The original inspiration for the Lancia Stratos was the 1970 Turin Show Car, produced by coachbuilders Bertone for Lancia
The futuristic, and radical, styling was the result of extensive wind tunnel testing to achieve the minimum possible coefficient of wind resistance, and produced a vehicle which looked more like something from a Sci-Fi movie than a realistic supercar. In fact, the name Stratos is reputed to be given because one of the designers thought the car looked like something which had come from the Stratosphere.
As shown in the drawing, the driver was positioned towards the front of the car in a reclining position, similar to a Formula One driving position. Access to the car was by a door which also contained the front windscreen. This lifted at the front of the car, and pivoted the roofline. The driver and passenger had to step down into the car through this aperture. To assist access, the steering wheel retracted when the door was opened. Once seated, the driver pulls the steering wheel towards himself, and a hydraulic system automatically closes the door/windscreen.
The 1.6litre Lancia engine was placed in a mid-mounted position just ahead of transaxle, with just enough space between driver and engine for the radiator, air intakes, and a spare wheel.
The show car was a monocoque and tubular concept, built from a combination of sheet metal for the centre section, and reinforced fibreglass for the doors, front and rear hatches, and body skin. The engine and rear suspension were mounted in a steel substructure.
The very low wind coefficient was achieved by a very smooth exterior, with a sharp leading edge-type nose housing retractable headlights.
The Team Manager for Lancia at the time was Cesare Fiorio. His team of Lancia Fulvias had been used with great success in international rallying since 1966, but they were coming under increasing pressure from other manufacturers, such as Porsche and
Alpine-Renault.
The sight of the Stratos prototype captured Fiorio’s imagination. He visualised the prototype being developed into a new competition car for Lancia – the Stratos. It is unlikely he could possibly have realised how dramatic an impact his dream would have on the sport.
Until then, rallying had been dominated by sports cars, but production sports cars which had first and foremost been developed for sale to the public. No-one had ever considered producing a car with the sole aim of using it in competition.
Rallying rules decreed that a minimum of 500 cars must be produced to allow a car to be homologated and used in international rallies (although during the Stratos development period this was reduced from 500 to 400). The F.I.A., the governing body of the sport, felt that this number was so high that it would discourage any manufacturer from producing a car just for competition purposes.
The Stratos became the first “homolgation special”. A concept that would eventually lead to the ill-fated Group B rally cars of the 80s, which would become outlawed in the sport as too fast and too dangerous.
With his visualisation of a mid-engined sports car, and a blank sheet of paper, no constraints about having to sell the car to the public, Fiorio could re-design the prototype’s concept into a pure competition car.
Clearly, it needed a powerful engine.
Lancia were currently using the 1.6litre V4 engine, and Abarth had produced a 2litre version. BUT, Lancia were owned by Fiat, who just happened to have a sizeable financial stake in Ferrari. AND, the man chosen to head up Lancia as a new division of Fiat was Pierre Ugo Gobatto, WHO had just previously been Fiat’s representative in the Ferrari management, and knew that the Ferrari Dino 246 was about to be phased out, which might mean there would be a load of Ferrari engines lying around!!!
If the Dino had not been planned to be phased out, Enzo Ferrari might have considered the Stratos a direct threat to the Ferrari Dino 246, and the Stratos might have been still-born, or possibly endowed with a lower power unit, and never have become the rallying legend of the 70s.
Gianpaolo Dallara, the famous ex-technical director of Lamborghini, who had created the Miura and Espada models, and Marcello Gandini, Bertone’s chief stylist, worked with Fiorio to mould the original prototype into a viable competition car. The first prototype was readied to appear at Turin in November 1971, but it was still incomplete, and it would be well into 1972 before road testing would commence.
By the Turin Show of 1972, the revised Stratos was fitted with a Ferrari V6 2.4Litre 12valve engine, and five speed gearbox.
During the next year, the specification was further refined.
Throughout this period, the car was entered into rallies which had a class for prototypes, and this provided even more feedback to help develop the final specification.
In the autumn of 1972, Sandro Munari and Mario Mannucci started the Tour De Corse in the second Stratos ever built. The car retired with rear suspension failure, and the same problem was to occur again on the Costa Del Sol rally only a month later.
In April 1973, Sandro Munari won the Firestone Rally in Spain to give the car its first success. Just one month later, partnered with Jean-Claude Andruet, Munari took the Stratos to an excellent second place on the Targa-Florio, and in September 1973, the car won another event. This time it was the Tour de France, and again it was Sandro Munari who piloted the Stratos to an excellent victory.
Proper production had commenced during 1973, moved into full swing by mid-1974. The bodyshells were produced at Bertone’s Grugliasco plant in the suburbs of Turin, and final assembly at the nearby Lancia plant.
There have been many discussions over the years as to exactly how many cars were actually completed. Many experts claim between 450 and 490 cars were actually produced, with 492 being a number which is often quoted, but Bertone themselves claim that 502 cars actually made it through production.
At the beginning of development, the Group 4 rules for rallying had required production of 500 units for homolgation. However, by the time the Stratos was finally homologated on October 1st, 1974, the rules had been changed to reduce the homologation requirement to 400.
The final production version, shown below, had changed in certain areas. Note the horizontal slots on the bonnet compared to the previous vertical slots.
During 1974, the victories for the Stratos were coming thick and fast. Prior to homologation, the Stratos had won the Tour of Sicily and Targa
Florio, running in the prototype class, and within days of achieving homologation, Sandro Munari had given the car victory on the San Remo. This was followed by victories on Giro d’Italia, Rideau Lakes, and the Tour de Corse, and a third place on the British RAC Rally.
This was sufficient to give Lancia the 1974 World Championship. A feat which was to be repeated in both 1975 and 1976.
In January 1975, Sandro Munari scored the first of three successive victories in the Monte Carlo Rally. During the year, Bjorn Waldergaard took wins in the Swedish and San Remo rallies, and, on the Safari, Munari took second place with Waldergaard in third.
Again, the Stratos was unable to win on the British RAC Rally. However, driven by Bjorn Waldergaard, it left a lasting impression on British rally fans during this event. After a good start, the car had broken a driveshaft, and the mechanics had removed the rear bodywork of the car to assist access while making the repairs. Waldergaard then continued in the event, and set fastest time on 40 out of the 72 stages, but was excluded at the end of the event for running on the public road with no rear lights, rear indicators and number plate!!!!
1976 was the most successful year for the Stratos. It won Lancia the World Championship for the third successive season, and, in doing so, took first and second places in the Monte Carlo rally, a remarkable first, second, third, and fourth in Portugal, first in Sicily, first in the Giro d’Italia, first in Corsica, and fourth in Britain.
Not only were the Lancia works cars winning, but the car had reached the hands of private teams. One of the most sucessful of these private teams was Chardonnet of France. Their star driver was Bernard Darniche, who would continue winning with the car long after the factory works team had ceased rallying the Stratos. In fact, Darniche should be considered the most successful Stratos driver of all time, with 33 victories to his name, compared to 13 for works driver Sandro Munari.
In Britain, a car was campaigned by Graham Warner’s Chequered Flag team, and driven by drivers such as Per-Inge Walfridsson, Billy Coleman, Cahal Curley, Tony Pond, and Andy Dawson. Sadly the team were to suffer many misfortunes, including a fire which completely gutted the car during the Welsh Rally, although the car did win the Mintex Dales International Rally at the hands of Andy Dawson.
In 1977, the Lancia factory competitions team was merged with the Fiat team, and the Fiat Group’s marketing requirements saw effort being put into the Fiat 131 rather than the Stratos, and, by 1978, the 131 was being used almost exclusively, even though the Stratos still managed to win no fewer than 13 major events that year.
By 1979, it was only the private teams who were continuing to rally the Stratos, and Bernard Darniche managed to win the Monte Carlo for the Chardonnet team. This gave the Stratos its fourth successive victory on the Monte Carlo. The only works involvement came when Marku Alen persuaded the factory team to allow him to use a Stratos on the British RAC each year for the next three years. Sadly, although Alen pushed the car to its limits on these events, he was unable to give the car the RAC victory which eluded it throughout its competition career.
In 1981, Lancia unveiled the Lancia Rally 037, its new Group B rally supercar, and the Stratos was consigned to the history books, even though private teams continued to notch up victories in various European Championship events until its homologation expired at the end of 1982.
Although the production life of the Stratos was very short, its impact on the sport of rallying was immense. It was the first purpose-built rally car, and arguably the most beautiful, and led to the development of the immensely powerful Group B rally cars, the still-born Group S cars, and now the current set of WRC ( World Rally Championship) cars.
In the words of Cesare Fiorio, whose dream became reality, “With the Stratos, we had made a tremendous car, frightening other manufacturers, so that some dropped out.”
text: stratossupersite.com
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