motor sport mags

has anyone got motorsport mags for circa 1985 as there is an argument i need to settle my father in law says he read in that mag that during the portugese rally at special stage around estoril gp circuit the lancia delta gpb rally car lapped the circuit fast enough to qualify for the gp i dont think this was possible even with the gpb cars can anyone help

Originally posted by kpm
has anyone got motorsport mags for circa 1985 as there is an argument i need to settle my father in law says he read in that mag that during the portugese rally at special stage around estoril gp circuit the lancia delta gpb rally car lapped the circuit fast enough to qualify for the gp i dont think this was possible even with the gpb cars can anyone help
Yes, that's true, If my memory serves me correctly it would have been good enough for sixth on the grid, behind Nigel Mansell's Williams on the front row.

Can anybody say what year this happened? I can't find evidence of s stage at Estoril in 1985.

I actually thought it was 1986, and was one of the reasons that led to the demise of Group B World Rally Cars.

Interesting trivia bit- could any of you give me a quick and dirty description of a group B rally car from these years. I have read bits of how they were real monsters, and the regs changed because they were a real handfull, but don't know more than that (didn't a fatal accident of one of the top drivers contribute to this as well?). I would be interested in details such as what displacement were they allowed, hp etc, even some photos or links to somewhere where I could see what they look like.

I would be surprised that even an outrageously overpowered 4 wheel drive rally car could lap a road circuit in the same neck of the woods as a contemporary F1, mostly because of the weight and rubber-patch aspects. Mind you, if a track was really twisty, the "squirting out of corners" aspect of a rally car could do it, would it not, but then there is braking...

Any part of their history/development/ending would be appreciated, as well as the answer regarding the Estoril circuit.

Originally posted by kpm
has anyone got motorsport mags for circa 1985 as there is an argument i need to settle my father in law says he read in that mag that during the portugese rally at special stage around estoril gp circuit the lancia delta gpb rally car lapped the circuit fast enough to qualify for the gp i dont think this was possible even with the gpb cars can anyone help

Sorry guys, but this is not correct. I asked a friend of mine, who happens to live near Estoril and knows a lot about it. I'll quote him:

"If you look to the Delta's time, ok, can give the 6th position in the grid, but... the track lenght was not equal! In the end of turn 3 the rallye cars went directly to turn 7... So instead of 4350 meters long, was about 2800 meters... The estimated difference was about 40/45 seconds a lap, what is, naturally, normal."

Explained?

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many thanks for solving this one it has given me much confution over the years as i never saw the original article and had the info second hand cheers