Photo: Subaru
At the end of this month, the American Rally Association (ARA) Championship takes to Minnesota, for a leg of the competition called the Ojibwe Forests Rally. It is there where Japanese carmaker Subaru will field for the first time a new iteration of its WRX rally car.
Presented this week the vehicle is said to be the result of one and a half years of hard work, and it was put together to fully comply with the requirements of ARA's Open 4WD class. Subaru worked on the project together with Vermont SportsCar, its usual motorsports technical partner, and the end result is impressive to say the least.
Visually the machine presents itself just as aggressively as you’d expect from such a vehicle. Painted blue (WR Blue Pearl) with yellow and white accents, the WRX comes with carbon fiber widebody elements, and a huge rear wing, also made from carbon fiber.
The beast packs under the hood a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder boxer engine, turbocharged into developing a total of 320 hp and 380 lb-ft. of torque. To meet the requirements of the competition, the engine comes with a 33 mm restrictor and 22 psi boost limit. A six-speed close-ratio transmission of SADEV make controls the delivery of the troop to all of the vehicle's wheels. These are 15-inch pieces of hardware dressed in Yokohama gravel tires.
Engine upgrades were not alone in being designed for the WRX. The rally car uses for suspension specially designed springs and dampers supplied by R53, but also cross-members, links, and hubs made by Vermont SportsCar.
Safety-wise, the teams devised a fully seam-welded body shell, an FIA/USAC-spec roll cage made of steel, and replaced the WRX's original fuel tank with a Kevlar fuel cell capable of holding 82 liters. The driver and co-driver are seated in Sparco ADV Prime competition seats equipped with HANS and energy-absorbing padding.
Speaking of crews, the first two people to race the new WRX rally car during the Ojibwe event are Brandon Semenuk and Keaton Williams, part of Subaru's team #180. Starting with the 2024 season though a second team will join the fight, that one led by motorsport icon Travis Pastrana.
"So excited about the 2024 ARA rally championship. The new Subaru platform is amazing and the chance to battle again with two-time and defending champion Brandon Semenuk is going to be so much fun," the man said in a statement.
Subaru seems to be particularly proud of this vehicle, so even before it gets to debut at the end of the month it will be the star of a six-episode YouTube miniseries that'll kick off on August 9. The series will walk those interested through the build process of the car and its secrets.
Visually the machine presents itself just as aggressively as you’d expect from such a vehicle. Painted blue (WR Blue Pearl) with yellow and white accents, the WRX comes with carbon fiber widebody elements, and a huge rear wing, also made from carbon fiber.
The beast packs under the hood a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder boxer engine, turbocharged into developing a total of 320 hp and 380 lb-ft. of torque. To meet the requirements of the competition, the engine comes with a 33 mm restrictor and 22 psi boost limit. A six-speed close-ratio transmission of SADEV make controls the delivery of the troop to all of the vehicle's wheels. These are 15-inch pieces of hardware dressed in Yokohama gravel tires.
Engine upgrades were not alone in being designed for the WRX. The rally car uses for suspension specially designed springs and dampers supplied by R53, but also cross-members, links, and hubs made by Vermont SportsCar.
Safety-wise, the teams devised a fully seam-welded body shell, an FIA/USAC-spec roll cage made of steel, and replaced the WRX's original fuel tank with a Kevlar fuel cell capable of holding 82 liters. The driver and co-driver are seated in Sparco ADV Prime competition seats equipped with HANS and energy-absorbing padding.
Speaking of crews, the first two people to race the new WRX rally car during the Ojibwe event are Brandon Semenuk and Keaton Williams, part of Subaru's team #180. Starting with the 2024 season though a second team will join the fight, that one led by motorsport icon Travis Pastrana.
"So excited about the 2024 ARA rally championship. The new Subaru platform is amazing and the chance to battle again with two-time and defending champion Brandon Semenuk is going to be so much fun," the man said in a statement.
Subaru seems to be particularly proud of this vehicle, so even before it gets to debut at the end of the month it will be the star of a six-episode YouTube miniseries that'll kick off on August 9. The series will walk those interested through the build process of the car and its secrets.
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