Friday, June 6, 2014

RS Revival - Rally Wheels!

It's time to really dig in with the RS Revival!  I can't think of a better way of literally achieving that by digging into Mother Earth a little better with some rally wheels!  This is the first big step towards actually preparing the car for Rallycross and my first experience with anything specifically oriented for competitive use, so having some help from more experienced drivers has been important as things move along.  The wheels are used Speedline Corse Type 2118s that have a 5x100 Bolt Pattern and are 15x7 in size.  Mounted and balanced on them are used Michelin Competition Gravel Tires and, together, this is a pretty serious setup.  Thanks to members of the local Subaru community who have helped with information, sourcing of these items, and mounting/balancing them, this 2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS Coupe is really honing in on Rallycross.

I managed to take the RS out for a spin shortly after putting the wheels on.  On the pavement while I was en route to the roads where I'd try out the new tires, the noise was pretty loud.  It sounded like a tornado siren as I accelerated and decelerated!  Once I found the gravel, the Michelins came into their own and gripped in.  I've only driven vehicles with All-Season tires, so having that amount of control, especially at higher speeds and in cornering, it was quite surprising feeling out the grip.  Each turn I approached I was finding more grip than I was used to, so finding the tendencies of these wheels was a fun exploration.  There was a light drizzle from time to time that kept the gravel dust down to a minimum most times, too... so I could easily turn around and try the turn again for practice without waiting for a cloud of white to dissipate.

All-in-all, really excited to continue this project.  It's really nice to have the car improved and repaired enough to start focusing it for a specific use, but there's still much more to do on both the repair side and the competition side.  Mid-June it'll be at another NRSCCA Rallycross and July it is set for some motor work.  Stay tuned for more det

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