When FISA restructured production car categories in 1982, Group B was positioned above Group A and Group N. It covered grand touring cars with a minimum of two seats and required only 200 examples for homologation — a fraction of the 5,000 units required for Group A. This low threshold made motorsport accessible to manufacturers willing to build specialized competition cars rather than mass-market production vehicles. Evolution variants needed only 20 additional units, enabling rapid technical development between seasons.
The regulations placed minimal restrictions on technology, materials, or design. There were no limits on turbo boost pressure, and power output rose sharply across the era. By 1986 the leading cars were producing in excess of 500 hp, with Audi's Sport Quattro S1 reported at over 600 hp. Manufacturers used lightweight composite bodywork, mid-engine layouts, and sophisticated all-wheel-drive systems — technologies that were new to road-going vehicles at the time.
The combination of a tiny homologation quota and near-unlimited technical freedom produced a generation of cars that existed only to satisfy regulatory requirements. Examples included the Peugeot 205 T16, the Lancia Delta S4 with its twin-charged engine combining turbocharging and supercharging, the Ford RS200 built on a competition space frame, and the MG Metro 6R4 with its boxy bodywork and distinctive front wing. The Audi Quattro, already renowned for introducing four-wheel drive to international rallying, was continuously evolved to compete with these newer designs.
Many of these vehicles — the Porsche 959, the Ferrari 288 GTO — were never intended for regular circuit racing and found limited use outside the rally stages they were built to dominate.
Group B's WRC years ran from 1982 through the end of 1986. In the early seasons the Audi Quattro set the benchmark by bringing four-wheel drive to rallying, but Peugeot displaced it decisively in 1985 with the 205 T16. Timo Salonen won the 1985 drivers' title with five victories, while Peugeot took the manufacturers' championship. The Delta S4 and RS200 joined the field for 1986, raising performance to its absolute peak.
The 1986 season turned catastrophic. At the Rally de Portugal in March, Joaquim Santos lost control of his RS200 avoiding spectators, killing three people and injuring 31. The leading teams withdrew immediately. At the Tour de Corse in May, Lancia's Henri Toivonen — championship favourite — flew off an unguarded bend seven kilometres into a stage. His car plunged down a wooded hillside, inverted, and caught fire. Toivonen and co-driver Sergio Cresto died in their seats. The FIA banned Group B from the WRC with immediate effect for 1987 and cancelled its planned Group S successor.
The 1986 season also closed with a dispute over the manufacturers' championship. Peugeots were disqualified from the Sanremo Rally by Italian scrutineers over a bodywork infraction deemed legal by British officials at the following RAC Rally. FISA annulled the Sanremo result eleven days after the season finale, transferring the title from Lancia's Markku Alén to Peugeot's Juha Kankkunen.
Group B cars did not disappear immediately following the WRC ban. They remained eligible in regional championships subject to engine limits — 1,600 cc for four-wheel-drive cars or homologation before 1984 — and found a competitive home in the European Rallycross Championship from 1987 until 1993, when the FIA replaced them with Group A-based prototypes. The MG Metro 6R4 and Ford RS200 were particularly frequent entries in national rallycross events during this period.
Several manufacturers adapted their Group B machinery for other disciplines. Peugeot converted the 205 T16 for the Dakar Rally; Ari Vatanen won the event in 1987, 1989, and 1990. Audi's Sport Quattro won the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in 1987 with Walter Röhrl at the wheel, setting a course record at the time.
Group B left an outsized legacy in motorsport culture. Its cars remain technically unmatched within their regulatory category decades later. Critics called them the Killer B's; advocates insist they defined the Golden Age of Rallying. The era also reshaped safety thinking in the sport, with the Portugal and Corsica tragedies driving reforms in crowd control and circuit design that persist to the present day.
In sim racing and gaming culture, Group B cars retain a dedicated following. Titles such as Gran Turismo Sport and Gran Turismo 7 include dedicated Group B categories or individual cars from the era. The 2016 game Dirt Rally and its successors made Group B stages a central element of the rally experience, and Art of Rally built its entire premise around an alternate history in which the class was never banned.