Mike Jeffreys, who (being in Britain) should know better, says:
You are right about these cars; I believe that there were a number of
European competitors in what was called Group A(?).
Group B, for some reason. I can't remember what group A was.
A list from memory of these cars is:-
Mini Metro VR6 (?) 3.6 litres (I think the engine was a cut down V8 but
surely not the Rover/Buick one) atmospheric.
A-HEM. This was the MG Metro 6R4 you're talking about, which was introduced
just before the abolition of the Group B specification (due to the fact that
a bunch of idiots in Portugal thought it would be fun to stand on the apex
of a blind corner to get up close to the cars. This is comparable to going
to the beach to look at the tidal wave, but the gist of government in the 20th
century is -- but that's a flame for another time.
Anyway, the MG Metro 6R4 used a V6 version of the Rover/Buick aluminium V8
that had been extensively modified. It was naturally aspirated, on the
assumption that throttle response would be of more interest to a rallyist
than all-out power. The car was available in two states of tune, Clubman,
available for sale to the racing customers, with about 280 bhp (out of 2.8
liters). The works versions put out closer to 400 bhp and had striking
acceleration figures: 0-100 km/h (0-60 mph) in about 3 seconds, on dirt or
gravel; they went a little faster on pavement. :-) Top speed was limited
by gearing (and by aerodynamics) to about 110 mph, but again this optimized
for acceleration between the trees. In modern rally supercar tradition, the
power was distributed among all four wheels for maximum traction on bad
road surfaces.
Anyway, the MG won its first rally, the Welsh, and looked to be a potential
dominant force in Group B until its career was cut short by the abolition of
its class. A few of them were registered for street use, but they were noisy,
uncomfortable, and quite possibly the only car ever made that was uglier than
both the Alfa Romeo 75 (Milano) and the Volvo 740. The basic Metro shape
received a number of reinforcing gussets, flares, boxes and plates to hold
the hardware necessary for the suspension travel required of a 4WD rally
car, as well as wings that looked more like they belonged on a McCormack
reaper than a rally car.
In spite of the aesthetics, I think it would be a fine commute vehicle. I
rarely exceed 100 mph on the way to work, so the limited top speed would
hardly be an issue, and I don't have a back seat now so the fact that the
rear half of the car was full of four-cam V6 wouldn't bother me. And with
the pesky pedestrians here in Palo Alto, an ankle-height front wing wouldn't
be a bad thing from time to time. And the ability to accelerate so briskly
while driving over the median strip on Foothill Expressway would certainly
cut precious minutes off my drive to work. And if worse came to worst, well,
any vehicle designed to be bounced off trees at 100 mph shouldn't need an
airbag, right?
--
sfisher@wsl.pa.dec.com DEC Western Software Labs
Palo Alto, California
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