A Dream Realized.

MY04 Subaru Impreza WRX STi UK Widetrack.

Realizing the dream of owning and driving on the track with a childhood hero.

My love affair with the Impreza started like many back in the years of the RAC rally and 90’s WRC. Watching Colin Mcrae throw the blue and yellow saloon through the narrows and twisties of the worlds hardest rally stages at impossible speeds was utterly captivating. Fast forward a decade or so and Subaru had decided it was time to totally update the GC8 chassis to the GDB or ‘newage’ model. The first to see a rally outing was the aptly named ‘bugeye’, which at the time was piloted by, amongst others, Richard Burns. For me Burns took over where Mcrae left off, having now moved over to Ford. Burn’ Burns’ approach was no less flat out than Colin’s and he eventually won the overall WRC that year and cemented the latest evolution of the Impreza as an all time great. The newage Impreza was no less attractive in my eyes, the flared arches, the large bonnet intercooler scoop and the massive spoiler, basically every teenagers dream at the time. Roll on several years and Subaru was approaching the end of the GDB chassis with its final hawkeye facelift. The following GR chassis ended up as a hatchback, which at the time didn’t win many fans, including myself, although ironically my wife did eventually buy one with my blessing, sshhh! With Subaru initially showing no signs of bringing back the wide arched saloons I told myself I had to get one someday soon.

My WRX and my wife’s 2008 WRX STi Hatchback.

I found myself now having left school with no real direction but needing a job to get the funds for my dream car. I managed to secure a job working in a local bicycle shop which paid a steady wage and would ultimately allow me to fund a car. This wouldn’t be my first car though, at the time I had a cheap Fiat runaround which served me well, all be it when its clutch exploded on me whilst joining a motorway. My commute to work at the time happened to take me past a Subaru dealership which often had the odd Impreza parked outside of their service bay and sometimes a couple for sale in their used area. I decided I couldn’t take the temptation any longer, so one weekend I went to visit the dealers. At the time I had no idea if I could afford one on finance, being that that was the only way at the time I could clearly fund one. A talk with the salesman later and I was a lot more optimistic about my chances. The following day as I past the dealers I noticed a new car in the used area. A blue late 2004 WRX with gun metal grey alloys. At that point I knew once I had got to work I had to arrange a test drive. The following weekend I taken out for the test drive, grinning from ear to ear as the salesman planted his right foot on the throttle and takes off through the gears. In my head its sold already, where do I sign! And so It came to be, my first Impreza. Although I would have dearly loved a STi version, the insurance companies would not quote me happy at the age of 21. Never the less I was over the moon with the car and had realized a dream which had been in the making for over a decade.

Coppice corner at Cadwell Park.

The thing about modding a car is, well it can get out of hand very quickly. This was to be the ultimate fate of my beloved first Impreza during its lifetime, which in hindsight now I would have changed. However at the time for a young guy in his 20’s with his first performance car it was like trying to tell a child not to press the big red button, it had to be done. Remaps, coilovers, alloys, STi parts, exhausts and a turbo later it was time to move on, and now being closer to my 30’s with full no claims I could look at getting the real deal, the STi. After a lengthy search on forums and used car sites I managed to track down a low mileage, 2 owner model with BC Racing BR Coilovers, UK Prodrive performance pack and a Roger Clark Motorsport WRC spoiler. The car was completely stock other than the spoiler, Coilovers and the PP pack. The test drive revealed how good a properly setup OEM (ish) car could be and I had to make an offer, which was happily accepted.

I had been wanting to try a track day for a while and now that I had a properly setup car I looked in to booking my first. Cadwell Park it was to be, I’ve also heard it been called the mini Nurburgring for its hills, dips and narrow track design. Undaunted by this (having made friends previously with the barrier at the ring in my WRX) I took to the track and preceded to slowly build up the speed and confidence. Right from the off my overriding memory of the car is how well it handled. The tires at the time were some Yokohama Advan AD08 R’s which gave phenomenal performance, along with the the fast road/track suspension setup. Towards the end of the morning session I was gaining in confidence, so much so I felt almost on the edge of grip going in to Coppice a few times which is probably one of the faster corners on the circuit. I never felt scared though, even in that situation the car felt well balanced, almost 4 wheel drifting to the point where if it did break grip I felt like I could regain control without the need of an extra set of underwear. As the day went on I kept learning more about the track, car and my driving, also managing tire temperatures and pressure to get the best out of the grip. I have to say, the car performed faultlessly, and once the day was over it was just as happy to settle in to a 2 hour drive home. For me driving that car on that track (have driven others since) was a day I probably wont forget. Everything was right, from the weather, reliability to the performance.

As the years have passed family duties have taken over with the arrival kids. It eventually came to the day when the Impreza had to make way for a more child friendly oil burner. That being said I have thought now and then about maybe getting back in to Impreza’s in the future. With good early GC8 models now commanding decent money I’m sure it won’t be to long before the newage GDB models start to become more collectable.

Going over Mountain, Cadwell Park.