Brief history background

GroupN cars

These cars, like GroupA cars, have to be based on production models that have been built in numbers greater than 2500 units. The Group N cars are sometimes called production cars because they're supposed to be as close as possible to everyday, street cars. In fact the regulations are a bit vague and top Group N cars have little in common with their street counterparts. FIA regulations allow the following modifications to a Group N car.

• Modified front and rear suspension elements (dampers, springs)
• Modified exhaust system, the catalytic converter has to be maintained
• Modified engine management

More interestingly here are the things you are not allowed to modify in a Group N car:

• Braking system (brake pads are free)
• Engine internals
• Suspension layout and geometry (parts such as shocks and springs can be replaced as well as ride height)
• Gearbox and gear ratios, the gears themselves can be replaced
• Differentials
• Final drive ratio

Unfortunately the FIA Group N is almost left on its own. The above restrictions to the applicable modifications allowed in a Group N car are subject to interpretation. The quality of a Group N car can vary according to the owner's budget. For instance most winning Group N cars are built from scratch using re-soldered works bodies (very expensive) whereas more affordable ones use normal everyday bodyshells. It is not rare to see Group N cars equipped with turbo antilag systems even if the homologation cars are not equipped with one. Some Group N cars are reputed more powerful than their GroupA counterparts...Worst even, it's not unusual to see Group N car retiring from rallies with broken transmissions. I think that says it all. Overall the FIA Group N is a hybrid between what Group N was meant to be and and FIA GroupA

GroupN cars are used, mostly, by drivers who either have no extensive rallying experience and wish to learn or drivers who cannot afford the budget related to building a full GroupA car (which can cost up to 4 times the price of a GroupN car).

You will find in the following pages a brief history of some the cars involved in the WRC, their characteristics and peculiarities. Rallycars.com also includes up-to-date WRC statistics as well as WRC driver profiles. I hope you'll enjoy the ride. If you have any comments please use my feedback page.

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