Yoshida slowly rounds the entrance onto the track as he prepares the Impreza for its warm-up lap approaching turn one. The ultra stiff chassis creaks and moans, yet refuses to flex thanks to the fully stitch-welded chassis and custom rollcage by Prova. Carefully monitoring the P-1 stack meter, Yoshida quickly heel-toes as he grabs hold of the Eifel shift knob, notching into third gear. Carefully studying the course outline, the roar and constant backfire of the Fujitusbo Ti exhaust has no ill effect on a seasoned veteran driver such as Yoshida. Slowly picking up the pace, the official lap time was to begin as the Impreza cleared the final high-speed corner, quickly approaching the start finish line.
A quick conversation between driver and mechanic signifies the car is ready for its record setting run. "Do us proud" says crew chief Kuroi as Yoshida responds with a "Ryokai" (ten-four). With a heavy right foot, he hammers down on the custom-mounted Tilton pedals as 520hp comes surging to life. The Impreza squirms under boost as the tires attempt to break loose down the straightaway, stamping 494 ft-lb of torque to the asphalt. Blazing past the Dunlop Bridge to the second hairpin turn, Yoshida rev-matches, setting up for the next turn as he applies his foot firmly on the brakes. The AP 6-pot front and 4-pot rear brake calipers squeal and hiss as they take firm grasp of the rotors, slowing the Arise Impreza as it enters the tightest corner of TC. With silky smooth control, Yoshida exits the turn and accelerates onto the 438m backstretch, the longest section of the course. Kuroi, back in the pits, keeps close watch of his lap counter yelling back to his crew "it's looking really good!" Just as the word leave Kuroi's lips, Yoshida unexpectedly calls the pits, claiming the vehicle is over boosting and is beginning to run erratically. The looks of joy on the team member's faces quickly dissolve into discern. Returning to the paddock area, the team goes through their routine process of inspecting the suspension while swapping out all four Enkei rims wrapped with Dunlop Direzza 02G 255/40/17 inch race compounds. Yoshida, still strapped in the seat, discusses the ongoing problem with Kuroi as one of the engineers downloads vital data logging information from the Reytec. Data information reveals a faulty sensor was causing the car to boost well beyond 2.9 bar of boost. A quick compression check shows the number four cylinder had given out and the Impreza was unwillingly limping on three cylinders. Within seconds, a promising attack on the Tsukuba Circuit had turned into a day of disappointment as the Arise Impreza failed to rewrite history at the Tsukuba Circuit.
Tsukuba continued its unforgiving rampage as several crashes and mind numbing highlight reel explosions kept track workers at bay. The day had ended on a climactic ending as Sun Automobile's Cyber EVO clocked in a best time of 55.738, a mere 0.999 seconds off the HKS TRB-02 record run. With the Arise staff and crew members loading the Impreza on the trailer we couldn't help but to notice the smiles and gestures coming from both Prova and Tomei staff members. "This was our initial shakedown of the vehicle. It was unfortunate we had boost problems but the potential of the Arise Impreza gave us hope for next year's Time attack. You can count on us being there to break the course record," smiled Kuroi, as he walked back to the vehicle, giving it a gentle pat on the hood.
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Quote ."Tomei Power and Prova will once again take to the Tsukuba Circuit with the Arise Impreza to challenge the course record for the fastest AWD vehicle."
Name. Tomei PowerAge. Thirty NineHometown. Machida-City, TokyoOccupation. Automotive PerformanceHobbies. Drag Racing, D1, StreetTuning, Roadracing, Super TaiykuBuild Time.Two yearsFeedback. www.tomei-p.co.jp