ESX has been involved in North American motorsports racing since 1989. Based primarily in domestic vehicle racing in the 1990's, ESX turned it's attention to Subaru in 2001.
Being sponsored by Subaru of America, Inc.
from 2001 thru 2007, ESX has accepted:
-2 NHRA National Championships
-18 NHRA "Wally" Event wins, the 2005 Rally
-2005 Rally America Championship
-and dozens of Battle of the Imports, IDRC and NOPI event wins!
World Records and All Time Firsts:
-First and only company to run a 7 second 1/4 mile pass in an all wheel drive Subaru
-1400 Horsepower 2.5 Liter boxer engine
-First entry for Subaru in the World Challenge Speed GT Series
-First entry into the 25 Hours of Thunderhill
-First recognized NHRA Championship All Wheel Drive Subaru
-First and only factory supported Subaru of America, Inc. drag racing team
ESX has also created the race inspired line of ESX STI vehicles.
ROAD RACING
In a first time effort for
Subaru and ESX, we raced our Subaru Impreza WRX STI
in the World Challenge Speed GT series race at the
enormously popular Long Beach Grand Prix, April 7-9.
Competing against powerhouse factory efforts such
as Cadillac, Dodge(Mopar), Corvettes and Porsches,
our Subaru proved worthy!!
When the SCCA announced that
they would let the World Challenge Speed GT class
cars race in the famous Long Beach Grand Prix, we
decided to upgrade our ESX/STI to the "Ultimate"
road racing car and enter! This allowed us to introduce
Subaru to the hundreds of thousands of fans in attendance
as well as the TV and Magazine coverage that compliments
the race. A Subaru has never entered in this race
class and history was being written.
The history of the STI we chose
to race runs deep. This vehicle first started life
as a standard 2005 STI entered in an NHRA event. It
was then turned into a unique Subaru for the Disney
feature film "Herbie". It’s third
life was as a prototype for the exciting "Signature
Series ESX/STI" which debuted last year. It got
the once over again to compete in the 2005 Car &
Driver Magazine & TV Show "Super Four Cyinder
Shootout". At the end of 2005 our STI was upgraded
even further and entered into the "25 Hours of
Thunderhill", which is the longest endurance
road race in the world. With tremendous possibilities
of failure, our ESX/STI weathered the race and finished
3rd out of the 58 cars entered!
Over the last 2 months we have
been modifying our WRX STI for the sixth time, in
what would be the largest performance media event
that Subaru and ESX has participated in to date, the
Long Beach Grand Prix. It was an absolute honor to
be competing with these powerhouse teams. These teams
have devoted countless years to developing and racing
what is to be considered the ultimate road racing
production cars in the world!
SCCA President Earl Knoper truly appreciated our efforts
and welcomed the Subaru/SPT/ESX team into the top
level pro ranks of their series.
We had a very successful race
for our first time out. We were able to safely finish
the race and show the world that our Subaru can compete
with the monster 8 and 10 cylinder domestic race cars.
With limited testing time and resources we finished
a very respectable 18th out of the 28 competitors.
Many new teams do not qualify or even finish the race,
so we felt very proud of our accomplishment.
It felt great to see how many
people came up to our pit area after the race! Because
of the uniqueness of our Subaru entry and because
of our credible finish among some very famous names
we had an enormous number of people pouring in to
our pits to take pictures of our Subaru and get autographs
from Gary Sheehan!
With additional upgrades and
testing scheduled, we have set our sights on the World
Challenge race in Sonoma, CA at Infineon Raceway late
June. This is the one and only time our series will
be competing along side the tremendously popular NASCAR
series. It will be very exciting to show our Subaru
to hundreds of thousands of NASCAR fans who would
never expect to see a Subaru racing. We feel confident
that after our first race and speaking with the SCCA
officials, we have the approval from SCCA and our
own technical capability to upgrade our STI to a to
a competitive level. Our goal for Sonoma will be to
finish in the top 10.
I can't say enough about our
crew and the long hours they put into making this
race event a reality. They are the true stars.
With our tremendous presence
at our Subaru/SPT/ESX hospitality area, we were dominating
the marketing! We had our primary 70ft transport on
display with music, food and drinks for all our guests.
We had the "Ultiimate" Tail Gate vehicle;
our B9 Tribeca that was customized with Sony Xplod
Audio/Visual system showing a "Live Feed"
of the race on a 27 inch TV Screen. This kept all
guests and fans in tune with the race while they were
enjoying our hospitality. We also had our SPT Subaru
WRX TR edition equipped with all SPT (Subaru Performance
Tuning) parts as well as our 2006 Street Class STI,
fresh off it's 11th NHRA win last weekend in Florida
on display. Julie Stepan and I were there signing
autographs throughout the 3 day event.
Our Road Racing STI will now
be scheduled to be shown on tour at participating
Subaru dealerships in Southern California. We are
continuing to generate excitement at the dealer level.
Easy Street Motorsports (ESX) announces a new entry in the highly competitive SCCA SPEED World Challenge GT field, with the team making its debut at the famed Long Beach Grand Prix, held April 7-9. Coverage of the one-hour GT race will be shown on SPEED TV, Sun., April 16, at 2 p.m. EST.
Easy Street Motorsports (ESX) announces a new entry in the highly competitive SCCA SPEED World Challenge GT field, with the team making its debut at the famed Long Beach Grand Prix, held April 7-9. Coverage of the one-hour GT race will be shown on SPEED TV, Sun., April 16, at 2 p.m. EST.
ESX owner, Ali Afshar said, “We've seen much success with the Subaru Impreza WRX STI winning 10 NHRA Championship ‘Wally's’, and we look forward to taking ESX and Subaru into battle against the world's best in the SPEED GT series."
Managed and engineered by Indycar and Sportscar veteran Marshall Pruett, the ESX team will look to capitalize on its success with the Impreza WRX STI last December,placing 3rd overall in the world's longest endurance race, the 25 Hours of Thunderhill. Lead driver of the 25hr race, and Subaru road racing veteran Gary Sheehan has been chosen to race and develop the ESX STI in 2006.
"Gary was my first choice when Ali and I decided to put this program together--Gary brings the raw speed, technical feedback, experience with the WRX platform, and professional demeanor I need to get the best results possible,” said Pruett. “He's an incredible driver and racer--we're lucky to have him.”
Gary Sheehan was ecstatic to learn he'd been chosen to pilot the ESX STI. "Ali and Easy Street have been phenomenal supporters of my driving, and I'm glad we can put our combined Subaru experience together to race in SPEED World Challenge,” said Sheehan. “I raced and won in an all-wheel drive Subaru Impreza WRX in a different touring car series between 2001-2003, and fell in love with the car. I can't wait for the first practice session at Long Beach to begin."
With Long Beach serving as the home race for ESX, the team looks forward to their first appearance being in front of the 175,000 fans in attendance. "We're fortunate to launch the team at our home race,” said Afshar. “We know the huge potential of the Impreza WRX STI, and we hope that it will develop into a front runner.
The Subaru/SPT/ESX drag racing team is sponsored by Subaru of America, Inc. and Subaru Performance Tuning (SPT). The ESX team will carry special sponsorship at Long Beach including Arceo Wheels, Subaru Ontario, Santa Monica Subaru, Heuberger Subaru, and Impact Engineering.
"25 Hours of Thunderhill"
I'd first like to congratulate everyone that supported our 2005 Signature Series ESX/STi Subaru in the "25 Hours of Thunderhill", in Willows, CA.
The "25 Hours of Thunderhill" is the longest endurance race in the world. With a total of 58 cars competing we were the only Subaru that entered!!!
It was great to stand out of the crowd and let the whole world see what a Subaru can do!
Battling through 25 hours of non-stop competition, our first "Pure Bred" road racing Subaru Sti finished 3rd in it's debut entry!!! In a race where just finishing would feel like winning, placing in the top 3 was fantastic.
The two cars ahead of us were a Porsche in 1st place & a BMW in 2nd.
There were so many people involved in making this a truly historical moment for Subaru that I just can't say enough.
One of our drivers and teammates "Csaba Csere" Editor-in-Chief of "Car and Driver" magazine, has great coverage of the race on their website as well as other great websites listed below.
Grand-Am Cup and USTCC driver Gary Sheehan of Martinez, CA has helped earn Subaru its first-ever podium finish in a North American Endurance race, with a 3rd place overall finish in the #66 ART/ESX/Car & Driver/TC Design/JustRacing.com Subaru STi, at the 25hrs of Thunderhill. Racing in the highest car class (ES), against proven powerhouse GT cars such as Porsche 996 and BMW M3, Sheehan qualified the all-wheel-drive, turbocharged, four-cylinder car 4th on the grid, (with a lap of 1:58.447 on DOT street-legal
Toyo tires). In his first-ever 25-hour endurance race, Sheehan drove the team’s first, middle and final stints, a total of 7 hours, on the way to helping the team secure their unprecedented high overall finish.
The team’s strategy was to run the car’s power and suspension settings very conservatively, to ensure a full 25 hours of reliability, keeping more power in reserve if needed in the closing hours. Despite running most of the race at a modest, less-than-stock 9psi of turbo boost, Sheehan and the team’s exceptional group of drivers were able to post extremely competitive lap times. Early in the race, Sheehan laid down the team’s fastest race lap, a 1:59.8 on lap 3. During his final, marathon four-hour stint, he was turning consistent laps of 2:01, preserving the team’s P3 position while managing tire wear on the single set of tires used over the final stint. It was more than enough to comfortably secure the podium finish, and the team is overjoyed at its fantastic result.
Gary Sheehan comments, “Marshall Pruett put together an incredible team effort here; Jaime from ESX, Tony and Joe from TC Design, our own Joel Gat and the entire crew were absolutely amazing, going without sleep for days, and keeping the car running flawlessly during the entire race. All our drivers did a fantastic job, and we are very happy to have put the Subaru STi on the podium against so many higher-powered GT cars. I want to especially thank Marshall for asking me to be on this team, and Ali Afshar of ESX for the car and support…what a fantastic experience.”
"The STi was incredibly consistent the entire race. During my last stint it felt nearly identical to what I drove at the start of the race. Considering this car was converted to a 25-hour car in just one month, it is a testament to the quality of preparation and products that went into this effort. The PDX-tuned engine never skipped a beat and the Toyo tires performed consistently throughout. The StopTech brakes and Pagid pads were incredible, with consistent pedal feel and fade-free stopping ability the entire 25 hours, all on a single set of rotors! Nothing on the car felt used up at the end of the race. Simply amazing!"
The race, which finished Sunday at noon, featured 58 entries, in a multitude of classes, and boasts a timed length of 25 hours of competitive racing; 1 hour more than LeMans, Daytona, Nurburgring, or Bathhurst. It’s a daunting test against a who’s who of well-known touring car and GT teams and drivers, but a solid, well-organized effort from the entire team kept problems to a minimum. The team’s full line-up of drivers included: Gary Sheehan (Grand-Am Cup, USTCC); Dave McEntee (ALMS); Csaba Csere (Editor-in-Chief, Car and Driver); Dale Sievwright (USTCC); Auston Harris, age 14 (Formula TR); Marco Romani (BMWCCA).
For more in-depth event coverage, please visit www.justracing.com and www.caranddriver.com. Also, look for Csaba Csere’s account of our 25 Hour ordeal in the March issue of Car and Driver Magazine
