The Subaru Impreza WRX STI and the beast within

Sometimes the mere mention of a brand is enough to bring about mental images from people. Take the Subaru brand, for example. Its mere mention instantly brings about hair-raising images of blue Imprezas sliding in every direction trying to find grip on lose soil or tough gravel. You can’t help it. That’s what you’re fed from the broadcasts of the World Rally Championship (WRC) from cable television. That’s the image that the Subaru brand projects to our subconscious. Apparently, the people from the Motor Image Group thought it was an image worth keeping. Because not too long ago they took this writer (together with our lensman James Deakin and a couple of other motoring journalists) to see and meet the Motor Image Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) team. The dynamic duo of Motor Image Pilipinas’ Nicky Mariano and Ariel de Jesus wanted us to get a glimpse of their poster car from the inside, as it was doing what we’d always pictured it to be doing. Which is kick major butt as it delivers awe-inducing race maneuvers.

Mariano and de Jesus actually took the cue from their regional headquarters in Singapore to initiate a rally experience for a select few Filipino motoring scribes. This in an effort to keep the motorsports image fresh in the eyes of their clientele. After all, what better way is there for us to communicate a message than for us to actually experience the cars as they’re meant to be driven, right? And so, one fine day in May, off to Singapore we went.

Awaiting us to give the warm welcome was the very young and dynamic Motor Image Group Chief Executive Glen Yu, who was visibly more than just a bit excited to introduce us to the Motor Image APRC tandem of Cody Crocker and Rifat Sungkar. It would be up to the two drivers – who were fresh from capturing a pretty significant leg of the rally championship – to give us the tour of our lives. They’d drive us around in a closed circuit rally style just to give us a glimpse of what race tuned Group N Impreza WRX STIs were capable of. And what an experience it turned out to be!

See just like every other racing aficionado, this writer has this mental picture of a Formula 1 experience sitting at the pinnacle of all we hold holy in the motorsports world. Everything else pales in comparison – at least in our heads. And we’ve been around long enough to have experienced quite a few motorsports maneuvers, I tell you. Still, admittedly, there is some mystique to the rally experience. After all, substantial participation and coverage from both manufacturers and the international media has kept people aware and interested in the discipline for quite some time now.

Nothing, however, beats going through the experience itself. Crocker, an Australian who currently leads the series, is actually the defending champion of the APRC. Watching him work is like looking at a machine go through its precision maneuvers with regularity. The guy rarely makes mistakes. Sungkar, an Indonesian who is taking his first crack at using a Subaru this year, meanwhile, attacks the tracks with more flair. He tends to overemphasize the more exciting aspects of the experience for his passenger. Kind of like playing for the audience. Riding with either one, you’ll experience a couple of Gs and feel the tug of gravity from varying areas despite the tightly fastened four point harnesses that are designed to keep you safe. Suffice it to say, the rally discipline is unique (to say the least). Over-revving and drifting are common practices. Squealing tires, the scent of burning brake pads and the throbbing engine baritones are to be expected as well. Expectedly, with all the adrenaline and testosterone being thrown around in the amazing display of man-machine confluence, an overwhelming sense of passion came gnawing at us all.

To cut a long story short, we were blown away. There is something to making a turn using the handbrakes and missing the curb by half an inch that just brings out something primal from a motorsports fan. You just get drawn to the experience and sucked in whole. Never mind if we weren’t doing more than 200kph at any time during the entire experience. The brutality of rally just sort of whacks one silly enough to have grown men squeal in absolute delight. (Deakin did most of the squealing, if you must know…) Before our turns were over, we were actually already screaming for more! Sadly, the program wasn’t staged in such a manner that you’d have unlimited access to the drivers and their cars (this ain’t Disneyland, after all…).

The beauty of the entire experience, however, was that the moment we stepped out of those beautiful beasts, we knew exactly what it was about those cars that drives motorsports fans into a frenzy. We’d learned exactly why they’re considered cult favorites among serious drivers. The Subaru Impreza WRX STI is a mean, evil brute capable of unleashing one’s inner speed demon. And let’s face it, from time to time, it’s great to unleash the beast from within. The thing is, we’d found the perfect key in the Impreza – which is both a good and a bad thing. Because at least now I can confidently say I’d gone through a life changing experience. But also now, more than ever, I envy the lucky bastards who can afford those Imprezas.