Henry Tabor

This was the American rally car made from an Italian engine and Japanese Chassis.

The world of stage rally in America has been through 50 years of events, champions, and specially created cars. While on the surface, they may look like every other street car, but these cars are given specific upgrades to increase safety and performance on rough terrain. None have been as different as the Subaru WRX STI.

The car, built and driven by Sam Albert, has a distinctly different tone than most other Subaru rally cars. That’s because this Subaru is powered by a 4.3 litre Ferrari F136IB V8, plucked out of a Ferrari California. Albert and his co-driver, Krista Skucas, haven’t looked back.

“I found the opportunity to use a naturally aspirated motor that was 4.5 litres and below [per the American Rally Association rulebook], and I started searching for potential ideas,” Albert said. 

A driver from Great Britain, Andy Burton, was Albert’s inspiration to create the car. Burton raced a Peugeot 306 with a Cosworth engine, which was a combination that garnered many wins and podiums throughout the car’s life. The Cosworth motor was an 11,000 RPM German touring car engine with the rear wing of a GT3 car. It was banned from the British Rally Competition in 2011 and has not returned.

“Andy Burton’s car popped up with the Peugeot Cosworth specifically, and I was like, ‘Why do we not have something like that in America? That will be a favorite; it’s gonna be awesome,” Albert said. “People would love it. I think that was the big aha [moment]. I was like, ‘We can make that happen in America.’” 

Albert picked up engineering as a hobby and used it to his advantage while converting his 2004 WRX STI at Primitive Racing, a Portland-based preparation shop. Albert hopes that with the use and accessibility of modern technology, like Computer-aided design (CAD) software and 3D scanning, future drivers and teams can create one-off combinations of cars like his own. Krista Skucas, Sam’s long-time co-driver and partner, has also been a part of the project.

“I think the big thing is supporting Sam in the new way he’s having to drive,” Skucas said. “The easiest thing for me to say would be how loud it is in the car and that being a challenge for the both of us, but we do have some possible solutions in the works. The more personal answer is about supporting his endeavors. It’s not just, okay, good job, sorry it didn’t go well, see you next time. That follows us home as well, and so it’s balancing our time between the bills. A lot of our life is set up so our goals are that we can rally together, so when you break a bunch of stuff on the car and you DNF (Did Not Finish) on the first stage, it’s tough; so he’s very understanding that I want to be able to do other things and I’m trying to draw him to do other things as well, but the also, I’ll go help you at the same time.” 

Skucas has been co-driving in North America since 2010 with drivers such as Lucy Block and Bucky Lasek. eWRC.com reports that she has 107 starts with 21 different drivers, but most recently with Albert. On the other side of the car, Albert has recorded 53 starts since 2010. With three starts in the Ferrari-Subaru in 2023, the development is well underway, but there are questions up in the air if the American Rally Association (ARA) will change the regulations, disallowing the project. 

“Personally, I would like to see it finishing rallies consistently and getting onto the national podium,” Albert said. “It’s definitely capable of that, it just needs to get there. It allows a lot of ingenuity. For most of us, we need to find ways to make older cars more interesting. If you want to pair that with a little dose of reality, I think something where you go along a path of a ruleset, where people can build from a base car that they can get and not have to spend a quarter of a million to get an engineered car. I think there’s a way to do that.”

Both Albert and Skucas share similar views about the project.

“There’s a sweet spot for it,” Skucas said. “It’s that grassroots [project] with some media attention. I think it is a difficult spot for the sanctioning body to try and make everybody happy. But I think that they need to remember that this is an American series.”

In their last scheduled event, Sam and Krista finished the Tour de Forest race fourth overall and second in class. It was their first finish in 2023, despite losing their brakes, shredding a tire, and having a rear differential failure.

“The first stage went really, really well,” Albert said. “[The] second stage was a little bit better, and then in the third stage, we got a flat [tire] about a mile in and eventually went about six miles riding on that, and eventually the wheel just broke, and eventually it broke the caliper or brake rotor. We threw a couple of brake pads to the caliper and zip-tied them in there, hoping they would last a little while.”

Tour de Forest, taking place outside of Shelton, Washington, comprised 30 competitions, or “stage” miles and 60 non-competition or “transit” miles. With two-thirds of the event not being under the stress of high torque racing, the fix helped them finish the event.

While American Rally showcases both the big national teams, with budgets covering spare parts like suspension, bodywork, transmissions, and more, the regional or “grassroots” efforts may show up with only a car and a set of tires. The grassroots project of the Ferrari-Subaru is no exception, lacking the necessary parts to properly repair the failing brakes, which is why the team resorted to any fix necessary to get to the finish line.

There are many unknowns when it comes to the future of this project. Albert could go after a national tour with the project, taking the battle to the reigning overall champions Brandon Semenuk and Keaton Williams. 

“There would be a lot that I’d want to see and have done before we do it because I don’t think it’s ready in its current form. But there’s absolutely potential,” Albert said.

It will remain to be seen when the project hits the stages again. Still, Albert and Skucas won’t be quick to give up on what has been a major attention grabber, with Albert posting full stage replays on his YouTube channel from an exterior 360 camera, which allows the viewer to experience the full song of the Ferrari powered Subaru, including his run at Portland International Raceway on the opening night of the 2023 Oregon Trail Rally. Will another project like this debut on the American Rally roads or squeak its way into the World Rally Championship?