Took the WRX out to auto-x with the local Fox Valley club yesterday. Got a much better feel for the limits of the car.
Turn in is fairly good, moderate understeer through the middle of most corners, have to be patient getting on the throttle if you don't want it to turn into heavy understeer exiting. Trailbraking fairly aggressively just makes it go faster. Body pitch & roll are noticeable but not excessive & distracting. Lots of heat/pressure gain in the front tires & chalking predictably showed rolling over onto the sidewalls, could definitely use more front camber for optimal grip. No complaints about the OE tires, they seem fairly sticky & held up ok once I added some air. Brake feel is ok but not fantastic; initial bite in that first inch or so of pedal travel is lacking but improves with heat. Once the brakes are hot the pedal is firmer and it decels pretty hard, no fade noticeable after five 90sec long runs with hard use. ABS performs well, was hitting it before most corners and it just helps slow you down harder. What's slightly distracting (not necessarily bad) is that pedal feel can change depending on what you're doing with the car on entry; I think it was probably ESC intervention. I turned off ESC for a run and it feels like a different car near the limits, not necessarily for the better either (I was a second slower that run). ABS/EBD/ESC system seems well integrated and doing what it should do instead of artificially holding you back.
They also don't seem to make a big distinction between solo 1 & 2 up here; this 'autocross' was on an overgrown outdoor shifter kart track that was pretty damned fast.. lots of elevation change, off camber turns.. tons o' fun. I'm surprised they let some of the novice drivers on the track frankly, if you screwed up in the wrong place you'd end up in the fence or in a building. Safety isn't as much of a priority up here in general though I've noticed.
