The Gymkhana 2020 video hasn’t only presented us with some of the most extreme stunts ever seen, it also gave us the wildest Subaru STI ever built. For some change, Ken Block who rose to prominence years back through the Gymkhana videos left the wheel for another amazing driver and friend, Travis Pastrana. Gymkhana 2020 marks a return to Subaru, as Fords have dominated the series since Gymkhana 3.
Furthermore, having stolen all the headlines and for the right reasons, we took an up and close look at the insanely-built Gymkhana 2020 Subaru stunt car and realized it’s not like anything ever built before it. Hence, while we wait for the promised extended cut of the event, which will feature more tire-shredding drifts, figure 8s, reversals, and amazing heart-stopping precision jumps, here is a detailed analysis of Pastrana's mind-blowing Gymkhana Subaru.
10 Great Production Team
The Pastrana’s Subaru was developed by Subaru Motorsports USA in partnership with the amazing US-based Vermont Sportscar. Notably, the Subaru Motorsports USA is the racing arm of Subaru which builds, tests, and stage Subaru vehicles in the rally, rallycross, desert racing, and the likes. However, Vermont Sportscar focuses on the design and engineering of competition rally and rallycross cars for ultra-high performance.
The Vermont team is also well-versed in building custom cars for private drivers, stunt projects as well as the film industry, all within its state-of-the-art facility in the green mountains of Vermont.
9 Amazing Powertrain
In this build, the team had to empower Pastrana’s Subaru for the extreme performances and stunts required of it. Hence, for power, the car is fitted with a bespoke billet block boxer engine featuring a massive turbo.
Formerly a 2-liter engine, the boxer unit now displaces 2.3 liters and has received a comprehensive modification for an output of 862 horsepower on race fuel and a peak torque of 664 lb-ft. Also, the engine is mated to Sadev 6-speed transmission – the exact spec used on the Hoonicorn.
8 Race-Ready Interior
The interior of the Gymkhana Subaru is extremely heightened for racing, and it’s built to Pastrana’s specifications. It features a custom-built roll cage as well as some nicely built black Recaro racing seats. Also, the car’s interior is fitted with a couple of screens used to read the car’s speed as well as the clutch, brake pedal, hand brake, and throttle pressure in real-time, and it also offers real-time diagnostic reports.
Notably, the steering is awash with several buttons used to control different special features which include the flame exhaust.
7 Active Aero
Simply put, Travis Pastrana’s Gymkhana Subaru can fly. Knowing that some of Pastrana’s heart-stopping stunts would include getting the car airborne following some extreme ground speed, the team had to put measures against a repeat of the Le Mans 1999 Dumbreck’s Mercedes flip.
Hence, the car is fitted with an active aero package consisting of a DRS-style rear wing which can be used by Pastrana to control the car midair for effective flight and landing, all done through a button located on the steering wheel.
6 Fit-For-Purpose Wheels & Tires
Pastrana’s Subaru is a rubber-burning track monster, therefore, not all tire types can take the heat. Also, the quality of tires fitted on the car would largely determine how great it’ll perform when taken for the series of jaw-dropping and gravity-defying stunts it was built for.
Hence, after a series of tire tests, the team settled for Yokohama’s Advan AO52 and all-season Apex tires. Worn on Method wheels, these tires guarantee the STI proper road grip and adequate smoke effects during stunts.
5 Awesome Stock Features
Although it’s been heavily modified, Pastrana’s Gymkhana STI is built on a factory chassis, and it also retains several awesome stock features from the WRX STI which includes the A- and B-pillars. However, the car was given a shorter wheelbase and more width.
Furthermore, Pastrana’s Subaru retains its factory doors, taillights, and it has a factory VIN as well. It gets more special as the roof of this modified Subaru is an actual S209 carbon roof which has been completely hidden by the car’s awesome roof livery.
4 All-Carbon Fiber Body
Spectacularly, Pastrana’s Gymkhana Subaru features an outer body that is completely fabricated from carbon fiber. Known alternatively as graphite fiber, carbon fiber has great qualities such as high stiffness, high tensile strength, high-temperature tolerance, low thermal expansion as well as low weight, making it an ideal material for building race cars.
Subsequently, the carbon fiber body panel was given a wind tunnel validation to ascertain its stability in the air. Also, the car is built with a carbon fiber flat bottom.
3 Extremely Lightened
The result of using carbon fiber and all other weight-saving mechanisms in building the Gymkhana Subaru is having an extremely lightened car with a total weight of just 2,623 pounds – this makes Pastrana’s Gymkhana Subaru more than 800 pounds lighter than stock STI with a power-to-weight ratio of 1 hp per 3 lbs.
Also, asides from the carbon fiber body, other weight-saving measures adopted in the car include removing the rear seat as well as fitting the car with lightweight wheels and racing seats.
2 Flame-Spitting Hood Exhaust
Race enthusiasts and petrolheads love flame-spitting exhausts and the feature is also incorporated in the Pastrana’s Gymkhana Subaru. To make the effect more spectacular, the exhaust pipes are custom-built next to the engine and turbo, shooting right out through the hood. The flame effect is achieved through an excessive mixture of air and fuel.
This excess unburned fuel is then ignited as it travels down the exhaust thereby producing loud pop and flames. Through a button located on the steering, Pastrana can add excess fuel into the engine for the effect flame effect.
1 Incredibly Creative Adaptation And Features
Pastrana’s Gymkhana Subaru is adorned completely in awesome liveries offered in several colors that include blue, purple, white, black, and yellow. Also, the car features crafty fenders and other adaptions for an effective aero and proper downforce. Borrowing from their rallycross experience, the car is fitted with a rear radiator with inlets that are smartly adapted on the back doors.
Notably, a few big holes are left on the hood for the exhaust and other cooling functions. These and other adaptions in a no-rulebook-build makes Pastrana's Gymkhana Subaru an extremely mad science.