Too Fast To Race: Group B Rally

As you know we are big fans of Group B Rally, it’s what we grew up with.  In the mid 1980’s when we were in high school, ESPN would show WRC and U.S. Rally Racing, as hard as that seems to believe in this day and age.

The Group B cars were turly monsters in their days, 5-800 horsepower was not unheard of, and much of the technology from the turbo Formula 1 cars made their way in to rally racing.  It came to an end at the end of the 80’s though as the cars became to fast, there were a few to many fatalities of drivers and spectators, so this shining moment of racing came to an end.

We found this series on YouTube and thought we would share it with you, it’s a documentry, broken up into seven sections to show you this history of this great series.

Rally Car Orgasm

As we have said before, we are fans of old school Group B and Group A cars, we thought we’d give you a bit of a treat as we approach Christmas three video’s where you will need to crank the sound up as loud as you can.

We will start with the 1977 Lombard Rally, go to the “Group B Monsters” and finish off with a tribute to Colin McRae, who was recently voted by Motorsports News as the “Greatest Motorsport Hero of all time

Thanks to amjayes‘s YouTube Channel for some of this great content.

Hill Climbs

I’ll be honest I’ve never paid much attention to this part of the sport, though our friend Toby Moody is deep into it and is a class record holder at Shelsey Walsh in the UK.  Have a look and crank up the volume!

Group B Rally Tribute

When I was in High School in the mid 80’s I remember ESPN showing the World Rally Championship and was always amaized at the car control these drivers had.  To this day I firmly believe the most talent car drivers in the world are Rally drivers.  The rally cars, more than any other four wheel form of racing comes the closest to motorcycle roadracing for me in the control and the ballet that is required to excel.  

0-60 in under 3 seconds on the dirt, 5-800+ horsepower while weighing under 2500lbs, even today these cars inspire awe.  I still find the Lancia 037 to be one of the most beautiful and purposeful cars of that era, even if it wasn’t the quickest, or most reliable.  If you are a fan of this era, YouTube is a treasure trove of great video.