Subaru Impreza News

But even if not a sure thing, you wouldn’t bet big against it.  Within days of the traumatic three-car incident that smashed both a fair amount of the screaming Mazda RX-8 SP competing in this year’s rally – and any hopes of the car finishing  –  Mazda Motorsport’s formidable boss, Allan Horsley, had begun to think not of what might have been (that would be challenging the eventual winning Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo Strada), but what will be…In the wake of that trauma, Horsley’s team directed its full focus into Mazda’s second entry, the Mazda3 MPS driven by Brendan Reeves and navigated by his sister Rhianon Smyth. In this they achieved second in the Showroom class and a little less than astonishing ninth overall. Not only was it the fastest front-wheel-drive, it licked Porsches, Evos, WRXs and an Audi TT-RS.No mean feat over five days, 40 stages and 2000km of competitive driving in often appallingly, all too Tasmanian autumn conditions piloting what one of the crew wryly described as a “turbo, front drive shopping trolley”.“For those people who think that a two-wheel drive can’t perform in the wet, just look at Brendan and Rhianon’s result,” said Horsley, a figure of local motor racing legend, who has never been constrained by convention. “With the best car, the best crew and the best team behind them – anything is possible.”The “best car” in the entire Targa, Mazda would argue, was not the weepingly expensive Lambo, though this was the one that captured not only the Targa title, but the hearts and minds of the spectating public.   Going into the third day, the Mazda team confidence that this Targa could be theirs was evident.This Horsley special RX-8’s bantam 1280kg and forced induction rotary engine imbued it with lynx-like agility through Tasmania’s endless twisties into which it was able to brake, according to driver Steve Glenney, some 100 metres later than certain rivals.When the going got straight, however, it couldn’t hope to match the kilometre-crushing Lambo. Already, though, Horsley is onto solutions to extract more in 2011.That engine – or at least its essential ingredients – will be housed in a newly-built RX-8 SP after an incident 11.6km into the Mount Roland leg that made one of the Targa’s most spectacular stages memorable for all the wrong reasons. But for the razor reflexes of Glenney, it might have also have been the site of a tragedy.Pouring into the first bend of a double apex right hander near the peak of the mount – not too far from where Eric Bana memorably came to grief a few years back – Launceston’s Simon Froude struck oil on the road and speared his Porsche 911 into the “cheese grater” steel cable that stands between competitors and likely oblivion in the form of an almost sheer drop.With the Porsche snagged by the front axle, its nose pointed towards the heavens, the crew of the next car through – David Ayers and Robbie Bolton in their Nismo 400R – halted as per race regulations and rushed to their aid.Then Glenney, with navigator Bernie Webb, poured through at perhaps 160km/h. With a split second to react, Glenney flung the car about and went into back of the Nismo, left three quarters first – a brilliant manoeuvre that surely saved himself and Webb from disaster. But not the RX-8 SP.“It was running beautifully,’’ Webb lamented as we waited for the flatbed to retrieve the shattered Mazda from the mountain road that now seemed even wetter and colder. “We’d had issues, but we’d overcome them. We’re out through no fault of our own.”By race’s end on Sunday afternoon, the Mazda crew, though ebullient over the MPS, knew they’d be back in 2011 to take care of what they clearly regard as unfinished business.Besides, what matters the 19th event when you can win the 20th and bequeath to the buying public an RX-8 SP 20th Targa (very) special edition?  You wouldn’t bet against it.In the meantime, we drivers of keenness, but infinitely less ability, can approximate in street legal form the Mazda Targa experience without access to car manufacturer’s racing budget.Every inch a rival for Volkswagen’s award-winning Golf GTI, the Mazda3 MPS starts from similar money - $38,435 – and packs an output that towers over the VW’s: the Japanese entrant rings 190kW and 380Nm from its turbo-charged four potter, over the German’s 155kW/280Nm.The RX-8, meanwhile, remains the world’s only mass –produced rotary engined car. While the version available to you and I comes without the Motorsport’s turbo-charger, but it does rev past 8000rpm and, from $55,715 (though you really want the $57,778 GT), seems unbelievably reasonable for something unique.

He says most of their customers are people who have been given a rally lesson as a gift."Almost exclusively it"s a gift from a female to a guy as a Father"s day, birthday or Christmas present," he says."Only about 10 per cent of our customers are females.Our customers are often people who are hard to buy presents for.They already have everything like a big screen TV and this is a bit different."RallySchool last year conducted courses for almost 5000 customers over 153 days in Queensland, NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.Of those, 80 days were in Sydney, 30 in Victoria, 22 in Perth and eight each in Queensland and South Australia, but this year Ryan plans to increase the Victorian courses to 52, South Australia to 14 and Queensland to 10.The courses include six-lap drives, 12-lap drives, and half-day and full-day courses with prices from $195 to $995.They also host corporate events and level two instruction which leads to CAMS licensing, however Ryan says only about one percent of their customers ever progress to competition level."Most people have had very limited previous competition experience and aren't interested in competing," he says. "We want to teach them driving skills and promote the sport. We want to show them how addictive it is." RallySchool has over 50 instructors with about half competing at varying levels from club to international."We have six instructors at each event with an average of about 100 years" shared experience," Ryan says.Currently among their team is Ben Atkinson who began driving in club rally championships in 1999, but has mainly filled his trophy cabinet as co-driver to his brother and former World Rally Championship driver Chris, plus Cody Crocker, the most successful driver in the history of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship.I recently attended a half-day course with 10 other drivers at the Ipswich-based Willowbank track, which Ryan says is the fastest in the country with its clay base.The event begins with a briefing in which Ryan explains the fundamentals of rally driving and how it differs from road driving."The instructors will encourage you to go faster by pressing harder on the brake pedal," he says."Keep both hands on the steering wheels at 3 and 9 o'clock because you need to know at all times where your front wheels are pointing."You need your front wheels pointing down the road and you need to look down the road not where the car is pointed."He advises we leave it in third gear around the tight circuit to reduce the amount of wheelspin.Sceptical drivers head out with an instructor and pretty soon find out that the old dictum of "in slow, out fast" really works and a higher gear than you would normally select provides more control over the driving wheels. The cars have limiters to prevent you going ridiculously fast, but still hurtle around the track at higher speeds than most can handle.They run on normal road tyres to avoid churning up the track, but apart from the rubber and some suspension tweaks, the vehicles are virtually race ready. Pretty soon instructors have the novice drivers picking up speed and confidence and returning to the pits with a grin as wide as their outstretched arms.As Ryan says, "the guys on TV make it look easy". Having never driven on a dirt track before, I first had to "un-learn" a lot of tar habits such as trailing the brake and using a wide arc through corners. On the dirt, he says you get your braking over in a straight line and you stick to the "clean line" on the inside of the corner where the best grip is. They don't teach the "Scandinavian flick" or handbrake cornering, but they do teach valuable lessons in car feel and control.Each driver gets four six-lap sessions, one in each car (Lancer, Subaru and Ford ute), and the fourth in the car of their choice. Around the country, RallySchool has 14 vehicles: two Ford utes, one Holden ute, eight Subaru WRX STi sedans and four Evo Lancers.The three cars used at Willowbank are spread out on the track at the same time, so there is little down time for customers. They also rotate through a second Subaru as a passenger with Atkinson showing them the finer points of rally driving.To cap it off, customers also experience a hot lap with a rally driver, which puts their own brave attempts into perspective. The hot laps are a real adrenalin rush, but they also show just how far off the pace you are. For an extra $50, customers can also buy a video of their experience.Brad Hooper, 32, drove five hours up from Kempsey in his Golf GTI to take part in the course. "The instructor gets you to pick up your speed quite quickly," he says.The motorsport fan who also owns a Ducati 1098 motorcycle was given the gift by his wife, Kathryn, two years ago.Michael Whitehouse, 46, of Brisbane, has no interest in motorsport and was given the course as a present from his partner, Lynne Newbury."It's just an adrenalin rush," he said after his drive. Newbury bought the course for Whitehouse "because he has everything else"."I thought it best to buy him an experience he will remember," she says. "Now he can tick that one off his bucket list."WHAT I LEARNTI will never be Chris Atkinson;I drive too fast into corners and don"t use enough brake;If you go slower into the corner, you can get on the throttle earlier and achieve more terminal speed on the next straight;Braking transfers weight to the front wheels which gives them more grip and steering feel; The smoother you drive, the less you unsettle the car.SNAPSHOTWHAT: Rally driving lessonsWHERE: Richmond, Toronto NSW, Willowbank QLD, Werribee VIC, Tailem Bend SA and Bakers Hill WAHOW MUCH: six-lap drives ($195), 12-lap drives ($375), half-day ($555) and full-day course ($995)WHO: RallySchoolWEB: rallyschool.com.auPHONE: 1800 208 000

It's the Sportswagon, a value-added wagon that first hit the road in Australia in the early 1980s.  This time around it will be a tickle-up on the Impreza hatch with a pricetag just below $30,000.The Impreza XV, as it is called, will be previewed at the Geneva Motor Show next month and looks basically similar to a car sold in the USA as the Outback Sport - even though it is based on the Impreza."The Sportswagon started in the early 1980s with the Leone. It was the original idea to transform a wagon into a lifestyle recreational vehicle.  In those early days we put things on it like white Sunraysia wheels, bullbars and roof racks," says Nick Senior, managing director of Subaru Australia."That crossed over with the L-Series in 1983 and went right through until Impreza was launched in 1993. Then we did a few years of Sportswagons on the Impreza hatch in LX all-wheel drive specification.    When the Forester arrived we phased it out."But times have changed, and Senior says there is a gap in the Subaru line-up for something with a chunkier look to run below the Forester.  "Over time the Forester has obviously grown and we see an opportunity under the Forester for a lifestyle recreational vehicle. It's based on the Impreza hatch, with some extra versatility and extra ground clearance," Senior says."The XV is being shown at the Geneva Motor Show and we expect it early in quarter three."  The current car closest to the old Sportswagon is an Impreza in the USA called the Outback Sport - even though it's not an Outback.It gets the familiar two-tonne paintwork which has been on the Sportswagon from the start, as well as raised suspension, a roof rack and heated front seats.  The XV will look significantly different from the American car, with a different treatment on the grille, sills and bumpers. The exact specification has not been set, but Senior sees a major opportunity."I think one of the most exciting things for us is that it will be marketed at a younger audience. It gives us the chance to speak to Gen- Y and do something a little bit different.  "We haven't had that opportunity in the past. We can have a bit of fun with this and learn."The price will undercut the Forester and the XV is expected to account for around 10 per cent of Impreza sales in Australia.  "I think it's around about 100 a month. That's about 10 per cent of Impreza sales," Senior says."I think it will be largely incremental. There is always a bit of crossover, but of the 100 I would hope that 60-70 per cent are incremental."  Senior is expecting a big year for Subaru Australia after a major turnover of models in the second half of last year."We've got a full 12 months of Liberty and Outback, as well as diesel and Exiga. We have a Forester diesel to join us in June and the reaction to the Outback diesel has been fantastic."

It edged out basic black, with white a long way back in third.  Silver has been surging ahead in recent years, also topping the popularity contest in Australia in recent years despite the one-off attractions of everything from Kermit green to gold and even purple as hero colours on Australia's benchmark performance car, the SS Commodore.The colour chart emerged this week from DuPont, an American paint maker that has been compiling a similar popularity poll in the USA for the past 57 years.  "This is the first year we have run the world colour information. North America had silver at number one from 2000 to 2006, but while was number one from 2007 to 2009," says Nancy Lockhart, colour marketing manager for DuPont's original equipment paint division.Lockhart says the results vary by regions, with black on top in Europe and silver dominating in Asia and South America.  "There are still distinct regional differences in preference, but global trends are unmistakable. Colour preference can change from year to year because of a variety of factors including types of vehicles introduced, reduced vehicle size, consumer tastes and even the economy."These and other cultural, societal and demographic influences can shift regional trends over time.”  But she says silver, the top choice with prestige brands including Benz and BMW, is the dominant force at the moment with little likely change in coming years.  "Silver is likely to stay on top and will share the race with black," she says."Bright and chromatic metallic colours of high interest in North America. Purple is beginning to emerge in small volumes."  DuPont charts the colour changes partly to boost its business and partly as a way of helping carmakers identify emerging colour trends.“The auto industry is an increasingly global business, so regional and global colour data are vitally important to designers," Lockhart says.Despite regional differences, the top three colour choices rank well ahead of gray in fourth and — surprisingly — red in sixth. “The top colours become ‘aspirational’ with a universal appeal," says Leatrice Eiseman, the executive director of the Pantone Color Institute.  “There are many reasons to buy a new car, yet we know colour is often the ‘driver’ for purchasing a vehicle.  “Consumers have gotten very savvy about how and where to look for colour trends and they do look for guidance on what’s new in colour.”Silver is top in Australia in a reflection of the global results but DuPont says there are significant differences between regions.  In Europe, black is pulling ahead from silver — 27 to 19.9 per cent — but in Japan the perennial favourite, white, lost four percentage points from 2008 and silver dropped back to be equal in second with black.In China, silver is clearly the favourite with a 36 per cent score and black dropped back by four points despite remaining in second.  The big upset in the latest results is Russia, where green — only eighth with 1 per cent of the global result — was second to silver and took 18.2 per cent in the DuPont rankings.GLOBAL CAR COLOURSTop 10 choices — 20091. Silver — 25 per cent2. Black — 23 per cent3. White — 16 per cent4. Gray — 13 per cent5. Blue — 9 per cent6. Red — 8 per cent7. Brown/beige — 4 per cent8. Green — 1 per cent9. Yellow/gold — 1 per cent10. Others

The Trax STi: car, tank or snowmobile?  US Subaru rally driver and general all-round mentalist Ken Block is back, this time with what is possibly the ultimate snow vehicle - a very much winter-ready WRX STi.It's called the Trax STi and it started life as one of Block's open-class WRX STi rally machines, but with the power of the 2.5-litre turbocharged boxer motor tweaked to 400bhp courtesy of a tweaked Motec ECU. The suspension also got treated to Group N-spec dampers. Oh, and the wheels and tyres were replaced cat tracks..."The Trax STi is a very fun project for me," says Block. "It combines two of my favourite things in life: driving a rally car in the snow and snowboarding in the powder in the backcountry. Having a house in Utah, I get to enjoy lots of sliding around on the snow, but this project takes that to a whole new level as I can now hit up the backcountry in the fastest snow cat ever."The result, as you'll be able to see by clicking on the video below, is pretty special. We particularly like the snowy drift around 30 seconds in where Block is playing with understeer and oversteer almost simultaneously...

The Japanese company's new diesel boxer engine will not make it down under for another two months, well after the arrival of the all-new Liberty this week, and it will only be fitted to the high-rider Outback. "We're going to launch the diesel in Australia in the Outback model," says the father of the new Liberty-Outback range, Takeshi Tachimori.The Japanese vice-president of Subaru was driving in the first Outback diesel to reach Australia during Repco Rally Australia last weekend and says the car is a major breakthrough for the company. But he says a massive development program in recent years on everything from the latest Impreza to the new Tribeca means there will be a staggered roll-out of the diesel engine, even though it is already fitted to the Impreza, Forester, Liberty and Outback in Europe."In just two years we updated the whole vehicle line=-p. It's such big work for us," Tachimori says. "We launched the Forester last year and this is big work for us. We cannot do everything at the same time."He says the biggest changes for the new Liberty and Outback are the cabin space and body design, which were both focussed on American needs. The previous Subaru models were seen as too small in the USA and that meant a major change. "We discussed that we must look for the global market. We shifted the target to a global direction," he says. "Japanese people said the new Forester is too big, but it's not a big car in the United States or Australia. People looking at the new Liberty and Outback say they are so big, but the change is not so big.The height is a significant increase, and also the proportion. "For this fifth generation we changed our centre of gravity, moving to a global position."Tachimori also says Subaru went against the normal development flow by designing its Liberty wagon first. "Most car companies make the sedan, and then add the cargo space. We began with the wagon as we are sharing the car body with sedan, station wagon and outback. "We wanted a strong presence, especially with the Outback model. The packaging is a mixture of a sedan and SUV."Apart from the diesel engine, the big technical change for the new Liberty and Outback is Subaru's first constantly-variable automatic transmission. It has a six-speed manual mode and was done in-house because of the complication of mating it to the company's unique boxer engines and all-wheel drive package."Our powertrain is very unique and our problem is making a good transmission. We cannot have a transmission from a supplier," Tachimori says. "Transmission is always a problem for us. We had to a have a better transmission for better fuel economy, so several years ago we decided to make a new transmission and it will be CVT."The 2.0-litre Boxer diesel engine in the Impreza is claimed to achieve fuel economy of 5.9L/100km with CO2 emissions of 155g/km which is 20g less than a Corolla.It's no slouch, either, with 112kW of power and 350Nm of torque between 1800 and 240 revs, propelling it to 100km/h in nine seconds and a top speed over 200km/h.The horizontally opposed four-cylinder engine sits flat and deep in the engine well with a variable geometry turbocharger and catalytic converter mounted underneath for a low centre of gravity. Coupled with Symmetrical all-wheel drive, this improves handling and traction.Subaru claims the flat-four layout with horizontally-opposed pistons cancels out second harmonic vibration which means there is no need for heavy balancer shafts.Apart from reduced diesel noise, it also ensures a lively throttle response. The 1998cc Boxer diesel has an 11mm longer stroke and 6mm smaller bore than the 1994cc petrol engine. Cylinder bore spacing is reduced so the engine block is 61.3mm shorter at 353.5mm. It uses a common-rail fuel-injection system with fuel pressurised at 180MPa.The variable nozzle turbocharger ensures the correct boost at all engine speeds and placing it beneath the engine contributes to the Imprezas low centre of gravity, where it also connects directly to the catalytic converters, boosting environmental performance. 

The four-time national champion set the fastest time during a production-class shakedown ahead of Repco Rally Australia, which begins on the NSW north coast on Thursday night.Speeding along a dusty forest road south of Murwillimbah at up to 180km/h, Bates was quickly into stride with the Toyota Corolla his team designed and developed at their race base in Canberra to take to back-to-back Australian championships with Bates and Simon Evans as drivers.Bates clocked a time 1 minute 49.1 seconds in his Toyota Corolla, comfortably ahead of Norwegian driver Evyind Brynildsson in a Mitsubishi Lancer on 1:50.17, with Aussie youngster Eli Evans third on 1:50.8 in his Subaru Impreza. Japan's Toshi Arai, who leads the Subaru effort in the world championship, was also in the leading group with Australian co-driver Glenn MacNeal."That looks pretty promising. Testing doesn't mean a lot, and there are plenty of quick foreign guys who are still learning the Australian conditions, but it looks good," Bates said. "I'm very happy to have a few runs through the stage and to have the car running well. It felt very slippery at first but once I got more into the groove it seemed to be working well."Bates is one of two wildcard local entries, along with three-time Australian champion Cody Crocker. The Subaru star has graduated since to the Asia-Pacific championship and is just five points from claiming his fourth straight crown this season.Crocker clocked 1:51.5 over the test stage, according to unofficial times from the crews' co-drivers, but said there is more to come as he learns a car supplied by Tasmanian team boss Les Walkden in a late deal for Rally Australia."I've still got some things to do," Crocker said. "I'm just glad it's happening. It looked like we were going to miss out when our regular car from Indonesia didn't make it, but now we're here. How good is that?"Bates and Crocker are both hoping to upset the regulars of the world production car championship and believe they have speed, as well as local experience, in their favour. "I want to win Group N (production class). That has to be the target," Crocker said. "There are quite a few good foreign drivers so the pace will be incredibly quick. But no-one is fast on every stage so we'll aim to be quick and consistent." "I've got to beat Cody. If I can do that we should have a shot at the production class win," said Bates. "I also think it's fantastic to have Rally Australia back, and to have it on the east coast for the first time. It was a fantastic event in Perth, but the reality is that the east coast is where all the people live and this should give a huge boost to Australian rallying."REPCO RALLY AUSTRALIAProduction car testing (unofficial times) 1. Neal Bates, Toyota Corolla, 1:49.1 2. Evyind Brynildsson, Mitsubishi Lancer, 1:50.17 3. Eli Evans, Subaru Impreza, 1:50.8 4. Toshi Arai, Subaru Impreza, 1:51.3 5. Cody Crocker, Subaru Impreza, 1:51.5 

CHAD Reed can almost taste the victory champagne as he closes on an AMA outdoor motocross series victory in the USA. He rode his 450cc Suzuki to another 1-1 result at Unadilla in California last weekend, his fourth win of the season, and now has an almost unbeatable lead with just three races to run.CODY Crocker will come to Repco Rally Australia fresh from a dominant win in the Rally of Malaysia with Ben Atkinson alongside in his Subaru WRX. The Aussie crew continued their clean sweep of the Asia-Pacific championship series and were helped when their two closest rivals, Katsu Taguchi and Karamjit Singh, both crashed into retirement and left Crocker's team mate Emma Gilmour to follow him home last weekend.DANIEL Ricciardo is closing fast on the prestigious British Formula 3 championship after his fifth win of the season, this time at Silverstone, last weekend. He backed the victory with third place in the other heat at the home of the British Grand Prix to extend his series lead in his Carlin Motorsport-run Dallara-VW.WORLD touring car champion Andy Priaulx will be passing on tips to youngster David Reynolds when they share the Bundaberg Rum-backed Commodore at Phillip Island and Bathurst. Their pairing is part of the Walkinshaw Motorsport attack on the V8 Supercar classics which sees pairings of Garth Tander-Will Davison and Paul Dumbrell-Craig Baird at the Holden Racing Team, with Steve Owen-Shane Price in the Autobarn entry.Marcos Ambrose rebounded from his dominant form on the road course at Watkins Glen with a disappointing 35th place in the latest round of the Nascar Sprint Cup at the high-speed Michigan International Speedway. Ambrose could only qualify 26th and battled a poor handling car all day, although he is still 17th in series points.RISING star Daniel Erickson added a second, fifth and sixth to his results in the British Formula Ford championship at Silverstone last weekend. He actually qualified on pole position for the first of three races and scored enough points to be second for the weekend and is sixth in the series.CHRIS Wootton remains second in the Formula BMW Asia championship despite a disastrous weekend at Sentul. He was quick in practice and qualifying but had two mechanical failures before a seventh and a sixth place from the four races held in Indonesia. 

JAMES Davison drove brilliantly to convert pole position into an Indy Lights victory at the Mid-Ohio course last weekend. It was the second career victory for the third-generation racer and came at the same track where he scored his first Lights victory in 2008.RYAN Briscoe's snakes-and-ladders chase for the Indy Racing League crown took a slight slide at Mid-Ohio when he could only manage third place behind Kiwi Scott Dixon, who claimed the IRL record with his 20th series victory. Briscoe was also beaten by Britain's Justin Wilson, as Dixon moves into the championship lead with a 20-point margin over him.GARTH Tander will lead the Holden Racing Team until at least the end of 2011 after re-signing with the factory Holden team for another two seasons. He has been part of the Walkinshaw Racing stable for five years, winning his V8 Supercar championship with the HSV Dealer Team before being transferred to Team Red alongside Mark Skaife and now Will Davison.JACOB Smith, riding a Honda CRF 450, was the overall winner of the 2009 Australasian Safari with Stephen Riley and John Doble taking the auto division in a Mitsubishi Pajero. Smith led from the third stage and eventually took the overall victory from his brother Todd after seven days of competition that ended in KalgoorlieSHAWN Jamieson became the first 2009 title winner in the Shannons Nationals series when he took the saloon car crown in round seven at Morgan Park in Queensland. Matt Kingsley is on track for the PorscheGT3 Cup Challenge after his fourth straight round win as Lee Castle swept the Australian Manufacturers Championship races with his Subaru WRX STi. The Shannons Nationals moves to Oran Park next month for the last major meeting at the Sydney track.DAVID Brabham took another second place for Acura in the American Le Mans Series race at Mid-Ohio last weekend. He lost his shot at first place when his co-driver Scott Sharp damaged the bodywork while lapping a backmarker. 

…and explains why he likes to practise in an airport.