Kankkunen: Rally1 is like the Group B era – DirtFish (2024)

FAQs

Are rally 1 cars faster than Group B? ›

World Rally Cars were, of course, faster than Group B. But there was nothing like the brutality. Fancy transmission, active suspension and all manner of bells and whistles had undoubtedly made the cars quicker. And, in the eyes of many, less of a challenge.

Marketplace. The savage speed of the Group B cars and the enormous, unfettered crowds that flocked to see the “Killer Bs,” as they came to be known, was unsustainable. The nickname wasn't just cute wordplay, either—people died. The Lancia of driver Attilio Bettega took his life at the 1985 Tour de Corse (Corsica).

Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived touring cars for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles were limited in terms of power, weight, allowed technology and overall cost.

An Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2, one of the most powerful Group B cars. 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.

550 bhp, supercharged and turbo charged, 0-60 mph in 2.5 seconds on gravel, the ultimate fire-breathing rally car! In 1983, Lancia claimed the World Rally Manufacturer' Championship with the infamous two-wheel drive Lancia Rally '037', beating the four-wheel drive Audi Quattro.

The final straw came at the Tour de Corse. On the French island of Corsica, championship favorite Henri Toivonen drove off the unguarded edge, rupturing the fuel tanks and killing him and his co-driver Sergio Cresto. Group B cars were immediately banned from competing in the 1987 season.

High speeds best confined to closed circuits rather than uncontrolled public roads were blamed, and Group B was banned for 1987. The Group B cars, however, and the subsequent models inspired by the era remain. Today, they're commonly called “hom*ologation cars” because they existed primarily for racing.

Despite its short lifespan—the Group B class only ran from 1982 until 1986—people still talk about the racing, the drivers, and the cars today. With the popularity of movies like Ford v. Ferrari, it was only a matter of time before rally got the big-budget Hollywood treatment. The trailer for Race For Glory: Lancia vs.

Many consider Group B the golden age of stage rally. With fire-breathing 500-plus-horsepower machines and crowds that could match a Formula 1 weekend, we understand how someone could champion the era as the end-all be-all of the sport. But rally didn't end when Group B was canceled in 1986.

The fatal accidents of the Group B era resulted in its demise. Only hours after Henri Toivonen's crash at the 1986 Tour de Corse, FISA president Jean-Marie Balestre announced that Group B cars were banned for the 1987 season.

How much horsepower did the Group B rally car have? ›

Group B welcomed some of the most spectacular rally cars the world had ever seen, boasting four-wheel-drive and in some cases over 500 brake horsepower.

It was the lightness and the power of the car. There was no safety in those days, and for a lot of Group B cars, there was not even any power steering.

The Ford RS200 is arguably the fastest Group B car, with 600hp and a very light weight and balanced power-to-weight ratio.

Other than with the Group 4 Lancia Stratos HF, Group B was the first time that purpose-built rally cars were designed and produced for the specific task of winning rallies: these cars simply had no other reason to exist. For purists, there can be nothing better!

Group B was faster than today's WRC cars. A 1982 Audi Quattro about ~140mph, 2017 Toyota Yaris ~125mph. A Group N used to achieve higher speeds than today's WRC cars (with a long enough straight) as they have longer gear ratios ~130+mph. Today's WRC cars are much quicker than Group B.

As for top speeds, rally gearing as always been close ratio including Group B days; even the most powerful Group B cars topped out at around 200 kph (124 mph) or less – but their strength lied in getting at those speeds very quickly.

Group B welcomed some of the most spectacular rally cars the world had ever seen, boasting four-wheel-drive and in some cases over 500 brake horsepower. Sources at the time claimed that a Group B car could accelerate from 0-60mph (96km/h) on a gravel road in just 2.3 seconds.