For SUBARU enthusiasts to engage in social cruises and activities for the purpose of exchanging knowledge and expertise.
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.
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.”
A group of rabid Transformers fans decided to get together in a field last year and form the Autobot logo with 100 cars. Somehow they found someone with a helicopter and digital camera to record the moment and its been doing the rounds ever since.
Now there’s nothing quite like movie hype and movie rumors about an upcoming movie that has a preexisting dogmatic fan base. Such is the case with Transformers.
The latest buzz: the title will be “Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen.†(There is a countdown timer on Michael Bays website for the release of the movie” That sparked speculation about the seemingly biblical Transformer origins, where a Lucifer-like character is cast into a limbo of sorts after defying Primus, or God. The cast-off Transformer becomes known as the Fallen, and allies himself with Unicron, Primus’ arch nemesis, the Transformer anti-God. Too much, perhaps? The Fallen also appears to be an evil Transformer perpetually ablaze.
Thanks to leaked memos and the like, speculation is also frenzied about the possible new vehicle/character entries in Transformers 2. While many community bloggers bemoan Michael Bay and the GM-based xenophobia, they also have been circulating ideas about “Arcee Motorcycles.†One rendering of the character Arcee comes in the form of a vivid pink Buell Firebolt.
How exactly any of these digital characters match their vehicle counterparts is a willful suspension of logic, but this Arcee might trump them all. At least the turn signals are identifiable on the humanoid robot.
Subaru’s Australian outpost is set to deliver a localized special edition Liberty GT (Liberty = Legacy) that’s been upgraded with a laundry list of components from the STI catalog. The Liberty GT tuned by STI makes 260 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque and will be made available with either a 6-speed stick or a 5-speed sportshift automatic. Brembos, Bilstein shocks, STI springs, a new muffler, lightweight Enkeis, and leather-and-Alcantara sport seats are but a few the features included in the 250-car limited edition, which is now on sale in Australia.
The first person to perform a double back flip on a bike has to have some loose screws. Fortunately, that quality has benefited Travis Pastrana’s medal collection, and his no-holds barred attitude has translated well from motorcycles into rally racing. Pastrana and his co-driver Christian Edstrom have won the Rally America National Championship for the past two seasons with their Subaru WRX. Now, after one event into the 2008 season, Edstrom has announced his retirement from the Subaru Rally Team. Pastrana’s spectacular attempts to perform double back flips in the WRX may have played some part in the co-driver’s departure, although he declared his desire to spend more time with his family and the need to put more focus into his day job as the real motivation behind his move.
With no lack of talent under its roster, Subaru Rally Team has pegged World Rally Championship winning co-driver Derek Ringer to step in and strap down next to the X-Games King. Ringer previously partnered with the late Colin McRae on numerous occasions, including 1995 when they won the WRC title. The new Subaru Rally Team of Pastrana and Ringer will see action this weekend at the second round Rally America National Championship event in Salem, MO.
At a press conference in Japan on May 17th, Toyota CEO Katsuaki Watanabe finally confirmed that his company is jointly developing a pair of rear-wheel-drive sports cars with Subaru. Each brand will get its own version of the car, which will be powered by one of Subaru’s boxer engines, though the engine’s displacement, power output and even number of cylinders is not yet known. We’re also not sure if the Subaru version will feature the brand’s trademark all-wheel-drive system either as an option or standard equipment, or whether Toyota might offer AWD as well in an homage to the Celica GT4 (we hope so!). The styling will most likely resemble the sketch that was published by Autocar yesterday, though we don’t expect one car to be a rebadged version of the other. Mark your calendars for 2011, which is when the new sports cars are scheduled to arrive. They’ll be riding on a brand new platform and be built in Japan at a new plant by Fuji Heavy Industries, the parent company of Subaru. Toyota also confirmed rumors this morning that it will be buying up more of Fuji, raising its stake in the company from 8.7% to 16.5%.
These RWD sports cars will mean a lot for both companies, as Subaru hasn’t offered a performance coupe since the slightly odd SVX, and Toyota all but abandoned performance models after the Supra, Celica and MR2 were cancelled.
This Impreza coupé will go into production in 2010. Pics were shot outside a test center in the UK (amidst white-out conditions), the camo-clad mule is sporting some body panels pilfered from the current Legacy, but with a Toyota emblem in front, a pair of Recaro buckets inside and a shrunken trunk, there’s little doubt that this prototype is more than just your standard sedan.
Joining the recently launched hatch-back model, it will allow the Japanese company to tackle the BMW 3-Series Coupé and Nissan 350Z head-on, as well as reach out to new customers.
The car has been developed as part of a joint venture with Subaru owner Toyota – the project will also spawn a long-awaited successor to the Nineties Celica. The Impreza coupé takes styling cues from the five-door model, but gets a rakish rear end. That gives it a chunky yet athletic appearance which stands out from the crowd.
Power will come from a choice of two engines, both employing the flat-four boxer layout for which Subaru is famous. There’s a normally aspirated 2.0-litre unit giving around 180bhp, or a high-performance 2.5-litre turbo powerplant borrowed from the range-topping five-door STi. The latter will deliver in the region of 300bhp.
For the entry-level machine, the Impreza’s four-wheel-drive system will be dropped in favour of a more lightweight and less expensive rear-drive set-up. That will put the emphasis on maximum driving thrills. But the more powerful car will send power to four tyres to harness all that punch.
The Subaru WRX STI has the speed and agility to be a track star, but on dirt, few machines on earth can keep up with the sprightly little screamer. The impressive little Scooby can scoot just like the last-gen model, but now it does it with a refinement the old model lacked. For fans and foes of the AWD pocket rocket, team Subie made a one-minute video tribute to the coolness that is STI. Hit the jump to view some seriously amazing jumps, flips, spin-outs, crashes, and power slides featuring the old car that concludes with the ’08 ride tearing up the tarmac. If you don’t want to go drive an STI after watching this clip, you may be dead.
Sebastian Loeb and Citroen had a comfortable win at the Acropolis Rally in Greece this past weekend, but much of the attention was paid to the race debut of the Subaru WRC2008. With Petter Solberg behind the wheel, the new Subie took ten top-five stage times the first two days and captured second place overall. The result was Solberg’s first points since February and his first podium finish since last year’s Acropolis Rally. The problem-free weekend and the fast pace were encouraging for the Subaru team, who see the new race car as a turning point. “This is it, we’re coming back!” Solberg declared after the race. The next rally in Turkey will determine whether the initial success of the car was a fluke or for real. For now, check out the pics in the gallery of the new SUbaru in the WRC2008 sliding its way to a second place finish.
Subaru World Rally Team principal David Richards says the development of the Subaru Impreza WRC2008 has moved to another stage after its impressive debut on the Acropolis Rally.
Richards said the team’s second place was proof that the decision to introduce the new car before it was completely ready was the right one.
“Many thought our decision to come here was risky but I’d like to pay tribute to the tireless efforts of our test team whose efforts have been totally vindicated,†he said. “We are now onto the next stage of development for the WRC2008. We’ve completed the first event, and the many lessons we have learned here will stand us in good stead for the second half of the season.â€
Richards also revealed that Chris Atkinson was running a different set up on his WRC2008 when he recorded the model’s first stage win on SS14. “Chris continued his development and testing of the car today and tried a few new things that proved successful,†said Richards.
Following his retirement with suspension damage on Saturday Atkinson was keen to prove a point this morning. But after his fastest time on the day’s opener, the Australian spun on the next stage and retired after damaging his rear suspension on a rock.
“It’s was a good to get the first stage win for the new car on its first rally,†said Atkinson. “We wanted to see what the car would do and it felt good this morning, which showed in the speed. We can be faster though as there is still more to come. When we get the package just right we’ll be a lot faster still.â€