Very special cars, increasingly faster and more spectacular, became essential for teams seeking major honours as rallies grew ever more competitive through the 1960s, leading to the rally supercars of the 1970s and to a new breed of turbocharged four-wheel drive cars.

Outwardly, many related to normal production models; under the skin, and in performance, they were obviously very special.

In a unique series of contemporary articles, Autocar evaluated many of the leading cars of the period—far from being retrospective impressions, these were tests, often completed when the cars still carried the dust and scars

of a main-line event, including carefully measured performance data and dispassionate evaluations by professional testers, Geoffrey Howard, Ray Hutton, Michael Scarlett, Graham Robson and John Miles.

These tests, brought together in this book, form a representative cross section of the great rally cars of two decades, from the classic Austin-Healey 3000 and Mini-Cooper of the mid-1960s, through the Ford Escorts and Lancia Stratos of the 1970s, to the Audi

Quattro of the early 1980s.

An extensive introduction by Graham Robson recalls the history of international rallying through the period, the regulations which governed the events are explained and the championships are outlined.

More than 130 photographs show the cars in action, and on test, to complete a fascinating record of the cars of modern rally sport.