Group B pictures

[silver bullet]

Following on from the popular Escort picture thread, and with the group B rallysprint coming up I though a nostalgic group B pics thread might be popular. Here are a few of mine. We'll start with rallycross.

Pat Doran's original colour scheme.

Matti Alamaki at Mondello Park.

Herbert Breitenaider attacking the same corner.

Morten Anderson with one of my favourite paint jobs.

And a couple of rally ones

Michelle Mouton in the Sport quattro on the 84 RAC (I was a little bit too close)

Juha Kankkunen in a Celica on the 85 RAC

[B Friendly]

Some good pic's there sb. I like the Herbert Breitenaider one, he looks as though he's going to barrel roll .

Why dont you get your Fiesta painted in the colours of Andersons 6R4! It will certainly be different from the other Stock Hatches!

[moyzer]

I was only 6 or 7 years old whilst the Group B cars were on the stages so I haven't got anything to contribute!!

Great Pics though.

Re the paintjob, does anyone remember that VW Polo harlequin? The colours weren't unlike that 6R4!! It wouldn't be hard to replicate that on a stock hatch due to the amount of replacement panels required over a season!!

Back to topic now, keep the Gp B pics coming. I love 'em....

[chunder]

There are some great pics on the Dutch website rallyracing .nl I think aswell.
Also I remember someone somewhere had some superb downloads of Quattro cars doing various hillclimbs and stuff in Sweden, it was superb! Anders Karlsson and Herbie doing a hillclimb in what looked like a scene from the Sound of Music!

Would be great to find a good pics site though, thanks for the shots

[peespeed]

Scanned a few old photos that I scanned recently, They are too big to post here so I've added the links

Iversen in the RS200

Reeves in a RS200

The DADDY of all Metros

Fred Patterson

The one and only Dermot Carnegie

will have a few more soon

[Anuauto]

But a lot of Escorts WERE Group B - as was virtually anything on 4 wheels that couldn't qualify for Group A or N homologation in 1982. IIRC Group B was also never specifically used for rallycross, just some Group B cars were. It's important for history that we ensure Group B does not become solely associated with a few types of car used by some works rally teams. Perhaps we should have some pictures of Group B cars like the Ford P100 Pickup, the MGB, the fwd(not just 4wd) Citroen Visa etc?

[Nordic]

Arnesson Audi

Ollie Arnesson and his Audi Quattro in 1985

Alamaki and his 911

The fantastic Alamaki and his 911, again from 85

[WJM]

Originally Posted by Anuauto

But a lot of Escorts WERE Group B - as was virtually anything on 4 wheels that couldn't qualify for Group A or N homologation in 1982. IIRC Group B was also never specifically used for rallycross, just some Group B cars were. It's important for history that we ensure Group B does not become solely associated with a few types of car used by some works rally teams. Perhaps we should have some pictures of Group B cars like the Ford P100 Pickup, the MGB, the fwd(not just 4wd) Citroen Visa etc?

Do you know if the long quattro was a Group B, Group A or both? Because common thought says that Mark Rennison was the first in (European) Rallycross with a Group B car, the RS200 in Holland '86, but they were using the Quattro since '82.

Also the Porsche in the post above me is not a Group B car? None of the Porsches 911 really were, right?

[chunder]

The Quattro was originally a Group 4 car i think, they sort of melded B and 4 together in around 83 i reckoin, coz the other makers wanted to biuld cars for a smaller prodaction run, hence the RS1700T and the Rallye 037 which would never have been big sellers, unlike the Quattro!

I think Renny was the first, though Gollop must have been pretty close behind him

[206180]

Originally Posted by WJM

Also the Porsche in the post above me is not a Group B car? None of the Porsches 911 really were, right?

959 was a Group B car but nobody used it in Rallycross. Group B came into effect in 1983 some people used Escorts, Manta 400s etc etc but they were Group 4 cars.

[silver bullet]

As far as I can make out these are all group B cars
Audi quattro UR
Citroen BX4TC
Ferrari 288GTO
Lancia 037
Lancia Delta S4
Ford RS200
Mazda RX7
MG Metro 6R4
Nissan 240RS
Opel Manta 400
Peugeot 205 T16
Porche 911 SC RS
Porche 959
Renault 5 Turbo
Toyota Celica TC Turbo
and what about the Mitsubishi Starion, Talbot Sunbeam Lotus and Vauxhall Chevette HSR, were they or not.

[M.Lowe]

[206180]

Originally Posted by silver bullet

and what about the Mitsubishi Starion, Talbot Sunbeam Lotus and Vauxhall Chevette HSR, were they or not.

Starion was probably a Group A car, Sunbeam and Chevette Group 4.

[WJM]

Thanks everyone for the answers.

Originally Posted by chunder

I think Renny was the first, though Gollop must have been pretty close behind him

Rennison was definateley the first, because he started during '86, while everyone else, including Gollop, started afterwards. Already at the '86 grand prix at Brands Hatch, Schanche, Holm, Rennison, Nilsson and Wiklund drove RS200's, while Gollop placed a 6r4 on the entry list.

[WJM]

Originally Posted by silver bullet

As far as I can make out these are all group B cars
Audi quattro UR
Citroen BX4TC
Ferrari 288GTO
Lancia 037
Lancia Delta S4
Ford RS200
Mazda RX7
MG Metro 6R4
Nissan 240RS
Opel Manta 400
Peugeot 205 T16
Porche 911 SC RS
Porche 959
Renault 5 Turbo
Toyota Celica TC Turbo
and what about the Mitsubishi Starion, Talbot Sunbeam Lotus and Vauxhall Chevette HSR, were they or not.

Well if you look at what entered as Group B, your not even halfway. Who could forget a Peugeot 504 V6 Pickup that finished fifth in the 1984 Rally of the Ivory Coast Or a Lada VFTS I have a real hard time imagening those cars... And yes the Talbot Sunbeam was entered as a Group B car, so as the Talbot Samba and the Vauxhall Chevette, apparently.

[silver bullet]

WJM, I never said that was a complete list. Its just a list of group B, that I could think of, as classic group B cars . The list of cars entered as group B's is much larger, but would anyone think of them as classic . You can also add to the list of cars that ran in group B, The Opal Kadett, Honda Civic CRX, Lada Riva , Ford Sierra Cosworth , Skoda 130LR, Mitsubishi Lancer Turbo, Opel Ascona 400 and the Ford Escort. I am sure there are many more, but how many of these were true group B cars.
There are some grey areas as to where the group 4/group B line was drawn ie. the Escort and the Ascona 400 and other cars like that.


I'm sure Renny was not the first to race a group B in rallycross, were none of the quattro's of Arnesson, Blomqvist or even Dimi Mavropoulos group B versions.

[silver bullet]

peespeed is your second picture Reeves or Hopkins?

[Mike_Wooshy]

wasnt toyota making a group B rally car on there Mr2 ???
but then group B was scrapped and that idea got hung, any pictures ??
I didnt think the Rx7 was a group B car i throught it was more of an IMSA sportscar.

[silver bullet]

Ingvar Carlsson in a Group B Mazda RX7 on the 1985 RAC Rally, in the Lightwater Valley Stage.

I can still remember clearly being stood in the Wark stage at about mindnight, the temprature must have been about -5c, and the Mazda's of Carlsson and Rod Millen were running back to back. The sound of those engines rasping and cracking, echoing through the forest is somthing I will never forget.

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by Mike_Wooshy

wasnt toyota making a group B rally car on there Mr2 ???
but then group B was scrapped and that idea got hung, any pictures ??

Picture of the MR2 here:

http://www.stormloader.com/groupb/toyota.html

[WJM]

Originally Posted by silver bullet

WJM, I never said that was a complete list. Its just a list of group B, that I could think of, as classic group B cars .

But you said 'these are all the group b cars' so I thought that well uhm.. Okay I see what you mean.

I'm sure Renny was not the first to race a group B in rallycross, were none of the quattro's of Arnesson, Blomqvist or even Dimi Mavropoulos group B versions.

I don't know. Maybe they were Rallycross specials, like today's cars aren't WRC's? The story is probably more romantic if the RS200 was the first instead of a 'saloon' audi.

[WJM]

Originally Posted by silver bullet

peespeed is your second picture Reeves or Hopkins?

The car is Hopkins', I don't recall Reeves ever driving a Group B?

[F.O.F.]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

Picture of the MR2 here:

that's a celica.mr2's are mid engiened,thats what the m stands for

[Fast man]

Originally Posted by F.O.F.

that's a celica.mr2's are mid engiened,thats what the m stands for

No it's an MRII, look at the picture below the page.
The car on top is a Celica.

[BertMk2]

The page I linked to was about Toyotas involvement in Group B - they used the Celica on numerous events and the MR2 was its proposed replacement (and the photo is shown below the blurb). It never made it to the stages though as Group B got canned before it was ready