Colin’s Crest is one of the most delightful parts of Rally Sweden. Every year, the organizers have a mini competition on the Vargåsen stage as to who jumps the farthest over one particular crazy fast jump. Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville didn’t win the Colin’s Crest Award, but his jump was insane for other reasons.
Neuville’s aim was a bit off over Colin’s Crest this year, sending him perilously close to the big snow berm on the side of the stage road. The passenger side of his car dipped down mid-jump and I think my butt cheeks involuntarily tightened into a full-on pucker just watching this, and I wasn’t in the car.
Neuville kept his foot in it, though, and didn’t just save the car from rolling over on landing—he went on to win Rally Sweden.
This year’s Colin’s Crest winner was Citroën driver Mads Østberg with a legitimately insane 42-meter jump—enough to give him a second Colin’s Crest win in a row. As you can tell by the supercut of jumps above, Neuville wasn’t the only driver whose aim was a little off, although his landing was definitely the worst.
The all-time Colin’s Crest record, however, wasn’t set by one of the main World Rally Championship cars but Eyvind Brynildsen’s Ford Fiesta R5 running in the feeder WRC2 series. Brynildsen’s record-breaking 45-meter jump in 2016 was enough to shame Elon Musk’s puny space-car for needing rocket asssitance to break into orbit.
Here’s some more Rally Sweden footage from this year, just because we can’t get enough sweet jumps and drifts.