Best rally car of all time

[snowy slopes]

This isnt a poll to see what the best is results wise, but in your opinion, what do you think is the best, and why??


I am going for the stratos, as being the best purpose built rally car, and for being that difficult to tame, only Sandro Munari could tame it properly. Oh, and having that engine in it.

Over to you guys and gals

[snowy slopes]

The only ones i know of that were purpose built for rallying, are the stratos,037,delta s4, 205t16,6r4 anthe rs200. Whilst you could buy road car variant, they came after the rally version. I still prefer the stratos though, that shape, that noise

[snowy slopes]

As i said in my OP, it isnt a contest to see which one is best, merely which one you think is best. So if you happen to think the supermirafiori 131 abarth is the best, then let us know

[snowy slopes]

That was my reason for selecting the stratos, lots of people could drive it, but only munari could realistically say he tamed that beast. And this wasnt the 190bhp road going version, which was, by all accounts, twitchy, this was the full on 300bhp rally weapon, which caused more than a few who thought they could drive to have fairly substantial accidents.

Munari displaying his skills in 2005

http://youtu.be/J5otpImadfk

Edited by snowy slopes on Tuesday 10th May 18:16

[snowy slopes]

Ranger 6 said:

Andy_D said:

It depends on your definition of BEST. I drove a few. The Stratos was difficult but so satisfying, a wonderful engine over your shoulder but not a lot of grunt unless it was a works 4 valve. I spent a day with a works car at Donington, modern GT times with a passenger in the fog with ice on Coppice - mega. The Quattro was brute force and not a lot else, it didn't handle and I had to learn to left foot brake properly to keep the truck turbo spinning. Mark 1 and 2 Escorts were fun, the wonderful Duckworth engine but a back axle that was so heavy that the car didn't really handle, we had the Dustbins going almost as fast despite being 80bhp down, they handled better.
My choice - Roger Duckworth's Sierra 4x4 with a Cosworth tuned Granada 24V V6, mega handling, superb traction, 350bhp and a noise to die for - he won the National Championship in it and everybody was smiling.

Can any of you find a photo of the beast....

Can't find anything other than Roger's Subaru - however at the risk of being sycophantic I think there's a few here who don't recognise your name (DJRC however appears to have a depth of knowledge that we may know him by a different tag....)

So for those who do remember here's one of Andy (I think?)



Edit to sort pic link

Edited by Ranger 6 on Wednesday 11th May 13:57

Ahhh the famous chequered flag stratos. This was just as i was getting into rallying, and to this day is the one car my mum would have liked to have had a passenger ride in. She did the whole quattro thing when i had mine

[snowy slopes]

Had a thought, although i said the stratos, it might be joint favourite, i forgot about these

[snowy slopes]

m8rky said:

Well out of curiosity i will ask why? as if you examine the statistics the Xsara shapes up quite well to the Stratos with equal amount of constructors championships,and in terms of overall championships Citroen is second to Lancia but with a superior amount of drivers championships.Indeed if you count Peugeot,s constructors championships in with Citroens as a PSA group amount of championships they actually beat Lancia.
Based on your dismissal of the Xsara with its strong and enduring WRC showings then i guess you must also dismiss the Subaru Impreza.
With regard Loebs utter dominance of the drivers championship well his record speaks for itself and he has had some stiff competition but best driver with the best team is always going to win.

So what is the "point of it all" if not to win drivers and constructors championships which Citroen have admirably achieved as indeed have Lancia.

This i disagree with entirely, especially when you look back a few years, and see who makkinen was up against when he won his four titles, or kankkunen when he won his titles, rohrl etc. It was a golden age of rallying if you like, up until it ended up with just two manufacturers, and the depth of talent has to a certain extent disappeared, although this year shows promise.

As to the xsara, i dont like it, but if it's your opinion of the best rally car of all time, then thats fine by me, it is after what i wanted, peoples opinions

[snowy slopes]

300bhp/ton said:

snowy slopes said:

This isnt a poll to see what the best is results wise, but in your opinion, what do you think is the best, and why??


I am going for the stratos, as being the best purpose built rally car, and for being that difficult to tame, only Sandro Munari could tame it properly. Oh, and having that engine in it.

Over to you guys and gals

Best is difficult, as in best at what? And do you only mean WRC or National level rallying, or including indurance, Dakar, rally raid, hill rallying and the like?

The Statos is certainly great by the fact it was really the first purpose built rally car. Although I suppose you could also look at it as the beginning of the end, as ultimately it's the car that led to Grp B, and their banning and being left with the dull rally cars of today all having to conform to be almost a 1 make series.


So totally ignoring the 'best' bit I can certainly point out some of my favourites.

It's all subjective, the best can be from whatever discipline you like. For example, if you think the 405t16 dakar car is the best, then say that. If you think the tr8 was the best, then...well you know

[snowy slopes]

Yes, the escort is a great car, after all my favourite rally driver(ari vatanen) won his title in one,but anyone could own one, and anyone could drive one. Hell, if i took up rallying now, in theory i could be in a better car than vatanens black MCD escort. With the stratos,very few people ever drove one, even less could drive it effectively. Also, if you go to ireland, or the mainland historic rallying, how man escorts might you see? Now think how many stratos you might see? One, steve perez's car, hence why imho it will always be the best