Heaven is a place where a rally is won overall by a thoroughly ridiculous Mitsubishi Mirage. Marvel at these scenes from Rally America’s Rally In The 100 Acre Wood, where a monster Mirage R5 and a relatively normal looking Toyota RAV4 blast down the same stage roads. Everything is better as a rally car: fact.
Yes, that overall winner is based on the same pre-facelift little Mirage that gets all the grief from insufferable car snobs—except in R5 form, it gets the wide fender flares, big engine and general craziness it deserves. The RAV4 is closer to stock, but proves that even vehicles aimed squarely at taking the kids to preschool can look cool with a roll cage, meaty tires and a racing livery.
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I now have the insatiable urge to build an off-road Porsche 944 even worse than ever. Seeing one run alongside a Honda CR-Z and a vintage Ford Escort Mk2 with a 3.7-liter V6 out of a Ford Mustang doesn’t help at all.
Here’s a stage onboard from the Escort driven by Seamus Burke and co-driver Martin Brady, just for fun. Enjoy in all its very Irish glory:
[H/T a tree]