Group C

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A sticker on a race car from the 1984 24 Hours of Le Mans, denoting the car is part of the Group C category.
A sticker on a race car from the 1984 24 Hours of Le Mans, denoting the car is part of the Group C category.
This article is about the International Sports Car category. For the Australian Touring Car category, see Group C (Australia).
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Group C was a category of auto racing, introduced into sports car racing by the FIA in 1982, along with Group A for touring cars and Group B for GTs.

It was designed to replace both Group 5 (closed top touring prototypes like Porsche 935) and Group 6 (open-top sportscar prototypes like Porsche 936). Group C was used in the World Sportscar Championship and other sports car racing around the globe. The final year for the class came in 1993.

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[edit] History

Porsche 956 was one of the most dominant cars in its many factory and customer built forms.
Porsche 956 was one of the most dominant cars in its many factory and customer built forms.

The roots of the GTP category lie in both FIA Group 6 and particularly in the GTP category introduced by the ACO at Le Mans in the mid-1970s. GTP was a class for roofed prototypes with certain dimensional restrictions, but instead of the more usual limits on engine capacity, it placed limits on fuel consumption — the "C" could also be interpreted as "consumption", since the FIA created a formula limiting the amount of fuel a car could use during the race, instead of limiting minimum weight and maximum displacement. The FIA hoped this would prevent manufacturers from concentrating solely on engine development; in the late 1970s, a few manufacturers (especially Porsche and Lancia) had dominated sports car racing by simply increasing turbocharger boost pressure, especially in qualifying trim — the 3.2 L Porsche 935 was capable of more than 800 hp.

While the consumption requirement meant that cars needed to conserve fuel early in the race, manufacturer support for the new regulations grew steadily with each make adding to the diversity of the series. With the new rules, it was theoretically possible for small normally aspirated engines to compete with large forced induction engines. In addition, most races ran for either 500 or 1000 km — usually lasting more than three or six hours, respectively — so it was possible to emphasize the "endurance" aspect of the competition as well.

Ford's C100 and Porsche's 956 were the first constructors to join the series. The traditional turbocharged boxer engine in the 956 was already tested in the 1981 version of the Group 6 936. Eventually, several other makes joined the series, including Lancia, Jaguar, Mercedes, Nissan, Toyota, Mazda and Aston Martin. Many of these also took part in the IMSA championship, as its GTP class had similar regulations.

As costs increased, a C2 class (originally named C Junior) was created for privateer teams and small manufacturers, with further limits to fuel consumption. Although it was originally expected that C Junior cars would use two-litre normally aspirated engines, in practice most cars used either the 3.5l BMW M1 engine or the new 3.3l Cosworth DFL, but, like in the main class, a variety of solutions was employed by each individual manufacturer. Alba with a small, lightweight turbo, Tiga, Spice and Ecurie Ecosse with Austin-Rover and later Cosworth-powered cars were among the most competitive in this class. The low cost of these cars even lead to the notion of their use in national championships, such as the short-lived British BRDC C2 Championship.

[edit] Rise and fall

Jaguar XJR-11 from 1990.
Jaguar XJR-11 from 1990.

By 1989, the Group C series popularity was nearly as great as Formula One. When C1 cars were found to be breaking over the 240 miles per hour mark at Le Mans' Mulsanne Straight — the WM Peugeot recorded the highest at 254 mph (over 400 km/h) — the FIA revolutionized the class by attempting to turn it into a formula series to replace the C2 category (after they proved to be unreliable at endurance races). The new formula restricted the performance of cars built to the original rules (such as the Porsche 962 used by many privateers) and benefitted teams using F1-sourced 3.5 L engines — these latter teams being effectively the large manufacturers alone, as the new formula cars were more expensive than the C1 cars. What followed was the quick downfall of Group C, as Ford, Mercedes and Peugeot elected to either concentrate on or move to F1 directly, while F1 engines were unaffordable for privateer teams like Spice and ADA. A lack of entries meant the 1993 Sportscar World Championship was cancelled before the start of the first race; however, because the Le Mans 24 hour race had became a non-championship race the previous year, the ACO still allowed the Group C cars to compete (albeit with restrictions). Nevertheless, the race still witnessed protests against the new state of affairs, as spectators placed cloth banners in fences expressing their feelings.

The 1994 24 Hours of Le Mans was the last one in which Group C cars were permitted. A new category formed especially by race organisers also saw modified Group C cars without roofs. In fact, a former C1 car disguised as a road-legal GT car which was entered in the GT1 category, the Dauer 962 Le Mans, and won the race after transmission problems by a leading Toyota 94C-V. The 962 was subsequently banned; the Toyota was later given a special dispensation to race in the Suzuka 1000km, and a few C1 racers were allowed to compete in the newly formed Japanese GT Championship — this would be its final year of competition. Many of the modified open top Group C cars continued to compete until they wrecked, broke, or retired out of competitiveness; notable among these was the Porsche WSC-95 which won the 1996 and 1997 Le Mans races, utilizing the monocoque of the Jaguar XJR-14 and Porsche 962 mechanicals (engine, transmission, etc.).

Afterwards, prototypes nearly disappeared from Europe, resurfacing again in 1997. Recently, interest in Group C cars resurfaced as more of these cars have appeared on historic racing events.

[edit] Group C series

The FIA's Group C formula was designed primarily for the World Sportscar Championship, as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans. However, several smaller series also adapted the Group C regulations. The Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft allowed Group C cars to compete alongside various other types of cars from the 1982 season until 1985, when the series was reformed as the Supercup. Under the new Supercup series, only Group C cars would be allowed to compete. This series lasted until 1989.

In Great Britain, the Thundersports championship combined a variety of cars with the C Junior (later C2) class of cars. This too was later replaced with a C2 only series known as the BRDC C2 Championship, and lasted until 1990. The European Interserie championship also allowed Group C cars to compete, although they did not use the same class structure.

In Japan, the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship was created in 1983, while the Fuji Long Distance Series also began allowing Group C cars for the first time. It was not until 1989 however that the series concentrated solely on the Group C formula. Both championships lasted until 1992, when they were cancelled along with the World Sportscar Championship.

[edit] Group C cars

Some examples of Group C race cars :