lots of Group B footage (BBC4) :- BBC iPlayer - Madness on Wheels: Rallying's Craziest Years Excellente!
Watched on BBC3 last night scary fast the best rally cars ever but you can see the reasons they had to go, pity.
Great bit of television... Unusually for the BBC it was totally unbiased, although the woman doing the voice-over sounded as if she hadn't got a clue what she was talking about ! Fantastic footage of Lancia, Audi and Peugeot stars - Ari Vartenan, Sig Blomquvist, Walter Rohrl and the fabulous Michele Mouton. Judged from a 21st century viewpoint it was crazy. Even at the time it was obvious that it couldn't go on. It's just a shame that the FIA decided it was easier to get rid of the cars than to improve crowd safety / crowd control.
I was hoping that they would show more Delta S4 footage (blatant bias here from me) as a lot of it was as breathtaking to watch as MotoGP/Formula One (MOO) particularly for it's day. Referred to as the Breadvan by most in the trade, the technology that was thrown at the engine was startling (again for the day) and reminds me of the mass of innovation lavished on the recent Panigale engine.
I only came across it by accident - really glad I did. It was a completely different era : a bit like F1 in the 60's and 70's - it was accepted, almost expected, that by the end of the season at least one or two of the drivers would have been killed or seriously injured. The problem with the Group B rally cars was that they tended to run over spectators when it all went wrong... Viewed from the 21st century it seems crazy : the power and speed of the cars was incredible but the safety standards were almost non-existant. But Ari Vartenan describing what it was like to drive one of those cars gives you some idea of just how incredible it must have been to actually do it... And, sad as it may seem, I think I'm still madly in love with Michele Mouton !
You should all come and see the rally stage at Goodwood Festival Of Speed, you have to walk up the hill to get to it, but it is easiest the best thing there, you can get really close to the cars, but there are enough trees to make it safe. All the old 80's cars are there, and there are some fantastic photo opportunities, out boys had point and shoot cameras and we had fancy digital ones, we all got great pictures.
I would agree that the Rally cars are the most impressive thing, they just 'look' like they are going faster than everything else, even if they aren't!
