Flat-4 Las Vegas member Smith shares road-race seat time with Crawford Performance.
November 12, 2008, Super Lap Battle: Crawford Performance has taken stock in Las Vegas local and Flat-4'Vegas member Thomas Smith, and placed him on track in their Stage 2 2008 Subaru WRX STI. His introduction, also Smith's virgin event at Buttonwillow Raceway's long-track configuration, was created to offer Crawford an opportunity to both test a potential new hot-shoe, as well as get real-world read on the company’s track and street parts for the '08 STI.
Smith's opportunity to run at Super Lap Battle 2008 came courtesy of Quirt Crawford and Crawford Performance, who wanted to put a true street guy into an evaluative position for their products. Smith, a long-term WRX owner, was selected from the body politic of Flat-4 'Vegas. The 2008 Subaru WRX STI used by Smith on Buttonwillow's #13 track (visit buttonwillowraceway.com for track configurations) was an in-shop project built by Crawford Performance. Would two plus two equal Flat-4?
An honest daily driver, Crawford Performance's new blue WRX STI was slated for a complete series of track evaluations, as well as back-to-back comparos with a similarly equipped Mitsubishi Evolution X. The blue STI was mildly prepped as a street-based track toy, with nothing added for race day other than fuel. Beyond the Crawford Stage 2, the STI was modified with a proprietary downpipe and axle-back exhaust, plus an in-house reflash of the OEM ECU.
Other little bits supporting track time included a proper air-oil separator to keep the Motul free of Buttonwillow bubbles. Sprung with a set of tightened street-worthy springs to remove some of the factory STI's push-friendly mush-steer (using the OEM struts), the STI had an aftermarket set of Enkeis clad in Continental ContiSports for the event – again, street tires on a street-prepped vehicle, being used at Buttonwillow for a host of tests designed to mimic track-day fun for a track-day guy like Mr. Smith.
Mr. Smith's best time in the blue STI was 2:05.3 – hired gun Tanner Foust only ran eight-tenths of a second faster in the same car (shhhh – don’t tell him). Smith’s background is primarily in go-karts, but he's raced his personal WRX on the track. That's how the Crawfords met Smith – their WRX beat his by one-hundredth of a second when SubieFest was at Willow Springs.
With special thanks to Subaru of North America, Crawford Performance has partnered with the most important race and street builders in the aftermarket: Tein (suspension), Garrett (turbo), Motul (fluids), MoTeC (control), NGK (fire), Brembo (brakes), Cusco (drivetrain), Recaro (buckets) and Enkei Rims (wheels). Their generous assistance and support helps Crawford Performance keep creating and building the parts you buy.
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Crawford Performance
Crawford Performance can be found at 4168 Avenida De La Plata Suite. 116, Oceanside, CA 92056. You can try them on the phone too, 760.631.2927, or visit them online at crawfordperformance.com.
Good job Thomas!
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