While the Quattro has gone up in value, so has every other classic car worth buying, especially rare homologation specials. So it's not necessarily the market rediscovering the Quattro (which has never been 'lost') but QE money chasing hard collectibles.
The Car That Changed Rally Racing Forever
31–40 of 44 posts
Re: The Car That Changed Rally Racing Forever
#32The article makes me really sad, but describes the best time in Rally sports. Group B cars made the rallye an event which had as much popularity as the formula 1. It was a time when Racing was 50% raw power and 50% talent, and it is no that it's major racing series, say Group B rally, Group C touring cars or the formula one gave birth to legends like Rohrl, Bellof or Senna. This is an attractivity that is completely…
> This is an attractivity that is completely lost in modern racing, really, with its small, fuel saving, ecologically correct "cars". Thank God there's LMP... LMP? You mean the formula where the major constraint is the fuel characteristics of the engine?
Yeah, but it at least gives a feeling of real prototype racing and constant evolution. And they look damn sexy, too.
And when everything fails, I just watch VLN.
Re: The Car That Changed Rally Racing Forever
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
These cars were crazy difficult to drive, they had a "locked" four wheel drive system that is similar to an agricultural tractor so you have to slide the car around slow corners or the engine stalls (spectacular and noisy, but not really fast). They had an unsynchronized H-shifter gearbox that requires double declutching on downshifts and careful power application given the huge turbo boost. The driver has to be able…
These cars were crazy difficult to drive, they had a "locked" four wheel drive system that is similar to an agricultural tractor so you have to slide the car around slow corners or the engine stalls (spectacular and noisy, but not really fast). That makes it sound like there are tractors that can do powerslides.
I learnt to drive on a Massey Ferguson 35. They can be "power-slid". It's just not very spectacular at 10km/h.
Re: The Car That Changed Rally Racing Forever
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
These cars were crazy difficult to drive, they had a "locked" four wheel drive system that is similar to an agricultural tractor so you have to slide the car around slow corners or the engine stalls (spectacular and noisy, but not really fast). They had an unsynchronized H-shifter gearbox that requires double declutching on downshifts and careful power application given the huge turbo boost. The driver has to be able…
I thought Senna was gifted when I saw that video of him driving the NSX. But this is something else!
Yeah, that is no driving, that is Art...
One thing I really would love to see once is Bellof beating his 956 around Nordschleife with an average of 200 km/h... Sad that there is no real Video of it...
Re: The Car That Changed Rally Racing Forever
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually more like this: http://www.motormavens.com/emAlbum/albums/Contributors/Patri... Portuguese rally fans especially were completely insane back then.
O dear. If my calculations are correct, those guys in the street have around eight tenths of a second to get out of the way.
Never tell me the odds
Re: The Car That Changed Rally Racing Forever
#36It was amazing what the drivers did with these Group B monsters in the mid 80s, considering how different of a sport rallying was back then. The cars were at best several hundreds of horsepowers more powerful than current wrc cars, with much inferior handling. Most cars, if any, didn't even have power steering back then. Also the races were much longer taking place over about 5 days compared to the 3 day events nowad…
Most cars, if any, didn't even have power steering back then.
And I recall a few years ago listening to Marcus Gronholm - two-time WRC champ himself - asking his team for permission to drop out after his power steering failed.
Re: The Car That Changed Rally Racing Forever
#37It was amazing what the drivers did with these Group B monsters in the mid 80s, considering how different of a sport rallying was back then. The cars were at best several hundreds of horsepowers more powerful than current wrc cars, with much inferior handling. Most cars, if any, didn't even have power steering back then. Also the races were much longer taking place over about 5 days compared to the 3 day events nowad…
These cars were crazy difficult to drive, they had a "locked" four wheel drive system that is similar to an agricultural tractor so you have to slide the car around slow corners or the engine stalls (spectacular and noisy, but not really fast). They had an unsynchronized H-shifter gearbox that requires double declutching on downshifts and careful power application given the huge turbo boost. The driver has to be able…
>> "...and be able to press all three pedals at once..."
Interestingly, the rally heritage of the 80's Audi engineering org was such that even their unmistakably family-friendly models had unusual, competition-inspired features. For example, my '89 200 quattro stationwagon's brake and gas pedals are very close together, precisely to ease heel-and-toe work during technical downshifts. She shares the same manually-lockable type 1 Torsen differential drivetrain with the ur- and sport Quattros, and is powered by a slightly detuned version of the turbocharged inline 5 racecar engine that dominated the rallies so unstoppably. And you can turn off the ABS :D
When you take her around some corners on a dirt road at speed, it's not hard to see why they called quattro "the unfair advantage."
Re: The Car That Changed Rally Racing Forever
#38Thank goodness it did. The things drivers can do with rally cars is amazing. By far my favorite sport to watch. I'm sad that it didn't really catch on in the USA. The format is unlike anything that would sell commercially here.
Actually, after the ban of the cars, the manufacturers looked for other races where they could use their monsters. They took them to Dakar, and to the famous Pikes Peak hillclimb race in the USA. Peugeot made a very good movie about it (although it is in a 405T16, which technically never raced group B, the car is basically a 205 T16 with another body shell) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEuZG37gFdM
I like the part at 3:30 where the driver has to drive with one hand to see anything..
Actually: Comparing that run to this one here [1] from the 'recent' past I'm even more impressed. Seems like the original video was awfully fast - and on a dirt road at that time?
Re: The Car That Changed Rally Racing Forever
#39Am I the first to mention how much I loved the Lancia Delta Integrale? Car of my dreams.
My brother bought a Delta Integrale 1993 EVO in 1997 and kept it for a few years. I had the pleasure to drive it several times. What a beast.
Re: The Car That Changed Rally Racing Forever
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
These cars were crazy difficult to drive, they had a "locked" four wheel drive system that is similar to an agricultural tractor so you have to slide the car around slow corners or the engine stalls (spectacular and noisy, but not really fast). They had an unsynchronized H-shifter gearbox that requires double declutching on downshifts and careful power application given the huge turbo boost. The driver has to be able…
These cars were crazy difficult to drive, they had a "locked" four wheel drive system that is similar to an agricultural tractor so you have to slide the car around slow corners or the engine stalls (spectacular and noisy, but not really fast). That makes it sound like there are tractors that can do powerslides.
Speaking as someone who spent too much time on a farm as a kid, you can do a lot with a tractor.
The only thing you really have to watch out for is popping a wheelie and crushing yourself under it. Imagine my surprise when I found out that real cars aren't like that.