Sicily’s Mount Etna is one of the world’s most active volcanoes, said in myth to house the forge of Hephaestus, blacksmith of the Greek gods. It has been an ever present threat of destruction and has laid waste to villages, train stations, and cable cars alike. Leave it to a rally driver to look at it and say: “sure, I’ll give that a whirl.”
In a video recently released by Peugeot, rally driver Paolo Andreucci climbs up the rich volcanic earth up to the peak in a Peugeot 208 T16 R5 rally car.
The car is powered by a 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine that produces about 280 horsepower, sending it to all four wheels by way of a five-speed sequential gearbox. It premiered last year, quickly getting victories under its belt shortly thereafter in European Rally Championship events.
All the shots of this volcanic hill climb are gorgeous, showing Andreucci masterfully dancing the French rally car across the terrain. It isn’t done for any particular reason other than for the fun of it, unlike its superpowered counterpart that Sebastian Loeb drove to set a record climbing Pikes Peak.
Firing up an active volcano in the middle of the Mediterranean in a rally car wasn’t on our bucket list before, but it sure as heck is now.
