Zane Heath’s 2008 WRX STI hatch is proof that there’s more than just LS-powered chrome-bumper machines at Street Machine Drag Challenge. Rocking three pedals, Zane’s Subie took on DC 2024 with gusto, smashing out multiple 10-second passes in the process.

First published in the March 2025 issue of Street Machine

Zane picking an all-wheel-drive, four-cylinder Subaru as his chosen steed for our five-day drag-and-drive odyssey may come as a surprise to some. After all, he’s the bossman and tuner at Melbourne’s Maxx Performance, a workshop best known for its Falcon performance packages and turbo Barra builds. “It’s what we do day in, day out, and we’re really good at it, but for my own cars, I love to play around with new stuff, so we started looking at Subarus,” he explains.

In fact, Zane’s first build was an early 2000s WRX hatch, commonly referred to as a ‘bug-eye’, which he put together as a circuit car. “After playing with that, I wanted to get more into developing the EJ platform for our workshop, as well as building a street/circuit car for myself,” he says. “So, Dad and I went straight to Sydney and back to buy this one.”

Four weeks out from Drag Challenge 2024, the WRX STI Spec.R in question was sitting in Zane’s garage with no engine. “We wanted to have a 10-second car with a proper manual – sequentials don’t count – so we started thrashing on it after hours to get it done,” he says.

The 2.0-litre EJ207 boxer engine was built by the Maxx crew in tandem with Cave Hill Engine Services. In Subaru-speak, it’s a semi-closed-deck mill using an STI block and heads. The rotating assembly has a nitrided STI crank, Spool H-beam rods and CP pistons, while the Subaru EJ257 heads run a set of Kelford 220-D camshafts, clamped down with ARP studs and sealed by RCM head gaskets to sidestep those Subaru failed gasket memes. Another common EJ problem is oil control, so an IAG Performance sump and pick-up were called upon to quell that issue.

Tomei headers feed a Pulsar G30-900 turbo, pushing as much as 34psi of boost through the Process West intercooler. A Link G4X ECU gives Zane the option of flex-fuel, and on E85 and cranking to over 9000rpm, the little hatch made a peak of 509hp at all four wheels through the standard STI six-speed driveline.

That said, the run-up to the STI’s DC debut wasn’t without its challenges. “We did have some troubles; a sticky VCT solenoid took out a few valves not long after the engine’s first start, so we had to pull it back out and fix that with barely any time before DC,” Zane says. “We got it back together and ran an 11.03 at Heathcote the weekend before DC with a dud 60-foot, so we knew we had a 10-second car.”

The first day of DC ’24 racing at Mildura’s eighth-mile saw Zane run a 7.09@99mph, before a long drive across the border to South Oz’s Dragway at The Bend. There, the car dipped into the 10s, running a 10.85@130mph best. It was a good start, but Zane was keen to turn it up once he was closer to home for the final two days of DC. “I was working on the 60-foot launch and playing with boost,” he says.

On Day Four at Heathcote Park, Zane was on a pearler of a pass until the safety cut-out hit at the 1000-foot mark. “I was running it low on fuel to save weight, but we ran it too low and it cut out on us – I was pissed!” he says. “It was my best 60-foot and I nailed the shifts, so we reckon it would’ve been a 10.69.” Even so, he still ran a PB of 10.82.

Unfortunately, back at Heathcote for the final day’s racing, it all went a bit pear-shaped. “I got a bit cheeky on the launch rpm and we killed a CV,” Zane says. “The Repco replacement we got was wrong for the STI hubs, so we drove it home as a three-wheel drive.” Since he broke the beams on the heavy launch, Zane still completed Drag Challenge 2024 with a default 20-second ET for Day Five.

Zane has recently purchased a clone of the hatch to build a more drag-oriented machine for this year’s Drag Challenge, allowing this one to stay more circuit-focused. “We’ve already started making plans for a new engine, and the goal is to run nines with the new car with a manual,” he says. “I just love the manual; it’s so much fun.”

ZANE HEATH
2008 SUBARU IMPREZA WRX STI SPEC.R G3

THANKS
Maxx Performance and the lads – Lindsay, Cameron and Alex; my wife Rachel; Prospeed Racing; Link ECU; Stu at Cave Hill Engine Services; Pulsar Turbos; N1tro Fab; Kev at Process West.