Gymkhana Is Back With A 9,500 RPM Subaru Brat

Gymkhana returns, this time to Australia, with Travis Pastrana at the wheel. Travis' steed for this outing will be an entirely new, deeply ridiculous Subaru: the Brataroo 9500 Turbo. The latest Gymkhana film series will take place across Australia. Subaru says you can expect all the tire-killing insanity that makes a Gymkhana film, plus cameos from a "legendary cast." Little else is known about the actual shoot, but Subaru did give away all the gory technical details on its latest drift machine.

The Brataroo Is Theseus' Ship In Action

This used to be a 1978 Subaru Brat. The Theseus' Ship thought experiment, which asks whether an item can still be the original if there are no original parts left on it, says otherwise. Subaru completely transformed the Brat with bespoke bodywork and ludicrously precise active aerodynamics that can pivot forward or backward to fine-tune the car’s attitude while in the air. Really, it's an airplane that happens to have tires and a car engine at the front instead of wings and turbines.

Under the hood, you'll find a turbocharged 2.0-liter boxer engine built by Subaru's technical partner, Vermont SportsCar. Those are the folks who handle building Subaru's current crop of rally cars for use here in the States. This motor is very rally-inspired, with a hilarious 670 horsepower and 680 lb-ft of torque driving all four wheels via a six-speed sequential SADEV gearbox.

Designing The Next Gymkhana Legend Takes A Skilled Hand

The custom bodywork is done by designer and concept artist Khyzyl Saleem (The Kyza). You may be familiar with Kyza's wild, street-inspired creations. He's worked on games like Need for Speed in addition to working with several automakers to help bring their wildest concepts to life. He's also the co-founder of his own bodykit company, Live To Offend.

To minimize weight, the Brataroo's bodywork is constructed entirely of carbon fiber, draped over a VSC-engineered chassis and a roll cage certified to the latest safety standards, just in case Pastrana gets a little over-zealous. The car rides on a one-off set of KMC Wheels’ forged monoblocks with a bit of a retro spin on them. The wheels are shod in Yokohama ADVAN A052 or APEX tires, depending on stunt needs. Meanwhile, the cockpit features a carbon-fiber dashboard and flax-composite wood-grain accents echoing the Brat's original interior. Of course, just about everything else is built for a purpose, down to the repurposed HVAC controls now used to adjust the active aero. The next Gymkhana film, Aussie Shred, premieres early December on the Hoonigan YouTube channel.