The Group C Prototype era was one of the most significant in the history of sports car racing, and also, the excesses of it, led to it's eventual demise. Join me, as we look back at a golden age in sports car racing.
More wailing Formula 1 V10 sounds from the Peugeot 905. This one, is the Evolution 1 model, that won the 1993 24 Hours of Le Mans, in video from Belgian-Motorsport.
Engine: SA35-A2 / 80° V10 / NA / 3499 cc / 213.5 cu in
Power: 670 bhp / 500 kW @ 12500 rpm
Chassis: carbon fibre monocoque
Gearbox: 6 speed Manual
Weight: 750 kg / 1,654 lbs
Event: Monza Historic
Race series: Group C racing
Track: Monza
Date: 20-22 september 2019
Driven by Dominique Guenat (CHE)
He qualified 6th overall from 17 entries.
Finished the first race in second place and race 2 in 3rd spot.
Filmed with Canon Legria HF G40 + DM-100 microphone
More historic Group C racing, at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Monza, Italy, via 19Bozzy92.
Old video from last year when Group C Racing series’ cars competed at Monza Circuit. Watch and hear the monstrous prototypes in action around the track!!
With 3D Binaural Audio. Use headphones for the best sound quality. This is another real treat, from 19Bozzy92.
Enjoy the sound of some Group C prototypes I recorded with my Binaural microphone while racing at Spa-Francorchams circuit during the 2017 Spa Classic event. Hope you like it!
List of the cars in the video:
Cheetah G606
Gebhardt C 91
Intrepid RM 1
Jaguar XJR-12
Porsche 962
Porsche 962C
Sauber Mercedes C11
Spice SE89C
Spice SE90
Spice SE92
Sthemo SM
Tiga GC288
Toyota 92CV
Below is an explanation of the audio format.
— What the hell is a 3D/Binaural recording? —
Binaural recordings are reproductions of sound the way human ears hear it. Traditionally, recordings have been made using mono or stereo. Mono uses a single microphone while stereo uses two, spaced apart from each other. Binaural recording takes the stereo method one step further by placing two microphones approximately at the same average distance that exists between one and the other human ear.
To recreate the best effect you must put the microphones in your ears or by using a “dummy head” (wherein a mannequin head is outfitted with a microphone in each ear) because having a real head or a head shape that separates the two microphones is what makes the magic works. In fact if a car passes on your left side the sound will take a few extra microseconds to reach the right ear and it will also be louder in one ear (left) than the other. This is caused by the fact we have a thick skull and spongy brain between the two ears and sound waves interact with the physical constitution of the listener and the surrounding space.
Like the Peugeot 905, this car, the Toyota 92C-V is from the later era of Group C. Another video from 19Bozzy92. This video is about a beautiful 1992 Toyota 92C-V I recorded during the 2017 Spa Classic event. The car is chassis #001 and raced the 1992, 1993 and 1994 24h of Le Mans. It’s powered by a Toyota R36V 3.6-liter twin turbo V8 engine which was able to produce around 800 hp.
Another one from 19Bozzy92. This is the big kahuna for Jaguar fans, right around the end of the Group C era. Presenting the 1990 Jaguar XJR-12. You will hear more stories about this car, and some of the races it competed in. Stay tuned for that.
This video is about a Jaguar XJR-12 Group C car in action at Spa-Francorchamps circuit during the 2017 Spa Classic event organized by Peter Auto.
The car is chassis #J12-C-190 and it was built in January 1990 for that year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. It was then raced for several years in the States an then it was retired to the TWR Museum. In 2003 XJR-12/190 was bought from the museum and has been regularly raced in the historic Group C series.
The car is powered by a 7.4-litre V12 engine which was able to produce 750 bhp. Listen to it screaming around the track!
From 19Bozzy92 on YouTube, a video of the fabulous Formula 1 V10 powered Peugeot 905 Evo, one of the last Group C prototypes, that even went well beyond what the original formula and intent of Group C was.
The 905 you see in this video should be chassis “EV14”, entered in April 1991 for the Suzuka round of the World Sportscar Championship. It was updated to the “Evo 1 Bis” specs catching two 2nd place finishes. For the 1992 season it served only as a spare. Watch it in action at Monza Circuit during the 2019 Monza Historic weekend by Peter Auto in the Group C Racing championship!
Following the new rules introduced by FIA in order to limit the extreme performance of turbocharged C1 cars built to the original rules, Group C saw the beginning of the “3.5-litre” era. Peugeot seized the opportunity and started working on the new car, called 905. It was unveiled in February 1990 and was developed throughout that year before making its race debut in the final two races of the season.
Peugeot decided to develop a V10 engine, called SA35. Conceptually it was compliant with the Formula 1 regulation of the time and, with little modifications, it was used on the 1994 McLaren MP4/9 F1 but with disappointing results. It was able to produce 620hp for endurance races or 680hp at 12,500 rpm during sprint races. The chassis and aerodynamic were built in collaboration with the French aeronautical company Dassault Aviation.
In the early part of the ’91 season the 905 suffered some performance and reliability problems but, more crucially for Peugeot, the car was a lot slower than the Jaguar XJR-14. It managed to achieve a lucky win in Suzuka but at the 24h of Le Mans both cars entered didn’t finish the race. In the remaining races of the championship a heavily revised 905, was introduced, called Evolution 1 Bis. With the exception of the carbon fiber monocoque chassis, Peugeot made changes to the whole car focusing mainly on aerodynamics. Now a separate wing could be bolted onto the nose for high-downforce tracks. It scored convincing results and wins, finishing second in the championship standings behind Jaguar, but ahead of defending champions Sauber Mercedes.
Peugeot’s main rivals both retired from the World Sportscar Championship, and in 1992 the 905 EV1B became one of only two factory efforts involved alongside the Toyota TS010. In addition, from that year only the new “3.5-litre” Group C cars could race in the WSC so that meant the Porsche 962s and Jaguar XJR-12s, highly used by private teams, were no longer allowed to run, with the exception of the Le Mans race. Peugeot won the 1992 WSC championship and the 24 Hours too (1st and 3rd place).
Before it was announced the cancellation of the 1993 championship, Peugeot had already started developing a new 905, called Evolution 2, but it was never raced. Although there was no World Championship, there was a 24 Hours of Le Mans where Peugeot scored an amazing 1-2-3 victory.
No photo gallery is available for this event, the finale of the 1989 FIA World Sports Prototype Championship for 1989, in Mexico City at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit. But, there is a page on Racing Sports Cars with some of the race data, and refer back to the race report also written about it on Group C Sports Cars… The Thunder of the ’80s. The race report is in the archive.
Group C Sports Cars, the thunder of the '80s 