The dangerously delightful world of Group B rally cars

IT was an Eighties adventure to rival anything Tom Cruise got cast in. Based on a true story, it was packed with glamourous locations, famous faces, speed, noise and excitement.

In fact, only the unexcitingly anonymous name really needed work. Yet mention Group B to any proper petrolhead and you'll find it's a phrase that gets them strangely excited. Just as I was when I caught a cracking BBC documentary on it the other night.

Group B gave sports fans some of the most nailbiting rallying coverage the world's ever seen and proved to sexists everywhere that women were just as Championship-winningly good at powersliding as men - consider my cap doffed, Michele Mouton - but its real legacy is that we were treated to some of the fastest and most advanced cars ever to scream their way, sideways, through a forest. Not one of which was even remotely similar to any of the others.

Audi arrived with a hugely powerful, shortier, scarier version of Gene Hunt's Quattro, while Austin Rover shoehorned an enormous V6 into the back of a Metro to create the mad 6R4. Lancia couldn't choose between a turbocharger and a supercharger for its insanely fast Delta S4, so it used both, while Peugeot made its 205 GTi into a mid-engined, four-wheel-drive dirt track racer (the 205 T16, pictured). Best of all, Ford got cocky and obviously challenged Bear Grylls to come up his idea of a Le Mans racer. The result was the utterly daft - yet utterly delightful - RS200.

It was all going to end in tears and when it inevitably did in 1986 - three people were killed when an RS200 ploughed into the crowd at a rally in Portugal, while Henri Toivonen lost his life when his Lancia crashed in Corsica - Group B was swiftly banned. The flame that burns half as long, so the saying goes, burns twice as bright.

The End. Or rather, it would have been if plans hadn't been announced this week to bring the old, slightly loopy Group B cars out of retirement to wow visitors to an event in Cheshire over the August Bank Holiday later this year.

They'll be at Oulton Park on August 25 and 26, at an event dubbed the The Michelin Rallye Groupe B. More information will be available online at www.rallyegroupeb.com but for me, there's just one problem that might prevent me from seeing Audi Quattros, Metro 6R4s and Peugeot T16s doing what they were designed to do.

It's the same weekend as the Ormskirk MotorFest...

Do you need a muscle car restoration ? Here the Overview

Fully the Muscle Car Restoration View

For those of you who become a fan of muscle cars, you might want to follow current developments. Muscle cars as we have seen progress today, that a wide range of changes have occurred over time. Have you ever heard of muscle car changes from year to year kamaro until lately raised in the movie transformers.

Muscle Car Restoration of PONTIAC-GTO

Changes in the muscle car not only can we see from the Camaro, but you also see some other types, namely: Pontiac, Plymouth, Road Runner and so on. But for fans of muscle cars, sometimes it is not only quite up there, they Junga wanted some changes in certain parts, such as spoilers, wheels, tires, paint color, interior, engine settings and so on.

Muscle Car Restoration Process

Private Car Restoration

Of the situation as described, so many muscle car enthusiasts who want to modify some parts of the car he had. With appropriate modifications will make the restoration of muscle cars become more beautiful without the loss of the elements of the authenticity of some of its main components. 

The Ex Result of Muslce Car Restoration

Many cases of restored muscle car as it pertains to the history of the car. Sometimes car owners do not know how the car was treated by previous owners. To cover some of the shortcomings of the car is then necessary to do some overhaul of small to large. It makes a lot of muscle car owners who prefer the restoration of their cars, rather than its initial form. Although the restoration of muscle cars are in great demand, but most car owners do not want to eliminate some of the characteristics of their favorite cars.

The Restoration of Muscle Car

Unique Car Restoration Press Body

Another reason to restore their muscle cars is because they want to look more unique than some of the other owners. A modified or automobile restoration can be a good impression for owners and those who see it. Some of the unique car restoration results will remind the owners and workshops that have been restoring muscle cars. For more information about muscle car restoration, you can visit some links related to the restoration of the muscle car world.

Good car I must sell, Chevrolet Cruze Eco, 2011 model year, gets about 40 mpg on the freeway, owned exactly 14 months, 18,500 miles

This Cruze Eco model is the lightweight, no spare tire, lightweight rims, built in aerodynamic variation blades in the grill to vary the amount of air into the radiator and lessen the drag coefficient when at higher speeds.

It's all made to get you better gas mileage than the ridiculously twice as expensive hybrid cars... no joke.

I just spent all Saturday cleaning and detailing the interior, it looks as good as the day I got it from Courtesy Chevrolet here in San Diego's Mission Valley, last April.

It has a dash pad to keep the sun from damaging the dash, and the front seat had covers on til last week... I forgot to take off the seat uppers, so those too are immaculate.

XM/Sirius, all the AC/PS/PB stuff, USB link and Blutooth link from your cell to the car stereo, the back seat has never been used, nothing's ever been spilled in it, and it's got all the paperwork from the dealership since day one. Window sticker, booklets for all the OnStar, XM/Sirius, etc etc.

1.4 liter turbo engine, 6 speed manual with overdrive, front wheel drive with traction control, and here is the PRAISE from Car and Driver magazine http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2011-chevrolet-cruze-eco-drive-chevy-cruze-review on a drive from Los Angeles to San Diego in a manual-equipped Eco, the (probably optimistic) trip computer showed an average of 43.8 mpg, with most of our cruising done at 80 mph with the air conditioning on

email me at jbohjkl@yahoo.com if you want to buy it, taking over payments is cool too, this car is financed through GM Financial / Ally whatever they call themselves, and if you have good credit like I do, I'd guess you'd get the 1.9 or 2.9 % I did. No, I don't remember which one it was, it doesn't matter that much to me which one, they are both good, and this isn't a house where the tenths of a % matter. 

The Robert Lee Museum Collection news source, Taiadablog, has just posted news on the collection's future

 read it in Portugese if you must, but use Google Chrome and it will translate to your language of choice http://taiada-blog.blogspot.com/2012/04/taiadablog-e-museu-roberto-lee-sem.html

Presidential motorcade, great way to advertise your business if you can find a photo of a President with your company building in the background

I drive past this place a couple times a month, and never looked too close at this before. I am impressed.

nice paint design on this gravel moving rig and trailers... but why have the Titleist name on the back... isn't that the logo for the golf equipment company?

It stuck me as a strange thing to write on a construction trailer

wouldn't these steel plates be more useful if they were bolted down? they are to keep vandals from breaking into this Caterpillar 385b excavator, aren't they?

impressive armor plating for those windows in event of tornadoes too I suppose... but what else would they be on the cab for when it's after work hours, if not to lock out vandals?