McRae defends his King of Millen’s Mountain title at the Leadfoot Festival

| Photographer Credit: Geoff Ridder

Scottish rally sensation Alister McRae successfully defended his King of Millen’s Mountain title at the Leadfoot Festival in Hahei today, clocking a blistering time of 49.15secs in his Vantage Subaru.

He bettered his 2017 time of 49.43secs and despite oil on the track and having to bed in some new slicks late today, McRae’s ultimate talent prevailed.

The Vantage Subaru did it again. It’s on auto-pilot I don’t do anything,” he jokes.

McRae had a heart-in-mouth moment up the top of the 1.6km hill climb when he was hurtling through the forest and went for fourth gear only to have it jump back out.

“I wasn’t the most gentle, I just smashed it back in,” he says.

The Coromandel Peninsula event attracted record crowds who basked in sunshine the first day and occasionally sheltered under umbrellas today. A slightly damp track made for perfect conditions for Subaru’s All-Wheel Drive cars.

McRae was on the pace right from his first run on Saturday. He clocked the quickest time out of the 135 drivers on his very first run yesterday and had already broken into the 49sec bracket by his last run on Saturday.

The Vantage Subaru might have less horsepower than last year’s 800hp-plus, with the finely-tuned engine putting out about 770hp over the weekend but the hard-working team had succeeded in making the driveability better, McRae says.

The consummate professional, he looked smooth and swift both days, powering the historically-special ex-Possum Bourne WRX STi up the hill.

“The way the car is, if you get sideways with it, it will just scrub the speed off,” McRae explains.

Subaru Brand Ambassador Ben Hunt was more than happy to dial it up in his 2015 Subaru WRX STi. He campaigns it in the New Zealand Rally Championship and kept it in gravel-spec, including the rally tyres, which gave him some extra grip advantage today on the at-times damp road.

“It was exciting running the STi in full rally trim, so we can showcase the more sideways style of an All-Wheel Drive rally car. It was fun to put on a show for the rally fans and all the other car enthusiasts,” Hunt says.

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