Lancia Stratos World Champion Rally Car (Nigel Trow)

Author: Nigel Trow, ISBN: 9780850457919, Hardback, 160 pages, Published in 1990, Condition: Like New

For many, the ultimate rally car.

What started as a styling exercise led to three World Rally Championships and fuelled a power struggle between the giants of the Italian motor industry.

When the Stratos started competing it looked like an act of folly. Many dismissed it as a stop-gap while Lancia tried to scramble together a worthy successor to the ageing Fulvia.

Lancia purists felt the car was a betrayal. How could Turin stoop to using a somewhat troublesome Ferrari Dino engine from Modena? After all, Lancia were the first to build a V6 engine for series production.

But in the hinds of Munari, Andruet and the mysterious 'Biche' criticism turned to hysterical support. Even the might of Ford and Renault teamed with Alpine could not stop the Stratos winning.

Technically the Stratos is a masterpiece. Strong, durable, explosive in acceleration and forgiving (most of the time) the car exploits the full potential of mid-engine dynamics.

Controversy, however, is is fundamental to the Stratos as engine timing.

Here for the first time is told the real story of its homologation and the passions it inflamed in the boardrooms of the Fiat Group.