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Travis Pastrana's new Gymkhana Subaru billed as 'wildest WRX STI ever'

This black Subaru WRX STI is going to be the next fireball of a racecar to be featured in Hoonigan’s Gymkhana video series. ItÂ’s billed as the “wildest WRX STI ever” by Subaru, and weÂ’re not going to argue with that claim. Just look at it. The raw carbon body looks like an actual cheese grater. You could throw a whole chicken at the front fender as it drives by and end up with shredded BBQ. Its hood-exit flame-spitting exhaust will even give the bird a nice char as it passes over the front of the car. And no, we canÂ’t see any flames in the photos here, but Subaru promises that it does produce fire. The wacky aero was apparently developed in a wind tunnel. And if you havenÂ’t guessed by now, this car was designed with zero restrictions for anything. ItÂ’s not competing in any competition, so everything was optimized for the best possible performance. ItÂ’s packing a custom-made boxer engine, but Subaru isnÂ’t providing any numbers for us yet. We can guarantee that itÂ’s making bonkers power, through, as the extra smoky photos would suggest. The car also has a long travel suspension and “race-ready interior.” Travis Pastrana will be behind the wheel in this 2020 Gymkhana series that is promised to be even bigger and better than the Gymkhana videos before it. PastranaÂ’s history of rally and rallycross driving should help him provide the same level of entertainment that Ken Block provided in Subarus of the past.   This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Travis PastranaÂ’s NEW Subaru STI Gymkhana Car: First Ever Tire Test (In All Raw Carbon!) “This STI is unbelievable!” Travis Pastrana, said. “WeÂ’ve never had the opportunity to do this before, to build a car with no restrictions. Engine, suspension, aero — everything is unlimited, clean sheet. ItÂ’s crazy fast, easy to control and get sideways and it was perfect out of the box in testing. Gymkhana is a new challenge for me but I want to raise the bar, and this is the car to do it.” The car itself is a collaboration between Subaru and partner Vermont SportsCar. It did start as a production STI, but it looks nothing like it now. WeÂ’re hoping to learn more about the car soon — new Gymkhana videos canÂ’t come soon enough. Related Video:

Watch Mark Higgins whomp the Isle of Man TT course in a 2015 WRX STI

Subaru has made another trip to the infamous Isle of Man TT, bringing along its all-new 2015 Subaru WRX STI. The goal? Best the already impressive time set by rally ace Mark Higgins and the 2011 Impreza WRX STI on the same swirling, high-paced ribbon of tarmac. Of course, you already know how that went.
What we didn't know when the story first broke, though, was that Subaru was monitoring data. Specifically, Higgins' data. He was fitted with a monitor that would record his heart rate, breaths, skin temperature and the g forces he was faced with as he lapped the 37-plus-mile road course. While Higgins and Co. were aiming to best their 2011 time (19:56.7), this year's effort also saw a push to beat the time of the sidecar racers.
You can get a recap of the entire event, with plenty of footage and data from Higgins' lap in the exhilarating video below. Take a look.

2019 Subaru Forester Long-Term Update | Road trip to New Orleans

Our 2019 Subaru Forester long-term tester is rounding second base in its stay at Autoblog’s Michigan HQ, yet the blue-painted, gold-wheeled crossover hadnÂ’t left the Midwest throughout its first six months here, so I sought to change that by taking it down to New Orleans. The goal: Determine if the Forester is a good road trip car. Of course, my girlfriend and I also wanted to go to Mardi Gras, but either way, we were in for some long days of driving. There are a few umbrella categories a vehicle should excel in to make a vacation and road trip better for all involved. For me, those include comfort, utility and its driver assistance systems. Comfort I was fairly certain this category would be a boon for the Forester going in. It sops up Michigan potholes well, and it did an excellent job on the various road surfaces I encountered on the way to New Orleans, too. SubaruÂ’s passive dampers on the Forester are tuned to make rough roads more livable as opposed to whipping around a highway clover leaf. That makes for soft and rolling eight-plus-hour days behind the wheel. The cabin at highway speeds was loud, though. A lot of that has to do with the Michelin X-Ice winter tires current fixed, but there's also a noticeable amount of wind noise that follows that. Plus, if you ever need to get going in a hurry, the thrashy boxer-four makes its presence known above all other noises as the CVT pegs the needle near the 6,000 rpm redline. Our Forester has the high-end Harman Kardon audio system equipped, but we still had to jack the volume way up to hear podcasts and quieter music. The cabin noise was never overwhelming, but it did become tiresome after a few hours with this many sounds competing with each other. Since we were driving due south or due north, those crosswinds werenÂ’t just audibly annoying. Gusts were plenty capable of blowing the Forester around in its lane due to its tall, upright stance. ItÂ’s not like a big panel van, but it was still disconcerting at times. There were only two of us on this road trip, so the front seats were the only ones in use. I was plenty comfortable for the trip's entirety. The driver seat's electric lumbar adjustability left my back in good shape, and the upright seating position is a bit like sitting in a chair at a kitchen table. The seatÂ’s cushioning was supportive enough to keep me from complaining, but never too stiff so as to be uncomfortable.