Classic Rally Cars!

The Ferrari 308 wasnt a yellow one was it ?

Was at the classic car show the other week, and there were a couple of GrpB beauties. Notably a 6R4, an RS200, but most interestingly to me at least, a completely unmolested Dakar spec 405T16… Awesome bit of kit, and interestingly it is essentially just a 205T16 that they lengthened the chassis on by 12 inches to accommodate the massive fuel tanks required by rally raiding.

Stato, cheers for the link to Gollop Vs Schanche, god I used to watch a lot of Rallycross on Eurosport as a kid in the early 90’s, and watching these two dancing their mega power GrpB machines against people in hotted up escorts and minis was ace! They were only ever 2 horse races, but they used to run each other ragged, and it was awesome to watch…

Ultimate rally car though? Tempted as I am to say anything wearing a Lancia badge, it has to be the S1 Quattro, but specifically a mad fire breathing unrestricted short wheelbase model in Pikes Peak spec. That Michele Mouton, an unheard of French woman, in a German car, went over to America in 85 and destroyed all comers in the race up Pikes Peak was something that must have really pissed the yanks off a lot… For evidence of how mad the hillclimb is (sheer drops of unimaginable scale, summit of 4500m!) watch “climb dance” on YouTube.

don simon +lots

Escort – THE AK47 of the rally world.

twin forties, squeally quaife gearboxes, frocking mint!

Oh and for group B, Delta s4 and Peugeot ti16

A lad I know used to have a 6R4 – never had a go in it though. His old man had a Lambo Countach – no idea what they drive now though.

I remember stashing my old Raleigh racer behind a wall on the Baslow to Chesterfield road about 25 years ago and walking across the moors to sneak into the back of Chatsworth with a mate to watch the RAC Rally – watched next to a bridge that had about 6″ clearance either side and they approached sideways. It was unbelievable to watch as a 15 yr old lad.

Proper driver, proper car,

cant argue with that merak.. saw him often and even spent the evening in the IOM once. saw the 6r4 debut at dalby with TP as a course car i think. changed a wheel for michelle mouton once on the rac or maybe the scottish.. no.1? the 037 gave me more fantasies than demi moore..

I remember when the RAC used to run at Chatsworth, it was ace

Michele Mouton deserves a mention for being a first class driver, reaching the top echelons in a male dominated sport, and wrestling one of those quattro’s

Used to be a load of us skive off high school in Coniston in the late 80’s to watch the British RAC in grizedal. Couldn’t believe the speeds they got up to……

Michele Mouton deserves a mention for being a first class driver, reaching the top echelons in a male dominated sport, and wrestling one of those quattro’s

And at 60, seems she can still bloody well do it too!

Can’t believe no-ones mentioned the Lancia Stratos, the sound of that beast howling through the forest on the RAC night stages (remember them?) will never be beaten for me!

The good days….
Mouton was a rally babe, the Quattro 5 cyl sound was the one for me but you can’t ignore the 6r4, Delta s4 as well as plenty of others, way too restrained and boring nowadays.

Absolutely brutal!

And….

Edit: sorry not checked the PH, far too drunk

Deltas and Quattros do it for me.

Our family car was a mk1 Mex when I was a kid. Never forget the white squares on the doors! Yup my my old man was bona fida rally driver! Never got the break he deserved, to this day he can out run most people in whatever turd of a motor he’s using as his run around!!!

Popping down to Croft today for the Roger Albert Clark Rally. Two stages and over 100 cars from the sixties and seventies. the paddock will act as the service area with kids under 15 going in free.
http://www.croftcircuit.co.uk/croft/tickets/racrally.html

If they are still doing the rally thing at Goodwood, it’s well worth a visit.

Don Simon has it, Mk1 and Mk2 Escorts.

My dear old Dad had a Rodger Clark Mk1 Replica…

Most Awesome.

Post-group B and probably not a classic rally car, but this must rank as one of the most amazing crashes ever.
Remember watching it at the time, seeing the car completely submerge & thinking this is not going to end well. Somehow they both got out thankfully

😯 😯 😯

Being a Kiwi and having raced one of these back home, thought I would share it. Not my all time fav but good memories. Remember following the international rally of New Zealand one year ( Dad was crew on one of the cars ) when Michele Mouton was in the Audi….amazing to watch. Still loads of gravel/dirt roads back home where you can have some sideways fun. Great thread!!!

http://datnet.org/topic/14404-datsun-1600s-do-fly/

Thanks OP for that, made my morning. Never did get a Manta but had an 85 Vitesse, great fun for such a large car.

Like the comment “young David Llewellin.”

As for clasic rally car, eithr a Stratos or an 037.

I was lucky enough to spend 12 great years following my dad around when he was co driving for various people from about 1977 onwards, at that time we used to see a lot of ex works Ford Escorts being run on events in East Anglia, at the time he was being scared stupid in a Mk2 RS2000, but it was kept at a farm alongside an ex works Talbot Sunbeam Lotus, and a couple of other Escorts, (1 group 1 car, and an ex works group 4). Now being ever helpful and generally nosy, i used to be strapped in to any of the above and given trips round the farm tracks before events, memories i will never forget…
Over the years he had the opportunity to rally in some great cars including,
ex works Escorts, XJO 414V the Roger Clark TR7 V8 and the final one, and my favourite, because it was just plain bonkers, one of the most odd Group B cars ever, an ex factory Citroen Visa Trophy, (1300cc twin carbs, dog box all fibre galss panels and lots of noise.) in this dad and his equally nuts driver managed to win a couple of events outright, against cars with twice the power but not the agility…

Good Times……Rallying isnt as good now though…….

Nice video of Michele mboy

I love how she’s having a relaxed conversation while scaring the shit out of that guy

Here in Italy we are lucky enough to have 3 Rally’s a year that pass through molini. …The San Remo historic, international and the group B that just went through last weekend.

A guy crashed and wrecked his Stratos!!!!

Personal fave…

the uncle in law has a droop snoot Chevette with a 2.3 engine & a Lancia Integrale sitting in the barn.

Zed – if that was a red 308 run up north then it was probably Nigel Worswick.

That 6R4 engine design got bought by TWR, developed as a twin turbo to put in the XJR-11 racer, then was re-incarnated as the XJ220 engine.

Climb Dancer – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR_y-jgKTAo

Best sound ever 8)

I know this next one isn’t a classic (probaby about as far from it as you can get 😆 ) but i’ve always liked them. So much that i bought one that now gets used for hillclimbs & sprints.

Best sound ever

And ‘they’ told Audi that a 5 cylinder engine would never work….how wrong ‘they’ were

The first time I saw Richard Burns rallying was in a Porsche 911 that he rented. It looked a bit wayward, but he showed extraordinary car control.

Then, at service, this skinny ginger schoolboy got out of it, grinning like a loon.

Love watching Audi Quattros on you tube with the waste gate chattering-bliss! Oh, and this…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmcTY2erGCk
lovely sounds :-0

more!

ha! that delta on the cart track is ridiculous!

one of my favourite childhood memories was going to Croft with my mates and my Dad and watching the 6R4s and RS200s ragging round the rallycross course.
[wonders if they still do a ‘classics’ version]

A big thumbs up for the Delta S4 vid!

Nice 240RS @Merak

i’ll second what magoo37 said: Lancia Stratos
Just got back from watching Roger Albert Clark rally at Duncombe Park.
The sound of that Stratos full chat through the woods – awesome, gets me every time! Thats what got me struck on rallying over 30 years ago as a kid – scary!
Nothing modern in rallying competes with that noise. Group B cars come close though.
Always forget how good the escorts sound too, Evans was amazing today, won nearly every stage so far.
Wish I was going to watch more!

I know you lot are into fire breathing, snorting, hairy arsed Group B madness, but an old aquaintance has been doing this for the last 6 years, car 47 a DeLarge (French Rolls lookielikie) sports version..

Peking to Paris..