We often hear that modern rallying is nothing like as exciting as it used to be. And sometimes we should be glad of that fact. This weekend sees the start of the 2015 Rally Portugal, and this is what the same event looked like 30 years ago.
Back in 1985 Group B cars ruled the roost, and this footage from the 1985 Rallye Portugal shows just how spectacular they were up close, but also how utterly terrible crowd control was back then. Portugal had already developed a reputation for the fearlessness of its fans, with many seeming to treat the rally like a bull-running event, trying to get as close to the danger as possible. The speed of the Group B machinery makes some of the footage genuinely terrifying to watch, especially the big jump around the five minute mark. For the drivers trying to pilot these twitchy monsters flat-out it must have been incredibly hard not to be distracted. Walter Rohrl reportedly said at the time "you have to see the crowd as a wall, not individuals" - and he does seem visibly quicker than anyone else.
It's a testament to the skill of the top-flight drivers how rarely things went wrong, but the following year an RS200 left the road and killed three spectators causing the works teams to abandon the event. Now safety on Rally Portugal is as rigidly policed as any other WRC event; in some ways rallying HAS improved enormously in the last 30 years.
here
[Image: LAT Photo, video: Laszlo Fekete via YouTube]