Before major manufacturers such as Audi, Lancia, Peugeot, and, of course, Ford sunk millions into R&D for the legendary Group B class, rallycross was the realm of the motorsport supercars, with F1 levels of power and 0-60 acceleration times that are still hard to believe some 40 years later. By the early 1980s, Martin Schanche had won the European championship three times, all in a trusty, and much modified Mk2 Escort. But by 1983, just as it had in rallying, Audi’s revolutionary four-wheel drive Quattro with hitherto-inconceivable amounts of traction, had well and truly changed the game. To match it, a new weapon was needed, one for which Schanche had several revolutionary ideas of his own. To bring them into reality, he approached Mike Endean, a man behind several high-profile,…
