Friday 1st April 2011

Pic Of The Week: Peugeot T16 Evo II

Forests, mud, 4wd and 500bhp-plus. What's not to like?

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This 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.

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

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[Oddball RS]

That was when Rallying was a true spectacle and the RAC as was, was a 'real' rally not like the Welsh rally we have every year now.

[Oddball RS]

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]

interloper said:

Its about spectacle rather than outright speed. Group B cars in general, would bounce all over the road and go side ways a whole lot more than modern WRC kit. They were more spectacular to watch if slightly slower through the corners.

Errr yes, when you take into account that stages were often three times longer than they are now so suspension settings often had to provide for ALL surfaces not just one, surfaces were not as sanitised as they are now, tyre choice was limited and pretty basic, remember stages being cancelled because of too much snow in the 1980's?