YouTube unearths some amazing video footage, and there’s perhaps none more chilling than this video of Finnish rally star, Henri Toivonen, crashing to his death in the 1986 Tour de Corse Rally.
Toivonen, driving a Lancia Delta S4, died on May 2, 1986, while leading the event. His American co-driver, Sergio Cresto, also died when the Lancia plunged down a ravine and exploded.
The fatal accident had no close witnesses and the remains of the car were merely blackened spaceframe, making it impossible to determine the cause of the accident. However this footage shows the car leaving the road and bursting into flames.
The chilling radio messages from fellow Lancia team members give you a real lump in the throat, as the driver who would no doubt have become World Champion, lost his life.
Within hours of the accident, Jean-Marie Balestre, then President of FISA (now the FIA), had banned the powerful Group B rally cars from competing the following season, ending rallying's popular supercar era.
Toivonen’s legacy lives on, but these video images highlight just how dangerous rallying can be.
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