Yes, it is the quickest and fastest WRX race car to date from Subaru Motorsports USA. No, you can’t buy one.
Taking inspiration from Airslayer, a Gymkhana creation from about four years ago which used its active rear wing to help it jump 230 feet, this Project Midnight will be flung up Lord March’s driveway by Scott Speed during this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. Its carbon fiber body features and a significantly lightened chassis are said to give the thing a curb weight less than 2,500 pounds (2,469 lbs to be exact), meaning it is about 300 pounds south of the Airslayer and over a thousand pounds down on a production-grade WRX.
Powering the Project Midnight is a turbocharged and intercooled 2.0-liter flat-four engine making 670 horsepower and 680 lb-ft of torque, all revving to 9,500 rpm and tuned to spit flames from its hood-exit exhaust. The latter is as much for theatre as it is outright speed – but we’re not one to argue with a good show. Also on board is suspension geometry fettled for pavement and 18-inch OZ Racing magnesium wheels wrapped in Yokohama slicks.
Don’t expect Goodwood to be the last time we see Project Midnight on track, unless Speed stuffs the thing into a bale of hay which he is unlikely to do. The racer is tapped to help continue developing the car, taking on yet-to-be-named challenges and their associated records. Since this machine is said to be specifically developed with a mission statement of outright speed on tarmac, there’s an excellent chance all those attempts will be against feats performed on macadam instead of a Subaru’s traditional home of muck and mud.
If you’re wondering why any of this matters, it’s because the WRX remains a solid seller in the Subaru lineup; moonshots like this provide a good halo for what customers can actually buy in the showroom. Through the first six months of this calendar year, the Exploding Galaxy has shifted 9,295 WRXs which stands in positive comparison to the 1,414 BRZ coupes which have found homes. Its big three sellers are the Forester (92,849), Outback (81,703), and Crosstrek (79,500).
[Images: Subaru]
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