| THE
LANCIA STRATOS - The
most successful rally car of the 70s
by Niaz Ali from Downunder |
I have been asked many a time
as to what is my favoutite rally car is. My usual answer is that among
the current crop of WRC rally cars I havnt one, they are all nice, fast,
and I dont like the sound of any except the grp 'A' Suzuki swift gti.
 I
do have a favourite rally car, and that is the Lancia Stratos, it was
the most succecful Rally car of 70s, and those were the years when I
had just started my years of motorsport. The specs of the car were just
mind blowing, and I remember as a teenager, gasping at the power that
car produced, not to mention the exhaust note. Let me just tease you
with a small sample of the specs of the works car.
It had a V6 twin OHC motor, with a Displacement of 2.4 ltrs, it produced
190 Bhp at 7400rpm, it had three weber carburettors 40 Idf, and it was
a mid engined rocket with a 5spd all syncro box., the body panels were
all steel and glass fiber reinforced plastic. In the hands of Sandro
Munari the car was just devastating.
I would take great pride in telling my friends that my Padmini, or 1100D
as we knew it, shared a certain heritage .
Few cars could have had a more fairy tale begining than the stratos.
It began as an impudent attempt by Bertone studios to wrest business
away from arch rivals Pinifarina at lancia.
The lines of this car were fantastic. the enormous constant radius windscreen,
the dart like side profile and anvanced mid-engine configuration gives
the car a shape like no one had seen before.
 At full bore, the engine was a screamer and had its own distinct high
pitched wail. yet finding the right engine for the car almost defeated
the whole stratos project.
During
the time it was winning the WRC it became a part of the Fiat empire,
and gave fans like me the joy of owning a Padmini.
Ask any person
who has ever driven a rally car, if there is a car that they would dream
of rallying, and you probably hear the word 'Stratos'. Even on computer
simulated rally games , the stratos is a car always included. just to
finish this story that is a picture of me with the works stratos, which
ran the Alitalia colours. the cars won no less than three World Rally
Championships.
HASTALLAVISTABABYILLBEBAAK
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