With the kind of power this modified Evo 6 possesses, a bit of wheelspin is never far away, especially when camber changes and a peaky powerband are involved. While this car is no slouch by any means, credit must be paid to the driver who’s constantly walking the tightrope between alternating wet and dry sections. A sharp mind is paramount in changing conditions like these and it takes a special mixture of brains and balls to keep the car off of the guardrails.

Laubscher’s Evo struggles to put the power down in the torrential rain.

The Evo’s Swiss driver, Rene Laubscher, gets to grips with the lightning-switch power delivery quite quickly, but what keeps him sweating are the rubbery deposits in braking zones and around turn-in points. With every braking zones requiring a bit of improvisation and quick thinking to get the most of, Laubscher demonstrates a degree of faith in several corners where the car is reluctant to rotate into the corner and quickly runs off-line, perilously close to dropping an outside tire on the grass which, when wet, offers as much grip as snow.

With such a narrow public road, there is little room to take alternative lines as one might on a wet circuit, so the driver is forced to contend with sections which offer virtually no grip on entry and exit. His four wheel-drive traction is as much a help as it’s a hindrance here since the torque sent to the front axle leads to power understeer which in turn becomes snap oversteer. With wet patches galore and a small nuclear powerplant driving this Mitsubishi, finishing this hillclimb in one piece requires a special sort of crazy.