Editing Group B (section)

{{short description|Motorsport regulation for cars}}
{{About|motor racing regulations}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}} 
[[File:Rétromobile 2017 - Audi Quattro S1 replica - 1985 - 003.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|An [[Audi Quattro#Sport Quattro S1 E2|Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2]], one of the most powerful Group B cars]]
'''Group B''' was a set of regulations for [[Grand tourer|grand touring]] (GT) cars used in [[sports car racing]] and [[rallying]] introduced in 1982 by the [[Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile]] (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the [[World Sportscar Championship]] alongside the faster and more popular [[Group C]] [[Sports prototype|prototypes]], Group B cars are commonly associated with international rallying during [[1982 World Rally Championship|1982]] to [[1986 World Rally Championship|1986]], when they were the highest class used in the [[World Rally Championship]] (WRC) and regional and national rally championships.

The Group B regulations fostered some of the fastest, most powerful, and most sophisticated rally cars ever built, and their era is commonly referred to as the golden era of rallying.<ref name=":3">''Top Gear'' website: [http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/the-corner-that-killed-group-b-2013-5-19 The corner that killed Group B] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130607090023/http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/the-corner-that-killed-group-b-2013-5-19# |date=7 June 2013 }}</ref> However, a series of major accidents, some fatal, were believed to be caused by their outright speed, with lack of crowd control at events.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Magazines |first=Hearst |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AuQDAAAAMBAJ&dq=group+b+rally+deaths&pg=PA57 |title=Popular Mechanics |date=1987-08-01 |publisher=Hearst Magazines |language=en}}</ref> After the death of [[Henri Toivonen]] and his co-driver [[Sergio Cresto]] in the [[1986 World Rally Championship|1986]] [[Tour de Corse]], the FIA banned the group from competing in the WRC from the following season, dropped its prior plans to introduce [[Group B#Group S|Group S]], and designated [[Group A]] as the top class of rally cars with engine limits of 2000&nbsp;cc and 300&nbsp;bhp.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |title=FISA Makes Changes To Improve Car Safety |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QoxGAAAAIBAJ&dq=World%20Rally%20Championship&pg=PA12 |publisher=Schenectady Gazette / AP}}</ref>

In the following years, ex-rally Group B cars found a niche in the [[FIA European Rallycross Championship|European Rallycross Championship]] until being dropped in 1993. By 1991, the World Sportscar Championship had moved on from Group B and C, with the [[BPR Global GT Series|GT championships]] formed in the [[1990s]] preferring other classes such as the new [[Group GT1|GT1]]. The last Group B cars were homologated in 1993, though the FIA made provisions for national championships and domestic racing until as late as 2011.<ref>{{cite web |title=FIA Historic Database |url=https://historicdb.fia.com/cars/list/field_group/b-410/field_homologation_date/1993}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Article 251 – 2011 Classification and Definitions |url=http://argent.fia.com/web/fia-public.nsf/1E02A6245E4C4045C12578A700357B52/$FILE/251%20_11-12_-03.06.2011.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140531155906/http://argent.fia.com/web/fia-public.nsf/1E02A6245E4C4045C12578A700357B52/$FILE/251%20_11-12_-03.06.2011.pdf |archive-date=31 May 2014}}</ref>