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It takes talent, skill and perseverance to be a champion. It takes the single-minded drive to keep your foot to the floor when everyone else pulls back. It also takes that uncanny sixth sense to find the absolute limit to pull away from the rest of the field when rubber meets the road.
Phil Grabow has that vision, that talent. And for two Subiefest time attacks in a row, he has shown his mettle: The ability to find the fast way around the track in the face of rough pavement and standing water.
At Subiefest1, Phil bested the field of very fast Subarus by over four seconds. Then, at Subiefest2, the pool of talent got deeper, and he still blew them all out of the water, again showing the Subaru world what solid tuning and solid driving can do. This time, he beat the next fastest car by almost two seconds, a lifetime in the world of time attack.
Of course there was the usual hemming and hawing by the peanut gallery. There were those who made their excuses, saying that Phil got the dry line; that his competitors had to deal with a wet track. Whatever the naysayers claim, the truth is this: The track was dry enough for other teams to switch to dry rubber, and Phil beat them all on rain rubber, by almost two seconds. You can all shut up now, you have been served.
Subiesport has been after Phil and his very quick gray 2006 STI for some time now. The first time we caught up with him was at GT Live at Virginia International Raceway in 2006, where we saw him crash into a wall at almost 100 mph. His crew threw down and put the car back together so that Phil could rejoin the hunt, and he wasn’t slow either.
After the VIR adventure, the car and Phil made their way to Pacific Raceways in Kent, Wash., for the first ever Subiefest. This track is notoriously rough and hazardous. With tight bends and ill-maintained pavement, traction can be an issue, as Phil found out on his recce laps where he put more than one wheel off.
But if you are going to win, you must push, and so he did. By the time the first session was over, he was well in the lead. Said Phil, “Subiefest1 was very exciting and lots of fun. Pacific Raceways is like racing through a tight mountain road lined with trees. It’s scary and fun all at the same time. Going into the event I hadn’t driven the car with the various new suspension pieces or the GT65 turbo kit. Going into the first turn on the first lap I was greeted with massive oversteer, which I was not expecting. I took out a few orange cones but kept going. On the third lap I was getting used to the car and started powering out of turns when I looped and went off the track, damaging the front bumper. Given I had never driven this track with a car that felt totally foreign to me, I decided to take it really easy in the first timed session so I could learn the track and get used to the car. When I found out this time was four seconds faster than anyone else and I wasn’t pushing it, I was really surprised but very happy.”
While Phil was clearly the one to beat, the event was unfinished. Conveniently, Subiefest1 marked the end of the Time Attack season for 2006, and Subiefest2 marked the beginning of the 2007 season.
During the winter of 2006-07, Phil’s steed would stable at World One Performance. While there, the car got a good going over. Since the car had seen a little off-track action, the exterior was redone by JMI in Arlington, Wash., to freshen up the battle-worn exterior.
The car was ready for Subiefest2, again sporting the Element green livery along with some carbon fiber flair on the hood and doors from Seibon and a new Zero/Sports body kit. This time, there would be no closing the track, and despite the rain, the cars were ready for action and hell-bent for leather.
“Going into the event I hadn’t driven the car in many months since it was at World One Performance,” said Phil. “But based on what we learned at Subiefest1, we just made some suspension changes, worked on getting more downforce, and lightened up the car with some Seibon carbon fiber doors. With the success of Subiefest1, the big guns showed up for Subiefest2 and I was nervous with excitement. I just felt like the competition had really stepped up and there were many professional drivers racing for other teams. This was a little intimidating, but it kept me very aware that I really needed to focus on the task at hand. When you are competing against cars that have up to 100 more hp than you, 30 mm wider tires, and slicks when you are on treaded tires, it’s really hard not to start second-guessing your strategy. I knew we had a fast car, I just had to have faith that our plan was going to work.”
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