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!
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]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogu9rtCJmOc
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.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nrokRanX4k#t=213
Why did they ban group B? All they had to do was move the spectators back to a safer place. Easy.
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
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.
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.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff