PVS x Racefix take on SubiNats!

First off I should probably explain what Subinats is and what class we ran in. Subinats is a Supersprint/time attack event mainly catered for WRX’s and STi’s. More recently the invitation has been extended to 86/BRZ’s aswell. It’s an event run over a single, 14 hour day on 3 layouts at SMSP.

Tyler and I were competing in street class which meant we were back on 98 fuel - on almost identical 138kW tunes and 235 rubber. Tyler on the RE71RS and myself on the AO52.

My Subinats prep didn’t quite go to plan. It started with a tracknight on the Brabham circuit on Thursday night on the Zestino 07R to get my eye in after not driving at SMSP for months.

Unfortunately at the start of the second session I popped a CV joint so I parked the 86 up, picked up a spare axle from my mate Trev and went back down to SMSP on Friday to fix the car.

South Circuit.

Saturday rolls around and it’s a great day for ducks! Team PVS started out on the south circuit which is probably my preferred circuit to drive in the wet. Tyler was lucky enough to sneak a session in where the road over the back was starting to dry up. Unfortunately for me there was a 45 second downpour between our sessions.

We finished up P1 and P3 on the south I was pipped in the last session by 2-hundredths by Greg Denton in his GC8 WRX.

In typical GoPro fashion the last session didn’t record. I’m not actually sure what the lap time is here but it looks to be the quickest in session 2.

North Circuit.

After lunch we headed over to the North circuit which to our delight was about 80% dry. It’s a layout i’ve only ever driven at about 5 tenths almost 5 years ago in a Fastrack V8 so the flip flop was abit disorientating at first. Thankfully other than that it’s essentially 2 drag strips with some corners at both ends.

The extra seat time through T1 really helped get my confidence up. Minimum GPS speed through there is bang on 170kmh which feels… incredible. The end of the north circuit session saw my slip back up into P2 whilst Tyler extended his lead in P1.

Ignore my little celebration - there’s no describing the feeling of nailing T1

GP Circuit.

Last but not least was the main event, GP under lights. By this time the track was totally dry except for some residual water across the road heading into T16 and T17. I struggled with some rear drive out of the lower speed stuff so I didn’t get the 1:49.x I was aiming for but was over the moon with a new PB for 1:51.1 particularly on 98. Tyler smashed it out of park as per usual with a 1:48.9… insane for a full weight car with an exhaust, shocks, tyres and a 98 tune.

Tyler further extended his lead in class and I added a bigger buffer to ensure a 1-2 for the team!

A little sloppy and really struggled with drive on the low speed stuff but a 1:51.2 nonetheless

The results?

I didn’t quite get the 1:49.x I was aiming for at the GP circuit but some tidying up in some of my corners it is absolutely possible. Chuck some E85 back in it and we’re cheering. A 1:48 in an NA 86 driven by a punter like me would be unreal.

However more importantly we kicked the goal of a 1-2 finish for team PVS x Racefix and my first ever trophy/podium for a motorsport event!

My first motorsport trophy. Pretty proud of this one!

How did our 86’s hold up?

I bashed out 11 sessions and just under 400 race paced kilometres and the only fault with the car was a slight exhaust leak that developed at the front pipe on the drive home last night. Both cars ran faultlessly otherwise all day. A credit to the PVS tune and the 86/BRZ platform.

I was amazed how well the AO52’s held up. I could lean on them for full 15 minute sessions and they wouldn't fall off. The surprising wet grip also made the car a pleasure to drive in the rain which isn't something I would ever say prior to yesterday.

The new brake setup stood up to the punishment all day and night and the pedal feel inspires so much confidence getting on the anchors late at 190kmh into T2. It’s times like these that spending the money on the BBK is really worthwhile but i’ll do a full write up on that setup and my thoughts soon.

AP Racing Pro5000R brake kit