Just got my new Driving Sports mag from scoobaru. Cool story in there about a world speed record attempt with the original Legacy. this was back in 1988/89.
They took 3 preproduction Leggys, made a few mods (lowered susp, blueprinted motors, big gas tanks) and drove them straight for 18 1/2 days averaging over 135 mph to break Saab's 100,000km world speed record (that's ~62,500 miles). Tho beaten by Mercedes diesels in 2004, the Leggy still holds the 100,000 km record for gas-engined cars.
The track was down in Arizona. During the record run, they ran into torrential downpours (the awd Legs still ran 125+), sandstorms (they had some big spins due to sandy corners), and tumbleweeds blocking the track. Imagine dodging tumbleweeds at 130 mph.
One key mod was the special "Record Attempt" hand-built gearboxes...thus bringing the term "RA gears" into Suby motorspots legend.
