The 6R4 was capable of sprinting from 0-60mph in 3.0 seconds. With that much power and full-time 4-wheel-drive, acceleration was eye-watering. Bolted to the engine is a 5-speed Hewland transmission, which sends the engine’s power to the front and rear Hewland differentials. This was by design, making it easy to engineer and maintain the Metro in 4-wheel-drive form. All of this effort resulted in an engine that pumped out 410hp in race tune, with the engine shift light set to illuminate at an incredible 13,500rpm! When you look at this photo of the engine, it seems blindingly obvious that it is mounted back-to-front. As a result, it featured quad camshafts, 24 valves, fuel injection, and a dry-sump lubrication system. The decision was made to adopt a purpose-built V6 that owed a lot to Formula 1 technology. Turbocharged engines of the early 1980s tended to suffer from horrendous levels of turbo lag, along with heat dissipation and reliability issues. Standard operating procedures amongst front-running Group B manufacturers was to follow the turbocharged route, but MG marched to the beat of a different drummer. Under the hood was filled with little more than fresh air, because the Group B Metro featured a mid-mounted 2,991cc V6. The 6R4 was typical of the arms race that prevailed then and was an extremely potent piece of equipment. The car would have been a respectable performer, but would never have cut the mustard in Group B competition. Those ponies were sent to the front wheels via a 5-speed manual transmission. If you wandered into your local MG showroom to purchase a Metro back in the early 1980s, the best that you could hope for was a car that was equipped with a 4-cylinder turbocharged engine, producing 93hp. Plenty of grip is always a nice thing when you are screaming along a dirt rally stage at better than 100mph. They provide measurable levels of downforce at both the front and the rear of the Metro to improve grip. Therefore, the spoilers that are attached to this car aren’t merely there for looks. Enormous amounts of power are of no use if they can’t be put to the ground effectively. Almost all of the bolt-on panels are made from either fiberglass or composite materials, which was more robust than steel, and was significantly lighter. When you look around the inside of the door frames and the A-Pillars, this type of work is very apparent. Then the main body-shell structure was literally welded over the top of the roll cage. The method of engineering and constructing a 6R4 was interesting because all of the roll cage and infrastructure were hand-fabricated. That made the company a natural choice to assist MG to achieve their WRC ambitions. They had received sponsorship from Leyland and had secured the 1980 World Championship with Aussie Alan Jones. The 6R4 benefited from a significant amount of engineering input from Williams Grand Prix, which was beginning to become a real force in Formula 1 competition. That meant that not a lot of time or effort was spent smoothing out some of the rough edges from construction. There was also a reasonable chance that they could find themselves shiny-side down or disappearing into the scenery at some point. The going was rough, with the paint and panels baring the brunt of rock and stone damage. That means that while the panels and paint are in beautiful condition, the car features all of the usual rough edges of a vehicle that was deemed to be “disposable.” The simple fact was that every time that these vehicles saw competition use, they had anything but an easy life. The vehicle presents exceptionally well, but there have been no attempts made to represent it in any way other than as a full-blown international rally car. This is because I have had the opportunity to inspect the car in person when visiting the National Automobile Museum of Tasmania in Launceston. There is no indication of just where the reserve has been set, but when you visit the website, the opening bid has been default set at $200,000.įor me, this Metro is an exciting proposition. The Metro is located in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia, and has been listed for sale here at Pickles Auctions. It has been faithfully restored and is set to go to a new home. This 1985 MG Metro 6R4 is relatively typical of the Group B vehicles of the day, featuring enormous engine power and full-time 4-wheel-drive. The category was disbanded in 1986 as the cars were, by that stage, deemed to be too fast and too dangerous. Introduced in 1982, it saw some motoring monsters built by the likes of Audi, Lancia, Ford, and MG. The Group B era of the World Rally Championship was one marked by an “arms race” between several manufacturers.
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