From 19Bozzy92 on YouTube, a video of the fabulous Formula 1 V10 powered Peugeot 905 Evo, one of the last Group C prototypes, that even went well beyond what the original formula and intent of Group C was.
The 905 you see in this video should be chassis “EV14”, entered in April 1991 for the Suzuka round of the World Sportscar Championship. It was updated to the “Evo 1 Bis” specs catching two 2nd place finishes. For the 1992 season it served only as a spare. Watch it in action at Monza Circuit during the 2019 Monza Historic weekend by Peter Auto in the Group C Racing championship!
Following the new rules introduced by FIA in order to limit the extreme performance of turbocharged C1 cars built to the original rules, Group C saw the beginning of the “3.5-litre” era. Peugeot seized the opportunity and started working on the new car, called 905. It was unveiled in February 1990 and was developed throughout that year before making its race debut in the final two races of the season.
Peugeot decided to develop a V10 engine, called SA35. Conceptually it was compliant with the Formula 1 regulation of the time and, with little modifications, it was used on the 1994 McLaren MP4/9 F1 but with disappointing results. It was able to produce 620hp for endurance races or 680hp at 12,500 rpm during sprint races. The chassis and aerodynamic were built in collaboration with the French aeronautical company Dassault Aviation.
In the early part of the ’91 season the 905 suffered some performance and reliability problems but, more crucially for Peugeot, the car was a lot slower than the Jaguar XJR-14. It managed to achieve a lucky win in Suzuka but at the 24h of Le Mans both cars entered didn’t finish the race. In the remaining races of the championship a heavily revised 905, was introduced, called Evolution 1 Bis. With the exception of the carbon fiber monocoque chassis, Peugeot made changes to the whole car focusing mainly on aerodynamics. Now a separate wing could be bolted onto the nose for high-downforce tracks. It scored convincing results and wins, finishing second in the championship standings behind Jaguar, but ahead of defending champions Sauber Mercedes.
Peugeot’s main rivals both retired from the World Sportscar Championship, and in 1992 the 905 EV1B became one of only two factory efforts involved alongside the Toyota TS010. In addition, from that year only the new “3.5-litre” Group C cars could race in the WSC so that meant the Porsche 962s and Jaguar XJR-12s, highly used by private teams, were no longer allowed to run, with the exception of the Le Mans race. Peugeot won the 1992 WSC championship and the 24 Hours too (1st and 3rd place).
Before it was announced the cancellation of the 1993 championship, Peugeot had already started developing a new 905, called Evolution 2, but it was never raced. Although there was no World Championship, there was a 24 Hours of Le Mans where Peugeot scored an amazing 1-2-3 victory.
#Peugeot905 #PeugeotV10 #GroupC
Group C Sports Cars, the thunder of the '80s 