Porsche 959

Porsche 959 at Laguna Seca for the Porsche Rennsport Reunion VI.  The 1985 Paris-Dakar Rally car driven by René Metge.

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Porsche AG, Stuttgart, Germany.   The 959 is probably my favourite Porsche road car.  Nearly 300 were made to meet the requirements of Group B.  It was the first Porsche Supercar and took the 911 concept to another level.  It had a 450bhp 2,849cc twin turbocharged flat six engine that was derived from the Porsche Indy Car power plant,  It took the 959 to over 190mph in road trim and thus was the fastest road car at the time it was introduced in 1986.

The rear of the road going 959 defined its good looks.

It had success in motorsport.  In 1986 Porsche scored a 1-2 in the Paris-Dakar Rally with René Metge winning from Jacky Ickx.   In the same year the racing version of the 959, the 961 won its class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and came seventh overall driven by René Metge and Claude Ballot-Lena.

The Porsche 953 that was a modified 911 that included 959 components and took pat in the 1984-Paris-Daker.  Here it travels across a gravel trap at Laguna Seca!

1984 Renault 5 Turbo

Sheridan Bell, Renault 5 Turbo, Course de Cote d'Etretat-Benouville 2015.

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For more photos of the 2016 Etretat Hillclimb, follow the link above.

Renault, Dieppe, France.  The R5 Turbo was produced from 1980 to 1986. Over 3,500 street and rally versions were sold of this very fast hot hatchback.  It had a mid-engined 1.4 litre turbocharged engine which drove the rear wheels.  The street version could do 120 mph and 0-60 in about 7 seconds. With a light body it cornered very well as well. On its Rally debut, Jean Ragnotti won the 1981 Monte Carlo Rally.  He also won the 1982 and 1985 Tour de Corse in the R5 Turbo, the latter in a Renault 5 Maxi which had a 1.5L turbo engine.  On the circuits they were used mainly in one-make series with relatively little success elsewhere.