The Killer Blue from the Land of the Rising Sun
The Impreza 22B. Arguably the greatest of Subaru’s Imprezas. Which is saying a lot. With 300hp and weighing a mere 1270kg, it’s no slouch. And with its 4WD and grippy tyres, it just devours the corners, always hitting the apex with only a hint of under and oversteer. This is a great car. And with a lap time of 1:23.xxx around the Top Gear Test Track, it’s fast enough to humble some very serious exotica.
But there will be those who say ‘I could make it better’. And among this group of people, is the boys from Cone Killer Racing. They have taken one of these, and turned it into a ‘short track killer’.
So, what’s changed? Well, apart from being lowered, there really isn’t much difference visually. But, under the skin, it’s been fettled and lightened. Power was boosted by 75hp, and the chassis was stiffened to cope, to name a few of the changes. And the result is nothing short of amazing. The traditional 22B sideways-ness is gone, and in its place is pure grip. The sheer grip it now has makes the sports tyres it has feel like racing slicks. This really is borderline overkill in terms of grip. But it isn’t one of those Lancer Evo style ‘massive grip but no feel’ cars, turn into a corner in this and you
know where it is, you can feel this car rotate around you, and when you nail the power, you can feel the 4WD tugging it back in line, giving it the best line out of the corner as possible. It’s quite simply, brilliant. I was left literally speechless for 5 laps. The grip and go this thing has is shocking. It’s so neutral through the corners its scary. It really is rooted to the racing line. You can’t get it to deviate, there is no other car I’ve driven which handles like this. And it enables me to do something I’ve always wanted to do.
You see, cars like the 22B were built purely for homologation purposes. They have only one purpose. To serve as a shell, on which the soon-to-be-legendary-4WD rally car will be built. But, with cars like this particular 22B, I think it has the potential to put its much more developed brother to shame. This isn’t the first time I did something like this. I once did it was a tuned Citroen C4 VTS and pitted it against Loeb’s C4 WRC. And the VTS won. Just. By barely 0.5 of a second, it took the victory for tuned road cars. Let’s see how the short track killer will fair.
It’ll be put up against the 1998 Impreza Rally Car. A 22B which has been plastered with sponsors and sporting numerous rally victories under its belt. The course? Well, since the 22B’s new name is the ‘Short track killer’, I thought we’d go to a proper short track. Eiger Nordwand, to be precise. 3 laps, let’s see who comes out on top.
3…
2…
1…
GO!!
We’re off, the two Sonic Blue bullets slingshotting off the line, charging down towards the first corner. Both cars are equal in PP, both on the same tyres, so it’ll be interesting to see who’ll take the lead as we enter the first corner.
Entering the first of 3 hairpins, it seems like proper tuning can overcome race car technology as the 22B in the lead! And it maintains this lead right the way through to the bridge, where the split time has already grown to 0.7 seconds.
Down, now, to the right hand sweeper, the rally car is left trailing in the wake of the 22B. Short track killer indeed, because heading through the tunnel and the high speed section, it hasn’t missed a beat, edging ahead with each corner.
The second lap was more of the same, with the 22B schooling the rally Impreza, pulling out a lead of 2.54 seconds at the final checkpoint leading into the last lap. By the time that blue streak of a 22B had returned, the gap had widened to a simply shocking 6.5 seconds. Though this wasn't too surprising considering the power and weight advantages the 22B sports, it is amazing how something that was designed for youngsters to go to the shops in can be made to shame a 150,000+ cr race car.
So there you have it, the CKR 22B short track killer. The daddy of all Imprezas given a new lease of life.
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Image taken from tuner because I like this shot.
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Car: Subaru Impreza 22B STi ’98
Tuned by: Cone Killer Racing
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Specs:
Power: 374hp
Weight: 1151kg
PP: 500
Tyres: Sport soft
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Link to tune:
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?p=5602467#post5602467