RS Revival: Rallycross Prep

It seemed like an eternity to wait for racing to resume back in November when the last Rallycross season ended.  Now the start of the 2016 Rallycross season is upon us and I think it's safe to say this 2000 Impreza 2.5 RS Coupe is ready to hit the dirt again!

We made some adjustments over the winter, mostly to the rear suspension, to prepare for the next season.  The most noticeable changes were the lateral link and trailing arm bushing replacements.  We've fitted this RS with Shore 95A medical grade urethane bushings from Turn-In Concepts.  This should help with cornering and keep the flex out of the links.  We also removed, readjusted, and reinstalled the rear struts.  The strut tops had moved out of alignment somehow so the whole rear suspension is pretty much redone.


While I was under there, we made some minor repairs and sealed up some exposed parts of the frame with undercoating to further protect the car.  All of the work was completed at Russ' Garage.

I'm going to run some tests when the car on dirt roads before the event, but I need to wait for things to dry more.  Our area has experienced quite the warm-up recently so all the snow melting has made for muddy conditions.  There's a handful of roads I could use to test it out, but most of them are usually pretty rutted out from trucks going through... and as much as I'd like to go mudding, the ruts can make it damn near impossible for a sedan to make it through.  I'll wait for dryer conditions to check it out.