Mulholland madness

Hi, everyone!  I’m sorry it’s been awhile since my last entry.  I’ve been pretty burnt out from work.  You’re more than welcome to pray for relief sometime soon.

Back on July 3rd, I took Devoted Dan out to an unpaved stretch of Mulholland Drive that Edmunds.com Chief Road Test Editor, Chris Walton, told me was used for Inside Line‘s full test of the 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart.  This short 1.1-1.3-mile stretch was rougher than I thought it would be; it probably blew my car’s right front Koni strut insert as a result of the good, clean dirty fun I had.

Google Maps link of the route

I made a few passes in both directions for my friend Louis to take some photos.  Unfortunately, the brightness outside caused all of the shots to be overexposed.  Getting the car sideways through some of the turns was a sheer joy!  There definitely aren’t many cars out there that would be up to the task.  Because of the blown RF Koni strut insert and some scratches the left rear portion of the bumper received as a result of my one close call (see video below), I’m unsure if I would do this again.  I think I would make sure the road is smoother and that the dirt/gravel is finer.

This video (1:52 long) was shot on my very last run.  I didn’t drive the car this hard on the previous runs because I wasn’t as familiar with the road yet.  You should be able to spot when and where I made my mistake and had the resultant close call with the side of the hill.

Having the car regain traction when I most needed it to = Priceless