Chasing Curves: The Subaru Impreza WRX STI Transformed in Martini Colors

Martini-colored Impreza

The “Rally Fan Meeting” was held in October 2023 at the Fuji Speedway. Due to the “rally” in the event name, many so-called “replica vehicles” that imitated the livery of rally cars could be seen. The Subaru “Impreza” and Martini colors are a combination you don’t see in actual competition, but we asked the owner, Mr. “Derokichi” about his obsession with this.

His experience on snowy roads led him to 4WD

Mr. “Derokichi” originally drove an RWD car, but after a near-miss experience on a snowy road, he decided to switch to a 4WD car with good driving performance. He purchased the Subaru Impreza WRX STI in 2010, with 40,000 km on the odometer at the time. He went to see the car and decided to buy it within an hour.

He has owned the car for 13 years since then, up to the present. At the time of the interview, the car had traveled 210,000km. Currently, he is addicted to driving on mountain passes all over Japan and collecting mountain pass stickers. This is one of the reasons why his mileage has increased. Of course, he enjoys driving on mountain passes, but he also likes the comfort of high-speed cruising. It is truly the perfect car for touring the mountain passes of Japan.

Particularly about solid white

Mr. “Derokichi” has a reason for his obsessive search for a Subaru “Impreza”, GRB Type A Spec C, Solid White. He is a rally fan and a big fan of Carlos Sainz. If he were to make a replica of his car, he would naturally want to replicate the car that Carlos Sainz drove. Carlos Sainz has driven many rally cars in his career, but Mr. Dorokichi decided to replicate the livery of the Ford Focus.

This is why he was particular about the base vehicle being a “hatchback and solid white”. The hatchback is only available in the GRB model among the WRX STI models, but the reason for focusing on the A model was the body color. Pure white, which is a solid white, is only available for the early models, and the later models are pearl white. Because it is a replica base, we wanted to be particular about the body color.

Although the car is equipped with WRC-inspired parts such as the Focus-era Martini livery, light pots, and wings, it is also used as a family car for everyday use.