Group B Rallycross: a retrospective

Group B cars have quite rightly gone down in history as the ultimate rally machines. They were faster, more powerful and harder to drive than anything that came before. The story of how the likes of the RS200, the Delta S4, the S1E2 and the 205T16 found themselves out in the cold is as well known as it is tragic, the deaths of spectators and both Henri Toivonen and Sergio Cresto bringing the curtain down on the World Rally Championships most insane period.

Less well known is what became of the majority of these machines after their collective careers were curtailed in such dramatic, final fashion. Remember that they were at the very cutting edge of automotive and motorsport technology at the time: they bristled with innovative forced induction thinking, groaned under the weight (figuratively) of composite materials, and had inspired a generation of fans to look away from F1 for their motorsport kicks. It therefore followed that they would be re-purposed and re-used, and the steady rise in the popularity of Rallycross, still a new and innovative form of motor racing in the mid-‘80s, presented the perfect arena for these machines in which to compete. Not only did it throw these cars a lifeline and an alternative career, the fact that Rallycross events were held on closed, relatively easily policed tracks meant that crowd numbers and behaviour could be closely monitored and controlled.

The true beauty of this mass migration of Group B hardware was that the technology at their very heart was more often than not at the very start of its development cycle. Put simply, there was a lot more performance still to be extracted - the manufacturer teams had barely begun to scratch the surface!

Not that the European Rallycross Championship was a stranger to potent, borderline certifiable machinery. The likes of Martin Schanche and John Welch had campaigned massively powerful Mk2 and 3 Escorts powered by BDT engines, but the whole scene was far less professional and far more ‘rough and ready’ than the WRC. The introduction of cutting edge, all-wheel drive Group B beasts at the start of the 1987 was very much a watershed moment for the sport then, and one which marked the start of its ascendancy.

The glut of Group B cars dotted around Europe resulted in a mass scramble from all sections of the Rallycross community the like of which hadn’t been seen since the USA and the USSR hunted for German rocket scientists in the dying days of WW2! Not only were these cars relatively abundant, they were relatively cheap, the manufacturers that had invested so many millions in their development and construction having been effectively forced to cut their losses and switch focus to Group A.

It’s interesting to note that the rough pecking order which had already been established by the time that Group B bit the dust was largely carried over to Rallycross: the Audi Quattro S1E2 was massively powerful but ultimately handicapped by its front engined layout, the Metro 6R4 (in NA guise at least) was out-gunned, and anyone who was anyone wanted a Peugeot T16 or a Lancia Delta S4.

The opening round of the 1987 ERC was held at the spiritual home of Rallycross, Lydden Hill. Part of the appeal was its grassroots nature: a small, bumpy course with muddy banks, snatches of pitted tarmac, and the small matter of a grid choc-full of recently liberated Group B beasts. That watershed year saw some of the machines that would become ERC legends to take to the track, including Seppo Niittymäki’s monstrous T16 and Matti Alamäki’s equally ferocious S4. Both would go on to make the series their own for a number of years, Niittymäki taking overall honors in 1987, Alamäki (once he to had moved to PSA-power) in 1988.

This insane spectacle continued unabated for a full seven years, power figures climbing ever higher and specifications changing beyond all recognition. OE turbos were unceremoniously dumped and replaced with even bigger versions, boost was wound up, compression ratios were reduced, fuel systems re-worked and ECUs re-calibrated. This allowed power figures to jump, first to 500bhp, finally as much as 700bhp. The relative lack of regulation governing spec meant that cars which hadn’t been all that competitive in the WRC could be dragged up the order, with Will Gollop’s Metro 6R4 being a good example. Outgunned in Austin Rover guise thanks to its NA V6, Gollop’s car steadily evolved, eventually taking the Brit to the title in 1992. By that point it sported a pair of massive turbos and made an easy 700bhp, that figure itself trimmed back from a massive 800bhp for the sake of reliability and drivability.

1993 saw the likes of the RS200, the 6R4 and the T16 outlawed and effectively consigned to the history books, while the top-tier of the European Rallycross Championship continued with highly modified versions of Group A machinery. The sport had positively flourished in the period though, exploding in popularity and finding fans from all over the world. It was a golden era and a fitting send off for these most charismatic of competition cars.