I found this site through some other blog that I read, and I must say that you absolutely HAVE TO check them out. They are all sattellite photos of the earth and they are beautiful. Check them out I say!
Link
Looks like I got some hardware for my 2nd place finish in STX this year! Matt went to the awards banquet and picked up my hardware for me. He finished first in A-Stock and knew he was getting something so I asked him to pick up anything for me. Funnily enough, I looked the other day, and if I get the STi as planned, I will be running in A-stock against Matt and Mike, the top two guys from this year. It will definitely be nice to be able to have a benchmark for my performance on the track, so I am really stoked about it now!
Someone sent me a link to the new Puma show creator and I made a shoe!
Now I just have to convince E to let me buy it!
Now I just have to convince E to let me buy it!
Last night, Jorge and I went out to test drive another car. This time is was the 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STi WRC homologation model. Mouthful? Yeah. In case you haven't heard of this car, (yes Bonnie, I'm looking at you) it is a 5-door hatchback with a turbo-charged boxer engine running about 300HP at full tilt. Here is a picture:
As you can see, it is a bit sporty. So we went out to the dealer to check this bad boy out and based on previous experience, I know that I need to check for size before getting Erin involved. First thing I did was get in the front seat, set it how I would most-likely drive it, and then jumped out and got in the back seat. It wasn't spacious in the 'I want to sit back here with another adult for 9.5 hours', but it was in the 'why don't the four of us go get dinner, I'll drive' kind of way.
So far so good. Next up is the trunk/hatch. We open the back end, and I have to say that I was a bit surprised at how small it really was. The pictures online make it look cavernous, but in reality, the floor is very close to the top of the bumper, meaning it is fairly shallow. There is however, the benefit that the rear seats fold down nearly flat, meaning you get close to 5' of 'trunk' space.
Ok, back to the important bit, the driver's seat. I got in and checked out the view, no discernible blind spots that are going to cause too much of a problem. At least not like driving a blind-spot-mobile FJ Cruiser. Mirrors provide a good amount of visibility, not too small, rear window could be larger, but whatever. Seats are comfy but firm, nice bolstering to hold you in to the seat and a suede center to really grab you and keep you planted.
I have to say that at about this time the sales dude starts telling me about the car and then asks what brought my attention to it. I just reply, 'I'm an autocrosser' to which his reply is a 'oh, then I'll shut up, you already know more than I do'. So refreshing! He just jumps in the back and belts in for the ride.
I start her up and immediately like the way the gauges sweep to their max position and back and then it lights up all red, just like I like. The exhaust note is not quiet, but not loud at idle, you definitely know this is no normal Impreza. The gear shifter is smooth, with a really short throw, making it good for quick shifts in the heat of battle. I check out all of the controls and now I'm set, time to roll off. Unfortunately, not having driven a Scoobaru before, I didn't know that you had to pull the ring on the shifter up to get it into Reverse and I stalled it by trying to start off in 6th. Oops. Oh well, roll off take 2. This time I get it in gear and pull out of the parking spot with nary and issue and then out off the lot.
I am driving it with throttle response in the 'Intelligent' mode to see how that is first and then figure I will check out 'Sport Sharp' or 'Autocross' mode on the way back. I give it a bit of the beans and it gets up and moves, but nothing earth shattering, not what I was expecting from 300HP, but I also shifted at 3500 to simulate daily driving conditions. In Intelligent mode the car is pretty modest and performs like any other car, not like the fire breathing beast that it is. It accelerates smoothly and I notice on my first few shifts that this is a seriously close-ratio gear box, 40 in 4th is about 2500RPMs, just shy of the power at 4K. So, Intelligent mode could be renamed Neutered Mode if they weren't going to run it by the Marketing people, it just takes all the sharp edges off the car. To tell you the truth, if this was all that was on offer, this car would be off the possible list right now, it's too 'blah', just like a lump of vanilla ice cream.
Fortunately for me, this vanilla ice cream has a bit of nuts mixed in...
When we stopped to turn around and head back I twisted the throttle response know to put it in S# or Sport Sharp mode and head on back. THIS IS WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR!!! Immediately the car is in a whole new world. The car is transformed from a daily commuter into a rip-snorting, striped-ass ape! I lay into it on the on-ramp and it G-O-E-S and quickly too. Power comes on strong at 4K RPM and it doesn't even start to abate until the 6500RPM redline, thankfully there is a nice little buzzer telling you that you are about to hit redline and need to shift or else I would have run it right into the rev-limiter. I run it through 3rd, look down and I'm going over 80 at the bottom of the ramp. What is odd here is that I did not experience the visceral thrill that I got from the R32 that I drove last weekend, it was fast, but it didn't scream it at me. On the highway on the way back I have it in 6th and just lean into it a bit to pass another car, it goes much better than when I tried this maneuver when in Neutered mode. Getting off the highway for the dealer I give the heel-toe action a bit of a whirl and they are nicely spaced apart, the brake pedal maybe being a smidge too high to make it perfect, but nice anyway.
Overall, I like the car, and I would like to spend a bit more time driving one, more than just driving it up and back on the highway. I want to see if there is a nice twisty road somewhere that I can see how it handles, or even a parking lot where I can go slow/fast around some really tight bends. In short, it is ready for E to scope out.
On another note, E and I finally agreed upon a time to purchase a car so that I can cool my jets and leave her alone. We are waiting for our taxes to be complete and checks received before purchasing anything. This will hopefully avoid surprises and make it possible for us to buy with a semi-clear head. It will also mean that we don't spend any money on a car before we go to Hawaii!
Gotta run!
As you can see, it is a bit sporty. So we went out to the dealer to check this bad boy out and based on previous experience, I know that I need to check for size before getting Erin involved. First thing I did was get in the front seat, set it how I would most-likely drive it, and then jumped out and got in the back seat. It wasn't spacious in the 'I want to sit back here with another adult for 9.5 hours', but it was in the 'why don't the four of us go get dinner, I'll drive' kind of way.
So far so good. Next up is the trunk/hatch. We open the back end, and I have to say that I was a bit surprised at how small it really was. The pictures online make it look cavernous, but in reality, the floor is very close to the top of the bumper, meaning it is fairly shallow. There is however, the benefit that the rear seats fold down nearly flat, meaning you get close to 5' of 'trunk' space.
Ok, back to the important bit, the driver's seat. I got in and checked out the view, no discernible blind spots that are going to cause too much of a problem. At least not like driving a blind-spot-mobile FJ Cruiser. Mirrors provide a good amount of visibility, not too small, rear window could be larger, but whatever. Seats are comfy but firm, nice bolstering to hold you in to the seat and a suede center to really grab you and keep you planted.
I have to say that at about this time the sales dude starts telling me about the car and then asks what brought my attention to it. I just reply, 'I'm an autocrosser' to which his reply is a 'oh, then I'll shut up, you already know more than I do'. So refreshing! He just jumps in the back and belts in for the ride.
I start her up and immediately like the way the gauges sweep to their max position and back and then it lights up all red, just like I like. The exhaust note is not quiet, but not loud at idle, you definitely know this is no normal Impreza. The gear shifter is smooth, with a really short throw, making it good for quick shifts in the heat of battle. I check out all of the controls and now I'm set, time to roll off. Unfortunately, not having driven a Scoobaru before, I didn't know that you had to pull the ring on the shifter up to get it into Reverse and I stalled it by trying to start off in 6th. Oops. Oh well, roll off take 2. This time I get it in gear and pull out of the parking spot with nary and issue and then out off the lot.
I am driving it with throttle response in the 'Intelligent' mode to see how that is first and then figure I will check out 'Sport Sharp' or 'Autocross' mode on the way back. I give it a bit of the beans and it gets up and moves, but nothing earth shattering, not what I was expecting from 300HP, but I also shifted at 3500 to simulate daily driving conditions. In Intelligent mode the car is pretty modest and performs like any other car, not like the fire breathing beast that it is. It accelerates smoothly and I notice on my first few shifts that this is a seriously close-ratio gear box, 40 in 4th is about 2500RPMs, just shy of the power at 4K. So, Intelligent mode could be renamed Neutered Mode if they weren't going to run it by the Marketing people, it just takes all the sharp edges off the car. To tell you the truth, if this was all that was on offer, this car would be off the possible list right now, it's too 'blah', just like a lump of vanilla ice cream.
Fortunately for me, this vanilla ice cream has a bit of nuts mixed in...
When we stopped to turn around and head back I twisted the throttle response know to put it in S# or Sport Sharp mode and head on back. THIS IS WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR!!! Immediately the car is in a whole new world. The car is transformed from a daily commuter into a rip-snorting, striped-ass ape! I lay into it on the on-ramp and it G-O-E-S and quickly too. Power comes on strong at 4K RPM and it doesn't even start to abate until the 6500RPM redline, thankfully there is a nice little buzzer telling you that you are about to hit redline and need to shift or else I would have run it right into the rev-limiter. I run it through 3rd, look down and I'm going over 80 at the bottom of the ramp. What is odd here is that I did not experience the visceral thrill that I got from the R32 that I drove last weekend, it was fast, but it didn't scream it at me. On the highway on the way back I have it in 6th and just lean into it a bit to pass another car, it goes much better than when I tried this maneuver when in Neutered mode. Getting off the highway for the dealer I give the heel-toe action a bit of a whirl and they are nicely spaced apart, the brake pedal maybe being a smidge too high to make it perfect, but nice anyway.
Overall, I like the car, and I would like to spend a bit more time driving one, more than just driving it up and back on the highway. I want to see if there is a nice twisty road somewhere that I can see how it handles, or even a parking lot where I can go slow/fast around some really tight bends. In short, it is ready for E to scope out.
On another note, E and I finally agreed upon a time to purchase a car so that I can cool my jets and leave her alone. We are waiting for our taxes to be complete and checks received before purchasing anything. This will hopefully avoid surprises and make it possible for us to buy with a semi-clear head. It will also mean that we don't spend any money on a car before we go to Hawaii!
Gotta run!
It's no wonder the current US auto manufacturers are hurting, after having driven one of their more promising vehicles, I am certain to never buy one. I mean, it started out ok, the Charger looked cool, but unfortunately, that's about where it ends as far as positive comments I have about this car. Of course the rental was the base SE model with a V6 and not the uber-cool SRT-8 model, but from what I have read, the only difference there is a Hemi, a body kit, and maybe a bit of fettling with the suspension.
Let's start with the interior. Whomever laid out the gauge pod obviously though that everyone driving the car was going to want it in bus-driver mode with the steering wheel as high as it goes because in any other position the only thing that you can read is the speedo and tach. In order to see the gas gauge or the engine temp you have to move your head forward and side to side to read each one individually. The dash is laid out with a bunch of cubbies strewn variously about the center stack and tansmission tunnel as if they were randomly planting them. All of the controls for the HVAC and the shifter are HUGE taking up about twice the space that they really need, I'm guessing as a way of using up all of the available space. Which brings us to the brick-hard seats that were available to sit on, yeah, that's what I wanted to sit on for a 9-hour drive.
Oh yeah, that brings up a point, did I mention how incredibly HUGE this car is? Pictures do not do justice to size of it. It is extremely wide, tall, and long. It was like driving a lowered H1 with an anemic engine and sloppy transmission. The engine really required that if you wanted to go anywhere you had to stomp on the accelerator and really rev it out, and then the transmission would ruin anything good that you felt out of the engine by shifting so slowly that you would lose 5 MPH between gears. No big deal if you are going 70 or so, but if you are leaving a light at 15MPH and lose 5, you had better hope the person behind you is paying attention so they don't run right up your ass...
But, the one gem of the car was the radio. It had an AUX input for an iPod and an incredible range of sound. I hope that whetever I get next has a radio nearly as good as that one, I was truly impressed with it.
but you know, one of the things that pissed me off the most about that car was a really small seemingly insignificant thing. It was that there was not anything on the seatbelt to keep the fastener from falling to the floor between the seat and b-pillar. The part that most manufacturers attach is probably less than 1/4 cent each and cost maybe 1-2 cents to attach to the belt, but that was one of the areas in which they chose to cut costs. Seriously, of all the areas that they could have cut costs, that has to be the single most annoying place to have done it.
So, rest assured, you will not see me pull up anywhere in my own Charger.
Let's start with the interior. Whomever laid out the gauge pod obviously though that everyone driving the car was going to want it in bus-driver mode with the steering wheel as high as it goes because in any other position the only thing that you can read is the speedo and tach. In order to see the gas gauge or the engine temp you have to move your head forward and side to side to read each one individually. The dash is laid out with a bunch of cubbies strewn variously about the center stack and tansmission tunnel as if they were randomly planting them. All of the controls for the HVAC and the shifter are HUGE taking up about twice the space that they really need, I'm guessing as a way of using up all of the available space. Which brings us to the brick-hard seats that were available to sit on, yeah, that's what I wanted to sit on for a 9-hour drive.
Oh yeah, that brings up a point, did I mention how incredibly HUGE this car is? Pictures do not do justice to size of it. It is extremely wide, tall, and long. It was like driving a lowered H1 with an anemic engine and sloppy transmission. The engine really required that if you wanted to go anywhere you had to stomp on the accelerator and really rev it out, and then the transmission would ruin anything good that you felt out of the engine by shifting so slowly that you would lose 5 MPH between gears. No big deal if you are going 70 or so, but if you are leaving a light at 15MPH and lose 5, you had better hope the person behind you is paying attention so they don't run right up your ass...
But, the one gem of the car was the radio. It had an AUX input for an iPod and an incredible range of sound. I hope that whetever I get next has a radio nearly as good as that one, I was truly impressed with it.
but you know, one of the things that pissed me off the most about that car was a really small seemingly insignificant thing. It was that there was not anything on the seatbelt to keep the fastener from falling to the floor between the seat and b-pillar. The part that most manufacturers attach is probably less than 1/4 cent each and cost maybe 1-2 cents to attach to the belt, but that was one of the areas in which they chose to cut costs. Seriously, of all the areas that they could have cut costs, that has to be the single most annoying place to have done it.
So, rest assured, you will not see me pull up anywhere in my own Charger.