World Rally Car speeds...

...seem to be approaching those of the old Group 'B' cars.

I just watched a WRC round on Sky's World Motor Sport, and they seem mighty quick.

Or is it me? Am I just slowing down? :rolleyes:

Can't give you any reliable figures, but I suspect if you were able to compare stage times between Group B & WRC, the WRC would be the quicker. They may only have half the power, but the torque is still there. The cars have also had 15 years worth of development on transmissions, suspension, tyres etc. This is where the gains in performance have come from. However for sheer brute force & spectcal Group B will always have the edge.

Aren't the group b cars supposed to be at the Autosport Thunderdrome this year again! They were mighty impressive last year.

A Finnish motorsport magazine "Vauhdin Maailma" compared times at special stage "Ouninpohja" in Rally Finland. Hannu Mikkola won that stage in year 1985(?). With that time he would have been 5th in year 2000 at same special stage...

One thing is clear.
To drive a Group B cars,you needed more skill and courage
than WRC cars.

Group B cars were quicker and more powerful but without things like active diffs and clever gearboxes were far more demanding.
Audi and Peugeot started using a primitive anti-lag system but 550hp is always going to have some lag.
In 1987 Cesare Fiorio remerked that the new Delta HF4X4 was already quicker than the 037 on a test track and within a couple of months was expected to be quicker than the S4.
The moral is (and it is true in all motorsport) that it is putting it down, not how much you have