Travis Pastrana's family huckster, a 1983 Subaru built to tear up gymkhana tracks.
Travis Pastrana revealed his "family huckster" 1983 Subaru GL wagon earlier this year, but kept its specs under wraps; it will appear at the 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed and in a gymkhana video later this year.
According to a press release from gymkhana producer Hoonigan, the wagon, designed with the help of Subaru Motorsports USA, borrows aerodynamic tricks from the Subaru WRX STI Air Slayer, the one-off STI Pastrana drove at Gymkhana 2020 It borrows a few of them. Pastrana, who was filling in for series creator Ken Block in the video, also set a record at the Mount Washington Hill Climb in 2021 with his Air Slayer.
Like the Air Slayer, the Family Huckster features an active rear wing and movable aeroflaps front and rear. In addition, a carbon fiber roof rack is designed to direct air to the rear-mounted radiator via NACA ducts in the roof; given the GL's boxy form, these devices were definitely necessary.
"The '83 wagon flies just as you'd imagine ...... It's like a brick," Pastrana said in a statement. 'It made the jumps more sketchy, but also more interesting and less predictable.' The Family Huckster is without a doubt my favorite car to drive"
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Designed to emulate the 1983 Subaru GL, the Family Huckster features a custom tubular spaceframe chassis with carbon fiber bodywork, KMC's eight-spoke wheels inspired by the iconic all-wheel drive Subaru of the 1980s One-off wheels were fitted (some front-wheel-drive Subaru cars were still available at the time).
Like the Air Slayer, it was powered by an 862-horsepower boxer four-cylinder engine mated to a six-speed sequential gearbox and all-wheel drive. According to Hunnigan, the wagon will have some changes to the differential based on information from Pastrana's Mount Washington record run.
The interior is intended to replicate the appearance of the stock GL wagon. The original dashboard was scanned and recreated in blue carbon fiber, the same color as the original. The dashboard also features an original 1983 GL radio and a 12-inch digital instrument cluster with a display programmed to resemble a 1980s Subaru digital cluster.
The family huckster will appear at the 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed, scheduled for June 23-26, and will make its gymkhana debut a short time thereafter. Hunnigan, however, has not spoken about a release date for the next video.
For more information on the Goodwood Festival of Speed, visit the dedicated hub.