Group B had now taken over the hearts and minds of many in the world of motorsports. So far, it
had propelled many great cars and drivers into the spotlight. While the new ruleset did have a slow
start, it was quickly picking up pace. As the year turned to 1985, what had previously been a two or
three way fight for the podium suddenly turned into a free for all, with many manufacturers
introducing intricately designed cars. Lancia was first up to bat. While the 037 had won the
1983 season, the writing was on the wall- rear wheel drive simply wasn’t as successful anymore.
Even after introducing the Evo 2 model, with uprated power and numerous modifications,
it was becoming a bit of a liability, they needed those front wheels under power too.
Lancia needed their own 4wd racehorse, and so they introduced the extreme Lancia Delta S4. Featuring
something called twincharging, where both a turbocharger and supercharger is fitted, the
1.7L inline 4 made 483hp, some saying that could be as high as 500, and there were even sources
that quoted the engine making up to 1000hp under extreme conditions. The mid mounted 4wd s4 shared
almost nothing in common with the front engined, front wheel drive production delta. Ford finally
made a return after many years with the RS200. While initially planning to make their next rally
car a modified Escort, like previous rallying endeavours, this time the mark 3, known as the
Escort RS 1700t. However, the project was plagued with problems and therefore Ford decided to build
a car from the ground up, the only group b car to be as such, and what resulted was the RS200. The
mid-mounted 1.8L straight 4 BDT engine made either 380bhp or 444bhp based on different sources.
It featured a completely fibreglass body and a large wing and a roof duct to aid in downforce.
Both the Lancia and Ford were created for 1985 but wouldn’t compete until 1986. Other manufacturers
entered too. MG launched the strange little Metro 6r4, with both a rear and front spoiler,
fitted with a 3.0L v6 making 450bhp, and was unique in the fact that it was naturally aspirated
unlike many of its competitors at the time. Now that there were so many teams going for the win,
it was obvious that it would be a close fight for the title. However, peugeot, who were now racing
their 205 T16 E2 model, with a larger wing, a new turbocharger and a 550hp engine in the captain’s
seat, knew of the rising competition and weren’t willing to simply sit back and let all these new
manufacturers take the crown. The 1985 season, despite showcasing so many incredible contenders,
also showcased the cracks that were starting to show as a result of the easy-going regulations.
At the 4th stage of the Tour De Corse, driver Atillio Betega tragically struck a tree in his
Lancia 037 and was killed instantly. Ari Vatanen, who was leading the Peugeot team towards victory
and was set to take the driver’s championship too, also suffered a crash, though non-fatal, when his
205 flipped end over front at Rally Argentina. Still, even with one of their star drivers out for
the season, the Peugeot team powered through and took their first WRC title after many years of on
and off competiting, and Vatanen’s teammate Timo Salonen would swoop in for the driver’s title.
The 1985 season would also mark the final win at the wheels of the legendary Quattro,
as the company was quickly losing interest in the program, largely due to the increasing focus on
the potential danger of the group b rally, not to mention the tough competition from Peugeot.
1986, however, has gone down in history as one of the most important seasons in the sport. It was
largely characterised by the dogfight between Peugeot and Lancia, who were now racing their
Delta S4 full time after making a victorious first appearance at the final rally of the 1985
season. Despite this, and the impressive efforts by the teams competing, the cars were simply
becoming too fast, too unpredictable, and too unruly. And, while the drivers were some of the
finest the world had ever seen, even they couldn’t always guarantee complete control over their car.
The first accident came at the third rally, Rally Portugal. Joaquim Santos lost control
of his Ford RS200 while cresting a hill and plunged into a crowd of spectators.
Thirty were reportedly injured, and three were killed. Another fatal crash happened
just a few months later at the Tour de Corse. Henri Toivonen and his co-driver Sergio Cresto
plunged off the edge of the course into the trees, and the car quickly exploded into flames as the
aluminium fuel tank was ruptured. While the crash would’ve likely not killed the two immediately,
the drivers had no time to escape from the car and burnt alive while strapped into their seats.
While there were no nearby witnesses of the crash, when the twisted, charred skeleton of the Lancia
was lifted back out it was clear there was nothing anyone could have done. There was another problem
that was getting out of hand too. The spectators. Group B was insanely popular by the mid-eighties
and there were hundreds of thousands of spectators lining the course on any given rally. Mix that
with a lack of protective barriers and the utter stupidity of certain individuals, who thought it
a good idea to try and touch the cars as they went past, or even to run out in front of them,
and the deaths were beginning to cast a shadow. These two accidents, in combination with those
that had happened previously and the mounting fear for both drivers and spectators,
put Group B into a limbo state. While the 1986 season was raced to the end, resulting in Peugeot
and their driver Juha Kankunnen claiming the manufacturer’s and driver’s titles respectively,
it was inevitably decided that Group B would no longer be raced after the year.
This came at a poor time. The FIA was planning to phase out Group B anyway for the 1988 season,
replacing it with a more refined championship with a harsher ruleset called Group S. The championship
had first been proposed by FISA’s then president, Jean Marie-Balestre in 1984. However,
with the Group B championship being cancelled, it was also decided to axe Group S along with it. THe
prototypes that manufacturers like Audi, Lancia, Mazda and Toyota had constructed, therefore,
were not going to be able to race. Even with revisions to the ruleset, such as imposing a
strict limit of just 300 horsepower on the cars, and also moving the homologation up to 1987, one
year ahead of original schedule, Balestre believed that Group S wouldn’t stop the excessive meddling
with the ruleset like in Group B. Therefore, Group A was put in place as the new standard in WRC,
being raced with touring cars based on production cars.
Therefore, a new era of rally had begun once again. And to many manufacturers,
it was detrimental. Many were in the process of building both Group B and Group S cars at the
time of the axe, and simply didn’t have cars that were eligible to race in the Group A category.
The likes of Peugeot were furious with the change, they had a dominant racer in their lineup and
simply didn’t have an immediate replacement for Group A. But there was one stand out manufacturer
this year, and its name was Lancia. Because, unlike so many other manufacturers, Lancia had the
perfect car to introduce, in their case the Delta, which had already seen competition as the S4.
This time, however, they rebuilt it to have a 2.0L inline 4 making 163hp, and was known as the HF
4wd. Despite being quickly designed and introduced, and having numerous flaws,
the competition was so lacking it easily steamrolled the competition, winning 9 out of
the 13 rallies of the 1987 season. Manufacturers like Audi, with the 200 quattro, and Ford,
with the underpowered Sierra XR 4x4, could not keep up. The Delta was quick to modify and race,
and Lancia took full advantage of it. This was repeated in 1988 with an even
more dominant performance, with 10 wins. Ford was the only other manufacturer to win a rally where
points for the manufacturer’s championship was concerned. Lancia introduced the far more refined
HF Integrale part way through the season. And, you may have guessed, Lancia returned for a hatrick
in 1989, still far ahead of any competition. Lancia were now racing the Integrale 16v, which
symbolised Lancia’s constant fight to improve the Delta, despite no real competition. However,
the 1989 win wasn’t quite the clean sweep they had experienced previously. Toyota proved to show some
resistance to the Italian domination with their newly introduced Celica Gt-Four St165. Sure,
at this point, they proved no match for the Integrale, but it did potentially indicate what
was to come for the sport in the 1990s. Despite Group B ending what many called the “golden era”
of rally, things were only going to hot up over the next few years, as a certain few manufacturers
showed that maybe, it doesn’t just have to be the Europeans who are good at rallying.