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Which is quicker in the standing mile, a Subaru WRX STI or a Porsche Cayman?

The 2015 Subaru WRX STI and 2014 Porsche Cayman are both saddled with unfair reputations. The STI with its huge wing and gold wheels has the title of the ultimate boy-racer. On the other hand, Porsche brand snobs look down on he base Cayman as just a wannabe 911. In reality, they are both pretty fantastic performance cars. But what would happen if the two of them lined up at a stoplight, and maybe the guy in the suit in the Cayman started throwing some revs at the young man in the STI? Automobile decided to find out in a recent video pitting the two stereotyped hot rods against each other in a standing-mile drag race.
In terms of raw numbers, they are surprisingly close. Both use flat engines and six-speed manual transmissions here, but the Subaru has more power and torque. However, the Porsche makes up for it with 300 pounds less weight. Neither should have a problem with traction either thanks to the STI's sophisticated all-wheel-drive setup, and the Cayman's mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout.
The comparable specs certainly show themselves in the real world for the race. We're not going to give away the winner here because it's too exciting, but let's just say the finish is very, very close. Scroll down to watch both of them shrug off their stereotypes and show off their real performance.

Climb to the Clouds returning thanks to Subaru title sponsorship [w/video]

The Mt. Washington Hillclimb, otherwise known as the Climb to the Clouds, hasn't been done since 2011. That year, Subaru Rally Team USA driver David Higgins set a new record for the event first held in 1904, running the 7.6-mile vertiginous course in 6:11.54. The race will be return in 2014 with the help of that very carmaker, Subaru of America having stepped in to the title sponsor role for what will be the Subaru Mt. Washington Hillclimb.
Taking place from June 26-29, 75 modern and vintage cars will spend three days racing up the 6,288-foot-high mountain. It's not as long nor as high as Pikes Peak, but it does have something that the Colorado competition doesn't: gravel; about 13 percent of the Mt. Washington Carriage Road still hasn't been paved.
If you want to know what a record-breaking run up the northeast's highest peak looks like, check out Higgins behind the wheel in the video below.

The art of WRX-ing in the rain

There it is again, the quiver of the STi's blue rear spoiler. I noticed it yesterday on the Autobahn north of Frankfurt. Although the speed limit was 120 kilometers per hour, I was cruising in sixth gear around 200 kph when the STi's signature rear appendage began to dance in my rear view mirror. Now I'm redlining fifth gear on the front straight of the legendary Nurburgring's north loop and it's back. Only this time the quivering blade is in a deluge of water coming off the Subaru's 18-inch Dunlops. It's a rooster tail worthy of Miss Budweiser and it's a constant and sobering reminder that I'm lapping the 13-mile long Nordschleife in a freezing and unrelenting rain. I'm driving a 2017 German-spec Subaru WRX STi, not the updated 2018 version that'll get revised front end styling, tweaked suspension tuning, larger Brembo brakes and 19-inch wheels and tires. At 240 kph, close to the 2.5-liter boxer four's 6,700 rpm redline, I shift up to sixth gear and change lanes to avoid the standing water on the left side of the track. It's my third lap. I'm getting over-confident. The all-wheel drive WRX STI is dealing well with the tricky conditions and the Ringmeisters of the past that tamed this track since it was first built in 1929 - Ascari, Fangio, Clark, Caracciola, Nuvolari, Rosemeyer, Chiron, and Ickx - are talking to me inside my head. And they're egging me on. Pushing me to go faster. I'm sticking to wet line and staying off the tall curbing that marks most apexes. Bounce the Subi off a curb and I'm sure to star in the next Nurburgring crash video to hit YouTube. I'm also desperately trying to stay off of the new pavement, which dots the circuit and has a coefficient of friction in the wet similar to snot. Then I make a huge mistake on the entrance to Bergwerk, a tight right hand corner that comes up quickly after a long, fast section and the left hand kink that Nicki Lauda got so wrong in the 1976 Grand Prix. The Nordschleife has 160 corners. Most are blind. Many are off camber. All are lined with walls and Armco barriers. Even the straights are kinked and crowned. And there are two very fast downhill compressions and three jumps that max out a car's suspension travel. There's no runoff room. No margin for error. And remembering the course in this weather in just a few laps is impossible, I don't care how much Gran Turismo you've played.