Wearing a Italian Lancia Stratos is like wearing a bell helmet – as Stig Blomqvist noted a few years back : ‘The car is like my clotheses,’ he said, ‘it’s got smaller.’
The men behind its rising to stardom were Cesare Fiorio, Lancia’s team manager, Italian designers Gianpaolo Dallara, Marcello Gandini, Danielle Audetto and ace driver Sandro Munari.
The Lancia Stratos was so small that the two crew members almost didn't fit inside , but it soon became the car other teams had to beat from the heat of Africa to the snows of Scandinavia.
Only 492 were built. But the Stratos captured the imagination like none other.
Infamously twitchy down to that crazy-short wheelbase, the Stratos had to have a special kind of driver to get the best out of it. Markku Alen adored it. Sandro Munari is considered a deity today, but Bernard Darniche won more rallies than anyone else with the Stratos. He is the most successful Stratos driver ever, with 33 victories to Munari’s 13.
The glassfibre front and rear flip front fit where they touch, it wears a truly terrifying pair of megaphones and it’s almost too wide to fit in the trailer. But nobody ever said a world-beater had to be practical.
Engine
2444cc 65 deg transverse iron-block alloy heads V6
& carbs
265bhp@7800rpm
28kg/m@ 4500rpm
Transmission
five-speed driving rear wheels
Dimensions
3710x1750-1810x1114mm
790 kg
Performance
0-60mph 4.1-5.8 secs
top speed 95-140mph depending on gearing
0 comments:
Post a Comment