Page 139 - Cool Britannia

1391976 was also the year the Lancia Stratos was frst homologated for the World Rally Championship. The Lancia Stratos HF, was produced from 1973 to 1978. Bertone, the renowned design house, wanted to get Lancia’s attention as they had always worked with Pininfarina. Knowing that Lancia were looking to replace the aging Fulvia in rally sports he designed the Stratos Zero based on a Fulvia sport running gear and built the concept. When Bertone himself presented the car to Lancia he was able to drive it under the barrier at the factory. A collaboration between Bertone and Lancia was born. Bertone’s designer, Marcello Gandini, the man responsible for Lamborghini’s Miura and Coutach was tasked with designing Lancia’s new rally car.The concept car was presented in fuorescent red at the Turin Motor show in 1971 and the Lancia Stratos HF was announced to the world. The car was conceived with a Ferrari Dino V6 engine in mind, but Enzo Ferrari did not want to play ball, he would not sign off on his engines being used by competitors. Finally he agreed and 500 of 190hp engines were delivered.The Stratos started a new era of rallying, as it was the frst car to be designed specifcally for the sport. The key team behind the development of this legendary rally car were British race engineer Mike Parkes, Lancia team manager Cesare Fiorio and works driver Sandro Munari, with Cesare Fiorio taking a personal interest in producing the body work. The company tested the Stratos in as many Group 5 race events as were allowed. 500 units were then built for homologation into Group 4 Rally in time for the season of ’76. Bertone manufactured the car and it is thought that only 492 were actually built.