Travis Pastrana’s Subaru STI Gymkhana 11 Car Makes Its Debut
Gymkhana 11 is going back to its roots with an all-carbon Subaru built specifically for the event. Watch its first ever tire test.
Gymkhana 11 will be the first Gymkhana not to feature Ken Block. Block has passed the torch to the extremely talented Travis Pastrana. For his first event Pastrana is going back to Subaru for his car. In the very first Gymkhana a 2006 Subaru Impreza STI was the featured car. For the past decade various Ford vehicles have been the stars. Now, Subaru is back and with a vengeance. Thanks to the Hoonigan YouTube channel we get our first look at the beast. It has enough fender canards to make a cheese grater jealous. As the car sits now, before the racing livery is applied, you get a great view of the bare carbon fiber. This is a wicked looking car.
Subaru has been making hot Impreza models for a long time, but this particular car is a no holds barred build by Vermont SportsCar. The final specs have not been revealed but you can clearly see that nothing was held back. Normally a sportscar would not have nearly a foot of fender gap. However, this baby is going to literally fly so the gap and the long travel suspension are needed for its return to earth. There is a massive diffuser at the back along with the enormous two-tiered wing. It is so outrageous; it looks like a cartoon car. Oh yeah, and the exhaust exits straight through the hood and spits fire.
The purpose of this video is not to simply show off the car in a series of glamor shots. There is actually serious business going on. Well, as serious as wildly drifting a Subaru can get. This is the first time Pastrana gets to drive the car and the team is here to test various tire compounds. Pastrana is eager to get going. When asked what he expects out of the day he says: “Hopefully I get to drive. I have been like a kid in a candy shop.” Well, he does finally get to drive, and he puts several Yokohama tires through his unique method of tire testing. First up is a set of all-seasons.
Pastrana seems to quickly become comfortable in the car as he performs a variety of maneuvers. Creative Director Brian Scotto believes the car still has more to give, so he offers a bit of advice: “Dude, there is nothing you can’t fix by putting a little more speed on it.” The pep talk worked as by the end of the day Pastrana is really getting the most out of the car. So Pastrana and the car looked great, but how did the tires do?
The cool thing about this test is that yes it has a professional driver and an insanely built car, but the tires are the same ones you can slap on your daily driver. Although the Gymkhana folks have a little different decision criterion than you might use when selecting a tire. As Scotto says: “Obviously I want Travis to have the most control as possible, but I also want to see the most smoke as possible.” With that in mind they are choosing the Yokohama Advan Apex V601 tire for most of the stunts. Great choice. If you have not tried this tire yet, you really should.
Now that we have seen what this car, and the driver and these tires can do, we can’t wait until Gymkhana 11. Knowing the Gymkhana crew, this will be the best one yet. In the meantime, let us know what you think of the new car in the 6SpeedOnline forums.
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