Seeing as their new Impreza WRC2008 rally car is hitting the dusty trail at this weekend's Acropolis Rally in Greece, Subaru and Prodrive have seen fit to officially launch the car and - and subsequently, its technical specifications.
We'll start with what lies underhood: a two-liter turbocharged four-cylinder boxer mill, taken from the Japanese-market Impreza WRX STI. The motor cranks out 300 hp, four less than the JDM production car, but 479 lb-ft of torque - 168 more than the stock car.Those figures will work well with the light weight of the rally car; the WRC2008 weighs in at 2711 pounds, nearly 550 less than the WRX STI.
That power is transmitted through a six-speed dual-clutch transmission and Subaru's ubiquitous all-wheel drive system. Fully-adjustable shocks from Bos help the car hold things together on the course, while larger brakes - 310mm discs with six-piston calipers in both front and rear - help bring things to a stop in a hurry.
We'll see what the WRC2008 can do when it starts hitting rally stages later today, but as drivers Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson have remarked that the car is easy to adapt to, it may fare quite well in its first outing.