1985 Lombard RAC Rally: Henri Toivonen wins on debut of Lancia Delta S4 with teammate Markku Alen 2nd

"Maximum Markku" was second behind his teammate

Image: howiefowler http://flickr.com/photos/29863913@N00/13134003

The 1985 RAC Rally was set to be a classic with the best entry of the that year's World Rally Championship. Manufacturer entries came from Audi, Peugeot, Lancia, Austin Rover, Nissan, Opel and Mazda.

The scene was set for a titanic battle but no one could have predicted it would have been between two marques debuting new cars. The expected battle was to have been between Audi and Peugeot but instead it turned out that Lancia and Austin Rover would be the ones in the hunt. The Audi and Peugeot challenge faltered due to driver accidents and mechanical problems.

So it was left to the rather unfancied Lancia Delta S4's to leave everyone in their wake. Sure they had phenomenal power with a turbo charged and supercharged engine but it was felt the cars would be too fragile on their debut and they were expected to expire. This was not the case though and Alen and Toivonen went on to have a battle royale.

Mr "Maximum Attack"  again!

The even more unexpected challenge came from Austin Rover with the Metro 6R4's WRC debut. Tony Pond and the car captured the nation, which saw record numbers of spectators turn out for the rally that year, and Pond put in a stirring drive to finish third and even briefly led for one stage when both Lancia's hit problems in Scotland. In the end it was Toivonen who was the deserved winner and he looked as if he could tame the twitchy super powered S4 where Alen looked less comfortable in second.

If anything the 1985 RAC Rally will be remembered as one of the best and probably the peak event for Group B.

1985 Lombard RAC Rally: The story as told by Murray Walker including the famous quote about the Audi Sport quattro S1, "and just watch it go."

Pondy preparing for the 85 RAC

Image: shipscompass http://flickr.com/photos/10492315@N03/1146294777

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