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Steve's STi in elite company at CTMP DDT. Mike McGinnis from Innovative Tuning in New York is following him in the powerful Impreza nicknamed 'Voltron'. Mike holds the CSCS Time Attack Unlimited AWD record at TMP with a time of 1:11.386, the overall CSCS track record at Grand Bend Motorplex with a 50.970, and while here at the DDT ran a 1:27.081. Behind Mike is another Can-Jam car driven by Richard Boake. Richard is the CSCS Unlimited AWD CTMP DDT track record holder with a time of 1:26.245. Steve was running in CSCS SuperStreet and has the 1:34.230 SuperStreet AWD class record at the new CTMP DDT.I met Steve almost a decade ago at CTMP (Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, formerly Mosport) and also through the Subaru Performance Drivers’ Association, now known as SPDA-Online. Steve is a key volunteer with SPDA. In fact, he is the Vice-President of this club which has a few hundred members on it’s roster. Changing with the times and membership, it is now known as Sports Performance Drivers’ Association and it has also been my car club for years. Not that I have ever owned a Subaru, as I have not. There simply were not any Canadian Nissan NX clubs and SPDA was and is a club that has always welcomed all drivers, regardless of the make of the car.
Hitting the apex at the newly paved and redesigned DDT at CTMP. This track has been completely revised and, if you haven't been there recently, deserves another visit. When I first visited the 'new' DDT, there was mud everywhere and the cement curbing was not there – it was lumber forms and giant holes! What an impressive upgrade.Steve and I have teamed up and worked together organizing events for Ontario Time Attack. He makes a very valid point when he says that clubs survive on volunteers who share their time. It does not matter what level of motorsport you are involved in as a participant or a spectator, there are multiple volunteers supporting the action. Looking back over the past year, Steve lists off fifty weekends that were involved in motorsport or club activities. Thirty of those weekends were trackside at a time attack, autocross, or rally event. He is truly invested in making grassroots' motorsport work. He invites you to volunteer at with your local club. You may get hooked just as he has been! When I met him, he was in the process of upgrading the turbo and increasing the displacement to 2.7 litres. Pauter Rods and a Borg Warner S300SX 8375 turbo from Full Race provided a ton of power. It is a large turbo that spooled well with the 2.7 litre and is rated for 500 to 600 whp applications. He had upgraded to a HotBits coilover suspension and bigger sway bars. Yet with all of these changes the car still was not meeting his expectations. In fact, it may have required help getting home from the track a couple of times.
Love the new Driver's Centre at the CTMP Driver Development Track. I also love the look of this blue Subaru. Steve gives the marshal a thumbs-up as he prepares to head out onto the track. Wheels and tires are bursting out of the wheel wells and barely contained by the fender flares.Talking about Steve’s car you can sense the passion he has for his STi but also for amateur motorsport. Our discussions went on and on as we chatted about the car, friends we have met at the track, the challenges of building a car that performs how you want it to, and the joy of volunteering and seeing newcomers get inspired by track events. The heart of this story, however, is this 2004 STi which, when it gets right down to it, has had almost every component and body panel modified in the pursuit of performance. And it has worked!
You know that this is a Subaru, and yet it is so different from every other Subaru that you may see at the track. The reason: it is different. There is not a body panel on this car that hasn't been altered. I also want you to realize, this is not a show car. The pics are not staged. This is a car is driven to and from the track.The heart of every car is the engine. Over the years Steve upgraded the stock 2.5 litre engine into a 2.7 litre stroker. Looking for even more from the car and the engine, he hooked up with a race and rally car fabricator and engine builder to assist him in his goal to build an amazing car. That is when he went back to a 2.5 litre engine that was built by Can-Jam Motorsports, a well-known name in North American motorsports. Steve has been working with Can-Jam since 2011.
