20-mile-long convoy of Subarus to celebrate life of Colin McRae

This picture was taken a just a day after the rally legend was killed in a tragic helicopter crash near his home in Lanarkshire. Without prompting, rally fans from across the UK drove to Scotland to hold a memorial in the McRaes’ hometown, which quickly filled up with Subarus, most of them WR blue.

One year on, they’ve gotten organized. Next Saturday, August 30, Colin’s dad, Jimmy, will drive his son’s famous 555 Impreza out of Lanark and head for Prodrive’s factory in Banbury, southern England. By the time he reaches Birmingham he will have 700 Subarus in his mirrors forming an all-wheel-drive parade that’s expected to stretch over 10 miles. Then, on Sunday the 31st, another 600 scoobies are set to join the tailback as it heads to Prodrive’s test track in Warwickshire. Yep, that’s 1,300 cars in a 20 -plus-mile snake, powered by 5,200 horizontally opposed cylinders.

Although official entry to the event is now closed, organizers expect even more Subarus to show up on the day. Details of the route can be found at http://www.mcrae-gathering.co.uk

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VIDEO: Time lapse build of Subaru rally car over 800 hours

It’s no secret that running a motorsports team is a lot of work, but probably most of us don’t know how much time and effort it really takes. Just building the race cars can take hundreds of man hours, as evidenced by this stop-motion video created by the U.S. Subaru rally team. Starting with a stock 2008 WRX STI, the team strips the car down to its frame by removing the engine, drivetrain, interior and even the windshield. The complete transformation takes an amazing 800 hours of labor. Knowing that makes us cringe even more when we see one roll end over end.

Click here to see the video.

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Mackay WRX Meet N Greet - 31/08/08 9:00am

Monthly Meet N Greets are held so we can all meet up, have a chat, and even go for a cruise. The meeting place is at Supercheap North Mackay car park at 9:00am on the last Sunday of the month.

The next meet is on the 31st of August, if your keen to meet us or catch up feel free to come along.

We will be leaving at 9.15am, so come along and bring a tank of fuel and find out where we are headed on the day. Ill be bringing along my r/c wrx for something to do on the stops.

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2009 Subaru Impreza WRX: 265 hp, retuned suspension, STI tweaks

It’s official folks. Those of you that picked up a 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX have been had. The road-going rally rocket gets an update for 2009 and with it comes a retuned 2.5-liter boxer four-pot producing 265 hp and 244 lb.-ft. of torque - a 41 hp and 18 lb.-ft. increase over the outgoing model. Power will be sent to all four wheels through a five-speed manual - the only transmission available — with low-profile 225/45R17 summer tires replacing the 205/50R17 rubber of the 2008 model.

The suspension has been revised to include stiffer springs, uprated dampers, upper strut mounts cribbed from the STI and larger anti-roll bars fore and aft. The Aero package is no longer an option - it’s standard - and includes an STI-inspired grille on both the sedan and hatch, while the five-door receives the STI’s rear spoiler and underbody diffuser.

Impreza obsessives that ran out to buy a 2008 model might be miffed, but Subaru had to make adjustments to keep the WRX competitive, particularly with the Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart becoming a serious contender in the turbo’d sedan segment.

Head to the forum for the official press release.

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2009 Subaru Impreza WRX gets upgraded to 265 hp

A forum member at NASIOC has posted a corporate communiqué supposedly sent to North American Subaru dealers announcing the forthcoming arrival of the 2009 Impreza WRX. Two models are outlined in the release, the first, a new model dubbed the Impreza GT, will only be available with an automatic transmission and the 224 hp engine from the WRX. But that’s not the real news…

The 2009 WRX’s turbocharged 2.5-liter boxer will get a boost in output to 265 hp (41 hp more than the 2008 model) and will only be available with a manual gearbox. The ‘09 WRX will also feature an upgraded suspension (no details), an STI-style front grille, standard aero kit and a new grey wheel package, along with red stitching on the steering wheel and seats.

The memo also mentions the inclusion of a moonroof on models equipped with the premium package, along with some undisclosed changes on vehicles equipped with the ivory interior.

While owners of the 2008 WRX might feel slighted, it’s nice to know that Subaru is stepping up its game on the eve of the release of the Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart.

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Mackay WRX Meet N Greet - 27/07/08 12:30pm

Monthly Meet N Greets are held so we can all meet up, have a chat, and even go for a cruise. The meeting place is at Supercheap North Mackay car park at 12:30pm on the last Sunday of the month.

The next meet is on the 27th of July, if your keen to meet us or catch up feel free to come along.

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Subaru changes targets for 2008

Subaru drivers Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson will start the second half of this year’s World Rally Championship with the freedom to go flat out and win stages in an attempt to put the new Impreza WRC2008 on the podium through sheer pace before the end of the season.

Subaru World Rally Team managing director Richard Taylor revealed that the team has changed its targets since the car was launched on the Acropolis Rally in June, with the outfit now wanting to match performance with reliability.

For Greece and Turkey, the car was run in ‘durability’ specification, but from now on, according to Taylor, speed is the key.

“We needed to get the cars through Greece and Turkey,” he said. “We needed the mileage to see what the cars could do. Now we’ve done that, we want to see the cars going as fast as they can. We’ve been testing the performance specification of the car in Finland this week, and the results have been very positive.”

The developing WRC2008 will also features improvements to its weight, both overall and distribution, and some subtle aero changes for the second half of the year.

Taylor continued: “Talking about the weight and level of protection we were running on the car, you’d have known about it if you’d dropped the sump guard on your foot! You’d also have seen how high we were running the car on the last two rallies. This will all change for the next rallies. We’re taking some of the protection out of the car to get the speed up. That was always the intention.”

D.M.: Excellent, here’s hoping Subaru manages to get up on top in this years WRC.

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Prodrive sets up Essex police with 270hp Impreza interceptors

If you watched the first episode of Top Gear’s season 11, you likely smirked at the lackluster Vauxhalls that the British bobbies have to drive in pursuit of “the baddies”. But once in a while the constables in the UK gets something special in their motor-pools, like the Caparo T1, Lotus Exige, Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 and Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. While few officers have actually had the chance to drive any of these epic exotics since they’re used purely for demonstration purposes, the latest addition is here to stay: Prodrive has prepared a fleet of Subaru Impreza GB270s especially for the Automatic Number Plate Recognition Team at the Essex Police department.

Not only did Prodrive set up the vehicle for the team, commonly known as “The Interceptors”, but the 21 officers that make up their ranks received a day of special instruction on how to get the most out of their new 270hp all-wheel-drive speed machines.

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Mackay WRX Meet N Greet - 29/06/08 12:30pm

Monthly Meet N Greets are held so we can all meet up, have a chat, and even go for a cruise. The meeting place is at Supercheap North Mackay car park at 12:30pm on the last Sunday of the month.

The next meet is on the 29th of June, if your keen to meet us or catch up feel free to come along.

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Scientists create mutant bugs that produce crude oil

Is the price of fuel starting to get to you? Well experts from the company LS9, Inc. claim that they’ve discovered a cure for our fuel-dependency woes that only requires an army of genetically modified insects (read: industrial microbes)… that eat wheat straw and excrete crude oil (read: convert renewable feedstocks to a portfolio of “drop in compatible” hydrocarbon-based fuels and chemicals). You read that right: scientists have created bugs which are able to snack on woodchips or sugar cane and produce waste in the form of easily malleable oil.

Not only are the buggers capable of creating a byproduct which can quickly be refined into fuel for vehicles, but scientists say the process is carbon-negative — it outputs less carbon than is required to produce it. Director of the project — dubbed LS9 — Greg Pal says that barrel prices could run as low as $50, and that the company plans to have a commercial facility producing the crude in 2011. And as for the potential threat of a world-destroying attack from the mutant bugs? Says Pal, “We’re putting these bacteria in a very isolated container: their entire universe is in that tank. When we’re done with them, they’re destroyed.”

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