If this isn’t the Middle East equivalent of a tortuous Corsican tarmac rally special stage, then I don’t know what is. Behind the wheel of the Evo X, driving into unsighted third-gear bends, followed by a tight right, then tight left, breaking hard into second, then accelerating through third, fourth, then breaking hard again into second gear for a tight left-hander. This is looking like a bit of a workout. Especially as I’m being followed closely by a Giallo yellow Lancia HF Integrale Evo II, which seems to be keeping up quite well. If anything, it’s gaining.

	It’s hard to beat the Evo on the grip and stability its stiffer chassis churns out

Road conditions resemble a rally stage too. There are bumps and small imperfections that jolt your steering. Bits of grit and building material from trucks that have passed the previous day have made the tarmac slippery. Signs and objects around the road distract you. And the road itself, despite being a single lane, often splits into two separate roads, one for each direction. Then, a couple of hundred metres later, the two roads join back into one. If you’re unlucky, you’ll miss the split in the road and get confused for a few seconds. If you’re unluckier still, you’ll be driving into the path of an oncoming car.

Good thing it’s after 6pm. No sight of any light or heavy goods vehicle. No sight of anyone. It’s a big plus for me and a big plus for Barbz Sheikh. Barbz (also known as Torque Italia) is the one tasked with restoring this Evo II Integrale and the one sitting behind its wheel. This isn’t a rally-style time trial for us,t or a race to see who can catch whom, but these two cars really are the on-road equivalent of their rally legend.

If a ‘sticky situation’ was to arise, I don’t think I’d rather be in anything other than this Evo. The control systems fitted to this car, coupled with its advanced four-wheel-drive, are capable of getting even the most sloppy-handed driver out of the most extreme understeer/oversteer circumstances. It’s so controllable, so easy on the limit, it should almost be called the Evo X IP – for Idiot-Proof. You just have to look at the acronyms – ASC, ACD, AYC, A-SWC – to understand that underneath, the difference between the Evo and the HF Integrale isn’t only in age.

Not that this Delta isn’t worthy of a note or two. Let’s not forget this was a car produced at a time when the Evo I was still in Mitsubishi’s womb, a car that won the Constructors’ World Rally Championship six times in a row. ‘If Ferrari built a sedan car, it would be building the Integrale,’ commented one automotive journalist at the time. The Integrale came with Brembo brakes and engine balancer shafts to take away vibration and make sure it revved smoothly, something only Fiat (owner of Lancia) used on its cars at the time. Only about 75 horsepower was lost on its four-wheel-drive system, compared with the 100bhp that can be lost even in today’s cars. Even the exhaust valves were filled with sodium to dissipate heat from the turbo charger – another thing no one had done at the time. Boring stuff, but made all the more significant when I decide to plant my right foot to the carpet in the Evo and see how much puff the Integrale really has left in its lungs…

The numbers suggest it won’t have much. The Evo X’s 2-litre engine makes 290bhp, compared to the Integrale’s 215. The Mitsu’ will do 0-100kph in 4.7sec and will go onto 250kph, whereas the slab-sided but ever-so-cool yellow box will do it in 5.7sec and will hit 220kph. A no-brainer then? Think again. As the Japanese pedal reaches the end of its travel, the mechanical, droning note of the Evo rises and the turbo spools up. I wait for the 2-litre engine to reach its redline, change up and use the brief opportunity to look in the rear view mirror. Low and behold, the old Lancia is still there, its four round headlights flashing into my eyeballs. How much puff does the Integrale have left today? Turns out, plenty.

It has to be said that this 16-year old Italian stallion is a particularly good example. Evo II Integrales are rare; Giallo Ginestra (yellow) Integrales are even rarer (only 220 were produced). To find a Giallo Evo II that looks as good as this, and in the Middle East, is even rarer still. This particular  car is owned by Onno Le Roy, the president of the Lancia Register in the UAE and New Zealand, who looks after his car like a beggar looks after his last dollar. And despite having spent a fortune in getting it to the condition it’s in now, Onno isn’t here on this occasion. And I’m about to drive his pride and joy.

Perching myself in the supportive seat for the first time, my body begins to adjust to the tilted steering wheel, the high-set pedals and the yellow-on-black dials. The cabin is simple, but brilliantly so. After the plastics of the Japanese Evo, it’s a refreshing sight (sounds ironic given the Integrale’s age, but true).

‘If this exercise is proof of one thing, it’s that the Lancia still hits the spot after all this time’

To make sure the difference between the two cars is implanted into my head, I waste no ‘getting to know you’ time and drive back through the Corsican-like roads I covered in the Evo X. Apart from the fact that it’s not my car, I start off at a steady progress to compensate for my presumption that, it being older, the Integrale’s limits around corners will be lower than the Evo’s.

Predictably, where my inputs with the Evo where fluid, the Integrale’s heavier steering and clickety gearbox require more effort. The easy-to-use Evo is workable without a second thought; you can brake, change gear and throw it into a corner all at the same time if you want. With the Integrale, you need to make sure your actions are carried out one-by-one. Once you get over that, the steering turns from being on the heavy side to one that’s full of feel in every millimetre of travel and well weighted. In the Mitsubishi it almost feels like you are moving a computer sensor, which moves the steering, which in turn moves you along the road. But in the Lancia I feel like I’m doing everything myself; every bit of movement in the car is the complete and direct result of my inputs. It’s digital Mitsubishi versus analogue Lancia.

If you want a speed or G-force figure though, the Integrale’s numbers are limited when put against the high-tech Evo. Barbz says he’s yet to set up the car properly, and that the camber needs to be adjusted, but there’s no getting away from the fact that the engine sits forward in its bay. There’s more roll, more pitch and, while there’s plenty of grip there, adjusting your line by lifting off or braking mid corner doesn’t feel as secure as in the Mitsubishi.

Despite it not being far off the Evo in a straight line, it’s hard to beat the Mitsubishi on the grip and stability its stiffer chassis churns out. The systems the Japanese have developed to balance traction and torque split work together in such a consistent and progressive way that they create the feeling that not even the most forcefully induced understeer or oversteer will impede your progress.

It’s not only the stiffer chassis that means the Evo allows for instant, controllable changes of direction. Even if you turn the traction control off and unsettle it with a Scandanavian Flick, you still put a bit of opposite lock on and just floor the throttle. Then you just sit back and wait until front and rear wheels eventually fall calmly into line as the torque shifts forwards. Easy.

There’s no doubting here that on any empty surface – be it road asphalt or racetrack tarmac – the Evo would have the Integrale licked. In the real-world though, once you introduce some traffic, the Integrale suddenly has one big advantage. Despite being 73lb ft down on torque, it develops its maximum 227lb ft at 2500rpm – 1000rpm lower than the Evo. And that means out of any junction or roundabout, the Evo lacks momentum. It simply cannot gather speed fast enough. While the Mitsubishi waits patiently for its turbo to gather some air, the square yellow ingot is already on boost and off into the distance. If you really want the Evo to work, you need to choose as low a gear as possible and rev it. Hard.

If the original question of ‘How Fast?’ needs to be answered at this moment, the obvious answer is that the Evo is hard to better in any given weather and in any road condition. The Lancia could never realistically match it in kilometre-for-kilometre performance. But if this exercise was proof of one thing, it’s that the Integrale still hits the spot after all this time. And not just on the stopwatch. Its looks, performance, rarity and retro appeal serve as a very tempting proposition.

Over a decade ago, the HF Integrale Evo II led this very magazine to say that it ‘will go down in history as one of the most gripping, one of the most intoxicating and one of the most memorable performance cars in the world’. It was true then, and it’s still true now.

Our  thanks go to Onno Le Roy for the loan of his Evo II and to Barbz Sheikh for his time and minefield of Integrale  information.

	Integrale	Evo X
Engine	In-line 4cyl, 16v, turbo	In-line 4cyl, 16v, turbo
Location	Front, transverse	Front, transverse
Displacement	1995cc	1998cc
Max power	215bhp @ 5750rpm	291bhp @ 6500rpm
Max torque	231lb ft @ 2500rpm	300lb ft @ 4400rpm
Transmission	Five-speed manual gearbox four-wheel drive, Ferguson differential	Five-speed manual gearbox, four-wheel drive, ACD, AYC, ASC
Weight (kerb)	1350kg	1595kg
Power-to-weight	160bhp/ton	182bhp/ton
0-100kph	5.7sec (claimed)	4.7sec (claimed)
Top speed	220kph (claimed)	250kph (claimed)
Basic price	$ 40,000 (in 1994)	$ 40,900