COBB Tuning Blog

This is WALL-E, Surgeline Tuning’s new rotated-mount turbo kit jig. This kit, which is being made in-house for shop manager, Brandon Lumpkins’ new build, is a one-off based on a set of Gruppe-S equal-length headers and a custom uppipe fabricated by lead technician, Dustin Harris. The turbo is a Garrett 35R with a .63 Tial exhaust housing. The kit is awaiting a downpipe which will be fabricated once the engine is dropped into Brandon’s 2002 WRX sedan. This, along with an in-house built, forged bottom end with Cosworth heads and cams and a big dose of E85 should be good for over 500whp. Stay tuned as Surgeline will be making some revisions to this setup, including a Cosworth intake manifold and more photos!

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This week we added another member to our family at our COBB Tuning Plano, Texas facility. Chris Flemming changed his Subaru-loving ways and bought a 2009 Mitsubishi EVO X MR. Chris tells us why he left the world of Subaru behind for the “dark side.”

After 12 years working for and driving Subaru’s, I just about can’t believe it myself!  My first experience with the Evolution X was on my last trip to COBB Tuning headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah.  On that trip I had a chance to drive all of the shop cars including the X, which I drove most of all.  This is when my interest was piqued.  I liked the seats, driving position and responsive steering much more than driving the the shop’s 2008 STI.  Since starting COBB Plano and working on a relationship with Don Herring Mitsubishi, I have had a chance to see many EVO Xs here in the shop and tuned on the dyno. 

The EVOs consistently make great power and the SST transmission in the MR is, frankly, amazing.  I chose an MR because of the SST transmission, I like it, and my wife who can drive, but does not like to drive manual transmissions can drive it.  It also helps that it is a four door since I have 2 small children!  The X feels alive right out of the box and all of the latest Subarus don’t.  As I said earlier, I like the driving position, the MR’s seats are amazing, the SST in Super Sport shifts incredibly smoothly and quickly, the differentials give the car an eerie level of grip, similar to the feeling you get driving a GTR, handling-wise. 

Perhaps the only thing to complain about is the poor fuel economy, but since I intend to go stage 2 on the car, I guess fun outweighs frugality. I have only added a clear bra (a sublet service we offer through Modern Armor.com), but I intend to put our downpipe, catted test pipe, catback, hard pipe kit, springs and sway bars.

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Over the weekend, our very own Jon Pomrenke took a slightly modified STI to the second tier of the podium at the 2009 Farmington, NM National Tour. Jon is an avid autocross driver and competes on a regular basis here in Salt Lake City as well as around the Southwest. While he was not at the helm of one of our shop cars, this STI was equipped with an array of COBB Tuning go-fast parts including an AccessPORT with a custom STU map. Read Jon’s tale of cone-dodging below. If you need any advice on Autocross setup or pointers, give COBB Tuning a call.

We ran Farmington in a 2006 STI. This was the first full event I’d  driven that car, having dabbled in it a few times before. The weekend prior I did some comparison runs by running COBB’s 2008 STI in the morning, followed by the 2006 STI in the afternoon.

We went to Farmington on a new set of tires we had never driven on; shaved Bridgestone RE-11s. The different tires need a different suspension setup so we spent all of the test-n-tune trying to dial out
understeer. Lacking the resources to make a drastic suspension change, we had to run with the understeer.

With little seat time in the car, I ran a very conservative first run to ensure I had a clean time to stand on. I then followed it by an aggressive second run, cutting 1 second off my time but clipping a cone.
My third run matched the second one, but was wreckless and dirty once again. I stood on my first run Saturday and entered Sunday in 4th place, roughly .9-seconds behind the leader. If cones weren’t a factor, I had the fastest and third-fastest scratch times in STU for Saturday.

I changed my strategy Sunday and ran an aggressive first run to ensure I wouldn’t be so far behind if I stood on my first run. I catapulted up into 2nd place- others were fighting cones. For my second run I cleaned up some sections but coned. I knew all I needed to do was fix the Chicago boxes, and the sweeper following them, and I could find another .5-second. I took care not to change any other sections of the course and focused on cleaning up those boxes. Sure enough, my last run was like my second, but with better lines through the boxes. I narrowed the 1st-2nd lead to .237-seconds.

The competition in STU was the strongest of all the classes with any of five different drivers capable of winning. The courses were a mixture of tight and technical, both days being very cone intensive. A few of the drivers fought cones all weekend. Without cones, the STI would have had the lead by .009-seconds. With the cones, the STI trailed by .237-seconds.

Car Specs:
2006 Subaru STI
COBB SS 3-inch Turbo-Back Exhaust
AccessPORT, custom STU map
AST 4200 Coil-overs
COBB Tubular Anti Swaybars, front and rear
COBB Adjustable Rear Mount
COBB Knob
Kosei K1-TS 17×9-inches
Bridgestone RE-11 245/40-R17
Sparco Evo seats

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While we would all like to think that we have the stuff that real race car drivers are made of, there are a few of us that actually do. Cameron Bennar is one of those fortunate few. When Cameron visited a Skip Barber racing school a year ago, the instructors and his father alike quickly realized that he had a natural gift for driving. So with this is mind, Cameron was encouraged to find his way into the world of racing. With his dad at his back, Cameron purchased a 2006 STI and prepped it for regional Improved Touring E class (ITE).

The rules for ITE are very simple: there are very few rules. ITE is a “run what ya brung” class that allows all kinds of modifications as long as the car retains its stock shell and stock engine type and displacement. Otherwise, turbo modifications are unlimited as are aero aids, brakes, wheels and tires and all sorts of go-fast alterations.

With this in mind, Cameron brought the car to COBB Tuning Premier Facility, Surgeline Tuning, for some mild tweaks to help give Cameron a little more power and to get his feet wet in the world of racing.

With a larger Blouch Dominator 3.0R turbo mated to a COBB Tuning downpipe and a Perrin catback and a Perrin FMIC, tuned on a COBB AccessPORT, the car had a good 350whp on tap. With the addition of a Cosworth longblock, an Accusump oiling system and an oil pressure gauge as well as some heat protection for the engine bay, Cameron was ready to attack the track.

Since this would be Cameron’s first wheel to wheel race, he would have to wear the big orange noob “N” on his bumpers and flanks so that everyone else on the track would know to give him a wide berth. Sadly for the rest of the ITE field, Cameron’s freshly-sorted and Surgeline Tuning tuned car took Pole Position while running a conservative 15psi map. Running a 1:27 lap time, Cameron wowed the field with his speed and finesse.

 

However, it soon became clear that his stock brakes were not up to the task of serious wheel to wheel racing and as he found out in his first sprint race. While this was not the “feature” for which he held pole, it would be his first wheel to wheel race. Halfway through this 15-minute sprint, his brake pedal went to the floor.

The reason for this was quickly discovered, the pads had completely worn away leaving only warped and destroyed backing-plates. Luckily, Surgeline Tuning had a set of new pads in stock and COBB Tuning employee, Travis Geny, was able to help the fledgling team replace pads and bleed brakes so that the car would be ready for the 30 minute feature race.

With Cameron leading his class into turn two, it became clear that his biggest rival, a very well turned out NSX, had been sandbagging during qualifying and showed some speed that he had been hiding and took first place within the first few laps. However, Cameron battled back and soon the pair were running nose to tail lap after lap.

  

Sadly, Cameron’s brake troubles came back to haunt him once again and he quickly began to lose ground as his breaking distances became longer and longer. Thankfully, the gap to P3 was too big and Cameron was able to drive to a solid P2 finish in his first race weekend ever.

 

Before the car had even made it back to the shop for the post-race inspection, Cameron was already ready for the next set of upgrades that would allow him to take a P1 podium. To put Cameron’s second place into perspective, the first place NSX was running 295-wide tires compared to Cameron’s 235s. It was also running a huge amount of after market aerodynamic aids including canards, a front splitter and a huge rear wing, under body diffuser and a wide-body kit as well as huge front and rear brakes. Compare this to Cameron’s stock aerodynamics, stock fenders and stock brakes and it is clear that with some minor changes to his STI, Cameron should have no trouble taking the podium.

Stay tuned as we will keep you posted on Cameron’s achievements as the year progresses.

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