Ferrari-Swapped Subaru WRX STI Rally Car Makes 500 Prancing Horsepower

There’s no denying that Subaru’s Impreza WRX STI and its dominance in the World Rally Championship scene throughout the late-90s and into the 2000s forged an iconic reputation for the Japanese automaker.

The WRX STi was feared both on the rally circuit and on the street - at one time four-paw turbocharged Rexxies were so capable that highway patrol units around Australia rushed to order them - as they made the former stalwarts of Aussie police cars (Ford’s Falcon and Holden’s Commodore) look like they were simply standing still.

We can’t be entirely sure what happened though, and somewhere along the line Subaru performance suffered a fall from grace. They went from being the stuff of posters on the bedroom walls of young enthusiasts to the backbone of memes on internet forums, relentlessly mocked for their weak head gaskets and drivelines.

Here's why Sam Albert’s 2004 Subaru WRX STI build caught our attention. In mid-2022 Sam decided that the EJ25 (its full potential shackled by intake restrictions for parity) he’d been campaigning simply wasn’t cutting it, and after some quick sums he ultimately decided that a Ferrari V8 represented better value.

“At the time, I was looking for loopholes in the rule book, and 4.5-litre and under, naturally aspirated engines had no restrictions,” Sam explains of one of the factors that cemented his decision.

While anything with that famed Ferrari logo and wrinkle red paint might seem like a stratospheric investment, the F136IB V8 that Sam chose is one of the better value Ferrari engine swaps on the market. Originally fitted to the Ferrari California, the F136IB engine shares much of the infrastructure of the heavy-hitting Ferrari 458 4.5L V8 engine (the F126) including the flat-plane crank and dual overhead cams which saw the 458’s Italian heart beat to the tune of 562hp at a screaming 9000rpm.

For a fraction of the price, Sam saw the opportunity to jag the smaller 4.3-litre F136IB engine which ‘only’ made 454hp (since tuned to make 483hp thanks to a MoTeC engine management upgrade) but as Sam notes, the dynamics of a naturally-aspirated V8 over the turbocharged boxer engine make it seem like far more than that.

“It’s probably got the ideal power band, it’s really enjoyable to drive,” he attests, noting that the Boxer made most of it’s power high in the rev range which tended to make it ‘twitchy’, while the 4.3-litre V8’s massive power under the curve, combined with the torque, make it perfectly suited to rally.

Amazingly, the Ferrari V8 fits snugly within the Subaru engine bay and has been made to work with the factory K-frame, with only minor clearances required. It’s mated to the sequential gearbox that used to sit behind the old boxer engine, courtesy of a custom-machined adaptor plate and flywheel that Sam designed himself.

The taller Ferrari V8 took one look at the factory Subaru bonnet and laughed, but aside from that the only other fitment issue stemmed from the engine’s extra length, pushing it forward in to the radiator support panel and necessitating relocation of the radiator to the rear firewall between the rear seats and the boot of the car with adequate ducting to suit.

Amazingly, Sam’s Rexxie isn’t the first time the Prancing Horse has headed off-road, and a quick Google search reveals 308 GTB owners all over the world ringing the neck’s of their Ferrari rally cars. Ferrari partnered with an Italian-based Dealer and they converted 11 GTBs to rally spec, competing between 1978-1983 before entering a more extensively modified vehicle (the 308 GT/M) into Group B in 1984.

Locally, Ferrari engine swaps aren’t as popular as they are throughout Europe and America, however it’d be remiss of us to close off without mentioning the Rod Shop’s LC GTR ‘REAL DEAL’ which is in the process of trading its blown methanol, injected V8 heart for a Ferrari V12 (we will have more on that soon so keep an eye out). In the meantime, checkout more about Sam's Ferrari-swapped WRX STI in the video below or on his socials @samalbertrally.