Let's face the facts once and for all: when Subaru came out with this hatchback on 'roids and slapped on an STi badge on the back, don't even front like you weren't as shocked as I was. I remembered distinctly how much I was flabbergasted when I first saw the photos of the new version. I think it was a Monday morning as I worked out my delts, balancing atop a bed of nails, surfing the Interweb when I came across a picture that Elliott Moran sent to me. It was a photo of what seemed like a cross between a Ford Escort and the Saab my uncle used to drive. When I saw the badge names and slowly realized that Subaru done gone wild like a college sorority sister, I nearly pissed myself. I was flabbergasted, so much so that I checked my flabbers and found that they were indeed thoroughly gasted.It took me a while to finally accept the new look. In fact it was just this year that I finally stopped shaking my head, looking down, and walking the other direction every time I saw a GR chassis. My change in heart was probably due to the recent JUN WRX STI Super Street cover car (April '09) since JUN was one of the few street tuners to make it look oh-so-normal, or perhaps it was the mental image of the old GDB chassis slowly fading away in my brain. Either way, I began to start appreciating it. One tuner that also helped change my mind is the all-in-one body shop for all things rally, L'aunsport. Based in the Chiba prefecture of Japan, L'aunsport is slowly climbing the ranks among the hardcore rally enthusiasts across the globe. Of course, their favorite blank canvas to which they can Jackson Pollock the hell out of is the GRB-A chassis WRX STi. It's a venerable match made in rally heaven seeing that L'aunsport is only known within the hardcore audience, and the new STi is vast becoming the hardcore fan's hardcore ride. I caught up with the rally heads at L'aunsport earlier this year at the Tokyo Auto Salon and they had this to say:
"We do our best to rally all fellow fans! And around the foot for dress-up look from the street rally, creating a circular WRC. Keyword is 'rally custom.' The watchword is 'rally custom!!!'"
Translate at your own risk, but what I got from it is that they mean business when it comes to customizing their rides. So far, they have three '08 Impreza STI project cars, ranging from mild to hot to speecy spicy. The one we caught on film is the hot version. It's outfitted with the latest L'aunsport outerwear but lacks the punch from the inside. In other words, and to quote one Mr. Sir Mix a Lot, she has "little in the middle but she got much back." The L'aunsport goodies include WRC-inspired body kit, featuring a front bumper, side skirts, rear bumper, diffuser, rear hatch wing, door mirror cover, hood, and aero scoop, all of which were made in glorious carbon-fiber. They added a lightweight hood damper, a spring antenna, silver carbon graphics, and a red racing dummy hook as special touches.