Saab, Who Knew?!?

So you want to be a successful race car driver huh? Images of Ferraris, Jags, Mercedes, champagne sprayin’, hot chicks (or guys for the lady drivers), rubbin’ elbows with celebs, magazine covers and living on the French Riviera comes to mind. What if I told you the reality of the situation is being a mechanic, successful business owner in Pittsburgh PA, family man, doing small time podcast with a 6’2” dude all while driving a 2006 Saab? Well boys and girls you’d be one of the most successful endurance cars and teams in Champ Car. With some serious work ethic and the ethos of “function over form,” Jay Cooper and the R Banks Racing Team buck the trend and take on some of the biggest names and brands in racing…and win.

In one of Jay’s Rust Repair Inc shops in Pittsburgh PA is where I ran across one of the craziest full blown endurance race cars I have ever seen. You see Jay owns and operates his business during the day and is the team mechanic on nights and weekends. His story started years ago when he owned a fabrication shop that built anything and everything under the sun that involved speed. When the team principal of a race team came in and asked for some work done on one of his race cars Jay obliged and knocked it out of the park. After seeing the quality work Jay did he was asked to be the mechanic of the team and in return would be one of the drivers of the car. And this is how a regular guy gets to rub elbows and race against some of the giants in the game and one of the main reasons I started this podcast…to find these sleeping monsters.

This beautiful Frankenstein is a 2006 Saab 9-3 Sports Sedan with the 2.0 EcoTech Turbo producing 210hp from the factory. With all the choices of platforms, why a Saab?!? Well as Jay explains in the podcast, why not? The car is cheap, most of the parts are GM, its a 4cylinder turbo Swedish tank, there is support from the aftermarket and its just plain different. The 4 cylinder turbo was chosen for its great gas mileage match with top end speed both of which come in handy during a 24 hour endurance race. “You get passed when you’re in the pits, while the V8 boys are gassing up, we are turning laps and minimizing the number of times we have to stop,” Jay explained. This matched with top end speed allows for the team to pass cars in the two easiest places, the straight away and the pits. Since there is a points system based on performance Jay and the team have to be strategic with what upgrades they can install. “Weight reduction and tape incur 0 points,” Jay said, and anything that doesn’t improve speed or performance has been trashed. Even down to cutting out the inner structures of all 4 doors, the package tray, simulated headlights and any unnecessary wiring was thrown to the curb. All of the sound deadening has been dry iced and chipped off by hand to take every pound out.

As far as performance upgrades go, there are only 2 large modifications that tally up the performance points. A front splitter and a massive rear wing both of which help out the downforce and make the car very slippery while helping with downforce in the corners. Outside of these aero upgrades there is a cold air intake, downpipes and a re-tune of the ECU. The engine fans are removed because according to Jay, “nothing gets a free ride.” Of course AC and heat components as well as any other creature comforts under the hood have been removed.

Due to the restrictions of the series, the suspension is where Jay and his team really got creative and swapped out the springs for a circle track version with the same diameter as stock but with an upgraded spring rate. Bilstien shocks and upgraded pads on stock calipers and big brake ducts to keep those brakes happy round out the suspension upgrades.

If you’re wondering why this track weapon is two different colors, well you need to listen to the podcast to find out why two different cars have been grafted together. The interior is all business that allowed for a member of his team to walk away from the horrendous crash that forced two cars to become one. The Nascar triple bar cage was built by Jay and works in conjunction with the 5 point harness and HANS device as a system to keep everyone safe. According to Jay who has been building cages for years, this type of equipment does not belong on a street car.

The rear end, unlike a mullet, continues to be all business that rounds out the aerodynamic package. The massive wing (which is off of his prototype DSM) is welded to the trunk letting you know the team is serious about aerodynamic efficiency gains. This is one situation where the size of the wing isn’t just there for clout, there has been serious effort put into the correct angles and pitch to allow the air to work for the car. The rear bumper has been sliced to allow for the air to flow under the car and merge as seamlessly as possible to reduce the parachute effect.

Throwing it back to the glory days of SCCA racing, Champ Car has allowed Jay and his team members the opportunity to go wheel to wheel endurance racing with some of the greats. The rules and regulations that have bee setup have brought back a golden age in racing where ingenuity and clever upgrade development keeps small teams competitive. If you have any questions for Jay or are just interested in their journey you can find him and his team on Facebook at Jay Cooper, R Banks Racing and Rust Repair Inc. On instagram he is @j.c.cooper and @rustrepair inc. If you don’t like social media you can always email the program and I can get some answers back for you!