Lancia Stratos World Champion Rally Car

Few cars could have had a more fairy tale beginning than the Stratos. It began as an impudent attempt by Bertone Studios to wrestle business away from arch-rivals Pininfarina at Lancia. From the first showing of the prototype at the 1972 Turin Motor Show, this book follows the history which enabled the car to become one of the most successful rally cars, with it’s competition history reproduced here for the period 1972-1985. Lancia's Stratos always showed uncompromising style. The enormous constant radius windscreen, the dart-like side profile and advanced mid-engine configuration gives the car a shape like no other. The early design mock ups and design drawings are illustrated within this volume alongside a varied array of factory production photographs and competition images. On song, its Ferrari V6 Dino engine sings in a constant baritone above the cacophany of over-stressed rivals. Yet finding the right engine almost defeated the whole Stratos project. During the same period as the Stratos was winning World Rally Championships, Lancia became part of the Fiat empire. Along with Ferrari, it went through an inevitable whirlpool of uncertainty and bitter rivalry with other car makers in the group and yet pulled through, allowing the Lancia Stratos to make its mark in motoring history.