13.06.2010 - The EVO Triangle...

[Willis]

Me and my dad had a ride out to The EVO Triangle on Sunday. I'm sure most of you will have heard of this track, errr, I mean road before... But for those who haven't, it's a triangular (no sh!t) circuit of road in Wales where EVO Magazine take their cars for roadtests and photoshoots.

We'd never been up there before and had been meaning to go for about 6 months, so an early get up (0700 on a SUNDAY!!!) and a quick dose of V-Power and we were away. We took a bit of an alternative route on the way there sticking mainly to B roads instead of the A5, and we took a different route still on the way back throught Ruthin which led to some more fantastic roads again.

The scenery was beautiful, the weather was perfect (dry, cool, overcast) and both cars performed brilliantly. We're going over there again on 04.07.10 with 8 friends from our local car club Zero260, so if any of you want to tag along and boost the Renaultsport contingent then you're more than welcome...

Here's the piccies;

 

[Willis]

Once we got to The EVO Triangle itself, we only saw four other cars. The road surface is perfect for want of a better word, but you do have to be careful as there's a few places where you could become seriously unstuck. On or two sharp crests followed by very tight corners for example. Our average speed (according to the Clio) for the whole trip was 57.8MPH, this included 80Miles to and from The Triangle on A, B and Motorways as well as having a good blast around once there.

We didn't see any Police on The Triangle itself, to be honest there's not really anywhere they could stop or hide. But we did see a few mobile speed traps on the way back. By this point we were going back through small villages so that was to be expected. There was a lad in an 80's 911 up there giving it some severe punishment too.

Comparing the cars. The WRXS has now just covered 300Miles (200 of them being on Sunday) so is nowhere near run in, but it is an absolute monster. I'd say that the Clio has a definate advantage on the brakes and I could carry a little more speed into the corners but as soon as my dad got back on the throttle the WRXS just pulled and pulled... I was chaning between 3rd and 4th, with some sections flat in 5th where as my dad was able to stay in 4th for almost the entire route. Obviously, 420NM of torque comes in handy on roads like this and it's what the Impreza was always best at. But, the Clio definately didn't embaress herself.

Trip fuel consumption = 30.1 MPG for the Clio and 27.3 MPG for the WRXS.

 

[Roy]

nice pics mate
love the motors

 

[Foxspeed]

great drive out but the a5 bit for me is a bit pants !

speed cameras are in the sky round there now.......

 

[Willis]

Thanks!!! I got some strange looks climbing into hedges trying to get good angles a the lake where the last few shots were taken!!! The Impreza is awesome, I've not been allowed to drive it yet unfortunately, but from the passenger seat it certainly feels very planted... I'm a bit in love with my Clio though, she's still my favourite.

 

[Willis]

Yeah, the A5 bit isn't too spectacular. We trundled along that part on the way there behind a couple of caravans. We did each side of The Triangle, turning left back onto the A5 and headed through Ruthin and Broughton on the way back towards the M56. There's some more nice roads around there, I've plotted them out on an AA Routes map. If you want the screengrab to have a look where they are then I'll happily send it over.

 

[pez1356]

Is the wrx-s the one that's not quite as good as the sti? sorry not too hot on my scoobys!! Lovely looking cars though!!

 

[actionpacked]

Sounds like a great trip out mate!

The wrx has really grown on me a lot recently. :001_tt1:

 

[stormbringer]

looks great.

 

[c197mark]

ive just made a mess, i love the impreza, if i had the money i wouldve brought 1 of them instead of the clio (sorry i will wash my mouth out in a bit lol) im a big impreza fan ive had 2 now but the new shape is def my favourite one, one car ill have again in the furture

 

[Willis]

It was a fantastic day out, I can see it becoming a regular Sunday morning trip!!!

Yeah the WRXS is like the STI-lite if you will. It's a true limited edition as it's the last car that Subaru and Prodrive will be working together on. It's also the last Impreza that will carry the WRX monica and the last Impreza to be this shape... Barring the Cosworth STI that's due later this year of course...

It's basically a WRX fitted with the PPP (Prodrive Performance Pack, usually a £3,500 upgrade), it also has an STI front spolier and a Prodrive rear spolier along with some other subtle styling changes, such as NO chrome. If you see a WRX in this shape then you'll see what I mean about the abundance of chrome on them. The STI has around 35BHP more and comes with 4-Pots, but apart from that there's nothing between them, although, strangely, the WRXS is 180KG lighter than an STI according to the brochures!?!

My dad did have an '07 ''Hawkeye'' WRX before this and the difference between the two is a lot greater then you might imagine. The hatchback is physically shorter than the old saloon but it has a longer wheelbase. It's also narrower and has double wishbone rear suspension which has made a massive difference to the handling.

Geek mode disengaged!!!