Sharp gravel shoots from under tires, scorching flames burst out of exhaust pipes, turbo whistles echo through mountains, and a sea of spectators step off the track at the last second. In the four short years Group B Rally racing was alive, it was as much of a motorsport as it was an art form. Group B cars were more paintbrush than machine, creating sporadic yet coherent strokes of flame and ground on the rugged canvas, which was the track.
While rally has been around since the late 19th century, many consider the years 1982 to 1986 the “Golden Age” of the sport, more commonly known as Group B Rally. Rally has always been an outlier in the motorsport realm, from its cars, to its tracks, even to the way it’s driven. It’s essentially the wild child of racing. Even though rally is more sporadic than other forms of racing, it’s had, and still does have, its fair share of regulations and rules. However when Group B came along, all of that was thrown out the window.
The most notable part of Group B was its incredibly loose spectator rules and how the spectators themselves could interact with the track. Track limits may be one of, if not the most important part of racing sports, as it guides the driver on where to go. Along with that, there isn’t an actual track limit in Rally, just a ditch on the side of the road and nature itself. One thing that makes rally different from other sports is that most of the time there is a co-driver in the car telling the actual driver where to go and what obstacles and turns are coming up next.
Crowd control was essentially non-existent, making spectators free to go on the track as they pleased. Because of this, they filled the sides of the roads and even the track itself, creating new obstacles and limits for the drivers. Some fans even went as far as touching the cars flying past on the track, leading to the teams even finding severed fingers in the air intakes.
This tradition of getting as close to the cars as possible put much more pressure on the drivers, forcing them to even better expertly maneuver the already difficult track. While this did lead to several injuries and even fatal accidents, it also displayed the masterclass in reaction time, control, and composure that these drivers were, outlining them as some of the greatest drivers in history.
With virtually no limits on a car’s power, weight, or technology, Group B was a playground for its engineers, allowing them to push the edge of possibility. Manufacturers like Lancia, Ford, Audi, and Peugeot transformed their cars into missiles on wheels, equipped with powerful engines that had massive turbochargers, bodies crafted from lightweight materials like kevlar and carbon fiber, and hyper intelligent All Wheel Drive systems.
Horsepower numbers skyrocketed during this area, with some cars even breaking into the 600s. This was thanks to how well optimized air intake and outtake through turbo and superchargers was within these compact engines, usually inline four cylinders. And while 600 horsepower may not seem like an outrageous amount in today’s world, especially with modern advancements and the impressive builds taking place on social media. Back when Group B was taking place, power like that could only be found in the super and hypercars of the era. Additionally, the lightweight bodies paired with the absurd amounts of horsepower led to stunning 0-60 times and acceleration speed.
Often the most overlooked, yet an imperative part of these cars were their All Wheel Drive systems. A car can have all the power and speed optimization in the world, but it doesn’t mean anything if the vehicle can’t drive on the ground below it. While rally racing sometimes takes place on tarmac, it’s usually performed on snow, dirt, or gravel where a more common front or rear wheel drivetrain setup won’t be able to efficiently move. This is where AWD comes into place, most commonly starting as front or rear wheel to optimize gas mileage and adjusting power between the wheels when slipping is detected. But Group B completely changed this, introducing AWD systems where power is given to all four wheels at all times, still adjusting power when needed. This brought forth one of, if not the most famous AWD system, Audi Quattro.
Unlike a regular AWD system, Audi’s Quattro was built for rally and has the split between all wheels. But unlike other systems like Subaru’s SAWD, it has a 40:60 ratio between the front and rear wheels. Paired with the genius computing systems in their cars, Audi dominated the sport in its short life span, creating the ultimate legacy that it has today.
Group B rally was made for raw automotive competition, with its almost non-existent rules and insurmountable engineering feats allowing for an unreplicable sport in today’s world, and marking a stable in the racing and engineering realm.
