Lancia Stratos
Encyclopedia
The Lancia Stratos HF, widely and more simply known as Lancia Stratos, is a car made by Italian
car manufacturer Lancia
. The HF stands for High Fidelity. It was a very successful rally car, winning the World Rally Championship
in 1974, 1975, and 1976.
A Bertone designed concept car called the Lancia Stratos Zero was shown to the public in 1970, but shares little but the name and mid-engined layout with the Stratos HF version. An new car called the New Stratos was announced in 2010 which was heavily influenced by the design of the original Stratos, but was based on a Ferrari chassis and engine.
presented the Bertone
designed Lancia Stratos HF prototype at the 1971 Turin Motor Show, a year after the announcement of the Stratos Zero concept car. The prototype Stratos HF (Chassis 1240) was fluorescent red in colour and featured a distinctive crescent-shaped-wrap-around windshield
providing maximum forward visibility with almost no rear visibility. The prototype had three different engines in its early development life: the Lancia Fulvia engine, the Lancia Beta engine and finally for the 1971 public announcement, the mid-mounted Dino Ferrari
V6 producing 192 hp.
The Stratos was a very successful rally
car during the 1970s and early 1980s. It started a new era in rallying as it was the first car designed from scratch for this kind of competition. The three leading men behind the entire rallying project were Lancia team manager Cesare Fiorio
, British racer/engineer Mike Parkes
and factory rally driver Sandro Munari
.
Lancia did extensive testing with the Stratos and raced the car in several racing events where Group 5
prototypes were allowed during the 1972 and 1973 seasons. Production of the 500 cars required for homologation
in Group 4
commenced in 1973 and the Stratos was homologated for the 1974 World Rally Championship
. The Ferrari Dino V6 engine was phased out in 1974, but 500 engines among the last built were delivered to Lancia. Production ended in 1975 when it was thought that only 492 were made. Manufacturer of the car was Bertone in Turin, with final assembly by Lancia at the Chivasso
plant. Powered by the Dino 2.4 L V6 engine that was also fitted to the rallying versions, but in a lower state of tune, it resulted in a power output of 190 bhp, giving the road car a 0-60 mph time of just under five seconds, and a top speed of 144 mi/h. The car was sold as the Lancia Stratos Stradale.
For racing, the engine was tuned up to 280 hp and even to 560 hp with a single KKK turbocharger
. However, turbocharged versions were only allowed to compete in Group 5 and were never as reliable as their naturally aspirated counterparts.
The car won the 1974, 1975 and 1976 championship titles in the hands of Sandro Munari
and Björn Waldegård
, and might have gone on to win more had not internal politics within the Fiat group placed rallying responsibility on the Fiat 131
Abarths. As well as victories on the 1975, 1976 and 1977 Monte Carlo Rally
, all courtesy of Munari, the Stratos won the event with the private Chardonnet Team as late as 1979.
Without support from Fiat, and despite new regulations that restricted engine power, the car would remain a serious competitor and proved able to beat works cars in several occasions when entered by an experienced private team with a talented driver. The final chapter of the Stratos' racing career at international level took place as late as 1981
, at the Tour de Corse Automobile
, another World Rally Championship event, with a victory by longtime Stratos privateer Bernard Darniche
.
When the Fiat group favored the Fiat 131 for rallying Lancia also built two Group 5 turbocharged 'silhouette' Stratos for closed-track endurance racing. These cars failed against the Porsche 935
s on closed tracks but proved successful in hybrid events. While they failed in the Tour de France Automobile, one of these cars won the 1976 Giro d'Italia Automobilistico, an Italian counterpart of the Tour de France Automobile. Unfortunately one of the cars was destroyed in Zeltweg
, when it caught fire due to overheating problems. The last surviving car would win the Giro d'Italia event again before it was shipped to Japan
to compete in the Fuji Speedway
based Formula Silhouette series, which was never raced. The car would then be sold and reside in the Matsuda Collection before then being sold to the renowned collector of Stratos', Christian Hrabalek, a car designer and the founder of Fenomenon Ltd, who has the largest Lancia Stratos Collection in the world, 11 unique Lancia Stratos cars, including the fluorescent red 1971 factory prototype and the 1977 Safari Rally car. His interest in the car led to the development of the Fenomenon Stratos in 2005.
Another unique Group 5 car is the Lancia Stratos HF of Austrian Rallycross
driver Andy Bentza. The car was first driven by his Memphis team mate Franz Wurz, father of Formula One pilot Alexander Wurz
. In 1976 Wurz claimed the first ever European Rallycross title recognised by the FIA with the car, by then still equipped with a 2.4 litre engine. For the ERC series of 1977 Wurz was entrusted with two experimental crankshaft
s by Mike Parkes, to bring the engine capacity up to just under 3000 cc. For 1978 Bentza took the Stratos over from Wurz, sold his own 2.4 litre Stratos to compatriot Reneé Vontsina, and won the GT Division title of the ERC. The one and only 3.0 litre Stratos was raced by Bentza till the mid 1980s, is nowadays still his property and ready to race. However, one of the two experimental crankshafts received from the Lancia factory was destroyed during a Rallycross event in the early 1980s.
, head designer at Bertone, and featured a 1.6 L Lancia Fulvia V4
engine.
The Lancia Stratos HF Zero stayed for a long time in Bertone's museum, and in 2011 was sold out during an auction in Italy for €761.600
The body was wedge-shaped, finished in distinctive orange and was an unusually short (3.58 m (140.9 in)) length and only 84 cm (33.1 in) tall, and shared little with the production version. The Zero appeared in Michael Jackson
's 1988 film, Moonwalker
as well as in his music video for Smooth Criminal.
based on the Stratos called the Sibilo
, although it was never intended for production.
At the Geneva Auto Show of 2005, a British design firm known as Fenomenon debuted a retromodern concept
version of the Stratos, designed by Christian Hrabalec and following its exhibition at the Frankfurt show, developed by Prodrive
. The concept was based around a mid-mounted 419 bhp V8. It turned out that this company had the rights to the Stratos name.
.
The car made use of a Ferrari F430
Scuderia as a donor car, using the chassis (shortened by 200 mm (7.9 in) resulting in a wheelbase of 2400 mm (94.49 in)) and much of the mechanical elements including the 4.3L V8 engine (4308 cc), tuned up from 503 hp horsepower to 532 hp at 8200 rpm and torque of 519 newton metre at 3750 rpm.
The New Stratos weighs 1247 kg (2,749 lb) and is claimed to accelerate to 62 mph in 3.3 seconds and on to a top speed close to 200 mi/h. While shorter than its donor car, the New Stratos is a little larger than the original Stratos, with a length of 4181 mm (164.61 in), 1971 mm (77.6 in) wide and 1240 mm (48.82 in) tall.
It was reported that if sufficient interest was shown it would result in a small production run of up to 25 cars. However, Ferrari did not consent to this plan. The company even forbade its suppliers to support the project.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
car manufacturer Lancia
Lancia
Lancia Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian automobile manufacturer founded in 1906 by Vincenzo Lancia and which became part of the Fiat Group in 1969. The company has a long history of producing distinctive cars and also has a strong rally heritage. Some modern Lancias are seen as presenting a more...
. The HF stands for High Fidelity. It was a very successful rally car, winning the World Rally Championship
World Rally Championship
The World Rally Championship is a rallying series organised by the FIA, culminating with a champion driver and manufacturer. The driver's world championship and manufacturer's world championship are separate championships, but based on the same point system. The series currently consists of 13...
in 1974, 1975, and 1976.
A Bertone designed concept car called the Lancia Stratos Zero was shown to the public in 1970, but shares little but the name and mid-engined layout with the Stratos HF version. An new car called the New Stratos was announced in 2010 which was heavily influenced by the design of the original Stratos, but was based on a Ferrari chassis and engine.
History
LanciaLancia
Lancia Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian automobile manufacturer founded in 1906 by Vincenzo Lancia and which became part of the Fiat Group in 1969. The company has a long history of producing distinctive cars and also has a strong rally heritage. Some modern Lancias are seen as presenting a more...
presented the Bertone
Bertone
Gruppo Bertone is an Italian automobile company, which has specialized in car styling, coachbuilding and manufacturing. Bertone styling is distinctive, with most cars having a strong "family resemblance" even if badged by different manufacturers...
designed Lancia Stratos HF prototype at the 1971 Turin Motor Show, a year after the announcement of the Stratos Zero concept car. The prototype Stratos HF (Chassis 1240) was fluorescent red in colour and featured a distinctive crescent-shaped-wrap-around windshield
Windshield
The windshield or windscreen of an aircraft, car, bus, motorbike or tram is the front window. Modern windshields are generally made of laminated safety glass, a type of treated glass, which consists of two curved sheets of glass with a plastic layer laminated between them for safety, and are glued...
providing maximum forward visibility with almost no rear visibility. The prototype had three different engines in its early development life: the Lancia Fulvia engine, the Lancia Beta engine and finally for the 1971 public announcement, the mid-mounted Dino Ferrari
Ferrari Dino engine
The Ferrari Dino engine is a line of mechanically similar V6, V8, and V12 engines produced by Ferrari for the past 40 yearsAlfredo "Dino" Ferrari, was the son of Enzo Ferrari. Dino suggested to Enzo Ferrari the development of a V6 engine for F2 at the end of 1955. Soon afterwards, Alfredo fell ill,...
V6 producing 192 hp.
The Stratos was a very successful rally
Rallying
Rallying, also known as rally racing, is a form of auto racing that takes place on public or private roads with modified production or specially built road-legal cars...
car during the 1970s and early 1980s. It started a new era in rallying as it was the first car designed from scratch for this kind of competition. The three leading men behind the entire rallying project were Lancia team manager Cesare Fiorio
Cesare Fiorio
Cesare Fiorio is a former Formula One sporting director for Ferrari, Ligier and Minardi, and former team manager of Lancia's factory World Rally Championship team. He is currently employed as a TV commentator...
, British racer/engineer Mike Parkes
Mike Parkes
Michael Johnson Parkes was an English racing driver.He participated in 7 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on July 18, 1959. He achieved two podiums, and scored a total of 14 championship points. He also secured one pole position...
and factory rally driver Sandro Munari
Sandro Munari
Sandro Munari is a former motor racing and rally driver from Italy.-Career:Born at Cavarzere, Veneto, Sandro Munari began rallying in 1965 and won the Italian Rally Championship in 1967 and 1969, adding the European Rally Championship title in 1973. In 1972 he won the Targa Florio sports car...
.
Lancia did extensive testing with the Stratos and raced the car in several racing events where Group 5
Group 5 (racing)
Group 5 was an FIA motor racing classification which was applied to four distinct categories during the years 1966 to 1982. Initially Group 5 regulations defined a Special Touring Car category and from 1970 to 1971 the classification was applied to limited production Sports Cars restricted to 5...
prototypes were allowed during the 1972 and 1973 seasons. Production of the 500 cars required for homologation
Homologation
Homologation is a technical term, derived from the Greek homologeo for "to agree", which is generally used in English to signify the granting of approval by an official authority...
in Group 4
Group 4 (racing)
The Group 4 racing class referred to regulations for cars in sportscar racing, GT racing and rallying, as regulated by the FIA. The Group 4 class was replaced by Group B for the 1983 season.-Production requirements:...
commenced in 1973 and the Stratos was homologated for the 1974 World Rally Championship
World Rally Championship
The World Rally Championship is a rallying series organised by the FIA, culminating with a champion driver and manufacturer. The driver's world championship and manufacturer's world championship are separate championships, but based on the same point system. The series currently consists of 13...
. The Ferrari Dino V6 engine was phased out in 1974, but 500 engines among the last built were delivered to Lancia. Production ended in 1975 when it was thought that only 492 were made. Manufacturer of the car was Bertone in Turin, with final assembly by Lancia at the Chivasso
Chivasso
Chivasso is a comune in the Province of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 20 km northeast of Turin. Chivasso has a population of about 25,000...
plant. Powered by the Dino 2.4 L V6 engine that was also fitted to the rallying versions, but in a lower state of tune, it resulted in a power output of 190 bhp, giving the road car a 0-60 mph time of just under five seconds, and a top speed of 144 mi/h. The car was sold as the Lancia Stratos Stradale.
Turbocharger
A turbocharger, or turbo , from the Greek "τύρβη" is a centrifugal compressor powered by a turbine that is driven by an engine's exhaust gases. Its benefit lies with the compressor increasing the mass of air entering the engine , thereby resulting in greater performance...
. However, turbocharged versions were only allowed to compete in Group 5 and were never as reliable as their naturally aspirated counterparts.
The car won the 1974, 1975 and 1976 championship titles in the hands of Sandro Munari
Sandro Munari
Sandro Munari is a former motor racing and rally driver from Italy.-Career:Born at Cavarzere, Veneto, Sandro Munari began rallying in 1965 and won the Italian Rally Championship in 1967 and 1969, adding the European Rally Championship title in 1973. In 1972 he won the Targa Florio sports car...
and Björn Waldegård
Björn Waldegård
Björn Waldegård from Rimbo is a former Swedish rally driver, and the winner of the inaugural World Rally Championship for drivers in 1979...
, and might have gone on to win more had not internal politics within the Fiat group placed rallying responsibility on the Fiat 131
Fiat 131
The Fiat 131, additionally called "Mirafiori", is a small/medium family car produced by the Italian car manufacturer Fiat from 1974 to 1984. It was exhibited at 1974 Turin Motor Show....
Abarths. As well as victories on the 1975, 1976 and 1977 Monte Carlo Rally
Monte Carlo Rally
The Monte Carlo Rally or Rally Monte Carlo is a rallying event organised each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco which also organises the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix and the Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique. The rally takes place along the French Riviera in the Principality of Monaco and...
, all courtesy of Munari, the Stratos won the event with the private Chardonnet Team as late as 1979.
Without support from Fiat, and despite new regulations that restricted engine power, the car would remain a serious competitor and proved able to beat works cars in several occasions when entered by an experienced private team with a talented driver. The final chapter of the Stratos' racing career at international level took place as late as 1981
1981 World Rally Championship season
The 1981 World Rally Championship season was the ninth season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile World Rally Championship . The season consisted of 12 rallies...
, at the Tour de Corse Automobile
Tour de Corse
The Tour de Corse - Rallye de France is a rally first held in 1956 on the island of Corsica. It was part of the World Rally Championship from the inaugural 1973 season to 2008. The name "Tour de Corse" refers to the fact that in the early days it was run around the island; nowadays it only features...
, another World Rally Championship event, with a victory by longtime Stratos privateer Bernard Darniche
Bernard Darniche
Bernard Darniche is a French former rally driver. He won the European Rally Championship in 1976 and 1977 and the French Rally Championship in 1976 and 1978, each time behind the wheel of a Lancia Stratos...
.
When the Fiat group favored the Fiat 131 for rallying Lancia also built two Group 5 turbocharged 'silhouette' Stratos for closed-track endurance racing. These cars failed against the Porsche 935
Porsche 935
The Porsche 935 was introduced in 1976, as the factory racing version of the Porsche 911 turbo prepared for FIA-Group 5 rules. It was an evolution of the Porsche Carrera RSR 2.1 turbo prototype which had scored 2nd overall in the 1974 24 Hours of Le Mans....
s on closed tracks but proved successful in hybrid events. While they failed in the Tour de France Automobile, one of these cars won the 1976 Giro d'Italia Automobilistico, an Italian counterpart of the Tour de France Automobile. Unfortunately one of the cars was destroyed in Zeltweg
Zeltweg
Zeltweg is a town in Styria, Austria. It is located in the Aichfeld basin of the Mur River in Upper Styria. Larger municipalities in the vicinity are Judenburg, Knittelfeld and Fohnsdorf.-History:...
, when it caught fire due to overheating problems. The last surviving car would win the Giro d'Italia event again before it was shipped to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
to compete in the Fuji Speedway
Fuji Speedway
is a race track standing in the foothills of Mount Fuji, in Oyama, Suntō District, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It was built in the early 1960s and hosted the first Formula One race in Japan in 1976. In the 1980s, Fuji Speedway was used for the FIA World Sportscar Championship and national racing...
based Formula Silhouette series, which was never raced. The car would then be sold and reside in the Matsuda Collection before then being sold to the renowned collector of Stratos', Christian Hrabalek, a car designer and the founder of Fenomenon Ltd, who has the largest Lancia Stratos Collection in the world, 11 unique Lancia Stratos cars, including the fluorescent red 1971 factory prototype and the 1977 Safari Rally car. His interest in the car led to the development of the Fenomenon Stratos in 2005.
Another unique Group 5 car is the Lancia Stratos HF of Austrian Rallycross
Rallycross
Rallycross is a form of sprint style automobile racing, held on a closed mixed-surface racing circuit, with modified production or specially built road cars, similar to the World Rally Cars, although usually with about stronger engines, due to e.g. their 45 mm turbo restrictor plates. It is...
driver Andy Bentza. The car was first driven by his Memphis team mate Franz Wurz, father of Formula One pilot Alexander Wurz
Alexander Wurz
Alexander Wurz is an Austrian racing driver. He competed in Formula One from until , and is also a two-time winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours....
. In 1976 Wurz claimed the first ever European Rallycross title recognised by the FIA with the car, by then still equipped with a 2.4 litre engine. For the ERC series of 1977 Wurz was entrusted with two experimental crankshaft
Crankshaft
The crankshaft, sometimes casually abbreviated to crank, is the part of an engine which translates reciprocating linear piston motion into rotation...
s by Mike Parkes, to bring the engine capacity up to just under 3000 cc. For 1978 Bentza took the Stratos over from Wurz, sold his own 2.4 litre Stratos to compatriot Reneé Vontsina, and won the GT Division title of the ERC. The one and only 3.0 litre Stratos was raced by Bentza till the mid 1980s, is nowadays still his property and ready to race. However, one of the two experimental crankshafts received from the Lancia factory was destroyed during a Rallycross event in the early 1980s.
Stratos Zero
The Lancia Stratos 0 (or Zero) pre-empted the Lancia Stratos HF prototype by 12 months and was first shown to the public at the Turin Motor Show in 1970. The futuristic bodywork was designed by Marcello GandiniMarcello Gandini
Marcello Gandini is an Italian car designer, widely known for his work with the automotive design house Gruppo Bertone, notably his design of the Lamborghini Countach. Together with Giorgetto Giugiaro and Leonardo Fioravanti, Gandini forms a noted triumvirate of Italian car designers, all born in...
, head designer at Bertone, and featured a 1.6 L Lancia Fulvia V4
Lancia V4 engine
Lancia pioneered the V engine design, producing the first V6 as well as the first V4s. Several different V4 families were produced from the 1920s through 1960s.-Lambda:...
engine.
The Lancia Stratos HF Zero stayed for a long time in Bertone's museum, and in 2011 was sold out during an auction in Italy for €761.600
The body was wedge-shaped, finished in distinctive orange and was an unusually short (3.58 m (140.9 in)) length and only 84 cm (33.1 in) tall, and shared little with the production version. The Zero appeared in Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
's 1988 film, Moonwalker
Moonwalker
Moonwalker, also known as Michael Jackson: Moonwalker, is an American anthology film released in 1988 by singer Michael Jackson....
as well as in his music video for Smooth Criminal.
Lancia Sibilo
In 1978, Bertone created and designed a concept carConcept car
A concept vehicle or show vehicle is a car made to showcase new styling and or new technology. They are often shown at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or may not have a chance of being produced....
based on the Stratos called the Sibilo
Lancia Sibilo
The Lancia Sibilo is a 1978 concept car designed and built by Bertone, and based on the production Lancia Stratos, but four inches longer. The car's main characteristics were its sharp, aerodynamic lines and plastic windows which were merged seamlessly into the bodywork, creating a uniform...
, although it was never intended for production.
Fenomenon Stratos (2005)
Concept car
A concept vehicle or show vehicle is a car made to showcase new styling and or new technology. They are often shown at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or may not have a chance of being produced....
version of the Stratos, designed by Christian Hrabalec and following its exhibition at the Frankfurt show, developed by Prodrive
Prodrive
Prodrive is a British motorsport and automotive engineering group based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. It designs, constructs and races cars for companies and teams such as Subaru, Aston Martin and Ford...
. The concept was based around a mid-mounted 419 bhp V8. It turned out that this company had the rights to the Stratos name.
New Stratos (2010)
Following the stalled Fenomenon project, one interested backer was convinced to fund a one-off model. Commissioned by Michael Stoschek (a keen rally driver and chairman of Brose Group) and his son, Maximilian, the New Stratos was announced in 2010 based on the overall design and concept of the original seventies Stratos and was designed and developed by PininfarinaPininfarina
Pininfarina S.p.A. is an Italian car design firm and coachbuilder in Cambiano, Italy.Founded as Società anonima Carrozzeria Pinin Farina in 1930 by automobile designer and builder Battista "Pinin" Farina, Pininfarina has been employed by a wide variety of high-end automobile manufacturers,...
.
The car made use of a Ferrari F430
Ferrari F430
The Ferrari F430 is a sports car that was produced by the Italian automaker Ferrari from 2004 to 2009, as a successor to the 360. It debuted at the 2004 Paris Motor Show...
Scuderia as a donor car, using the chassis (shortened by 200 mm (7.9 in) resulting in a wheelbase of 2400 mm (94.49 in)) and much of the mechanical elements including the 4.3L V8 engine (4308 cc), tuned up from 503 hp horsepower to 532 hp at 8200 rpm and torque of 519 newton metre at 3750 rpm.
The New Stratos weighs 1247 kg (2,749 lb) and is claimed to accelerate to 62 mph in 3.3 seconds and on to a top speed close to 200 mi/h. While shorter than its donor car, the New Stratos is a little larger than the original Stratos, with a length of 4181 mm (164.61 in), 1971 mm (77.6 in) wide and 1240 mm (48.82 in) tall.
It was reported that if sufficient interest was shown it would result in a small production run of up to 25 cars. However, Ferrari did not consent to this plan. The company even forbade its suppliers to support the project.