A very muddy Christmas and a sideways New Year from Girardo & Co.

Taking an ex-Colin McRae Subaru Impreza WRC to a Welsh forest rally stage with the express goal of getting it as muddy as is physically possible – we can think of worse Christmas parties than Girardo & Co.’s this year…

Dragged through the mud, sideways

Trust Max Girardo to celebrate Christmas sideways. For this year’s last-minute dash to collect the tree for the showroom, he opted not for his customary Lancia 037 but for something altogether more modern: a Subaru Impreza. And this being Max, it’s no ordinary Scooby – nope, this is the very car that Colin McRae and his co-driver Nicky Grist won the 1997 Safari Rally in Kenya. As you can imagine, Fulham Broadway’s selection of Christmas trees is rather limited, so the Welsh forest it was instead. We suppose it’s no accident that the perfect tree happened to be located at the end of a World Rally Championship special stage, complete with crests and puddles galore. Well, you would, wouldn’t you?

Video: Tom Gidden / Photos: Jack Passey