| coyote |
12-09-2011 12:29 AM |
The real FRS story
It probably would have been easier to not a have "History of FRS" page than work out how to create one without mentioning Subaru, but Scion have one here ( http://www.frs-scion.com/story).
Here's an insight to where the page started.
Quote:
The FR-S Story
The Scion FR-S is a performance driving machine, developed from the accumulated engineering knowledge and continuous research throughout Subaru’s extensive history of rallying. Toyota also competed in arenas from World Rally Championship to Formula 1, and although we were kicked out of rally for cheating and failed miserably at F1, we still cling to memories of cars like the MR2, Supra and now the outrageously overpriced LFA and our rebadged version of Subaru's BRZ, the Scion FR-S.
The FR-S was built off the back of Legacy and Impreza models, but we'd like you to think it has something to do with three Toyota models, the Sports 800, 2000GT and the Corolla GT-S. The Sports 800 has absolutely nothing to do with the FR-S, but we'll keep banging about it because it's the only way we can think of to claim ownership of Subaru's wonderful boxer engine architecture. The flat architecture of the boxer engine, allows it to be mounted low, dropping the center of gravity down, resulting in sporty handling characteristics. For this reason, we paid Subaru to adopt this distinctive combination to a car we knew we couldn't build ourselves.
The 2000GT was perhaps the first Toyota model to gain recognition within the sports car world, setting 13 international speed records. When it first debuted, one car magazine described the 2000GT as, "A fantastic engineering masterpiece on wheels… a magnificent manifestation of complete automotive ingenuity." Even by today’s standards, we claim the 2000GT’s styling is sophisticated and modern. Let's face it, it's still better than a Camry. The exterior design of the FR-S is heavily influenced by the 2000GT’s profile, making it extremely low to the ground with a long, sleek hood. This bit we can actually legitimately make claim to, so please go back and reread this at least three times.
Although you're likely to work out the S800 and the 2000GT play no significant role in the roots of the FR-S, the car that you might be stupid enough to believe is the most relevant to the Scion sport coupe is the Corolla GT-S, known by its fanbois and avid kiddie cartoon watchers as the AE86 or “Hachi-Roku,” which means 8-6 in Japanese. The 5th generation Corolla GT-S model, which we made the brilliant decision to build only in model years 1985-1987, gets its “AE86” name from the car’s unique chassis code given by Toyota (yes, we did used to be able to handle engineering ourselves). It was a moderately priced sports car with a front-engine in a rear-wheel drive configuration. The AE86 didn’t have what you'd call brute horsepower, but instead a reasonable combination of lightweight design and meager power, but was bloody good for a Corolla, which was almost as boring then as it is now. It made its way into drift scene, but did also participate in some real motorsport (the kind with stopwatches, rather than style judges)…but is mostly famous for the cartoons and illegal activities performed on public mountain roads.
Although the FR-S will arrive three bloody decades later and doesn’t share a single piece of hardware, we will still try to tell you the spirit and the heritage of the AE86 bleeds into every ounce of the car. The goal is to create the impression that we engineered an authentic rear-wheel drive sports car with compelling style, exceptionally balanced performance and handling, flexible utility and surprising MPG. The FR-S is expected to achieve all of that in a package that will no doubt bring the “Sport” back to the "Car."
The Scion FR-S; built by Subaru, not by Toyota.
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