Hyundai i20 WRC car visits McDonald’s drive-through

Pretend for a moment that you have the key to a fully-fledged, dirt-eating, petrol-guzzling WRC car in your grubby little hand.

What would you do? Apart from whooping like an idiot and high-fiving everyone within a five-metre radius, of course.

Well, with all of the super special stages from the 2016 Rally Australia firmly closed, taking it to the Macca’s drive-through seemed like a good idea. Mostly because I was hungry, but also because of the ‘fish out of water’ element.

You know, taking one of the world’s most extraordinary cars, and seeing if it can do something completely ordinary.

The first problem is the noise. This car belongs to Kiwi rally ace Hayden Paddon, who used it to take fourth place in Rally Australia a day earlier, and its 1.6-litre turbo four is noisy. Like, properly raucous.

It’s so loud I have to turn it off so I can hear the intercom and deliver my order.

“A large quarter pounder meal, thanks.”

The next issue is the clutch. And how tight the Macca’s driveway is. Hyundai insisted the car’s chief mechanic (a lovely Spaniard named David) sits next to me at all times to ensure I don’t do anything too untoward, but he doesn’t seem too worried about scraping the wheels on the kerb.

“It’s a rally car!” he laughs. “Just drive over it!”

Happily we don’t have to, and everything goes swimmingly until it’s time to receive our order. WRC cars are left-hand drive, so it’s up to David to try and squeeze the bag, and the large Coke, through the tiny slit in the polycarbonate window.

Watch the video to see how successful he is. And rest assured Macca’s is only the beginning. Stay tuned to see where else we take Hyundai’s i20 WRC car.