Is this the WRC's last chance?

Group B is back. But it's back with a hint of health and safety. As well as being the fastest rally weapons ever, the 2017 World Rally Cars will, the FIA is confident, also be the safest. New technical regulations have focused on a major hike in power, but at the same time there has been significant work on improving the lot of the crew should things go pearshaped.

On the road, the 2017 World Rally Car is a sight to behold. If it stays dry in Monte Carlo this week, these things will redefine what a car can do on a public road. In the higher-speed stages, there's an expectation that they will be a second per kilometre quicker than last year.

Fast-forward further into the season and the fastest-of-the-fast stages, and that would mean lifting 30 seconds out of the record for Ouninpohja on Rally Finland.

If your brain's not fried now, it will be when we get there.

The level of downforce being produced from the Group B-style splitters and wings is more than ever before. In the mid-'80s, science wasn't what it is today and dining-room tables were effectively chopped down and bolted onto the rear of the cars.

Take a closer look at the 2017 machines and you'll see a vast surface area for the aero loading, but at the same time you'll witness Formula 1 levels of detail on the endplates and in the diffusers.

What we have here is a true evolution of Group B. With that evolution has come the finesse that computational fluid dynamics affords, and transmission control in the form of an active centre differential.

Add into that equation the sort of genius suspension that is light years ahead of the then cutting-edge twin-damper set-up at each corner of Ford's RS200 and you have some idea of how far these cars have come.

Fear not, though - they are still brutal. Admittedly, there's more to getting one off the line than building the boost and side-stepping the clutch, but watch Sebastien Ogier's Ford Fiesta WRC or Kris Meeke's Citroen C3 WRC at the start and see the way the thing shakes as a gear is pulled and the launch deployed.

It's devoid of the drama of spinning wheels and smoking boots - such wastefulness might have been all the rage in the '80s, but today it's all about efficiency. And propulsion.

The brutality of almost 600 horses ensured a Group B car was horizon-bound in mind-bending speed; two-thirds of the power, but a world of technology, will get today's cars there even quicker.

And grunt is all the Group B cars have on today's machinery. Slowing for a corner? A 2017 contender will massacre its predecessor on braking distance. Corner speed? You'd not even get close in a Group B car.

But don't take my word for it. Listen to a man who did it. Listen to Markku Alen.

"Down the straights, hey, the Lancia Delta S4 was incredible," he says. "Out of the corner, there was a big noise from the supercharger then 'boom!', the turbo was spinning and you were on a space rocket going to the moon. Incredible. But come to a corner...

"We had to work the car, get it turned in on the power and keep the power up to make sure we had enough at the exit. But the suspension, you know, this is biggest step forward [for 2017]. The suspension now is incredible.

"The speed of jumps in Finland now compared to Group B is a different world. If we'd taken off at that speed, we were going straight into the trees. Forget turning or landing - straight into the trees."

Does that make Meeke more of a hero than Markku? Not a bit of it, according to Meeke.

"Drivers are the same in whatever era," says the Northern Irishman, "and it's not really fair to compare them.

"Markku and the boys were pushing those cars as hard as they dared and you have to take your hats off to them for what they did. Those cars were incredible, so much power. It took a special kind of driver to take them through the woods in the dead of night."

But down the same stretch of road 30 years on, Meeke's motor would be five seconds faster across every 1000 metres. That's progress.

As the Group B era neared its end, the drivers began to speak out. Some were concerned about the cars, but most were concerned about the cars and the rallies. They were being asked to drive for hours on end with nothing but Pro Plus and full-strength Marlboros to keep their eyes open and their mind on the job.

That's where the world's changed. As well as generating the safest possible place of work for the drivers, the FIA is working harder than ever with rally organisers to ensure spectator and crew safety, while retaining as much flavour and character in the sport as possible.

Privately, the 2017 increase in speed is still a concern. None of the leading drivers has been willing to criticise the performance hike, but almost to a man they have stepped out of the car and talked off the record about their concerns at trying to keep up with what's happening in front of them.

In the quickest sections, co-drivers are struggling to get their notes out fast enough, while the bloke next to them dares not even blink.

That's why a lot of breath will be held as this season unfolds. These cars are shockingly fast and ruthlessly effective, providing everything is working as it should.

There's an edginess about the World Rally Championship this week - there's a genuine feeling of stepping into the unknown. And that level of unpredictability is brilliant for the fans.

Beyond the new cars, it's the new driver line-ups and returning giants in the shape of Toyota and Citroen that have added further spice to the season ahead.

Once the crying about Volkswagen's departure had stopped, there was a lightbulb moment in rallying when it became clear that this added another angle. A Polo won't be winning at every turn and, quite possibly, neither will Ogier.

On a personal level, VW's departure is still shocking and sad - not least for Andreas Mikkelsen - but it's provided a real opportunity for the World Rally Championship.

Nobody knows who's going to be champion this year. Ogier has dropped into the largely unknown world of a private team, forced to forget the thousands of miles of testing he's done aboard a 2017-spec Polo and refocus on the Ford Fiesta WRC he takes over the ramp in Casino Square tomorrow (Thursday).

Nobody (apart from Ogier) can say if the Fiesta or the Polo is better, but what we do know is that the four-time world champion's only had four days to get used to the Cumbrian car.

So if it's not Ogier, who's going to be champion? According to the bookies, the joint favourite is a Brit: Meeke. Sixteen years after Britain's last World Rally champion, we're in with a real shout of landing another.

And Meeke's well up for it. He and Citroen have worked at a furious pace on the development of the C3 WRC, and nobody on the Monte entry list knows their car better. What's more, he's a different driver, a more mature driver - and a driver who has already won in Finland.

Meeke really could be the man this season.

Or could it be a Belgian, or a Kiwi, taking the drivers' title for the first time? There's a quiet confidence about Hyundai, Thierry Neuville and Hayden Paddon. It's perfectly possible, with the testing pace the i20 Coupe WRC has shown - and the Korean manufacturer's ability to carry over parts from an enormously competent 2016 car.

And then there's Toyota. This is not a team to be confused with Ove Andersson's Cologne-based red army, the one that steamrollered everything in its path, out of Africa and across the world. No. This is Tommi Makinen's taskforce from Puuppola in central Finland.

What can we expect from Jari-Matti Latvala and Juho Hanninen? Nobody really knows. The car has looked... challenging in certain conditions, but the drivers are insistent that there's a good base there, and on gravel in particular there's decent potential.

One thing is sure: this will be a learning year for the Finns - unless they've been sandbagging in the extreme.

Either way, having a Japanese manufacturer - indeed, a world-leading car-maker - back in the WRC is another mighty shot in the arm for the series this season.

And it's never going to be easier to keep up with what's going on in the World Rally Championship this season. Red Bull TV looks set to revolutionise consumption of rallying on telly - and not a moment too soon.

FIA president Jean Todt must take his fair share of credit for the technical revolution that's taken place. When he took over at the motorsport governing body in 2009, as well as asking when his sport had gone all 'daytime-sensible', he must have wondered what had happened to the cars.

When he left Peugeot more than two decades ago, his car was a championship-winner displayed on bedroom walls the world over. When he returned, he found a Ford Focus and Citroen C4.

In his mind, something had to change. Seven years on and we're here. Here with undoubtedly the most exciting-looking rally cars since the end of 1986. Here at the return of Group B. And quite possibly the rebirth of rallying.