I guess as a rallyist, it was inevitable. I’ve been racing the Evo since it was bought new back in 2006 — coming up on almost 6 years — and never had so much as a dent in the body work from leaving the road. Unfortunately that’s all changed, and I crashed the car.

I entered the New England Hillclimb Association’s second event at Mount Ascutney in Vermont. It’s a fantastic event; the organizers and racers are friendly, there’s a great campground at the base of the mountain to paddock in, and the road is fast and technical. I raced there earlier in the year, and was eager to run it again in the Evo.

The morning started damp and cool, but the sun came out mid-morning to burn the fog off and dry the road. The first few runs up the hill were taken by everyone at a modest pace as we warmed up cars and brains. A few quick times were set, but no one laid down a really remarkable run.

After lunch, the times began to fall. Most cars knocked a few seconds off of their morning runs with the roads now swept clear. My 3rd run of the day shaved 5 seconds off of my first run and 2.5 seconds from the run right before lunch. The car was running well, and I was ready to set a flyer after watching in-car footage to improve my knowledge of the road.

I was the fifth car out on the road, and was flying up the hill. The car was hooked up, I was driving well, and was carrying speed better due to learning the road. I was up almost 5 seconds on my previous run when the car snapped on me exiting a mid-speed left hand corner. I have had the car slide like that on me more times then I can count, and I instinctively counter-steered and tried to drive out of the spin. But I ran out of road before I could get it back under control. The car snapped back and slid to the left, falling off the road before hitting a tree on the left side. Hard.

The video tells the tale:

Yes, that sucked as hard as it looked.

I hit a tree on the left side of the car, crushing the front door, breaking the lexan window, denting the a-pillar and shattering the windshield, and crushing the rocker panel. The car also hit a small tree in the rear, breaking the wing and carbon trunk and denting the bodywork. I’m really grateful for that little tree though, as it kept the car from falling another 10-15 feet deeper into the woods.

The safety crew were able to drag the car out of the woods with the tow truck. Thankfully the car was completely drivable and I was able to make it back down the hill under my own power (albeit with an interior covered in glass). The only mechanical damage appears to be a damaged clutch — not surprising given the shock to the driveline.

Overall the damage is extensive, but appears to be repairable. The car will get fixed over the winter and hopefully will be as good as new for the 2012 season. Assuming Mitsubishi Canada keeps paying their contingencies, I’ll be back out for the Canadian champaionship event at Perce Neige in February.