Rally Group B Shrine.

[tank152]

I thought i'd share this web site i've come across. It's dedicated to all things Group B, without doubt one of if not the greatest periods of rallying.

https://rallygroupbshrine.org/

 

[Vince1159]

What a fantastic site,thanks for posting....

[Admiral Puff]

Oh my! That's going to waste take up far too much of my time! Thanks (I think!) for sharing!

[RaceAddict]

This is Jay's (owner of the site) personal car:

 

It's a bit of a Frankenstein. He was doing a bit of a shakedown as our 00 car this past September. 

[FAL]

Like almost everything written about Group B, that site contains errors. One of the commonest is getting the cut off wrong. 2000cc GpB cars were not banned for 1987, only over 2000. It was 1988. Then 1600 cars, Then finally 1300 which meant the rest of GpB.

It also implies the routine misunderstanding that GpB cars were all "supercars". A very small number of over 2000cc cars were. Virtually anything on 4 wheels made in sufficient quantities that could not comply with the exact prescriptions of GpN or GpA was eventually homologated in GpB.

The FIA originally never intended rallies to run GpB cars. It was first seen only as a racing category, just as Gp4 originally was. Pressure from manufacturers caused rallies to include Gp4 categories/classes under the old Appendix J and GpB under the new for 1.1.82. Appendix J. 

The new Appendix J eventually saw the end of rallying as we knew it on the RAC rally etc. GpN and GpA were initially inadequate to cater for enough entries and Gps 2 and 4 had to be run on for 2 years. This was because Gps N and A favoured injected cars and excluded the UK Gp2 type  "stick twin carbs on it and be reasonably competitive" type of international entry.

I did 4 International rallies in a GpB car ( with one 3rd and one 4th in class) that was a very mundane vehicle with no relation to the sort of vehicles which are wrongly referred to as comprising GpB.  We amateur international competitors hated GpB with a vengence.

[Windy37]

I love rallying and I love the madness of “ the Group B Supercars “ , but for me they weren’t the be all and end all of rallying . For me the late 90s and very early 00s we’re the best years of the World Rally Championship . Plentiful supply of top cars for the very best rally drivers at the time .  With me getting older , this generation of cars are now becoming historic cars too ….. 

  Gary . 

[RaceAddict]

Group B was cool and all, but Group A was my fave era... it was definitely the class most relevant to road car evolution.

[johnlambert]

52 minutes ago, RaceAddict said:

Group B was cool and all, but Group A was my fave era... it was definitely the class most relevant to road car evolution.

Life seemed much simpler then;

 

You had Group A, which I think were touring cars or rally cars.  With a minimum production run of 2,500 in 12 months.

Group B was mad rally cars but could also be circuit racing cars (e.g. Ferrari 288GTO).  Minimum production of 200 cars (IIRC).  Although as someone said, group B was a bit of a "catch-all" class; I remember reading about a Peugeot pick-up that fell into Group B because of its interior space even though it was nowhere near as extreme as the typical Group B car.

Croup C was endurance racing, "sports prototypes".

 

And I think there was Group N for production-specification rally cars (was there a Group N circuit championship?).

 

I can't really be bothered with current motorsport classes; I saw a BTCC race this year and I barely recognised most of the cars.  Maybe I'm getting old?

[Windy37]

7 minutes ago, johnlambert said:

Life seemed much simpler then;

 

You had Group A, which I think were touring cars or rally cars.  With a minimum production run of 2,500 in 12 months.

Group B was mad rally cars but could also be circuit racing cars (e.g. Ferrari 288GTO).  Minimum production of 200 cars (IIRC).  Although as someone said, group B was a bit of a "catch-all" class; I remember reading about a Peugeot pick-up that fell into Group B because of its interior space even though it was nowhere near as extreme as the typical Group B car.

Croup C was endurance racing, "sports prototypes".

 

And I think there was Group N for production-specification rally cars (was there a Group N circuit championship?).

 

I can't really be bothered with current motorsport classes; I saw a BTCC race this year and I barely recognised most of the cars.  Maybe I'm getting old?

The classes for rallying are changing again this year , John.  Rally 1 being the top class hybrid world rally cars then Rally 2 cars with more restricted parts then Rally 3 and so on . It can get confusing as previously Rally 2 was Rally 5 …… Don’t think there’s really a Group N Production class anymore . 
 Gary . 

[von Race]

 

On 12/1/2021 at 1:29 PM, FAL said:

 routine misunderstanding that GpB cars were all "supercars"

I think that 90% of the information out there on "B" cars leads one to believe that all "B" cars were supercars. Which, as you point out FAL, is simply not the case.

But the website https://rallygroupbshrine.org/ is a fun place to get lost in!