Group A cars

[Jarek Z]

Those were the days... In Italy there were lots of private tuners who prepared group A8 cars...

That's true. I remember watching TV reports from Italian championship in the nineties. I think it was the most exciting national championship in the world. I remember all those great cars like Subaru Impreza 555, Toyota Celica GT-Four, Ford Escort RS Cosworth, Lancia Delta Integrale... Plus all those great drivers like Aghini, Dallavilla, Cunico, Liatti, Longhi, Andreucci, Travaglia, etc... There were 10-20 top group A cars on almost each round and those cars were super spectacular! Just have a look at the results of 1997 Piancavallo Rally (European and Italian championship round):
http://ewrc-results.com/final.php?e=...ancavallo-1997

[Jarek Z]

Let's take a trip in time to Piancavallo of 1997...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIQkiL6I6a0

[Barreis]

Price of group A8 escort cosworth prepared in Italy was 300 000DEM (it's 150 000€ today)...

[Mirek]

300 000 DM from 1995 can not be compared with 150 000 Euro in 2015. Inflation etc., times changing. Another thing is currency exchange rates, for example 300 000 DM in 1995 was 5 100 000 CZK but 150 000 Euro in 2015 is 4 050 000 CZK but it's not only the exchange rate, some things cost 5x more today than in 1995, some not, salaries are completely different. It's quite difficult to make some meaningful comparison.

[Barreis]

That's true. But then again I knew then if I sell my house I could buy group A8 escort cosworth. Now I should sell 2 or 3 houses to buy WRC car...

[jonkka]

But to buy a house then, you would have to have sold ten apples. To buy a house now, you have to sell a million apples, if anyone is buying. Question is, to invest into apples, property or... rally cars? Unless your apple is a Apple.

So do not ask what something cost yesterday but what something will cost tomorrow.

[OldF]

Imo the price of a WRC car and group A car can’t be compared even if they both would be manufactured today. Building a WRC car starts practically from scratch whereas building a group A car from a base car that’s already “half finished”. The manufacturer could allocate part of the development costs between 5000 cars and from the beginning of 1993 between 2500 cars (http://www.juwra.com/rule_change_summary.html).

I didn’t find any international currency converter for “historic” currencies so I used a domestic one.
http://apps.rahamuseo.fi/rahanarvolaskin#FIN

I choose year 1995 because by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Escort_RS_Cosworth the Escort was used in rallies during 1993-1998. In 1995 300 000 Dem was 914 100 FIM. Converting 914 100 to today’s value give 214 400 €. This is not of course the absolute truth because inflation varies in different countries.

[Mirek]

The manufacturer could allocate part of the development costs between 5000 cars and from the beginning of 1993 between 2500 cars

What many people refuse to see is that exactly this is why gr.A ended. Creation of the stock series is something what costs multiply more than running a dedicated WRC program separated from stock production.

[Rally Power]

Those were the days... In Italy there were lots of private tuners who prepared group A8 cars...

In Italy and all over Europe!

Perhaps more important than to know how much a top Gr.A would cost today is to remind that in GrA days almost every manu homologated their cars and enable private tuners to develop them. It was a easy way to make the sport more accessible for drivers and teams. From the cheap N1 to the expensive A8, everyone could get a rally car from local tuners. Even if it was hard to have them with the same competitive level from those built in manus official tuners, it didn't really matter because localy prepared cars were much easier to get and cheaper to buy.

With the current limited homologation system that FIA uses with Gr.R, providing manus official tuners a sort of monopoly, the range of rally cars dropped dramaticaly and their cost raised hugely. The number of homologated cars in R1, R2 and R3 it's a clear sign that the sport lost some of the amateur driver friendly character that Gr.A/N represented and that manus rally interest it's mainly focused in top R5 and WRC expensive classes.

[Rally Power]

OK for once I can say "I know! I know!" because I was deep involved in this era..

Yes there was a "prikaz" issued from that ol nazi-lover Jean-Marie Balestre when he suddenly announced "No more Group B from end of 1986 season" I did in fact compete as driver in that very last Group B WRC event..and had a chance to talk to a lot of the engineers, mechanics and journalists including good ol Martin Holmes..

Janvanvupa, you really got to open your rally memories book! Entering one of the greatest world rallies at the end of the most iconic rally era should be shared with all of us with full details!

Btw, thanks to Joaquim Santos, our national rally hero, the Cossie, as the Escort, is still a rally legend in Portugal!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k3pqttCAr4
(Santos Ford cars were prepared by iconic portuguese Diabolique team, owened by his co-driver Miguel Oliveira)