I had always wanted to visit one of the classic rallies for a chance to see classic rally cars that competed in the ’70s and the Group B years that followed. Luckily, I didn’t have to go abroad, as two of those legends came to my home town of Prague to participate in an event [...]
The UK’s Race Retro show – home to the pre-season gathering of the country’s historic race and rallying communities – delivers a complete fix of classic competition cars. From the displays in the halls to the vintage rallycars blasting around the roadways of Stoneleigh park, it’s yet another reminder that the racing season can’t start [...]
I expected some impressive vintage racing cars for sure at Race Retro, the UK’s big historic racing meet, but not the staggering range and quality of metal that was on show, or the variety of events that were being promoted. In every set of circuit racers, rally machines and single seaters there would be at [...]
I can’t quite explain it, but I’ve always been fascinated with turbocharged engines. I have always found the idea or harnessing exhaust gasses to help force-feed the intake side of the engine such an ingenious solution. While we are currently living through a massive comeback of the turbocharger as more and more modern engines, big [...]
Following on from our introduction, this montage shows off some perfect video examples of the cars in question: on the edge, over the edge. Dust, fire, snow, smoke, cheering. Wings and bodywork barely held on. Battling oversteer, barriers, the elements, the crowd.
If you want to see just how dangerous Group B was, go to 1m20 in and the Lancia 037 jumping over a crest and into a sea of people, who organically open up as the car lands before closing in behind. Or at 2m36s when the T16′s tail drift causes fans to nonchalantly jump out of the way. It was expected! You’re up front for the best view, you take your chances.
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What do you remember about the 1980s? What things does that decade make you think of? Were you even born then?! To some people, the decade recalls a new wave of questionable music, terrible fashion crimes, big hair, the rise of MTV and soap operas like Dallas. More seriously there were nuclear meltdowns, ill-thought out [...]
There’s little wonder that so many people look back on the mid ’80s as the golden era of rallying. Group B not only reinvented the sport from a technical standpoint, but it re-popularized it too. For a while, the World Rally Championship was bigger than Formula 1. During those crazy years from 1983 to 1986, [...]
The 1980s are remembered for a lot of things, but in the motorsport world those years represent the golden era of rallying. Group B took the World Rally Championship and turned it on its head. In matter of just a few short years factory-backed cars had doubled their power output and were packed full of cutting edge technology and exotic components. Many people likened them to Formula 1 cars for the gravel, and that wasn’t far from the truth. But they were too fast and ultimately too dangerous, which is why we will, unfortunately, never see anything like Group B in the WRC ever again. The spirit, however, will always live on.
As I write this here in California it’s Monday morning. Yes, the dreaded Monday morning where the fun and excitement of the weekend is left behind in the start of a new work week. Never fear though, as we have some images here that may be able to help pull you out of the early week blues.
The rally stage at the Goodwood Festival Of Speed provides a complete contrast to the buzzing, packed areas around the hill-climb course and the car companies’ enormous marketing stands. At the top of the hill-climb, just the other side of the finish-line grandstands, is the Forest Rally Stage paddock – and winding its way through [...]
While walking through one of the halls at the recent Essen Motor Show I was very surprised to see a bunch of rally cars from yester year. They were part of a display that celebrated 100 years of the Monte Carlo Rally. The Motor Show had selected a few cars that won the rally in [...]
With little doubt in my mind, I really do think this is the car that sums up Group B. The Audi Quattro S1 is a strange beast. It's not a pretty car by any measure, its proportions are quite strange but all of these aesthetic gripes are forgotten once that turbocharged inline five is brought [...]
Group B. An era which undoubtedly conjours up memories of a time where fire breathing cars would dominate the world rally stages. It was also a time of huge danger in the sport, drivers being forced to tackle stages at maximum attack whilst navigating a sea of people, all eager to catch a glimpse of [...]
