SUBARU are rolling out their “quickest and fastest ever” WRX at the upcoming Goodwood Festival of Speed.
The mighty machine – known as ‘Project Midnight’ – will take on the motoring festival’s famed hillclimb Timed Shootout with a hope it can clock the fastest run time with a former F1 driver behind its wheel.
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Ex-Red Bull racing star Scott Speed, who’s currently a driver for Subaru Motorsports USA, will take on the challenge of taming the beast – which boasts a 2.0-litre turbocharged flat-four which produces 670 bhp.
Such is this WRX’s power, it’s predicted that it will “spit flames from its bonnet exhaust.”
Scott said: “When driving the car it clearly has rallycross roots, but the wider tires, track, and geometry give it a very unique feel and incredible grip.
“The ultimate driving machine; half RX, half sports car – a true joy to drive.”
The Project Midnight car will compete for the gong along with the likes of Alpine’s Pikes Peak A110 and BMW’s M Hybrid V8 Le Mans racer.
Subaru previously went close to winning the Timed Shootout back in 2021 with its ‘Airslayer’ Gynkhana car that went within a few tenths of victory.
The new car boasts bespoke carbon-fibre bodywork and a lightened chassis – weighing just 1,120kg – with perhaps its most striking feature being its enormous rear wing for downforce.
Subaru is a much-loved manufacturer in the UK, with nostalgic petrolheads favouring the Japanese brand for its rallying heroics in the 1990s and early 2000s.
British drivers Colin McRae and Richard Burns both won their sole WRC titles with the team, and paved the way for the Impreza model’s cult following thereafter.
WRX, which stands for “World Rally eXperimental”, has been a mainstay of the Subaru brand for over 32 years from 1992 until 2014, with the WRX version of the Impreza being the model’s performance-oriented iteration before it solely became known as the WRX in 2015.
Modern classics expert James Russell of The Motor Grid recently showed off a rare sportswagon Impreza that’s been specially tweaked by Prodrive – one of the world’s best independent motorsport and engineering brand.
In an exclusive chat with Sun Motors last month, James said: “This car, kept in this condition, will be a proper future classic.
“People will be looking and hunting for the original versions of these cars.”
You can see the ‘Project Midnight’ WRX at the Goodwood Festival of Speed from July 11 until July 14 – with the timed hillclimb taking place on the Sunday.
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