There were many reasons Group C became so popular. Speeds of up to 400 km/h only came at the end and were only achieved on two occasions. We knew how fast they were but figures for top speeds didn't matter much. That's a recent internet phenomenon. Most people these days would have little to no idea of what it was like when Group C was introduced. First of all, everyone loved the idea of a "big banger" sports prototype series and we hadn't seen anything like them since the days of the Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512. The gap in between had mostly been occupied by production-based racers, like the slightly insane Porsche 935/78. When the Porsche 956 first appeared in 1982, it was like we had been transported back to those heady days of the early 1970s. It looked fast, it sounded great and it spawned the development of an absolute plethora of new types, some based on the old Group 5 cars like Porsche 936. But lots of manufacturers, like Lancia, Peugeot, Lola, March, Ford, Toyota, Sauber (BMW powered) and Rondeau built new cars for Group C or adapted older ones. Later once Mazda (in C2), Jaguar, Aston Martin, Nissan and Spice. With all those different shapes and colours and all those different engine notes, it was impossible not to like them. And yes, they were fast. This video unfortunately spends too much time on top speeds and not enough time explaining how Group C worked and why, for example, there were no cars of 1,000 hp. Group C threw the whole thing back on the engine manufacturers. They had to develop cars that could squeeze every joule of energy from a single drop of fuel and that every drop be burnt. The greatest amount of power with the lowest fuel burn. A fuel economy formula. And it produced the greatest racing series of my lifetime.

Now that video brought back some great memories. I remember watching those cars at Le Man on TV. Some I saw at IMSA races here in the US. I love all the sounds those cars made. You could tell which car was coming by the sound of the engine. These days with the electric cars... Aw never mind.

That Mercedes C9 and C 11 were savage in the noise area, fabulous drivers in every car...as were most drivers in the Group C1/C2 Teams

i gotta say i love the 787/767 but for me the ultimate group c car was the sauber c9, i always get goosebumps when i hear this thing and the way it looks is just so typical mercedes style "silberpfeil" i love it

These were the true titans of Motorsport. I miss these cars so much!

I know this video is a year old now, but I just wanted to say that each and every one of these engines have an amazing soundtrack, unique to their respective powerplants... But all amazing...

The 956 and 962 were the best Group C cars of all. Just look at their records. They will never have the cult following of the others but they won more races than pretty much all the others combined, including six wins at Le Mans.

I just watched Jochen Mass in a 962 trying to catch the Patrese Lancia at Spa. The Lancia is lightning quick away at the chicanes (without cam equipment). Thankyou for the insight and my points go to the vicious C9. She reminds me of the old GT40 girls in many respects.

The 962 was the IMSA version. After drivers suffered severe leg injuries in Indy cars in the early 1980's, various sanctioning bodies changed the rules mandating the the drivers feet be behind the center line of the front wheels. Porsche 956s and 962s were known for being "flexi-fliers". Some speculate that Palmer survived his crash at Spa while Bellof did not because Palmer was driving a non factory 956 with an aluminum honeycomb chassis.

Wish Group C was still around.

All thenoisecame out of one port on the right hand side of the Mazda. On Sunday morning at Le Mans after nearly no sleep, it was excruciating. We used to wait for it and know we'd suffer! Only the Matra v12 F1 came close.

I can’t thank you enough for providing the video links in the description

Great video man

Fantastic video. Been looking for some in depth Group C content. Subbed :)

Great video, keep it up!

Nice video, what a soundtrack! Perhaps you could mention that the 3.5 litre Peugeot & Toyota were really built to a different formula than the Mercs, Jags, Porches etc that preceded them.

The Sauber C9 and Porsche 962C are my favorite Group C cars in Assetto Corsa, although its kind of hard to beat the sound of that Lancia/Ferrari V8 or 787B

I went to the Long Beach Grand Prix a few weeks ago only because they had the Group C IMSA GTP cars there. They only did a short practice and qualifying and a 20 min race. Obviously the cars were tuned down and not being pushed (unfortunately) but it was still more entertaining than Indy. They had the Mazda 787B and RX-792P (my favorite), the Toyota Eagle MkIII, Porsche 962, Jaguar XJR-9. God I wish these were still racing today. The current IMSA cars look like they rolled off an assembly line... and though they sound pretty good, they sound exactly the same. It's insane to me that Formula 1 and other categories are loosing the great noise of the engines. I understand they want to go green but from an entertainment and race car enthusiast standpoint, it's fucking sad. There should be at least 1 or 2 categories that conserve historic, more pure racing. Loud combustion engines, manual gear box, no computers, simpler aero, no team orders or #2 drivers etc.

another great one

boost your volume

Rotary engines can be very reliable. In fact the reliability of the 787 is what won for Mazda. Wasnt the fastest car but the most reliable by far. They took the engine apart after LeMan and descovered it could go run another 24 hours before a rebuild was needed. Rotary engines like high rpm they dont like low revs like city driving carbon builds up. Most people are un aware of that and how effective an Italian tune up can be on a rotary.

The video of the C9 at the end was actually the C11. Nice video

The IMSA GTP Gurney Mk 3 Eagle was spectacular, but it ran the competition off. The next generation WSC Ferrari 333 SP was dynamic in its sound. When Jaguar ran a Bud Light sponsored prototype (driven by Davy Jones) which skirted the IMSA rules, but was very light and fast, does anyone know what it was? Group C? It wasn't the normal GTP Jaguar. Dan Gurney called it a "Formula One car with a shell on it."

Apparently this guy doesn't like Porsche at all. Never mentioned not even one Le Mans victory. And they have 19 of them !!! Most won with the 956 and 962.

@10:02 @10:11 Happy turbo noises!😁

I love this cars

Man the Sauber just sound so bad ass, like a villain.

Group C was way better than F1. In my opinion.

Looking at the output of the Peugeot engine…if it could do 1000km at 700bhp, it’s surprising it couldn’t reliably do a Grand Prix distance in a McLaren at 750bhp…

I can barely hear you, there's gotta be some kinda audio issue. doesnt seem to be on my end, I wanna like the video so badly,

Question What was the most successful and fastest car (lap times like monza, Nordschleife, le mans blah blah) from group C ? (Good Vid)

For me, the best group c car is Minolta Toyota 88-cv

nice content

Salut my friend super car super video subscribe subscribe.

You forgot one manufacturer NISSAN

Excellent video and cool channel topic. What actually happened to the group C class ?

Sauber Mercedes video at the end its a C11, not a C9.

No Nissan? Geez

You were talking about the 787 and 787b, then showed the 767 video. You also said the 962 came with a 3.2 flat 6, while it also came with a 2.8 and 3.0, the 3.0 L engine was the most common of those. And at the end, you were talking about the Sauber C9, but showed the video of it's successor, Sauber C11. Otherwise, good job.

No Nissan?!

930 hp for the Mazda is not true. There is no way it could have ever raced with that output for two reasons. First of all, it could never have been economical enough to run at that kind of power level and second because the oil seals were poor enough as it was.

Sorry, but this is quite lame to talking about the Porsche 956 and 962 in the shortest time of all these cars in this video, because 956/962 were the absolute kings of the Group C racing era! These Porsches dominated Group C in a way, like no other racing cars before and after them a whole series. Period! Talking about 956 and 962 being "too fast and dangerous" is quite idiotic, dude! Every car in the Group C era had a tremendous top speed capability. The Porsche 956 and 962 literally dominated the whole 1980's endurance racing era, and even in 1994 another LeMans victory happened for Porsche with the Dauer-Porsche 962! In some years of the 1980', the first 8-10 finishing racing cars at LeMans were Porsche 956, 962 and some 911 derivatives from lower classes.