Re: s3 details, rs2 mods

[Chris Maresca <ckm@eainet.com>]

On Fri, 1 May 1998, Dave Eaton wrote:

> the delta s4 group b rally car was mid-engined and included both a
> super-charger and a turbo.  a bit troublesome in practice, but quite capable of
> winning the odd group 'b' rally ;-)
> 

right, that's the one.  It's been a few year since I've read/seen anything
about this (about ten probably...).

> that engine was not the one to go into the integrale.  this was basically the 2
> litre turbo from the original delta with some other bits added.  over it's
> lifetime gained 16v (the integrale 16v), and then went into the integrale hf,
> and then the integrale evo.

It's the integrale hf (I think) that I was thinking off...

> the later models stayed around 210hp, early version had 180hp.

I thought I remembered that the intergral hf had close to 300hp (280 or
something) and one of the front engined ones had both a turbo &
supercharger.  It was made in very limited numbers (>300), I think.  At
any rate, it was a discreet, blindingly fast car that could haul four
people and be fun in the snow, plus it was a practical hatchback. 
Hhhhmmm, much like an RS2, I suspect. 

I wonder how reliable all these extreme rally cars and their close cousins
are?  I know about the Audi S-series, but I wonder if other manufacturers
put the same effort into reliability...

> not too sure what you've seen with a rear engine, unless you're talking about
> the lancia monte carlo?  now that had some semblance to the legendary 037
> stratos which walter rohrl used to beat the early audi quattros...

No, I think it was that group b you mention.  It was in the same series as
the Ford CS2? and the Citroen & Peugot models and was definetly a delta
based car, produced towards the end of that classes lifespan and after the
Quattros were no longer competitive. They were banned from rally's shortly
after their introduction (something about the cars exceeding the drivers
limits, I think), and were required to have 2000 production examples. 
Some of them went on to do the Paris-Dakar.  Great cars came out of those
rules...

But, this was at least ten years ago (perhaps even 12), so I could be
wrong...

Chris.
'90 CQ