It’s a huge day filled with lots of pics and information about these two new sport coupes from a joint venture between Subaru and Toyota.

Here are some quick comparison shots.

Which do you like best and why? Let us know what you think.

Tomorrow is the beginning of what has been dubbed The SCCA ‘Spring Nationals’. Hosted on the national championship solo site at the Lincoln Airpark in Lincoln Nebraska, this four day event is sure to please. It’s kicks off tomorrow with head to head competition at the Pro Solo round of competition. The Pro Solo portion of the weekend will conclude Saturday afternoon with a Super Challenge in a head to head elimination bracket format. Then on Sunday through Monday there will be a National Tour event in a race against the clock and the competition.

With well over 300 entrants registered for the weekend, the competition looks to be fierce with heavy hitters from across the country in attendance. If you are anyway near Lincoln, NE or are looking for an excuse to make a trip this Memorial Day weekend, you have to make the trek out to Lincoln to the best autocross site in the United States and see these national level competitors duke it out over four days of intense action!

Hope to see you there!

With SCCA Rallycross Nationals in Colorado Springs, CO coming up in just a couple weeks, I am reminded of the differences between Solo and Rallycross driving, and have begun preparing myself mentally for the switch. For SCCA Solo I have used a STU-prepped 2006 STI. Plenty of power, grippy tires (now on shaved Dunlop Direzza Star-Specs), and stiff suspension the idea in the drivers mind is to be precise, and attack each element individually, yet constantly scanning and looking ahead, trusting the car to complete the element. However, SCCA Rallycross is a whole different beast.

With Rallycross, I am switching to a FWD, low-power 1992 Nissan Sentra SE-R, on Silverstone rally tires. First, every corner is just a ‘fraction’ of an element, and Rallycross requires you to string them together. Looking ahead is just as essential, if not more, although the elements tend to be less intense and most-often naturally flow into each-other. Weight transfer into corners is key, as the grip will not be present and the car’s motion will propagate from one turn into the next. I’m hoping that I can effectively make the switch between the styles, as ProSolo and Solo Nationals are two weeks following, and the goal is to do my best in all of them.

Wish me luck as I attempt to trophy in all three!

The GotCone.com, tarsust.com and Berk Technology sponsored Project BMW 135i STU went to it’s first away event last weekend travelling to a very hot Salina, KS for a MidWest Divisional (MiDiv) event. The courses were very fast, especially Sunday’s course, and lots of fun, which helped take the edge off of the mid-90 degree temperatures.

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This weekend I encountered competition that was proud of not knowing their car setup. “I just drive it, I don’t know anything about the car…”  It reiterates the fact that too many women just allow their men to set up the car, without knowing what works for them.  How do we distinguish ourselves as female drivers from the rest of the crowd? Simple. Understand and setup your own car for your driving style with expert help from folks like tarsust. In order to do that, you have to understand the car and be able to give feedback. Drivers who can’t give feedback can’t setup their car, period. And when you can’t setup your car, you begin to lose competitive advantage.

Knowing your car helps establish consistency.  For example, my run times in comparison to hers were very consistent and always improving. I do not make large swings in times, I am fast from the first run. Same goes for other female drivers at the top of their game, like Sue Eckles of the Nebraska Region.  Knowing your car’s setup and seeing the line without additional assistant from your ‘husband’ is what distinguishes great female drivers from just good drivers. And great is where we all should want to be.

New website is now up and running!

Please check it out at tarsust.com

Please let me know what you think.

Das Drehmoment Ungeheuer is a collaboration project between a few locals to build a budget friendly yet fun and fast track toy that could still auto-x. Das Drehmoment Ungeheuer means “The Torque Monster” in German, it’s ok to laff now Viper owners

Progress is slow, but steady. If you’d like to follow along please check out our project thread on R3Vlimited.com

Das Drehmomentungeheuer: A HPDE Hooligan for shenanigans.

Thanks – Jon