Five more monstrous rallycross machines

Will Gollop’s bi-turbo Metro 6R4 As has been well documented within the pages of MN, Englishman Will Gollop was the last homelands driver to win the FIA European Rallycross Championship (in 1992). He did so in a Metro 6R4, not too dissimilar to that of Eklund, only the English driver’s version had not one but two turbochargers bolted to its 2.3-litre engine, producing in excess of 800bhp. This particular car reappeared for the first time in many years earlier this season at the British World RX round at Lydden Hill and wowed the crowds. Arild Martinsen’s BMW M3 Norwegian Arild Martinsen’s BMW M3 was widely rumoured to house in excess of 1000bhp at times, and was a match for the very best of the Group B cars of the era. Despite appearing unassuming and not dissimilar to more standard machines, Martinsen’s car utilised an Xtrac transmission but no other niceties. Basic two-way adjustable suspension and a crude on-off engine management system meant circuits like Brands Hatch, with long straights and plentiful run-off areas, were its friend. Jean-luc Pailler’s Citroen Xantia Frenchman Jean-luc Pailler has competed in a wide range of cars in his rallycross career, but only ever those that originated from France, both Citroens and Peugeots. In 1993 he won the European Rallycross Championship and switched his title-winning Citroen BX to his most ridiculous car of all, the vast Citroen Xantia, because that’s all Citroen could offer at the time. The Xantia was from the last batch of post-group B cars that were conceived and built without engine inlet restrictors, the machines often pushing out over 850bhp through slick rallycross tyres.

Per Eklund’s bi-turbo Subaru Impreza Following his time with the Metro, Eklund switched to Subaru in the post-group B era, first with a Legacy and later an Impreza. However, engine unreliability is commonplace with high-powered Subarus, which was an issue. Together with British firm Prodrive, Eklund elected to swap an ineffective large single turbocharger for a two smaller units to try and resolve the issue. It did to an extent, but with engine changes more frequent than the events at which he competed, it wasn’t a resounding success. However, the car was unquestionable the best Subaru ever built for rallycross.

Jan Arthur Iversen’s Supercharged Turbo Ford RS200 How do you make an already mad Ford RS200 even crazier? Fit a supercharger onto the already turbocharged engine, obviously! In a project that could only be dreamt up by a Norwegian, who already found the car rather difficult to control, the ‘improvements’ made keeping it on the straight and even wide rallycross circuits more than a challenge. The concept hadn’t really worked with the Lancia Delta so why it would work on the Ford was questionable, but it did make for a monster of a car.