Hey guys. I thought you might all enjoy my good friend Chris' review of "Meeting Petter Solberg." There was a thread floating around last week about the Petter Solberg Meet and Greet scheduled at Miller Subaru in New Jersey. He and his wife were lucky enough to attend. It sounds like quite an experience. (And I scored a Petter autographed poster...on it's way to Atlanta in the next few weeks!) Without further adieu...read on (shots of the '06 STi and Petter's WRC car included) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Review: Meet Petter Solberg By Chris Lucania Six o’clock on the dot my wife and I roll up to Miller Subaru, Lumberton NJ in the XT to be greeted by walkie-talkie guys coordinating parking. We park in the midst of what seems like eleventy billion STis (what happen to all the Rexs?) and hop out giddy as hell. While we make are way to the crowd of blue and gold we pass tons of people carrying hood scoops, windshield visors and shift trims. One guy even removed the wing from his STi in the parking lot for an autograph. So here we go… There’s a huge Subaru tent blasting Beastie Boys on the left where we score some gift bags containing SPT vinyl stickers (+15 whp), Suby key chains (Blue star logo), and a WRB Subaru PenAgain (www.penagain.com). We then sign in and get our tickets numbered 126 and 127. On the right is a huge crowd gathered around the 06 STi. I think to myself, “This is it. I’m gonna love it or hate it.” So I make a B-line for the front of the car, I turn around and take it in. LOVE IT. Every ignorant bastard that has judged this car before actually seeing it in person, doesn’t deserve it anyway. In no way whatsoever does it look tacked-on or awkward. It looks phenomenal and downright pissed off. And this is coming from someone who hates change. I’m a real tough sale as far as new designs go and to be honest I wasn’t too excited about the pictures I was seeing on the web. Anyways, let’s move on and I’ll come back to this. So we head back to the tent which is really the only place we could find to stand, and within a few minutes we realized we had the best seat in the house. The music fades out and a bunch of Subaru officials come out leaded by some suit guy with a microphone. We were about 3 feet away, had a clear view with nobody in front of us! Suit-guy launches into his schpeal about “welcome to the future or the next era or whatever”. Sales pitch, moving right along. He then introduces the Millers who own the dealership. These guys have nothing but dollar signs in their eyes as they survey the crowd. Pretty funny. Then he introduces “Petter Solberg, World Rally Champion”. Petter strolls out of the dealership to an enormous applause and immediately grabbed the mic. Once the crowd settles down he begins to talk (In his Norwegian accent) about how excited he is to be there and how thankful he is for so many people coming out. Quickly he turns his attention to the new 06 STi and begins to tell everyone all about it. He was very proud to tell everyone that the handling will be much improved, especially when you hit 120. The crowd ate it up. He then quickly hinted about improved torque. No real details, but hey, improvement is improvement. Then he wanted to talk about the roof spoiler. He assured everyone that it was extremely functional. It was NOT for show, and to prove it his new WRC car was going to use the same part. He also explained that he is involved in testing and developing the car along side the engineers. He said when he tests, it’s “Flat out on all surfaces!” Fucking awesome! He spoke very highly of the car in general and credited the Japanese engineers for never resting… always pushing to make it better. And above all for being passionate. Next he began to talk about himself. He listed his credentials, awards, and championships which was staggering. He also told everyone he was currently in second place and was willing to take the risks necessary to win. Petter told us his team had some great new ideas and the upcoming stage in Finland was giving him a REALLY good feeling. Then he gave a wicked smile. The crowd went ape shit. He then gave us some cool childhood facts: - Started driving at age 6 - Owned 50 VW Beetles before age 18 - Rolled so many cars that it makes him laugh out loud - Dream job growing up was to be a mechanic Around 18 he entered his very first rally race and finished second! From that point on, he dropped his mechanic plans and raced full time. He also touched on his family’s racing history which was crazy! His little brother is a Norwegian Champion, his wife is a Norwegian Champion, his wife’s uncle is a Champion, and even his parents are involved in motor sports. His 3 year old son races his motor scooter in the snow. Now that’s cool! Question and answer time! The most interesting question someone asked was what cars did he have in his garage. He laughed and told everyone, “You need to understand, I am passionate!” Gotta love it! Anyways he told us he has 7 Subarus and he gets one every time there is a new car introduced. How’s that for a perk? Some then yells out “22B?” And he gave another classic wicked smile. Even I oohed and ahhed. Lastly he told us what is in his future. First thing is to find and teach a new driver for Subaru. And the protégé must be no older than 18. He said anyone older would never be able to compete at that level because experience is the most important thing (Petter is 38). Several young-ish, sub-18 year old looking kids glared like they even had a chance in hell. Yeah, keep rocking it out on the Playstation pal. Second thing is to bring WRC to America. I couldn’t describe the noise that came from the crowd at that point. It was staggering. Then he says goodbye and heads inside to start signing. The crowd thins out and I grab a bunch of photos of the STi and some tuner cars in the parking lot. Again, the new STi looks great. You really need to reserve yourself until you see it in person. There really weren’t many people around it at this point so I was able to check it out from every angle. Very nice. The roof spoiler is the only thing I wasn’t crazy about, but if Petter Solberg tells me it’s the tits, then it’s the tits. About 45 minutes pass and they call out our number. We’re in! There was a wrap around line in the showroom via movie theatre ropes. Inside the ropes? Solberg’s #1 WRC car. WOW! I take tons of photos from every angle possible. Take a look and you make your own judgment because I can’t put it into words. (Sorry about the quality of the pictures. The fluorescent lighting in that place rivals most county morgues.) (... continued in next post ...)
continued So and hour or so has passed and we are next. I’ve been practicing my little speech for him the whole day, so I hand the camera to my wife, approach Petter and ask if I could take a picture with him. He looks at me with this very genuine expression and says, “Absolutely”. I shake his hand, get the picture and my speech comes out something like this, “Good luck you, I like new car, thanks fan of you, nice meeting watch on TV”. Shit. Anyways the guy was so gracious, and however excited we were I honestly felt like he was the happiest one there. Such a cool guy and so passionate and proud of what he does. He was just thrilled to be there amongst people who have the same love. We then grab our signed poster and as we left they were calling out number 220. It seemed like there was probably another hundred or so to go. Great turnout! Well that’s that. We head home, I call Clay all excited like I just got back from the Junior Prom and he somehow listens to me for about an hour. Best Suby meet/event I’ve ever been to. Something I’ll never forget. And the best thing about it, I don’t think Petter will forget it either. Seacreast….out! Photos http://www.statuecreative.com/solberg
Damn, he was lucky. I would have probably taken the poster we got at the Warehouse Tour and asked him to autograph that and also asked him to autograph my spoiler. The best would have been to buy Petters Front Bumper from Primitive Racing, and have him autograph that. The bumper is here with Tommi Makinens WRC Hood. http://www.writerguy.com/primitive/body.htm
WOW! :tasty: i want to :smileysexto the rally car, must have V-mount intercooler :bowdown: . your friend is one lucky man. Alex/WRX-WRC