Peugeot 208 GTi review (20/11/2013)

I MAY be in danger of showing my age here, but back in the day I covered a lot of rallying for this newspaper and I have lots of wonderful memories of that time. Of course the mid-eighties was a period of what might be termed ‘rallying in extremis’ for it was of course the wild and very dangerous era of Group B cars which was ultimately banned in the wake of the deaths of such stars as Henri Toivonen and Attilio Bettega.

While it was with us though, Group B provided fans with an unrivalled spectacle as manufacturers produced a series of super-prototypes as they tried to outdo each other in terms of power and traction. Peugeot joined the fray with the legendary 205 T16 which went on to win multiple championships in the hands of Juha Kankkunen and Timo Salonen. This car — although bearing little mechanical resemblance — was borne of the 205 GTi which was, of course, to become a cult in its own right.

I have particular memories of the T16 in the 1986 Circuit of Ireland which was driven by the then latest Finnish wunderkind Mikael Sundstrom as part of Peugeot’s effort to win that year’s British Championship. Myself and a couple of mates saw him in action on a Good Friday stage just north of Armagh and I particularly recall his driving that day.