Group B Monsters – tribute with pure engine sounds

Another splendid video tribute from amjayes concerning the Group B era in rallying's rich history.

Walter Röhrl described the visceral experience of driving one of the most iconic Group B supercars, the Audi Sport quattro S1, in Reinhard Klein's Rally Cars book: "It must be the most extreme car I have driven in my career. First there was the sheer power. We had 535 bhp for Sanremo in 1985. That meant plenty of power everywhere and at any speed.

"Then there was the sound. The 5-cylinder in-line engine had a very unique sound not comparable to any other. It was the sound of sheer unlimited power and not like most of the other engines, a high-rev screamer. We also had the new wastgate system operating in Sanremo and the engine was always blowing off pressure and banging explosions into the countryside. No car was like that.

"The most demanding thing was the tremendous power and the anti-lag system. The engine pulled with full boost and 535 bhp from about 3000 revs onwards. There was not much influence on the power with the accelerator pedal, if you lifted off you lost all the power. It was all or nothing and I went for all on the 1985 Sanremo Rally."