2-week Garage Queen

All I could think about when I got behind the wheel of my first Subaru was "I get to be a rally car driver now!"  And while you would hardly think a base-model Impreza Hatchback with a CVT would be able to do that, or not be the best candidate to do so, the mere thought of it made me smile ear-to-ear.  However, when I approached the first gravel road this then-new 2012 econbox had ever seen... I got cold feet.  A brand new car getting dirty, dinged up, and driven to the limits didn't seem like a good idea.

I drove the car for about a month or so before I worked up the courage to go adventuring on some back roads.  When I finally did "pop the cherry" on my Hatchback, there was no turning back after that.  I continued to seek out turn-laden gravel roads and S-Turns in the dirt with it.  Even after I purchased my '00 Impreza Coupe rallycross project car, which was admittedly more fun than my traction control nannies in the '12 Impreza, I still managed to go have fun on my local Welsh rally stages.  It seemed the "garage queen" bug would never hit me again.

Fast forward 3 years from then to October of 2015.  I was holding off replacing my beloved Hatchback until Subaru made one in a turbocharged format again.  My exact criteria for replacing my adventuremobile was another hatchback, for it to be a WRX instead of a WRX STI so the ride quality and gas mileage would be better with the new FA20 DIT, and for it to be silver so as to not attract trouble.  So what did I do?  I went weak at the knees for a 2016 Subaru WRX STI Series.HyperBlue.  Sedan, not a hatch.  Dinosaur EJ25 under the hood instead of the new FA20.  Bright "Grabber Polestar" blue.  Not only did I break every rule I had just made about replacing my hatchback... but I was faced with a bigger problem: being a garage queen.

For those who don't know, a Garage Queen is a rarely driven car that is in mint or near mint condition, is only driven in fair weather (no rain/snow), and is kept in the garage.  With only 700 Series.Hyper Blue WRX STIs in existence in the United States (that's only 14 per state), it's a bit of a rare bird.  Couple that with summer performance tires limiting this car right off the showroom, and it's hard NOT to think about this being a garage queen.  So that's what I started to do.  When it rained, or snowed, or was too cold out for the factory summer tires, or when there was any sort of chemical deicing treatment on the roads, this bluebaru remained in my garage.  I simply drove my Rallycross car when conditions were too threatening to the well-being of this piece of Subaru history.

From December 23rd to January 7th, it remained in the garage.  Then I picked up some used BBS wheels, mounted all-season tires to 'em, fixed some urethane mudflaps, and rolled it out onto Nebraska's Winter Roads laden with ice, snow, and salt.  I had a few people say "I thought it was supposed to be a garage queen".  I can't do it.  Not completely, at least!  I'll still wash it and take care of it and worry about parking locations and freak out if there's hail in the forecast... but Subaru Tecnica International didn't go through the trouble of tuning this WRX for it to be a museum piece.  I've never been able to even purchase a Hot Wheels toy car without being driven to madness by trying to keep it "Mint in Box".  It has to be taken out and played with, even if just for a moment.  This one, this WRX STI, needs to be driven and enjoyed.

'16 STI Rally Armor & BBS Wheels

There are some cars that are "garage queens".  There are others that leap into adventure, regardless of the mess.  Well... being the rally enthusiast that I am, I've had a bit of an internal struggle with this car.  One of 700 built, my 2016 Subaru WRX STI Series.HyperBlue is a bit of a collectors item.  With such a status, you'd think it'd be a garage queen it's whole life.  For the first few weeks, that's kind of how I felt about it. But after driving it through the break-in period and getting after it a bit, I realized it would be quite the miracle to keep this car locked up the entire winter.

After leaving it safe and sound in my garage for a whopping 16 days, I decided to do some work.  The stock BBS wheels wrapped in Summer Tires were my main concern for doing any sort of cold-weather driving.  Those were swiftly stowed in my shed and replaced with 17" BBS Wheels from a 2005 WRX STI with Continental Extreme Contact DWS tires mounted to them.  These wheels have been refinished and powdercoated black and look fantastic on the car.  Along with these new shoes, I fitted the car with Rally Armor UE Mudflaps sporting a white logo (to match the white logos on the brake calipers).  It was easier to install these mudflaps while the tires were off, so I went around to each wheel completing both installations.  No problems with either!

The tires that we fitted to the refinished BBS wheels are 245/45R17, as that size offered the most accurate speedometer readings.  Fittingly enough, today's weather calls for cold rain, so their first trek  on the roads put them to the test immediately.  While it doesn't seem fair pitting this grip up against summer performance tires, the difference was astounding and instantly noticeable.

While I'll still be a bit paranoid in parking lots and still choose to take my Impreza RS Coupe out when the weather is especially nasty outside, I am so happy to be able to drive it this winter without as much fear of messing something up or losing grip on cold roads.

New Year, New Plans!

Resolutions, a fresh start, uh... tax returns, there's a laundry list of things the New Year can ring in.  For me, 2016 has a lot to look forward to.  A combination of things I didn't get done last year mixed in with some experiences I've never had before that are on the way!  Here's what's in store for me (and this blog) for the new year!

We kick off the very first day of 2016 with new life breathed into my 2.5RS Coupe that I've been working on.  Today, as it passed over the 170,000 mile mark, I installed the DT ECU with a Stage 2 Tune on it.  Now this rallycross car is making full use of the Gorilla Top Mount Cold Air Intake, Stromung Catback Exhaust, and headers putting more refined linear power to the wheels in this 16-year-old coupe.  The power is much smoother and consistent with the tune tying all these elements together.  I'm really excited to see what it's like for this year's rallycross events with these improvements!

This winter started off relatively mild, so when I got my new 2016 Subaru WRX STI Series.HyperBlue, I didn't really think about needing different tires.  However, December quickly reminded me that Subaru brilliantly fitted every WRX and WRX STI with Summer Performance Tires.  These happen to be absolutely awful when it's cold out so my beloved blue machine has been hiding in the garage until I can get an alternate tire situation sorted out.  Being the OEM freak that I tend to be, I managed to find a set of BBS Wheels from a 2005 WRX STI.  These wheels share the same bolt pattern and, although they're 17s instead of the 18s I have now, they will clear the large Brembo Brakes on my car.  To make them look even more legit, I had New Wave Powdercoating take them in, strip the paint, and apply a nice glossy black finish to them.  This winter I'll be getting some alternate tires for these wheels to use as a all-season option for when conditions aren't ideal for the stock tires my WRX STI came with.

There's also some new experiences in store for me this year.  For starters, I'm incredibly excited to be planning a trip to my first RallyAmerica National Championship event!  A handful of Subaru owners and I are headed to the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood in Salem, MO.  This is the closest round of the championship to my home, so we're making the trek down to finally see our beloved Subarus in action! 

There's more coming up this year and more I plan on doing with both my Subarus, but these bits are at the front of my mind right now!  I'm so pumped for all the great possibilities coming for 2016, so I hope you continue to enjoy the stories and posts to come for the new year!  Thanks for all your support!

SnOmaha 2015

It took awhile, but winter finally showed up in my area.  After mild weather through November and most of December, snowstorms finally made their way through Omaha on Christmas Eve and again on the 28th.  While most loathe the mere sight of a snowflake, my Subaru friends and I embrace it!  Owners from every corner of town gather in local parking lots and spin donuts through the day and into the night. 

I wasn't able to get out Christmas Eve to join my fellow hoonigans, but I did manage to sling some snow around yesterday with two other Subies after work.  I took my '00 Impreza 2.5 RS and joined a '05 Legacy GT Wagon and a '14 XV Crosstrek at a nearby parking lot.  I'll let the rest of the photos tell the story of all the fun we had!  Enjoy!

RS Revival: The Next Stage

The dust has settled on the 2015 NRSCCA Rallycross season.  Between podium finishes, champion codrivers, and de-beaded tires, it was an exciting run for my first complete season of Rallycross events with the RS!  There was also a lot of sharing the wheel this season as three other drivers had a chance to whip this coupe around the course.  This 2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS Coupe managed to gather up 36 points in Prepared All-Wheel Drive (PA) to take the 2015 Overall win in it's class.  I'm proud of how far this car as come and what it's able to do around the dirt track.

There are still improvements in line to take this car even further.  Improvements for suspension, reliability, and power are waiting in line during the off season in preparation for the 2016 NRSCCA Rallycross season that will start up next spring.  With grip improved thanks to the new IndySport SG tires, there's more speed to tap into by making these adjustments.  The next stage is literally "Stage 2", which will tie the Gorilla Top-Mount Cold Air Intake, Stromung Exhaust, and headers all together with a tune.  The car will exclusively run on 91 Octane once the tune is in, which is fine since that's all I run anyways! 

I'm excited to finally get this Stage 2 Tune going.  The exhaust parts have been sitting around for awhile so it'll be good to finally have things together.  While we've got the car up in the air, we'll be checking out some suspension components that will likely need addressing.  Some bushings or bearings are going bad so I want to get it all nice and solid.  The car is understeering a bit to the drivers side under hard braking on dirt and gravel, even when there's two people in the car.  It was a little noticeable at the last two rallycross events which were a bit more difficult.  Making the necessary adjustments and repairs will make the cars handling more predictable which will help make the car easier to drive through technical rallycross course designs.

2016 WRX STI Higgins Edition

It might not be an "official" version available from Subaru, but for all intents and purposes, this is my 2016 Subaru WRX STI "Higgins Edition".  Adorned on both sides of the rocker panels of my Series.HyperBlue WRX STI are black "Subaru Rally Team USA" decals as well as two "#75" decals on both sides of the rear spoiler.  It seemed fitting to celebrate Higgins & Drew this year for their relentless work this year in the Rally America series.

In the late 90s, when Subaru was reeling in award after trophy after title with their championship-winning rally cars, they released several special edition Imprezas to celebrate those accomplishments.  They released the Impreza P1 with their rally partner ProDrive, the iconic Impreza 22B with a special wide body, and a handful of others.  They also created two limited-production versions for their winning drivers.  Both the Series McRae WRX and the WRX RB5 were released to celebrate Colin McRae (who won the WRC in '95) and Richard Burns (who won the WRX in '01) respectively.

As such, when David Higgins drove his Vermont Sportscar prepared WRX STI to sweep the Rally America Championship and claim a Perfect Season, I couldn't think of a better way to adorn this limited edition Series.HyperBlue WRX STI than with David's number on the wing.  This eye-catching color is spot on to the blue color on the championship car that took home the Gold in all 8 Rally America events.  While this similarity is probably just a coincidence, it seemed like a great way to celebrate this incredible feat.

In a similar way the owner of a Series McRae WRX must be proud to represent the winning legacy that Colin left behind, I am proud to cheer for SRT USA's David Higgins and Craig Drew in their accomplishments, especially with their incredible performance in the 2015 Rally America Championship every time I drive this car.  At the very least, Mr Higgins himself seems to like it!

Perfect and Podium-less

3rd and 4th Generation WRX STIs together

Last year when Subaru Rally Team USA started their RallyAmerica and Global Rallycross schedules, uncertainly was in the air.  2015 marked the debut season for the 4th Generation WRX STI platform, the new face of the team.  After years of success with the previous generation and implementing design concepts learned from competition in rally and rallycross, the new car was only proven in testing, not on the course.  There's always risk involved with a change like this and with trying new things.  It can be a game of dominoes, strengthening one part and transferring stress to others is a gamble that can either find a lot of speed or can cause unforeseen issues when you least expect it.