LION KINGS

WHEN IT PUTS ITS MIND TO IT, PEUGEOT 1 WINS LE MANS THE BEAUTIFUL 905 AND BRUTAL 908 ARE TESTAMENT TO THAT. CAN THE STUNNING NEW HYBRID 9X8 HONOUR THEIR LEGACY?

- BEN MILLER

1992 905B EVO 1 BIS

TODT'S V10 TEARJERKER

CREATED IN THE dying days of the Group C era to compete under the FIA's then-new 3.5-litre regulations, the 905 started life neither beautiful nor fit to challenge at Le Mans. But by 1992 it was both, the elegant V10engined machine winning at Silverstone, Le Mans and Suzuka on its way to glory in the 40th and final event of the FIA World Sportscar Championship. The car recorded a second win at Le Mans the following year, and with that the architect of its success - Peugeot Talbot Sport lynchpin Jean Todt (you may have heard of him) - headed to Maranello to build a new empire in scarlet.

Remarkably, the 905 was created by a team with no prior circuit racing experience. While Peugeot Talbot Sport's Group B 205 T16 had won rallies, bagged drivers' and manufacturers' titles and conquered the Dakar (twice), it and the later 405 (of Pikes Peak legend) taught their maker next to nothing about the fine art of sportscar racing. Work on the 905 began in 1988 and Todt, acknowledging the paucity of relevant experience in his 120-strong Vélizy-based equipe, hired himself something of an A-Team. Under technical director André de Cortanze (formerly of Alpine and Renault), Robert Choulet (whose CV included the long-tail Porsche 917) sculpted the 905's body and monocoque while French plane manufacturer Dassault was approached to craft these structures in light, stiff and impact-shrugging carbon fibre. Engine Jedi Jean-Pierre Boudy, who'd worked on Renault's successful V6 turbo F1 program, was tasked with creating the V10: an all-aluminium, 40-valve masterpiece initially rated at a very conservative 450kW at 12,000rpm... It'd ultimately make nearer 485kW.