Greetings all,

I've been a customer of World One since Garret first started the company back in 2003. Since then, I've become good friends with Garret, and over the years, he helped create a mecca for Subaru performance in the Northwest. Along the way, he picked up a few dedicated customers and employees who shared his vision, and thus their car was able to wear the "World One Performance" banner with pride. This thread is a nostalgic look down memory lane, and new parts will be posted here over time. Thus, we begin with...

Part I: The Bat Car

Starting in 2002, Ivan McKinley (aka iv30 here on I-Club) quickly became the Subaru "man to beat" at all the local car shows. His 2002 WRX had all of the most cutting edge parts, much of which you wouldn't even think you'd see stateside. As 2003 came along, Ivan forged a relationship with the then-startup World One Performance, which ensured his dominance in the local Subaru car show scene for the next two years. "The Bat Car," as he so called it, was one of the first Subarus in the country (and more than likely, the first here in the Northwest) to reach TurboXS Stage 4+, complete with a VF34, Greddy FMIC, and all the supporting mods. Along with this, he had the much-coveted StopTech BBK (which was rarely seen in 2003, at least around here), the only full and genuine Zero/Sports body kit in the country, as well as a Kaminari hood, long before most people even knew what a reverse scoop was. He started off with 5zigen FN01R-Cs, but eventually moved up to Advan RCIIs, to completely emulate the actual Zero/Sports car.

My apologies for these pics, since I took these with my old Nikon Coolpix 4500 and they're 3 years old This was long before I even picked up any sort of SLR camera...











Part II is coming very soon...for now, thanks for looking

 

Part II: "As Good as it Gets"

"As Good as it Gets" was the title bestowed upon the Super Street article that featured Garret's own personal STi. Commonly known as "The World One STi," Garret's car was among the first STis in the country to break the 400 whp barrier, thanks to an FP Green and Phil from Element Tuning's expertise. It was a prototype Hydra and Gary Sheehan's awesome driving that catapulted the World One STi to take 2nd in its class and 6th place overall at the very first Primedia Time Attack in 2004, bested only by Sparco's Evo in its class. The Do-Luck bodykit was the only one in the country for a long time, along with the high-post wing that although generated much controversy, proved to be a necessary aerodynamic part for the track, as noted by Gary Sheehan himself. Also equipped on this car was StopTech's first STi BBK with silver calipers, along with the extremely light weight and hollow-cast Advan TC-IIs. There was no question this car was fast on the track, but it also proved itself on the show circuit as well, taking home a number of trophies, including 1st Place Subaru at the Global Import Car Show in September 2004. Much of this was in part due to the red Bride Brix seats and a custom Diamond Audio sound system. Onto the pics...

 

Part III: The New Bat Car

At the end of 2003, Ivan McKinley had decided to move back home to Ireland, where much of his family still reside. He sold his Bat Car to Garret, and while over there he purchased one of his dream cars from Litchfield Motorsports: a Subaru WRX STi Spec C Type RA. It was red, it was fast, and it was everything he wanted out of a Subaru. However, in mid 2004 Ivan decided to move back to the Pacific Northwest, and since he couldn't take his Spec C Type RA with him, he fixed his Subaru addiction with the closest thing he could find -- a 2004 USDM STi. Since he had to give up his dream car, Ivan's wife at the time pretty much gave the OK to build up this car to whatever he wanted, thus Ivan wasted no time in the modding. Among the first things done was a full Chargespeed v2 body kit, SR40 turbo upgrade with a Perrin FMIC, a carbon fiber reverse scoop, and a full Spec C interior and roof vent. He started off with a set of bronze Work Emotion CRs, but in a matter of months moved up to Volk LE28Ns in gold. He also opted to ditch the stock STi wing for a Mine's spoiler, being among the first in the country to do so.

The New Bat Car made a name for itself quickly, winning trophies and gracing the pages of Import Racer as photographer Josh Mackey's first major magazine appearance. Ivan eventually decided to move to Texas, where he brought The New Bat Car with him, winning even more shows and continuing his success. Since then, the car's been parted out and Ivan's now rolling in one of the most modified Audi A3s in the country, but his heart still yearns for Subarus. Pics:

 

Part IV: The Seattle Skyline

In 2004, World One Performance finally opened its own shop here in Seattle. With a new shop, Garret now had to hire new employees. He asked me if I knew anyone who had experience working behind an import shop counter, and my answer was simple: Alex Cheang.

I went to middle school and high school with Alex, and after I graduated from college, I learned that he was working behind the counter at the (in)famous Ultraspeed, and then moving on to Garage SPL, one of Seattle's premier import tuner shops back in 2001. I credit him a great deal in helping me get into cars and Subarus, since he was always happy to hook up a friend. In any case, after Garage SPL closed down, he searched for a new home and as luck would have it, that new home became World One Performance.

Upon starting at World One, Alex brought in a totally different type of AWD vehicle: a 1990 Skyline R32 GT-R. This car was a factory mutant of sorts...with just a turboback exhaust, intake, and a raise in boost, he broke into 11s at the track with a 11.9 time. Other than the old-school BBS wheels, nothing much else was done to it. However, Garret and Alex had big plans, to this day, are still ongoing.

Outfitted with a full Do-Luck body kit, hood, and spoiler, a color change to purple, full welded-in roll cage, Enkei wheels, StopTechs all around, gigantic HKS turbos and FMIC...the plan for this car was to make the ultimate Time Attack machine. The motor was also built from the ground up, easily pushing over 450 whp on the butt dyno with a simple tune to at least get the car running. Since the motor is still in its break-in stages, this car has been World One's long-term project for awhile now. Look for it in some print Valvoline ads...the engine bay was used for some advertising. Pics:

 

Part V: H to the Izzo, V to the Izzay

Along with myself, one of Garret's most dedicated customers was a goofy Korean kid named Jason Lee. Jason quickly became one of my best friends in the Subaru scene, and his close ties with Garret allowed him to become one of Garret's very first employees. It was during his first days of employment that he took up the "Hova" nickname, as well as "J-Lee" and "J-Lovin." Thus, over the years Jason has become a well-loved member of the Subaru community, and although he now owns a 350Z and primarily takes care of World One's Nissan efforts, he's still very much a Subaru owner at heart.

Jason's car had its own evolution. For a long time, his car was the lowest Subaru here in the Northwest, starting with Tanabe coilovers and Limix Linnea wheels. Undecided on wheels, he then went through a stint with some Advan RGs, and then eventually settled upon a set of gold Volk LE28Ns, just like Ivan (and despite Ivan's up-smacking of Jason's head every time he saw him). Along with the nice wheels was the holy grail of bugeye OEM bodykits: the full Australian EGR kit, along with a full audio setup on the interior. These efforts landed Jason with a feature article in Subiesport Magazine, dubbed "Sex on Wheels." He also took home 2nd Place Subaru at Tuner Bash After Dark here in Seattle in 2005. Pics:

 

damnnn in part V the rolling shot is freaking nice

 

Bugeyes Ftw!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Are those the 20mm Wide Fenders on Ivan's black Impreza?

 

Drool... part 5. that kit owns + the gold volks

 

Nope, Ivan's car had stock fenders still

 

Part VI: American Togue Monster

Carrying on the World One tradition of taking on young blood as employees, Joey Atterbury (aka advanwrx on here) became World One's newest employee in 2005. During his stint at World One, Joey just happened to have an STi that would become the test bed for Element Tuning's upcoming GT65 turbo kit. This was definitely no show car: Joey's mind was on the track and on the track alone. While it took a few months to finally get the Element GT65 kit onto his car and running properly, Phil came to town and tuned the hell out of it, creating an absolute monster of a track car. Joey took me in a ride following Phil's tune and I can say with full confidence that I've never been in a smoother, and more powerful Subaru in my life. 100 comes up like it's nothing, and Phil's tune is so great that it doesn't even feel like it.

Always a stickler for the best parts available, supporting the Element Tuning GT65 kit was a Phil-tuned Hydra, TurboXS v2 FMIC, a set of Advan RGs at 17" for the track, and 18" Advan Model T6s for the street (after having gold LE28Ns as well). Holding the power was a Cusco Twin Disk Carbon/Carbon Clutch and the motor was fueled by Perrin 816cc injectors. Suspension-wise, he started off with JIC FLT-A2 coilovers with track springs, and then moved on to Cusco Zero2Rs, and finally to Tein Super Racing coilovers. The only body mods were a Cusco front lip and Beatrush brake ducts, along with painted stock WRX sideskirts. He also ran a full titanium Kakimoto GT1.0Z catback, which BY FAR is THE loudest exhaust available for any Impreza. Despite all these mods, Joey daily drove this car, and was quite happy breaking the car loose at 60 mph on the freeway.

The car's since been parted out, since Joey's left World One to go back to school and pursue his professional racing interests more seriously, but it still represents what could easily have been the fastest and most powerful Subaru in Washington State. He took the car down to California after entering Best Motoring's "American Togue 2," in which Orido himself praised the car's response and power. Look for it in the upcoming DVD! Pics:

 

Part VII: "Pretty in Pink"

Perhaps the most controversial of the World One Cars had to clearly be Stephanie French's STi. Gracing the cover of Subiesport Magazine and responsible for creating a phenomenon of a thread on NASIOC, when I told Stephanie, "I'll make you famous," I surely wasn't lying. Aside from the Subiesport feature, Stephanie's STi was featured on Car Domain and had a video feature on DrivingSports.com, not to mention all of the cross-posted threads on various other forums, ranging from Celicas, to SRT-4s, to even VWVortex. It was (and still is) a love and hate relationship between Stephanie's STi and the Subaru community: many love the fact that Stephanie wrenches on her own car and worked at World One, not to mention the pink wheels, but others hated her choice in mods, namely again, the pink wheels. Nevertheless, Stephanie's car stood out, just like all of the other World One Cars. Pics:

 

Part VIII: 9.73 @ 149.85 mph

In order to best serve the local Subaru community, World One needed the best tech in the area. Garret looked no further than import specialist, Wayde Segawa. Wayde's been working on imports longer than most of us have owned Subarus, with his roots in the Honda scene. Not only is he our head tech here, but he also builds motors and fabricates custom piping. He used this automotive expertise in his own personal drag-prepped CRX.

The B18C5 motor that Wayde built himself is pushing close to 600 whp, using a GT35R variant and custom fabricated headers, exhaust, roll cage, and chassis prep, all done by Wayde himself in house. With Wayde in the car, it roughly weighs in at 2200 lbs. Back in 2005, Wayde competed at Seattle's Battle of the Imports and took home a huge trophy, beating out all of the competition with a 9.73 @ 149.85, all done on his "low boost" setting of 24 psi. Look for some more awesome working coming from Wayde and our Subaru motor building division, Impact Designs. Pics:

 

w0w weeee

 

Part IX: Legacy of Greatness

Whenever you walk into World One, you're greeted by a friendly face behind the counter that goes by the name of Vince. Like Wayde, Vince is a local import scene veteran. He's worked at a number of places before World One, including Garage SPL where Alex used to work. He also assists Wayde in any tech duties and takes care of the majority of our local customers.

Along with a Honda S2000, Vince has his daily driver, a Legacy GT wagon. He's slowly but surely building it up: currently it sports a rare set of 19" Volk Progressive TEs, with STi Brembos under them, along with being dropped on a set of Tein Flex coilovers, Cobb uppipe and downpipe, along with a TDC Protuned AccessPort. Keep your eyes out for this car, as we've all got some big plans for it to come. Pics: