Lancia managed to create the Stratos despite many barriers, both internal and external. Recently saved from bankruptcy by Fiat, Lancia had struggled to make money for decades. This was due in no small part to Lancia’s ongoing commitment to motorsport: during the 1950s, they developed three sports cars and the world’s most sophisticated Formula 1 car, the D50, all in a 40 month period. The financial stress of these programs caused the Lancia family to sell the company, and in the ensuing years of austerity, Lancia stopped racing.

It would be a decade before Lancia raced again officially, although privateers had taken up the torch rallying Flavias and even Flaminias in the early 60s. The front-wheel drive Fulvia began rallying in 1965 and was quite successful, but by the early 1970s, Porsche’s 911 and the Renault Alpine A110, both of which were rear wheel drive and had the engines mounted over the driven wheels, were starting to outclass the Fulvia.

Lancia needed a new rally car and Bertone’s outrageous 1970 concept car, the Stratos Zero, provided a vision of what it could be. Lancia didn’t have the resources to fully develop the car in house, but Bertone was happy to help engineer, and ultimately build the hundreds of examples needed for the car to race in the World Rally Championship.

The Stratos had a tough gestation, hampered by the fuel crisis, labor unrest, financial uncertainty, and even internal political jostling within Fiat and Lancia, but when it finally went racing, it became one of the greatest competition cars of all time. Today, it is an icon, one which Derek Tam-Scott drove and lived to tell the tale, an altogether remarkable outcome given what a positively unhinged car it is on the open road.

Carmudgeon Podcast Episode on The Stratos:    • The World's Most Amazing Cars – The C...  

Intro: 0:00 - 1:08
Early Lancia History: 1:10
Bertone & Stratos Concept: 3:34
Stratos Rally: 5:00
Driving in Monaco: 10:28
Open Road Driving: 13:54
Hyphen Losing His Mind: 14:10
Conclusion: 17:00


#lanciastratos #lancia #rallyracing #stratos


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