Group A

Well, the first time I ever spectated there was 2004 when it was a round of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship.

And that was quite a controversial round because the old Group A cars in their last year in the NZRC had to run at the back of the field behind all the Group N cars in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship.

Andrew Hawkswood and Todd Borden were certainly pretty spectacular and Neil Allport as well.

who went on to win that rally.

But yeah, watching the old Group A cars there, the big sideways, the popping and banging of the anti-lag was pretty damn cool.

I definitely remember watching Colin McRae there in that run of his three-peat.

I'm trying to remember whether it was the Impreza.

The old system was condensed into three primary categories.

There was Group N, Group A, and Group B.

Group N stayed pretty close to the standard production cars, while Group A allowed more modifications while keeping a strong connection to high-volume road cars.

Group B was something else

entirely.

So Group N was basically for cars that still looked like they might be able to take you to work on Monday.

And Group A looked like the road car, but a little beefier.

And Group B? And Group B just tossed the rulebook out the window and told you to make sure that your life insurance was up to date.

And that was incredible.

And then even for me, I'm definitely obviously a Group A Subaru kind of guy and you've got all the ex-World Rally cars there and it's just, like...

It just blows your mind.

And then to see them driven on stages, it's just one of the most incredible things.

They climb up the castle.

For those who haven't been to San Marino, there's nothing flat here.

Everything's a mountain, but right at the top of San Marino is this old medieval castle and it's all as it was and it's historic and the rally stage literally climbs all the way up the mountain up the castle and they finish right at the top but there's probably about a kilometer from the finish control to the regroup in at the top of the hill the top of the castle but it is literally just driving through a castle and we walked up there before the event and we were like how are they going to fit rally cars through here and that night was just watching the transport was just as cool as the stage you're just watching group b group a wic cars going through like cobblestone castle roads which are barely the the width of like four or five people um and just watching them drive through there drive past the restaurants drive up and park on top of this um medieval castle that was insane and watching the commodore try and turn it around some of those hairpins and some of those streets and it's setting off all the shop alarms uh up there and i think they're some of the photos i always see from rally legends and and to witness and experience that was insane and and you can't explain it like it is literally a mountain and you're up there and It was rainy and it was wet and it was cold, but it was incredible.

And so that was, I think, a really good highlight.

The rules were changed.

And then the following year, Group A came in.

So, yeah, the 150th WRC round was a monumental, historic event in more ways than one.

Yeah, it was probably the start of the downturn of Group B, really, wasn't it? Because before that, there was...

Okay.

In memory, we went up into the Stanley Forest outside of Beechworth and Yakondanda, and I remember driving in thick fog, and pretty much the whole event, it just rained the whole time, and staying on the road was a major achievement, and the winner...

In that event was Graeme Alexander in a Group A Mitsubishi Galant VR4, which was the car that he'd done very well in all sorts of events, particularly in the Australian Championship.

And

Well, it was...

Yeah, the D- Integrale is Group A Rally.

These were Group A touring car, I believe.

Yeah, yeah.

All right, well, we've got David To with us.

David, you're a Group A racer.

You've got a cracking little BMW there that has got a livery on it that we all know and remember and love.

But I want to talk to you about what's going on I guess in the last week and a half or two weeks in Australia with Motorsport Australia being made aware very, very last minute of some changes that actually occurred by the federal government legislation back in 2023 with regards to historic motorsport.

I think it's that era too.

Those group A cars with no aero.

Longhurst's lap, I think it's in 89 in the B&H Sierra.

Go and find that somewhere.

And he only did one in 1991.

I mean, John Goss only ever did one in 85.

And then so many of those internationals who came for the world touring cars or the Group A era or even the super tourers were kind of one and done.

So like you go back to that 97 two-litre shootout, eight of the 10 drivers had never done a Bathurst 1000 shootout and four of them never did another one after that.

Obviously, the Suzuki's did a lot of stuff in the front-wheel drive and the Seats in those 90s times.

Going from Group A to those F2 cars are probably a similar thing.

Yeah, potentially.

But again, those F2 cars were pretty good bits of kit.

So I'm not saying a Rally 2 car is not a good bit of kit, but...

Yeah, I feel like the gap between the two is quite a lot bigger than what it used to be.

Because those F2 cars were just as loud, if not louder, than a Group A car.

And I think a lot of the excitement comes from the noise.