The LEGACY B4 GT300 made its racing debut at Fuji Speedway a few weeks back in Round 7 of the 2009 SUPER GT series, marking a new direction for STi with their first fully-backed GT programme getting underway at the legendary circuit.
Subaru is, of course, no stranger to SUPER GT, having given factory support, in particular during the 2008 season, to the CUSCO-backed Impreza that had been campaigned for many years in Japan’s top motorsport category.
It hardly needs to be said, but Subaru is a brand that enjoys mythical status in Japan. The return of the make at the previous round in Suzuka was heralded as historic by many, and immediately brought a wave of fans out to see the car. That event didn’t go quite as planned however, the machine suffering a major component failure during qualifying, meaning it was unable to race.
And while that’s disappointing to any die-hard fan, considering the car went from drawing board to Shakedown in under 14 weeks, the pace of development has been spectacularly quick.
Since Suzuka, there hasn’t been any additional testing (not allowed), though one respite was the fact that the car’s initial Shakedown had also been at Fuji – but just how much data can you get from a dozen or so laps? Therefore, the focus in the three intervening weeks (between Rds. 6 and 7) was of course on maximizing the strength of the component that had failed (gearbox) and making sure the car was ready to run the distance the second time out.
Well that it did.
Not only did LEGACY B4 make it through a sodden qualifying, the car ran the race distance (about 200 miles) with metronomic stability.
The silver SUBARU eventually crossed the line 18th in class.
Although a couple of laps down on the leaders, the wealth of data the team acquired was invaluable – and will be put to good use in their first ‘hard’ season, 2010 – for which this (and the two final rounds of this year’s competition) are a preparation.
As we’ve seen with so many other SUBARU forays, it’s only a matter of time before this effort is standing atop the centre step of the podium.
-Len Clarke
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
Subaru FTMFW. Desktop of #6 would be awesome.
the aero on this thing is wild enough to rival DTM! the window venting and tail-lights especially
I still like the cusco impreza better. That thing looked awsome. This....... not so much.
this thing is kool, but why they got this when they had the imrpeza already? too much money to blow, or what? anyways, idk what it is about 4 doors being in GT300 i dont think it is the ideal chasis setup you'd particularly pick to triumph over other teams like honda with their NSX or even NISSAN with the godzila GT-R.
but in anyway, this thing should kick ass, seeing that it already has qualified 18th in this race.
Awesome.
Anybody knows how you can watch SuperGT raee in France ?
@ECR33
yeah, sure, it's racing in th gt300 class. there are no nsx or gt-r's ....
Gee that thing looks ugly. Best looking cars of the Super GT were when all the R33, R34 GTR's were in and the Supras...
I think the idea of using a "Legacy" might have been born in a Subaru marketing boardroom...
Im sure a clever livery will tweak the shape a little optically and make it look a bit less fugly. Hoping of course that they decide to go with a clever livery. That said, it's no less of a looker than the "Corollas".
To ECR33...
Your posts are all about the misinfo.
I dont remember watching GT300 cars racing GT500 cars.
nice! i like the new legacy a lot, really smart looking, and this GT300 is wicked cool. oh yeah and the GT-R and the NSX race in the GT500 class, who was being a dumbass?
That B4 is beautiful! and great article by the way!
@ EJ25RUN:
Well, the two classes DO actually run together ^__^ just not competing.
That said, I'm liking the Legacy. Hope it does well next season, and more importantly i hope this preparation goes well and steady.
Its really ugly but since its a racecar a quote comes to mind "racecars are like sex. even when theyre bad theyre still pretty good."
Kotomi look for live streaming websites like Justin.tv or ustream, sometimes they have the races
great looking car. my opinion is always the right one.
The Legacy B4 looks like it's a good contender. I'm going to miss the CUSCO Imprezas. But at least put the Legacy B4 in WR blue and add some graphics to help it stand out. The Imprezas had style. This Legacy B4 currently doesn't.
Wallpaper the second pic!
7 Though the road Lagacy is horrid, for some reason the SGT version looks awesome! Those wide arches and wild aero make the aggressive front end styling work. Not so much on the road car. WR blue would be a nice finishing touch. Is that the Corrolla in blue, 7th pic down?
oh lol yeah,thats right. GT500 is another class... forgot sorry. anyways,my point being, is still why a fudging 4DOOR as a platform???? rather than coupe.
@ECR33
when was the last time you saw a subaru coupe? gc8 back in the 90's? at least they took out the rear doors and molded the panels.
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