![Rétromobile 2017 - Audi Quattro S1 replica - 1985 - 003](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/R%C3%A9tromobile_2017_-_Audi_Quattro_S1_replica_-_1985_-_003.jpg)
Group B was a set of regulations for
grand touring
A grand tourer (GT) is a type of car that is designed for high speed and long-distance driving, due to a combination of performance and luxury attributes. The most common format is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive two-door coupé with either ...
(GT) vehicles used in
sports car racing
Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...
and
rallying introduced in 1982 by the
Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; en, International Automobile Federation) is an association established on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users. It is the governing body for ...
(FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the
World Sportscar Championship
The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992.
The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance, and road racing events in Europe and ...
alongside the more popular racing prototypes of
Group C
Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for touring cars and ''Group B'' for GTs.
It was designed to replace both Group 5 special production cars (closed top touri ...
, Group B are commonly associated with the international rallying scene during 1982 to 1986 in popular culture, when they were the highest class used across rallying, including the
World Rally Championship
The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...
, regional and national championships.
The Group B regulations fostered some of the fastest, most powerful, and most sophisticated rally cars ever built and their era is commonly referred to as the golden era of rallying.
[''Top Gear'' website]
The corner that killed Group B
However, a series of major accidents, some fatal, were blamed on their outright speed with lack of crowd control at events.
After the death of
Henri Toivonen
Henri Pauli Toivonen (25 August 1956 – 2 May 1986) was a Finnish rally driver born in Jyväskylä, the home of Rally Finland. His father, Pauli, was the 1968 European Rally Champion for Porsche and his brother, Harri, became a profess ...
and his co-driver
Sergio Cresto
Sergio Cresto ( USA) (January 19, 1956 – May 2, 1986) was the co-driver of Henri Toivonen at the Lancia Martini team for the 1986 World Rally Championship season. He was also a former co-driver for fellow Lancia employee Attilio Bettega, who di ...
in the 1986
Tour de Corse
The Tour de Corse is a rally first held in 1956 on the island of Corsica. It was the French round of the World Rally Championship from the inaugural 1973 season until 2008, was part of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge from 2011 to 2012, and ...
, the FIA banned the group from competing in the WRC from the following season, dropped its prior plans to introduce
Group S, and designated
Group A
Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived vehicles intended for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles ...
as the top-line formula with engine limits of 2000 cc and 300 bhp.
In the following years, ex-rally Group B cars found a niche in the
European Rallycross Championship
European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to:
In general
* ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe
** Ethnic groups in Europe
** Demographics of Europe
** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...
until being dropped in 1993. By 1991 the World Sportscar Championship had moved on from Group B and C, with the
GT championships formed in the nineties preferring other classes such as the new
Group GT, The last cars were homologated in Group B in 1993, though the FIA made provisions for national championships and domestic racing until as late as 2011.
Overview
New FISA groups
![Porsche 911 SC RS 001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Porsche_911_SC_RS_001.jpg)
In 1982 the FISA restructured the production car category of
Appendix J The International Sporting Code (ISC) is a set of rules which are valid for all auto racing events that are governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). North American domestic racing, such as NASCAR and IndyCar are outside th ...
to consist of three new groups. The outgoing
Group 1 Group 1 may refer to:
* Alkali metal, a chemical element classification for Alkali metal
* Group 1 (racing), a historic (until 1981) classification for Touring car racing, applied to standard touring cars. Comparable to modern FIA Group N
* Group On ...
and
Group 2 The term Group 2 may refer to:
* Alkaline earth metal, a chemical element classification
* Astronaut Group 2, also known as The New Nine, the second group of astronauts selected by NASA in 1962
* Group 2 (racing), an FIA classification for cars in ...
were replaced with
Group N
In relation to international motorsport governed by the FIA, Group N refers to regulations providing 'standard' large scale series production vehicles for competition. They are limited in terms of modifications permitted to the standard specifi ...
and
Group A
Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived vehicles intended for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles ...
for unmodified and modified production touring cars respectively. These cars had to have four seats (although the minimum size of the rear seats was small enough that some 2+2 cars could qualify) and be produced in large numbers. Their
homologation requirement was 5000 units in a 12 month period between 1982 and 1992. From 1993 the requirement reduced to 2500 units.
Group B was for grand touring (GT) cars with a minimum two seats, redefined as sports grand touring cars in 1986. It combined and replaced
Group 3 Group 3 may refer to:
*Group 3 element, chemical element classification
*Group 3 (racing), FIA classification for auto racing
* Group 3, the third tier of races in worldwide Thoroughbred horse racing
* Group 3 image format, Group 3 & Group 4 are ...
and
Group 4 Group 4 may refer to:
*Group 4 element, chemical element classification
*Group 4 (racing), classification for cars in auto racing and rallying
* G4S, formerly Group 4 Securicor, a prominent British security company
*IB Group 4 subjects
The Group 4 ...
, two grand touring groups already used in rallying, and the production-derived special builds of
Group 5 Group 5 may refer to:
*Group 5 element, chemical element classification
*Group 5 (racing)
Group 5 was an FIA motor racing classification which was applied to four distinct categories during the years 1966 to 1982. Initially Group 5 regulations def ...
used in circuit racing.
Group 5 had never been permitted in the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers.
Homologation
The number of cars required for homologation, 200, was just 4% of the other groups' requirement and half what was previously accepted in Group 4.
As the homologation periods could be extended by producing only 10% of the initial requirement each subsequent year, 20 in Group B's case compared to 500 for A and N, the group made motorsport and the championships more accessible for car manufacturers before taking the group's technicalities and performance into account. 'Evolutions' could be included within the original homologation without needing to produce a new initial run, allowing manufacturers to tweak various aspects of their competing car within the requirement to produce only 20 'evolved' cars. Together, these homologation rules resulted in Group B 'homologation specials' (cars that were only produced to satisfy the group quota rather than for sales) extremely rare, if they continued to exist beyond presentation to FIA officials in the first place.
Group B could be used to homologate production sports cars which could not be homologated in Group N or A, because they did not have four seats or were not produced in large enough numbers (e.g. cars like the
Ferrari 308, the
Porsche 911, etc.). Further, the low production requirement encouraged manufacturers to use
space frame chassis instead of bodyshells typically used in most series-production road cars.
Existing cars within Group 2, Group 3 and Group 4 homologation could be transferred to Group B, with many being automatically transferred by the FISA secretariat.
Regulations
Specific regulations
Group B had few specific rules outside those covering all groups in Article 252 and 253, which covered such things as safety cages or parts defining a car like windscreens or rear view mirrors.
Article 256 covered the specific regulations for Group B with 5 paragraphs over half a page. The first two paragraphs covered the definition, (Sports) Grand Touring Cars (with a ''minimum'' of two seats), and the homologation requirements.
Fittings and modifications were inherited from those allowed in Group A. Rather than being restrictions, these covered those items (not) expected to be applied to a production car that would/wouldn't be expected on a competition car. Example include the removal of trims, soundproofing,
HVAC systems, ignition systems or the reinforcing of chassis, tuning of engine and transmission parts etc.
Weight restrictions were applied on a scale in relation to the engine cylinder capacity. The minimum weight was 580 kg for engine below 1000 cc, to 1,300 kg for engines over 5,000 cc. The final specific rule applied to wheel sizes, which were similarly applied in a scale related to engine cylinder capacity.
Resulting builds
![Rétromobile 2017 - Ford RS 200 - circa 1985 - 001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/R%C3%A9tromobile_2017_-_Ford_RS_200_-_circa_1985_-_001.jpg)
Ultimately there were few restrictions on technology, design or materials permitted. For example fibreglass bodywork was used in the case of the
Ford RS200
The Ford RS200 is a mid-engined, four-wheel drive sports car that was produced by Ford Motorsport in Boreham, UK, from 1984 to 1986. The road-going RS200 was the basis for Ford's Group B rally car and was designed to comply with FIA homologati ...
, a car without a commercially available counterpart, though
silhouette race cars using space frame chassis were still common even when consumer car equivalents were mass produced, for example in the case of the Peugeot 205 T16 or Lancia Delta S4.
The rules provided for manufacturers who wanted to compete in rallying with
mid-engine
In automotive engineering, a mid-engine layout describes the placement of an automobile engine in front of the rear-wheel axles, but behind the front axle.
History
The mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive format can be considered the original layout of ...
and
RWD or
4WD
Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer ca ...
, but their RWD production models had been gradually replaced by
FWD counterparts. By reducing the homologation minimum from 400 in Group 4 to 200, FISA enabled manufacturers to design specialised RWD or 4WD rally car homologation specials without the financial commitment of producing their production counterparts in such large numbers.
There were no restrictions on
boost, resulting in the power output of the winning cars increasing from 250 hp in 1981, to there being at least two cars producing in excess of 500 by 1986, the final year of Group B in rally. Turbocharged engines weren't common in commercial cars and had only been introduced since the mid-1970s,
but in the early and mid-1980s engineers learnt how to extract extraordinary amounts of power from turbo engines. Some Group B manufacturers went further, Peugeot for example, installed an F1-derived Turbo Lag system to their engine, although the technology was new and not very effective.
Lancia
twincharged
A twincharger refers to a compound forced induction system used on some internal combustion engines. It is a combination of an exhaust-driven turbocharger and a mechanically driven supercharger, each mitigating the weaknesses of the other.
Twinch ...
their Delta S4, adding both a supercharger and turbocharger to their engine. When the Group N, A and B rules were decided, the weight/engine displacement restrictions were thought the only way to control speed. Nowadays, the power of turbo engines is limited by mandating a
restrictor in the intake, and the
Groups Rally In international rallying, the Groups Rally are the collective name given to formulae of rally car as defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile for use in the World Rally Championship and the FIA's regional championships. The names ...
hierarchy for example, each have limits on weight/engine power (kg/hp).
Within all the groups, there were 15 classes based on engine displacement with a 1.4 equivalence factor applied for
forced induction
In an internal combustion engine, forced induction is where turbocharging or supercharging is used to increase the density of the intake air. Engines without forced induction are classified as naturally aspirated.
Operating principle Overvi ...
engines. Each class had weight limits and wheel sizes. Notable classes for Group B were the 3000 cc class (2142.8 cc with turbo or supercharger), 960 kg minimum weight (
Audi Quattro
The Audi Quattro is a road and rally car, produced by the German automobile manufacturer Audi, part of the Volkswagen Group. It was first shown at the 1980 Geneva Motor Show on 3 March. Production continued through 1991.
Background
The wo ...
,
Lancia 037
The Lancia Rally (''Tipo 151'', also known as the Lancia Rally 037, Lancia 037 or Lancia-Abarth #037 from its Abarth project code ''SE037'') was a mid-engine sports car and rally car built by Lancia in the early 1980s to compete in the FIA Group ...
); and 2500 cc (1785 cc), 890 kg (
Peugeot 205 T16
The Peugeot 205 is a supermini (B-segment) car produced by the French manufacturer Peugeot from 1983 to 1999.
It was declared "car of the decade" by ''CAR Magazine'' in 1990. It also won ''What Car?s Car of the Year for 1984.
The 205 was intro ...
,
Lancia Delta S4
The Lancia Delta S4 is a Group B rally car manufactured by the Italian car company Lancia. The Delta S4 competed in the World Rally Championship in 1985 and 1986, until Group B class was disbanded and the cars were eventually banned from competi ...
).
![Rétromobile 2017 - Renault Maxi 5 Turbo - circa 1985 - 001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/R%C3%A9tromobile_2017_-_Renault_Maxi_5_Turbo_-_circa_1985_-_001.jpg)
The original
Renault 5 Turbo
The Renault 5 Turbo or R5 Turbo is a sport hatchback automobile launched by the French manufacturer Renault at the Brussels Motor Show in January 1980. The car was primarily designed for rallying, but was also sold in a street version.
A total o ...
had a 1.4 L engine so it was in the 2000 cc class. Renault later increased the size of the engine somewhat for the Turbo Maxi, so as to be able to fit larger tyres (at the expense of somewhat higher weight).
The
Ferrari 288 GTO
The Ferrari GTO (often referred to as Ferrari 288 GTO) (Type F114) is an exotic homologation of the Ferrari 308 GTB produced from 1984 to 1987 in Ferrari's Maranello factory, designated GT for Gran Turismo and O for ''Omologata'' (homologated i ...
and the
Porsche 959
The Porsche 959 is a sports car manufactured by German automobile manufacturer Porsche from 1986 to 1993, first as a Group B rally car and later as a road legal production car designed to satisfy FIA homologation regulations requiring at least ...
were in the 4000 cc (2857 cc), 1100 kg class, which would have probably become the normal class for track racing if Group B had seen much use there.
![FerrariGTO](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/FerrariGTO.jpg)
Classes in Group B:
Rallying
1982-1983
The existing Groups 1-4 were still permitted in the World Rally Championship during the first year of the new groups. Although some freshly homologated Group B cars were entered from the first round in Monte Carlo, no car from the group podiumed at any of the season's 12 rallies.
Although the Audi Quattro was still in essence a Group 4 car, it carried
Hannu Mikkola
Hannu Olavi Mikkola (24 May 1942 − 25 February 2021) was a Finnish champion world rally driver. He was a seven-time winner of the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland and won the RAC Rally in Great Britain four times.
Career
Mikkola's rally career ...
to the driver's title in 1983.
Lancia had designed a new car to Group B specifications, but the
Lancia 037
The Lancia Rally (''Tipo 151'', also known as the Lancia Rally 037, Lancia 037 or Lancia-Abarth #037 from its Abarth project code ''SE037'') was a mid-engine sports car and rally car built by Lancia in the early 1980s to compete in the FIA Group ...
still had
rear wheel drive
Rear-wheel drive (RWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, in which the engine drives the rear wheels only. Until the late 20th century, rear-wheel drive was the most common configuration for cars.
Most rear-wheel ...
and was thus less stable than the Audi over different surfaces (generally the Lancia had the upper hand on
tarmac, but the Audi remained superior on looser surfaces such as snow and gravel). Nevertheless, the 037 performed well enough for Lancia to capture the manufacturers title, which was generally considered more prestigious at the time, with a rally to spare. In fact, so low was Lancia's regard for the Drivers Championship, they did not enter a single car into the season finale RAC Rally, despite the fact that driver
Walter Röhrl
Walter Röhrl (; born 7 March 1947) is a German rally and auto racing driver, with victories for Fiat, Opel, Lancia and Audi as well as Porsche, Ford and BMW. Röhrl has scored 14 victories over his career, with his notable achievements includin ...
was still in the hunt for the title.
![Rétromobile 2017 - Opel Manta 400 - 1983 - 002](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/R%C3%A9tromobile_2017_-_Opel_Manta_400_-_1983_-_002.jpg)
The low homologation requirements quickly attracted manufacturers to Group B.
Opel replaced their production-derived
Ascona with the Group B
Manta 400, and
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
built a new car based on their
Celica. Like the Lancia 037, both cars were rear wheel drive, and while proving successful in national rallying in various countries, they were less so at the World Championship level, although Toyota won the 1983
Ivory Coast Rally after hiring Swedish desert driving specialist, the late
Björn Waldegård
Björn Waldegård (12 November 1943 – 29 August 2014) was a Swedish rally driver, and the winner of the inaugural World Rally Championship for drivers in 1979. His Swedish nickname was "Walle".
Career
Waldegård, who came from Rimbo, had a ca ...
.
1984-1985
In 1984, Audi beat Lancia for both the manufacturers' title and the drivers' title, the latter of which was won by
Stig Blomqvist
Stig Lennart Blomqvist (born 29 July 1946) is a retired Swedish rally driver. He made his international breakthrough in 1971. Driving an Audi Quattro for the Audi factory team, Blomqvist won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1984 an ...
, but received an unexpected new competition midway through the year:
Peugeot
Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis.
The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...
had joined the rallying scene with its Group B
205 T16. The T16 also had four wheel drive and was smaller and lighter than the Audi Quattro. At the wheel was the 1981 driver's champion
Ari Vatanen
Ari Pieti Uolevi Vatanen (; born 27 April 1952) is a Finnish rally driver turned politician and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1999 to 2009. Vatanen won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1981 and the Paris Dakar Rall ...
, with future
Ferrari Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
team manager and FIA President
Jean Todt
Jean Todt (; born 25 February 1946) is a French motor racing executive and former rally co-driver. He was previously director of Peugeot Talbot Sport and then Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 team principal, before being appointed chief executive offi ...
overseeing the operation. A crash prevented the T16 from winning its first rally but the writing was on the wall for Audi.
![Rétromobile 2017 - Austin Metro 6R4 - 1984 - 002](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/R%C3%A9tromobile_2017_-_Austin_Metro_6R4_-_1984_-_002.jpg)
Despite massive revisions to the Quattro, including a shorter
wheelbase
In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...
, Peugeot dominated the 1985 season. Although not without mishap: Vatanen plunged off the road in
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
and was seriously injured when his seat mountings broke in the ensuing crash.
Timo Salonen
Timo Salonen (born October 8, 1951) is a Finnish former rally driver who won the 1985 World Rally Championship season for Peugeot. It was commented of him that he stood out from other drivers, because he was overweight, wore thick glasses and smok ...
won the 1985 champion title with five wins.
Although the crash was a sign that Group B cars had already become dangerously quick (despite Vatanen having a consistent record of crashing out while leading), several new Group B cars entered the rallying world in 1985:
* Late in the year, Lancia replaced their outclassed 037 with the
Delta S4, which featured both a
turbocharger
In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...
and a
supercharger for optimum power output.
*
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
returned after several years away with the
Ford RS200
The Ford RS200 is a mid-engined, four-wheel drive sports car that was produced by Ford Motorsport in Boreham, UK, from 1984 to 1986. The road-going RS200 was the basis for Ford's Group B rally car and was designed to comply with FIA homologati ...
and the
Ford Sierra RS Cosworth
The Ford Sierra RS Cosworth is a high-performance version of the Ford Sierra that was built by Ford Europe from 1986 to 1992. It was the result of a Ford Motorsport project with the purpose of producing an outright winner for Group A racing in ...
(though the latter went on to compete in Group A).
*
Citroën developed and entered the
BX 4TC, which had proven too heavy and cumbersome to be successful.
*
Rover
Rover may refer to:
People
* Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian
* Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer
* Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist
Places
* Rover, Arkansas, US
* Rover, Missouri, US
...
created the distinctive
Metro 6R4
The Metro is a supermini car, later a city car that was produced by British Leyland (BL) and, later, the Rover Group from 1980 to 1998. It was launched in 1980 as the Austin mini Metro. It was intended to complement and eventually replace the M ...
, which featured boxy bodywork and a large spoiler mounted on the front of the car.
1986
For the 1986 season, defending champion
Timo Salonen
Timo Salonen (born October 8, 1951) is a Finnish former rally driver who won the 1985 World Rally Championship season for Peugeot. It was commented of him that he stood out from other drivers, because he was overweight, wore thick glasses and smok ...
had the new Evolution 2 version of Peugeot's 205 T16 with ex Toyota driver,
Juha Kankkunen
Juha Matti Pellervo Kankkunen (; born 2 April 1959) is a Finnish former rally driver. His factory team career in the World Rally Championship lasted from 1983 to 2002. He won 23 world rallies and four drivers' world championship titles, which we ...
. Audi's new Sport Quattro S1 boasted over 600 hp (450 kW) and a huge snowplough-like front end. Lancia's Delta S4 would be in the hands of the Finnish prodigy
Henri Toivonen
Henri Pauli Toivonen (25 August 1956 – 2 May 1986) was a Finnish rally driver born in Jyväskylä, the home of Rally Finland. His father, Pauli, was the 1968 European Rally Champion for Porsche and his brother, Harri, became a profess ...
and
Markku Alén
Markku Allan Alén (born 15 February 1951) is a Finnish former rally and race car driver. He drove for Fiat, Lancia, Subaru and Toyota in the World Rally Championship, and held the record for most stage wins (801) in the series, until Sébastie ...
, and Ford was ready with its high tech RS200 with
Stig Blomqvist
Stig Lennart Blomqvist (born 29 July 1946) is a retired Swedish rally driver. He made his international breakthrough in 1971. Driving an Audi Quattro for the Audi factory team, Blomqvist won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1984 an ...
and
Kalle Grundel
Karl-Erik "Kalle" Grundel (born 2 October 1948) is a Swedish former rally driver and military pilot. He made his international breakthrough in 1982, driving a Volkswagen Golf GTi for Volkswagen's factory team. He achieved his first and only podiu ...
.
On the "Lagoa Azul" stage of the
Portuguese Rally near
Sintra
Sintra (, ) is a town and municipality in the Greater Lisbon region of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The population of the municipality in 2011 was 377,835, in an area of . Sintra is one of the most urbanized and densely populat ...
, Portuguese driver
Joaquim Santos crested a rise, turning to his right to avoid a small group of spectators. This caused him to lose control of his RS200. The car veered to the right and slid off the road into the spectators. Thirty-one people were injured and three were killed. All the top teams immediately pulled out of the rally and Group B was placed in jeopardy.
![Rétromobile 2017 - Lancia Delta S4 - circa 1986 - 001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/R%C3%A9tromobile_2017_-_Lancia_Delta_S4_-_circa_1986_-_001.jpg)
Disaster struck again in early May at the
Tour de Corse
The Tour de Corse is a rally first held in 1956 on the island of Corsica. It was the French round of the World Rally Championship from the inaugural 1973 season until 2008, was part of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge from 2011 to 2012, and ...
. Lancia's
Toivonen was the championship favorite, and once the rally got underway he was the pace setter. Seven kilometres into the 18th stage, Toivonen's S4 flew off the unguarded edge of a tightening left hand bend and plunged down a steep wooded hillside. The car landed inverted with the fuel tanks ruptured by the impact. The combination of red hot turbocharger, Kevlar bodywork, and ruptured fuel tank ignited the car and set fire to the dry undergrowth. Toivonen and co-driver
Sergio Cresto
Sergio Cresto ( USA) (January 19, 1956 – May 2, 1986) was the co-driver of Henri Toivonen at the Lancia Martini team for the 1986 World Rally Championship season. He was also a former co-driver for fellow Lancia employee Attilio Bettega, who di ...
died in their seats. With no witnesses to the accident it was impossible to determine what caused the crash other than Toivonen had left the road at high speed. Some cite Toivonen's ill health at the time (he reportedly was suffering from flu);
others suggest mechanical failure, or simply the difficulty of driving the car, although Toivonen had a career full of crashing out while leading rallies. Up until that stage he was leading the rally by a large margin, with no other driver challenging him.
The crash came a year after Lancia driver
Attilio Bettega
Attilio Bettega (19 February 1953 – 2 May 1985) was an Italian rally driver.''Autosport'' 50th Anniversary Issue Celebrating 50 years of the Best in Motorsport. page 173. 13 July 2000. Haymarket Specialist Magazines
Biography
Bettega was born ...
had crashed and died in his 037. While that fatality was largely blamed on the unforgiving Corsican scenery (and bad luck, as his co-driver,
Maurizio Perissinot
Maurizio Perissinot (1 February 1951 – 12 December 2004) was an Italian rally co-driver, mainly for Attilio Bettega.
He survived the accident at the 1985 Tour de Corse
The Tour de Corse is a rally first held in 1956 on the island of Corsica ...
, was unharmed), Toivonen and Cresto's deaths, combined with the Portugal tragedy and televised accident of F1 driver
Marc Surer
Marc Surer (born 18 September 1951 in Arisdorf) is a former racing driver from Switzerland currently working as TV commentator and racing school instructor. He participated in 88 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 9 Septembe ...
in another RS200 which killed co-driver
Michel Wyder
Michel Wyder (1 March 1950 – 31 May 1986) was a Swiss rally co-driver, who served as the co-driver of ex-Formula One driver Marc Surer until his death at the 1986 ADAC Rallye Hessen.
Death
Wyder was killed at the 1986 ADAC Rallye Hessen after ...
, compelled the FIA to ban all Group B cars immediately for 1987. Audi decided to quit Group B entirely after the Corsica rally.
The final days of Group B were also controversial. The Peugeots were disqualified from the
Rally Sanremo Rallye Sanremo is a rally competition held in Sanremo, Italy. Except for the 1995 event, the event was part of the FIA World Rally Championship schedule from the 1973 season to the 2003 season. Currently, it is a round of the Intercontinental Rall ...
by the Italian scrutineers as the 'skirts' around the bottom of the car were found to be illegal. Peugeot immediately accused the Italians of favouring Lancia. Their case was strengthened at the next event, the
RAC Rally
Wales Rally GB was the most recent iteration of the United Kingdom's premier international motor rally, which ran under various names since the first event held in 1932. It was consistently a round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) calen ...
, when the British scrutineers passed the Peugeots as legal in identical trim. FISA annulled the result of the Sanremo Rally eleven days after the final round in the United States. As a result, the championship title was passed from Lancia's Markku Alén to Peugeot's Juha Kankkunen. Timo Salonen had won another two rallies during the 1986 season and became the most successful group B era driver with a total of seven wins.
Beyond WRC
![SchancheBreitenederMelk1989](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/SchancheBreitenederMelk1989.jpg)
Although 1987 saw the end of Group B rally car development and their appearance on the world rally scene, they did not disappear. They were still permitted in regional championships providing they met the limit of 1600cc for four-wheel-drive or were homologated prior to 1984.
Future FIA president
Mohammed Ben Sulayem
Mohammed Ahmad Sultan Ben Sulayem ( ar, محمد بن سليم; born 12 November 1961) is an Emirati former rally driver and current president of the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile).
He is one of the Arab world's leading mot ...
was one
privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
who contested rounds of the 1987
Middle East Rally Championship in an Audi Quattro A2 and Opel Manta 400. Independent teams would enter the European Championship too, though the limited options of permitted Group B cars were not as competitive or ubiquitous as newer Group A cars.
Porsche's
959
Year 959 ( CMLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* April - May – The Byzantines refuse to pay the yearly tribute. A Hungari ...
never entered a WRC event, although it did compete in the Middle East championship and won the
Paris-Dakar Rally
The Dakar Rally (or simply "The Dakar"; formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally") is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal, ...
in 1986. Peugeot adapted their T16 to run in the
Dakar Rally
The Dakar Rally (or simply "The Dakar"; formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally") is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal ...
. Ari Vatanen won the event in 1987, 1989 and 1990. Improved Peugeot and Audi cars also competed in the
Pikes Peak Hillclimb in
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
. Walter Röhrl's S1 Rally car won the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in 1987 and set a new record at the time. Audi used their Group B experience to develop a production based racing car for the
Trans-Am
The Trans-Am Series is a sports car racing series held in North America. Founded in 1966, it is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA).
Primarily based in the United States, the series competes on a variety of track types includi ...
and
IMSA GTO series in 1988 and 1989 respectively.
Many ex-rally cars found homes in European
Rallycross events from the beginning of 1987 until the end of 1992. The
MG Metro 6R4 and Ford RS200 became frequent entries in national championships. For 1993, the FIA replaced the Group B models in the
European Rallycross Championship
European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to:
In general
* ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe
** Ethnic groups in Europe
** Demographics of Europe
** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...
with prototypes that had to be based on existing Group A models.
Group S
![Lancia Delta ECV at Legendy 2014](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Lancia_Delta_ECV_at_Legendy_2014.JPG)
As well as the cancellation of Group B, the tragedies of 1986 also brought about the scrapping of Group B's proposed replacement: Group S.
Group S rules would have limited car engine power to 300 hp (225 kW). To encourage innovative designs, ten examples of a car would have been required for
homologation, rather than the 200 required for Group B. By the time of its cancellation, at least four Group S prototypes had been built: The
Lancia ECV
The Lancia ECV (standing for ''Experimental Composite Vehicle'') was a prototype Group S rally car developed by the Italian manufacturer Lancia to replace the Lancia Delta S4 in World Rally Championship competition for the 1988 season. However, Gr ...
, the
Toyota MR2
The Toyota MR2 is a line of two-seat, mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive sports cars manufactured in Japan and marketed globally by Toyota from 1984 until 2007 over three generations: W10 (1984–1989), W20 (1989–1999) and W30 (2000–2007). It ...
-based 222D, the Opel Kadett Rallye 4x4 (a.k.a. Vauxhall Astra 4S) and the Lada Samara S-proto, and new cars were also planned by both Audi (the 002 Quattro) and Ford (a Group S modification of the RS200). The cancellation of Group S angered many rally insiders who believed the new specification to be safer than Group B and more exciting than Group A.
The Group S concept was revived by the FIA in 1997 as the
World Rally Car
A World Rally Car is a racing automobile built to the specific regulations set by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and designed for competition in the World Rally Championship (WRC). The cars were introduced in 1997 as a repl ...
specification, which persisted until 2021. WRC cars were limited to and required 2500 examples of a model but, unlike Group S, also had to share certain parts with their base production models.
Circuit racing
![Ferrari F40 fl](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Ferrari_F40_fl.jpg)
From their introduction in 1982 Group B found a home in the
World Endurance Championship, a new name for the World Sports Car Championship, though were secondary to the racing prototype Group C cars. The
1983 season had the first significant entry list including
Porsche 930
The Porsche 930 is a sports car manufactured by German automobile manufacturer Porsche between 1975 and 1989, known to the public as the 911 Turbo. It was the maker's top-of-the-range 911 model for its entire production duration and, at the ti ...
,
BMW M1 and
Ferrari 308 GTB LM vehicles. Porsche won the FIA GT Cup in 1983, handing it over to BMW in 1984 and 1985. From 1986 the championship retired Group B in favour of
IMSA
The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive direc ...
regulated cars and the championship became known as the World Sports-Prototype Championship the same year.
The
Porsche 961
The Porsche 961 was a racing car built by Porsche and based on their 959 sports car. It was intended for Group B sports car racing, complementing the purpose-built 956 and 962C which ran Group C in the World Sports-Prototype Championship. The ...
prototype, intended to be the basis for a Group B homologation, won the GTX class at the
24 Hours of Le Mans 1986 race but crashed and caught fire in 1987. The Ferrari 288 GTO was built and sold the minimum requirement of cars to the public, but never saw action in its category. The
WSPC
WSPC (1010 AM) is a commercial radio station in Albemarle, North Carolina. It broadcasts a talk radio format and is owned by Stanly Communications. The radio studios and transmitter are on Magnolia Street in Albemarle.
By day, WSPC transmits w ...
grids it was intended for was filled up by a batch of Group C cars (there would be no production sports car-based racers in European racing, including Le Mans, until
1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...
), but it saw limited use in an
IMSA GTO race in 1989.
Legacy
The era of Group B is often considered one of the most competitive and compelling periods in rallying. The combination of a lightweight chassis, sophisticated aerodynamics and massive amounts of horsepower resulted in the development of a class of cars whose performance has not yet been surpassed within their category, even three decades later.
In reference to their dubious safety record, the class has also earned an unsavoury nickname among rally enthusiasts: "Killer B's".
In contrast to this, many enthusiasts refer the Group B era as the Golden Age of Rallying.
Many
racing video game
Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic rac ...
s feature Group B cars for the player to drive. The 2017 video game ''
Gran Turismo Sport
''Gran Turismo Sport'' is a 2017 racing video game developed by Polyphony Digital and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. It is the 13th game in the '' Gran Turismo'' series, the seventh game in the main series.
O ...
'' features a rally car category known as "Gr. B", an obvious homage to Group B. This particular category features predominantly fictional rally cars based on newer models, such as the
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X
The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X is the tenth and final generation of the Lancer Evolution, a sports sedan produced by Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi Motors.
By September 2005, Mitsubishi introduced a concept version of the next-gen Evoluti ...
and the
Subaru WRX STI, although it does include the Pikes Peak version of the Audi Quattro. For the game's sequel, ''
Gran Turismo 7
''Gran Turismo 7'' is a racing simulation video game developed by Polyphony Digital and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The game is the eighth mainline installment in the '' Gran Turismo'' series. The game was announced on June 11, ...
'', an actual Group B car (the Peugeot 205) was added to the class.
Cars
Group B
![1986 Toyota Celica Coupe GT-TS TwinCam Turbo Group B Rally Car 370kmh 4cylinder 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/1986_Toyota_Celica_Coupe_GT-TS_TwinCam_Turbo_Group_B_Rally_Car_370kmh_4cylinder_2.1litre_photo1.jpg)
This list includes under-development and prototype cars that did not receive homologation.
Notes
Group S
* Audi Sport Quattro RS 002
*
Ford RS200
The Ford RS200 is a mid-engined, four-wheel drive sports car that was produced by Ford Motorsport in Boreham, UK, from 1984 to 1986. The road-going RS200 was the basis for Ford's Group B rally car and was designed to comply with FIA homologati ...
*
Lada Samara S-proto
*
Lancia ECV
The Lancia ECV (standing for ''Experimental Composite Vehicle'') was a prototype Group S rally car developed by the Italian manufacturer Lancia to replace the Lancia Delta S4 in World Rally Championship competition for the 1988 season. However, Gr ...
* Mazda RX7S
*
Opel Kadett Rallye 4x4/
Vauxhall Astra 4S
*
Peugeot 405 T16 GR
* SEAT Ibiza Bimotor
* Škoda 130LR Evolution
*
Toyota 222D (based upon MR2)
Notable drivers
*
Markku Alén
Markku Allan Alén (born 15 February 1951) is a Finnish former rally and race car driver. He drove for Fiat, Lancia, Subaru and Toyota in the World Rally Championship, and held the record for most stage wins (801) in the series, until Sébastie ...
*
Attilio Bettega
Attilio Bettega (19 February 1953 – 2 May 1985) was an Italian rally driver.''Autosport'' 50th Anniversary Issue Celebrating 50 years of the Best in Motorsport. page 173. 13 July 2000. Haymarket Specialist Magazines
Biography
Bettega was born ...
*
Miki Biasion
Massimo "Miki" Biasion (born 7 January 1958) is an Italian rally driver, two-time World Rally champion.
Career
Biasion was born in Bassano del Grappa, Veneto.
Biasion came to prominence in the early 1980s, winning both the Italian and European ...
*
Stig Blomqvist
Stig Lennart Blomqvist (born 29 July 1946) is a retired Swedish rally driver. He made his international breakthrough in 1971. Driving an Audi Quattro for the Audi factory team, Blomqvist won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1984 an ...
*
Marian Bublewicz
*
John Buffum
*
Juha Kankkunen
Juha Matti Pellervo Kankkunen (; born 2 April 1959) is a Finnish former rally driver. His factory team career in the World Rally Championship lasted from 1983 to 2002. He won 23 world rallies and four drivers' world championship titles, which we ...
*
Shekhar Mehta
Chandra Shekhar Mehta (20 June 1945 – 12 April 2006) was a Kenyan rally driver. He was born in Uganda and won the Safari Rally a record five times (1973, 1979–82), including four consecutively, and in 1981 finished fifth in the World Rally ...
*
Hannu Mikkola
Hannu Olavi Mikkola (24 May 1942 − 25 February 2021) was a Finnish champion world rally driver. He was a seven-time winner of the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland and won the RAC Rally in Great Britain four times.
Career
Mikkola's rally career ...
*
Michèle Mouton
Michèle Mouton (born 23 June 1951) is a French former rally driver. Competing in the World Rally Championship for the Audi factory team, she took four victories and finished runner-up in the drivers' world championship in 1982.
Mouton debuted ...
*
Tony Pond
Tony Pond (23 November 1945 – 7 February 2002) was a British rally driver.
Career
His first outings in a rally car were on the then regular (in the early '60s) Saturday night road rallies in the home counties around London, driving a Mini C ...
*
Jean Ragnotti
Jean "Jeannot" Ragnotti (born 29 August 1945 in Pernes-les-Fontaines, Vaucluse), is a French former rally driver for Renault in the World Rally Championship.
Ranking among his achievements are his conquering of the Monte Carlo Rally in 1981, w ...
*
Jorge Recalde
*
Walter Röhrl
Walter Röhrl (; born 7 March 1947) is a German rally and auto racing driver, with victories for Fiat, Opel, Lancia and Audi as well as Porsche, Ford and BMW. Röhrl has scored 14 victories over his career, with his notable achievements includin ...
*
Timo Salonen
Timo Salonen (born October 8, 1951) is a Finnish former rally driver who won the 1985 World Rally Championship season for Peugeot. It was commented of him that he stood out from other drivers, because he was overweight, wore thick glasses and smok ...
*
Henri Toivonen
Henri Pauli Toivonen (25 August 1956 – 2 May 1986) was a Finnish rally driver born in Jyväskylä, the home of Rally Finland. His father, Pauli, was the 1968 European Rally Champion for Porsche and his brother, Harri, became a profess ...
*
Ari Vatanen
Ari Pieti Uolevi Vatanen (; born 27 April 1952) is a Finnish rally driver turned politician and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1999 to 2009. Vatanen won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1981 and the Paris Dakar Rall ...
*
Björn Waldegård
Björn Waldegård (12 November 1943 – 29 August 2014) was a Swedish rally driver, and the winner of the inaugural World Rally Championship for drivers in 1979. His Swedish nickname was "Walle".
Career
Waldegård, who came from Rimbo, had a ca ...
References
{{Class of Auto racing
*Group B
World Rally Championship
Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
Rally groups
Racing car classes
Auto racing controversies