THE CONTENDERS

1 Audi Sport quattro/S1

Audi changed the face of rallying by pursuing four-wheel drive. The Group 4 quattro’s debut on the 1980 Janner Rally in Austria might not have pointed to it, but the German firm had struck gold. The fearsome Group B era of the World Rally Championship followed, with the Ingolstadt firm introducing the A1 and A2 variants, then the short-wheelbase quattro in 1984. The last version, the S1, came at the end of 1985.

2 Ford Escort Mk2

There is nothing quite like standing in a forest with a Ford Escort Mk2 heading through the gloom with its BDG soundtrack. It is the stuff of rallying legend, and it is the rally car that refuses to die out. When the Mk2 arrived on the scene, it proved a huge hit with its grin-a-minute handling. The Pinto engine was used while the BDE was also employed but it was the 250bhp two-litre BDG that set the pulses racing.

3 Lancia Delta S4

It had twin camshafts. It was supercharged. It was also turbocharged. It was four-wheel drive. It weighed less than 900kgs. The Lancia Delta S4 was a rocket ship. The successor to the 037 was the Italians’ attempt to steal the World Rally Championship at the height of the Group B era. The specially designed, F1-inspired engine was created by Abarth for the spaceframed car, which was reported to push out 550bhp.

4 Peugeot 205 T16

The initial work on the Peugeot 205 T16 began at sister firm Talbot’s UK base but once the French firm had employed former co-driver Jean Todt to head up the new Peugeot Talbot Sport division, the project was moved to France for its development in the early 1980s. Money was no object for the programme and it went on to become the most successful of all the Group B machines. The 205, in all its evolution versions, won 16 World Rally Championship rounds between 1984 and 1986.

5 Lancia 037

Lancia was keen to embrace the forthcoming Group B era and employed Abarth, Pininfarina and Dallara to help it create one of the best-looking rally machines seen up to that point. However, Lancia hadn’t seen the four-wheel-drive writing on the wall and the two-litre car was rearmotivated only. It also suffered from the typical Italian malaise of not being bolted together solidly when it first appeared on the stages in 1982.

6 Lancia Stratos

A Bertone-designed body and a Ferrari V6 made the Lancia Stratos a mouth-watering prospect when it was launched in 1971. The Stratos was already a hit on the tracks when it was homologated for World Rally competition for the 1974 season. The 2.4-litre pocket rocket took a hat-trick of World Championship for Manufacturer titles between 1974 and 1976, when its leading exponent Sandro Munari had no drivers’ title to battle for.

7 MG Metro 6R4

The rage in Group B was all about hatchbacks, and the Austin Rover Group converted what was a truly mundane road car into its competition weapon and it employed the skills of the Williams Grand Prix Engineering team to help it. The three-litre V6 bark of the Metro pushed out north of 400bhp. The programme was announced in 1985 and enough models were built in time to be homologated for the RAC Rally during that season. When Group B was outlawed, the momentum went out of the project.

8 Opel Manta 400

Much like the Lancia 037, the Group B version of the Opel Manta was staring down the barrel of the incoming four-wheel-drive revolution with its rear-motivation. However, it put up some valiant performances and a well-driven Manta – famous in the UK for the exploits of Russell Brookes – is a sight to behold. While its World Rally Championship glories were slim pickings, the Manta was a favourite on national events. It claimed two British Open Rally Championship titles with Jimmy McRae in 1984 and Brookes in 1985.

9 Subaru Impreza WRC97

The new World Rally Car class was introduced in 1997 and Subaru was at the leading edge of the curve with its Prodrive machines. The new WRC97 version was Colin McRae’s weapon as he aimed to add a second World title to his 1995 success, and he came oh-so close. The Flying Scotsman won five rallies to finish just a single point behind Tommi Makinen’s Mitsubishi Lancer. The two-litre turbocharged WRC97 did, however, win the constructors’ crown.

10 VW Polo R WRC

The news that VW was returning to the World Rally Championship for the first time in nearly 25 years caused a huge stir in 2013. It had been almost two years in the making before the German giant first rolled its Polo R onto the start ramp in Monte Carlo. First time out, the VW was beaten by Sebastien Loeb and Citroen in the south of France, but VW would go on to bestride the WRC landscape for the next three season and, when the German make pulled out at the end of 2016, it had won 43 of the 53 events it had entered.