Subiesport Magazine - August/September 2008 - (Page 48)

Words By Travis Geny Photos By Yujiro Otsuki & Ryan Douthit R ace cars better the breed. There is nary a car manufacturer, past or present, that has not used racing as a stone on which to sharpen road cars. To be sure, some bit of engineering found on your street car today was first prototyped on the racer of yesterday. No wonder then that Subaru has plunged feet-first into racing with their GR8-chassis STI. While Subaru is mostly known for its dominance in rally, the Impreza and the Legacy are also formidable circuit racers. So with the launch of the new STI, a dedicated group of racers and enthusiasts are taking to the track with the new car. “ we pour a lot of ourselves into our work no matter who it is for. I guess it all comes down to a sense of pride.” Crawford Performance and I-Speed USA are no strangers to Subarus. You have seen their wares on these pages many times. With countless rally, time attack and circuit racing victories to their credit, you would be hard pressed to find a more winning 48 SEPTEMBER 2008 Subaru-centered motorsport program in the Western Hemisphere. Keen to extend their winning ways beyond their very well-sorted GD-chassis STI, Crawford wasted no time in prepping a brand-new GR-chassis Impreza race car. “We are Subaru enthusiasts and had to find out for ourselves just how good the new 2008 STI is,” said Chris Escamilla of Crawford Performance. “Well, there is a little more to it than that. You see, we also have a business to run. In order to remain on the leading edge of Subaru technology we must use the latest and greatest that Subaru has to offer. Once the GR8 came out, that made the GDB, as nice as it was, old news. So the decision was made to sell our silver time attack car and build a new one. Speaking of which, do you know any buyers?” With the decision made to move ahead with a new car, the crew then wanted to make sure they did it right, and no one knows more about this chassis than Subaru themselves. “The 2008 WRX STI is our shop car. There’s an interesting story behind it too,” said Chris. “When the word was out that we were selling our silver STI, the question arose of what we were going to do next. We told everyone that over the past several years we had worn ourselves ragged and wanted a break. The only way we would continue was if other people came on board to help. You see, for a long time Crawford Performance was made up of four

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Subiesport Magazine - August/September 2008

Subiesport Magazine - August/September 2008 Features Contents Editor Letters Readers' Rides New Products Subaru News 2009 Impreza WRX East Meets West Shoebox Sleeper Bettering the Breed ...Even the Kitchen Sink WRC Rally Greace WRC Rally Turkey Rally America: New England Rally America: STPR 2008 STI Open Class GCRallyX R4 Where to Buy Subiesport ICY Racing E85 & Methanol Rebuild Your Heads Budget Building Ad Directory Spotted!

Subiesport Magazine - August/September 2008

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