So I have definitely been slacking on updates about the car, we’re slammed at the shop with Spring upon us so finding the time to write this has been tough. I do have another update that should come before this but I’m just waiting on some dyno graphs and more testing before I do that. About 2 weeks ago I attended the first Hanson Advanced Driving School of the year at Mosport DDT. This was very last minute but Peter and everyone at the school is awesome and when I found out they had some spots to fill and the weather was going to be solid it was a no brainer. Last year I attended the school driving Project Blackout so going out with a pretty much stock WRX was going to be quite a bit slower….but sometimes that’s how you learn the most. I had the pleasure of being assigned our very own @bdon22; as my instructor for the day. At this point the car is Stage 1 with TGV Deletes so horsepower was around 240WHP and Torque around 270-280WTQ….nothing to write home about. Other then that the car had stock brakes, stock wheels, stock tires etc etc.
As with most schools we went out for our first session and basically cruised around at about 40-50% just to re-familiarize myself with the track and get some of the basic suggestions from Brandon on lines etc. Immediately I noticed that the base set-up on the 2015 WRX is quite good considering it’s price, Subaru really did an awesome job with the suspension and chassis. Track sessions were generally followed by an in-class session with Derek Hanson which is always entertaining but also very informative. I know for myself I am more of a hands on learner but doing the class sessions has always brought new perspective to how I approach driving. For the next 3 sessions we limited pace to around 70% and focused on turn in points, played with different apexes and being consistent. Something that a lot of people, myself included, have issues with is consistency. Being able to put in one fast lap and then have the other laps be 1-2 seconds apart is not ideal. In order to make useful changes to a car it is critical to be able to put in laps that are almost identical back to back to back. To do this we decided to run the entire track in 3rd gear, which is actually something that I believe the designers planned on when designing the track layout. As the name suggests, Driver Development Track, the design gives you a taste of everything really and being able to focus on driving rather then having to gear up/down every corner really helps with that. Over the 3 sessions I was able to really start to get consistent at most of the 18 turns on the layout we were using and really started to get the 2015 WRX going. With a stock exhaust it was pretty much whisper quite but for the remainder of the day we didn’t get passed once other then on cool down laps. The only issue with the 2015 WRX, as with most cars, was the brakes and brake fluid which even not going full out only had about 3 hot laps before the brakes stopped being effective. So that’s really the next step in this project and something I’ve been working on for a few weeks is getting at least a big brake kit on the front of the car. On the last session of the day Brandon asked Peter Hanson, former racer and lead instructor of the school, to go out with me. It was a bit nerve racking to have the head of the school sitting next to me and to be honest the first lap I’m not sure I hit a single apex at all! After that lap though I was able to get back in the groove and do what I had done previously with Brandon in the car. Peter is a quiet person, but he gave me some pointers to try out which brought a different perspective on certain corners. The most gratifying thing was getting his approval, which on track is in the form of double thumbs up which he did a few times when I really hit my turn in, apex and exit points perfectly.
Funny enough Brandon was put in a 2015 STi for his other student and at one point he commented that even though the STi was modded the WRX felt faster. Whether that was driver or the car he couldn’t decide but I believe he was very impressed by the capabilities of the new 2015 WRX, maybe he’ll chime in . If you’ve never been on track, or even if you have, I would strongly recommend signing up for a driving school such as the SPDA/ATTS or Hanson Advanced Driving School. No matter how experienced or inexperienced you are there’s so much to learn from driving in a controlled environment with someone beside you watching what you’re doing. I’ve already signed up for the June school and look forward to another awesome day at the track!
Hanson Advanced Driving School
On a final note this 2015 WRX is awesome on fuel! I fueled up in Bowmanville just before the track and even after driving to the track, lapping, driving back home I still ended up hitting 350KM to the tank which is pretty damn impressive IMO.
Thanks to these companies that are helping with this Project
COBB Tuning – COBB AccessPORT and COBB Cat-Back
Mad Graphics – Full Vehicle Vinyl Wrap and Side Graphics
Grimmspeed – License Plate Relocation Kit
Turn In Concepts – Shifter Bearing and TGV Deletes
Killer B Motorsports – J-Pipe
OnPoint Dyno – Dyno Tuning and Testing
Uni-Body Collision – Paint Work (Emblems, Lip, Trunk Spoiler)
