You Can Help This Group B Lego Set Reach Stores
One of rallying’s icons has been rendered in Lego.
Remember that Peugeot 205 T16 set posted to Lego Ideas? Well, the same designer has since posted a similar set, this time featuring the Lancia Delta S4. Maybe the prayers of everyone asking for a companion set for the Peugeot were heard, and consequently answered. At the time of this writing, the Lancia set sits at 1,389 supporters, with 598 days remaining before it is either archived or reviewed. Its predecessor, the Peugeot set, has 5,970 supporters at this time, and because it passed the 5,000 supporter mark, it received an extra six months to reach its goal of 10,000. It is improbable that the Peugeot will fail to gain another 4,030 supporters before its time runs out.
For those not in the know, Group B was a historic classification for rally cars during what is now known as rally's golden age. It was kickstarted by the Audi Quattro, which, when it introduced 4 wheel drive to the mixed surfaces of the rally world, sparked a revolution which saw all competitive entries imitating Audi, and adapting 4 wheel drive. Its popularity swelled with both manufacturers and spectators, and before long, scenes like this one, with spectators jammed so tight along the roadside that an accident would certainly result in multiple fatalities. It only took so long before the deaths started to occur. When a string of competitors and spectators lost their lives in 1985 and 1986, Group B was killed off, and its successor, Group S, was terminated in gestation, despite being a safer alternative.
The Lancia Delta S4 was among the series' most bizarre cars. It was derived from the Lancia 037, their previous Group B entry, and featured a twincharged 1.8 liter I-4 engine. Twincharging is the now largely abandoned practice of mounting both a supercharger and a turbocharger onto an engine. This ensures that there is always boost being fed into the engine. With how little lag modern turbos have, though, twincharging has fallen by the wayside.
If even a fraction of The Drive's 550,000 Facebook followers hit the Support button on this set suggestion, though, it won't be history like Group B.