Lancia 037

The world of rallying was changed forever on January 1st 1982 with the introduction of the new Group B rules. These virtually gave manufacturers carte blanche to design the fastest car they could for world rally special stages, so long as they built at least 200 identical examples. This is the story of Lancia's mid-engined and supercharged rally. The reader is taken from initial thinking about the car and conception, through development to the full history of its rallying lifetime with the help of the car designer and chief engineer, Ing Sergio Limone. Featuring many of Limone's own photographs during development, and interviews with team members. Illustrated with 250 stunning and rare rally action photos.

In the late 1970s, the problem facing any manufacturer taking part in the World Rally Championship was that the rules kept being changed at short notice. This book looks at the solutions found for Lancia’s rally car, the 037, and takes the reader through the new rules that all potential contenders would have to consider if they wanted to win rallies at World Championship level. Lancia’s Rally was developed quickly to deal with the then-dominant Audi Quattro. The reasons it succeeded are featured here, along with an in-depth, behind-closed-doors look at the development of the car, with the close help and cooperation of its designer and chief engineer, Ing. Sergio Limone. Here you can read how he decided on the basic configuration of the car, what the rules would allow, and how the project unfolded in total secret at Fiat’s various test tracks and centres in and around Turin, overlaid with rumour and counter-rumour as the world’s motoring press tried to make sense of what little knowledge it had of the project’s progress. In addition, Ing. Limone’s own photographs from areas never accessed by the public tell their own story. The focus then moves to the world of top-level rallying, with all the associated glory and headaches. Accompanied by stunning photography and insights from team members, we follow the small and nimble 037s, as the cars have become popularly known, as they head out to take the World Rally Championship for Makes in 1983 and innumerable wins throughout the world. In addition, there are tests of various key examples of the cars, and appendices of events and chassis used. This book is illustrated with 250 stunning and rare rally action photos.

The Group B cars marked one of the most thrilling yet most tragic periods in the history of world rallying and beyond. The 037, the S4, the EVC and the ECV2, "ephemeral player" of a still-born Group S, were the unforgettable protagonists of the 1982-1986 seasons that for the Lancia marque were constellated by a series of World, European and Italian titles, but also by terrible accidents that cost the lives of Attilio Bettega, Henri Toivonen and Sergio Cresto. Sergio Remondino, a historic journalist and great expert in the multifaceted field of rallying, traces that unforgettable era, year by year, through a text rich in anecdotes and thanks to the contribution of the engineer Sergio Limone, one of the artificers of the Group B cars. This invaluable book is completed by the evocative images of Reinhard Klein, one of the most successful rallying photographers.

For 30 years some of the most talented and bravest drivers have battled across the continents of the world to claim what is arguably motorsport's toughest prize: the World Rally Championship. Now a multi-million dollar, global technology battle and terrestrial television phenomenon played out over the frozen wastes of Finland, the dusty plains of Australia and the sun-kissed mountain roads of Corsica, the WRC has reached its 30th birthday. This book celebrates that important milestone and paints an exhaustively detailed picture of the people and personalities who have shaped this great sport. The Complete Book of the World Rally Champions provides a biographical account of the 65 men who have won at least one World Championship Rally since 1973. The biographies are compiled by the sport's leading writers and historians and complemented by stunning photography. The book includes a detailed and accurate statistical career record of each driver, plus highlights of all the significant cars.

This book describes the birth, development and rallying career of the Lancia Stratos, Europe's very first purpose-built rally car, in the mid/late 1970s, providing a compact and authoritative history of where, when and how it became so important to the sport. Written by a world renowned motoring historian and heavily illustrated, this is a key work of this subject.