VIN: the works Peugeot 205 T16 Evolution 1 chassis C18
History of chassis C18
Although Peugeot had debuted the updated T16 Evolution 2 on the Tour de Corse at the beginning of May 1985, thereafter the firm continued to run the old Evolution 1 for reliability reasons until late August.
Chassis C18 was one of two brand new Evolution 1s wheeled out for Rally New Zealand which took place over 935km of gravel special stages between June 29th and July 2nd. Alongside C19, these were the last new Evo 1s to be used. They appeared in Acropolis-spec. gravel trim but with one-inch lower ride height plus thinner and lighter sump guards.
Despite having won seven of the eleven WRC events they had contested with the T16, Rally New Zealand marked Peugeot’s first one-two finish. Driving C18, Timo Salonen / Seppo Harjanne took the win by one minute 17 seconds from team-mates Ari Vatanen / Terry Harryman in C19.
After New Zealand, Salonen led the Driver standings with 68 points. Audi’s Stig Blomqvist was second on 60 and Vatanen was third on 55.
The next World Championship event, Rally Argentina, took place four weeks later from July 31st to August 3rd and comprised 957km of gravel stages.
It was the last event for the works Evo 1 and Peugeot took three cars to South America: C18 for Salonen, C19 for Vatanen and C17 for Carlos Reutemann who was making his first competitive appearance since abandoning Formula 1 in early 1982. The cars were as they had been in New Zealand albeit now running as much ground clearance as possible.
Perhaps mindful of the points gap to his team-mate, Vatanen was really pushing on the second stage when C19 hit a mudhole at 120mph and was launched into a series of violent rolls. Described at the time as the most serious survivable crash ever seen, Vatanen sustained major injuries and, although he went on to compete for Peugeot in the Paris-Dakar and at Pikes Peak, he never completed another full WRC campaign. Terry Harryman miraculously escaped relatively unscathed but was still out for several months.
After Vatanen had retired, Audi’s new Evo 2 Quattro followed on stage eight which left the Lancia-free event to Salonen who piloted C18 to victory by a massive 14 minutes from the Quattro A2 of Wiedner / Zehetner. Reutemann drove steadily to third and was only hampered by a two minute stop for a sodden plug lead after splashing over-enthusiastically through the many water crossings to thrill the spectators.
Chassis C18 was subsequently retired from front-line duty with an immaculate record of two wins from two events.
Notable History
Peugeot Talbot Sport
Registered 704 EXC 75
29/06/1985 WRC New Zealand Rally (T. Salonen / S. Harjanne) 1st oa, 1st Gr.B class (#5)
30/07/1985 WRC Rally Argentina (T. Salonen / S. Harjanne) 1st oa, 1st Gr.B class (#3)
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Peugeot - http://www.peugeot.com
