BMW vs OPEL: South Africa's Golden Age of Racing (Stannic Group N)
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- Опубліковано 9 вер 2024
- South Africa has a great history of motorsport but the Group N period of the late-80s/early-90s was a real golden period, with the like of the BMW 325is Shadowline going toe to toe with the Opel Superboss and featuring some incredible battles. So join me for an exploration of the incredible history of Group N.
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Thanks so much for watching.
A great video. Having been involved in Group N between 1988 and 1992 I can honestly say that in the early years it actually did happen that certain individuals rented cars from car rental companies in order to compete. That practice died out when roll cages became obligatory however, rentals still served a purpose as a mobile parts bin on race day😂😂
Keep it up and keep it going man, this is top shelf content , well done 👌
A very nice video,well written and produced,a small detail to be corrected,the Superboss had Schrick camshafts,not Cosworth,Kolbenscmidt and Cosworth were the developers/producers of the cylinder heads for the Opels.The Kolbenschmidt head(with challenges of it becoming pourous with age)was not as good as the Cossie.
I had a Superboss but in the UK & rest of Europe it was the Astra GTE 16V & Opel GSi . Looks like the South African version is identical but both GTE - GSi had the digital speedometer cluster which made them special South African model is the same as the SRi but with the 16V engine. In the 90s these were the best hot hatch, faster than any RS Turbo Golf GTi 16V , Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9. Same 0-60 as the Smaller Renault 5 GT Turbo but the GTE/GSi 16V didn't literally drop to bit's.
The GTE 16v in the UK originally came with the 20XE engine and 155bhp, then the C20XE with cats and down to 150bhp. Both with a regular open diff. The Superboss came with a powertrain we never saw in the UK making over 165bhp with a limited slip diff. I wish we saw that thing in the UK but this video is the first that I've heard they even existed!
Please do a special on Tony Viana. A long forgotten SA racing hero
I lived that era. Had 4 Opels myself, including the GTE 1800.
The rivalry was brilliant though. Those days, we could still use the streets.
South Africa has such an interesting racing history.
I only knew of the existence of the famous BMW Homologation Specials like the 333 or the only 7 Series that ever raced.
I would love to know more
South africa no longer has any racing heritage. I wonder why
I own a CD 16v Monza and had the old Superboss. They were insane. These Opels ruled up into the early 2000's. Sadly they don't stand a chance against the turbo cars of today but they're still fun to drive. Mine is currently out of order but maybe we can take it for a drive when it is up and driving again. It might give you some fun material
I’m a bmw guy. My opel OPC hurts N54 feelings 🤣
I'll die on this hill, but the C20XE was the best NA2.0 ever made. Power, torque, and economy was something else. Pity it couldn't be made to work with modern emissions standards.
Wrong. The Honda S2000 engine 240 bhp from a 2 litre 4 cylinder and more reliable than any engine on the planet.
@@Shane-zx4ps high hp, no torque.....
The Opel Kaddet GSE superboss is one of the most underrated cars in 2024😢
Great content, I remember all these :)
Great Video. Really enjoyed it.
Great content...now if you could do a follow up on what happened after when Opel released the 200ts and BMW released the E36 M3 German Spec, what happened after (from what i`ve heard) is that the racing rule makers banned the use of turbo chargers so Opel bowed out of the racing scene, seeing this and knowing that there would be no worthwhile competition, BMW bowed out too and so ended one of the finest and most exciting era`s in SA motorsport history...
Well done young man! As new professionals just out of varsity / rich kid students, we had fun street racing our Opels, VW’s and even Corolla RSI’s against the yuppies in their BM’s and even Porsche 924 & 944’s - the turbo’s were out of our League’s
I have always love stock car racing It makes legends that you can wish to get.
Amazing videos coming out of such a new channel will blow up.
Perhaps you can do the video on South Africa's most quirkiest safety feature: white retroreflective markers in the front. This safety regulation was exclusive to South Africa and none others in the world.
do one about the chevy 4100 sedan
A very enjoyable and well mad vid mate, well done. You need to expand your description a bit to help people find it. Just add Vauxhall Astra Opel Kadett and 'Touring cars' at the end. Folk looking for those will love your vid and the description is more important than the title for the algorithm these days. Look forward to more. Do some stuff about SA Ford, we in the UK love v8 capris and 3.0 Cortinas but never got them here.. SA made some v cool Fords we never saw......
Please do a video on the xri8 cortina v8
I'm in the process of editing it now 😄
Brilliant storytelling.
My family once owned a beautiful white Superboss. I was too young to really appreciate it.
Not sure why we sold it but we eventually found out that it was stolen in South Africa from the person who bought it from us.
Great memories.
Yoh that must have been special. Great memories, except for the guy who had it stolen 😄
I'm impressed with how accurate this is, so not going to nitpick because (am I ok to say this....based on your youthful appearance) this is all research you've done and what a great job you did too!
I'd like to add some detail from the time: SuperBoss up until very recent (like...5 years ago) was still the most torquey motor ever made per litre in the NA class. Its a really impressive thing. I believe some recent ferrari took the new crown, but thats more than 30 years later so they're forgiven.
the 325is mk-whatever also had aluminium doors and bonnet along with the m3 bits you mentioned.
And I see you've got the xr6/xr8 video out, so a suggestion should you want to have a little hint...not many folks know this, but for a brief and short time, S.A. along with one or two other countries got the MK2 golf 16v in 2L format, due to Group N. Keep up the great content..subscribed
Love the video G, keep it up 👍
The Superboss had Schriek cams a Costcast head an a limited slip diff which the Big boss never had. The ecu's on the Superboss was also slightly tweaked. It had a limiter of 7500 rpm and the big boss was almost 7000. The Superboss also had airducts for front brake cooling. Like your content
Actually supie and big boss both had coscast and kolbenshmidt heads, depends what was in shelf, cams was the defining part, by schrick, head of the 20xe was designed with Cosworth,
@@richardmillar4588 Very true. Been playing with them since 92. Also the pin stripes was a little different on the Superboss and it had the GSI 16v embroidered into the front seats of the Superboss making it easily identifiable. Also the Superboss had the painted side skirts and the grilles in the front bumper for the airducts on the brakes where the big boss had fog lampas
I know of the C20XE as it was in the G reg Astra GTE 16V & a J reg Cavalier GSi 2000 I had. So presumably the 20XE must have been in E & F reg 16V GTE&s don't think there was any D but if there was they certainly had it. Fantastic in both my cars , GSi periodically lamber sensor problems.
Glad to have found this channel
Just to add, and clarify, the Superboss head was designed by opel/cosworth colaboration, at the time both kolbenshmidt and coscast, the latter being the manufacturing arm of cosworth, produced these heads for GM, KS had no hand in the design, KS heads were not cast as well, or finished as well as the coscast ones, hence porosity issues, and coscast heads made more power, both these heads were used in all the 16v models, supie and big boss etc, supie had 276 degree schrick cams, and a revised intake.
Main diffences between supie and big boss was as follows:
Cams 276
Intake
Promotec modded ecu
Air ducts gor brakes
Bilstein suspension
15 inch aluett wheels with 7j
Rolled rear arches
No comforts atball to save weight, no radio etc
Custom exhaust branch (no ac possible)
Custom exhaust
K&N air filter from factory
Adjustable Verwey limited slip differential
Short ratio F20 transmission, only fitted to supie, BB had std ratio
Higher rev limit
Did you ever see the close racing between Tony Viana (BMW) against Bianci (Alpha Gt and Terry Moss (audi). As you said truly spectacular.
You seem to have your eras mixed up a bit. Viana in the BMW raced against Bianco and others in the Alfa GTV6 in the early 80s in Group 1 racing.Moss raced an Audi in modifieds and touring cars much later - in the late 80s and 90s.
i had a white e30 325i from s.africa it had sunroof/air con,4:10 lsd and a sump guard from factory a friend had a silver one also s.africa import with red leather 👌
Forgot about these epic races. I owned a 16V GTi and later 325iS and loved seeing them race! Stuck with BMW and owned pretty much every model they made. Still do!
The Astra 16v back in the in the U.K. were a fooking animal of a car in a straight line but hated corners and oversteered like a bitch but what an engine though.
South Africa always had better spec cars in standard form definitely want to get some vauxhall/opel sent over to the uk
Opel Kadett E is literally the best car to own hands down.
Did you know: You could swap the clutch on a GSI Kadett without splitting the engine & gearbox. You could also rebuild the gearbox internals without taking it off the car. Ask me how I know.... Owned a modded GSI 16v for a few years and still miss it a lot. Have had some cool cars since but none match the character of that car where the engine/drivetrain was a force of nature but the dash cowered in fear of the smallest bump or pebble.
Thanks for the memories!
South Africa gets the juiciest versions of the cars I loved when i was younger. In the UK we had the Astra GTE 16v which made 115kw (155bhp and latterly 150bhp with the models adding a catalytic convertor) and those thing were a weapon. You guys get that car with an added limited slip diff and a significant bump in power! I had no idea these things even existed and its to my deep regret I probably will never drive one. Did you guys not get the "futuristic" digital dashboard that the Euro models got? I notice in your video you just show an Astra with regular clocks?! Latterly you guys got the Kadett 200ts too which Europe never saw. We topped out in that shape Kadett/Astra with the 16v powertrain from the previous generation - also a great car but SA decides to stick the Turbo engine from the Calibra/Cavalier in the Astra - man when I found out those existed I was so jealous! Great video!
The digital clocks were used but only in the Kadett "Big Boss" (the same car that was badged as the Astra GTE in the UK), the Superboss got normal analog clocks...
Out of curiosity where did you get the racing footage from?
Stock, hand-finished heads.... Those were the days.
Lauda and Hunt had their rivalry in the 70's, Hunt retired in '79, not the 80's. Otherwise great video.
hehe my father drove a Kadett E, but the limosine version of it.
at the end of the cars life, he sold it for 1 DM (deutsche Mark) to some guy, who shipped it to Africa.
seeing this, I wonder if it was maybe used for racing :D
(most likely not, I guess)
Hunt vs Lauda was 1970s. Prost vs Senna was the 1980s
What you pay for a good superboss .I would love to ship one to the United Kingdom ( Scotland )
Not 100% sure whether this is true or not, but I've heard that the superboss had the most power per cc of all production cars in the world until the Honda S2000 arrived.
True! It did until the Ferrari 458 in 2013
You don't mention the Nissan Sentras , Primera and Toyota twincams
The Sentra(200STi) and the Primeras were much later. The Twin Cam Toyotas were competitive during the Superboss/325iS class A era, but only in class C of Group N as they were only 1600 16vs and not competitors to the class A cars.
BMW would not made it if their engines was same size in CC and cylinders. How can you put a 2.5L/later 2.7L 6 cylinder in the same class as a 1.8L/2.0L 4 cylinder engine? How could you ever defy it as fair?
It is about performance and power to weight. The Superboss was much lighter than the BMWs and therefore competitive. Look back a few years more to Group 1 in the early 80s and you had a Mazda Rotary (technically 1300cc), a 3L Alfa GTV, a 3.5L M racing engined BMW m745i and a 5L v8 Ford XR8 all in the same class... counter to intuition it was the Alfa 3L that turned out to be the most successful out of all of those, in spite of a smaller engine. Weight, handling, brakes and tyre wear all made a difference.