This might not be an Impreza but being a real
Prodrive-raced Subaru Legacy RS Group A rally car driven by none other than Ari
Vatanen. This is the same car that Vatanen was driving when he was leading the
1993 Acropolis Rally, ahead of Tommi Makinen, Carlos Sainz, Colin McRae and
Juha Kankkunen before crashing.
After the race, the car returned to Prodrive and was
re-shelled in-house before it was sold to an Italian rally team. In 1995, the
same car was driven by Richard Burns at the Bettega Memorial Rallysprint,
finishing second overall.
The car then was re-shelled again but this time it
was converted to a new Safari-spec Impreza shell, which is not uncommon for
Legacy rally cars. In 2008, the car was bought by the Richard Burns Collection
in order to completely rebuild it and bring it back to its original specs.
The task was overseen by ex-Prodrive man Ian
Richardson, who created an authentic Prodrive-spec Legacy shell for the car
which now comes with the famous K555 BAT number plate. The rather special
Subaru Legacy RS Group A rally car is presented in the correct gravel
specification and livery it wore at the 1993 Acropolis Rally.
The blue-gold Subaru is powered by the
period-correct works turbo 2.0-liter flat-four engine with 290 hp, paired to an
X-trac manual gearbox. It has covered around 60 miles (100 km) since the rebuild
and is currently heading to Silverstone Auctions’ Race Retro Competition Car
Sale on February 23 with a price estimate between £ 120,000 and £ 140,000
(US$ 162,000 to US$ 190,000).
