A photograph showing the 200
cars was famously rumoured to be a fake. Apart from the appearance, the road variants had
practically nothing in common with the regular production model and shared the transverse
mid-engine, four-wheel drive layout of the rally car, but had less than half
the power; at around 200 PS (147 kW; 197 hp).
The T was for
Turbo; the 16 stands for 16 valves. The road going Turbo 16 205s were built by Heuliez.
Outwardly similar to a normal 205, the T16 had wider wheel arches, and the
whole rear section lifted up to give access to the engine. Underneath, the
complex drivetrain from the rally car was kept to abide by the Group B rules.
All 200 built were left-hand drive.
Peugeot 205 Turbo 16
Dakar.
Peugeot
Talbot Sport's factory 205 T16s under Jean Todt were the most successful cars
to compete in the last two years of the World Rally Championship's Group B era,
winning the 1985 and 1986 Constructors and Drivers' titles with Timo Salonen
and Juha Kankkunen respectively against such notable competition from Audi, Lancia
and Ford, with an Evolution 2 model being introduced for the latter of those
two seasons.
