Peugeot 205 T16

The Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 shocked the rally world when it dominated the 1984 Tour de Corse rally for the first two days, before pilot Ari Vatanen lost control while driving through a puddle and crashed.

What fascinated some rally observers was the completely different approach taken by Peugeot compared of that of Audi; the 205 T16 had four-wheel-drive and about 450 hp, but it had a space frame, mid-engine layout, a design later adopted by many competitors.

The 205 T16 was impressive to spectators, and frightening to competitors - it won on its third outing, the 1984 1000 Lakes rally. 1985 was utterly dominated by Peugeot, despite losing lead driver Ari Vatanen in a near-fatal crash in Argentina; Vatanen hit a washout at high speed and rolled many times, during which his seat mountings broke. Vatanen was out of competition for over a year, but returned to win the prestigious Paris-Dakar rally and the Pikes Peak hillclimb in America. Vatanen's teammate Timo Salonen picked up the reins and comfortably won the driver's title, bringing Peugeot the constructor's championship in the process.

The final event of 1985, the RAC rally in England, presented a new challenge for Peugeot. Lancia, Ford, and Rover introduced new and improved machinery, plus Audi had recently debuted the S1 Quattro, so Peugeot countered with a lightweight and more powerful 205, dubbed the Evolution 2. Despite heavy competition throughout 1986, Peugeot once again won both titles, this time with the young Juha Kankkunen fending off the challengers.