RidingAgain Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 The more I look at these folks the more I remember Group B racing back in the late '70s early 80s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntonioGG Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 HP is quite a bit lower now with the mandated restrictor, and the cars are less esoteric (Group B required 200 units vs WRC 2500 units and then you don't even have to have 4WD variants in production...you can add that). I think they've always had really bad crashes and even in the WRC era driver and co-driver deaths. The big difference today I think is in the traction control improvements with computerized differentials, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if they reduce boost or restrictor size in WRC. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATXZJ Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 (edited) 17 hours ago, AntonioGG said: HP is quite a bit lower now with the mandated restrictor, and the cars are less esoteric (Group B required 200 units vs WRC 2500 units and then you don't even have to have 4WD variants in production...you can add that). I think they've always had really bad crashes and even in the WRC era driver and co-driver deaths. The big difference today I think is in the traction control improvements with computerized differentials, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if they reduce boost or restrictor size in WRC. This^ A lot has changed in 35 years. HP is around half what group B was putting out but, the dampers, tires, traction control and engine tractability ETC is far ahead of what existed back then. The old turbos were so laggy that the driver would have to mash the brakes and the gas to load the engine up and keep the turbo spinning for the apex. The resulting glowing rotors during night winter stages looked pretty cool though😎 Some of the teams also cheated with plastic roll cages to keep the weight down which got a few people hurt. It was definitely the wild west of racing at the time, and those drivers were true grit. Edited December 17, 2019 by ATXZJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidingAgain Posted December 17, 2019 Author Share Posted December 17, 2019 For sure things have advanced... And no doubt in a straight line the Group B cars were faster that today's cars.... But this is rally environment, and top speed is never really the major factor. What is the major factor is what the driver thinks he/she can do with the car. And today's drivers seem to have the mindset — and the cars to back them up — that they can push the limits with their machines... Just like the Group B drivers back in the '80s... Which is what I was thinking when I wrote the heading to this thread. Back in the short days of Group B, when you saw what the drivers were trying to do, and doing, and heard them speak about it, it was as if they had taken their sport to another level. And they had. And when I watch today's rally driving, for me it looks like the Group B mindset all over again. Teams are pushing the limits. And with the introduction of the new 2020 regulations, which open up things a little more, we're going to see the limits pushed even further. https://www.carthrottle.com/post/heres-how-current-wrc-cars-compare-to-the-monstrous-group-b-machines/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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