Braille O2 racing seats for your Subaru WRX STI

Braille Auto Development has released the Oxygen Racing Seat for the Subaru WRX STI. The new seats were developed in collaboration with doctors and physical therapists to make the seat more comfortable and put less stress on the human body during long drives and race driving.

The new Braille Oxygen Racing Seats for the Subaru WRX STI offers many advantages over the stock seats, notably:

• Better spine support
• More comfort
• Increased hip and leg room
• Thicker padding
• Ergonomic memory foam
• Lighter seats (you save 35 pounds over the stock seats). Nothing a good diet can’t do!

The seats are made of a fiberglass reinforced plastic shell, which makes them the lightest full-sized racing seats in the world without sacrificing safety. One seat weights a mere 16 pounds and you can buy one for $899 from Braille’s web site.

While these new racing seats won’t gain you any HPs on your Subaru WRX, they sure look comfy!

Via: HSPN

Petter Solberg finished in 4th place, 16.5 seconds shy of a podium, scoring 5 points for Subaru. Chris Atkinson on the other hand made a mistake on Leg 2: about 18km into SS9, he spun off into a snow bank and got stuck at the edge of the road. This cost him about 16 minutes, dropping him out of the top ten. He finished the rally 19th.

This was the last rally for the Subaru WRC06: the next event is Mexico, and the Subaru World Rally Team will get to drive the Subaru WRC 2007 car for the first time. Both pilots are eager to compete in the new car, as the both feel they will be much more competitive driving the new WRC07.

Petter Solberg:

“It was a shame that Henning got past me, but I’m still happy with this result in the circumstances. We couldn’t have gone any quicker. We have been very realistic about what we can achieve on this rally and we have followed our strategy accordingly. The main thing was for us to finish in the points and not make any mistakes. This was the final rally with the WRC2006 and the points we’ve got here are very important for the season. It has been an incredible experience to drive these stages in front of so many spectators and see so many Norwegian flags.”

Chris Atkinson:

“It’s been a tough rally for us, although there’s no doubt that without the mistake on Saturday morning we would have been in the points. I have struggled a bit with my confidence this weekend compared to Sweden. I haven’t been able to have the same feeling with the car. Now this rally is over we can start to look forward to Mexico and the first rally with the new WRC2007. We can make some steps forward now.”

Source: SWRT

Recently, the British magazine Autocar has stated that Subaru had no plan of carrying over the WRX model in 2008, instead offering only the base Impreza and the more powerful STI models.

It appears the rumor is not founded: Autoblog was contacted by Michael McHale, Subaru’s Director of Corporate Communications. Michael McHale let them know that Subaru is going to offer the WRX model in 2008.

Furthermore, he also mentioned that there WILL be a sedan version of the redesigned 2008 Impreza. He did not confirm the hatchback rumors though. Well that’s two good news. It looks like we’ll be able to buy a 2008 WRX sedan after all!

Sweden’s sister rally, Rally Norway, has begun today. Being only 200km away from Sweden, it’s the first time the World Rally Championship holds an event in Norway, which is also Petter Solberg’s birthplace. It’s an important rally for the Subaru World Rally team, because it will be their last time driving the Subaru WRC06. Next month in Mexico, they will unveil the new Subaru WRC07, which should help the team greatly for the upcoming rallies. As for Rally Norway, you can expect more snow, ice and cold temperatures. Whereas Sweden was all about speed, the route in Norway is significantly tighter and more twisting.

Petter Solberg in action at shakedown (credit: SWRT)

Petter Solberg:

“It’s going to be a very special event for me. Already things are building up ahead of the rally, there have been lots of press interviews in the last two days and people I know are arriving here for the event. I won’t really have a home advantage because I have never seen these stages before. It is completely new for me, as it is for all the other drivers. It felt positive to lead in Sweden and Chris showed in Sweden that when the stages are covered in lots of snow and ice we can set fastest stage times. So we need those conditions and have to hope there is not too much gravel showing through when we use the stages for the second time. It’s going to be incredible to see all the fans supporting me and the team. It’s difficult to say much about how I will feel about it until I get out on the stages, but I’m looking forward to it so much.”

Chris Atkinson:

“I have some idea what to expect because we did the recce for Rally Norway last year, although many of the stages we drove have been reversed this time. I think it is going to be a pretty exciting rally, because the stages were great last year, although a lot more technical than those in Sweden. There was a lot of snow and ice and some of the snow banks lining the stages were as much as two metres high, so it was like driving through a tunnel. We were quite happy with our pace in Sweden against some drivers who have a lot more experience of that event. In Norway everyone should be on the same level in terms of knowledge of the stages. Our approach to this rally will be the same as in Sweden: we’ll start steadily and gradually build our pace. Hopefully we’ll get the fifth or sixth place we should have had there.”

Source: SWRT

Concept art of the new 2008 Impreza have been flooding the automotive blogs and news sites from all around the world lately. Ever since Subaru announced a major redesign of the Impreza model for 2008, it’s been nothing but rumors and speculations. Let’s feed the fire some more wood!

Some new pictures of the much anticipated Impreza WRX car have surfaced today. The new pictures have been found on a Russian forum via Autoblog and CarDomain Blog, who are also eagerly following the hype around the new car. These pictures look amazingly like those posted on other Subaru blogs a while back - except it’s a hatchback. Even the reflection on the car in the picture is the same!

This picture was first posted on Scoobyblog in July 2006.

While there is no doubt the 2008 Impreza WRX will bear resemblances to the concept pictures we’ve seen surfacing in these last few months, I still don’t believe we’re seeing anything like the final model. These pictures have been originally posted in a forum in September 2006 and Autoblog’s dug them up. Notice the Pirelli stickers on the Subaru WRC car: the Subaru World Rally Team has since switched to BFGoodrich tyres. I don’t think all these pictures represent the new 2008 Impreza very well. However, most of the art surrounding the new 2008 Impreza is very well done and at first glance is hard to discern from an actual photograph.

Recently surfaced picture from Japanese magazines.

As for the hatchback-only rumor - for some reasons I can’t get myself to believe it’s true. Subaru currently dominates the performance sedan market with the Impreza WRX STI along with Mitsubishi with the EVO car. I think leaving that market wide open to Mitsubishi in 2008 would be a dire mistake on Subaru’s part. A hatchback version of the Impreza in 2008 is a possibility though, but I doubt they’ll drop the sedan altogether.

That spoiler is a real rear-view blocker.

I’d like to see some official information on the new 2008 Impreza, but Subaru isn’t feeding us any. We’ll probably have to wait until it’s revealed at a motorshow somewhere around the world before we can get a glimpse of the real thing.

The Swedish Rally didn’t go so well for the Subaru World Rally Team. After Leg 1, Petter Solberg had established his place in the top 3 while Chris Atkinson was just outside the top 8. During Leg 2 however, Petter’s car got stuck in a snowy ditch. With the help of a group of 20 spectators, he managed to push the Impreza back on the road, undamaged, but he lost about 14 minutes. The Subaru team decided to retire Solberg to preserve the car’s engine and transmission for Rally Norway next week.

Petter Solberg on Leg 2. Image and driver’s quotes from SWRT.

During Leg 3, Chris Atkinson set the fastest time on Special Stage 16, moving to 5th position overall. Sadly, he damaged the rear left corner of his Subaru WRC two stages later on SS18. Because of the damage to his car, he took a drop from 5th position to 8th overall.

Chris Atkinson:

“The mistake on SS18 was disappointing, especially for the team, because we were on course to bring home three more championship points. But we’ve been encouraged by our pace here this weekend, we chose the right strategy of making a cautious start and what happened was just one those unfortunate things. Now it is important for us to look ahead to Rally Norway and try to get the best result we can there.”

Petter Solberg:

“I’m very disappointed about what has happened, and I’m really sorry to the supporters who were out on the stages for us. It was good to be fighting back near the top and I’d have liked to have carried that fight on tomorrow, but unfortunately losing 14 minutes meant there was no chance. So, we have to look forward, and that means preparing for Norway. It’s my home rally and I’m going to try my best to get a much better result.”

Driving Northwest reviews the 2007 Subaru WRX, praising its great performance for the price and saying the only real competition a Subaru WRX STI has is from the Mitsubishi Evo. They recommend the 2007 WRX for its performance, not its style.

I like their conclusion:

To race an STI in a road rally, simply install a racing harness and roll cage and it’s set to jet. And it will jet. For those who are willing to sacrifice some comfort and style for performance, the Impreza STI WRX is a great deal.

While trying to find out more information about the new Subaru WRC 2007 car, which will be driven by the Subaru World Rally Team for the first time at Rally Mexico in March, I stumbled upon pictures of the Subaru team testing out a new Subaru Impreza WRC car.

(C) PHOTO4. More pictures are available from motorline.cc.

Could this be the new Subaru WRC 2007? According to these pictures, the new Subaru WRC07 car is not a hatchback. The car being tested is a sedan, just like the actual 2007 Subaru WRX production car. Oh well, here I was, hoping we’d have a glimpse at an actual hatchback Impreza before April.

Subaru will unveil its new boxer turbo diesel engine next month at the Geneva International Motor Show. The new Subaru diesel engine will be on display at the Subaru stand.

The new diesel engine is supposed to make its debut in production cars next year. This new engine will probably help Subaru reach its target of 100000 units sold in the European market by the end of 2010.

Source: easier Motoring

Straightline posted pictures of the next-generation 2008 Impreza. In the article, they also mention that:

The 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STI will be a hatchback, just like the 2007 Subaru WRC rally car.

Does this mean the 2007 Subaru Impreza WRC rally car will also be a hatchback? The Subaru World Rally team is supposed to be driving the new 2007 WRC car in Mexico this March. If this is true (I doubt it), we’ll probably have a glimpse of the new 2008 WRX there.