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Posted
Feb 04 2012, 09:00 AM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 45 comment(s)
When I finished shooting the BRZ STI Concept a couple of weeks ago at the STI HQ in Mitaka, I headed upstairs to the STI Gallery to see if there were any cool cars on display. It seemed I had picked the perfect day to have a wander... ...as there was a cool triplet of WRC cars on display. Next to McRae's 1998 "P14 WRC" Prodrive rally car was Petter Solberg's 2006 WR car... ...that was used in the 2007 Rallie Monte-Carlo. The STI staff let me have a nice look around the car and even...
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Posted
Nov 08 2011, 04:00 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 106 comment(s)
Upon arriving at SEMA this year, one of the first cars I noticed was this first generation two-door Subaru Impreza parked outside. The thing that struck me is that it wasn't built like most Imprezas....
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Posted
Sep 06 2011, 01:00 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 34 comment(s)
Spotted this clip over on Jalopnik and figured it deserved a repost here. Watch as this BMW M5-powered GC8 Impreza slides around with the sounds of high revving V10 music exploding from its pipes. Based on the driving in the clip, the BMW V10 looks to be a natural fit for the old Impreza.
Liked.
-Mike Garrett
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Posted
Jun 24 2011, 06:00 AM
by
Linhbergh
with 13 comment(s)
The simple mention of the Isle of Man already whets the appetites of gear heads worldwide. Most of the time, we hear about the two-wheeled exploits on that historic course. This time around, it's an Isle of Man tale about four wheels, a US spec 2011 Subaru WRX STI, driven by Mark Higgins. The STI was a standard 305 HP turbocharged boxer engine with added safety mods and a louder exhaust to warn spectators of the on-coming car. The speed limiter was turned off to allow a higher maximum speed.
During Higgin's attack on the 37 mile track, he reached speeds of 162mph, averaged 115mph, and completed the course with a time of 19 minutes 37 seconds.
Now, turn up that volume and enjoy!
-Linhbergh
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Posted
Jun 13 2011, 08:00 PM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 12 comment(s)
Most of you will be familiar with the infamous Isle of Man TT course, a 37.8 mile road course which cuts around the small island in the middle of the Irish Sea. Whilst it's more famous for its motorbike races, recently the four wheel record of the entire course was smashed by former British Rally champion Mark Higgins in a near standard Subaru Impreza WRX STI. The only modifications were the obvious safety features of a rollcage, harnesses and on-board extinguisher system. The car used the production model's engine, gearbox, clutch, brakes etc with only slight modifications to the suspension to prevent the suspension being damaged over the larger jumps on the circuit. The previous record held by the late Tony Pond was an average speed of 100MPH. Higgins managed an incredible average speed of 113MPH around the course on road legal tires.
However, the attempt wasn't without its moments as the above video shows. A sixth gear tank slapper almost lead to Higgins and his Road & Track magazine passenger redecorating someone's living room at an approximate speed of 150MPH. Cool as a breeze, Higgins catches the car, downshifts to fifth and powers on again but not before sharing a joke with his passenger.
-
Paddy McGrath
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Posted
Jun 06 2011, 04:00 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 22 comment(s)
Is the SYMS Impreza Wagon JTCC machine not one of the coolest race cars ever? Just thought I'd post up a shot of this rare beast I came across during one of my recent Google search journeys... If there was ever a Station Wagon Hall of Fame, this car would be have to be one of the first inductees... -Mike Garrett
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Posted
May 05 2011, 03:00 PM
by
Alok Paleri
with 26 comment(s)
After our dash from Sent to Stelvio, it was time to head back for a night's rest. Have a look the glorious road that took us there. We woke up to the crisp morning alpine air at the apartment overlooking the Engadin valley We decided to check out the local towns in the morning, so we headed to Sur En. The little stream that flows beneath comes directly from a glacier with literally ice cold water. I remembered Martin telling me about a little town across the Swiss border in Italy called Livigno...
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Posted
Apr 16 2011, 11:30 PM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 7 comment(s)
The sun shone on Oulton Park today as the 2011 Time Attack Series kicked off with a bang. It was Duncan Graham in the BC backed Impreza who emerged top of the pile at the end of the day setting a lap time of 1:34.744 in the final session of the day. He didn't have it easy however but I'll save the full story for later in the week along with a look at the rest of the Modified Live show. - Paddy McGrath
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Posted
Apr 13 2011, 09:00 PM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 39 comment(s)
I think Italy and Japan couldn't have a more different car culture. No matter where you are in Japan, you could arm yourself with a camera, head out onto the streets and in a matter of minutes you would see something cool worth shooting, be it an old shakotan classic, a modified sports car or an exotic. In Italy, you really have to search for something cool, as the majority of cars on the roads are a little, how shall I put it, uninspiring. But once you look in the right places you will be simply...
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Posted
Apr 07 2011, 01:30 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 95 comment(s)
Is it already time for a new Subaru Impreza? It seems like people are still torn over the styling over the current model. Nonetheless, the next gen 2012 Impreza is set to be unveiled at this month's New York Auto Show and Subaru has released this side profile shot ahead of the official debut. This of course the standard model Impreza, which Subaru says will do 36 miles per gallon on the highway. Both the four and five door models will be shown in New York, no word on the STI versions yet. What...
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Posted
Jan 31 2011, 11:00 PM
by
Len Clarke
with 13 comment(s)
Fellow Speedhunters, I thought I'd take the opportunity to combine this month's 'Behind the Scenes' theme with the dawn of a new era for one of Britain's, nay, the world's most highly-respected preparation companies, Prodrive. This visit was a little while ago, after SUBARU's departure from the WRC and while the Aston Martin N24 Vantage programme was in its infancy. It was a day I will not soon forget. Responsible for making Subaru a household name by taking the formerly...
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Posted
Sep 13 2010, 08:00 PM
by
Alok Paleri
with 33 comment(s)
In the late 1990s, the UK AWD car scene was smitten with the first generation Subaru Impreza WRX STi, resulting in a large number of grey imports from Japan. Subaru wasn't particularly very happy at this and commissioned Prodrive to get to work. The result was this. Dubbed the Prodrive P1, it was a limited edition Subaru Impreza STi customized for the British roads. The engine was a WRX STi unit producing 276bhp. All of the 1000 P1s came in the classic Sonic Blue paint job. It also sported a...
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Posted
Jul 20 2010, 07:00 PM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 20 comment(s)
When I dropped by Subaru Tecnica International the other week to pick up the Impreza R205 I finally got to see the new STi gallery that has recently been built right outside the Subaru factory gates. I was very impressed with the whole set-up, which is part of the much larger Car Do Subaru Mitaka dealership. Here customers can drop by to order their new cars and at the same time take a stroll through the gallery space on the second floor to check out what cars are currently on display. On top of...
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Posted
Jun 22 2010, 03:01 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 26 comment(s)
It's a shame we haven't heard about people doing much with the four-door version of the current WRX.
I'm sure we'll being see more once the widened 2011 version hits the streets, but for now only a few brave souls have shown love to the Impreza sedan. This '09 WRX I spotted at the S3 meet in San Diego is owned by one of them....
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Posted
Jun 21 2010, 01:26 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 47 comment(s)
Last weekend I checked out some flat-fours of the classic German variety at the VW Classic in Irvine - this weekend it was flat fours again, but of the modern Japanese variety.
Saturday was the annual Subaru Summer Solstice, better known as S3 - and I headed down to the Torrey Pines Gliderport in beautiful San Diego to have a look....
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Posted
May 20 2010, 09:36 PM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 4 comment(s)
Tarzan just managed to catch up to the Sierra Sierra Evo with a very close 1:32:5320. The Sierra Sierra's time still stands at 1:32:2480. -Dino Dalle Carbonare
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Posted
May 19 2010, 08:00 AM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 12 comment(s)
The start of the Time Attack event of the year is just around the corner and to kick off the excitement the center of Sydney's business district was invaded by two very special cars this morning. The Panspeed RX-7 and the Tomei/Cusco/Voltex Impreza of Team Tarzan, which have been in Australia for only a few days, were shown off to the citizens of the busy city. Media, as well as a TV news crew for a local channel, were there to see these powerful track prepared beasts in this very unusual setting...
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Posted
Apr 19 2010, 11:35 PM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 12 comment(s)
Time to wrap up the 2010 Hyper Meeting coverage with this final look at more action and some of the most powerful all-wheels-drive machinery in Japan, starting with the mighty AVO Impreza demo car, now sporting a lighter curb weight and even more power. As Ross explained they managed to shave off close to 60 kg by using lightweight materials and fitting paper-thin lexan glass to the doors and rear windscreen. Under the hood the car is running the trusty 2.5L Cosworth motor, that in four years of...
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Posted
Apr 15 2010, 08:30 AM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 21 comment(s)
One of the biggest attraction of the Hyper Meeting is always the race cars and you can't get more aggressive than this GT300 Cusco Impreza, a car that was never particularly successful in Super GT but one that always grabbed the heart of enthusiasts. This is now replaced by the Legacy in the GT300 class. It is yet unknown if Zero Sport will create another open class Impreza to participate in the Super Lap Battle. If they do I'd really like to see this 4-door STi be used, a car that they built...
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Posted
Apr 13 2010, 01:00 AM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 18 comment(s)
Time to dive into the world of all-wheel-drive cars with a more detailed look at some of the action and at some of the rides on display from the 2010 Hyper Meeting. Like every year this is the first event that I get my first serious sunburn of the season, and the sun sure didn't spare my poor sensitive skin this time round either! Despite this I hanged out on track during the biggest events, and was glad I finally saw the Japan-only R205 in action. I have to say, that after a few years, I'm...
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