Toivonen's corner - Group B rallying's tragic mystery 

I was 12 when Henri (and Sergio) died. Gilles Villeneuve had been my hero in Formula One and then all of a sudden we the Finns we had a Villeneuve or a Senna in rallying. With Henri, most of my love for rally ended. It wasn't the same ever again. On the 30th anniversary of his death I visited Henri's final resting place in Espoo, Finland. Somehow the circle had closed. Thanks for the memories, Henri, you were something extra-ordinary.

The world of rally lost a true legend in the making that day......but his death lead to so many safety advancements and rules that saved countless others, so it was not in vain. RIP Henri....

I think the co-driver needs more mention for a video this long.

I love group B rally but not the fatal accidents. If you go fast be able to tell the story.

Group B blew race fans away. Then frequent tragedies began to occur. Personally l hated to see the end of the cars but at the same time couldn't bear to continue hearing of these horrible accidents.

its the first time I've ever heard of this and i already feel sad, i feel sorry to him and everyone around him

First good episode with people actually talking .

I would LOVE to see a modern day Group B brought back with todays more advanced safety technology.

Well...trying to find the correct words (I'm German)..... Henri was (is) my all-time-favourite Rallye driver..... I do own a Sunbeam Lotus (knowing that very special feeling of driving it !)...and I'm coming to Corsica since 1981 as a young buy with my parents. I have visited this point so many times and if you take your time, sit there beside the memorial and just accept to feel this place and it's horribly history...perhaps you know and understand that Rallye- Sport just changed here in May 2 of 1986.........thanks Guys for this very sensual report !!!!! Henry & Sergio - RIP !!!!

Thank you for covering this truly horrific accident respectfully and honourably. I hope the families are in some way comforted that their lost one's are still remembered and mourned long after their tragic deaths.

Thank you for this .

Great work on a sad subject, appreciate you making it.

I remember the day well when I was a kid watching this with my grandmother. Worst part of the story for me was finding out his widow and family never got payed by lanica for money earned up to his death.

That rally was a insane kms. of timed stages. Corsica in the 70s and 80s was the true "ironman" of rallying. With winding stages that some took more than 1 hour to travel, the longest in that edition of 86 was the last one of almost 84 km. Which along with those cars with turbo engines with more than 500 HP, super stressful to drive. It meant that during any break in any regrouping, the pilots needed the care of physiotherapists to relieve fatigue. A pilot with a bad flu, medicated, not being able compete, an absolutely irresponsible team boss who should not have let him race. A car with quite poor passive safety measures, like almost all Group B cars. Delta S4 was also a car with a power delivery that was too abrupt (the double supercharging that sought especially torque on low engine speeds became too abrupt, and only Henri could control it, but at the cost of taking many risks. And finally, the misfortune, or bad luck, of the impact of the car against some trees that broke one of the fuel tanks, with the engine very close to them, causing the imminent explosion and fire of the car, without time to get out car cabin. These are the possible reasons why Toivonen had the fatal accident, which unfortunately we still regret today.

I had the thrill of riding in the co driver's seat of the lotus sunbeam with Henry . What an amazingly skillful driver .

As a Rallying Fan of every level of the sport. I remember the day well. I found this video very moving. RIP HENRI and SERGIO

the thing that scares me the most to this day is just how little was left of the car once it was finally pulled out

Thank you for reminding us of this tragedy leading to the end of group “B.”

Group B was like a giant party in which not only everything was possible on paper - but also made ... But it was also a party of sweet, unbridled madness that took place in completely inhuman, technically disrupted cars the whole thing ended in 1986. If the cut hadn't come through Lancia, sooner or later it would have been through other accidents. It was beautiful and terrifying at the same time what was on offer at the time. For me, Group B will remain the ultimate in terms of vehicles and drivers. It was never again as fast, loud and shrill as it was then. Never again have the limits of what is technically feasible been explored so far, humans & machines have been brought to the edge of what is physically possible. Forever & unforgettable the cars, drivers & "filming locations" in Finland, Greece & Italy

I think tires and technology played a big role in the accident these cars were too fast for the technology available at the time and safety was just about non existent almost

I've always just heard "People Died in Group B" but never got context beyond that. Thank you for filling us in on one of the most critical moments in Rallysport history.

Toivonen was sick and taking medication for his flu. The cars were too powerful for this kind of track, several drivers complained about that, saying their brains couldn’t keep up. According to another rally driver, Toivonen suffered from blackouts since the neck injury he sustained the previous year.

Very informative piece. Thank you

Had the pleasure of watching Henri in the Rothman's Circuit of Ireland Rally in the early 1980's.

I especially appreciate the history lessons like these, it makes me love Motorsport even more. Let’s keep the men who lost their lives from being forgotten, which is the very least they deserve.

May 2 1986, the day group b died, the day I was born, what a cruel cosmic joke.

I feel it was the lack of a wall/barrier as much as the cars fault. The crazy thing is, current WRC cars are actually faster than Group B, and a driver would probably be able to walk away from the same crash in a WRC car today due to massive advances in fuel cells, fire suppression, and roll cages.

Thank you for this, greetings from Finland.

Other major deaths that changed safety improvements in different racing groups in the modern era: F1 - Ayrton Senna 1994 NASCAR - Dale Earnhardt 2001 Indycar - Dan Wherdon 2011 Other groups may have deaths that completely changed safety rules & cars.

I was 14 when this happened remember it being talked about all over tv and newspapers. He was one of the best sergio one of the best co-drivers. I loved group b then and would love too see some of those old group brally cars in action

The car did not go "straight off". It went off backwards. Skid marks indicated that, as did the chassis damag which shows that it landed on its tail. Bruno Saby and Mouton both said that the curve was the most deceptive spot on the stage and they each had marked it with excalamation points on their pace notes. The curve was near the end of a long stage. It was high speed and decreasing radius and the approach looked exactly like a dozen preceding curves on the stage. The S4's instant response, integral traction and speed were such that its crews were having great difficulty adapting their way of making and calling pace notes.

Those were the days. I was in middle of my 20s. Henri dies just before i start working in they firm. Workin in Toivonen to delivery car parts all over south Finland. I met mr.Pauli Toivonen about 2 times,and i remember it. I work there only about 2 months,but i just feel that sorrow. I was lucky to have a light scratch to legend. RIP Henry.

You'd imagine a twitch of understeer or simply carrying too much speed into the corner on slightly the wrong line coming out of the right-hand kink would've caused Toivonen's crash.

Walter Röhrl wrote in his book that Henri was absolutely fearless at the wheel. Unfortunately up to the point that often his warning lights failed him and he had lots of minor crashes. Quote: "With Henri I had the disquieting feeling that there could be a big one."

Never forget Henri and Sergio.1986 was a good and evil year, my favourite rally cars of all of time but gave us a lot of sadness

Henri had a heavy flu but Lancia forced him to drive to get the maximum. Thats nasty. Ironically Lancia was a way more succesful in Group A than group B.

Great content! Far better than the F1 over-analysis and bumbling.

Apparently, Henri would have blackouts after a neck injury, so one theory is he had a blackout during the corner.

I was rally fanitc and Sergio and Henri were my absolute idols, was totally devistated when I heard about this tragedy, thanks for the memorial guys ,

Thank you guys

Tragedy but maybe no mystery. A very good friend of mine, at the time competing in the Italian and European Autocross championship, was on regular base in Abarth. Since immediately after the crash, the reason of it was thought to have been the gas pedal sticking down. Toivonen’s car, chassis 211, had a fiber body, like all S4 and the gas’s pedal stop was hitting directly the fiberglass. After Toivonen’s crash, a metal plate was immediately riveted to protect the fiberglass of the other S4 from the gas pedal’s impact. Obviously there wasn’t any evidence of this theory, because the fiberglass was burned by the fire but this is what was circulating in Abarth because they fund evidence, in the other cars, that the fiberglass body was getting weakened from the continuous impacts of the gas pedal and at some point the stop could go through and wouldn’t come back. It’s a fact that Abarth decided to modify the gas pedal’s stop.

He was my favorite rally driver at the time ......

got goosebumps watching this.....i have had a broken steering u joint from the steering collumn to the rack....that would definetely explain the trajectory and the late skid marks in a desperate attempt to brake....that could have been investigated from the car wreck respect to Henri from Portugal...rest in peace

Great video. Very well done

What was left of the lancia after the crash was just unbelievable (R.I.P Henri & Sergio).

"Henkka" was our Finn's Senna of rallying...

Very sad , end of an era thanks for telling this story I've never known the real reason behind the end of group b

Henri Toivonen's brother Harri said in finnish interview that it was very likely that the gas pedal went throught the cars floor. The floor was very thin and it had happened once before for clutch pedal and for gas pedal in Lancia Delta S4. Those pictures also prove it because there were no braking marks. Source: yle.fi/urheilu/3-6589427

I remeber exactly the day, where I was...what I’m doing....Some newspaper and Tv said that Toivonen, started for the practice with a little flu, 38 temperature....but now, we can only speak and remember two great champions we lost.....

It's this sort of thing that's worth remembering when people these days complain about racing not being "pure" anymore and so on. True, perhaps. But nowadays Toivonen wouldn't have died.

🙏 May Good God Blessed Henri Toivonen & Sergio Cresto to a Better World & Realm ... 🌻🌿🌍

To see and hear a Group B car driven in anger was a visceral captivating experience, add a driver like Henri Toivonen or Colin Mc Rae unforgetable may the memory of all great drivers never fade especially on Irish tarmac.

Tiziano Siviero told (Miki Biasion's co-driver), on Miki Biasion's book, that when they arrived on the crash place and get out of the car, the were able to hear the Sergio Cresto's (Harri Toivonen's co-driver) screams... They were absoulutely two rally Gods and they will be remembered forever in the rally's history; rest in peace champions!

Henri was simply, on the edge of his tires, the slight rubber marks are from sliding, not braking. He was maybe 2-3kmh too fast. That's it. That's all, he would have locked up otherwise, but he didn't. The rubber transfers to the road AFTER its passed operating temperature.

2021 still remembered this epic documentary about "Toivonen DOOM Corner".

The warning signs were there in Group B for a while before this accident, Portugal 86 had several spectators killed, so FISA was running out of patience with Group B

Henry was with a huge flu all week, taking lot of drugs to treat fever, and even on youtube videos of that days, everybody can see how sleepy he was. Nobody no for sure what happen, (like if he will be champ or not) but i bet that no other team director would let him go for the road on that day. Fiorio knows well how Herny was physically and at the time, they ignored how the drugs start to work on the mental part. If we put a car with a insane power, with S4 standards on tarmac it was a huge cocktail that Cesare Fiorio should have avoided. Also Giorgio Pianta had talk about this at the weekend. We never know what happened, but i am more surprised if Henry and Sergio make it without a crash on his state. I have some documentaries, even some on old VHS about that, but everybody can tell how Henry was here on Tour de Corse 86 RU-vid videos. About the ban of Gr.B, Marc Surer death on 1986 ADAC Rallye Hessen helped too. However, it don´t solve nothing, next year on Monte another death and 2 years later the driver fatalities peaked in to 5 deaths only in the first three rounds of the championship. RIP Henry/Sergio. true legends.

It was a tragic accident which resulted in the deaths of a driver and co-driver. But it is worth keeping a sense of proportion. No-one else was injured or killed. Group B was notorious for the crowds standing on the road only to part as the cars passed by, and trying to touch the cars. A few were killed, some lost fingers which were found in the cars. Given the wanton risk-taking by spectators as a whole, it is remarkable how few were killed during that time. Think of the great cross-country races like the Mille Miglia. In 1957, Alfonso de Portago's crash (at 150mph in a Ferrari 335, caused by a blown tyre) killed not only him, his co-driver, and 9 spectators, two of them children hit by a road-side mile-stone. But the worst was the 1955 Le Mans disaster, which killed not only the driver Pierre Levegh, but also an estimated 80, or possibly lots, LOTS more. The authorities simply didn't know how many were killed. Hundreds had horrible injuries - there was lots of fuel in the car, and it had magnesium castings which just would not stop burning.... That crash led to the outright banning of car racing in several countries. Don't think this sort of alarm is new. In the very early days of motoring, there were lots of long distance races on public roads. So many drivers and spectators were killed that this was banned in many European countries, France and the UK included.

That looks like a brake failure, possibly major fade. Had that a few times. You press the peddle and nothing happens. Another is steering failure or maybe a deflated tyre. A rear left flat at that corner would lift the ground pressure or the front right. Looking at the minimal and one sided skid marks, I suggest this was the cause. RIP to great drivers. May your roads be ever clear and the weather sunny. 🙏

another stupid thing Group B was known for was crowds of fans on the track waiting for the cars, and just moving back as the car got close to them. Even the drivers said this was crazy. I am glad that was also stopped.

From what I’ve heard, He was tired and ill, the car is just one terribly unsafe monster to drive and just by looking alone I can tell the road was also one of the main problem. When you got a tired and ill guy driving one of the most untamable mechanical beast through unforgiving corner with unexpected curve and poor visibility, this what happens. Considering that the car got up in flame after the impact, the fuel cell built or placement is definitely poorly done. From what i can tell, that car was built to be nothing but fast without a single glint of care for the driver safety. What the hell was Lancia thinking? 🤦🏻‍♂️

The most beautiful car ever handled by one of my favourite drivers, the sight of that car coming through the narrow asphalt roads is something that just takes my breath away.

I was there a month ago on a motorcycle trip, these roads are superb, and sometimes scary. I would not race there! Rip

Nice little inside to the accident lad thanks!! I’ve heard/seen a lot about the group B cars and I guess they were super fast BUT with current WRC cars I wonder how safe they are....... because they are super fast too with their aerodynamics and lightweight build but high in safety also how good is stage safety.........🤔

R.I.P To the both of them driver & co-driver, so sad

He will be sadly missed by millions of rally fans

My brother and visited this place back 27 years ago and I was convinced they dropped the right rear wheel over the bank then the Lancia went over , I never thought he went straight on. Also Toivonen raced F3 cars and that approach to that corner is very wide then tightens immediately.

Thank you ❤️❤️😢😢

I rewatch 1986 season review of WRC over and over. Great/crazy season

He will always be remembered in my heart. What a legend! Last year I met Walter Röhrl. Another legend! Wish I saw these missiles fly by back then.

Wow, I never new about this, but frightening

The accident was caused by the following, or a combination of the following: 1) Henri was recovering from a bout of 'flu. He was very, very tired. Look at him after the first day. Absolutely knackered. Moreover, he was driving ten tenths even though he had a big lead. Why did he continue like this? 2) Alen and Toivonen had smelt fumes in the cars during practice. Was it a factor? 3) The pace notes were wrong. Is it terrible to say that? 4) Something broke on the car?? 5) He had a blow out? 6) He blacked out for some reason.

Jari Matti Latvala who won the rally of Sweden in 2008 dedicated his win to him because he became the youngest ever wrc winner after henri tovinen

Have been there twice to pay homage to the great man.. Such a sad event when Henry and Sergio were at the peak of their performance and Lancia dominated Group B and world rallying. I still wear the T Shirt in memory of them and the car. BTW the Tour De Corse Hystorique is superb and the island of Corsica is too. Usually held in early October when the Corsican weather can still be beautiful.

These cars had so much personality, originality between each one..

A grander memorial at the site is appropriate to honour these really brave people who put their lives on the line for the enjoyment of their fans. Vale Henri and Sergio.

Petrol tanks under the front seats is an awful place to put them..no safety in mind at all. R.I.P Henri and co.

Bless those guys for their bravery and will to entertain and to want to compete ... Hope you felt no pain ,, RIP

Unbelievably talented...and BRAVE drivers/co-pilots, in Group B. These cars were ground-bound missles, and could absolutely haul the mail. Self-sealing Gas tanks, and many other types of tech, probably could have helped/saved many racers; so the guys who followed them, owe much to these guys. Racing Group B and F1, was insanely dangerous in this time period...RIP to all of these highly talented Motorsport Gods

Your new video content is really great. Auosport have the potential to become the Discovery channel for motorsports.

There's actually a low res video of this accident shot from across the other side of the valley. Just enough detail to get an idea of how very violent it was... up in flames almost immediately. Love Group B, but it had to end. The only positive thing about fatal accidents in motorsport though is they always lead to significant improvements in safety, so ultimately those who lost their lives helped effect important changes & thus didn't do so in vain.

The S4 fireball incident was due too happen' especially fatal considering the positioning of fuel tank !

Great documentary on Group B called Madness on Wheels. About the start of group B and the ultimate finish. Its on Daily motion. Great documentary and one of the best ive seen on the subject. It has interviews with all the main people of the time as well. Lancia has to take more than the share of the blame for the death of Henri Toivonen.

Ask Walter Röhrl about Lancia, and you'll be understanding why he crashed.

As a kid, I was close to tears when Henri and Sergio were killed here, to me the guys, the car, the team were legendary and will never be forgotten, 33 years ago, wow, I hadn’t even thought of it being that long ago, it still seems like yesterday RIP Henri & Sergio 😢

I was lucky to see the Group B cars when i was a kid back in Madeira Island. Rali Vinho Madeira. Amazing Machines

2:47 Amazing to see that photo showing no wall.

I'm sure a lot of people have brought this up but to me it sounds a lot like a pace note error. I saw a video recently where it happened in modern rally so I'm sure it could happen then.

The only laws you cannot violate ..... are the Laws of Physics

People always forget the second person on the day of major accidents. Mentioning Senna at imola (who is my idol), but you can't forget Roland Ratzenberger either. Much like with Toivonen, everybody forgets his co-driver. RIP all involved

Must have been tough for the family of the co driver who is never mentioned ,

If I remember correctly Henry said in an interview he was feeling sick and physically exhausted. The Lancia team also put him under orders to continue the race too. It was probably because he was exhausted and feeling sick so he lost control.

The 6r4 metro was a beast and although great to see it was dangerous at the same time

Very valid points unfortunately it's not the most most famous corner in motorsport tamburello has that. However it's sad such great drivers are gone

Colin McRae and Nicky Grist had an almost identical crash in their Focus and both survived. The cars had safety advances as a result of Toivenen and Cresta crash.

Well, with maximum braking you shouldn’t see any marks on the road. There is less traction when skidding (which leaves a mark).

People need to look at it in that they died doing what they loved!

If I had my pick of any Rally car it would probably be the Lancia 037, but God damn the Lancia Delta was a wicked machine! Group B is/was so brilliant to watch, but it wasn't worth the cost. RIP to all the Rally legends who died doing what they loved, and thank you for entertaining us all with your brilliance ✌

Henri was my hero as I'd followed rallying as a young teenager since the late 70's. I was there when he won the RAC in 1980 and followed him closely from then on. As to all the bollocks about it being a mystery as to why he went off the road, it was a rallying accident, and Henri bless him, was an absolute master at having spectacular accidents. It's just that this particular one, he didn't survive. No fucking mystery about it whatsoever. Were Ari Vattenen's terrible Argentina accident, Attilio Bettega's fatal crash, Joaquim Santos' accident in Portugal, Marc Surer's near-fatal crash, and David Llewelyn's huge crash on the '86 Welsh all 'mysteries'??? Answer. NO. All Rallying accidents.

"worst crash in Motorsport history" yeah no.... Le man's 1955