Riding Shotgun in Subaru's Rally Car Is SereneTrevor LydenTo experience weightlessness, you must ordinarily either be an astronaut or able to pay a substantial amount to ride in a reduced-gravity aircraft, also known as the "vomit comet." But for those willing to settle for much smaller and more intense doses, there is another way. One I found soaring off a blind crest deep inside the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee.Momentarily, my entire weight was canceled out, my body rising and pushing against the set of five-point race harnesses installed to hold me in place inside Subaru's ARA25 open-class rally car. The jump probably lasted less than a second, but it felt like much longer. Then, just as all four tires reattached themselves to the ground, Vermont SportsCar test driver (and Overmountain Rally champion) Connor Martell turned the Subaru's hydraulic handbrake, flicking it sideways through a 90-degree cut in the foliage. I've definitely had less exciting mornings.Since 2005, Subaru and Vermont SportsCar have teamed up to make good on the automaker's World Rally eXperimental (WRX) moniker, and the ARA25 is the ultimate culmination of that mission. After the finish of this year's Overmountain Rally in Tennessee's Smoky Mountains, Subaru invited me for a ride with Martell behind the wheel on a custom stage scouted by the American Rally Association, and the experience was an intense one as he sliced through the stage as if the ARA25 were a machete. Even with a previous adventure as a co-driver, I couldn't comprehend the rate at which trees approached my view through the windshield. And also, often, the side windows.Trevor LydenWith official time-control signs at the top of the stage, Martell treated the practice stage as though a championship position depended on it. With one of his feet pressing the clutch and the other pinning the accelerator, the Subaru's launch control buzzed like a wasp nest hit with a broom. Loose surface launches are a rally car's speciality—prepared surfaces be damned—and the Subaru's hookup still pulled the sort of positive g-forces I've previously only experienced on asphalt. By modern standards, the ARA25's class-limited 320 hp and 380 lb-ft of torque from its fully built, turbocharged 2.0-liter flat-four are on the low end of the power spectrum. But on a narrow rally stage, with the whining sound of the short-geared Sadev sequential transmission and cracking anti-lag in my ears, the ARA25 felt halfway to warp speed.After commanding his way to second place in ARA's 2025 National Driver's Championship with co-driver Alex Gelsomino, Martell has spent 2026 competing in the French Gravel Championship series. Clearly, his skills have only sharpened since, as Martell spent the ride skimming the 2900-pound rally car through the air with one hand and twitching the other almost ceaselessly between the hydraulic handbrake and shifter. The transmission rule set allows individual gear ratio adjustment for each rally, and the ARA25 was geared mighty short this time, forcing Martell to slam through two or three gears before entering and while exiting each corner. But such repetitive shifting had no impact on Martell's driving flow, as he explained a color-coded method for spotting slippery surfaces through the intercom. Gravel-covered surfaces will grip better, while hues of red clay spell sideways action, he said.Trevor LydenEquipped with beefy R53 Suspension and custom steering geometry designed by Vermont SportsCar, the ARA25 spun around its axis like a dreidel, seemingly refusing to track a perfectly straight line. The Subaru is one of the largest vehicles in its class, dwarfing models like the Toyota GR Corolla Rally RC2, but Martell used its longer wheelbase and wider hips to initiate smoother slides. While maximizing traction is an outright focus in road racing, rally's variation of stage surfaces means that entering a corner sideways is oftentimes faster. Sure, the ARA25 has honking Brembo brakes and special-formula Yokohama gravel tires, but letting the rear end loose and pointing the car with the throttle was a winning strategy on stage."One of the cool things about the open class Subaru is obviously the wheel travel. How the suspension and springs and everything are set up is quite special compared with the limited car. Obviously, there's more power, and we're generally about two seconds a mile quicker in this car than [in] our limited car," foremost co-driver Rhianon Smyth-Gelsomino said to Road & Track. "It's Rally2-spec like WRC, but it's something that could compete at world level."Trevor LydenDespite the severity of Martell's pace, my adrenaline spikes didn't stop me from noticing some neat technical details. Instead of a small, makeshift metal footrest normally found in front of a navigator, Vermont SportsCar has engineered and installed a sizable foot tray with customizable buttons for functions like windshield wipers, trip-meter reset, and closing a front-end flap to protect the engine during water crossings. The co-driver's seat was also positioned much closer to the car's centerline to improve weight distribution and internal safety margins on impact. Compared to the decibel level inside my former 2004 WRX STI rally rig, the professionally built Subaru was downright serene, trading the noise of dragging parts for occasional pinging gravel shots. Better yet, the composure provided by Subaru's top-end suspension setup meant that the often-sickening negative g-forces from hard braking had no effect on my equilibrium.Compared with most motorsports, rallying has the lowest barrier to entry. In theory, anyone can be racing against the likes of Travis Pastrana or Lia Block if they enter a car with the right safety gear, a license plate, and a competent co-driver. The historic lack of manufacturer support in North America has further evened the playing field. However, Subaru has run away with the competition as the only OEM-supported team, entering budding drivers and the most professional car. But the ARA25's reign may not be long in this world, either. The field at North American rallies has expanded significantly, and the 2026 season features factory-supported entries from Toyota and Mini, plus Rally2-spec cars from Škoda and Hyundai.Trevor LydenAfter half a decade of utter domination, Subaru is starting to feel the heat. But that is a welcome development for the team, competitors, and rally fans alike. With names like Conner Martell, Brandon Semenuk, and Rhianon Smyth-Gelsomino in its logbook, the ARA25 has a healthy legacy of well-earned accolades, but the sport can't really advance without some real adversaries on stage. Now, as the competition continues to grow, North American rally culture is looking stronger than ever, according to Smyth-Gelsomino."I think it's brilliant for American rallying to have that level of competition," she told me. "At the moment, I think American rallying is doing really, really well. The sport is growing, and I think that if we get a [WRC event] here next year, it would be the best thing that ever happened in American rally."If You Can Only Own One Car, Make It One of TheseThese Are the Most Popular Cars by State
