MiniGT Lancia Stratos HF Group 4 – A dominator FEATURETTE
When passion meets ambition...
The Lancia Stratos HF is probably one of the most fascinating cars in automotive history.
Its glass cockpit which could literally have been taken out of an aeroplane as well as its driving characteristics
made the Stratos THE dominant rally monster of its time. By the regulations of the FIA, manufacturers were
forced to produce several hundred road versions of their rally adaptation. Such a road legal homologation often took second priority for
a car brand since they were only interested for victories in prestigious races.
The limitation of the vehicles was thus also a value factor that was to pay off later...
Winner of Monte Carlo 1977...
One of these numerous prestigious victories was set up in the Rally Monte Carlo in 1977. The Fiat Group, to which Lancia already belonged at the time, cut Lancia's racing budget in favour of the factory team with Fiat Abarth at the same year. Lancia took part in only four rally stages and won the very last time with the very iconic Alitalia livery until they were forced to do a livery-change to the Fiat 131 Abarth. Therefore we happily welcome that MiniGT celebrates this historic moment of several victories and championships with such a perfect model as this showcased version.
The best of the 70ies!
Five years were more than enough to make the Stratos a legend. Lancia built the rally car modified Tipo 829 from 1973 to 1978. The Italians mounted the same 2.4-litre V6 engine with 195 hp inside its stratos as the Ferrari Dino, which was a quite special thing. The front and rear sections of the bodywork can be opened up over a large area - both flaps are made of glass-fibre reinforced plastic. The Stratos was built by the coachbuilder Bertone. In order to achieve homologation in Group 4 of the FIA, road versions of the rally car also had to be produced.
More power, less weight!
With the Stratos, Lancia won the World Rally Championships in 1974, 1975 and 1976. It was later succeeded by the equally legendary Lancia Rally 037. The number of road-legal Stratos HFs built is not known, originally the FIA demanded 500 units though, but during the construction period they lowered their requirement to 400 vehicles. Bertone assumed that around 495 Stratos HF were put on the road.
According to Lancia, the V6 engines in the Group 4 Stratos with their three twin carburettors achieved 280 hp, with four-valve heads, as installed in the car for sale, the power output is said to reach 320 hp at a staggering 8,500 rpm. These met a kerb weight of only 980 kg in the Group 4 cars. The tiny amount of weight definitely was the key factor of the Stratos' success during this rally period.
1:64 scaled precision...
The MiniGT model is undoubtedly as razor-sharp as the original. As usual, the enormous level of detail in 1:64 scale hits the mark. Beside the Montecarlo version, two further colour variants have been released so far, one in Rosso Arancio and Bleu Vincennes. In addition to the three Stratos models from MiniGT, we were already able to look forward to the two Lancia Delta models in its famous Martini look! Hopefully there is more exciting rally stuff to come!
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