That's why they say 2nd and 3rd gear go on the tranny right? Yea most turbocharged cars have a limited boost controlled by the ECU in first gear. On my SRT4 it boosted 10 PSI in first 15 PSI 2nd-5th stock settings. Thanks though for clearing it up. So from a roll is actually where most the damage is done I guess. I'm far from a great driver but i'd say i'm about average. My shifts are very smooth but I would guess my hard shifting when fooling around with buddies probably isn't proper technique. I should pay a couple hundred for a drivers course LOL.

I'm completely new to AWD so if any of you have good pointers on improved shifting I would happily listen to the advice. I don't want to break the car obviously. Plus all of you are familiar with WRX's ;).

Just don't get all paranoid about it like some people. You really have to abuse it to break it in most cases.

The best tips I can give you:

Don't mod the car. At least not until you've done a bunch of track days with it. "Modding" the driver is cheaper and much more important than anything you can do to the car. Plus, it's a "mod" that will apply to every car you ever own. Get some seat time with an instructor.

And for the love of god, don't drive around like an asshat on the street. Take it to an autocross or track day instead of "fooling around w/ your buddies". Being dead, or in jail, or getting your car impounded, or having insurance so expensive you have to sell the car, etc certainly don't make your car faster or more fun to drive, 'cause you ain't driving it.

Seriously though... going to the race track is expensive... but if you spend money that you would normally be spending on mod on track days... not only will you become a better driver, you'll end up having far more fun than any number of mods on the car would be if you're only driving it on the street.

What Scott said.

Come out and run as a novice morning and afternoon every autocross and save up for a track day and tires. ;)

You will get your ass handed to you by some old dudes in Miatas and random shitboxes, but that is OK. It is not the car. We do not teach people to drive in this country, just the rules to not get a ticket. It is not your fault, but you can do something about it.

Come learn with a great group of people.

I've done Autocross with my S2000, it's not really my cup of tea. I prefer drag races (did with my SRT4 all the time) or road courses. I agree though about driving improvements>any mod to the car I can do. I may be underestimating myself as I'm a solid driver, just not pro good or anything. I don't get involved in street races really Scott so that's not what I meant by "fooling around". I meant more like we are cruising together, accelerating hard etc. Or sometimes when I get bored I accelerate like an asshat as you call it, but rarely over the speed limit.

Miata has always dominated everyone at Autocross.... Like 30 percent of the cars at ones I went to were Miata's. If it's not too expensive though it's worth a try. I love road courses and tracks though. Then you can really learn your cars limits. With Autocross i've been to you're lucky to get out of first gear.

Is there an Autocross in South Reno?

Most the board members of the Reno SCCA region are on SECCS. Also, Subarus have replaced the Miata at our autocross events as the most common car. Unfortunately, Reno-Fernley Raceway's situation for next season is unknown... they may be closed, making Thunderhill our nearest track... otherwise I'd tell you to skip autocross and just do a season of PDX with us... but autocross may be the best local racing for 2010.

http://www.renoscca.org/

Yea I was told you guys have lost a couple tracks in recent years and Fernley was pretty much all that was left? That sucks that all these places are shutting down Scott. PDX is basically like a Nascar track right? Like a giant track. I still think it would be extremely fun for like 10 of us to cruise through the mountains together some time! The SRT4 community was non existent and that kind of stuff never happened. I'm lucky Reno/Tahoe/Sparks has such a gigantic Subaru community I can get involved in. Maybe if I get involved enough i'll have a reason to stay in Nevada LOL.

PDX = Performance Driving eXperience, aka HPDE, aka "a track day". We held them at the RFR road course, which is pretty unlike the stuff NASCAR drives on.

PDX from last season:



Some older PDX type stuff:


(I'm driving the blue WRX)

We also held Time Trials events in conjunction with the PDX events:

ah thanks for the examples. ones i saw on youtube were on an oval nascar style track.