! The new Impreza WRX STI !

[komotar]

Two days I will remember for some time to come.......

Ok, here's the story. Wen't to the Adria Raceway on wednesday to a presentation of the new WRX STI, actually the presentation of the new Impreza. But with that we also tried out all the other models. The Legacy and the Forester. One of the first things we did was ate some snacks and then we went to the pit lane get in the Legacy's and we each had 3 laps + one for cooling on the track. To get to know it.



The we were told that a competition was going to take place. It was split in to three parts. The first part would be a night race with the new WRX STI's. The second part would be sprint between the cones on a huge parking lot. This time with the WRX's. And the third part took place on the track again. This time with the corners changed a little. Tighter corners with the cones limiting the width of the corners. They did that to 3 corners and the put a shikane on two of the straights. Again with the WRX's.

The best drivers would score points and the winner would be announced when the whole Subaru presentation would be finished on the second day.


First a few pics of the track. It's a prettey closed track. Not one really fast corner but very entertaining to drive.

this first pic was taken from an observing tower.



next three pics were taken from my room. The track has full hotel capabilities with a restaurant and stuff. It was prety cool sleeping in a room overlooking the pit lane and the track 8)




the tower






oops



ooops again, hope it wasn't a ferrari





from the tower again




We raced with the imprezas in night time.




During the training and the race ( against a clock, 5 cars on the track at the same time but with enough space between them ) we ate dinner and watched the other's from the tower to complete their 3 training laps.





The track layout. 2,7 km's long





My room. Some of thejournalist got much bigger rooms. I got this one, but spent very little time in there... Oh, and the TV had two promgams liked to two cameras. One showing the closed area with the cars and the other showing the track.






this was the only car we got to drive out of the whole closed Adria Raceway facilities. 2.0 engine with 160 hp. It hides them very well, I must say.




Before the 3 training laps with the STI's we had some technical education going on and then we wen't to test the Forester's "offroad" behaviour.










As most of you allready know from TT's Ferrari shoot, the pit's lead in to this huuuge "hangar" like area.



cars displayed there




Took a few extra pics of the red WRX.











Pic's of the STI's. The pics turned out much worse than I expected. I didn't have my usual camera with me, because it wasn't available. So I had to take a frien's Nikon. I couldn't make any good pics of the STI's whiole racing beacuse it was night time......but, the Subaru team had arranged a profesional camera guy and a photographer who did all the work and I'll be getting all the material sent to my office. So more pics to come and probably a vid in a while.

Oh, I also had a camera with me, and I'll try to go to a friend to make a compilation in a week or two.....






I think the white STI was by far the best looking.




The blue bunch. I was driving the car number four.



The Subaru team showing uss the capabilities of their 4wd system.



Oh, one more thing, Subaru hired a team of profesionals called Speed Control. The guys are former and current racing drivers. For instance one of them was driving the 360 cup and an italian version of the DTM and stuff. The other was an ex italian rally champ...... We all got a co driver to sit with us during the training and the race. And I was the "lucky" guy to get the raining Slovenian rally champ Andrej Jereb to sit next to me..........no presure at all. He gave me a few pointers and complimented my driving lines and braking points 8) That was huge for me, that being my first time driving on a real racing track and my second time in a STI.

back to the pics




One of the Speed control guys showed us the capabilities of the 4wd system.













the photographers I mentioned earlier




I love this pic. The cones setup in the background...







Every car was equiped with a camers. So we all got vhs tapes to pu in the recorder in the car so we could be videotaped while driving. 8)





Me before the whole thing.



Me standing on the right



Getting ready




Being ready







Leaving the scene



with on of the cars







After the race, they didn't tell us the results, so we had to wait till the second day to do two more "races" and after that...........and lunch we got the results.

The second day.

The driving between the cones.




and on a slightly changed track




There were 26 journalists taking part. Slovenian and Croatian. Plus 4 subaru people from Slovenia.
I was the youngest by far. And with very little expirience compared to others. Some of them have raced before. Rally and stuff. Some for many years.

I was fourth fastest on the track with the STI's, which blew me away. Honnest to god, I was hoping not to be the last and make a joke out of my self. When I saw my name, I was like, this must be a mistake.

I was second fastest on the parking lot with the cones.

And I'm prettey sure I was near the top on the changed track with the WRX beacuse I came second overall at the end!!!!!!

The third, fourt and fifth got a satelite navigation system.

I got a dvd recorder and the winner got a TV.

Oh, and all the journalists got a portable dvd player waiting in their rooms as a gift from Subaru.

Plus we got to keep the gloves and the "what's it called in english"?
Well, see the pics!










And an extra bonus. The Durango racing team was there trying out their Lancers. They brought four of them, compleetley stripped out.





Cool pic imo, taken from my room. Look at the front wheel 8)








Hope you enjoyed the report!

Especialy you Dingo 8)