The new-for-2022 Subaru WRX (VB chassis code) has grown on me a lot since it came out. And in that time, tuners have been tinkering with it proving the new FA24 engine platform has extreme power potential. One outfit based outside Pittsburg, TPG Tuning, has run a blistering 10.001-second quarter mile with a VB WRX making 658 horsepower—and that’s not even the car’s final form. Following more tuning and mods, the car now puts down 761 hp to the wheels. I can’t wait to see how quickly it can get down the 1320 now.
AMS Performance, another high-end turbo tuning house, posted this video of an orange current-gen WRX scooting down the quarter-mile which ended up on my feed and put the car on my radar. I reached out to them and one of their guys told me that the vehicle runs some of their parts, but is being built and tuned by TPG.
TPG was quick to answer my email and had a well-timed infodump on Facebook sharing what’s been done to the car. Here’s the car’s career rundown so far.
In May of 2023, it ran an 11.2 quarter-mile at 125 mph with a stock engine, transmission, and turbo. With a 100 shot of nitrous, the car did a 10.74 at 133 mph. Later in the year, TPG swapped in an STI transmission and an ETS G30-770 turbo and the car did a 10.48 quarter mile.
The 10.001-second run (at 141 mph) was logged just last month, running an IAG engine block—must be a prototype because I haven’t seen that in IAG’s catalog yet. As you can see there’s a lot of sidewall on those tires. They’re Mickey Thompson slicks, sized 26×8.5×15. Tall tires like that are good for drag racing—being able to get some wrinkle in those sidewalls helps find traction and can protect the drivetrain in a launch. It’s wild how much the thing rocks with gear changes!
Nathan Silveri, who co-owns TPG Tuning with Jason Slater, has been behind the wheel for all the record-chasing drag runs.
As of October 1, the TPG’s claiming a dyno record at 761 horsepower and 622 lb-ft of torque with an even bigger ETS G35-1050 turbocharger. Granted, the price of that custom block and turbo kit alone would be almost enough to get you another WRX (an older one, but still). But that’s a pretty mean machine getting cooked up in Pennsylvania.
Slater sent me a video of a dyno pull, and the car sounds bananas:
Slater and I talked a bit and he told me they’re hoping to get the car back on the track in the next week or two. Sounds like finding a transmission strong enough to hold the power has been the biggest challenge for the VB Subaru at this power level, but TPG is optimistic they’ll “have a solution in the coming weeks.”
Mitsubishi 4G-powered cars, American V8s, high-strung rotaries, and even a few particularly hot Hondas have been known to do 10-second quarter-miles with heavy modification and talented drivers but that doesn’t diminish the accomplishment here. A 10-second pass in a modded street car is impressive no matter what motor or era you’re talking about, and seeing this get done on the new FA24 platform is really exciting.
Slater also told me that the shop specializes in many platforms, and has set records for Subaru, Mitsubishi, and BMW but has also done service and builds on Audis, Volkswagens, Porsches, Lamborghinis, Chevrolets, Fords, and more.
I’m stoked to see if these guys can get this new-gen WRX into the 9s!
Is somebody else building an incredible car we need to know about? Email the author at andrew.collins@thedrive.com