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With Galant, Mitsubishi fielded their first proper rally car. Even so, it was built with less ambition than opposition but met with surprising success - especially if compared to efforts of other Japanese makes of the era (Toyota, Mazda and Subaru).
Galant was a big and thus a heavy car and apart from few novelties it was pretty much a basic car sporting proven technology. First novelty was the use of XTrac gearbox right from the start in works cars, though that was about to become the standard for any rally car. The second novelty, the four-wheel steering, was much rarer for rally cars. It didn't help car's agility that much but added a possible failure point.
Car was initially somewhat less reliable but all the same very strong, able to withstand enormous amounts of punishment. It also had a powerful engine helping to offset the weight penalty (note that official quoted figures of around 300 hp were well exceeded before restrictor was introduced).
Galant was used in Group N form well after Lancer Evo was introduced mainly because it was available in left-hand drive version whereas Lancer initially wasn't, but also because it's durability made it better suited for a Group N competition.
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| Debut WRC event: | New Zealand 1988 |
| Best WRC result: | 1st by Mikael Ericsson in Finland 1989
1st by Pentti Airikkala in Great Britain 1989
1st by Patrick Tauziac in Ivory Coast 1990
1st by Kenneth Eriksson in Sweden 1991
1st by Kenjiro Shinozuka in Ivory Coast 1991
1st by Kenjiro Shinozuka in Ivory Coast 1992 |
| Rallies contested: | 20 | (works entries) |
| WRC starts: | 36 | (works entries) |
| Outright wins: | 6 | (wins to rallies ratio 30.0%) |
| Podiums: | 14 | (podiums to starts ratio 38.9%) |
| DNF's: | 16 | (DNF's to starts ratio 44.4 %) |
| Points scored: | 198 | (manufacturer championship points) |
| Avg points per rally: | 9.9 | |
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| Group and class | A8 |
| Engine |
| Location: | Front transverse |
| Turbo: | Yes |
| Cylinders: | 4 in line |
| Valves: | 16 |
| Bore x stroke: | 85.0 x 88.0 mm |
| Cubic capacity: | 1997 cc |
| Power: | 295 hp |
| Torque: | 400 Nm |
| Compression ratio: | 8.5:1 |
| Dimensions |
| Length: | 4560 mm |
| Width: | 1695 mm |
| Height: | 1440 mm |
| Wheelbase: | 2600 mm |
| Front track: | 1460 mm |
| Rear track: | 1450 mm |
| Weight: | 1330 kg |
| Transmission |
| Drive: | 4WD |
| Gears: | 6 |
| Sequential: | No |
| Clutch plates: | 1 |
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Mitsubishi Galant VR-4, this is Shinozuka with right-hand version in Indonesia 1989.
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X-ray view of Galant VR-4
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