The toughest WRC rally that produced an unlikely world champion

After the demise of the Group B cars many people expected rally racing's most spectacular days were over. But a little near-stock Renault hatchback had other ideas. This is the story of the David vs Goliath battle in the 1989 Ivory Coast rally.
Do subscribe to my channel if you want to see more unusual cars and racing stories from the vast world of motorsport.
#wrc #renault #rally

[@__-vb3ht]

The '88 Côte d'Ivoire Rally saw a very similiar story with a Alain Ambrosino winning in a Nissan S12. The last time a RWD car would win a WRC event. Similiar to the R5, Nissan new they stod no chance in the big rallies and focused on Ivory Coast and Safari, and ended up winning over the Audis in Côte d'Ivoire thanks to superior reliability

[@aojracing4885]

Cool, nice to see rally and endurance get videos like these, found this through the LMDh videos and it's a great channel!

[@stijnpaspont]

Thanks! there's more to come.

[@MrRX75]

See portuguese videos..real gems, amazing Cars in gorgeous scenarios...

[@Delita45]

What an awesome car! Reliability is definitely the most important thing for endurance, but I can't help but remember an old saying my drill sergeants told me: "Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast." Without any major breakdowns and the driver keeping his cool, he managed to do something incredible. Props to everyone that made it possible, from the engineers, to the mechanics, and drivers.

[@milfordh.mercado2787]

So this is a literature underdog story of one renault's odd but incredible run to win a wrc championship in the R5 turbo is amazing moment so thank you for the video and have good day bye now.

[@guillermofernandez529]

This video is a gem! It is so cool to see this type of video essays made about rallying and the WRC. Keep it coming!

[@sebmolherat5779]

La R5 GT turbo est une bête de rallye, difficile a expliquer mais les faits sont là.je possède plusieurs anciennes voiture de sport et la R5 est à part,dans une balade organisée elle peut se mesurer avec un grand de voiture bien plus puissante.c'est hallucinant.belle vidéo sportivement

[@andresrossi8744]

i like to praise renault as an unsung hero to poke fun at my friends and things like this keep me going, nice to know such a great story. great video!

[@turke765]

Thanks for not cropping or stretching 4:3 video to 16:9, huge annoyance when people do

[@stal5861]

Very interesting. I'm glad you mentioned the 1999 Xsara victory, a moment I will never forget.

[@periklaskyriakidis6064]

Cote d'Ivoire is undoubtedly the most underrated rally ever. It's never talked about and I've found so few videos with footage, and none from the official channel

[@rawbikes882]

Great underdog story. Thanks once again for a great video.

[@foxymoron7337]

god. 80's rally cars were just peak aesthetics for cars in my eyes. if only i was born a bit sooner.

[@hookemhorns1025]

Subscribed. If you keep making videos like this, you're going to absolutely take off. Honestly your 7ish-15ish minute format is perfect for people like me who want to binge watch mini-docs about cars, and you do a great job of providing the info. Looking forward to more!

[@Emanicas]

when the ace combat music starts

[@therightpedal]

wow dude, I thought I knew a lot about rallying but I sure didn't know this!! Nice work.

[@FEGTTTSDH]

What a epic brand was Renault in the 80 and 90`... I miss my MK1 Laguna a fantastic car and extremely reliable

[@Ray-bs6qv]

And that is why i love rally and small fwd cars too

[@NeTvoyaByvshaya]

Ace Combat OST fits so well to rally videos! Thanks!

[@jonathanjenkins583]

Do you know the name of the song at 6:06?

[@irshad8049]

​@@jonathanjenkins583 am a bit late but the OST in question is titled 'Prologue'

[@jonathanjenkins583]

@@irshad8049 Thank you

[@vitorpassos309]

Amazing video, very well put together.

[@Left-Foot-Brake]

Yeah, that was a cool video - great job, mate!

[@paulreilly3904]

This channel is absolutely fantastic. Can't get enough. Thank you

[@badhippo]

I really liked this video. The video footage is great, and your voice-over is awesome.

[@stijnpaspont]

Thanks!

[@mutmut02_]

Awesome story, editing and commentary. Your videos are really cool ! Keep it up !!

[@MrMcKane]

The Ivory Coast was always a bit of a odd ball rally. 3 drivers (including Oreille) scored there only WRC at the Ivory Coast. Like New Zealand at the time, this rally only had drivers point available, so the Lancia factory wasn't going, and who really wants to compete in a 2nd Safari Rally in 1 calendar year?

[@stijnpaspont]

Very good points. It never really caught on

[@jt-hb8lh]

Keinjiro Shinozuka dominated the event in its final 2 years in 91 and 92. Fun fact. His 92 win was in a way the very first time a driver won every single stage in a rally. The last win for the Gallant VR-4 as well.

[@strahinjastevic7480]

You're right, tho It did give a chance for the other "weaker" teams to win something, Kenneth Eriksson won it with a fwd Golf GTI, Alain Ambrossiono won it the next year in a Nissan 200sx group A car which only really seemed to preform in these endurance rallies and is a bit of a forgotten rally car. New Zealand also had Sepp Haider win in a fwd Opel Kadett

[@andresrossi8744]

@@strahinjastevic7480 i never heard of the 200sx group a car, just googled it, such a beautiful machine

[@Ivander85]

Just discovered your channel and I love what I'm seeing. Subscribed. Greetings from Luxembourg!

[@ghostppk]

That's a great video! And congrats for the channel! I will never imagine that a Renault 5 was entered on a safari rally, even more impressing is that it won! Keep up this great videos 😁

[@DatOneCat]

The little Renault that could. Awesome video.

[@toglife67]

Great video man

[@stijnpaspont]

Thanks!

[@kamilkopacewicz8414]

That is some strong moustache game

[@davidcisneros1429]

I Love stories like this.

[@mpsw6937]

I just love the gt turbo, it was as flawed as practically all turbo hot hatches of the 80's, the interior was rubbish and the engine was prehistoric even for the time (still consider removable liner design a thing of genius, just being able to change cc basically with a change of liners/pistons, and the fact it's the same block as the r5 turbo and all blocks above 1237cc, also a hemi head from an r5 turbo bolts in there no mod needed besides water passage, and the fact a gt turbo engine is very capable of high horsepower, like stupid high hp, from a 60's design pushrod little engine, you can search for it really), but that aside, the car was good, rally version was stripped and such, but the car can only do so much as his driver, Mr. Alain Oreille is a remarkable driver, he mastered the gt turbo so well he has a literal limited edition on his honor, and this is not an easy car, it really wants to do as it pleases when the turbo kicks in, it was the demise of many young people in it's day, it seems rather tame compared to the other cars but this was a tough car for a normal person to drive as fast as Mr. Oreille, Also one cool thing some of these gt turbos had were some color coded plastic front wings, can't remember the name right now, but it was pretty rare and was a test, later on the same material was used on the mk2 clio, not sure if it ever went into the "works" cars, and the best part of the gt turbo and the renault 5 are the ads, this win was the best incentive to keep pumping out gt turbos and 5s off the dealership, as the gt turbo was a 4 year design by now and the refresh came out 2 years prior, with some exterior, interior and engine minor changes i will not be stating really, but it was not a new car by any means, and renault would keep pumping them out wasn't it for emissions regulation getting tighter and the gt turbo's old engine not liking catalytic converters, they killed it and replaced it with the gte, which was similar and such but lacked the carisma, kind of crazy to think Ali G's car won a whole WRC event back in the day really EDIT: the plastic material i was referring above was NORYL GTX, a high tensile strength plastic that only came in a limited run of gt turbos in 1989/90, it was still being tested for regular use at the time, and it reappeared on the clio MK1 16S, it should also have an added prefix on the car's id plate too if i'm not mistaken

[@truckerpimp]

always said is more fun to go fast in a slow car then slow in a fast car

[@asmrkudasai3468]

Amazing content. Thank you for keeping history alive.

[@horse5407]

Great video. Bouncy little thing wasn’t it?

[@briewhit1312]

Thank you for making this, id love to see more content like it and would definitely support this channel of patreon

[@pontozannata8847]

Fascinating story and fantastic video! Keep it up!

[@schmid1.079]

Great and interesting video!

[@noellundstrom7447]

great video

[@inhabss]

awesome video, really well made all throughout. super underrated channel

[@cmacdhon]

Thank you for a great video.Very enjoyable and informative.

[@Kermiitti]

Excellent videos, keep up the good work!

[@Twerkinman]

this is awesome! i really hope to learn more about underdogs like these in racing from you

[@connorlobash4389]

These videos are amazing I am binge watching all of them

[@4x4ManiacBadTimeGarage]

love the water crossing scene at the end

[@jackiechan8840]

Fantastic work!

[@markycupko]

great video!

[@HoutarouOrekiOsu]

it requires me to post a comment to donate so this is the comment. cool video.

[@stijnpaspont]

Thanks!

[@ColinEnman]

what a great video!

[@michaelguerin56]

Good story. Thank you.

[@user-ij4lt4ry6t]

Отличный выпуск... спасибо автору канала

[@skojuzija]

Slow and steady wins the race🤙

[@penenee]

cool

[@thiscocks]

Is this where the Renault 5 Raider edition came from? The Oreille edition looks just like it from the vid

[@stijnpaspont]

Yup

[@TRIPPLEFSOULJA]

05:10 epic hahahah

[@mortenfrosthansen84]

Cool story.. never knew about that. Then again... if Leicester can win Premier League, anything can happen

[@Tacko14]

Ah, group N. My unsung hero. It’s all well and good racing purpose built specials, but I love to see how the cars perform that we can actually buy. That’s what motorsports are for, right? To show us why we should buy A or B, next time around? Win on Sunday, sell me one on Monday. A race is a more exciting form of product testing. I’m not buying a can of Red Bull or a Mercedes e-class over a competitor, based on F1 results. But I might, based on results in group N, choose my next car. Or spark plugs, or motor oil. Something related. On a sidenote: that’s why I like mechanical sports over athletics. Olympics, football, swimming, neh. Don’t know them, don’t care. I want true product placement, I want to learn about quality. And I like to dream that I could join the fun, but that’s a bonus

[@ThaDutchDK1989]

Renault sport 👌💪 relaible , great chassis. Beats 4wd more horsepower cars

[@Haltzo]

Good video, but it's Oreille and not "Orielle" like you pronounced :D

[@mrci9296]

What is that thing or system at 0:27? Nice content besides that! :)

[@stijnpaspont]

Its for shifting gears. Instead of paddles behind the steering wheel they used the grey "buttons" you see in the video.

[@mrci9296]

@@stijnpaspont Interesting which car was this, the group A impreza? 😀 Never heard of this kind of method, and it's strange that they use paddles only since 2000.

[@ninjabob8170]

As an ex 5 GTT owner I am practically speechless that the Renault made it out the carpark without breaking down..😂

[@kayzenl7911]

It’s amazingly reliable car if you take care of it

[@antoinelecureux3728]

M

[@scottl.1568]

Whut

[@ThaDutchDK1989]

0:18 there full blown cheater cars you mean

[@luke6587]

the smaller turbo impeller was pretty genius though

[@strahinjastevic7480]

the st205 was the car that "cheated" as during testing it didn't preform as well as the previous st185. But anyway, the creator didn't really mention that the japanese manufacturers were there ever since group A started being the top class in 1987 and even before that but it's important to mention all their rally efforts were run by European teams.

[@ThaDutchDK1989]

The turbo hadn’t a smaller turbo impeller 🤦‍♂️ the inlet restrictor leaked 7-10% air around the restrictor so the got more air in the engine more fuel bigger boom= more horsepower. (20-30hp)

[@chungusamongus519]

*homer voice* Where is my evo? Where is my evo?