One Word: KILLER 'B'!!!
Ok, so that's one word and a letter...
"The Lancia Delta S4 took full advantage of the Group B regulations, and featured a midship-mounted engine and all wheel drive for superior traction and handling. The car's 1759 cc four cylinder engine combined supercharging and turbocharging to reduce turbo lag at low RPM. Officially the car produced 480 horsepower (352 kW) [cough~cough... nudgenudge-winkwink heehee]. Independent figures show the S4 could accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) on gravel in under 2.3 seconds."
I saw these guys at the '86 Olympus Rally -
http://www.autoevolution.com/news/group-b-rally-cars-the-killer-b-s-2724.html
"All told, in 1986 there were 3 wins for the Delta S4 (Sanremo not included). The Monte Carlo Rally by Toivonen, Rally Argentina by Massimo Biasion and the Olympus Rally by Alén."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancia_Delta_S4
I stood three feet from Markku Alén downtown Tacoma, WA and with 4 FAT SLICKS he flat disappeared in a blink 1/4 block then right around the corner. Friggin amazing -
So yeah, it can be done...
-TommyToohi