Many SOCSA members know Wayne, or “Cat in Hat” on the forum, as that friendly and wise sage that offers advice on all things handling, is at the forefront of every results sheet, and most of all, has no interest whatsoever in drag racing or power figures!  He is also a very busy committee member, and can always be relied upon to set up the most demanding circuits on the skidpan.

Wayne’s modding philosophy revolves around a lack of weight, responsiveness and handing.  This has led to a car with “only” 195WKW, a weight loss (so far) of 75kg (depending on recent McDonald’s visits), and only the best suspension and track-biased mods being included.  Wayne freely gives advice on driving and suspension set-ups, but God forbid you ask him what he thinks of modifying coilovers.  He has also (with the help of Malan Strydom) adapted some imported brake ducts and improved them, undertrays to help smooth airflow under the car, and a complete disregard for washing his car.

Wayne’s hard work has paid off, he has more 1st place trophies than Zuma has wives, and has worked considerably harder too!  For these reasons, we (the Reichstag, I mean committee) have decided that Wayne’s car should be first to be featured on the SOCSA website.  Think of it as a semi-democratic winner of the “Garage” thread on the forum, only we vote more often than in government elections and it leads to more happiness.

Wayne previously traded in his aesthetically-challenged Blobeye STI for a heart-stoppingly gorgeous Hawkeye model (similiar to this author’s car) in January 2006, when it had first come out and nobody knew that ringlands weren’t a myth and that we should all mourn the loss of the 2 litre.  Of course, this car was heavily used on the track (as intended), but this led to two head gasket failures.  Instead of dealing with this disappointment and building the 2.5 engine, he decided to fix the problem once and for all by transplanting the much more reliable 2 litre engine and its cable throttle (the 2.5 has a drive by wire system) into his current chassis.  Unfortunately he could only find a Spec C engine, so that would have to do, although he was mystified as to why local workshops were not willing to tackle the job.  After putting in more work doing this transplant than Chris Barnard did, he unfortunately ruined the motor over a small spark plug issue at Phakisa 2007.

DWR and Wayne teamed up for a stroked motor, and 50 000km later, Wayne is still laughing at those of us chasing power and breaking motors.  A focus on proven, reliable, JDM-type performance has allowed Wayne to spend more money on brakes, handling and safety than on breakages, and this shows in the kart-like handling of his vehicle.  With Wayne’s constant urge to break records (usually just his own record from the previous year), its very difficult to gain permission to ride shotgun while he drives in anger.  But the one ride I had over 2 years ago meant that I truly understood the benefits of what he was trying to achieve, and I would challenge anyone else to think differently!

Third Picture

 

Wayne’s nickname on the forum is an interesting story.  After a small incident at turn 2 at Zwartkops, nobody wanted to mention him by name on the forum.  He was referred to as “the guy always wearing cowboy hats” and thus, Cat in Hat was born.  The incident happened because there was an attractive female in his car at the time, and Wayne confused the aircon button with the brake pedal, and thus fail was achieved.

 
Wayne lists his favourite mod as the mirrors he brought back from a trip to Japan, as well as his fantastic KW coilovers.  In ten years of SOCSA membership Wayne has seen and learnt a lot, and most of all, he has participated in nearly every event possible, although his performance in a show and shine or a sound off would leave much to be desired.  His main enjoyments are hill climbs, the kart track at Zwartkops and of course being the only mature individual on the skidpan, but his favourite activity with his car by far has to be the All Tar Rally.  It’s a 200km two day event encompassing Gerotek and Zwartkops which provides air time as well as great learning opportunities.  Wayne also mentioned that some of his favourite stories came from drag racing without official timing, as well as from official events.

Wayne’s car has a purposeful look that few other cars can emulate, whether it is from the extreme lowness of his car or the rollcage, nobody can tell.  Some say when he puts his gloves on that the laws of physics bend to his will, all we know is, he has the hillclimb record AND the kart track record at Zwartkops!

To end off, Wayne offered some advice:  “The best advice I can give to people embarking on a modifying journey is to have a clear objective as to what they want the car to be like and what they want to do with it. This is not an easy thing to do unless you attend events and expose yourself to different driving disciplines to see what you enjoy most”.  Also, don’t waste money on any unneeded mods.  Wayne recently sold his excellent (and huge) Hyperflow TMIC to a member with a much bigger turbo, as he has now proven that a stock turbo only requires a stock intercooler!

In short, come to events, talk to members, ask to have a ride in the cars that interest you, and take it from there!

The Mods:

Model - 2006 STI
Engine - EJ20 semi-closed block, stroked to 2.13l
Heads - Spec C polished and ported
Cams - OEM spec C
Turbo - VF 37 twinscroll (Stock turbo for JDM cars), JDM equal length headers, JDM up-pipe, custom downpipe, HKS silent high power exhaust.
Injectors - Bosch 750cc , OEM fuel rails, HKS fuel pressure regulator
Other engine bay - Pyro oil catch can , HKS oil cooler, Injen CAI, Mishimoto radiator, custom fuel surge tank.
Intercooler - OEM STI TMIC
Clutch - Exedy Lightweight flywheel and stage 1 clutch.
Engine management - Autronic, HKS EVC6 boost control
Suspension - Whiteline sway bars front and rear, strut braces front and rear, KW Clubsport coilovers, Whiteline roll centre adjustment kit.
Brakes - Braided lines, OEM calipers, Endless RF-650 fluid, Endless N35S pads, DBA Discs, Cusco master cylinder brace.
Power - 190Kw and 400Nm (Kyoto)
Wheels - 17” OZ Ultra - Potenza RE55S Semis 225 X 45 X 17
Weight reduction: Carbon fibre wing, lightweight battery, aircon delete, back seats for events and a bit more.

Bottom Pic (Small)

Article by Craig 57
Uploaded by Chett because I’m useless...

PRODUCTION CARS, KYALAMI – 23rd FEBRUARY 2012 

It was with much excitement and anticipation that we woke early on Saturday the 23rd of February, to a perfect Jo’burg summers day - the sound of Sowetan Eagles, aka Hadedas, not so melodiously cackling from the roof tops. The reason for this early rising you ask? It was the first round of the Bridgestone Production Cars at Kyalami and the debut of the new Sasol Racing Subaru’s (in new WRX STi sedan guise) of course.

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Our dynamic Chairlady managed to arrange 30 free tickets on a first come first serve basis for SOCSA members. Suffice to say they were snapped up from the forum at a rapid rate! And they were kindly delivered on Friday evening for distribution, by none other than Hennie Groenewald himself!

King Chett and Stretch arrived at Kyalami at sparrows, closely followed by Lenny and the rest of the SOCSA bunch. The idea was to proudly erect the SOCSA gazebo atop of the grassy embankment on the outside of turns 3 and 4, leading onto the old pit straight. Fortunately the spot was open and the SOCSA camp was promptly erected.

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As more members arrived, more gazebo’s went up and eventually we had one large conjoined marquee chockablock full of loyal Scooby supporters! To further prove that we don’t do things halfheartedly, Flatbeat Eric rocked up with what must be one of the world’s biggest braai’s, strapped to the back of his bakkie, which he generously shared with all members who wanted to tan a chop or two.

Sun block was applied, camping chairs were unfolded, bums were plonked, drinks were cracked and the morning warm ups and practice sessions commenced, followed by the first couple of races of the day.

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Superpole for the production cars took place next which was new for 2013. The rules and format of the series are forever evolving. The governing body has introduced the Superpole qualifying format to what seems like the top three qualifiers from each Class. Each competitor is allowed one warm-up, one hot and one cool down lap. The only reason I mention this is that Etienne Van Der Linde unfortunately wrote off his beautiful Afrox BMW right before our eyes during his hot lap. Thankfully he walked away from the spectacular incident unscathed, but the car was sadly a mess.

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Now, onto the reason we all attended - Considering the new Scooby’s only first turned a wheel during the week leading up to race-day, the results quite frankly were astonishing, after a few initial teething problems Hennie and Richard qualified 5th and 8th respectively for the 1st race and after some serious head-scratching and data analyzing were confident that they could find some extra pace come race time.

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Race 1 & 2: From a standing start, Hennie surged into 3rd place by the first corner and held station in a tightly- bunched pack until the safety car came out on lap four. At the re-start, Hennie was tempted to see what he could do to get past another rival and as the cars went over the line, the Subaru drew alongside Melvill Priest’s Audi through turn 1 which gave him the inside line for Turn 2 and he was up into 2 nd place. “The standing start was one of my better ones”, said Hennie.

 
“I thought I might catch one or two people napping at the safety car re-start and worked hard to make the most of the opportunity”.

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The Sasol racing Subaru lined up for race 2 in 5th place after a six-car grid inversion, a feature of Bridgestone production Car racing. Another great standing start saw Hennie rocket straight into 2nd place and in spite of coming under intense pressure from Priest amongst others, held on for another helping of 8 championship points. Hennie said: “The Subaru is the best starter with its Symmetrical All- Wheel Drive. Considering how little testing we did, these results feel like a victory. I am encouraged that in spite of one of the hottest race days we have experienced, the car’s temperature stayed exactly where we expected it to be”. Richard Pinard had a quieter first race, settling in to his new ‘office’. “The steering felt heavier than my Cougar, (his historic racer) which made driving in the heat very difficult” He made up two places and chalked up his first points of the season. The grid inversion for race two saw Richard on pole position. “It was a bit intimidating” Richard acknowledged. “I concentrated on doing things right and got a fair start, taking first to second gear at just the right moment. I shifted into third a bit too early and came off the power band”.

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The class A field gobbled up the Subaru in one fell swoop and Richard found himself at the back of the class A field, but recovered two places to claim another 6th place and set his personal best time in the new car.

Race 3: The 12-lap race saw Hennie line up 3rd on the grid and again he gained a position off the grid. Going down the mineshaft, he was passed by rivals on consecutive laps, dropping to 4th place. After another four laps, the cars head gasket failed and Hennie was forced to retire. “It was a disappointing end to the day but overall I’m very happy with the new car”, said the Sasol racing driver. Richard settled into the longer race at a steady pace and picked his way to 5th place which became a 4th place result when one rival was penalized for a jumped start. “I’m really happy with these points”, said Richard. It’s a fantastic start to the season with greater reliability compared to the races last year”. Team Principal Carel Pienaar added: “I’m very happy with the performance of our cars out of the box. There’s a lot of testing to be done to find a few more tenths to put us consistently at the sharp end of the grid”.

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Although the Scooby’s were the main reason for our attendance, the best 4 wheeled racing of the day must’ve been produced by the Volkswagen Polo Cup brigade. The format always provides nail biting, door to door action, with what seems like 30 odd angry bumble bees flying around the circuit. If you ever thought 4 wheel drifting isn’t possible in a front wheel drive car, think again! We were unknowingly sitting next to Kosie Weyers’ friends and family. After a hard fought, final race victory he stopped opposite us, clambered out of his car and passionately saluted them. Another nice touch was Ryan Ottens doing a burnout for us, on his BMW S1000 superbike - this for his number one fan Dane ‘My Dad’s Insane’ Meyer. It was also great to see Hennie and Richard acknowledging us as they drove past at the end of each race.

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All in all it was another great SOCSA day out! It seems like we’re in for a promising season ahead with Hennie, Richard and the Sasol Racing Subaru’s looking nice and competitive. It was also great to see all the other halves, families and friends of SOCSA members joining us for the day too. Here’s looking forward to the next Gauteng round at Zwartkops!

Race 1, 2 & 3 report courtesy of Ashley Lazarus – Subaru South Africa

Article by Mike Switzer

Pictures by Chett Meyer


With SOCSA forming a new and thankfully closer relationship with Subaru South Africa thanks to the efforts of both our "chairchick" and their enthusiastic marketing department, the committee decided to follow the success of Scoobyfest's collaboration with a visit to the Subaru dealer in Bryanston.

Subaru Bryanston welcomed us on Saturday with the promise of test drives in the new and very blue BRZ, as well as in the new shape WRX and STI.  Unfortunately the new Forester was not available, though they promised to try and get one for us to drive during our first Forester Outing in the near future.  Many of our members drive Foresters and the new one will no doubt be of great interest!  The BRZ's we drove earlier on in the year at our special launch event were not of the same spec as the top-level BRZ that Subaru SA is importing now; sports exhaust, spoiler, alcantara trim and 17 inch wheels provide quite the tasty package!
            
The new WRX and STI were also constantly out on test drives, with many members commenting on the much improved interior specs and the need, as always, for a louder exhaust. 

 
With a brand new service department the Service Manager Gary was very eager to show us the 15 work bays that their new facility boasted, as well as the dust free engine assembly room that was planned along with the promise of a future alignment system to be installed.  If members were not enticed enough, the parts department was fully stocked with all manner of things, from oil filters for DIY maintenance to fenders to correct the damage from the mentally challenged trolley operators that seem to infest shopping malls nowadays.
             
Outside the dealer our esteemed Committee Cooks Lenny and Mike were making and selling boerewors while their significantly better looking others were selling tshirts and handing out club stickers.  All monies raised went to charity, and the food and drinks were well supported!  The dealer principal, John, thanked us for visiting and told our members that they would like to become more involved in the club, and hopefully we will be able to move forward with this!

Article by Craig
Photos by Blackberry and not usable...

SOCSA started off the events calendar in 2013 as we always do, with a well attended and enthusiastic breakfast run to Magaliesberg and back! This particular run boasted over 26 cars on the run, mostly Scoobs, with some fantastic exceptions such as an Evo that was not for sale for R700 000, and a beautiful black GTR.

With so many cars, there was bound to be some waiting at the meeting venue, as a 0530 start up seems a bit too early for some on a Sunday, or perhaps they are simply too kind to wake up the neighbours with the sweet rumble of a rally car. Nobody minded waiting at the BP however, as coffee was in plentiful supply as were chirps and arguments about cars and everything else.

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 When the large convoy eventually got going, with dumpvalves whisting, external waste gates screaming and a few passengers snoring, progress was (legally) rapid to the breakfast venue. On the way there was the usual behavior, two Subaru’s launched to the smell of burnt clutches and the dim realisation that second gear was not appropriate for a fast pull off.

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 All of this showing off was necessitated by the presence of 25 supercars, also on a breakfast run, parked on the side of the road waiting for their bank accounts to cool down.

 
They way back to breakfast at Chef and Fat Man was a relaxed drive, as there was no road rage experienced from dawdling Fortuner’s or other people that were upset that they were not driving a Scooby on a Sunday morning! The only thing that caused an upset on Sunday morning was the lack of table space at Chef and Fat Man, due to the notorious ability of SOCSA members to ignore the RSVP function on the forum. Anyway, the large amount of people is always a fantastic surprise and one of the best things about the run was the amount of new members that had come along to introduce themselves to the club, hopefully the more “experienced” members did not act as a warning of what Subaru addiction can do to you and scare off these new recruits!

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 The next breakfast run will be on 24 March, don’t miss it!

Article by Craig57

Photo's by Lenny


SOCSA held its fourth annual year end Scoobyfest function on Saturday 1 December 2012.  It  is still a truly remarkable sight to see the whole of Zwartkops taken over by Japanese rally refugees and their enthusiastic owners.  Ending the year with an event of such magnitude successfully reminds everyone of why they bought their Scoobs, the wide breadth of these cars' abilities, including the  All Wheel Drive, means a racetrack can be enjoyed equally as much as a soaking wet skidpan!

Parking Area

The full day of festivities started at 7am with a gymkhana on the skid pan, and ended at 5pm with some time on the main track where the cars could truly stretch their boxer engines.  In between, there were timed hill climb runs throughout the day, and a crowd favourite, elimination drag races on the pit straight of the main track during the lunch break.  

There were display stands from various venders for members to peruse, and on show was a genuine rally car from Scoobyworx, as well as a BRZ to drool over!  We also had the pleasure of  Hennie Groenewald's company, who no doubt enjoyed the time off from racing.  Luckily for us he was not driving his Sasol Subaru, so others had a chance to win some trophies!  

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A popular raffle, generously sponsored by Phoenix Performance, was held.  They provided a complimentary tune to the value of R7000 to the winner of the raffle, with the proceeds going to the S.A. Guide Dogs Association.

The entrance was FREE for SOCSA members, and the small entry fee charged to non members included the air show in the morning over the skid pan, which no doubt was blamed for a few wrong route penalties!  

Max My Ride covered the event with a fantastic article and photo collection in their end of year issue.  The event is so popular we were even able to attract members from KZN, who said the trip was more than worth the effort!

Subaru South Africa was in an especially festive mood as they celebrated 20 years of Subaru in South Africa, and aside from their usual generous aid in funding Scoobyfest, they gave invaluable assistance in the marketing process  and invited many new customers to come along and see what the club was about.   Subaru South Africa also sponsored a competition wherein the winner went for a hot lap with Hennie around the racetrack, which allowed owners and spectators alike to see what the car is eminently capable of in the right hands.  A Subaru Forester was kindly brought along to demonstrate that the WRX and STI models were not the only horses in the stable, as there are less extreme models available!

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The events themselves were highly enjoyable, with a masterclass demonstration in car control on the skidpan by some, and then less successful cone mangling spins from others.  Either way, the spectators enjoyed the sights and sounds along with the commentary/excuses/threats/bets being exchanged between the drivers.  Almost every single driver entrant was keen to spend maximum time on the skid pan.   As the lack of grip meant there was no excessive tyre or brake wear, they took their daily drivers out for pure sliding thrills without the worry about the costs on Monday!

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Two cars that attracted a lot of attention at the skid pan were those brought by Jan Steyn of Auto Sound Engineering fame.  One was a 2012 STI with a requisite massively overpowered sound system and eye catching body kit.  The other, a brand new Toyota GT86 (the poor relative of the Subaru BRZ) also wore a singularly distinctive body kit that revelled in the attention of many members who thought that these exciting driver’s cars would be an excellent addition to their driveways.

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The ASE sponsored Hillclimb provided extraordinary spectator value as several drivers ran out of  talent and had to rely on the built-in rally talents of their cars as they took corners too wide on the course and kicked up “some” dirt as they tried to beat their personal fastest time.  Thankfully nobody’s car was damaged, and the impromptu off roading made for some fantastic photos for the contestants to hang in the home bar.

Hillclimb

The event drawing the biggest crowd was obviously the drag racing, nothing is as entertaining or as enjoyable for people to watch than the age old competition of “mine is faster than yours”.   
To prevent allegations of favouritism (drag racing is serious stuff), every car was randomly drawn to race against another car and the loser eliminated from each pair.  This ensured that the final pairing would be either two uncommonly lucky or particularly powerful cars!

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It was the latter -  two 300wkw-plus cars rolled up to the starting grid, one white GT from Trinity Subaru Club, and one white Hawkeye STI from SOCSA.  Were it not for our ambassador's missed shift into second (and the ensuing jokes), SOCSA would have won a drag race it had organised for a change (last year it was won by a Skyline!)

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After still more hillclimbing and more tracking, it was time for the prize giving!  More prizes were handed out than on previous years, as Edenglen Tyres had sponsored complimentary wheel alignment and balancing vouchers, while Liqui-Moly provided quality oil for giveaways.  Scoobster of the year was deservedly handed out to Grant Hay who, when not “borrowing” his dad’s STI at Phakisa, is by far and away one of the most essential factors in a successful event, due to his tireless work and dedication to the Club of which he is an unofficial member!  Another person to thank is Julian “Santa” Gandt of Pyro Performance who also sponsored to cover the costs of the skidpan.

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All in all, another great event for SOCSA members to take pride in, and here's to a whopping Scooby-filled 2013 year of events!

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Upcoming Events

     
Dyno Day Dastek
25 May 2013

SOCSA GP Breakfast Run
02 Jun 2013

Gauteng Motorshow
02 Jun 2013