I knew that the "WRX" grew out of Subaru's attempt to make and to race an F1 car. The cars were never competitive--in fact, Subaru became kind of a laughing stock--because the flat-four was simply too heavy. They were spotting the competition 300-400 lbs. And there was simply no way to lighten the car. I don't know how much of that was just hearsay, and how much was fact, but clearly that engine was the genesis for the WRC cars.It's real! Subaru WRC program was basically F1 for gravel.
Somehow I always assumed that the JDM STI was a lot like the WRC cars. Sort of an affordable rally racer, much like the newest Corvettes are genuine super cars for less than a fourth of what super cars cost in the rest of the world.