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If Autoshite did rally cars


garethj

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Naturally it would be a Group B car, that doomed class where a Metro driven by Tony Pond wearing slip-on shoes could race against a fiery Lancia. But what car to choose? How about this Peugeot which competed in Group B?

 

504_pickup.jpg

 

A Peugeot 504 Pickup Truck was approved for homologation in 1982 to compete in the Safari Rally. This rugged French truck was and still is a mainstay in African countries. With thousands produced it was simply a matter of applying for a number with FISA. It was one way to enter a strong proven 4WD vehicle into a rally where durability in rough conditions was the name of the game. It’s important to note that it was carried from Group 4 into Group B.. therefore it may have competed in Group B but was not built for Group B.

 

Driven by Kenyans Johnny Hellier the Marshalls sponsored 504 placed 7th overall in the 31st Marlboro Safari Rally of 1983 and 15th the following year. His team mate Basil Criticos had a DNF when his gearbox failed.

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How about this Peugeot which competed in Group B?

 

504_pickup.jpg

 

A Peugeot 504 Pickup Truck was approved for homologation in 1982 to compete in the Safari Rally. This rugged French truck was and still is a mainstay in African countries.

 

I want a model of that.

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^Those BX rally cars are rare, even for homologation models, Citroen destroying quite a few of them because they were 'ashamed' of it.

Here is a Group B Lada, sadly never went beyond the prototype stage, due to the series being cancelled:

35904867.jpg

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I would love to have a Horizon that looked like this.

 

horizongroupb_02.jpg

horizongroupb_01.jpg

 

Would obviously leave in the 1.1 engine though.

 

Lotus began work on a "silhouette" Horizon, identifying that the development of a similar concept to the Renault's was the way forward. Using the same Lotus slant-four engine, sited behind the front seats, the Horizon Group B was the result, and it has to be said, an exciting looking proposition it looked. However, only two prototypes were built before PSA canned it. In 1981, Audi exploded onto the rally scene with its Quattro, and immediately, all competing rally teams realised that they would need four wheel drive in order to remain competitive in the future.
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^Those BX rally cars are rare, even for homologation models, Citroen destroying quite a few of them because they were 'ashamed' of it.

Here is a Group B Lada, sadly never went beyond the prototype stage, due to the series being cancelled:

35904867.jpg

 

IIRC Citroen built 3, ran them to the Acropolis, failed finish and crushed 2 almost immediatly afterward. They kept the 3rd in one of those manufacturer collections stashed in a hangar somewhere.

Also the GpB Lada did compete. In CarWars (one of those motosport crash vides) 5 there's a sequence where some fella falls off his Dakar bike and it's runover by a Gpb Samara, possibly driven by Jacky Ickx.

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WhiteLada-vi.jpg

How shite do you want your rally car? This is my first Lada, a 1977 1200 saloon, seen in 1985 after I sold it. I bought it from Irish travellers who had picked it up for scrap (it was 7 years old...) and drove it for over a year before moving it on. The buyer used it on local club rallies.

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Also the GpB Lada did compete. In CarWars (one of those motosport crash vides) 5 there's a sequence where some fella falls off his Dakar bike and it's runover by a Gpb Samara, possibly driven by Jacky Ickx.

 

I'm sure I remember reading that the P-D Samara was more Porsche than Lada; built from the remains of a couple of the 959 rally prototypes iirc. Never mind 'Volvo 480 robbed to re-engine R5GTT', '959 robbed to re-engine Lada' :shock::lol:

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The Daddy of Autoshite rally cars (and quite a handy tool, as it turns out):

120_rally_1.jpg

 

Some more for your delectation:

CG1copy.jpg

Pre-Cossie CG Ford prepared Sierra. This used to sit in their showroom on Whitehaven's harbourside from time to time in the mid '80s.

 

20071203-dj1.jpg

Skoda Felicia. IIRC Stig Blomqvist hustled one of these to a top ten finish in the RAC at some point in the mid '90s, didn't he?

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More Lada action, this time with the Paris Dakar.

LadaNivaT3Rallye.jpg

Further to my earlier post, the Samara did compete, but not in Group B guise, another desert effort:

img072-1-1.jpg

I suppose that when Group B was cancelled, quite a few of the remenants went on to compete in the Paris Dakar, or even Pikes Peak, which has had some truly insane looking cars over the years, although that is more of a hillclimb than rally, if there is even a difference...

And in another off tangent, the RS200 even competed in IMSA, and looked ridiculous.

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Found some more shite rally cars, obligatory Yugo addition to this:

s4%20(Large).jpg

Concerningly, it appears to have been competing in the Yugo Cup, I imagine the viewing figures for this were the biggest rival on TV to the 911 Challenge/Cup series.

Oh and there is this:

1993-Subaru-Vivio-Mac-Rae-abd.jpg

These were officially entered into the 1993 Safari rally, which I would imagine was a slight baptism of fire for these cars, the Mcrae car retiring with suspension damage, as you can no doubt tell from the picture above, with that leaky hydrogas rivalling droop on the front corner.

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More Lada action, this time with the Paris Dakar.

 

Further to my earlier post, the Samara did compete, but not in Group B guise, another desert effort:

img072-1-1.jpg

 

Didn't this run over some poor chaps motorbike in one of the "Car Wars" motorsport crash compilation VHS tapes?

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A few from around Paphos, where rallying is quite big... We'll start with, of all things, a Polski-Fiat pickup! And yes, it was used as an actual rally car, it even still has the roll cage.

100_1234-vi.jpg

 

Mk2 Escort under construction. I'll be posting up "finished" pics of this car soon.

100_1322-vi.jpg

 

Little Yugo was laid-up for a while but is now back in action, pounding the Cypriot gravel...

100_0383-vi.jpg

 

Another Escort under construction; this one is a genuine Twin Cam that's been a rally car all its life.

100_1357-vi.jpg

 

Mk3 in action...

100_1119-vi.jpg

 

Suzuki Vitara! Just when you thought the pickup above was shite enough...

100_1520-vi.jpg

 

And finally... the shame of it, piggybacking to the service area after breaking the steering!

100_1523-vi.jpg

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