WRC2008 - Launch was decided in January

Subaru World Rally Team principal David Richards says that he had settled on the Acropolis launch date, for the new Impreza World Rally Car, way back in January this year.

Richards said the team’s strategy was designed to give focus to the test and development engineers and to enable the team to gather feedback on two WRC events before further development work was completed over the six week summer break.

The Subaru World Rally Team finally took the wraps off its new Impreza - known as the WRC 2008 - at a lunch function in Greece on Wednesday night.

The team says its new hatch-back World Rally Car is the most radically different version of the car to be introduced since the first Impreza was launched in 1993.

Developed alongside Subaru’s latest Impreza STi road car - which Petter Solberg and Subaru World Rally Team engineers helped to design - the new car shares virtually nothing with its saloon-bodied predecessor. The notable exception is Subaru’s flat-four ‘boxer’ engine, which is almost unchanged.

Externally, the new blue and silver livery is a bold step away from the familiar blue and yellow scheme which had decorated every WRC Impreza since 1993. Gone too is the car’s aggressive bonnet scoop.

Richards claimed that there was not one bit of the car that is the same as before. It has a lower centre of gravity, different suspension and improved aerodynamics amongst other features. The engine is the only carry over from the older car but it is a known fact that Subaru’s Engines have been their strongest feature.

David said, “I think we’ve got to find out where we are in performance terms and expect the unexpected. There will inevitably be failures with the car. There will be things that go wrong; that’s how it is with a new car I’m afraid. We’ve got to adapt quickly to that and learn from it.” For Subaru, this car will look to change their fortunes so far in the season. “We will learn more in these next two events that we’ve learned in the last six months of testing. And so we’re accelerating the process. Yes, it’s public, yes we face failures, but that that’s what it’s about, that’s what you’ve got to accept.” he added.

Petter Solberg said that he would have liked more testing in the car before its first rally. Richards defended the launch decision by saying that testing will never be 100 percent finished. “The only way is to throw everybody in at the deep end and say: ‘No excuses - we’re going to put you against the stop watch now.’ Engineers will take as long as they want, and so I said to them in January - guys we’re going to the Acropolis, I don’t want to hear one single excuse from anyone and also I don’t want any compromises. If anyone turns around to me now and says ‘if only I’d had more time or more money’ or ‘I wish I’d done it differently’. Well, just don’t ever say that to me.”

The optimism behind the car will be tested to the hilt on the gravel tracks in Greece. Whether the WRC2008 is Subaru’s saviour or just another bad call by the management will be a question that time will answer.