SUBARU'S PROJECT MIDNIGHT IS THE BOXER BEAST THAT TOOK A FOS 2ND.
Subaru Motorsports created Project Midnight, the quickest and fastest ever WRX, and the intent was to have it compete at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and take home the fastest time up the picturesque English hill and also to try and kick ass wherever the car is seen in action. Building on the legendary "Airslayer" Gymkhana car's success, Project Midnight raises the bar with one clear goal: unadulterated speed - fitting considering the driver who will campaign the car. This lightweight, widebody beast takes the rallycross legacy to new heights, setting records and pushing the performance boundaries of the platform. The predecessor, Airslayer, was a 2020 Subaru WRX STI, that made people take notice in Gymkhana 2020 from a drive that included some properly mad stunts, and even a staggering 230-foot jump controlled mid-air by its active rear wing. While Airslayer smashed records at events like the Mt. Washington Hillclimb and Car & Driver’s Lightning Lap, it was built for versatility as a Gymkhana star. But what if it was reimagined with a singular focus on tarmac speed, and driven by Scott Speed – Subaru Motorsports USA’s ace with experience in everything from F1 to rallycross? Project Midnight boasts ultra-wide aero bodywork and an even larger wing than the WRX ARA24 gravel rally car. Its carbon fibre body and significantly lightened chassis bring the curb weight to under 1,200 kg – nearly 136 kg lighter than Airslayer and a whopping 455 kg lighter than a standard WRX! It features specialized tarmac suspension geometry and trades Airslayer’s 17-inch rallycross wheels for 18x11-inch OZ Racing Superturismo LMP magnesium wheels with 280/650R18 Yokohama ADVAN slicks.
Under the hood lies a turbocharged flat-four 2.0-litre lump that’s been tuned to be not only powerful but reliable too - something that you don’t normally equate with a Subaru boxer. In its current guise, the Japanese boxer churns out a healthy 493 kW and a rather strong 922 Nm of torque. while shooting flames from its hood-exit exhaust. This powerhouse is the latest and greatest evolution of Subaru Motorsports USA’s rallycross engine that helped Scott Speed clinch the Nitro Rallycross Teams Championship in 2021. “Subaru Motorsports USA and Vermont SportsCar have created an absolute monster. Driving it, you feel its rallycross roots, but with the wider tyres, track, and geometry, it’s uniquely grippy and an incredible drive. It's the ultimate driving machine; part RX, part sports car – an absolute thrill,” said Speed. Project Midnight headed to the iconic Goodwood Festival of Speed hillclimb with hopes of doing well, and it did better than that, it pulled off a Top 3 spot overall. While the EVs that were set to run up the hill were pegged as favourites to be the fastest, some of the cars that still drink dead dinosaur juice did pretty damn well to keep up. Romain Dumas took the overall win in that Ford Supervan 4.2 thing, which makes sense because it has around 2,000 hp on tap and is purpose-built for this kind of racing. But Supervan put in a time of 43.98 seconds, and Scott Speed lived up to his name and used all the speed available and posted a time of 46.07 seconds to take second place overall. When you consider the power difference, that was ridiculously quick and a great drive. This is one super hot Subaru and it looks absolutely fantastic, we hope to see more of it at the biggest race day events around the world. Like hey Subaru SA, Speed and Midnight would be an awesome addition to the annual Simola Hillclimb event here in sunny old SA.
Take a look at the YouTube video showing off the top 10 fastest cars up the Goodwood hill for the 2024 running of the prestigious event - Project Midnight is in there somewhere looking like the Batmobile at full tilt: Top 10 Fastest cars at the Festival of Speed 2024 | Goodwood Road & Racing
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