Just sat here thinking (woah there!)

In the 80's you had 1000bhp F1 cars with 1500bhp in qualifying trim, 500bhp Group A touring cars (Cosworths) and 450bhp Group B rally cars!

It's such a shame that the cars are so tame today compared to the cars 20 years ago I'm not just talking in terms of power though, the old cars had H pattern gearboxes, no traction & launch control and they certainly didn't have active differentials.

I'll take my rose tinted glasses off now

 

i bet all the modern stuff would be miles quicker with there lower power though

its the electronics that have tamed the action

 

That is exactly my point though. Over any lap or stage the newer cars would leave the older more powerful cars but they are much less interesting to watch. I prefer to see a racing driver working at the wheel and as a driver I prefer to work the car. There can't be as much satisfaction in the car doing most of the work for you.

It's a tricky subject but the fact is that the older & rawer cars look more interesting to watch. When was the last time you saw a rally driver in a WRC machine have to use a Scandinavian flick to get the car to turn in?

 

Id love to have been able to see the Group B in action, Seeing it at Rally day just aint the same...

 

in the intrests of safety and good competition id rather how it is now, all cars vertually the same so its drivers that win races

 

Bring back the 80s

Will just put on my xmas present (Now Thats What I Call The 80s)

I live in a time warp

Steve.

 

what you lot on about i am still in the 80's and never left it

back to the subject great cars great drivers grp b and the rally x done it for me

 

But now you have ROAD cars with 500+ BHP instead.
On the "History of the Sierra" program the other day they were on about the old Ford F1 cars made 300bhp (iirc). That was phenominal in those days. You get more than that from a standard Evo.

 

its the video's of rallys that always shocks me when a car is flying over a hill at 100+mph & hundreds & hundreds of people just jump out the way at the last minuite

 

GrpB cars were more like 650 for the top ones.

Old GrpA rules with bigger restrictors made them not that far off 450...

Newer cars do quicker stage times as they go round corners faster, but theyd get the shit kicked out of them on the straights, massivley.

 

It's the Environmentalists fault.

 

no its not

 

You can't beat the old RS200's, 6R4s, Audis etc, was great watching them

Steve.

 

is it not them that caused the cosworths to stop, cannot get the emmisions low enough etc...

 

arent they stopping traction control on the F1 cars next year?? that should be fun if they are!! cant beat some of the you tube vids of the grp B rally cars!

 

whats that got to do with 80s motorsport?

 

yeah iv heard that...mite be worth watching then

 

Group B rally cars went past 550bhp in most cases, would love to see them in action on full beans.