 – July 27-29	Super Weekend at the Brickyard, Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Indianapolis, Indiana	Andrew Aquilante/ Bret Spaude	16/111

¹ Accident

² Rear differential

³ Broken suspension

-- Ric Hawthorne

Subaru Notes from Road America

Even though a spin and contact caused by fluids from another car's blown engine prematurely ended Subaru Road Racing Team's day in the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge at Road America, a number of Subaru-related encounters helped to perk up the weekend. (See Road America gallery here.)

I met the owner of a very clean 2002 WRX who was camping in the Carousel. It was one of the earliest models to hit American shores. The owner learned about the WRX coming to the United States from a tour put on by Subaru at that time, and then he followed up by playing video games that featured the WRX. This was one of the ways that customers learned about the WRX. We refer to this phenomenon in an article about video games in the latest issue of the Subaru owner magazine Drive.

Another Subaru owner in the same camping area wishes he still had his first one. He's owned seven of them. His current family Subaru is approximately 10 years old and has 170,000 miles on the odometer. He wants to get a new one so he can leave his fishing equipment in the one he has (which he'll keep).

A WRX STI owner (T REX plates) who works at Road America stopped me to ask if the magazine still had the Drive Performance WRX. He wanted to see the performance parts and accessories on the car so that he could decide which ones he would put on his. I remembered his email to the magazine, which was sent just a couple days after we turned in the car. Timing is everything.

A BRZ in the Subaru parking area had a #35 and Subaru Road Racing Team on its sides. Hmmm.

 

 

-- Ric Hawthorne

 

 

Subaru Motorsports Frenzy

Right now, we're in the middle of the motorsports year for Subaru. Subaru Road Racing Team ran in the two-and-a-half-hour GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course south of Mansfield, Ohio, on Saturday, June 9. Subaru PUMA RallyCross Team (SPRXT) took on the competition in Round 2 of the Global Rallycross Championship at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, on the same day.

Another event for Subaru enthusiasts that took place the same weekend was Wicked Big Meet, held at Stafford Motor Speedway in Stafford Springs, Connecticut. The Drive Performance WRX was there.

Drive Performance staff members traveled to each of these events.

The full June weekend followed SPRXT's debut in Round 1 of the Global RallyCross Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, two weekends ago on May 26. Subaru entered three cars -- for Dave Mirra, Bucky Lasek, and Sverre Isachsen. Here is the team's report on the Subaru rally site, and here is another report on the Vermont SportsCar site. Find videos on both, which give you a good idea of the explosive nature of rallycross -- elimination heats on a short course that demand tremendous power and precise control.

The first weekend of June, Subaru Rally Team USA fought a furious battle at Susquehannock Trail Rally (Wellsboro, Pennsylvania) to overcome mechanical difficulties and place 2nd. Read about it on the Vermont SportsCar site here and on the Subaru rally site here. Ride along with driver/co-driver David Higgins/Craig Drew on YouTube.

Notes from Charlotte

Attending Round 1 of the Global RallyCross Championship in Charlotte was my first visit to the Charlotte Motor Speedway. My first reaction was surprise at the activity: two NASCAR races (Nationwide and Sprint Cup), a World of Outlaws sprint car race, and rallycross. There were thousands of RVs, campers, and tents.

Plus, there were was food. Vendors were everywhere, as were people who had been camping out for days.

But what I felt early in the morning of the rallycross was the energy around the speedway. Campers were cooking or grilling by 7:00 a.m. -- sending small columns of smoke and smells into the air. From a distance, it was like the encampment pictures from the Civil War. The number of campers and RVs is staggering. They're packed into the infield and in surrounding sites.

Racer transports were lined up side by side, as they are at most tracks. Generator engines hummed and moaned, and racing engines sparked to life sporadically, even hours before track activities. I sat in a bowl formed by multicolored seats -- some in patterns and some demarking specific sections.

The energy swirled.

-- Ric Hawthorne

  

 

 

More of the Race

Over the weekend, I watched television coverage of the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race at New Jersey Motorsports Park from May 12. In it, the Subaru Road Racing Team #35 WRX STI received considerable coverage. Congratulations, team, on the first win with the WRX STI. It was a long time coming with enough obstacles to make those less committed walk away.

During the race, the team had to overcome a penalty on pit road that put them behind the pack of cars in its class. Being out along the track during a race, I often have no clue what's happening and why the Subaru is where it is. In this case, positions could be counted, and upon one of the restarts after a full-course yellow, we were running approximately 12th. As I photographed #35, I kept count as to where it was in line.

The car kept moving up. Driver Andrew Aquilante seemed to be on a mission, and that mission was to reach the front of the field. He had to work his way past those 11 cars ahead of him. Watching him move to the front was some of the most exciting racing I've ever seen, and it's too bad the television crew couldn't remain on that #35.

Here are images of #35 moving past some of the competitors:

• Passing #99

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Passing #6

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Passing #00

 

 

 

 

• Passing #38

 

 

 

 

The passes for 3rd, 2nd, and 1st place were better documented on TV race coverage:

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the team's press release about the race:

Aquilante And Spaude “Storm” New Jersey Track, Subaru Team Wins on Home Turf.

- Subaru WRX STI Climbs From 45th to First in 45 Laps. -

Phoenixville, Pa. – May 14, 2012 – The Subaru Road Racing Team (SRRT) drivers Andrew Aquilante and Bret Spaude won round four of the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC) race on Saturday at New Jersey Motorsports Park near Millville, N.J.

Although the team qualified on the pole position, Aquilante, Spaude, and their race-prepared  #35 Subaru WRX STI, had to charge through the field from 45th place on lap 31, after serving stop-and-go penalties.

Intent on making up for the lost track positions Aquilante marched forward and took the race lead with nine laps to go; and eventually secured the win by a 2.224-second margin. It was the team’s second straight podium finish this season and their first Grand Sport class win in the Subaru WRX STI sedan.

“This win has been coming for a long time,” said Joe Aquilante, owner of Phoenix Performance in Phoenixville, Pa., which prepares the team’s Subaru racecars. “The Subaru excels on track configurations that reward superior handling qualities over outright top speed.”

Bret Spaude, of Bushnell, Fla., earned his first CTSCC series pole position with a 91.373mph lap of the 2.25-mile Thunderbolt Raceway configuration of the multi-faceted racetrack. Spaude dropped back to second place at the start and held that position, staying close to the bumper of Lawson Aschenbach’s race-leading car. On lap 25, Spaude pitted for gas, fresh tires, and turned the driving over to teammate Andrew “AJ” Aquilante.

A stop-and-go penalty plus an additional 30 seconds for accidental contact with a neighboring team’s spare tire on the way out of the pit box dropped the team to 45th place. Aquilante went on a determined charge; he was in fourth place by lap 56 when the team called him in for a final pit stop, dropping the Subaru Road Racing Team entry to 12th place after pit out.

On lap 70, Aquilante passed David Donohue for third place, drove by second place Eric Curran on lap 73, and took the race lead on lap 75 as he erased a quarter-second deficit to race leader Charles Espenlaub. Aquilante finished the 83rd and checkered flag lap with a 2.224-second margin over Espenlaub and the rest of the 23-car Grand Sport class, which was part of a 59-car, two-class field.

“I dug myself a hole, when I incurred those pit lane infractions, and just had to drive my way out of it,” Andrew Aquilante explained. “I know we have a great car, and when things like that happen, you just have to stay cool, put your head down and drive the wheels off. Our Subaru WRX STI was running strong all weekend, the handling was superb, and we know this track really well since it’s where we perform most of our on-track testing.”

“To finish on top in completely dry conditions and re-starting after serving our penalties truly shows the performance development from our Subaru WRX STI,” commented James Han, motorsports marketing manager for Subaru of America, Inc. “Our Subaru core technologies, including the Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive, were firmly on display this weekend. Plus, securing the win in front of our fans at our home track of New Jersey Motorsports Park, where Subaru is the Official Automobile and Pace Car, made this result that much more special.”

The race-prepared #35 Subaru Road Racing Team WRX STI is developed to compete against rival teams fielding cars producing over 400 horsepower.

The next GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race is June 8 – 10 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, where the SRRT has won in prior years.

Sponsors for SRRT include Subaru of America, Inc., Subaru Tecnica International (STI), Subaru Performance Tuning (SPT), Hawk Brakes, Ron Davis Racing Radiators, Automotive Racing products, Lista, Rotary Lifts, Carbonetic, and Perrin.

About SRRT Phoenix LLC
SRRT Phoenix LLC represents the Subaru of America, Inc. road racing effort in the 10-round GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge series and is owned and managed by Joe Aquilante of Phoenix Performance, LLC. The team’s 32,000 sq. ft. facility is in Phoenixville, Pa., 40 miles west of Philadelphia, Pa. Team drivers Andrew Aquilante and Bret Spaude race a Subaru WRX STI in the Grand Sport class.

For more information about the team and the cars, call Joe Aquilante at 610-482-0141. Fans can visit the team’s website at www.srrtphoenix.com and the Phoenix Performance website at www.phoenixperformance.net.

About Subaru of America, Inc.
Subaru of America, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. of Japan. Headquartered in Cherry Hill, N.J., the company markets and distributes Subaru Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive vehicles, parts and accessories through a network of more than 600 dealers across the United States. All Subaru products are manufactured in zero-landfill production plants and Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc. is the only U.S. automobile production plant to be designated a backyard wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. For additional information visit www.subaru.com.

Follow the Subaru of America Facebook page and subaru_usa on Twitter.

This press release is available at www.media.subaru.com.

“Subaru,” “WRX STI,” all model names, and the Subaru logo are registered trademarks of the Subaru subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries, Ltd., Japan.

Other trademarks and trade names are those of their respective owners.

-- Ric Hawthorne

Subaru Road Racing Team – Hot at Homestead

On April 24, warm, sunny weather greeted the Subaru Road Racing Team (SRRT) at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the third round of the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC) season. 
 
Through two days of practice, the #35 Subaru WRX STI ran strongly each session, consistently putting out top-five times. Even some mechanical issues couldn’t keep this team back; they were ready for battle.
 
Out for the qualifying session, Bret Spaude turned his quickest laps of the weekend. At the end of the 15-minute session, the Bushnell, Florida, native had posted the second fastest qualifying time, placing the blue #35 on the front row for start of the race.

After tech inspection, the #35 team was awarded the pole position, and Spaude walked away with the CTSCC Grand Sport class qualifying record.
 
Race day began with overcast skies for the final practice session. The team pulled out of the session early, that day’s sign that the Subaru was perfect – and ready to rumble!
 
A few hours before the scheduled start, the rain began. A heavy downpour soaked everything and everyone. As #35 took the green flag, the rain still sputtered down, but the wet track worked for Spaude as he opened up a lead over the competitors. 
 
The rain soon stopped completely, and the cars dried up the track, minimizing the all-wheel drive advantage of the Subaru. An early pit stop to change tires put Spaude back to 10th, and the driver change brought Andrew Aquilante out of the pits at the back of the pack.
 
Known for skilled and aggressive driving, Aquilante worked his way back to the front of the pack. With many teams still needing to pit to do the required driver change, much of the competition ended up behind Aquilante and out of his way. He worked his way up inside the top 10. With the help of several yellow flags bunching up the field, Andrew was inside the top five with about 15 minutes to go. But he still had more. With three laps to go, Andrew passed for fourth place, and on the last lap Aquilante took away the third, placing the team on the podium. 

 

 

 

Read more about the CTSCC race.

Check out more images of SRRT from Homestead.
 
 

Watch video of the #35 Subaru WTX STI in action at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
 
–Melissa Carlson

Subaru Motorsports Teams Start Their 2012 Seasons

Subaru Rally Team USA (SRT USA) and Subaru Road Racing Team (SRRT) both have made promising starts to their 2012 racing seasons -- SRT USA in the Sno*Drift Rally in Michigan and SRRT at the Daytona International Speedway in Florida.

SRT USA

Driver David Higgins and co-driver Craig Drew have returned to defend their Rally America National Championship in stage rally. The team's first event took place the last weekend in January, when Higgins/Drew began the season with a dominating win.

Read about SRT USA at Sno*Drift here, where you can link to the team's video about the event!

The next round of the Rally America National Championship takes place in Missouri February 24-25, 2012. We'll be attending in one of the last trips in the Drive Performance WRX.

SRT USA Performance in the 2012 Rally America National Championship
Round/Date	Event/ Location	Driver	Finishing Position	Driver Standings
Round 1 – January 27-28	Sno*Drift Rally Atlanta, Michigan	David Higgins	1	1

 SRRT

As part of a 40-car starting field at Daytona International Speedway, SRRT placed well in practice and on the starting grid. Starting 7th, drivers Bret Spaude and Andrew Aquilante took the #35 WRX STI as high as 3rd. The race ended with an on-track incident on the last lap that knocked the team to 28th.

Read more about the weekend here.

The next round for SRRT in the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge will take place at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, Alabama, March 30-31, 2012. We'll be attending that race in the Drive Performance WRX's final round trip out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the magazine. Watch for us!

SRRT Performance in the 2012 GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Grand Sport Class
Round/Date	Event/Track	Location	Drivers	Qualifying/ Finishing Positions	Team Standings
Round 1 – January 26-27	BMW Performance 200 at Daytona Daytona International Speedway	Daytona Beach, Florida	Andrew Aquilante/ Bret Spaude	7/28 (DNF1)	28

¹ Accident

SRRT Driver/Team Member/Consultant Don Knowles Receives RRDC's 2011 Bob Akin Award

Veteran driver Don Knowles has been recognized by the Road Racing Drivers Club with its top motorsports award as a driver who best exemplifies the qualities and characteristics that the late legendary sports car driver Bob Akin represented. These include "... a passion for motorsports and automobiles, a high level of sportsmanship and fair play, and who has contributed to the sport of motor racing." (From the RRDC press release of January 26, 2012.)

Read more about Don Knowles in the RRDC press release here.

-- Ric Hawthorne

 

SRRT Ends 2011 Season at Mid-Ohio

The Subaru Road Racing Team (SRRT) ran its last race of the 2011 season at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.

 

 

 

A key aspect of this track is staying in control and not getting caught up in a wreck. During the 15 minutes of qualifying, I watched most of the cars take turn 9 at the north end of the track on three wheels. At least four different cars lost their handling and barreled through the gravel straight for the outside fence.

This track has tire barriers in front of many of the concrete walls and guard rail sections, but walking the track I could see spots where the guard rails had been bent from hard contact.

The drivers ran strong practice sessions, and Bret Spaude qualified the #35 WRX STI in 15th place. The race began with a caution. A total of seven race cautions collected many cars and eliminated some from a series title.

 

 

 

I was asked by a fan where to watch the race from. Being my first time to the track, I could only point them to the spot I had just came from, the Esses.

Spin outs, a blown engine with a fire, and nose-to-tail racing added plenty of excitement to this season finisher.

 

 

 

We asked Phillip Ly, a first time attendee at a Subaru Road Racing Team event to comment on what he experienced, “I had a blast,” he said. “The guys in the pits were very friendly and encouraged me to get close to the action.”

 

 

A well-timed pit stop put #35 out front for 8 laps. The #35 WRX STI went in for another pit stop right before caution came out, moving the team to the back of the pack. Aggressive driving brought the Subaru back up through the field to finish 15th – a great team effort to end the season.

 

 

 

View more images from the race.

Click image below to view the SRRT 2011 Season Performance Chart.

 

 

 

 

-- Melissa Carlson

DP WRX Journal -- Fourteenth Drive (Thirteenth Round Trip)

Purpose: To join Subaru Road Racing Team (SRRT) for the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park (Millville)

Start/Finish: Drive Performance headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Distance:

• According to mapping services -- 1,878.3 miles
• Actual (with commutes to/from hotels) -- 1,968.3

Major routes:

• Wisconsin: Interstate 94
• Illinois: Interstates 94, 294
• Indiana: Interstates 94, 80
• Ohio: Interstates 80, 76
• Pennsylvania: Interstates 76, 676
• New Jersey: New Jersey State Highway 55

Fuel consumption: 77.0 gallons

Mileage: 25.6 mpg

Almost anywhere in the United States that you might have been during the fourth weekend in July was suffering from heat. Crossing from the Midwest and into Pennsylvania and New Jersey in the Drive Performance WRX, heat held the high hand.

I stopped in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, to meet with other members of the editorial staff at Subaru of America, Inc. headquarters. Then I checked in with the rebuilding the engine of the 1986 Subaru XT Coupe under restoration (reported in Summer 2011 Drive magazine). Afterward, I took a quick ride to Autobody Enterprises to find Hank Reynolds sanding the Coupe's body as another part of the restoration. Watch the Drive website for more images of this work in progress.

GRAND-AM doesn't wait at the track, so I headed southeast to Millville to catch up with Subaru Road Racing Team (SRRT), which was preparing for practice at New Jersey Motorsports Park. The Subaru-sponsored facility has two road courses -- Thunderbolt and Lightning -- that were laid out next door to the Millville airport. Known as America's First Defense Airport, it played a key role in training pilots in Thunderbolt fighters during World War II. The land on which the tracks were built has a bunker that had been used to align the sights of aircraft at that time. A fighter plane was on display there throughout the weekend.

Everyone at the track -- drivers, crew, officials, fans, photographers -- all had to deal with the same conditions. Temperatures ranged from the high 90s into triple digits, so water and sports drinks were sought out by everyone. SRRT put a white roof on the black #35 WRX STI to help hold down the temperature inside the car.

SRRT's practice times were credible -- always within striking distance of the fastest cars. Driver Bret Spaude had the third-fastest time in qualifying, but a minor rule infraction involving the turbocharger put #35 in the back of the Grand Sport Class field for the beginning of the race. Both drivers -- Spaude and Andrew Aquilante -- moved #35 up through the field. From trackside, it was easy to watch the progress until the GS Class cars began lapping ST Class cars.

Pit stops for SRRT and the leaders were out of sequence, and #35 moved up to as high as 4th.

With approximately an hour of the two-and-a-half hours to go, I was on the far side of the track. I thought I saw smoke coming from the back of the car. A couple laps later, I was almost certain that I had seen flames from underneath the car. Then #35 didn't come around again. So I started the long trek back to the paddock.

An oil fire put #35 out of the race.

So much for Round 9 of the 10 races to be run in the Continental Tire series for 2011. The remaining round is to take place at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course the weekend of September 16-18.

Notes from the Trip

Throughout the round trip to New Jersey, the Drive Performance WRX never missed a beat. It never seemed bothered by the heat as far as performance was concerned. But I think the heat affected mileage -- as did the 70-mile-per-hour speed limits on most of the highways that I traveled and the mountains through Pennsylvania.

Mileage ranged from 22.5 mpg to 27.0 mpg for the seven fill-ups. I'm reasonably sure the 22.5 tank included the three laps that I drove on the Thunderbolt course along with other Subaru owners. I'll post a video of that within the next couple of weeks.

For other notes, see the "Road Trip Musings" Journal entry on the Subaru Drive site www.drive.subaru.com.

-- Ric Hawthorne

At Home with the Subaru Road Racing Team

West of Monterey, California, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is a 2.238-mile track nestled in the mountains on 542 acres.
  

 

 

Although this track is not lengthy, it holds a few other challenges. The course starts out with the Andretti hairpin and boasts 11 turns through the course. The most technical is The Corkscrew. After driving an upward slope to 929 feet, the cars then descend with a 18 percent drop (109 feet) through The Corkscrew, which is the most famous part of the track. There are many parts of The Corkscrew where things can go wrong: miss any part of the first turn and you are in the sand. Drop in too quickly and you can spin out on either side of the middle section. Come out of The Corkscrew too loose or too quickly and the sand once again will collect you.
       

 

 

When most cars go off course at this track, they are stuck in sand pits and require assistance getting out. During practice, the Subaru Road Racing Team (SRRT) #35 WRX STI Sedan, drove wide coming out of The Corkscrew in Turn 9 and went off into the sand. Skilled driving and the All-Wheel Drive of the Subaru pulled the car from being amongst those collected.
    

 

 

SRRT looked good through all the practices. They went out and posted the fastest lap to start out the qualifying session, which held up to place them in seventh to start the race. Overnight the team replaced the transmission and went out for practice the following morning with the third fastest lap. SRRT #35 was ready to challenge the other competitors.
    

 

 

Unfortunately, the team suffered some heavy damage from other competitors and had to retire from the race early. 

SRRT brings an open and family atmosphere with them. I spent quite a bit of time talking with Jean Aquilante, wife of SRRT team principal Joe Aquilante. She told us how Joe first got into racing and how current SRRT driver Andrew Aquilante raced quarter midgets from the age of 10 until he outgrew that car.

Jean also said that within days of receiving the now-race-ready Subaru WRX STI Sedan, Andrew had that car completely taken apart. It is amazing how Andrew knows that car so intimately, and you can see the pride he takes in building the car. Read about his transformation of the #35 race car in Drive Performance Version 8.1 cover story.

The team tent is always a home away from home when covering a race with them.

Click here to view more images of SRRT at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

--Melissa Carlson