Tribute: Talbot Sunbeam Lotus



Talbot won one manufacturer title in World Rally Championship with the Sunbeam Lotus, which was a Group 4 car.

Talbot joined the World Rally Championship in 1979 and was competing with the with the Sunbeam Lotus. Talbot managed to become a WRC Manufacturer Champion with this car in 1981 before its departure from the WRC in 1983. However, Talbot continued as the main sponsor of Peugeot the next few years.

The engine had a capacity of 2.174 cc, was located front longitudinal and was a naturally engine with one double Dellorto 45 DHLA carburetor. Moreover, the type of the engine was a four-cylinder Lotus 911 combined with the five-speed manual gearbox ZF and a rear wheel drive. The body was a steel monocoque chassis with roll-cage while the suspension was with McPherson struts with coil springs on the front and live axle with 2 locating radius arms on the rear. The total output and the torque of this car were at 245 hp at 7.000 rpm and 256Nm at 6.000 rpm respectively. 


1979


In 1979, Talbot did not enter in World Rally Championship as a factory team, but only some privateers competed the Sunbeam Lotus. The most important of them were Jean-Pierre Nicolas who had a retirement due to an engine issue and an accident in San Remo and in Corsica respectively. The other one driver was Tony Pond who finished fourth at Rallye SanRemo while he had an accident at Rally Great Britain. Moreover, many drivers from Finland and Great Britain had the chance to get behind the wheel of this car on their home events, but the best result belonged to Pond with his fourth position.




1980

A year later, Talbot joined WRC as a manufacturer and signed Guy Fréquelin and Henri Toivonen. Both of them started their season from Rallye Monte Carlo where Frequelin secured the first podium for Talbot as he finished second overall while his teammate completed the top five. The team decided to skip the second WRC round which was held in Sweden, thus they participated in Portugal, but this time Toivonen finished in the second place of the podium while Frequelin was sixth. Talbot was absent from the next WRC round in Kenya and headed to Tour de Corse where Frequelin claimed the second place of the event, but Toivonen was forced to retire with a suspension damage. Acropolis Rally was the following round where Toivonen had another retirement while Frequelin finished in fourth position. Toivonen was absent from the next two WRC rounds, but Frequelin claimed the first victory of Tabot at Rally Argentina and finished second on the following event which was held in Brazil. Toivonen returned back to the wheel of the Sunbeam Lotus on his home event, but was forced to retire due to a distributor issue. Stig Blomqvist saved the game for Talbot with his eighth place as Frequelin was not present at Rally Finland. At Rallye SanRemo, Frequelin was not able to finish the rally due to an engine problem while Toivonen scored points for this team thanks to his second place. Talbot also skipped Rally Cote d’Ivoire and headed to the season finale in Great Britain where Frequelin and Toivonen retired with an accident and an engine issue respectively. However, Talbot scored points in this event thanks to Blomqvist’s third place. Finally, Talbot finished sixth on the manufacturers’ championship with 49 points.



1981

In 1981, Talbot Sport extended the deal of Henri Toivonen and Guy Frequelin while Gunnar Fagerling, Russell Brookes and Stig Blomqvist made some outings with the Sunbeam Lotus. The main two drivers of the British team started their season from Rallye Monte Carlo where Frequelin secured the second place of the event while Toivonen finished at the top five. Talbot Sport was absent from the second WRC round which was held in Sweden, thus they headed to Rally Portugal where Toivonen and Frequelin finished second and sixth overall respectively. Safaru Rally Kenya was the following round, but once again Talbot did not go there. At Tour de Corse, Frequelin claimed his second place of the season with the car whereas Toivonen retired with a suspension damage. At Acropolis Rally, Toivonen had another DNF due to wheel studs which means that Frequelin saved the game for Talbot with his fourth place. In Argentina, only Frequelin was the representative driver of Talbot and was able to take the first victory of the season for his team while afterwards he heads to Rally Brazil where he finished second. Toivonen returned back to the wheel of the Sunbeam Lotus after two rounds but he was forced to retire due to distributor issue on his home event. However, Blomqvist was the only driver who scored points for Talbot as he finished in eighth position. At Rallye San Remo, Toivonen bounced back by finished in the second place of the podium whereas his teammate retired due to engine problems. Talbot was not present on the penultimate WRC round in Cote d’Ivoire and headed to Rally Great Britain where Frequelin and Toivinen had DNFs due to an accident and an engine issue respectively. Once again, Blomqvist managed to score points for Talbot thanks to his third place there while Brookes had an accident on his home event. At the end of the season, Talbot was crowned as the 1981 WRC Manufacturer Champion with 117 points and left behind the second Datsun for 11 points.



1982

A year later, Peugeot took over Talbot’s team, but only few drivers made some appearances with the Sunbeam Lotus. The best result of the season was the fifth place which came from Antero Laine at Rally Finland. Stig Blomqvist and Guy Frequelin participated with this car on the final WRC round in Great Britain where they finished eighth and eleventh respectively.




1983-1986

Talbot withdrew their team from World Rally Championship at the end of 1982, but some privateers competed with the Sunbeam Lotus. The best result for this period was the sixth place from Antonio Zanini at Rally Portugal 1983.



Talbot Sunbeam Lotus was not such a memorable car to the WRC supporters, but Talbot or Chrysler managed to win a manufacturer title within three years since their enter in World Rally Championship back in 1979.

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