Having experienced the sights and sounds of and ALMS weekend in person last year for the first time, you can’t help but have a few favourites that you tend to capture a few more photos.  For myself, the works GT BMW M3 cars are a couple of my favourites.  Everything from the refined but distinct sound of the inline motor, to the widebody fender flares that give it that MEAN yet polished look…something about these cars keep you wanting more!

Here’s a great behind the scenes look at the cars from the guys at MotoIQ.  Take a look at all the dry carbon work within the engine bay and my personal favourite feature of having very trick carbon fiber exhaust chimney leading to the a-pillar…enjoy!

A Look Inside: The Rahal Letterman ALMS GT BMW M3 Coupes

Occasionally you’ll hear about a project someone’s doing and it’ll resonate with you as being full of potential. You’ll forget about it – perhaps assuming that like so many before it the project got shelved for lack of funds, interest – whatever. Then a month later you’ll hear through a friend of a friend who knows a guy who looked after the dog of a guy who saw it at the next level of completion that it’s actually still on track and you’ll start wondering again. With no proof of progress for another period you wonder if the project is going to live up to the original intent. You start thinking “Well, I would’ve done this, or that” and armchair modifying someone else’s car. And then you see a photo before the car is entirely finished, that hints at the car going beyond what you imagined. Wayne’s STI is this type of project – the sum really is greater than the parts used in it…

I first met Wayne briefly a bit over a year ago at a really small-time show and shine. His car was having issues as I recall at the time, and his frustration after a lot of hard work already put into it was evident. The car looked great to my casual eye, but wasn’t running up to snuff. Below is what the car was like prior to Wayne rethinking the direction he was going in with the car (thanks Adam).

The process of transforming his already substantially modified 2004 STI into what you see here was a challenge. A whole other level of planning and coordination is involved in making such a change at once to a car. That said, a lot of the changes were last minute decisions – like the widebody which was almost done on a whim. Wayne decided what to keep from his old setup, and what to update. In the end there wasn’t much he kept the same. Even parts that were on the previous version of the car were treated to some serious attention – like the Seibon vented hood.

Pulling back from the rather tired look of a fully carbon hood, Wayne painted the hood leaving the scoop and vents exposed carbon – which looks stunning and makes it stand out even more than just leaving it all carbon would have.

Other standard Subie parts are the ubiquitous Hella horns. Loving the carbon grille they hide behind.

This car is very much about being custom and one-off. In addition to the hand-built wide front fenders, this trunk spoiler is really well done. Built entirely by hand and grafted onto a wingless trunk. This piece really lends to the overall stance and presence of this car. Despite appearances this car isn’t destined to be a show-queen. One of the primary goals for this car is to run the 1/4 mile in 10 the second range and not only does the normal STI wing make less sense in that application, it definitely doesn’t give the car the right visual lines. This feels inspired by a serious pro/street kind of setup. Not completely de-badged either; just a subtle “STI” in black in place of the big plasticky OEM badge.

How’s that for stance? Some people debate the idea of not blending the rear fender flare into the door with wide-body kits but I have to say that I think it suits the car better with the crease left unblended. I’ve seen this kit done both ways in the flesh, and I’ve now decided for myself that this is the better way, and it’s what I’d do if I had the coin. It keeps a bit of the ‘Mad Max’ feel of the wide-body intact.

In it’s present state the car is making a decent amount of power, but it’s far from using the potential of the build. Wayne opted to build the motor fully using top shelf parts which has made a respectable 404whp. The car is still in shakedown period though, and will be tuned soon for a proper amount of boost in the very near future which will make a serious increase in power.

The engine bay of the car is populated by some of the best names in the Subaru aftermarket – it’s like the online shopping wish list of every Subie owner exploded everywhere…

…quite literally. I’m not allowed to say any more though about the potential of this car’s motor, so lets go back to admiring the outside.

As you walk around the car you continue to pick up on the finer details that Wayne didn’t skimp out on. APR carbon wing mirrors continue the tasteful exterior mods that let the wide body keep your eye.

Other than the custom wide-body though, surely the mint set of Work Meister S1′s Wayne managed to score from an internet forum will satisfy even the most jaded JDM fanboy. The red lugs on extended studs also ad a bit of visual pop when the car is in motion. They coordinate with the tail lights on the blue paint nicely, not sure if that was intentional but it looks sorted.

How wide is wide?

The only addition I’d make to Wayne’s car would be a mid-size under-body diffuser like the HKS Kansai one. It’s so much easier to spend money when it’s someone else’s though isn’t it? The nice thing about the paint Wayne chose was how much it changed with the daylight. The darker it got outside the bluer it began to look. It’s not a colour shift or a heavy pearl, it’s just the way the super light blue reflects the sky and picks up the ambient light. You can compare the photo above taken earlier in the evening to the one below taken later for an idea of what I mean. You’ll simply have to take my word that I didn’t Photoshop in the deeper hue of blue in this next shot… I promise, it was just a very purple sky with a sunset on the horizon.

See? Compare the above two shots and you’ll get what I mean about the hue changing. Thankfully Wayne also intends to put the hurt on the competition with this car in coming road course events like CSCS… perhaps next season we’ll even see what times it can turn on Mosport with the boost dialed up.

As a parting shot I usually go with some rig shot or a pretty sunset shot but considering the uniqueness and attention to detail paid to this ride I think it’s fitting to end on an engine bay shot. You really have to marvel at the effort put into this car and from the looks of it, Wayne’s son will have  a great car to inherit.

Every car scene seems to be sub-divided into followers of brands. You have the muscle car scene and its division along Ford/GM/Mopar lines, exotics divided among the Italian and German brands, and then the Tuner scene, which has perhaps some of the weirdest divisions. There’s the Nissan guys, the Honda guys, and then “the rest” seem to be grouped together. Subaru is kind of a odd brand in this scene – the things that define a Subaru are somewhat quirky – AWD, flat4 motors, and something neither of the other two major brands seem to share much of – a rally pedigree. What pulled me into the Subaru scene in specific vs. the others was one car in particular. This car. I first encountered it at Importfest a few years back, then I got to meet the owner in person at a local meet a couple years ago. Then I bought my first Subaru.

The story of this car goes way back beyond my first encounter with it. By that time it was onto it’s second life. Originally it was a 2.5RS that Arthur managed to do some severe damage to while experiencing a “less than optimal traction situation”. Rather than totally write the car off Arthur decided to rebuild it, better than before. He had been in touch previously with the folks at Trial and once the car was being rebuilt he managed to pry out of their hands an ultra rare (think 5 in existence) full wide body kit. They only built them originally for show-car purposes. One car was stolen and wound up sometime later in Jamaica, one car was wrecked, and I couldn’t unearth the wearabouts of the other kits.

The kit is an all encompassing change for the 2-door GC Impreza. Front fenders, rear quarter panels, door skin, front and rear bumpers, sideskirts, hood (I think?), and rear wing with adjustable carbon centre section are all unique to the Trial kit. Complimented by rally style carbon mirrors (maybe Arthur was trying to counter the wideness?) this makes for easily the most unique GC in North America.

A closer look at that massive-by-any-standards rear wing reveals it’s adjustable in two stages.

I’m not sure of the aerodynamic efficiency of this wing given how narrow that centre element is, but you can’t debate throwing this thing through the wind at decent speed is going to create more downforce than your average STI wing! Nice touch with the naked carbon side adjustment panels.

Here’s a closer look at those Gramlights with the burnt lip that everyone goes bonkers over. The colour of this car is actually from a Kawasaki Ninja if I recall correctly, rather than the normal BRP or WRB that these cars came in. It has a much punchier more saturated feel than the OEM Subaru blues ever did, and compliments the colours in the lips of these rims perfectly.

This really was a beautifully thought out kit, and it’s ashame they didn’t do more of these types of setups for the GC. Look at that stance!

Since this shoot, Arthur has had a 2.6L (bored & honed 2.5L block) installed to replace his aging 2.0L. Along with the same GT30R he had previously his goals are around 400whp, though last time I spoke with him he was considering adding meth injection to the equation to bring that number up.

The local constabulary could tell this car is going to spool like a warpdrive, and run like a starship piloted by crack smoking monkeys (that’s fast) – of that there’s no doubt. They must’ve stopped by just to remind Arthur they could spot his car a mile away. Oh, and did I forget to mention? It has a custom system fully built by Clarion. Perhaps we’ll explore that next time…

Thanks Arthur!!