WRC Classics: 1997 and 1999 France & Spain. FWD beats 4WD *Video and pics*

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1997 WRC Round 5: Rallye de España VIDEO

Rally Notes-
Liatti vs Makkinen battle
306 F2 Class Battle


1997 WRC Round 5: Rallye de France VIDEO

Rally Notes -
Tommi Makinen's incredible 100 mph crash into a cow.
One of Colin McRae's greatest ever drives in the Impreza
Peugeot's 306 Maxi scares the competition on tarmac.


1999 WRC Round 5: Rallye de España VIDEO

Rally Notes -
The 4wds: Peugeot 206, Subaru Impreza, Ford Focus, Mitsu Evo VI, and Mitsu Carisma GT
The Fwds: F2 spec Citroen Xsara Kit Car (ex 306 Maxi)

1999 WRC Round 5: Rallye de France VIDEO

Rally Notes -
4WD Names: Colin McRae, Richard Burns, Carlos Sainz, Tommi Makinen, Didier Auriol, Juha Kankkunen, Gilles Panizzi.
Fwd names: Philippe Bugaalski.


Back in the mid 90's, the FIA wanted to create a class that would go below the WRC car. They created what was called Formula 2 (Kit Car). The class existed between 1995 and 2000 and in order to compete, the manufacture had to create a vehicle that was FWD, Naturally Aspirated, and built on an existing production platform.



In order to promote its 306 road cars, Peugeot sport created the 306 Maxi.
While most of the Kit cars were no match for the WRC cars of the time, the Peugeot was incredibly close. In fact, in 1996, 1997, and 1998, the Pug took many stage wins on tarmac rallies and finished on the podium on numerous occasions. It was so fast that the WRC runners began to argue its better power-weight ratio even though they had a traction advantage.

Rally-info quotes.

It didn't take long for Peugeot to create a car to the new F2 Kit Car rules based on the promising 306 S16. By the French Championship Rallye Alsace-Vogues 1995 the new 306 Maxi debuted and everybody just loved it. It was so wide that a stage had to be shortened because the 306 Maxi was wider than a bridge near the stage finish! And it was screaming like mad - but a lovely, dark noise - because the 306 Maxi engine was designed in line with the 406 STW touring car engine. But other than the touring car, no maximum rev rules applied to the 306 Maxi rally car and Peugeot Sport duely managed to let the thing rev beyond 10,000rpm without demolishing its reliability - which makes the claimed figure of near WRCar like 300BHP quite believable.

The most shocking case probably was the 1998 Tour de Corse, when Francois Delecour came 2nd, only a matter of seconds behind Colin McRae's Subaru Impreza WRC but in turn i.e. over 16 minutes ahead of Martin Rowe's F2 Renault Mégane or over 17 minutes ahead of Alister McRae's F2 Hyundai Coupé Kit Car! In fact Francois was beaten by Colin by only a few seconds, and that in mostly wet conditions and with a question mark over the legality of the tyres Subaru used.

In 1999, when Peugeot decided to create the 206 WRC car, the fwd 306 Maxi platform was then given to Citroen. Citroen sport then continued to run the new Xsara Kit Car (306 Maxi in disguise) against the WRC competition. To everyone's astonishment, the FWD Xsara was too fast for the 4wd competition in tarmac rallies. Philippe Bugalski won two events and even Peugeot Sport couldn't believe the cars success considering their 4wd 206.