Editing Group B (section)

==Overview==
=== {{anchor|classes}}New FISA groups ===
[[File:Porsche 911 SC RS 001.jpg|thumb|[[Rothmans Rally Team]]'s [[Prodrive]]-run [[Porsche 911|Porsche 911 SC RS]]]]
In 1982, the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA) restructured the production car category of [[Appendix J|Appendix J of the International Sporting Code]] to consist of three new groups.

The outgoing [[Group 1 (motorsport)|Group 1]] and [[Group 2 (motorsport)|Group 2]] were replaced with [[Group N]] and [[Group A]], for unmodified and modified production [[Touring car racing|touring cars]] respectively. These cars had to have four seats (although the minimum size of the rear seats was small enough that some [[2+2 (car body style)|2+2]] cars could qualify) and be produced in large numbers. Their [[Homologation (motorsport)|homologation]] requirement was 5000 units in a 12-month period between 1982 and 1992. From 1993, the requirement was reduced to 2500 units.<ref name="J1992">{{cite web |title=Appendix J 1992 |url=https://historicdb.fia.com/sites/default/files/regulations/1440578063/appendix_j_1992.pdf}}</ref><ref name="J1993">{{cite web |title=Appendix J 1993 |url=https://historicdb.fia.com/sites/default/files/regulations/1440578161/appendix_j_1993_low.pdf}}</ref>

Group B was for GT cars with a minimum of two seats, redefined as sports grand touring cars in 1986. It combined and replaced [[Group 3 (motorsport)|Group 3]] and [[Group 4 (motorsport)|Group 4]], two grand touring groups already used in rallying, and the production-derived [[Group 5 (motorsport)|Group 5]] [[Silhouette racing car|silhouette cars]] used in circuit racing.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=The anatomy of a Group B rally car – history and tech of rallying's golden era |url=https://www.evo.co.uk/rallying/20384/the-anatomy-of-a-group-b-rally-car-history-and-tech-of-rallyings-golden-era |access-date=2022-05-24 |website=evo |language=en}}</ref> Group 5 cars had never been permitted in the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers.

=== Homologation ===
The number of cars required for homologation—200—was just 4% of the other groups' requirements and half of what was previously accepted in Group 4.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Appendix J to the International Sporting Code 1986 |url=https://historicdb.fia.com/sites/default/files/regulations/1439541317/appendix_j_1986.pdf |ref=j1986}}</ref> As homologation periods could be extended by producing only 10% of the initial requirement each subsequent year (20 in Group B's case compared to 500 for A and N), the group made motorsport more accessible for car manufacturers before taking the group's technicalities and performance into account. 'Evolutions' could be included within the original homologation without needing to produce a new initial run, allowing manufacturers to tweak various aspects of their competing car within the requirement to produce only 20 'evolved' cars. Together, these homologation rules resulted in Group B 'homologation specials'—extremely rare cars that were only produced to satisfy the homologation quota rather than for sales, if they continued to exist beyond presentation to FIA officials in the first place.
[[File:Rétromobile 2017 - Ferrari 308 GTB Michelotto groupe B - 1984 - 002.jpg|thumb|Ferrari 308 GTB Group B (1984)]]
Group B could be used to homologate production sports cars which were ineligible for Group N or A due to not having four seats or not being produced in large enough numbers (such as the [[Ferrari 308 GTB|Ferrari 308]] or the [[Porsche 911]]). Furthermore, the low production requirement encouraged manufacturers to use competition-oriented [[space frame|space frames]] instead of the [[Unibody|unibodies]] typically used in most series-production road cars.<ref name=":1" />

Existing cars already homologated within Groups 2, 3 and 4 could be transferred to Group B, with many being automatically transferred by the FISA secretariat.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=Appendix J to the International Sporting Code 1982 |url=https://historicdb.fia.com/sites/default/files/regulations/1439540890/appendix_j_1982.pdf}}</ref>