I wanted to take an example today to illustrate the importance and value of design. TommyKaira is in the midst of a brand renaissance and are attacking quite a number of ambitious projects simultaneously. From their Prius to their GT-R, TommyKaira has been cranking out some incredible parts in the past year.

Enter the TommyKaira BM9 Legacy Complete Car. Aside from the first question – why even modify this car? The next logical question would be – How can they transform a car that most people would say is highly unattractive into a car that we could be excited to be seen in. And yet they prove my point and succeed against all odds… behold the power of good design:

… they’ve got an entire fleet of them–four new 2009 STI’s, plus four even cooler ’07′s raced prepped to the gills with performance parts from Vermont Sports Cars. The DirtFish staff does nearly all of the building and maintenance in-house, where the cars are wrenched on by the crew that doubles as driving instructors. And these guys sure aren’t afraid to get dirt and rocks in their handiwork–they took me and Rob for some hot laps on the course, and even let us carve some new ruts in their gravel pad during a little throttle-steer practice.

Holy crap, I’ve done some light four-wheeling in my Eagle, but throwing an actual stripped-out rally car around with total abandon in the rocks and the mud is a whole ‘nother world. Pushing a car completely sideways through deep gravel using mostly just the throttle to control its direction is a pretty unique sensation.  It feels totally brutal on the car, like you’re dragging it across a giant cheese grater–and let’s face it, part of the appeal of a school vs. torturing your own ride is that you’re not going to be personally responsible for patching the poor thing up after every abuse session. But the things you can learn under these circumstances, not only for competition purposes but as-applicable to daily driving and various kinds of sketchy road conditions, are pretty indispensable.

DirtFish offers one-day and three-day courses, plus a lot of corporate team-building events that get group pricing. Check out their offerings at the site, and take a look below for pics and video from our day at DirtFish.

DirtFish skidpad

DirtFish chase #2

Travis Pastrana sets record for Mt. …

Rally BDC Pat Richard FLIPS car and still WINS race!

Drifting in the Beach!

Brandon’s Badass Bugeye Subaru WRX

Ford Bronco

I really don’t know what Ford is waiting for. Seems like a no brainer to me.

See the rest after the jump!

Datsun 510

Nissan doesn’t need to do it, but someone does. Affordable boxy RWD sedan with a four banger. Someone? Anyone? Pic is of Brandon’s 510.

VW Bus

This seems like another no brainer. Hey VW, what’s the holdup? Pic is of Bill’s Bus.

Mazda RX-7

Come on Mazda, do the right thing. This pic is of Phat’s RX-7.

Acura Integra

Seriously, what is Honda thinking these days? I don’t get it. Pic is of Jonathan’s Integra.

Subaru Brat

The Baja didn’t cut it. Bring back the Brat!

Jeep Comanche

There were more rumors about this last week. Come on Jeep!

Porsche 928

There are also rumors about this one coming back, based on the new Panamera platform. Makes sense to me. And how about a new 944 while you’re at it?

Ferrari Dino

Ferraris are too expensive. Remember the Dino? They go for big bucks now but they used to be cheap (well, relatively speaking). Great shot of this silver 246 by Patrick Ernzen.

Lamborghini Miura

Lamborghini made a big point of saying they aren’t building this, but I don’t know why the hell not.