Would anyone have Group B rally footage?

[ollieboy]

Well I am too young to have seen group b rally but have been reading about it in the last few weeks. It seemed like a very cool sport and was wondering if anyone had any video footage of it or knew where I could buy a DVD or video with it on. I can't download off the net because I am cursed with a slow net connection.

heres something I read on a website

But there was a time when rallying was very different. The early 1980s saw a category created specifically for manufacturers who wanted to show off their engineering capabilities; Group B was born. The Group B rally supercars quickly evolved into 500+ horsepower, four-wheel-drive chest-thumping beasts with space frames, kevlar bodywork, and many other high-tech pieces. The cars reached a point where many wondered if the cars had reached a point where the drivers could not fully control them. For instance, the Lancia Delta S4 could accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.3 seconds on a gravel road. Henri Toivonen drove an S4 around Estoril, the Portuguese Grand Prix circuit, so quickly that he would have qualified sixth for the 1986 Portuguese Grand Prix. Nigel Mansell sampled a Peugeot 205 T16 and said it could out-accelerate his F1 car. And, perhaps most impressive (frightening?), the driver's reaction times were cut in half compared with previous rally cars. The Group B rally cars and their pilots were the stuff of which legends are made.

Thats just nuts and sounds absolutely awesome. Those drivers must have had huge balls to be driving the speeds they did on gravel. Maximum respect to them man.

[RomanV]

Oh man, you have NO idea.

Group B totally kicked ass.

PM sent.

[ollieboy]

Oh and in the photos I have seen the spectators are just a metre or so from cars flying past. No wonder it was banned from spectators being killed.

Man thats my kinda sport.

[RomanV]

Actually, the amount of deaths was quite low...

only 2 or 3 drivers, and a handful of spectators.

But all of the drivers agreed, that it was too dangerous.

[ollieboy]

Oh well still, the closeness some of the people were to the action I sure wouldn't have been

[ollieboy]

heres an example

[Jebus]

heres an example

Got a better one?

[Chickenman]

There's a really cool doco...


Too fast to race I think it's called.

Clicky

[Chickenman]

I may be able to get it copied for you.. don't know if they've got it on DVD or video

If it's DVD I'll copy it fo' yo' fo' shizzle.


gansta

[ollieboy]

Got a better one?

meh not as good but yeah, I don't actually know if that vehicles even moving.

[ollieboy]

I may be able to get it copied for you.. don't know if they've got it on DVD or video

If it's DVD I'll copy it fo' yo' fo' shizzle.


gansta

Thanks man, if you can get it that would be awesome and I will reimburse you with cash or beer.

cheers

[Dell'Orto]

Actually, the amount of deaths was quite low...

only 2 or 3 drivers, and a handful of spectators.

But all of the drivers agreed, that it was too dangerous.

@ "only" How long did Grp B go for? Like 3 years or something?

[Cahuna]

They were magic cars. I remember dad taking me out into Riverhead Forest to watch them every year they came out, I was convinced they were so fast that they could jump just from pure acceleration on the flat

I read somewhere that in 1986 somebody (might have been Toivanen) did a few laps of the Estorial Grand Prix circuit in the Lancia Delta S4, the times he set would have placed him around 5th on the grid for that years' F1 Grand Prix . Then consider that a modern WRC car (and probably most Group N cars for that matter) set stage times considerably faster than the Group B cars...

[Malcolm]

I watched a documentary about Group B and similar race cars, the drivers said they were so fast when you were going around one corner you'd be starting to turn for the next one and if anything went wrong by the time you realised you'd already gone off

footage from inside was nuts, crazy spectators just getting out of the way in time to not get hit (usually ) and everything just happened so damn fast. It was a real superhuman task to drive them (and there were a few women doing it )

[Leon]

*giggles*

Actually you'll find that a good Group N car will be setting stage times not a million miles from a Group B car of the period. They'd get owned by a WRC car. They weren't that fast point to point, but they were bastard fast in a straight line. They then wouldn't get around corners in a very controlled manner That was what made them a bit scary. Much power, minimal control + out of control crowds.

[Truenotch]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... +b&pl=true

A tribute.

[B1NZ]

Gravel = Where real men race - tarmacs just for getting there

[RomanV]

fark yeah.

Stig blomhurst (sp?) is awesome.

I've got a divx called 'worlds best rally cars', and he throws in his two cents on pretty much ever single car... he has raced most of them!

[TURCEL]

Ive got a two hour video on the History of the Audi Quattro and most of that follows its rally history.

They have a one on one with Stig and he says that the accerlation is so quick, you basicly change gear as fast you can and the car keeps up He also says that the accelleration is the same as standard a road car doing 20-40km's when the Audi is doing 100-120ks

Anyway, some of the footage is just amazing, they are driving at full blast, pushing the limits way to far, in the pitch black and all you see in the head lights are peoples legs running out of the way!!!! It was just plain insane!!! At some points people are standing in the middle of the road and then pretty much diving for cover at the last second. If one driver got it wrong.......... and they did......... I dont even want to think about it.

Lets not forget the others..... Walter Rohl, Michelle Mutton (first women to win an internation race), Ari Vatanen, Hannu Mikkola...... we owe so much to those pioneers....... imagine the driving style change from RWD Escorts to turbo charged 4WD monsters...... every event in the first years of the Quattro they would improve ten fold, to quote Hannu Mikkola (roughly) "In a rally of 200kms, im only getting a handful of corners right"

I did convert it to DVD but ive lost the five copies I made....... but VR4-Squid might find his one and send it back and I can make some more backups.

[Loudtoy]

I watched a documentary about Group B and similar race cars, the drivers said they were so fast when you were going around one corner you'd be starting to turn for the next one and if anything went wrong by the time you realised you'd already gone off

footage from inside was nuts, crazy spectators just getting out of the way in time to not get hit (usually ) and everything just happened so damn fast. It was a real superhuman task to drive them (and there were a few women doing it )

Actually there was a thing on some doco that i watched where they said that some of the more stupid euro type soectators actually tried to touch the cars as they went past, most of them didn't manage it but some of the more foolish ones got a hand on a car as they went past (note that most of them that got a hand on it ended up with something broken).
Also don't forget that the quattro was the 1st of the 4 wheel drives, think of the others such as the reno5 turbo, 206t16 etc that were only 2 wheel drive, and with roughly the same power - in fact if you want to see some group b cars in real life (ok maybe only one) i think one of the guys who owns one does the targa rally in it every year - better to see it in the early stages because i think it normally breaks in the early parts day 2-3 or so.
Imagine where the wrc scene would be now without the group b pioneers as such, people like porschewith there 959, mg with the metro and lancia with the intergrale getting the 4wd systems up and running properly (afterall there is no breeding ground like rally for real life aplications) so hats off to them.
Also like leon said if you want to see fast stage times and high corner speeds on gravel watch wrc and actually grounp n cars of today will corner faster than the old group b - but for straight line speed and absolutely crazy stuff group b's the go.
Still for historic rally cars i still think the lancia stratos is my personal favourite 2.4 v6 mid mounted driving the rear wheels only with 285 horse sounds like lots of fun to me