Although Vatanen and Salonen both came from Finland, you couldn't get more opposites. Ari, as we know, was super fit and never touched alcohol, and god forbid, he certainly never touched cigarettes!
Salonen on the other hand was overweight and a chain smoker so he was never going to be world champion, was he? He now led Vatanen in the championship by 4 points!
The T16's front end was dominated by a large radiator and cooling fans, highly effective
Next up was a specialist event - The Safari Rally in Kenya
African spectators showing their enthusiasm for rallying!
Salonen was the only supercar driver to make the finish, he came home a lowly seventh overall, after over 3000 miles of driving some of the worlds toughest roads the 205 looked much the worse for wear
Complete contrast came just a few weeks later when the cars arrived in Corsica for the only true all tarmac round, this would be the first time the T16 would start an event for a second time, having made it's debut here in 1984.
Tour de Corse driver line up for '85, Bruno Saby joining Vatanen and Salonen
Also significant was this event marked the debut of the 205 T16 E2, this evolution car had 450bhp vs. the 350bhp of the original model, it also tipped the scales at 910kg, slightly less than the original. Saby drove the only E2 in Corsica, the Finns opting to stay with the tried and tested original.
This photo of the E2 clearly shows where the term 'mid engined' supercar comes from
Salonen's luck ran out, he didn't even complete the first stage following an electrical problem, so much for using the tried and tested model!
Vatanen had a double puncture early on and set about playing catch up as only Ari could, it all ended in a big accident, Vatanen himself admitting that it really scared him, other drivers following Ari in the stages said they were not surprised after seeing the tyre marks he had been laying down at each corner. Thankfully the roll cage did it's job, but it was a very big shunt. Saby brought the remaining car home in second behind Ragnotti's Renault after being told to hold position and collect some points for the manufacturers title, which Peugeot now led by 30 points over Audi.
The Acropolis Rally turned out to be another disaster for Ari, this is a rare photo of him from that event, he retired with broken steering on the second stage. Team mate Salonen took another win.
Salonen and Vatanen went on to finish 1-2 respectively in New Zealand, and as the cars arrived in Argentina for the South American round of the World Rally Championship Timo led Ari by 33 points. Vatanen would be on the attack.
Salonen on one of the distinctive stages in Argentina, Peugeot chose to send three original T16 models to Argentina, this had worked well in New Zealand.
Peugeot had entered three cars in Argentina, the third car was to be driven by a local superstar, Carlos Reutemann had enjoyed a glittering career as a Formula 1 driver for Brabham, Lotus, Ferrari and Williams, in which he won 12 Grand Prix.
Jean Todt and Carlos Reutemann
The local fans all wanted a piece of their hero, Reutemann was co driven by Bruno Saby's regular co driver Jean-François Fauchille
Reutemann at speed on one of the stages, the 205 T16 supposedly had a habit of occasionally kicking the back end up on high speed bumpy sections
Vatanen was fastest on the first stage, but on the second stage it all went horribly wrong for Ari when he suffered one of the biggest accidents of his career
The accident happened on a quick and slightly downhill section of the stage, in the weeks leading up to the event it had been raining, the stage had dried out apart from a wet muddy patch under some trees, a dip in the patch caused the 205 to roll end over end. Spectators who had been at the scene reported that Salonen who had passed through earlier, backed off slightly but Ari hit the dip flat out.
Despite the rollcage having apparently kept the cockpit in good shape during the accident, Vatanen suffered horrific injuries, had it not been for the Peugeot helicopter finding the crash scene, it is quite likely that Ari would have died, the team used the sump guard (which had been ripped from under the car in the crash) as a stretcher. Vatanen wrote in his book that he felt his seat had broken away from it's mounting points during the crash, and that was what caused him to be so badly injured.
Salonen took the win in Argentina, Reutemann came home in third, the only F1 driver ever to take a podium on a WRC event.
Last edited by autohabit; 2nd October 2009 at 16:12.
Finland, round 9 of 12, Salonen gave the E2 it's loose surface debut, and with it a popular home win. This win also gave Salonen the World drivers title and Peugeot the manufacturers title, such was the dominance of the French supercar.
So, the overweight, chain smoking driver with the thick glasses became World Champion, here he is with co driver Seppo Harjanne, the pairing had spent the previous six seasons driving for Datsun/Nissan in uncompetitive cars, although Salonen was reputed to be the highest paid rally driver in the world back in the early 1980s with Datsun, finally he had a car which was up to the job and he had delivered. Seppo Harjanne also enjoyed success with Tommi Makinen, taking the world title in 1996 and 1997 before retiring.
Peugeot had a fairly low key end to 1985, Salonen was soundly thrashed by Walter Röhrl in the Audi on the Sanremo. All the factory T16s retired from the '85 RAC Rally.
Finally, a couple of photos from the 1985 RAC Rally, these images bring back good memories for me, they were taken at the Olivers Mount motorcycle racing circuit in Scarborough. Finland's Mikael Sundström had been chosen by Peugeot Talbot UK to drive an original T16, here he is holding up eventual winner Henri Toivonen, Sundström refused to let Toivonen pass him, Toivonen was furious but it made pure theatre for the spectators that day - I know, because I was one of them.
Peugeot had enjoyed a dominant 1985 season, 1986 promised to be much more competitive, Lancia had taken a 1-2 with it's new Delta S4 on the RAC Rally.
The 1986 Monte Carlo Rally, Peugeot entered three cars for drivers Salonen, Bruno Saby and their new signing Juha Kankkunen.
Kankkunen soon got to grips with the 205, this was his first event in a 4WD car, he finished a solid 5th overall
Bruno Saby had high hopes of winning the Monte, but things didn't go too well for him, despite this damage he managed to finish 6th
Peugeot Germany had also entered a T16 for Michele Mouton, she retired with mechanical trouble
It was left to Salonen to bring the points home, he finished 2nd.
Next rally was the Swedish, Kankkunen took his first win for the French team.
Round 3 - Portugal
Kankkunen blasts his way through a wall of out of control spectators
Salonen and a cameraman had a moment of contact, both the camera and the car came out somewhat second hand!
Spectators scavenged what they could from the rear cover of Salonen's car
It was all over after three stages, when all the major teams withdrew following the spectator problems.
The Safari was a rally that had never been won by a four wheel drive car, Peugeot had gone to great lengths to ensure they would be the first to do so, they had 1985 winner Kankkunen driving for them and also Kenyan Safari master Shekhar Mehta.
Mehta had won the Safari five times, including four back to back wins between 1979 - 1982 (Many would have considered such a record impossible on what was the toughest event on the WRC calender)
During practice for the Safari, Mehta showed just how well Group B cars burned!
The Safari rally was unique back then, in the fact that that it was run on open public roads, this meant that teams were free to run support vehicles on the rally, this chase car would have been used to donate parts to Kankkunen or Mehta, should they have hit trouble, looks like he might have been carrying a spare radiator on the roof, not much carrying capacity inside a Group B car!
Kankkunen finished best Peugeot and best 4WD car in 5th position, soundly beaten by the Toyota Celica Turbo (The same car he had won the Safari Rally in just a year earlier)
Next was Corsica, Saby sets out on what he hopes will be his first win in the 205.
Peugeot had given a full factory Evolution 2 version to Michele Mouton, this was to be her very last appearance on the WRC
Michele had carved her WRC reputation in Corsica, she had recorded five top 10 finishes on the rally before she joined Audi in 1981. She set some quick times but retired with gearbox problems, a sad end to her WRC career.
Service during the '86 Tour de Corse, the cars of Salonen, Saby and Mouton can be seen
Salonen retired, but Saby went on to win the event in car number 5, it was however a very sombre victory
Kankkunen won the next round in Greece, he now had a healthy lead in the championship, as did Peugeot.
New Zealand, Salonen in full flight.
But it was team-mate Kankkunen who won the event, this man was unstoppable on loose suface events.
The sight of a Group B car at full chat was a sight to behold
Peugeot only managed to finish 3rd in Argentina, but they were still heading towards another world title.
Finland - Stig Blomqvist had been brought into the Peugeot squad to ensure they gained some solid manufacurers points in Finland (Ford had decided to scale their season down, so released Blomqvist temporarily) Stig came home in 4th.
Finland was (and still is) the fastest rally on the WRC, the 1986 event would see the most powerful cars ever take to the start ramp, this would be a diplay of skill and bravery over the endless high speed jumps, at the end it was Timo Salonen who took the win over team mate Kankkunen. This result gave Peugeot the 1986 world manufacturers title.
Timo during a service halt, with the obligatory Salonen cigarette! Winner of the fastest WRC round, driving the most powerful Group B car the French team had ever fielded, remember that these cars had no power steering, and the phrase 'driver aids' hadn't been invented!! They were brutal machines that took incredible driver input to get the best from.
Italy, the Sanremo Rally saw a very popular driver back behind the wheel, Ari Vatanen drove the zero course car, he had been out of the sport for well over a year, following that horrific crash in Argentina. Look at the rear of the car on this photo, he had lost none of his flair for inflicting damage on rally cars
Italian pride was at stake, the Lancia team did not want to beaten in this historical final meeting of Group B cars on Italian soil, they had a major problem though, the Peugeot was a superior rally car.
Peugeot were running 3-bar boost and their cars were producing at least 540bhp (something which Lancia could not match)
Kankkunen had taken the lead early on in the event, Lancia had no answer.
All the Peugeots were excluded at the beginning of the fourth day, the reason was that the 205s were running illegal skirts (seee pic below) It was hard to see how these skirts gave any significant advantage, this was the most sensational rally exclusion since the Minis were thrown out of the 1966 Monte Carlo rally.
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