Following their success in the World Rally Championship, Peugeots have become an integral part of Dunlop Targa NZ – but none of them can match the performance potential of the 205 T16
Peter ‘PJ’ Johnston, from Genuine Vehicle Imports in Auckland, has a predilection for everyday cars. He scoured the world to find his 1980s Austin Metro, Renault 5 and Peugeot 205 hatchbacks. Whilst these cars may seem the ultimate blue-rinse or pipe-and-slippers machines, regularly seen in the sub $5000 section at the car fair, PJ perversely insists that his car has to have the engine in the wrong place! For him, the engine should be behind the driver – where you’d normally see the kiddy seats. This tends to up his budget somewhat, but makes his ‘search and find’ expeditions just that bit more rewarding.
PJ’s ‘finds’ may have the production car’s radiator grille, windscreen and perhaps a scraping from the roof panel of the original humdrum hatch, but there the similarity ends. Looking like the TV character who bursts out of his threads when he gets angry, the cars PJ finds irresistible tend to look like steroid experiments gone crazy.
You see, PJ’s passion lies in the Group B rally cars of the 1980s – an era when manufacturers involved in rallying tore a herd-sized hole in rally regulations to create some of the most amazing competition cars ever built. Usually these cars were cynically dressed up to hold a passing resemblance to everyday, production hatchbacks.
Charging through loopholes
Observing the world motor sport ruling body’s failed attempts at controlling speed and costs in the sport, followed by the manufacturers’ ‘budget-no-object’ schemes (which blasted a gaping fissure in the intention of the regulations), kick-started some of the most magical times in motor sport history. The Porsche 917 in sports car racing comes to mind, while turbocharged Grand Prix cars were perhaps another example in which the ruling body could not even imagine what its well-meaning regulations would give birth to.
The FIA introduced Group B to rallying in 1982. The regulations for Rally Group B required the entrant manufacturers to build 200 road cars to the same specification as the cars in which they planned to compete. Modifications were allowed for the rally version, allowing the makers to put as much state-of-the-art technology as they wanted into their works cars. As these parts became homologated the manufacturers updated the cars, which is why we started hearing the word ‘Evolution’ or ‘Evo’ joining the motor sport language. Significantly, Group A, which had a much tamer modification regime, required 5000 cars to be built.
In its wisdom, the FIA got its sums wrong, assuming Group A would be the most popular path. But the manufacturers reasoned they could build 200 totally wacky machines more cheaply than they could build 5000 production derived, highly developed competition cars.
Outrageous ‘production’ cars
This created what is now considered a golden era in motor rallying history – Audi, Lancia, Peugeot, Ford, Renault Citroën and Austin Rover created 200 outrageous ‘production’ rally cars each, allowing their teams to compete for the World Rally Championship. All these cars came with at least 298kW (400 horsepower), lightweight Kevlar bodies and purpose-built frames carrying mostly mid-mounted engines and, usually, four-wheel-drive.
The Group B World Rally Championship was dominated first by the Lancia 037 (1983 winner) and then the Audi quattro Sport (1984 winner).
Both were developed from existing road cars, although the Audi received heavy modifications. The competition was stoked up in late 1984, when Peugeot entered its purpose-built, mid-engined, four-wheel-drive 205 Turbo 16. It won the top rally title easily. Ford’s RS200 and the MG Metro 6R4 entered in 1985. They were followed by Lancia’s turbocharged and supercharged Delta S4, which stomped into the championship, winning its debut event in 1986, and then dominated until half way through that season.
What started as fabulous entertainment turned sour after a series of tragic accidents during the 1986 season involving spectators, as well as the death of Lancia’s top driver, Henri Toivonen, and navigator Sergio Cresto in the ultimate piece of madness, the Lancia S4. Group B cars were accused of becoming too powerful and too light to be controllable. The FIA took drastic action and banned them before the start of the next season. Peugeot won that final championship with the 205 T16 Evo 2.
Many Group B designs never got a chance to show their true competitiveness, but the fact that the manufacturers had been required to build 200 road cars each meant a lasting legacy of truly focused competition cars were left after the WRC ban. Typically, soon after the termination of their international rally careers, these cars seemed utterly worthless and could be bought for peanuts. However, as time went on – after spectacular success in rallycross and local rally championships – the Group B cars took on the nature of the proverbial curate’s egg, and are now extremely sought after.
Not only are they now difficult to find, but they’re difficult to own and run. Their very special arrangements of now out-dated technology causes owners great difficulty in understanding and maintaining their beasts.
Peugeot 205 Turbo 16
The Peugeot 205 T16 redefined the boundaries of Group B cars, laying to waste Audi’s efforts with the Audi quattro Sport. While the quattro Sport was still front-engined, with a heavy monocoque chassis, Peugeot’s mid-engined, space-frame chassis was at least 45kg lighter. The transverse-mounted engine, set amidships, was offset so far to the car’s right-hand side that it nuzzles against the inner wheel arch. The 1.8-litre, 16-valve turbocharged four generated up to 328kW (440bhp) in race form, but only 145kW (195bhp) in road trim.
Audi and Ford actually tried to make genuine customer performance cars, whereas Peugeot and Lancia had no intention of fulfilling their customers’ expectations. All they wanted was to win the WRC and spend as little on road car development as possible. However, the Peugeot road car still had to share most of its advanced technology with the race car, including the unique centre differential which enabled on-board selection of a different torque-split between front and rear axle.
Interestingly, the 206 WRC car of today shares many basic engine components with the 205 T16. Many of the team members and technical staff who worked on the older Group B car are still with Peugeot. Indeed, the person responsible for the current 206 WRC project, Jean Pierre Nicolas, was driving the 205 T16 15 years ago. The 205 Turbo 16 won two WRC titles (1985 and 1986) and scored a total of 21 WRC wins with drivers such as Juha Kankkunen, Ari Vatanen and Timo Salonen.
USA tour of duty
American rallyist, John Woodner, decided he just had to have a T16 in order to attack the 1986 SCCA US rally championship. Peugeot would not sell Woodner an ex-works rally car, so he sent a new ‘production’ T16 over to the UK, where Mike Little Engineering virtually scrapped it, leaving only the shell and basic running gear. Little’s team then fitted ex-works gear into the car to bring it up to quasi-works specification.
Subsequently, the SCCA championship turned out to be a bit of a wash-out, with many events being cancelled. Woodner’s car, with Tony Sircombe navigating, never really got into its stride.
The silver lining was that the Olympus Rally in the States that year was a round of the WRC, and the visiting works team left Woodner with a raft of up-to- date works parts, including an engine, as well as providing the American with a great deal of technical assistance.
Following the demise of Group B, the Peugeot went into retirement. John Woodner switched to aircraft pylon racing and was subsequently killed in a flying accident. His widow put the car in a museum, and that is basically the car delivered to Auckland in 2001, along with a pile of spares.
Road Race & Rally
The only T16 in New Zealand belongs to Peter Johnston, and is maintained at Road Race & Rally in Penrose by Ron McMillan.
‘Maintained’ is probably a vast understatement, as the car has virtually undergone a ground-up rebuild followed by a fully fledged development programme to allow many of the 1980s experimental systems to match up with currently available parts. The T16, in its heyday, was a very specialised beast – constantly changing as the rush to win championships became more intense.
Many of the highly specialised parts were one-offs seemingly manufactured from unobtanium, either that or they were built to last only for a couple of events.
Peter’s T16 arrived in New Zealand looking a little sorry for itself alongside Peter’s muscular Metro, which has already benefited from the full McMillan makeover. Although the Peugeot was in one piece and ran after a fashion, it was obvious that getting this car back to competition standard was going to be a major undertaking.
Targa-ing the pug
As a classic rally car, PJ wanted to run the T16 to tarmac specifications for Targa, which meant a whole new set of components as Woodner had prepared the Peugeot for forest and gravel rally stages. A totally different set-up was required – which meant many new parts would be needed.
To make the turbocharged engine run properly, Road Race & Rally threw away the K-Jetronic system and fitted a more modern Pectel management system, which has made the whole task a lot simpler as it is easily programmable. PJ wanted to retain as much of the original hardware as possible, so the turbo and waste-gate remain as originally fitted.
Peugeot homologated a six-speed sequential gearbox, so the internals of the original five-speed were thrown out and replaced with a Phitzner six-speed sequential. The gearbox has proved to be the weak link during the Peugeot’s competition career in NZ, but much of this has been down to old componentry or bad advice.
EVOlution 2
In line with the Evo 2 updates, the large rear spoiler and front guide vanes have been added to the bodywork, so now the car looks just as purposeful as PJ’s MG Metro 6R4.
It is an unusual sight, looking through one rear side window where the ‘whale tail’ starts, to see a red cam cover, and through the other side enormous turbo ducting coming from the roof air intake. The Peter Davidson-built engine is set up quite mildly as it stands, producing around 335kW (450bhp), but the capability is there for around 485kW (650bhp). Geared for a conservative maximum of 7500rpm, the car should reach around 216kph, but 8000 rpm is quite possible – which would give 230kph.
The works cars were rumoured to weigh just over 1000kg, but with heavier wheels and gearbox components this one weighs in dry at 1170kg.
With a lower centre of gravity and generally better grip than the Metro 6R4, the car is harder to drive. Whereas the Metro can be thrown and drifted into a corner with power on, the Peugeot just sticks as soon as power is applied – the apparent effect being two bites at a corner instead of one, until sufficient confidence and accuracy is gained to make the most of the better grip. It is obvious that, even more than the Metro 6R4, the Peugeot demands precision and commitment to get the best out of it.
Having entered a couple of events the Peugeot has proved itself to be fast but problematic. Reliability should eventually find its way into the package. There are so many unknowns with a such an exclusive competition car that only experience will get the team on to the final results sheet but, when it cracks it, it will be at the top.
Specs
1984 Peugeot 205 T16
(Production Version)
Layout: Mid-engined, 4wd.
Chassis: Tubular space frame, glass-fibre body
Engine: In-line four, dohc, 4v/cyl, turbo.
Capacity: 1775cc
Power: 146kW @ 6750 rpm
Gearbox: Five-speed manual
Dimensions
- Length: 3820mm
- Width: 1700mm
- Height: 1353mm
- Wheelbase: 2540mm
- Weight F/R: 530kg front, 650kg rear
Performance
- Top speed: 210kph
- 0-100kph: 6.0sec
Note; the above figures refer to the 205 T16 production car. Refer to text for known derivations.
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