A wild ride with M‑Sport’s Gus Greensmith in the WRC Fiesta

“It’s a massive step up,” he admits, referring to the graduation from the WRC2 car he’s been driving thus far. “Nothing prepares you for the downforce and the speed the car can carry on the stage. And you can’t work up to it either, you just have to go for it. Before I drove the car I thought it could probably use a bit more power. After my first go I was, like, nah, that’s plenty!” Food for thought as I strap in for a run alongside him on a test stage in the Lake District. It’s not that I don’t trust his abilities. But if it’s fast enough to give him the willies…

While it’s a long way from the Welsh forests, conditions near M-Sport’s Cumbrian base are close enough to hand a home advantage for the team ahead Wales Rally GB. Evans has already proven himself a winner on the event and keen to repeat the success in his comeback drive. In the meantime, Greensmith has been making the most of valuable time in the WRC car to help his transition into the big league.

The engine in this Fiesta is a mere 1.6, albeit assembled from a bespoke billet block by M-Sport’s engineers down the way in Cockermouth. Officially it has 380hp as mandated by WRC restrictions to turbo intake, revs and boost, which is nearly 100hp more than the Fiesta R5 Gus has been driving thus far. Grins on the faces of the M-Sport guys suggest it’s a very healthy 380hp... Whatever it’s got, the noise is angry and brutal as Gus lines up for the start, crackling against its anti-lag as the car squats against the brakes before erupting away in a shower of mud and gravel.

The acceleration is relentless, punctuated only by Gus’s upshifts on the stump of a lever to his right – the usual paddle on the wheel isn’t working so he’s having to do it the old-fashioned way. In just a few hundred yards we’re up into fourth and approaching the first turn, for which Gus barely even lifts. My eyes are already on stalks but his face radiates total calm, even when he’s chucking it into the next fifth gear turn one-handed.

There’s an odd contrast between the brutality of the speed and the total serenity of the ride, the long-travel suspension one of the true secrets to this car’s cross-country speed. The car moves around a lot, Gus artfully left-foot braking to throw weight onto the front wheels to turn it in, then flooring it the moment the nose is pointing the right way. Evans meanwhile acknowledges modern WRC cars may not be as showy and sideways as those from earlier eras but the sheer speed they carry is spectacular in a different way.

Downforce gives the Fiesta the speed into the turns, the active centre differential meaning Gus simply flattens the accelerator and leaves the black boxes to put the power down. But the thing about aero is that if you go too slowly it won’t work and you simply won’t make the turn. Until you fully commit for the first time you won’t know how fast you need to go, something Gus is calmly explaining to me over the intercom. Before hurling the car sideways at over 100mph and skimming a big pile of logs to his left. “That was a downforce corner,” he says, helpfully. I can only giggle like an idiot.

I’ve had plenty of rides in fast cars on circuit alongside seriously talented drivers. And while it’s impressive it’s something anyone who’s driven on track can, to an extent, relate to. But this is something totally different. I doubt Gus is even at seven tenths here but my mind is still blown.

I always knew rally drivers were a different breed. The opportunity to have it demonstrated in person is a memory that will last. And have me glued to the screen for Wales Rally GB with my eyes opened to what it’s like for the brave crews gunning for victory.