Group C monsters at Spa Classic 2022

The Group C class became our favourite spectacle since it first appeared in 2018 and grew into its own category.

These cars are damn fast; you can tell from the simple fact how soon you see the cars back at the same spot, compared to, e.g. the ’70s touring legends.

Group C cars also get the best location during Spa Classic, in the main pits that are not just accessible but also genuinely open to visitors. To the extent that, in some cases, the pit crew was even posing for our cameras.

For those who follow only contemporary racing, the Group C regulations were in force between 1982 and 1993. They can thus be considered the true predecessors of today’s WEC endurance cars. In the early days, Porsche 956s dominated the field (and so did they here). With the arrival of Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Nissan and Mazda, the upgraded Porsche 962s faced more intense competition.

This year, the fleet encompassed fewer cars than last year, but the fleet was a bit more colourful. Even if the Porsches still dominated the league, there were Jaguars and Spice cars and even a yellow Nissan.

The blue 956 was driven by Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti, and Philippe Alliot at Le Mans in 1983.

With this car, Mario Andretti scored bronze driving for the Porsche Kremer Racing team, teaming up with his son Michael Andretti and Philippe Alliot.

The Kremer Porsche 962C with red and black Kenwood livery is from 1989.

The ​Porsche 962-200 with red/white Cabin/Porsche Cars Great Britain livery was originally entered in the 1988 and 1989 seasons.

At Le Mans ’89, it was driven by the Derek Bell / Tiff Needell / James Weaver trio for Richard Lloyd Racing.

The white car with the Le Mans livery is a 1990 Porsche 962C, and the Porsche 962C with the light blue Nisseki Trust livery is from 1991.

The second popular manufacturer was Jaguar, sporting three elegant specimens. The car with racing number 6 is an XJR-8 from 1987.

The XJR-8 is Jaguar’s factory Group C race car in the 1987 season of the World Sportscar Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The project is tied to Tom Walkinshaw, who was responsible for Jaguar’s racing programme.

The XJR-8 was replaced by the Jaguar XJR-9 for the 1988 season. The fleet here also featured this car with the racing number 20.

The last of the Jags was an XJR-14 from the 1991 World Sportscar Championship season.

It was designed by Ross Brawn (yeah, that one!) and John Piper and was built and run by Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) on behalf of Jaguar Cars.

The car took both drivers’ and constructors’ championships in the 1991 WEC season.

There were several cars designed by British constructor Spice Engineering, named after its founder Gordon Spice.

They competed in the C2 class of the World Sportscar Championship in Europe as well as the IMSA GT Championship in North America.

Among the unique specimen, the 1993 Peugeot 905 EV1B is a rare sight. although one can bump into 905s from time to time when looking at the right place.

Autoworld’s Spa Classic exhibition from 2018 was such an occasion, as was our visit to the Peugeot Museum (straight from the source, obviously 😊 ).

There weren’t many such 905s built, but even in the absence of private entries, the car proved to be usccessful. The factory team took the entire podium that year, and they do steal the show here as well.

The canary yellow car is a Nissan R90CK from 1990. These Group C racing cars were built in 1990 for Nissan Motors. They were entered to compete in World Sportscar Championship in Europe and the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship.

The cars based on the basic R90C platform competed until 1993 and scored three JSPC championships as well as several significant endurance races. For the main article on the event, click the link below:

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