Subaru Impreza 22B STi Type R

"The result is a sports coupe that seeks to deliver the highest level of performance for road use"
- STi President Mr Yamada.

Background

The first Subaru Impreza was revealed by Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI) at the November 1992 Tokyo Motorshow, as a car with a definite motor-sport orientation towards the World Rally Championship (WRC) circuit, up against the likes of Ford Escort, Mitsubishi Lancer and Toyota Celica. The previous steed up until this date had been the much larger Legacy.

WRC success came in 1995 when an Impreza driven by Colin McRae won both the Driver's Championship and along with Carlos Sainz, the Manufacturer's championship. The Manufacturer's championship was again won in 1996 and also 1997 which saw a new Impreza built in the UK by Prodrive to the newly introduced World Rally Car formula.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Subaru, a limited run road going WRCar was announced to the unsuspecting world at the 1997 Tokyo Motor Show. It would be based on the newly released Version 4 Type R Coupe but would have a larger engine with more torque and the bodywork would be highly modified to give it the appearance of the current WRC rally cars of then current drivers, Colin McRae and Pierro Liatti.

The car itself had started some months before as an in house project for Prodrive as a basis of a super Impreza for the road. This was shown to Fuji officials as a road going concept, but due to lack of resource or maybe a wish to bring the project in house it was wholly taken over by STi for manufacture in Japan.

Exact details to the public remained sketchy until nearer the March 1998 release date with rumours of sequential gear boxes, twin turbos and a 2.5 litre engine circulating the internet news groups and mailing lists. By February it had been established that a 2.2 litre engine was to be used and the name had now changed from WRCar to 22B. Magazine articles started to appear with rumours of 350 bhp in place of the Japanese gentlemans agreement of 278bhp.

It has been said that when the launch did happen, the allocation of 400 cars sold out within 30 minutes, with over 6000 deposits being taken, and cars were then going for speculative amounts. Contradictory to this, others have said that cars were sitting in showrooms unsold after an initial rush. Priced at 5 million Yen, they were approximately two thirds more expensive than the WRX STi type R version 4 (3 million Yen) they were based upon. At the time this equated to around £23,500 which was a lot less than the £40-50,000 being asked by UK importers for the privilege of owning one! Subaru Japan awarded Colin McRae and Nicky Grist one each for their achievements in the World Rally Championship.

A total of 425 cars were produced, and although only 399 were officially built for Japans domestic market another 26 were assembled for overseas distributors. Colin McRae and his co-drive Nicky Grist received a car each and these were both numbered 000/400. There is also a third car with 000/400 which is the development car owned by David Lapworth, Technical Director at Prodrive. Unlucky number 13 was thought not to have been produced but it has now been confirmed this 22B exists as a demonstrator for Subaru USA. Of the "missing" 22, it is known that five off 22B have been imported to Australia as show or competition vehicles, whilst the United Kingdom was awarded 16 off cars to be rebadged 22B-UK.

Production process

The 22B is a limited edition Impreza based upon the Japanese domestic WRX STi Type R version 4 Coupe (phew!) During its transformation the bodyshell, parts and engine are removed from the standard Impreza production line no less than 6 times, and 3 different facilities used for modification.

1. The car starts off as a donor shell from an Impreza WRX STi type R version 4 Coupe.
2. STi then modifies the front and rear wheel arches by cutting away the existing ones and rewelding and extending them so that the body is some 80mm wider.
3. The body is then seam welded and repainted by a specialist (as the body is too wide and does not fit through the normal painting production line at Subaru)
4. STi takes the engine and bores out the normal 2 litre lump to 2.2 litres. This will allow more torque at lower revs.
5. The clutch plate and disk are replaced with an STI ceramic/metal twin plate competition clutch with dumpers, for better release action.
6. The suspension is replaced with a special Bilstein and Eibach set, (much firmer than the normal one), and the track is widened to suit the wide body.
7. WRC styling is added by the addition of a huge adjustable rear wing, a front bumper that looks like it has bene lifted strainght from the WRC, and different engine bay bonnet vents again copying the WRC. These modifications produce a replica to the WRC car.
8. Finally the car is fitted with a unique blue interior and aluminium alloy BBS wheels.

Specifications

Steve Breen