Nostalgic car films have seen a few really good films over the last few years, Rush, Le Mans 66 for example, that re-tell famous stories to audiences that aren't just for the fans. On January 5, 2024, Race For Glory: Audi Vs Lancia with hit the big screens to showcase the ground breaking year that was 1983. Starring Daniel Brühl (Rush, (2013) as Audi Racing Director Roland Gumpert and Riccardo Scamarcio (John Wick, 2019) as Lancia Team Boss Cesare Fiorio, the movie potrays the first year in the Group B era.
At the beginning of 1983, Rallying had produced some amazing cars, all based on the original ethos of compete on Sunday, sell on the Monday. Essentially competing in cars that were based on oridinary road going versions in the showrooms. For a long time, this worked well. in 1979 a small German Manufacturer tore up the old rule book of rear wheel drive to set a time bomb off in the sport. That company was Audi. And the car was the now legendary Audi Quattro. This first itteration still adheared to the then current rules called Group 4 but with one big difference. The Quattro was the first rally car ever to bring 4 wheel drive to the stages. Whilst it might have been heavy and with a basic 4WD system once Audi had ironed out the kinks, it quite revolutionised the sport.....eventually.
The 1983 season saw the first running of the brand new Group B era. A formula that allowed contructors to purpose build almost one off specials to compete in, with only 200 road examples required. This allowed them to be more creative and push the boundaries as far as they dared.
This is the story of how the Italian Lancia team took on the German Audis, as inspired by the acual events of the year. From a motorsport perspective the film trailer has some cliches and some personal bugbears of mine but setting those aside it seems the basic premise and execution looks good.
With only a few weeks to wait for the theactrical release, I look forward to what I hope is a faithful look back at when Rallying was so popular, its was worldwide news.
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