I bet any of litcho's type 20/25's still lap the ring quicker and for half the price when they were new. I've not even got started on the hatch spec C, r205 or s206 all far more special in my view.

I wonder what Duncan Graham's car would lap the Ring? Or the Gobstopper?

7:53 Bridge to Gantry with traffic on normal day - MY10 Type20 Testing ;)

The car doesn't even have top ends parts fitted? Wrc body, AP, ohlins etc.

72k would get you a crazy RCM build!

Project STi Nurburgring...the lowdown
 

Hi Guys...

Just thought we would give you all a reply to the topic as its great to hear your views both positive and negative as any feedback is good feedback.

Firstly, appologies for not posting up a build thread as this might have explained the lengths we went to to build this Impreza....the plan was to put them on a blog on our new website also but this never happened.
Our facebook page was updated weekly and the images are still there if you have a spare hour or two to mooch over.
www.facebook.com/revolution247

We completely understand your thoughts on the price, its mighty extreme and we set out a target of a build budget of £40k, but as you can imagine with projects they tend to get carried away...gulp..!

We did spend over 350hrs (time sheets kept for all work) building the car and reckon we could build another for less hours, but labour plus parts would come out at £59,999 + vat but that does include us supplying the donor car stripping down, shipping to ABW, any paint finish and the 2-door conversion.
Car comes with a 12mth warranty and the Motech M800 ecu can be hooked up from anywhere in the world remotely to assess any issues should they ever arise - were allowing for 500mile bedding in, a full track day of testing, driver fitting, race helmet and suit....full & final checks and delivery of the car to anywhere in mainland Europe.
Worldwide shipping can also be arranged.

For the record, the car has been bullet proof so far.

We were pitching the car for customers who have lots of crazy metal in their car collection and after something completely different, we had to give a price to replicate No1.. and this price is where it is unfortunately.

Soo many great tuner Impreza's have been built over the years but we always thought that they were missing finishing touches.
Either great engine or great looks, drag car or road car - could someone build an allrounder similar to the likes of the BMW M3 GTS....?
Road legal, drive to a track and pass most cars that are in front of you....this was our challenge - afterall it was our 15th year and we had to do something special...!

At the 'Ring last year it was passing 911GT3's, 997 Turbos, Nissan GTR's and the only car that held us up was a blown twin turbo's track E46 M3 but that didnt last for long...
So, compared to the supercars out there (GTR's excluded) with 100k+ price tags weve so far achieved what we set out to do.....and, at the end of the day we set the EDFC to softest setting and drove home in comfort..!

We're probably one of the first Companies to set a goal of a proper quick track time around the 'Ring in a road car and so we looked at the fastest official time out there for an Impreza. Subaru Japan with Tommi Mak at the wheel on a closed track did a 7.55secs in 2010 in a Spec-C..so we thought, lets make that our target and got cracking with the car.
To give you a comparison, Nissan GTR time is 7.37 on road tyres so if we can get somehwere in between we will be happy chappies!

We initially set out to build a Subaru Impreza like no other, not the fastest 1/4 mile or the most extreme bodywork but something thats fast, reliable and different to the norm'....but importantly, a car that can be driven to and from a circuit with 450+bhp.
Something that Subaru (if they had the balls) would build for their massive following worldwide.

Not sure if everyone was following the build in Jap Pef. magazine over the last 12mths but they covered the build from the initial purchase, strip down, 2-door conversion ABW wide body and bare metal respray to the building of the interior, engine, suspension and drivetrain...nothing has been left to chance or left std, hence the build cost has creept up a lot.

From the 2012 dash (that was a fun job - not..!), to the cage (notice a hand built harness bar attached), to the 40 hrs that ABW spent just filling in all the factory holes and snotty welding in the engine bay, to the wheels that were bespoke from OZ which needed repitching and resprayed before fitting them to the vehicle.

The rear diffuser alone took ABW nearly a week to make from our original designs and you will notice that the Milltek exhaust comes from the underside of the car as we removed the spare wheel well to allow us to have a unique exhaust system and rear end posture.
2-doors, a wide body and a front bumper theyve never done before was an equal headache for them and we waited patiently for over 3mths for the car to arrive back..the factory Lamborghini Grigio Telesto paintwork was another first for a Subaru and hope you feel weve really tried our best to bring you something thats never been done before.
Just to say that someone can do a self build cheaper or a tuner can build an engine faster is missing the whole point.

I can always remember in the 90's when i spotted my first import, then 2-door Type-R...then the 22B to be completely blown away and flabbergasted by those arches and all that 300bhp..!
I then heard that they were selling for 50k and laughed as to who would pay (or had the spare cash) for all that money..for an Impreza?
Mental thing was they all sold out immediately and some years later i had the privalege of owning a 22B Type UK....that was, and still is an amazing machine.

Time has moved on and the 22B wouldnt see which way the STi Nurburgring went & to be honest on the way to the Ring we were driving in relative comfort returning 20mpg and on track when we turned up the CAL switch we were still returning 10mpg.
For the record the GTR's that came along with us were getting 2 laps of the Ring before a full refill of fuel and 1 lap of Spa before the gearbox oil was starting to overheat...so theyre not as invincible as made out to be...!

Were going back to the Ring for the full on attempt again on 30th April - apart from dropping the wheel size down (our hired race driver is worried he will wreck the 19" wheels - Fredy Leinhard who owns Rent4Ring) but still running Yokohama road tyres, and bar an oil change, a check over and a wash its ready to go...!

Evo magazine and their editor absolutely loved what weve built & want it back when the weather is warmer for a track test...
A certain UK TV programme is interested also but wants the record broken before they will test drive it - we have a USA TV crew coming to see us in early April to shoot a story of the build and why and were also doing head to head tests against some hypercars at Bruntingthorpe in late April with the TV crew too...

So, until we break a record at the Ring, we will have to wait and see how fast it is in the real world...
But in the meantime its getting us some great exposure in some markets that we wouldnt normally talked about - BTW Evo is printed in 14 languages.
Were showing our customers old and new that were not just a parts seller and we have a lot more expertise than you might imagine.

Maybe we have gone OTT on the build and the costs have crept beyond where a Scooby is expected, but hey, it was our 15th year and a little bit of self indulgence on our part gets you all talking and fingers crossed when you see it in the flesh you will like what you created

Be gentle with us please..


Glenn
Revolution

Nice post Glenn, Thanks for the background on this car.

Good luck at the ring!

cheers.. F1 CJE UK

For the record - were doing a full lap record not B to G....need to add 30 secs (not exact) to those times..

i like it! seen it in the mag as well. good luck at the ring. the tv show isnt fronted by 3 long haired old geezers is it? i,ll watch out for it lol.

Everyone has an opinion on what makes a special edition subaru including myself.

Thanks for the informative reply. :)

just out of curiostiy have any been sold yet?

cheers for the positive comments from you and the other members...

couldnt possibly comment about the TV show though...
:-)

Frayz, watched your own build over the last 3yrs with interest and could have a go at your car too but I wouldnt as I respect what youve done to your own personal taste.

Cant understand why you made the nasty comments on Evo's facebook page about the car when youve never seen it as the finished article (if at all).

Quote:
I'd like to see RCM build a Ring special edition. Guarantee people would wanna buy that. And it would be properly finished.
18 hours ago

Also on crap Tein suspension, welded up rear doors too.
Absolute shed, they must be smoking crack to ask £72k for it.
19 hours ago

From a Subaru owner, this is awful. Lots better ways to build a track Impreza for that money. It looks awful too. £72k is not only GTR money, it's 911 Turbo money!
£72k won't change the fact it's a poxy Impreza
19 hours ago

Frayz
Wont get drawn into a slagging match but why such nasty comments - we would love to see companies such as Roger Clark etc build a Ring car special but the fact is that they havent.
So let the car speak for itself....

Does it mean if we had a GTR and spent 50k modding it you would say waste of money and would rather get a more expensive car etc etc..the scenario never ends.
Weve all seen twin turbo's R8's on youtube....crazy costs for sure but hats off to them..!

Surely the reason why we all love our subarus is the fact we all love to modify them...and the challenges it brings..?

Hi Tidgy,
Only officially be available to order if we break the Ring record...

cheers

ah right, proof will be in the pudding as the saying goes about the cost, if orders ell then its on the money.

I must admit I like the bespoke nature of this car and if I had the money I would love to approach them to build me a car. There are plenty of things I would change but that's the whole point of a bespoke vehicle.

I'm at work now Glenn so will reply later. :)

Good informative reply, Revolution & i suppose prototypes always cost more money than the ones after. :)

Glenn, really don't take it personally. Your reply rung of hurt a little bit.

This is a message board where everyone is obsessed with JDM cars or their own builds that are obviously vastly superior to everything else, and Facebook is full of haters. The people referring to it as chavvy are probably the same people who put loud exhausts on their own MK IV Golfs. Or Nissan owners with a skewed sense of brand image!

Your car is not for me but I bought JPC just for its article on this car and I take my hats off to you guys for making the car you intended to build. As a demonstration model this is a terrific example of what a well modded Impreza is capable of. I am in the process of modding mine and I can tell you that labour and parts cost a fortune, even if you have a good supplier and discount on fitting.

It is also largely incomparable to anything Subaru or specialist tuners have ever built, save one of their rally cars or some of the mega custom builds we occasionally see on here. It would obliterate any of the special editions in the real world and on track, mine included. I suspect it would also give a stock Nissan GTR a really hard time, those cars are not as fast as the fanboi's think it is.

Hats off to you all and I hope you get your record at the ring. I hope to see your car in the flesh when I eventually get a chance to pop up to the North East.

Wilst I app certain aspects , surely using a spec c ra-r S204. Or a type 25 as the initial donor car would have been a wiser choice & more cost effective ( I'm told your donor car is blob with a Hawk front conversion ...
I do love the colour , & wish you well on your ring attempt

Regards

In a honesty people are baullking because of the exclusivity and the price. If it was £52k and 50 units made and say for example it done a 7.50 lap of the ring people would be raving.

Nothing wrong with self indulgence- good luck in your venture I say.

Interesting to read the differences of opinions between this and the gobstopper 2 thread in members gallery.

Agree its a lot of money and we never aimed to build a 71k Impreza, who would - but to make another point that some of our customers lose more than 50k in the 1st year of depreciation on their supercars....
and theyre then are too afraid to take them on track incase they break or scratch them..

as you say, if we sell a few then happy days...if we dont its no drama as still happy with what weve created....

Ypu cant knock a GTR but they are amazing but a one of manufacturer at the power and grip it delivers - not everyone likes Nissan's or paddles either
;-)

cheers galaxy,
nah I never take it personally but Revolution is still a family business and we work hard to try and be different...we certainly achieved that..LOL

thanks again

Good reply
Very interested in any info pics etc etc on the car
Good luck with the record attempt
Think the £72 k was the surprising element after the cod worth sales flop
I realised this is a totally different beast
And as above interested in the detail
Mick

Good comments jazzy, but to be honest the cost wouldve went through the roof and by the time we'd done our paint/body mods it wouldve been a waste of a good base car....this started life as a JDM STi but now has a fully forged cosworth engine costing £££'s..

I think the Ring attempt isnt the b all and all but its what manufacturers use to judge how quick their cars are...we couldve gone and built a time attack pro car but when could we have enjoyed that on th eroad - guess its a balance of dreams, cost (cough) and customer expectations

cheers for good wishes too
;-)

72k is a lot of money but when you consider the CS400 price tag . I think this Revolution car is a lot more car for the money than the CS400 is for it's price tag.

Glenn,

Thankyou for your reply,

Firstly, thanks for reading my build. Scoobynet, like Facebook is open forum. Feel free to comment good or bad on my project if you wish. The internet is a global product, so we can't please all of the people all of the time. If you have critisism, please share it, im a big boy and genuinely dont mind.

Correct, I'm also not into slanging matches. Correct, I have not seen the car in the metal at all. I have my opinion based on the photos and Nick Trotts article. Just like many others who have critisised it.

If my comments on Evos page (open international forum, "printed in 14 languages") are too harsh for you then I appologise for hurting your feelings. Its not a personal attack, just my opinion. Just one opinion of 66 other comments on there, so im wondering if you will be writing personally to them all who share similar thoughts on the subject to tell them how "nasty" they are.

I had already seen and read the article in Evo mag as I am an Evo subscriber and to be quite honest was surprised to see it in that particular magasine.

It's not the car as such, despite i dont like how it looks. It's the fact you have suggested that you intend on selling them at £72k.

Seventy two thousand pounds, for a second hand, modified Subaru Impreza?

£72k for a second hand car with the rear doors welded up and a body kit put on and some engine work. It seems to me you set out to build a 2 door track car to take to the ring and it has snowballed into something else. Which is absolutely fine if youre a tuning shop with a project car. Most tuning shops have them one.

You want to justify it so you're now calling a special edition with a £72k price tag?

Therefore the panel gaps not unusual on a race car or 6R4, (As i suspect was fine on the track car you were initially building) are not £72ks worth.
Nor is the fact the rear doors are welded up, or the fact it's got the wrong dash etc. Comparing it to an M3 GTS? Really?

This is also not a dig at ABW either, Ive known Darren and his work for many years.

A special edition, in my opinion should be exactly that. A car that has been genuinely "enhanced" with OEM levels of finish. (Not including the awful fitting wheel arch liners on the 22B lol)

This is just a modified Impreza that you appear to be claiming its something it isn't. Maybe I should put a numbered plaque on my car and start selling them at £70K too?

The addition of chasing a time set in an (almost stock) production car with 320bhp with a car that's as far from production as a race car with 508bhp just adds to the farce IMO. I've no doubt with a proper driver the Revolution car will go quicker than Tommi's time. But its also some way off from the car that Tommi used.
The comment regarding the Tein suspension was said as it seems odd that as a Nurbrugring "Special" you're not using KW, Ohlins, Bilstein or H&R...

You know the dampers that have won the Nurburgring 24 hours more times than ive had hot dinners?
Instead using the concrete like Teins and gimmick of EDFC?

Its a nice project car boys, but please don't insult our intelligence suggesting its a custom "special" worthy of a lunatic price, and suggest its in the same league as an M sport built GTS etc.
Yes some people may not want a Nissan GTR, and a GTR with £50k spent on it would still be a £50K Nissan.
Likewise an R8 will still be an R8 no matter of its twin turbo conversion.

You also say that its built for the weathly person with disposable income who already has exotica in their garage?
Please call me when these guys are banging your door down with that money to purchase one of these.

Surely they would be calling a certain Mr Richards at Prodrive if they wanted a money no object road/race Impreza? I believe he knows a thing or two about Subarus.

Once again, i appologise for having a direct opinion and wish you well with your business and lap time.

As you say Frayz, youve never seen the car in the flesh but youre still entitled to your opinion...

Youve given us it yet again and we'll leave it at that...

Glenn

Fair play Frayz I couldn't be bothered to type all that out on my iPad but well said (again) I agree :thumb:

Hi Alan
Just spotted your post....sounds like a nice build - you started building 2-doors now or are you using ABW to convert the car..?