WhichCar
motor

Subaru WRX STI Type RA NBR record lap

Onboard with the most extreme Subaru WRX STI ever

Subaru WRX STi Type RA NBR Special Nurburgring lap
Gallery2

This is your inside look into a Subaru that laps The ’Ring faster than a Lamborghini Aventador SV.

It’s also is the first piece of evidence Subaru has released to the public to prove the fact.

Last July Subaru America unleashed its WRX STI Type RA NBR at the Nurburgring Nordschleife to knock off the Alfa Romeo Giulia QV as the fastest four-door.

Subaru WRX STI Type RA NBRInstalled with Richie Stanaway, you might have seen him on the telly last Sunday racing Supercars, it smashed the seven-minute barrier on its first run.

Its 6min 57.5sec lap was a full second quicker than a Lamborghini Aventador SV, and a sniff within Porsche’s 918 Spyder.

But neither manufacturer were up in arms about a little ol’ WRX joining them in the rarified air of sub-seven minute times. Partly because it was verified by the track's official.

But also while the Type RA NBR shares three quarters of its name with Subaru’s road going WRX STI Type RA, it shares much fewer components.

Subaru-WRX-STi-Type-RA-NBR-Special-Nurburgring-lap.jpg
Built by Prodrive, who know a thing or two about WRXs from WRC, the sedan boasts 447kW, twice the road car’s outputs, and more wings than a fighter jet.

It’s also plugged with a rear air diffuser, paddle-shift transmission, and barrel-sized racing slicks under its guards.

"We brought the WRX STI Type RA NBR Special here to set a record and call attention to the WRX STI Type RA that we will launch later this year,” Subaru product comms manager Dominick Infante said earlier this year.

Don’t let that take away from the spectacle on show. Stanaway's driving is smooth, committed, and unflappable.

The car looks and sounds extremely fast. That turbo flat four making all the right noises. At one point it even hits 288km/h on the Dottinger Hohe straight.

This is the WRX STI taken to its most extreme. Turn it up and enjoy.

Louis Cordony
Contributor

COMMENTS

Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.