Inside the Subaru Baja “XTi” That Took On the 2026 Colorado Adventure Rally
A 2006 Subaru Baja. A tuned WRX STI Type RA engine. A six-speed manual swap. A group of high school automotive students helping bring the build together. And roughly 600 miles of Colorado roads and graded dirt waiting at the other end.
That was the setup for one of the more interesting Subaru builds we’ve seen this year.
In July 2026, Andy Lilienthal and Mercedes Lilienthal of Crankshaft Culture took a modified Subaru Baja “XTi” to the inaugural Colorado Adventure Rally, a three-day time-speed-distance road rally organized by the SCCA Colorado Region.
Andy drove. Mercedes navigated. The Baja was new to them. And by the end of the event, they had finished 4th out of 15 teams in the Seat Of Pants (SOP) class, narrowly missing the podium in an extremely tight competition.
RokBlokz was fortunate enough to play a small part in the project by supplying mud flaps for the Baja, but this story is much bigger than that.
It’s about an unusual Subaru, a student-supported build, a demanding rally, and a team that came incredibly close to putting the whole thing on the podium.
How the Subaru Baja “XTi” Project Came Together
The Baja was one of two Subaru builds created for a much larger 2026 rally and overland project involving Crankshaft Culture, Rally Innovations, and ZenSpeed, a student automotive organization at Valencia High School in California.
The second vehicle was a modified 2026 Subaru Forester Wilderness built for the Alcan 5000 Rally, but the Subaru Baja had a different mission.
It was being built specifically for the new Colorado Adventure Rally.
The idea took shape after Andy and Mercedes decided to compete in the inaugural event and began discussing possible vehicles with John Peñano of Rally Innovations. A Subaru Baja Turbo was suggested as the platform, and the vehicle they ultimately used already had one very important modification: an STI-derived engine and six-speed manual transmission.
The “XTi” name was a fitting way to describe what the project had become, combining the Baja XT with its STI-derived drivetrain.
The vehicle was assembled at Rally Innovations in Anaheim, California, with ZenSpeed students doing much of the hands-on work under the guidance of the Rally Innovations team.
That made the project unusual from the beginning.
This wasn’t simply a professional shop assembling a finished parts list behind closed doors. Students were directly involved in building and modifying a vehicle that would later be put into real-world rally competition.
Rally Innovations owners John and Leicel Peñano, along with members of their family, ZenSpeed leadership, interns, and project manager Simon Angier, all played roles in bringing the two builds together.
For the Baja, the goal was straightforward: take an already unusual Subaru platform and turn it into something capable of tackling three days and roughly 600 miles of Colorado road rallying.
Building an STI-Powered Subaru Baja for Colorado
Calling this a modified Subaru Baja almost undersells it.
At the center of the build is a tuned WRX STI Type RA engine paired with a six-speed manual transmission, producing around 300 horsepower.
That alone completely changes the personality of the Baja.
But the rest of the vehicle also received upgrades designed around the mix of paved mountain roads, graded dirt, elevation, and long-distance driving expected during the Colorado Adventure Rally.
Powertrain
The Baja’s STI-derived engine and six-speed transmission gave Andy and Mercedes considerably more performance than a stock Baja would offer. In a TSD rally, that extra power could help the team quickly return to a target speed after turns, stops, traffic, and other interruptions.
Suspension
The Baja was fitted with a RalliTEK suspension setup providing approximately two inches of lift, giving it a setup better suited to the mixture of pavement and graded dirt included in the rally.
This wasn’t an off-road rock-crawling event, but approximately 100 miles of the 600-mile route were run on maintained dirt roads. Additional clearance and suspension capability still made sense for a car expected to cover that kind of mixed terrain.
Wheels and Tires
The build used Black Rhino Voll wheels measuring 15x7 with a +15 offset, paired with 215/75R15 Falken Wildpeak A/T Trail tires.
The tires were roughly an inch taller than the Baja’s stock tires, adding some additional ground clearance while providing an all-terrain setup suited to both paved and dirt-road use.
Brakes
R1 Concepts Performance Series rotors and pads were added to the build.
With three days of mountain driving, repeated speed changes, elevation transitions, and long road sections, dependable braking was an important part of preparing the Baja for Colorado.
Lighting
Lighting came from Baja Designs, including XL80s and Squadron 2.0 lights.
Rally Innovations also developed a prototype Ultimate Light Bar for the Baja.
Protection
Skid plates and other protective upgrades were part of the build, and RokBlokz supplied a set of Subaru Baja mud flaps for the project.
With around 100 miles of dirt and gravel included in the route, the flaps were added to help keep gravel and debris thrown by the tires under control.
Our role in the project was a small one, but we were happy to support a genuinely cool Subaru build and see our mud flaps become part of the finished car.
Built by the Next Generation of Automotive Enthusiasts
The student involvement is one of the things that makes this Baja project stand out.
ZenSpeed is a student automotive organization focused on helping young enthusiasts gain experience with vehicle modification, automotive culture, and the broader automotive industry.
For the 2026 rally builds, those students weren’t just watching from the sidelines.
Crankshaft Culture described ZenSpeed as primarily doing the builds, with Rally Innovations providing professional guidance throughout the process. Some of the students also intern with Rally Innovations, giving them hands-on exposure to both vehicle projects and the workings of an automotive business.
Their involvement went beyond simply installing finished parts. Students contributed to different aspects of the project, including fabrication, installation, and even CAD work for custom components.
That meant students were helping assemble vehicles that weren’t destined for a static display.
The Baja had to leave Anaheim, travel more than 1,000 miles to Colorado, and then immediately enter three days of rally competition.
There’s a big difference between assembling a vehicle and building one that has to perform after hundreds of miles on the road.
The Subaru Baja did both.
What Is the Colorado Adventure Rally?
The 2026 Colorado Adventure Rally was a three-day road rally organized by the SCCA Colorado Region and held July 16–19, 2026.
The inaugural event covered approximately 600 miles through the Colorado Rockies, with around 100 miles on well-maintained graded dirt roads.
It was not an off-road race.
All roads were driven at legal speeds, and any street-legal car, SUV, or pickup could participate.
The event began in Westminster, Colorado, before taking competitors through:
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Westminster to Steamboat Springs
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Steamboat Springs to Glenwood Springs
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Glenwood Springs to Idaho Springs via Leadville and the Top of the Rockies Scenic Roadway
The rally also crossed the Continental Divide multiple times and reached elevations approaching 12,000 feet.
A total of 46 teams started the event, ranging from adventure-built Subarus and Toyotas to sports cars and even older classics.
The vehicle mattered.
But precision mattered more.
How Does a Time-Speed-Distance Rally Work?
A time-speed-distance rally, or TSD rally, is very different from a traditional race.
The goal is not to reach the finish line first.
Instead, teams follow detailed route instructions while trying to arrive at hidden checkpoints at exactly the correct time.
During the Colorado Adventure Rally, competitors received one point for every second they arrived early or late.
The lower the score, the better.
A perfect score at a checkpoint is: 0.0
That means the team arrived exactly when the rallymaster expected them to.
This makes consistency incredibly important.
The challenge is maintaining the correct average speed over each section while navigating the route, accounting for delays, and staying accurate enough to hit hidden checkpoints as close to perfect as possible.
What Is the Seat Of Pants (SOP) Class?
Andy and Mercedes competed in the SOP, or Seat Of Pants, class.
That class intentionally limits the technology competitors can use.
SOP teams primarily rely on the vehicle’s speedometer to judge whether they are running on time. GPS odometer apps can be used for distance, but competitors cannot perform mileage-based timing calculations.
Calculators are prohibited.
Devices or apps displaying average speed over a distance are also prohibited.
In other words, the navigator isn’t sitting beside the driver with a full rally computer constantly calculating the perfect pace.
The team has to rely much more heavily on experience, judgment, route-following, and consistency.
That context makes Andy and Mercedes’ results much more interesting.
From Anaheim to the Colorado Starting Line
Once the Subaru Baja was completed, Andy and Mercedes traveled to Rally Innovations in Anaheim to see the finished vehicle in person and take delivery.
Then they drove it more than 1,000 miles from California to Colorado before the rally even began.
That was essentially the Baja’s first major test.
By the time they reached the start, they had already spent enough time with the car to get a feel for how it drove, but it was still a new-to-them rally vehicle entering a brand-new event.
Then the stopwatch started.
Day 1: Fighting for the SOP Lead
The Baja made a strong first impression.
According to Andy and Mercedes, it was comfortable, quick, and well suited to the rally format. Its ability to hold exact speeds and quickly accelerate back to a target pace became particularly useful during the TSD sections.
And the results showed it.
They led the SOP class for much of Day 1.
Then things changed.
A wildfire forced a rally reroute, and during the final TSD leg of the day, Andy and Mercedes slipped from the lead to 4th place out of 15 SOP teams.
That’s one of the defining characteristics of TSD rallying.
You don’t need a crash or major mechanical failure for the standings to change quickly.
A few seconds here and there can completely reshape the leaderboard.
Days 2 and 3: Mechanical Trouble and a Comeback
Day 2 brought another challenge.
The Baja developed a mechanical issue involving loose hardware and missing fasteners.
Rather than ending their rally, Andy and Mercedes worked through the problem with help from other competitors.
That rally-community element comes up repeatedly in their recap.
Other teams helped get the Baja back on course, and Mercedes then had to determine the correct time allowance to account for the delay.
The result?
At one checkpoint, they finished just 2.3 seconds off the target time.
Immediately afterward, they scored a perfect 0.0.
That’s a pretty good way to recover from a roadside mechanical problem.
They went on to finish 2nd in the SOP class for Day 2, keeping themselves in contention entering the final stages of the rally.
Crossing the Colorado Rockies
The rally route itself was part of the challenge.
Over three days, competitors traveled through some of Colorado’s most recognizable mountain terrain, crossing the Continental Divide multiple times.
The route included:
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Berthoud Pass
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Tennessee Pass
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Fremont Pass
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Loveland Pass
The event reached a reported high elevation of approximately 11,990 feet.
For a vehicle that had just been completed, driven more than 1,000 miles from California, and then entered into competition, that made the rally a serious real-world test.
The Baja wasn’t simply being judged on how it looked or what parts were installed.
It had to work.
Fourth Place in an Extremely Tight Finish
By the end of the rally, Andy and Mercedes had finished 4th out of 15 teams in the SOP class, narrowly missing the podium.
The competition stayed extremely tight throughout the event. At one point, only 0.6 seconds separated second through fourth place, and by the finish, just 17.5 seconds separated the top four teams.
Andy and Mercedes also recorded five perfect 0.0 scores during the rally. After leading their class for much of the event, they described the result as one of their best performances.
It was an impressive finish for the team, especially considering they had only recently taken delivery of the completed Baja.
How Did the Subaru Baja Perform?
One of the most interesting parts of this project is that the Baja wasn’t just built for attention.
Andy and Mercedes actually had to live with it on a long-distance road trip and then rely on it in competition.
Their first impressions after Day 1 were straightforward:
Fast. Comfortable. Powerful.
More importantly, they said the Baja was particularly well suited to the kind of precision driving required by the Colorado Adventure Rally.
The STI-powered drivetrain gave Andy enough acceleration to quickly reach the required speeds after interruptions, while the vehicle could also settle into and maintain exact speeds through competitive sections.
That matters in a TSD rally.
For this kind of rally, usable performance and precise speed control mattered more than a horsepower number alone.
The Baja also drew plenty of attention along the route.
A turbocharged, STI-swapped Subaru Baja with rally lights, all-terrain tires, a lift, custom livery, and a six-speed manual tends to do that.
More Than Just a Rally Build
There are plenty of heavily modified cars that never get used for much beyond shows, social media, and weekend drives.
This Baja had a different introduction.
ZenSpeed students helped build it at Rally Innovations.
Andy and Mercedes picked it up.
They drove it more than 1,000 miles to Colorado.
Then they entered it into a three-day, 600-mile rally and finished fourth in one of the event’s most competitive classes.
And the trip didn't end at the finish line. Andy and Mercedes drove the Baja back to Anaheim afterward, putting the newly completed build through more than 2,000 miles of real-world driving during the overall trip.
Along the way, the Baja encountered high elevations, dirt and gravel, mountain roads, rain, and temperatures reportedly reaching 108°F.
It also had to deal with a wildfire reroute, mechanical trouble, and an extremely tight timing battle during the rally itself.
That’s a pretty successful first test.
It also says something about the value of projects like this.
Students got hands-on experience working on a real vehicle with experienced automotive professionals.
Aftermarket companies had the opportunity to support a build that was actually going to be used.
And Andy and Mercedes got to take an unusual Subaru platform and prove that it could be much more than a novelty. Read more about their experience.
A Subaru Baja Built to Be Used
The Subaru Baja has always occupied a strange corner of the Subaru world.
It isn’t quite a car.
It isn’t quite a traditional truck.
And more than two decades after it was introduced, enthusiasts are still finding new ways to build them.
This particular Baja may be one of the better examples of what can happen when an unusual platform is built with a clear purpose.
Then Andy and Mercedes went out and used it exactly as intended.
They narrowly missed the podium, recorded five perfect 0.0 scores, and finished just 17.5 seconds behind the top of an extremely competitive SOP field.
Not bad for the first rally in a new-to-them, student-built Subaru Baja.
We were proud to have RokBlokz mud flaps included in the Baja build, and even more excited to see the car put to the test in a rally like this.
Congratulations to everyone involved in bringing this one-of-a-kind Subaru Baja from the shop floor to the Colorado Rockies.
Special thanks and credits: Rally Innovations and Crankshaft Culture, with individual photographer credit applied where identified in the supplied images.
Special thanks to Crankshaft Culture, Rally Innovations, ZenSpeed HS Club, and Monticola Motorsport for allowing RokBlokz to share the story and photography from the project.
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