Group B: 40 years on from rallying's most notorious era

The stunning result of these rules was rallying unleashed, and the rate of evolution was incredible. Lancia’s sleek two-wheel-drive 037 produced 250bhp in 1982, but four years later its Delta S4 successor pumped out near-double that. This really was the time when rallying beasts roamed the land.

And it wasn’t just the cars. In some contrast to today, the wide variety of manufacturers meant the driving talent pool had real depth too. Toivonen, Ari Vatanen, Walter Röhrl, Stig Blomqvist, Markku Alén, Michèle Mouton, Hannu Mikkola and Juha Kankkunen, to name but a few, were the iconic heroes of the day.

“It was more exciting then,” the latter told Motor Sport in 2016. “You had the best drivers in the world and the standard was very high – anybody from the top 20 could win.”

While Walter Röhrl won the 1982 drivers’ title in a non-Group B Opel and the 037 only entered selected events, the first 4WD Audi Quattro Group B car, which was essentially an enhanced interpretation of the previous Group 4 regulations, took the constructors’ crown.

It was in that ‘83 season that Group B really took off though. The championship was a real ding-dong battle between two versions of the Quattro and Lancia’s 037, Hannu Mikkola claiming the drivers’ championship for Audi, while the Italian marque claimed the constructors’ crown by just two points.

For 1984, Peugeot had liked what it had seen and joined the fray with its 205 T16 – but the goalposts were constantly moving.

Audi had already been using its second Quattro (dubbed A2) for half a year by this point, a full-blooded GpB machine with a longer wheelbase, more power and less weight – a magic combination.

“Ah! My favourite Audi,” the usually imperturbable ‘84 champ Stig Blomqvist enthused to Motor Sport when giving it a nostalgic off-road test.

“On those fast rallies like Sweden, 1000 Lakes and Argentina, it was more stable, easier to handle. And more comfortable as well!

“The A2 on the RAC was a great car. The Audi made it so much easier: you didn’t lose traction so easily and you could have a go without such big risk.

“It was day and night when you compared it to other cars…”

The Audi A2 was the most successful of the Quattro rally monsters, taking 10 WRC wins – but even that wasn’t enough for the Ingolstadt manufacturer.

By May 1984, it introduced the Sport Quattro S1 at San Remo, the same event at with the Pug 205 made its debut.

“The Sport Quattro was Audi’s answer to the upstart newcomers,” wrote John Davenport.

“The majority of its technology was, in true Audi tradition, in the motor: a twin-overhead cam, four-valves-per-cylinder, fire-breathing monster that was conservatively said to give 400bhp and probably gave at least 100 more.”

Not that the 205 didn’t have its admirers…

“Peugeot asked the question, ‘if you wanted the ultimate rally car what would it be?’” said renowned Prodrive technical director David Lapworth.

“When you look at the T16 it’s still simple and effective, nicely executed. Compare it to the Quattro, which was a triumph of development over design.

“The Quattro was all the wrong elements, overcome with ludicrous amounts of horsepower and complexity.

“The spectacle of GpB was the shock as much as anything. By 1984, 2WD was dead. Obviously the Quattro started it all, but the T16 hit the formula almost spot-on.”

The Audi Sport Quattro S1 and Peugeot 205 T16, plus the increasingly obsolete 2WD Lancia 037 went at it in 1984, and the fans flocked to see the spectacle.

The era has come to be recognised through images of spectators thronging the stages, standing centimetres away from the cars and at times reaching out to touch them.

There were more than a few (unconfirmed) tales of fingers being found in rally car grilles at the end of special stages.

Blomqvist would be crowned 1984 champion for Audi, but in 1985 Peugeot began to take over.

The French marque won the first four rallies of the season: two for Vatanen, with one apiece for Timo Salonen and Juha Kankkunen.

Then, disaster struck: Lancia’s Attilio Bettega was killed when his 037 went off into the trees at Tour de Course – a portent of what else was to come.

Group B forged on. At that very same event Jean Rignotti took the win in a Renault 5 Maxi Turbo, while the MG Rover Metro would make its debut on those stages too.

The dangers of the category were emphasised again when Vatanen suffered a huge crash at Argentina later that year, the 205 barrel-rolling itself to pieces.

The Finn’s seat broke free and he was severely injured, breaking both his legs and suffering severe internal bleeding.

It should have been ‘85 form man Vatanen taking that year’s title, but instead his team-mate Salonen claimed the crown with the former lying in hospital.

At the season-closing rally though, Lancia turned up with a car which would along with the Quattros come to embody Group B: the 4WD Delta S4.

The car won first time out at Rally GB with Henri Toivonen, but even better, and worse, was to come.

“The level to which we had developed the S4 was something absolutely incredible. It took 2.8 seconds to go from zero to 100 kilometres an hour, which was the performance of an F1 car,” said Lancia team boss Cesare Fiorio in 2020.

“Toivonen was the only driver that could use all the potential of this car. We knew we had a very good weapon to compete.”

1986: Group B’s last stand

At the 1986-opening Rally Monte Carlo the Finn was in the thick of the action again, on an event that was even more formidable than today’s offering.

A fearsome, 36-stage, six-day event, it had 900km of competitive stages linked by 3000km of road sections. Vertiginous mountain roads were connected by dizzying hairpins, featuring dry tarmac one moment then ice and snow the next.

After Stage 4, Toivonen’s S4 collided with a spectator car, ripping a wheel off his own and leaving the chassis bent.

However, he fought back with eviscerating pace, eventually winning the rally with what Fiorio termed as a Lancia “shaped like a banana”.

However, things started to go further downhill for a Group B ruleset which had already been questioned.

In the opening stage of the Portuguese a few rounds later, Joaquim Santos spun his Ford RS200 into the crowd. Three spectators were killed and 30 injured. Most of the factory entrants immediately withdrew from the event in protest at the lack of crowd control and safety.

The ask for the drivers, at the wheel of these fire-breathing monsters on stages lined with fervent spectators, was almost impossible.

Rallying was getting out of control.

The tension mounted as the season carried on, with another pressure point being reached in Corsica for the Tour de Corse, another hair-rasing asphalt run on tight mountain roads.

Toivonen, who was driving with a fever, still managed to win the first leg, but he was hanging on for dear life.

“This rally is insane, even though everything is going well at the moment,” he said. “If there is trouble, for sure, I am completely finished.”

His opinion of taking on the unrelenting twists and turns only became more foreboding as the rally wore on.

“Today, we have driven more than the whole distance of the 1000 Lakes Rally [Finnish Rally],” he said after the second leg. “After four hours of driving, it’s hard to keep up with the speed. So, with a modern car like this, it’s just impossible to race here. It’s physically exhausting and the brains can’t keep up with it anymore.”

On the 18th stage, Toivonen misjudged a left-hander and plunged down into the valley. The fuel tank immediately exploded, the car engulfed in flames. He and co-driver Sergio Cresto had little chance.

The shocking death of the WRC’s young star and his team-mate meant the FIA had seen enough. Group B was allowed to run to the end of ‘86, and then replaced by the slower Group A category from 1987 onwards.

“We were so focused on what we were doing that we probably didn’t realise how mad rallying was becoming,” said then Ford motor sport boss Stuart Turner.

“It was a crazy formula, but very exciting for everybody involved. Until the accident in Portugal, I don’t think it occurred to us that the sport might be getting out of hand.

“The cars were so advanced and unusual: I’m not sure I’d have wanted to drive one through the middle of Northampton, let alone a forest.”

“It was a beautiful adventure” Cesare Fiorio

Despite the dangers and loss of life, WRC’s Group B era is still remembered a brilliant example of motor sport pushed to the absolute limit.

“At the time you tried not to question it too much and you just got on with your job to the best of your abilities,” said Fiorio.

“My problem was that I’m a sensitive person – perhaps too sensitive – so it was sometimes harder for me to deal with the dark side than for other people.

“In the end though, you can’t take responsibility for everything that happens. It was a beautiful adventure.”