Did you remember in Gran Turismo #30 : The Mitsubishi PAJERO Rally Raid Car '85

The description from “Gran Turismo”

Only a few athletes can claim hitting a homerun in their first at bat, but Mitsubishi did something similar to that by taking the checkered flag in its first Paris-Dakar Rally in 1983. But before you marvel at the accomplishment, keep in mind that the car Andrew Cowan drove to victory was actually built by Sonauto of France. Five years later, Mitsubishi decided to build their own racer, using a pipe frame and double-wishbone suspension and equipping a turbocharged 2.6-liter inline-4 slightly aft of the front axle. The end result was a scary-fast machine called the Pajero. Kenjiro Shinozuka won the 1990 Rally of Australia in the prototype Pajero’s maiden contest, and placed second in the 1991 Dakar Rally. The following year, Mitsubishi occupied all three spots on the podium of the Paris-Cape Town Rally, driving the Pajero.

Mitsubishi’s dynasty in off-road rally racing officially began in 1997 when the newly created Pajero Evolution (the Dakar equivalent to the WRC’s Lancer Evolution) took not only the championship of that year’s Dakar Rally, but the top four places in the T2 class. As an added bonus, Shinozuka became the first Japanese driver ever to win the prestigious race. The Pajero attained equal success when the T2 Class was expanded to include the “super” production cars. The new Pajero Evolution went on to win the overall championships in 2002 and 2003 with Hiroshi Masuoka behind the wheel.

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The Dakar 1985 was the most challenging ever organized rally. Its route covered almost 14 000 km and not less than 503 competitors lined out. Realizing a magnificent double, this #189 car finally brought victory to Mitsubishi everyone foresaw. This was the first of a long line.

This #189 Mitsubishi Pajero includes as two French crew : Patrick Zaniroli (Was activity between 1980-1985. He droves many Range Rover Classic V8 beetween 1981-1984 and once Volkswagen Iltis in 1980 and this Mitsubishi) and Jean Da Silva (Was activity between 1982-1985. He co-piloted on board a Mercedes 280 CE in 1982 and 1983; a Range Rover Classic V8 with Zaniroli in 1984 and the Mitsubishi). This Pajero won the 1985 Paris-Dakar before the #188 Pajero drove by Andrew Cowan, and the Toyota FJ 60 drove by Pierre Fougerouse.

Mechanically, this Pajero is equipped with a turbocharged 2.6-liter i4 devellopped 220 HP (218 BHP). The engine is equipped with a ECI injection and the “Air flow sensor” too (contrary to 1983 carburator engine). Compared to previous versions, this Pajero has a front end that was brand new. All he lacked was a removal of the rear blades to really show really dangerous in front of the leaders. The engine has electronic dosages factory set in Japan (the Pajero is registered in France).

Its wheelbase is 2.55 m passes. It abandons the rear leaf springs already strengthened to duplicate sets coil springs, double Bilstein still mounted V and trailing arms which require the adaptation of the body rear deck. On the front end, it adopts combined doubles. The project received well on reinforced torsion bars and differential 4 satellites before origin. But, at the brakes, it has 2 drum brakes in rear wheels. It has assisted steering too. Also add the manual 4-speed. With all this, the car weighs 1,202 kg (2.650 lbs).

In terms of its performance, this is not a racing machine, but we can expect a car that can run a long time, holding in heat and overcoming obstacles.

This weight/power ratio is 5.5 kg/hp, the equivalent of the 2003 Ford SVT F-150 Lightning (355 hp) , a 1992 BMW M3 (E36) (286 hp), a 2010 BMW 550i GT (F07) (407 hp) and a 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupé 3.8 (303 hp)

The 1985 Mitsubishi Pajero Rally-Raid also appear in IGCD Rally Raid (2016).

A video on YouTube of this model IRL :

A video of the vehicle, there are none; but there are still reports about the Dakar 1985.

A video on YouTube of this model In a Gran Turismo :