stripethree

I did not want to sit out the third event of the Summer Series after doing so in June, so it was a game of ‘find a ride’ for this Tucson event. My first option ran into a power steering problem, and my second ran into a not-having-enough-tire issue, so knowing I’d be there anyway, I simply registered and figured I would find a ride on site. I got to drive an STU-prepped ’04 Subaru STI owned by one of our other board members and had a blast. The car has a good deal more power than the R32 but can certainly be a bit more of a handful. The biggest difference I noticed was that even with the feedback from the tires on the STI, which are the same Dunlops on the R32, I found it more difficult to figure out exactly how much grip the car had. The all wheel drive system is different and for autox, arguably better than the Haldex system on the R32 but it will bite you. Coming out of the U-turn on my second run I hit the thottle a big too hard a bit too early and after some theatrics from the rear end of the car, I ended up running right over the next two cones in the process. Needless to say that wasn’t my fastest run.

I ran quite well though; 47.925, 47.644 (+2), 47.028, 46.677; which was good enough for 10th raw, 7th in category, and 9th overall PAX with a 959. Seventh through ninth overall PAX were separated by less than four hundredths of a second! The owner of the STI finished a few spots ahead of me with a time of 45.917 and a PAX score of 974. In TOs I took a couple shots with the Subaru WRX that ended up with the top PAX time of the day. It was very different than the STI and required much more adjustment. The car is setup to be loose and I was not quite ready for it – I narrowly avoided taking out the timing lights while going through the finish nearly sideways on one run.

Hopefully I will be able to finish out the Summer Series next month in my own car.