Hopkirk, who had been ill for some time, passed away in Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire, according to his family.
The Northern Irish rally driver inspired a generation with his gutsy victory in the most famous rally of them all, taking the improbable Mini to glory aged 31, alongside co-driver Henry Liddon.
Hopkirk, who was appointed MBE in 2016 as part of the New Years Honours list, started his motorsport career in the 1950s, taking his first victory in the Cairncastle hillclimb at the wheel of a Volkswagen Beetle in 1953. By 1955 he had switched to rallying and won his class in the Circuit of Ireland rally becoming the most successful Irish rally driver of the year three years running.