I have always been a rev-head, from way back in my motor-racing photography days, and my previous treasure was a Torana XUI similar to the sort Peter Brock won Bathurst with, and I had it maintained by the team racing garage in Melbourne. For its day it was one of the highest performing cars you could buy. (Don’t worry, this is not going to be a catalogue of my cars!)
Fast forward to 1998. I was interested in Subaru’s WRX, but the papers were full of them being stolen and used for ram-raids etc, so I cleverly bought a Falcon XR6, which was soon stolen (Karma is a bitch sometimes). So I ordered a Subaru.
About this time, I found out there was a WRX club in Victoria, but not in NSW, so I decided to start one from scratch here. In April 1998, 16 of us assembled at a pub in Frenchs Forest, Sydney, and the Impreza WRX Club was formed. We allocated member numbers alphabetically, so I got number 10.
It became an obsession for me, and we eventually got more than 500 cars in the club. I was rather frightened when one member said at a club meeting “I want to race my car” – this was getting serious.
Next thing I know, I have a track licence, and I am participating in supersprints, which involve timed laps of a racetrack in multiple sessions during the day, with final results based on the best single lap. Not long after, I have piles of track & dirt wheels & tyres at home, and my car is getting loaded with modifications (my marriage was stuffed well before this I promise). Runs on the dyno confirmed that horsepower was increased lots, while my lap times improved, and I got to know a bunch of really nice people.
Over the next few years I competed at Eastern Creek, Wakefield Park (near Goulburn), Tomago Speedway, Raymond Terrace Hillclimb, Richmond and Canberra on dirt/grass, while also effectively running the club and acting as advanced driving instructor at our driver training days. I treasure all the great weekends away for club events. My wife was not interested apart from very rare occasions…
By 2000 Subaru brought out the Impreza WRX STi, which was a greatly enhanced high performance version of the WRX. I couldn’t resist, so traded in my well worn WRX. I sold the STi, but don’t really miss it (see below), but it was utterly fantastic, and easily capable of outperforming almost any motorbike except on the straight. Once I retired from the racetrack I removed some of the modifications, including the over-ride on the speed limiter, so maximum speed was governed from 255 to only 180. But with its 4wd, it is a real rocket ship on any surface, to the point where I banished myself from driving to Sydney via the curvy Lakes Way, because I found myself travelling at insane speeds out in the empty roads!
So in a way, selling the car to buy something bland I could leave at a boat ramp, while buying an awesome Hobie Adventure Island which will get me fit, has got to be a satisfactory close of the rev-head chapter. I will stay in the club forever though as a Life Member, plus all the friends I have made in the earlier years of the Club.
