Oct 20, 2026 · 28 min · 11 segments
Send us Fan Mail On this episode of Gears, Grease & Horsepower, Tony and Ty go inside the rise and fall of Group B rally racing, the 1980s era of…
Get a few cars and drivers together, pick two towns, and race from one to the other.
Racing on public roads was the simplest way to find out which car and which driver was the fastest.
Fans might catch a car flying past for one part of the route, but they had no easy way to follow the entire race.
As motorsports grew, events started moving to enclosed horse racing tracks and other venues that already had what organizers needed.
Things like grandstands, food stands, controlled entrances, and most importantly, people who were willing to pay for a full day of entertainment.
In less than a decade, racing started to look much more like the organized spectator sport that we know of today.
The real roads, the changing weather, the long distances, and the feeling that you weren't just racing another driver, but you were racing the landscape itself.
So with real roads, unpredictable weather, the long distances and all that, now instead of just racing each other, they're racing the road too.
Early rallies involved long-distance driving routes that brought competitors toward Monaco.
Over time, events evolved into timed special stages, which was basically closed sections of road where drivers raced against the clock, and they were linked by public road sections.
Get a few cars and drivers together, pick two towns, and race from one to the other.
Racing on public roads was the simplest way to find out which car and which driver was the fastest.
Fans might catch a car flying past for one part of the route, but they had no easy way to follow the entire race.
As motorsports grew, events started moving to enclosed horse racing tracks and other venues that already had what organizers needed.
Things like grandstands, food stands, controlled entrances, and most importantly, people who were willing to pay for a full day of entertainment.
In less than a decade, racing started to look much more like the organized spectator sport that we know of today.
The real roads, the changing weather, the long distances, and the feeling that you weren't just racing another driver, but you were racing the landscape itself.
So with real roads, unpredictable weather, the long distances and all that, now instead of just racing each other, they're racing the road too.
Early rallies involved long-distance driving routes that brought competitors toward Monaco.
Over time, events evolved into timed special stages, which was basically closed sections of road where drivers raced against the clock, and they were linked by public road sections.
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