Friday 2nd February 2018

The WRC legends: Pic of the Week

22B and TME; gobbledygook to many, catnip to people like us. Here's your new wallpaper!

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In the long and storied history of both the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and Subaru Impreza, two models continue to be held in the highest regard: the Tommi Makinen Edition, and the 22B.

The Mitsubishi celebrated Makinen's four consecutive WRC titles; the Subaru marked the 40th anniversary of the brand as well as three constructors' titles in a row. These cars not only represent the zenith of their respective manufacturers' rallying exploits, but also the peak of Japanese turbo nutter rally saloon popularity.

At the turn of the millennium no supercar was safe from an Evo or an Impreza on the loose; no handling day could be considered complete without the appearance of one, or both; young fans swooned over the very latest version in magazines, or discovered another JDM oddity on Gran Turismo. It was a whole new performance car obsession, and surely no two cars encapsulate that incredible fascination like the Tommi Makinen and the 22B.

Earlier this week we took a Final Edition WRX STI to this Subaru v. Mitsubishi grudge match. The classic shootout is one you can read in Autocar in a couple of weeks, with our Subaru sayonara coming this weekend. It's going to be a tough goodbye to write, that's for sure...

Static:
16:10
16:9
Quad HD
4K

Dynamic:
16:10
16:9
Quad HD
4K

[Photos: Malcolm Griffiths]

[Gandahar]

To be replaced by Golf R, Audi RS3 and AMG A45.

I'm having trouble looking past my rose tinted reactolite rapide sunglasses here to be honest.

Those crafty germans completely bypassing sport to give us a knob that feels good in your hand, both gear and infortainment wise.