This Subaru Impreza S6 WRC is chassis #11, which competed in three rounds of the 2000 World Rally Championship; the Tour de Corse in September, Rallye Sanremo in October, and the Network Q Rally of Great Britain in November – campaigned by the pairing of Richard Burns and Robert Reid in all three events.

While Richard Burns’ hopes of winning the WRC title in 2000 had been dashed after a huge crash during Rally Finland in August, Rally GB was destined to remind the world of his prodigious talent. Rocketing up the ranking from the back of the pack; Burns was already leading by the end of the second leg, and would round off his victory at the final stage ending in Margam Country Park near Port Talbot.

This was Burns’ ninth WRC career win, and his third of that year – having also taken the top spot in Portugal and Argentina. The victory also marked a hat-trick of back-to-back Rally GB wins for Burns, winning in 1998 with Mitsubishi and 1999 with Subaru.

Earlier that year, chassis #11 had already been 'pre-sold' to its next owner. While this was not uncommon, typically a Works rally car would be taken back to base following a Championship round, to be stripped of any proprietary modifications or enhancements, and delivered to its next owner in a ‘sanitised’ state.

This is where chassis #11 stands apart from other rally cars of its kind. The individual who had arranged to purchase the car took the ‘end of the season’ acquisition terms in their most literal sense, scooping up the Impreza directly from Margam Country Park - before it could be taken back by Prodrive to be altered or have its WRC ‘battle scars’ repaired.

As such, this Subaru Impreza S6 is widely considered to be the most original ex-Works WRC car in existence. Not only does it retain its original as-raced bodywork - complete with broken wing mirror, dented front wing, and various other ‘bumps and bruises’ - but it has never been repainted or cosmetically restored in any way.

It was taken away from the finish line with its FIA tags still in place, with Reid’s pace notes as used on the final day, Nokia mobile phone, energy bars in the door pockets, identification documents, and most importantly its original FIA Gold Log Book. All the items have remained with the car ever since.

Rather than being refurbished to run again with a privateer team, the car was kept as an irreplaceable artefact to Burns and Reid’s Rally GB win. The seats and seat belts are those they sat in and strapped into, the steering wheel is the one used by Burns to secure victory, and even the original communication headsets are still present.

Its rally-winning 300bhp 2.0-litre flat-four ‘boxer’ engine and six-speed sequential transmission remain in place, as does Prodrive’s secret scruitineering page software, which enabled the display to show 1,000rpm lower revs than actual in order to pass stringent noise tests of the time. The electronic FIA switches fitted to the boot and bonnet to alert the governing body to any tampering are still there, having never been removed after the final stage.

The car was purchased by its last owner in 2018, who had it recommissioned taking care to preserve its patina and originality. At this point, the car remained on its original gravel wheels and tyres from 2000 Rally GB, so these were removed to preserve them, and the car was then lowered to ‘bumpy tarmac’ setting – as used in the Tour de Corse and Rallye Sanremo.

This Subaru Impreza S6 WRC, the 2000 Rally GB winner in the hands of Richard Burns, and quite possibly the most original WRC car in the world has recently been sold by Collecting Cars for just over £600k.

The most original WRC car in the world