The likes of MG, Mazda, Lancia, Ford and Citroen all joined Audi in producing machinery for the regulations, and many followed in the German marque’s footsteps by implementing four-wheel-drive. With no restrictions on boost, Group B machinery was arguably sometimes too fast for the stages they were taking to, and at least two of the turbocharged leviathans were pushing out over 500 horsepower come 1986. Mikkola also set the Shelsley Walsh Hillclimb record for closed-wheel cars in the same year, but his 29.51-second run could have been ever quicker had the team known it was a tarmac course and not gravel the car was set-up for the loose stuff instead! This model, on show at Motorsport UK’s Bicester headquarters, was driven to victory in the 1986 Welsh International & National Breakdown Rally by the late Hannu Mikkola (1983 World Rally champion) alongside co-driver Arne Hertz. Commonly referred to as the ‘golden era of rallying’, these regulations were introduced in 1982 and allowed for monstrous machinery to be designed, such as this 1984 ’44 WMN’ Audi Sport Quattro kindly provided by Bonhams before it goes to auction at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on 14 July. June’s Car in the Lobby was a throwback to the halcyon days of rallying: the notorious and controversial Group B era, which was as spectacular as it was dangerous.
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