Friday 18th July 2014

The Metro 6R4 story: Time For Tea?

Ever wondered how the mid-engined Metro made it from pipe dream to Group B? Find out here!

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It was reading through our Wilton House story yesterday that it became apparent the Metro 6R4 hadn't featured in any kind of video feature on PH. We've done Audi Quattros, Escorts and 911s on stages but not the mid-engined Metro. Time to address that.

As luck would have it, YouTube has an excellent two-part documentary on the 6R4's gestation. It covers everything from Austin Rover's decision to return to world rallying, the tie-up with Williams, the production of the road versions, testing and its first competitive events.

It says an awful lot about rallying then that Austin Rover were willing to build an entirely new car (and a flippin mid-engined Metro at that) simply because international rallying was so popular. Will rallying ever become so influential again?

Tony Pond features quite prominently throughout as the 6R4's main driver, from testing it at Gaydon (doesn't it look nice without the bodykit?) to starting the 1985 RAC rally. It's also interesting to remember that the Metro was naturally aspirated as opposed to the majority of its rivals. It was believed there would less to malfunction, fewer heat related issues and of course the predictability of no lag either. The noise is fairly amazing too.

The two videos together total about 15 minutes but it really is worth setting aside some time. A project that was never quite able to show its full potential, you can't help but wonder what might have been for the Metro 6R4.

See part one here.

 

And the second instalment here.

 

 

[Lead image: LAT]

[ALBA MELV]

The noise echoing throught the forests from a 6R4 makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Lovely noise, no fear of not hearing one coming.

[Dave Hedgehog]

The best motor sport I have ever watched was Will Gollop battling the RS200's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogu9rtCJmOc

[V8Ford]

380-410hp in a Metro...

[firebird350]

One other advantage of the normally-aspirated design of the 6R4 (I think Tony Pond points this out) was the significantly better retardation through the four-wheel drive system when decelerating due to the higher compression ratio of the engine (and, to a lesser extent, the absence of turbo 'over-run' in those days) when you lifted off - and that was before you even touched the brake pedal.

I remember Tony Pond shocking Jimmy McRae when, the first time Jimmy ventured out in a 6R4 (it was as a passenger), he was subjected to one of Pond's late-braking efforts which bore absolutely no connection with what McRae was used to in the Manta 400 he was campaigning at the time.

[Dave Hedgehog]

V8Ford said:

380-410hp in a Metro...

700 in Gollop form, and it left the line like an F1 car

[michaelcolby83]

Easliy one of my favourite all time cars.

[firebird350]

A little bit of Metro 6R4 in-car footage with Colin McRae and Nicky Grist in charge:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nrokRanX4k#t=213

[RyanTank]

I love seeing these on a rare outing over the stages these days.
The sound of one bouncing off the Epynt hills is magical!

[alpha channel]

I love the total insanity of wanging in a 300-400hp engine in a 4WD Metro, these really are a truly cool car (and at the top of my list if I ever win the euro-millions) and I thinky they actually look good without all of the bodykit screwed to it too.

[sideways man]

My lottery win car. Not the prettiest but the engine noise more than compensates. I used to help with the 'flying finish' on rally stages when these were current rallycars, have loved them since then. Apparently they have twitchy handling and are prone to lift off oversteer,probably due to the short wheelbase.

Why did they ban group B? All they had to do was move the spectators back to a safer place. Easy.

[RyanTank]

sideways man said:

Why did they ban group B? All they had to do was move the spectators back to a safer place. Easy.

spectators outnumbered marshals by close to 100-1 on some events. so not exactly easy as you put it.

The cars became too powerful. it wasn't called F1 on gravel for no reason, ironically the cars are faster now than they were in grpB days, but no one watches it and automatically labels it boring as the cars are based on Fiesta's & DS3's

[P I Staker]

sideways man said:

Why did they ban group B? All they had to do was move the spectators back to a safer place. Easy.

If they could talk, I'm not sure the dead crews would agree.

[Gary C]

P I Staker said:

sideways man said:

Why did they ban group B? All they had to do was move the spectators back to a safer place. Easy.

If they could talk, I'm not sure the dead crews would agree.

More about the fatalities of the spectators, the Sinatra stage of the Portuguese rally really did for it, but it had become so insanely popular that the crowds were out of control. Any car today leaving the stage could do just as much damage if the spectators were lining the road (happened a few months ago).

Watching the 205 t16's s4's, RS200's and 6r4's at full competitive speed is something I will never forget, truly spine tingling.

Met Henri toivenen once, on the rac. He wanted to get to the stage, I wanted to get to the next stage on a single lane road. The sight of a 1.6 astra sr charging towards a delta 4s made him grin and he actually pulled over and we got a wave, never forgot that. What a nice bloke.

What really gets me is the price AR sold the 6r4's off at. 15k!. Ok missing a few bits, but within the skills of a spanner man. Ford sold the rs200's for £50k. For reference a RS cosworth was £15,950 at the time.

[alexpa]

skoda video ad popped up in the middle of the piece. yuk. guess you guys aren't using targeted marketing.. turned me off the piece instantly.

[YorkshirePudding]

I was stood on the outside of the downhill hairpin right, in the first vid, on the York National at approx 3:30,

How times have changed for rallying,

[IanMorewood]

Saw the 6R4s as an impressionable twelve year old, and got me hooked on rally sport until fairly recently when I've just lost all interest.

[AlisterOliver]

As a child I lived next door the owner of the body shop in Nuneaton who painted all the factory rally cars. He'd always invite my dad and I down to the shop when ever something interesting came in. He also painted all of Tom Wilkinshaws cars too. Thanks for the childhood memory flash back.

[Drive Blind]

not sure if my mind/memory is playing tricks with me but was there not a tv series shown that followed a fictional family rallying a 6R4?

[GravelBen]

RyanTank said:

...ironically the cars are faster now than they were in grpB days, but no one watches it and automatically labels it boring as the cars are based on Fiesta's & DS3's

Well it depends how you define 'faster' - yes the modern cars are faster through a stage due to advances in suspension/tyre/drivetrain technology, and especially on the tighter and twistier stages which are used more often now in order to keep average speeds down.

But in terms of raw straight-line speed (after the modern traction advantage off the line), the massive power advantage of the Group-B car would still see it bugger off into the distance at higher speed.

[sulli]

Fantastic cars, we had one sat in the workshop at my school in the kid 80s. It was sat over the pit so we could all inspect it. When my mum got a metro GTA a few years later I felt like Malcolm Wilson!