Revolution: Group B arrives in rallycross

It’s widely accepted that the Group B era was a golden period for rallycross. The first pure Group B cars arrived in rallycross in 1986 but it was in the 1987 FIA European Rallycross Championship that these spectacular cars came to the fore. For six years the championship would be dominated by Group B cars which became ever more refined as their new owners developed their rally monsters for the specific requirements of rallycross.

Before all that, however, there was the adventure of the first season with Group B cars; something akin to a rodeo full of wild stallions needing to be broken-in. Runners and riders were corralled for the first time in that 1987 season at Melk in Austria on May 2-3 – 30-years ago this week.

Five-years ago we documented the 1987 season round-by-round. By way of a reminder of who won what, and how the first Group B rallycross title was won – perhaps closer than you may imagine with four different events winners and just seven points between the top two at the end of the year – we’ve linked back to those stories and their picture galleries below.

Austria Sweden Finland Spain France Ireland Belgium Holland Norway Great Britain Germany