Launch Control Season 3!

I didn't need a reason to follow Subaru Rally Team USA on Instagram... but they just gave me another one.  After some gratuitous gravel footage of David Higgins and Craig Drew making mince meat of the roads in Oregon, a little blurb came up with a familiar logo.  One that makes me look forward to Wednesdays.  Well... I mean, besides looking forward to our weekly local meets.  That's right!  Launch Control is back for Season 3!!

"What's Launch Control?"

This is a series that follows the rally teams in the US for Subaru.  Both the Global Rallycross Team and Rally Team USA get coverage in this in-depth behind-the-scenes look at rallying.  It's not just the cars and the races, it's the people behind the wheel, under the cars, and in the grandstands.  Launch Control has done an excellent job capturing the essence of the sport and making it more accessible and help publicize it on a global scale.

Still don't know what's up?  Lucky for you I've got links to all of Season 1 and Season 2 on this page.

2015 NSOC Spring Fling Details

On May 3rd the Nebraska Subaru Owners Club will meet up to take our third trip around the "Iowaska" route.  This 70 mile drive starts off in Historic Florence, winds along the western bank of the Missouri and into Fort Calhoun.  Then it follows flowing hills and sharp turns into Blair to cross over the river to Missouri Valley, IA.  From there we follow a challenging road that zips through the Loess Hills Scenic Byway into Crescent, IA.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?hl=en&authuser=0&mid=zU5vdoIujAdU.kVZ2JzLJoqx0

After we've completed route, we'll meet up at NP Dodge Park in Nebraska to grill up some food together.  There's also some giveaways and prizes to win like Rally Team T Shirts, Lanyards, and other neat gear.  We're expecting big turnout so this event should be a LOT of fun!

Check out the Nebraska Subaru Owners Club on Facebook for more event details!

WRX Seat Swap

The transformation continues piece by piece!  This 2012 Subaru Impreza 2.0i Hatchback started life as a mere base model with a CVT.  While it's still getting me on-average 32 mpg (over the 43k miles I've driven it so far), it certainly doesn't look or feel like the econobox it started out as.  The suspension is firmer, the wheels are wider, and the interior and exterior have been subjected to many Subaru Legos.  Today another piece was swapped in from a 2015 WRX.
I have never really cared for the stock seats in the 4th Generation Impreza.  The seats are sort of gutless in that they don't have much support.  I've had to bring the car to Subaru 3 times for seat issues, too.  The first was the air bag sensor in the passenger seat getting thrown off by electronics.  The other two were replacing bad lumbar cushions in the driver seat.  So, when I got a chance to nab some sporty looking WRX seats, I jumped at the opportunity.

Thanks to the new 4th Generation WRX still being built on a 4th Generation Impreza unibody, the upgrade was simple.  Take out the bolts in the seats, disconnect the plugs underneath, do some well-needed cleaning, and put the new seats in.  The new seats are very comfortable, provide better support, and have good side bolstering to hold me in place when I'm taking tight turns.  They still provide the same safety features the Impreza seats did with Whiplash protection head rests and side-bolster airbags.  I'd be lying if I didn't also admit they make a major improvement to the interiors' looks!

These seats are hard to find and, in most cases, very expensive when you do find them.  Thanks to exuberant WRX owners reckless driving, a salvage yard might have a pair from a kid who thought it would be a good idea to test out the car on icy gravel with the stock Dunlop tires on.  You also might find a serious track day guy who is putting racing bucket seats in and no longer needs his stock seats.  Either way, if you can find a set and you have a 4th Gen Impreza you'd like to upgrade, it's a great fit.  Literally!

RS Revival: Butt Beautiful

It seems like repairing the rust on this car has been a constant battle, but today I'm confident that the work done will last... and help the car last, too.  This 2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS Coupe has been quite the cancer patient since I got it in September of 2013.  A year-and-a-half later nearly all of the hungry rust has been stopped in it's tracks or removed altogether.  In short: the RS has shed the junk from it's trunk.

After things were sealed and rustproofed, I touched up some of the bodywork done last fall and then coated it with primer for some paint.  While the paint we used isn't an exact match, it's main purpose is to act as something for the vinyl graphics to hang on to that will be added later.

To spruce things up a bit, I decided to treat the RS to some JDM Tail Lights.  I've always disliked all the orange indicators on this car and have preferred the cleaner look the clear lights give.