This was one of the first Ralliart cars built. We drive it, and meet two other examples that prove the Mitsubishi Starion is an unsung motor sport hero.
It’s likely that among the cars we have here, for those of a certain age at least one bounces off the page, rebounds off memories of teenage bedroom walls and slams straight into your affections. Hands down, for me it’s the Cossie. Not for me Porsches, Ferraris or Lambos. For many others it was the same – why? Because this was a Ford Sierra – a car that, albeit initially unloved, swiftly became as much a staple of British life as Woolworths and Bullseye. Only this Sierra had a turbocharged fourpot and a rear wing seemingly large enough to perch Concorde on. Oh, and with some relatively minor modifications, could be tuned to 350bhp and beyond, blowing automotive exotica into the weeds.
The Audi Quattro was by no means the first four-wheel-drive road car, but prior to this they were exotic curiosities or (slightly) sanitised off-roaders. The UR-quattro was something different. Previously, the performance car was largely defined by an even number of cylinders, usually naturally aspirated and rear-driven. The Audi Quattro stripped all that away with a warbling five-pot and a turbocharged surge that brought white-knuckle wastegate-whistle adrenalin to a relatively mass-market executive coupé – one that looks like it’s been pounding the weights in the gym. The sheer brutality of designer Martin Smith’s vision is still staggering. Remember – the Quattro was launched when the condom-beaked MGB was still on sale.
Aimed at amateur racers wishing to pit their talents against a few hardened pros, the 944 Turbo Cup series spawned motorsport machines almost identical to their roadgoing siblings. Suddenly, anyone could play race driver...
The last Heron MJ1 — the world’s only fibreglass monocoque production car — was built after the factory closed its doors when the owner’s mum decided she needed a project.
When we first clapped eyes on Nick Ponterio’s incredible Mk2, we had no idea it was the same car that graced these pages almost a decade before, albeit in a very different guise.
There’s just something so right and timeless about a Rallye-fronted, Audi-handled, big bumper Mk2 and Gaets Orr’s 24v V6 example is one of our favourites. Here’s why…
All-wheel-drive technology has defined the Audi brand for more than four decades, so it’s a moment to savour when the latest model to wear the famed quattro badge meets its formidable forebear.
