![]() ![]() Suspension: Independent front with wishbones and coil springs live rear axle with coil springs. ![]() Power: 144bhp (Bosch L Jetronic injection) 240bhp (2 x 50DCOE Webers) rally engines to 275bhp. Cast iron block, aluminium cylinder head,16 valves, twin chain driven overhead camshafts. ![]() Add some 400- style body panels, then you’re (the late great) Henri Toivonen and really motoring… Vauxhall’s later twin cam XE engine (as seen in the Astra GTE, Cavalier, Calibra et al) has the same basic block as the stock Manta unit, and – withthe correct sump, distributor change, twin Webers and management system – an engine swap is not that difficult at all. From ’79 to ’88 Opel made the 110bhp Manta GT/E (two-litres, single cam, injection engine) and the 90bhp 1.8 GTJ, by far the best of the bunch, and with a few modifications very driveable alternatives to the real thing. But all is not lost, with the help of German tuner Irmscher, Opel also produced the Manta i200 – in effect a 400 with single-cam, 125bhp, engine – and it made 700 of those, so the odds get better! There’s also another route to grabbing something like this month’s Hero. Which means the chances of bagging the real thing are slim. The Manta 400 was a homologation special, based on what was (initially) a somewhat lacklustre coupe and made in just sufficient numbers to qualify for international motorsport – 236 or 245 cars produced, depending where you get your facts. Road cars had 144bhp on fuel injection, rally versions 240bhp on twin Webers, that became 275bhp in the final, lightweight Phase 2 cars. The cars shared most mechanical parts: the engine was a developed version of GM’s standard four, with diesel crank in petrol block making 2.4-litres, and with a Cosworth-developed, 16-valve, twin camshaft cylinder head on top. Opel had to build the Manta rally car it had nothing else to use after the Ascona. Then, apart from a triple success in Ireland, it was all over, and the Opel Manta 400 had lasted even less time than Group B itself. When the factory team stood down in 1984, McRae’s AC Delco Manta took the British rally title, and Russell Brookes repeated the feat the following year in his Andrews Heat for Hire car. Vatanen and Henri Toivonen tried their very best (Henri’s mad charge through the Italian hills on the last night of San Remo I will always remember) but it was Jim McRae’s third place on the RAC Rally of Great Britain that gave the car its best ever WRC result. The Rothmans Opel RallyTeam hedged their bets in ’83, starting the year with the more developed Ascona, and sticking with the saloon for Ari Vatanen to win the Safari, before moving into the Manta. It was the logical development to the 1982 Driver’s Championship winning Ascona 400 (Walter Rohrl), but with twowheel- drive and a mere 275bhp it didn’t stand a chance against the potent 4WD, turbo machines lining up on the World Rally stage at the start of the Group B era. The Opel Manta 400 was out of date even before it turned a wheel. In a way, it’s a reluctant motorsport hero. Fancy owning a motorsport legend? Paul Davies looks at true classics that made their names on rally stages and race tracks, and still provide fine drives today ![]()
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