The short-lived, fire-spitting Group B era of rallying was defined by the few cars that ran in the very top four-wheel drive class: the Quattro, the 205 T16, the Delta S4, and so on. Below them, though, were all sorts of fascinating machines that never necessarily challenged for wins, and therefore never stole the limelight, but brought even more flavour and diversity to the era. Machines like this Mazda RX-7.
Yep, during 1984 and ’85, the unmistakable wail of a 13B rotary engine rang out around the world’s forests and mountain roads. With rear-wheel drive and around 296bhp and 199lb ft of torque, the Group B RX-7 was never really able to mix it with the four-wheel drive rocketships, although it did manage a third place overall in Greece in 1985.
Mazda RX-7 Group B – side
Mazda planned to build 20 of these under ‘Evolution’ homologation rules (the fact that the RX-7 had raced in various touring car series meant it was already homologated in standard form, which is why there’s no wild roadgoing homologation special RX-7 from this era). However, it’s widely agreed that only seven were completed before Group B crumbled at the end of 1986.
This particular example is understood to never have actually been raced – it was used by Mazda Rally Team Europe for demonstrations and promotional activities while a few of its sibling cars were the ones that went and did the dirty work on the rally stages.
Mazda RX-7 Group B – interior
It’s nevertheless a full competition-spec car and comes with plenty of paperwork, including FIA homologation documents, so if the next owner’s so inclined, they could draw a serious crowd at their local historic rally.
Up for auction through Collecting Cars in Gdansk, Poland, it’s hard to say how much it might fetch. The last time we could find one for sale, it was in an RM Sotheby’s auction in 2017 at an estimate of £170-190,000 – but didn’t end up selling.
Mazda RX-7 Group B – rear
Your guess is as good as ours for this one, then, but it’s likely a cheaper way into Group B rally car ownership than one of the four-wheel drive big hitters. And they don’t have spinny Dorito engines.
Oh, and if left-field and not overly successful rally cars are your thing, the same seller’s also offering a Skoda Octavia WRC from the early ’00s, and a rare roadgoing homologation version of Citroen’s hilariously uncompetitive BX 4TC.
