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Opel and rallying - a connection with history. Because what today with the all-electric Corsa-e Rally drifting around the corner at the ADAC Opel e-Rally Cup, already inspired fans in the 1970s and 1980s with legendary Opel rally cars and drivers. After successes with the Kadett GT/E and Ascona A, the climax of the 1982 season: With the rear-wheel drive Opel Ascona 400, Walter Röhrl wins the world championship against extremely strong competition with all-wheel drive. With all the outstanding achievements of the technicians at the time, it took this very special pilot who was able to make the dream of the title come true. And quite simply the best of his craft: Walter Röhrl - an exceptional driver, a Bavarian veteran who now, exactly 40 years after his successes in the Opel Ascona 400, can also celebrate a big anniversary: On March 7, 2022, the "tactician and Fighter, the strategist with strong nerves, as valued by his fans and feared by his opponents” – and as Röhrl in "The Opel Rally Story" is characterized – 75! Opel congratulates the rally, touring car and sports car ace and says: "Congratulations, Walter Röhrl!"
The 1970s: Opel and Röhrl celebrate their first rally successes
Born in Regensburg in 1947, sports were the focus of Walter Röhrl from an early age: football, rowing, skiing – and finally motor sports. According to his own statement, the young Bavarian made a conscious decision in favor of "rallies instead of circuits". A spot on decision, as the future will prove. The then 1973-year-old drove for Opel from 26. And with Jochen Berger as co-driver at his side, the team won the European Rally Championship just one year later. The winning car: a works Opel Ascona A. The following year, Röhrl achieved the first victory in a World Rally Championship race for himself and Opel, but in 1977 the exceptional young driver and the brand with the lightning bolt went their separate ways. At this point in time, no one suspects that the greatest joint sporting triumph is yet to come.
Victory in the Monte Carlo “Jubilee” Rally in 1982: a tailor-made start to the World Championship
In 1982, Walter Röhrl returned to Opel. While Jochen Berger is now team manager of the Opel Motorsport department, his new co-driver Christian Geistdörfer also made a decisive contribution to the success of the “Mission Monte Carlo”. And the Opel Ascona B 400! The Opel engineering team under chief technician Karl-Heinz Goldstein designed a rally car for the Röhrl/Geistdörfer duo, which was considered one of the most reliable motorsport vehicles at the time. The rear-wheel drive with up to 191 kW/260 hp (further information about the vehicle at the end of the text) is exactly the right vehicle for the drift artist to prove his skills against the all-wheel drive Audi quattro at the 50th edition of the Monte Carlo Rally.
In Röhrl's biography, Karl-Heinz Goldstein describes how the team consisting of a sophisticated vehicle and a determined pilot worked "note" like this: “Before last night he was only 31 seconds ahead of Hannu (Mikkola on Audi). Then Walter chose the Col de Madonne as the point where he wanted to decide the rally and practiced there all day. That night he put everything on one card. He drove the Madonne to the extreme limit. There he broke Hannu's fighting spirit.” Röhrl thus wins the legendary Monte Carlo Rally for the second time – and for the first time with Opel. A tailor-made start to the 1982 rally season.
Rallye Ivory Coast: exciting until the end
In the following races, the 1982 World Rally Championship developed into a true crime thriller that many people still remember today. The duel is Walter Röhrl in an Opel Ascona 400 against Michèle Mouton in an Audi quattro. While the four-wheel drive rally vehicles have the advantage on snow, gravel and unpaved roads, Röhrl, as a strategist with strong nerves, waits for the right moment to score points with his Opel.
The math worked out: the penultimate race of the season, the 5.000-kilometer Rallye Ivory Coast, which was not particularly popular with Walter Röhrl, decides the Drivers' World Championship. While the Opel Ascona 400 runs like clockwork and can withstand every hard blow, the competitors are less characterized by reliability. Or like Klaus Buhlmann in "The Opel Rally Story" comments: “The result of this world championship seemed fair: Opel recorded two, Audi seven world championship victories. However, while Mikkola and Mouton were often spectacular, Röhrl scored with the reliability of a computer. His 'balance sheet of arriving at outstanding positions' alone is unique in the history of this sport and deserves the highest recognition. Certainly the success of an unusual driver, but also the merit of a good team, which with the Opel Ascona 400 entered what is probably the most reliable rally car of this era!" With this unique combination, Opel and Röhrl/Geistdörfer were able to successfully assert themselves against the all-wheel drive Audi quattro and together secure the driver's world championship title with 109 points that is unassailable. The training vehicle of the two still enriches the extensive historical collection of Vauxhall Classic.
Strong in opinion, focused, successful: the personality Walter Röhrl
Röhrl is known for not mincing his words. It was always about proving that he was the best rally driver in the world and "can win in any car" - which he did impressively with the Opel Ascona 400 as a driving machine. The fact that he often sat in his car and studied the instructions in the "prayer book" for the next section of the route while other drivers talked to each other in the service parks is less due to his restraint than to his perfectionism. And so he is still admired as a racing and rally driver by fans all over the world: as a person who dares to fly the flag in professional sport. John Davenport, British Leyland's former rally co-driver and motorsport boss and one of his contemporaries, published the effective mixture of Röhrl in the British magazine in 2002 "motor sports" perhaps best described: "A very special combination of outstanding talent, stubborn determination and brutal honesty." Happy 75th!
The 1982 World Rally Champion car: Opel Ascona 400 Group 4
| Body: | Two-door design, roll cage and underbody protection integrated; fiberglass bonnet; spoilers in front, on the side and on the trunk lid; wind splits |
| Engine: | Four-cylinder petrol engine, bore 95 mm, stroke 85 mm, displacement 2.420 cm3; two overhead camshafts, aluminum cross-flow cylinder head with 16 valves; two Weber double carburettors. four-in-one exhaust system; electronic ignition system (Bosch); dry sump lubrication |
| Power: | Up to 191 kW/260 hp at 7.000 rpm-1, Max. torque 280 Nm at 5.500 rpm-1 |
| Transmission: | Getrag five-speed gearbox, single-disc clutch, limited-slip differential. Rear axle ratios 3,18:1 to 5,3:1 |
| maximum speed: | Up to 225 km/h (depending on final drive ratio) |
| Front suspension: | double wishbones, coil springs, anti-roll bar, Bilstein gas pressure shock absorbers |
| Rear suspension: | double wishbones, coil springs, anti-roll bar, Bilstein gas pressure shock absorbers |
| Braking system: | Dual-circuit system with ventilated panes all around; brake force distribution adjustable by the driver; diameter front discs 290 mm, rear discs 278 mm; hydraulic handbrake |
| Steering: | Rack and pinion steering with direct interpretation |
| Bikes: | 15-inch Opel alloy wheels; Michelin competition tires with a width of 5 to 10 inches, depending on the conditions of use |
| Electrical system: | 12 volt system with high power alternator |
| indoor: | Recaro seats, extensive instrumentation including electronic odometer, six-point seat belts, fire extinguishing system. Safety tank, mounted in the trunk |
| Weight: | Around 1.050 kg, ready for use, without a crew |
Of course, that wasn't the end of it. Our tuning magazine has tens of thousands of other tuning reports in stock. Do you want to see them all? Just click HERE and look around. Or are you especially interested in our Tuning classics category? Then the following extract of tuned young and old timers is sure to be just the thing to browse.
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40 years ago: Walter Röhrl became world champion in an Opel Ascona 400!
Photo credit: Opel
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