Driving Impressions

So, after the first tests, how a stock Impreza GC8 WRX feels like? The answer is..... GREAT!!!! Under certain aspects.... not so great, under others. What is great is the "feeling" of the car, the fact that you can always feel the grip of the tires, feel where is the limit, the incredilble handling, the easiness of driving. On the engine side, we much appreciated the total absence of turbo lag, the great mid range torque and the general smoothness of power delivery. The only weak point is high-end power. I mean, you receive a good kick at 3500 rpm, the engine revs up really fast, it pushes seriously at 5000 - 5500 rpm and.... it ends. After 6000 rpm the power curve goes down... just when you expect some more fun. I think this is a primary difference between a WRX (like this) and an STi. It is great for rally style roads, but not so good for the track or hillclimb. But, obviously, nothing will remain stock on this car... so, this is not a real problem. Other weak points? The steering is not so straight, we must work on it, and.... the biggest problem.... BREAKS. They are really poor. Remember, this is a first generation WRX, with floating calipers. After 1997 WRXs got 4 pot calipers. That's been surely a great improvemet for the Impreza. We'll work on it as well.
So, for now we've bored you enough. See you soon! :-)

Something about the car

Our car is a 1996 Subaru Impreza Wrx Sedan, bought with 126.000 kilometers on the tachometer (hope they are real....) and in overall good conditions, altough it's been unused in a garage for a long time. The engine is running smootly, no oil leaks, no rust on the chassis, the steering has no play... everything ok? No, not everytingh. The wheel bearings were warn out and when we tested the car on a race track for the first time they simply... failed. I think this is the correct term, we had a wheel bearings failure. The brakes were in poor conditions as well and so.... our first track test hasn't been a pleasant experience. But the car feeling was good, the engine pushed really hard, the gearbox was working perfectly and we've been able to have some fun with powerslides here and there before those odious bearings stopped the party. After that, the "restoring" process has began.

FIRST POST

Ok, what to write on the first post? Something about us? Ok, we are Diego and Alessandro, two crazy guys from Turin, Italy, who are trying to turn a street going '96 Suaru Impreza GC8 in a bona fide time attack/hillclimb/gymkana monster. In the next weeks we'll show you what we've done for now. And (hope...) then we'll keep you informed with the development. We are JDM cars and Subaru enthusiasts, so we'll share some news, photos, videos about these subjects. Stay tuned! Bye!