The darkest era of WRC: The ban of Group B

WARNING: The shown video footage is not for the faint-hearted. Don’t watch them, if you’re uncertain about it.

For a start, a brief explanation of Group B, although most people might already know all about it. The era of Group B rallying began in 1982 with RWD cars such as the Lancia 037.

Those cars were extremely powerful and light at the same time. The 037 for example weighed only 980kg while having up to 350hp and even though that doesn’t sound that excessive by today’s standards, you have to keep in mind that those cars were driving on narrow gravel roads through forests. With the introduction of All-Wheel-Drive in Group B, starting with the Audi Quattro S1 in 1984, the cars got even faster. Maybe the fastest of all of them was the Peugeot 205 T16, winning the championship in 1985 and 1986. But after 2 very serious accidents in 1986, Group B ended out of a sudden.

Actually, I’m not here to talk about how amazing Group B was. I’m here to talk about whether it was the right decision to ban it.

When reading posts and comments about Group B here on CT, I always get the feeling most people blame the FISA (former name of FIA) for banning those cars. The intention of my post is getting those people to think about it a bit more, because in my honest opinion, the ban was absolutely justified.

The crash in Portugal

The first of the two crashes, that led to Group B’s sudden end, was this one in Portugal 1986. The Portuguese driver Joaquím Santos lost the rear end of his Ford RS200 and simply wasn’t able to catch it again. So he ploughed through the crowd of spectators, killing three of them (not four as said in the video) and injuring more than 30 people. After this crash, most people blamed the spectators for standing on the outside of a dangerous corner and they are partly right. But there’s more to it than just people standing in the wrong place. Having lots of spectators around the track was always normal in rallying and neither before Group B nor after has there ever been a similar crash. As in most cases the initial reason for the crash was a driving mistake, but the cars were so unbelievably fast and hard to control, that he had almost no reaction time after the first loss of traction. And this is exactly my main argument for the ban. The suspension simply couldn’t keep up with the rapid increasement in power. While most drivers loved the way the cars felt, almost noone of them was denying how difficult they were to drive. Although that was a part of the spectacle, the engineers simply went one step too far, creating an unbelievable amount of unnecessary risks for both, drivers and spectators.

Toivonen’s crash at the Tour de Corse 1986

Only two months later at the Tour de Corse on the island of Corsica, the next fatal accident happened. The Finnish driver Henri Toivonen lost control of his Lancia Delta S4 and fell down a steep slope, crashing into some trees. The car instantly started to burn and both, Toivonen and his co-driver Sergio Cresto, died at the scene of the crash. It’s still unknown what actually made Toivonen lose control, but it’s clearly visible that those cars were driving fire hazards. This is the second reason, why the cars weren’t safe enough in my opinion. Yes, the crash alone would have been enough to kill them, but a race car shouldn’t burst into flames in the case of an impact. After this accident, the FISA quickly decided to ban Group B from participating in any WRC race ever again.

What is left of Group B today?

However, for homologation reasons, Group B brought us some of most extreme street-legal cars of all times. Those monsters on wheels are one of the reasons Group B will never be forgotten.

A little surprise at the end

Few people know that Daihatsu build a prototype for their own Group B entry, but sadly the ban thwarted their plans. The Daihatsu DeTomaso Charade 926R was powered by a mid-mounted 926cc inline-3 delivering 118hp. The car featured an RWD layout and weighed just about 800kg. I bet the homologation model would have been an unbelievable experience to drive.

So, what is your opinion on the ban? Was it rightful or exaggerated?