Impreza 1.4 Turbo

14/09/2026

Tough day at the HSA - The Hillclimb & Sprint Association Speed Championship round at Lotus's test track at Hethel.

Arriving with rain meant a wet track for practice, and a damp track for T1 - once the rain stopped at 9am, the weather radar said it would dry all day so hopefully a chance to push the HSA target time on in the final Timed runs.

P1 and it was driving miss daisy, then T1 I just put a banker down, low boost but felt the track was super slippy.

Looking at my kumho v70 tyres - they are way past their best, their last outing at Lydden Hill had worn the treads from intermediate to more of a semi slick - not only that but uneven wear across the radial groves meant I had sawtooth bands of rubber across the tyre, rather than a flat contact patch.

Then an unexpected downpour just before T2 confirmed the tyres lack of wet grip - aquaplaning on the very first 2 bends of the run meant I abandonded and more driving miss daisy to get it back to the paddock.

Then during lunch finally the rain abated, T3 was damp as per T1, but grippier, but I still wasn't confident in the tyres, I went quicker than T1, but hit an apex cone in the slowest chicane and got a 5 second penalty...

But it was always going to be about T4 the final run - circuit was not fully dry but dry in places and damp elsewhere, at last I could lean on the tyres a bit more - full boost now and finally the tyres came alive, I set a decent time - new class record, 8th overall and 4th quickest tintop - I'll take that 🙂

12/07/2026

Job done at Lydden Hill Race Circuit at the Borough 19 Motor Club Sprint.

I set a 80.38 on timed run 2, good enough for maximum points in both the The Hillclimb and Sprint Association Ltd and BARC Midlands Speed Championships

Fastest tintop of the day, fastest Series Production car of the day

https://youtu.be/LmMfguKCM0A

Timed run 1 in the clip

Competes in UK Sprints and HillclimbsFull car spec and blog on Fa...

05/07/2026

Sunday at Harewood Speed Hillclimb and Driving Academy, well chuffed to get into the 62's and achieve max BARC Midlands Speed Championship points.

My time of 62.88 would also have qualified me for the British Hillclimb Championship Top Ten Tintop challenge, had I been an entrant.

3rd quickest Subaru of the weekend behind rather illustrious company.

Great to catch up with BARC and the BHC regulars 😎, top weekend.

05/07/2026

Saturday saw the first of 2 Interclub events at Harewood Speed Hillclimb and Driving Academy , running alongside the British Hillclimb Championship

Target was to beat the BARC Midlands Speed Championship target time for maximum points - job done with a 64.10

Unexpected bonus was Interclub FTD out of 48 runners across various classes 🙂 (the faster BHC competitors was practise only, so no timed runs for them)

Now to push that BARC target on further on the Sunday

22/06/2026

In car of timed run 2 - my pb run, and new 3B record.

On timed run 1 I set an 80.1 on medium boost no launch control - so for T2 it was full boost, all the toys on trying to dip into the 79's... yep was definitely happy with the outcome 🙂

"Impreza 1.4 Turbo" For all details of the car and my events - fin...

21/06/2026

Top weekend at Mallory Park - new 3B record, 77.47 🙂

First tintop

01/06/2026

Here's how not to do a lap of Pembrey Club circuit!!

https://youtu.be/pmoazCaFvhk?si=ZL0E2t1TfLiXoLGY

Looking at the logs, it seems I may have dodged a bullet when buzzing the engine downshifting to 2nd instead of 4th... max rpm seen was 8k5, well within spec... phew

"Impreza 1.4 Turbo" - full car spec and blog on FacebookMessy run with a moment exiting Woodlands, leading to a missed gear into Honda. Trying too hard to pu...

31/05/2026

From Aintree to Pembrey this weekend, another round for all 3 of the HSA - The Hillclimb & Sprint Association Championships.

Today was the Club Circuit, target time was 129.7 for max Speed Championship points - straight off the trailer for first practice I decided on medium boost and no LC, posting a 133.3 - I wasn't sure by how much full boost would improve that, but I did have lag in the very first hairpin in 2nd gear, so I decided upon 1st for the next run.

Timed run 1 - bonus was that my shift light decided to enter Pembrey too, despite its noticeable absence from the day before. Full boost, LC on I had a good launch, put a good lap together, much better in the hairpin, also a decent line through the club chicane section, also much better grip exiting Club now the tyres have had a heat cycle (and the fairly quick turnaround between runs). Full commitment through the kink on the back straight, a good line and speed through Honda, decent spot of brakes into the hairpin but left a bit of margin - now kept it to 2nd gear now the tyres are gripped up and can carry more cornerspeed, so minimal lag - the 2nd pass through Club felt better, but front left now crying enough...! Decent exit of the tricky final corner - over the line to post a 127.07 😎

Well chuffed with that, job done for the Speed Championship. Now to do it all again for T2 and the extra points for the Leaders and Challenge Championships.

However T2 was to be after lunch, and also after a support race that was sharing the circuit..so 2 hours between T1 and T2. A decent start, but could feel the lack of grip on the stone cold Kumho tyres, at the intermediate sector I was 0.6 down on my T1 time, but that was the least of my worries.. approaching Honda its a slight dab of brakes and a downshift into 4th - I hit the gate on downshift, then got 2nd 🤦‍♂️ so momentarily buzzing the engine as I realised and quickly dipped the clutch..got 4th, lost loads of time, but thankfully didn't lose the engine - power still there so I tramped on looking for max Leaders points, but alas not to be, I carried good speed into the braking zone for the Club chicane, but out braked myself, locked up over the bump and went straight on into the very generous tarmac runoff area. Got it back on track, and made sure I completed the lap at a pace that didn't cause a red flag.

And that was it for the day, car and driver had had enough of a very long weekend!

My T1 time was 18th Overall - including the National BSC event.

Regarding the inter event (i.e. ignoring the 10 National runners) I was 8th Overall, fastest tintop and fastest production car of the day, New class record, plus unoffically (by my research - and happy to be corrected) the fastest time recorded by a series production

30/05/2026

Mission accomplished 🙂 mega pleased to have claimed the Liverpool Motor Club 3B record at Aintree today - a record that has stood for over 25 years 😮

Weather was sunny all day - too hot to be ideal for the turbo cars, but I'll take these conditions everytime over a damp track..

Gear ratios aren't ideal for this particular layout, its either 3 more gear changes exiting the corners, or a bit of lag exiting those same corners - but a happy compromise based on datalogs got the job done - my best time of 47.65 beating the previous record by 0.39 😎

Adding to the 3B record at Barbon, thats the full set for LMC - and with the Anglesey 3B records - this seasons targets are done 🙂

With the jeopardy of weather affecting Championship target times - anything else is a bonus, however - weather is playing ball at the moment 🤞

17/05/2026

Day 2 at Blyton and this time its the Outer Circuit - I had 3 target times to aim for:

HSA max points time 72.53
Unofficial 3B record (researching multiple club results) 70.52
My PB when the car was at the peak of its roadgoing capability (2124cc 500hp and 130kg heavier) 67.45

However overnight rain had left the track damp in places, with standing water in the odd braking zone and apex's, so 1st Practice was taken at low boost, avoiding the puddles and also learning the gears for the 2 chicanes - super chuffed to post a 73.5, lets hope the day stays dry - weather reports suggested rain due at 1pm, so I was planning the day on just 2 timed runs, slicks were on from the off, no luxury of easing myself into the day today.

Timed run 1 - full send, max boost LC on, lets see what we've got - confidence was high since the puddles noted when walking the track at 8am had turned to damp/wet patches for my practise run - then watching the BSC single seaters take the damp apex flat on their 1st timed run meant the track would be dry for my attempt 15 mins later... also bonus was the shift light fixed itself after the 1st chicane 🙂 then decdided to fail after the 2nd chicane 😬 A decent run, launch OK , 9 tenths everywhere letting the extra power find the second I need for HSA target... to post a 69.48 was a proper bonus, 3B record in the bag

https://youtu.be/j57_vj9RjRQ

T2 and I'm not sure I could find another 2 seconds to beat my pb - with the narrow powerband my gears are 1 lower for the chicanes and also Bishops and Bunga bunga, so that means an extra 4 changes at least compared to the much torquier 2.1.

So I try the 1st chicane one gear higher, Bishops one gear higher - and a bit more commitment exiting bunga bunga - so much so I needed 5th before the final corner (but hit the gate so it never engaged) - over the line its a 67.70 - super happy with that!

9th Overall in the Interclub event
Fastest tintop
Unofficial quickest recorded

Blyton Sprint - Outer circuit Impreza 1.4 Turbo