The

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...

905 is a

sports-prototype A sports prototype, sometimes referred to as simply a prototype, is a type of race car that is used in the highest-level categories of sports car racing. These purpose-built racing cars, unlike street-legal and production-based racing cars, are n ...

racing car built by Peugeot's racing department, Peugeot Talbot Sport. The car was initially unveiled in February 1990 and was developed throughout 1990 before making its race debut in the final two races of the

1990 World Sportscar Championship season The 1990 World Sportscar Championship season was the 38th season of FIA World Sportscar Championship racing. It featured the 1990 FIA World Sports-Prototype Championship for Drivers and the 1990 FIA World Sports-Prototype Championship for Teams, ...

(Montréal and Mexico). The car won the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

endurance race in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

with the team of

Derek Warwick Derek Stanley Arthur Warwick (born 27 August 1954) is a British former professional racing driver from England, who lives in Jersey. He raced for many years in Formula One, collecting four podiums but never winning a Grand Prix. He did, however, ...

Yannick Dalmas Yannick Dalmas (born 28 July 1961) is a former racing driver from France. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times (in 1992, 1994, 1995 and 1999), each with different teams. Prior to this, he participated in 49 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting ...

, and

Mark Blundell Mark Blundell (born 8 April 1966) is a British racing driver who competed in Formula One for four seasons, sports cars, and CART. He won the 1992 24 Hours of Le Mans. He was a Formula One presenter for the British broadcaster ITV until the ...

. This win was followed in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

by the team of

Geoff Brabham __NOTOC__ Geoff Brabham (born 20 March 1952) is an Australian racing driver. Brabham spent the majority of his racing career in the United States. Racing career CART He raced successfully in CART early in his career, finishing 8th in 1982, 1 ...

Christophe Bouchut Christophe Bouchut (born 24 September 1966 in Voiron, Isère) is a French professional racing driver. He currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, driving for Dexwet-df1 Racing and Alex Caffi Motorsport in a part-time effort. He won ...

, and

Éric Hélary Éric Hélary (born 10 August 1966) is a professional racing driver from Paris. His career has encompassed single seater formulae, endurance sports car racing, and touring cars. He won the French Formula Three Championship in 1990 and is best ...

, in the 905B. In addition to that, the car won both the driver’s and the team’s title at the

World Sportscar Championship The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992. The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance, and road racing events in Europe and No ...

. The Peugeot 905 participated in 17 races in its career, winning 9 of them.

History

Inception

In November 1988

Peugeot Talbot Sport Peugeot Sport is the department of French carmaker Peugeot responsible for motorsport activities. History Beginnings in rallying Peugeot Sport was formed in 1981 under the name of Peugeot Talbot Sport, after Jean Todt, a World Rally Champions ...

, established under the control of

Jean Todt Jean Todt (; born 25 February 1946) is a French motor racing executive and former rally co-driver. He was previously director of Peugeot Talbot Sport and then Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 team principal, before being appointed chief executive offic ...

Vélizy-Villacoublay Vélizy-Villacoublay () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the south-western suburbs of Paris from the center and east of Versailles. Its inhabitants are called Véliziens. G ...

, in the suburbs of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, announced the launch of the 905 project to compete in the

1991 World Sportscar Championship The 1991 FIA Sportscar World Championship season was the 39th season of FIA World Sportscar Championship motor racing. It featured the 1991 FIA Sportscar World Championship, which was contested over an eight race series from 14 April to 28 October ...

using the new rules which the 1991 season would introduce. Technically advanced, the 905 used a carbon fiber chassis engineered by

Dassault Dassault Group (; also GIM Dassault or Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault SAS) is a French group of companies established in 1929 with the creation of Société des Avions Marcel Bloch (now Dassault Aviation) by Marcel Dassault, and led by son Ser ...

and a light alloy ''SA35-A1'' 3499 cc naturally aspirated V10 engine that was similar to F1 engines of the time. The 905 was built at Vélizy-Villacoublay http://www.imca-slotracing.com/1982-1993%20GROUP%20C%20RACING%20part%20II.htm and was officially unveiled on the 4th of July 1990 at the

Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours is a motor racing circuit located in central France, near the towns of Magny-Cours and Nevers, some from Paris and from Lyon. It staged the Formula One French Grand Prix from 1991 (succeeding Circuit Paul Ricard ...

, with

Jean-Pierre Jabouille Jean-Pierre Alain Jabouille (born 1 October 1942) is a French former racing driver. He raced in 55 Formula One Grands Prix, collecting two wins during the first years of Renault's turbocharged programme in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Jabouil ...

driving.

The car made its racing debut in the final two races of the 1990 season with Jabouille and

Keke Rosberg Keijo Erik Rosberg (born 6 December 1948), known as "Keke" (), is a Finnish former racing driver and winner of the Formula One World Championship. He was the first Finnish driver to compete regularly in the series, as well as the first Finnish ...

sharing the wheel. Although the car was slower than the contemporary

Group C Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for touring cars and ''Group B'' for GTs. It was designed to replace both Group 5 special production cars (closed top touri ...

Sports Prototypes, it was notably quicker than the other 3.5 litre Sports-Prototypes which raced in that season.

1991 season

The 905 began its first full season in the World Sportscar Championship in 1991. Although the car was now quicker than the 1990 version, and indeed the heavily penalised Group C cars that were allowed to race, in the early part of the season the 905 suffered some performance and reliability problems but, more crucially for Peugeot, the car was a lot slower than the standard-setting

Jaguar XJR-14 The Jaguar XJR-14 is a sports-prototype racing car introduced for the 1991 World Sportscar Championship season. It was designed by Ross Brawn and John Piper, and was built and run by Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR), on behalf of Jaguar Cars. Design ...

- a car that was able to match the lap times of most contemporary F1 cars (but not those of top cars such the Williams-Renault and McLaren-Honda cars that were at least 2 to 3 seconds faster per lap). The car was, however, able to obtain a lucky win at the

Suzuka Circuit The , more famously known as the , is a long motorsport race track located in Ino, Suzuka, Mie, Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, Japan and operated by Honda Mobilityland, a subsidiary of Honda, Honda Motor Co, Ltd. It has a capacity of 155,000. Int ...

. Unfortunately, at the

1991 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 59th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 22 and 23 June 1991. It was also the fourth round of the 1991 FIA Sportscar World Championship season. Pre-race An entirely new complex along the front stret ...

, both cars entered did not last past the four-hour mark. Peugeot 905

To counter

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

in the remaining races of the championship the 905 was heavily revised, primarily in

aerodynamics Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...

. Carrying over only the cockpit of the previous car, the evolutionary 905B was created. With the more notable changes consisting of a two-tier rear wing and an optional full-width front wing, including a more powerful ''SA35-A2'' engine, the 905B made its race debut at the

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...

round of the 1991 series. These advancements allowed the team to finish the year winning at Magny-Cours and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

with back-to-back 1-2 wins, thus completing the season in second place overall.

1992 season

The 905B became one of only two factory efforts involved in the

1992 World Sportscar Championship season The 1992 Sportscar World Championship season was the 40th and final season of FIA World Sportscar Championship motor racing. It featured the 1992 FIA Sportscar World Championship, which was contested over a six race series which ran from 26 April ...

alongside

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

, who were competing in their first season under the 3.5-litre regulations using the TS010. This meant that only the

1992 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1992 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 60th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 20–21 June 1992. It was also the third round of the Sportscar World Championship. For this race, both C1 and FIA Cup class cars ran under the C1 category to ...

showed a strong competition among the Group C cars. The 905B was successful, bringing 2 of the team's 3 cars home in 1st and 3rd overall.

1993 season

For 1993, the World Sportscar Championship ceased to exist but were permitted to run at Le Mans in 1993 and 1994. However, prior to the announcement of its cancellation, Peugeot had begun the development of the 905 Evolution 2 to compete in the 1993 season. This car, which was tested for a few laps in practice at the final race of the 1992 season at

Magny-Cours Magny-Cours () is a Communes of France, commune in the Nièvre Departments of France, department in central France. It is the home of the ''Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours'', a famous Motorsport#Motor racing, motor racing circuit (whose name is of ...

was never finished, leaving Peugeot to concentrate solely on

1993 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1993 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 61st Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 19 and 20 June 1993. The race was won by Peugeot Talbot Sport, with drivers Geoff Brabham, and Le Mans rookies Éric Hélary and Christophe Bouchut completing 3 ...

with the Evo 1B. They were able to make a historic win by sweeping the first three positions. Following this dominance, Peugeot pulled out of sportscar racing. Peugeot decided to switch to

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

, using the same 3.5L V10 from the 905 that was easily adjusted to F1 regulations. In

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, Peugeot debuted as an engine supplier with the

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...

team and remained in F1 until the end of the 2000 season, when, after little success, they decided to concentrate on the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

, where their factory team had had some success, winning the title on several occasions. However, Peugeot withdrew its works WRC operation at the end of the 2005 season, and returned to Le Mans for the 2007 24 Hours, with the new 908 HDi FAP prototype entry.

Specifications

; Manufacturer :

; First race :

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

; Category :

1 ; Engine : 80°

V10 A V10 engine is a ten-cylinder piston engine where two banks of five cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V10 engines are much less common than V8 and V12 engines. Several V10 diesel engines have been pr ...

, 40 valves ; Output : @ 12,500 rpm (905B produced approximately ) ; Transmission : 6-speed sequential manual, mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive ; Chassis :

Carbon fiber Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

Monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...

; Length : ; Width : ; Height : ; Weight : ; Tires :

Michelin Michelin (; ; full name: ) is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes ''région'' of France. It is the second largest tyre manufacturer in the world behind Bridgestone and la ...

32x63x17 & 34x70x18

Le Mans results

;

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

: #5 Baldi - Alliot - Jabouille - ''Did Not Finish (Engine)'' (Baldi didn't drive) : #6 Dalmas - Rosberg - Raphanel - ''Did Not Finish (Transmission)'' ;

: #1 Dalmas -

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...

- Blundell - ''1st'' (352 laps - 4787.2 km at an average speed of 199.34 km/h) : #2 Baldi - Alliot - Jabouille - ''3rd'' : #31 Ferté - Van de Poele - Wendlinger - ''Did Not Finish (Engine)'' ;

: #3 Bouchut - Hélary -

Brabham Brabham () is the common name for Motor Racing Developments Ltd., a British racing car manufacturer and Formula One racing team. Founded in 1960 by Australian driver Jack Brabham and British-Australian designer Ron Tauranac, the team won four ...

- ''1st'' (375 laps - 5,100 km at an average speed of 213.358 km/h) : #1 Dalmas - Boutsen -

Fabi The history of Chinese currency spans more than 3000 years. Currency of some type has been used in China since the Neolithic age which can be traced back to between 3000 and 4500 years ago. Cowry shells are believed to have been the earliest ...

- ''2nd'' : #2 Baldi - Alliot - Jabouille - ''3rd''

Other results

; Suzuka 1991 : Baldi - Alliot - ''1st'' ; Magny Cours 1991 : Rosberg - Dalmas - ''1st'' : Baldi - Alliot - ''2nd'' ; Mexico 1991 : Rosberg - Dalmas - ''1st'' : Baldi - Alliot - ''2nd'' ; Silverstone 1992 :

- Dalmas - ''1st'' ; Donington 1992 : Baldi - Alliot - ''1st'' :

- Dalmas - ''2nd'' ; Suzuka 1992 :

- Dalmas - ''1st'' ; Magny Cours 1992 : Baldi - Alliot - ''1st'' : Bouchut - Hélary - ''2nd''

References

{{Peugeot 905 Group C cars 24 Hours of Le Mans race cars Le Mans winning cars Sports prototypes