Lancia 037
Rally 037 Martini Lancia factory team
The Lancia Rally 037 was a sports car from the Italian manufacturer Lancia, which has been specifically designed for the demands of rallying.
The development of the Lancia Rally 037 began in July 1980 under the ( Abarth ) project code SE037 in the context of an intensive collaboration between Lancia, Abarth and Pininfarina. In December of the same year you could already present the first prototype ready for use. Rally 037 has a central motor (310 HP) is charged by means of a mechanical Roots compressor 228 kW. This acceleration from 0 to 100 km / h in four seconds is possible. The base of the two-liter 16V engine, Abarth Fiat 131 Abarth comes from.
From the Lancia Rally 037 there was homologationsbedingt a road version ( " stradale "). In it, the 2-liter engine delivered 151 kW ( 205 hp) at 7000 rpm. The car cost 1983 in Italy 45.63 million lire. Including the competition -specific versions built with Abarth Lancia and Pininfarina total of 257 units of the Rally 037 The street version ( chassis number 001-200 ) was the basis for the first competition cars that were recognizable by the broad tail lights of the Lancia Monte Carlo. The vehicles of the evolutionary stage 1 ( chassis numbers 201 to 220 ) had round taillights, the evolutionary stage 2 ( chassis numbers 301-320 ) waived additionally on the rear bumper to improve the heat dissipation from the engine compartment.
The Lancia Rally 037 was based on the passenger compartment of the Beta Monte Carlo, as the regulations called for the use of this part of a production vehicle. That's why even specifically the production of the Monte Carlo was resumed, which was actually completed two years earlier. Since the rally was 037 conceived as a pure race car, he stood in the tradition of the Lancia Stratos HF. It was driven by the time-tested Abarth version of the Lampredi four-cylinder engine, gearbox was resorted to as the IF unit of the DeTomaso Pantera. Thus, the rally was one of the last 037 rally car with pure rear wheel drive.
Abarth took advantage of the many years of experience to construct a particularly simple and held fast and easy to maintain vehicle. That's why we deliberately avoided a four-wheel drive, on the one hand to keep the development time is short and the other hand to block fewer parts. A very big advantage of the 037 Rally was its consistent structural design on light service during the competitions. Thus, all the essential components have been fastened with screws only in two different sizes, in order to prevent tool change as much as possible of the vehicle. So nuts, shock absorber mountings and seat rails with the impact wrench were dismantled and reassembled without changing the tool, wherein the fastening of seat belts even further simplified maintenance on the seat frame. At the stile example, there were guiding elements for the retaining bolt of the shock absorbers, which therefore could be assembled very quickly and easily under competitive conditions. It was here that the 037 Rally in action a distinct advantage, for example, compared to the Audi quattro, which often failed because of its great complexity and the resulting complex service work in use.
Nevertheless, the Rally 037 was until the mid- 1980s, at least for asphalt rallies with all-wheel drive competitors in group B (Audi quattro and Peugeot 205 T16) match and was even superior to them while driving behavior in part. With the start of the World Rally Championship in 1985 was replaced by the 037 all-wheel drive Lancia Delta S4.
Lancia won the Constructors' World Championship with the 037 Rally in 1983. The Lancia Rally was so far the last non -wheel-drive vehicle in history, which was able to win such a title. 1983 ended with Walter Röhrl Lancia Rally 037 drivers' world championship in second place, the second factory rider, Markku Alén, was third.
1985 was also succeeded the Lancia winning the European Rally Championship.