With more than 73 hair-raising turns snaking through the Eifel Forest, the Nurburgring Nordschleife is the perfect place to prove your sports car is the real deal. Subaru has taken up the challenge in a modded WRX STI, toppling the lap record for four-door sedans with the WRX STI Type RA NBR Special – and becoming the first four-door to dip below seven minutes in the process.
This isn't the first time Subaru has rolled the (deep breath) WRX STI Type RA NBR Special (and exhale) out. It's a special edition time attack car, created specifically to set records at some of the most gruelling tracks in world motorsport. The car set a new four-wheeled record around the Isle of Man, and stormed up the hillclimb at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Although it looks vaguely like a production WRX STI on the outside, the Type RA NBR is actually a purpose-built time attack car, put together by the motorsport specialists at Prodrive. Power comes from a World Rally Championship-spec engine making 600 hp (447 kW) at 8,500 rpm. It's hooked up to a hydraulic WRC gearbox with paddle shifters, good for 20 millisecond gearshifts.
The motorsport madness continues with a full aerodynamics kit, complete with F1-style DRS system. It makes 650 lb (295 kg) of downforce at top speed, but the driver is able to open a flap on the rear wing to cut drag on long straights. Just to be clear, the production car absolutely does not do that.
Piloted by Richie Stanaway, the WRX STI Type RA NBR Special lapped the Nurburgring Nordschleife in 6:57.5. Check out a cut of the lap in the video below.
Source: Subaru
