There were an assortment of special cars on display when Motor Sport paid a visit to Rally Replay. Adam Midghall gives us the lowdown…

 

1. Fiat 242 replica service van

“It has all modern internals and a modern generator, so you can pull up at any event, pull your rally car up alongside and service from the van. It’s evocative of the Group B period because these serviced 037s and Delta S4s. It features the same roof-rack and jerry cans they used in period, but now fitted with modern appliances – so you can use it without breaking anything original.”

 

2. Repsol Lancia Delta HF Integrale

“This is a special car. Built at the end of 1991 it was one of three test cars by Abarth, who built all the works rally cars for Lancia. This was the gravel car and they also had a Tarmac car and a Safari car. It was used all the way through 1992 by Juha Kankkunen, Didier Auriol and Andrea Aghini to test set-ups, run new parts and fuels. Then in 1993 it became Carlos Sainz’s car. Again it was a test car, but he also used it on an event in Spain called Formula Rally Oviedo, which he won – the last victory for a works-entered Lancia. At the end of the year the car did the Race of Champions and was driven by everyone: Markku Alén, Stig Blomqvist, François Delecour, Miki Biasion and Auriol. When it was sold on to a privateer it was painted in silver, then a private collector kept it in a warehouse until we pulled it out in early 2018. Working with Miki, we’ve had the car sympathetically restored and it’s been painted with the original stencils. It has the original seats, is in original spec and sits on original tyres – which you wouldn’t want to drive on these days! We reunited Didier with the car at the Castle Combe Rallyday in 2019, since when it’s been sold.”

 

3. Lancia Delta Integrale 8V

“This is the 8V 1988 first iteration of the Integrale, built for the road and featuring Martini colours to make it look like a rally car. Every nut and bolt has been redone so it’s as it was when it left the factory, overseen by Miki Biasion himself. He wrapped up his first title in Sanremo 1988, hence the livery. It’s a throwback to that.”

 

4. Lancia Delta Sanremo replica

“This is a replica of Miki Biasion’s 1989 Sanremo-winning car in which he wrapped up his second world title. Miki agreed with Abarth to buy the car – but it never arrived. Abarth rented it out to HF Grifone with a new engine and gearbox and the unique parts used for Sanremo were removed. Miki finally got the car three years later, so this was a vendetta replica to make it as close to the Sanremo car as possible. He sourced a lot of parts only fitted for Sanremo.”

 

5. Lancia Delta HF Integrale Evo

“This was a works 1992 Integrale, Auriol’s car in which he won Rally Finland and Rally Australia and also used it in Catalunya where he had a power steering pipe failure over a jump, lost control and landed in a ditch. There was no damage but there were no spectators there to pull the car out. That was where his championship ran away from him. Kankkunen then drove it on the Memorial Bettega and it was used in the Italian and Hungarian rally championships. It had one privateer owner after that, who ran it all over Europe. One of our customers acquired it five years ago and we’ve looked after it ever since. Everyone sees the Evo as the ultimate Integrale and this was the most successful car in 1992, so it’s very special. There are lots of small details that you shouldn’t see, such as a little screw by the co-driver’s door which adjusts boost on the dash to turn it down for low-grip conditions so you can keep full-throttle on reduced full boost.”

6 Subaru Impreza S5 WRC

“This is a Prodrive-built car from 1999. Rallied by Bruno Thiry, he did Corsica and Catalunya with mixed results. Then it was Juha Kankkunen’s car for Acropolis, Finland and Australia. In Finland he beat Richard Burns in a close battle. That was his last-ever WRC victory, so this car represents the end of a big chapter. The car has never been restored, it’s always been a working rally car and has done more than 100 rallies in its life. We’ll be taking it out to events again soon.”

 

7. Ford Sierra Cosworth GPA

“This wasn’t a works car, just a Group N that started life up in Scotland. It slowly made its way down the country and as it did so got upgraded to the full Group A spec we see now. It was restored seven or eight years ago and received a very good Harvey Gibbs Group A engine, has FIA HTP papers and all the original bits to put it back to historic spec. We had Didier Auriol drive it at Race Retro in 2019, hence his name on the car. It’s a genuine Sierra Cosworth underneath – not a 1.6 GL! – and there’s not many three-door Sierras around. It’s the only car here at the moment for sale… although everything has its price!”