slcsubaru.com

^^^ain't that the truth. I miss being at the track. I'm going to try to make the next event.

Hopefully i will have my FMIC by the 15th

I forsee a radical transformation occuring over the winter with respect to my car...

You suck. You and all your badass mods....

This one should be free if everything goes to plan...

HUH?! where is my free frontmount?!!?!??!

I lucked out in a serious fashion (thanks greg)

Who is greg? i need screen names hahah

himynameisgreg. You really couldn't figure that out? But cobb is developing a FMIC for the 08 and they need a car for fitment and testing. Greg dropped my name and away we go...

sweeet!!!!

sick dude!!! now you need a turbo.

and a DP and a tune...

EDIT: oh yeah, and BRAKES!!!

^^^^^Agreed!

Nice little writeup

As for DownShifting/Heel Toe.
One thing that people fail to realize is that the motor can be used to slow you down just as much as hitting the brakes.
Downshifting at the same time as you are braking will not only allow you to slow down faster, but also to take a bit of load off your brakes. However you need to be careful when doing this, as you are now braking, downshifting, blipping the throttle, steering, and looking ahead all at the same time.

When braking, you also want to make sure that you are braking in a straight line. A common issue that I see allot of people make is going in to hot into the corner and use the brakes to slow them down while they are in the corner. This causes all the weigh of the car to shift forward causing the car to understeer. Only time that the brakes should EVER be used in a corner is to help you rotate the back end of the car. However with any 4wd/awd car, most turning and braking should be done before a corner, and even before the Apex you should be already applying throttle, proceeding to go WOT as you are passing the apex.

Hope this helped a bit on some of the subjects.

Kirill
RallySportDirect.com

ps. Driving style, and technique will also change depending on the car. A stock WRX will be driven different then a Stock STi, and then compared to driving a built race car. FWD is driven different then RWD and so forth. So keep that in mind. The Writeup is a good overall how to that is quite generic. Some things they tell you not to do is something that you actually want to do with a 4wd Car. Subarus are FWD based cars, so it will naturally have a tendency to understeer. Only way to get rid of this is giving the car throttle through the corner and allow the back end of the car to push you through the corner as the front tires are gripping making the car neutral. Now if you have DCCD you can mess with those settings, or if you have a 08 STi now you have even more

To make things more complicated, some Subies have a limited slip on the rear and open diff on the front, making the slip angle out of the turn a little less predictable.
The best technique I found for that is trail braking to rotate the rear a bit, 50% throttle to push the back out right before apex, then full throttle at apex to push the front a bit (due to open diff, the front tires will spin a bit while the rear hook up) and point the car out again.

My driving style has changed so much with each new suspension setting. That is why I find adjustability key to finding the right balance for you. So many people talk about a "neautral" handling car, but "neautral" is different for everyone. What I may find to be balanced, some may find to tail-happy, or nose-heavy. Finding the balance that makes you most comfortable is the most importnat thing in setting up suspension.

Every time I get back from the track I always think the same thing, "I need to sell off my mods and just buy a dedicated track car."

This is a very good point, but hard for many people to justify.
Unfortunately the problem with tracking your street car, is that
1) you will run into failures, anything from motors going out, to something as simple as overcooking your brakes.
2) Tracking a expensive street car is something that is scary. As a incident out on the track is not covered by insurance, so if you where to total a car, you would be paying out of pocket.
3) Dedicated track car is convenient. The car is only driven on the track, so you can always work on optimizing it and setting it up. Running high camber levels, not having to worry about switching out brake pads and so forth.
4) Dedicated track cars are typically cars that people can afford to crash and not take a huge loss. Crashing a STi that you still ove 20K on is not reasonable for allot of people.
5) However not allot of people can justify having a Car that they only drive 5-15 times a year. As you have to store it, tow it, and it takes up room.

However at the end of the day, nothing beats driving a dedicated car and knowing you can beat the car into the ground and not have to worry about how you will be getting to work the next day. As blowing up a motor in your daily driver is not fun at the track if you cant get around after.


Getting out on the track is one of the best things that allot of people can do. It will teach you car control, and to be a better driver. Another huge benefit is the simple fact that you get your "speed fix". After driving on the track, many people give up doing canyon runs, and racing around on public roads for the simple fact that it will put it into perspective that some people are driving way beyond there limits on public roads. When you do that at the track you have instructors to help you, and no cliffs, and paramedics/ safety personnel seconds away from helping you if anything where to happen.

As for track day cost, yes 150+ for the track day, tires, pads, and gas all add up. But its better then a 700.00 wreck less driving ticket, the chance of loosing control and injuring a innocent civilian.