Juha Kankkunen expresses desire to test a current hybrid car – Summer could be the time – Performance output almost like Group B
“I hope to test a hybrid car in the summer!” – Four-time World Rally Champion Juha Kankkunen can’t let it go, even at the age of 63. He used his visit to the Rally Sardinia at the invitation of tyre supplier Pirelli not only to find out about the latest hybrid bolides, but also to explore the possibilities for practical experience.
Kankkunen has never stopped rallying since the end of his career in the World Rally Championship (WRC) and continues to get behind the wheel of cars. He continues to follow the WRC very actively. Most recently, he drove a then-current Toyota Yaris WRC in 2019.
The Finn doesn’t want to compete, but Kankkunen wouldn’t mind a quick test drive, “I hope to test a hybrid car in the summer. I just want to try it out a little and feel the differences compared to the previous cars. “
“I have driven quite a few cars. It’s interesting because [the Rally1 cars] are a bit heavier in direct comparison, but have a lot more power when you switch on the hybrid. They can make up to 500 hp.”
Older rally fans are likely to go into raptures at this figure; after all, 500 hp was the continuous output of the Group B bolides in the mid-1980s. The engines were capable of near four-figure output for a short time at the end of their development cycle, the only limiting factor being durability.
Kankkunen won the WRC title with Peugeot – albeit through an FIA appeals court – in 1986, when the last stage of development of the Group B cars came into use before they were banned by the FIA for 1987.
Of course, the times are not comparable. The power delivery of today’s rally cars is more linear than that of the “monsters” back then. On the other hand, nowadays you have to drive full attack on every single special stage, whereas in the 80s it was much more important to bring the car over the much longer distances.
“The cars I’ve driven recently are so much easier to move,” confirms Kankkunen. “Let’s put it this way: the old man can get 90 per cent out of them. The last ten per cent is for the younger generation. “
“These cars are really nice to drive. The aerodynamics and suspension work great. That’s how the technology is evolving.” His last WRC start was in 2010 at the Rally Finland, when, as a star guest for the rally’s 60th anniversary, he took a respectable eighth place and a WRC point in a privately entered Ford Focus.
