Looking Back at the Subaru Legacy

It isn’t all that surprising that the Subaru Legacy’s works rally career has been somewhat overshadowed by the Impreza which followed, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take the time to revisit all that it achieved.

Subaru had dabbled with Group A rallying in the 1980s and had achieved some class success, but the banning of the Group B class effectively levelled the playing field, and this encouraged the Japanese concern to up the stakes and increase their investment. The Legacy RS that broke cover in 1990 was a far more sophisticated machine than the cars that preceded it, with an all aluminium flat-four and more developed suspension at all four corners.

Prodrive was hired to develop the cars and the Banbury based concern certainly proved its worth, Markku Alen using one to post encouraging times throughout 1990. A young Colin McRae used one to dominate the 1991 and 1992 British Rally Championship, results that convinced the Subaru top brass to let Prodrive develop the engine as well as the chassis. A strong 2nd place on the 1992 Swedish for McRae boosted morale yet further, as did an identical result on that year’s RAC rally for Ari Vatanen. The car’s crowning achievement actually took place in the dying days of the Legacy’s career, with McRae’s sensational maiden victory on the 1993 Rally of New Zealand proving a fitting send off for the model.