[EveryShadeofBlue]

There were 2 SVX's out at this event, myself and a lady (one of two females total) from Ocala, FL. We did pretty good considering we were novices. There were mostly WRX's we were up against and some 2.5 RS's and some other oddball cars (Talon AWD, Ford Focus ZTS, and someone even rented a Mustang!).

It was a fun track. Part of it was a dirt/gravel with about 4 or 5 hairpin turns. I went into the bushes once, but no damage. I got a good picture of leaf prints on my car that I will post when I have it scanned. The other half of the track was an old tarmac with a bit of gravel on it. Cones were set up there and it was a blast driving the SVX on that. I could leave the offroad stuff to the WRX's.

Lisa and I averaged about 15 seconds slower than most of the other, more experienced rally/auto crosser. My best time on the course was 2:29. I think the best of the day was 2:09. With about 20 cars in the AWD stock class, neither of us placed and won a trophy.

It was a blast. My car is damage free, but I wouldn't be in a hurry to run it offroad like that again. I'd hate to have slammed into a tire bank like some people did.

The oddest part of the day is how the other Subaru people (WRX and RS owners) seemed to have no interest in the SVX. I fielded no questions about the car. no weird stares or "What is that" looks. Either they didn't care or they knew all about the SVX already. When you bring the SVX around the Civic/Eclipse type crowd, you usually get gawks and stares, but not with these fellow Subie people.

Best of all is that this event was sponsored by my local Subaru dealer. They are great!

Jeff