As the new rally season approaches, there are usually a lot of new projects waiting to see the sunlight. Samsonas Motorsport is no different, as we always try to find new, unique ways of doing things. And this one will be introduced next season. After a long and very successful time with N5 cars, we want to get back to the roots and the passion we have always had – Subaru cars. The good thing is that our good partners and friends at MV Sport also work with Subaru suspension, so we may join forces again to build a really good-looking, fast, and reliable Subaru rally car. But the story should be told by the ones who are behind it – Martynas Samsonas and Mindaugas Varža.
Martynas Samsonas
So the whole car is a pure Subaru. That’s the main idea, to make it 100% Subaru – not a Proto, not a mixed chassis. Pure, nice, clean, light and fast.
The first deciding factor was the MV Sport suspension, which was developed for Subaru models from 2008 onwards. So we had to stick to the lightest possible Subaru shell from 2008 and we opted for the 2008 STI model, which we even had somewhere in the backyard of MV Sport premises 🙂
Ok, if they had developed the same magic suspension for a Mitsubishi, then we would have had to go for the Mitsubishi. Maybe it would even be faster, because Mitsubishi engines are usually certainly better, with more power and more torque, maybe even up to 100 Nm more possible. But Ok. At least we know that the numbers do not win. The overall package does.
Another question is perhaps why MV Sport, why not something else, why not N5? Ok, we spent about 7 years for N5. I think we have really achieved a lot. Even in the 2025 season, we are invited to do rallies in Spain and Portugal with N5, we will see. If we have time, we will go there.
But we still have many more customers that we need to support. Maybe MV Sport this year, maybe something else next year.
MV Sport has a unique suspension, I think a very good point is that the first goal was to develop the maximum benefit and not just stick to a certain type like Mcpherson or, let us say, copy R5/Rally2, which we talked about with Mindaugas (CEO of MV Sport). I said never copy, rather go the hard way, but you will be unique and you will have the best feeling when it’s done. Ok, the road is damn long, damn hard, a lot of failures, some mistakes, some unfortunate moments. But you gain absolutely nothing by just winning. But you gain everything when you lose when you make mistakes.
And now, after many years of work, we see that this product package can go fast. Why it’s fast is maybe another topic, like the much better tire wear, like the much better tire surface grip, like the wheel grip on all different surfaces, etc. This is also a long story. But we decided to give it a try. Why not?
Another important factor was my co-driver Ervinas’ spark in his eyes. After we sold our Škoda Fabia N5, all we had left was our nice BMW E36 M3, but Ervinas said how nice it would be to fight for something bigger again, like a championship. And then I had to do something 🙂 You do not want to lose a team member like Ervinas… You can not. He’s a monster, a crazy monster who never stops working towards his goal. And then it was easy to decide what to do.
So let us give it a try.
Okay, for me too. I am a big dreamer, but I like to be realistic. I am 46 and ok, I think I am still ok, but to be realistic, I might have a couple of seasons to be an ok speed guy, so can not wait 🙂
To combine all these things we decided to race next season with a couple of our guys, let us say a crew and 4 guys from us, plus the guys from the MV Sport team – a good mix. The car is built in Kaunas by the guys from MV Sport. The service is done by the MV Sport guys and our guys come to the events.
Mindaugas Varža – MV Sport
Why Subaru?
Simply because Subaru is needed by Martynas and myself, MV Sport and Samsonas Motorsport as a machine that does marketing work, attracts more attention, etc. Why Subaru concept? Because in many countries it’s not possible to combine two chassis, like here where we have a Subaru bottom and a Hyundai i20 top, even though about 70% of the concept is Subaru. In this case, we decided to avoid something like that, especially when we go to Ireland or dream of going to America at the end of the year – to avoid confusion and issues with technical regulations. So we decided – Subaru chassis, Subaru engine, cross member mounting points in original places. Of course, the challenge is that the Subaru engine is not so super powerful compared to the modern 1.6l PSA or Volkswagen engines used in the Škoda R5/Rally2. I think that here in Lithuania we will try to develop a modern concept of the new generation WRX engine, which has been in production since 2014, only we will try to make it not a simple WRX, but a sports WRX engine. The entire creative initiative lies with Pono Vladas Motorai, and the programming is done by Alius, who works with N5 cars. The main difference between the old and the new generation of Subaru engines is probably that the new version uses direct injection. We hope for the best and we will see what happens.
What’s new about the suspension of the MV Sport?
As far as the kinematics are concerned, there are no radical changes. But as the factory teams evolve and make steps, so do we. We have improved the elements of strength and reliability and changed the center of gravity – the cross members have been moved slightly upwards, which lowers the car’s center of gravity. In other words, all sorts of little things that allow you to go forwards, but definitely not backwards. Whether that has an effect on speed is hard to say, maybe it has more of an effect on reliability. Everything is more adapted to a really sharp rally driving style, like the one used by Martynas Samsonas. So we want our product to withstand the maximum possible loads.
Cooperation with Samsonas Motorsport and plans
It’s great that Samsonas Motorsport believes in our products. We hope that with all our products in one chassis we can show that Lithuanian creations can be driven very fast and reliably. Our dream is to go to foreign markets as much as possible and show what we can produce here in Lithuania. We want to show that Martynas can make the best use of these products and achieve good results. In motorsport you need a lot of luck and a good team, so we will try to start car testing in March so that the car is already at full strength for the first Lithuanian gravel rally in the spring. The plan is to drive the entire Lithuanian rally championship and if the start is optimistic and the car performs as expected, we want to go abroad and maybe even send the car to America.
The car will be a pure old-school Subaru Impreza N14. Its main advantage is the MV Sport suspension with 305mm travel.
Transmission of course Samsonas prepared by us, full 6 speed sequential, with active DCCD center diff, front and rear Subaru Cusco lsd’s. We are still counting and deciding gear ratios, and we will go with a mix between higher revving cars like MV Sport i20 or N5 PSA 1.6 engines and between low RPM’s Mitsubishi 2.0 engine.
Our dampers, Samsonas 3way, have been developed specifically for MV suspensions. A lot of testing and development work has been carried out with the LABA7 team and their test equipment, in particular the latest LABA7 EMA electromagnetic test dyno. Special driveshafts (OEM sizes as OEM fits, and OEM kit goes for spare) and aluminum solid 1pcs propshaft from DriveShaftShop USA.
Brakes and rotors from Alcon, supplied by EuroM Sport. Pedal Box Tilton, with AP master cylinders.
Clutch Xtreme twin disk 230mm, with AP hydraulic release bearing.
The engine build and development by Pono Vlado Motorai. The engine itself is a WRX engine with direct injection FA20DIT, destroked to 1800cc with the help of ZRP PartsAlex Drakos, a supplier of custom billet 1,8l crankshaft and special rods and pistons.
Garrett turbo is supplied by DAS Performance, as are many other parts.
Engine wiring loom by AndriusEAMV. Engine mapping by AliusEAMV.
So this will be the Top-spec Subaru Impreza N14, which can be called N14 Top-spec.
But there are 2 more cars being built now. Almost the same specs but eco versions, called N14 Eco-spec.
For example, the N14 Top-spec will cost around 150k Eu, so in our opinion, the N14 Eco-spec can be built for 70-80k, maybe even 60k with even cheaper parts.
Eco-spec will have much cheaper EJ205 engines with stock turbos, nearly stock wiring, and aftermarket ECU. A simple chassis, simple brakes, etc, but I think it will perform very similar to the MV Sport i20s, some simple N5s, etc, just with less power and lower cost.