Henri Toivonen left us 37 years ago on this day

Thanks for remembering us.

dixit:
Eddie Jordan called Toivonen's performances "incredible" and compared him to Ayrton Senna. After Toivonen's death, Jordan weighed in on his chances in Formula One:
"I don't know if he would have become a champion in Formula One. It always takes a lot of luck, and now [after the accident] one can doubt if he would have been granted that. But he would have won Grands Prix – of that I'm absolutely sure"

Was one of the great ones and Rallying was never the same after the accident that killed Henri and Sergio.

 

Was there any definitive decision ever made as to the cause of his fateful crash ??

 

Shocking and heartbreaking.

 

Very sad ending to an era that will go down as Rally's finest.

 

The Group B era was the only time I may remember when WRC got any attention at all
in the U.S. as events were broadcast on tape delay, edited basis on ESPN just as F-1
was at the time.

The Toivonen tragedy put paid to the category as J.M. Balestre, who was under enormous
pressure from governments and even the Vatican ended it as too many drivers and spectators
were getting killed on an almost weekly basis.

There was an interesting documentary out a few year ago called "Too Fast To Race" that
was very well done.



BHW

 

RIP Henri.
That was a glorious time for rallying, and the 80s were also my youth.
Ari Vatanen, Walter Rohrl, Timo Salonen, Hannu Mikkola - and our very french Michele Mouton, they were all my heroes.

 

The FIA had to abandon Group B to save rallying.
Several countries in Europe were threatening with a ban.
The problem of crowd control has never been solved with satisfaction though ...