Rally ace Toshi Arai: McRae was an amazing person

Toshihiro Arai and Subaru are like Keith Richards and a guitar. One never goes without the other. Arai has been behind the wheel of a Subaru rally car since the late nineties and played a part in every chapter of the company’s long history in rally. Needless to say, we needed to hear more!

When I first started out in rally, I tested both the Subaru and the Mitsubishi. Although the Subaru was a more complex and challenging car and, at the time, maybe not as fast as the Mitsubishi, I immediately felt right at home with it. Compared to the Mitsubishi’s inline four cylinder the Subaru’s horizontal boxer lay-out was more complex and it took some time to get used to but I felt this company had ambition and was going places.

You already mentioned Subaru’s signature boxer engine, what made this lay-out so special?

It gives a Subaru it’s signature characteristic. Did you know that in the second world war the Subaru company constructed and developed the infamous Zero fighter plane? That plane already had a flat boxer engine. So, they knew a thing or two about boxer engines for a very long time.

You’ve mentioned it already. The 1998 spec Impreza WRC was an incredible car. Its coupe shape turned it into a very glamorous car. It was also the inspiration for the legendary 22B. I definitely feel it’s one of the best cars they ever made!

From being part of a factory team to running your own. How big was the contrast between driver and driver/owner?

Oh, it’s so hard. When I was just driving I had it very easy. If I crashed, it was unfortunate, but it wasn’t really my problem. Now, I’m responsible for every bolt or move done by the team. Everything is my responsibility. If I crash, it comes out of my own pocket. If I make a deal with the wrong oil company and the engine breaks, that my fault as well [laughs].

The first time I used Motul oil was when I was running the Subaru Impreza GC8 in ’98 or ’99. It was a great car, but Subaru had given it such a boost in power that it caused me a lot of problems with the engine and transmission. Then at one point I used Motul and suddenly the car ran reliably for the rest of the season. Since that point I never really looked back.

[Laughs] Oh, I have so many. Colin (McRae) was an amazing driver and an amazing person. He was very easy going but when he got into a car he just went for it. Richard was quite the opposite. He was definitely not the easiest person to work with. I don’t mean that in a bad way. He was always very precise and very nervous during rallies. In my later seasons with Subaru I had the pleasure of working with both Petter and Tommi. It was great to see them getting along so well and I believe it really was because of Tommi’s help, who was a specialist in setting up the car, that Petter became world champion.