The Queen Bee of rallying: Michele Mouton

Ok the title is bordering on lame but the fact is Mouton was the ONLY female in the gutsy Group B era of rallying. Her success and impact in the sport has pretty much put present day female racers [Danica Patrick, Ashley Force, Katherine Legge etc.] to shame. So how did it start?

The Beginnings

Michele Mouton started humiliating the males in 1971 rally cars; Fiat, Renault and Porsche come to mind. She also got a spot on an all female team for Le Mans, but her big break was a seat in the WRC Group B Audis in 1981. Now just in case you're wondering "hhmmmmmm what's this Group B thing he be talkin bout" Group B was [and in some cases still is] the peak of rallying perfection. Rules were loose, automakers could bring a car into Group B only if:

• there were 200 or more road legal examples
• Evolution models only needed 20 examples

After which the car would be slotted into one of 2 groups the 3000 or the 2500 group. Now both of these groups were ridiculously fast, these cars produced -3.0s 0-60 times [these were the road legal ones, imagine the racing models]. Enough details the fact is they were fast.

Success

Now Michele joined the Group B fever, alongside Killer B pilots such as Stig Blomqvist [possible relative of The Stig], Hannu Mikkola [lifetime member of the Flying Finn Club], Ari Vatanen [another flying finn and star of the epic Climb Dance film] and Walter Rohl [Porsche test driver and Nurburgring ace]. Group B was filled with stars yet Mouton pulled through with a win in her first season with Audi at the 1981 Rallye Sanremo alongside female co-pilot Fabrizia Pons. 1982 Group B got faster and Mouton still was pulling off wins in the Portugal, Brazil and Acropolis Rallies. Overall she pulled off an amazing 2nd overall. The Audi's outdated and unreliable technology held her back from any more WRC wins, but that didn't stop her from racing. In 1984 and 1985 she won the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb [for those who played Gran Turismo this is the race the Suzuki Escudo entered] both wins in record times.

In 1986 she quit WRC after Group B was cancelled [too deadly]. In 88' she helped to form the Race of Champions, an annual invitation only race event where the best of the best duke it out. Presently she has settled down and is now the president of the FIA's Female and Motorsport Commission.

Comparisons?

IMHO the only person that can compare to Mouton is Sabine Schmitz and right now its hard to compare them as both of them compete in different events, might blog about her later.....

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