2006 Prodrive P2 Concept
If you’re familiar with the name Prodrive, you’ve probably heard it in reference to motorsports. They’ve worked on Ferrari’s 550 GTS FIA-GT race car, and most famously are known for their affiliation with the Subaru World Rally Team (SWRT). And while Prodrive specialized in components such as differentials, gearboxes and other mechanical bits for racing cars, their know-how has trickled down to aftermarket components for multiple vehicles, including the Subaru Impreza.
During the spring of last year, we reported that Prodrive, the Banbury, UK-based engineering firm was working on a compact, mid-engined supercar designed and built in house in order to promote its R&D and product innovations. The project was the idea of David Richards, company chairman and CEO, who pushed the product in order to show the motoring industry the company’s abilities as an innovator. As such, the P2 highlights two new rally-inspired technologies yet to be seen on any production car.
In our initial report, we speculated that the car would be based off of the Subaru Impreza, however, Prodrive chose the Subaru R1, a Japanese-market ‘kei’ (micro) car as a base and the smallest car Subaru makes. Prodrive completely reworked the tiny, van-like upright four-seater, front-engined vehicle into a low-slung, dynamic, mid-engined two-seater. Wedged into a vehicle no longer than a Mazda MX-5 is UK/Japan-spec Impreza WRX STI running gear, which includes the 2.0-litre horizontally-opposed ‘Boxer’ four and six-speed manual gearbox.
Power has been boosted from the standard 300 to 345 horsepower and torque is up to 425 lb-ft, improved mainly by boosting the turbo’s pressure and remapping the engine management system. The amazing part is that Prodrive was able to do this while reducing lag, due to their innovative Anti-Lag System (ALS). Developed for use on the Subaru WRC rally car, ALS works to keep the turbo’s boost up, igniting unburnt fuel in the exhaust manifold to keep the turbine spinning at high boost. Think of it as the automotive equivalent of a jet’s after burners. As such, the P2 has nearly zero turbo lag, making it as responsive as a naturally aspirated engine, while retaining its torque through a wide band.
Subaru’s famous symmetrical all-wheel drive system, however impressive it is at harnessing power, has nothing on Prodrive’s Active Torque Dynamics system. This technology, also derived from Prodrive’s rally expertise, uses two active differentials in order to constantly shift power from front to back. ATD not only equally distributes power to all four wheels, but acts as an aid in cornering, by reducing understeer by shifting power to the rear wheels, and oversteer by shifting directing power to the front wheels. The system shines by providing the driver with truly neutral handling in all circumstances.
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