Maybe it is a forgotten car now, but history doesn’t
lie. The Lancia Delta was born in 1979
as a normal, mediocre car. Giorgetto Giugiaro, a famous Italian designer and
engineer, who had already projected the legendary Fiat Panda, created a new car
with Lancia, that at first was unsuccessful but time has proven him right.
Between 1979 and 1987 Lancia produced 4 generations of the car, and every year the engineers introduced many upgrades of the engine, suspensions, inside quality and also of the body of the car. Actually, the legendary Delta HF integrale was born only in 1986. The last generation of Delta was the more successful. Producer added another powerful engine (in addition to the 1.3 68HP, 1.5 85HP Gasoline), the new 1.6 liter engine, supercharged by a turbo and with about 170 HP.
The beginning of the myth
Thanks to the upgraded suspensions Multilink, three
differentials, one of these a Torsen, gave to the car an excellent traction and
permitted to the engine to put down all the torque offered by the engine.
Lancia Delta began to take part in rallies in 1987. The car had a lot of
qualities and, for the time it was one of the most modern cars on the market. Rallies
history was marked forever by its name, as well as the drivers who drove it and
won with it.
Further boosts, that increased the power from 170 to
200 hp (same engine) brought this car, Lancia Delta HF integrale 16v Martini 5
and 6, to win 46 rallies and became for 10 times, (6 in a row) rally World Champion
between 1987 and 1992. Some parts of the car weren’t original, for example, the cam shaft of the first versions was the
same of Fiat Ritmo, that was not a legendary car like Delta. Obviously, they have produced other models of the car,
like Delta Selene, Coupé, Pininfarina and Sport Zagato.
The myth of Delta 4wd was, unfortunately, bound to end because of the lack of subsequent updates. But ... the story of a “normal” car which became legend is always worthy to be told!
David, 4sc
No comments:
Post a Comment