Subaru Build Featured

Subaru Impreza 2.5RS - Best Inexpensive Brake Upgrade

When I bought my 2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS, I immediately wanted to see what kind of brake upgrades I could do. Since I was building a rally car, I needed to fit 15" wheels to use rally tires since 16" rally tires are very expensive and hard

Subaru Build Featured

Fitting Subaru WRX Brakes with 15" Wheels

Typically you want to be able to fit 15" wheels when building a rally car. 16" rally tires are very expensive and hard to get. The option that most people choose are the JDM 4-piston front calipers and the JDM 2-piston rear calipers, also known as the 4-pot

Garage Thoughts

5 Reasons Why You Should Rally a Subaru

Subaru parts are readily available In North America, finding parts for a Subaru is simple. Plenty of parts are interchangeable across various Subaru models. Most autoparts stores will probably have what you need if you are in a rush to get something fixed. Even if you need to get an

Subaru Build Featured

From Junker to Rally Car - Part 4 - Clutch and Transmission

This was definitely the highest priority repair I needed to make on the car. My first question was: "Which clutch and flywheel should I get?". I did not need a crazy, unsprung, ceramic clutch for the car because I will not be adding too much power to the

Subaru Build Featured

From Junker to Rally Car - Part 3 - Suspension Reinforcement

Moving along to the suspension from part 2, the next task on the list was replacing all of the suspension bushings. Because this is a race car, I chose to get polyurethane bushings of course. I bought a kit from Prothane. Some of the bushings were for a GD WRX,

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Empire State Performance Rally 2017

Empire State Performance Rally (ESPR) took the cake again as one of the most difficult rallies to finish in North America. With 24 cars starting the event, only 10 of them finished. For the last two years, the common complaint was how rough the stages were, but this year, they

Subaru Build

From Junker to Rally Car - Part 2 - Rust

After buying the car in Part 1, I was eager to get started on the car. I wanted to fix all of the problems right away, and I was determined to make it just like new. I started to do a lot of disassembly from the back of the car

Subaru Build

From Junker to Rally Car - Part 1

My rally car has come a long way since I bought it in October 2015. In this post, we will take a walk down memory lane to see how far we've come. This picture was from the original Craigslist post. A 2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS 5 speed

Subaru Build

5 Reasons Why Air Lift 1000 Air Bags Are Amazing

1. Improved Stopping Distance When I first towed my rally car with my Nissan Pathfinder, I had to be extremely careful with my following distance. There was so much sag in the rear of the SUV that it affected breaking efficiency. Most of the braking power is on the front

Rallying Featured

Black River Stages 2017

Earlier this week, I showed you all how the Subaru's roof was repaired. Doing that repair really cut it close to our next event, Black River Stages (BRS). We did a few modifications to the car since STPR, as well as some repairs: Modifications: * Added a rally roof

Subaru Build Featured

Roof and Body Repair

After STPR, we had a bit of a tumble.... This was a quite a lengthy repair, but I was ready to tackle it. The first step was trying to find a 4 door Subaru Impreza without a sunroof at a scrap yard. After waiting for about one and a half

Rallying Featured

Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally 2017

If you remember from last time, I had to do quite a lengthy repair before our next event, Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally (STPR) in Wellsboro, PA. It was the weekend before the event that the engine was finally put back in the car, and it fired back up without any

Subaru Build

Rally Radiator Support and Frame Rail Reinforcement

"Damn, didn't see that coming." These words ran through my head as I nosedived at NJ's Raceway Park Rallysprint back in April. This event is half dirt, half tarmac, and I expected it to be good practice for me. The dirt section was modified

Subaru Build

Subaru Steering Quickener Installation

Today, I will walk you through my steering quickener installation for my Subaru Impreza 2.5RS Rally Car. I have been contemplating this installation in the past, but after the BMR Rallycross I felt that it was necessary. Before, my mindset was, if you need that much constant steering effort,

Rallying

Sandblast Rally 2017

I always envisioned this rally to be my first full stage rally, and I'm glad it was. Sandblast is a very safe rally in my opinion. There are barely any dangerous spots, and the deep sand does a great job at stopping the car when it goes sideways.

Rallying

Waste Management Winter Rally 2017

Ever since last year, I've been waiting to do this event myself as a driver. Derek and I put down some competitive times last year in the 2 wheel drive class, and I felt that my co-driving experience from last year would carry over to this year. This

Subaru Build

First Vinyl Wrap Experience

Today, I will share with all of you my first vinyl wrapping experience. I knew it would be difficult before I even bought the vinyl, but I knew that a few little mistakes would make the car look hundreds of times better than without it. A wrinkle here and there

Garage Thoughts

Dealing With A Lack Of Motivation

We've all been there before, I'm sure. You have a big project that you're working on, one that you've been waiting for so long to complete, but then progress becomes slow. It gets more and more difficult to follow your dreams. Why

Garage Thoughts

5 Reasons Co-Driving Is Better Than Driving

Everyone wants to be a race car driver, but co-drivers have it made. Here are some reasons why co-driving is better than driving in stage rally. 1. You Don't Need A Race Car Think about it, building a race car is a lot of time and money. Hours

Garage Thoughts

Breaking Things Is Good (Sometimes)

Building a car for motorsport events is a costly endeavor, and the last thing you want happening is a part failing during your next event. Extensively testing your build after every modification is crucial to a successful event. So how to you make sure that your car lasts and has

Garage Thoughts

5 Things I Like About SCCA RallyCross

Here are five things I really like about SCCA RallyCross. I say these things time after time to people I know in person, so I would like to share them here as well. 1. Anyone Can Race Bring your Grandparents, your kookie Mom, or even your 12 year old. Just

Subaru Build

Waste Management Winter Rally 2017 Preparation

I signed up for Waste Management Winter Rally (WMWR) this year. Last year, I was a co-driver for Derek James for this event, I even made a video! I am very excited to run this event since I have two co-driving experiences with the Waste Management stages. The car and

Subaru Build

Subaru Impreza 2.5RS Rally Car Specs - January 2017

UPDATE: I added Amazon links so the products are much easier to find online. Here is my current list of modifications to my rally car. Obviously, I will share any new modifications along the way on this blog. Just to get this out of the way, I am running the

Rallying

Understeer at BMR SCCA Rallycross

January 7th, 2017. Kempton, PA. 20°F. This event was awfully cold to do a rallycross, especially without any snow. If you have ever been to an SCCA event you are probably familiar with the work and play system. Go out and work the course 50% of the time, and

Who Is Racing Rebel?

My name is Sergei Grishin. I created this blog to share my adventures, ideas, challenges, accomplishments, and struggles that I face in my crazy motorsport endeavors. I am building a rally car to compete in Rally America, American Rally Association, NASA Rally Sport, and Canadian Rally Championship events for the