![]() A lighter and stiffer bodyshell was designed, while under the bonnet the turbo, exhaust manifold and engine mapping were modified to improve performance and power.īut one of the areas where more efforts were devoted was the improvement of the aerodynamic package. The new car, which would become the fourth generation of the Impreza, included revisions to the engine, roll-cage, body panels and the aerodynamic package. Kazuo Ogawa, who had been named Impreza chief in the spring of 2001, was responsible for the design of the new car in Subaru, while again Peter Stevens, on behalf of Prodrive, played an important role in the external and aero design. P.Solberg/P.Mills, Subaru Impreza S9 WRC03, Rally Deutschland 2003, 8th. In addition, the Japanese team ensured access to a wind tunnel, test track and state-of-the-art technology. The design process represented a step ahead in the collaboration between both entities: it was a new integrated design process between Prodrive in the UK and Subaru in Japan, using common design and manufacturing systems to harness the engineering skills of both organizations. To better achieve these goals, both Subaru and Prodrive significantly increased their resources into the project with respect to previous versions: Subaru’s parent company, Fuji Heavy Industries and the company’s high-performance arm, Subaru Tecnica International (STI) established a 10-strong engineering team in Japan to lend support to the rally effort, while the engineering team based at the 555 Subaru Team’s UK headquarters in Banbury grew up by 30 percent. Also, weight reduction and a lower center of gravity were requested. The goal was to develop a road car with the specific aim of giving the best possible platform for a rally-winning machine, which had to be more aggressive, more aerodynamic and with an improved cooling system. Only nine months after the introduction of the Subaru Impreza WRC01 into the World Rally Championship, Subaru and Prodrive decided to start working on a new evolution of the car, based on the lessons learned in the rally stages and the deficiencies detected in the New Age Impreza.
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