Source Interlink Media held its Super Lap Battle finals at Buttonwillow Raceway Park’s Race 13 clockwise configuration today. All of the ink and paper outlets should have the complete story in a few months but if you can’t wait here are the dirty deets as reported by our boys at Everything Time Attack. It looks like David Empringham took/ate/slathered with hot sauce the whole enchilada in the Sierra Sierra Evo VIII with a 1:45.061. This is not too close to the 1:43.523 overall record held by Nobuteru Taniguchi in the HKS CT230R Evo VIII but an impressive time nonetheless for a car that is very much still in development.

The Sierra Sierra Evo is a bit of an enigma in the time attack world, like someone who eats their waffles with syrup and no butter (now THAT’S messed up). This car is built to FIA GT3 specs in a field of cobbled together tuner cars. On another note, this 8 will be retired after this season, as Sierra Sierra is already hard at work on an Evo X with a Cosworth built 4B11. Hit the jump to see some more good times from Buttonwillow.

Continue reading "Spoiler Alert: Super Lap Battle Finals Results" »

Ken Block will be driving a Ford when he enters the fray of the World Rally Championship, but apparently, he hasn’t burned any bridges at Subaru. He was signing autographs in their booth this afternoon, and as you can imagine, it was a mob scene. But I did manage to get one decent pic.

Subaru made a big splash at SEMA this year with the Ken Blocks WRX on tracks this year. Nevermind that Ken Block went to Ford… More pics and video after the jump!

Continue reading "Subaru at SEMA" »

But wait–you can only use it to haul really, really tiny parts. The rear-engined microvan almost disappeared amongst the porkier modern Subarus, but it was getting a ton of attention once people figured out it was there. See more pics below the jump!

Continue reading "Subaru 360 Parts Hauler" »

The Subaru folks weren’t wild about us taking pics and video in their booth this morning. You may have already seen the first video of Ken Block’s Subaru on tracks back in April. We’ll come back and shoot more pics once they’re set up.

Continue reading "Sneak Peek: Ken Block’s Subaru on Tracks at SEMA" »

It’s always great to see a forum catch a thief, and even better when the thief comes on and posts an apology. Just check out this thread at NASIOC.

Another incredible collaboration between Original Runduce and Varis! Much like the Evo collaboration that I blogged about earlier, the two companies are finishing off their Subaru Impreza as well! Again the concept remains to use the Varis complete aero kit (already released) and then to produce a new front spoiler design penned by Original Runduce.

I’m excited to have a look at this and the Evo at Tokyo Auto Salon 2010! Hopefully it will be there!

Continue reading "Varis x Runduce GRB Impreza Sti" »

I think the new Toyota FT-86 looks pretty good, but this rendering of the upcoming Subie version looks hot! Apparently the Subaru will be bigger, heavier, and come with a turbo 2.0 liter and AWD. More pics after the jump, and all the details over at 7tune.

Continue reading "Subaru Version of Toyota FT-86 to Get Turbo, AWD" »

With all of the blog talk on the Tokyo Motor Show lately, I just wanted to share my two cents.

Many sports car purists (myself included) have been disappointed by the massive slowdown of sports cars being produced. This slow down has been timed impeccably with the rise of eco cars, kei cars and overall cars that I would classify as practical and boring when compared to sports cars. As some of you can tell, I’ve been at times worried that sports car tuning is being gradually replaced with more “practical” and “eco” cars and the tuning that comes with them.

The trends have been validating my fears for the past couple of years and seeing my idol tuners like Top Secret switch new R&D to the Prius and Insight only brought that idea home more.

But I get the feeling like we’ve just reached a turning point for the better.

Continue reading "Hooray For Sports Cars!" »

We all know that Toyota teamed up with Subaru on its latest FT86 concept Jeroen posted about last week, but it looks like the rumored Subaru STi version of the car may be the one to wait for. According to Autoblog, where I found this image, the STi version of the car might be ready for the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show and pack a 250 HP EJ25 along with a rear-wheel-drive layout. I wonder if a turbocharged 300+ HP STi AWD variant may be on the cards too?

By Dino Dalle Carbonare

For those of you who can’t get enough of the FT86, there are some great detail pics over at ft86club.com. Thanks for the tip, Cameron!

Finally, here’s a first real look at the Toyota/Subaru joint venture and spiritual successor to the AE86. This light, compact RWD 2+2 is actually smaller than the Nissan 370Z. So what do you think? A few more pics after the jump. See the rest at Jalopnik

Continue reading "Toyota FT-86 Concept" »

The car belongs to Logan Schlegel, he has perfected the look of his ‘08 STi. He just recently added the Prodrive GC wheels in 18×10.5 +22. There is no denying this car looks good.

By Jeroen Willemsen

I’ve always had a soft spot for the VW Bug, and someday, I’d love to own one. Other than their uber-sloppy gearboxes—I think the shifter feels like a mop in a bucket—I’ve never had an issue with any of the little car’s characteristics. But I don’t think anybody would argue that it couldn’t use a little more power, and power certainly isn’t going to be a problem with this project. In place of the stock unit,this baby is sporting a motor from a Subaru WRX STi, and while the bodywork hardly looks stock, I think its  performance is going to surprise anyone who’s not in on the joke. Check out the video below for details on the build, and head over to StreetFire to watch it pull some launches.

I’m still sorting through all the photos I took during my trip to Seattle… believe me, there were A LOT. However, I thought I’d just take a brief detour from the Formula D action to showcase some of the cars I saw at the event, which really clue you in on how dope the Pacific Northwest cars are. I just don’t understand how people can sleep on the scene up there so much! All the big car magazines and media sites seem to only focus on Southern Cali, but those of us who have traveled all over the world can tell you that the Northwest has style!!! Tons of it. Let’s take a look! Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens