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The Bread Van vs The Rally Car – Capri Rally
I’m pretty sure most of you have read my Impreza vs Integrale – Capri Rally race report, which took place at Capri easy. Well I’m back, to continue the story with the Capri hard race. Ready?
For your information:
Car: Subaru Impreza Sport Wagon WRX STi Version VI (GF) ‘99
BHP: 365
Equipped parts: Full stats here.
Race: Capri Rally (Hard) – Costa di Amalfi Normal
Laps: 5
Prize for winning: Cr.20,000
Opponent: Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Rally Car ‘03
A-Spec points: 127pts
My Impreza Wagon, known as “The Bread Van” among friends and “The Ghost of Capri” among racers. I don’t understand the Ghost part myself, but I see why the local racers regard me as the best racer around. Even though, officially, I’m not a racer. That win against the Integrale months ago sparked furious competition. To name a few, the Renault 5 Turbo, Celica GT-Four, Lancer Evolution 6 and the Impreza Spec C have fallen victim to my Wagon’s brutal speed on the downhill. That Spec C was a good challenge though, I do admit.
However, a week or 2 ago the Impreza fell victim to one of it’s most deadly foes, mileage. The fact the engine survived for over 200,000 miles is a miracle itself, but to do that mileage whilst almost every day was being pushed to the limits is more like the work of God himself. So yeah, mileage finally won the fight against my Impreza. The result was an engine that needed to be replaced ASAP. No amount of rebuilding and maintenance would undo years of wear and tear. So with the money I saved up from my wages at the bread shop, I rang up the guys at RCV Motor Works, who happened to have some spare Impreza parts lying around.
A huge bill and a week later, my Impreza was back doing the deliveries. Thanks to RCV, the Impreza was 10 times better than before. More power, more control, more comfort, to sum up, this Impreza was more. So there I was, coming back down from my latest delivery, passing through the 10th hairpin and I see a white Lancer up ahead, except it didn’t look like a showroom model. This thing looked like it just came from the WRC.
I floored it, the new EJ20 under the bonnet of my Impreza roared like I’d never heard an Impreza roar before. The Lancer in front obviously noticed my sudden burst of acceleration, because not too soon after my pedal hit the floor, so did the Lancer’s.
Let battle commence.
All the way down the beachfront the distance between the Lancer and my Impreza stayed constant. My Wagon was on par with a WRC machine. I braked slightly later than usual coming into the 1st hairpin, putting me right up against the Lancer’s backside upon corner exit.
The 2nd hairpin proved to favour the Lancer, as it pulled away slightly on corner exit, but my Impreza ate the gap whole coming into the 3rd hairpin.
Exiting the 3rd hairpin, the Lancer’s quicker acceleration got me again, but leaping into the 4th hairpin had me right on it’s backside once more.
The Lancer pulled away as it’s slick tyres helped it maintain a higher cornering speed on the 5th hairpin, but my Wagon kept up with ease racing along the summit.
This changed though, entering the 6th hairpin, which marked the beginning of the descent downhill, my Impreza’s light weight and high power would make it do something that even the Lancer wouldn’t have expected.
My speedometer shot up to 120mph in an instant, my body was held against my seat like my seatbelts were tightening every second. The acceleration stunned even me, let alone the crowds that had their jaws wide open. I saw a gap between the Lancer and the wall, just big enough for the Impreza to squeeze by.
Shooting past the Lancer with insane pace, I broke hard coming into the 7th hairpin. My brake disks glowed bright orange as they tried to stop 1310kg of Impreza from hitting anything. The brakes proved to be very good as my Impreza slowed down just as fast as it sped up. I flew round the 7th hairpin, the Lancer watching in awe as my Wagon pulled away with ease.
I took a deep breath and readjusted myself in the seat. Realising what I’d just pulled off I looked in my rear view. That Lancer was getting smaller and smaller as I got faster and faster.
Coming up to the sweet combo that is hairpins 8, 9 and 10, the Lancer caught me right up, but after some clever handbrake work, it was again falling behind after the exit of the 10th hairpin.
Blasting down the beachfront I noticed my speedometer pass the 130mph mark. Braking hard into the 1st hairpin again I looked in my rear view, no Lancer.
I continued driving hard until I realised the Lancer had plain given up. I had seemingly done it. I had beaten a Rally Car around Capri. No doubt I will be ambushed in celebration upon my arrival at the shop. And no doubt the local racers will have a new nickname for me.
I got back to the shop, parked the Impreza out back and sneaked in through the back door, trying to avoid the mass of people who I assumed we’re going to dog pile me screaming with joy. But I was wrong, I was greeted by my friend who ran the shop, but instead of a “well done”, I got a letter. I walked over to the front of the shop where everyone was. The whole room went silent. I opened the letter, it seemed everyone suddenly got closer by a meter. Expecting a huge bill of some kind I pulled the whole paper from the envelope, but I only saw 1 sentence.
“Roj, you have become a street racing champion, but have you ever thought about professional racing? Come to Laguna Seca and we’ll talk.”
I saw a signature at the bottom of the letter.
“Doug Smith.”
Looking up at puzzled faces, I looked over my friend.
“I’ll be away for a bit, I’m taking the Impreza too. Think you’ll cope with deliveries without me?”
He responded by shaking a set of Toyota keys at me, then nodding with a smile.
I’m pretty sure most of you have read my Impreza vs Integrale – Capri Rally race report, which took place at Capri easy. Well I’m back, to continue the story with the Capri hard race. Ready?
For your information:
Car: Subaru Impreza Sport Wagon WRX STi Version VI (GF) ‘99
BHP: 365
Equipped parts: Full stats here.
Race: Capri Rally (Hard) – Costa di Amalfi Normal
Laps: 5
Prize for winning: Cr.20,000
Opponent: Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Rally Car ‘03
A-Spec points: 127pts
My Impreza Wagon, known as “The Bread Van” among friends and “The Ghost of Capri” among racers. I don’t understand the Ghost part myself, but I see why the local racers regard me as the best racer around. Even though, officially, I’m not a racer. That win against the Integrale months ago sparked furious competition. To name a few, the Renault 5 Turbo, Celica GT-Four, Lancer Evolution 6 and the Impreza Spec C have fallen victim to my Wagon’s brutal speed on the downhill. That Spec C was a good challenge though, I do admit.
However, a week or 2 ago the Impreza fell victim to one of it’s most deadly foes, mileage. The fact the engine survived for over 200,000 miles is a miracle itself, but to do that mileage whilst almost every day was being pushed to the limits is more like the work of God himself. So yeah, mileage finally won the fight against my Impreza. The result was an engine that needed to be replaced ASAP. No amount of rebuilding and maintenance would undo years of wear and tear. So with the money I saved up from my wages at the bread shop, I rang up the guys at RCV Motor Works, who happened to have some spare Impreza parts lying around.
A huge bill and a week later, my Impreza was back doing the deliveries. Thanks to RCV, the Impreza was 10 times better than before. More power, more control, more comfort, to sum up, this Impreza was more. So there I was, coming back down from my latest delivery, passing through the 10th hairpin and I see a white Lancer up ahead, except it didn’t look like a showroom model. This thing looked like it just came from the WRC.
I floored it, the new EJ20 under the bonnet of my Impreza roared like I’d never heard an Impreza roar before. The Lancer in front obviously noticed my sudden burst of acceleration, because not too soon after my pedal hit the floor, so did the Lancer’s.
Let battle commence.
All the way down the beachfront the distance between the Lancer and my Impreza stayed constant. My Wagon was on par with a WRC machine. I braked slightly later than usual coming into the 1st hairpin, putting me right up against the Lancer’s backside upon corner exit.
The 2nd hairpin proved to favour the Lancer, as it pulled away slightly on corner exit, but my Impreza ate the gap whole coming into the 3rd hairpin.
Exiting the 3rd hairpin, the Lancer’s quicker acceleration got me again, but leaping into the 4th hairpin had me right on it’s backside once more.
The Lancer pulled away as it’s slick tyres helped it maintain a higher cornering speed on the 5th hairpin, but my Wagon kept up with ease racing along the summit.
This changed though, entering the 6th hairpin, which marked the beginning of the descent downhill, my Impreza’s light weight and high power would make it do something that even the Lancer wouldn’t have expected.
My speedometer shot up to 120mph in an instant, my body was held against my seat like my seatbelts were tightening every second. The acceleration stunned even me, let alone the crowds that had their jaws wide open. I saw a gap between the Lancer and the wall, just big enough for the Impreza to squeeze by.
Shooting past the Lancer with insane pace, I broke hard coming into the 7th hairpin. My brake disks glowed bright orange as they tried to stop 1310kg of Impreza from hitting anything. The brakes proved to be very good as my Impreza slowed down just as fast as it sped up. I flew round the 7th hairpin, the Lancer watching in awe as my Wagon pulled away with ease.
I took a deep breath and readjusted myself in the seat. Realising what I’d just pulled off I looked in my rear view. That Lancer was getting smaller and smaller as I got faster and faster.
Coming up to the sweet combo that is hairpins 8, 9 and 10, the Lancer caught me right up, but after some clever handbrake work, it was again falling behind after the exit of the 10th hairpin.
Blasting down the beachfront I noticed my speedometer pass the 130mph mark. Braking hard into the 1st hairpin again I looked in my rear view, no Lancer.
I continued driving hard until I realised the Lancer had plain given up. I had seemingly done it. I had beaten a Rally Car around Capri. No doubt I will be ambushed in celebration upon my arrival at the shop. And no doubt the local racers will have a new nickname for me.
I got back to the shop, parked the Impreza out back and sneaked in through the back door, trying to avoid the mass of people who I assumed we’re going to dog pile me screaming with joy. But I was wrong, I was greeted by my friend who ran the shop, but instead of a “well done”, I got a letter. I walked over to the front of the shop where everyone was. The whole room went silent. I opened the letter, it seemed everyone suddenly got closer by a meter. Expecting a huge bill of some kind I pulled the whole paper from the envelope, but I only saw 1 sentence.
“Roj, you have become a street racing champion, but have you ever thought about professional racing? Come to Laguna Seca and we’ll talk.”
I saw a signature at the bottom of the letter.
“Doug Smith.”
Looking up at puzzled faces, I looked over my friend.
“I’ll be away for a bit, I’m taking the Impreza too. Think you’ll cope with deliveries without me?”
He responded by shaking a set of Toyota keys at me, then nodding with a smile.
yet, the story just got more interesting with the added drama & suspense.., 
I was expecting a Midget II/too!
