I first came across one of these as a cub road tester in 1988, and even though by then I’d already owned a 1.6-litre 205 GTI, I could barely believe how responsive the Rallye was. If ever a Martian fell to earth and asked you the difference between fast and fun, you could do no better than direct it to one of these.

It would have been easy to use the 1,360cc engine already employed under the bonnet of the excellent 205 XS, but that would have missed the 1.3-litre capacity maximum for that category of both Group N and Group A rallying. So instead, the 1,124cc engine found in the 205 XR was bored and stroked to give a 1,294cc capacity. It came with a beefed-up crankshaft, a hot cam and GTI springs, dampers and brakes. But, and here’s the big difference, while the GTI was even by the standards of the day a flyweight hot hatch, the Rallye was more of a fleaweight. With almost no equipment (not even a passenger door mirror), it weighed 793kg, almost 100kg less than the 1.6 GTI whose suspension it shared. It also came with steel wheels and skinny 165-section tyres.

And what a hoot it was. Breathing through rude Weber 40 DCOM carburettors and with no power to speak of below 4,500rpm, it was loud to the point of being raucous, ridiculously peaky, completely pointless when driven slowly. But, when properly on the boil, it was perhaps the most fun front-drive car I have ever driven. Still.