Group 5 Stratos

The Stratos was conceived by Lancia as a platform for it's aspirations to dominate the world of rallying in the 1970s. The mid-engined sports car design (based loosely on a Bertone concept car displayed at the Turin Motor Show in 1970) fitted with the powerful and robust Ferrari Dino V6 engine would be a perfect foil for the Porsche 911s and Alpine-Renaults of the period.

The Stratos was certainly never intended as a seriously practical or saleable road car and only 492 production cars were ever built. This number was just enough to fulfill the prevailing Group 4 homologation requirements of the time.

Stratos lived up to the ambitions of it's creators, the Lancia marque and stylists from Bertone. It was one of the most successful and celebrated rally cars of all time, although Lancia would score more success later with the Delta Integrale.

At the height of it's success in the middle of the decade, Lancia put forward plans to build a Group 5 Silhouette racing version of the car, convinced it would be able to win in this newly created formula. Development took place under the guidance of Stratos chief engineer Mike Parkes.

A turbocharged version of the V6 engine had already been tried in a Group V (standard Group IV looking) car and this was adopted for the new racer. The engine was further developed in collaboration with Carlo Facetti's tuning outfit. The maximum power output was raised to 560 bhp.

More astonishing was the chassis and new aerodynamic bodywork created by Bertone. The wheelbase remained the same from the road car unlike the previously mentioned Turbo with (LWB) Long Wheel Base but it featured a dramatically extended rear tail section. Every piece of the car was unique and it carried the fuel tanks in the door sills!
 

Only two of the Silhouette cars were produced and they were both debuted at the Giro D'Italia in 1976, painted in Marlboro colours. The Facetti/Sodano car went on to score a popular home victory.

Later in the same year, one of the cars was destroyed at Zeltweg in Austria. It seems the turbocharged V6 unit was prone to overheating problems and the car was completely burned out. The remains of the chassis were disposed at location

The remaining car took part in the Giro D'Italia in the following year in the green/red and white colours of Alitalia. Later in the year it was shipped to Japan for a race at Mount Fuji. The race never took place and the car remained in Japan, later being sold on to a local collector, Mr. Matsuda - owner of the Matsuda Collection.

It seems that the death of Lancia development engineer Mike Parkes in June 1977 spelt the end of the Group 5 project. Lancia, perhaps at the behest of owners the Fiat Group, concentrated on a successful sportscar program with the Beta Montecarlo Turbo. There is no doubt that the experience Lancia Corse gained with the Gr 5 Stratos contributed to
the success of the new car.

The silhoutte car remained in Japan as part of the Matsuda Collection - it's whereabouts something of a mystery - until very recently. It resurfaced on sale for a reported £300,000 and was bought by London-based Stratos collector Christian Hrabalek. The car returned to Europe and was displayed, in 100% original condition, at the 2000 Stratos World Meeting in Rosenburg, Austria.....still bearing the decals from the 1977 Giro D'Italia race!
 

Whilst this is the only original Stratos Silhouette car in existence, at least three replicas have been built. The Japanese owner of this car, Mr Matsuda, comissioned a replica based wholly on a road version and had the car painted in the 1976 Marlboro livery. It is in every respects a production version apart from the modified bodywork.

A second replica car in Italy, comissioned by a Mr Georgio Schoen, was built from an original Group 4 model (an ex- Rino Fabri Car) and utilises some of the spareparts from the wreckage of the other silhouette car destroyed at Zeltweg. This car is reportedly kept in the Rosso Bianco collection.

Lastly, there is a replica in the UK which is built around a Stratos kit car chassis built and owned by Hennessy Racing and called "Evolution 2".