I mean this with the greatest of respect, but sitting next to Stig Blomqvist at dinner on the launch of
the new Audi S1,
it strikes me how much he could be my grandad - albeit one with a Group B World Rally Championship to his name. He's that type of knowledgeable, relaxed figure that people gravitate to; a person that commands attention when he talks and gives it when he doesn't.
Be careful leaving your car with a Swedish garage...
He's 67 now, so you'd be forgiven for thinking his reactions might have dulled a touch after time away from competition in world rallying. No doubt they have, but to me he still seemed 'on it' when he thumped through a snowy forest stage the next day, me strapped into the passenger seat of a 500hp Audi S1 (and I mean a proper
S1 Sport Quattro
). After all, this is a man who calls a Group 4 Lancia Stratos a "pussycat."
Stig's story
While I'm watching his feet dance on the pedals, left foot braking everywhere, I can't help but wonder how you get to tame one of these monsters. Stig's story is incredible.
"I started driving when I was 10," he says, like it's a totally normal occurrence. The only thing telling me he knows it's not is a wry Scandinavian smirk breaking across his lips as his sing-song Swedish speech rhythm adds even more colour to the tale.
Passenger seat quickly taken by PH's man
"My uncle owned a car garage. I used to go on a Saturday and take the keys to one of his customers' cars and go driving out on the frozen lake, skidding them around. That's where I learnt my car control."
He could barely reach the pedals or see over the wheel, but that didn't stop him. By the time he was 12, Blomqvist was co-driving for his dad. But again, not being able to see over the dash meant it was difficult to call the notes. That didn't last long.
"All I wanted to do was drive. When I was 15 I used to go driving in the forests in my rally car after school for around four or five hours - until the light went and we couldn't see where we were going. The headlights weren't as good back then."
Stig's been doing this since he was a nipper
Naturally, a career in motorsport beckoned, and after much front-wheel drive experience with Saab, Stig signed for Audi in 1982.
"The early Quattros didn't have a centre diff," he tells me. "I started working with the engineers on the front diff to help improve the handling, changing ramp angles and things. Straight away I was faster than Hannu [Mikkola] and Michele [Mouton], so they had to make the same changes just to keep up."
The drivetrain on later cars was more sophisticated, inheriting a centre diff, but the Audi always maintained one key characteristic according to Blomqvist: reliability. He did the whole of the 1983 British season only changing brake pads.
It was also easy to drive, even with the bonkers Group B class's lairy reputation. "I let the car do the work. Obviously the four-wheel drive helped, but you could lean on it to help you out."
Events were as demanding as the cars in the day
It doesn't mean it was a breeze to drive though. "There were 80 to 90 stages in a rally in the Group B days, with lots of road miles, too. We'd go all over the UK for the Lombard. I remember once pulling up to a set of part-time traffic lights at about 3am - the 120-litre tank nearly empty, that's how far we'd driven - and saying to Bjorn [Cederberg, Blomqvist's co-driver] wake me up when it's green. I just fell asleep in my harness, that's how tired I was.
"Nowadays you run eight or nine stages two or three times, so the drivers can memorise parts of the stages for the second or third time round. Back then you had to do it totally blind and needed very good pace notes."
Which brings him onto another interesting tale. One year at the Ivory Coast rally, Blomqvist turned up to the start line having not recce'ed the event. Using Mikkola's English notes with Cederberg's limited vocab helping translate into Swedish as he read them, having never even seen the stage before Stig was 30 seconds faster than Hannu through the first 20km.
Well, it'd be a waste to leave it in a museum
Tales of the Group B days had me positively salivating at a run out in the pukka Quattro, so while Matt was slaking his thirst for 80s performance with
the road-going car
I went out with the real Stig.
Excuse me
Crawling round the access roads to the stage, the Audi just seemed heavy and docile to the point where I was wondering if Group B was just a lot of nostalgic wittering from those who thought it was better in their day.
I was wrong. Check the vid below, but from the moment we make a 90 right into the stage and Blomqvist lights up the 500hp 2.1-litre five-pot turbo and all four wheels, any idea this thing wouldn't stab you in the back evaporates. And this is where I have to apologise.
Opportunity of a lifetime; one not wasted
You see, oversteer, a boosting turbo and a chirruping wastegate are hard-wired into my brain to produce an uncontrollable grin. So as the rev counter swept round towards a big white '10', so the corners of my mouth curled with it.
Watch the video to get the best idea, but the stabs at the throttle and armfuls of lock to keep it in check at even a relatively sedate pace was still mightily impressive. And the noise was epic.
Legend is a word that's over-used. But here, Blomqvist certainly qualifies as one. That's riding next to a World Rally champion in a Group B car checked off my bucket list, then.