Tiff Needell Takes Us Through the Development of the 1997 Subaru Impreza World Rally Car

Tiff Needell guides us through this brilliant mini-documentary following Subaru and the Prodrive team as they develop their brand new Subaru Impreza World Rally Car for the 1997 World Rally Championship.

The 1997 World Rally Championship saw the sport going through a few significant changes. New World Rally Car regulations were introduced, kickstarting the replacement of Group A. These removed the requirement of competition cars to have a mass-produced version for homologation, which opened the championship up to more competition. Two of the big names in rally at the time, Ford and Subaru, produced WRC-spec cars for 1997, while Mitsubishi maintained their Group A Lancer Evolution III and IV.

Subaru introduced the all-new Impreza WRC 97 for the season, and would claim their third consecutive manufacturer’s title, winning eight out of the fourteen events. Competition at the pointy end was extremely close, and Team Mitsubishi Ralliart’s Tommi Mäkinen would finish a single point ahead of Colin McRae in the Impreza WRC 97 after the final round in Great Britain. Carlos Sainz was nipping at their heels, taking his Ford Escort WRC to third and claiming two rally wins along the way.

This great little docco is presented by Tiff Needell and features interesting behind the scenes insight, plenty of footage from the period and brilliant on-board from both drivers. Enjoy!