Subaru describes its new 'Rex as its "fastest WRX STI ever", and to lay some credibility to this claim, the new car has turned the Nurburgring race track in an impressive 7 minutes and 55 seconds in the hands of four-time World Rally Champion, Tommi Mäkinen.
If you remember, rally legend and Porsche test driver Walter Röhrl lapped the 'Ring with the 500hp Panamera Turbo in an unofficial time of 7 minutes and 56 seconds, a full second slower than the new 'Rex.
Sadly though, there's a catch, the 2011 STI that lapped the 'Ring was, in Subaru's own words, a prototype model. According to the company, the test car combined a series of production performance upgrades from the JDM-only R205 and Spec-C STIs including a larger turbocharger with some additional mods such as under body aero parts and aluminum fenders.
In other words, the lap time posted by this Subaru can't be compared to that of other unaltered production models. However, just for reference, we can compare it to previous generation prototypes that Subaru has posted over the years at the Nurburgring.
The first Impreza prototype to be clocked at the Nurburgring was a non-STI WRX model in 1992 that marked a lap time of 8:28.93. After the first introduction of WRX STI version in 1994, a WRX STI version III prototype was raced at the course in 1996, recording a lap time of 8:10.75, or 18 seconds faster than the 1992 model.
The second generation WRX STI, introduced in 2000, was tested at the 'Ring, but according to Subaru, safety measures added weight to the car and the lap time of this model did not meet the company's expectations. In other words, it was most likely slower than the 1996 model so, not surprisingly, Subaru did not release a lap time for the 2000 STI.
The facelifted 2002 Impreza WRX STI test car recorded a lap time of 8:06.59 while the updated 2004 model broke the 8-minute barrier at 7:59.41. That was the most recent Nurburgring lap time as the company claims that even though it lapped the third generation Impreza STI in 2008, "rainy conditions made the tests incomplete for the lap time comparable to the previous records." So that's that, enjoy the video below.
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