Group B supercars

[Alpina]

The start of the 1985 World Rally Championship season, Peugeot had some new team members. Posing prior to the start of the Monte Carlo Rally, from the left Terry Harryman, Ari Vatanen, Timo Salonen, Seppo Harjanne, Bruno Saby, Jean-Francois Fauchille and Jean Todt.




A French team on France's premier rally, the pressure on Vatanen to win was massive, he set fastest time on the first stage, but on stage two it all went slightly wrong when Ari hit some spectators, luckily nobody was seriously injured but it shook Vatanen and it took him until stage nine to regain the lead from Röhrl's Audi.




Peugeot servicing, back then there was an enormous range of tyres available, so much so that Michelin had told Audi to only enter two cars on the event, such was their commitment to the Peugeot team.




Vatanen got back in the groove, setting a string of fastest times, this was Ari at his peak.




Vatanen built up a good lead, it would now take a disaster to stop him from winning, sure enough that's exactly what happened! co driver Terry Harryman failed to spot an error on a time card and ended up booking into a time control wrongly, the pair took an eight minute penalty.

What followed was Vatanen driving at the absolute limit



Ari's job was made easier by Röhrl making a wrong tyre choice, in the end the 205 won by over five minutes, but it could have been quite different, I bet there were some tense moments in the car after the time card error.

It was happy days back in Monaco harbour, this was the first time Röhrl had been defeated on the Monte since 1979.

New team member Salonen came in third overall (His first rally in a 4WD car) Salonen, Vatanen and Röhrl celebrate.




This time Harryman put the milk down and opened the champagne, I bet he was ready for a drink after all that excitement!




Two weeks later Vatanen scored another win in Sweden



This made five consecutive wins for Vatanen and Peugeot, nobody had achieved such success on the World Rally Championship before. It would have been impossible to believe back then, and it still seems impossible today to believe, but this was to be Vatanen's last ever win on the WRC.

[Alpina]

Just going back to Vatanen's Monte spectator moment - I knew I had some photos somewhere, as I said previously, nobody seriously hurt, but another timely reminder of how popular rallying had become.

[Alpina]

Round 3 of the 1985 WRC took the teams to Portugal, Vatanen set off relatively cautiously, due to the fact that the T16 was still an unknown performer on really rough roads, would it hold up?



Huge crowds as always turned out in Portugal




Inside the cockpit of the Group B 205




Ari had a puncture on a stage, he drove to the end and thought he'd got away with it, but on one of the following stages the suspension failed and Vatanen's incredible run of WRC wins was at an end.




Walter Röhrl's Audi was starting to dominate the event, Röhrl commented that you had to hate everything about cars to drive fast on the gravel roads in Portugal, they were so rough. Vatanen's team mate Timo Salonen was trying to chase the Audi down.








You can see from this photo how rocky the roads were







Röhrl hit problems late in the event and dropped to fourth, allowing Salonen through to take his first win for Peugeot




Although Vatanen and Salonen both came from Finland, you couldn't get more opposites. Ari, as we know, was super fit and never touched alcohol, and god forbid, he certainly never touched cigarettes!

Salonen on the other hand was overweight and a chain smoker so he was never going to be world champion, was he? He now led Vatanen in the championship by 4 points!




The T16's front end was dominated by a large radiator and cooling fans, highly effective




Next up was a specialist event - The Safari Rally in Kenya

African spectators showing their enthusiasm for rallying!






Salonen was the only supercar driver to make the finish, he came home a lowly seventh overall, after over 3000 miles of driving some of the worlds toughest roads the 205 looked much the worse for wear




Complete contrast came just a few weeks later when the cars arrived in Corsica for the only true all tarmac round, this would be the first time the T16 would start an event for a second time, having made it's debut here in 1984.

Tour de Corse driver line up for '85, Bruno Saby joining Vatanen and Salonen



Also significant was this event marked the debut of the 205 T16 E2, this evolution car had 450bhp vs. the 350bhp of the original model, it also tipped the scales at 910kg, slightly less than the original. Saby drove the only E2 in Corsica, the Finns opting to stay with the tried and tested original.

This photo of the E2 clearly shows where the term 'mid engined' supercar comes from




Salonen's luck ran out, he didn't even complete the first stage following an electrical problem, so much for using the tried and tested model!

Vatanen had a double puncture early on and set about playing catch up as only Ari could, it all ended in a big accident, Vatanen himself admitting that it really scared him, other drivers following Ari in the stages said they were not surprised after seeing the tyre marks he had been laying down at each corner. Thankfully the roll cage did it's job, but it was a very big shunt. Saby brought the remaining car home in second behind Ragnotti's Renault after being told to hold position and collect some points for the manufacturers title, which Peugeot now led by 30 points over Audi.




The Acropolis Rally turned out to be another disaster for Ari, this is a rare photo of him from that event, he retired with broken steering on the second stage. Team mate Salonen took another win.

[Alpina]

Salonen and Vatanen went on to finish 1-2 respectively in New Zealand, and as the cars arrived in Argentina for the South American round of the World Rally Championship Timo led Ari by 33 points. Vatanen would be on the attack.


Salonen on one of the distinctive stages in Argentina, Peugeot chose to send three original T16 models to Argentina, this had worked well in New Zealand.




Peugeot had entered three cars in Argentina, the third car was to be driven by a local superstar, Carlos Reutemann had enjoyed a glittering career as a Formula 1 driver for Brabham, Lotus, Ferrari and Williams, in which he won 12 Grand Prix.

Jean Todt and Carlos Reutemann



Reutemann at speed on one of the stages, the 205 T16 supposedly had a habit of occasionally kicking the back end up on high speed bumpy sections




Vatanen was fastest on the first stage, but on the second stage it all went horribly wrong for Ari when he suffered one of the biggest accidents of his career



The accident happened on a quick and slightly downhill section of the stage, in the weeks leading up to the event it had been raining, the stage had dried out apart from a wet muddy patch under some trees, a dip in the patch caused the 205 to roll end over end. Spectators who had been at the scene reported that Salonen who had passed through earlier, backed off slightly but Ari hit the dip flat out.

Despite the rollcage having apparently kept the cockpit in good shape during the accident, Vatanen suffered horrific injuries, had it not been for the Peugeot helicopter finding the crash scene, it is quite likely the Ari would have died, the team used the sump guard (which had been ripped from under the car in the crash) as a stretcher. Vatanen wrote in his book that he felt his seat had broken away from it's mounting points during the crash, and that was what caused him to be so badly injured.



Salonen took the win in Argentina, Reutemann came home in third, the only F1 driver ever to take a podium on a WRC event.


Finland, round 9 of 12, Salonen gave the E2 it's loose surface debut, and with it a popular home win. This win also gave Salonen the World drivers title and Peugeot the manufacturers title, such was the dominance of the French supercar.




So, the overweight, chain smoking driver with the thick glasses became World Champion, here he is with co driver Seppo Harjanne, the pairing had spent the previous six seasons driving for Datsun/Nissan in uncompetitive cars, although Salonen was reputed to be the highest paid rally driver in the world back in the early 1980s with Datsun, finally he had a car which was up to the job and he had delivered. Seppo Harjanne also enjoyed success with Tommi Makinen, taking the world title in 1996 and 1997 before retiring.




Peugeot had a fairly low key end to 1985, Salonen was soundly thrashed by Walter Röhrl in the Audi on the Sanremo. All the factory T16s retired from the '85 RAC Rally.

One last photo from the 1985 RAC Rally, this particular photo brings back good memories for me, it was taken at the Olivers Mount motorcycle racing circuit in Scarborough. Finland's Mikael Sundström had been chosen by Peugeot Talbot UK to drive an original T16, here he is holding up eventual winner Henri Toivonen, Sundström refused to let Toivonen pass him, Toivonen was furious but it made pure theatre for the spectators that day - I know, because I was one of them.




Peugeot had enjoyed a dominant 1985 season, 1986 promised to be much more competitive, Lancia had taken a 1-2 with it's new Delta S4 on the RAC Rally.

[Alpina]

The 1986 Monte Carlo Rally, Peugeot entered three cars for drivers Salonen, Bruno Saby and their new signing Juha Kankkunen.

Kankkunen soon got to grips with the 205, this was his first event in a 4WD car, he finished a solid 5th overall




Bruno Saby had high hopes of winning the Monte, but things didn't go too well for him, despite this damage he managed to finish 6th




Peugeot Germany had also entered a T16 for Michele Mouton, she retired with mechanical trouble



It was left to Salonen to bring the points home, he finished 2nd.


Next rally was the Swedish, Kankkunen took his first win for the French team.


Round 3 - Portugal

Kankkunen blasts his way through a wall of out of control spectators




Salonen and a cameraman had a moment of contact, both the camera and the car came out somewhat second hand!







Spectators scavenged what they could from the rear cover of Salonen's car



It was all over after three stages, when all the major teams withdrew following the spectator problems.


The Safari was a rally that had never been won by a four wheel drive car, Peugeot had gone to great lengths to ensure they would be the first to do so, they had 1985 winner Kankkunen driving for them and also Kenyan Safari master Shekhar Mehta.

Mehta had won the Safari five times, including four back to back wins between 1979 - 1982 (Many would have considered such a record impossible on what was the toughest event on the WRC calender)

During practice for the Safari, Mehta showed just how well Group B cars burned!




The Safari rally was unique back then, in the fact that that it was run on open public roads, this meant that teams were free to run support vehicles on the rally, this chase car would have been used to donate parts to Kankkunen or Mehta, should they have hit trouble, looks like he might have been carrying a spare radiator on the roof, not much carrying capacity inside a Group B car!




Kankkunen finished best Peugeot and best 4WD car in 5th position, soundly beaten by the Toyota Celica Turbo (The same car he had won the Safari Rally in just a year earlier)







Next was Corsica, Saby sets out on what he hopes will be his first win in the 205.




Peugeot had given a full factory Evolution 2 version to Michele Mouton, this was to be her very last appearance on the WRC



Michele had carved her WRC reputation in Corsica, she had recorded five top 10 finishes on the rally before she joined Audi in 1981. She set some quick times but retired with gearbox problems, a sad end to her WRC career.




Service during the '86 Tour de Corse, the cars of Salonen, Saby and Mouton can be seen




Salonen retired, but Saby went on to win the event in car number 5, it was however a very sombre victory




Kankkunen won the next round in Greece, he now had a healthy lead in the championship, as did Peugeot.




New Zealand, Salonen in full flight.




But it was team-mate Kankkunen who won the event, this man was unstoppable on loose suface events.




The sight of a Group B car at full chat was a sight to behold

[Alpina]

Peugeot only managed to finish 3rd in Argentina, but they were still heading towards another world title.

Finland - Stig Blomqvist had been brought into the Peugeot squad to ensure they gained some solid manufacurers points in Finland (Ford had decided to scale their season down, so released Blomqvist temporarily) Stig came home in 4th.




Finland was (and still is) the fastest rally on the WRC, the 1986 event would see the most powerful cars ever take to the start ramp, this would be a diplay of skill and bravery over the endless high speed jumps, at the end it was Timo Salonen who took the win over team mate Kankkunen. This result gave Peugeot the 1986 world manufacturers title.

Timo during a service halt, with the obligatory Salonen cigarette! Winner of the fastest WRC round, driving the most powerful Group B car the French team had ever fielded, remember that these cars had no power steering, and the phrase 'driver aids' hadn't been invented!! They were brutal machines that took incredible driver input to get the best from.




Italy, the Sanremo Rally saw a very popular driver back behind the wheel, Ari Vatanen drove the zero course car, he had been out of the sport for well over a year, following that horrific crash in Argentina. Look at the rear of the car on this photo, he had lost none of his flair for inficting damage on rally cars




Italian pride was at stake, the Lancia team did not want to beaten in this historical final meeting of Group B cars on Italian soil, they had a major problem though, the Peugeot was a superior rally car.







Peugeot were running 3-bar boost and their cars were producing at least 540bhp (something which Lancia could not match)




Kankkunen had taken the lead early on in the event, Lancia had no answer.




All the Peugeots were excluded at the beginning of the fourth day, the reason was that the 205s were running illegal skirts (seee pic below) It was hard to see how these skirts gave any significant advantage, this was the most sensational rally exclusion since the Minis were thrown out of the 1966 Monte Carlo rally.




Next round was the RAC Rally of Great Britain, this would be the very last time that all the major teams would attend a world rally with their Group B cars.

Salonen's car at service, just lok at those fuel prices, unleaded wasn't even heard of back then.



It was a wet but mild event, Kankkunen finished 3rd, but significantly Markku Alen's Lancia was second, this meant that Alen now had a one point lead in the drivers championship (Although this was very provisional due to the disputed Sanremo result)

Kankkunen




The winner of the 1986 RAC - Tmo Salonen, a fine way to sign off his Group B career.




Traditionally the RAC had always been the final round of the WRC, but in 1986 there was a new round in the USA. The Olympus Rally was based close to Seattle in Washington State. Due to the fact that the championship was in dispute, Peugoet and Lancia had no choice but to send a car each for Kankkunen and Alen.

Drivers pose at the Tacoma Dome prior to to start




The factory 205 of Kankkunen next to the privately run 205 T16 of American driver Jon Woodner




Kankkunen made a good start, trading times with Alen



Service at the local high school, note the James Bond front plate to allow jack access!



Kankkunen lost the lead when he had to change a battery, Alen took the lead and never lost it. Theoretically, this made Alen World Champion, but the FIA courts would have to decide that.




While Peugeot waited for the fate of the world drivers championship to be decided, some good news from Germany, Michele Mouton became West German Rally Champion, this was the point that Mouton retired from competitive driving, so in the end she went out in style.

[Alpina]

Næst er það LANCIA DELTA

[Jón Ragnar]

Næst er það LANCIA DELTA

Keep it comming!

Skemmtileg lesning.
Group b er BARA svalt

[sh4rk]

En djöfull er fólk snarruglað að standa allveg fyrir bílunum þegar þeir keyra fram hjá því

[arnibjorn]

TLDR

[Alpina]

The Lancia Delta S4. This car was unique in the fact that it used a supercharger and a turbocharger, the idea being that the supercharger supplied instant response and the turbo provided the serious power, it also gave the car a unique sound.

The S4 was badly delayed, the car showed poor reliability in testing, so when it finally made it's debut on the 1985 RAC Rally, it was intended to be just a test for the 1986 season.

Markku Alen did all the testing prior to the RAC, it paid off as he went straight into the lead.



'Maximum attack' - A phrase which Markku Alen coined, it summed up his style perfectly. He held the lead up until stage 12 when Mikkola took over in the Audi.



Alen re-took the lead on stage 21 when Mikkola hit problems. The 1985 event was turning into a wintry affair, for 3 days the temperature never rose above freezing, studded tyres were outlawed on the British event.



It was a hell of a test controlling a group B car with 450bhp on those roads, traction control was strictly ruled by the drivers right foot!



Alen at Olivers Mount in Scarborough, he had what he described as the biggest spin of his career here, back then the event was a secret route rally, so there were no pace notes, co-drivers could only use maps and their knowledge from memory.



Henri Toivonen was Lancia's second driver on the event, he had set off cautiously, due to the fact that he had hardly so much as sat in the car prior to the start.



Alen went off the road late in the event, this allowed Toivonen through to take the win, with Markku recovering to take second place, this was a dream start to the S4's competition life, a 1-2 finish on the gruelling RAC Rally which in 1985 was held over 63 stages and 547 miles of flat out driving.

Toivonen had not won a world rally for five years, he was super fast but sometimes a risk taker in the same way Ari Vatanen was, and later Colin McRae would become, this trait would be very useful for getting the best from the S4 as it was a very difficult car to drive.




Next outing for the S4 was the 1986 Monte Carlo Rally, Henri took the lead immediately, he was the only Lancia driver who could take on the Peugeots.






Toivonen was flying




But then it all went badly wrong, Toivonen hit a non-competing car on a road section, as you can see from this photo it was a big impact.




The team got to work repairing the mangled wreckage




Miki Biasion in car number 9



Markku Alen was his usual flamboyant self on all surfaces







Toivonen had amazingly got going and was back on the attack, this photo highlights just how difficult it is for drivers to choose the correct tyres on the Monte, stages can start off as snow covered roads and then change to dry roads.




Toivonen's car was bent like a banana (and would have certainly handled like one), he overcame the odds to take a victory that is still fondly remembered today



Henri Toivonen and Sergio Cresto celebrate victory in Monaco harbour




Three weeks later Toivonen was leading the Swedish Rally (Incredible, considering that this was Henri's first Swedish Rally!) but he was sidelined with a seized engine.

[Alpina]

Rallye de Portugal. Group B cars attracted spectators wherever they went...



...but in Portugal, the sport had become perhaps too popular for it's own good




Toivonen was equal fastest on stage 1



Alen was on the attack, he was somewhat of a specialist in Portugal, having won the event four times




By stage 3 Biasion had taken the lead, but it was all in vain, the top teams all withdrew from the event




Lancia decided not to take the S4 to the Safari Rally, instead they dusted off the 037 in which Alen finished 3rd.


The all tarmac Tour de Corse, Lancia entered three cars for Alen, Biasion and Toivonen.

A quiet moment before the off, Markku Alen watches on as co-driver Ilkka Kivimaki fuels up







Toivonen at the start, Sergio Cresto walks ahead of car number 4




The Peugeots were quickest over the first few stages, then Toivonen started to get a feel for the S4, he began setting one fastest stage time after another




Car number 1 - Alen




Toivonen was thrilling the crowds with his mastery of the hard to drive Lancia







Roadside service always gave spectators an extra chance to see the cars and drivers up close







The g-forces that drivers and co-drivers were now experiencing were far greater than any rally drivers had ever seen




Alen shares a moment with Toivonen at a service halt. Sadly, this may have been the last time the two drivers ever spoke to one another...




Toivonen set a stage time a staggering 47 seconds faster than the 205 of Bruno Saby, this now meant that Henri had a lead of 2 minutes 45 seconds, the event was surely his




What happened next shook the world of motorsport to the very core, Toivonen's car left the road on a left hand bend, it flipped in the air, hit some trees and exploded, the fire that followed was so severe that it melted the engine block, in fact all that was left was a part of the spaceframe. Toivonen and Cresto were dead.




Motorsports governing body FISA (as it was known then) immediately announced that Group B would be replaced by Group A for 1987, Group B would however be able to continue for the remainder of the 1986 season.

As a mark of respect, the number 4 was not seen on a car during the Tour de Corse for many years.

Thanks Henri.

[Alpina]

The next round following Toivonen's death was the Acropolis Rally, the mood in the Lancia team must have been pretty low, they had lost the one driver who seemed capable of fully mastering the S4. You can only imagine what must have been going through all the Group B drivers minds, would they survive the season, what if they went off, would their car go up in flames, all of a sudden it was like being an F1 driver in the 1960s or '70s.

Alen was pushing Kankkunen by the end of the rally, he gave the team the instruction to turn the boost right up on his car, the S4 retired with an expired engine.




New Zealand, always popular with the drivers, some of the nicest rally roads in the world.

Alen at speed



Alen had the fright of his life in New Zealand, every drivers worst nightmare is finding a non-competing car coming towards you on what is supposed to be a closed road, the problem when organising rallies is making sure everybody who lives on the edge of the stages is aware that the road is closed. This forest vehicle obviously hadn't got the message, thankfully no harm was done but it was very close, it threw Alen completely and he dropped back from challenging Kankkunen for the lead to finish a distant second.




South America, Rally Argentina.

Local driver Jorge Recalde sets off in front of an enthusiastic crowd, he finished fourth with Alen second. Biasion took the win, a rare victory for the S4




Finland, Alen already had a good win record on his home soil, he was always quick out of the box and went straight into the lead



Markku held the lead until stage 34, but under pressure from the Peugeots of Salonen and Kankkunen he went off, he recovered to finish third but this ended Lancias challenge for the manufacturers title, Lancia really were missing Toivonen.




I have already told the story of the Sanremo Rally in the Peugeot section of this thread. Once they were free from the French team, Lancia were able to shuffle their drivers around, this allowed Alen to take the win and take the drivers title to the wire.

Alen



Biasion should have won, but when he had to take deliberate time penalties he ended up third!




The RAC Rally, Alen finished second, beating his title rival Kankkunen into third.

Lancia brought Swedish driver Mikael Ericsson into the team, he actually led the rally on the third day but retired with engine failure.




It all went down to the final round in the USA

Alen's car at scrutineering




An early head to head battle with Kankkunen



Service during the event







Kankkunen had a minor problem with a battery, allowing Alen to win and take the world drivers championship...







... Alen was world champion for 11 days! The govering body removed the Sanremo results from the championship, thus relieving Markku of 20 points. Alen never did win the world drivers title and he still remains to this day the most successful WRC driver never to have won the title.

[Alpina]

Austin Rover MG Metro 6R4

During 1981, British Leyland competitions manager John Davenport met with Williams F1 to look at designing a car which would take on the all new Audi Quattro, plans were laid to build a mid-engined 4 wheel drive rally car. Initially, power came from a Rover V8 which had 2 cylinders chopped off to make a V6 2.5 litre, with the use of some Rover Vitesse touring car internals, the engine produced 250bhp. Tony Pond tested the first car in private at the beginning of 1983.

Not until the beginning of 1984 did the car make its debut in front of the public, Tony Pond ran the car on the York National Rally, after setting a string of fastest stage times, the car retired with a minor fire, the car had shown it had serious potential.




During 1984 the 6R4 started to use aerodynamic 'F1 style' wings (the first rally car to do so) Here is Pond on the 1984 Mewla Rally.




Pond on the 1984 Audi National Rally, by now the aero package had moved to the front of the car.




Marc Duez was also testing the car in Belgium




The 6R4 also made it onto prime time TV in the UK when ITV screened drama programme 'The Winning Streak'




Back to the serious stuff. By 1985 an all new 3.0 litre purpose built V6 engine was in place, this was not what Williams Grand Prix designer Patrick Head had originally planned for the 6R4, he had wanted to run a compact, lightweight V6 2.5 litre unit in a car which he saw running 13 inch rims and a narrow track, Michelin had already developed a new rally tyre for Audi and Peugeot which ran on 15 inch rims, the 6R4 had to grow to accommodate.

200 units were built and duly homologated by the end of 1985, just in time for the RAC Rally of Great Britain. Two factory cars were entered for Tony Pond and Malcolm Wilson.


Wilson on a spectator stage




Pond got off to a cautious start, he had famously retired from the 1984 event after hitting a tree on a spectator stage




Wilson initially set the pace over Pond but his car retired with engine trouble before the halfway point of the event - 13 was definitely unlucky for him!




Pond got faster as the event progressed







The weather was bitterly cold during the 1985 rally, by the end of the event it was a battle between the lone 6R4 of Tony Pond and the Lancia Delta S4s of Alen and Toivonen. The British crowds really got behind the 6R4, cheering it along, even on road sections, in the end Pond brought the car home in third overall, a fine result for a world debut.



A British legend had been born

[Alpina]

Austin Rover saw 1986 as a learning season, they had never done a full world rally championship season before, so a lot of new events to take in.

Crowds gathered in Paris as the cars set out on the Monte Carlo Rally. Pond and Wilson were again the drivers.

Wilson in Paris, prior to the start




Rallying was enjoying its biggest ever following, as can be seen from these photos of Pond




Pond had an accident on a road section and he was out




Wilson lasted little longer, out with transmission problems



Wilson and Per Eklund took cars to Sweden but both went out with engine trouble, Wilson did however set some top 3 stage times, showing the car had potential.


Portugal, this time there was a three car entry, Marc Duez joining Pond and Wilson

The car of Duez, before the start of the rally




Wilson powers his way through the huge uncontrolled crowds




The rally was all but over after 3 stages, all the major teams withdrew following a car going into the crowd, this story made the national news headlines all over the world, Tony Pond was quite vocal in his opinion, he was deinitely not prepared to go on driving in Portugal, Pond had previously predicted that it was only a matter of time before a car went into spectators somewhere in the world. Now it had finally happened.


Pond and Walter Röhrl face the worlds media