Is it time to return to Group B Rally Cars?

[Dr Who]

All this recent retro and track car chat has made me think, with the latest advances in carbon fibre monocoques etc, is it time they allowed back the old group B rally cars?

Formula one cars have got safer, and latest technology means the manufacturers could build some spectacular cars, cars which we all once loved and were far more special than the run of the mill souped up Imprezas C4's and Evo's of today.

RS200's 205 T16's Metro 6R4's not to mention the awesome Lancias and the SWB Audi Quattros.

Would manufacturers be interested in building 200 specials like this anymore?

Personally I would love to see them back again, safer faster and more spectacular than ever.

 

[Dr Who]

no

They dont need to produce specials in the current WRC, and i cant see them going back to it.

The point was, they used to have to produce 200 for sale to the public, cars we could buy as well as watch.

Think you missed that part...

 

[Dr Who]

Car manufacurers are dropping like flys from F1 because they is a decresing ability to push a car brand through the sport.

P1 and P2 classes in Endurance racing are deminishing because they are custom built cars solely for racing that major manufacturers have no interest in building. Even GT1 is slowly dying as manufacturers move to GT2 as it is far closer to the road cars they make.

There is absolutely no reason why any manufacturer would want to make Group B rally cars that are completely disassociated with the road cars they make. And making power hungry road monsters that chuck out CO2 will be bad for their Green 'image'.

From a fans point of view, YES PLEASE! Custom built uber racers would be fantastic, but the fact is, it is a catagory that makes absolutely no sence to any car maker, so would be dead before it even started.

Whichever class they make it, my point was having road cars as slightly detuned versions of the rally cars....

Lets say, a Citroen C4 but with 300bhp, sequential gearbox 4wd blah blah...

I reckon they would sell a few of those!

F1 is a different kettle of fish, the costs with F1 are staggering and the cars will never bear any resemblance to the road cars bar the presence of 4 wheels