So this was a departure from my typical autocrosses. Every year, apparently, Subaru of Indiana hosts a “Subaru Challenge” at their factory in Lafayette, Indiana. It’s run by the Indianapolis Region SCCA Chapter, and only Subarus are allowed to compete. I thought this would be a fun event to attend, and it wound up being a lot of fun! Got to see a lot of very interesting modified Subies! I came away with 4th in STX, but that was also 4th in PAX and 4th fastest time of the day. That’s right. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place were swept by STX-class BRZs, even though the majority of the field was WRXs and STis! The three entrants who finished ahead of me were the same well-prepared BRZs that I’ve been trailing at the Milwaukee events. RWD reigns supreme!
Date: Saturday, July 23, 2016
SCCA Chapter: Indianapolis Region
Location: Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Lafayette, IN
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Dry, 85-90 degrees F
Car: 2015 Subaru BRZ
Class: 345 STX
Wheels/Tires: 949 Racing 6UL (17×9)/Bridgestone Potenza RE-71R (245/40R17)
Brakes: Hawk 5.0
Suspension: KW V3 coilovers, Raceseng Cas/Cam plates, Velox LCAs
Raw: 39.588 (4th of 8 in Class)
PAX: 33.096 (4th of 69 Overall)
An Interesting Course
This was a very unusual course compared to what I’m used to. It was short (less than 40 seconds), tight, and had some VERY awkward turns and combinations. There were three slaloms, all three of which allowed you to choose which way you wanted to go through them, and the rest of the course was odd lines, and seemingly always slightly-sharper-than-you-were-expecting turns. When I was walking the course, I got a general sense of how it was going to go in my mind, but when I made my first run, I realized every corner came up more quickly than I had anticipated. It was hard to get a good rhythm going, but that was really just because the course didn’t “flow” as some courses do, but was more a collection of completely random elements strung together. I’m not complaining at all, as it made it very challenging, in a good way. It just was so different to what I’m used to that it took me a while to adjust, and I only managed to finally get one relatively neat run at the very end of the event, which you can see below.
