Located on the western edge of North Carolina/eastern edge of Tennessee in Deals Gap, the Tail of the Dragon contains 318 turns in only 11 miles. No intersecting roads, minimal turn-offs, minimal room for error. For someone who has grown up in the mountainous Pacific Northwest, I was no stranger to hard, twisty ascents and descents in adverse weather. It is common practice for myself to go out alone and hit my local driving spots as hard as I can in my cars without falling off the road, regardless of the conditions. I prepared myself months in advance to be able to build up the confidence to take the unfamiliar terrain with an aggressive excitement. Though as prepared as I was; I was not prepared for what was going to come of this adventure. Several months pass and it finally came time for this PNW boy to take off for the east coast.

Waking up Wednesday morning to pack my belongings for an early non-stop flight, I said goodbye to my mom & girlfriend, as this would be the first time I traveled long distance alone, let alone flying by myself for the first time as well. From there, a fairly smooth 5 hour flight from Seattle-Tacoma International to Tampa International Airport proceeded. Never traveling to the east coast, nor to a very hot & humid climate, I was ecstatic for a new surrounding. I arrived in Tampa in the mid-afternoon excited for my chauffeurs to pick me up. The fun had officially begun as I heard a loud rumble flow though the airport loading area, as Ethan & Zach picked me up in Ethan’s WRX Wagon. We quickly packed up the car and exchanged greetings, excited to finally meet in person. 

We headed back to the MFortyFive headquarters, where we found CJ doing some finishing touches on his STi hatch. Not only was I meeting almost everyone for the first time, but this was my first time seeing all of the guys’ Subarus that I have been drooling on social media over all together for the first time. Between Zach’s Impreza 2.5RS, Ethan’s WRX wagon and CJ’s STi hatch, I planned on getting very familiar with these machines in the coming days along with our shop friends Keith, Chris & Mack, with Project Priime’s beefed up Euro rides.

Rested and ready to rock-n-roll, we woke up at the crack of dawn on Thursday to get the whole fleet together. This would include the MFortyFive Subarus, past-Limelight-feature Bruno Rivera & his WRX, Project Priime’s BMW 335i, MK6 Volkswagen GTI and Fiat 500 Abarth, (and later on in the week, North Carolina native and Instagram-friend Wes joined us in Fontana Village.) Once we all had coffee in our systems, we began our 10 hour drive from Bradenton, FL to Fontana Village, NC. One goal I had was to practice performing rolling shots on this trip. Since we would have an enormous amount of highway driving to do, I went to work at getting the goods over the course of the day.

After several stops to either eat, fill up or stretch some legs, we made it to Fontana Village close to around 11pm. Exhausted from the drive, but eager to get out and play on roads that simply do not exist in flat Florida, the boys and I went out for a little quick midnight blast down a leading road called the Moonshiner 28; a piece of road that led to the start of Tail of the Dragon where it intersects with US129. This was going to be my first taste of what these Subarus were capable of. I was not disappointed in the glimpse of the handling capabilities of the cars and the people driving them, however I was vastly surprised.

Waking up early Friday morning, we filled up with some good ole’ homemade breakfast food and began to get the cars ready for a driving filled day – however after breakfast, things got off to a somewhat rough start. Chris’s BMW was having a bit of a runaround with the transmission not wanting to shift gears until it was all warmed up. Along with CJ narrowly avoiding a drainage ditch, the STi did a 2-wheel motion and managed to pop some of the bumper mounts. Like many long distance trips with highly modified cars, we would have some stumbles, yet none would get in the way of us doing what we came to do.

A short time later, we headed off onto the Moonshiner 28 to get to the start of the Dragon, where we were bombarded with a spew of tree leaves freshly cleared off the side of the road; now brought onto the road from park workers. We reached the Killboy shop, the designated beginning of this insane 318-turn highway, and took a moment to get some goodies, take some group photos and make sure everyone was good to go before we embarked of the first of several runs. On my first run I had rode passenger with CJ and his wife, Ashleigh, in the STi. It was time for the boys to put their money where their mouth is.

We crossed the Tennessee line and everyone let it rip. CJ was leading the pack, and immediately I was astonished at how planted the STi was. I drive a GD Impreza, which most know is not really a large car, and to me the GR Imprezas feel much bigger. You could tell the car had a tendency to want to swing a little more weight around, but it wasn’t by any means going anywhere CJ didn’t want it to. Between the massive 275/35R18 Bridgestone RE71Rs on 18×10″ Volk TE37SLs, Fortune Auto coilovers and a plethora of other suspension bits; the STi was super predicable even from a passenger’s perspective. You don’t really get a good idea of just how intense this highway is until you’re carving corners and when precise driving cues scoot you down Tail of the Dragon quite quickly. Though I live in the Pacific Northwest, this road was a whole different beast.

After making it down to the end, we pulled off near the river to take a break, snap some more pictures and enjoy each others’ company. I was able to fill the boys in on my thoughts and how excited I was to get right back out there. On the way back up, I rode with Ethan & his girlfriend, Marybeth, in the WRX wagon. We kept it fairly calm due to other imposing traffic and law enforcement respectfully doing their duty to make sure people are staying safe and having fun reasonably. When we stopped for lunch at Tapoco Lodge I was quite ready for a warm meal. I usually don’t get car sick, but the Dragon definitely tested that; however I was victorious in keeping myself collected and rewarded myself with a tasty burger.

Once back on the road, we headed towards a more scenic route called the Cherohala Skyway. With some rain showers & cloud cover moving into the mountains, visibility became increasingly difficult, yet had a slight edge of fun while adding a challenge. We reached a vantage point closer to the highest point of the Skyway, where we got more awesome photos and some great views – however there was a problem. Over the course of the day, Ethan’s WRX had been starting to leak oil. The guys took some time to look over the wagon and found that the turbo oil feed hard line had cracked at the banjo bolt end, thus dripping oil every few seconds onto the turbo and uppipe. Keeping that in mind but not ready to slow it down, the group headed up the Skyway a little further until we found another vantage point where we rechecked the cars before blasting down the mountainside. This part of the trip came to be one of my favorite parts. CJ, Ethan and Zach were dead-set of sending it down without holding back, so I jumped in shotgun with Keith (one of the Project Priime cinematographers). Rocking his modified VW Golf GTI, he was ready to follow the boys right on down and keep it close. Since I had the camera out; I was able to capture some of my favorite shots I have ever taken in the time I have been doing photography. Keith and I were right behind CJ & Zach and it was nothing short of incredible. CJ’s STi may be turbocharged, newer, and had a massive amount of traction, and Zach’s RS being RWD, lightweight and dialed for cornering and momentum, they surprisingly stayed tight-knit. I watched and photographed the two embracing in the spirit of a mountain battle known as touge, keeping the tension all the way back to the Killboy shop & the beginning of the Moonshiner 28.

The run on the Moonshiner that night was the drive that separated the men from the boys. I was still riding in the GTI with Keith, while Chris & his 400+ whp 335i stepped up to the plate with CJ to duke it out all the way back to Fontana Village, where we were staying. This drive was some of the most precise & close driving I have ever seen up front. This was that next-level driving I didn’t realize the Florida boys had in them, I ended up recording the entire drive and looking back on that video. It was a “you had to be there to get the full experience” type of memory. I looked forward to the next couple days even more after seeing the the action that took place that Thursday.

We knew that outside of all the car action that we would take at least one day to do some sightseeing around North Carolina. The group packed up for the day and we drove a little over two hours east to Asheville. During that time on the drive there, I got to spend some much needed seat time in CJ’s STi. I never had driven a GR chassis Impreza up until that point, and I can gladly say that I am glad I can say CJ’s was my first. It’s a crazy fun car to drive with a whole lot of maneuverability. Meanwhile, remember that oil leak I mentioned earlier that Ethan’s WRX was suffering? We were now at the point of needing to address that issue along the way. Stopping in at a local Advanced Auto Parts; we grabbed rubber cement & exhaust patching, trying to see if we could temporarily stop the oil from seeping out of the turbo feed line. Alas, the quick-fix was not looking too solid. Fortunately for Ethan, he would be able to get into contact with a Subaru shop outside of Asheville that had by some unbelievably lucky chance, one single non-cracked turbo feed line laying around that was pulled off of another Subaru. This job needed to be done ASAP, considering we were on a trip within a trip 500+ miles from home. Yet before the shop visit would conspire, The guys were quite insistent on visiting a wild biscuits & gravy shop known as Biscuit Head – an Asheville delicacy. Hands-down the absolute best meal I had while visiting the east coast by far. I highly recommend this place for anyone visiting the area – they have a plethora of unique biscuit-based meals with all kinds of twists, but I need to remember this is an article about our trip and not our food. Continuing on, we spent the day visiting a couple of different tourist spots along with general sightseeing. Two places we visited highly worth talking about were the Sierra-Nevada brewery and the Wicked Weed Brewery. Up until this point, I never been to a brewery of any sort, so to see how they produce & refine all sorts of beer in the Sierra-Nevada facility was pretty sweet. However, if you love a great hangout spot, Wicked Weed Brewery is an absolute must! Great outdoor ambiance, games and drinks. After a few hours there, we stopped in at a local burger joint downtown where we ate dinner before the drive back to Fontana Village.

Sunday was filled with a whole lot more sightseeing & intense driving near the Tail Of The Dragon. We managed to drive the entire Skyway route this time around, being the fact it was a sunny Saturday versus a dark, rainy scenario like Thursday turned out to be up there. While we drove the Skyway, Ethan let me cruise the wagon. I will fully admit, I was not sure how I was going to like Ethan’s WRX. Between the aggressive fitment of -4 degrees of camber, 265/35R18 Firestone Indy 500 tires, and 18×9.5 Work CR Kiwamis on a stock-body wagon, I was quite unsure how it would handle. However, once I was in and driving; all of that changed. I felt completely at home & in-control. Since my own WRX has an almost identical interior, the car & I didn’t skip a beat. It was comfy and maneuverable like CJ’s STi, but didn’t feel so overbearing and intense, which kept it pleasant for the type of car it is. For me, Ethan’s WRX wagon was my “just-right” car. As Saturday began coming to a close, nearly comparable to the feeling of heading back to work on a Monday morning, it was a subtle reminder that we would be making the 10+ hour drive Sunday morning back to Bradenton, FL. After another Dragon Run; we stopped by the river to get some amazing sunset shots before we went back to the cabins.

After our last dinner of the trip, we were ready to go back out & drive the cars as much as we could before heading in for the night. At this point, all the driving I had done in the cars was on pretty mild roads. I was ready to hit the dragon, this was my time to shine & frankly one of the last possible chances for quite a while. Zach offered to let me ride with him up the Dragon and I would get the chance to drive the RS back down. I may drive a GD Impreza Sedan like Zach, however Zach’s car was nothing like my own WRX back home. I mentioned before that Zach managed to keep right on CJ when we drove the Skyway & the car’s setup explains it all. The RS is only powered by a 165HP 2.5L EJ253; the same one that can be commonly found in the Legacy, Outback & Forester, but this was not the point. Fortune Auto coilovers, rear-wheel-drive converted, sticky 255/40R17 Federal 595 RS-RRs mounted on 17×9 Rays GramLights 57DRs, rocking -3.8 degrees of camber up front and -2 degrees in the rear. These are only some of the modifications on the most modified RS I have ever driven, and definitely one of the most responsive GD chassis Imprezas I have driven as well. We reached an overlook up on the Dragon where, at almost midnight, we could see a sky full of stars that lit up the autumn night. The overlook was packed full of parked touge-ers fascinated by the view, while every few minutes a car went flying by into the dark on a risky night run. We took a little while to admire the view too – it also gave me the chance to reflect on the trip. Time was just about up & we were ready to go back down the Dragon for the last time on this amazing journey.

Zach handed me the keys and I hunkered down into the RS & got myself into a touge mindset. I followed the guys in the back of the pack & gave the Dragon all I had. Immediately I noticed the steering on the RS was much lighter than to the steering in my WRX, mainly due to the lack of CV axles to increase steering resistance. The car went exactly where I wanted to go, yet I couldn’t get over the fact that it felt much more lively from the RWD conversion than I thought it would, (just like Zach commonly mentions). The tight twists and turns had me working constantly. This was a big reason as to why I love this car so much – it kept my attention the entire time. The RS felt uncensored and raw, just how I believe the best mountain cars should feel. They should keep you on the edge of your seat all the way to the bottom of that mountain. By the time we made it to the hypothetical finish line, my adrenaline was pumping at a million miles per hour – I drove the Tail of the Dragon. I hadn’t felt this accomplished after a mountain drive in quite a while, and it was nothing short of refreshing and exhilarating.

Sunday morning came quicker than many of us would have liked it to. It was time to leave this mountainous driver’s paradise to venture back to the southeast corner of the US. We spent some time at the actual Fontana Dam to get some group photos, enjoy nature and to say our goodbyes to the amazing people we were able to visit with before we embarked on the long drive ahead of us. Throughout the drive back to Florida, we encountered getting split up by traffic, weather and mismatched directions, but eventually around 11:30pm we had safely arrived back in Bradenton.

Monday arrived and it was the bittersweet time for myself to finish out the journey home to Washington. The four of us had joined for one last brunch to look back on the trip, what we want to accomplish next trip around, and how the cars would improve before they would meet the North Carolina/Tennessee hills yet again in the Spring. My first trip to the east coast was a experience for the books, and I am absolutely blessed and extremely thankful for the people who made this trip fun, exciting, hilarious and special. Words cannot describe how much fun I had and I cannot wait to come back. I look forward to many more trips with MFortyFive, and hopefully one day soon, maybe the Florida boys and I will take some time to explore & see what the best coast has to offer.

For a truly awesome video recap of the trip, check out what Project Priime made here:

Thank you to everyone who came on the trip and made it as fun as it was! New friends and old, it was a great experience to say the least.

Words by Anthony Yastrum – @stiish_tony

Give everyone a follow on Instagram if you don’t already!

• @m.fortyfive
• CJ – @tryhardsti
• Ethan – @supwagon
• Zach – @momentum.rs
• Tony – @stiish_tony
• Chris, Keith & Mack – @projectpriime
• Bruno – @bruno_wrx
• Wes – @wesg713

The post A PNW Perspective: Tail Of The Dragon 2018 appeared first on MFortyFive.

We arrived at the Vancouver, WA Airbnb around five o’clock in the afternoon. A driveway full of Subarus and a house full of friends; we kicked back, relaxed for a bit before we washed up the cars and went on the search for food. After a big meal graciously paid for by an unknown guest at a local Red Robin, we headed back to settle in for the night. Minimal sleep & a lack of coffee lead to a snoozy morning. Nonetheless, we were all pumped to get to the show early at 7:00am. Like many years before, Big Northwest Subaru Meet is held at Portland International Raceway. The majority of us had entered into the car show, so getting in was fairly quick for the most part. This year around, the car show participants were placed down the drag strip, making for a nice backdrop for the massive amount of Subarus to arrive. From there, we were staging up and preparing for the all-day party to begin.

For some, BNW is the show where all the long-term projects, race cars and show cars come out of the woodwork. This is the type of show where you are bound to see something you really love – this year was not about to disappoint. A multitude of heavy-hitter companies came out to join the fun and show off what they had to offer. After my friends & I parked for the show and cleaned up, we went ahead to go look at some of the booths. One of my favorites is the Perrin Performance booth. Between sweet engine displays and showroom cars; they do a fantastic job at showing off their products. One of their cars was easily my favorite BRZ at the show! On top of the licence plate reading out “PEAR-N” (clever, right?), these Volk-Rays TE37SL’s with highlighter yellow decals really completed this car for me! Clean and simple, to the point.

Over at the Grimmspeed booth, along with previous Limelight feature Justin Chapman and the big-winged Crosstrek, is another show favorite for me; a built 2004 Blobeye STi decked-out with Grimmspeed goodies and many other track-ready bits. Seeing this monster motivates me beyond belief to clean up the Impreza that much more, along with finish up my STi headlights I have sitting in my garage. On top of that, the meaty track tires and wing hanging out in the back establish that this car means buisness!

IAG Performance had also made an appearance with a wild-colored 2016 WRX rocking a MASSIVE front mount intercooler hiding behind the front bumper. Next over, a full STi-swapped & bagged 2004 Forester XT that floats between form & function while still keeping clean.

Cobb Tuning & Surgeline packed some heat on their lineup. Fully converted Sedan-body and built to the nines, a 2005 WRX wagon with a full Surgeline vinyl wrap sits proud next to an insanely well-put-together WRX Hatch, with some awesome red accents to compliment the red big brake kit and flat grey metallic vinyl wrap.

On the other side of the Cobb Tuning & Surgeline booths, Oregon Subaru Club had a GC Impreza track car as well as other end of the spectrum; a lifted Forester on all-terrain tires, Anderson Design & Fabrication lift and had an entire camping tent that pops out off the roof! It makes me wish I would have had one of those when I owned my lifted Outback.

Subaru of America had put out an announcement a little while ago saying that they were going to bring out a Subaru even more rare then the 22B that would be at BNW. With what has to be the longest model name; the Subaru Impreza WRX STi Spec-C Type RA-R has come out to show its stuff. Well-equipped from the factory with Brembo 6-piston calipers, white 18″ Enkei’s, a special interior including Recaro bucket seats, body additions with lips, along with a spoiler and roof vent, and every STi suspension upgrade in the catalog; this Impreza is the full package. Right next to the RA-R, the iconic widebody WRC street car that is the gem of the brand for many enthusiasts; the Subaru Impreza STi 22B. Kept in prime condition by Subaru Technica International, the car looks as good as it did back in 1998. It is a car to commemorate a rally legend and Subaru’s back to back wins in the mid 90’s in the World Rally Championship.

After I picked up my jaw from the Subaru Technica International booth, I walked over to the other side of the event where some more local tuning, performance and service shop booths were located. One car I have been dying to see in person is Horizontal Motorsports Steve Hamann’s Legacy SS drag car. Big turbo, drag slicks, a bottle of NOS in the back and ready to hurt some feelings. One thing I enjoy about this car is in the interior, the old square dashboard has been swapped out for a more modern GD STi dashboard. This car holds a certain presence just parked, I can only imagine what its like when it is ramped up and ready to go.

I took some more time looking around, spotting a blobeye STi track car that Colonel Red Racing brought to BNW. Another local group, Mountain Roo, brought a lifted Forester on what looked to be 33″ to 35″ tall tires propped up on some boulders, showing off just how much flex this off-road rig had! Quite badass, if I say so myself.

After having some time for the car show to fill in, I headed back over to see who had arrived and was representing their builds. You look down the rows and see all sorts of various builds, leveling in track, show, off-road, classic, you name it!

When my friends and I were heading into the show originally, I had spotted a build that wasn’t like anything I had seen in person before. I came across what was a Colin McRae WRC Tribute Car build and it left me absolutely speechless; especially seeing on the display boards that this beefed-up Impreza started out as a crunched-up 1997 Impreza L! I had talked to the owner, Jordan Shaw, for a brief moment and learned that this car had a Compound Bi-Turbo engine setup that gave it an immense amount of power all the way through the rev range. Making somewhere in the area of 425-450 whp, I had scooped up his info to be able to look more into this beast later. I couldn’t possibly get all the details then and there, but this will surely not be the last we see of this car.

Making my way down the show, I took some time to visit with Chris Porter and his wildly-bright and show-ready 2003 WRX. I remember meeting Chris back in 2016 at BNW when the WRX had recently finished up getting its bodywork redone with a freshly painted Sonic Yellow body and fitted flares. Needless to say, the car has had some serious changes since the last time I saw it two years before.

After I had some walk around time looking at the rest of the amazing car show entrees, I was able to check out the autocross event they had going as well and was able to snap a couple action shots of Subies dodging some cones!

All in all, Big Northwest Subaru Meet was a success in my eyes. Between all the awesome cars, talking with various owners and enveloping in the community; it’s these times that I will remember and look back on for years to come. I look forward to what is to come next year, as with time, cars and other builds will evolve to the next level. I have faith that the next BNW will be even better and that the Pacific Northwest will continue to show why it is the Subaru Wonderland.

By Anthony Yastrum – @stiish_tony

The post Big Northwest Subaru Meet 2018 – Subaru Wonderland appeared first on MFortyFive.

From a distance, I saw a set of MFortyFive door stripes on a World Rally Blue bugeye WRX and knew it was our friend Jaden. It was super cool to see another homie repping the brand, so I had to go snap a picture!

After we got through the gates I was very overwhelmed – in a good way that is. To my left was the former 2015 Isle of Man STi, which was now modified by Prodrive to run down a bobsled course in the Swiss Alps, and it did – sporting some battle scars to prove it.

To my right, was a white 2018 Subaru WRX with Sharpie signatures all over it for a pet charity fundraiser that a donation was made to on behalf of every signature. We all had to sign the car, because who doesn’t want to write on a car to help out the doggies?

I started making my way through the energetic crowds to figure out where I wanted to start in the sea of Subarus. I ended up getting over to the Subaru USA cars, made up of an extremely mint hawkeye STi, blobeye STi, Impreza 22B STi, and a few other significant models. I couldn’t get over how cool it was to see a bone stock, out-of-the-showroom Subaru collection – makes me appreciate the owners who are satisfied with how they came from factory and haven’t modified them. Props to you for keeping and preserving a car that doesn’t have many clean OEM examples left!

I love seeing a car in person that I’ve only seen on social media. An example would have to be Renz’s 2018 Subaru WRX STi that was parked in the show section. Something about this car is just so appealing. Maybe it’s the not-so-common Work M.C.O Racing Type CS wheels, the stance, or just those factory highlighter yellow Brembos, I love the way this car looks – simple, yet aggressive. I ended up talking with Renz for a little, and hopefully in the near future we can link up again and get a Limelight article going.

I made my way over to the IAG booth while Ethan was talking with some folks and CJ was running around getting all the photos he can. I couldn’t help but absolutely drool over this Forester. Between the engine bay, the custom ‘15+ STi exhaust, the aero, and everything in between. An absolutely perfect Forester to shut down a show.

While walking around, we came across this World Rally Blue S204 STi clone. The one thing I could not get over was the interior of the car. The owner had real Recaro STi S203 carbon seats – the holy grail of OEM+ seats in the world of the GD chassis Subarus. I’ve heard these seats can go north of $7,000… Craziness, but I can see why.

Another car that I was pretty pumped to see in person was Graham Gaylord’s time attack prepped STi. If you are familiar with the Gears & Gasoline YouTube channel, they have covered a good bit of track footage of this car specifically at the Gridlife events, which we hope to attend soon. Graham is a very talented driver and does extremely well in the Street Mod AWD class and I’ve been rooting for him all year.

In the mix of Subarus, I came across a white BD Legacy which really stood out to me. The beautiful bronze Volk Racing TE37’s were a big part of that. Under the hood was a JDM EJ207 with a bunch of rare Abbey Road Company (ARC) products – I was really digging this thing and don’t think I’ve ever seen such clean BD before.

A couple hours went by and I realized I didn’t put enough sunscreen on. I grabbed my SubieFest goodie bag and shirt from the main booth and headed back to the car to fuel up on some water and reapply the sunscreen I desperately needed. As I walked back to the main entrance I was reminded of the autocross sessions going on by all the tire squealing. Ethan, our friend Drew, and I made our way over to check out some of the action. At that moment, I really wish I had my car with me. Autocross at an event like this makes a “car show” a whole lot more fun.

Subaru Rally Team USA was also present and not only did they start up the car, rev it, and talk about it – they even had a few team drivers go out on the autocross course and absolutely rip it. I’ve been to a few Red Bull Global Rallycross events and it’s always a treat to watch these cars go, but something about seeing it slide around in a big open parking lot was much more intriguing. This went on for 30 minutes on and off between letting the car cool down and switching drivers – I loved every minute of it.

CJ and I decided to go back out into the parking field, get some water, and look around to see anything cool we might have missed. Between the show itself and the parking field, I was extremely surprised to see how many new Type RA’s and 50th Anniversary STi’s were there.

With only an hour or so left to the event, we were all getting really tired and worn out from the high 90+ degree temperatures. The Midwest came in heavy with the Subaru scene and we were blown away. We met a few of you guys at the event which was amazing, and we know for sure we will be coming back to the Midwest in the future!

I learned a lot on this trip, but one thing that I can say for all of us here at MFortyFive is how much we truly love doing what we do. This brand is our passion. As bad as Ethan sometimes wants to sell his car for an E46 M3, CJ for an S2000, and myself for a Tacoma, we truly love Subarus and more importantly, the people who make up this amazing community. Thank you guys for the support, it’s been a long process but we could not be more amped on what’s to come for MFortyFive.

Ethan/@supwagon (Left), CJ/@tryhardsti (Center), Zach/@momentum.rs (Right)

By Zach Osborne – @momentum.rs

Click here to view all of our photo coverage! Photos are free to download, just please give us credit when posting!

FB: SubaruMFortyFive – IG: @m.fortyfive

The post SubieFest Midwest 2018 – More Than Another Car Show appeared first on MFortyFive.

This past year, we all were anticipating the 4th Annual 2017 Florida Subaru Mega Meet. It was a great opportunity for us, MFortyFive, to meet new faces and share the blog we’re all so passionate about. Since there wasn’t a 2016 event, we were very excited to finally have one marked on our calendars as something to look forward to. The day came fast as expected. We met up at a Thorntons gas station with our local Subaru group, 941Subarus, early Saturday morning to get everyone together in one place before heading out to the official pre-meet. After some shake of hands, chit-chat, sipping on Starbucks cold brew, and topping off gas tanks, we rolled out and hopped onto I-75 northbound towards Lakeland. Ethan, CJ, and myself always joke around saying “cruising with 941Subarus is never a cruise, it’s a race.” I’m sure several of you can relate, or participate in mobbing around town with your Subaru pals – just be safe, kids! What’s a Subaru “cruise” if one doesn’t break down though? Just that happened to our friend Mario in his heavily modified Launch Edition 2015 STi on I-75. Most of us were ahead of him while driving since he started slowing down but we didn’t think anything of it. We pulled off to the closest exit and waited for him at another Thorntons gas station (I guess we like Thorntons?)

A few others had stopped with him to diagnose and fix the problem.  Sure enough, twenty minutes later, we were back on the road and running late for the pre-meet. By the time we got there and got out of our cars, everyone was starting to leave. Everyone had to head out at the same time, since we had a scheduled police escort to the main event at Sun N’ Fun, just 15 minutes away.

The last Mega Meet event from a few years ago had an official pre-meet and a police escort as well. It’s pretty sweet being able to drive with dozens and dozens of Subarus while the police are turning on their lights at every intersection to block off traffic and letting us get to the main event together. The police escort ended and we pulled onto the Sun N’ Fun road, which connects to the main gates that lead to the airstrip. Oh yeah – Sun N’ Fun is a private airport, not a water park like we all thought for some reason. All of a sudden, just outside the main gates, another one of our local Subaru friends had some car problems as well. Unfortunately this wasn’t a quick fix on the fly.

The timing belt tensioner broke, so it wouldn’t be another quick twenty minute fix. He had a tow truck come and pick up the car, but he still stayed for the mega meet festivities. What felt like an eternity waiting in line (an hour), we finally made it to the main gates and were directed where to park the cars. It was hot outside. Thankfully they had the event in the winter (unlike most Florida car shows) but still felt like summer, minus the humidity and afternoon thunderstorms.

After pulling through the gate and getting our wristbands, the event staff had us park in a huge grassy field. After doing a quick-wax cleaning job on the cars, we were ready to start walking around and take in the overwhelming amount of all things Subaru.

CJ and my brother, Dan, grabbed their cameras, Ethan and myself grabbed some MFortyFive business cards and stickers to hand out, and off we went. It was 11 AM and we were already sweating – good thing they had FREE Monster Energy drinks to add to our case of water! I couldn’t forget my life-saving straw sombrero hat either. One thing that made this Florida Subaru Mega Meet a little extra special was the Subaru USA being an official sponsor. They brought out an authentic Impreza 22B STi, the new 2018 WRX STi Type RA, the 2011 Isle of Man WRX STi, and a few other noteworthy cars. The 4 of us were extremely excited to see those, so we made our way there first.

The 22B was glorious of course in all of its Japanese, rare goodness to see in person. The WRC-style bulging fenders, gold wheels, and World Rally Blue paint was noticeable 300 yards away. Even in a sea of blue cars everywhere, the 22B stood out from the crowd. Everything about this car was designed for one thing in mind – fun. If only I could drive one someday and experience all the magnificent things a 22B has to offer. CJ went off to take pictures while Ethan, my brother Dan, and myself walked around the grass field observing the staggering amount of Subarus. It was there we saw full on off-road/overland style builds, race cars, show cars, and everything in between.

A few hours later it became apparent to us that parking wasn’t being enforced when we saw owners moving their cars around to get photos of the surrounding areas. We had to participate in the photo shoot fun as well! CJ went and got some pictures of our friend Wigberto’s (IG: @stinkeyewrb) beautiful white hawkeye STi. I first saw Wigberto’s STi at Simply Clean 9 and fell in love ever since. (And so did Ethan)

A Limelight is in our future with this car, that’s for sure. I wish I could talk about every car that caught my attention at Mega Meet – but let’s talk about a few at least! One was Dirty Racing Products’ hawkeye STi Limited. The first thing I noticed on the car was the yellow headlight tint, giving off a GT-spec, racecar style appearance. While drooling over the car, the owner – Robert, walked over and introduced himself. Very nice guy and very outgoing! He talked to me and told me about the molded wide-body fenders, the extremely meaty fitment, the unique color, and several major bits and pieces that brought the car together.

I really, really loved this car. Another one that stood out to me was a newer generation Forester XT. The owner had ‘15+ STi seats, brakes, steering wheel, and whole lot more. The car won best Forester, which was well deserved! (IG: @geselandbirdie).

I also talked with him for a short period of time about eventually coordinating a shoot as well! While Ethan and I were walking around socializing, CJ was getting some photos of the exhaust competition that was going on.

Somehow Ethan ended up at the exhaust competition area as well, while my brother and I were talking to some familiar faces. I got a hold of my good friend Matt (IG: @mattshulmanbmx) and walked over to find him washing his car since he somehow found a hose next to a hangar. I called CJ to tell him to make his way over with the camera so he could do a full shoot of Matt’s WRX for a Limelight article. (it’s live on the blog, you should go read it!)

It was nearing the end of the 2017 Subaru Mega Meet and we were beat from being out in the heat all day. Thankfully, the sun was starting to go down and it was cooling off. We wanted take advantage of being on an airstrip, and it just so happened to be golden hour. CJ shot multiple cars including our own.

We were some of the last people to leave the Sun N’ Fun airstrip, which ended up being a really cool place for a car event! It made for some incredible pictures for sure. We milked our time by getting all the photos we could and enjoying hanging out while the sun was setting. It was 5:30 PM and we rolled out of the venue with smiles on our sun-burnt faces. We drove to the closest Buffalo Wild Wings to celebrate and end the day with some beer and wings – a fantastic way to close out an awesome day. Days like these are a huge reason why we do what we do and why we love the Subaru community. Before ending, I would like to say a huge thank you to Paul who organized the whole event – it was truly one to remember. But for now, time to get our cars ready for Boxer Takeover at the Tail of the Dragon in April. We can’t wait for the next Mega Meet!

By Zach Osborne – @momentum.rs

The post The 4th Annual 2017 Florida Subaru Mega Meet appeared first on MFortyFive.

If you’ve already read through our TougeFest Prep journal entry, then you know what we did to our cars to prepare them for all the abuse that came over the course of the next few days.  Typically, the preparation was done the night before the trip and kept us all up until 2 in the morning.  We left the next day, on Wednesday, November 1^st.  That day was particularly tough on me, since I couldn’t miss class that morning.  Right as soon as it let out, I rushed home to finish stuffing tools and clothes into the car.  I met up with CJ and Zach at the Shell station down the street a little bit after noon.  We all filled up with fuel and talked for a bit, and moved stuff around between cars.  Zach wanted to go and ruin his nice, comfortable car with his half cage and gutted back seat and trunk areas, so he was begging for our bags of clothes for sound deadening.  Shortly after getting some pictures, we were ready to hit the road.

CJ’s trip odometer was reset before we left, and helped us keep track of how far we traveled by the end of the trip.

My view for the next 11 hours, featuring my road trip essentials – a radar detector and a GPS.

Cruising along I-75 north, doing fly-bys every now and then to keep ourselves entertained.

Bathroom breaks and fluid level checks would occur every few hours.

Our destination for that day was the famous German mountain town of Helen, Georgia.  If you ever get a chance to pass through or stop by this place, do it!  It’s a very cool little town to hang around in, which is why the notorious Euro car show/party weekend, SoWo, was held here each May up until 2015.  SoWo 2015 was my first time in Helen, and it was a blast.  Ever since then, I knew I had to go back, and I was delighted to hear it was on the way up to the Tail of the Dragon.  It was roughly 585 miles, and took us about 10 or 11 hours to get up there from our home in Bradenton, Florida.  Once there, we checked into our hotel room at the Helendorf Inn, Helen’s iconic little German-themed hotel right in the center of town.  The first night in town only consisted of a quick dinner at the Huddle House down the street, and going right to bed upon returning to the room.

We slept in a little the next morning since there was no real rush, as we were only 3 hours away from Fontana Village, the mountain resort we were staying at for TougeFest.  The weather was perfect – the sun was out and the temperature was in the mid 70’s.  CJ, Zach and I decided to walk around and explore the town, since we didn’t get a chance to do so last time we were there.  We walked down to get some coffee and breakfast and take in the scenery.  Before we left, CJ was able to get some rolling shots of us on the bridge going through town.

It was time to head out and hit up the mountain roads.  Finally, some real driving!  The fun was cut a little short right away when I heard some horrible grinding noise coming from the right rear of my wagon.  I was concerned that my wheel was hitting my strut (with my alignment specs at the time, the insides of the high-offset WRX wheels were hitting the locking collar on my air struts in the rear, so I had to put on a 5mm spacer just to get the car to move.  Yes, I was running 5mm spacers on stock lugs on the tail of the dragon.  Not the most comforting thing.)  Since cell service was terrible up in the Smoky Mountains, I had to pull over and hope the others stopped too.  CJ didn’t.  We later regrouped and headed back into town, where we parked at a gas station to check out what the problem was.

Digging through all my tools to find the torque wrench while CJ parks his car next to two dumpsters to start working on it.

I took my wheel off to look around and found nothing I could see that would be wrong or making noise.  While I was wasting my time, CJ ended up taking out his clutch helper spring to improve clutch feel… and his entire axleback, “because the car wasn’t loud enough.”  To further diagnose my issue, I swapped one wheel with Zach, since he’s got 7.5” wide BBSs that would give me more clearance.  I drove a few laps around the gas station and the car was still making a terrible amount of noise.  At this point, I was feeling pretty stupid and annoyed as you can imagine.  Of course the wheel won’t get any closer or farther from the strut while the car moves, but I just could not find the problem.  Turns out it was something to do with my rear brakes.  Whatever, the car still stopped.  Daylight was running out at this point and we needed to get moving.  We headed to one of our favorite roads in the area, the Richard B Russell scenic highway.  There’s one little overlook spot where you can see mountains and trees for miles, and the view was stunning in the Fall.  So naturally, we parked our cars in front of the beautiful view and took some photos.  We were actually getting cell service too, so we hung out for a little before leaving again.

The roads everywhere around the Smoky Mountains are a blast, as you can imagine.  No major cities or heavy traffic, just mountain highways and rural little towns every now and then.  Once we were about an hour away, we stopped at a Walmart to get groceries and all of that stuff.  When we came out, some local kids were hanging out around their cars across from ours.  They complimented our cars and asked us a little bit about them as we loaded up all of our groceries.  Looking back on it, that was the third time someone has come up to us while we were all parked together to ask or talk about our cars, or even Subarus in general during the trip.  It was kind of funny to us, but we always love talking to others about cars anyway.  Before this, it was a rest stop attendant and then a construction worker at the Helendorf Inn back in Helen.  That goes to show that Subarus definitely stick out to some people.

We showed up in Fontana Village, North Carolina around 9 PM.  It was dark, we made wrong turns, got confused when the GPS lost signal, and we were exhausted.  What was supposed to be a 3 hour drive turned into an all-day ordeal thanks to the random hold ups we had throughout the day.  The roads leading up to Fontana Village were awesome though.  The “Moonshiner 28” goes right through the mountain resort and leads up to the beginning of the Tail of the Dragon at Deals Gap.  The Moonshiner 28 is probably our favorite road, since it takes about 15 minutes each direction, and is equally high speed as it is tight and technical.

Our cabin was the perfect size for us, and much better than the last time we spent up there.  I got a bedroom, CJ got a bedroom, and Zach was left with the couch in the living room.  We had a full kitchen too, where CJ would cook us some awesome food for breakfast and dinner.  It was a bit of a struggle parking the cars in absolute darkness, but we crossed our fingers that they wouldn’t roll down the hill overnight.  We unpacked and started to relax with some beer out on the front porch.  It was nice to finally start enjoying the Smoky Mountains.

The next morning we were in awe over all the colors outside.  The leaves were changing colors, and everywhere we looked we saw reds, oranges and yellows.  This scenery made for the perfect backdrops in our photos.  Plus, it was actually kind of cold!  It was so refreshing to be out of the miserable Florida heat for a long weekend.  We didn’t waste any time on the first day.  CJ made some breakfast burritos and started shooting the cars outside the cabin right after we finished eating.  We all got ready and came up with a plan for the day.  It was now Friday, November 3^rd and people would start showing up for TougeFest soon, so today was going to be our photo day.

We set out into the mountains, all wearing MFortyFive shirts and rocking our new door stripes on each of our cars.  It was our first out-of-state event, and we wanted to make the most of it for the blog, and to hopefully spread the word about us a little more.  Not going to lie, our cars looked pretty cool rolling around together.

We started off on the Moonshiner 28 until we got to a little pull-off area next to the river for a photoshoot.  It was here where we met a couple guys from Tennessee in a 700+hp twin-turbo 370z that looked completely stock.  We talked to them for a good 30 minutes while CJ was shooting our cars.  I love car enthusiasts because you could talk to them for hours about their car, your car, or any car either one of you are interested in.

No, the marks aren’t from us.  Our cars aren’t that powerful.

Next on our list was to hit the Killboy shop at Deals Gap, where the Tail of the Dragon starts.  It’s always packed with other people who were going out to make a run on the Dragon or who had just gotten back and taking a break.  Zach and I ended up buying some stickers and a TougeFest sign to remember the trip by.  We met a couple other Subaru guys outside and hung out for a little before making our much-anticipated first run on the Dragon.

The Tail of the Dragon is one of the best and well-known driving roads in the country.  The “official” Tail of the Dragon is an 11-mile section made up of 318 curves on US Highway 129, starting at the western edge of North Carolina and continuing into eastern Tennesee.  It is hugely popular with motorcyclists, as it is a very intense road with tight turns and beautiful scenery.  There are also dozens of car events held in the area that draw in more and more people every year, which is what attracted us to the area.  The Tail of the Dragon has claimed several lives over the years since it is a narrow road with trees everywhere, paired with the steep drop-offs and lack of guardrails.  One must know their limits if planning on making a run down the Dragon.  Luckily, we’ve had some experience on this road, so we set up our GoPros and got moving!

I could go on all day about this road.  Such an exhilarating experience being in “full racecar mode” with friends on the Tail of the Dragon.  2^nd to 3^rd and 3^rd to 2^nd shifts left and right, even with the occasional 3^rd to 4^th on those higher speed sections.  Windows down to soak up the fresh mountain air and exhaust gases from the catless and E85 cars ahead of you.  Feeling the car struggle to keep traction while taking a turn at the top of 2^nd gear, then slam it into 3^rd on your way out.  Hearing those aggressive exhaust notes and pops all throughout the RPM range nonstop.  It’s truly addicting for any car enthusiast.

Letting the engines and brakes cool after the first Dragon run.

Our goal for the first full day at the Tail of the Dragon was to get plenty of photos in several different spots.  We remembered a few scenic areas that would be perfect for a shoot.  One of them was just after the end of the Dragon next to the Little Tennessee river.  This was a little hangout/resting spot for us both times we were up there.  It’s nice because you can just pull off the road, enjoy the view, watch other cars go by, and get some awesome rolling shots as well.

Watching in suspense as Zach almost takes CJ’s lip off.

The next spot on our list was the Chilhowee dam, which we actually stumbled upon by accident.  We were looking for the Foothills Parkway, a higher speed-type scenic road with long, sweeping corners and several pull offs to take in the views.  We missed our turn and kept going west on highway 129 until we saw the dam.  We had to stop, since it was such an awesome spot to shoot.  CJ worked his magic with the camera for over an hour, getting tons of shots from all kinds of cool angles.  After this, we headed out towards the Foothills Parkway – mainly because it was one of the only spots around with cell phone service.

An awesome shot of Zach’s RS from high above on top of the Chilhowee dam.

“Please don’t talk to me right now, I’m really in the zone.” – actual quote from CJ.

Like I said previously, the Foothills Parkway is a nice, pleasant, stress-free drive through the trees.  It’s a scenic route with several pull-offs to park and enjoy the view.  We stopped at a couple along the way, trying to check for cell service (Zach and I had some online homework we needed to do), and kept going when we couldn’t find any.  Though there was one pull-off we HAD to stop at.  There was a sweet Legacy GT Spec B parked there next to a 2016 STi.  If you don’t know by now, I have a thing for Spec Bs.  We waited around for the owners, but never got to meet them.  We did, however, check out the amazing view of the Smoky Mountains.

CJ and I sharing a moment together while taking in the view.

A little bit further up was “our spot”.  A nice, big pull-off area with not much of a view, so there wasn’t anyone else parked there.  We had parked here the last time we were here, and knew there was cell service.  So, we parked in a little circle, broke out the computers and got to work.  CJ was doing some photo editing while Zach and I tried to finish our homework before our batteries died.  After about an hour, it started to rain a little bit and was getting a little darker out, so we were pretty much ready to head back out.

Nothing too eventful happened the rest of the first day; we drove back up the Tail of the Dragon from the Tennessee side, ripped back down the Moonshiner 28, got back to the cabin with most of our energy drained and got some amazing food at the restaurant on the Fontana Village property.  They had some really great burgers and beer, by the way.  While eating, we got the itch to do another night run down Moonshiner 28.  It’s such a fun road, and we wanted some excitement to wake back up.  We got in our cars and went back out around 11 PM and made the first run from the riverside pull-off to the gas station at Deals Gap, a popular resting/meet up place for drivers after Dragon runs at night.  We got there in about 15 minutes, parked the cars and talked about how they handle for us in the curves.  This led to us swapping cars on the drive back to the pull-off.  I drove CJ’s STi, Zach drove my wagon, and CJ drove Zach’s RS.  Once back, we swapped again and I drove Zach’s, CJ drove mine, and Zach drove CJ’s.  It was very cool experiencing each of their cars and comparing them to mine.  Zach’s car, being NA, was amazingly fun since you could floor it and run through the RPMs constantly without going too fast for the turns.  CJ’s STi was awesome as well, the grippy 265/40 Hankooks glued the car to the road, and the shifting and power delivery felt great with his 6-speed.  After a couple more runs, we decided to head back and get some rest before we go out exploring the next day.  Of course, we partied a little bit before going to sleep though!

The plan for the next day was to hit the famous Cherohala Skyway.  It’s supposed to be one of the more scenic roads in the area, and I’ve heard it’s just as fun as the Dragon, but faster.  This would be an all-day trip, so we wanted to make sure we had time.  It would take us several hours to complete the whole route, plus the occasional break and photoshoot.  The route we took was basically a big loop that started at Deals Gap, only instead of turning north to go up the Dragon, you turn to the south and head towards Robbinsville, North Carolina.  The popular gas station was down this way, so we were familiar with the first section already.  About half an hour past the gas station, we entered the Skyway.

A quick break near the start of the Cherohala Skyway.

The Cherohala Skyway is a beautiful and exciting scenic route up through the tops of one of the mountain ridges.  Because of this, there was a bit of traffic from the sightseers.  We’d be having fun carving the corners in the tight, technical sections, and all of a sudden have to slow down dramatically because someone in front of us would be going 10 mph under the speed limit.  Every time this happened, we just passed them when possible and carried on.  The road had some pretty drastic elevation change, which was a challenge for Zach’s RS when going up a steep incline.  We’d stop at a few overlooks to see if they’d make a good photoshoot spot, but settled on a little stretch of road after an overlook instead.  We took a little break, let the cars cool off, ate some food and planned out where we’d get some pictures.  CJ stood out on the road and we started getting some rolling shots coming around a corner, which turned out pretty awesome.

Leaves.  So many leaves.  Every stop we took we had to pick dozens of them out from the front of our cars.

After we got what we needed, we headed back out on the Skyway.  We were towards the top at this point, so there was only a little more we climbed before going back down.  This area had the best views by far.  I almost wanted to slow down and focus on the scenery instead of take advantage of the fun roads.  You could see mountains lush with forestry for miles and miles in every direction.  Now, add in the colors of Fall and imagine what that looked like!  The descent was fun, although our brakes would say otherwise.  There was a lot of rev-matching and heel-toe downshifting going on there.  I loved how often I could pull off a good heel-toe downshift up there, it was great practice and felt so cool when I got it perfectly.  We passed a few really good photo spots, but we wanted to keep moving before it got too dark to shoot.  After all, we still had a few more hours before we were back near the cabin.

The rest of the drive wasn’t too eventful or exciting after the Cherohala Skyway.  The roads took us through a bunch of rural farmland and a few small towns, eventually leading to a large state highway.  From there, we took that north until we were able to turn onto Highway 129, where the Tail of the Dragon is located.  We drove down the highway for a good half hour before we passed the familiar sights; the Chilhowee dam, the Foothills Parkway, the post-Dragon riverside pull-off, and lastly the end of the Dragon itself, where everyone would turn around and take a break.  As if we weren’t tired enough already, we still had to head back on the Dragon to get to our cabin.  We took it easy a little bit, but that only lasted for a few minutes.  It’s just too hard to “take it easy” on a spectacular road like that.

A usual sight at Deal’s Gap.  Drivers park and give their cars a break between Moonshiner 28 and Dragon runs.  This was a popular hangout spot for many.

We were pretty tired once we got back to the cabin.  We just hung out, had some beer and ate some food with a little sadness about our trip coming to an end.  After a couple hours of resting, we went back out for another few night runs, where we met some people at the Deals Gap gas station again.  The cool part about being up there during an event is that no matter where you go, you’ll run into other car enthusiasts and be able to strike up a conversation with them.  We did a couple more runs back and forth on the Moonshiner 28 just to get it all out of our system, and regrettably headed back to the cabin for the last time.

The night before heading home from a trip with friends always sucks.  We had a blast up there in a drastically different climate and landscape than what we’re used to (and aren’t too favorable of) in Florida.  The weather was perfect, the mountains and scenery were beautiful, and the roads were the most fun part of the trip.  We all took our time packing up the cars and reminiscing on the previous couple days all the way until 2 AM.  At this point we had to get to bed to be ready to leave as early as we could, since the drive home would take about 12-13 hours.

After the ride up from Florida and all of the mountain driving we did up until the morning we left, we were able to rack up 1,027 miles.  By the time we got home, it was near 1,700 miles.

In the morning, we didn’t exactly get a pleasant start to the day.  CJ’s alarm went off 5 times in the room next to mine, each time waking me up.  I then heard Zach freaking out about something in the bathroom and calling for us to come see.  I thought they were just trying to get me out of bed, so I stayed put in the warmth of the covers.  CJ got up to check it out as well, and started calling me too.  I got up and looked in the bathroom to see the biggest spider I’ve ever seen in my life just hanging out in the sink.  How did it get there?  What does it want from us?  I don’t like spiders.  We just put a cup over it and avoided the bathroom sink until we left the cabin, and left it to be discovered by the cleanup crew. (Sorry!)

Walking back to my car half-awake after checking us out of Fontana Village.

Checking out of the Fontana Village resort was a little bittersweet, but it was nice to know we’d be home and sleeping in our own beds again that night.  Before our dreaded drive home, we stopped by the locally-famous Fontana Dam to look around and get a few pictures.  It was a nice little closing to our trip, since it was the one place we hadn’t been yet.

Walking away from my car to enjoy a nice breakfast consisting of a Naked juice smoothie and banana.

The drive home was miserable.  Going back to flat land and humid heat wasn’t really exciting for us.  Driving through Georgia on I-75 south after passing Atlanta was awfully boring.  The road was long and straight pretty much from that point to all the way back home.  During this mundane drive back, it gave us all time to reflect on the trip.  For MFortyFive, it was a success, since we were able to get some great photos and bring you all this article, plus we got our name out a little bit and got to experience our first trip as a “team”.  For us as friends, it was a great time spent with each other while doing something we love.  Driving around up there chasing each other is some of the most fun we’ve had together, and it makes it even better that we are able to share this fun with all of you out there reading this.  This trip was by far our favorite trip we’ve taken together, and we can’t wait to go back again for a third time in April for Boxer Takeover 2018.  If any of you live near that area, we hope to see you there!

By Ethan Pfab – @indecisivewagon

Click below to check out the rest of our photos from TougeFest:

The post The 4th Annual TougeFest – MFortyFive’s Maiden Voyage appeared first on MFortyFive.

The FaceOff 2 is a yearly car show/drift event held at Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, FL.  Since it was only about an hour and a half drive for us, we decided to enter all three of our cars.  Once parked in our spots, we looked around and were disappointed at first to find that there weren’t many Subarus in attendance.  There was, however, a sea of R32 Skylines with the occasional R33 or R34 (how they got there, I have no clue).  There had to be more Skylines there than any other car model, with Mustangs following behind.  Anyway, we wandered around throughout the day (in between thunderstorms every 30 minutes) checking out all the cool stuff the show had to offer.

What really caught my attention while walking around was this row of S550 Mustangs.  On the end there was that beautiful and well done 5.0, sitting on air suspension and authentic Work CR Kiwami wheels.  I loved this car in particular because of how awesome these things look on bags with splitters and wide wheels.  It was even cooler that the owner did something different on a domestic and chose Work wheels – a wildly popular Japanese wheel company.  I appreciate nearly all cars, and I love Mustangs mostly because my Dad has had at least one for most of my life; a silver 2005 V6 that I learned to drive stick in, and a black 2015 GT (also a manual, of course).  Since he got the GT, I’ve been trying to convince him to have some fun with it and lower it with some wider wheels and a loud exhaust, but it still hasn’t happened yet…  Alright, back to Subaru content.

On one of our laps around the show we noticed this gorgeous Legacy GT Spec B sitting on some Gun Blue-colored Rays Gramlights 57DR wheels.  I have never wanted a Legacy so bad in my life before.  I absolutely fell in love with this car.  Quartz Silver Metallic paint with the Spec B Brick Red leather interior and a black Nardi steering wheel hanging from the mirror made this thing even cooler.  Unfortunately, the Legacy 2.5GT Spec B was only sold from 2006 to 2009 and had pretty low production and sales numbers (only 500 of them sold in 2006, the highest amount out of the four production years), making them rare and desirable among Subaru enthusiasts like myself nowadays.  These cars also came from the factory with an altered version of the STi 6-speed transmission; possibly considered the holy grail of transmissions when it comes to Subarus.  The Spec B also shared a similar suspension setup to the WRX STi at the time, along with Subaru’s new and innovative Intelligent Drive system, also known as SI-Drive.  These cars could be seen as “sleepers” or a “wolves in sheep’s clothing” since it is basically an STi in larger and more luxurious form, making it a truly special Subaru.

The rain certainly was annoying (and consistent), but the water on the cars sure looks cool in photos.  This was my first show on my new white Work CR Kiwamis, so I was pretty excited to show them off.  Zach had just put his custom TC Design Fab half-cage in his RS, so he had it parked with the windows down whenever it wasn’t raining to show it off as well.  CJ had just installed his freshly painted BlackTop Aero wing a couple nights before, so we were all unveiling new parts on our cars in a way.

We watched drifting for a while out off to the side of the show, which happened to be pretty entertaining.  Dozens of Nissan 240s with the occasional E36 BMW or FR-S would take turns sliding around a course set up with cones and then swing back into the grid after each run.  We came across this wild FR-S/86 (I’m not even sure what you Toyota people refer to these as now) while walking back down a row of cars.

 At first glance, this is a textbook definition of a show car.  The owner actually daily drives it, believe it or not.  This thing definitely looked like it was ready to go out on the track.  The aggressive Rocket Bunny V3 body kit, the crazy canards and splitter – even the huge wing showed that this car wants to be thrown flat-out around some curves.  A cool JDM vintage-style touch was adding the fender mirrors instead of the regular old door mirrors too.  It looks great sitting on some sweet 3-piece ISS Forged wheels wrapped in Hankook tires.  All of this crazy aero adds a very intense and dramatic theme to the car, which works very well as you can see.

Last but not least, and perhaps my favorite car there (aside from my own) was this gem of a Subaru.  A real first generation WRX STi.  This was the first time I’ve ever seen one in person, and I was seriously obsessing.  I’m unsure of the year or any other specific details, but it truly was an awesome sight to see.  It was up for sale by Black Ops Performance, and trust me, if I had the money I would have bought it.  I unfortunately have never driven or even sat in a GC Impreza, but I have always had an appreciation for them.  So small and simple, less advanced technology and driving assists, and just the overall classic 90’s Japanese style – all things I loved about these cars.  It’s really a shame that we never got the GC WRX or STi stateside.  I can’t wait until they’re legal for import and start becoming more common over here, I would snatch one up quick if I had the means.

These cars were revolutionary for Subaru.  The Impreza WRX made its debut in 1992 with the STi variant arriving two years later.  The 1994 STi made about 247 horsepower thanks to its 2.0 liter turbocharged engine, and was unfortunately only sold in Japan.  These cars are a big part of what helped Subaru move up in the rally world in the late 90s.  The world famous 555 Subaru Impreza was introduced in 1993 and was often piloted by the late Colin McRae himself.

The STi variant of the first generation Impreza came from the factory as a beefed up version of the Impreza WRX with better-tuned engines and stronger transmissions and suspension setups.  The cars quickly became rally and street racing legends, and are definitely classics in the eyes of Subaru enthusiasts.

Since I was unable to talk to the owners of this gem, the details and history of it are unknown to me.  All I know is that some lucky person out there now owns this beauty, and hopefully enjoys it as much as I would.  Someday I’d love to import one of these just to own something so important in Subaru’s history, plus I’m sure they’re fun little cars.

The FaceOff 2 was definitely a good time.  Aside from the rain, it was cool to walk around and see all of the different groups of people come together to enjoy a day of checking out cars, watch and/or participate in drifting, and just hang out with friends and have fun.  It was cool for us to get some photos of our cars and other Subarus for a write up of the event, since it was technically our first event as a “team.”  Although there wasn’t too much Subaru content there, the Subarus that were there were pretty awesome and somewhat special.

By Ethan Pfab – @indecisivewagon

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