Michèle Mouton in the Audi Quattro: The day the volcano erupted

It must take a great deal of talent for a young girl, who grew up sheltered in a nursery in the south of France and took her first driving attempts in a Citroën 2CV with a mere 20 PS, go on to win, just a few years later, in a 500 PS rally car – beating the entire male world elite.

This is exactly what happened on that memorable October day 45 years ago at the San Remo Rally. Admittedly, the media’s attention was initially focused on Walter Röhrl. The lanky German had brought along a factory-prepared Porsche 911, which was looked after by a French team and sponsored by a French underwear company. But damage to an axle quickly dashed any hopes of victory, and the rallying world now turned its attention to a young Italian, Michele Cinotto.

His father had financed a works Audi Quattro for the 22-year-old rising star so that he could compete in his home country’s championship. It was here that he first met the aforementioned Michèle Mouton, whose rally, however, had not gone well at all up to that point: After the first special stages on tarmac, she was only in 13th place, but was nevertheless set to join forces with the Italian to chase down world champion Ari Vatanen from Finland, who was leading in a works Ford Escort.

Indeed, Cinotto squeezed every last drop of performance out of his four-wheel-drive car, executing some spectacular drifts much to the delight of his compatriots. But at some point, it all became too much, and despite warnings from the Audi team, the Italian sent his car off the road into the verges. This cleared the way for Vatanen’s pursuer, Mouton, who had been nicknamed the ‘Black Volcano’ because of her black hair and eyes.

Never before had the fast Frenchwoman – who had won several championship rounds in her home country, five rallies in the European Championship and countless women’s trophies in a private Renault A 110 Alpine – been in second place in a World Championship round. Only one man – a fast Finn – stood between her and this extraordinary triumph.

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Although she had by now built up a lead of over three minutes over Vatanen on the gravel, bad luck struck once again in the form of a stone that had become lodged between the rim and the brake disc of one of her wheels. This caused the brake caliper to break, the wheel to lock up, and the drive shaft to crack. The Audi mechanics were able to repair the brake quickly, but not the drive shaft; on top of that, Mouton had lost two minutes. Now, ahead of the all-deciding stage, she was just 34 seconds ahead of the Ford driver.

Her Italian co-driver, Fabrizia Pons – whom I had the pleasure of meeting as a guest at the editorial office during my time as a journalist at *sport auto* – once described this situation in vivid detail. “Whilst all the drivers were collapsing into bed, exhausted, ahead of the final day of the rally, Michèle grabbed a car and we drove back into the mountains to do some more practice.”

This finale was indeed set to be a real cracker: there was a palpable buzz in the air, with thousands of fans lining the narrow mountain roads to witness the duel between Vatanen and Mouton. Whilst the Finn found it relatively easy in the smaller Escort, the Frenchwoman had to manoeuvre the significantly larger Audi through a thousand bends: that meant gruelling work, as over 500 gear changes and around 700 braking manoeuvres had to be completed – back then, there were no electronic aids!

But luck was on Mouton and Pons’ side, as Vatanen lost any chance of victory due to a puncture. “Perhaps,” Pons later remarked, “the mascots helped us too – two Smurf figurines that an old man had handed to us before the final special stage.” And so, with a lead of 3.25 minutes, Michèle Mouton finally won ahead of the Finn Henri Toivonen in a Talbot Lotus, and a jubilant crowd awaited them at the finish in San Remo.

“We weren’t just pelted with flowers,” her co-driver recalls of the scene, “our mechanics doused themselves with every liquid they could find – red wine, grappa and sparkling wine – and the same thing happened to our car.”

After the prize-giving ceremony, Mouton, still in her black overalls, jumped into the hotel swimming pool together with her mechanics, scarcely able to believe her luck. However, she was quickly brought back to the harsh reality of life.

“On Sunday evening,” the winner later explained, “I was due to give lots of interviews, including on German TV. But I had to cancel them all. I’d just learnt that my cousin had died in a parachuting accident in Los Angeles – and suddenly all my joy had vanished.”

Although she went on to win the World Rally Championships in Portugal, Greece and Brazil in 1982, she was ultimately pipped to the post by Walter Röhrl in an Opel Ascona 400 by just twelve points at the end of the season. Nevertheless, she still secured the Manufacturers’ World Championship for Audi that year, alongside her team-mates Stig Blomqvist and Hannu Mikkola.

She then turned her attention to her next adventure: the legendary Pikes Peak Hill Climb in the USA, which she won in 1985 in an Audi Sport Quattro, and in 1986, shortly before the end of her career, she became the only woman to date to win the German Rally Championship title in a Peugeot.

Since 1988, the now 75-year-old has organised the Race of Champions; she has been the official manager of the World Rally Championship since 2011, and enjoys restoring furniture in her home town of Grasse. She now leads a quiet life, but fondly recalls those wild days in October 1981.