2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X vs. 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX STI

Temperature is -13 Fahrenheit. The Dallas Cowboys lead the Green Bay Packers, 17-14 and the Packers have the ball two feet from the Cowboys' goal line. There's 16 seconds on the clock here at Lambeau Field, the Frozen Tundra. A Packers field goal would be the sure save for this NFL championship game, December 31, 1967, but who wants to go into overtime when it's 13 below? So on third down, Bart Starr completes a quarterback sneak and the Packers come out of the cold with a 21-17 victory.

The connection? We've compared Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions and Subaru WRX STIs every whichway for what seems decades. (Did Evo I coincide with Super Bowl I, or does it just seem that long?) Evo versus STI stories were once so common in this magazine that tech director Frank Markus proposed a cover blurb, "Absolutely No Evos or STIs in This Issue!"

Now he's scorekeeper for Motor Trend's first Ice Bowl, a matchup of the Mitsubishi Evolution X and Subaru WRX STI at Continental Corporation's own frozen tundra, its winter proving grounds near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The Evo X and WRX STI fight for grip first on their stock summer tires, and then on identical ContiWinterContact TS810 Ss.

Which car is better, faster on snow and ice? And can we fling homologated rally cars sideways with impunity? Continental gave us free rein to this excellent cold weather testing facility. A groomed 600x2000-foot snow field afforded plenty of space to allow multiple acceleration and braking runs on virgin snow, with space left over for each car to get its own Motor Trend figure-eight course, ensuring identical surface conditions for each car, because snow conditions change quickly with traffic.

Then there's the half-mile snow-handling course, outlined with beltline-high snow banks, providing lap times and a more subjective, seat-of-the-snowpants comparison of rally-condition handling dynamics. There's only one course, so Continental regroomed it for us between runs.