METRO 6R4 TO REMIND RALLY GB FANS OF GROUP B
Spectators on this year’s Wales Rally GB will be greeted by the closest possible thing to Group B competition as John Saunders has entered his MG Metro 6R4 into the National rally.
Hong Kong-domiciled Brit Saunders owns the car Harri Toivonen drove in the 1986 RAC Rally, and afterwards he bought a rally-legal Metro 6R4 to contest proper MSA events. The’86 car is not legal to compete, but Saunders has used it in demos at Goodwood and the Eifel Rally Festival.
“You’re weekend warrior and you think you’re good but you don’t know if you are any good, so I thought I wanted to do proper timed rallies,” explained Saunders. “I needed a legal car so I bought a Group N Subaru which I absolutely hated.
“Then this clubmen car came up and it was already well developed and over the years I’ve built up a lot of spares. It’s the 2.5-litre engine, and we’ve updated it with all the works bits. It’s also got some nonworks stuff now which is also legal so a paddleshift gearbox and Proflex suspension.”
Saunders won’t have any similar competition, but he has set his sights on a lofty target in terms of a benchmark for the event. “I’d like to beat Theirry Neuville,” he joked.
“I’ll be happy to finish, we’ve had some good events this year. I’ll be going in cold [without a test]. I’m going to have to turn up after a long flight jet-lagged and jump in and give it go.”
The car features many parts from the Group B 6R4, as Saunders has built up a repertoire of spares over the years for the Toivonen car.
“I bought that [the Toivonen car] in late 2011 and had never driven a rally or race car but I was always fascinated by Group B,” he added. “I was doing an internet search on an obscure website and it was parked in a casino car park in Las Vegas. It turned out to be the right thing and restored it.”
The national rally uses over 80 miles of Wales Rally GB stages shared with the World Rally Championship competitors, and takes place on Friday and Saturday. For a full preview see page 35.