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For those of us here who are racing nuts, onto another such topic. :)

The Group B rallying series, which ran from 1982 to 1986, was considered to be one of the most spectacular rally racing series of all time, simply because of the insane machinery that entered it. Cars like Peugeot's 205 Turbo 16, Lancia's 037 and Delta S4, Ford's RS200, bewinged Audi Quattro S2 and MG Metro 6R4, and cars that never ran such as the Porsche 959, BMW M1R and Toyota MR2 222B.

Group B's demise was partly due to luck. A horrible accident in Portugal claimed the lives of four spectactators in 1985, another died in Sweden after being hit by debris and two more were killed in Argentina in 1986. and the deaths of Atillo Bettega and Henri Toivonen, along with the RAC death of Marc Surer's co-driver (caught live on a TV helicopter) saw the series canned after 1986, which meant that the Citroen BX 4TC only ran four races and the 959 and MR2 222B never raced at all.

Now, assume that the authorities decide to demand better crowd control (which would have saved lives in Argentina and Portugal) and canned the Corscia Rally (which Bettega and Toivonen died at, both cases simply shitty luck - Bettega's co-driver survived the crash that killed Bettega uninjured), Group B could well gone on.

Now, here's what I'm supposing:

1987 - Group B Keeps Up the Pace

1987 started off with excitement, The Toyota Celica is replaced by the MR2, the Porsche 959 and BMW M1R debut to high oohs and ahs, but in the BMWs case not much success as by this point the 2WD Group B machines were obsolete on dirt and snow courses. That doesn't stop Marc Surer winning in the inaugural Rally Japan, which is mostly held on Tarmac. Mitsubishi's Starion 4WD also enters, but its speed is tempered by terrible reliability.

The Lancia Delta S4B and Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 are the primary contenders, with Audi finding the Quattro S3 competitive on wider-open rallies such as New Zealand, Ivory Coast and Olympus in the United States but struggling on tougher courses. The Toyota MR2 is fast but unreliable, and the Porsche 959 faces the same size problem as the Citroen BX 4TC. Private entrants with the Mazda RX-7, Nissan 300ZX, Honda CRX and others are unsuccessful, though American rally legend John Buffum stuns the Europeans with a legendary run in a Ferrari 308 at the Olympus Rally.

The speeds continue to rise, and the Group B machines begin to find new stages in events like the Pikes Peak hillclimb and the Dakar Rally, where they are plenty competitive. Hannu Mikkola wins the 1987 Pikes Peak Hillclimb in his Quattro S3. Buffum's performance at the Olympus convinces Ferrari to prepare a version of its upcoming F40 for the Group B rules.

Lancia's Markku Alen makes up for the acrimonious loss of the 1986 title to Peugeot's Juha Kankunnen by soundly beating him in 1987, and Alen was outshone by his Lancia teammate Miki Biasion. Toyota's

1988 - Ferrari and Porsche up the pace, Toyota goes for the title, The Dakar enters the fray

Group B shifts again as the FIA grows the schedule, making the Group B category of the Dakar Rally a full world championship event, and adding new events in Australia, South Korea and Germany, as well as killing Corsica because of its unsuitably with current rally cars.

Ferrari, despite saying that it did not wish to see the F40 race, still say its cars regularly compete in Group B. The reliability of the F40 also saw it become surprisingly competitive on medium-surface dirt rallies such as Australia and the United States.

Surer opened the scoring again in his BMW M1R at Monte Carlo, as the paved roads were cold but dry, and the 700-horsepower M1R could easily keep up the smaller cars on the unforgiving Monte Carlo Rally. Swede Stig Blomqvist, driving for Ford, took his RS200 to victory in Sweden, with Alen making up for his 1987 title loss with a crushing flag to flag win in Portugal in the Delta S4BV. But for the rest of 1988, the Delta's unreliability caused headaches for Lancia, leaving Alen, Biasion and Argentine pilot Jorge Recalde well out of the title chase. Peugeot goes into 1988 hoping to retake the title from Lancia, but quickly discovers that Toyota's painstaking development work with its MR2 and Ford's work with the RS200 makes that easier said than done. Worse still, the pavement rallies - Monte Carlo, Japan, South Korea and Germany - find the two-wheel drive entries from BMW and Ferrari on the pace.

Toyota opens up its win log when the MR2 gains its debut win in the hands of New Zealander Rod Millen, with South African Sarel van der Merwe close behind him in a Mazda RX-7. Lancia's appalling reliability saw none of its four cars make it to the one-third mark, and Peugeot's Juha Kankunnen's rally ended with a dramatic crash on the Safari, which he walked away unscathed from.

South Korea was the debut of two semi-factory Ferrari F40s, and both of the Maranello rockets took their turn leading the rally, though neither finished. South Korea saw Italian co-driver Maurizio Perrissinot cheat death a second time when Mike Kirkland's Lancia S4BV ran off a 40-foot drop on the sixth stage. (Both drivers walked away.) Local ace Park Hun-Lee and his Honda CRX were a surprise, finishing fifth, beating Alen, among others.

Germany was the first win for Porsche's 959, driven to a 1-2 victory by Rene Metge and Formula One legend Niki Lauda. Surer held up BMW's honor by finishing third. These supercars, along with two Ferrari F40s and a privately-built and entered 288 GTO, easily outdid the rally-designed Group B cars in Germany, showing the superiority of these cars on pavement.

OOC: Thoughts so far?
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