How iconic cars from each WRC era compare at the hands of Petter Solberg

As the World Rally Championship turns 50, we teamed up with Petter Solberg for a very special group test at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The 2003 world rally champion gets behind the wheel of an iconic car from across its five definitive eras to compare and map out the progress through the generations

Updated Aug 29, 2023, 8:26 AM

This year the World Rally Championship chalks up its half-century and in that time it has produced a plethora of iconic cars. From the Group 4 Alpine A110 that claimed the inaugural title in 1973 to the fire-breathing Group B monsters, the cult hero Group A classics, the manufacturer heavy World Rally Car era and today's Rally1 hybrid-powered beasts.

While the technology has advanced rapidly over the past 50 years, the cars continue to have this unique ability to instantly rekindle evocative memories, just as much as the drivers that drove them. Whether it's Hannu Mikkola and Michele Mouton taming the wild Audi Quattro or Colin McRae and Richard Burns sparking rally mania in the UK, guiding the famous blue-and-yellow Subarus to world titles in 1995 and 2001 respectively.

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Author Tom Howard

Tom Howard is a News Editor working across both Autosport.com and Motorsport.com websites. Starting out as a sports reporter in local newspapers, Tom focussed on motorsport covering several national championships in the UK, including the BTCC.

After a period working as a freelance journalist, Tom moved to Australia in 2013 landing a job at leading Australian motorsport news outlet speedcafe.com, covering international motorsport events including F1, WRC and Supercars. Progressing to Editor in 2017, Tom was named Motorsport Australia Journalist of the Year for his work. He is also a two-time winner of Supercars Journalist of The Year (2017,2019) and a Supercars Championship Media Award winner in 2019.

Tom moved back to his native UK in 2020, firstly working in BTCC, before joining Autosport and motorsport.com in 2021.