Seat 124 Proto Grupo 5

Very cool, proper rally spec with the 16v Fiat 131 Abarth twin cam. Are the Seat 124 Coupe and Sedan at all easy to find in Europe? No Seats ever made it to the States, and the Fiat 124 sedans/Coupes are very scarce. The dream of importing a Seat/Fiat 124 Sedan is one I have often.

I think there're probably very closely related.

Fiat,Seat,Murat 124,Lada 2101 !
I do not care who its relatives are I like much gusto!

It's not a true Group 5 car like the Zakspeed Capris and Porsche 935s (the FIA Group 5 regs were only for circuit racing, the Group 4 regs were used top-level rallying). The SEAT works team ran Group 2-spec 124 Specials (mildy-modified road cars, Group 2 was the equivalent of the later Group N) for international-level rallies at the time, but the the Spanish national Rally Championship allowed non-homologated 'prototypes' to run alongside homologated FIA Group 4 cars (Escort RS1800, 911 Carrera and Lancia Stratos). These prototypes were locally referred to as 'Grupo 5' spec.




The SEAT 124 'Grupo 5' was an example of this, as there was no equivalent road model and only 2 were built. Fiat (SEAT's partner at the time) supplied the Abarth-tuned 2.1 litre 16 valve Twin Cam engine and 5 speed gearbox used in the 131 Abarth Group 4, and the independent rear suspension came from the 131's predecessor, the 124 Spider Abarth Group 4. It was built to improve SEAT's flagging fortunes at home in the 1977 season - although the Group 2 124 1800 Specials (nicknamed 'Taxis' due to the yellow and black livery) did well on the European Championship rallies they entered (with 3rd on the Monte Carlo and 2nd in Poland), retirements and poor results had left all 3 of the SEAT works drivers (Antonio Zanini, Salvador Cañellas and Carlos Trabado) at the bottom of the standings after the first 3 rallies of the season. After the 124 Proto was introduced, Zanini drove it to victory on the 500kms of Alicante, Criterium Luis de Baviera, Rally de 2000 Viratges, Rally Catalunya and Rally Costa Del Sol, allowing him to take 1st place in the Championship. Unfortunately this proved to be the SEAT Works team's swansong, as the factory rally programme was closed down at the end of the season.




For 1978 and 1979 SEAT instead funded a 2-car team for Zanini and Salvador Servia in the Spanish and European championships, providing them with Fiat 131 Abarth Group 4s courtesy of their parent (they wrre ex-Fiat works team cars, initially still wearing Turin plates). Zanini won the Spanish Championship again in 1978 and was 2nd in 1979, and came 10th in the 1978 European Championship and 2nd in the 1979 Championship before moving to the Almeras Porsche team in 1980.

Great info Buzby!

Some great photos in this thread, makes me wish there was a bit more of this sort of thing in modern motorsport!