- 2,321
After reading about Evo magazine's Nurburgring challenge to buy and modify a car for 15,000 quid, I thought to myself that it sounds like a perfect challenge to get myself back into GT4ing after getting my new, fixed DFP back. Evo chose a BMW M3 GT 3.0 to attempt 8.00 minutes in but since I don't have that style of M3 to use for this ultimate time attack I had to pick something else. I limited myself to $15,000 for car and mods. This is my first Race Report so be nice 
and forgive my slow laps, I'm still getting back into the groove.
Target: 8.00 Minutes
Pulling up outside the dealership, I went over in my head my possible choices for a car. 200SX, an FC RX7, maybe look for a cheap VTEC Honda so I have a lot of money left over. I wandered inside, walking around, checking out the cars. Shiny new Integra Type-Rs sat nearby with their older DC2 shape siblings sitting beside them. I looked at a 1994 Honda Prelude with interest. The 2.2 VTEC was pumping out 197hp for only $7,000. A nice, grunty engine but I wasn't sure that it was 8 minute material.
I strolled past other attractive cars, a 1996 Nissan 200SX for $8,000, a 1989 Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo for $14,000. I even saw a 1992 Nissan R32 GTR. I thought I'd found my weapon, thinking of the GTRs tricky AWD system and the powerful straight six motor. Then I saw the price tag.
$16,000.
Oh well, there must be something here. I was looking at a 1985 RX7 when the salesman walked over to me.
"Anything I can help you with, sir?"
"Why yes" I replied, "What do you have for about $10,000 or less that would be a good base for a track car?" "I think I might have something for you sir, we only got it in a few days ago but I'm sure we can get it ready for you if you are keen on buying it".
He beckoned me into the back of the garage and I saw it.
A squat, silver sedan with gold wheels and a little pink badge. A 1995 Subaru Impreza Sedan WRX Sti Ver. II. What a mouthful. But what a car!
A rally bred AWD supercar with a powerful boxer motor. Those purposeful, not pretty lines only accentuated by the light metallic silver paintjob.
"How much?" I grinned at the salesman. "I'll let it go for $9,600"
"You got yourself a deal there mate," I replied "It's just what I'm looking for"
I signed over the cash and he handed me the keys. I fired it up and hearing that lovely boxer burble, I knew I'd made the right choice. However, I knew that without spending the rest of my $15,000, I didn't have a chance of cracking the 8 minute barrier.
Giving it a blast along the backroads, the 2.0 boxer turbo growled and whistled. It felt very powerful, pulling hard in every gear. The gearbox slid smoothly between the ratios. The brakes would pull me out of my seat when I stood on them. And the traction! Diving into a corner gave some understeer but not as much as I had expected. Also under power it would understeer but it did have an awful lot of grip and you would have to be trying very hard to run out of grip.
Pulling into my local tuner, I stopped to have a look at the tyres. The previous owner had obviously treasured the car since it was riding on some nearly new semi-slick sports tyres. My chances were getting better by the second. I pulled into the garage and headed inside. $5,400 left. What to buy?
I bought a new bottle of oil to change, a full length sport exhaust, a new ECU and a race-spec flywheel. Taking them home I pulled into the garage and got to work, wired up the ECU, fitted up the exhaust and stripped the engine to put in the new flywheel. Everything was in good condition for the number of miles on the odo so I put the engine back together and changed the oil. Then I got the arduous but destructively entertaining job of ripping out the back seats, sound deadening and upholstery.
The next day I headed back to the tuning shop and drove onto the dyno. Bob, the mechanic, whistled at the Subaru.
"Mate, that's a pretty wicked car" he said with a smile and a thumbs up.
I fired it up and got to tuning it, eventually coming up with an impressive 295hp.
Driving home, I was going over the 'Ring in my head. Tommorow the Subaru was going on a plane for the long trip to Germany so I needed to know what I was getting into.....
A week later, I stood in the parking lot of the Nurburgring Nordschliefe. Exotics sat left and right, Porsches, Ferraris, a Lamboghini Gallardo. BMW M3s also sat around either waiting for their lap or ticking quietly after a few quick laps.
I got into the Subie, fired it up once more to the tune of that boxer rumble, only enhanced by the aftermarket pipe. Only a few things are better at getting attention on start-up than a boxer Subaru and faces turned in my direction as I cruised onto the track.
1st gear, 2nd gear, 3rd gear. The Subaru ate through the gears, the new, lighter flywheel helping the engine spin up quicker, meaning that it spent less time off boost. Powering around the lap, I made quite a few mistakes, missing braking points and being off line. One huge moment coming around the last corner where the left hand wheels got onto the grass but thankfully it was caught and controlled with relative ease thanks to the sticky tyres.
Crossing the finish line I looked at the in car timer, 8:10.045.
Not good enough but there was enough left in me and the car to cut a lot of time off that if I cut down the mistakes.
A much tidier lap next time netted a 8:06.198. Still more left, I launched away again.
Carving through the traffic I cut yet more time off for an 8:04.168, the elusive 8 minute lap was so close I could almost smell it. Or maybe that was the clutch.
I didn't know, I was too close to my goal to devote thought to anything other than driving.
Once more around the 'Ring, exhaust note bouncing off the German forests surrounding the track. Faster than ever before, 8:01.618.
5th lap, I feel lucky. The car and I are flowing around the track as one, the tyres are hot and sticky and gripping like nothing else. This lap feels better than all the other ones.
As I power along the front straight the timer ticks off the seconds. And across the line.
7:58.790
I'd done it. A sub 8 minute lap in a very fast Subaru. As I pull into the parking lot to swap stories with the other automotive gladiators at the Grun Holle. One guy looks into my car at the timer on the dash.
"You're into one fairly exclusive club there, friend" he said to me with some fairly raised eyebrows.
I was proud of that lap, I know that there's more left in the car but I don't think that there's much left in the driver. I do know that I will be coming back in the Subaru to see how much a 7:30 will set me back, I reckon $60,000 more.
That's still a lot less than a Porsche Carrera GT though.......
and forgive my slow laps, I'm still getting back into the groove.Target: 8.00 Minutes
Pulling up outside the dealership, I went over in my head my possible choices for a car. 200SX, an FC RX7, maybe look for a cheap VTEC Honda so I have a lot of money left over. I wandered inside, walking around, checking out the cars. Shiny new Integra Type-Rs sat nearby with their older DC2 shape siblings sitting beside them. I looked at a 1994 Honda Prelude with interest. The 2.2 VTEC was pumping out 197hp for only $7,000. A nice, grunty engine but I wasn't sure that it was 8 minute material.
I strolled past other attractive cars, a 1996 Nissan 200SX for $8,000, a 1989 Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo for $14,000. I even saw a 1992 Nissan R32 GTR. I thought I'd found my weapon, thinking of the GTRs tricky AWD system and the powerful straight six motor. Then I saw the price tag.
$16,000.
Oh well, there must be something here. I was looking at a 1985 RX7 when the salesman walked over to me.
"Anything I can help you with, sir?"
"Why yes" I replied, "What do you have for about $10,000 or less that would be a good base for a track car?" "I think I might have something for you sir, we only got it in a few days ago but I'm sure we can get it ready for you if you are keen on buying it".
He beckoned me into the back of the garage and I saw it.
A squat, silver sedan with gold wheels and a little pink badge. A 1995 Subaru Impreza Sedan WRX Sti Ver. II. What a mouthful. But what a car!
A rally bred AWD supercar with a powerful boxer motor. Those purposeful, not pretty lines only accentuated by the light metallic silver paintjob.
"How much?" I grinned at the salesman. "I'll let it go for $9,600"
"You got yourself a deal there mate," I replied "It's just what I'm looking for"
I signed over the cash and he handed me the keys. I fired it up and hearing that lovely boxer burble, I knew I'd made the right choice. However, I knew that without spending the rest of my $15,000, I didn't have a chance of cracking the 8 minute barrier.
Giving it a blast along the backroads, the 2.0 boxer turbo growled and whistled. It felt very powerful, pulling hard in every gear. The gearbox slid smoothly between the ratios. The brakes would pull me out of my seat when I stood on them. And the traction! Diving into a corner gave some understeer but not as much as I had expected. Also under power it would understeer but it did have an awful lot of grip and you would have to be trying very hard to run out of grip.
Pulling into my local tuner, I stopped to have a look at the tyres. The previous owner had obviously treasured the car since it was riding on some nearly new semi-slick sports tyres. My chances were getting better by the second. I pulled into the garage and headed inside. $5,400 left. What to buy?
I bought a new bottle of oil to change, a full length sport exhaust, a new ECU and a race-spec flywheel. Taking them home I pulled into the garage and got to work, wired up the ECU, fitted up the exhaust and stripped the engine to put in the new flywheel. Everything was in good condition for the number of miles on the odo so I put the engine back together and changed the oil. Then I got the arduous but destructively entertaining job of ripping out the back seats, sound deadening and upholstery.
The next day I headed back to the tuning shop and drove onto the dyno. Bob, the mechanic, whistled at the Subaru.
"Mate, that's a pretty wicked car" he said with a smile and a thumbs up.
I fired it up and got to tuning it, eventually coming up with an impressive 295hp.
Driving home, I was going over the 'Ring in my head. Tommorow the Subaru was going on a plane for the long trip to Germany so I needed to know what I was getting into.....
A week later, I stood in the parking lot of the Nurburgring Nordschliefe. Exotics sat left and right, Porsches, Ferraris, a Lamboghini Gallardo. BMW M3s also sat around either waiting for their lap or ticking quietly after a few quick laps.
I got into the Subie, fired it up once more to the tune of that boxer rumble, only enhanced by the aftermarket pipe. Only a few things are better at getting attention on start-up than a boxer Subaru and faces turned in my direction as I cruised onto the track.
1st gear, 2nd gear, 3rd gear. The Subaru ate through the gears, the new, lighter flywheel helping the engine spin up quicker, meaning that it spent less time off boost. Powering around the lap, I made quite a few mistakes, missing braking points and being off line. One huge moment coming around the last corner where the left hand wheels got onto the grass but thankfully it was caught and controlled with relative ease thanks to the sticky tyres.
Crossing the finish line I looked at the in car timer, 8:10.045.
Not good enough but there was enough left in me and the car to cut a lot of time off that if I cut down the mistakes.
A much tidier lap next time netted a 8:06.198. Still more left, I launched away again.
Carving through the traffic I cut yet more time off for an 8:04.168, the elusive 8 minute lap was so close I could almost smell it. Or maybe that was the clutch.
I didn't know, I was too close to my goal to devote thought to anything other than driving.
Once more around the 'Ring, exhaust note bouncing off the German forests surrounding the track. Faster than ever before, 8:01.618.
5th lap, I feel lucky. The car and I are flowing around the track as one, the tyres are hot and sticky and gripping like nothing else. This lap feels better than all the other ones.
As I power along the front straight the timer ticks off the seconds. And across the line.
7:58.790
I'd done it. A sub 8 minute lap in a very fast Subaru. As I pull into the parking lot to swap stories with the other automotive gladiators at the Grun Holle. One guy looks into my car at the timer on the dash.
"You're into one fairly exclusive club there, friend" he said to me with some fairly raised eyebrows.
I was proud of that lap, I know that there's more left in the car but I don't think that there's much left in the driver. I do know that I will be coming back in the Subaru to see how much a 7:30 will set me back, I reckon $60,000 more.
That's still a lot less than a Porsche Carrera GT though.......
