The organisers of WRX Round 2 at Lydden Hill have announced today that featuring cars from the Group B era in Rallycross will help to celebrate the British event of the inaugural FIA World Rallycross Championship.

After some fatal accidents in Rallying by the end of 1986 the so-called ‘Group B Monsters’ were banned from the World Rally Championship (WRC) by motorsport’s governing body FIA, but subsequently found a new playground in Rallycross. Here it was, due to the rather free rules, that the likes of Ford RS200 E2, MG Metro 6R4, Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 E2, Audi Sport quattro S1 and Lancia Delta S4 were developed even much further than in the sport they had originally been built for. The on track useable power output of the strongest cars reached the 700bhp mark, while figures from the engine test stands were claimed to be up to 900bhp.

After Briton Mark Rennison was the first driver to show up with a true Group B car in the 1986 Dutch ERC round at Valkenswaard, from early 1987 till the end of 1992 the European championship series saw lots of Group B machinery. Not all in the hands of capable drivers, but the superstars of those six seasons still keep the long time enthusiasts hailing about “the golden years of Rallycross”. Competitors like (in alphabetical order) Finn Matti Alamäki, Swede Olle Arnesson, the late Austrian Herbert Beiteneder, Briton Will Gollop, Finn Seppo Niittymäki, Swede Rolf Nilsson, Briton Mark Rennison, Norwegian ‘Mister Rallycross’ Martin Schanche, to name just a few, have truly left their marks on the ‘Vitamin B’ era of Rallycross.

ERC24 has searched for some fine vintage images of those very cars that are claimed to be at the Lydden Hill Race Circuit during the FIA World Rallycross Championship round of May 24 and 25. Enjoy! And if you like the pictures, please let us know by clicking on the above ‘Like’ button. ;) Thanks!

1992: Swedish fourfold ERC winner Olle Arnesson hurling his Audi Sport quattro S1 over his native Kinnekulle Ring. © EL/ERC24

1992: Lydden Circuit owner Pat Doran and his Ford RS200 E2 ‘Rosie’ en route to victory in the French ERC round at Bergerac. © EL/ERC24

1992: Pat Doran after his French ERC round victory, together with the two Frenchmen Jean-Luc Pailler and François Delecour. © EL/ERC24

1990: Rob Gibson and his MG Metro 6R4 pictured during the ‘Night of the Champions’ at Maasmechelen in Belgium. © EL/ERC24

1991: Rob Gibson’s Metro 6R4 torpedoed in Ireland by the Audi quattro of Tommy Kristoffersson, due to a jammed throttle. © EL/ERC24

1990: The late Norwegian Jan Arthur Iversen and his Ford RS200 E2 pictured at Tomelilla in Sweden. This car will be at Lydden. © EL/ERC24

1991: The ex-Gary Baker Ford RS200 E2, here pictured at Valkenswaard, will be driven at Lydden by Briton Nigel Mummery. © EL/ERC24

2010: Ulsterman Lawrence Gibson and his MG Metro 6R4 pictured in at Lydden Hill. © DS/ERC24

Top photo: The quattro S1 of Olle Arnesson and the RS200 E2 of Jan Arthur Iversen pictured at Höljes in 1991. © EL/ERC24