2009 25HR: Gary Sheehan, 1st Stint from Marshall Pruett on Vimeo.

To me, the race start is the most dangerous and most exciting. All seventy something cars are tightly bunched up and hitting the throttle simultaneously. Invariably, there’s always those few that think they are going to make up significant ground at the start. Like the positions they gain right now is what is going to be what puts them in the winner’s circle 25 hours later. Of course it doesn’t. And outside of the car every driver will certainly understand that concept. But man, get a bunch of racers together and for some of them, logic goes out the window. There’s always some stupidity going on at the race.

The challenge that I like is making my way through the craziness at the race start and keeping the car out of trouble and healthy. This year was going to be even more difficult since the rear tires were so slick when cold. I was concerned about being on the inside of turn one considering that I spun there on my outlap last time I went out cold!

We had two full warm-up laps before the green flag dropped and I took full advantage of it. I worked that wheel back and forth like a two year old working a Logitech G25! My arms were tired after the first lap! By the end of the second lap I was looking for my drink bottle. I was relieved when the race actually started so I could take a breather.

I worked into the first lap very slowly. Seemed like the back of the car had more grip than I was expecting, meaning working the tires probably helped quite a bit, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I let a few people go by me on the first lap, knowing once the tires came up to full temp that our Scion tC would be faster. Based on our qualifying time of 1:59, I knew we had the ability to go 2 seconds per lap faster than the cars around us. So I let them go, knowing those positions would come back to me.

Starting the second lap I started pushing the tires a bit harder and the car responded well. Sure enough, I caught up to the other cars in short order. I had a fun battle with an Acura that I think was being driven by Bob Endicott. I forget where I got past him, but I wasn’t pulling on him too hard yet as the tires were still settling in, so he was right back on me when I caught a very slow Miata in turn 11. I was stuck behind the Miata through 12 and swung out to the right to go around him in turn 13. Of course the Miata driver doesn’t see me, and tracks all the way out to the exit, putting me four wheels off in the dirt on the right side. I wanted to get away from this idiot as quickly as possible, so I kept my right foot in it and passed him in the grass. When I got all four tires back on the track, the Acura was alongside me. He must’ve sneaked around the left side when the Miata driver was busy trying to kill me without knowing it. The Acura had a fender on me, but I was on the inside for turn 14 and stayed in it. Once we got to the braking zone the corner was mine and whoever was driving the Acura conceeded.

I settled in and started driving my laptimes lower. Traffic becomes a factor very early in this race. Within just a few laps backmarkers are being lapped and getting in the way. Clumps of cars get stuck together that have no place being together. Sports racers tangled up with Miatas because the Miata guys are busy racing each other and are completely unaware of the car that’s 30 seconds a lap faster waiting for them to stop their shenanigans so he can get by cleanly. Sorry if I sound bitter, but I’m bitter. I’ve been run off the track too many times by Miatas lately!

As I attempted to get past a gaggle of slower cars I switched back to our high boost map for a little more oomph. Unfortunately it didn’t work out that way. The engine sounded like it had a boost leak and had a big drop in power. I immediately radioed in to the pits and explained what was happening. They called me in that lap to check it out. This is only about 30 minutes into the race.

The crew checked under the hood and couldn’t see anything immediate, so we had to go back paddock to take the splitter off and check out the bottom of the intercooler and boost hoses. After about 30 minutes of inspecting clamps and tighening everything they couldn’t find anything obvious. They sent me back out to see if the problem had been resolved but it remained. I noticed that if I only put in about 40% throttle, the car would pull very well and felt strong, but beyond that, I could feel the engine fighting itself. Back into the paddock for some more investigating, this time with the data. It showed that we were overboosting by quite a bit. Our target boost was 13 psi, but we were seeing up to 27psi at times. The ecu wasn’t mapped for boost pressure that high and Mike had pulled massive amounts of timing to protect the motor in that range. Mike sent me back out with instructions to run at partial throttle while they considered what to do.

Driving to engine feel was a new and interesting experience for me. I’d put in throttle until I felt the engine go just slightly soft, then back off until the power came back. Once I found the sweet spot that the engine liked, that became my new “wide open throttle”. Then it was just a matter of trying to put down consistent laps while the guys worked the problem. I was able to get the car into the 1:59′s driving this way, which was surprisingly good, and I was prepared to finish out my stint this way since I’d gotten used to it.

The crew wanted to resolve the problem, though, and called me back in. The guys had determined that it must be a faulty wastegate controller and decided to remove it and just run off the wastegate spring. When I went back out the problem was gone and the car was still pulling strong. It had cost us a ton of time and it was very disappointing. I think we had spent over 45 minutes in the pits and you just can’t recover that kind of time nowadays in an endurance race. So, barely after the race had begun, our chances of finishing strong were gone. Now it was all about just having fun, enjoying racing and the team cameraderie that comes about in these very long events.

I’d like to say that the rest of my stint was pretty uneventful, but there were too many Miatas to let THAT happen. I’d completely settled in and was turning fast laps by this time. I came up on a Miata in turn 2 and was on his bumper all the way around this long sweeping left hander. As the Miata exited to the right, I held a tighter line and started accelerating past him on the left. Turn 3 is nice and wide and there’s room for two cars to go through there side by side. As we approached turn 3 virtually side by side the Miata came over to the left very quickly. The guy had no fucking clue that I was there. Again, I was run clean off the track by a Miata. If I hadn’t driven off the track he would have crashed us both out. I had a brief moment where the car started to pitch to the right, but was able to catch it and rode it out almost to the tire barrier way off the track. I managed to bring the car back on track undamaged and continued on. I finally caught this moron on the front straight and wagged my finger at him out the driver side as I passed him. The index, not the middle finger. Don’t know if he got the message. This guy didn’t seem to use his eyes much anyway.

The rest of my stint went well. Despite taking to the dirt twice for evasive Miata maneuvers, the car was solid and fast. The times kept coming down which was a very good sign. I managed a 1:56.7 in the opening stint of the race and the tires were still in great shape for Mark’s first stint. Turning a lap almost 2 seconds faster than last years fastest lap showed how effective the new fwings and wider front tires were working. The car had great front end grip for a FWD and was very stable in the high speed stuff. I got Mark strapped in and scooted around pit wall to join all the guys and share my silly Miata stories.

I was really looking forward to my next stint that would roll around in about 6 hours. By that time it would be well into night, one of my favorite times to drive. If the car was still healthy, it was going to be fun! Except for the not seeing part, but hey, I like a challenge.

So we all show up at the track early in the morning. It’s damned cold. The crew is working on the car and getting the last things done that need to be done. Typical morning of race prep. All the drivers got suited up and we climbed in the car one at a time to get our seating position perfect. Once each driver was strapped in and comfortable, the seating position would be marked and initialled. These marks would be used during driver changes so the person helping the entering driver would be sure of getting the new driver’s position just right.

Changing drivers is a pretty important part of endurance racing. In the ES class we can use a fueling rig which will dump 26 gallons of fuel into the car pretty quick. So if we’re double or triple stinting a set of tires, it’s either the fueling time or the driver change time that’s keeping the car in the pits. We like to make sure it’s NEVER the driver change time. As soon as the car is ready, it should be rolling.

To ensure we accomplish this, we do driver change practices. Marshall had determined that the driver line-up would be me leading off, followed by Mark Hotchkis, then Rob Holland would take us from dusk into the night and Dave McEntee would drive the first full stint at night. The way we do are driver changes, we have a crewman (Earl) jump in through the passenger door to assist (he’s literally squatting in the car where the passenger seat would be) and the exiting driver assists the entering driver on the driver side.

One of the things that makes this process pretty easy is if we can make sure that the lap belts never need to be adjusted. This means that the lap belts are never really perfect for everyone, but can be close enough to speed up the driver change. In our case it was going to be a bit of a challenge since Rob is a pretty tall guy. Mark, Dave and I all sit within a few clicks of each other. Relatively speaking, Rob sits in the back seat. So finding a compromise for the lap belts is pretty tricky.

After we’ve all cycled through the car once it’s time to practice our stops. This is a very busy time for all three guys involved, and practice is definitely needed. After driving on a racetrack for two hours straight, it’s tough to get into “change driver” mode as your brain is pretty grooved in on doing a very different task. But if you can get a bunch of practice in, it helps you get through the first few driver changes without fumbling around too much. In practice, we aim to get down to 40 seconds from the time the car comes to a stop in pit lane to the time the new driver is in, belted, plugged in to the radio system, net up and door closed. Oh, and Earl needs to be out as well. That would suck.

Here’s what’s involved. As the driver comes down the back straight he radios in to the pits that he’s on the back straight. Rounding turn 15 the driver radios again, this time with “Pit in, pit in, pit in.” The driver slows the car down to the 25 mph pit lane speed limit (2nd gear 3,000 rpm) before the line that marks the official start of the pits. At this point the driver can see the pit stalls still several seconds ahead. The driver has to loosen both shoulder harnesses, pull down the window net, unclip the cam-lock on the harness and flip the right side shoulder harness up over the back of the seat, all this while guiding the car in to a perfect stop close enough to the pit wall for the fueling rig to reach. Once the car is stopped, the driver pulls up on the seat slider release and pushes the seat all the way to the rear. As soon as the car has come to a stop, the entering driver is running around the back of the car and reaches the door handle just as the exiting driver has hit the rear stops of the seat slider.

By this time, Earl has entered through the passenger side and is getting situated for belting in the new driver. The entering driver opens the door, unplugs the exiting driver’s radio connection, flips the left shoulder harnes up over the seat and assists the exiting driver by guiding his HANS clear of any obstructions with his right hand while physically tugging on his suit with his left hand, virtually pulling him out of the car. The drivers change positions and the entering driver sits in the seat and scoots forward while the exiting driver and Earl ensure the lap belts are clear. The entering driver slides back in the seat the Earl and the exiting driver clip the lap belts to the cam-lock and anti-sub belt. The entering driver grabs the seat adjuster and pulls on the cage to pull himself forward while the exiting driver ensures he stops the seat right on his marks. If they miss, they work together to get it right. It is the exiting driver’s responsibility to get this right, and as you will soon see, they are very committed to this task.

The next step is for Earl and the exiting driver to get the shoulder straps over the entering driver’s HANS device and latched into the cam-lock. Earl gives a tug on the right shoulder belt while the exiting driver connects the entering driver’s radio connection to the car harness and the entering driver snugs the left shoulder belt. Earl is exiting the car while the exiting driver is putting up the driver’s side window net, ensuring the release is angled in for the driver to reach, then slams the door and gives it a tug to make sure it’s closed, then runs around the back of the car and back to safety behind the pit wall.

Under forty seconds is a good time for this process. But we sure don’t start out doing it that smooth. It takes may iterations to get everyone working well together, learning the details of where the other drivers’ radio harness needs to be, etc. As we begin this process, the driver changes can be in the minutes. Mistakes are made. Occassionally, injuries occur. Which leads to the next part of the story.

I’m first in the car, so Dave’s my assistant on the left side. We’re going slow, because it’s the first run through and we want to work out the bugs before putting some speed to it. Dave and Earl strap my lap belts up and I reach down and grab the seat slide release and pull myself forward. I go as far as I can and the lap and anti-sub belts stop me before I get to my spot, the furthest forward. I slide back again to get a bit of a run at it and Dave tries to give me a little help to give me some momentum. Again I come up short, but closer to our target this time. Dave tells us to “Give it one more go” and I slide back again. This time we’re determined, and Earl’s on one side and Dave’s on the other, both with a good grip. The seat propels forward like it’s a JATO. You ever see that old video of that crazy man strapped onto the rocket sled doing human G tolerance tests? That’s what came to mind as I hurtled forward to my doom.

My crotch hit the belts so hard that I greyed out. All the air left my lungs in a huge WOOOOOF and I saw stars. I felt something hit my spine and I’m pretty sure it was my right testicle. And to top it all off, my hand slipped of the release and the seat held me there, breathless in a bad way. Dave shouts, “OK, you made it!” and starts on my shoulder belts. I finally pull in a gasp of air and shout, “OW”. Dave asks me what’s wrong and I tell him that we just grew my inseam, halfway severed my right leg and I’m worried that it might take weeks for my right nut to drop. In falsetto.

I finally get a grip back on the slide release and ease my discomfort. Dave has dropped to both knees and I can see his helmet bobbing from him laughing so hard. He finally catches his breath and says, “Dude, I put everything I had into that one!” Earl’s gone, too, laughing his head off. I’m just glad I’m sitting, because if I took a hit that hard standing up, I’d be on my ass soon enough. It takes a few minutes, but I eventually recover enough to say “OK, that’s not going to work” and we get to readjusting the belts a bit to see if we can get things to work, amid occassional snickers from my “team mates”. The final compromise is for me to sit one click back further than I like with a little more slack in the belts.

The rest of the practice driver changes goes significantly better than that, and we eventually got down to our target times. We wrapped up with the call over the PA system that we had just 10 more minutes to get the car to grid. We were getting close to race time and we were ready. Well, mostly ready. I had make one more trip to the rest room to make sure all my parts were still attached.

Seriously, cold tires on this thing are no joke. Not even a snicker. I “thought” about turning the wheel to the right in turn 3 and the ass stepped out. This was while I was on the radio to Marshall bitching about how bad it was driving on cold tires. While putt-putting around the outside of the corner letting cars go past. I was in full on counter steer mode at about 2/10ths, I kid you not. I vote for leaving the same set of rear tires on the car the entire 25 hour race.

Anyway, after about 2 full laps the tires stopped playing their little “I’m made of stone” game and started gripping the track. Which gave me enough speed to scare the shit out of myself in a different way. Let me start by stating that the Fwings are not made of glass. If they were made of glass, they would probably break, because they are producing pretty good downforce and glass just isn’t cut out for that kind of stress. Too brittle. They are made of carbon fiber and aluminum. Which makes them nice and strong for supporting the downforce. The bad thing about carbon fiber and aluminum is that you can’t see through them like you can see through glass. “See” where I’m going with this?

Turn 7, which is a left hand kink, wide open throttle, just a hint of a turn, is the scariest effing place on this track at night. Because the Fwings aren’t made of glass, so you can’t see those cool little reflectors that show where the edge of the track are. In the daytime it’s not so bad, because you can see other stuff, like…the track. But at night, you can’t see shit. Except for those little reflectors that our Fwings block.

Takes a little figuring out. By trial and error you have to find your turn in point and turn the wheel X amount. One of the times you do that, you actually hit the apex, even though you couldn’t see it. Now the trick is to do that every lap from then on. For 13 hours of driving at night. It’s exciting. It’s weird. It’s really scary!

So after about 5 laps I was able to put together something reasonably respectable. Well, on the lower end of respectable. I was constantly running into traffic at the worst times. Oh, I also learned that the Fwing can sometimes block out an entire car if you get it just the right way. Like when you hold up your thumb in front of you and block out that person you wish wasn’t there, same principle. Poof, the whole car is gone. I’m always a little relieved when it comes back. What if it didn’t? Trippy.

Anyway, if I wasn’t being held up by slower cars, I was being held up by yellow “flags”. They’re really yellow lights on the flag stations. So the yellow lights go on, everyone slows down. No passing for a corner or two without seeing any incidents an boom, laptime is in the shitter.

So the best laptime I was able to pull out was a 1:59.2. That’s good enough for 17th out of two hundr…..well, I don’t know…..seventy something cars. Anyway, with the no-see-um corners, the disappearing car tricks, moving chicanes and pretend yellow zones, there was a lot going on. I guess we did OK.

The guys are working on the car right now. Mike Warfield, the owner of GST Motorsports found a problem with the keep-alive for the alternator, so we won’t have to worry about the low voltage issue anymore. Marshall’s notepad of work for the night looks like a seven year old’s Christmas Wish List. It’s pages long. Oh, look at the time, I should be getting to sleep!

The race is tomorrow morning starting at 11am. I’m pretty sure I’m in for the first stint. I’ll post up an update once I’m out of the car at 1pm.

Goodnight!

We’re way ahead of the game already. Last year by this time today we were wrapping up a rebuild of the MPME Scion Racing tC after it barrel rolled in practice on Thursday. So far, zero barrel rolls. We’re going to try to keep it under 3 inversions this year. Fingers crossed.

Today was my first time in the car since the last 25 Hours. Dave McEntee had the car out at Buttonwillow last weekend and the team got to shake the car down a bit and uncover a couple of issues. Yesterday, Mark Hotchkis and Rob Holland got to drive, as did Dave. All got to turn at least a few laps and start to get acclimated to the car.

Overnight the team made some suspension changes. Dave, Mark and Rob got in this morning before I got in. I really only got one flying lap before the session was checkered. We all grouped up in the motor home and downloaded to our engineer, Marshall Pruett. Some minor alignment changes, shock can pressure changes and raising the throttle pedal were all done during lunch.

I got a good 10 laps after lunch and the car felt much improved. It also gave me some time to get reacquainted with the car, since it had been so long. Compared to last year, there is no comparison. Grip overall is much better, as we’re running 255 front tires and 235 rear tires. The car has quite a bit of aero this year as well. We’ve got new Fwings (front wings) and a very aggressive rear wing. Aero grip is very impressive right now! The car has none of the instability it had last year and is very easy to drive.

In my session I got the car down to a 1:56.9. That’s a full second and a half faster than last year. I know I’ve got a little bit left in me and I’m pretty sure the additional changes we’ll make to the car will help as well. Very impressive!

OK, I have to get ready for qualifying. I’ll write more later….

When GST Motorsports decided to pull out all the stops on their Subaru Impreza “L” time attack machine for the final session of Round 4 of the Redline Time Attack Series, pro driver Gary Sheehan was ready to unleash the car’s true potential. Ripping off a tire blistering 1:38.396 lap time around Auto Club Speedway’s 2.89 mile ‘roval’ track layout, the time was fast enough to win the Overall Championship by more than 3 seconds over the closest competitor, as well as setting a new track record.

In fact, the lap was so unexpectedly fast that Redline Time Attack officials had to verify that Sheehan didn’t shortcut the track. When the lap was verified, officials turned to the car to ensure the tires were legal and that the GST Motorsports Subaru Impreza “L” conformed to the rules. The car was cleared and Sheehan was announced as the Overall Champion of the event.

“The team has been working very hard to develop this car to its potential”, said Sheehan. “This weekend we were able to wring the maximum potential out of the car. We got the balance just right and the car had huge power. I knew the car had potential to challenge for the win, but we were all a bit surprised by the laptime the car did! To not just win the Overall Championship, but to beat our closest competitor by such a big margin and set a new track record, that’s just awesome!”

“Our strategy of increasing engine rpm limits throughout the event presents a constant challenge to a driver to keep up with changing conditions”, said Mike Warfield, owner of GST Motorsports. “Gary just sets about the task at hand with the car we give him. It’s not easy to get everything the car is capable of with no practice time at those extreme power levels. But time after time, Gary is able to quickly adapt to these sudden changes and pull out impressive performances.”

Sheehan and the GST Motorsports team are now setting their sight on the final Redline Time Attack of the season at Virginia International Raceway in October. With significant changes to the car lined up, the team has very high expectations for their performance on the east coast.

To read more event coverage of the Redline Time Attack Series – Round 4 at Auto Club Speedway, please see click of the following links:

TimeAttackForums.com – Results
RiceBoyTV.com – All Access
AutoBlog.com – Event Coverage
Urban Racer.com – Monday Finish Line
UrbanRacer.com – Event Coverage
TimeAttackBlog.com – Event Coverage

I rolled out with a tiny bit of confidence that quickly grew once I started the clutchless upshifts. Now I could accelerate through the gears with very little effort and really feel how the car pulled. MAN! What a feeling! The McLaren just pulled and pulled.

The full story, video and photos can be seen here on SpeedTV.com.

Additional photos can be found here.

“I’m very confident heading into Long Beach this year,” Sheehan said about his return. “The team has had the time and resources required to prepare our Subaru STi appropriately for this level of competition. We had our issues last year, and those are behind us now. I think this little red 4-cylinder rocket is going to make people stand up and take notice!”

The Long Beach Grand Prix is scheduled for April 13th-15th and in addition to World Challenge, will host racing from Champ Car, Champ Car Atlantic, American Le Mans Series, the Toyota Pro/Celebrity race and Formula Drift. Long Beach is one of the most popular racing events of the year for both drivers and fans alike. Visit www.world-challenge.com and www.longbeachgp.com for more information on World Challenge and the Long Beach Grand Prix.

Sheehan will co-drive with Brian Lock at both Barber Motorsports Park and Miller Motorsports Park. Sheehan is a well known figure in the touring car community for his extensive experience racing AWD turbo cars, and Subarus in particular. As GOTO’s Grand-Am Cup program gains traction, the addition of Sheehan’s vast AWD experience and technical expertise is hoped to accelerate the team’s growth and improve race results.

“Our key to success in pro racing has been to surround ourselves with the right people.” commented Steve Lock, GOTO Team Principle. Having Gary with us for the Barber and Miller races only adds strength and experience to our new team. Gary Sheehan and GOTO:Racing are both pioneers for Subaru road racing, and it makes good sense that we will be able to accomplish even greater things together. He’s the most experienced Subaru road racer in the country, and I’m sure our team will greatly benefit from the speed and veteran input he’ll bring.”

“I’m excited to be working with GOTO Racing”, said Sheehan. “This is a young and energetic team that has been showing very strong potential in their first year in Grand-Am Cup. If we get all the pieces in place, I think the team can be consistently running at the front of the field fairly soon.”

Sheehan’s driving resume includes many impressive outings in Subaru’s, most notably as the driver for the ESX Speed World Challenge GT STi, as well as lead driver for ESX’s third place overall finish at the 2005 25 Hours of Thunderhill. Sheehan started racing Subaru’s with the first professional road racing Subaru WRX in the United States in 2001.

Trackbytes caught up with Team Manager Marshall Pruett and driver Gary Sheehan right after the Long Beach race. Both guys were wildly enthusiastic about their experience. And with that charge of energy was the business side of things that showed they have their feet firmly planted on the ground and sights set on building a respectable effort.

Todd:

Guys, first off thanks for taking the time to speak with us here at Trackbytes. I know you must be busy digesting the experience at Long Beach.

Explain to everyone what it means to ESX to enter the first Subaru Impreza WRX STI in professional North American road racing.

Marshall Pruett:

The Impreza WRX STI is by far the best choice to take on the ‘name’ sportscars competing in SPEED GT—with the cult status of the car, and ‘giant killer’ reputation, preparing our #99 STI was the next logical step to prove our beliefs that a small displacement turbocharged car can take on cars that cost three or four times as much, and beat them.

Todd:

Marshall, what were the team’s expectations going into the weekend?

Marshall Pruett:

We’d set a realistic goal in our approach–qualify between 18th and 25th, and finish somewhere in the same range. Despite our enthusiasm and belief in the STI, we also know that for this chassis and platform, we’re at the very beginning of the growth and development of the car. Beyond a few STI’s that road race in the Super Taikyu road racing series in Japan, there’s no other STI road racing development to fall back on. Unlike some of the other teams that can order competition parts for their GT cars from a catalog, we have to fabricate and test all our own pieces. Knowing this, I’ve made great efforts to keep our minds set on 2006 being strictly a year of learning and discovery.

Todd:

Gary, as the driver chosen for this project, what mindset did you head to Long Beach with?

Gary Sheehan:

We went into this event knowing that it would take several races to get both myself and the race car up to speed in World Challenge GT. For myself, I knew it would take some time to adjust to the new characteristics of the STI as well as fit in with the other drivers that have been in the series for awhile. My personal goals were to make it through the concrete canyons of the Long Beach Grand Prix with the car in one piece, finish the entire race distance, show the other drivers in the series that I belong on the track with them and come away with an understanding of what changes I need to make the car more competitive. All of these goals were met and I had an absolute blast while accomplishing them.

Todd:

Guys, what did you take away from Long Beach relating to the successes and hardships of the car’s and team’s first weekend.

Marshall Pruett:

I’m beyond pleased with how our first SPEED GT event went. Ali Afshar, owner of Easy Street Motorsports, has really pushed hard to find funding and partners to make this ESX road race program become a reality. While Ali’s NHRA drag team is sponsored by Subaru, Ali and ESX have built and entered our STI with the support of individual Subaru dealers and other companies. While we aren’t a factory backed team, everything we do is to positively represent the brand. I’ve spent a lot of time making sure our graphics, uniforms, presentation, and overall professional approach is one that new sponsors and support would fit into seamlessly and with immediate return.

I was happiest to see the crowd’s reaction to the car–of the thousands of fans that swarmed our SPEED GT paddock area, it seemed that most of them made a beeline for our car, taking pictures of it from every angle, and asking a million questions. I’d have to say our suspicion that fans want to see their favorite ‘import and tuner’ cars taking on V8′s and such in GT was confirmed.

We had a number of ‘new car blues’ throughout the weekend–mostly coming to grips with running without ABS for the first time. The STI has phenomenal ABS braking, so adjusting and modifying the car to be just as impressive without ABS is an ongoing process. We’re so thankful to have Stoptech joining our program as partners to develop the best braking package possible.

Gary and the team fought through a number of braking issues–they were traced to a deteriorating brake master cylinder; Gary had it almost completely stop functioning on the 3rd lap of the race, and was brave enough to press on for the other 24 laps having to pump the brakes like he was stomping out a fire in order to get the car slowed down enough to make each turn.

Despite all of this drama inside the car, he managed, with the brakes almost gone, to match his qualifying times on half of those brakeless race laps. THAT was incredible.

We learned an incredible amount, have generated a ‘to do’ list a mile long, and can’t wait to get back out and push harder in our next showing.

Gary Sheehan:

I think the entire weekend was a success, despite the hardships we suffered. ESX showed the SCCA officials, the racing teams and the fans that we are a class act, very professional and dead serious about our efforts in World Challenge GT. Much of the success was not so much on the track, but in the paddock. Our team performed as a cohesive unit and attacked every issue with single minded purpose. I am extremely impressed and proud of the team that worked so hard to give their best effort up to and during the event.

Todd:

Marshall, as Team Manager it was your responsibility to find a pilot for your effort. You chose Gary. What was the deciding factor in bringing Gary on board?

Marshall Pruett:

The guy is the best choice I can think of–a really good, light-hearted guy outside the car, and bloody determined and masterful inside the car. He still needs to get more SPEED GT races under his belt, but he has the basic skill and smarts to be primed for success once we have the STI developed to a point where he can earn the accolades he deserves. He’s completely hands-on with the car and team, and little touches like that make all the difference to a team–when you know your driver will be right besides you, no matter how late it might be at night, it’s hard not to give your all and work to find every ounce of speed for him.

Working to find and cure a number of those new car blues, we were at the track until 4:30AM Saturday morning, got to the hotel by 5AM, and were back down in the lobby by 6AM to be ready for the 8:30AM practice session. For a regular driver, or one that didn’t go to such great pains to show his dedication and appreciation to his crew, most teams would have been in bed by 10PM…

Todd:

Gary, not only were your appointed with the duties of helping to bring this project along as the team driver, but your first race ever was at the daunting street venue that is Long Beach. All of this must be quite the thrill ride for you.

Gary Sheehan:

I felt charged with electricity the entire event! I’ve thought about participating in the Speed World Challenge GT series for many years and this truly was a dream come true for me. The SCCA and other teams gave us such a warm welcome that I immediately felt that I belonged. Andy Pilgrim was gracious enough to share his experience with me on the first day of the event and gave me some great tips that would have taken me several events to learn on my own. Tomy Drissi kept pumping me up and encouraging me all weekend. Several other drivers took the time out to give positive feedback. I can’t express how easy the drivers and teams made it for me to fit in! What a cool bunch of competitors!

Being in front of that many racing fans was also a new experience for me. Sitting on the starting grid and seeing the grandstands full of spectators that stayed late on Sunday afternoon to watch our race was such a great moment. The biggest surprise I had was hearing one of the spectators out in the stands yell out “Go get ‘em, Gary!” just prior to the start. When the red lights went out and I dumped the clutch at the start, I still had the smile plastered on my face.

Todd:

So now you have the car built, you have experienced your first event, what does the future hold?

Marshall Pruett:

Our goal is to do the other two West Coast races–we’re based in Southern California, and spend time developing the car in between those races. Ali Afshar was born and raised in Petaluma, right next to Sears Point, so for him, this will be a homecoming of sorts. I’m from the Bay Area, and literally grew up at Sears–some of my earliest memories are of being 3 year sold in ’73, and helping my dad to pick big rocks off the tires of his SCCA Ford Cortina club race car. I worked at shops at Sears forever, so for me, it will be even more special.

The main goal will to be to attract sponsorship to continue the development of the car, do Sears and Laguna, and prepare for a full-season assault on SPEED GT in 2007. Looking at the media interest, fan support, and huge potential of the car, I’d hope we can attract the support and resources needed to make the Subaru into a winner among the world’s best and most expensive GT cars.

Gary Sheehan:

We already have our sights set on Infineon Raceway in late June and are putting the pieces in place to further develop the car and get more testing days under our belts. Infineon is my home track and one of my favorites. I’m very excited to be headed there next because I’ve driven a lot of miles there and can focus on the car’s performance without spending a whole lot of effort learning a new track like I did at Long Beach. This is going to be another huge weekend for us, bringing the Subaru STI out in front of the NASCAR fans. I think we’ll make just as huge an impact at Infineon as we did at Long Beach.

Todd:

Gentlemen it has been an extreme pleasure chatting with both of you. We wish you continued success. Trackbytes and the fans will be following your trek to the top.

To follow Gary Sheehan, go see him at garysheehan.com. To learn more about Marshall Pruett, visit marshallpruett.com. To keep up on all of the latest Easy Street Motorsports (ESX) news, they can be found at esxmotorsports.com. And when you find yourself at a World Challenge event, stop by the ESX paddock area. The team has an open door policy and everyone is invited to stop by and visit.