I suck at track driving...

But I didn't come last!

I entered my first ever "time attack" in my recently acquired bone stock 2000 2.5RS. We have a track near Edmonton called "Stratotech", which is actually a glorified go-kart track (takes about 1min 10-20seconds to lap). Having done all sorts of racing (rally-x, auto-x, stage rally), I did know what I was getting myself into. Also, running terrible general XXX tires didn't help. I mean, r-compounds would be worth 2 seconds on a 60 second auto-x, I'm sure I could have at least gained that much time on them... right?

In all honesty though, it was fun. I will have to take my Swift GTi next time as I think it would be much more "exciting" (and probably accelerate just as fast as the Subie) on the straights, but handle the corners much better. I can't really say if it is for me (probably not, rallying > everything), but for $80 its definitely a good way to get your E36 M3s and giggles.

Here in SoCal, some seriously fast hardware shows up at those events. Most, I suspect, are shop cars where the owner's trying to make a name for himself. I'll admit it was humbling to not be able to pass an Evo in Kimini, until I learned he had 500+ hp. The huge flames out the back on downshifts was nice to see though. If you want to run mid-pack, it usually calls for very sticky tires and tons of power, especially on the large tracks where top speed is a big deal.