Sometimes I remember the most unusual things at the most inconvenient moments. How inconvenient? Try telling an anecdote to a police officer during a STOP operation at 4:00 AM.
The last episode of this kind happened to me last week. It wasn't during a STOP operation, but it was during the presentation of the specifications for the new 1.5 TSI engine for the Volkswagen Golf (which I'll soon publish here in Ledger Automobile).
While one of Volkswagen's technical managers presented the technological wonders of this new block, my mind – anyway, for reasons beyond my control – evoked an old myth.
The myth that Henri Toivonen, in 1986, was faster in the Estoril Circuit behind the wheel of his Lancia Delta S4 than the Formula 1 cars in that same year. Reportedly, Toivonen's time would put the Delta S4 in sixth place on the grid at the GP of Portugal.
A myth that populates the internet and that… oh!, I already know why I remembered the Toivonen myth during the presentation! Alfredo Lavrador, who is the national equivalent of Jeremy Clarkson (but he doesn't say “bacoradas”), spoke of the power of rally cars and… pimba!
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Out of nowhere, I remembered the Toivonen myth and started to tell him the story, “Did you know that Toivonen, blah, blah(…)” until the part where he interrupted me. "What?! A rally car from 6th place on a Formula 1 grid? You're crazy”, Alfredo said with the ease that is characteristic of him.Is it true, is it a lie or am I really crazy?
As for the last hypothesis, Alfredo is right – sometimes my ECU plays tricks on me. As for the rest, as you will see in the next few lines, the possibility that Toivonen "fly" in Estoril is not so far-fetched.
I heard so many times the story of Toivonen having fired up the Formula 1 kids that even Alfredo's questioning had never dared to question the veracity of the facts.
Let's face it, the idea of a guy being faster in a rally car than in a Formula 1 is so romantic, epic and *adject an adjective to your liking here* that it's almost a crime to doubt it. That's what Alfredo did, and he did very well…
Computer on my lap, cup of coffee keeping me company (sometimes I don't even drink it, but I like the smell. Manias…), Google turned on and let's get this story straightened out. Ready for a 30-year trip? Let's do it…
Welcome to the crazy 80s.
It's impossible to look back at the 80s without evoking feelings like admiration and longing.
Admiration for humanity to have survived rally regulations that allowed cars with more than 600 hp and Formula 1 cars with more than 1000 hp, among other things, such as the lack of nutritional information on packaging – live fat, die young or will it be live fast , die young? Whatever.
And miss it because, dammit, ignorance is a blessing sometimes, and just as I like to eat salt-laden french fries, I also like to see the spectacle of those cars. I'm sure if you look closely at this image, you'll find your father or grandfather at the apex of the winding curves of the Serra de Sintra.
Litanies aside, let's get to the facts. Did Henri Toivonen actually pilot the Lancia S4 at Estoril in 1986? Yes. The coffee was already cold when I finally found reliable information about this event.
Ninni Russo, director of the Lancia team at the World Rally Championship in the 1980s, confirmed this on the Red Bull website.
Is it possible for a WRC to be as fast as an F1?
Ninni Russo remembers that test with the freshness that is possible, more than 30 years later. Speaking to the energy drinks brand's motorsports section, Russo said: "It sounds incredible, but the gap between F1 and WRC back then wasn't as big as it is today."
In fact, times have changed today, and we are forced to show a wan smile when we see a “poisoned” B-segment SUV pass by. They are powerful, they are spectacular but… a Yaris, really?!
In the past, the smile was not yellow, it was open and sincere. It was the smile of someone who had just seen an authentic racing car pass by. Cars that actually made us dream. Try to dream of a Polo. Seriously, nobody dreams of a Polo or a Fiesta.
But I still haven't answered the €1 million question: is it possible for a WRC to be as fast as an F1?
Not obeying the regulations, but in a private test perhaps. It was not difficult to increase the power of the Delta S4 to 700 hp by increasing the pressure of the Turbo. Furthermore, we are talking about Henri Toivonen. One of the most talented, fearless and fastest drivers ever to sit between the baquet and the steering wheel of a rally car.
For Russo, if there was any man on earth capable of achieving a feat of this magnitude, it was Toivonen.
“In my opinion, Henri was the driver who played the S4 the best. It was a very difficult car. And attention! I'm not saying that the rest of the riders didn't have the feeling with the S4. But Henri had something else, he had a special feeling.
A driver who, unfortunately, was a victim of that same feeling. An accident a few months later robbed him of his life and the world titles he would surely win. In the image below, Ninni Russo talking to Henri Toivonen:
The myth begins to take shape
So far the scoreboard gives: Guilherme Costa 1 – 0 Alfredo Lavrador. We have the driver, we have the car, we have basically all the ingredients to continue to believe in this fantastic myth.So let's continue with Ninni Russo's statements.
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“A few weeks before the Rally de Portugal, there was a test in Estoril. It was a private test and indeed Henri had a good time – it's hard to say now what time it actually was. But it was a time that put him easily among the top 10 in the Formula 1 tests that took place in Estoril two or three weeks earlier”.
Wait a minute… tests? But it wasn't in the qualification of the GP of Portugal?! Tests are one thing, qualification is another. Bad… Guilherme Costa 1 – 3 Alfredo Lavrador.
As Redbull.com writes, 30 years have passed by now (I was just born). And as “whoever tells a tale adds a point”, however, Formula 1 tests began to be confused with qualifications during a Grand Prix. Is not the same thing.
Apparently, Toivonen and his Delta S4 didn't even have a chance against a Formula 1. Still, it's still a passionate story. And I tell you more. Here at Razão Automóvel, I have an obligation to tell the truth, but in conversations with friends I no longer have that obligation.
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So I hope you will follow my example. Next time you talk about cars with your friends, keep feeding the myth that in the 1986 Grande Premio de Portugal, from the second row of the grid, a rally car could have started.
If your friends are like mine, when it comes to cars, each one lies more than the other (no Sancho, nobody believes that your Mercedes 190 still works 200km/h), so… please spread this myth with all sauces . As for my friends, liars or not, I wouldn't trade them for anything. Nor those who call me crazy.
Source: Redbull.com