Subaru WRX Project Midnight Mount Washington Record 2026: Time, Specs and How It Compares to Pastrana

© Subaru

16.688 seconds — that's how much Scott Speed cut off the outright Mount Washington record. The Subaru WRX: Project Midnight ran 5:11.982, beating Travis Pastrana's 5:28.67 from 2021 by roughly 5.1%. But the comparison comes with an important caveat: the old mark was set on a mixed-surface course, while by 2026 the road is fully paved.

That didn't make the attempt easy. Thick fog forced organizers to shorten Sunday's first run, leaving the afternoon climb as the only shot at a full run. Speed said it was his only complete run of the entire weekend, and the result came in faster than the team expected.

Project Midnight was built specifically for fast tarmac. The 2.0-liter turbocharged flat-four makes 670 hp and around 922 Nm, revving to 9,500 rpm, while the car weighs less than 1,135 kg. Yokohama prepared special tires for the record attempt, and Speed chose ADVAN A005 slicks built on a compound derived from the brand's road-racing rubber.

In July, another 670-hp Subaru Motorsports USA car — the Brataroo — attacked the Goodwood hillclimb, but leaned heavily on flashy slides and active aerodynamics. Project Midnight follows a different logic: minimal compromise in pursuit of pure speed on asphalt.

According to Subaru, the team has now set the outright Climb to the Clouds record in all five of its most recent appearances. That makes 5:11.982 better understood as a new benchmark for the modern, fully paved Mount Washington configuration — not proof that the current WRX project is itself 16.7 seconds faster than the 2021 Airslayer STI.