| Henri Toivonen |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT HENRI TOIVONEN | |
| finnish rally drivers | |
| british formula three championship drivers | |
| people from jyväskylä | |
| racecar drivers killed while racing | |
| 1956 births | |
| 1986 deaths | |
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He won the RAC Rally in 1980 driving a Talbot and in 1985 driving a Lancia Delta S4 . Toivonen died in the 1986 Tour De Corse (Rally of Corsica) in a fireball crash that also claimed the life of his co-driver Sergio Cresto , when his Lancia Delta S4 flew off the unguarded edge of a left hand hairpin. Toivonen's car rolled off the edge, before a tree's branch punctured the fuel tank and the car burst into flames immediately. For weight distribution issues, the fuel tank on the Delta S4 was positioned underneath the driver and co-driver of the S4. Also, the Lancia didn't have a protective skid plate on the underside of the car, which protects the under-slung fuel tank and drivetrain of the car. The car was so severely burnt that all that was left of the S4 was the blackened Space Frame , with both Toivonen and Cresto's burnt remains still inside. These deaths resulted in a final decision to ban the Group B rally cars for 1987, amid months of controversy over the unacceptable amount of preventable deaths in Group B. The Annual Race Of Champions awards the winning individual driver with the Henri Toivonen Memorial trophy. |
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