SCD Simon

iTrader: (1)

Just come across a video of the Lombard RAC Rally highlights 86 (top gear with William Woolard) had to have a gander at it and of course the memories came flooding back
86 was the last year for the Group B supercars and still no pace notes.
It was the 1st year they reduced the length to that of the 85 rally yet it still managed to go from Bath to Edinburgh and back. No night stages either Shame coz i'll never forget being in Kielder in the middle of the night seeing the lights in the distance approaching at breakneck speed and the sounds of those Group B cars were awesome

A reminder






For those who are to young to remember this era i'm afraid you missed out !

n one

iTrader: (5)

I was at the Lombard in `86. Gp. B, those were the days

The late Henry Toivenen at Lightwater Valley




Crap pic I know, but it was along time ago.

SCD Simon

iTrader: (1)

Of course the Lancia S4

Awesome

rossyboy

iTrader: (8)

You can get DVDs of the '85 and '86 WRC here. I've got them both and they are superb

World Rally Review 1985 DVD - Duke Video

n one

iTrader: (5)

Rossyboy, can you do me a few copies?



Neil

rossyboy

iTrader: (8)

Sadly, I suspect they may be uncopyable (sp)

rallying1

I actually competed in that one, Gp4 I'm afraid not GpB

Didnt finish though Motor gave out on a road section.

Those were the days eh? (Am I really that old? jeeeeezzzzz)

Freon Warrior

I am 47, we used to go and watch for the whole 5 days. No parking charges, I had access to a store of os maps. We had great fun walking up stages with very few people around and taking in the whole atmosphere. Happy days, proper rallying and fantastic cars. Can we have our Lombard back please?

GeeDee

iTrader: (2)

Ditto. Not to mention that over that 5 day period it included 2 nights. My record was watching 11 stages out of 33 over a two day, 1 night period! It's amazing what a few "special" passes would do.

Dalby - where you could hear the cars for 30 minutes before you saw one.

"The" car was the early Stratos before they played with it. You could hear its bark in the forest miles away, and when it finally burst into view the whole area was shaking from the noise - beautiful.

Picture of a 205 in Knowsley Park - http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...eot_reduce.jpg (heavily reduced)

Aah! memories......

I'm told the rally of a very small part of south wales and you pay a fortune is quite interesting!!!

scoobian

my most vivid memories of rallying were the sounds of the Group B cars at night in forests: completely overwhelmed your senses with the zorsts popping and banging, the gravel strafing the woodland and the incredible intensity of the lights in the middle of the night

fave cars were the 6R4 and the mighty Lancia

Freon Warrior

I have to agree the 6R4 sounded great, obviously some are still about UK rallying you always know its a Metro coming down the stage.

GeeDee

iTrader: (2)

There was one (6R4) on the Sunseeker only yesterday!

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

These have some good Group B footage, if you look at the users other videos they have a lot more Group B footage.

YouTube - WRC Group B Action

YouTube - Group B - Pure sound 2

YouTube - Group B - Pure sound

Ste RB5138

Quality videos there

cw42

iTrader: (1)

Blimey! Is it any wonder organisers moved to ticket only stages and strict control on numbers!

I wonder if a group b rally car would be quicker these days than a wrc one? Be interesting to see the difference in times round a stage from the ages of rallying.

ex-webby

The current WRC cars would eat the old group b cars for breakfast.

Power is nothing without control, etc.

Group B cars were fire breathing monsters delivering horse power way beyond anything in WRC today, but technology moves on in all areas, so the net result is a car which can cover a stage way faster.

MattW

Some suicidal vantage positions there!! Those were the days

T5NYW

iTrader: (4)

i think I followed whole of the '83 Rally it went to the Scotish borders, Kielder Forest, 5 grueling days but unforgetable I also remember the Isle of Mann 82-84 A really great time there also day and night runs

In the 80's because of the Vast numbers of uncontrolable Spectators and Road deaths (boy racers) there was an agreement to shorten the Rally in the interests of Safety. Eventually shortening it to what we have now. IIRC

Tony

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

If you thought some of the other crowd positions were bad back then, check out some of these lot including the person that tries to grab hold of the car while its moving. It shows a horrible crash where a car ploughed into the crowd which wasn`t nice to see but thats how the Group B era was back then with crowds being so close to the action.


All About Rallying - Google Video

HOWY

[quote=scoobian;6694354]my most vivid memories of rallying were the sounds of the Group B cars at night in forests: completely overwhelmed your senses with the zorsts popping and banging, the gravel strafing the woodland and the incredible intensity of the lights in the middle of the night

Yes it was a great era the one I first started watching rallying I have some excellent memories of watching in Dalby & Cropton forests Harewood Hill climb and in Grizedale lake district. There was something exciting about trudging in to a forest at night and the blazing headlamps and lovely sounding exhausts echoing around.

The quattro of Michel Mouton in grizedale and seeing Ari Vatanen driving the 205T16 up Harewood making it look wasy compared to all the other older cars.

I don't think it was crowd problems that stopped it. I think it was the manufacturers saying they couldn't afford the support costs of moving service trucks etc all over the country.

Maybe they should bring back a truly national event and permit less servicing/modified cars to keep the costs down but still give more of us the chance to get to see it. I think the way things are going the WRC is in danger of becoming a set of Rallycross events at fixed stages which loses some of the appeal of rallying's early beginnings

funkyspider

Spare a thought for poor old ford who developed the superb RS200 just as Group B was banned. Actually there was an original one for sale on ebay last week for a mere 99grand - give or take a penny.

Fully echo the sentements of this thread. Group B Quattro in full song through a forest stage at night was absolutely awesome. Lancia also created some fantastic cars - the Beta with its mad rear spoiler and of course the Delta.

It was the death of Henry Toivonen which sealed the fate of Group B - the cars were too quick, too light and simply not built strong enough to withstand impacts at the speeds they could travel. Sad to see them go, I doubt any cars will ever be allowed to sound like this again.

JDSWORD

Brought up with Mobil 1 fumes in my nostrils. My father had anything from a Minni Cooper, Hillman Imp, Avenger, RS2000 (Awesome) to an ex works TR8 (V8 engine and drum brakes what's not to like). I used to camp out over the weekends to watch. I have to say my favourite is the Opel Manta. I will get some pics posted a.s.a.p.

GazTheHat

I started watching it live in '90, missed out on the Gp B cars in the flesh. Gutted!

The best i get is watching "Rallying in the 80's" video. Some excellent Gp B action in that. One of my favourite rally vids.