Back in 1974, 1975, and 1976, Sandro Munari and Bjorn Waldegard drove to three consecutive World Rally Championship titles in a Lancia Stratos Group 4 car. There’s a reason why the car was able to transition from the road-going Stradale version, and that story is the stuff of automotive legends.
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Image: Classic Driver
Because Lancia has connections to Ferrari, there were plenty of resources for the automaker to pull on. One of those resources was a Ferrari Dino 2.4-litre V6 engine that had been turned to 275 horsepower. The Group 4 racer also features a 24 valve version that offered 320 horsepower, which was only possible because of the forged billet aluminium pistons, a ported and gas-flowed cylinder head, valves made to the larger 45mm diameter, and twin-throat 48 IDF Weber down-draft carburettors.
More power required a new transmission, and for the Group 4 racer, a dog-leg-type gearbox that featured cascade ratios was fitted to a new sintered-metallic dual plate clutch. The flywheel was also swapped out for a lightweight version. To take on the rougher terrain, the suspension was transformed into a fully rose-jointed version with Eibach coil springs and Bilstein telescopic dampers. Stopping power was accomplished with upgraded 267mm AP Vented Discs with AP-Lockheed 4-piston aluminium monobloc callipers.
Image: Classic Driver
Very few models were made of the Lancia Stratos Group 4 car—in fact only 492 units were built by Lancia in their Turin factory. That means that the likelihood of ever being able to add one to your collection will amount to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. That’s why it is so interesting to see on for sale over at Classic Driver. If you want to know how much it is going for, you’ll have to ask them, but you know that this legend won’t come cheap. It does come with FIA papers, proving that this is an actual competition car. Things don’t get much better in terms of becoming a part of a true legend.
Image: Classic Driver
Image: Classic Driver
Image: Classic Driver
Image: Classic Driver
Image: Classic Driver
