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As it gets closer, I will continue to coordinate developments and additional information with Joe Aquilante, President of Phoenix Preformance and the co-owver of ICY/Phoenix Racing, who did the modifications to the Spec.B cars for Subaru.

For additional photographs and videos, check out the SRRT website HERE

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Here is a little information on this car:

This year, the SRRT campaigns the Subaru Legacy 2.5 GT spec.B sedan, with its turbocharged 2.5-liter Boxer engine, SI-DRIVE, and 6-speed manual transmission. The spec.B also has considerable preparation by the team that put together back-to-back championships in the SCCA T2 series in 2005 and 2006 with Impreza WRX STIs. Now it has made the move to the Legacy platform.

The spec.B is an impressive street machine, and too often overlooked by enthusiasts. To anyone seeking power, control, handling – everything you’d want in a fun-to-drive automobile – this sports sedan is special. That’s what the team out of the ICY Racing/Phoenix Engineering stables thought. It had proven what the WRX STI could do, and the team wanted another challenge. The concept of campaigning the Legacy 2.5 GT spec.B filled that need.

Today, the team takes to the field in the ST Class of the Grand-Am Koni Challenge Series (replacing last year’s Grand Am Cup) with a pair of Legacy 2.5 GT spec.B race cars, #111 and #141.


PREPARATION
The cars competing in the ST Class are not stock cars (although far more stock than another well-known series’ “stock cars”). The Grand-Am sanctioning body allows varying degrees of modifications for each make, having to do with weight and standard engine output.

For the Subaru Legacy 2.5 GT spec.B, the team was able to do a significant amount of preparation. The body was stripped of undercoating and other sealants, leaving it bare, painted metal. It was like a body-in-white. For safety reasons, the original factory roof with its moonroof was replaced by a full metal one. Inside, any unnecessary items such as seats, carpeting, headliner, door panels, and trim were ripped out and replaced by a racing seat and full roll cage. Many of the components under the dashboard were removed as well.

Under the hood, the engine had to remain stock, with factory turbocharger and other parts of the air intake system. Even the exhaust was regulated to be stock – so the cars don’t even sound like racecars. In some ways, they’re too quiet. Certain chassis systems were allowed to be upgraded, including shocks and some of the other suspension components.

All this work took place over six months at the team’s home base in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. At the beginning of the year, SRRT moved into a brand-new 5,000-square foot building on the premises, and it has access to Phoenix Engineering’s alignment equipment and 4-wheel dynamometer.


The SRRT cars have never before appeared a private event, much less for so long a time. There are people I would like to thank for making this a most memorable Reading, but I will have to wait until Reading is underway.

You would be most surprised just how we were able to pull this off. I will give details later


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