COBB Tuning Blog

A brand-new motor, a rain-slick track, and rivals running quicker lap times are not the best elements to make for a successful racing weekend. The LIC Motorsports and their Subaru STi were facing an uphill battle for Global Time Attack’s 2011 Finals at Infineon Raceway, but with the hard work of the LIC Motorsports crew, and some help from COBB Tuning’s Gary Sheehan and Tim Bailey, everything came together perfectly. Not only did LIC Motorsports take home 1st Place, but they set a new class record utilizing an impressive chassis and AccessPORT Alpha Speed Density Tuning.

Adam and Noah Levy of LIC Motorsports needed a motor to match the chassis development from the previous seasons of racing. The motor build was completed using a sleeved block, pistons, bearings, a GTX turbo, and a higher capacity oil pan. LIC Motorsports also decided to eliminate the BPV to increase turbo and throttle input response. Everything was buttoned up only 10 hours before hitting the track. The outcome? “Power delivery is awesome!” Gary Sheehan was also impressed with the driveability of the car compared to previous years. “The car is now very stable and predictable on corner-exit, allowing me to accelerate out of the corners hard.”

Tim Bailey of COBB Tuning took advantage of the new AccessPORT Speed Density tuning, currently in Alpha testing, to ensure the LIC Motorsports STi could optimize the upgraded engine internals. COBB Tuning’s AccessPORT Alpha Speed Density is able to eliminate the mass airflow sensor and use a comprehensive volumetric efficiency model to calculate airflow and load based upon manifold pressure and temperature. This combination offers a simple solution for tuning high horsepower vehicles. An experienced tuner like Tim Bailey can take advantage of any tuning software to create a great running vehicle, but his response to the AccessPORT Alpha Speed Density software was telling: “In a word, it is nothing short of elegant.”

The final piece of the puzzle came together with the race weekend management from LIC Motorsports. After putting together a great car, it only took a long Friday night and a few alignment adjustments to get the car where it needed to be. The result was an almost perfect Saturday! Gary Sheehan was able to push the team in to 1st place with a Limited AWD class track record of 1:41.888 and a giant gap of 1.3 seconds to 2nd place. But, “The Underdogs” know one win doesn’t warrant gloating. Noah says “It’s doing it consistently and systematically…time proves if we are a force to be reckoned with. If we have the means to continue down this path, we will ensure this becomes the norm for our team.” This success also helps emphasize to their customers that “standalone ECUs are not necessary when there is a product like the COBB AccessPORT.”

To learn more about LIC Motorsports, visit www.LICmotorsports.com. To learn more about COBB Tuning and the AccessPORT, visit www.COBBTuning.com.

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The COBB Tuning Ford Focus race car was finally revealed at the 2011 SEMA Show on November 1st in Las Vegas, NV. This is COBB Tuning’s first build project using a domestic sport compact car and we are excited to show everyone what we have done and what we plan to do with this new Ford Focus. In addition, the COBB Tuning Ford Focus race car represents our official entry into the Ford Focus ST market. This is the next vehicle platform, and family of performance enthusiasts, that COBB Tuning will be supporting in 2012!

Where We Are Going

The 2012 Ford Focus ST is an exciting new car that will be making its way to the U.S. in early 2012 with a turbocharged 2.0L EcoBoost engine producing 248hp and 250lb/ft of torque. Upon its arrival, the Ford Focus ST will be getting the full COBB Tuning treatment, similar to the turbocharged Subarus, GT-Rs, Mazdas and Mitsubishis that came before it. This includes the popular AccessPORT hand-held flashing device, AccessTUNER tuning software, supporting power bolt-on upgrades to the intake and exhaust systems and more. We are still waiting for the first Ford Focus ST to arrive, along with everyone else, so we have quite a bit of development ahead of us once this hot new compact hits our shores.

Since the Focus ST has not arrived, you might be wondering why we went ahead and built a race car out of the Ford Focus SE. Well, any time you take a street car and turn it into a race car, you can’t help but learn quite a bit about how the car is built and what makes it tick. So, while the Ford Focus ST will be the vehicle to get COBB Tuning product support in 2012, the Ford Focus SE was used as the starting point for this race car and gives us a head start on understanding the powertrain, chassis and control systems used in this platform.

The new Ford Focus is a World Car, meaning that it will essentially be the same car from region to region around the globe. While we expect the ST to have the additional power of the EcoBoost turbo 2.0L engine and more aggressive running gear to match, many critical components in the car will stay the same. Our engineers have leveraged a great opportunity to see how the Focus is constructed, which pieces go where, and how new COBB Tuning products might be designed to best fit the new Focus ST.

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The Start of the Journey

When Ford announced this year’s SEMA Project Car Program for 2011, we jumped at the opportunity to get our hands on the new model Focus. Our race car was one of the most comprehensive builds involved in this program. The COBB Tuning Ford Focus looked great at SEMA and received a lot of very nice compliments from Ford Motor Company and SEMA spectators. Just a few steps away from our spot, Ken Block, Vaughn Gitten Jr., Tanner Foust and Brian Deegan whipped their crazy-fast cars around the Ford Out Front drift pen.

The COBB Tuning Focus was very well received by Ford execs and show attendees alike. The compliments we received on the build quality of the car and how cool people thought it looked made all of the hard work and attention to detail worth it. But most exciting was the feedback from Ford Focus fans about how happy they were that COBB Tuning was going to be supporting the Focus ST. Many were previous COBB Tuning customers that had owned Subarus, Mazdas or Mitsubishis and they were looking forward to the same level of products to be available for the Ford Focus ST!

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Next Steps

The 2011 SEMA Show is just the beginning of what we have planned for the COBB Tuning Ford Focus. Once the build is final and the car has been tuned and fully tested, we will be campaigning the car in select events that include Time Attack and potentially Wheel-to-Wheel races. We will also be bringing the COBB Tuning Ford Focus out to a few popular Ford meets, as well as showing the car off at a few of our retail stores during First Thursday car meets.

Due to the need to get the Focus ready for presentation at the 2011 SEMA Show, we had to “focus” on getting the appearance of the car up to show-level quality. While most of the car is race ready, there are a few items that need to be addressed before the car hits the track for testing. The Focus will get 60mm wider with a custom carbon fiber wide-body kit to accommodate the 18” x 9.5” HRE R43 wheels shod with 275mm wide Hankook racing tires. We will also be swapping out the stock Focus SE front knuckles with those from the UK Focus RS for the improved steering geometry and larger wheel-bearing package. Then, once the final engine tuning is completed on our in-house Mustang AWD dyno and our initial power target of 400whp is achieved, we will be headed out to the track for some real world testing experience to prepare for the 2012 racing season!

Build Specifications

Base Vehicle:

• 2012 Ford Focus SE 5-Door
• 2.0L Ti-VCT Direct-Injection I-4 Engine
• 5-speed manual transmission

Engine:

• COBB Tuning customized Cosworth forged pistons
• BorgWarner EFR-6758 turbocharger
• COBB Tuning equal length tubular exhaust header
• COBB Tuning 3” straight-through turbo-back exhaust
• COBB Tuning front-mount intercooler
• COBB Tuning boost tubes
• COBB Tuning SF Intake
• COBB Tuning Turbo Inlet
• COBB Tuning oil cooler system
• COBB Tuning aluminum oil catch can
• COBB Tuning aluminum radiator reservoir
• Koyorad aluminum racing radiator

Drivetrain:

• Mazda MAZDASPEED3 6-speed manual transmission
• COBB Tuning Double-Adjustable Short Shifter
• COBB Tuning COBB Knob
• Cusco limited slip differential
• Ford Focus/Mazda Mazdaspeed3 hybrid axles
• ACT racing clutch and lightweight flywheel

Chassis:

• StopTech Trophy Kit 355mm big brake kit
• StopTech stainless steel brake lines
• Cobalt XR2 Brake pads
• Eibach Multi-Pro-R2 coilover suspension
• Eibach adjustable front and rear sway bars
• COBB Tuning suspension bushings

Wheels & Tires:

• HRE Performance R43 Monoblok 18” x 9.5” wheels
• Hankook Z214 D.O.T. R- Compound 275/35R18 racing tires

Exterior:

• COBB Tuning carbon fiber splitter
• COBB Tuning carbon fiber side skirts
• COBB Tuning carbon fiber diffuser
• COBB Tuning carbon fiber vented extractor hood
• COBB Tuning lexan windows
• Aeromotions R2.Two active wing
• Aerocatch front and rear pin latching system
• Full circuit board graphics wrap
• Amber tinted headlights
• Ford Racing tow hooks

Interior:

• Pectel Direct Injection SQ7Di ECU engine management
• Motec PDM15 power distribution module
• Cosworth ECPro digital dash
• Ford GT Start Button
• COBB Tuning roll cage
• Racetech 4009HR racing seats
• Racetech 6-Point HANS harnesses
• Safequip window nets
• Safecraft shoulder nets
• Safecraft net quick releases
• Sparco steering wheel
• Splash quick release steering wheel hub
• FireSense fire suppression system
• Painless battery/engine kill switch
• Gutted interior
• Gutted door structure
• COBB Tuning wiring harness
• COBB Tuning door cards
• Braille racing battery
• COBB Tuning battery tie-down

Stay tuned for episode 1 of the COBB Tuning Ford Focus video documentary covering the initial build up of the race car and our trip to SEMA, expected to release at the end of November. In the meantime, keep an eye out for additional blog posts as we dig deeper into the building of the COBB Tuning Ford Focus!
 

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COBB Tuning is proud to announce the Official Grand Opening of its latest retail facility, COBB Tuning SOCAL. COBB Tuning SOCAL brings customer focus, professionalism, and attention to detail to Southern California in this freshly outfitted 10,000sq/ft facility. The new location features an open and inviting floorplan, a comfortable customer lounge, accessible product displays and private sales offices. COBB Tuning SOCAL is equipped as a one-stop-shop for nearly all of an auto enthusiast’s needs, including retail sales, a Mustang AWD dyno and professional dyno tuning, four service bays, product installation, project build planning, custom fabrication and vehicle maintenance services.

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This year was COBB Tuning’s second time out at Wicked Big Meet, and we decided to show a larger presence to better support the Subaru community. Wicked Big Meet is the largest all-Subaru meet on the East Coast, so I knew it would be a ton of fun. We also planned to cruise the East Coast and visit as many of our dealers as possible to get a feel for how the right coast does it.

But just getting from Austin to NY can be a challenge, especially for a few small town boys visiting the Big Apple for the first time! An early morning flight out of Austin to Detroit to LaGuardia got Braden Berger, Lance Lucas and me into New York in the early afternoon. We very quickly learned about New York traffic as we were sitting in it for an hour or two on our way to our first stop: Vinny Ten Racing.

Vinny graciously welcomed us to his shop with hot Italian food (chicken parm) waiting for us. He has a great staff on hand in a well-kept facility. Braden spent the afternoon and early evening training tuners Vinny and Steve on MAZDASPEED while Lance and I mingled with the staff and got an idea of their work-flow and how they use our products. After a long day we decided to start the quest for New York pizza. After another hour or so in traffic, as well as leaving our car in a questionable “parking garage”, we made it to Lombardi’s for their famous pizza. The food was fantastic! After that we drove around and saw some of the sights New York had to offer: Central park, Twin Towers memorial site, Wall Street, and Times Square. Time didn’t permit us to spend a lot of time at any specific location, but it was an experience that left us all wanting to come back to New York just to see the city.

The second day we met with No Limit Motorsports and Dave at MSPT. Dave showed us around his new facility, including some great customer builds that were in progress. He is getting setup to do some great work for customers using the AccessPORT for tuning. After MSPT it was back to Vinny Ten to tune an EVO X. Lance spent the early evening with Vinny and Steve teaching tuning on EVO X while Braden and I chatted with the staff and customers that were arriving for a meet Vinny was holding that evening. We all stuck around for the Vinny Ten meet and met some very enthusiastic AccessPORT customers with both MAZDASPEEDs and GT-Rs. After the meet we met up with Dave at MSPT where he very graciously took us out for some amazing food which included awesome steak and “bacon slabs”. We were able to have some great conversations with Dave about the market and feedback on our products.

On the third day we were up bright and early to take a prop plane (the vomit master 2000) into Bradley airport. From there we met with Paul at ECS and got a tour of his great facility. Paul had a lot of very nice and very big builds ranging from Subaru, to GTR, to Ford Mustang. We spent the majority of the day there training GT-R software with Paul and I spent a good amount of time working with him on some software issues he had as well as a lot of great feedback. We had planned on a MAZDASPEED Demo but were short on time. We are scheduling a followup to get him trained on the MAZDASPEED platform as we speak. After that we headed over to see Chris at EFI Logics to check out the shop and go out for dinner.

There was some pretty incredible rain happening that caused a rollover on the freeway which resulted in more traffic. Four hours later we made it to EFI. EFI has a top notch crew and have built an amazing shop out of what started as a temporary location. They had a variety of customer builds they were working on while we were there that were all drool worthy. EFI showed us their east coast hospitality by having us out for dinner with their crew which was a great time. After that we were headed back to the hotel for our precious few hours of sleep.

An early morning saw us arriving to Wicked Big Meet at 7:30 and we had planned to set up right away, but we had to wait a bit for our gear to arrive. The event officially kicked off at 10am but we found our booth slammed starting at about 9am. From 9am to 4pm our booth had a line of anxious customers at it the entire time that kept us busy! We had a mix of people who had never heard of our product, people on the fence ready to purchase our product, and people with our products that wanted to stop by and say hi! It was a great experience to meet all of these enthusiasts at this great event.

We talked to so many people that were blown away by our products and service. We had a few customers name Ian and Chris Haag specifically as customer service advocates that have made them loyal customers. On top of the sales aspect we were able to meet with several customers and sit down to discuss technical questions and issues they were having as well as diagnosing and swapping out a bad OBD-II cable for one customer who left ecstatic. We had the good fortune to have some of our vendors come and meet with us at our booth (as we couldn’t find a way to escape our booth until after 4pm!) and spend time with us giving us great feedback and having some great discussions about our market and products. After 4pm me and Lance made some rounds visiting some other Vendors, while Braden bravely held down the fort.

Chris at EFI showed us a great time at an amazing burger restaurant where I met my true love…. the Fatty Melt. The Fatty Melt is a 1/2 burger put between two grilled cheese sandwiches that acted as buns! After dinner we headed back to the hotel to try to organize all of our stuff to return back to Austin. Three hours of sleep later we headed home, looking forward to returning to Wicked Big Meet next year!

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This summer, the COBB Tuning Surgeline crew has just been slammed with cars. It seems like every day there are throngs of people in the shop and we have kept ourselves incredibly busy just doing what we do best, building fast cars! However, I was looking forward to an opportunity to break out of the four walls of the shop and get out into the world and see all of these cars being enjoyed in the wild. The BIG NW Subaru show gave us a chance to get out there and have some fun with our customers and friends and enjoy the fruits of our labor.

I love being out into the world and gathering together with the community. Subaru has always been “my home” in the car world and so it’s good to get back my roots. I helped organize the first ever Subiefest at Pacific Raceways almost half a decade ago, so going back to Pacific for the Big NW Subaru meet is like going home in some ways.

The show was very laid back, letting Lance, Linc, Geoff, Nick and I talk with all the friendly faces that stopped by the booth, as well as let us stroll around and talk with friends and colleagues that we don’t normally get to see!

The show was a good chance for us to see what everyone in the NW is doing with their cars. I personally liked the BG Legacy wagon with the 240SX drif body kit and RWD conversion, but that is just because I am a ricer at heart. Then again, I did love Jamie “SubieGal’s” Subaru 360 van. I don’t know if I would drive one on the freeway, but maybe a small back road to the coast… maybe.

While this event was more of a field meet and not a “driving” event, there was an autocross and I got to see a few people attack the cones. While it wasn’t a Subaru, the Merkur X4RTi with anti-lag was good fun to watch as it spat fireballs across the parking lot.

Of course, having Yukio “Yukes” Taira on the mic doing the announcing made the show complete. Yukio is one of the announcers for the Redline Time Attack series, and after listening to him and John, “Nads”, Naderie banter on and on for hours and hours at event after event last summer, it felt oddly comfortable to have Yukes’ silver tongue in my ear again. I don’t really know what he was talking about for 8 hours non-stop, but that velvety drone is somehow musical to me now.

At the end of the day, the Big NW Subaru Show was a huge success and a chance for us to see our friends up north that we don’t get to see too often! There needs to be more get-togethers like this in the Northwest and I can’t wait for Big NW Subaru show part 2, next year! Also, congratulations to Patrick Jo for winning a COBB Tuning downpipe in the raffle! And special thanks to Brett Michael, Brant Proden, Gamma Aguilar-Gamez and Matt Kincaid for lending us their cars and helping represent COBB Tuning!

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At COBB Tuning Socal, we love our car shows! And I just could not wait for one of Southern California’s biggest Subaru meets, The Subaru Summer Solstice. Not only is this a big show, but the caravans down to the show were almost an event on their own! There were four major caravans of Subarus flocking together to make the trek from L.A. down to the show in picturesque Santa Barbara! To show our Subaru spirit, we set COBB Tuning Socal as one of the rally points for the caravans making their way down to Santa Barbara for the show!

The crew and I left COBB Tuning Socal with a sizeable caravan in tow and gradually met up with the other three groups making their way down to the show. Hundreds of Subaru boxers rumbling and taking over the LA-area freeways is a sight and sound that I will not soon forget! With the fleet fully assembled, the group paraded down to Santa Barbara and the show. We don’t have an official tally, but this might just be the most Subarus on a freeway at any one time in California history!

The Subaru Summer Solstice is an annual, all-Subaru meet hosted by Subaru of America. The show consists of a car show, vendor pavilion and general Subaru extravaganza. COBB Tuning showed our Subaru spirit with a booth with our entire line of Subaru parts on display.

The main event was a car show with multiple categories from “Hella flush” to “Most Dirty Subaru.” Food trucks were brought out to feed the hungry as well. There was also a pie eating contest, product toss, among other shenanigans. Overall it was a great event, with great people.

The show was a huge amount of fun and we love any chance we get to hang out with our customers and fans and help support the community. There was lots of traffic at the COBB booth wondering when the SoCal facility would finally be open (soon, we promise), as well as questions about AccessFLASH and 2011 Subaru sedan parts (also soon). We would like to congratulate Bernardo on winning the COBB AccessFLASH tune for his car in the raffle!

Special thanks to Andy for taking photos of the event. If you want to check out more photos, go like his page at http://www.facebook.com/AKrzyPhoto. For information on more events with COBB Tuning, head over to our Facebook page or follow us on twitter!

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At COBB Tuning we love Subarus. New ones, old ones, it does not matter; as long as it has a Pleiades badge and a flat engine, we are all over it. For the past four years I have held an annual event specifically for old-school Subaru lovers! Featuring a weekend of scenic drives, delicious food and old school Subaru diehards, the Old-School Subaru Meet is the largest all-Subaru get together in Texas! While the show was conceived as a place for the old-schoolers to get together, Subarus of all ages are welcome to attend! This year, COBB Tuning sponsored the event and hosted some of the gatherings at our headquarters in Austin, TX.

The event is three days long and has traditionally started with a Friday night dinner where the group can convene and catch up before hitting the road on Saturday. This year the group met up at Bone Daddy’s House of Smoke to kick tires, trade war stories and just catch up with old friends. However, the night did not go on for too long since Saturday had over 200 miles of driving scheduled and lots of stops for food along the way!

Saturday morning came early as everyone started showing up at COBB HQ in Austin, Texas around 9AM. At check in, everyone received a driver’s course book complete with maps and notes for every part of the over-200-mile drive! The drive was split into three different routes for the first 150 miles, then the pack reconvened as a Subaru convoy for a 50 mile sprint to Fredericksburg, TX for lunch! After lunch, the group then made their way back to Austin for even more food with a BBQ banquet hosted by COBB Tuning at COBB Tuning HQ.

Sunday breakfast was held at Manny’s Uptown Kitchen, a landmark in Austin known for their NYC Deli food and amazing breakfasts! Many of us had the Challah French Toast! It’s amazing and made from Jewish challah egg bread! From there the group headed out for a shorter 50-mile drive down Austin’s famous RM2222 and Lime Creek Road. This loop around the Northeast side of Lake Travis is the tightest, gnarliest, kinkiest, nastiest, hilliest piece of two-lane blacktop in Texas! On top of that it has grand views of the lake.

After another hard day of driving the group met up at our traditional final stopping point at Bone Daddy’s (again, I know, but it’s SO GOOD!!!) where the group convened for lunch! After more BBQ, the group said its goodbyes until next year. It seemed like everyone in the group had a blast and I got a lot of great feedback from participants. Here are some of the comment from happy, tired and well fed drivers: “I can’t wait for next year,” said Marisa Ramon. “I am Really looking forward to doing this again! Seriously one of the best meets I have ever been to,“ said Shawn Rizzo.

I am very happy with how this year’s event turned out. I think it was the best Old School Meet ever. I know that me and the other Subaru fanatics here at COBB Tuning can’t wait to do it again next year and catch up with all our Old School friends again!

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COBB Tuning is busy getting ready for the TX2K11, a national exotic car meet which will be held at the Lonestar Motorsports Park in Sealy, TX this weekend Thursday March 17th through Sunday the 20th. The TX2K is a big power slug fest, which started as a Supra-only meet and has grown to include super cars of all stripes from Supras and GT-Rs to Lamborghinis, Vipers and Porsche turbos! The four-day event features a HPDE Day, Time Attack, Dyno Shootout and Drag Racing.

COBB Tuning is a sponsor of the event and will be attending Friday through Sunday. Come visit us at our booth where we will have four R&D vehicles on display which include our 2011 STI, 2010 MAZDASPEED3, 2010 Evolution X, and a 2008 BMW 335i. Our resident tuners as well as hard parts fabrication/engineers will be on hand to answer any tuning or hard parts questions you may have. In addition to the cool events, COBB Tuning will have some SWAG to give away as well as AccesPORT’S and apparel for sale.

For more information on the TX2K visit www.tx2k.com or give us a call at 1-866-922-3059. See you there!

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It is time for the 2nd annual COBB Tuning Mustache March contest! This is your chance to grow some crazy facial hair, brave the wrath of your friends, family and significant other, all in the name of good fun and the chance to win a COBB Tuning AccessPORT! One lucky, or possibly crazy, contestant will win COBB Tuning’s awesome hand-held ECU Tuning and Monitoring device just for growing the craziest, suavest or most questionable facial hair they can in three weeks.

Rules

The rules are simple. Start growing, trimming, shaping or coloring your ‘stache starting today! To enter the contest, post a picture of your starting point on the official Mustache March Contest Page on the COBB Tuning Forums. As the month goes on, keep posting photos of your ‘stache.  Submissions will close on March 31st. We will open voting on Monday April 4th and run till Friday April 8th with winners announced on the 11th. The ‘stache with the most votes, wins an AccessPORT! We will have prizes for 2nd and 3rd place as well!

It’s a month of Mustache Madness and fun from COBB Tuning! So Ready, Set, GROW!

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