World's most unlikely rally cars

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We all know about the Subarus, Audis and the Lancias - the classics of the rallying world
But what about those slightly more...unusual rally cars? From luxury tourers to track bred racers, let's take a look at some of the best.

Suzuki Ignis - 2002
Suzuki may have had a cutting edge image among motorcyclists in 2002, but it was better known for off-roaders with its cars. This is where the Ignis stepped in to help the company’s profile by going rallying in the Junior World Rally Championship with a Super 1600 specification car.

The five-door Ignis rally car proved successful on the stages and with the public, so much so that Suzuki launched the roadgoing Ignis Sport. The only problem here was the rally car was a five-door machine with 250bhp, while the road cars was a three-door of awkward styling and a meagre 1.3-litre motor. Little wonder only 400 found homes in the UK. However, success in rallying came with the 2004 JWRC title for Per-Gunner Andersson.

Land Rover Defender - 2014
The Land Rover Defender is famed for its off-road ability, but speed is rarely part of that. Bowler changed this when it created the Defender Challenge as a way to introduce more drivers to the rally raids and hill rallies.

A mixture of stage and hill rallies made up the first year’s competition in 2014, with seven events in total. Supported by Land Rover itself, the cars were based on Defender 90 Hard Tops with their 2.2-litre turbodiesel engines boosted to 170bhp and 332lb ft of torque. A roll cage, fire extinguisher, uprated suspension, underbody protection and lightweight 18-inch alloy wheels completed the £60,000 package.

The Defender Challenge came to an end in 2016 when production of the iconic Land Rover model stopped. However, many of the cars have gone on to continue their motorsport careers in hill rallying. They also make for entertaining road cars as they were all built to be road legal.

Citroën BX 4TC - 1986
Citroën was not always a huge force in the World Rally Championship and the BX 4TC carries the blame for that. Developed with too little money and not enough engineering sophistication, the BX 4TC competed in the infamous Group B category but couldn’t hold a candle to the likes of Lancia, Ford or Peugeot. Still, at least Citroën built 200 roadgoing BX 4TCs for those brave enough to buy one.

A 2.1-litre engine delivered 380bhp, but the four-wheel drive system of the 4TC was crude. It was also a larger car than many of the compact Group B weapons from other manufacturers, so the BX was not as nimble. It made its debut on the 1986 Monte Carlo rally but both entries retired on home turf. Sixth place in Sweden was some consolation, but misery on the Acropolis Rally saw Citroën pull the plug even before Group B was banned.

Triumph TR7/8 - 1976
The TR wedge’s rally career was another example of British Leyland settling for defeat where victory should have been the result. Already delayed into production, the TR7 was underpowered, so Triumph fitted the 16-valve Dolomite Sprint engine to its rally car and tuned it to 220bhp. It handled well, but lagged behind the 265bhp Ford Escorts.

In 1978, rule changes made the TR7 rally car illegal as Triumph didn’t sell a 16-valve roadgoing version, so the TR7 V8 stepped in. It’s Rover V8 powerplant gave it the power with 300bhp, even if handling was slightly upset by the larger engine. Tony Pond used all of his considerable talent to wrangle results from the TR7 V8 and scored wins on the 1980 Manx and Ypres rallies, accompanied by that fantastic V8 bellow.

Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow - 1970
The 1970 World Cup Rally was the longest ever motorsport event at that time, covering 16,000 miles through 25 countries in 16 days. The publicity potential was not lost on Rolls-Royce owner Ray Richards, but Rolls only offered under the counter support. So, Richards relied on rally stalwarts Bill Bengry and David Skeffington to sort the car.

This pair ditched the Shadow’s air conditioning and air suspension for the sake of reliability. They whipped out the US-spec smog emissions equipment and also routed the exhausts out of the bonnet and over the roof to improve ground clearance. The car went well, albeit with plenty of running repairs, until the rear suspension became fatally cracked in southern Brazil. With not enough time to fix it, the team was out of the rally but continued on the route to offer support to other teams still in the race. So, the Silver Shadow made it to Mexico even if it was not officially classed as a finisher.