London has long possessed an avid car culture, with hundreds of high-profile collectors calling the city home. In response to London being a hotbed of automotive activity, quite a few elite auction houses opt to hold annual (or biannual) sales in the UK capital. One such outfit is RM Sotheby’s, which is slated to soon hold its forthcoming London event — a single-day auction comprised of more than four dozen rare and exotic vehicles, including a trio of genuine factory works Group B race cars.
1982 Lancia 037 Group B Works Evolution 1
Starting with the earliest of the three cars, we have a 1982 Lancia 037 Group B Works Evolution 1 (Chassis No. ZLA151AR000000319). Believed to be the first-ever 037 to rally in Evo 1 specification, this highly original example was campaigned by Markku Alén at the model’s debut, plus was piloted by Walter Röhrl to victory at the 1983 ADAC Rallye Deutschland.
1985 Lancia Delta S4 Group B Works
Produced by Lancia three years later, we have a 1985 Lancia Delta S4 Group B Works racer. Touted as being the “most highly regarded Delta S4 in existence,” this particular Delta S4 specimen was used to win the 1986 Rallye Monte-Carlo winner, and was also utilized by Henri Toivonen to achieve his last WRC win. The fastest and most high-performance rally car produced by Lancia, the Delta S4 packed a turbocharged and supercharged 1.8-liter twin-cam four-cylinder engine that put down 480hp while the car tipped the scales at less than 2,000lbs.
1985 Audi Sport quattro S1 E2 Group B Works
The last of the three vehicles is a 1985 Audi Sport quattro S1 E2 Group B Works racer. This highly original and fully restored specimen competed in a slew of rally events and was piloted by numerous noteworthy race car drivers including Hannu Mikkola at the 1985 Lombard RAC Rally. Additionally, this example is also one of only 15 quattro S1 E2s that remain in existence out of the 20 examples built. More importantly, of the surviving 15, only half a dozen were ever campaigned in WRC rallies, and only four of those six are currently in private hands and not owned by the Audi factory.
