Video: The incredible history of the World Rally Championship

24th November 2020

Ethan Jupp

Rallying always has been one of the most exciting motorsport disciplines there is and remains so even today. If you have an argument to the contrary, you likely haven’t spent any time in a forest watching superhuman drivers in fire-spitting monsters vaporising stodgy Welsh mud, that is, when they themselves aren’t airborne. However, just as Formula 1 is ‘only’ 70 years old, the World Rally Championship is even younger, at less than 50 years old, being formalised only in 1973.

Watch our video as we explain the history of the World Rally Championship, start to finish, from opening winner Alpine, through to Group B, Group A and the ongoing World Rally Car era, now over 20 years old. It’s feared by some that the golden ages of many motorsport disciplines – Formula 1, endurance racing, touring cars and so on – are long behind is. We’re doubtful the same could be said for rallying.