Share Stars of many a bedroom wall are set to go under the hammer as a trio of road-legal Lancia rally cars have been consigned to the inaugural RM Sotheby’s Essen auction.
If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid Ben Branch has had his work featured on CNN, Popular Mechanics, the official Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, and many more.Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with millions of readers around the world and hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.The MGA – An Introduction + Background The MGA was born out of two strands of activity; one was the American’s discovery of British sports cars in the years after the Second World War with…The Alpina B7 S Turbo had the unique distinction of being the fastest four door production car in the world when it was introduced in November 1981. The Delta S4 may have looked similar to its stamped steel siblings from the factory but it shared almost no parts with them other than the badge.Lancia developed a chromoly space frame for the Delta S4 that was closely based on the Lancia 037, the engine was mounted amidships where the back seat would normally have been, and power was sent to all four wheels via a central differential co-developed by Hewland that sent 60 to 70% of torque to the rear limited slip diff and the remaining torque to the open front diff.Advanced fully independent suspension was used, also based somewhat on the 037, with twin shock absorbers per wheel in the rear and a single coil over per wheel up front. How could you make a Ferrari 308 seem ordinary in 1982? Silodrome, Gasoline Culture, and the Piston/Blade Icon are registered trademarks. Provided they could build at least 200 road-going versions. Site Powered by Gasoline and Caffeine.Thank you, your message has been sent successfully.
In some ways the Delta S4 was the quintessential Group B machine – it was a lighting fast, fire-breathing rally car that proved both successful and lethal.Group B was the Goldilocks class that had very few restrictions on technology and power, and the minimum homologation production number was just 200 vehicles per year. Power was approximately 400 hp initially but this number quickly rose with development, and the car was producing over 500 hp by the time the program was cancelled.Lancia introduced the Delta S4 at the 1985 RAC Rally and it would immediately take both 1st and 2nd place in the hands of Henri Toivonen and Markku Alén respectively. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. It had to be in order to deal with the fearsome stages of the World Rally Championship and compete with Audi.Today, the 037 remains an incredible artifact of one of rally's greatest eras.
And even then, few understand the brand’s contribution to motoring in general, nor just how many awesome cars Lancia produced. Competition disc brakes were used on all four corners, and the body was made of composites with front and rear sections that were easily removable for accident repairs and mechanic access.The car was powered by one of the first twincharged engines, an engine that uses both a supercharger and a turbocharger. The car would take a slew of victories despite its relative lack of development time, its continued development would be cut short by the tragic crash of Toivonen and co-driver Sergio Cresto in the 1986 Tour de Corse.The Stradale version of the mighty Delta S4 is now one of the most highly sought after Group B homologation specials, it has an interior that included many luxuries not found on the rall cars, like air conditioning and sound proofing.