Tony

yep, and you can pick them up quite cheap 2nd hand from the Toyota Racing Series guys. Usually found on Trademe all the time (and they're Michelins too).

Sorry, not sure who does Corbeau, but have you tried Racetech? A mate of mine (who is quite large) got some Racetech 4000XW (Xtra Wide). They seemed to be quite roomy.... might pay to give them a call and get some measuremnets to see if they are suitable (would most likely be cheaper than Corbeau too).

Last I heard its coming along nicely, and yeah he is going to make new headers to suit. Sent you a PM [quote name='Jonnysnow said: damn that thing looks like a weapon, what is it mainly used for? just normal track racing,hillclimbing or something else? I think its main purpose is Time Attack type racing from what I gather. There is a big thread about the car on Rexnet Australia: url]http://www.rexnet.com.au/forum/index.php?showtopic=119008[/url]

Ever wise? I dunno about that lol! I know of one that is in development at the moment, and that would be Jason Liefting's race car. He would be one of the best (local) persons to speak to about it if you were planning on a dry sump for a Subaru.

Aussie. It was on display at the World Time Attack last weekend. Was supposed to be competing, but the owner didnt manage to get it finished in time so just put it on display.

May as well post some more pics of it.... (Spot the Davebro in the background )

The skinny core is the oil cooler, intercooler is below. That pic doesnt really show it that well - you can see it a bit more in this pic

It does, but doesnt have any form of ducting to the actual radiator as yet (the Team Orange & Zen cars used the rear doors with ducts).... I think he is considering making some sort of ducting from underneath the car going up to the radiator and out the back... should be interesting.

One of the best GC8s I have seen - custom made carbon widebody: I have a heap more photos of it too Cant wait to hear how this thing goes once it is all completed.

and yes, the Ver. 7 STI rods can be used in your engine (they are far better than the anorexic factory rods you would currently have!)

The rears will bolt to your hub clevis, but the top hats have different hole spacing. You can just re-drill them or use your original top hats. Sorry, I'm not too good with what year is what version etc, but if MY03 is a Version 8, then the fronts will be okay but if its Version 9 then they wont work (V9 have different front upright with much larger clevis). Pretty sure the top hat hole spacing is the same for the fronts (if not, just do what I said about above and re-drill or use your original hats).

What Koom said. A Subaru is not the best choice for an actual* track car unless you are prepared to spend a decent amount of money on it to make it reliable and suitable for the conditions in which it is going to be driven most of the time. Bang for buck, you cant go past a Honda.... well, you might go past the Honda on the straights, but then the Honda will be passing you under brakes and around the corners * actual, as in 90% of the time the car will only be used for events (be it circuit or hillclimbs etc), rather than it being your daily driver that you take to the odd track day.

One of the local guys around my way has just fitted an R200 to his Ver. 3 STI. He made a tubular rear subframe to mount the diff, along with custom rose jointed rear arms. Used Subaru R180 rear hub knuckles, but got some Nissan drive flanges and machined the shaft bit down to fit the Subaru knuckles and bearing - so he can fit the meatier Nissan axles, and the stud pattern is 5x114 (so he can fit some 10" wide wheels). Still got a bit to go, but it is a long term project for him... sure gonna be a crazy car once its done So yeah, quite a bit of custom work is needed, so get friendly with an engineer if you cannot do that kinda stuff yourself.

Actual grid racing rather than dual car sprints. At the Taupo rounds they have 2 saloon groups usually - seperated by lap times. You will get 1 qualifying session and 3 races (1 scratch, and 2 reverse grid/handicap races). Averaging 15-20+ cars on the grid (from what I have seen). If you dont already have one, you will need to get an MSNZ national race license to do those meetings.

My rear guards are rolled and stretched quite a bit, but thats so I can fit the wider slicks & wets (with lower offset rims). With the 225/45 semis you should be fine, especially with the Ver. 8 rims as they are +53 offset so give better clearance of the guards due to them sitting inboard a bit more

Nothing is bulletproof when it comes to subarus. The actual gears themselves are strong though - you dont see many 6 speed gears them with teeth stripped off like you do with the 5 speeds... In a race car it is a common problem - the synchros especially... changing gear fast all the time beats on them due to the 6 speeds short shift. In the heat of a race, the red mist comes down, and you can get a bit over enthusiastic so tend to rush things and change gear harder than you would normally which can damage the selectors. These things happen unfortunately. In a road car I would say 90% of people will be fine, but there are some animals out there that like to gorilla-shift round town : But always keep an eye on the problematic 5th gear synchro... thats usually the first thing to go, and I have seen this happen with road driven cars that are hardly even thrashed! If you have the crunchy 5th gear, best advice is to bite the bullet and get it fixed sooner rather than later - as the longer you leave it, the more damage gets done, and the more expensive it costs to fix.

yep. The cause of my broken selector was due to the new gear knob I got made. It was a lot taller and moved the shifter up closer to the steering wheel. Unfortunately, this created more leverage, and put extra stress on the gearbox... so snap went the selector fork, right in the middle of a race :'( Now I have gone back to the standard gear knob after getting told off by my gearbox guy!

Actually, you could probably get the cover off without fully removing the diff from the car and taking axles out... just undo all the bolts which hold the diff up in place, and undo the driveshaft bolts, and then remove the GD diff mount thing, and lower the diff down on a jack. You should be able to get it low enough to get to all the bolts on the cover. I had to do this the other week (although for a different reason) and I am sure I could have dropped it lower to get to the top bolts of the cover... worth a shot anyway.

Yep, I have an extra 2 "back-up" wheels fitted with slicks in case I damage a wheel or tyre in a race. Those TE37s on Trademe belong to a mate of mine - VERY good price considering they are fully mint condition, but I dont need anymore wheels though!

I better keep a good eye on them then Trust me, I dont let them out of my sight for long! I have been hunting/waiting for a LOOOOONG time to get my stash of wheels (1 x set Enkei ES Tarmac 17x8.5; 1 x set SSR Type C 17x8.5, 1.5 sets TE37 17x8) ;D

I am using 17x8.5 rims with those tyres, they fit okay, but would ideally be suited to a thinner rim a bit better - like a 7.5 or 8" wide. I will be using 245/40/17 semis next, now that I have rims wide enough to suit that size tyre. Yes wide 17" rims in 5x100 PCD are not the easiest to find, and if you do find them , snap them up quick fast!

hahaha for "serious" track work, I use budget generic discs which cost around $100 each! I have had no problems with them at all, and my current set have done 2 full seasons (thats 15 race meets, a few club sprint days, and some track days/testing in between) thats with full race compound pads as well. If I could afford it, I would use the good stuff (AP etc), but I race on a budget so they suit me fine. Basically due to the size of the rotors (326mm x 30mm) they are large enough to handle the heat generated under extreme usage, but then again, this may not apply to all brands of "cheap" rotors, and all cars - my car is quite a bit lighter than a Brembo equipped factory GD so you would need to take that into consideration as well - but for the odd track day, I would say generic rotors will be fine.

97 Impreza GC8 (STI RA) 225/45/17 Advan A048, MH Compound

Hey Chris. Its not bad at all. It would just mean that they cannot get anymore out of that side, so it is set to its maximum. Both sides are pretty close anyway, with the left just under -3 and the right just over. That will work fine on your car. To get more you would have to get out the die-grinder and slot the upper strut mounting hole (down by the hub) a bit to allow the top of the hub to be pushed further inward. This is how I have done mine, and can get up to -6 deg if wanted!

Taupo Track 1, IRC Easter Thunder/NZGT Final: Me - 1.40.262 BT - 1.41.237