I also plan to either upgrade or completely change the forum to a different layout, something that is a lot easier to view and edit.

Lars Martensson’s Subaru Impreza WRX STI concept – click above for a high-res gallery

It’s fair to say that Subaru has enjoyed a run of strong product in recent years, as well as an exponential credibility increase in enthusiast’s eyes, essentially ever since the automaker began shipping over the Impreza WRX back in 2001. Those considerable achievements aside, it’s likewise fair to say that Subaru has yet to well-and-truly crack the aesthetics portion of the modern carbuilding equation, having produced some daring (if ungainly) entries like the origina B9 Tribeca and a series of aggressive yet unpretty Impreza variants. And while we applaud originality, we think the folks at Fuji Heavy Industries could use a consistent design force, a man (or woman) with a mission that’s out in the public eye as something of a known quantity. Think: General Motors’ Ed Welburn, former Mazda-turned-Tesla wunderkind Franz von Holzhausen, former BMW lightning rod Chris Bangle, etc.

All of this is not to say that the man behind the WRX STI rally car renderings shown here has the answers, and these images come courtesy of one Lars Martensson (apparently better known on the interwebs by his handle ‘GRID)’, a man who spends his days crafting 3D renderings for videogames (Rallisport Challenge 2 for xBox, Battlefield 2 for PC). To us, this Swede has a handle on what the STI needs to be: Squat, mean, and purposeful. Okay, so perhaps the cut-down greenhouse wouldn’t leave much room for taller folks (much less a helmet), but if one of these were parked in our driveway, well… we’d happily squat a little.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.”