It is a heavy day for the rallying world. Terry Harryman, one of the defining voices of the sport's legendary Group B era, has passed away at the age of 88. Spanning more than five decades, his remarkable career produced six WRC victories and nine podium finishes from 52 championship starts.
Harryman started his rallying journey alongside Ronnie McCartney in 1962. Just two years later, the pair captured the Circuit of Ireland in a Mini Cooper S, and Harryman returned in 1965 to secure a second consecutive victory on that demanding event with Paddy Hopkirk. His WRC debut came on the 1974 RAC Rally again with McCartney, before a successful spell with Malcolm Wilson at the end of the decade in Ford Escorts.
Everything shifted when Harryman joined defending world champion Ari Vatanen for the 1982 Swedish Rally, finishing second right out of the gate. Their contrasting personalities forged one of the most memorable partnerships in the championship, and their first WRC win followed on the 1983 Safari Rally Kenya aboard an Opel Ascona 400. When Vatanen moved to Peugeot, Harryman followed him. The trio of Vatanen, Harryman, and the revolutionary Peugeot 205 T16 quickly became a dominant force.
They closed out the 1984 season with three straight victories at the 1000 Lakes Rally, Sanremo, and the RAC Rally. That momentum rolled right into 1985 with triumphs at the Rallye Monte-Carlo and in Sweden, making it five wins from five consecutive WRC starts. Their Monte-Carlo win remains legendary: an early arrival at a time control handed them an eight-minute penalty, yet they clawed their way back to win by more than five minutes ahead of Walter Röhrl and Christian Geistdörfer.
Their charge toward the 1985 world title came to a brutal halt with a major accident in Argentina that left both men seriously injured. Harryman recovered and returned to competition, partnering Michèle Mouton to the 1986 German Rally Championship in another Peugeot 205 T16. He later reunited with Vatanen for the 1987 1000 Lakes Rally to finish second in a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth, and teamed up with Mark Lovell to win both the Irish Tarmac and Dutch championships in 1988.
Later in his career, Harryman took on team management with the Renault Dealer Team alongside Robbie Head during the 1995 season. He kept competing internationally into his sixties, tackling the Middle East and the Dakar Rally before finally hanging up his helmet in 2003. His proud family legacy lives on through his son Allan, who followed him into the co-driver’s seat and remains active on WRC rounds alongside Greek driver George Vasilakis.
