Peugeot 205 T16 by Vitesse.


Peugeot's rally machine for the Group B era was the all conquering 205 Turbo 16, produced to promote their newly introduced 205 road car, this mid engined beast resembled its roadcar sister in name only. Homologation required 200 cars to be produced, of which many where destined to be fast roadcars, the lesser numbers became the rallycars.
Vitesse first produced the silver roadcar, which was model number 301. The works team rally cars then followed as model number 300, of which three versions could be produced with the decals supplied, these were Lombard RAC '84, Monte Carlo 85 and Sanremo 84. SM28 was the car Timo Salonen used on Portugal 85 As the works cars filtered down to the regional importers, these were also produced. SM23 was available in the colours of Peugeot Spain. SM24 contained two sets of decals, so the cars of Peugeot Deutschland as entered on the Hunsruck Rally and Peugeot Italy as entered on the Costa Esmeralda Rally could be completed, as long as you bought two of the model. Cigarette companies sponsored a couple of cars, the red, Belga sponsored , as used on the 24 Hours of Ypres was SM25, and the Galoises Blonde car used on Corsica was SM26. A more difficult to find version, is SM36, the Penthouse sponsored car used by Michelle Mouton on the Monte Carlo Rally. One promotional version has also been sourced, a plain white rallycar, tampo printed with the logo of Self Auto. All the original versions came with decals to be added by the purchaser, and a "bag of bits" to be glued on. This included, windscreen wipers, a door mirror and a roll cage. There is also a pair of black pieces of plastic, that we have no idea what they are for, if you do please mail us !!! During 2000, Vitesse have re-released the Works car from Monte Carlo 85 in a diorama box, the Belga and Galoises Blond T16's.
The EVO 2, the second Evolution of the T16 superseeded the EVO 1 for the 1986 season , complete with big wing roof spoiler, and two spliters at the front of the car. This was modeled by Vitesse. Only one of the Works cars was produced, this was 302, the car used by Timo Salonen on Monte Carlo 1986. Model 305 was listed in the Vitesse catalogue, but was only available on the continent, in very limited numbers and thus is extremely rare. This was the yellow EVO 2 rallycross car as used on the European Rallycross championship. It came in a special Nicholas Feuilliant liveried box, and can command prices of up to £100 each if you can find one !
The EVO 2 Grand Raid was introduced to compete on events like the Paris Dakar Rally, after the demise of the Group B Supercars on the conventional World Rally Championship. The actual car was longer than the conventional version, as a large fuel tank was slotted in between the engine compartment and the passenger compartment. The model by Vitesse did not incorporate this modification, but still looked very good. Model 303 was the Camel cigarettes version used by Ari Vatenan on the 1987 Paris Dakar. The Pioneer sponsored cars of Juha Kankkunen and Alain Abrossino were models 304a and 304b , as used on the same event the following year, while Ari Vatenan used a Peugeot 405 T16 that year (And got it stolen while leading the event !). It is not commonly known that both Pioneer 205 versions were available as models, as only one is listed in the catalogue.
The table below is a complete list of all known cars, if you know of any I have missed, please e-mail me with the details, and tell me where to get one !!!

Model No.SponsorCompetition No. / Rally
300Works Team2 / RAC Rally
300Works Team3 / San Remo
300Works Team / Monte Carlo
301Road CarMetalic Silver
302Works Team1 / Monte Carlo
303Camel Cigarettes205 / Paris Dakar
304Pioneer205 / Paris Dakar
304Pioneer207 / Paris Dakar
305Nicholas Feuilliate51 / Rallycross
SM 23Peugeot Spain5 / Costa Brava
SM 24Peugeot Germany2 / Hunsruck
SM 24Peugeot Italy5 / Costa Esmeralda
SM 25Belga Cigarettes3 / Ypres
SM 26Gauloises Blonde57 / Tour de Corse
SM 28Works Team6 / Portugal
SM 36Penthouse10 / Monte Carlo
PromoSelf AutoWhite