GMR and my car

Last week, I ordered two new Bridgestone Potenza RE-01R tires to replace the two front tires that took a beating at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.  The tires arrived on Wednesday and sat in the backyard until they could be mounted and balanced on wheels.  On Saturday morning, I took the tires and wheels to Island Tires & Service (www.islandtire.net) in Pasadena.  Service was friendly and quick as I arrived and left in about half an hour.  Later that afternoon, I swapped the stock 2006 WRX wheels and tires that were on the car for the Prodrive P1 wheels that had been in storage since mid-November.

On Sunday afternoon, I did a recce run for a drive I was going to do the next day with some friends.  The plan was to go North on Azusa Ave until it turned into San Gabriel Canyon Road and continue along that until East Fork.  On East Fork, I headed East to the point Glendora Mountain Road (GMR) began.  GMR was where the fun to be had until it ended down the mountain at Sierra Madre Ave.  The first and only previous time I had driven GMR was back in July 2007 when I had the 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX hatchback for an evening.  It’s definitely more fun to drive in daylight than at night.

Because I was stuck behind a GMC Yukon the entire time I drove along San Gabriel Canyon Road yesterday, I figured it would be better to go North on GMR and double-back today.  This afternoon, I met my college friends Steve Mar who has a 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX Wagon and Jon Mak who has a 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STI.  We had a lot of fun driving our ‘Rexes up and down the mountain over the course of an hour.  Below is a video of my run up the mountain (the first minute and a half is pretty boring).  I’ll post a video of the run down the mountain later.  Enjoy the ride!  Note: I wasn’t driving all-out.  “Maximum attack” is reserved for the track alone.

You may view the rest of the photos I shot here.

On the road again!

It’s so nice to be on the road again!  The car’s front suspension definitely needs to be aligned though!

Older photo shown above