Alpine A110
Rallying was part of Jean Rédélé's heritage from the moment he began his sports-car business. He established Alpine in 1955 to honor his previous year's victory in the Alpine Rally where he finished second overall and first in his class driving a Renault 4CV. The A110 became Rédélé's most important model which he developed from the basic Renault 8 vehicle components. The vehicle showed good results in races until Rédélé started using the Renault 16 engine upgrade which increased its power capacity.
Austin 1800
The Austin 1800, which resembled an expanded version of the Mini, failed to meet expectations as a vehicle which could compete successfully in international rallies except for the London-Sydney Marathon. The first Marathon was held towards the end of 1968, and several teams (including that of what had recently become known as British Leyland) guessed that reliability would be a far greater factor than performance.
Austin Seven
The Seven represents an early version of a 'people's car' which provides family transportation to customers who cannot afford more advanced vehicles.
Although his activities show no connection to motorsport, he achieved substantial success in racing and record-breaking events through his extensive development work on engines which included supercharging and his use of single-seat vehicles.
Austin-Healey Sprite
The original Sprite was a small roadster which used a BMC A-series engine with 948cc capacity as its power source. The designers created the vehicle to deliver driving enjoyment which would not produce exceptional speed capabilities. The project lacked any potential to win major sports competitions but achieved its own type of success which appeared shortly after the start of operations. The 1958 Alpine Rally saw three Sprites take control of the 1.0-litre class after production began. Three Sebring Sprites which had upgraded components and new bodies yet maintained their basic design performed the same feat at the Sebring 12-hour race in Florida the following year.
Citroën Xantia
Citroën introduced the Xantia as their competitor to the Ford Mondeo and Nissan Primera plus other 1990s mid-size hatchback models. The Activa model used standard hydropneumatic suspension. Some vehicle models operated with high-performance engines. Jean-Luc Pallier created a competition vehicle by upgrading the 2.0-litre turbo engine to a more powerful version. The vehicle maintained its hydropneumatics system which operated in an improved form.
Fiat 600
The 600 which came after the 500 became more successful as an economy vehicle, while it became the first Fiat to use unibody design together with a back engine.
The car's straight-line speed proved to be its least impressive characteristic for anyone who has driven it.
The Abarth 1000 TC derivative achieved great success in saloon racing because it won all events of the lowest-capacity class that were held throughout Europe.
Fiat 131
The Lancia Stratos, which used Ferrari as its engine, became the most powerful Italian rally car of the 1970s because its design showed winning potential when it stood still.
The Fiat 131, which had a boxy design and rear-wheel drive system, shared similar dimensions with the Ford Escort. The Escort achieved remarkable success in its competitive version, which made it comparable to the Fiat.
The 131 Abarth Rally used a lightweight body that Bertone created together with an Abarth 2.0-litre 16-valve engine, which later developed a power output of 245bhp.
Ford Cortina
The Mk1 Cortina saloon, which was introduced to the market in 1962, achieved great success through its basic design, which operated with two engine options.
Lotus acquired the vehicle in the next year, which led to its development through multiple changes that included the installation of their unique 1.6-litre Twin Cam engine, which operated on the Kent engine base.
Ford Escort
The first-generation Escort served as a direct substitute for the Anglia which had been manufactured in the United Kingdom. But Ford launched the vehicle in 1968 because the company realized that motorsport success would generate extensive media attention for their brand.
The Lotus Twin Cam engine has been part of the product line since the beginning. The RS 1600, which Ford introduced in 1970, came equipped with the more powerful Cosworth BDA engine as its standard powertrain.
Highly tuned versions of the RS 1600 achieved greater success in rallying than the larger Lotus Cortina. However, their success did not reach the level of the Mk2 RS 1800, which won the World Rally Championship in 1979. In the UK, Escorts in general were almost the default choice for any rally crew in the 1970s.
Hillman Hunter
The Hunter is not normally considered a racing vehicle yet it achieved victory at one of the most prestigious rallies in 1968. The Hunter was constructed to compete in the London-Sydney Marathon which required its development to be done with extremely limited financial resources. The budget allocated to the project primarily went toward purchasing new parts that had a risk of failure (the team used an Aston Martin DBS rear axle during the competition) and to support complete vehicle restoration that occurred during a break in Mumbai (which was known as Bombay at that time). Andrew Cowan Colin Malkin and Brian Coyle won the race using the Hillman Hunter which had heavy weight and low power but proved to be nearly indestructible. The team achieved their victory despite facing two major challenges which included Roger Clark's Cortina breaking down and Bianchi and Ogier's Citroën crashing.
