VIN: Henri Toivonen's last steed - the Martini Racing Lancia Delta S4 Evoluzione chassis 211
History of chassis 211
Chassis 211, registered TO 73074E, was one of 28 S4 Deltas built to Evoluzione specification.
It was reserved for use by the works Martini Racing crew and first appeared at round five of the 1986 World Chamionship: the Tour de Corse.
The 1122km event comprised 30 tarmac stages and took place over three days from May 1st to 3rd.
Having won the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally, Lancia’s Henri Toivonen had then seen his championship lead decimated after engine trouble forced him out in Sweden and the Lancias were withdrawn from Rally Portugal after a privateer Ford RS200 fatally ploughed into the crowd. Toivonen had not attended the Safari Rally, but he arrived at the Tour de Corse in good form having just won the Rally Costa Smerelda (a round of the European series).
Since Toivonen’s Costa Smerelda victory he had spent two weeks testing in Corsica. As a result, the Deltas arrived for round five with new wider Pirelli tyres, revised suspension pick-up points, new springs, new shocks and anti-roll bars fitted at either end. The ride height was 2.5cm lower than seen on the tarmac stages in Monte Carlo.
Other updates included ZF differentials in all the cars (to replace the Ferguson components used previously).
All three works cars taken to Corsica were pumping out around 450bhp.
Toivonen was fastest on nine of the 15 stages held on day one (one of the stages was cancelled). By the end of the first evening, he was 102 seconds clear of Peugeot’s Bruno Saby. Toivonen’s teammates were third (Miki Biasion) and fifth (Markku Alen).
On day two, Toivonen began to up the pace. During the opening stage (SS17: the 58.1km Corte stage), he broke the previous record by an astonishing three minutes.
However, 7km into the next stage (SS18: the 26.8km Corte-Taverna stage), chassis 211 went off the road at high speed at a tight left-hand bend with no guardrail. The car plunged into a deep ravine, smashed into trees and was engulfed in a ball of flame as the unprotected aluminium fuel tank under the seats ruptured (no skid plate was fitted to save weight).
Chassis 211 landed on its roof. Poor Henri Toivonen and his co-driver, Sergio Cresto, were killed.
Lancia withdrew their remaining two cars and headed home.
Bruno Saby won his first WRC event in the most sombre of circumstances. Toivonen had been a star on the rally circuit and his passing, along with that of Sergio Cresto, felt like the end of an era.
Sure enough, the FIA immediately announced a ban on any further Evolution variants, a ban on downforce-inducing skirts and, most significantly, the cancellation of Group B from 1987 when the WRC would cater exclusively for slower Group A cars.
Notable History
Martini Racing
Registered TO 73074E
01/05/1986 WRC Tour de Corse (H. Toivonen / S. Cresto) DNF (#4)
Destroyed in the fatal accident that claimed the lives of Henri Toivonen and Sergio Cresto
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Lancia - https://www.lancia.com
