About the bad old days of GP B

got there b4 me looks like an interesting hr ahead (where is the metro)

Watched this last night on the i-player.

Very good, balanced portrayal of the era.

Great doc, watched it Sunday night on the first PSA

First shown 2 nights ago. I remember marshalling the RAC in 1986 at the overnight halt at the Albert Dock and seeing the whole of the dock road in Liverpool filled with Michelin Tyre lorries. By the time I started working on the safety side Group B was gone but it still brought back lots of memories.

Understandable that Fiorio said that driver’s safety was paramount but my memory is that there was talk at the time that the S4 was built to the weight limit first and foremost and the reason the Metro and the Audi were heavier was because their teams were not prepared to go so minimal on the structure.

Blimey that 205 looked like the film was speeded up.

Shocking footage of the Portugal crash.

Modern rallying looks pretty tame compared against the Group B period.

I wonder if Group B would have survived longer had the rally organisers found a way of controlling the spectators (restricting numbers & their proximity to the course).

Without the crashes resulting in spectator deaths, would the cars have seemed so dangerous? I get the impression the drivers liked the cars.

I would never want it stopped but i think theres just as much chance of something happening in the TT? Rallying or more WRC in my opinion has died on its arse which is a real shame as i think some are the most gifted drivers on the planet.

Really enjoyed that program

Makes me think about the days of going to Chatsworth for the RAC

Ooh, I’ll check the iplayer for that.

My father had a couple of ur Quattros back in the early/mid 80s – he used to have them serviced by David Sutton Motorsport. Often used to see the works cars for the likes of Mikola in there….

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCOILhk4M_k[/video]

Those group B machines were truly mental – engineered to within an inch of existence. Back in the day a lot of them ended up in Rallycross but they even got outlawed there too 🙁

Having been round Lydden in an RS200E and a 6R4 I understood exactly what Ari Vatanen was saying – it really was like being catapulted off a carrier.

He clearly misses those days.

Rallying or more WRC in my opinion has died on its arse which is a real shame as i think some are the most gifted drivers on the planet.

It is pretty hard/expensive to spectate the WRC though isn’t it? I love watching the Scottish rallies though, the enthusiasm and determination really seems to come through. And there are some ace cars:

P1040059 by bigjimski, on Flickr

We caught a stage ( on our way back to derbyshire) of the Scottish championship near Newton Stewart two summers ago. I was overwhelmed with a huge sense of nostalgia as I lifted my son on to my shoulders just like my dad used to do to me 30 odd yrs ago!! Good times!!

Crazy days, but it had to end – it wasn’t just the speccy’s at risk. It’d be nice to see that kind of development again, with the advances in diffs, suspension, car stability and crowd control ‘F1 for the forests’ could take off again, but I doubt any manufacturer has the resources to do that. Citroen are the only manufacturer to throw decent money at it these days, Ford are half in half out, even BWW could not be convinced to fund more than 1 car, even on the back of massive Mini sales. The feeling seems to be it dosn’t sell cars anymore.

Closest you’ll get is historic rallying. At least the cars sounds good, look good, and are difficult to handle! Which always makes more interesting spectating.

Stratos!!!! I bow down in front of thee!!!

BBC 4 is about the only channel that shows anything worth watching.