| Lancia Stratos HF | |
|---|---|
 Lancia Stratos HF Stradale (road version) | |
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Lancia |
| Production | 1973–1978 ca. 492 produced |
| Assembly | Italy:Turin |
| Designer | Marcello Gandini atBertone[1] |
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | Sports car Rally car |
| Body style | 2-doorcoupé |
| Layout | Transverse mid-engine, rear-wheel drive |
| Chassis | Steelspace-frame structure with integral roll-cage. Fiberglass body |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | Ferrari 2,418 cc (148 cu in)DinoV624v[2] |
| Power output | Stradale: 190 hp (140 kW)[3] |
| Transmission | 5-speedmanual |
| Dimensions | |
| Wheelbase | 2,180 mm (85.8 in)[4] |
| Length | 3,710 mm (146.1 in)[4] |
| Width | 1,750 mm (68.9 in)[4] |
| Height | 1,110 mm (43.7 in)[4] |
| Curb weight | Stradale: 980 kg (2,161 lb)[4] Group 4: 880 kg (1,940 lb)[5] |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | Lancia Fulvia HF |
| Successor | Lancia Rally 037 |
TheLancia Stratos HF (Tipo 829), known asLancia Stratos, is arear mid-enginedsports car designed forrallying, made by Italian car manufacturerLancia. It was highly successful in competition, winning theWorld Rally Championship in 1974, 1975 and 1976; as well as winning the 1974Targa Florio,[6] winning theTour de France Automobile five times and theGiro d'Italia automobilistico three times.
Lancia had traditionally worked with the design housePininfarina and had not usedBertone before. Bertone desired to create an opportunity for a relationship with Lancia and knew that Lancia was looking for a replacement for the agingFulvia for use inrally sports. Bertone decided to design an eye-catching model to show to Lancia. Bertone used the running gear of a Fulvia Coupé which belonged to one of his friends and built a running model around it. When Bertone himself appeared at the Lancia factory gates with the Stratos Zero he passed underneath the barrier, to great applause from the Lancia workers. After that Lancia and Bertone agreed to develop a new rally car based on the ideas of Bertone's designerMarcello Gandini. Gandini had already designed theLamborghini Miura and was working on theCountach at the time.
Lancia presented the Bertone-designed Lancia Stratos HF prototype at the1971 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, theLancia Beta engine and finally, for the 1971 public launch, the mid-mountedDino Ferrari V6 producing 190 hp (142 kW) in road trim. The use of this engine had been planned from the beginning of the project, butEnzo Ferrari was reluctant to sign off the use of this engine in a car he saw as a competitor to his ownDino V6. After the production of the Dino had ended, the "Commendatore" (a popular nickname for Enzo Ferrari) agreed to deliver the engines for the Stratos, upon which Lancia suddenly received 500 units.
The final design shares several striking features with Gandini's Lamborghini Miura: the dual clamshell hoods (the front opening forward, over the spare wheel placed identically, and the rear hinging rearward, with stepped black louvres above the engine and integrating a trunkbehind it) – as well as the way the door-glass bottom rears curve upward, giving the otherwise frameless doors an upward-swept frame section. In contrast though, the Stratos' body received an unmistakable short and wide wedge shape, so extreme that the nose drops below the top crests of the front wheel wells, and made unique by the semi-elliptical greenhouse's windshield and door glass ensemble, when seen from above.
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The Stratos was a 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.[7] The three leading men behind the entire rallying project were Lancia team managerCesare Fiorio, British racer/engineerMike Parkes and factory rally driverSandro Munari, with Bertone's Designer Marcello Gandini taking a personal interest in designing and producing the bodywork. A dedicated calculations engineer from Lancia was tasked with performing calculations on many of the chassis, steering, suspension and engine components: Nicola Materazzi.[8]
Lancia undertook extensive testing with the Stratos and raced the car in several racing events whereGroup 5 prototypes were allowed during the 1972 and 1973 seasons. Production of the 500 cars required forhomologation inGroup 4 commenced in 1973 and the Stratos was homologated for the1974 World Rally Championship season.[5] The Ferrari Dino V6 engine was phased out in 1974, but 500 engines - among the last examples built - were delivered to Lancia.[9] Production ended in 1975, when it was thought that only 492 were made (for the 1976 season, the Group 4 production requirement was reduced to 400 in 24 months[10]). The manufacturer of the car wasBertone in Turin, with final assembly by Lancia at theChivasso plant.[11] Powered by the Dino 2.4 LV6 engine that was also fitted to the rallying versions, but in a lower state of tune, it resulted in a power output of 190 PS; 188 bhp (140 kW) at 7,000 rpm and 226 N⋅m; 166 lbf⋅ft (23 kg⋅m) at 4,000 rpm oftorque, giving the road car a 0–100 km/h (62 mph) time of 6.8 seconds, and a top speed of 232 km/h (144 mph).[3] The car was sold as the Lancia Stratos HF Stradale.
The Stratos weighed between 900 and 950 kilograms, depending on configuration. Power output was around 275 hp (205 kW) for the original 12 valve version and 320 hp (239 kW) for the 24 valve version. Beginning with the 1978 season the 24 valve heads were banned from group 4 competition by a change to the FIA rules (which would have required additional production of 24-valve cars for re-homologation).[10][12] Even with this perceived power deficit the Stratos was the car to beat in competition and when it did not suffer an accident or premature transmission failure (of the latter there were many) it had great chances to win.
The car won the1974,1975 and1976championship titles in the hands ofSandro Munari andBjörn Waldegård, and might have gone on to win more had not internal politics within the Fiat group placed rallying responsibility on theFiat 131 Abarths. As well as victories on the1975, 1976 and1977Monte Carlo Rally, all courtesy of Munari, the Stratos won the event with the private Chardonnet Team as late as1979.[7]
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 last victory of the Stratos was in1981, at theTour de Corse Automobile, another World Rally Championship event, with a victory by longtime Stratos privateerBernard Darniche.
When the Fiat group favoured the Fiat 131 for rallying, Lancia also built two Group 5 turbocharged 'silhouette' Stratos for closed-track endurance racing. The powertrain and aerodynamics were engineered byNicola Materazzi based on experience gained with the earlier generation.[13][14] These cars failed against thePorsche 935s on closed tracks but proved successful in hybrid events. Stratos won a record 5 times theTour de France Automobile between 1973 and 1980, and also the 1974, 1976 and 1978Giro d'Italia automobilistico, an Italian counterpart of the Tour de France Automobile. One of the cars was destroyed inZeltweg, when it caught fire due to overheating problems.[15] The last surviving car would win the Giro d'Italia event again before it was shipped toJapan to compete in theFuji 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 a collector of Stratos', Ernst Hrabalek, who had the largest Lancia Stratos Collection in the world at the time, 11 unique Lancia Stratos cars, including the fluorescent red 1971 factory prototype and the 1977 Safari Rally car.[nb 1][16][17][18] The Stratos also gained limited success in24 Hours of Le Mans, with a car, driven by Christine Dacremont andLella Lombardi, finishing 20th overall and 2nd in GTP class in1976.[19]
Another unique Group 5 car is the Lancia Stratos HF of AustrianRallycross driver Andy Bentza. The car was first driven by his Memphis teammate Franz Wurz, father of Formula One pilotAlexander Wurz. In 1976 Wurz claimed the first everEuropean Rallycross title recognised by the FIA with the car, by then still featuring a 2.4-litre engine with first a 12- and later a 24-valve head. For the ERC series of 1977 Wurz was entrusted with an experimental 24-valve engine by Mike Parkes, equipped with a specialcrankshaft 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 L 12V Stratos to compatriot Reneé Vontsina and won the GT Division title of the ERC. The one and only 3.0 litre Stratos worldwide was raced by Bentza till the end of 1983. After keeping the car for another 30 years Bentza has sold the Stratos to Alexander Wurz. It was fully restored over a period of almost two years and revealed to the public in May 2016, converted back to its 1976 rallycross specification withMemphis livery.
TheLancia Stratos Zero (or0) preceded the Lancia Stratos HF prototype by 12 months and was first shown to the public at theTurin Motor Show in 1970. The futuristic bodywork was designed byMarcello Gandini, head designer atBertone, and featured a 1.6 LLancia Fulvia V4 engine.[20] The Lancia Stratos HF Zero was exhibited in Bertone's museum for many years. In 2011, it was sold during an auction in Italy for €761,600.[21] It has been displayed in the exhibit "Sculpture in Motion: Masterpieces of Italian Design" at thePetersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. It was at theHigh Museum of Art in Atlanta at the "Dream Cars" exhibit in 2014, on loan from the XJ Wang Collection of New York City.[22]
The car's body is wedge-shaped and finished in distinctive orange. It is unusually short in length (3.58 m (141 in)) and height (84 cm (33 in)), and it shares little with the production version. The Zero appeared inMichael Jackson's 1988 filmMoonwalker.[23]
In 1978,Bertone designed and built theLancia Sibilo, aconcept car based on the Stratos, the wheelbase of which was lengthened from 2180 to 2280 mm. It was conceived as a futuristic two-seater coupè, with glass surfaces that seemed almost integrated into the volumes of the body.
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In 2000,Marcello Gandini designed a modern interpretation of his Lancia Stratos, built byStola of Turin. It debuted at the 2000Turin Auto Show, 30 years after the Stratos Zero concept debuted at the same show. The concept is a two-seater coupe, painted in a similar shade of orange to the original 1971 Stratos HF prototype, and sharing key design elements with the Stratos, such as the wedge shape and wraparound windshield. It also featured new technologies such as LED headlights and taillights, and electric door openers. It was initially built as just a static model, although it was envisioned to be able to fit a Maserati V8 engine.[24] It was later fitted with an electric motor in 2014.[25] The design initially planned to incorporate the Lancia shield into the front bumper, but after Lancia viewed the car, they requested that their logo not be used in order to not cause confusion. After this, the design was changed to incorporate Gandini’s own logo instead. However, a wheel design was chosen that featured centers which formed the triangular shape of Lancia’s logo.[26]
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At the2005 Geneva Auto Show, a British design firm known as Fenomenon, who had rights to the Stratos name,[27] exhibited a retro-modernconcept version of the Stratos, designed by Chris Hrabalek[28] and following its exhibition at theFrankfurt show, developed byProdrive. The concept was based around a mid-mounted 419 hp (312 kW) V8 engine.[29]
| New Stratos | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Pininfarina Manifattura Automobili Torino[30] |
| Also called | Pininfarina Stratos |
| Production | 2018–present |
| Designer | Luca Borgogno atPininfarina[31] |
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | Sports car (S) |
| Body style | 2-doorcoupé |
| Layout | Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel drive |
| Related | Ferrari F430 Scuderia |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | 4.3 LFerrari F136V8 |
| Transmission | 6-speed 'F1'automated manual 6-speedmanual |
| Dimensions | |
| Wheelbase | 2,400 mm (94.49 in) |
| Length | 4,181 mm (164.6 in) |
| Width | 1,971 mm (77.6 in) |
| Height | 1,240 mm (48.8 in) |
| Curb weight | 1,247 kg (2,749 lb) |
Following the stalled Fenomenon project, one interested backer funded a one-off model. Commissioned byMichael 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 Stratos and was designed and developed byPininfarina.[32]
The car made use of aFerrari 430 Scuderia as a donor car, using the chassis (shortened by 200 mm (7.9 in) resulting in a wheelbase of 2,400 mm (94.49 in)) and much of the mechanical elements including the 4.3 L V8 engine (4,308 cm3), tuned to generate 540 hp (403 kW) at 8,200 rpm[33][34] (also reported at 550 bhp (410 kW))[35] and torque of 520 N⋅m (380 lb⋅ft)[34] at 3,750 rpm.
The New Stratos weighs 1,247 kg (2,749 lb) and is claimed to accelerate to 100 km/h in 3.3 seconds and on to a top speed close to 320 km/h (200 mph).[36] While shorter than its donor car, the New Stratos is a little larger than the original Stratos, with a length of 4,181 mm (164.6 in), 1,971 mm (77.6 in) wide and 1,240 mm (48.8 in) tall. There were reports that given sufficient interest a small production run of up to 25 cars could be possible.[37] Ferrari did not consent to this plan, and forbade its suppliers to support the project.[38] However, on 10 February 2018, Italian coachbuilding firmManifattura Automobili Torino of Paolo Garella[39] announced that it would be commencing with the production of the originally planned 25 cars.[35]
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TheAutobot character Wheeljack from theTransformers franchise transforms into anAlitalia-sponsored Stratos in theGeneration 1 toy line and itscartoon adaptation, albeit with the Alitalia markings on the toy intentionally misspelled as "Alitalla" (presumably to avoid trademark infringement). Earlier samples of the character's toy from Takara'sDiaclone toy line (where most ofTransformers' character designs came from) were sold with a Marlboro-inspired livery.[40]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)The Producers gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of Carrozzeria Bertone S.P.A. of Torino, Italy for the use of the beautiful STRATOS 0 used in this film.
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