GRAHAM ROBSON
Foreword
Introduction
The car and the team
-Inspiration
- The Peugeot's importance in rallying
- Facing up to rival cars
- Timetable - a tight schedule
- Homologation - meeting the rules
- Engineering features
- Peugeot's new M24 project
- FF Developments - four-wheel drive specialists
- Group B rallying
- Second evolution car
- The 205 road car
- Was the 205 T16 unique?
- Building and running the works cars
- Intensive use of cars
- Personalities and star drivers
Competition story
- 1983
- 1984
- Previous Peugeot rally cars
- Peugeot 16-valve engines
- 1985
- Evolution 2 time
- 1986
- Four-wheel drive
- 2E-The Coventry connection
- The 205 T16's successor
World Rally success
Works Rally cars and when first used
Index
Four-wheel-drive was authorised in rallying from 1979, but for a time no serious car-manufacturer even tried to harness it to their cars. Soon, though, it was Audi who produced the worlds first rally-winning four-wheel-drive car the Quattro. However it was Peugeot who designed, developed, campaigned and won with the first truly sophisticated four-wheel-drive Group B Car the 205 Turbo 16. It was the first truly great, purpose-designed, Group B car. Determined to win at almost any cost, Peugeot hired Jean Todt (who would later transform the fortunes of the Ferrari F1 organisation) in 1981, and set him an ambitious target. His dream car had to be running in 1983, homologated in 1984, and capable of winning World Championships by 1985. Packed with illustrations, technical details, facts, figures and successes of this innovative car this book is a must for any rally fan.
Synopsis
Four-wheel-drive was authorised in rallying from 1979, but for a time no serious car-manufacturer even tried to harness it to their cars. Soon, though, it was Audi who produced the worlds first rally-winning four-wheel-drive car the Quattro. However it was Peugeot who designed, developed, campaigned and won with the first truly sophisticated four-wheel-drive Group B Car the 205 Turbo 16. It was the first truly great, purpose-designed, Group B car. Determined to win at almost any cost, Peugeot hired Jean Todt (who would later transform the fortunes of the Ferrari F1 organisation) in 1981, and set him an ambitious target. His dream car had to be running in 1983, homologated in 1984, and capable of winning World Championships by 1985. Nothing, no excuses and no lack of application, was to get in the way of that. Apart from being obliged to use the silhouette of the still-secret new 205 road car, Todt was able ask for anything. Getting approval for whatever he needed and fast-tracking the engineering of the four-wheel-drive rally was not an issue in reaching one simple objective victory. This is precisely what was achieved. This book tells the detailed story, and lists all the cars, the influences, and the personalities behind a magnificent success story. No sooner had the new turbocharged, transverse-mid-engined car started competing than it was ready to win, yet its dominant career was cut short at the end of 1986 by an abrupt change in rallying regulations. Not only is the engineering story laid out in great detail, but the interaction between company personalities, super-star drivers (including Ari Vatanen) and the highly-charged atmosphere of motorsport at this time is all analysed. Because Group B was cancelled even before the 205 T16 had reached maturity, it went on to have a successful career in desert Raid rallies, and at Pike Peak in the USA, all of which is described in this amazingly authoritative study.Packed with illustrations, technical details, facts, figures and successes of this innovative car this book is a must for any rally fan.
Independent Reviews
Review from the Peugeot Car Club of Auckland, November 2007
The Peugeot 205 T16 written by Graham Robson was published this year by Veloce Publishing Ltd as part of a series on 'Rally Giants'.
It is a well written book, liberally and well illustrated with both diagrams and superb photos. He has put the history of the 205 T16 in the context of the time, the new Group B regulations and the contemporary competition.
The book covers the goals, development, problems and achievements of the rally car. A chronological account is included of their World Rally successes in the years 1984-86. Nor is the human side overlooked. There are biographical sketches of the main people involved in the design, the development and the driving.
It is a very readable book, worth adding to your library and worth looking at other books he has written in the series.
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Review from Classic & Sports Car, November 2007
Latest offering in Veloce's Rally Giants series is Graham Robson's effort on the Peugeot 205 T16. The book runs to 130 pages packed with pictures and data on the iconic four-wheel-drive Group B car, and follows similar titles on Quattro, Impreza, Stratos, Austin-Healey and Escort.
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Review from Peugeot Torque, No. 73, October 2007
The magazine of the Peugeot Car Club (Wellington), New Zealand
This is a soft cover book of some 128 pages with many photos mostly in colour.
We are talking here of the car with which Peugeot secured the World Championship in 1985 and 1986. The author firstly sets the scene in World Rallying that lead to the development of the 205 T16 by Peugeot under the direction of Jean Todt. An insight into the car's initial construction and further development (evolution) under the new 4-wheel drive Group B regulations is given, along with driver profiles for Vatanen, Salonen and Kankunen, and team boss Jean Todt, now CEO of Ferrari. This is followed by details of the car's competition history, rally by rally, leading up to the two World Championships, and the fight with Audi and Lancia. The telling makes for fascinating reading, well illustrated with those coloured photos, including several taken on the Rally of New Zealand.
The book makes for an excellent read, and is recommended to all with an interest in Peugeot history. We are reminded how special the 205 T16 really was, as the first ground up purpose built rally car, and how its WRC career was cut short after Group B was banned following several tragic accidents.
Robson has now completed at least seven of the sixteen books in this series on what he considers to be the most significant rally cars of the modem
