By Otsile Kadiege

Subaru Motorsports USA revealed “Project Midnight,” the quickest and fastest ever WRX making its debut at the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed. Born from the success of the record-breaking “Airslayer” Gymkhana car, Project Midnight takes things to a new level with a singular directive: outright speed. The lightweight wide-body machine inherits a legacy of rallycross dominance, now evolved to break records and push the performance envelope of the platform.

Project Midnight’s progenitor – Airslayer – was based on a 2020 Subaru WRX STI and starred in the viral video Gymkhana 2020, performing wild stunts, including a 230-foot jump where its active rear wing controlled the car’s airborne attitude. While Airslayer did break records at timed events like the iconic Mt. Washington Hillclimb and Car & Driver Magazine’s Lightning Lap, its real mission as a Gymkhana star meant it was built to be the jack of many trades. So the question arose: What if it was re-imagined in the form of the current WRX with a singular focus on pure tarmac speed? And what if it were piloted by Scott Speed – a Subaru Motorsports USA driver with a star background in everything from F1 to rallycross?

Project Midnight features ultra-wide aerodynamic bodywork and a radically enlarged version of the wing found on the team’s WRX ARA24 gravel rally car. The carbon fiber body and a significantly lightened chassis give it a curb weight of well under 2,500 pounds – nearly 300 pounds lighter than the Airslayer and 1,000 pounds lighter than a standard WRX! Project Midnight uses specially derived tarmac suspension geometry and swaps Airslayer’s 17-inch rallycross wheel and tire package in favor of 18×11-inch OZ Racing Superturismo LMP magnesium wheels and 280/650R18 Yokohama ADVAN slicks.

Under the hood, a turbocharged and inter-cooled 2.0-liter flat-four engine produces 670 hp (493 kW) and 680 lb-ft of torque (922 Nm), revving to 9,500 rpm and spitting flames from its hood-exit exhaust. The powerplant is the most recent and top-performing evolution of Subaru Motorsports USA’s highly successful rallycross engine that helped Scott Speed earn Subaru the Nitro Rallycross Teams Championship in 2021.