Subaru’s Rally Racing Team, which uses the enhanced Impreza WRX STI, just set a new lap time at the Isle of Man course. Wearing Ohio license plates, the vehicle broke a previous record at the course, coming in at 19 minutes and 56.7 seconds. Rally Champion Mark Higgins piloted the car to a top speed of 162 miles per hour on the track.

Higgins topped the previous record by over 2 minutes, set over 20 years ago. Production specs of the winning WRX STI include a turbocharged 2.5 liter engine with 296 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque.

Source: WCF

It’s one of the oldest races on the schedule for 2011′s season, Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally (STPR) began in 1977. This course is also the fastest rally in North America.

Drivers travel at speeds reaching 100 MPH over gravel and woodland through densely wooded roads in Wellsboro, PA. Two national parks border this town, which leaves huge sections of thick woodland to be covered by drivers.

“Conditions at Susquehannock are nothing short of a racer’s dream. Slick, fast roads ensure that all of the drivers need to bring their A-game if they want a chance at a place on the podium. STPR is always a crowd pleaser and not a rally to be missed!”

It will make for one spectacular event, in which all of us at Subarupedia are pulling for Team Subaru to dominate!

Source: Rally America

One can see why Subaru Rally Team USA, starring ace drivers David Higgins and Craig Drew, is such a massive draw. The duo recently took home one of many awards – first place at the Oregon Trail Rally, round 4 of 2011′s Rally America Championship.

Oregon Trail is Higgins’ second consecutive victory of the season. Only two weeks ago, he took home the gold for Team Subaru at the Olympus Rally in Washington State. Higgins now holds the most points towards an overall Championship for the team.

Subaru’s Canadian and other USA teams did not fare so well. Both were taken out of earlier runs of this event due to rough weather and crashes. All team members were uninjured after these separate incidents.

“The Oregon Trail Rally began Friday at the Portland International Raceway before moving to the scenic farmlands for days two and three. Oregon Trail began as a dry and dusty rally, but was consumed by heavy rains and thunderstorms during the middle of day two. The inclement weather forced event organizers to cancel the last two stages of day two and shorten some of day three’s stages.”

Photos: Rallybuzz.com

He earned four consecutive US rally championships, and became the youngest US rally champion in history. When the X Games picked up Rally Car in 2006, Pastrana was an instant threat – winning two gold, one silver and one bronze medal for Subaru.

It isn’t yet official what Pastrana is planning next. He talked about a move to on a recent radio show: “Definitely, Waltrip racing has offered something to get into a new form of racing,” Pastrana told the radio show. “I’m definitely looking forward to trying a few rounds out – maybe in Nationwide – next year.”

Subaru’s announcement followed this weekend’s conclusion of the rally season, with the running of two final rallycross events. Dave Mirra will continue driving for Subaru Rally Team USA. The team is actively searching for a replacement for Pastrana.

In honor of Pastrana’s departure, we present our favorite Pastrana-Subaru Stunt:

Thanks ESPN!

The 2011 Subaru Impreza WRX STI wants you to get more G’s – what kind of G’s are they talking about?

The auto maker is comprising a series of 30-second Web videos on Subaru’s YouTube channel that show people in the passenger seat of a race-ready version of the car. “The passengers — twisting, screaming, laughing — aren’t on a drive to the grocery store. They are riding shotgun to X Games star and Subaru Rally Team USA driver Dave Mirra while he screeches around cement pylons under L.A.’s 105 freeway.”

Kevin Mayer, Subaru’s director of marketing communications, says the campaign actually extends Subaru’s emotionally centered “Love” campaign that launched last year. It is intended to highlight physical and emotional reactions that people get when experiencing “G” forces – meaning g-force speed as well as the emotional expression “geez.”

“The new STI has big, big improvements in suspension and handling, as well as a rear wing [or spoiler] on the four-door; and the WRX, STI’s ‘little brother,’ is coming out in a wide body, so we have these major product improvements that we are developing the campaign around.”

“People buy Subaru cars emotionally and justify it rationally; our strength [with WRX] is handling and acceleration and we needed to communicate that,” says Mayer. “It came to us when we were test driving under a year ago when we saw that everyone had a big grin on their faces when they got out of the car. The more we talked about ‘Get more G’s’ and the double-entendre of g-forces and the emotional response to them…”

2011′s WRX STI will receive a 1.5-inch track increase, flared fenders, and firmer rear subframe bushings. No real specs on engine or tranny yet, but you can bet a turbo charged 4-cyl and a V6, which can go either manual or automatic. For now, enjoy these lovely photos from Jalopnik at the 2010 New York Auto Show.

Will it be a hatchback? Can a sedan in be Subaru’s future? Only time will tell as we search through rumors of the WRX future. The Motor Report said they have spied a hatchback WRX for next year, while other auto mags have peered at sedans.

One report states “When they tried inserting a WRX hatchback into the image, the body contours matched very closely, but the wing didn’t match the contours of the sheet.” We can’t wait to check out Subaru’s production model in New York!

The Source: WorldCarFans

Subaru Impreza WRX STi vehicles are all over the street’s of this blogger’s home town, Philadelphia – but where they really want to be is playing in the mud. Subaru’s were bred to race and slosh around in the snows of Northern Vermont, in the wastelands of Provo, Utah, and on to be used on asphalt as a last resort. The racers out in Park City, Utah once a year to take on a snow, ice and muck covered 0.5-mile course to, well, just drive sideways and get very messy.

It’s known as the Subaru Ice Capades – as one Subaru PR representative puts it, is “where press cars go to die.” As frost begins to subside but still covered the track, Subaru drivers take to the road and begin splashing around. As friction and rubber collide ice turns to mud and it all goes up in the air, in one fluid swoosh. And the photo evidence is enough to make us want to book a flight next year.

Sources: Jalopnik | Subaru PR