The Lancia Rally (Tipo 151, also known as the Lancia Rally 037, Lancia 037 or Lancia-Abarth #037 from its Abarth project code SE037) is a mid-engine sports car and rally car built by Lancia in the early 1980s to compete in the FIA Group B World Rally Championship. Three main version of the car were built; the Evoluzione 1 (EVO1) and Evoluzione 2 (EVO2) racing cars, and the Stradale road car. Driven by Markku Alén, Attilio Bettega, and Walter Röhrl, the 037 won the manufacturers' world championship for Lancia in the 1983 season. It was the last rear-wheel drive car to win the WRC.

History

In 1980, Lancia began the development of the 037 to comply with the then new FIA Group B regulations that allowed cars to race with relatively few homologation models being built. As the project name was number 037, this eventually became the name by which the car was known. Abarth, now a part of the Lancia-Fiat family, did most of the design work, even incorporating styling cues from some of its famous race cars of the 1950s and 1960s such as a double bubble roof line. The car was developed in collaboration between Pininfarina, Abarth, Dallara and the project manager, engineer Sergio Limone. Prior to its first participation in the 1982 World Rally Championship season, 200 road-going models were built to comply with Group B regulations.

The car made its competition debut at the 1982 Rally Costa Smeralda in Italy, where two cars were entered but both retired due to gearbox issues. The 1982 season was plagued with retirements for the 037, but the new car did manage to achieve several wins including its first win at the Pace Rally in the UK. The 1983 season was considerably more successful for the 037: Lancia took the 1983 World Rally Championship Constructors' title with Germany's Walter Röhrl and Finland's Markku Alén its principal drivers, despite serious competition from the 4WD Audi Quattro. Both drivers, however, missed the final round of the series, despite Röhrl maintaining a mathematical chance of the drivers' title: such honours instead went to Audi's veteran Finn, Hannu Mikkola.

For the 1984 Constructors' title defence, Lancia introduced an Evolution 2 version of the 037 with improved engine power output, but this was not enough to stem the tide of 4WD competition, losing to Audi in both 1984 championships, and again to the 4WD Peugeot 205 T16 in its final works season in 1985. Indeed, Alén collected the final 037 win, and the sole victory for the E2 model, on the 1984 Tour De Corse, before it was finally pensioned off in favour of its successor, the uniquely supercharged and turbocharged 4WD Delta S4, for the season-ending RAC Rally in Great Britain. Driver Attilio Bettega died in an 037 crash in 1985. António Rodrigues won the 1984 Falperra International Hill Climb in an 037. The 037 made its final appearance in the 1986 edition of the Safari Rally by the Martini Lancia team, which was entered in place of the Delta S4 that the team used for the other rallies that year due to the team running out of time to develop the S4 for the rally.

One ex-works Lancia 037 was entered by ROSS Competition in the third round of the 1994 All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship season. The 037 performed poorly, due to the car being massively underpowered against its competition in the GT1 (now GT500) class, using a short-ratio five-speed gearbox, and with an engine not designed to be run at high engine speeds for sustained periods of time. Naohiro Furuya, who drove the 037 in that race, was able to finish the race in 12th overall and 9th in the GT1 class, albeit 7 laps down from the race-winning Team Taisan Porsche 962C and 3 laps down from the Team Gaikokuya Nissan Skyline that won in the GT2 class.

Specifications Conceptually similar to a silhouette racer, the 037 was loosely based on the Lancia Montecarlo (known as the Scorpion in the US and Canadian markets) road car, sharing the center section while all body panels and mechanical parts were significantly different. Steel subframes were used fore and aft of the 037's center section. Most of the body panels were made from Kevlar. The 037 was designated and sold, not as a Montecarlo, but as a distinct model, and both the street and race versions of it were built using the same construction methods, so it does not qualify as an actual silhouette racer.

The mid-engined layout of the Montecarlo was retained, but the engine was turned from a transverse to a longitudinal position. This allowed greater freedom in the design of the suspension while moving engine weight forward.

A double wishbone suspension was used both front and rear, with dual shock absorbers in the rear to cope with the stresses of high speed off-road driving. The 037 is notable in Group B as it retained the rear-wheel drive layout that was nearly universal for rally cars of the pre-Group B period; nearly all subsequent successful rally cars used four-wheel drive, making the 037 the last of its kind.

In contrast to the V6-powered Lancia Stratos HF, the 037s have a supercharged 4-cylinder based on the engine which powered earlier Fiat Abarth 131 rally cars. The block is a long-stroke Fiat Twin Cam assembly, and the four valve head was carried over from the 131 Abarth, but with that car's twin carburetors replaced by a single large Weber carburetor in early models, and later by fuel injection. The 037 features a ZF transaxle.

Lancia chose a supercharger over a turbocharger to eliminate turbo lag and improve throttle response. Initially, power was quoted at but was increased to . The final Evolution 2 model's engine generated due to a displacement increase to .

Gallery

Technical data

+ Lancia 037 Technical summaryFeatureStradaleEvoluzione 1Evoluzione 2 Body: Kevlar reinforced with fiberglass Polyester resin reinforced with glass fibre and flame retardant Length:Width:Height:Wheelbase: Weight: Layout: Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout Engine configuration: Longitudinally-mounted straight-four engine Bore x stroke: Displacement: Air/fuel delivery: Single Weber 40DCNVH 15/250 twin-choke carburetor Single Weber 40DCNVH 15/250 twin-choke carburetor (1982)Bosch/Kugelfischer mechanical slide-throttle injection (1983 on) Bosch/Kugelfischer mechanical slide-throttle injection Peak power: at 7,000 rpm at 8,000 rpm Peak torque: at 5,000 rpm at 5,000 rpm at 5,500 rpm Supercharger: Abarth Volumex system. Abarth Volumex. Lubrication: Dry sump Valvetrain: Belt-driven DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder Clutch: VALEO single dry plate with metal-ceramic lining. Hydraulic pedal Transmission: ZF 5-speed, plus reverse Differential: ZF-Abarth locking differential. Two shafts with CV joints Front suspension: Double wishbones, concentric coil springs and Bilstein gas shock absorbers, anti-roll bar Rear suspension: Double wishbones, coil springs, dual Bilstein gas shock absorbers Wheels: Speedline 16" alloy wheels Gravel: Speedline 15-inch front alloy wheels front16-inch alloy wheels rearAsphalt: 16-inch wheels front, 18-inch back Tyres: Pirelli P7 205/55 VR 16 tires Gravel: 205/50 Pirelli P7 Corsa front295/60/16 rear Steering: Rack and pinion Cooling: Water cooled, pump and radiator Ignition: Marelli AEI 200 A electronic inductive discharge

Rally results

World Rally Championship for Manufacturers - results Season Team Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Pos Points 1982 Martini Racing MON SWE POR KEN FRA GRE NZL BRA FIN ITA CIV GBR 9 25 Markku Alén 9 NF NF NF 4 Attilio Bettega NF Adartico Vudafieri NF NF Fabrizio Tabaton NF 1983 Martini Racing MON SWE POR KEN FRA GRE NZL ARG FIN ITA CIV GBR 1 118 Walter Röhrl 1 3 2 1 1 2 Markku Alén 2 4 1 2 5 3 1 Jean-Claude Andruet 8 NF Attilio Bettega 4 5 3 3 Adartico Vudafieri 5 NF Francisco Mayorga NF Pentti Airikkala 5 1984 Martini Racing MON SWE POR KEN FRA GRE NZL ARG FIN ITA CIV GBR 2 108 Markku Alén 8 2 4 1 3 2 2 NF Attilio Bettega 5 3 7 4 2 Jean-Claude Andruet NF Henri Toivonen NF NF 3 1985 Martini Racing MON SWE POR KEN FRA GRE NZL ARG FIN ITA CIV GBR 3 70 Henri Toivonen 6 4 3 Markku Alén NF NF 3 4 Attilio Bettega NF NF 1986 Martini Lancia MON SWE POR KEN FRA GRE NZL ARG FIN CIV ITA GBR USA 2 122 Markku Alén 3 Miki Biasion NF Greg Criticos 9 Johnny Hellier 10 Vic Preston Jr NF

Notes:

World Rally Championship - rally wins No. Event Season Driver Co-driver 1 51éme Rallye Automobile de Monte Carlo 1983 Walter Röhrl Christian Geistdörfer 2 27éme Tour de Corse 1983 Markku Alén Ilkka Kivimäki 3 30th Acropolis Rally 1983 Walter Röhrl Christian Geistdörfer 4 13th Sanyo Rally of New Zealand 1983 Walter Röhrl Christian Geistdörfer 5 25º Rallye Sanremo 1983 Markku Alén Ilkka Kivimäki 6 28éme Tour de Corse 1984 Markku Alén Ilkka Kivimäki

037 Stradale

Produced between 1982 and 1984, the Lancia 037 Stradale is the road-going version of the 037 rally car, developed to compete in the FIA Group B World Rally Championship. Homologation requirements for the World Rally Championship's Group B mandated that Lancia produce a minimum of 200 verifiable road-going examples in order to allow the 037 to compete. 207 examples of the 037 Stradale (Italian for "road going/for the road") cars are known to have been produced. The road-going 037 was equipped with an Abarth-developed DOHC 2.0-litre (1,995 cc) 16-valve straight-four engine, mated to an Abarth Volumex Roots-type supercharger generating at 7,000 rpm and of torque at 5000 rpm. It was capable of pushing the car to over and to from a standstill in 7.0 seconds. Today, the Lancia 037 Stradale is regarded as one of the most iconic and collectible cars ever produced by Lancia.

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