Group B Rally: The Cars That Never Got To Race
FlatOut Chaos
196 views
Everyone knows Group B rally was banned at the end of 1986. What usually gets left out is that its replacement was already designed and built — and was cancelled in the same decision.
Group S needed only 10 cars for homologation instead of Group B's 200, and capped power at 300 hp. The low number was deliberate: it was there to encourage radical engineering. Lancia built the ECV, with a 1,759 cc twin-turbo "TriFlux" engine making over 600 hp in a 930 kg carbon and Kevlar car. Toyota built the 222D, reported at as much as 750 hp at around 750 kg. Opel built the Kadett Rallye 4x4 and Lada the Samara S-proto. Audi and Ford had cars planned.
Then three spectators were killed in Portugal and Henri Toivonen and Sergio Cresto died in Corsica, and the FIA cancelled Group B and Group S together. The cars still exist. Not one of them ever started an event.
00:00 Intro
00:52 What Group B had become
01:32 Portugal, March 1986
02:31 Corsica, May 1986
03:19 The decision
03:42 There was already a plan
04:12 Why ten cars changes everything
05:02 The ones they built
06:51 The Lancia ECV
08:23 Cancelled with the thing it replaced
09:16 The idea came back
09:57 What is left
Three things this video is careful about:
• The Lancia ECV's "over 600 hp" is what the engine made — Group S rules would have limited it to 300 hp in competition. Both numbers are given, because the gap between them is the point of the category.
• The Toyota 222D's 750 hp figure comes from the car being displayed at Goodwood in 2006, and the engines in the different prototypes are not fully documented. It is stated as a claim, not a measurement.
• The Portugal crash: Joaquim Santos swerved to avoid spectators who were standing in the road. The problem was never only that the cars were fast.
This video contains no images of either 1986 accident.
No race footage is used in this video.
Merch: https://dspeedy.com
Credits
LanciaECV-Bologna1986-1.jpg — RX-Guru — CC BY 3.0
1988 Lancia ECV2 HH.jpg — MrWalkr — CC BY-SA 4.0
Lancia ECV rear.jpg — crazylenny2 — CC BY-SA 2.0
TOYOTA 222D White (1985, The second-stage prototype).jpg — らっそ — CC BY-SA 4.0
Toyota MR2 AWD Gruppe B Rally Prototype 01.jpg — Thomas Vogt — CC BY 4.0
Cerrato Lancia Delta S4 1986 Sanremo Rallye.jpg — Carlo Marzetti — CC BY 4.0
1985 Lancia Delta S4 Stradale FOS25.jpg — MrWalkr — CC BY-SA 4.0
1986 Ford RS200 Group B Rally Car.jpg — Calreyn88 — CC BY-SA 4.0
Audi Quattro S1 (99709).jpg — Calreyn88 — CC BY-SA 4.0
1990 Rallye Sanremo - Didier Auriol - Lancia Delta HF Integrale.jpg — Carlom1961 — CC BY-SA 4.0
1985 Lancia Delta S4 (ex-Toivonen), engine - Greenwich 2021.jpg — Mr.choppers — CC BY-SA 3.0
Images via Wikimedia Commons.
Music: Crossing the Chasm — Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) — CC BY 4.0
Group B Rally: The Cars That Never Got To Race
FlatOut Chaos
196 views
Everyone knows Group B rally was banned at the end of 1986. What usually gets left out is that its replacement was already designed and built — and was cancelled in the same decision.
Group S needed only 10 cars for homologation instead of Group B's 200, and capped power at 300 hp. The low number was deliberate: it was there to encourage radical engineering. Lancia built the ECV, with a 1,759 cc twin-turbo "TriFlux" engine making over 600 hp in a 930 kg carbon and Kevlar car. Toyota built the 222D, reported at as much as 750 hp at around 750 kg. Opel built the Kadett Rallye 4x4 and Lada the Samara S-proto. Audi and Ford had cars planned.
Then three spectators were killed in Portugal and Henri Toivonen and Sergio Cresto died in Corsica, and the FIA cancelled Group B and Group S together. The cars still exist. Not one of them ever started an event.
00:00 Intro
00:52 What Group B had become
01:32 Portugal, March 1986
02:31 Corsica, May 1986
03:19 The decision
03:42 There was already a plan
04:12 Why ten cars changes everything
05:02 The ones they built
06:51 The Lancia ECV
08:23 Cancelled with the thing it replaced
09:16 The idea came back
09:57 What is left
Three things this video is careful about:
• The Lancia ECV's "over 600 hp" is what the engine made — Group S rules would have limited it to 300 hp in competition. Both numbers are given, because the gap between them is the point of the category.
• The Toyota 222D's 750 hp figure comes from the car being displayed at Goodwood in 2006, and the engines in the different prototypes are not fully documented. It is stated as a claim, not a measurement.
• The Portugal crash: Joaquim Santos swerved to avoid spectators who were standing in the road. The problem was never only that the cars were fast.
This video contains no images of either 1986 accident.
No race footage is used in this video.
Merch: https://dspeedy.com
Credits
LanciaECV-Bologna1986-1.jpg — RX-Guru — CC BY 3.0
1988 Lancia ECV2 HH.jpg — MrWalkr — CC BY-SA 4.0
Lancia ECV rear.jpg — crazylenny2 — CC BY-SA 2.0
TOYOTA 222D White (1985, The second-stage prototype).jpg — らっそ — CC BY-SA 4.0
Toyota MR2 AWD Gruppe B Rally Prototype 01.jpg — Thomas Vogt — CC BY 4.0
Cerrato Lancia Delta S4 1986 Sanremo Rallye.jpg — Carlo Marzetti — CC BY 4.0
1985 Lancia Delta S4 Stradale FOS25.jpg — MrWalkr — CC BY-SA 4.0
1986 Ford RS200 Group B Rally Car.jpg — Calreyn88 — CC BY-SA 4.0
Audi Quattro S1 (99709).jpg — Calreyn88 — CC BY-SA 4.0
1990 Rallye Sanremo - Didier Auriol - Lancia Delta HF Integrale.jpg — Carlom1961 — CC BY-SA 4.0
1985 Lancia Delta S4 (ex-Toivonen), engine - Greenwich 2021.jpg — Mr.choppers — CC BY-SA 3.0
Images via Wikimedia Commons.
Music: Crossing the Chasm — Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) — CC BY 4.0