Six of the best: Group B rally cars
It is 30 years since the fearsome Group B rally cars were outlawed. For many, they represent the pinnacle of rally cars – but 600bhp and poor safety regulations don’t mix.
By the timeFinnish driver Henri Toivonen and co-driver Sergio Cresta’s Lancia went off the side of a corner with no guardrail in 1986 at the Tour de Corse, the writing was on the wall for Group B.
To mark the anniversary of its passing, these iconic rally cars gathered once more at the London Classic Car Show, giving petrolheads a chance to get up close and personal with this extinct breed of rally cars.
Peugeot 205 T16
Masterminded by Jean Todt, the Peugeot 205 T16 changed the French car maker’s fortunes and quickly became one of the most definitive cars of the era. It has a light four-wheel drive system and a mid-mounted turbocharged engine. It debuted in the WRC in May 1984 driven by ‘flying Finn’ Ari Vatanen. Sadly, Ari’s Group B days came to an end when he suffered a near-fatal crash in Argentina. In 1986, driver Juha Kankkunen won the Driver’s and Manufacturer’s Championship with the car.
MondeoMonkeyMagic on 7 March 2016
I consider myself lucky enough to have seen these some of the above brutes in action as a young and impressionable rally fan during the 80's. They are all terrific technical tour de forces of course, but my personal favourite was the 6R4. I have a picture of Malcom Wilson driving C867 EUU through Pundershaw (Killer Kielder Forest as it was known back then) at night. Happy days for me. Until recently, I mistakenly thought the 6R4 powerplant was a breathed on modified version of Rover's P5B/P6/SD1 3.5 Buick engine but I now believe it had a modified DFV engine. You Tube is a good place to relive these cars.
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