Driving Sports

The best way to increase grip, is to increase the amount of rubber between the chassis and the ground. Said another way: bigger tires. Currently, the wagon is sitting on 225/45/17 tires. This isn't bad, but to really have any amount of decent grip, we need to go bigger. Much bigger. However, the stock, slab-sided body means one can only add so much rubber.

The Solution then is to cut-out the fenders. But who wants to look at big gaping fenders holes with big, wide tires sticking out the sides of the car? Not me, and to remedy all of this, I contacted HTAutos (www.htautos.co.uk) in England. They are the creators of a very good 22B-style widebody kit.

For those of you not in the know, the 22B was a special-edition Impreza that featured the wider fender flares of the WRC car of its era. Only a handful of these cars were made. Most stayed in Japan while a handfull made it to Europe and England. Only two are known to exist in the United States, one of which is owned by Subaru and never driven. Although it did make it to this year's SEMA show in Las Vegas, as part of the Subaru display.

These cars are rare fruit indeed and so finding one for sale is simply not an option. It's far easier to just build one. This is just a wider Impreza after all, with some STI kit. Not exactly exotic fare. Truth be told, I'm not really interested in re-creating the 22B completely, I just want wider fenders.

For those of you that know of the infamous 22B, you may be scratching your head -- the 22B was a coupe and Dreadnought is a wagon. HTAutos has thought of that and produces 22B-style fenders for the classic Impreza coupe, sedan and wagon. They even produce WRC-style fender kits for the 2002-2003 WRX and the 2004-2005 WRX (GD Chassis for you Subaru snobs).

So far, the kit is merely tacked in place in the rear, so ignore the gaping gaps. Front installation was easier, so it's more or less done. We could go nuts and mold in all the pieces, but rivets will do with a fresh swab of paint to make it look prettier, this is a racer afterall. Stay tuned as it is now time to build a new engine and perhaps spice up the turbo system as well. I hear Ryan has a hot turbo coming for his toy car, and I want to keep the pressure on.