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Driftwarzz!
Driftwarzz is December 8th at Homestead Motor Speedway!
Driftwarzz is coming to Homestead Speedway 12/8!
DriftWarzz is coming to Homestead Speedway for single and tandem drifting on the infield course on 12/8/18! We will be releasing more details and opening registration soon for this event!
Street Racing Illustrated | SRMS: Cars, Coffee, and Racing 10.14.18
Story | Phillip Pratt
Photos | Gerry Burke and Phillip Pratt
Street Racing Made Safe’s 2nd Autocross event at AMR Motorplex in Homestead, Miami is exposing drivers to a whole new world of obsession.
Street Racing Made Safe’s (SRMS) second Autocross event hosted at the AMR Motorplex in Homestead, Miami, Florida, right outside the legendary Homestead Speedway, was a something of a culture shift. South Florida has always been a great place for auto enthusiasts. Probably why a private company is investing millions of dollars into a high-end driver’s club next to Opalocka airport. Year round sun, no snow, and very friendly emissions laws allow us to enjoy our machines day in and out. But for the most part, it’s always been about drag racing. Can’t blame anyone, it’s probably the easiest event to host.
Autocross has always been a niche kind of thing. Turnouts at parking lot hosted events generally have good turnouts. However, they are so few and far between, growing the event in terms of exposure was going to tough. When SRMS first teamed up with AMR and sold out all their tickets, I was impressed. It was new, and people trusted the SRMS name. It rained (or poured) that day, so it was hard to get a good read on what people really thought.
When they did it a second time under blue skies, I really took notice. Roughly 1/3 of their attendees were brand new. These weren’t the same hooligans from a month ago. All of a sudden the staging grounds turned into a hundred mini-pits with drivers jacking up their cars, rotating tires, comparing times, set-ups and exchanging tips. Tent’s and canopies were all over the place as families were settling in to spend the day. Autocross in Homestead isn’t fade, nor is it fly by night event. It’s growing and maturing into its own animal. There is officially more to Miami than just drag racing.
Street Racing Illustrated | Mattia Conte’s 2005 Subaru STI
Bred for speed
Story | Phillip Pratt
Photos | Gerry Burke & Phillip Pratt
Street Racing Illustrated | Mattia Conte’s 2005 Subaru STI
A large percentage of our genetic makeup comes from our grandparents. They say on average about twenty-five percent from each. Height, moles, complexion, eye and hair color can skip an entire generation and land smack-dab on an unsuspecting grandchild. Sometimes you get dealt a crown of raven-colored hair in a family of sandy-blondes. Maybe end up being a 6’5” giant with two 5-foot-something parents. Other times it’s not physical at all, and you get something completely different. Like a love of cars and racing. That is exactly what 19-year old, third-generation, automobile enthusiast, Mattia Conte, was gifted with. Something his 2005 Subaru STI exemplifies from the front bumper to the rear.
Street Racing Illustrated | Mattia Conte’s 2005 Subaru STI
A resident of Miami Beach, Florida, Mattia, grew up surrounded by great role models. Other than having a mother that’s into cars herself, Mattia’s grandfather, Massimo, (a former Formula 1 driver, Rallycross vet and owner of a 2.5L STI swapped 98’ GC) kept the future Blob-eye driver steeped in the horsepower lifestyle. “I grew up watching him race…” Mattia remembers. “I rode in almost all of his cars, but the [Subaru] was my favorite, so eventually, I wanted to have one for myself.” After saving up, Mattia successfully sourced his dream-ride from a Craigslist ad. Over the next couple of years, he meticulously gathered a who’s who-list of trusted Subaru aftermarket part manufacturers. This resulted in a Blob-eye STI that was as far away from stock as it could be.
Street Racing Illustrated | Mattia Conte’s 2005 Subaru STI
The first thing you’ll notice about the STI is the color. Wrapped in battleship-gray it manages to both stand out among a row of cars and blend into the gray-asphalt below it. The color can be kind of low-key, so to break up any possible monotony, Mattia, installed AeroFlow V2 canards, a V-Limited front lip, C-Speed side-skirts, an Invictus Aero rear diffuser, Perrin wing-stabilizers and topped it all off with a 2007 WRX STI roof spoiler. The sheer amount of added aerodynamics might turn some tuners off but fret not. This isn’t an ‘all-show’-type of an Impreza.
Street Racing Illustrated | Mattia Conte’s 2005 Subaru STI
After suffering some unfortunate (but Subaru-typical) engine failure back in February, Matter decided to turn it up a few notches. With help from well-renowned tuners/builders, the WRXperts, he replaced his stock engine with an IAG Stage-3 closed-deck block, built out with Manley pistons and Toda rods. It was then matted to 2007 STI V25B heads. Assisting with the rise and fall of the Ferret valves, are springs and a set of Kelford Stage-2 272 camshafts.
Street Racing Illustrated | Mattia Conte’s 2005 Subaru STI
If you can get past all that sweet-sweet music, you’ll pick up on the whistle of the legendarily-consistent Blouch 3.0XT-R Dominator turbo. Making all that charged air more palatable for combustion, while not sacrificing response time, is a Grimmspeed top-mount intercooler. None of these fine pieces’ matter if the engine management isn’t on point. Luckily, that’s not an issue. Highly recommended tuner, Mike Botti, of Fat Botti Tuning, massaged Mattia’s built EJ25 to safely belt out more than 400 notes of horsepower utilizing the tried and true Cobb Accessport.
Street Racing Illustrated | Mattia Conte’s 2005 Subaru STI
Attaching all this fine all-wheel-drive power to the ground are a set of 17×8 Enkei RPF1 racing wheels, wrapped in Bridgestone Potenza RE070 225/45 rubber. Raceland Ultimo coilovers help the Subaru flow over the pavement, while the factory provided Brembo calipers are lovingly stuffed with Hawk pads and are paired with a set of DBA drilled rotors, all the way around. The real beneficiary of Mattia’s excellent lineage is obviously his impressive Blob-eye. The end results of his build are definitely not reflective of his age. Sadly, these days many kids these days in the same position would be satisfied with an atmospheric blow-off valve, spiked lug nuts, and an obnoxious wrap-job. While Mattia admits to drawing inspiration from social media- it’s refreshing to see a tuner of this new-generation go down the right path.
Street Racing Illustrated | Mattia Conte’s 2005 Subaru STI
The Breaking Down| 2005 Subaru Impreza WRX STI
Engine| IAG STAGE-3 CLOSED DECK EJ25 BLOCKS, 07’ V25B STI HEADS, KELFORD STAGE-2 272 CAMSHAFTS, FERRET: VALVES, SPRINGS & RETAINERS, DEATSCHWERKS 850cc FUEL INJECTORS, BLOUCH 3.0XT-R DOMINATOR TURBO, GRIMMSPEED TMIC, MISHIMOTO RADIATOR, GFB BLOW VALVE, COBB AIR-INTAKE, INVIDIA: N1 RACING EXHAUST & CATLESS DOWNPIPE
Engine Management| COBB ACCESSPORT; TURNED BY MIKE BOTTI OF FAT BOTTI TUNING
Transmission& Drivetrain| ACT STAGE-3 HEAVY DUTY CLUTCH, KARTBOY SHORT SHIFTER
Suspension& Chassis Mods| RACELAND ULTIMO COILOVERS
Braking| HAWK HPS PADS, DBA DRILLED ROTORS
Wheels| ENKEI RPF1 17X8 w/ 45MM OFFSET, 15MM SPACERS
Tires| BRIDGESTONE POTENZA RE070 225/45
Body Mods| BATTLESHIP-GRAY WRAP, AEROFLOW V2 CANARDS, V-LIMITED FRONT LIP, C-SPEED SIDE-SKIRTS, INVICTUS V2 REAR DIFFUSER, PERRIN WING STABILIZERS, 07’ STI ROOF SPOILER
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- Street Racing Illustrated | Mattia Conte’s 2005 Subaru STI
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- Street Racing Illustrated | Mattia Conte’s 2005 Subaru STI
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- Street Racing Illustrated | Mattia Conte’s 2005 Subaru STI
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- Street Racing Illustrated | Mattia Conte’s 2005 Subaru STI
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- Street Racing Illustrated | Mattia Conte’s 2005 Subaru STI
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- Street Racing Illustrated | Mattia Conte’s 2005 Subaru STI
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- Street Racing Illustrated | Mattia Conte’s 2005 Subaru STI
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- Street Racing Illustrated | Mattia Conte’s 2005 Subaru STI
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- Street Racing Illustrated | Mattia Conte’s 2005 Subaru STI
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- Street Racing Illustrated | Mattia Conte’s 2005 Subaru STI
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- Street Racing Illustrated | Mattia Conte’s 2005 Subaru STI
Street Racing Made Safe Top Ten List Season 3 Round 2 at PBIR
Street Racing Made Safe Top Ten List Season 3 Round 2 at PBIR
Street Racing Illustrated | Clean Culture Ballpark Banger 2018
Clean Culture Ballpark Banger 2018 x Street Racing Illustrated
Story | Phillip Pratt
Photos | Kevin Zambrano
Clean Culture is no stranger to South Florida. They host two, sometimes three, shows down here every year. Even with their strong year-round presence and hordes of fans and crew members spamming the roads- it doesn’t change the hype, excitement or the buzz in the air leading up to a show… and most of the time, that’s just the night before! If nothing else, the Clean Culture crew has mastered the art of finding interesting locales to host their signature events. One of the most unique among them is dubbed the Ballpark Banger in West Palm Beach, Florida. With cars strategically staged around the FITTEAM Ballpark baseball diamond, the guys at Clean Culture do what they do best- set a bomb atmosphere that is both chill and excitement. Enjoy the photos from our coverage below- peace.
Street Racing Illustrated | Motegi Racing x Street Racing Made Safe
Motegi Racing and Street Racing Made Safe collab to make the Project Focus ST great again
Story | Phillip Pratt
Scion tC on Motegi Racing MR400s | Photo courtesy of Motegi Racing
Famed wheel manufacturer, Motegi Racing, and South Florida based automotive enthusiast event/race organizer, Street Racing Made Safe, have joined forces. Motegi Racing will be providing a slick set of 18×10 (+10 offset) MR400 2-Piece, wheels for the SRMS Project Ford Focus ST. Unlike its flow-formed, cast-aluminum cousin, the MR133, the MR400s have forged centers and barrels. Motegi Racing, a Wheel Pros owned company, was established in 00’. Their wheels have graced the hubs of production cars to show-stopping trailer queens and rubber melting track stars alike. The SRMS Project ST is poised to turn some heads with Motegi Racing’s lite-weight, dynamically designed rolling stocks. See them in action on September 9th, 2018 at the AMR Motorplex in Homestead, Florida for Cars, Coffee, and Racing.
Motegi Racing MR400 | Photo courtesy of Motegi Racing
Street Racing Illustrated | Unusual Suspect – Joshua Rodriguez’s Track-Bred CTS-V
Joshua Rodriguez’s ferocious 2009 Cadillac CTS-V
Story | Phillip Pratt
Photos | Gerry Burke & Phillip Pratt
The name Cadillac denotes visions of old-school American luxury. It’s the car that an entire generation of working-class Americans strove to afford. The prize that’s bought at the end of a long career, or after a big raise. It’s the trophy that’s loving parked in a garage and washed every weekend, whether it’s dirty or not, outside of a two-story house surrounded by a white picket fence. I’m envisioning a shady street or a cul-de-sac of some sort (stay with me). The last thing anyone expects to hear when a Cadi is fired up is a ruckus so violent, and sonically disruptive it drowns out just about anything and anyone within a 100-feet. While Joshua Rodriguez, the owner of a 09’ CTS-V admits that he originally bought his Cadi as a fun daily, if you’ve been around his car while it’s running, it’s no secret that he’s gone far beyond that intent.
It’s easy to forget that Cadillac, an automobile-line for the middle and upper class, is made by GM. The same company that produces Chevrolet, and in turn, one of the fastest production cars in America, the Corvette. I bring this up because the CTS-V shares something in common with it. The engine. Inside the bay of this luxury sports sedan lies the 6.2L, 556 HP, heart of an American supercar. The supercharged LSA V8 (a detuned version of the Corvette’s LS9) inside of Joshua’s CTS-V is similar to the one that powered the C6 ZR1, but with a few parts implemented to tame the beast; such as hypereutectic pistons versus the forged pieces found in the LS9. While the CTS-V is about 849lbs heavier than its Chevy cousin, coming in at around 4222lbs from the factory, the power provided by the LSA is more than enough to keep it faster than most other factory-tuned vehicles… but friends, Josh’s Cady ain’t stock.
The initial intention for Josh’s CTS-V was to keep it in its original state. I mean, who wouldn’t be happy with a 500+ HP car to drive back and forth to work? Josh… that’s who. “I was looking for a nice, powerful, daily driver…” Josh explained. “I had an Injen air-intake on the car within a week of bringing it home.” From the aforementioned noise, his LSA makes, Josh obviously didn’t stop there. Over the span of 3-years Josh dove headfirst into making his Cadi a firebreather. Not satisfied with engine’s stock levels of boost, he upgraded his factory supplied 1.9L blower to a ported Joker Performance Stage 5 unit. Allowing the greater volume of air to enter is a TPIS 102mm throttle body mated to a 5-inch charge pipe.
Holding the lion’s share of work on the powerplant are the ported cylinder heads, with all it’s valvetrain pieces sourced from Brian Tooley Racing, along with a Stage 3 PDS Camshaft (the culprit responsible for its rowdy idle). A 2.38 upper pulley and a 9.1 lower pulley on an ATI Super Damper help complete the set-up while Injector Dynamics 850cc fuel injectors and a JMS pump booster ensure the LS is supplied with ample amounts of E85. At the time of the writing this piece, Josh hasn’t made too many passes with this set-up, but prior to upgrading the supercharger and related pieces, the CTS-V did a 10.24-second pass at 135 MPH on around 715 WHP. On the current set-up, we’d assume the car is quite faster and will probably break 9-seconds on the next trip to the track.
With the firepower available to him Josh was able to rise to as high #4 on the SRMS Top 10 List, which is no simple task with the amounts of fast cars that come out for the monthly event. However, the success didn’t come without its pitfalls. At an event, last fall, Josh’s tranny broke “I only had a few weeks to source a built transmission and carbon driveshaft…” Josh recalls. “I also had to get the car to Fastproms in Tampa to have it tuned. Finished 2-days before the event!” Luckily, most of the work on the Cadi is done in-house by himself and his crew known as “Theory Garage”. So, some labor and time are saved there. The Pitbull-like stance of the Cadillac is aggressively complimented by a staggered set of Weld RT-S wheels wrapped in luscious Mickey Thompson Street Radials.
It’s amazing what we gearheads do when a project falls into our laps. Within 3-years of owning it, Josh’s Cadi went from daily driver to being amongst the fastest street cars in South Florida. The itch for velocity coupled with the satisfaction of building a machine up with your own hands can be all-consuming. Might even classify it as an obsession. Even with the neck pains, raw knuckles, and dirty, broken, fingernails that come from wrenching on cars; I don’t think there are many other things that Josh would rather spend his nights doing.
Instagram: @blazin07ss
Street Racing Illustrated | Cars, Coffee, and Racing 08/12/2018
“Auto-Xing actually becomes more fun when it’s raining!”- Mario Ojito
Story | Phillip Pratt
Street Racing Made Safe’s inaugural Car, Coffee, and Racing was everything that SRMS President, Mario Ojito, said it would be. Even a massive speed trap on the turnpike and forty-five-minute downpour couldn’t stop the meet and races. Despite the wetter circumstances of the end of the day, the beginning was effing flawless. The racers were blessed with sunny, clear, skies as prep began and walks of the track were allowed. This isn’t a go-kart track with a tiny lane and nearly unreasonable amounts of hair-pins. AMR Motorplex supplied racers with lots of stretches to open those throttles up and get some speed going. The rain that arrived halfway through the event slowed down the meet-section, but unlike on a drag-strip, water just makes the racing more engaging. It was easy to tell the first time Auto-Xers from the seasoned vets, but as this event grows, I expect to see skills and car engineering do the same. Auto-Xing times can be viewed here. Next event will be held on September 9th, 2018 at AMR Motorplex.
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- Mario Ojito showing racers how to tear up the track!
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