1985 Lombard RAC Rally (day five)

Action from the closing day of the final round of the 1985 World Rally Championship. Originally broadcast on BBC Rally Report '85 and presented by William Woollard, with commentary by Brian Jones and additional reporting by Sue Baker. Converted from VHS TV recording. For VHS Rallies' exclusive range of classic rallying t-shirts, hoodies and mugs, visit vhsrallies.teemill.com

[@animalcol1]

Still fills me with sadness we lost Henri and Sergio. Huge loss. Great driver, even nicer guy. He spoke to me at the circuit of ireland when I was quite young. I could barely speak to him, but he was incredibly kind and friendly. Mega classy by Juha too. He was some man in the T16 E2

[@Spartanm333]

Indeed - I was going to post on both points. Well said.

[@russ8211]

I was there. Still got some incredible photos. On one road section we followed Pond’y in the metro. What a sound on the road.

[@tomlepski8306]

Henri, Sergio,Pond, all have left us. may their souls rest in eternal peace.

[@fraserconnell21]

Thanks for posting day 5 so quick. It's made my day.👍

[@JeffreyOnly]

Yeah, only took some 35 years, very quick indeed.

[@fraserconnell21]

@@JeffreyOnly Nice ironic humour,you must be English ..?

[@JeffreyOnly]

@@fraserconnell21 I'm not, but humor it is, just a joke. I enjoyed and appreciate the upload too.

[@seamusblack5876]

8:42 the sound of that Audi

[@Jackthesmilingblack]

We were only allowed four auxiliary lights when I did this event in 1969. By 1985 you could have more lights than a Christmas tree. Must have needed a high output alternator. By 1985 I was seeking/making my fortune in the colonies. Rally driving, a great confidence builder. Jack, the Japan Alps Brit

[@kurtvonnegut1]

Excellent memories. Thanks!

[@EleanorPeterson]

Yes, they did have metal-studded ice-tyres back then, but you can only use those on proper packed snow and ice. And only the works teams would have had access to them. The Lombard had dozens of private entrants, too, without lots of fancy gear, so it's not unreasonable that some stages had to be cancelled for safety reasons. These forest stages didn't have an even covering of anything, (because that's how winter works over here), so the drivers could only choose regular ultra-narrow snow-tyres and take it very gently on the icy bits. Studded ice-tyres would have torn themselves to shreds on the clear gravel sections.

[@paulbartell8872]

Tony Pond,driving a rally as tough as this ,in a car that powerful and staying on the pace whilst having the flu.??? That's hardcore! :O

[@colinstewart1432]

Also the owner of a positively War - Winning Moustache. 😎

[@markmark5269]

I've got a great idea, lets tell the people who who won before we show the final day! Brilliant!

[@EleanorPeterson]

Oh, come, now. It's an olde-worlde BBC TV programme summarising the day's action, not a modern-day live-streamed made-for-KZbin event. The rally result had already been given on Ceefax. That's how TV worked back then. Everybody knew who'd won, so this was just a bit of extra coverage for the dedicated (or disappointed) fans. There was no internet, no Facebook, no Instagram, no streaming, so accidental spoilers didn't exist back then; you had to go actively searching for them. On Ceefax. Ho ho ho. Still, if it makes you happy... SPOILER ALERT: Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna was tragically ki-

[@danross8565]

It’s a shame that ARG couldn’t get the same results in the 86 WRC with the 6r4. I feel this result put them under huge pressure for 86

[@gothicpagan.666]

Dan Ross Wrong people do the wrong jobs. Hence the demise of the hole company

[@tomanderson6335]

Going with a naturally aspirated engine was always going to end up like bringing safety scissors to a gunfight. It wasn't a question of if Peugeot, Lancia, Audi et al would start jacking up the boost, but how much...

[@Jonc25]

Great stuff. 👍

[@eddiec438]

What a rally, they dont make them like that anymore ! Cant wait for 1986 and the Group B swansong.

[@MrMcKane]

When was the last time we had snow on the rally GB...1996?

[@jimjamz.]

18:23 That must be karma. Both Juha and Markku could never have imagined that they would be tussling with each other for the world championship in the very next season, and right to the wire (even after the season was over, with judges deliberating on the San Remo result). Juha's good deed at the '85 finale re-paid in spades for the '86 finale, just when it looked like Markku may have won it.

[@mrcrynox3752]

Fantastic mate, is it 1986 next ?

[@seamusblack5876]

5:10 bit of a rookie mistake probably saw the cameras foot brake off full handbrake till straight then full power He had the foot brake on the whole time what did he think was going to happen

[@jamesmiller3142]

Innit marvelous?

[@ArnoldTriyudho]

That's completely opposite with this year's Sweden..

[@byronmills5952]

The Delta S4 always gave me a sence of unease - even with this debut successful debut result. When Lancia couldn't even fit proper Delta lamp clusters on the rear - you could tell from its rather unfinished appearance they stripped the car to the bare minimum. I can't forgive the car for what it did to Henri and Sergio.

[@retardray5701]

I always wondered how they were allowed to change the bodywork so much - the road-going Delta S4 had a completely different front end and it still had the regular Delta's lights at the rear. Maybe they already made the required 25 evo models with that body? I agree that the Delta S4 has kind of a rickety appearance. Purely from the looks of it, it doesn't look like an easy car to drive.

[@byronmills5952]

@@retardray5701 After watching all of the Group B period Rac Rallies these past few weeks, I took upon the opportunity of looking up recent footage of Marku Alen and specifically his views on the S4. Even he has a love hate relationship with the car - especially when it comes to what happened to Henri and Sergio. Apparently it was just about controllable on gravel - on tarmac it was an absolute animal where you just did not even attempt to go near its limits.. and its brakes were appalling. Id forgotten that at the tail end of 1984 he had pre signed for Peugeot and at the last minute Fiat/Lancia group came a begging to him to build and develop for him a competive 4wd car at break neck speed. Fiat group threw everything at it it to win - Ferrari were enlisted to sync the turbo and superchargers - but because of that twin system being particularly heavy, weight had to be saved elsewhere, which is why perhaps some of its appearance does look rather unfinished. Frontal crash protection was nigh on non existant. It was a mad bad machine - but perhaps in reality Lancia tried just a little bit too hard.

[@ghostdog688]

I’ve heard of horrific stories such as the roll cage being made of cardboard, or the metal guard for the fuel tank (that the crew sat on) being replaced with Fibreglass or GRP, or missing altogether. Utterly irresponsible design, and even at the limits of legality by the loose safety standards of the time. But that’s what it took to beat Audi and the others at the time.

[@byronmills5952]

@@ghostdog688 Even Markku Alen is slightly indifferent to the S4 - it was of course developed especially for him. Jean Todt had a contract drafted up for Alen to join Peugeot for the 1986 season and he had the pen in his hand ready to sign. Cesare Fiorio rang him up the night before he was due to sign and pleaded him to stay with the guarantee that they would build him an ultra competitive car within months. Hugely rushed in its development - stupidly rapid in a straight lime - but an animal on the bends. For all its might and rule bending it couldn't slay Kankunnen in the 205 T16. Alen still harbours sadness that it was a car tailored for him that killed his good friend and teammate.

[@carlosalastrue5341]

The true Group B's with a rear mid-engine, except for the Audi for having the front engine, had almost non-existent passive safety, with the fuel tanks under the cabin very close to engine, and very thin roll-bars, Kevlar bodies very flammable, with the aim of making them as light as possible. But the main person responsible for Henri's death in Corsica was a irresponsible team boss named Cesare Fiorio who let him race medicated with a bad flu, being in no condition to compete in a rally (Corsica) that was a crazy kms. with superslow and endless stages where the drivers needed the assistance of physiotherapists during breaks, these added to turbo cars with 500 HP made the Tour de Corse a true hell. In Vatanen's accident at high-speed in Argentina in 1985 for example, his seat was torn from the ground, which caused very serious thoracic trauma, as he overturned forward in a dangerous reaction that 205 T16 had with the engine heeled to the right side, in addition to the brutal impact which clearly deformed the safety cell of the pilots compartment. Delta S4 case had another problem, which was the brutal torque delivery when turbo came into action in combination with volumex, especially from apex and exit of corners which made it certainly uncontrolable, and only the Henri's skillful hands and the risk he was, got to dominate it, and the cause of the accident in Corsica may come from there... Peugeot with the same power (3 bars of turbo pressure and 540 HP in last rallies of 86 season) had a much simpler system than installing double supercharging, which was one of the first anti-lag systems for turbos called the "DPV system", introduced by engineer Jean Pierre Boudy that made that its engine was much more progressive and easy to drive, especially in slow areas.

[@sjfvideo9508]

The rise of Juha Kankunen