Prodrive has built the world’s first fully FIA homologated right hand drive World Rally Car. The car, based on the standard left hand drive Subaru Impreza Series 9, was specially built for customers competing in the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship.
In order to maintain the existing design of the Impreza’s engine bay, Prodrive developed a new mechanism to link the steering column to the standard left hand drive steering rack. This uses two very low friction, high angularity constant velocity joints to ensure the same driving feel of the standard left hand drive car. The whole steering mechanism underwent the equivalent of 25,000km in bench testing to verify its durability.
In the cockpit, the centre console, dashboard, pedal box, driver’s controls and handbrake have all been modified to suit the right hand layout.
The forthcoming Impreza S10, currently being used by the Subaru World Rally Team, will also be available in RHD.
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