Alister McRae is born from a family that knows car control. His father Jimmy won the British Rally Championship five times. You know his brother, of course. Colin McRae is one of rally racing’s all time greats. Alister can wheel as well. He spent a few years racing in the WRC and claimed a handful of stage wins. Just recently, however, he took the top spot at New Zealand’s amazing Leadfoot Festival.

The Leadfoot Festival is born from the mind of Rod Millen. It takes place over a few days and unfolds right on Millen’s own insane driveway hill climb course. Millen was inspired by Goodwood and wanted a festival for his home country. Initially, the event started small as a private gathering for a few hundred friends. Now it’s public and attracts thousands.

In 2017, Alister McRae took home top honors when he blitzed the just-shy-of-a-full-mile course in 49.43 seconds. McRae returned in 2018 and won it all again. This time he ran the Leadfoot route in 49.15 seconds. Now McRae had returned to once again and cemented his legacy as a Leadfoot legend.

Driving a 1998 Subaru WRC car, McRae has become the first person to crack under the 48-second mark. He has posted a 47.99-second run up the hill. This Subaru used for the run is an ex-Prodrive machine and word is that it makes somewhere between 600 and 800 horsepower. Either way, it’s clearly a ton of power and it’s all sorted out through a manual gearbox.

The resulting run is an oversteer-induced rip up a slice of New Zealand driving heaven.