In the late 1970s and early 1980s the great rally drivers were moving from two-wheel drive cars to the all-wheel drive cars and the "monster class" - group B appeared in the World Rally Championship. I was lucky enough to see Walter Rohl, Sandro Munari and some other great rally drivers of that time.
No wonder then, that I started to rally as well. Living in a communist country at that time, my answer to Group B car was racing Trabant :-). Obviously it was a proper answer; so let us just to compare these beasts:
Trabant - 595 ccm (two stroke) 30-35 HP (fully "prepped" for rally)
But you might enjoy the sound as well:
Audi Quatro and similar B group cars:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozntieZs8Bg
Trabant:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCeQ3tDznUI&feature=related
Yet Trabant was a lot of fun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snEuERpUjhw
and the group of people racing them was amazing. These were the guys who usually did not have money to buy anything more expensive, but quite a few of them knew how to race. There were about 40 Trabants in the class and the battles were fierce at the top.
I rallied the Trabant for about 4 years. Here are some of my pictures:
One of the drivers I admired the most was Ari Vatanen. He was / is well known for his aggressive driving style--winning, but also crashing out, in a spectacular way. So, in no time, I was a master of a series of spectacular car rollovers. The wins, though, missed me...
In 1984 I and my wife left the country without advising the comrades about our intentions. Some of my friends still claim that it must have been because I drove the Trabant, and the four years just drove me to insanity, but to them I would say: "It was noisy, it smelled of the burn oil, it was cold, it was slow, it might even be called ugly...but it was my 'first love'. And you never forget her :-)."
No wonder then, that I started to rally as well. Living in a communist country at that time, my answer to Group B car was racing Trabant :-). Obviously it was a proper answer; so let us just to compare these beasts:
Audi Quatro - 2,
150 ccm, 300 HP
150 ccm, 300 HP
Trabant - 595 ccm (two stroke) 30-35 HP (fully "prepped" for rally)But you might enjoy the sound as well:
Audi Quatro and similar B group cars:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozntieZs8Bg
Trabant:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCeQ3tDznUI&feature=related
Yet Trabant was a lot of fun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snEuERpUjhw
and the group of people racing them was amazing. These were the guys who usually did not have money to buy anything more expensive, but quite a few of them knew how to race. There were about 40 Trabants in the class and the battles were fierce at the top.
I rallied the Trabant for about 4 years. Here are some of my pictures:
One of the drivers I admired the most was Ari Vatanen. He was / is well known for his aggressive driving style--winning, but also crashing out, in a spectacular way. So, in no time, I was a master of a series of spectacular car rollovers. The wins, though, missed me...
In 1984 I and my wife left the country without advising the comrades about our intentions. Some of my friends still claim that it must have been because I drove the Trabant, and the four years just drove me to insanity, but to them I would say: "It was noisy, it smelled of the burn oil, it was cold, it was slow, it might even be called ugly...but it was my 'first love'. And you never forget her :-)."
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