All about the FORD RS200 – Tarmacworks Hobby64+ FEATURETTE
Hobby64+ and Ford RS200: Tarmacworks sets new standards!
Although we are staying in 1:64 scale here, Tarmacworks literally takes the crown with these models. They are by far the most detailed models on the Tarmacworks market. A packaging design specially tailored to the model meets a sample that looks as accurate in the pictures as if you had a real rally car in your own garage as 1:1. Years earlier, we had the pleasure already of adding several rally versions to our collection with the Lancia 037. Whether test vehicle in red, safari version with spare wheel on the roof or with unique paintwork from the respective years. They all had something in common: the opening hood, which revealed all the details of the vehicle. Body, suspension, struts: Everything is visible through it. All the better then that Tarmacworks has now followed up the Lancia 037 with another rally legend: the Ford RS200 from the legendary Group B. And in this case twice, because Tarmacworks is launching both the road version in red and the rally version of the 1986 Lombard RAC Rally. And you know what the best part is? Many more Hobby64+ models are due to arrive this year 2025, including FINALLY the Peugeot 205 Turbo 16, which we are really looking forward to and will of course be reporting on!
Group B in a nutshell
Group B was the PEAK of rallying (more on this in our article on the most legendary Rally B vehicles). In 1982 and 1986, the FIA approved vehicles that were second to none. Only 200 examples of the road version were needed for a potential rally car to be approved - and another 20 for further developments. Because the restrictions were defined as so small, vehicles with far more than 500 hp and all-wheel drive were created, eclipsing everything that had ever been on the rally tracks. Of course, the Audi quattro, Lancia 037 Rally and Delta S4, Peugeot 205 Turbo 16, Renault 5 Turbo come to mind first and foremost. But the Group B monsters also included the BMW M1, the Ferrari 288 GTO, the MG Metro 6R4 and the Porsche 959. The madness came to an end in 1986 after a Ford RS200 crashed into a crowd of spectators at the Rally Portugal, killing three people and injuring 33. After Toivonen/Cresto were killed in an accident at the Corsica Rally, Group B was buried.
All about the "mighty" Ford RS200
Ford was also involved in Group B. The Ford RS200 was developed from 1983 and could be used from 1984, although the 200 units required were probably never built. Today, it is assumed that between 140 and at most 146 were produced by Reliant. It was a classic combination for Group B: mid-engine and all-wheel drive. This is where the packaging of the Hobby64+ models from Tarmacworks comes into play again: X-Ray vision is used to point out some of the technical components of the RS200. This applies to the mass of the car, the 5-speed manual gearbox, the double wishbone suspension and the drive.
The engine was a 1.8-liter derived from the famous BDA engine (belt driven A-Series) with four valves, two overhead camshafts, dry sump lubrication and Garrett turbo, which theoretically should have produced 375 hp (in the road version it was 250 hp). Which was exactly the problem with the Ford RS200 - it simply had “too little” power compared to the competition. Because the gearbox and transmission would have been perfectly suitable, there were three limited slip differentials from Ferguson (one center differential, one each on the front and rear axle), which could be locked (at least in the racing version via a small handle). The standard setting was 37 percent at the front and 63 percent at the rear.
The wheels were suspended all round on triangular wishbones with double dampers, for which there were also double coil springs, although only one of them was used. This was also represented 1:1 by the Hobby64+ model from Tarmacworks, especially because the springs are painted in a lime green. The packaging also reveals something else: the gearbox was at the front - making the RS200 one of the most finely balanced vehicles ever! The exterior shape of the Ford RS200 was created by Ghia (Filippo Sapino) using a few visually similar parts from the Sierra of the time. This applied in particular to the shape of the roof, as the windshield and the doors also had to correspond to a production vehicle in Group B. And the total weight? Just 1050 kilos, as prescribed by the regulations - and yet the RS200 only just won a notable third place at the 1986 Rally Sweden.
The Ford only really took off in the European Rallycross Championship, where it was more than just competitive until 1992. One of the reasons for this was that 20 Evo models were then fitted with a 2.1-liter engine that produced up to 600 hp. This also meant that the Evo accelerated from 0 to 60 miles in just over 3 seconds. In addition, the RS200 can also be called a movie car, because this model actually made it into the Fast and Furious movie - even if you could only see it for 2.5 seconds.
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