NEWS · HERITAGE
Michèle Mouton and Fabrizia Pons, Rallye Sanremo 1981. The first victory for a woman in the World Rally Championship. Public domain photograph, Wikimedia Commons.
Between 1982 and 1986, rallying produced the most extreme cars in its history. Less than a tonne, a mid-mounted engine, four-wheel drive and, by the end, more than 500 horsepower. Built in runs of 200 to earn the right to race, they shaped a whole generation of enthusiasts. Ours. Here is why, at Ravage, Group B remains the absolute reference.
01 · Before the letter B
The Stratos, or the idea of designing a car to win
It all starts a little earlier. In 1973, the A110 wins the very first World Rally Championship. Lancia watches, and answers with a car that no longer has anything of an adapted production model: the Stratos. Drawn by Marcello Gandini at Bertone, powered by the Dino’s V6, short, wide, built around the driver and nothing else. It is the first car ever designed first and foremost for rallying.
Sandro Munari gives it three manufacturers’ titles in a row, from 1974 to 1976, and three Monte Carlo wins. The lesson is set for everyone: you no longer win by adapting, you win by designing. Group B is still only an idea, but the method is born.
Photo Biasioli · Public domain · Wikimedia CommonsSandro Munari, Lancia Stratos HF, Rallye Sanremo 1975.
02 · 1982
The rule that changed everything, and the woman who got there first
In 1982, the Federation rewrites its rulebook. Group B requires only 200 cars built in a year, and an “evolution” of 20 cars is enough to homologate the most radical parts. Almost total freedom on the engine, the materials, the transmission. The engineers do not need to be asked twice.
Audi is a year ahead. From 1981, the quattro imposes an idea everyone considered absurd in rallying: four-wheel drive and a turbocharged five-cylinder. At the wheel, a Frenchwoman from Grasse, Michèle Mouton, with Fabrizia Pons beside her. On 10 October 1981, at Sanremo, she becomes the first woman to win a round of the World Championship. In 1982 she wins in Portugal, Greece, Brazil and Sanremo, and only concedes the title to Walter Röhrl at the final round. Audi is manufacturers’ champion. The door to Group B opens on her name.
Photo Nicky Clarke · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Photo MPW57 · Public domain · Wikimedia CommonsLeft, the quattro at the 1982 Monte Carlo Rally. Right, the quattro A2 at the 1984 Rally of Portugal, in the middle of the crowd.
03 · 1983
The 037, the last of the rear-wheel drives
Against four-wheel drive, Lancia chooses the opposite. The 037 is rear-wheel drive, light, mid-engined and supercharged, dressed by Pininfarina around an Abarth central cell. On paper, it has no chance. On the road, Walter Röhrl takes it to victory at Monte Carlo as early as January 1983, and Lancia lifts the manufacturers’ title at the end of the season, right under Audi’s nose.
It is the last time a two-wheel-drive car is world champion. And it is perhaps the most important car in this story for us: it proves that a balanced, light and driveable car can beat raw technology. An argument we have never stopped defending.
Photo Calreyn88 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsLancia 037 Rally in Martini colours.
04 · 1984 and 1985
The 205 Turbo 16, the right answer
While the others debate, a small team led by Jean Todt draws the synthesis: a transverse mid-mounted engine, a turbo, four-wheel drive, a city car body set on a prototype chassis. The 205 Turbo 16 appears at the 1984 Tour de Corse. Before the end of the year, Ari Vatanen takes it to three wins. In 1985, Timo Salonen is world champion and Peugeot manufacturers’ champion. In 1986, Juha Kankkunen does it again.
Audi replies with the Sport quattro S1, shortened, winged like an aircraft, credited with more than 500 horsepower. Acceleration figures catch up with the Formula 1 cars of the day. The public, for its part, is counted in hundreds of thousands along the roads, close enough to touch the cars.
Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Photo Cs-wolves · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsLeft, Timo Salonen, 205 Turbo 16, Sanremo 1985, the year of his title. Right, the 1985 Audi Sport quattro S1 E2.
Photo _morgado · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia CommonsRally of Portugal 1985. The crowd close enough to touch the cars: the magic, and already the danger.
05 · 1985 and 1986
The Delta S4, the summit
Lancia finally gives in to four-wheel drive, but in its own way. The Delta S4 shares nothing with the Delta but its name: tubular chassis, composite body, a 1.8 litre mid-mounted engine both supercharged and turbocharged, to erase lag at low revs and push very hard at the top. Around 900 kg. It wins its very first event, the 1985 RAC Rally, with Henri Toivonen, then the 1986 Monte Carlo.
A car designed around a single goal, without compromise. That is exactly how we define a Ravage.
Photo Carlo Marzetti · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Photo Carlom1961 · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsLancia Delta S4, Rallye Sanremo 1986. Left, Dario Cerrato. Right, Markku Alén and Ilkka Kivimäki.
06 · May 1986
The end, brutal
The cars are going too fast for the roads, for the tyres, for the crowd. In March 1986, in Portugal, an RS200 leaves the road and goes into the spectators. On 2 May, at the Tour de Corse, Henri Toivonen and Sergio Cresto lose their lives in their Delta S4. A few days later, the Federation announces the end of Group B for the end of the season, and in the same movement buries the Group S that was to succeed it. Juha Kankkunen is the last world champion of the era, in a 205 Turbo 16.
The monsters do not disappear entirely. They climb Pikes Peak, where Michèle Mouton sets the record in 1985 and where Walter Röhrl, in 1987, takes the S1 to the summit in under 11 minutes. Then they fall asleep in museums and in memories.
Association Le P’tit Journal · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Public domain · Wikimedia CommonsLeft, Hannu Mikkola, Rallye Monte-Carlo 1986. Right, Juha Kankkunen, 205 Turbo 16, Sanremo 1986, the final season.
07 · What remains of it at Ravage
The weight, the mid-mounted engine, the handful of cars
Forty years on, cars have doubled in weight and screens have replaced sensations. We have gone the other way. A Ravage weighs around 1,000 kg, carries its engine in the middle, and every single car is unique. It is no coincidence that our car is called Groupe 4, after the era just before, the one of the Stratos and the A110, when road cars were still built to go and win rallies.
The 037 taught us that balance beats power. The S4 taught us that a car must be designed around a single goal. Michèle Mouton taught us that received ideas do not stand up to the stopwatch. And all of them taught us that competition remains the only school that counts. That is why there is a Racing page on this site, and a development circuit in Burgundy that is waiting only for you.
Group B lasted four years. The dream it left behind has never stopped running.
Photo RavageVaison Piste
The spirit of Group B is very much alive at Ravage.
Come and visit us, and create your own special stage homologation.
Come and visit us