Rallycars with DNA and heritage from the old days

[Rallyper]

It´s a must to discuss wheather Opel or Lancia are fullworhty members of the club of rallycars with DNA.

Of course we discuss all brands as well. (Easier for us senior (in age) members, I know)

[atsiotras79]

Of course they are my friend!
Lancia and Opel? How can you even ask that?

[deephouse]

Can we make globally the most disscused thread so the manufacturers will step up and prove again who can be the best :P joke

[Rally Power]

It´s a must to discuss wheather Opel or Lancia are fullworhty members of the club of rallycars with DNA.

Yep, Opel and Lancia have their place in rally History but we can’t put them on the same level…Lancia was for almost 3 decades the top manu in the international rally scene, besides providing to main private teams the most competitive rally cars available. From the early days as an independent factory team to its integration in Fiat’s group, Lancia was always at the front of the sport and still is one of the most successful rally brands ever. Opel was a GM brand and GM never really cared about rally; Opel rally history is mainly due to its importers and private tuners honorable efforts; it was them who manage to develop and run most of Opel’s rally programmes and provide privateers a range of reliable, even if not top spec, rally cars.

Btw, there’s a fine history section on factory teams/cars in rallye-info.com site. Hat off to those runing it.

[Rallyper]

Of course they are my friend!
Lancia and Opel? How can you even ask that?

It started in the Silly Season thread at about page 94 or so. So I thought it would be necessary to start a proper thread about Rallycars DNA...

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Lancia... it goes without saying.

Opel... well yes the name has rally history, but not recently and not so much at world level.But they certainly did great things at national level and especially with one if my favourite cars, the Manta 400,

During the 1980's in the British & Irish Rally championships with Jimmy McRae, the late Russell Brookes and the McHales, Fisher, Coleman etc etc the Opel Manta & Ascona 400 were the winning car's for years. They even took on and beat many mighty 4WD Group B cars on tarmac.

It would be great to see both brands back in rally.

[Norm75]

While it would be great, as I said in the other thread Lancia only make one car (that is quite long in the tooth) that is only sold in Italy so that won't happen.
With psa looking to merge with fca, and owning Vauxhall/Opel, it's unlikely any of the other manufacturers in those groups will be back anytime soon as long as psa are running Citroen in WRC.

That said, I think Vauxhall/Opel unveiled a Corsa electric rally car, so maybe Citroen quit in a year or two and Opel take over in the hybrid era.

[Rallyper]

While it would be great, as I said in the other thread Lancia only make one car (that is quite long in the tooth) that is only sold in Italy so that won't happen.
With psa looking to merge with fca, and owning Vauxhall/Opel, it's unlikely any of the other manufacturers in those groups will be back anytime soon as long as psa are running Citroen in WRC.

That said, I think Vauxhall/Opel unveiled a Corsa electric rally car, so maybe Citroen quit in a year or two and Opel take over in the hybrid era.

That´s maybe for another thread. This is about DNA of different brands.

Saab for instance. We could talk hours about that brand when it comes to rallying. (Right? JanVanVurpa?)

Maybe this topic is a bit learning for you youngsters only heard about Hyundai and Toyota...

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Hopefully the youngsters look into the history of the other current WRC brands, Ford and Citroen too !

Others to educate about would be VW (pre Polo WRC) and Renault in the 1960's-1980's.

[Rally Power]

During the 1980's in the British & Irish Rally championships with Jimmy McRae, the late Russell Brookes and the McHales, Fisher, Coleman etc etc the Opel Manta & Ascona 400 were the winning car's for years. They even took on and beat many mighty 4WD Group B cars on tarmac.

Yep, last Gr.4 and early Gr.B years were a nice era for Rally, all over the world. Btw, for those interested, besides www.rallye-info.com , www.rallygroupbshrine.org and www.tech-racingcars.wikidot.com/rally-cars are also valuable rally history sources.