DiRT Rally Very cool Rally B video 1983 Lancia vs Audi

RCHeliguy · Mar 18, 2019

I had never seen this video before and I imagine I'm not the only one. Basically it was about the last time a 2wd vehicle team beat a 4wd vehicle team in Rally and the somewhat bizarre circumstances and "creative" ways Lancia pulled this off.

The story line about the rivalry and how different the Lancia and Audi teams were was interesting. Recognizing the tracks in the footage from playing Dirt Rally was pretty cool, and looking at how trusting the spectators were around those hairpin turns leaving no room for the drivers to make a mistake was just crazy.

deadredeyes · Jul 2, 2019

I've watched this segment before, good stuff. It was a bit strange that Lancia's initial response was a RWD to the Quattro, and even though they had no chance to compete against it on some stages, Markku Alen, Henri Toivonen and Attilio Bettega really pushed the 037 to its limits. It would have been interesting to have seen an earlier development of the Delta S4 back in the day.

RCHeliguy · Jul 2, 2019

I enjoy driving the Lancia's in Dirt Rally.

The Stratos is fun light tail happy. The 037 is a bit heavier and more powerful still pretty tail happy. The Delta 4 feels much better balanced you can toss the tail but it takes effort.

The Audi S2 in Dirt Rally feels like it understeers. It's very stable and was good to start with, but not as fun once you get the hang of things.

I have no idea how close it is to reality. Loads of fun though.

deadredeyes · Jul 3, 2019

The Audi Quattros should always oversteer, because of the way the differential works. It's a rough and early adaptation of the technology they developed for the military, but it worked a lot of wonders on the track. AFAIK, all of the 4WD Group B cars had quite a bit of oversteer and there were no handbrakes. Markku reveled in this in a recent interview, and talked about how natural Henri Toivonen was at handling the Delta S4 around those hairpin turns in Monte Carlo and other places. Watching those rallies from '85 to '86 are a trip when you see how fast the Peugeot 205 T16, Delta S4 and Quattro would go up to a turn and either Scandinavian Flick or straight up do a 2 point turn due to no handbrake. It must have been incredibly frustrating in those stages when people spilled out onto the corners due to overcrowding.