Ferrari + Subaru Rally Car??? - With Sam Albert Rally

There are a lot of Subaru Rally Cars competing at any Rally, and they are all going to draw on a similar setup of transmission, suspension, and most likely a Turbo Subaru EJ engine.  But now, there is one STI that is unlike any other Rally Car out there because it has a Ferrari 458 engine under the hood.

Sam Albert has been competing in Rally since 2017, and he has had a lot of success in his 2004 STI.  But a little while ago, he got to thinking about the ARA Rules, and how if he would make a switch to a naturally aspirated engine to get away from all of the restrictions that are placed on turbo engines, he might be able to build a cool car, and gain some advantage if he could just find the right engine.

Believe it or not, the engine he decided to switch to is a Ferrari 458 flat-plane crank V-8, and somehow, he has been able to not only make it work, but do so in such a way that this STI Rally car should now be better than ever before.

As soon as we heard about this build, we reached out to Sam because we had to find out more about how he decided to take on this build, and how he got it to work.

Enjoy the conversation and Stay Tuned!

In this Episode:
00:00 - Intro Clip
00:58 - Episode 107 of the Flatirons Syndicate Motorsports Podcast
01:17 - Sam Albert from Sam Albert Rally is our guest
02:05 - Sam's History with Rally
08:16 - Rules restrictions on turbo engines in Rally
12:30 - Did the ARA Rules made it hard to be competitive with the EJ257 engine?
18:43 - NA Engine rules are way more open in ARA, so there is more room to innovate
21:29 - How did Sam pick the Ferrari Engine?
32:38 - What was the inspiration to try something different?
34:30 - How do you swap in a V-8 and keep the Subaru drivetrain?
39:46 - What weight and dimension differences are there with the 458 V-8 engine?
43:47 - What are the differences as a driver with the new engine?
46:17 - Throttle control with the V-8 is a game changer
53:02 - Challenges with making the exhaust
57:47 - Other engineering challenges to make the Ferrari 458 swap work
1:02:20 - How much more shake down needs to be done before the first Rally?
1:11:19 - Innovation is one of the things that makes Motorsports great
1:16:43 - Shout out to those that made this build possible
1:20:00 - Wrapping up - Thanks to Sam for making the time to chat on the Podcast!

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