Subaru made a name for themselves in the WRC with the late great Colin McRae behind the wheel of their blue and yellow Impreza rally car. In celebration of the automaker’s 40th anniversary and by that point, multiple World Rally Championships, the Japanese automaker built the special edition 22B STI back in 1998. This special edition Impreza started out as a lightweight WRX RA coupe shell and then had a set of much wider rear arches to match the boxed front fenders that housed special gold BBS wheels, which widened the Subaru’s track and made it look just as bad as the WRC car.
Although the Japanese automaker Subaru pulled out of their factory backed World Rally Championship efforts, the company that built those iconic blue WRC competitors, Prodrive, are still working hard on new versions of the purpose built rally car for privateer racers. Prodrive has just released details about the 2010 Group N Subaru Impreza that will compete in 2010, priced at just under $200,000 the Prodrive Subaru Impreza N2010 WRC is sure to deliver for those willing to take the risk on the stages of the World Rally Championship.
The Impreza N2010 utilizes a new larger 33 mm air restrictor connected to the turbocharged. The new piece was introduced by the FIA in order to help balance the performance between the Group N and unrestricted Super2000 rally cars. Simply by increasing the size of the opening by only one millimeter, fitting a set of high flow fuel injectors and recalibrating the ECU to make everything work harmoniously gives the Scooby a 20 HP bump while beefing up the torque curve and increasing throttle response throughout the entire RPM band while the new Ohlins suspension ensures that the all wheel drive rally car stays on course until the end of the stage.
Travis Pastrana is never one to back down from a death-defying stunt so as you can expect, when he talked about ringing in 2010 by jumping 250 feet into the air on board his Red Bull Subaru WRX STI rally car onto a waiting barge, none of us second-guessed his sanity.
After a few botched practice sessions, the time finally came for Pastrana to do his New Year’s jump and as the video of the whole episode will show you, Pastrana surely kicked off 2010 off to a rousing start.
Subaru Technica International has followed up the recent assortment of special edition WRX STIs with a high output Impreza with a few well thought out upgrades to create the Impreza R205. Based on the standard vehicle, Subaru’s in house tuners the beefed the car up in preparation to go racing at the Nurburgring 24 hour race back in 2009 and now we will be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor, the only downside is that there will only be 400 examples of the unrestricted STI.
The new R205 is easily recognizable with a zero bling blacked out front grill as well as matching under spoilers front and rear (take a closer look at the back one) with a wing on the top of the hatch to complete the dark theme. WRC fans might recognize the 18 inch Prodrive P1 style wheels housing a massive brake package consisting of 6 piston calipers up front and 4 pots in the rear, all clamping down on a set of slotted oversized rotors. This is definitely a car meant to be tracked.
Thanks to some heavy duty equipment including a ball bearing IHI turbocharger, free flowing exhaust and a retuned ECU to keep the pistons in the crank case, new car shoppers can now enjoy what the Japanese automaker Subaru is calling their Road Sport Impreza. The new go fast parts are good for a maximum output of 315 HP and 317 lb-ft of torque. The race tested components ensure that this STI will not only be able to endure the hard city life, but allow its owner to unwind all day long at his or her local racing circuit.
The Subaru Impreza is entering the 2010 model year with minor exterior detail changes to grille/headlamp treatments and two new packages: Special Edition Package that includes a power moonroof, fog lights and the All-Weather Package featuring heated front seats, heated exterior mirrors and windshield wiper de-icer.
The Impreza is being offered in two body versions: four-door sedan and five-door hatchback and four distinct output levels: 2.5i 170 hp; 2.5GT 224 hp; WRX 265 hp; and STI 305 hp, with prices starting at $17,495 for the 2.5i version.
The 2010 Impreza is being offered with standard aluminum-alloy 16-inch, 12-spoke wheels, a black leather-wrapped steering wheel with audio and cruise control buttons and a black leather-wrapped shifter handle, AM/FM stereo that includes a 6-disc in-dash CD changer featuring MP3/WMA audio file capability and an 10-speaker audio system that integrates the SRS Circle Surround system.
