Subaru’s Project Midnight Is a Monster. Could It Preview a Future STI?

Hey, want a brand new Subaru WRX with a whopping 670-hp, a stunning wide body kit with a wild rear wing, and a curb weight of just 2,469 pounds? If your name is Scott Speed, Subaru Motorsports’ new Project Midnight is your ride. If you’re a random Subie nut pining for a new STI, though, this isn’t for you—except to cheer on Speed as he and Project Midnight tackle the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

This build is very much in the spirit of Subaru’s former Gymkhana builds, but instead of being a do-everything build for that genre, Subaru Motorsports and Vermont SportsCar (Motorsports’ technical partner responsible for building prepping the company’s works rally and rallycross vehicles) decided to make it laser-focused on tarmac performance. This means high horsepower, low weight, and a serious body kit.

The engine is still a 2.0-liter flat-four, pushed to 670 hp and 680 lb-ft with a 9,500 rpm redline—essentially the contemporary top-spec rallycross engine. On a chassis front, the body is made of carbon fiber and the chassis itself is lightened by 1,000 pounds compared to the road-going car its based off of for that bantamweight curb figure. The rolling stock consists of 18×11-inch OZ Racing mag wheels and Yokohama Advan slick tires. That massive, arcing wing is a riff on the Subaru Motorsports WRX ARA24 gravel rally car.

What’s next after Goodwood? Speed and Subaru claim they’ll set new records and tackle new challenges, so that remains to be seen. But don’t expect this to loosely preview any upcoming STI … we haven’t heard any solid information about what, if anything, might emerge as an STI successor yet. But maybe Subaru will slap a big-ass wing on a future special-edition WRX, juice the tune a bit for some extra oomph, and call it the Midnight Edition. Moonrise Edition? Here’s hoping for something like that, at least.