18 brilliant homologation specials

Road racers

Motorsport’s rule-makers are brilliant, aren’t they? Okay, not a statement heard very often, but let’s run with it.

You see, not only have the rule-makers allowed car manufacturers to come up with some of the most outlandish racing machines yet created, but they’ve also had the foresight to stipulate that for cars to be eligible in certain championships there had to be a certain number of road cars constructed. Which means we get to see them on the road every so often.

Admittedly, car makers were quite adept at circumnavigating certain aspects of the rules, so often built fewer road examples than the rules dictated. Tut tut. Still, it makes the road cars even rarer, and therefore even more special when you actually clap eyes on them.

Here are 18 of the very finest homologation specials you’re unlikely to see any time soon.

1. Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR (1997-1998)

Back in the late 1990s, the FIA GT Championship was a competitive and attractive series for manufacturers to get into. It spawned incredible designs, and the cost was of secondary consideration. However, the rules also stipulated that a minimum of 25 road cars must be built for any car to be eligible.

The outlandish CLK GTR was the Mercedes entry, and is so raw that it is rightly considered to be a racing car for the road.

Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR (cont.)

It featured a 6.9-litre V12 engine that produced 604bhp, a hoop-style rear wing, rudimentary traction control, air-conditioning and leather trim. And that was about it for concessions to the demands of road driving. A couple of small storage bays allowed you to store your shades.

A grand total of 19 coupés were made, followed by six roadsters with the roof panel removed.

2. Vauxhall Chevette HS 2300 (1978-1981)

After seeing all the glory that was heading the way of the Ford Escort Mk2 due to its success in the world of rallying, General Motors decided it wanted some of that action.

So, the little Chevette hatchback had a 135bhp 2.3-litre motor shoehorned in, plus a different back axle and a five-speed gearbox. Glass-reinforced-plastic bodywork addenda and flashy stickers completed the transformation.

Vauxhall Chevette HS 2300 (cont.)

Vauxhall also had to build 400 examples for the road (although it may not have actually hit that number), and quite a few of those have seen the wrong side of a hedge since then. Rust has claimed a few too, so the Chevette HS is a scarce beast these days.

An evolution of the car, called the Chevette HSR, featured yet more outrageous bodywork and greater power.

3. Lancia Stratos (1973-1978)

The Lancia Stratos could legitimately hold claim to the title of world’s first purpose-built rally car. Anything else was a developed road car, but the Stratos was designed from the ground up to dominate the stages.

And so it did, winning the World Rally Championship in 1974, 1975 and 1976. It also won the Monte-Carlo Rally three times in a row, from 1975-’77.

Lancia Stratos (cont.)

No wonder. It’s a tiny thing that’s almost as wide as it is long, it weighs less than a tonne, and it’s powered by a gorgeous-sounding 2.4-litre Ferrari V6. It changes direction faster than a fleeing rabbit and is no slouch in a straight line.

Better still, it just looks fast. Lancia built almost 500 for the road, but the car has also spawned an extensive replica following.

4. Ferrari 288GTO (1984-1987)

You’ve got to feel sorry for Ferrari. Well, kind of.

There it was, happily developing this incredible car for the Group B regulations (which applied to track cars as well as rally cars), when the rug was pulled out from underneath them with the cancellation of the Group B racing series.

Ferrari 288GTO (cont.)

Still, what a road car the world ended up with. It has a twin-turbo 2.8-litre V8 engine (hence 288) that produced 400bhp and was mounted lengthways behind the cabin.

It would do 0-60mph in less than 5 secs and its top speed was 190mph, which are pretty special figures even today.

5. Porsche 911 GT1 (1996-1997)

When is a 911 not a 911? When it’s a GT1, that’s when.

Porsche wanted a bit of overall success in the mid-1990s BPR Global GT Series (which later became the FIA GT Championship), and noticed that you could build whatever you wanted, as long as you also made 25 versions for the road.

Porsche 911 GT1 (cont.)

That’s why the 911 GT1 is mid-engined instead of rear-engined, and has a chassis from the Porsche 962 racer. Oh, and a six-speed sequential gearbox.

Still, it has headlights from the 911 of the time, so that’s okay then.

6. Audi Sport quattro (1984-1986)

After dominating the World Rally Championship for a couple of years, Audi could see that its rivals were about to catch up.

So, engineers chopped 320mm out of the car’s wheelbase, widened the axles and fitted wider wheels, hacked the carbon-kevlar panels to fit, and got 444bhp out of the competition car’s engine. Enough to be going on with.

Audi Sport quattro (cont.)

Indeed, the car won the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb in 1985 with French ace Michèle Mouton at the wheel.

The road cars developed 302bhp, but looked scarcely any less intimidating, with a full-on bulldog stance that the Sport quattro is known for.

7. TVR Cerbera Speed 12 (1996-1998)

TVR wanted success in the FIA GT Championship and at Le Mans, and saw the Speed 12 as the way to do it. In the process, it developed one of the most insane road cars ever made.

TVR took two of its 4.0-litre Speed Six engines and mounted them in a V on a common crank. The story goes that when TVR mounted the car on its own 1000bhp dyno, the engine snapped the input shaft. Eventually, an official power output of 800bhp was claimed.

TVR Cerbera Speed 12 (cont.)

However, during the development process, the FIA GT rules changed to accommodate exotic machinery such as the Porsche 911 GT1, which rendered the Speed 12 obsolete.

The road car was developed under the Cerbera Speed 12 name, and its reputation was cemented when TVR boss Peter Wheeler took it home one night and declared it far too wild for the road. Deposits were returned to customers forthwith.

8. Plymouth Superbird (1970)

At the end of the ’60s, the cars competing in NASCAR were more closely based on road cars, so the motto ‘win on Sunday, sell on Monday’ was very much the case.

At this point, the good ol’ boys of NASCAR discovered aerodynamics, and so anything that would work well on the track, had to be made for the road as well.

Plymouth Superbird (cont.)

Hence the Plymouth Superbird, a modified Plymouth Road Runner with a nose designed to cleave the air and an enormous rear wing to keep the back end glued to the track surface.

And who should drive such an outrageous-looking machine? None other than ‘The King’ Richard Petty, who was lured back to Plymouth from Ford after seeing the machine.

9. Ford RS200 (1984-1986)

As four-wheel-drive Group B machines took over the world’s rally stages, Ford was left without a toy to play with. But like a spurned evil genius, it burned the midnight oil in darkened workshops and came up with this, the RS200.

It had a turbocharged 1.8-litre four-cylinder engine that produced up to 450bhp in competition trim and 250bhp on the road. However, a small(ish) engine and a huge turbo meant driveability was not all it could have been, and the RS200’s drivers struggled to match those of its rivals.

Ford RS200 (cont.)

It’s a shame that Ford never got to further develop the car, but after a fatal accident on the Rally of Portugal in 1986, Group B was banned at the end of the season.

There were 200 RS200s made, with spare parts for another 20 cars. Indeed, two more cars were eventually built up from the spares.

10. Chevrolet Camaro ZL-1 (1969)

If you were to name a list of mythical beasts, it’s a fair bet that a unicorn would be on it. And maybe Bigfoot. And the Loch Ness Monster.

Oh, and don’t forget the Chevrolet Camaro ZL-1. No, not the 2017 model, the original. From 1969.

Chevrolet Camaro ZL-1 (cont.)

Technically, the ZL-1 was an option package on the Camaro, but what a pack.

It had an all-aluminium 427cu in V8 with more than 500bhp, and it had all the other kit, including upgraded transmissions, to make it a winner on the drag strip.

The company built 69, and they sold like cold cakes in the face of escalating fuel prices. Shame.

11. Lancia 037 Stradale (1982-1984)

Lancia went all out with the 037, which was another purpose-built rally car in the vein of the old Stratos. It may have been very loosely based on a Lancia Monte-Carlo, but it was largely bespoke.

It also weighed little more than a tonne, and had a supercharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder mounted amidships, driving the rear wheels. Yes. Two-wheel drive. In the face of a four-wheel-drive tsunami. Still, it was oh-so-low and wide, so it had to be fast.

Lancia 037 Stradale (cont.)

It was very quick indeed, and excelled on sealed-surface rallies; it was the last two-wheel-drive car to take an outright win in the World Rally Championship.

Lancia built 207 road cars to comply with homologation regulations, and these are barely any slower than the competition machines.

12. Nissan R390 GT1 (1997)

Nissan racers were an honest bunch. They’d stuck to the rules when designing a GT car based on the Skyline of the early 1990s, but then they saw some other manufacturers playing a bit looser (and ending up faster) with the rules.

Strop ensued, and so they employed Tom Walkinshaw, a man famous for, let’s say, getting the most out of the rulebook.

Nissan R390 GT1 (cont.)

Designer Ian Callum was employed to pen a car around a chassis and cockpit from the Jaguar XJR, and so the Nissan R390 was born.

And of course, they had to build 25 road cars to comply with the rules.

They eventually built, ahem, one, which Nissan owns to this day.

13. Peugeot 205 T16 (1984-1986)

This is perhaps the most famous offspring from the Group B rallying regulations of the 1980s, and also one of the most successful.

In the hands of drivers such as Ari Vatanen, Timo Salonen and Juha Kankkunen, the Peugeot 205 T16 was devastating. It won the constructors’ titles in 1985 and 1986, and its drivers won the titles in those years, too.

Peugeot 205 T16 (cont.)

The company had to build 200 road cars to fit with the regulations, and so the road 205 is a very special car indeed.

It looks like it has long-travel suspension and a cheesy bodykit, but underneath is a mid-mounted 1.8-litre engine developing 197bhp (the rally cars developed twice this, quite comfortably) and a four-wheel-drive system.

14. Maserati MC12 (2004-2005)

The FIA GT Championship has a lot to answer for. In a good way.

It has long been seen as an effective way to enhance the reputation of manufacturers, and to get plenty of TV time in the process.

Maserati was one of those car makers. It wanted to return to racing after an absence of 37 years, and needed a car with which to make an impact. So, it took the chassis of a Ferrari Enzo and turned it into a machine to succeed on the track.

Maserati MC12 (cont.)

The MC12 is longer, taller and wider than an Enzo, and develops more downforce.

Maserati did more than most when building the 25 road cars required for homologation. It fitted the cars with leather, carbonfibre and the traditional Maserati analogue clock. No space for a stereo though.

Still, you can always take out the removable roof panel and enjoy the sound of the 6.0-litre V12 engine instead.

15. Porsche 959 (1986-1993)

It’s that pesky Group B again.

In 1981, Porsche wanted to develop a 911 for the future, with advanced technology at its core. The world of Group B rallying was seen as a perfect development arena, and so the programme began.

Porsche 959 (cont.)

The car had a 2.8-litre flat-six engine developed from that in the 956 Le Mans prototype, an automatic ride-height-adjustment system and Kevlar body panels.

It even had a four-wheel-drive system that could vary the amount of power to each axle depending on the level of grip available. And this in an age when computer technology was such that most kids were playing Manic Miner on a Sinclair Spectrum 48k.

Of course, to compete, Porsche had to build 200 roadgoing examples, and in the process came up with one of the greatest sports cars of all time.

16. Fiat Abarth 131 (1975-1981)

Politics, politics. In 1976, the Lancia Stratos was ripping up the world’s rally stages in a flurry of Alitalia stickers and V6 barks. But parent company Fiat was not happy, and wanted its 131 saloon to be front and centre in the world of mud and guts.

So, the Stratos was shoved aside, and coachbuilder Bertone employed to turn standard two-door bodyshells into rally cars. Oh and how they managed it.

Fiat Abarth 131 (cont.)

Plastic bodywork bulges, new wheelarches, and a new bootlid and bonnet were fitted, while the shell was altered to accept competition suspension.

The car became an icon in itself, winning the world championship for makes in 1977, 1978 and 1980, helped by the antics of stars such as Walter Röhrl and Markku Alén.

There were 400 examples built for the road.

17. BMW M1 (1978-1981)

This is it. This is genesis. The first car ever to wear the BMW ‘M’ badge. Kneel down and offer thanks to the gods of Bavaria.

The BMW M1 was built out of a desire from BMW Motorsport boss Jochen Neerpasch to take on Porsche in Group 5 racing. The car had to be mid-engined if it was to beat those pesky sorts at Stuttgart.

BMW M1 (cont.)

Initial chassis development happened in partnership with Lamborghini, but the Italian firm’s near-demise caused the project to be brought in-house at BMW.

Giorgetto Giugiaro designed the body, and it was powered by a 3.5-litre straight-six.

The M1 starred in the Procar BMW M1 Championship, which supported Formula One in 1979 and 1980, and the car was also competitive in its class at Le Mans for a number of years.

The road cars were pretty luxurious, and had part-leather trim, air-conditioning and a stereo, and in many ways set the template for the M cars that have followed.

18. Sunbeam Lotus (1980-1981)

Back at the end of the 1970s, the Chrysler brand was on its last legs. The Sunbeam hatch had sold well enough to keep the brand afloat in the UK but losses elsewhere around the world were crippling it. A ‘halo’ model was required, and soon.

Rallying was seen as a way to increase the brand’s desirability, largely because it was an easy way to show off the car’s ‘fun, rear-drive handling’ in the face of its front-wheel-drive rivals. So, Norfolk-based Lotus was employed to take a Sunbeam, add its own 2.2-litre engine, and turn it into a competition car.

Sunbeam Lotus (cont.)

However, Chrysler had become Talbot by the time the hot Sunbeam hit the road in 1979.

Nevertheless, the road car was exceptionally well received, and the rally version was good enough for Talbot to take the World Rally Championship constructors’ crown in 1981.

It helped young stars such as Henri Toivonen forge their careers, too.