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TALKING
WITH JOE AND ANDREW AQUILANTE OF SUBARU PARTNER PHOENIX PERFORMANCE
ABOUT SUBARU ROAD RACING TEAM'S (SRRT'S) NEW #35 WRX STI SEDAN, YOU GET
THAT SAME FEELING AS WHEN WATCHING ROBERT DUVALL PLAYING HARRY HOGGE IN
THE MOVIE DAYS OF THUNDER. HE'S ALONE WITH THE BARE FRAME OF A
RACE CAR IN A BARN, AND HE TALKS TO IT ABOUT HOW HE'S GOING TO BUILD IT
WITH ALL THE TRICKS HE'S LEARNED TO MAKE IT PERFECT.  That was one of the two most enjoyable parts of Days of Thunder.
The other was the entire opening sequence, showing preparation of
Daytona International Speedway for the Daytona 500. The sun rises; fans
start coming into the speedway; the pit crews set up their spaces; and
the cars line up for the start. Tension mounts throughout the entire
sequence. These
two parts of the film are about preparation. Duvall shows viewers the
concept, the dream, and the love of racing that yield what spectators
eventually see on the track. The opening sequence is race day. It waits
for no one; you have to be ready. It's where Duvall's dream takes
flight. The
story of SRRT's preparation of #35 takes place between concept (prior
to the WRX STI Sedan reaching America's shores) and track. Most of it
involved intense, hard work that can be driven only by a love for
motorsports. But that's the singular path to perfection. |
New York International Auto Show, April 2010
The
2011 WRX STI Sedan debuted at the New York International Auto Show on
April 1, 2010. James Han, motorsports marketing manager for Subaru of
America, Inc., Joe Aquilante, SRRT team principal, and John Heinricy,
SRRT engineering director, attended the pre-preview the night before.
As
Aquilante was examining the car for the first time, he was asked if the
sedan body would make for a better road-racing car than the team's
5-door WRX STI for the 2010 season. He seemed intrigued by the idea.
Neither Aquilante nor Han would say anything more definitive at that
time.
When
did the sedan begin to become a reality for SRRT? According to James
Han, "At the annual Subaru dealer meeting the third week in May."
RRT/Phoenix
placed its order for its 2011 Subaru WRX STI in August. Andrew
Aquilante recounts: "We started talking about what we were going to do
next year in August or so, when James said we were going to run the
4-door for 2011. It was August when we placed the order for the cars. We
had a good idea that we would probably go to the sedan once it was
released.
"It's been the Subaru halo car - the image of the STI has always been a 4-door sedan and the wing."
Preparation Prior to Delivery
SRRT's
red #35 WRX STI 5-door underwent considerable development throughout
the 2010 season in the Grand Sport class of the GRAND-AM Continental
Tire Sports Car Challenge series. The team met and overcame challenges
posed by the cooling system, the turbocharger, suspension, and ABS. SRRT
confronted and learned from an engine fire, loss of brakes,
overheating, and more at different times throughout the year.
Late in 2010, Joe Aquilante commented, "This year will make a great case study on bringing a new car to the front in racing!"
Red #35 was competitive, and the team often vied with the leaders in the top 10.
System by System
Everything
learned from the red #35 5-door was applied to building the new WRX STI
Sedan, with emphasis on increasing reliability and reducing weight.
Many of the components and systems carried over, while others were
modified.
Andrew
Aquilante recalled, "The first thoughts about what we could do
differently was probably when we placed the order. So August was when we
started talking about, 'OK, we want to do this differently. We have to
build that differently.'
"The
car arrived at the shop in September when we were at Miller
[Motorsports Park - for the last GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car
Challenge event of 2010]. We raced Miller, flew back Sunday, got home,
and started tearing it apart. So that's when I pretty much started.
"Since
I wasn't involved in any of the previous builds, I needed to take
things apart and see where things went - label what wires we could cut
out, and that sort of thing. I did most of the delicate disassembly,
where stuff would be going back in, but in modified form in the sense
of, 'We've got to save these wires because they're for the cluster, but
we can get rid of these because they're for the radio.' I familiarized
myself with what control boxes are where and that sort of thing.
"Since
we were taking the car to the SEMA [Specialty Equipment Market
Association] Show, we had to get it done pretty quick. That was
September 14, and it was on the truck October 20-something.
"It had to be disassembled, caged, painted, and rebuilt in five weeks."
Disassembly
included stripping the car to its unit body. Seats, carpeting,
headliner, door panels, engine, transmission, suspension - everything
was removed, including sealant and insulation.
Roll
cage fabrication as well as engine building are done on the Phoenix
Performance premises, in space rented out by Phoenix. That saves time in
the preparation and building/rebuilding processes. Phoenix also houses a
full body shop, 4-wheel dynamometer, and alignment stations.
Andrew
Aquilante continued, "The outside of the car was black. We painted the
inside and the underneath red. That's just how we prepare our cars -
they're black on the outside, and they always have a red interior
because it stands out. It makes the car pop. It's different."
The black exterior was made even more distinct by a full body wrap that includes pinstripes along with yellow accents.
Although
he didn't do the fabricating or the painting, Andrew Aquilante did most
of the assembly, modification of the wiring harnesses, reassembly of
the dash, fabricating of the fill-in plates, and the auxiliary wiring
for the extra fuel pumps, transmission coolers, and fans. He helped
prepare seat mounts and reassembled other stock parts.
The completed race car met the 3,050-pound minimum limit set by GRAND-AM.
Concerning
major changes between last year's red #35 and the new sedan, Andrew
Aquilante commented, "Some of the major changes were attention to detail
in the build and small changes that may or may not have too much of an
effect. For instance, the car ended up probably 50 pounds lighter from
being more attentive to wiring and other stuff going into it that didn't
need to. We had a different fuel cell arrangement inside the tank to
make sure we get every last drop out of it, different fuel pumps,
different ways of wiring and cleaning up the stock wiring, and
usingdifferent seatbelts. We were just trying to look at it and saying,
'Where can we save weight?'
"We'll be at minimum weight, even though the Subaru with stock body panels is challenging to get under 3,000 pounds."
Testing in florida
After
the show, the car was immediately shipped east, where SRRT/Phoenix made
final preparations for testing during a GRAND-AM test session at
Homestead-Miami Speedway (Homestead, Florida) November 30 to December 1.
The team was pleased by #35's showing at Homestead, where it ran in the top five during the test sessions and posted top times.
A
few weeks later, SRRT returned to Florida January 7 to 9, 2011, for
GRAND-AM testing at Daytona International Speedway (Daytona Beach).
Times for the five sessions in which #35 was driven were consistent, and
they were more than three seconds faster than lap times set by last
year's #35 STI on the same track in 2010.
GRAND-AM 200, January 27-28, 2011
The
true test of a car's (and a team's) mettle is in the racing. With all
systems finally in place, running race tires and proper turbocharger
setups, SRRT practiced, qualified, and raced the first event on the
GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge at the end of January.
Everyone had found additional speed during the break since the last race
of 2010. Even though #35 was four to five seconds faster than it had
been on the same track in 2010, so was everyone else.
