Subiesport Magazine - August/September 2008 - (Page 29)

FEATURE point the car, the engine is mounted in the middle, right behind your head. Rear tires are 295/30-19, and the fronts are 235/35-19, so it’s got some serious footprint for traction. The brakes are as big around as stock WRX wheels, with 6-pot calipers in front and 4-pots in the rear. The car will do 0-60 in 4.4 seconds, and has a top speed governed to 187 MPH. The R8 is priced at $137,000 — that’s what it costs to take home the finest engineering that Lamborghini and Audi can muster up. We decided to run the Audi in bone-stock trim, just as it left the factory. The challenger is Ryan’s 2007 Legacy GT. The car’s original EJ255 power plant is long gone, replaced with a lightly built EJ257, complete ECU reprogram courtesy of the AccessPORT from COBB, Perrin intake, turboback exhaust from Perrin, and a big ol’ AVO 420 snail to push air through a Perrin FMIC and down the car’s gizzard. Ryan’s running about 18psi of boost at the moment, and thank God no one’s been willing to give this guy a cockpit boost controller, or he’d blow up this motor like the last one. The engine pounds power to the ground through a stock Subaru Legacy GT 5-speed manual box via an ACT heavy-duty clutch and lightened flywheel. He’s got a set of Endura-Tech coilovers, and the stock brakes with Hawk pads. The original purchase price of Ryan’s ride is just $26,500, but with all of his modifications, the total price tag on the Legacy is a most unhefty $41,500. Looking at it, the comparison seems a little unfair. I mean, here you’ve got the star of the Teutonic automotive scene up against a mid-price Japanese family sedan. Can there be any doubt of the outcome? SHOWDOWN AT THE OK CORRAL To get the true measure of the cars, we needed a good place to run. We wanted to take them up steep hills, through tight twisties, and over long straights. And we needed to do it without unduly frightening the widows and orphans or attracting the attention of John Law. Luckily, we know just such a place — but if you think we’re revealing the location in public, you’ve probably had more fruit-of-the-still than Ryan. We picked a warm, dry day to show the cars to their best advantage. With a clear blue sky and temperatures about 80 degrees, conditions were just right for a showdown. To set up the test, I drove both cars up and down the route a couple times to get the feel for each one separately. Then we got our usual mystery driver in the Legacy and ran ‘em hard, nose-to tail-and side-by-side. The results were — well, read on. SUBIESPORT MAGAZINE 29

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Subiesport Magazine - August/September 2008

Subiesport Magazine - August/September 2008 Features Contents Editor Letters Readers' Rides New Products Subaru News 2009 Impreza WRX East Meets West Shoebox Sleeper Bettering the Breed ...Even the Kitchen Sink WRC Rally Greace WRC Rally Turkey Rally America: New England Rally America: STPR 2008 STI Open Class GCRallyX R4 Where to Buy Subiesport ICY Racing E85 & Methanol Rebuild Your Heads Budget Building Ad Directory Spotted!

Subiesport Magazine - August/September 2008

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