The latest video in the Gymkhana stunt series takes a 1978 Subaru BRAT to Australia. The heavily modified BRAT — or should we say Brumby, going by its Aussie name — is piloted by rally driver Travis Pastrana and is subjected to the regular Hoonigan video buffet of death defying stunts. It’s definitely a spectacle, and probably the most on screen action a ’78 BRAT has seen since Kidd Video.
The car has been christened the Subaru BRAT 9500 Turbo. It resembles a first-gen BRAT on the outside, but its a 670-horsepower EJ20 that makes the tires smoke. Built by Vermont SportsCar, it makes 680 lb-ft of torque and revs to 9500 rpm, hence its name, and has a nifty expanding wing.
As with other Gymkhana videos, the stunt smorgasbord is peppered with local flavor. We see the BRAT catch big air over an Australian road train, long semi trucks that transport goods across the Outback (the land mass, not the wagon). We also see cameos of the lads from Mighty Car Mods, the Mad Max Interceptor, and is that Crocodile Dundee in the first-gen Subaru Outback?
It’s all very entertaining, and a natural progression from the hijinks involving the 1983 Subaru GL Wagon. They even make good use of the BRAT’s chicken tax jump seats. However, the video does raise the question of where they will go from here. A Subaru 360, perhaps?
