STI – everybody knows those three letters means you have a very fast Subaru with all-wheel drive. However, few people remember they stand for Subaru Tecnica International, essentially a motorsport division. Without racing, there wouldn't be any STI and we have a couple of very cool machines to show you, both destined to hit the track in 2015 and revealed yesterday at the Tokyo Auto Salon.
The most important of the two is the WRX STI NBR Challenge 2015, based on the brand new performance sedan that has everybody in awe, but re-engineered for the 24-hour Nurburgring endurance race, scheduled to take place on the weekend between the 14 and 17th of May in Germany.
All the aspects of the the racing sedan's performance such as aerodynamics, stability, body rigidity and engine output have been enhanced compared to the previous model. In addition, visibility for racing flags has also been improved by introducing a left-hand drive car, Subaru says.
The team says it's aiming for a clean victory in the SP3T class. Like in 2013, Hideharu Tatsumi will take the helm of team operations as team manager, in addition to the development of the car. The drivers are Sasaki (Japan), Lasée (Germany), van Dam (Netherlands) and Tim Schrick (Germany), the winner of 2014 VLN endurance racing championship who newly joins the team.
Hottest BRZ you've ever seen
The other racing car presented by Subaru in Tokyo is the 2015 version of its GT300 class racing BRZ.
The car uses the same front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout as the production BRZ model. But the 2-liter boxer engine has been upgraded and now produces 350 hp and 441 Nm (325 lb-ft) of torque. This is channeled to asphalt via 18-inch BBS wheels.
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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