Barda Rally – the second round of the Russian Rally Cup finished on Sunday. It became a testing area for a unique rally car – the Subaru Impreza UMS prototype. The crew of Andrey Trukhin and Aleksei Ignatov presented the novelty.
The champions of Russia have joined forces to find out the capabilities of the Subaru prototype, built at the Ural-Motor-Sport auto service center according to the technical requirements of the Russian Automobile Federation, the 4000N+ national training group, in competitive conditions. The drivers covered 181 kilometers of the competitive distance on the roads of the Perm Territory, taking fourth place in the overall rally standings. They tested the car’s capabilities in action, identified a number of issues that need to be worked out for improvement, played around with the settings and realized that the car is ready to go fast
It took 11 months from the idea of creating this prototype to its ride for the first test kilometers, half of them were spent on preparing the body and developing all parts of the engine and transmission subframes, and the suspension parts. It took about three weeks to install the roll cage, then all surfaces and individual body parts were painted. The remaining time was spent assembling and installing all the components into the finished chassis. The purpose of the creation is to build a car for rallies using modern technologies that can be used in both Russian series in the overall standings, combining the best qualities and budget running.
The car is based on the reinforced body of the Subaru GDB with a glorious rally history, where the driver’s and co-driver’s seats were shifted 10 centimeters to the rear axle of the car. This goal corresponds to a roll cage with a unique structure, developed by certified Kiwamaru specialists. The modern turbocharged power unit of the FA20 series with a 34-mm restrictor and a front-mounted intercooler to improve boost air cooling has a higher efficiency than the well-known EJ series engines that are used in the Russian rally. The MoTeC M142 universal engine control unit was chosen to control the power unit with the direct fuel injection system. The prototype uses a transmission from the Subaru Impreza. The gearbox housing contains a cam row with a sequential selection mechanism from Samsonas that allows for more power and engine torque. There are front and rear disc locks and a DCCD control unit. Other electronic components used in the car include the power control unit, dashboard display and control button unit from the well-established electronic component manufacturer Ecumaster.
The body kit partly consists of non-standard components – a rear trunk door and a carbon spoiler from the Subaru S202 of the same years of production as the body. The front fenders and the bumper were made specifically for this car, as well as the rear arch extensions. A set of scratch-resistant polycarbonate windows from the manufacturer of sports components Plastics 4 Performance was installed. Some of the powertrain mountings have been redesigned to lighten weight and design; an engine subframe and side member reinforcements have been made. The front shock absorber mounting frames were moved up to allow the use of struts with an increased stroke of work. Some of the suspension components used in a different series, but of the same model were installed for the wider track – these are the front levers, knuckles and drives. The wheelbase remains standard. The braking system uses a tandem from Tilton and a hydraulic hand brake, as well as other standard sports staff and safety systems inherent in a rally car
Andrey Trukhin, the project manager and driver, “The assembled car requires adjusting the work of the units and modifications, and since the Barda Rally with luxurious roads is taking place in relative proximity, we went there for the first tests. Aleksei Ignatov was chosen to fill the vacancy of the co-driver. He has been an active racer for many years and is a good tech-savvy; he has knowledge of rally business and specialized motor transport education like me. It is definitely easier to solve any emergency situations that can and periodically arise during the competition with him. In addition, he has spent many hours both as a driver and as an experienced co-driver. In order not to get problems during the performances – the first driver without constant practice, not a set-up car – I wished to disclaim at least part of my duties in order to be able to analyze the car’s response to changes in settings on the drive. Aleksei performed with many drivers, was able to quickly adapt to my manner of recording the pacenotes and took the full role of co-driver with an inherent share of responsibility”.
Local Barda tracks are excellent public roads of a high level of preparation, moderately wide with a rolled snow crust, with a three-dimensional profile and a set of absolutely all road elements. In addition, which is a rarity for a Russian rally, there were 10 non-repeating special stages – five roads used for passage in both directions. This is a very good training for the crew, checking the speed characteristics and the ability to work with changing the settings of the car during the competition. Roads are not very twisted, with an average speed of up to 135 km/h – this is the range of operation from third to fifth gear. This is the perfect place to test this car! Even the snowfall with such a quality of preparation of the roadbed of the special stages did not interfere with driving quickly and confidently enough from the first kilometers.
Andrey Trukhin, driver, “Despite the fact that the break was really long – I haven’t performed with a serious sports program for seven years, and the last time I drove Subaru was 12 years ago – I definitely didn’t forget how to do it all. But, of course, training is needed in order to regain my former athletic form. For 40-50 test kilometers it is impossible to gain the same confidence when you compete for two or three years in a row – it is practically impossible in a rally. Therefore, I did not feel quite comfortable, the lack of experience in a fast car affects. In addition, this is a freshly assembled car, with which something had to be done quickly during the test session and the rally.
As test drivers we have to do a complicated amount of work without the ability to rely on reference data of some analogs, since there is no exactly the same car in the world – it is the only one. To be honest, in a car service center it is difficult to make a car and immediately get a super result without the help of engineering bureaus that are used by car manufacturers. We saw with our own eyes how the car works in different situations and now we will take further steps to improve the balance of all characteristics. Of course, we have a lot of test work ahead – we need to find out the weaknesses of the car in order to alter or modify something.
The main achievement is that the car has finished and, so to speak, nothing broke in it seriously, we showed good results in relation to the entire sports field, and it was very positive to remember all this rally action as a driver. The disadvantages include the fact that it was not possible to show some super fast speed of the car and me off-the-cuff, but to be honest, no one really counted on this”.
Aleksei Ignatov, co-driver, “This is an interesting idea – to assemble a prototype based on Subaru, using Subaru units, but combining the best qualities of a light and durable body with units from modern cars and fairly budgetary running. In my opinion, the speed of the car together with correct and proper tuning and competent driving approaches the best-known prototypes, and at some special stages we can compete with the R5 category cars. This test drive is more like endurance tests – the car covered its first competitive kilometers during the rally.
And the main task was realized – we drove the rally from start to finish. Some issues arose along the way, but they were promptly resolved that allowed us to carry out the entire race without serious problems and stops. As for further work, this rally provided us with a fairly large layer of information. Yes, there are things that are worth thinking about, and there is a strategy for how to develop this car further. But the car certainly has potential, we will reveal it through additional work, we will definitely have an extensive test program in different modes and in different conditions. And thus, using separate tests and rides to some rounds of the Russian Rally Championship or Cup, we will bring the car to the state in which we can show the maximum result. I hope this car will receive a long, interesting and rich a life in the future”.
Andrey Trukhin and Aleksei Ignatov, acting as test drivers, collected feedback and identified some points that require further improvement – these are working with the engine and working with the settings of the transmission elements. To implement the development strategy, a certain amount of work has already been set in the plan, and
