Subaru Motorsports USA has unveiled another one-off creation built off the back of its domestic rallying and rallycross success, that it will be taking to the Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend.
Dubbed ‘Project Midnight’, the car builds on the team’s previous one-offs, the ‘Airslayer’, and the ‘Family Huckster’, both produced for Hoonigan’s Gymkhana series, and has the sole aim of being the fastest car that Subaru’s motorsport partner Vermont SportsCar has ever produced.
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It’s the first special project car based on the current generation of WRX , which the team already competes with in the American Rally Association series. The all carbon Fiber car weighs in at “well under 2,500 pounds”, which is almost 300 lbs lighter than the comparable Airslayer and 1,000 lighter than the showroom-ready WRX.
To keep the car glued to the track, a bigger version of the rally car’s rear wing is employed, while 18×11 inch OZ Racing wheels wrapped in super-sticky Yokohama slick tires provide the mechanical grip.
Power is provided by the latest in a line of turbocharged boxer engines, that can trace their roots back to Subaru’s shelved rallycross program which won four rounds from six of the 2019 Americas Rallycross championship, and took a one-two finish in the inaugural full Nitrocross championship in 2021. The two-liter unit revs to a 9,500 rp redline, pushes out 670 horsepower and 680 lb-ft of torque.
“Subaru Motorsports USA and the team at Vermont SportsCar have delivered an absolute beast,” said Subaru factory driver and former-Formula 1 racer Scott Speed. “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 car will debut at this weekend’s Goodwood Festival of Speed in the hands of Speed, who will be taking to the hillclimb alongside teammate Travis Pastrana who returns to the event for the fourth consecutive year, third behind the wheel of the Family Huckster. Pastrana finished second in the timed shootout last year with the 1983 GL Wagon-inspired Huckster, being beaten only by Marvin Kirchhofer in the track-ready McLaren Solus GT, matching the Airslayer’s best from 2021 when it just missed out of the top spot to Rob Bell in a McLaren 720S GT3X.
But Goodwood will be just the first of many outings for Project Midnight, with Subaru confirming that Speed and the Subaru Motorsports USA team will continue to develop the car to “take on new challenges and set new records”.