Sold at $244,448
Silverstone Race Retro, Silverstone, U.K.
February 22, 2020, Lot 220
Chassis number: PR0GDB06014
SCM Condition for this car: 2-
This car is something very special because WRC cars are semi-contained insanity. Think Formula One, but run on snow, gravel, dirt and tarmac. With grassroots participation throughout the world, the World Rally Championship provides an exciting driving and spectating experience. Here in Michigan, cars at the Sno*Drift National Rally are loud, fast, and importantly, mostly sideways.
This Subaru factory-sponsored WRC car is no exception. Prodrive, world renowned for making race cars in Great Britain, started with a stock WRX STI shell stripped to the chassis. The car was then strengthened to sustain the huge forces of rallying — these cars spend time in the air — and rebuilt with lightweight materials. Only a few examples are produced, with extras available in case of severe crashes. In WRC, this happens with alarming regularity.
Petter Solberg is a legend with a WRC Championship, and multiple WRC wins. He drove this very car to 2nd- and 3rd-place finishes in 2007. Colin McRae, an exciting WRC competitor who drove for Subaru throughout the 1990s, drove this car at Goodwood in 2007. In 2008, Subaru pulled out of the WRC due to rule changes, further enhancing this car’s importance as one of the last Subaru rally competitors.
If you’re thinking about taking this monster for Sunday drives to the beach, forget it. You’ll need a small crew of technicians just to start it. In reality, the new buyer will rarely drive this car to its full potential. It’s too easy to make a small mistake and land in the bushes, or smack a tree. This is a race car, after all.
The price may be on the high side for a car that hasn’t won a race. However, when we compare it to factory race cars from other established marques, this could be a bargain. Although not old, this car carries the heritage of the blue-and-gold world-beating Subaru Factory rally cars from the mid-1990s. I’d call this one well bought due to the rarity of factory race cars.
More importantly, this purchase may presage the future collectibility of Japanese world-class race cars. This bodes well for the potential of this unusual example to appreciate in the future. — Max Schrager ♦