Tuesday 8th September 2015

The 'ring record Impreza: You Know You Want To

A two-door Impreza with 500hp and a record to its name? Yes please!

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The Subaru Impreza has been modified ever since the first journalist wrote about a flat-four burble back in the early 90s. It's the perfect combination of an engine and chassis that responds really well to tuning with a fairly ordinary appearance ripe for, er, improvement. From the factory we've had Spec Cs, Spec Ds and RB320s while the aftermarket has thrown up plenty more besides. They're not often standard, are they?

Now it cans be yours!

But some modified Imprezas are more notable than other, and this car has to be up there. Built by Revolution, this is the very car that set the 7:53 lap at the Nordschleife two years ago, making it the fastest Impreza round the circuit. Perhaps not the most illustrious record, you might argue, but it's a record nonetheless.

Hang on though, there are hot hatches running 7:54 now so why bother with this old Subaru? Well it's worth remembering that the grey battleship set the record in its middle power setting, with around 400hp. That's with some traffic and, according to one PH commenter, some 'sloppy' driving through certain parts. Imagine what Tommi Makinen could do with it and so on...

The full 500hp potential predictably requires a lot of work to the Impreza EJ20 engine. It's now stroked out to 2.2-litres with 92.5mm pistons, there are Cosworth forged conrods, a Cosworth crank, a Turbo Technics S206 turbo and a whole lot more to take power up by 200hp.

Built for one thing, and one thing only

But of course a 'ring record car needs more than power. So there are front brakes with 10-piston (!) calipers, Tein coilovers with 16-way damping adjustment, new wheels on Yokohama A048s and non-essential equipment ditched to save weight. Who needs ABS anyway?

Finally, those this shouldn't really be a concern , the Revolution Impreza looks the absolute business. It may not carry off the two-door look quite as convincingly as the old Impreza icons but the beefed-up bodywork, grey paint and aggressive aero make it a whole lot meaner than a standard STI. Same goes for the noise too but there's the video for that...

There are, as always, two ways of looking at this Impreza's £35K price. The first is that it's a great deal of money, £5K more than any other Impreza for sale on PH and more than a new car. But then it's also a 500hp one-off with hundreds of hours invested in the build and a record to its name. It will take a committed Subaru and Nurburgring fan to buy this from Revolution but you suspect they'll enjoy it rather a lot.

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REVOLUTION SUBARU IMPREZA WRX STI
Price: £35,000
Why you should: The ultimate Impreza!
Why you shouldn't: Appeal probably not as great as it was

See the original advert here.

[Joeguard1990]

For a car built for the purpose of setting a ring record, those sure are massive wheels!

I can't see them getting £35k for it, but good luck with the sale.

[X5TUU]

Seen this in the flesh a couple of times at Rev and it is nice, and not badly priced for a custom track weapon imho

[ManOpener]

Don't know why it's on those huge wheels instead of the lovely Volks (I think?) from the 'Ring shot.

[Joeguard1990]

ManOpener said:

Don't know why it's on those huge wheels instead of the lovely Volks (I think?) from the 'Ring shot.

They look like work emotion cr kai but I could be wrong...

[Mastodon2]

ManOpener said:

Don't know why it's on those huge wheels instead of the lovely Volks (I think?) from the 'Ring shot.

Revolution are mainly wheel dealer, that's their main business and you pretty much can't get moved for massive blingy wheels in their shop.

[cheddar]

Given the massive track focused modifications, huge power hike and 4wd that lap time is disappointing, I was expecting low 7's rather than just under 8 minutes.

[ManOpener]

It does seem a little on the high side, given that Loaded's 600bhp supercharged E46 M3 CSL managed a 7:22 whilst remaining road legal.

[TTucker]

you be better of buying a r35 gtr or bmw m3 e46 and spending £10k on it then buying this slow deprecating asset.

[KaraK]

I'm maybe going against the grain here but I rather like that! As a scooby fan this would definitely be in my lottery-win garage

[iacabu]

It's not a car I'd personally spend that kind of money on but it doesn't half look good

[big_rob_sydney]

I just cant get excited about this, even though I've owned 4 imprezas, including a 22B.

For me, the problem is, its nothing more than a modified car. As far as records go, there isnt really much provenance, in the sense that, any other owner can build a car, using whatever budget they want, and potentially go faster. Its not a level playing field, as its based on depth of pockets. It isn't "stock vs stock", or any other recognised category.

Looks? Eye of the beholder. Doesn't do much for me. I'd rather a 22B with mods than this, if we're talking looks, but then who'd butcher a 22B? Start with a type R and modify that instead. Add an EG33, and then I'd start to get excited.