Mitsubishi Evo X cars dominated the opening weekend of this year’s National Rally Championship (NRC) round in Mbarara last month.
Of the top ten finishers, including winner Omar Mayanja, seven were in either Mitsubishi Evo X or Evo IX. The first Subaru came in at number seven, courtesy of Godfrey Lubega in a Subara Impreza N12.
This has continued to create an impression that the Subaru will spend the entire season racing catch-up. While Suzan Muwonge (2010), Nasser Mutebi (2011) and Arthur Blick Jr (2015) are some of the drivers to have won the NRC title with the Subaru in recent times, reigning and three-time champion Mangat clinched the championship in an Evo X.
However, Blick rates the Evo X quite highly. He believes it is a risk trying to compete with an Evo X when driving the Subaru ‘N’ series most other drivers are using.
Blick added that the Evo X has so many advantages over the Subaru today.
“It is stronger in terms of speed, better in braking, transmission and handling,” Blick said.
Mangat believes the Evo is a car at its prime and the right one for modern-day racing because it has a competitive edge over the Subaru. But the Evo X comes at a high cost, probably the reason many other drivers have stuck to the Subaru.
For instance, the Evo X costs more than $100,000 (Shs 356 million). Compared to the Subaru N10 or N12, which goes for $20,000 or Shs 70m, is what a rally driver would have to part with.
That is probably one reason Blick is sticking to his in the meantime, as he waits to upgrade to the latest Subaru, WRX STI (GVB), which also costs about the same price as the Mitsubishi Evo X.
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