Lancia Rally 037

Lancia
Rally 037 of the Lancia Martini works team
Rally 037
Production period:	1982-1983
Class :	race car
Body versions :	Coupe
Engines:	Otto engine : 2.0 liters (228 kW)
Length:	3890 mm
Width:	1850 mm
Height:	1240 mm
Wheelbase :	2445 mm
Empty weight :	980-1170 kg
Previous model	Lancia Stratos HF
successor	Lancia Delta S4

Lancia Rally 037 Stradale

The Lancia Rally 037 is a sports car from the Italian manufacturer Lancia , which was specially designed for the requirements of rallying .

Development of the Lancia Rally 037 began in July 1980 under the (Abarth) project code SE037 as part of an intensive cooperation between Lancia, Abarth and Pininfarina . In December of the same year, the first ready-to-use prototype was presented. The Rally 037 has a mid-engine that is charged to 228 kW (310 hp) with the help of a mechanical Roots compressor . This enables acceleration from 0 to 100 km / h in four seconds. The base of the two-liter 16V engine from Abarth comes from the Fiat 131 Abarth .

The Lancia Rally 037 was also available in a street version (“stradale”) due to the homologation. In it, the 2-liter engine developed 151 kW (205 hp) at 7000 rpm. The car cost 45,630,000 lire in Italy in 1983 . Including the competition-specific versions, Lancia built a total of 257 units of the Rally 037 together with Abarth and Pininfarina. The street version (chassis numbers 001 to 200) was the basis for the first competition vehicles, which were recognizable by the wide rear lights of the Lancia Montecarlo. The vehicles of evolution stage 1 (chassis numbers 201 to 220) had round rear lights, those of evolution stage 2 (chassis numbers 301 to 320) also did without the rear bumper to improve heat dissipation from the engine compartment.

The Lancia Rally 037 was based on the passenger cell of the Beta Montecarlo , as the regulations required the use of this part of a production vehicle. That is why the production of the Montecarlo was resumed, which had actually been terminated two years earlier. Since the Rally 037 was designed as a pure competition vehicle, it was in the tradition of the Lancia Stratos HF . The long-proven Abarth variant of the Lampredi four-cylinder engine served as the drive, while the ZF unit of the DeTomaso Pantera was used as the transmission. This made the Rally 037 one of the last rally vehicles with pure rear-wheel drive .

Abarth used its many years of experience to design a vehicle that was kept simple and quick and easy to maintain. That is why they deliberately avoided all-wheel drive, on the one hand to keep the development time short and on the other hand to install fewer parts. One of the great advantages of the Rally 037 was its consistent design for easy service during competitions. All the main components were attached to the vehicle with screws in just two different sizes in order to avoid tool changes as much as possible. Wheel nuts, shock absorber mountings and seat rails could be dismantled and remounted with the impact wrench without changing tools, and the fastening of the seat belts on the seat frame made maintenance even easier. For example, on the tubular frame there were guide elements for the retaining bolts of the shock absorbers, which could therefore be installed very quickly and easily under competitive conditions. Here the Rally 037 had a decisive advantage in use, for example over the Audi quattro, which often failed in use due to its great complexity and the resulting extensive service work.

Nevertheless, until the mid-1980s, the Rally 037 was able to keep up with the all-wheel-drive competitors in Group B ( Audi quattro and Peugeot 205 T16 ) , at least in asphalt rallies, and was sometimes even superior to them in terms of driving behavior. With the start of the World Rally Championship in 1985 , the 037 was replaced by the all-wheel drive Lancia Delta S4 .

Lancia won the Constructors' World Championship with the Rally 037 in 1983 . The Lancia Rally was the last non-all-wheel drive vehicle in history to win such a title. In 1983 Walter Röhrl finished second in the drivers' world championship with a Lancia Rally 037, while the second works driver, Markku Alén , came third.

In 1985 the Lancia also won the European Rally Championship.

Web links

Commons : Lancia Rally 037  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files