Gary Sheehan Teams with ESX to run Speed GT!
 

U saw this blurb on Nasioc, what exciting news!


ESX Motorsports debuts Subaru Impreza WRX STI at the Long Beach SPEED GT event Easy Street Motorsports enters SCCA SPEED World Challenge GT Championship with the versatile Subaru Impreza WRX STI driven by touring car ace Gary Sheehan VALENCIA, CA (Mar 09, 2006)

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.

Further details on the team can be found at www.esxmotorsports.com

Secret Project revealed... Congratulations Gary.

Congrats, man :)

Give 'em hell!

Sweet. Congrats man.

Friggin' sweet!

Goddammit!!!! You beat me to it!!!!

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
www.teamSMR.com

Bad ass, can't wait to watch that.

Wait a second, I just read that again.

You're running in GT not TC? Does that mean you guys have some monster HP under the hood?

Same class they ran the car in at the 25 hour race and came in 3rd.

Sounds like a great team-up to me! Go Gary!

Yep, we'll need big power. We'll be up against the Cadillacs, Vipers, Vettes, Porsches, etc.

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
www.teamSMR.com

Congratulations Gary. We'll be watching!

Best of luck dude! Livin' the dream! A career in racing is the one thing I've always wanted! Do us proud bro!

Awesome news Gary! Welcome to the team:

http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...ont%20Left.jpg

:lol: Okay, not quite...

Speaking of the "big power" needed for Speed GT... I always thought the WRX would be an awesome TC car, but never thought the step up to the STi was quite enough to hang w/ the GT cars. I'm stoked you guys are gonna give it a shot, but I hope you found a way to get about at least 600 reliable hp out of that car, 'cause if you're going to be racing at about a 2700 lb weight, you're gonna need it! :eek:

Congrats again Gary, this is terrific news! We've got our own race when you guys are at Sears Point, but I'm writing in the Seca event on my schedule immediately! Good luck!

Sorry Man, I couldn't help it. The news is too exciting to keep a lid on. I can't wait to see you guys out there kicking ass. You know we're all going to get together to watch the races and cheer on the ESX team. :cool:

Sounds Exciting. Sombody record this fo shizzle.

Speed GT is sick, it will be awesome to see a Subie finally.

Congrats Gary!! This is exciting news indeed. Good luck!

It seems weird to see Cadillacs listed with Vipers, Vettes and Porsches.

The CTS-V is basically a Corvette under a Cadillac body.

http://www.terra.com/addon/img/autos...car-frontp.jpg

^^^ I'd cut parts of me off with a rusty knife for that car...

I, too, would cut parts off of Cory with a rusty knife for a CTS-V!

Dude, Kevin, he said he'd cut parts of himself, not off himself. That's just crossing the line. :P

I disconcur with your analysis

Shinanigans!

:lol:

Okay, fine I was wrong. I still like saying shenanigans though.

But my name is Cody, not to be confused with Cory. You can call me White Cody if it helps. :lol:

I did not know that. OMG that is a sexy beast.

Consider that our STi will be wearing a widebody kit to fit over the 275/35 tires and 18"x10" wheels. I'm hoping that "sexy beast" will apply to our STi as well :)

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
www.teamSMR.com

TTIWWOP! :D

I haven't even seen pictures yet, but widebody + STi + 275/35 on 18"x10" == sexy beast no matter what.

I wonder if that means I'm gonna fail in my attempt to put 255/40/17's on my 17x8" wheels under a non-wide body set of fenders. :(

On your pre '05 suspension, Yes.

Sweet ass!!! You bet it will:D Even more exciting because it is a Subaru! I can't wait to see the car with the wide body, course I'll have to excuse myself once I do ;)

What's the '05 suspension have to do w/ it? I've got camber adjustable top mounts, coilovers, and camber bolts, so I've already got tons more room than the '05 suspension provides. Plus, I've got rolled fenders, something you *can't* do on an '05 in the rear.

I was under the impression that the new geometry allowed for more strut to fender clearance and inner fender wall/liner clearance, stock or coilover. I could be wrong though. Thus Alon's 275s was it on his '05. Feel free to split this discussion into another thread.

You mean more backspacing Dean?

If you mean wheel offset, no. I was under the impression that the hub/spindle, lower arm, and even attachment points had changed in '05.

Wow, 18x10 and 275s is amazing. So you must mean wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide body STi. Mmmm, that's gonna be so hot.

TPWBWWTBKIPBP!!!















(Those Pictures Will Be Worthless Withouth The Body Kit Installed. Please Be Patient)

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
www.teamSMR.com

I dunno how stupid of a question this is but are you guys using the Sti that you raced in the 24 hour race? Or do you have another one? I dunno how these things work. Seems to me if you are in Speed GT then starting from scratch with another car would be the best choice, but I'm not a racer (wish I was).

Backspacing does not mean offset. It's 1/2 width plus offset- the distance from the mounting surface back towards the strut that the wheel goes. I was under the impression that the new suspension had more backspacing, meaning a given width wheel could be run with a higher numerical offset, giving more fender clearance.

Patience=a virutue. Cody!=virtuous.

OK, here are some pics of a car with the APR Performance body kit that is going on our car...

http://www.teamsmr.com/images/SSGT_IMG_5916.jpg

http://www.teamsmr.com/images/SSGT_IMG_5929.jpg

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
www.teamSMR.com

So new car? That's hot (Paris Hilton voice)

Really? What is it about the 25 Hour car that you think would be bad for World Challenge GT?

There was nothing done to the 25 Hour car that would make a fresh car a better choice. The cage that was in the 25 hour car is amazing, it already has the a ton of work in it that is completely appropriate for WCGT (fuel cell, suspension, seat, plexi windows, etc.)

The car is getting an entirely new body, aero, wheels and tires as well as other safety mods. Starting with a fresh chassis would just give us lots of additional work without any advantages. The 25 Hour car was built with World Challenge GT in mind ;)

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
www.teamSMR.com

Holy Hot! I was thinking it would be a new STI. Glad to see you guys will be using a Peanut Eye.

See I told you I didn't know what I was talking about.

Right. I just wanted to ruthlessly drive the point home :)

Now, starting next week, when the car is out of our hands and back in Socal, I'll focus on kicking your ass in GT4 :p


BTW...anyone know a good driving sim with Long Beach in the tracks?


Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
www.teamSMR.com

Long Beach was in the original Papyrus Indycar and Indycar II... but that game is so old it's from before the Champ/IRL split. :lol: But that's the last time I remember driving LB in a game.

http://www.technofile.com/images/indycar2-2.jpg

I don't think there's a game out there right now w/ LB, however, there are mods that add it to other games. Grand Prix 3 has a champcar mod that includes that track, and I think you can drive it w/ the Celicas from the Celebrity race.

There's a mod to EA's F1 Challenge game that add champ cars and tracks, including LB: http://idt.rscsites.org/ Hopefully those same guys will add that track to rFactor soon (the hands-down best driving simulator on the PC, IMO).

Does Forza have it by any chance? I played Forza for about 10 minutes before going back to GT4.