2015 BRZ from Europe

[brzest]

Hi,

Thought I would finally create my own topic here, to keep track of things and maybe it's of interest to someone as well?

I started looking for the car in early 2015. Looked at the GT86 also (would have liked to get one with the aerokit), but then I got an awesome deal from Subaru. Since there were no cars in stock anywhere in the region (!) that would be manual and either WRB or Pearl White (2nd choice), I had to make a factory order. Finalised the order in late february and was told to expect delivery in august. That was a LONG wait! But luckily it arrived a little faster!

I'm not planing on doing anything too crazy. Probably coilovers next season, then maybe Essex Sprint kit and wheels, that's the current plan anyway.

Current mods are:

Cusco Heel&Toe Pedal
Pivot Dual Gauge Pro DPW Water/Oil Temp & Voltage Meter
STI Rear Gurney Flap
Brodit Pro-Clip phone holder
Alpine subwoofer in the trunk

Bought, not yet installed (waiting for spring):

Forester XT Oil Cooler
STI Steering rack bushings and bolts from BRZ tS
Advan AD08 summer/tracktires
Porsche 997 GT3 brake cooling spoilers
Ferodo DS2500 front pads
Carbone Lorraine RC6 front pads
Carbotexh XP8 rear pads (used/left over from last track season)
STI Sound Generator


Went to see her (1st of July, 2015)



And delivery on the 2nd of July in the evening after work, that was a LOOOONG day at work. 14 km on the clock, but not for long Drove about 250 km that evening, couldn't sleep after that, wanted more, way more









Allthough I made no roadtrips and actually held back on driving it, the mileage kept increasing...alot... This was after a little more than 2 weeks



After that did a few trackdays, god how I missed that! In front are our local track rental GT86's.





Then it was time for the first small mods:
STI Rear Gurney Flap
Cusco Heel&Toe Pedal
STI Sound Tube (still not installed)



1 month after taking delivery...



Then I went to a top speed event. Standing mile on an old concrete airfield. Everyone got 2 tries. 1st try I got to 208 km/h in 5th gear (close to the limiter). Second try I pulled in the mirrors and decided to change to 6th gear earlier, big mistake! Speed was something like 204 iirc.



Last autumn drives, before the constant rain and then snow...







Mini 86-meet (not so mini actually considering that's almost 10% of the GT86/BRZ population in the country )



Aaaaand then the winter came. Now I'd prefer not to have any snow at all, but might as well make the most of it? Installed Hankook i-Pike RS W419 studded tires and the winter fun could start



Yeah, 1st snow of the seaon is always fun



eeh...snowed even more during the night



Even more snow fun



Rest break

[Seba]

Hi,
very nice car. I couldn't decide between WRB or CWP. I have chosen CWP and still waiting for it. I hope my car will be delivered this month.

Sebastian

Poland

[brzest]

Since my last post I've finally installed the Forester Oil Cooler, STI bushes and the GT3 brake cooling ducts and changed all liquids pretty much. New tires and pads going on today, first trackday of the year coming this weekend, can not wait

Also did a little tour of Europe last month with a friend in a Genesis Coupe.
A little over 2 weeks, 9 countries, 7800 km (4900 miles) and alot of smiles, can't wait to go back!
Not alot of great pics unfortunately, specially ones that don't have people on it ruining the picture I guess we were too busy having fun and enjoying the roads + the most scenic places are often at spots you can't stop and take a photo at.

First real car related highlight - Schwarzwald in Germany! Met up with @Killerbee
The roads there are amazing, if you just want to go for a fast drive, there are not many places that are better. Not as scenic as the Alps ofcourse, but little traffic and amazing roads!



Lunch stop somewhere on the road



The next day we met up again with @Killerbee and his friend Mikolaj (not sure if you're on the forum?) and went on a drive in the Alps. Unfortunately our trip was a little early, so all the big passes (Furka, Grimsel, Susten) were still closed due to snow, but it was still an experience I will never forget!



Last stop on the highway, before the really exciting roads begin. Atleast we all have the same idea on how to park



Quick stop in the mountains



How I miss this allready!



Going up!



Then we drove into Italy. Again no good pics (I probably have 50 hours of GoPro footage, which might be entertaining, but too lazy to go through it at the moment)


Then we went up the mountains quite alot and ended up back in Switzerland. This is taken right after the border crossing. F*****k was it cold!





Driving back down, to warmer weather



Then a quick lunchbreak, can't not take a pic, right?



There were some roadworks going on, but fortunately nothing major. Always nice to stop and check out that view.



Then we drove some more and finally had to part ways with @Killerbee as he headed back home towards Zurich and we drove on to our next stop at Lake Como.

On our first day at Como there was alot of rain, so decided to take the girls shopping in Milan. After that torture, made a quick stop at Monza, before heading back to Como.



The next day the weather got better, so basically went sightseeing etc, but also saw quite alot of cool cars, because Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este was starting the next day and alot of the trucks were unloading and alot of interesting cars driving around the villages.

Travel in style!



SLR parked in town



The next day we headed down south to end up in Tuscany the day after that.
Highlight of the day was the Passo di Centocroci, which was a very fun drive!



The roads in Tuscany were quite entertaining...





Also touring the vineyards quite a bit...



We spent about a week in Tuscany, doing mainly...touristy stuff, with some great roads inbetween.

Quick photostop at Mugello before the Futa and Raticosa pass and then onwards to Modena!



And then we were in Maranello - home of Ferrari!



To the museum!



599XX



F12 TRS (1 of 3), Pininfarina Sergio (1 of 6) and La Ferrari



250 GT SWB



And probably my favorite car in the museum - the 166 MM Vignale



Outside the museum there were probably 10-15 different businesses offering drives in different Ferraris. From an old 360 Spider to a 458 Speciale or even the brand new 488 GTB. The plan was to go for a drive the next day, but plans changed and that's okay, next time!



Even the parks in Maranello had sculptures I could appreciate!



The old factory gates!



And at the other side of the factory gates - Ristorante Cavallino, where supposedly Enzo Ferrari had his lunch basically every day. I would not recommend it though. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great or even that good.



If you're in the area you NEED to go to Ristorante Montana, which is near Fiorano. Amazing atmosphere, amazing service and even better food! Can't recommend the place enough. Oh and the walls are covered with pictures of F1 drivers and other important people who all dine there. Even if you're in the area for 4-5 days, I'd go there every day!





The next day we sent the girls shopping again and headed to San Cesario sul Panaro - home of Pagani. I had tried to get a factory tour, but there were supposed to be clients visiting that day so no tours. Oh well, worth visiting anyway, maybe we'll see once going for a test drive atleast. When we got there however it turned out the clients event was cancelled and tours were on, but all had to be prebooked. Luckily we managed to talk our way in and I think there were a few no shows as well, so we got lucky. No pictures in the production area, but outside the factory and in the showroom there was still alot to photograph.

When we got there - this was the sight. Probably potential cutomers parked infront of the factory. 2 x F12 TDF and a 'regular' F12.



Then the new Huayra BC (1 of 25 to be built) came from a test drive!



Then a Huayra test mule went out with no engine cover.



...and came back about 10-15 minutes later with some very hot brakes. There was another mule which looked identical inside the factory as well (couldn't take a photo)



Then we got to go inside the showroom.

In the showroom there was this yellow Huayra



and THIS! This is the second Pagani ever built (1st was used for crash testing), the Zonda mule, on which every single component for every single Zonda variation has been developed on. It has gone through loads of different specifications, but has now been retired and upgraded/restored for Horacio Pganis 60th birthday to 760 spec. The car is called La Nonna (the grandmother), since every Zonda owes it's life to this car. Oh...and it has done far over 2,000,000 kilometers!



Hiding outside the factory I also found this one-off Zonda LM Roadster!



With that our trip was coming to an end. Last dinner at Montana and the next morning, before 6 am we started heading home. That day would take us from Modena to Warsaw, 1680 km (1000+ miles), 5 fuel stops alot of high speed driving and about 16 hours with fuel and lunch stops despite some quite heavy traffic jams on the German autobahn. The day after that we did another 1000 km (600+ miles) and we were home. And the day after that I felt like I'd like to start all over

The car was great on the journey, can't really find anything to complain about. My butt and back were totally fine, even on the marathon 1000+ miles 16 hour day (same can't be said about the codriver though ).

[themadscientist]

Amazing, just breathtaking.

[brzest]

Time for a quick update.

At some point I got my pads & front rotors changed just before doing a trackday. Installed new Brembo blank rotors and Carbone Lorraine RC6 pads. Since I hadn't been on a track for about 10 months and could now stay on track longer because of the oil cooler, I think I got a little carried away. Did 10-15 lap sessions a few times, rest were 5+ laps, looks like the brakes didn't really like it...
Had the 30 000 km service the next day and turns out the pads were totally melted (no fade on track) and the rotors bent, whoops
So the pads and rotors lasted about 100 laps and 24 hours, this can get expesnive...

Anyway some time went past and it was time for another 2 trackdays. Since I had forgot to order new pads, I had no choice, but to install a set of Ferodo DS2500's that I had been keeping as an emergency set.
Did a really careful trackday at my home track with no more than 3 fast laps per session and at the end of the day I was relieved to see they had plenty of meat left, which was good because the next trackday would be in 3 days in Ahvenisto, in Finland.

Here's a quick helmetcam video from that day.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pXEIS7oU7g"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pXEIS7oU7g[/ame]



So early in the morning we took a ferry over to Finland with a friend in his STi



The track was awesome, a lot of elevation changes and quite technical parts. Also there was very little runoff, so if you got it wrong you were in the wall pretty much. Since I was there for the first time, I wasn't exactly going to be quick, but it was alot of fun. Here's one lap of the track, not quite my fastest time, but gives an idea of the track atleast.


[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dpBYkg1tBg"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dpBYkg1tBg[/ame]

I got more and more confident as the day went on and had a lap time of 1:43.1 (slow, but for the first time I was quite happy with it), but I wanted to get into the 1.42s, so I went out in the last session to try and do that, but nearly put the car into the wall trying... I went in to the corner a little faster, but not much, but all of the sudden I had the steering at nearly full lock and the car went straight, just before hitting the wall it somehow came back and I didn't crash and die

At first I thought there might have been some oil on the track, but now I think I must have picked up a puncture a few corners before, since right after the 'moment' my TPMS light went on (I figured the right front got too hot), the car felt ok, so I did a cooldown lap and went in to the pits, it wasn't until about 30 minutes later that I discovered the tire was totally flat.

Here's the video, doesn't look half as scary as it felt in the car

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2H3mG9i3eA"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2H3mG9i3eA[/ame]

So after that we got the tire fixed and headed back home. Despite the near miss, it was an incredible day, I'd say the most fun track(day) I've ever been on. I'm still a novice so my driving needs a lot of improving, but I'm having a lot of fun learning

I've ordered a new set of pads - trying Ferodo DS 1.11 this time, hopefully they will arrive on time - because next track event is this sunday, can't wait!

[brzest]

Time for an update.

The BRZ spent the entire winter in the garage, wow how difficult it was to not go for a fun drive in the snow, but somehow I managed.

Anyway over the winter I bought a few things:

-ST XTA coilovers. Long story short - at first I wanted the 'old' Öhlins R&T kit, which was discontinued, then looked at a few other options and finally decided to copy @Tor, since he was very happy with his and our intended usage seems to be the same. So far I've only done some spirited driving on country roads, but they feel good. First trackday coming in a week or two.

-Whiteline adjustable front endlinks (couldn't get the stock ones off, without cutting them in half)

-SPL Titanium LCA. While I was on vacation in Florida, I ordered them from CSG. Big thanks to @CSG Davidfor helping me out and dealing with my neverending questions about delivery (delivery was to a hotel, which I didn't stay for a very long time).

-Radium MasterCylinderBrace, also ordered from CSG. Not yet installed, but will do any day now.

-XXR527 18x8.75 +35 wheels in gold, because Subaru with Nexen NFera SU1 tires in 245/35 18. So far they seem pretty good.

-Michelin Pilot Sport Cup2's in 215/45 17 for the track on std rims

Anyway here's a few recent pics. One almost clean and then from when we took a shortcut, that was 20+ km of pretty bad offroading. The incar pic is from when the road was very decent and driveable, but it got really bad later, so yeah that was interesting....
In the end it looked so good dirty, that I didn't even want to wash it