During 1986 there were several fatal accidents to competitors and spectators involving Group B cars during events of the World Rally Championship. The governing body of motorsport, the FIA, decided that the regulations concerning which cars were eligible to enter the WRC had to be changed and they opted to go for Group A where 5,000 cars of a particular model had to be manufactured in order to qualify. The change was implemented within six months of the decision being taken and thus at the beginning of 1987 season, there were very few cars that both qualified and were also competitive.The rally stars from the previous era like Walter R hrl, Hannu Mikkola, Juha Kakkunen and Markku Al n were still there with new stars like Carlos Sainz, Didier Auriol, Tommi M kinen and Colin McRae emerging. Rallying technology was forced to undergo an almost complete re-start and it took some time before more than just one or two manufacturers could produce a winner. When they did, the side-effect was
