We'd like to think that we show you something new almost every day. Even though this idea has been floating around the internet for a while, this particular tracked Subaru remains relatively unknown.
The hero of our story is a company called American Track Truck, which builds a unique product that has been sold all over the world, including Austria and Switzerland. Basically, they can replace the tires on your SUV with four large tracks, essentially turning it into a tank.
The most famous tracked vehicle is a Ford SVT Raptor belonging to Ken Block. However, this hooligan of motorsport also used to own a rally-spec Impreza hatchback with this exact same system back in 2009.
Our little project car of the day is a little more mainstream than that, a 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX sedan. It's so retro-looking and quirky that we want to adopt it, but it keeps running away in the snow.
The advantages of replacing wheels with tracks are quite obvious. The total surface area between the car and the ground goes from about the size of an A4 paper to the size of a large desk. This spreads the weight over a wide area and means the Subaru is unlikely to get stuck in the snow.
As a little side note, we want to mention the Russian T-34 tank, considered by most to be the father of wide track designs. The early German tanks for WWII had narrow tracks designed for Europe's road network, but they quickly became stuck when encountering mud.
The same set of tracks installed on this Impreza WRX were also fitted to the Juke Nismo we presented during the winter. It's an awesome bit of kit that every ski resort should have just for the fun of it.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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