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The introduction of the Subaru Tsukuba Challenge (STC) in 2007 saw time attack competition raised to a new level. The factory rewarded the fastest US-based Subaru team with a trip to Tsukuba, Japan to take on the best JDM teams in December 2008 at Super Battle. The STC format was simple; qualify in one of three preliminary rounds throughout the year, then duke it out for the overall win at Laguna Seca on November 11. After a grueling year of eliminations, three teams faced off against each other on the final day: Crawford Performance, PDX Tuning and Easy Street. As the competition unfolded, all three had to prove that they were as good with a wrench, as they were at setting up a car and getting a fast time out of it.
PDX experienced severe mechanical difficulties when it blew a head gasket. They ordered a replacement engine from Cosworth Engineering in LA and by 8 AM the car was running again and ready for tech. Crawford Performance decided to engage in some preventative maintenance on their engine at a local shop which didn’t leave them any time for practice runs. ESX Motorsports on the other hand, had a trouble free start to the competition but the final runs were full of drama. “We had two odd mechanical problems, a broken intercooler pipe in the first time attack round, and a broken 5th gear in final practice just before the last time attack round” stated Marshall Pruett, team manager for the ESX effort. Ultimately, they weren’t able to set a fast time.
Crawford’s gamble for a couple hot laps didn’t pay off either. The team blew a radiator hose in the first time attack session without posting a time. For the second session the goal was to get in one fast lap and beat PDX, but that didn’t happen. After taking the warm up lap with no boost to conserve the engine and cooling system, the team went all out on their hot lap attempts. As a result, the cooling system failed half way around and the car shut down. Game over.
Though still suffering from overheating problems, PDX managed to set a solid time of 1:23:388 in the first Sunday session, earning them a trip to Japan.
Jarred Bowen of PDX sums it up all quite nicely:
“All of the teams put forth an incredible effort off the track and every one of them should be proud of what they accomplished. We took a street car and turned it into a race car in under a month. It took an incredible effort from all of PDX Tuning and anyone closely related to get this together, and in hindsight I can’t believe all we accomplished. In the end we were the team that put down the fastest lap time when it counted and we are honored to go to Japan.”
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