Ford RS200 Group B Rally Car Information & Database

How could we not have a topic in the "other group B cars" theme dedicated to the Delta S4 ?!? Possibly the most developed Group B cars of all times...

I'll start of with this video (though it contains also some 037 footage):

Today I was lucky enough to be able to "loan" a Lancia Delta S4 Stradale for a whole day... I was planning for this for a while but had to wait for the weather to get a little nicer... I originally thought the Delta would have been a civilized Group B car (at least in road trim) but was (pleasantly?) surprised to see that it's no more refined than an RS200 in fact...

It was very hot inside due to mainly the transmission heat which dissipates through the large tunnel between the seats... Lots of vibrations of all sorts and also a lot of noise at all RPM... The whining of the compressor is always present though it diminishes slightly at 4000 RPM when the turbo takes over, but then other noises also become louder... Not to mention also a clutch with little progressiveness and which did not like traffic very much and a tendency to overheat at very low speeds.

This particular S4 actually has a history too... I was told it was built for Cesare Fiorio himself and has had the metallic black paint from factory, most other Delta S4's having been red (a bit like the Diamond white on the 200's). It was also one of very few fitted with Aircon, though I made a point of not turning that on for the day.

I must admit that in terms of pure performance I did not find it very stunning... Not like a 200 for instance which even in 250 bhp standard spec can deliver quite some sensations. On the Delta, probably also due to the very progressive pick up at low revs due to the compressor, the power delivery is totally linear and even the transition from compressor to turbo supercharging is hardly perceptible... In fact the change of "noise" is what gives away the transition. Nevertheless I had some great fun driving on some local alpine roads where it felt completely "at home".

Sadly the day finished all too quickly and after almost 400 km at the wheel I had to give it back to it's rightful owner.

Now I need to find a nice RS200 owner who will let me drive his or her 200 so I can continue my quest to drive all Group B cars.

Here are some pics I took of the day which I thought I'd share:

Well done Klaus,

......but you could of taken a few more pics (lol)!

I suppose it must be very hard to manufature a no holds barred rally car then reverse engineer it into a road car with road car NVH, but still leaving all the interesting bits on, the compromise would be too much.

You are definately right about Fords - infact all fast Fords are great road cars. The cossies in particular.

Mike 2 wrote:Well done Klaus,

......but you could of taken a few more pics (lol)!

I suppose it must be very hard to manufature a no holds barred rally car then reverse engineer it into a road car with road car NVH, but still leaving all the interesting bits on, the compromise would be too much.

You are definately right about Fords - infact all fast Fords are great road cars. The cossies in particular.

Thanks Mike... Oh but I have looooads more pictures believe me...

Yes I guess Ford did the right choice in not trying to make the RS200 look like any other car in their contemporary product lineup meaning they could concentrate on the design that ultimately was probably the best looking ultimate Group B car.