Subaru Impreza WRC – ex-Solberg, driven by McRae – up for sale

Ask any fan of the Subaru Impreza what first sparked their interest in the model, and the name McRae will likely crop up sooner or later.

It’s fitting then that a Subaru Impreza WRC was the last car McRae drove in public before his tragic helicopter accident in 2007, which claimed both his life and the life of his son and two family friends.

That Impreza WRC – driven in the 2007 WRC by 2003 champion Petter Solberg – is now up for sale, with a healthy price tag of £159,500.

While that makes it one of the more expensive Imprezas you’re likely to see, it also looks like something of a bargain given the car’s provenance – and the fact that table-topping WRC cars like the Impreza originally cost considerably more than that to build.

The McRae link comes not from any competitive appearances in the 2007 car – McRae left Subaru for Ford in 1999 and drove only for Citroen and Skoda after that – but from the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2007, when McRae drove the car up the famous hill.

Ever the crowd-pleaser, McRae made full use of the opportunity, pitching the car sideways into corners and doing a donut in front of Goodwood House, but sadly it was to be his last public appearance.

For Solberg 2007 was a difficult year, unable to match the results of his earlier years in Subaru and – in common with the rest of the WRC field – unable to match the rampant pace of Sebastien Loeb in his Citroen C4 WRC.

The car has had plenty of work done since 2007, with a full bare-shell rebuild, a full engine rebuild just over 200 miles ago, a clutch with only 50 miles on it and a smattering of other new parts to keep the Impreza rally-fresh.

It's for sale with C&M Motors in Northern Ireland, via RallySales.com.