Lancia Delta S4 Stradale

An F1 car for rally is one way to classify this robust, any condition, any surface racer. From a distance it resembles its distant, much milder, yet still capable cousin the Lancia Delta. Underneath, the bloodline is pure purpose-built racecar. A supercharger and a turbocharger lay rubber from all four wheels; try not to choke on its dust.

Between October 1985 and 1986 Lancia, in keeping with Group B racing regulations, was to have built 200 of a road-going version of the Delta S4, officially named Lancia Delta S4 but widely known as "Stradale", for the purpose of homologation in Group B, but it is more likely that fewer than 100 were actually built. In Italy, the car was priced at about 100 million Lira: five times the price of the most expensive Delta of the time, the HF Turbo.

The Stradale's chassis was a space frame, similar to its rally counterpart, built out of CrMo steel tubes and aluminium alloy for the crash structures; it was covered by epoxy and fiberglass body panels. Like the rally car, the 1.8-litre four-cylinder engine was longitudinally mid-mounted, equipped with Weber-Marelli IAW integrated electronic ignition and fuel injection, a supercharger, a turbocharger and two intercoolers. In road tune the 1.8 produced 250 PS (184 kW; 247 hp) at 6750 rpm and 291 N⋅m (215 lb⋅ft) of torque at 4500 rpm. The "Stradale" kept a three differential four-wheel-drive system from the rally car; the centre differential sent 30% of the engine torque to the front open differential, and 70% to the rear limited slip.

Lancia claimed the car could reach a top speed of 225 km/h (140 mph) and accelerate from standstill to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 6.0 seconds. In contrast to its bare bones racing sister, the S4 Stradale featured an Alcantara-upholstered interior, sound deadening, a suede steering wheel, and was equipped with power steering, trip computer and air conditioning. While racing versions were built by Abarth, the Stradales were built by Torinese coachbuilders Savio.