Step inside the workshop building the fastest Subarus in East Africa

As you can probably tell from the images, almost all of those cars are Subaru Imprezas, with a couple of Mitsubishi Evos sprinkled in to keep that old rivalry going strong.

Photography: Greg Potts

“Subarus and Kenya go way back,” says Karan as we dig into the origins of the obsession. “Rallying is how Subaru built such a following here. Back in the day it was always Impreza vs Evo, and there’s still so much love for those cars. We were kids in the 1990s and early 2000s when the competition between the two was so strong.”

Perhaps it’s no surprise to learn that Karan’s first car was a first generation GC8 Impreza. “When I finished high school, I went to college in India to study engineering. Then when I came back here, the first car I bought was a Subaru.

“The business started back in 2016 when my brother and I began racing. We didn’t have a workshop, so we used to build our cars in the backyard. We branded the cars Rupal Racing and that’s how people got to know the name, so when we opened our own shop, it was the obvious choice.

“I built my first engine in 2017. It was a basic forged engine, nothing too crazy, but it had forged conrods, forged pistons, aftermarket bearings and that sort of thing. That was for my own car.”

And yes, it certainly sounds like the scene has come a long way since the Rupal brothers first went into business. “Ten years ago, most cars on the scene were stock. You might have had a bolt-on turbo or a new intercooler, but nothing too serious. Now things are crazy. Everybody wants big power.

“Subarus always used to dominate, but then bigger and better cars started being imported. We have this rule in Kenya where you can’t import any car that’s more than seven years old. So, we started seeing six cylinder and eight cylinder engines. Then someone came along with a Nissan GT-R making 1,500bhp.

“That guy went and set a nine second time on the draggy about three years ago, and since then everyone has felt the pressure.” Karan and Simar are still working on their response.

“The most powerful car we’ve built is actually my car,” says Karan proudly. “It’s another GC8 Impreza with a fully built EJ25.” That’s a 2.5-litre flat four boxer engine for those that don’t speak Subaru. “We rebuild the engines in-house and bore the 2.0-litre out to 2.5. Actually, we do just about everything in-house, from bodywork to interiors to turbocharging and exhaust fabrication. For GC8s we use the wiring and the six-speed manual gearbox from a second generation GDB. The original five-speed gearboxes break very easily.

“Maximum boost is around 45psi, and at that point my car will be making 900bhp using E85 fuel. I’ve owned it now for around seven years, but we’ve just converted it into a coupe. The doors and all of the rear panels are custom and made out of fibreglass, the windows are plastic and the interior is fully stripped. It weighs around 1,200kg and we’re about to mount a new turbo in place of one of the headlights because it’s too big to fit under the bonnet.

“If you’re talking Subarus, there’s not really anything close to this car in Kenya. No Impreza has reached my quarter mile time yet, but there are faster cars like that GT-R and a nine second BMW M340i.

"So far, I’ve only done a 10.5 second run, but that was on useless tyres on a dusty road. I’ll definitely go under 10 seconds with a good setup. For me, this is my perfect drag racing car.”

It’s not the only shop car owned by the Rupals, though. Simar’s wingless, widebody Blobeye sits covered with a thin layer of dust after its off-season rest, and Karan is currently in the process of turning another GC8 into a custom two-door estate with yet another turbocharged 2.5-litre engine. 

“I’m lacking some interior parts, an intercooler and a rear window, which is proving to be a bit of a nightmare,” he sighs.

“Last year we were very busy and I couldn’t make time for this project, but I want to finish it this year. It’s been sitting here for some time now and I really need it moving. I want to use it on weekends. I don’t currently have a working Subaru that I can drive on the road.”

While the brothers also do general maintenance on all makes and models – plus a number of CVT rebuilds on modern Subarus – it’s still mostly first and second-gen Imprezas coming through the doors at Rupal Racing. Although is that a third-gen hatch hiding in the corner?

“The only downside to motorsport in Kenya right now is the cars are getting more modern and much faster, but we don’t have any circuits or properly prepped drag strips,” says Karan.

“We can get permits to close public roads for a couple of days, but it’s not perfect. One day if someone builds us a nice strip or a new circuit, then things will go wild. Right now, we have fast cars all around, but we don’t have anywhere to let them go properly. It needs someone to wake up one day and think ‘I’m ready to invest’.”