Greetings and Salutations.

When this thread grows up it’s going to be the build thread for my 818S, but for the time being all I have is my deposit in and a tentative delivery date of September 2014. So, while I console myself by lurking in the other build threads and making spread sheets of things to buy how about a little back story of how I got here.

My first Subaru was a GL10 wagon in high school, but we shouldn’t count that one since it lived a hard life and died a hard death (of terminal rust).

My first performance car was a 2004 WRX and my first track day was provided by my wife, so technically everything that followed is her fault (but she doesn’t accept blame or credit). After said first track session I was hooked –completely awful at driving but totally hooked. So I began the endless cycle of suspension, brakes, tires and track days when I could get away and afford it.

In 2009 I traded the WRX for a STI hatch back –for the kid! After all a hatchback is ever so much more practical and the STI’s just happened to be hatch only that year. Practicality has since taken a bit of a nose-dive as I’ve worked to get the STI to perform better on the track. Work included coilovers, sways, tires, track brake pads, half of Australia under the car (DBA & Whiteline), turbo back exhaust (couldn’t hear the car banging on the rev-limiter). So after quite a bit of time, sweat, blood and money I’ve got a Subaru that isn’t a total understeering pig… but it is a bit harsh on the road. And now I do have some reservations about tracking regularly a not-completely paid off car with an engine design that is notorious for cracking ringlands.

This year I made it to VIR and that trip pretty much sold me on the idea of having a track specific car. I was redlining in 5th on the 2 straights and having fuel/boost cut issues –not exactly fun. So after checking the bank account and pondering where exactly I would store said car I got serious about it.

Having a track car has been a bit of idle fantasy for a while so the list of potentials wasn’t short:
• Ariel Atom
• Lotus Exige
• Ford Mustang
• Corvette

The first 2 were a bit out of my price range but they definitely spoke to me for what I wanted in (or technically didn’t want in a track car). I drove an Atom through the VRIDE program at VIR and it was absolute bliss: that became my metric against which track cars are compared. The other two, I’m a sucker for the sound of a big American V8 so they were potentials if I could find them cheap enough and get them light enough.

Then a funny thing happened, my father in law asked me if I’d heard anything about the 818. Now he’s a car guy and has always wanted to build a car and had shown me the GTM a few years ago, nice but not quite in my price range, but this new car:
• Kit car -check.
• Really lightweight -check.
• Rear driven wheels -check
• Subaru powered and derived - check.
• Divine providence? –hmmmm.

I’m definitely feeling this, and bonus -already have some potential parts as take offs from the STI. Hemmed and hawed for too long before I finally made the call to put my name on the list, oh what is that? 1 year until delivery, OK.

So until then I’ll be cataloging what I have, what I need and what I want. I’m going to try to keep the project on the low end cost wise and try to keep the car on the low end weight wise.

I’m planning on running the EJ205 2.0L for a few reasons: higher redline and lower torque. The higher redline should help terminal track speed using the 5MT. Lower torque since I don’t think it’s really needed for a light car and to be honest –this is my first RWD car, don’t want to loop it all the time. All my track experience is in AWD cars and nose heavy Subaru’s at that. To get that car around corners I chuck it to the apex under braking then hammer the gas and let the understeer-push and turbo lag drift the car out to track out. I do that quite a bit now without really thinking about it so I’m afraid it may take a while to break my bad habits.

All said, why go with the S model instead of the R for a car I intend to mostly track? Doors. Wife Acceptance Factor [WAF] stated doors were pretty much required. I’ll be looking to adding some additional frame/cage later on in the project if I feel I need it.

TBC...