The History of the World Rally Championship: 1986

1986; rallying's annus horriblus.

At first glance it seems there is very little good that can be said about such a year.

In Portugal all the top drivers quit the rally after three spectators are killed.

In Corsica the world's fastest rally driver dies in a fireball.

In Italy the results are annulled after Italian officials disqualify the Peugeot team.

And finally the Driver's Championship is decided, not on the stages, but in a committee room.

But despite all that, it was a good season.

Firstly there was the record number of teams entering top flight cars. The Citroens were underpowered, the Metros unreliable, the Audis still unable to corner despite the wings, the Fords were underdeveloped and the Toyotas only viable in Africa, but these teams still made a colourful backdrop to the duel between Peugeot and Lancia.


Secondly, the emergency reforms after Corsica, which shortened rallies and slowed stages down, had the effect of producing some very close rallying indeed, and the top drivers were frequently trading fastest times with only a few seconds between them. That's not unusual now, but then it was something new.


Finally there were the cars themselves. There has never been anything before or since to match the spectacle of a bewinged, flame snorting, Group B rally car flashing past a few feet from you and a few inches away from the scenery.

A serious arms race was developing between the top teams. In the bhp stakes Rover and Citroen were still stuck in the 300s, Ford had made it to 400bhp and Lancia were pushing 500bhp. Peugeoet boasted 540bhp on their tarmac, 'grenade' setting. But the baddest beast in town was the Audi Sport Quattro S2 which was putting out over 600bhp.

We shall never see their like again.


So after a grim beginning, by mid season rallying appeared to be on the mend and the fun had returned. Evidence of this came in Finland with the welcome sight of Ari Vatanen amongst the specators. Recovery from his injuries in Argentina the previous year had taken a huge psychological toll, but meeting his old friends again renewed his love of the sport and it won't be long before we saw him behind the wheel once more.

In the end Kankkunen was a worthy champion. The young driver had announced his arrival at rallying's top table on the 1985 Safari, when he beat his team mate Waldegard. He was not only fast, but level headed, retiring once through mechanical failure and never through an accident.

The loser was Alen, World Champion for eleven days. The exuberant Finn, now more Italian than the Italians, was gutted that his Sanremo win was taken off him, but to be fair at the time the Peugeots were excluded by partisan officials, he was only fifth and Kankkunen was second.

However the year really belonged to Henri Toivonen. Winning the RAC at the end of 1985 he started the year by winning in Monte Carlo and then retired whilst leading in Sweden. At the time of his fatal accident in Corsica he was leading comfortably having been fastest on 12 of the first 17 stages. Having been the youngest ever World Rally winner when he surprised everyone by beating Mikkola on the 1980 RAC, he was looking set to become the youngest ever World Champion.

When the year was over we missed the Group B supercars, but we missed Toivonen more.