RE: Pic Of The Week: Peugeot T16 Evo II
Friday 1st April 2011
Click to previewThis week's PH Hero, a Peugeot 205 1.9 GTI, got us all sentimental about all sorts of things, not least the halcyon days of Group B rallying when the cars were mad and the drivers were even madder.
Pic Of The Week: Peugeot T16 Evo II
Forests, mud, 4wd and 500bhp-plus. What's not to like?
Click to preview
So here we have a Peugeot 205 T16 assaulting (literally) the 1986 1000 Lakes rally on its way to a famous victory. Drifting through the forests in the hands of Timo Salonen and his co-driver Seppo Harjanne, it comes to within inches of the trees before finding traction and hurtling toward the horizon at a rate physicists might well describe as 'impossible'*. But not before spraying everything in a 50-yard radius with a liberal coating of mud, of course.
This is the Evo II version, with the massive rear wing, massive chin spoiler and massive power. In fact, the only thing that is not massive about this car is its, well, mass. A tiny hatchback with 500bhp-plus? On mud? Incredible. Ah, those were the days, etc...
*this may be an exaggeration
Normal (1280x1024)
WideScreen (1440x900)
SuperSize (2048x1536)
Discussion
nickfrog said:
Aren't todays (or at least last year's) WRC cars quicker though ? I think it's still an awesome spectacle of skills and danger, but maybe I've lost my rose tinted glasses ?
Yeah, but think quite how much faster modern equivalents of Group B cars would be if they were built today? Unlimited power, spaceframed monococques with mid-mounted engines mated to four-wheel drive transmission - they could be ballistically fast.I still think there could be room for a kind of return. The IRC cars are much closer to production cars, whereas the WRCs are more specialised, and yet the spectacle is similar and the WRC only has three manufacturers. Wouldn't it be great if the IRC was made the 'main' championship and the WRC became an 'anything goes' for one-offs built by madmen in sheds?
nickfrog said:
Aren't todays (or at least last year's) WRC cars quicker though ? I think it's still an awesome spectacle of skills and danger, but maybe I've lost my rose tinted glasses ?
The cars are faster in a direct manner, but the group B cars were utterly mental in the group B days IMO, unrestricted would be the best way to put it i'd say.Still though, the transition period between group B and what we have today is not to be snubbed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwtvlxFIWUU
nickfrog said:
Aren't todays (or at least last year's) WRC cars quicker though ? I think it's still an awesome spectacle of skills and danger, but maybe I've lost my rose tinted glasses ?
Interesting point, but i doubt it, rallying was different then, the surfaces we less often tarmac, and the cars had to be a fair bit more robust so its hard to have a direct comparison but in the privateer events that are run today where Group B cars can still compete they still run with the latest metal, check youtube out.Oddball RS said:
nickfrog said:
Aren't todays (or at least last year's) WRC cars quicker though ? I think it's still an awesome spectacle of skills and danger, but maybe I've lost my rose tinted glasses ?
Interesting point, but i doubt it, rallying was different then, the surfaces we less often tarmac, and the cars had to be a fair bit more robust so its hard to have a direct comparison but in the privateer events that are run today where Group B cars can still compete they still run with the latest metal, check youtube out.jbforce10 said:
"when the cars were mad and the drivers were even madder"...
....and the spectators were madder still.
I'm sure many of us have seen these, but for those that haven't.......and the spectators were madder still.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4UuZ5mauKk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKHoQXdmkSE
Group B
Twincam16 said:
Yeah, but think quite how much faster modern equivalents of Group B cars would be if they were built today? Unlimited power, spaceframed monococques with mid-mounted engines mated to four-wheel drive transmission - they could be ballistically fast.
I still think there could be room for a kind of return. The IRC cars are much closer to production cars, whereas the WRCs are more specialised, and yet the spectacle is similar and the WRC only has three manufacturers. Wouldn't it be great if the IRC was made the 'main' championship and the WRC became an 'anything goes' for one-offs built by madmen in sheds?
Yes fair comments. I suppose those ballistically fast cars would also generate quite a few deaths and the current toned-down cars are simply more adapted to the driving environment and allow a better driver survival rate! Saying that the current cars are not proper cars is like saying current F1s are not proper cars compared to a pre-Senna car or a late Turbo car. I am sure someone will shortly state that as they have driven both....I still think there could be room for a kind of return. The IRC cars are much closer to production cars, whereas the WRCs are more specialised, and yet the spectacle is similar and the WRC only has three manufacturers. Wouldn't it be great if the IRC was made the 'main' championship and the WRC became an 'anything goes' for one-offs built by madmen in sheds?
number2301 said:
collateral said:
Mmm. I've used photos of this beast for my desktop for years.
It's currently an official PeugeotSport picture from '86 taken somewhere in Sweden, but I was thinking a spring-ier one was needed
Can only imagine how insane they were to drive
This pic? It's currently an official PeugeotSport picture from '86 taken somewhere in Sweden, but I was thinking a spring-ier one was needed
Can only imagine how insane they were to drive
Had this for years at college:
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff